2012 in Review

How did the resolutions go?  I won some and lost some I think.

1. Go fishing - I fished a bit in my own state (probably not enough to cover the cost of the trout stamp but hey) and I caught a king salmon in Alaska...that should count for something.
2. Teach Emma to finger knit - I think we have finger knitting down now.  Emma can make a 3 inch wide scarf for days and days.  We briefly attempted crocheting, I think that might be the ticket to moving on to something a little bit more challenging, something like hot pads perhaps.

3. Keep on Running - Running came to a screeching halt at the end of September, but I had some pretty great races before that and set a new PR for both the 5K and the half marathon.  And I logged nearly 500 miles this year.  I still have a lot of physical therapy to go before I'll be able to run again, but it's still on my list of things to do.  With the amount of cartilage damage I did to my knee I will have to aim for quality runs over quantity of miles.
4. Learn how to whistle - Getting better at the whistle I do have, except not any louder...not sure what needs to change for that.
5. Take more field trips: Two specifically are on the list: Hidden Caves and Berlin Ichthyosaur Park. Hidden caves...not done.  But hiking is on the approved list of activities post surgery so that will definitely get checked off next year.  Berlin happened.  We had a good time, my brother and older sister even came out for the weekend.  It was nice having them at the museum.  I would not have noticed all of my family's signatures on the opening day plaque or the pictures of my grandmother on the museum walls had they not been there.

2012 By the Books

So, I thought I had slacked off a little on my reading, but I went back and looked at 2011's list and I only got to 67 books...final count this year is 68. 

I think I loved The Poisonwood Bible the most out of all the books I read this year.  Kevin Smith's Tough Sh*t should be a must read for any Silent Bob fan.  If you haven't read Ender's Game yet you should, but immediately after that you should read Ender's Shadow.  When the movie comes out you can thank me for the advice.  If you haven't read of any of Alan Bradley's books you should, the newest Flavia De Luce novel, will be out at the end of January.  I really did not enjoy the Chelsea Handler books, which is probably the same reason I don't watch her show. 

Have any good book suggestions for me for 2013?

1. Ann Brashares - Sisterhood Everlasting
2. Sandra Brown - Rainwater
3. Alice Walker - The Color Purple
4. Abraham Verghese - Cutting for Stone
5. Greg Iles - Third Degree
6. Wendy McClure - The Wilder Life
7. John Milton - Paradise Lost
8. Markus Zukas - The Book Thief
9. Jeannette Walls - The Glass Castle
10. Christopher Moore - Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff
11. Alex Flinn - Cloaked
12. Paulo Coehlo - Veronica decides to die
13. Jeannette Walls - Half-Broke Horses
14. Alan Bradley - I am Half-Sick of Shadows
15. Barbara Kingsolver - The Poisonwood Bible
16. Alex Flinn - Beastly
17. Kate Dicamillo - The Magician's Elephant
18. Laurie Schloff & Marcia Yudkin - Smart Speaking
19. Daniel Defoe - Robinson Crusoe
20. Beth Hoffman - Saving Ceecee Honeycutt
21. Jenna Blum - Those That Save Us
22. Erick Setiawan - Of Bees and Mist
23. Fannie Flagg - A Redbird Christmas
24. Fannie Flagg - Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe
25. Kevin Smith - Tough Sh*t
26 Jeffrey Eugenides - Middlesex
27. Ernest Hemingway - A Farewell to Arms
28. Consuelo S. Baehr - Daughters
29. Sue Miller - The Lake Shore Limited
30. Yann Martel - Life of Pi
31. Jenny Lawson - Let's Pretend this Never Happened
32. Mindy Kaling - Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me?
33. Orson Scott Card - Ender's Game
34. Squire Rushnell - When God Winks on New Beginnings
35. Raymond Khoury - The Sanctuary
36. Pamela Druckerman - Bringing up bebe
37. Maggie Stiefvater - The Scorpio Races
38. Chelsea Handler - Are You there Vodka, it's me Chelsea
39. Chelsea Handler - My Horizontal Life
40. Lois Lowry - Messenger
41. Virginia Woolf - To the Lighthouse
42. Tea Obreht - The Tiger's Wife
43. Markus Zukas - I am the Messenger
44. Susan Elizabeth Phillips - Call Me Irresistible
45. Doreen Virtue - Messages from Your Angels
46. Jeffery Deaver - The Empty Chair
47. Orson Scott Card - Speaker for the Dead
48. Deborah Moggach - The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel
49. Maggie Shipstead - Seating Arrangements
50. Haruki Murakami - Kafka on the Shore
51. Richard Nelson Bolles - What Color Is Your Parachute?
52. Ben Mezrich - Sex on the Moon
53. Alexander McCall Smith - The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency
54. David Mitchell - Cloud Atlas
55. John Green - The Fault in Our Stars
56. Benjamin Hoff - The Tao of Pooh
57. John Updike - The Witches of Eastwick
58. Tatiana de Rosnay - Sarah's Key
59. Charles Dickens - Oliver Twist
60. David Liss - The Whiskey Rebels
61. Orsen Scott Card - Xenocide
62. Umberto Eco - The Name of the Rose
63. Ruta Sepetys - Between Shades of Gray
64. Orsen Scott Card - Children of the Mind
65. Paulo Coehlo - Aleph
66. JK Rowling - the Casual Vacancy
67. Orson Scott Card - Ender's Shadow
68. Eion Colfer - The Last Guardian

