Ive Officially Lost My Mind

You know how to tell when you’ve officially lost it? No? Stick around and Ill tell you.

Your boyfriend comes home from a long day at work. Youre in your pajamas (because nothing normal fits over your massive, swollen knee) and you haven’t washed your hair since yesterday morning. He looks at you with a small amount of disgust and pity all mixed together. He naturally assumes you’ve been in the same spot all day- but wont he wont know is that your biggest and most exciting accomplishment of the entire day is successfully unloading the dishwasher. He has no idea the day you’ve had…

You immediately look at him and put on your best feel sorry for me face and ask if hell drive you somewhere that just may get you out of your un-working knee funk. He looks at you quizzically and you know this just may be crazy enough to work.

-“ I know this is going to sound weird, but would you drive me to get a Mystic Tan?”
(stares back at me blankly for at least 20 seconds…)
-“You want to go and get a tan before we eat dinner???”
-“Well, I just feel so sloth like and gross and it’s the one thing I can do at the moment to maybe not hate my reflection so much, I know you don’t understand but can you try to? PLUS its most effective if you get the spray at night and can sleep in it to let it seep into your skin before you shower”
(anyone who Mystics knows this fact)
-“Ill take you- as long as were back in time for the Aggie basketball game”
-“Ill give you some money and you can treat yourself to something at Starbucks while you wait for me”
(stares back at me blankly yet again)
-“I don’t need anything from Starbucks, but Ill still take you"
(rolls eyes and hands me my crutches)

Ill admit this was a ridiculous request and Ive probably painted myself in an even more insane light for admitting this to the internet. It took me a glass of red wine to say it and now I did. So there. Im a Mystic Tan-aholic. Even when on crutches and half swollen with dirty hair and would die to be seen by anyone I know (besides Derek and the behind the desk tan girl). But guess what? I got out of the house and now IM TAN. Sure, I have white marks where my bandages are and Im sure itll be less than perfection as the blending cream was hard to apply while on one foot but it was fun and Derek got a good laugh out of it.

Sounds like a success in my book!

What are you addicted to that you would have to ask for help with when unable to drive? You know you have something…

Crushed (Edited)

I thought I might need to explain this post. Ive gotten some concerned comments and wanted to clarify. On this blog, anything in grey is a link. The below is a link to an article where Robert Pattinson supposedly admitted to being in a relationship with that wretched KStew. I say supposedly because Im still holding out hope he will be mine ;)

My heart is breaking into a million pieces!

Whiney Wednesday- Consider Yourself Warned

So I may or may not have had a meltdown last night.

Around dinner time I threw myself a little pity party- I cried and felt sorry for myself. What Im most ashamed of is that I yelled at my mom. After everything she has done for me, after all the meals shes made, all the dishes shes washed and all the yard work shes done for us.

Everyone has been super supportive. Ive gotten so many sweet comments, my friends have sent me emails and cards and one friend even made me enough food to feed an army. Dereks mom made my favorite soup and a pie that she knew Id fall madly in love with (anything that combines peanut butter and chocolate wins in my book) and Derek himself has been the most amazing helper.

Im not trying to make excuses for my meltdown- as you can see from the list above, I have to many reasons to be grateful and thankful but Im so tired of not having my independence. Im tired of not being able to get in my car and go anywhere I want. Im tired of having to be waited on. Im tired of thinking I can do something myself only to find my knee isn’t as strong as Id hoped and it hurts to hobble to and from the kitchen. Im tired of being so hard on my dogs when all they want to do is lay on my lap- they don’t know why they cant or understand that Im hurting under my ice pack. Im tired of looking out the window and not being able to feel the weather- warm, cold, windy or snowy. Im tired of not being able to walk the dogs to the mailbox. Im out of movies and Netflix seems to be moving at a snails pace this week. I miss my friends and wish they would come over to see me. Im lonely.

Im sorry- I had to say all of that. I had to complain and act like a brat. I had to get it off my chest and now I promise Ill be more positive- from this post onward. Swear it.

Youd think all this time home and off of work would be fun but its sort of turning into torture. What on earth do you all do to stay entertained when youre home?! Any ideas? My aunt joked I should take up knitting but that didn’t really get me too excited. I did start watching Six Feet Under so that will keep me occupied for a while… but then what? HELP!

Im sure youve heard by now...

It actually snowed in Austn Texas today! We had been promised real winter weather so many times that frankly I didnt really count on it and woke up to a winter wonderland!!! I wish I was in a better physical condition so I could have played in it but we got snow so all in all, Im happy.

Granted, weve got nothing on all of you winter storms elsewhere, but let us have our fun!

More Knee Pics

Just wanted to show you all the swelling I talked about yesterday...

