Joel Surgery

I am so leased they were able to get Joel in to see Dr Jones, get the MRI, and that Dr Hodges was able to get him squeezed in for the surgery on Wednesday! I took the day off work after rearranging a few things and took him to the surgical center at 8:00am. The place was swamped. Joel has never had surgery of any kind so I explained they'd get him ready then I'd wait with him in preop then he'd wake up. At 8:30 the nurse came to get him and said shed be right back for me. At 10 I went up to the counter and asked and they said they'd started the surgery! I was so pissed. So the girl fell all over herself bringing me messages that basically said nothing while he was in surgery but she must have gone to lunch. At noon, I went up there again a nod they said he was out of surgery! They said to go to this small room and the doctor would come talk to me. I waited and waited. I peeked in the recovery room and there were a bunch of people gathered talking and I got really scared. I was in tears by the time the doctor came in. He said the surgery went really well and he showed me pictures of the tear. It was a doosey! The used his hamstring to fix the Acl. As soon as Joel was in a room, they let me see him. Leah and Scott brought us some food. Joelmhad had a block so he was doing really well. He was also on good meds. I did the nystagmus test on him just for fun and it was really cool how his eye jumped around. We got him home around 3:30. Then the goober and his goober dad stayed up half the night playing games with cousin Jon and friend.
Thursday I went to work and they did a good job with the pain meds but forgot about ice and elevation. We took all his wraps off and he took a bath and his whole leg was swollen horribly. We almost called the doctor but we wrapped, iced and elevated it and it got better. He was pretty grumpy and groggy all evening but I turned over the meds schedule to him and went to bed.
On Friday when I got home, I couldn't believe the progress. He had been to PT and they were having him put full weight on it, bending it, etc. He can get around a lot better and isn't taking the full amount of pain meds.

Elf on a shelf

I discovered elf on a shelf on Pinterest, of course, and remembered I have some elves from when I was little! So when I dug out my Christmas decorations, our little elves got busy with their mischief!

Adelle Birthday

Picked up Adelle on Saturday, the day after she officially turned 17. We had the day planned in advance, of course, so we headed to Pizza Hut. We ordered our cheese pizza and cinnamon sticks, two of Adelle's all time favorite foods. While we waited, she read the ticker at the bottom of the football game on tv to practice her sports commentating skills. Then we made a list of our traditions together:
Telling her mom we are going to Boston when we leave.
Pizza Hut on her birthday.
Loud music and rock fists in the car.
Our song: we don't even have to try
Facebook and YouTube.
Asking how Jess and Darby are.
Grocery store.
Car wash.
Around The Horn updates.
Then she opened her present and.....she liked it! I got her a whole bunch of notebooks and list pads including a journal of lists like " three friends you wouldn't mind being stranded on an island with.
After our pizza, we went bowling. Fun. A friend from her class cam with a gift! Surprise!
We ended our birthday visit with Orange Leaf. Yummmmm

Thanksgiving 2012

Not sure I can remember in order so I'll share the high lites. What a great break! 5 days off work to relax and spend with family. Leah came home and I loved it. We went to Chipotle, of course, and to the movie. We saw Life of Pi which was fabulous! We bought a giant bucket to reuse for buttered popcorn. Yipes.
On Thursday we went to Dave's in Atchison and spent time with the rents, and Dave's entire family. Leah and I held Baby Norah tons. She's such a precious little thing, so tiny and warm and cuddly. Dinner was most excellent. I enjoyed every part of the day. Most everyone picked up a stomach bug which is a huge bummer but so far scott and I haven't gotten it.
We bought a new bed. Scotty fell in love with the most expensive one there which was more than we wanted to spend but it is so luxurious and comfy! I can read on it and I sleep well on it, too, and my back feels great in the morning!
I worked out in class on Tuesday and squeezed in another workout on my own and ran a mile in 9:50 on the treadmill! I read a super long book, The Alienist, which was interesting, 4 stars.
Yesterday Julie came to Manhattan for the day and we went out to lunch at Longhorns with Jackie and TJ which was nice. Then last night we had Jon and 6 of his friends over for dinner and watched the USC game. I made salmon, my specialty. I like to cook for others especially when it is so appreciated. I love that Jon likes to come over. We used to love being the house the kids liked to come to. It's been way too quiet here. I like sharing this wonderful home, too.
Today I'll go to church and Leah heads back and I'll get Adelle for while.
So much to be Thankful for every single day of my life. I miss hannah and Joel but got to talk to them. And Joel and Leah will be home in two short weeks!
I hope everyone had a wonderful thanksgiving!

