So here's the short of it, 
It's always good to have a Plan B....and C, and sometimes even a Plan Z.

And here's the long

What a chilly, rainy day it was.  My work day was not as productive as I had hoped it would be.  I had a task sorted out and time set aside to do it, but there were some complications with the data I was going to use, so I was stuck.  That work didn't get done, and it got me distracted for a bit until I got a plan B going.  Plan B was good, and I got some preliminary work going...a bit of a headstart on something I thought would take longer. 

Tomorrow is a really early morning for me.  I always think when I have to be up at 5:00 AM that I should just stay up all night and be ready to go.  That would be so much easier for me on the front end than getting myself out of bed at that time of day.  Of course, I'd crash and burn by lunchtime!  So I'll work on getting myself to bed at a decent hour and maybe I'll be able to roll myself out of the bed -- with a smile.  

So here's the short of it, 
Today I was at the National Cemetery.

And here's the long

Today my friend Delane buried her Mom.  There was a graveside service at the National Cemetery.  It was in the same pavilion where Dad's military service was held.  Even though there was palpable sadness, it seemed  that Delane was very much at peace with her mother's passing. 

This afternoon, when the funeral began it had grown chilly and was overcast.  The service was a lovely tribute and made me feel like I knew Mona Owens just a little bit. Although knowing that she raised Delane makes me know that she was a fine woman. 

After the service I made a stop by Dad's gravesite - his absence is still such a great loss in our lives. 

So I end the day with my friend Delane in my thoughts and prayers -- and with thoughts of my Dad.

So here's the short of it,

What do you do with green tomatoes...

And here's the long

I suppose I picked about 12 pounds of green and "pink" tomatoes the other day when I was trying to save them from the frost.  Today I decided to figure out what I was going to do with them.  Why go to the trouble to pick them and bring them in and then just wait until they got bad to throw them away -- right...

So Mom gave me a recipe for green tomato bread and butter style pickles. 

Cut them up -  make sure to cut away any blemishes.

Keep cutting them up, til you get 4 pounds worth!

Thinly slice 2 big onions.  The recipe actually called for a lot more, but I decided to go light on the onions. 

Layer the tomatoes and onions, salting each layer with canning salt.  Let sit for 1 1/2 hours.

Go down to Mom's and borrow the spices that are used for pickling that you don't keep in your house, because you don't usually make pickles. 

After supper, drain and rinse the tomatoes and onions, put them in sterilized jars, with the pickling "juice", and process them in a hot water bath. 

Stand back and think how beautiful they look and hope they taste really good too.

Plan to make the green tomato preserves tomorrow night!

So here's the short of it,
A trip to the Barn Nursery today with Mom and then a trip to Ace with Alan.  

And here's the long

Today Mom and I went to the Barn Nursery and got pansies.  Mom got a blue and yellow.  I got maroon and yellow.  As I was saying how much I liked the maroon and yellow, Mom reminded me that those were my high school colors!   It's such a great place to shop - Mom and I need to go back with the truck.  She wants to get her Christmas tree there I think, probably a live one.  And I just love to see all the things they have . 

Later in the afternoon Alan and I went out to the big Ace Hardware on Highway 58.  We had a couple of great coupons and came home with a huge poinsetta for Mom and a birdfeeder for the backyard. 

The backyard birdfeeder and  pansies look great!

So here's the short of it, 
Green tomato pickles?  and a car...

And here's the long

It's getting colder here in Tennessee.  It rained last night and sprinkled this morning, but by mid morning it had really stopped raining.  The sun was supposed to peep out and warm up the afternoon, but that never did happen.  Since we are supposed to have a frost tonight, I spent some time in the garden harvesting all the usable green tomatoes.  I have a pail full and am trying to decide what I'm going to do with them.  Mom is going to give me her bread and butter pickle  recipe and I'm going to do a batch.  Then I may make a green tomato preserve?  We'll see. 

Liga and Alan spent the afternoon car shopping.  He's been eager for her to get into another vehicle for about 6 months now.  I guess the volvo has served its time well.  They didn't find anything at any of the nearby car lots, but she found a Jeep on Craigslist.  They went almost up to Cleveland to look at it, and they put a downpayment on it!  They'll go back to get it tomorrow! She's pretty excited, and we are excited for her.  I'm eager to have a ride in it.

