Overcommitted

I inadvertently committed myself to make two cakes for the same day.  The first was for work when I agreed to make a football cake for our "souper" bowl potluck (being the Friday  before the Superbowl).   The second is for the cake walk at my son's elementary school's "family fun night."

It has already been a long week.  I am hurting.

So I decided to break down and buy the cake for the school cake walk from the grocery.  No one will know it is mine.

The one for work, though, is going to be a gluten-free cake.  One of my favorite people has gone gluten-free.  For Christmas,  my mom gave me the Cake Mix Doctor's gluten-free cookbook.

Now, I have the work cake in the oven.  My knee is killing me and i still have to let it cool, make the pan frosting, and figure out how to make the white laces on it since I forgot to buy white icing.  And all I  want to do is go to bed!

Setbacks

My knee hurts.  I think I overdid it on Saturday.  After shoveling snow, we went out for lunch.  Then we went to three stores (Osh Kosh, Old Navy, and Target).  By then, I was ready for a Percocet.  I spent the remainder of the day with my knee elevated and icing it (20 minutes on, 20 minutes off).

Sunday, I skipped going to the pool because it hurt to walk.  I spent the day with my knee elevated most of the time and iced it frequently.  The youngest stayed home with me and I made him lunch.  Meanwhile, Husband took the oldest to swim lessons and multiple stores to pick up the items we didn't get on Saturday, plus groceries.  Then he came home, made dinner, and put the kids to bed, after which he resumed studying. I am so lucky to have such a great husband.

I skipped my homework for physical therapy on Saturday and Sunday.

Monday morning rolls around and I have to go back to work.  My knee hurts.  I'm limping.  I make it through the day and return home.  Husband has class tonight.  I bring Panera home for dinner.  The oldest has a headache, so I put a warm cloth on his forehead and let them watch 1/2 an hour of cartoons before it is time to put them to bed.  I read them Hans Christian Andersen's "Wild Swans" and then tucked them in.

Then, I did my homework for physical therapy.  They have added "steamboats," which basically involve using a theraband for resistance and stepping forward, to the side (both directions), and backward against the resistance.  I hate these exercises, as it places stress on my bad knee.

Now I'm sitting here, icing my knee, after staring my laundry.  I have to spend 15 minutes cleaning in the office and all I want to do is go to sleep.  But I can't because I have no clothes to wear to work tomorrow unless I finish the laundry. . . so, I will work on the office a bit before I go watch Biggest Loser while doing the laundry and waiting for Husband to come home.  Then, I think I might be able to go to sleep only to get up and start the day over.  These days are hard sometimes.

Shoveling Snow

Let's file this under "Not the brightest idea for my injured knee."

Yesterday, quite a bit of snow fell.  Husband had class last night (a "switch day" due to the MLK holiday on Monday).  I came home, drove up my snow-covered driveway and into the garage.  Then I took the kids and residential-brother-in-law out to Bob Evans for dinner, driving the minivan over the snow.  This morning, I took the oldest to his last basketball camp (driving over the snow-covered driveway), picked up Starbucks for the whole family for breakfast, and drove my Toyota Rav4 over the driveway snow once more.  Oh, and lest I forget, residential-brother-in-law also went out twice in the minivan this morning for wherever he goes on Saturday mornings (his super-secret outings).

Do you know what happens when you drive over snow?  It compacts.  Some of it turns to ice.  It makes it hard to shovel.

Now, I had no plans to shovel the driveway.  However, last year we bought the boys their own shovels and we barely had any snow.  They practically begged me to go outside and shovel the driveway.  My knee is hurting since we have added some new exercises to my home physical therapy and I took my naproxen sodium (Aleve Pain Reliever Tablets Refill Packs, 30 Packs/Box (Google Affiliate Ad)) later than I should have.
 
Husband had a conference call for his class today (it started at 11:30 a.m. and an hour plus later he is still on the call).  The kids begged to shovel the drive, so I took them out to keep the quiet while Husband was on his call and to get them a little exercise.  They shoveled, but really played in the snow.  And rather than simply watch them, I got out the big shovel and shoveled the driveway.  They shoveled the walkway and part of the sidewalk.  Mostly, they played.  They had a lot of fun being outdoors (we don't do it often enough) and I enjoyed watching them.

However, my knee is burning right now.  We still have to go out to lunch, shop for pants for both boys (hitting Target for one; Osh Kosh for the other), gloves for me, work/school clothes for Husband at Casual Male).  All I want to do is go buy a snowblower like all of our neighbors (the one pictured here is on my Amazon wish list ever since Husband broke his arm).  Oh, and take one of my "good" pills (Percocet).

