So here's the short of it,
 I haven't felt well today.

And here's the long

Well, we did not have any  Inclement Weather after all!  It sure did look yucky last night and at about 3:00, I was up and looked out the window - it was cold (I could tell by looking haha) but it was pretty dry. This morning when it was time to get up, I so wanted to have that phone call.  The one from Danielle our beautiful PR lady who says on the pre-recorded announcement "Hamilton County blah blah, blah no school blah blah".  No call came. I felt pretty bad; I'd gotten a bad chill so I decided to take the morning as a sick day. I got myself dressed and worked a bit from home. But I didn't go in until after lunch. That turned out to be a good decision.  

I do have a chill.  By the time I got home this afternoon, I was feeling worse. Supper's done.  Kitchen's cleaned - well sorta, I'm in my pajamas.  I'm going to bed really soon.  

Alan is having a whole lot of difficulty with his neck. He had an MRI today, and his doctor has already called.  He'll be having some steroid shots early next week. We were working on the plumbing in "this old house" kitchen, and he was the one under the sink. He probably "hyper extended" his neck.  No more of that kind of work for a long, long time. He's been miserable. Maybe the shots next week will work.

Here's a Pennie update.  She's home from the hospital, and at Brian and Julie's house for the time being. (Her oldest).  She will be going home with help in the next few days. 

So here's the short of it, 
I had a good work day and there's a possibility of a snow delay tomorrow. 

And here's the long

We have  a prediction of a little snow and some freezing rain.  Here's the announcement as it appears on our school's website.
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Inclement Weather Alert

Friday, January 21, 2011

The weather forecast indicates that a small system is moving through the Chattanooga area overnight, bringing the possiblity of light snow showers early Friday morning.

All indications point to the system moving through quickly with little accumulation on the roads. The exception could be the mountain areas. There is the possibility that buses will run snow routes for the Signal Mountain schools on Friday. Click here to see the Signal Mountain snow routes.

The Hamilton County Dept. of Education is actively monitoring the weather and may have to make a decision about delaying and/or closing schools early Friday morning.

Parents and residents are encouraged to monitor this website for updated information regarding potential school delays and/or closings.
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I'm predicting that we'll go to school - maybe on a 2 hour delay. When I came home about 6:00 this evening there was already a light rain falling and the temperature was dropping and I know it's probably several degree. But our decision makers won't want to keep us home with so much more winter looming ahead of us when we've already used all or most all of our snow days. I actually haven't gotten word on that yet, I'll need to check it out tomorrow!

Good night - I don't have an early morning but I'm going to try really hard to get to bed at a decent hour and get up early.

Work was good today.  I went in with good vibes and left that way as well. I'm looking forward to tomorrow. 

So here's the short of it, 
I'm back "out front" with Sophie.

And here's the long

What a dog!  Sophie must have mind reading capabilities or something. She's been pretty patient about not having her outside time in the evenings since I broke my ankle. I let her go out "on her own" a few times - I don 't really like doing that, even though she's pretty good about staying in the circle.  And I was able to talk Liga and Valdis into taking her around the circle a few times. But going out with me especially when I take her "off leash" is the best. Anyway, she's been good about seeming to understand that I couldn't take her out.

I didn't get home early tonight. But as soon as I got in the door, she wanted to go "out front" - that's the command I use to let her know we are going out the front door to walk in the circle.  She was dancing around and behaving as though she absolutely understood that this afternoon was different and that there was no reason that I couldn't take her out for a walk. It was really pretty precious.  We went out - yes when I finally said "out front" she was SO excited.  And I walked for the first time since my fall. (oh except for that one time before I realized that I was not supposed to be really going for a walk in my boot).  I only made it around the circle twice.  I am so out of shape!  Sophie spent her time playing with Cutie Pie - her Labradoodle friend; Charlie, her golden retriever friend; Zoro, her very old beagle friend; and finally Winston, the young shepherd mix who lives in a yard with an invisible fence.  She goes into Winston's yard and plays very nicely with him.  They run around the bushes and into and out of the back yard.  Winston never goes out of his space and Sophie is really good to play with him. BUT she did not come home when I asked her to .... we'll have to work on that some more. But she and I are both really glad to get back into the routine of a good walk before the end of the day unless the weather is too wet.

So at the end of the day you can just know that Sophie and I will be "out front".

So here's the short of it, 
No Ace; No Brace!

And here's the long

Well I got great news from the Doctor this morning. Of course I was nervous that I had come out of the brace too soon, even though I was perfectly comfortable. And I got the very best news of all.  I don't have to wear the support bandage (my skin rash can finally begin to heal); I don't have to wear a brace (I can finally wear shoes besides the tennis shoes the brace fit into); and I can resume normal activities (Sophie will be so grateful to have her evening walks again!)