So here's the short of it, 

Gratitude.

And here's the long

Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life. 

It turns what we have into enough, and more. 

It turns denial into acceptance, confusion to clarity. 

It can make a meal into a feast, a stranger a friend. 

Gratitude makes sense of the past, brings peace for today and a vision for tomorrow.

So here's the short of it, 
Wild Dog Sophie showed up today!

And here's the long

I usually take Sophie for a walk in the afternoons.  I take her off leash and we walk around the circle several times.  She runs around and visits other dogs who may be out - she has a couple of really good doggie friends who live on the circle.  She doesn't take off like Hank or Suni would have and we have a lovely evening.

This morning I decided that I'd take her out for extra exercise.  When I let her out the door, I spied a boxer mix who's been hanging out around the neighborhood from time to time.  He's collared - so he must be getting out of his yard.  He was a terrible influence on her this - and I should have taken her out the door on leash so I could establish that everything was OK first!  He was a pretty bad influence on Sophie.  She ran all over the circle and would not come when I called.  She got through one of the two places on the circle that has access to the back yards behind the circle!  She was so out of character!  The boxer mix ran across the circle and into Winston's back yard where his owners had him tied out while they were gone -- Sophie ran over and made sure that the boxer didn't bother Winston too much - but whenever I approached her, she would get out of my reach.  I sure did get moving this morning! She finally headed down toward Mom's house, and I followed along.  She spent a few minutes visiting with Hershey through the fence and then she headed out toward Brainerd Road.  I just knew she was going to get right in traffic and end up being hit.  Then she ran into the yard next door to Mom and the little feisty dog that lives there came running out barking, growling and not giving an inch.  Scaredy dog, Sophie, took off running and finally headed for home.  I was so relieved to get her back home, and pretty baffled about her behavior.  This evening, she had to go out on leash!  We'll have to see what tomorrow brings. 

So here's the short of it, 
This afternoon at 3:30 I thought how wonderful it is that I work a teacher calendar!

And here's the long

I'm having a relapse of the respiratory gunk that had me sick over fall break.  I've been coughing and feeling very tired and yucky for a couple of days.  Today our team was in a school for grade level meetings all day long, and I was really pretty worn out by the time it was done and glad to get home.  And how glad I am that this week was a two day work week.

So here's the plan - sleep tomorrow until the sun is way up (yep - totally missing the possibility of one of those beautiful sunrises we have so often)- we'll see if that one works out!  I'm hoping to move through the day at a fairly leisurely pace, but still get some Thanksgiving preparations done.  We're doing Thanksgiving at Mom's with just a small crowd.  Cousin Mia is bringing the turkey and Mom, Liga, and I are doing the sides. It should be a great meal, even though the crowd will be small. 

By the way - my Hold Tite bandage kept up the fabulous performance yet again today!  I even wrote a note to Curad USA at their website.  The knee is continuing to heal and having a way to keep the bandage in place with the neosporin ointment is a real benefit. 

So here's the short of it, 
There is a genius working at Medline.

And here's the long.

I have been having such problems with keeping my knee wound bandaged, but I can tell that it's healing better because of the bandage.  The tape solution wore out pretty quickly; I just couldn't tolerate the adhesive even on the paper tape which is supposed to be non-irritating. The next thing I tried was an ace bandage.  It was pretty funny to wrap a big ace bandage around the "non-stick pad" because it didn't stay well and I had to keep adjusting it to keep it in place.  I started thinking that I needed to cut the foot out of a tube sock and use that, but it seemed like that would be awfully hot and cumbersome under my work pants, so I never got around to doing that.

Yesterday when I went to my regular grocery store - not one of the big box stores that has everything you never wanted - just my regular Bi-Lo grocery store, right there in front of my eyes was something called Curad Hold Tite Tubular stretch Bandage. 

This stuff is absolutely amazing.  Here's their own description of it. 

"CURAD Hold Tite is the perfect product for areas where tape
application or removal would be difficult such as elbows, knees, ankles, heels, etc... Made of rayon/polyester, this knitted elastic net tube can be cut to fit any body part holding both dry and wet dressings in place. Its soft open weave is low linting, does not constrict, and allows for maximum airflow."