Humbled

Today was a rough day.  I am currently ramping up into my busy season, so I am at work longer hours.  In addition, today was a court date for the non-residential brother-in-law.  This is the third court date for this one offense.  Husband took the day off to ensure he went to court, since our $1,500 in bail money that we provided was at stake.  The good news is that charges were dropped today and we should get our money back.  Hooray!

In addition, my current phone an HTC Evo Shift has decided to go on the fritz.  The power button no longer works.  I have to open the keyboard to get the screen to display.  And on some occasions, I can't get it to dial or do anything.  People can no longer hear me when I call them.  It's frustrating.  Loved the phone.  However, I've had it for almost 2 years.  Husband today ordered me a new phone (Motorola PHOTON 4G w/o plan - Android Smartphone (Google Affiliate Ad)).  His phone (the primary on our plan) was up for replacement.  Mine is up for replacement in 39 days. . so, since both phones are the same Sprint is allowing him to replace mine now and his in a month and a half.

What does this have to do with being humbled?  So, after a long morning, I needed to vent.  I pinged a coworker and she offered to buy me lunch.  I'd already eaten, but rode with her to pick up her order from Pei Wei.  When I met her in the lobby, she wasn't wearing a coat.  It's 20 degrees (Fahrenheit, of course) outside!  It's cold.  When I asked her where her coat was, she said she was wearing it.  She was wearing a sweater.  After prodding in the car, I discover that she is not wearing a coat because she doesn't have one suitable for work.  She has a coat for working around the farm, but nothing she can wear into work.  Based on her family's current needs, there isn't money to buy another winter coat for her.

Here I am griping about wanting my $1,500 back (at least I had the money to loan for bail) and how my phone isn't working and I need a new one (at least we can cobble together the money for it), and my friend is stoically getting by without a winter coat.  In Ohio.  In winter.  Not only that, she's offering to buy me lunch because I'm having a bad day!

What is wrong with me?  Have I really gotten that spoiled that I have forgotten when my parents couldn't afford winter coats and boots for us kids?  The time we were eligible for a special program where a "personal shopper" took me shopping as a kid for coats, boots, sweaters, and pants to get us through the winter?  When I would wear my coats until they fell apart or were so grotesquely too small that we had to buy a replacement?

Tomorrow, I'm taking her my winter wool dress coat.  It's been in the basement for the last year.  I've worn it once or twice in the last two years.  Clearly, she needs it more than me.  It should fit her, since we're about the same size.  Then I'm going to think long and hard about the things for which I am grateful that I have.

Physical Therapy

To treat my torn meniscus, the orthopedist sent me to physical therapy.  My appointment was Thursday for an evaluation.  The physical therapist put me through the paces, asking questions and having me do some pretty basic moves.  His verdict?  Torn meniscus with a possible tear to my MCL.  No surprises.

My knee has continued to get better slowly, though I do know whenever I forget my naproxen or ibuprofen. I am hopeful that we can avoid surgery.  Most of the items he had me do were basic, but caused pain when doing them.  The worst was when had me step off a step and try to step back onto it.  My knee nearly buckled.  Stairs are still the worst.

He sent me home with some pretty simple exercises to do at home, with very few repetitions.  A few of them I can do at work in my chair.  However, I am saddened by how "easy" they would be for someone who would be in shape.  They include:

• Straight Leg Raise - 10 times/set; 3 sets/session; 1 session per day
• Hip Abduction - 10 times/set; 3 sets per session; 1 session per day
• Terminal Knee Extension (Standing) - 10 times/set; 3 sets per session; 1 session per day
• Knee Extension (Sitting) - 10 times/set; 3 sets per session; 1 session per day
• Seated Hamstring Stretch - 3 reps; 1 set; 1-2 per day

I can do the seated hamstring stretch and knee extension (sitting) from work.  So I did.  The others required a resistance band (so I only did those last night and tonight) and laying on the bed.  I did the leg raises and hip abductions the last couple of nights.  However, I feel sad that I get tired so easily and that I am sore after these pathetic excuses for exercise.  He did ban me from the treadmill for now.  Which means I can't work out.  And one thing that will help all this is if I lose weight.  Guess that means I work on diet for now.

We also went to the pool yesterday.  Lex has swimming lessons.  We couldn't get the youngest in at the same time (or day), so we are playing in the leisure pool with him while Lex has class time.  I spent the time walking laps in the pool.  By the end, I was so tired and my knee hurt so much.  I pretty much spent the rest of the day with it icing or elevating.  