Low carb all the way

So I've done some reading and decided to cut way back on my carbs. This summer I ate 1200-1600. Calories a day and burned off between 600-1200 per day and stayed the same weight all summer. I felt pretty good and was in good shape but the belly fat remained. My PT told me about a low carb diet he is on and how he used to be heavy. I read the book he recommended and decided to cut out all the sugar and whit flour out of my diet and cut way back on carbs. I can't cut them out entirely. I try to eat only complex carbs and ones with high protein and high fiber. Right away I lost 9 pounds and they've stayed off. They seemed to come off the right places, too. And I'm not hungry. On cheat days and the next day , I gain 2 pounds mostly on bloat on my belly and then I'm starving all day. I just cut back the carbs again and the 2 pounds drop back off. It's pretty easy.
The details on what i eat: for breakfast either kashi cereal with blueberries or cream cheese pancakes. I can't seem to make myself eat bacon and eggs for breakfast. They make good snacks though. For snacks, I eat nuts and sometimes popcorn made with olive oil. Or peanut butter. For dinner we eat a lot of meat and veggies. I don't eat pasta or rice often and I use low carb tortillas. I don't eat crackers or chips of any kind. I love bacon for a treat or peanut butter and sugar free chocolate pudding. Today when Adelle had pizza and it looked so good, I made fried cheese. It sounds gross but it is really exactly what she was eating without the crust. Yummy! I love grilled steak. I do miss my potatoes so I eat them sometimes but I eat tons less of them. I like to make fried zucchini. I only crave carbs the day after I splurge so I never feel deprived. The book claims that my cholesterol will be great but I think I'll get it checked just in case. I miss milk though. For dairy, I eat carb smart yogurt.

Adelle.

Spent time with Adelle today, as is usual for Saturday. Picked her up 7 minutes late which she hates. I gave my explanation before she could chew me out (although she was waiting outside when I got there). Also as usual, she turned the radio to her station and cranked the volume as soon as we pulled away, oh, after she told her mom "see you tomorrow! We're going to Boston!" It's a joke only Adelle and I get.
She waits til she's comfortable to talk and also until there is a commercial. She always asks how my friend Jess is, only because this is the friend she assumes is my best friend. I tell her fine and how I saw Jesi this week and then I ask about Darby, her favorite friend. Then she usually gives me the Around the Horn update for the week but today she did that later. I love the Around the Horn updates because she does it in a cliff hanger way, telling me the boring high lites leading up to the ones that are more exciting for her. And always tells me how Jackie Mac did last.
Today we went to the car wash first. She loves to wash the car. Today I hardly had to give any instructions. When the time ticks down, she runs around the car spraying it randomly with water with a giant smile on her face. Today we got done and I complimented her on how shiny the car was and she said, "Now you can take Scott on a date!" Cracked me up.
Next was the grocery store. Adelle drives the cart around and I shop. Today we also planned her birthday. She wants to go bowling then to dinner at the restaurant of her choice then go to Orange Leaf. She does Not want to shop for new jeans as I suggested. I plan to buy her a list journal I saw in a gift shop along with some list notepads and notebooks.
Adelle helped carry the groceries in and asked Scott to help. Then she got on the ipad and checked her Facebook and the top 40 music lists. I fixed her some pizza and she offered some to Scott. Then she put in the earplugs and danced through the house singing to YouTube at the top of her lungs. Funny.
When it was time to go home, she made herself an ice cream sprite float in a to go cup. On the way home, I had to talk to her about a call I got from her teacher this week. Apparently, Adelle makes index cards about tons of people she knows with all the personal facts about the person on the cards. The kids think its creepy. They've tried every way to explain it to her. My speech started with how well her teacher said she's doing this year. Then I asked if she remembered when we talked about Temple Grandin and how she told me she thinks in charts and grafts. She remembered. I said , "other people don't think that way." I explained that other people also don't remember or memorize facts like she does either. I asked if she saw other people make index cards like that and she said no. Then I said that its important to not do things that are really different than other kids do because it makes her look weird. I said not to do the index cards in regular classes but she could do them in the resource room or at home. Adelle said, "ok." Humm... That was easy. Hope it sticks.
When I dropped her off she said, "Happy Thanksgiving!"
All friends should be this easy to spend time with.

I felt old today

Today started with two mad kids and an angry parent all having to do with holding kids accountable. Then two teachers whom we'd already said no to made us take extra kids to the parade with complicated instructions to coordinate. I guess younger people take last minute changes like that in stride but frankly, it just pissed me off. So my stress level was pretty high when I took roll and got all the kids on the bus. I was only supposed to be in charge of the band kids until we dropped off, then I'd help Angela with her kids and walk behind them in the parade. But due to changes in plans and poor planning, I ended up in charge of pep bands from two schools for over an hour. I felt like wrapping the snare drums and piccalo s around their heads. So then I was grouchy while walking in the parade in front of half of manhattan. I couldn't get into the spirit of the thing.
Then after school greg said he was going to go see the movie Argo. I think scott and I saw it but I couldn't remember! And this was after unopened my big mouth and said I'd seen it. I felt like an idiot that I couldn't remember it at all. Does that happen to other people or am I really getting Alzheimer's early? I watch a movie or read a book and two days later its just gone. Makes me feel really old.
Yesterday a teacher walked into the office and I was stretching my hip. Talk about feeling stupid and old.
Ok, I've vented, now time to put this day behind me and move on.