When it comes out of the box, it's in a roll that they say is 5 feet stretched.  It's about the circumference of a large man's thumb.  But boy does it ever stretch! 

I put my own "unpetroleum jelly" on the part of the wound that's beginning to heal and the leftover adhesive irritation; then the part of the wound that is still open and yucky gets a generous squirt of generic neosporin ointment with a large "non-stick pad" covering it. 

Then today, I cut off about 10 inches of the Hold Tite, stretched it open, and pulled it up over my knee.  It is so lightweight; it doesn't bind; it doesn't slip; the bandage stays put; it doesn't cut off my circulation; and I don't have the skin irritation from adhesive.  Tonight I'll sleep in it - we'll see how that goes.  All my previous solutions didn't work very well during sleeping.  I think this is going to work well! 

So I think Medline, the company that owns Curad, has a genius or maybe a bunch of them on staff.  This stuff is amazing.  I don't know if I'll have any more leg or arm wounds, but I'm going to buy another box of it next time I'm there because if they ever figure out how valuable it is they'll probably double the price! 

So here's the short of it, 
Dan's dog Sampson died yesterday. 

And here's the long

Dan and Sampson

There is something about a dog. Something that enlarges us and makes us better than we would have been without them.    

It's awfully hard to lose a good dog. It's especially hard when that life is cut short. 

Dan lost Sampson to kidney failure yesterday.  I understand that he was a great dog with an amazing spirit and was well loved by Dan's many friends.

So here's the short of it, 
Today was a great Saturday for me! 

And here's the long.

Today I didn't leave the house for anything, I was rather well rested, and I vanquished the clutter in the Kitchen - at least except for the really high up stuff.  All the while, I was working on several loads of laundry, and even made it to the den for a bit of cleaning up in there. All  I think I had more energy than I've had in many, many months.   

Both Liga and Valdis came by for a bit this afternoon.  Valdis is helping out with some yard work, and Liga is just getting over the crud that made her sicker than she's been in a long time.  Her Dad suggested that she sit out in the sun, so she took a book and did just that!  It sure was nice to have them around.

This evening, Alan and I had dinner with a couple of dear friends and it was lovely to have the feeling of having accomplished a good chunk of work - almost as if I'd earned the reward of dinner and visiting with people who share some of the same life views. 

I highly recommend The Big Table.  The food suits me to a tee and it's a small cozy place.  It's a great spot to be with friends.

There was something very normal feeling about today......
             and then there are the foot cramps that I've had all day long as though I just need a bit of a reminder.

So here's the short of it, 
Mom had a second epidural steroid injection today. 

And here's the long.

I took a 1/2 sick day today to take Mom for an epidural for her back pain.  

Here's a description I grabbed from a doctor in Fort Wayne who has it posted on the web (not Mom's doc!)

She did just great with it.  She forgot that she was not supposed to eat breakfast, so they weren't able to give her the twilight sleep and she endured it without anything except some local numbing.  She said that it wasn't so bad at all, and seemed to feel some relief right away.

This evening when I checked on her the local numbing had worn off and she was experiencing some pain 

So here's the short of it, 
This evening we went to hear Cory Booker, Mayor of Newark, speak at UTC. 

And here's the long

 I really enjoyed the evening with Alan at UTC.

There were several things he said that just resonated with me. 

He said when he was growing up, his parents spent a lot of time teaching him that he had an obligation in the world. They told him, "All the privilege that you have young man was paid for by someone else, you drink deeply from wells of freedom and liberty that you did not dig. You eat lavishly from banquet tables that were prepared for you by your ancestors. You have an obligation; you have a burden - a righteous, glorious burden, because this nation is not finished. We have so much work to do. So this was the charge of my brothers and my life."  They told him that he could earn that freedom by going out and continuing this work.  I really like that!

Another one of his themes was the choices we make every day, no every minute.  "Every moment of our lives, we make a decision to accept things as they are or to begin to change it." He also said something that may have energized me and given me another burst of energy for my work.  He said his parents always said to him, "If you could not fail, what would you do." 

This is just a bit of my take away for the evening. 
I think I'd vote for this man if I had a chance.

