My Dad’s knees

Yesterday my mom told me that they finally got an appointment for my dad to get his knees looked at.  This is a huge praise, and I am thrilled.

My dad has had bad knees for a long time, but it probably wasn’t until we were in college or just after that it became bad enough that he couldn’t hide it anymore.  They’ve steadily deteriorated over the years until now, at 57, he can’t walk down steps without bracing all his weight on the railing, he can’t walk from one end of town or the mall to the other without being in serious pain, and he can’t make it through the day without popping pain relievers like candy.

A little over two years ago, he was referred to a knee doctor, but it didn’t go well.  That doctor refused to consider knee replacement until Dad was at least 60; he said it was just arthritis, so he’d only consider options like cortisone shots and braces.  So Dad stopped seeing him.  Two years ago.

Of course, the knees only got worse.  But a couple of days ago, my mom called another doctor recommended by a lady in C-ville (their age) who already has had one knee replaced.  After speaking to a not helpful receptionist, my mom was transferred to the actual doctor’s office.  And she was told that the first doctor’s methods were a bit outdated and they would happily see Dad.  They even had an appointment for today, which Dad couldn’t take, so they scheduled for next Tuesday.  My mom laughed outright; she was expecting this to take a month or more to get started.

So I am just overjoyed for my dad and my mom.  I am praising God for helpful doctors and fast appointments, and we are praying that my dad will soon be able to walk like he’s 57, instead of like he’s 85.  Maybe, by the time little J can walk, his Papa will be able to play with him like he really wants to.  And hopefully, in the near future, my parents will be able to walk together at a normal pace and do normal things again.  It will be a wonderful thing to see!

Happy Friday!

It was sort of a rough afternoon yesterday. *sigh*  It was pretty much my fault, but that doesn’t make it easier.  I realized (later, of course) that I had neglected to burp the baby after he finished one of the bottles.  The result was a screaming fit that was very unnerving since I couldn’t figure out why it was happening.  And of course, he was so worked up that he then couldn’t burp easily, so it was not an enjoyable hour or so.  He was also pretty tired. Then later he started the same thing, but it didn’t last as long (thankfully) since I just tried everything I’d done earlier in faster succession.  And he finally collapsed into sleep.  I let him sleep on me just so he’d get a decent nap (he’d slept well in the morning, not so well in the afternoon).  And we both survived.  Still, I will definitely be working to avoid that episode again!

Also, if you think of it, would you say a quick prayer for Karen.  It’s really hard on her to have to miss so much time with him while she’s at work to begin with, but when we have a “bad” day, it’s even harder for her.  And she has a cold now which she’s a little concerned that J will catch.  And neither of us want that!

The evening was pretty good.  Eric and I had “find-your-own” night for supper, and I watched some television. I also did a load of laundry, cleaned our bedroom and vacuumed the primary living areas of our house.  Our bedroom hasn’t looked this nice in a while! 

Today, I have no real plans (except for hanging out with J, of course).  I was thinking to make coleslaw for dinner tonight.  Anyone have a good recipe for that, especially the sauce?  The bottled stuff never tastes as good as I hope it will…

Okay, I guess that’s about it for now…happy Thursday!

So apparently, yesterday, J was afraid he would miss something important when it happened, and he refused to really sleep all day.  He’d doze.  He’d catnap.  He’d get about 45 minutes of sleep at a time (instead of 1-2 hours). He wasn’t unusually cranky…just not sleeping.  Until Karen got home that is…after he was fed, he slept for 3 hours, was up for a bit, slept for another 3 hours or so, and then slept from 11-7 this morning.  Hopefully, we’ll do better today because I know Karen and Erik like to actually spend time with him in the evenings. 

I did make it to WalMart yesterday with J in tow.  We had no crying fits, and the car ride did put him to sleep for a while.  And it was nice to figure out the car seat, the diaper bag, the process for being out of the house, etc. Not that I didn’t think I could handle it, but it hasn’t been a normal activity for me until now.  So anyway, I guess that means we can leave the house as often as we want to now!