Christmas at our house

It would appear that I took just one picture Christmas morning. 

 The rest will have to be committed to memory.

Emma had her original Mr Nibbles stolen at school earlier this year. 
This was the present I was most excited to give this year.

F-I-V-E



A certain someone turned 5 recently.
 I'm over here trying to pretend he's not growing up too fast.



Sometimes

Sometimes we get dressed up to go to the dentist and Olive Garden and call it a date day.

One more day

I made it 8 miles down the snowy road to work this morning, when the physical therapist called to cancel my appointment.
So I turned around and called in snow day to work, I'll spend one more day with the girls.

6 weeks post surgery

An abyss cannot be crossed in two steps.

~cloud atlas

Oh, but if only it could.

Last night I had that dream again.  Or better named, the nightmare.  The crashing down and the flash of white and the horrific pain in my knee.  It's been a while since I have relived that moment.  After waking with a start and falling back asleep I dreamed I was running a race barefoot through the grass and the girl in front of me was dressed in a tutu and my knee wasn't hurting me.  That would be a nice reality.

Yesterday marks 6 weeks since the ACL reconstruction (and meniscal repairs).  I can get to 110 degrees flexion with some effort, but I can get there.  I have been okayed to bend my knee when walking in the brace now, and sleep without it, and start moving around more.  I still need to go to PT twice a week for a while.  And I'm going to go check in with my favorite FIT instructor next week to talk rehab.

Everything I've read online says at the 4 month mark you can start jogging again.  But I ran into a girl in the hallway today who said she wishes she would have waited longer.  Funny the conversations you attract with a bulky, full leg brace as your fashion accessory.  She took one look at me and asked ACL repair?


I guess I'll take the wait and see approach.  June seems so far away and yet too close all at the same time.  I was really, really hoping that I'd be able to run in the Reno Tahoe Odyssey again in 2013.

A day in the mountains

Sometimes you just need to get out of town for a day. We rounded up some of our favorite people in the name of tree cutting and firewood gathering and headed East.

If I hadn't have had to pee so very badly, I would have missed this gem.  It's in the men's bathroom at Middlegate, NV.
Yes....I had to pee THAT bad.

Emmer's looking pretty good in Bob's carhartt

I found me a baby to love on.  And got out of wood carrying. 

 

My happy place

Found some good treasures

 

 

Emma and Davey bonded over a bag of doritos years ago. Instant friendship.

Trim the Hearth and Set the Table

Advent is one of my favorite times in the Church calendar.  They sing all my favorite songs (People Look East and O Come, O Come Emmanuel) and there are advent calendars and pink and purple candles to light. 


I let the girlchild decorate the tree this year





Bob is the only one who has his stocking hung so far...someone is excited



I thought we'd spend the season working on a family puzzle.  It only took us an evening though.  Next time, more pieces!