It's progress, but it's slow.  And I'm an impatient person.

Clumping Litter and Clogged Toilets

We have a cat - a beautiful, Siamese-tabby mix named Inara.  We adopted her about a year and a half ago, after my youngest was fully potty trained.  Husband invoked his pet-naming rights (acquired after my refusal to name the youngest "Hannibal") and named her after a character from the Joss Whedon television series, Firefly.

Cats, like any other creature, must eliminate waste from their system.  For indoor cats like ours, the litter box is the standard method.  Litter boxes require cleaning.  Due to emotional baggage from our old house and the cats we sadly gave up due to elimination issues, Husband feels strongly that both cat boxes (upstairs and down) must be cleaned every day.  Unfortunately, since we are clearly done with having children (two vasectomies later), I cannot use the possibility of passing on Toxoplasmosis to our children as an excuse for not having to clean the litter box.  However, Husband does the cleaning of the litter box and I clean the bathrooms.  If the kids are dawdling in the morning (particularly the youngest), he makes them help him clean the litter boxes.  He does it diligently every morning before he leaves for work.

We use Swheat Scoop, a natural wheat clumping litter that you can flush in your toilet.  I love the stuff.  It keeps our house from smelling terrible.

I don't want guests to smell the cat litter when they first walk in the door, even though the downstairs litter box is conveniently located in the dining room hidden in what (at first glance) looks like a credenza (see picture below).


One thing I don't like, however, is that Husband doesn't always make sure that all the clumps flush down.  And sometimes, he puts so much into the toilet at once that the toilet clogs.  In the past, I have asked him to make sure it completely flushes each time and he assures me he will.  Well, today he didn't.  This morning, before work, he "flushed" the litter down.  Tonight, after dinner, around 7 p.m., I decide to head to the powder room on the first floor.  I am stopped by both kids telling me the toilet is clogged - and has been all day.

I take a deep breath - wondering why my sitter/brother-in-law did not notice a clogged toilet with cat poop in it all day - and go to look.  There is a small amount of water in the toilet.  Sometimes, if it has sat in the toilet all day (this has happened before, but in our upstairs master bath where the brother-in-law rarely goes), you can flush it and the toilet is no longer clogged.  It is as if the clump must sit and dissolve all day.

That didn't happen tonight.  I flushed once.  Water started coming up, up, and up in the toilet until it overflowed.  Ugh.  Cat poop and toilet water all over the floor and litter stuck all over the sides of the toilet.  Gross.  I got out the plunger and unstuck the mess. Then I went upstairs to use the bathroom and put the kids to bed.  When I came down, I cleaned the entire bathroom.  Then I sent Husband at text.  His response?  "I thought I checked that it went down."  Clearly not.  Oh well.  At least we have a clean bathroom now.  Now on to my regularly-scheduled Wednesday night project of cleaning the office. . .

Health Woes - and I'm not even 40 yet!

The tail end of 2012 and the beginning of 2013 have been full of health woe for me.  My husband and I have a running joke that our warranties expire at 40.  Well, I have 5 more months until my warranty expires.  Yet I'm already breaking down.  If I were a car, I'd be a lemon.

First, I had the kidney stones.  We did lithotripsy.  This weekend, I finished a LithoLink Lab test.  Yep, I had to collect my urine in a big, gas-can-like jug for a 24 hour period.  All of my urine (the instructions were very clear).  At least, unlike when my husband had to do his, I didn't have to keep it in the refrigerator.  They sent a "preservative" along with the "collection kit."  Once done with the collection, you send a small sample of it off to the lab via Federal Express.  Well, I couldn't leave it outside in the 30-degree Fahrenheit weather - they had made it clear that to refrigerate it would cause the test to be less valid.  The outside temps were colder than the fridge.  I had to have them pick it up at work.  I had to carry this box, with the words "Patient Sample Inside" emblazoned in what felt like neon flashing lights, into work and then hand it over to a poor FedEx lady who came to pick it up.  Lucky her.  Now we await the results and my follow-up with the urologist on February 6th.

In the meantime, I hurt my knee back on January 3rd.  My knee has been hurting for a while and when I saw my family practitioner about it, she took x-rays and told me I had bone spurs.  My knee hurts when I've been walking for a while, feeling swollen and achy.  I take ibuprofen and ice it when needed.  Well, on the 3rd, I was at the grocery store and heard a pop.  Then I couldn't put weight on it.  Husband came and got me and took me to the ER.  The ER gave me percoset, took some x-rays, and sent me home saying I might have torn or sprained a ligament, that I should "do nothing productive today", follow the RICE method, and "walk on it as much as possible."  I have done that, along with taking the allowed 800 mg of ibuprofen / 3 times per day.

