Not again!

Tuesday was a good day until....


The label of clumsy has never been applied to me before. Time to rethink that. I tripped....again...left ankle turned side-ways as I tried to regain my footing, landed on the side-ways ankle and heard the dreaded POP! as I fell. Horrible pain and immediate swelling make me think I've broken the ankle....again. *@#*(!! $*&@&^!! (G-rated version of the words echoed through the house).

Within 2 hours, I was at an orthopedist office to be x-rayed. Results are good news - no new break in the ankle. But the bad news is the fracture from Dec 2008 never completely healed. Or perhaps it broke - again?

Whichever, I'm back in the boot cast for at least 3 weeks at which time I see the doctor again to determine what's next. Lovely.

And if that wasn't enough to make Tuesday miserable....

It was raining when we left the doctor's office. And since it was late, Gary suggested dinner out at a little Mexican food restaurant. As we finished eating, we notice restaurant staff scurrying around with brooms and mops. Water was coming into the restaurant under the doors. Within 15 minutes, the floor was covered with 2 or more inches of water. We looked outside and saw water everywhere.

The street was flooded to the point that firefighters and police were rescuing people stranded in their autos. The parking lot had water up to the doors of my little SUV.

We had to stay put for about an hour waiting for the water to recede. This is the parking lot as we left...



At least dinner was on the house.

One year ago today...

...the driveway broke my ankle*.


Today, we break the driveway looking for a water pipe leak.

Some kind of crazy justice? Fate's expensive joke? sigh...

(*Actually it broke when I stumbled but I was walking on the driveway!)

When life gives you lemons...

I believe that if life gives you lemons, you should make lemonade. And try to find somebody whose life has given them vodka, and have a party

Ron White

Here's my lemon...

Anyone out there got vodka?

Stay tuned.

Attitude adjustment

The aftermath of the fire continues to provide for unwanted entertainment in the form of a dishonest contractor. For the past two weeks, I have alternated between anger, frustration, and depression. Neither attitude bodes well for knitting.

Today, I have to frog and re-knit a project which demonstrates my moods - alternating between loose stitches, then very tight stitches. Great if I want to teach about tension in knitting, but sucks for a finished project. Dang!

What I need is an attitude adjustment. Since we can't spend a lot of money on a great vacation (nor is there time since we have to be here for the honest contractors to work), it comes in the form of an inexpensive treat. Summer knitting for me!




Thanks Denise for the reminder of this book! :)

Feeling blessed this Easter

It could have been worse. About an hour before we were evacuated, I took this picture from the west side of our backyard looking southwest.


The northeast wind was driving the flames directly at us. Sometime during that hour or just afterward, the winds shifted from northeast to east just enough to keep our property from looking like this



which is an aerial photo of what was a neighbor's house and driveway - just up the street from us. See the pick-up in the lower right of the photo? A 40 foot camper was attached and now unrecognizable. That is one of several homes that were destroyed in our neighborhood.

What happened to our property:


the forest at the rear (north side) of the property burned and fire traveled into the yard around the swim pool


and up to the gazebo. But since it was surrounded by cement and rock landscaping, it didn't make to the backside of the house.

Fire continued traveling east along the fence line, burning grass and melting the siding of the detached workshop but never burning the wood part of the structure (very blessed). The only real damage done was to the swim pool pump that was housed at the rear of the workshop.






It continued to the east destroying the wood fence along the side of the workshop and into this neighbor's yard. Small amount of damage to his home - he is blessed also.

The west side of our house was similarly lucky.


The neighbor on the west side lost utility shed, storage building, and wood fencing. But their house was spared.


The flames on the west side went through the yard and into the front missing the storage building we have on that side.

I am thanking our Guardian Angels today. And the previous owners for surrounding the house with cement - dual driveways (one on east and one on west side), cement surrounded swim pool and gazebo, sidewalks connecting everything. I think that between the shift of winds, the cement, and the grace of God, we were spared.

Happy and Blessed Easter.

Slowly mending

The ankle is mending and the bone has not shifted. Really good news for someone over 50 and diagnosed with osteopenia (that would be me on both). I confess that I was concerned the recovery would go more slowly because of both.

I have another 3 weeks of transitioning from boot cast into an ankle brace while working the muscles to accept weight again (somewhat painful). Then 2 weeks in the ankle brace.

I am knitting but have nothing finished. I suppose that is the knitter's ADD I sometimes suffer from. I have 5 projects I'm working on all at once. And that doesn't include this sweater. oh well.

2009 - Bring it on!

As I am an infrequent blogger, it shouldn't surprise anyone that my first post of the new year is 6 days into it. I won't make excuses.

2008 went out with a huge black cloud hovering over us. As ya'll (that's my Texan showing) know I broke my ankle the week before Christmas...which was the week before my MIL had eye surgery (3 days before Christmas).

As DH had promised we would be in Dallas to "help", we thought we would make it a family Christmas and enjoy time with my Mother too. But I still had to get the motor home ready for the trip - broken ankle or not. Thanks to DH and DD, I managed and off we went with high hopes that the ankle wouldn't ruin the trip for us. Stupid, eh? You would think that I would have acknowledged that this little mishap was "fate's" way of telling me to just stay home. But as we hadn't been able to spend a holiday with our elderly Mothers in many years, it seemed the right thing to do.

So I took pain pills and smiled in a medicated haze...
1. through MIL surgery
2. through the transmission problems of my car (repaired Christmas Eve)
3. through the freezing temperatures while the motor home furnace (thank goodness for sleeping bags)
4. through the ignition coil of the car going out...