There is still a little bit of setting up to do (the nativity scene mainly), presents to wrap, and a birthday to celebrate.
Then we'll be ready for Christmas.

Between Shades of Gray

Yes I typed that correctly.

This is NOT a review about 50 shades of grey.  Just keep moving if that's what you were looking for.  Or, stay a while and browse, maybe you'll find a book suggestion that catches your interest.  This is a story about a girl from Lithuania, who loved to draw, and whose life changed dramatically in 1941 when Stalin ordered her family to a labor camp.

It seems I have read a lot of Holocaust books this year.  Between Shades of Gray falls into that category, but with a little spin on a story we have heard summarized in every world history class.  While the world was focused on Hitler's reign and the atrocities he waged against the Jews, Stalin was busy with his own version of ethnic cleansing.  He rounded up lawyers, doctors, and educators and deported them to labor camps in the Baltic.  On paper, they were accused of being common criminals.  The author's note states that 20 million people died under Stalin's orders.  And unlike the concentration camps that were liberated at the end of the war, the Lithuanian people did not find freedom.  The main family in the novel remained in bondage for 12 years.  Twelve years of hard, manual labor with poorly built shacks to protect against the cold, arctic winters and scavenging for food.

My favorite line from the book:

Have you ever wondered what a human life is worth?  That morning, my brother's was worth a pocket watch.

Adventing we go

I found my fortune amusing on this, the first Sunday of Advent. 

Someone won the mega millions lottery this week so I know that's not it...

The kids are crazy, excited about their chocolate advent calendars this year.

The tree is cut and in the house (that's as far as we got)

The house cleaning is done in preparation of decorations

Looks like we'll be taking it a little bit slower this year

One month review

Honestly, I thought I'd be moving around more by now. The joint and knee itself are still tender and swollen. I'm pretty mobile on my crutches, but it's tiring and I find myself needing to sit with my knee up and iced a lot.  And I catch myself pondering things like how do I know that everything is healing like it should be on the inside? And can't I take a bath yet without having to prop my leg up over the side?

The newest, random fact I learned is that the quad muscle usually keeps the knee cap in it's little groove.  And since my quad muscle is weak and not firing properly it makes my knee cap click across the joint when I bend it for cycling or hamstring curls.  At first it freaked me out.  But physical therapy Ross showed me how to push it back into place.

my dragonfly shaped staple scar

I have seen my future and it scares me a little.  At some point I will have to do the balance board.  I was terribly uncoordinated at the balance board before I had my knee injury, so this should be interesting.  And the girl in this picture, is holding the ball against the wall with her hip and squatting with her repaired leg.  She had pretty much the exact surgery I had in March.  I hope that I am still not at PT 7 months later!  And the man on the slant board, he just had his ACL repaired (no torn meniscus) two weeks ago.  So jealous! 

Two more weeks and I head back to the doctor to see about getting a little range of motion with my leg brace on.

The Lost Disneyland Posts - Part 1

Just before I had knee surgery we spent the week in Disneyland, soaking up the small crowds and Halloween decorations.

Bob running ahead for splash mountain

The girlchild and I on Grizzly River Run

That dog from Up

Vanna White and the Mad Hatter...no big deal

57 pictures on the carousel, every one blurry.  This one turned out kind of cool I think.

Hey mom, take my picture with these strangers....



Knee Progress - week 3



Still a little swollen - but scarring up nicely



Physical therapy - more of the same:

straight leg raises

Toe presses

hamstring curls

Hamstring stretches

Wall Slides

10 mins of recumbent bike

9 minutes of Electric stimulation standing

4 minutes of standing on the slanty wall board

It's such a process to shower/bath, but a necessary one! Standing in the shower without my brace on feels like being Linus without his blue blanket, and I am still not supposed to soak the knee so bathing is uncomfortable.  So far there has been supervision from the sister-in-law, the boy, the other sister-in-law, the girlchild and most recently my mother.  Hoping to rein in this ever growing circle of people who have been witness to my naked-ness.

