I'M BACK

HI!  I'm back! 

 I went to the doctor today and found out I need to have ankle surgery again.  Yes, the same ankle!  Would you believe that people with RA have joints and ligaments that will deteriorate over time?  What?!  Who knew? No one told me! Even though I had the surgery on my ligament in May 2012, I thought that it would last a bit longer.  The jokes on me.  RA patients (obviously like me) have weakened ligaments therefore they give out easily which leads to surgeries and then deterioration to the joint.  Oh, Joy!

When the doctor moved my foot it literally moved independent of my leg.  Even she gagged when it happened.  That means the ligament is completely torn again.  She is shocked I am walking around and have been for a year. 

I have a MRI on Sunday to see how bad the tear is and if I have also ruined some of the cartilage.  If the cartilage is ruined, I will need a surgery to vacuum that out first.  I received nothing but good news today! 

I will give an update when I hear what the MRI report says.

Until tomorrow...

DOG SITTER NEW HOME

Today we went to check out the dog sitter's new digs.  She moved in with her boyfriend in his house.  It is a great location with a great backyard.  There were four dogs at the house.  I always get worried when my dogs are going to be around other dogs.  I know they will be fine but I only really see them in our area and they are relentless about protecting me.  They think our whole block is their yard and they treat all dogs as intruders.  They loved playing with all those dogs!  There were three bigger dogs and one small dog.  Lucky just lost it when she saw her Auntie R.  Both dogs just love her.  It makes me happy to know that our dog sitter takes such good care of my babies. 

Until tomorrow...

SAFETY DRILL

Today we had our city wide safety drill.  It is so important to be ready for all emergencies.  If you participate in drills then when the emergency happens it will be rote. 

Years ago my apartment burned and it really made me realize how important it is to be ready.  I have my go-bag all ready for if something happens.  It has all my safety equipment in it.  Then we have our emergency box with all our emergency items.  Food, plastic bags, batteries, flashlights, first aid items, insurance documents and pet documents.  We have water stashed.  We could survive for three days.  We have a charger that has a USB plug so we can charge a phone by winding a crank.  I won't be able to have long conversations but I could send a text. 

For the first day or so we could barbecue/cook on the barbecue a bunch of food.  Or hook up our camp stove.  After that we will be eating a bunch of soup and canned veggies.  It will not be exciting food but it will be food.  We buy canned food at Costco and in a pinch we can always eat that.  Take some canned tomatoes and mix in some canned corn and peas and heat it up.  Maybe throw in some canned black olives.  Then depending on the situation, if we have water and can heat it up, cook some pasta and voila! dinner!

The drill went well and I had a good time.  At first when I got there I was not that thrilled about being there.  I sat back and watched everyone at the drill mill around.  Then I got involved and began to have fun.  I did triage, put out a fire and learned all about how to get someone out of a car with a live electrical wire in the immediate vicinity.  (the bunny hop, believe it or not).  The day ended up being fun and interesting.

Until tomorrow...

JUST SO TIRED

I had a hard time sleeping last night.  I won't go into why but suffice it to say I am exhausted today.  Plus I had to get up extra early for a 8 am phone call, then a 8:30 phone call, then a client at 10 am one hour drive away.  It was go, go, go all day.  Some one told me I looked mad but I was just tired.

I just want to sleep tonight. Wish me luck!

Until tomorrow...

MY LEG FEELS BETTER

Today my leg feels better already.  Yesterday I slipped on the hardwood floor and pulled a muscle in my leg.  I was having a problem getting up from the seated position and walking.  Today I am feeling better so I think I am on the road to recovery. 

Until tomorrow...

PULLED A MUSCULE, I THINK

Last night I slipped on the floor.  Okay, it was stupid.  I was wearing socks and we have hardwood floors.  I got off balance and next thing I know, my foot slipped and now the inside of my thigh is killing me when I walk, get up, sit down.  Basically do anything but sit still. 

Last night I took two Advil PMs but still I must have woken up 10 times.  Every time I rolled over I think.  Makes me wish I had some of those pain killers left over!  Ha ha.  I am sure in a few days I will be good as new.  I think it is a pulled muscle.  At least I hope it is.   We shall see.