The baby is making a lot of noise in the monitor right now.  I’m hoping he sleeps a bit longer, but of course, now he’s probably ready to be up for the entire day again (after all that sleeping last evening and night!).

Okay, I guess that’s all the interesting details I have for today.  Last evening was uneventful: I cleaned the kitchen and did a load of laundry (sweatshirts!).  I have no major plans for today either.  And with the gray/rainy weather back for a couple of days, I guess I’ll just stay inside and hang out with the dog and the baby.

Later!  Happy Wednesday!

Random Information About Me:

• I am 4′ 11 3/4” tall.  I always hoped for just 5′.  I never understood why God didn’t seem to think that was as important as I thought it should be.  Apparently it’s character-building or something…
• I have tiny feet (size 5 women’s).  Obviously that size is hard to come by, so I wear a lot a children’s shoes.  I think they are changing the size of children’s shoes, though, because I used to fit only a children’s 3, and now often need a 2 or 2.5.  I guess the feet of the tween population are growing too much.
• These days, I am struggling with getting sufficient and effective God time.  I think I need a good bible study to work through.  Any suggestions?
• It’s finally sunny out today after over a week of cloudy/rainy days.  I need the sunshine, so I’m very glad.
• I made white chicken chili for dinner last night because I wanted corn bread and that dish went nicely with the corn bread.  It was yummy!
• I might take J to run an errand or two today.  This will be our first venture out of the house together. Should be interesting…
• My husband is very excited because Fedora 9 is being released today.  It’s the newest release of the Linux OS he uses on his computer.  I am not nearly as excited as he is…

I can’t think of anything else random enough to tell you today.  So I guess I’ll just stop now.  Happy Tuesday!

Sorry I wasn’t “in” on Friday…J and I have an atypically rough day.  It didn’t leave much time or energy for xanga.

But, I’m back today (he’s still in bed), and I thought I’d better get a post up now so I don’t forget (or get busy).

The weekend was busy.  We headed to the farm on Friday night about as soon as Eric got home.  It was a lovely, relaxing visit.  So nice!  We hung out, and in the afternoon we drove up to Pearl, OH, which is where Pearl Valley Cheese is made.  That is fresh made cheese (some of the farm’s milk goes there) and it is wonderful!!  So we got some to bring home.  I’m planning dinner tonight so that we can have some of it then…yummy!

We stayed until after supper, which meant we didn’t leave until after 9:00 pm, and it’s a 90-minute drive.  So we were pretty beat by the time we got home.  We brushed our teeth and crashed into bed.

Sunday was church and then down to my parents’ for Mother’s Day.  It was a lovely afternoon. Dad grilled and showed me all the flowers they’ve bought to plant around.  And they got each of us a hanging basket (I took the pink one), so that was fun, too.  We chatted for a while before heading back to Columbus, and spent much of the rest of the evening just relaxing.  Then an early bedtime to make up for the night before…and suddenly it was Monday morning.

So, now I’m sitting in Karen’s living room just typing away and hoping the baby decides to actually nap some before I need to get him up.  He does better if he sleeps a bit after Karen and Erik leave (he didn’t do this on Friday and it messed us up a bit).  But we shall see…

Happy Monday to you all!

So I’m back at Karen’s today.  The baby isn’t up yet, so the dog is keeping me company while I try to get this post done before he starts fussing. 

Yesterday wasn’t terribly difficult.  He’s an easy-going little guy, and at 11 weeks (today!), he’s not exactly mobile. But he does have a smile to melt your heart!  I watched a lot of television (which is unusual for me), but as I was figuring out his schedule, it made finding things to do a little more complicated.  I’m sure I’ll learn what I can do and when as I go.  I’d like to not spend the entire time watching TV, but it’s hard to find chores to do in someone else’s house!