Chicken leg is still looking chickeny - if I can figure out the logistics of getting a good picture it's going to happen.

I finally had time to switch out the summer/winter clothes in my closet.  I found my tough mudder technical tee thrown in the back of my running shelf.  I had forgotten I sweet talked the medic man into driving my broke-knee self to the finish line so I could get my t-shirt.  Haven't decided if I 'earned' the right to wear it yet or not...

Making progress

Took ten minutes but I did get all the way around a couple times and 0.25 mile

What physical therapy looks like right now:

10 minutes on the stationery bike

a billion straight leg raises (all directions)

toe presses

hamstring curls

hamstring stretching

heel slides

And this week "something new":

The electric stimulation with brace over the top and standing at the same time. 

Are we having fun yet?

Week two post surgery

I got my staples out yesterday, that felt weird.  They have a tool that looked suspiciously like a regular, old staple puller.  I wondered if it would bleed but thankfully it did not.  The nurse has sufficiently scared me though.  She said my knee looked really swollen still and was quite worried about the staple that sits over my knee cap.  So now I keep wondering if that's going to bust open any second now.  I've had ice on my knee close to none stop since I got home yesterday.

We are in the middle of the second, poorly time work trip for the husband.  So far it's been going alright.  I'm on my second night in a row of sleeping in my own bed instead of on the couch...that's progress.  The two biggest concerns right now is that the dog keeps getting out of the backyard and how am I going to get myself to work? 

Because of the bone contusion and cartilage damage the doctor recommended that the running miles come way down and I find a different activity to spend most of my time with.  I guess it's going to be triathlons for me.  I don't care for bike riding that much but I've done swimming before and it wouldn't be terrible to return to it.  Or maybe I'll just aim for 5 or 10Ks and not too many of them.  Not the news I wanted to hear or the way I wanted to end my running days for sure.  I guess we will see how it goes with time and rehab.

Sunday night, when I was attempting a bath while trying not to get my right leg wet (it was heavily saran wrapped....), I noticed that my calf is already very noticeably smaller than the other one.   I measured it today, a full 1.5 inches skinnier than the left one. Great, now I'm going to be a gimp with one chicken leg!

But I finally finished reading Cloud Atlas and I got an Indian shooting a star on my tootsie roll pop, so we'll call it a good day.

Knee progress v.1

I was thinking I'd keep updating this link with knee pictures.  Even if no one else is interested it'd be a nice way for me to track my progress, especially when I start to feel frustrated.  Which I know is going to happen. 

I figure updates should go to the top so no one has to see the gross, just out of surgery picture every time I add a new picture.  See how thoughtful I am??



Staples out - 11-12-12 (12 days)



Staples! After first bath 11-4-12 (4 days)

Getting the drain out - 11-01-12 (1 day)

Not Literally

Mammoth, CA 2012

Me: I'm just going to run into the library really quick and get the book that's on hold for me.

Bob: Mom, you just had knee surgery.  You can't run anywhere.

One week post surgery

Week one by the numbers:

sister-in-law assisted baths - 2

times I whacked my head on the nephew's top bunk - 3

longest time I've gone between pain pills - 6.5 hours (that's progress!!)

band aids used to keep staples clean and dry - 30

times I've threatened Bob I'm going to spank him with my crutch - 4

Times I actually spanked Bob with my crutch - 0

times I've been to physical therapy - 3

number of ebay purchases I've made from the couch - 1 (one's still pending)

number of downton Abbey episodes I watched on netflix - 6

number of black widows that had to be dealt with - 2

number of pieces of Halloween candy stolen out of the kid's candy bags - too many to count

It's been one week since my ACL surgery.  To be honest I really thought I'd be moving around a lot more than I am by now.  The handful of trips I've made into Reno for follow ups and physical therapy leave me exhausted and ready for a nap.  I thought I'd be so bored that I'd spend all my time reading but I keep falling asleep mid page.

Still working on the whole using crutches thing.  Someone told me that if you learn to use crutches as a kid then it's like riding a bicycle and it comes right back to you.  If you're first experience with crutches is as an adult, you are basically screwed.  I think I have finally mastered the up and down of the two steps at my front door though.