All that from Dec 20 to Dec 27. Too much in a week even though the time spent with family was wonderful. We kissed the Mom's and came home before anything else happened.

After finally finding an ignition coil for my Cruiser, DH managed to put the new one in on Jan 2nd. It seemed to be fine...finally. Famous last words. It broke down again yesterday while DH was driving it to work. He has given up and left it at the mechanics all the while muttering "l.e.m.o.n."

Obviously the dark cloud hasn't left yet. Stay tuned.

Fractured Fibular

That pop I heard when I stumbled (not very gracefully) last night was the crack of a bone. The extreme swelling, pain, and bruising was a good hint that I needed to see the doctor today. So I did. The left side of ankle is broken (fractured fibular). At least the "cast" is this boot thing that I can remove for showers.



And I can still knit.

Ugh...monthly Boniva time

Doctor called in November after my first bone scan. Bad news. I have osteopenia. Good news, there is medication to reverse the bone loss and prevent osteoporosis. He had me try Bonvia. Well, Sally Field "takes it" so it must be OK, right? The everyday-women that took it and said side effects were terrible must be wrong, right? Yeah, right.

I took the first pill on November 5th. I carefully followed the dosage instructions...take it with 8 oz of water on an empty stomach; do not lay down or lean back nor eat or drink anything else for 1 hour. The first day went fine. No major issues at all! I just knew it would be breeze to take it once a month. Wrong!

I underestimated this pill. The next 4 days were miserable!! Stomach problems that nice people do not blog about. Muscle pain that woke me up in the middle of the night but did ease up with 3 tylenol - yet never really went away so I moved around like my Mother who is 85 yo. Joint stiffness, a general feeling of being sick. And I swore I wouldn't do it again.

Sigh. But doctor reminds me that the instructions say the first dosage is the worse and it should get better with the next. I hope so because I'm giving it a 2nd chance.

Tomorrow is the next dosage. There goes my weekend. CYA afterwards.

RIP George Carlin

We'll miss your wicked sense of humor.

George Carlin

What a week it was!

This past week was filled with trials and tribulations. One problem was lack of internet for half of the week which is why I haven't blogged recently. Then once it was "up and running," I still could not access email. Today it appears the WiFi provider has solved their problem(s) completely and I can access my email account(s) again. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that it holds.



Things I heard myself saying this past week:

Monday
"No, I am not entered into a 'who can stash away the wildest sock yarn' contest. This is your daughter's taste!"



"Well, we must have enjoyed the camping trip. Look at all the dirty laundry we came back with."

Tuesday
"Her hands are red and itchy? The gloves were latex???? She's allergic to latex...I'll stop and pick up cortisone cream. She'll need latex free gloves for the volunteer work. Should I pick those up also?"

"I have how many students in Thursday's class?"

"Enjoy the fact that I cooked dinner tonight. It might be the last time until the weekend with this week's schedule."

Wednesday
"Are you able to connect to the internet?"

"uhhhh....whatz with the water pouring out from underneath the car?"



"A replacement for the cracked radiator costs how much!?!??"

"I need a ride home."

"I really need to fold the last three loads of laundry....and put the load just washed into the dryer....and start another load....How about peanut butter sandwiches for dinner?"



"Ouch...Darn that hurt!!! And now the finger is turning purple! sigh"

"Calgon! Take me away!"


Thursday
"I might be a little late this morning. I'm dependent on Dial-A-Ride for a couple of days."

"The WiFi is down again!!!???"

"Honey, I need your car tonight....the class is too full to cancel it."



"Look, only about 4 loads to go!!!"

"Oh goody...the yarn order is here."



Friday
"@$% &%! I really need to check e-mail."

"Really? The parts finally came in? I can pick up the car tomorrow morning?"

"Can dogs be taught to wipe their feet?"



"I really need a vacation to recover from the aftermath of the last vacation."

"I want credit on my bill for the time your internet service was down."

"Pizza sounds great to me considering I haven't been able to run errands - including the grocery store - since I have NO CAR!"

Saturday morning:
"Finally! WiFi is up!!"

"Laundry is finished!"

"I'll pick up a few things at the grocery store on my way home from the mechanic."

"I love my car."

"Surely next week will be better."

oops It's Thursday...

...and I missed posting the Wordless Wednesday picture. List of 10 most likely excuses:
1) Sick hubby*
2) Not home most of the day
a) taught class
b) errands
3) Finishing a test knit
4) Designing new loom knit projects
5) Sick hubby*
6) Cooking dinner, doing dishes
7) Some work on current needle knit design
8) Thinking of bead weaving design that needs to be finished
9) Brain fried from 100 plus temperatures
10) Sick hubby*

*Excuse worthy of multiple listings

http://www.jupiterimages.com

Day off?

The temperature for today is projected to be 102 again. Since my daughter has a seizure disorder which can be triggered with high temps, we're skipping our outside volunteer work at the local dog and cat rescue.

A day off? Not really as I'm planning an exciting day filled with....



...catching up on laundry and class paperwork.



And going over my math on where the armholes were suppose to be on this loom knitted sweater pattern....then frogging and starting again.



Not really a day off but at least we're in the AC!

7-7-07 not so lucky...

...for us. First there was flood...



...when our waterbed mattress sprang a leak.

Then there was smoke billowing from this fire...



...and invading our house. It had us watching the news to see where it was headed. I am thankful it was out quickly and we didn't have evacuate like we did during the Crown Fire in 2004.

I sincerely hope the newlyweds who rushed to the alter to have 7-7-07 as their wedding date have better luck with it. ;-)