Oh yes,  I had several other favorite sayings from his talk, "You can learn more from a woman on the fifth floor of the projects than from any of those fancy professors."  - attributed to his father.  And he said that his mentor Mrs. Jones taught him that "the world you see outside of you is merely a reflection of who you are inside."

A good evening was had by all......

So here's the short of it, 
More thoughts about Dad and Mom.

And here's the long

Today Mom's PEO book club met to discuss Dad's book, A Name in the Sand. She had let them read one of the draft copies and after several times of having to reschedule it, this morning at 10:00 o'clock.  I took a personal leave 1/2 day so that I could join them, and Alan came as well.  I really enjoyed having an opportunity to hear the comments from these very bright, articulate women. 

I always knew - even from the time I was a very young girl, that my Dad was a really special man.  Each day I have that confirmed in some way.  Today it was through the eyes of people who didn't know Dad that well, but caught his spirit from his words.  I thought about how he started, and sat there at the kitchen table in Middlesboro, Kentucky when the weather was too cold and dark to be working  outside.  All of us children had been long gone from home, and Mom was there encouraging him and helping him have the strength to craft his story.  She's told me that it was a very emotional time for him as he relived his experiences, and I have to believe that her support and encouragement helped him get the story on paper. 

So here's the short of it, 
I have itchy legs, but I'm getting stronger.

And here's the long

Today was a long work day.  Now that it's way late into fall and the time has changed, having an after school meeting that goes until 6:30 means that it's dark and cold when it's time to come home! And - I was all the way out in Ooltewah.  I'm glad I like to drive -- and that I don't mind driving in the dark!

It was a rainy and cold day - and I had to be out in it twice!  It looks like tomorrow will be warmer and that the rain will have passed by.  Sophie will be glad she'll be able to get outside without getting wet!

Last year while I was having chemotherapy I had no problem with my darned skin.  I think it's mild eczema.  Dad had it and I think both my brothers have it as well. We all have the "Howard itchy back syndrome", but this is lots worse.  So my legs are broken out - another step back toward normalcy - even though it's not one I would wish for.  Today I walked up and down the steps between my third floor office and the pre-school assessment center on the second floor.  I actually did real grown up one foot then the next!  I was really tired by the time I got to the top, and I'll have to admit that holding onto the rail was the only thing that gave me the confidence I could do it, but I'm going to try to do this at least once every day I'm in the office!  I have an appointment in December with Dr. Schlabach - I'll talk with him about how long it should take before my strength returns and if there's something I can do to help it along. 

So here's the short of it, 
I learned of a new drug today - Xeloda. 

 And here's the long

It was good to be back at work today.  The conference was great, but only great  because there's a way to bring back the stuff we learned and put it to work in our schools.

This morning we had a team meeting to start a discussion about what we might be able to do to prevent our high achieving kids from losing ground.  It's a beginning and we've got some folks pretty fired up!  Maybe we can get some work done on this before the end of the year!

I saw my work friend Amy this afternoon as she was leaving.  We share the same doctor, and the same oncology nurse.  I saw her about two weeks ago and she was anticipating that she would start on some kind of chemo in the near future, as her tumor markers had gone up considerably.  Today she told me that Lori (our nurse) called her late that afternoon and had her come in before quitting time.  She has started on the chemotherapy drug Xeloda.  It's a pill that she takes twice a day.  Actually she takes 3 in the AM and 4 in the PM.  She's having some side effects, but so far is able to come to work every day.  Amy is such an inspiration to me.  She has such an indomitable spirit and her influence kept me motivated all during last year.  I sure hope I can give her even a little of the support that she was to me.  She's already beginning to have some side effects - but this one won't make her lose her hair!  Take a moment and say a prayer for my breast cancer warrior friend Amy!  And say another for my sister-in-law Pennie, who continues her battle. 

So here's the short of it, 

Home is the best. 

And here's the long

I'm so glad to be back at home.  I'm so glad to have Mom back at home.

When I arrived in the driveway, Sophie just danced and barked and acted so glad to see me! And before I could get the car door opened, Lola came strolling across the alley and down the driveway just looking at me and mouthing a silent meow. It's great to see them.