I also had lots and lots of phone calls yesterday to distract me.  Karen called twice, Eric called, Mom called, Trisha called.  As Karen’s Erik said this morning before he left…he was about the only one who didn’t call me yesterday.  But he did send his wife flowers at work for her first day back, so that was probably more important!

Last night, we took my car to Westerville after dinner to drop it off at the place that will be replacing the cruise control today.  I’m very excited about having cruise again.  I’m not as excited about driving clear around the city at rush hour today to pick it up.  But I’m sure we’ll survive.  And I’ll have cruise control again…yippee!!!

This morning was a bit hectic since it was garbage day and Eric had to drop me off at Karen’s house, so we were both needng to be ready to leave at the same time (this is only ever true on Sundays).  So the result was that we did get the garbage out, but I forgot to brush my teeth and I left my cell phone on the end table at my house.  So much for my phone call distractions like yesterday!  Oh well…now things have settled down a bit (I’m just typing, the dog is sleeping on the back of the couch, and the baby still isn’t up yet).

I think that’s about all I have for now.  Happy Thursday!

So, I’m sitting today in my sister’s living room watching her son in his bouncy seat while the dog is crashed on the floor.  Today is the first day of my baby-sitting stint (Eric called me Supernanny on his way to work), helping Karen out for the last few weeks of school.  I’ll be watching J for three and a half weeks, and Erik’s mom will be watching him for the last week of school.  We will be on vacation that week.

So far, nothing terribly exciting has happened.  I’ve played some with the dog, talked with the baby some, and I’m pretty much just waiting for him to want to eat (which should be very soon).  He’s already getting just a little fussy, I think.  Karen left me a list of things “to know”; we shall see how it goes…

Yesterday, I got a number of things done.  I hung up another birdfeeder and filled both of them. 

_______

Okay, now it’s 9:40, and I’m just getting back to Xanga.  That’s life with a baby’s schedule, I guess!

Anyway, back to yesterday…I also did laundry and a number of little projects that I’ve just wanted to do for a while.  And I went to Meijer briefly.  In the evening, Eric and I ran to Target to get a Mother’s Day card for his mom, and we picked up a couple of other things as well.  Then home to watch some TV and then to bed.

Well…that’s all I’ve got.  And I think Maggie is waking Jason up.  So I’d better go.  Later!

When I got home on Saturday from graduation, I had a headache.  I had it all day on Saturday, on and off on Sunday, and it returned on Monday morning.  I think it was just a tired, stressed-out, worked-too-hard for too-many-days-straight kind of a tension headache.  But it was getting annoying. 

So yesterday, I decided to relax. I took a trip to Walmart to get a few things, but realized about halfway through the grocery aisles that I was pushing my limits.  I hurried with the rest of my shopping (which did wonders for my grocery budget, I’m sure!), and went home.  And I sat down.  I purposely watched TV while I ate lunch and then for another hour.  And then I got up and tried again. 

And my headache was gone.  And it stayed gone.  And this morning, it’s still gone.  Thank God!

Once my head stopped hurting, I was actually quite productive, too.  I cleaned out and washed the inside of my refrigerator.  I dusted.  I planted some seeds to start indoors.  We made dinner (Eric grilled, I did the rest) – steaks, salad, baked potatoes.  Yummy!  I did not clean up the dishes.  I plan to do that this morning.  And I did watch some more television last night. 

Today, I have to call to see if I can schedule an appointment to get my car’s cruise control replaced.  It went out last fall, and Eric decided that he doesn’t want to drive to SC next month without cruise control (never mind that I’ve been driving back and forth to CU for months without it! ).  So hopefully, I can get that moving today.  Other than that, I have a pretty open day…we shall see what adventures befall me!

Happy Tuesday!

Summer vacation begins…today!