Today, I saw the doctor at Sports Medicine.  He poked and prodded both knees.  Then he told me what I didn't want to hear.  I have a medial meniscus tear.  My sister had arthroscopic surgery on the same issue just last year.  Ugh.  I don't want surgery.

The doctor recommended a "conservative" course of action.  I should ice it 3 times a day.  I can take two Aleve twice a day.  I should rest and elevate it.  I can wear a knee brace if it helps.  Oh, and I get to go to rehab.  I have an appointment on Thursday morning to be evaluated and they will go from there.  Then, in 4 weeks (February 11th), the doctor will review my progress and determine next steps.

If this doesn't work, then we talk about cortisone shots in surgery.  I am hoping that since I feel MUCH better than I did on the 3rd, that rest and rehab will make it better.  Gosh, I hope so.  

Oh, and thrown into the mix, I had bronchitis over the New Year holiday.  The doctor I saw then looked at my chart and said, "Have you thought about sinus surgery?"  I told him not this year, that I have other issues to take care of first.

Then I had the follow-up from the orthodontist to see if I wanted to schedule my braces for this year.  Um, no.  Other priorities this year.  I think I'll max out my flexible spending before optional orthodontia makes it to the top of the list.

I think my warranty expired early.  :( 

Entropy is winning

So, Husband is in class again tonight.  My goal of cleaning the office?  I feel overwhelmed.  Did you see those pictures?  Entropy is clearly winning.

How did I do on Monday? you ask.  Well, the first paper on top of the desk was for a gifted program my oldest qualified for.  I had thought we missed the deadline to register him for the standardized test.  I hadn't.  So I looked it up on line, paid the $64 for the test he'll take in February.  While doing that, I get a text from Husband saying that his professor let class out early (something about a National Championship football game to watch) and he was on his way home.  My progress?  One piece of paper.  Ugh.

I quickly (to show progress before Husband came home) began cleaning up the paper recyclables.  We could throw these in our curbside recycling, but I bag them up and haul them in my car to Alexander's elementary school where there is a drop-off.  The school gets a small bit of money for it versus the money I have to pay to the trash company to take my recyclables away.  Worth it, but I don't stop there often enough.  My goal is to take the six (yes, six) grocery bags worth of paper there on Saturday before I head across town to my haircut.  Even better if I can get Husband to take them on his way to basketball camp on Saturday morning. . .

That was the extent of Monday.

What about tonight?  Oh, yeah, my goal - spend at least 15 minutes in here?  I tried to convince the kids to help me.  Even promised them a "top secret surprise" if they helped.  They "helped" amidst whining.  Well, you know, I shouldn't feel bad - a corner of the room is their coloring books, crayons, Play-Doh, markers, puzzles.  We picked up stray paper off the floor, we organized their art box, we moved toys upstairs to the Bonus Room.  I swear, coloring books multiply like bunnies when you're not watching.  We didn't make much progress before I had enough of dealing with them.

Their "top secret surprise?"  A USB Plasma Ball that I had originally ordered for Christmas for my niece that only arrived this week.  They played for five minutes before I had to take it away because they were fighting over "turns."  Seriously?  I have no patience for them tonight.

So we turned to playing Bejeweled Blitz.  Then I took them up and got them up to bed.  It's not a shower night (we only do that every other night); however, Lex smelled.  He got a shower, while the younger one brushed his teeth and was put to bed with a rousing story of the "Three Little Pigs."  No story for Lex, as he dawdled in his bath.  (Have I told you the one where one week his vocabulary word was dawdle?  His dad and I laughed and laughed and laughed and told him he better not miss that one on the test!)

Now the kids are in bed and all I want to do is read World War Z, a book I started last night.  I am not usually into science-science fiction; I'm more of a fantasy sort.  However, this book is compelling.  But I might have dawdled enough that my husband might almost be home.  Oh well. . . there's always Monday, right?

Office entropy

This is our office after unchecked entropy.  Tonight is Husband's first night of his Spring Semester for his MBA.  My job after the kids go to bed is to spend some time combating the entropy that has taken over this room.  

Goal: To be clutter-free by the end of Husband's Spring Semester so he can spend the time between semesters to fix the scanner.  This will allow me to move on to scanning some items beginning with his next semester of classes for his MBA. 