Until tomorrow...

PHILOMENA

I thought I had written about this before but I can't find the post so maybe I didn't.   Today I viewed part of the movie Philomena.  If you have never see bit, it is about a woman who got pregnant when she was a teenager in Ireland.  In those days girls were taken to convents or homes for unwed mothers.  These places kept the girls until they gave birth.  As soon as the babies were born, the child was ripped from the mother and adopted out. Many times to American families.  There was no consent, no paperwork in many cases.  Many of the girls were cast out by their families.  Philomena was one of these girls and she decided to go in search of her son in America.

Years ago I had a volunteer who found out from his adopted parents that he was born in Ireland.  Little by little the story came out that he was a baby born to a teenage mom in a convent home for unwed mothers.  He did some searching and found his mom.  She came over from Ireland.  It is was so interesting to be his friend while he went through this process.  He was so brave.  It must have been so hard to learn all this information and then meet your biological mother.

Until tomorrow...

HILLARY RUNNING

Okay, however you want to vote is none of my business.  I just have an interesting comment. 

So Hillary Clinton announces she is running for president and the first news story I read is about her logo.  Not about her policies or her stance on Cuba or ISIS.  No.  Her logo.  Do we like it?  Why is the arrow pointing to the right? Is it ripped off from Wikileaks. 

I guess we have come a long way (said with sarcasm) from the days when the first thing we talked about was what she was wearing and what her hair looked like.  Will women ever be treated the same way as men?  I can't wait until the day comes when the Fashion Police rips apart what Jeb Bush is wearing to an event or talks about the fact that the hair dye he uses just isn't the right shade.  Or Marco Rubio didn't wear the right color shoes with that suit or his lapels were too big for this season.

Or maybe we could just stop caring about this trivial stuff in our politicians and care if they are spending our money wisely and keeping our troops safe and doing OUR bidding instead of their own on matters of policy.  Hey, do what we elected them to do.  Wouldn't that be nice?  Hey, just my opinion.  I think her logo looks just fine.  In two years no one is going to care anyway. 

Until tomorrow...

WALKED A STREET FAIR

Today I went to a street fair to take photos and walk around.  It was a nice day and it had great potential.  I packed a lunch and took a few buses to my destination.  I really should have driven but in the spirit of the day I wanted to save on fossil fuels. 

I got to my destination after two buses, a shuttle and short walk.  I began walking and quickly realized I was not going to get many photos.  I like to take photos of things.  Kids doing things, interesting murals, pets, foliage, landscapes and such.  This street fair was in a bit of a downtrodden part of town along a street car line.  One side of the street was closed to traffic and the other still had the train going and cars driving.  There were long expanses between tents and activities where there was nothing going on and there were no buildings but overgrown lots and broken down or boarded up buildings.  Closed shops and closed up shops were everywhere.  As you can gather it was a nice place to bike and walk but not an over abundance of photo opportunities for me.  I walked a far distance and enjoyed my picnic lunch in a small park-let.  I got to see another part of town that I usually drive through, when I go there at all.  There are some cute little restaurants that I may check out in the future.  Overall it was a pleasant way to spend the afternoon.  I took a faster way back using the train.
Until tomorrow... 

GARAGE SALE

Today I had a garage sale.  My whole neighborhood had a garage sale.  I made a whole $4.  There was not a very good turnout for the stuff I was selling.  I had audio books on CD and frames (nice ones) and some other stuff like a room shampooer and a hot tub cover.  None of this stuff sold.  I sold some painted decorative shovels, a wine rack and a child's toy.  I am taking all the leftover stuff to the Goodwill.  I will take the tax write off just to get it out of the house.  I may keep one of the audiobooks for my car.  I have been getting tired of listening to the radio.  Maybe an audiobook would be fun.  I spend about 1.5 hours in the car a day.  I could finish an audiobook a week. 
It was fun sitting outside seeing my neighbors.  Where will I spend all my profits?? 

Until tomorrow...