The electro-shock therapy at PT...I know it's necessary but I don't like it!

The boy has been gone for the last 5 days for work, so I have floated from mother-in-law to sister-in-law's house.  There have been tasty comfort foods, warm sponge baths, and lots of naps.  Thank goodness!

Last hot breakfast before I went home to my own place

Last night I spent the night at my own house with both kids by myself for the first time since surgery.   The house is a little messy but we all survived!

I'm off to do my leg exercises.  Here's to hoping that there's a lot more progress in week 2 and a lot less of a need for prescription strength pain medicine.

Bob's encouragement

Bob as Sensei Wu:

Today you have failed.

Tomorrow we will try again.

The Whiskey Rebels

Have you ever picked up a book just because of its cover? I am such a sucker for an interesting title or eye catching cover. The Whiskey Rebels was just that. I didn't even bother reading the synopsis on the back of the book before I cracked it open.

The whiskey rebels is set in newly established United States. Washington is still president, and Hamilton and Jefferson are at odds as to how to run the government-owned financial system. The timing of this book with our current elections made it even better for me. It's the same bickering over property loans, who should be taxed, how much government involvement there should be in the stocks and bonds system.

If you are a US history junky or enjoy historical fiction, this would be a great read!

A new friend

Scenes from day 5.

The Fault in Our Stars

I have been trying to limit the number of young adult books I've been reading lately.  Seems I might be on YA overload right now.  But I made an exception for John Green's The Fault in Our Stars.  I'm glad I did.

My middle school years contained a lot of Lurlene McDaniels' books.  A LOT.  I still have them tucked away in a box in the closet.  We don't really have to talk about it.   The Fault in Our Stars started out a lot like one of those books.  A young, terminally ill person falls in love with someone.  Except this one had all the humor of an episode of Gilmore Girls (the first couple of seasons anyway....not the last couple that were kind of craptastic).

It was as up-beat as book about cancer can be I think, but also fast paced and had not entirely predictable plot lines (which is a good thing of course!).

My favorite excerpt from the book (complete with the reference for the book title):

'Everyone in this tale has a rock-solid hamartia: hers, that she is so sick, yours, that you are so well. Were she better or you sicker, then the stars would not be so terribly crossed, but it is the nature of stars to cross, and never was Shakespeare more wrong than when he had Cassius note, "The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars / But in ourselves." Easy enough to say when you're a Roman nobleman (or Shakespeare!), but there is no shortage of fault to be found amid our stars.'(p. 111-112)

Day 2

Highlights:

Flowers delivered from the peeps at the boy's work.

Got the drain removed and the bandages changed.

The hole where the drain leaked quite a bit. 

That was gross.

I got these "hot" TED compression stockings I have to wear to prevent blood clots.  All I need now is a nurse's cap and I'll have next year's Halloween costume all set.

I took a picture of my knee before they bandaged it this morning.  But it's the kind of thing someone needs to be warned about I think.  6 stitches holes and several staples and all kinds of swelling.  Maybe later I'll have a fun before and after to compare.

Add another tally to October

Statistically speaking, October has always been a terrible month for my health.  There's been mono, and thyroid radiation, and that one year I had terrible morning sickness, a month long case bronchitis.  This year, instead of trick or treating, I got a new ACL, lost 50% of my medial meniscus, got stitches in both meniscus, and some fancy staples down my shin bone.

This year's halloween costume

The part I was most worried about (the anesthesia going out and coming back) was no big deal.  The part I was sure I would get through (the pain) was so much worse than I thought it would be.  Everyone said day two would be so much worse than day one.  But upon waking, on a scale from 1 to 10 on pain, I'd give it a 57.

Highlights:
After waking up my throat was really sore.  The nurse said that was from the tubing they put in my mouth to keep my tongue from cutting off my airway. 

Me: Can I see it?

The Nurse: Are you sure? It looks like big vagina.

Me: I'm sure.

Except I don't really remember what it looks like, I think I wasn't fully awake yet.

We emptied my drain twice in the night for a total of 90ml of blood and whatever.  Fun right?