However, this is a daunting task.  With the pain in my knee continuing (despite four days following the RICE method) and the kids having not behaved one iota this evening, I want to just sit and play on the iPad and watch Biggest Loser. HOWEVER, I have agreed to spend at least 15 minutes de-cluttering this room.  (Note:  This does NOT count the time I am currently spending blogging about the chaos.  Which is my own rule because I could waste the entire 15 minutes on blogging.) I have goals.  Wish me luck.

The tale of the grocery store knee injury

For the last several months, I have had pain in my left knee. I saw my primary care doctor and had an X-ray done. The result was being notified that I have bone spurs in my knee. This coincides with the same side that I have bone spurs in my foot. Internet research revealed that there is not much to do for them except surgery. I resolved (with very little conviction) to work on losing weight and buying shoes so I can finally wear my custom orthotics. I feel like I have conditions only old people get and my self-confidence has suffered.

Since the diagnosis, I have had days where I feel fine and other days where I can barely bend my knee or where the pain wakes me up at night. It gets worse.

This morning, my knee felt a little crunchy. It loosened up a bit in the shower, but was not optimal. My plan was to stop at the grocery on the way to work to pick up breakfast and lunch for the next two days (combining money savings, Starbucks avoidance, and lower calorie options). I was on track to be at work early until everything went awry. . .

The cereal aisle is where it all happened. I wanted oatmeal cups. In the aisle, an older man had a cart across most of the aisle from which he was stocking shelves. I swiveled to shimmy between the cart and the shelves to get through the space. That is when I heard the pop, my knee buckled. I didn't fall because I put my weight on the right leg. The guy stocking shelves heard the pop, I assume he saw the pain on my face, and asked if I was ok. I told him I had knee issues and when I tried to avoid the cart, something in my knee popped, but I would be fine. In the past, when this has happened, I just have to walk it off. I took several steps and the pain was intense.he continued to watch me and asked if I was ok, mentioning that he had had two knee surgeries. I wasn't ok, but was too embarrassed to ask for help. I limped to the oatmeal, limped to checkout, the pain growing as I walked. I barely made it to my car, where I called Husband crying. He came to get me and took me to the ER when I told him it was excruciating pain to put weight on it.

The ER was thankfully empty. I was seen right away. They manipulated the leg, gave me Vicodin and took X-rays. The potential was a bone spur that popped or a sprained or torn medial cruciate ligament. No bone issues. Rather than send me for an MRI, they gave me a prescription and a referral to sports medicine and released me with instructions to do "nothing productive" today, to follow the RICE (rest, ice, compression, elevation). I notified work, husband took me to Starbucks and then home. He then took Matthew to go retrieve my car from the grocery parking lot. I have been sitting watching bad tv ever since. Husband just left to go pick up my laptop from work. Not sure I can go in tomorrow when I don't think I can walk the length required to get to the bathroom. In the meantime, I am taking 800 mg of ibuprofen up to 3 times a day. Might order those orthotic friendly shoes now. . .

Happy New Year!

A new year and a renewed interest to my blogging. Let's see if it lasts. We have a new iPad in the house, so that might help.

I have also decided to remove the pseudonyms I have been using for the family. There is no real point to it anyway.

I am starting off the new year with bronchitis. This is much better than the kidney stones I faced in the latter part of 2012, leading to lithotripsy on both kidneys around Thanksgiving. I still have to have a LithoLink done (collection of my urine for 24 hour period) to see what might be causing the "mess of stones" my body had created. The unfortunate result so far is that I have to cut down on my intake of tea, putting a serious damper on my Starbucks chai addiction. The urologist recommended that I switch to lemonade, which is not at all the same thing and one of my least favorite beverages.

Husband started graduate school in the fall. He took two seven-week courses: economics and statistics. School starts for him again on January 7th. This time, he is taking two classes at the same time. His grades for the first semester were A's. That doesn't surprise me with all the studying he did. I was extremely gladdened when he eased off the amount of studying with the second class. This semester will give me two nights a week with the kids, and also give me some time for a few hobbies.

My goals will be to:
1. Clean the office.
2. Finish the cross stitch project for the bathroom
3. Work out more (aided by the boxing bag my sister gave me for Christmas)
4. Begin scanning the photos in the basement (if cleaning the office convinces husband to fix the scanner)
5. Learn to use my sewing machine.

These are not resolutions,but things I would like to try. Wish me luck!

Wishing you and yours a happy new year, with health and happiness in the new year!