So I finished grading and turned in my grades on Friday.  I picked up dinner on my way home, and Eric and I just hung out in the evening.  I got up just after 6 a.m. on Saturday so I could make it to CU on time to help my Mom with graduation.  It was pouring down rain all morning, so I wore my less-comfortable, waterproof shoes.  And the Cedarville wind broke my golf umbrella.    Even more sad, it was one of these umbrellas which is supposed to be wind-proof.

Anyway, graduation went fine.  It was a low-key ceremony, and I got to see lots of former students who graduated this year (wow…I’m old!).  But by the time the diploma part of the ceremony was over (I help direct traffic and try to keep the picture-taking parents under control), my feet were killing me (remember the less-comfortable, but waterproof shoes).  And I was starting to get a headache.  So I went home before graduation had ended (also beat traffic that way!). 

In the afternoon, we went to see Iron Man.  It’s a good movie.  Clean, funny, decent story (fairly predictable as superhero movies go).  I’d recommend it.  Then we went home and I fought my headache for the rest of the day by sitting on the couch, letting Eric cook dinner, and going to bed at 9:00 pm. 

Sunday was church, goofing off in the afternoon, then our Pastor’s 60th birthday party at the church.  It was a good time, and we got to sit with a number of couples from our small group.  Then we went home, watched some more TV, and went to bed.

This morning, I am officially on summer break. *huge sigh of relief*  My primary order of business is to relax and unwind from the stress of last week.  But I also need to do a couple of things to make myself feel like a real person again (instead of just a grader).  Of course, I don’t know what those things will be yet…but I’m sure I’ll come up with something. 

Happy Monday!

It’s a Good Friday!

No, not that one, but it’s still a good day nonetheless.  I have just a few more portfolios to read, and I should be able to finish them all today and turn in my grades.  Once I do that, I’m officially done with my responsibilities until August! Yippee!! 

Edit (11:20) ONE CLASS DOWN…ONE TO GO!!!
Edit (3:45) I’M DONE!!!!!!  HAPPY SUMMER VACATION TO ME!

Last night, I graded in my office until 4:00 and headed home.  I got 12 portfolios graded yesterday (which surprised even me!), so I felt very productive.  I cleaned up the kitchen and made dinner while Eric mowed, and after dinner, we went to the grocery and then made more pasties for him to have as breakfast sandwiches.  He had a couple of breakfast ones this week and very much enjoyed them.  So we made an entire batch of them for him.  Of course, after they went in the over, I had to clean up the kitchen again.

EDIT (8:40)
Pasties Recipe
Dough
2 c. flour
2 tsp. baking powder
3/4 tsp. salt
1/3 c. shortening
3/4 c. milk.

Mix the dry ingredients and blend in the shortening.  Stir in the milk.  Knead 10-20 times and roll out thickly. Cut out circles (I use my largest biscuit cutter), keeping the dough thick.  Roll each circle out into a thin circle (probably about 5 inches around, thickness is up to you).  To fill: brush egg wash around the outside of the circle, place filling in the center (don’t use too much or the dough will burst when baking), fold one side of the dough over to create a half-moon and crimp the edges to seal.  Bake at 350 degrees for about 30 minutes. 

Fillings
Alton Brown (Food Network chef) calls pasties the leftover magnet, and he’s right.  Eric usually makes the filling, but he generally creates a cheesy gravy (butter, milk, cheese, flour) and then we throw in whatever we have.  We’ve done ham/corn, ham/broccoli, steak/eggs, ham/eggs, pizza.  Also a beef stew would go well in a pasty. Get creative!
END EDIT

We watched The Office and 30 Rock (I don’t like that one as much) while the sandwiches baked, and then we headed to bed. 

Today, it’s back to CU, and I don’t know what the evening or weekend plans are yet.  I know Eric wants to see Iron Man (the new comic book movie), so maybe we’ll see that.  I also have to help my mom with graduation stuff tomorrow morning.  But other than that, I think we’re pretty open. 

Anyway, Happy Friday to you all!