Liga came over for a bit.  She's not feeling very well, and I'm really glad that I got back home in time to make her  some chicken soup and a good gargle.  Mom and Alan and I went over to Cracker Barrel for dinner - now it's good to be back home.  I haven't slept while I was away from home so it's going to be early to bed tonight with hopes for a good night's sleep!

Before I left, we had started Lola on a liquid antibiotic.  It's quite a bit of difficulty to get her swallow it.  It involves holding her tightly, getting the dropper in her mouth, and then getting her to cooperate - unless you are my brilliant husband.  Then it's just simply putting it in her CatMilk and letting her drink it at her leisure! 

So here's the short of it, 
Today was another great conference day!

And here's the long

Another really great day at the conference.  It just seemed that every session I attended held more than just information.  After having been out of pocket for a whole year, it was great to re-establish contact with folks who I only regularly see in places like this.  I'm so glad it was in Atlanta!

My travel companion's husband drove down from Chattanooga for the day and evening so we've split up and I have a hotel room to myself!  The biggest thing about that on this trip is that I'll get to have two cups of coffee in the morning.  They just have those little one cup at a time coffee makers in the room!  It's been a bit problematic.

I didn't get to visit with familly this time around.  My car's battery actually went dead.  Thankfully Phillip boosted me off when he got here from Chattanooga, and right now it seems to be fine.  It needs to get a check up when I get back home!!

Every year when I go to NAGC and visit the exhibiters hall I always stop and visit the whole movement booth.  This year, I finally bought one of the books.  This is an amazing booth that is all about math, art, and science in the geometry of folding circles!  The gentle man who has this booth just amazes me.  And the artistry of folding circles is so astounding to see.  Visit the whole movement website to take a peek at some of his work.  And fold some circles if you are so inclined.  I have a particular student in mind who will benefit from this and then I'm sure that there will be many others in the years to come.

Well, tomorrow I'm headed home.  It's been a good conference, but home is sounding mighty good! 

So here's the short of it, 
Today was a great conference day.

And here's the long

Today's conference sessions were really great.  Two of the sessions were on brain functioning.  One on executive functioning, the other on the science of how brain structure is related to learning styles.  Wow, the light went on - scientific explanations that suddenly made years of interactions with students spin into a new level of understanding. Then there was a presentation by Joe Renzulli about what makes the difference between really smart people who make a positive difference in the world and really smart people who focus on material gain, ego enhancement, and self-indulgence or even worse criminal behaviors.  That was really great. 

At dinner we got the together with a bunch of other Tennessee folks and found our way to the Hard Rock Cafe. 

NO DRUGS OR NUCLEAR WEAPONS ALLOWED INSIDE

This was the sign on all the bathroom doors - they weren't really stalls - little rooms.  There were several young teenage girls dressed in shirts with peace signs and other relics of the 60's.  They were laughing at the signs and saying "Do you think this is a joke?" I just had the notion that I wanted to gather them around in a little group and give them a history lesson about the anti-war movement and the peace and love generation.  But I washed my hands and went back to the table. 

And I thought to myself --- I guess I'm pretty old....

But I also thought, yep that's right -- no drugs and no nuclear weapons allowed inside.   And let's all imagine there's no hunger!

So here's the short of it, 
Today is Veterans Day and I'm thinking of Dad.

And here's the long

Today is Veterans Day and I find my thoughts meadering over to memories of Dad no matter what I'm thinking.  There was a program at the cemetery today at 11:00.  I had to leave town at 12:00 so I didn't have time to go to the program, but Valdis did come over to the house and in a spontaneous moment he decided to go with me to visit Dad's gravesite.  Alan was coming back from a meeting in town, so we all met at the cemetery.

 Thanks Dad for your service to our country.  Thanks for telling us the funny stories about the peacock and the farmer lady as we were growing up.  And thank you for deciding, once we were grown, that you should tell the whole story, as you remembered it. 

Thanks for A Name in the Sand. Elizabeth has been laboring over it with great love and in short time the final version will be published. 

I honor you.
I honor all those who have served. 

So here's the short of it,
Today was a good, fast work day!

And here's the long

So today fairly flew by.  I started out with a meeting involving parents and went from there to a school where two other members of my team and I met with small groups of teachers during their planning times.  Since we were moving quickly  the day was over before I even knew it. 