(sure could use a mystic tan right about now... if only I could drive myself)

I took this myself looking in the mirror so its majorly lacking detail and is a tad misleading.

what I see when I look down

Still not the best looking knee Ive ever seen, but its getting there, no?
Who am I kidding? It looks mangled and rotted.

Yard Work

Have you ever seen so many weeds in one flower bed? You cant even tell there are THREE rows of different plants!

These two trees framing the window have already been trimmed back a tremendous amount, next theyll attack the smaller bushes and trim to add shape.

I let my spider plant die (after five long years) so my Mom was kind enough to find and plant a new one for me- this one is draught tolerant and can stand steady sunlight (which we have on the front porch)- its also native to Texas so that should help keep it alive.

We plan to plant lots of rosemary bushes where you see the black tarps. We liked how dense and full the rosemary bushes are and they smell yummy too!

Cant wait to show you after pictures!

My Life as of Late

I had my post operative appointment today. The nurse removed my stitches and sent the Dr in. He said that my swelling and my range of motion are not where hed like them to be yet. What does that mean, you ask? Two more weeks of no work and staying off my feet as much as possible. I was so good about icing, keeping my leg elevated and staying put for the first few days but IM SO BORED. I will admit I have let myself slack in more recent days but if it means healing faster, I intend to take it easy now. If I had a desk job I would be back to work tomorrow but because of the amount of time I spend in a car and carrying beer in and out of accounts, its just not going to be easy while still on crutches. I can only imagine the mess Id make out of broken bottles and all the pitiful looks I would get hobbling in and out of bars. Don’t get me started on the cringe worth feeling I get when thinking about having to apply pressure to the brake pedal in my car!

My mom has been home and staying in our house since last Sunday and shes been treating me like a queen. She has literally waited on me hand and foot. She brings me meals on a tray, makes sure Im timely with my meds and she has even taken on a huge yard project at our house- more on that later. She has driven me all over town, picked up prescriptions for me and chauffeured me to the dentist. She has grocery shopped for us, loaded and unloaded the dishwasher and tolerated our dogs. She has also nicknamed Reggie ‘wooly mammoth.’

Derek and I decided to revamp our front yard- we made a plan and sat down with my Mom to put it all into action. The two of them have trimmed two trees that were practically blocking our front guest room window, have been pulling weeds from a flower bed that has years and years of neglect in it. They are going to shape some hedges and possibly plant some new Texas native plants near our driveway where an overgrown mess of a plant (don’t know what its called) has taken over. In our back yard were going to plant lots of small hedges to cover the area from the ground up to the bottom of our deck. I say they because, well, Im still a gimp so Im getting off scott free. (I will post before and after pictures asap!)

That’s pretty much my life as of late. Not too exciting. Im bored and feel pretty sloth like but I guess that’s how we heal- by laying back and letting nature take its course. Feel free to send movies, snacks and knock knock jokes.

Julie & Julia

As usual, Im a little late to catch on. I finally caved and watched Julie & Julia, compliments of Netflix and I cant say enough good things about it!


Seeing as how I have done very little other than lay around in either my bed or on my couch, you can imagine how important a good movie is. My leg remains propped up at all times under a wearable ice pack and Derek and my Mom have essentially been waiting on me hand and foot. I have blown through a ton of shows on our dvr and have already sat through quite a few movies (one of which was UP- adorable, by the way)- entertainment is hard to come by when staying awake is a task in itself. My pain medications are very strong so its a good sign when Im able to keep my eyelids open for an entire hour and a half. For example, it took me FOUR days to get through the original Parent Trap and that’s one of my favorites of all time.

I originally didn’t think I would enjoy Julie & Julia as much as I did and therefore decided it would be one to watch at home rather than at the theatre for $9. Nothing is more annoying than spending that much on a movie ticket and hating the damn thing. If you haven’t seen the movie yet- do so! Its so cute!

Blogger Gathering

Last night was one of those nights that started out slow and as a bit of a disappointment but ended with a huge smile on my face.

Erin was kind enough to come all the way to Pflugerville to pick me up and drive me to the blogger get together at Vino Vino. It took a lot of work to get me cleaned up, dressed and out of the house all while on cructhes so when Erin and I were the only ones there for the first half hour we started to get our feelings hurt. As it turns out, one of our future friends was sitting at the bar and two had not yet arrived. We were a little let down that we didn’t get to attend a big blogger blow out but all agreed that we were excited to make ALL new friends. My only regret? Not taking a picture! I even had my camera right in my purse; Id freshly charged the battery and everything! Boo.

Anyway, I am so happy to say I have now met and fallen in love with three delightful lady bloggers- Amelia, Christine and Emily. Make sure to check out their blogs and say hi! I was so glad I did!