Here's to day two, hopefully it is filled with less pain, more sleep, and getting the drain removed.

Sarah's Key

Sarah's Key, by Tatiana de Rosnay, was one of our book club choices that didn't get picked several months ago.  And I noticed my sister had it on her book shelf the last time I went to visit her.  So I borrowed it of course.  I made it through all of 7 pages before I had to run to the computer and look up the plot spoilers.  I refused to continue reading unless I knew what was going to happen in the end. 

The story begins with the French government round up of Jews in Paris, 1944.  We meet 10 year old Sarah and her family as they are awakened in the night by officers coming to take them away.  Thinking she will return very soon, Sarah hides her 4 year old brother in a secret room and locks the door so he will be safe from the round up.   Can you guess where this is going?

Right then and there, as the girl is whisked away with her parents, I had to know.  What is that fate of that innocent, unknowing 4 year old boy.  He dies of course.  In the cupboard before Sarah can return to him.  The rest of the story describes how Sarah was separated from her parents and sent to the concentration camp for children and how she escapes to eventually return to Paris and discover what she guessed had already happened.

Even though the subject matter is gloomy, the story was well written and engaging.  I would recommend it with an asterisk of course about the little boy.

Day 4 at Disneyland

Bob and a dole whip....pretty much makes a perfect day.

Double Farkle

Uncle William and Aunt Erin always have fun games to play when we come to visit.  This time they brought a dice game called farkle.  It's kind of like Yahtzee but more of a 'gambling' game of chance.   I hope Santa brings it for Christmas!

Playing Farkle

Late Night Fireworks

Almost called it a night before the Disneyland firework show. It was worth staying up for the kids agreed!

Apple hill 2012

This was the only picture I snapped from this year's apple hill trip.

That would be my daughter, wearing her school shirt on a Sunday.  Why? 
"Because I'm proud of my school mom!"
This cannot really be my kid.

Highlights:

I got a new spoon key chain with my initial on it - my sister will be jealous.

There were caramel apples to be eaten - I didn't have it in my sore, broken knee to walk back to the cute old man in the corner of Denver Dan's and get an apple on my thumb....there's always next year I suppose.

There were hand dipped corn dogs at Jack Russell Brewery - they were every bit as tasty as I wanted them to be.

And there are 3 homemade pies chillin' in the freezer now, just waiting for an occasion.

A verse and a pickle

I have competed well;
I have finished the race;
I have kept the faith

(2 Timothy, Chapter 4)

It's been 9 years....we still miss you Pop.

A promise

Of better days ahead

The Tao of Pooh

If you have not guessed by my blog home, I'm kind of a little in love with all things Winnie the Pooh.  Old, original Winnie the Pooh, not the newer Disney version.  Of course.

I came across a random comment on a random facebook post one day about the Tao of Pooh and I realized that I had not known about this book.

I am not anywhere close to a philosophy major but I still enjoy a good purpose of life book every now and again.  It was filled with snippets of original Pooh stories along with what I think is a perfect representation of what it would be like to try to have a conversation with Pooh.  There were interruptions, thoughts of honey, appearances by all the major characters, and in the end the realization that Pooh just IS.

My favorite line from the book:

Those that think that the rewarding things in life are somewhere just beyond the rainbow --
"Burn their toast a lot," said Pooh.

How did he know, I wonder, that I am always burning the toast?

A Rad Run

I have been eyeballing this 5K for a while.  The closest race to home had been Sacramento up until now.  And I was having a hard time convincing the tribe to drive to Sacramento just for a 5K.  But Color Me Rad came to Reno this year.    So it was an easier sell.

In case you were wondering just how crazy the color was, here is our before picture. 

At the very end, every runner got their own color bomb to throw at the designated, celebratory time. 

Emma had some much fun she kept running back into the crowd to do it again.  The run was seriously so fun, I don't even mind that two weeks after I paid full price for registration it was half price on groupon. 

6 years old and first 5K in the books!  She did great too, only walking a little bit on the hills.

Come back to Reno again, Color Me Rad, I'd repeat the fun!