Helpful Mister

Poor Mister.  He is miserable with a potential infection because of diverticulitis.  That sounds really cool, but it isn't a sports injury, so 75% sympathy factor.  He does have a growth on his kidney, so that could up the score, but I'm not holding my breath.

He tried to help me with dinner tonight by splattering grease here and there and then putting the lid off the saute pan downside for more mess, and then cleaning up by using the faucet sprayer full force so that it goes all over the windows and counters.  Bless him, he is a man with no real knowledge of kitchen rules and lore.  His idea of a real meal is a toasted cheese sandwich with yellow mustard and Spam.  Mind you, virtually every pan and dish and knife will be used to make this meal, but it is so worth that effort.



When Men Shop....



He fancies himself a "kitchen" guy.  Okay, I'll give you the investment in Sur La Table way back and getting the big discount, but really, do we need four hundred chip clips, seventeen pasta ladles, three deep fryers for turkeys (none used) three sets of All Clad, twelve casserole dishes (all the same size), and four dozen martini glasses?  This is what happens when Men Shop At Kitchen Stores.  I went with him recently and stopped him from buying yet another $800 knife that he would never even know we owned the day after.  Please, just stick to fishing gear and guns.  I know the Goodwill is so happy to see us every other week because of him...

He told me he was going to go fishing tomorrow, but then some damn lawyers wanted him to sign stuff, so I guess I'll be cooking again and gritting my teeth with happiness......

Dedication

I had a massage yesterday which went very well, primarily because I was propped up on pillows and she did my neck from the side.  If I don't go horizontal, I seem to avoid vertigo, unlike last Thursday.  I haven't been spinning since Sunday AM and mean to keep grounded.  I felt fine this morning, so off I left at 7 AM to get to my PT session is Seattle near Key Arena in plenty of time for my 8 AM appointment.  I drove because the Mister had his own fun with a contrast CT scan.  So, I got there at 8:45 because of a "Motivational Seminar" at the Arena.  Total suckage and I've learned that car trips over 1 hour don't feel good.

What was good is that we couldn't recreate the vertigo and now I need to try to recreate it in order to learn to reset the rocks myself.  So that is my new task;  wake up, turn my head, fall over.  If I spin, repeat five times.  Good times.

My other new task is to try to go to the grocery store and see if I freak out.  Okay, that's enough laughing from the likes of some of youse.  I admit it;  I am a complete and utter failure at the grocery store.  Many a time I will go in with a list like butter, milk, and lettuce and return home with cheese, yogurt and cucumbers.  I don't know why.  I just can't put the two together.  I really don't enjoy shopping, but food isn't really an option so I am going to try to do it.  The real goal of this trip is to find out if the colors and sounds set off my vertigo, which I don't think it will, because the cars on 520 didn't.  Isn't it all very exciting? 

That's the extent of my life right now.  Balance PT, neck massage, shoulder PT, repeat.  Here are some pictures just for fun.





Before we got our teeth fixed

No Napping

An exciting day to be sure.  The Mister took me to Flower World to get some tomato plants, rhubarb and a couple of big hanging plants for the front.  I usually do lots of pots and a garden, but the thought right now is overwhelming, so this will have to do. I had him dig holes then I pointed to where the vegetables should be planted and all that supervising left me exhausted, so of course, it was nap time. 

I had just drifted off when he came in and woke me up.  Normally, this would never happen because he knows better than to suffer the wrath.  This time, he totally did right by me.  Rugby was on TV!!!  I love Rugby;  fell in love with it last year in New Zealand and what's not to love??  The All Blacks with their war chants, the Moo-loos and their pretty jerseys.  Beyond that, this a game of constant action that actually makes sense!  You can move the ball backwards, sideways, fall down with it and run it forward and everybody gets to do it!  Big circular scrums of strength.  There are no big fat defensive tanks and little tiny kickers.  No huge time wasting time outs and play reviews.  Very few players wear protective gear, which is changing, but talk about a good way to get a head injury!  You gotta like that kind of bravery.

Anyway, Dartmouth beat Army for the National Championship and it was great!  Can you believe Central Washington came in third? Amazing.  I have a real team to root for now.

Off to pick up Mom for dinner.  She loves "The Noodle Place" (really named Pho-Thai) but we'll try sushi tonight. Much to my sisters chagrin, she has discovered the "Most Secret Place" (Best Kept Secret) in Kirkland and it is a 1/2 hour walk one way for her.  Fortunately, she can only buy what she can carry.  For someone who just got her first credit card three years ago, she sure knows how to burn it up.  Who cares?  I say, buy it all Mom, full price even. 

Baby Blogging

Nothing to say today, just weird baby pictures.  I don't know any of them and I hope you don't either.