Hershey is behaving in a much calmer manner today.  I heard that she and Sophie escaped from the back yard today and who knows how long they were running around the neighborhood.  Our friendly vet neighbor rounded them up and put them back in the fence and chained it shut!  They got to go out with me again this evening for our regular walk, and they really played hard.  Right now they are flaked out and napping and have been almost all evening long! 

I'm getting a little sleepy.  Maybe I'll head to bed here in just a bit.  Taking an Advil PM is seeming to help me with the falling asleep thing - of course "falling back" helped out with that as well.

So here's the short of it, 
Time Change - how long til I'm in it.....

And here's the long

So I'm still falling back!  This evening when I got home from work it felt so late.  The dogs and I walked - it was warm enough.  I'm just amazed at how the time change impacts me more and more as my years advance!  The one good thing I'm taking from this is that I AM getting to bed at an earlier hour.  Which is making it so much easier to get up in the morning.  Of course, I've also started taking an Advil PM - maybe that's helping my sleep patterns a bit. 

Today was a busy work day.  The morning was filled with a continuing very unpleasant task - I'm wanting to bring that to a close by the end of next week.  The day ended a little better.  I'd been asked to sit in on a meeting that had the potential to be very unpleasant.  It did have some palpable tension, but all in all it felt like we kept it in the road.  I'm sure glad that the end of the day felt better than the beginning.

So here's the short of it,
Falling back makes the day seem pretty long.

And here's the long

I am definitely feeling the effects of the "fall back".  I slept well enough last night - Advil PM helped out with that. I definitely felt rested when I got up, but today felt like an awfully long day.  Now we not only have early darkness, we also have the cold!  I wanted a bit of fall - my favorite time of year.  But it seems that we went pretty quickly from summer to this intro to winter!

Hershey was out of the yard when I got home this evening, and Sophie was at the back gate to let me know!  Sophie was very agitated and making all kinds of sounds.  It was very apparent that Hershey was not in the back yard, so we went straight to the front of the house and out the door.  There was Hershey on the other side of the circle with another dog.  She came running right away, and Sophie immediately settled down!  I guess it took this for me to see how much Sophie thinks Hershey is her responsibility.

Mom has started using a short squirt of water from a misting spray bottle when Hershey jumps up.  I brought it up to the house yesterday when Hershey came up, and I can already see a huge difference in her jumping!  Tonight she's actually been relatively calm for the first time!  Of course it may be that she was out for such a long time this afternoon that she's exhausted tonight - I really hope not.  I think Alan may have found the place she was escaping and so maybe she won't be able to get out tomorrow!

Tomorrow is an early morning, so I'm hoping that sleep comes soon.  

So here's the short of it,
I'm hoping the "fall back" jump starts my ability to get going to bed a little earlier!

And here's the long

Well the first day of the "fall back".  I loved the extra time in bed this morning.  And just maybe I will be able to get into bed a little earlier.  My trouble getting to sleep should be helped out by the fact that it's later body time than real time!

I harvested a few tomatoes today. Most of them survived the little frost we had last night although it seemed to have done the plants in.  It also got the Loufa plants - and with that vine all over the place only one fruit!  It would have been a good day to get the garden cleaned up for the winter, but I want to give the tomatoes another week or so just in case!  There's conflicting forecasts about frost tonight -  I'll be hoping that The Weather Channel is right. 

We had one last dinner with Pennie tonight before she heads back to Tampa.  She's looking great and seems to be tolerating her treatments very well.  She is a brave and wonderful warrior!  And she is taking this diagnosis on.  It was wonderful news last week that there is no cancer in her brain - that is much to celebrate. 

We have Hershey for the first part of the week.  She's a good companion for Sophie, but the two of them drive Lola crazy and can certainly be a handful.  Right now it seems that not a creature is stirring in this house - not even a mouse, except for me and the quiet clacking of the keyboard.  That too will cease momentarily and I'll make my way to an early bedtime for the first time in a long time.

So here's the short of it, 
Today is Valdis birthday!

And here's the long.

Tonight we celebrated Liga and Valdis' birthdays with MaMa, and Pennie and Myra.  We had dinner out and then came back to Mom's for cake and ice cream.

Today is actually Valdis' birthday.  It's hard to believe that he's 22!