I am going to have physical therapy for strengthening, and gait training. A couple of my colleagues suggested that I go to one of our nearby schools and just do my gait training there where we have a student who works on that daily (so that I didn't have to miss so much). So funny! I probably have been needing these things anyway because of the continuing neuropathy in my feet. I was too busy to get the therapy set up today - but tomorrow I'll do that. 

And of course it turned out even better that I had wished for - I don't have to wear my Ace or my brace. Tonight, for the first time in ages, I'll sleep with a naked ankle - bare skin snuggled against the sheets!  I'm so looking forward to that.

I'm still icing that ankle. And I'm going to be very careful. Tonight as I left work, it was already dark, and the parking lot was wet from today's rain and still had lots of ice. I didn't need to be warned! 

Thanks to all who had me in your thoughts and prayers!  

So here's the short of it, 
Hoping that the ankle is OK.

And here's the long

Tomorrow I have an appointment first thing in the morning with my broken ankle doctor.  I really hope I'm not in lots of trouble. The boot that I have been supposed to be wearing was making my back and my hip hurt so much that I thought I would permanently injure my back.  And sleeping in that boot was an absolute joke - I wasn't resting well at all. Dr. Robertson told me when I first got the boot that I could take it off to shower as long as I was really careful. Well, I noticed  that I was getting stronger and stronger every day. So the first day that we were home from school because of the snow, I spent more of the day with my boot off than on.  Now, I was not on my foot very much, I was mostly sitting that first day. 

Then the next day or maybe it was the next, I went over to WalMart and found myself a Mueller Adjustable Ankle Stabilizer. It has two metal side stays and these two wrap around straps that make it even more stable.  The first couple of days - well nights - I only took off the boot to sleep and put it back on when I was on my feet. But I noticed that my back and hip were feeling much better when I wasn't using my boot. So I guess beginning about Tuesday or so, I started wearing it during the day as well - and being very careful for sure. And of course I'm wearing the ace bandage under it. It's actually not ace brand, it's the Top Care brand which is Bi-Lo's generic brand and is much better than the ace brand. I haven't worn my knee boot for several many days. I've been wearing the Mueller's Maximum Support Level Adjustable Ankle Stabilizer with side stays that are ideal for sore or sprained or strained ankles. (I know, I know it doesn't say anything about broken ankles as Alan has pointed out to me, and I've been hard headed since I was a little bitty girl, as my Mom has pointed out to Alan.)

I really haven't been stupid about this I think, but tomorrow I guess we'll see. I'm hoping that I'll get to graduate to just an ace bandage or maybe even a nothing - especially at night! I'm so eager to sleep with a naked foot and ankle.

Now, if you read yesterday's post, I'll have to tell you that I had to back up and re-do the spacing after almost every sentence. I hope that tomorrow I won't have to re-do so many.

So here's the short of it, 
 It's not two spaces!

And here's the long

The other day I was doing some work and I discovered an article that I thought I should share. Looking back over my blog, one will see that I'm firmly stuck in a pretty antiquated time. I put two spaces after my period when I'm "typing". When I learned to type, it was in that upstairs corner room at Pineville High School - I'm pretty sure it was the 67-68 school year. I think those two upstairs rooms were our vocational department - Home Ec on one side and Typing on the other. My teacher was Mr. Jones.  This picture of him just amazes me. When I was a high schooler, he looked much older than he looks in this picture now. I truly appreciate that class.  It has stood me in good stead over the years to know how to "type". Now, the rule when we learned in the late 60's was two spaces after a period at the end of a sentence. Apparently, that rule was never really the rule. And now that we have proportional font it is really not the rule. But since I've spent the majority of my adult life putting two spaces after every period, the memory is etched deeply in my fingertips and I'm going to have to really work on changing it.

Here's a picture of me when I was learning how to type.  And here's the article "Why you should never, ever use two spaces after a period."   I wonder if Mr. Jones ever started to use only one space. I don't know much about Mr. Jones, but I'm sure glad he taught me to type, even if I am now going to struggle with relearning how to space after a period.

So here's the short of it,
We had a nice evening out.

And here's the long.

Tonight I went out for the first time since the snow fell.  We picked up Mom and went over to the Jewish Cultural Center for an interfaith dinner, discussion about the significance of light in religious practices. Our Reform Rabbi, an Episcopal priest (a woman) and a Seventh Day Adventist Minister all spoke and then there was a bit of time for questions and answers.

I certainly enjoyed the evening and got to see lots of friends and family.  It was really good to spend time with Mom and Alan as well.  And it was really good to get out of the house!!  I'm going to venture out in the morning and hit the grocery store for a few things.  I can hardly believe that I've got a holiday on Monday.  It seems like it's been forever since I've been to work!  I've already got a busy day going on Tuesday!  My first stop will be the doctor to take a look at my healed ankle - well, I'm sure it's healed.  We'll see what he says.  Then over to the main office for a busy and long day.

Good news from Pennie.  She was up and walking for a bit today.  We understand that she's still in considerable pain - so we appreciate continued thoughts and prayers!