Traveling Vanners

The excitement of my evening is TV tonight.  That's it and pretty much has been for the last six weeks.  So when I find a new program outside of Netflix, it makes me happy.  Thus, we have, "My Big Fat Gypsy Wedding".  Talk about a whole subculture that I knew nothing about.  Well, almost.  It's a joke around our household about being given away to the Gypsies.  We tell that to Gus when he occasionally misbehaves.  Doesn't seem to have the impact on him that we hope it does.

My mom was scared spitless as a little girl of the "Gypsies"  that traveled the area around the farm she grew up on in Germany.  The Gypsies would put curses on people, curdle milk, steal valuable items and more frightening, they would steal children, particularly misbehaving children.  Somehow they knew and wanted the most disobedient child they could find.  Gypsies evidently needed a challenge.  What they would do with these vile horrible tykes was never discussed.  It was enough that you could be stolen.

Anyway, I vividly remember being threatened with the Gypsies.  Mind you, I'd never seen any horses and carts lurking around our neighborhood in Bremerton, but somehow, I knew they were just waiting.  Many nightmares about the Gypsies, oh yes.  Thanks for that, Mom.

Anyway, the best part of this program is the Gypsy Vanners.  Magnificent horses with great feathery fetlocks, an absolute nightmare in the great Northwest.  Can you say scratches?  Yuck-  this is what happens when mud is constantly stuck on legs for about 9 months.  The mystery to me is that the Gypsies (now referred to as Travelers) don't use these horses to pull their carts.  Rather, they have large travel trailers and motor homes.  Granted, this is the first episode I've seen, but where do the horses fit in?  How do you have a horse when you constantly travel?  Stay tuned, I aim to find out.

Captain Underpants

A generally fine day, overall, in the health department.  Because I've been sleeping fairly upright which consists of two pillows, a neck pillow and a large pillow propped on my left side, I think the vertigo has somewhat subsided.  I am able to do my 20 minutes of PT twice a day fairly well, but it is taxing.  You try this-  grab a sofa cushion, stand on it, toe to heel and close your eyes for 30 seconds.  Yeah, not so easy, right?

The other PT for my shoulder was good, too, he was amazed at how well I'd improved, so he thought we'd celebrate by hooking my shoulder to battery cables and jolting them while icing the whole bloody package.  What kind of a recovery plan is that?  So now I'm all sore and will consider 1/2 pain pill before long.  Washed down with a glass of Prosecco, so there.  Hey SAV, did you know Prosecco is only 20 calories per glass, so you can down a bottle, guilt free!!  A little shout out to my peep, you're welcome.

I got the coolest gift today from my pal, Kirsten.  She also made me a meatloaf, which is awesome, because I was wondering what I'd have to do for dinner the next couple of nights with the Colonel gone and now I have it!!!  Anyway, the coolest gift is: 

Yup, a real underwear hat.  I don't have to wear the Mister's underwear anymore when I go out.  It's so cool to have friends who know what I really like.

More underwear wearing pictures: 

Yes, it is Gus, wearing a shirt because I made the mistake of having him shorn in April when it still was 30 degrees and he is wearing the Mister's underwear because it was 30 degrees and I was bored.  He seemed to like it, but he doesn't like them on his head so much.

Do you know that I once registered and paid for the website domain, http://www.bigunderwear.com/ for a year? 

I did. Way back when Al Gore invented the internet. 

And Then There Was None

Bittersweet day today.  Cody went to summer camp to show young girls how to ride until August 1.  It's really a good thing because now she'll be what all animals (and people) should be:  respected and useful. 

I'll miss her because she is so sweet, although she talks alot.  Every morning, you'd think she had just seen and done the most exciting things the night before.  She hears the back door open and wakes the whole neighborhood with her, "Well, there you are, finally!!!!" Then she darts into the barn and bosses me about while I gather her hay and EVERY TIME I have to tell her to get her big head out of the way so I can give it to her already.  The whole while, "I saw this, I saw that, don't you want to give me grain, what about carrots, I know there are peppermints, way more grass, thank you, where have you been, it's already 6 AM, blah, blah, blah...." Jeez, give me a headache, all that blathering.  And then there is the other gray, just sitting there in the way, waiting for his carrots.  So it's weird not seeing her out there, but I'm very happy she'll be ridden and used.



She's still talking....with her mouth full, even.



I did my full range of PT exercises today, some for balance, some for shoulder/neck.  I'm definitely feeling it, but at least I'm not nauseous.  I've got a real medical massage scheduled for Friday and that will be exciting.  In the meantime, these Heat Wrap doohickeys feel pretty good.

I've been sending out pictures of myself through the FatApp tonight.  The Mister is having dinner with his boyfriends so I'm taking pictures of myself and trying to make them really fat by distorting my eyes and chin.  Stu da Phew showed me that trick.  It's way cool.