We were sure happy to be able to celebrate his birthday with him.  

The sibs were out to celebrate a little later with friends later in the evening.

So here's the short of it,
A good doctor report, and dinner with sisters!


And here's the long

We went out to dinner tonight with Pennie and Myra and I got another good picture of the siblings.  That's always a special picture - Alan and big sister and little sister.

We've both found it pretty interesting.  He's the middle child a boy between two girls.  I'm the middle child a girl between two boys.

The Chop House was pretty good tonight, but our poor waiter had maybe gotten two tables too many, or maybe he was still pretty new at it all.

I had my appointment with Dr. Gefter, my radiologist today.  He found me all good.  He told me I needed to do stretches and continue massage with lotion to the surgical bed where the radiation boost was given.  He says that radiation will cause scar tissue to continue to be made for a year or more after the last treatment.  The massage and stretching keeps that tissue more flexible so there'll be less pain.  I'm glad to understand all that.

I'm so glad tomorrow is Saturday.  Let's see how long I can sleep in on a day when I don't have to be anywhere.  I hope it's pretty late!!!

So here's the short of it, 
Ready to Fall Back

And here's the long

Myra's in town.  Pennie will be here tomorrow.

I took a picture of Myra and Alan for the blog tonight after dinner, but when I looked at it I had posed them in front of a flag holder on the side of a house.  It looked like it was growing right out of the top of Myra's head!  I just decided not to use it.

I had a great work day today, but I am so looking forward to Friday!  Actually, I'm looking forward to Saturday and "Falling Back".

So here's the short of it, 

Happy Birthday Dear Liga!

And here's the long

Liga is 23 years old today. 

It's her 16th birthday with us!

Happy Birthday Dear Liga.  

Here's wishing you a wonderful year.

So here's the short of it,
Today was a chilly day.

And here's the long

Today I worked in a school office with a team of folks and I didn't dress warmly enough!  We have to go back again one day next week, and I'm going to be sure to remember to take a sweater next time.

 It's been a few days since my fall.  I'm really OK.  My left knee is starting to get sore - but it's not serious.  At this point, I'm beginning to find some humor in the whole picture as it must have looked - a half-grown Great Dane chasing after a squirrel - Lynn hanging on to the leash and going down, BAM! in the street.  One of those events that once you know everyone is safe it's OK to laugh. 

Myra and Pennie will be in for a visit later on in the week.  I'm eager to see both of them. 

So here's the short of it, 

All's well that ends well.  - yes indeed Will.

And here's the long

Today fairly flew by.  Two conferences with principals and teachers went very well, and then on to a bit of office time to get ready for a big project tomorrow and before I knew it, it was time to go home!

I really like work days like that!

My big fall the other day doesn't seem to have left any lasting horrible stuff.  I do have a ghastly, awful place on my left knee.  It's an open weepy wound, but it doesn't hurt, and keeping it covered and smeared with generic neosporin seems, so far, to be doing the trick.  Sophie definitely knows that my knee is hurt!  Several times each day she comes over and sniffs and nudges at it and makes a little worried sound.  But as I said, it really doesn't hurt.  It is pretty stiff and walking is a bit more difficult than it was before, but I'm managing fine.  My hand must have been just jammed; it's getting better too.  It's still a little tender, but nothing to be fussy about.  And the other various skinned up places on my right knee and my hands are healing very well.  It's really funny to me that my right knee - which I thought was broken when I fell, isn't really injured at all!  I'm fascinated with the way our bodies respond to all the worldy insults we manage to bring to them.

My surgical site has started to give me some reason to notice it. I have an appointment with my radiologist this Friday so I'll ask about it and see what he has to day.  I'm experiencing some achiness, something that's a bit like internal itchiness, and some just weird feelings.  It's all relieved by massage, so I'm thinking it just has to do with the healing process.  I'll know something in a few days.

I have another really early day on schedule tomorrow.  I think back on all the years that I worked at a school that started at 7:15 in the morning, and I wonder how I made it every day!  At least now that's not my normal start time and most days I'm just getting out of bed when my neighbor leaves for his 7:15 school across the county  - where I have to be tomorrow :(

I wish I knew a trick to get sleepy so I could get a few more zzzz's.