I had to cut the night a little short for a family dinner at Z Tejas but all it did was make me look forward to the next gathering that much more.

TOMORROW

Will YOU be there tomorrow?! Erin was sweet enough to offer to pick me up and chauffeur me, and my Mom is going to pick me up to take me home after (so dorky, I know, but I cant yet drive). So excited to meet you all tomorrow- I could burst! Now only for what to wear...

Not for Weak Stomachs

Post Op Update

Im back from the waist up and thought Id drop in to let you all know. Im sure you were losing sleep wondering what kind of condition I was in after surgery so Ill tell you all about it.

Wednesday morning was the surgery itself- I didn’t sleep too well the night before but Derek and I arrived on time with all necessary paperwork and waited which only provided me more and more time to become anxious about my IV.

I am happy to report that despite being assigned a nurse that was no younger than 85 years old, she was super sweet and got my IV in with no problems. I had tears streaming down my face and Dereks hand was purple from my squeezing but all in all, it wasn’t so horrible.

The last thing I remember is being wheeled into another room and then I woke up and it was all over. I had a lot of pain but was sent home with my first does of pain meds and a wearable ice pack.

I was wide awake most of Wednesday afternoon which surprised me and Derek both. I wasn’t in too much pain and was able to talk to my first visitor! Michelle came over and brought enough food for an army- she also brought me a sweet card and a stack of magazines.

I slept most of the day Thursday and that’s pretty much when the intense pain started to kick in. I had to call my nurse to ask for stronger pain pills and they seem to be doing the trick. I haven’t been allowed to shower yet and have been pretty much counting down the hours until I can wash my hair (you just might be able to fry bacon on it at this point). Im able to hobble short distances without my crutches though Im not sure if that’s because my knee is ready or my pain pills are just that good. I have watched a lot of TV, read a lot and hung out with my dogs even more. My right foot is so swollen I cant even spread my toes apart- Im not sure if this is due to the surgery itself or because my foot has been elevated since I got home. Ive also had my ice pack on non-stop, even while I sleep. Hopefully this helps, though, my toes may need a pack all their own.

Erin and Aaron come to town tonight and my Mom flies home tomorrow. I am hoping that with all the winter storms she doesn’t have any delays so please cross your fingers she gets home without a hitch.

Ill continue to keep you guys posted on my recovery and of course Ill be reading your blogs as Ive got virtually nothing else going on.

Im also going to try and convince Erin to guest blog for me this weekend- she doesn’t yet know this, but Im going to lay it on thick and hope she gives in! I also plan to ask her to wash my hair in the kitchen sink tonight, but thats so she doesnt take any incriminating pictures of me to use as blackmail later...

Super Bowl Sunday

As if Saturday with Macey wasn’t enough- I also got to see Allenas son Trent at our friends Super Bowl party. I couldn’t get a great shot of him because he was wiggling around a lot- but just seeing him and getting to love on him was so much fun! Hes such a sweet boy and its easy to shower him with kisses.

Id post more pictures of the Super Bowl party we went to, but theyre all just so silly. Our friend decided to ask everyone to dress in cocktail attire. It goes without saying that in our group of friends, that means all bets are off and there is just no telling what the boys will show up in. Derek, for example, wore a tuxedo he bought at a thrift store in College Station for $10. You get the idea…

We found a pair of cructhes in the garage so I decided to get in some practice for the upcoming week...

My Kind of Saturday

Guess how I spent my Saturday? That’s right, with this precious little munchkin. We had so much fun, did a ton of snacking, watched Cinderella THREE times, colored, played with the dogs, fixed each others hair and my two best friends Kyndall and Michelle even came by to spend some time with us!

lunch time

Michelle read her three books

We happend to catch an episode of Toddlers and Tiaras and Macey was dancing and twirling around-  she was so into it!

Maceys parents were working on new flooring in their house so when they ran out of steam we all went to dinner together then played Wii at our house which proved to be extremely entertaining. It was just the kind of night I love best!

Surgery Update

Just wanted to update you all and let you know I will have my knee surgery next Wednesday, February 10th. After that, I will be on short term disability for 2 weeks and will be out from work- the Dr suggested this to get a head start on my physical therapy. There is a muscular band currently wrapped around my knee cap that they will cut and remove as well as a lateral release (to center my knee cap and correct its crooked and cock-eyed placement) so the healing time may be longer than anticipated. Boo. My biggest fear? The IV. Im terrified of needles. TERRIFIED.

Thank you so much for all of your sweet messages and comments, it means more than you can possibly know.

I thank you all in advance for many interesting posts to keep me entertained while Im laid up with nothing better to do than stalk your lives.

Here is hoping I dont come out looking like any of these people: