<serious tone> Ladies and Gentlemen, boys and girls, we interrupt your regular web surfing for this important medical update.

Well, I went to the orthopedist on Thursday the 13th.  I had my dad drive me – I was half expecting the doctor to work some magic and then I wouldn’t be able to drive.  So the doctor looks at my knee, pushes here and there, generally causes me misery and says, yup, you have a problem here.  He took some x-rays in his office; I waited for 10 minutes and he came back and showed me perfect pictures of my perfect bones.  No fragments, no bone bits running around in there – which is good news.  He told me due the pain I was in and the lack of issues on the x ray, he was going to send me for an MRI.

Now, I was hoping he was just going to drain my knee and I could go on my merry way.  But he was concerned about the cartilage in my knee, and draining would not take care of that.  So the MRI was ordered so he could get a good look at the inside of my knee without surgery.  (Gotta love a doctor who isn’t ready to cut you up any chance he gets!).

Of course, it is not as simple as just making an appointment for an MRI.  It needs to be pre-approved by your insurance.  (I hear they are kinda expensive tests, if you can believe that!).  So I waited Friday (patiently), Saturday and Sunday (mostly patiently – after all, it is the weekend), and all the way up to Monday afternoon before I called the doctor’s office to check on the status.  They were very helpful, but it was still “in process”.  I got the call from the hospital on Tuesday afternoon, calling to make the appointment.  So I guessed it got approved.  After setting up the MRI for Friday the 21st, I called the ortho doctor to make an appointment for 3 or 4 days after that.  Unfortunately, because of his schedule and the impeding Thanksgiving holiday, the earliest I could get in was Monday DEC. 1.  URGGG!!  But, at least I have the MRI appointment within the week, so it really is the best I could hope for.

So I had The Hubby drive me to the hospital for the MRI.   Now, MRI’s are not invasive – no needles, no medication – so I didn’t necessarily need him to drive me.  But I knew I would feel better if I knew he was out there for me if I needed him.  Plus, I didn’t know how tired out I would be from holding so still for 30 or more minutes in what I assumed would be a difficult position for my knee.

So we go through all the paperwork junk and are in the waiting area for the MRI.  It turns out the MRI is actually in a semi trailer attached to the hospital.  It’s my turn to go in (there was someone before me) and I hobble into the enclosed room.  Now, since this is a giant magnet, they don’t want you to have anything metallic on your person or in your clothing.  I was prepared – yoga pants, sports bra, tshirt, no jewelry or watch – so I laid down on the table and the technicians put my knee into a tube (cut in half horizontally), put a support under my knee, put the top half of the tube on, re-adjusted my knee, wedged some foam in between my knee and the tube and then was put inside the MRI tube.

They told me there would be loud noises, gave me a set of headphones to listen to the radio, gave me the “panic” button if I was in too much pain or freaking out, and left the room.  They were right – it is definitely loud.  It reminded me of the sound diesel trucks make while they are just waiting at stop lights or parking lots.  Then there would be a different set of noises – just as loud, but different, like tapping.

I practiced my tai chi breathing.  I breathed in slowly, felt it move up from my feet to my head, and then down again as I exhaled.  It was a little distracting with the noise, but not horribly so.  My mind wandered a bit – I started to think about things I had to do and how my knee was hurting.  Every time I thought about my knee, I refocused on my breathing.  About halfway through the MRI, the tech came on the headphone set to tell me it was halfway done and that I was doing fine.  It was about this point that I started to have the strangest sensation.  I felt my knee muscles twitch.  I was sure they were going to tell me to stop moving – but I didn’t hear anything from the techs.  I kept feeling the muscles move – spasm is probably a better word for it.  It didn’t hurt – it was just like an involuntary muscle movement.  I just kept on breathing and picturing my first tai chi section.

So I finished up the MRI, put my shoes back on (man was it chilly in there! my toes were getting numb!) and hobbled back to The Hubby.  We drove up to his office, I dropped him off and I ran a few errands before going home.  Once I got home, I seemed to have a burst of energy.  I cleaned up the kitchen, made the taco meat for The Boy, and made a batch of Rice Krispie treats.

Now, to make the rice krispie treats, I had to go downstairs to get the marshmallows.  I have been wanting to bake for over a week now, and I figured rice krispies would be simple enough, but I never got around to going to the basement to get the marshmallows. So I got down there, did some re-arranging of the stockpile, and brought up some things I had been wanting – including the marshmallows.

I got myself set up on the couch to start my work for the day.  I generally have my knee up while I work on the couch.  The Hubby moved a small table behind the couch and I have the printer, my Scan Snap and a basket of office supplies on it.  There is room for the laptop when I am not using it, plus a little spot for a glass if I am thirsty.  Overall, it works (but I sure do miss being in my office).  So, I got started on some work stuff until The Hubby called and asked me to pick him up at lunchtime.  We were going to go pick up his car from getting the oil changed.  So I ran up to his office, then up to the car dealership, and then back home.

The afternoon was nothing special – some more work and The Boy came home and then went out with some friends.  After dinner, I took him to another friend’s house for a party  and he got a ride home from that.   We went to bed kind of late (11:30 or so) because we got sucked into our new Netflix account (more on that later on sometime).

I slept for 6 and 1/2 hours straight!  NO dogs, no cat, no snoring woke me up.  I only woke up because I needed to go the bathroom – and then I fell back asleep for another hour until the dogs woke me up.  I can’t remember the last time I slept that long without interruption!  It felt so good.

When I did get out of bed, I noticed my knee didn’t seem to hurt as much.  I took a closer look, and it doesn’t look at all swollen today!  It still hurts to walk on it or bend it, but the swelling seems to be gone (for now anyway!).  I can almost see the light at the end of this tunnel – and it may not even be a truck ready to run me over!

I remember hearing this medical term – Water on the knee – when my foster sister Liz had a swollen knee in high school.  It was so big – it was amazing.  I remember hearing the doctors were going to stick a needle in her knee and drain the fluid.  It sounded horrible.

And now it’s my turn.  I have messed up my knee to the point I need to get it drained.  It’s been bothering me for over a month.  It was getting worse, then The Hubby rubbed it for about a week and it seemed to get better.  Then – nothing… it didn’t get better and it didn’t get worse.  Then… the dog strikes!  I was out walking the dogs and Pansy pulled at the leash pretty hard.  I could feel the jerk and twisting in my knee.  That was on Monday.  I tried to elevate it and rest, but it was apparent to me on Monday night that waiting to see the doctor was no longer an option.  So I stopped by the office Tuesday morning and got an appointment for Wednesday at noon.

One look at my knee, and the doctor was impressed… very impressed.  She said she was disappointed her resident had just left – it would have been great to show her this very swollen, fluid filled knee.  She hadn’t seen one that bad for a long time, in fact.  She wrote me a prescription for some pain medication (as my tries with Advil, Aleve and Tynelol had not seemed to have much of an effect) and referred me to an orthopedic doctor around the corner.  I drove over to the office and now have an appointment tomorrow with the doctor who repaired my broken ankle when I was 15.

So after setting up the appointment, I ran to CVS to get the prescription, updated my medical/insurance information and headed off to run a few errands while waiting for the script.  Since my appointment was at noon, it was now 1:00 and I was starving.  But the medication has to be taken with food, so I had to wait for the pharmacy.  By 1:30 my errands were done, the prescription was filled and I was placing my order at Quiznos.

I got home, wolfed down my sandwich and took my pill.  As I was taking it, I noticed the warnings on the bottle.  It had the old standby – “May Cause Drowsiness”.  Crap.  Whenever something has that warning, it ususally means I will be out like a light.  And I have to say, I am incredibly tired.  I haven’t noticed any improvement in the pain, but I am having a heck of a time keeping my eyes open.   I suspect I will sleep pretty well tonight.

And I am so looking forward to getting my knee drained (and I never thought I’d be saying that!)

I am so upset with myself.  October was a whirlwind… I don’t remember much of it.  I was busy, busy, busy.

And I lost track of a few things… nothing major, but little things I was counting on in my own head.

I realized yesterday that I needed to get my receipts in for the rebate items I had purchased over the last few weeks.  I mean, it was the 7th, pretty early in the month, right?

Wrong!  The Walgreens Easy Saver rebates had to be in by Nov. 1ST!!  So I lost out on about $6 in rebates.

Then, when assembling my mail in rebates, I came across the requirements for the Scrubbing Bubbles kit.  I needed to send in the UPC code.  Not really unexpected, but when I went downstairs to get it, the box was gone and the garbage was emptied (darn that efficiency!).  So, now I lost out on a $4 rebate.

Now, $10 really isn’t alot of money.  But I find myself obsessing and beating myself up about that small amount. It was money I was counting on and expecting to get back.  And now, because I was too busy or too tired, I’ve missed out on something.

So, I have put a reminder in my calendar for this month’s Easy Saver Rebate deadline.  And I will do my best to remember to cut out those UPC codes before I throw away the boxes.  And I will have a better November than October – so I can pay attention to all the little details!

… who hasn’t kept up with her blog posting.  I can’t believe I haven’t written since Oct. 26th!  It feels like forever, doesn’t it?  Have you missed me?

I have been keeping busy, in mostly good ways. Of course there is always work and home life to keep me busy, but I feel like I have been extra busy to have ignored my writing for so long.

There was Halloween.  The Hubby and I dressed up as Little Red Riding Hood and the Big Bad Wolf and went to a party at K&E’s house.  We had a good time – lots of friends were there.  (I’d put pictures – but it doesn’t seem to be working at the moment!)

I have been working on the church Annual Finance Campaign.  This takes time – both in creating the materials and in following up with people about their giving for the upcoming year.  Our commitment Sunday was a few weeks ago; now I update the spreadsheet with all the pledges given and track down everyone who gave last year and haven’t replied for this year.

I got a new computer.  My Gateway was having several issues.  It was getting pretty full and didn’t have alot of free space.  (Yes – I did go through it and got rid of programs and files I didn’t need anymore).  I regularly did the disk scan thing to clear up temp files and crap like that, and defragmented every week or so… but it really wasn’t helping much.  I started to get error messages about data not being written to the hard drive.  The final straw was the power issue.  I would be at my desk, using my external keyboard – not even touching the actual laptop – and the power would flicker between the AC adapter and the internal battery. I had a friend take a look at it, and he recommended to my bosses that I get a new computer.  Considering the Gateway was 2.5 years old, it had certainly done its’ work for me as well as could be expected.

So, I ended up with a Lenovo Y530 from Circuit City (before they announced store closings!).  I spent a day and a half geting used to Vista; installing, uninstalling, reinstalling software; finding those “only use them once in a while” programs are actually programs I need at my fingertips and then spending more time trying to find them again (auto-backup system, pdf printer, .mdi file converter, payroll company software, etc.)  I only have one outstanding issue left, and I actually had the problem before I stopped using the Gateway.

For some reason, my external keyboard has stopped working.  I “rebooted” it; I put in new batteries (twice!); I checked the software and it says it is working fine (I guess computers can lie!).  The mouse works – but the keyboard doesn’t.  So I still have that issue to resolve.

And tonight I got to make some cookies.  It feels great to be in the kitchen trying a new recipe.  I made Macadamia Lace Oatmeal cookies from Baking Bites.  I had to make a change – I didn’t have any macadamia nuts.  Well, that’s not exactly true.  My sister in law gave me a bag – about 7 years ago – that I still had.  I opened it – nibbled on it – and decided that was not going to go anywhere but the garbage.  So I substituted walnuts instead.  The verdict – very good!  They are very simple to make – hardly any ingredients – and they are even wheat free so I can give them to my mom!  The Hubby liked them alot – although I need to learn how to drizzle chocolate effectively to add a bit of pizazz to them.  The Boy wasn’t interested when I was making them, but after tasting a finished one, said they were okay.  I liked them – but you have to remember these are lace cookies, so they are not filling – they are very light.

I’ve seen that several times on various blogs… Nobody Cares What You Ate for Lunch.  It’s meant to be a rallying cry to inject your website/blog with something useful for your readers, therefore ensuring you will have traffic, therefore ensuring you can earn money with advertising.

But I would argue, somebody does care what I ate for lunch (besides me, I mean.)  It used to be, as a kid, I never ate much, so my mom would love to hear that I ate something (anything!) for lunch.  My hubby would probably like to know I take time during the day to eat lunch… so I’m not starving or a cranky wife when he gets home.  Maybe someone out there wants to know they are not the only ones to eat a piece of banana bread, a cup of hot chocolate and a cup of soup for lunch.  Maybe I’ll share my secret recipe for fried rice… or talk about the awesomeness of the Quizno’s sandwich I had.

My blog is not about making money.  If it was, I’d be writing every day, changing my layout and including advertising, promoting myself on other blogs, joining blogging communities, etc.  And some day I may do that.  But my audience may still hear about what I had for lunch!

So, last week I went out and bought a Food Saver.  We actually had have one in the basement that we never really used.  It was white and got dirty easily; it seemed really loud so I didn’t like using it.

But with this new baking kick I’ve been on, plus the fact we are trying to eat/shop more responsibly, made me start thinking about bringing it back upstairs.  Then I got a flyer from Costco with some coupons in it.  There was one for $30 off a Food Saver plus $5 off a box of bags.  Last time The Hubby and I were in Costco, he actually pointed out the Food Saver and noticed how different (a.k.a. better) it looked than the little white one we had.  It was about $150 and I didn’t want to spend the money at that point.  So, with this coupon, it would be down to $120 or so.

I got a free pass to BJ’s Club, so I went down to check out their prices and get some supplies for the church fundraiser.  When I was getting my pass, they talked me into a membership.  Since I still had 2 months on my Costco membership, they upped the membership from a special of 14 months to 16 months!  The membership fee was $45 – which is about $10 cheaper than Costco.  Plus, BJ’s is alot closer than Costco for us.

I looked at BJ’s Food Saver.  It looked a little less sturdy – not quite as heavy duty.  It was $130, so I went back up to Costco and picked up the “better” one for $120, plus got a box of bags with the $5 discount.

It took a few days to find time to get it out of the box and play around with it.   It’s still loud, but it has a LOT more buttons and settings to work with.  It has a light up dial that tells you the progress of the vacuum and when it starts to seal.  You can use special containers (which we bought with the last one and we still have) with a hose attachment.  You can use a DRY or MOIST food selection; a PULSE selection to manually vacuum to your own idea of “just right”.  It has a roll dispenser inside the unit, with a slide cutter to cut the bags evenly and easily (very nice!).

So, last night I made spaghetti sauce with meatballs for dinner.  After we were done, I put the leftovers in some tupperware and put it in the freezer overnight.  Before dinner tonight, I popped them out of the containers (5 of them!), made bags, put each one in a bag, and vacuumed it up.  Now I have 5 bags of sauce and meatballs, in 1 or 2 person quantities, that can go into a pot and boiled, ready to be eaten in 20 minutes or so.  I went through the freezer and bagged up stuff that was in regular ziploc bags; then I went through the fridge and cleaned that out.  I threw away stuff that had met its’ end and bagged up some other stuff.  I bagged up some hot dogs, used the Pulse feature to bag up a head of lettuce (first I peeled off the lettuce leafs so it wasn’t a head shape, but actual lettuce leafs laying down.  I used one of the containers for The Boy’s leftover taco stuff.

Now my fridge is clean(er), my freezer is better stocked and I’ve actually used an appliance on my counter top.

We had movie night at our place Friday night.  The Hubby and I picked from our On Demand selection.  Well, actually, I went online, checked out what was available, made a list of about a dozen movies, and then we picked out of that list.  We decided on Walk Hard, the Dewey Cox Story.

It was great!  Very funny.  It helps if you have seen the Johnny Cash bio-pic, Walk the Line.

One of my major complaints about some movies is the full frontal nudity of females.  It’s everywhere!  But, when it comes to guys – nothing.  It’s all gender biased!  Hey, if your going to show the human body “for story line purposes” it’s not fair to discriminate and only show the ladies.  But writers Judd Aptow and Jake Kasdan had the guts to break that Hollywood rule.  Yes, there is full frontal nudity … of both genders.

K&E were our only movie night guests.  J & S had to get ready for Kevin’s birthday party on Saturday.  S said he was waiting for his brother to fix his heater.  So, it was a small gathering (especially since The Boy decided to go a friend’s party for the night).

We went on the hay ride portion of the birthday party today.  I have to say, it’s been awhile since I’ve been on a hay ride – probably 10 or so years.  And this was much more fun – I didn’t spend my time worrying about a four year falling off the wagon.

We stopped in the cow field and had the cows come up and eat the hay from the wagons.

The Hubby had a great time feeding the cows – although he kept complaining about cow tongue.

The next stop was a pumpkin patch for the kids.

While they were picking, one of the farm dogs was playing fetch with one of the small pumpkins.  The Hubby had a great time with the black lab (the mom) and the brown lab (the daughter), throwing the pumpkin for them to catch and bring back.

There was a stream, which of course, the labs couldn’t resist.  Although, The Hubby seemed to be having a good time as well (even if he got a bit wet!)

After that, we stopped at a picnic spot, munched on chicken and mac & cheese.  They were both delicious.  Although, it didn’t hurt that all either of us had that day was a piece of banana nut bread!   After a bit, we headed back to the wagons and went back to the main gate.  A good time was had by all.

Gather round the campfire kids – it’s time for the story of the Goat Rescue!

Yup, it was a crisp autumn morning, the kind I’d like to sleep in some more, but can’t.  My parents were away – it was supposed to be camping, but since the truck and camper was still at the house, it must have turned into a hotel trip.  So, that meant I was in charge of the livestock – baby chicks inside, and outside – multiple cats, half a dozen chickens and 3 goats.

So I get over to the coop to let the chickens out of the cage.  I notice there, in the corner, is Tug – the white goat with horns.  He isn’t moving toward me – his head is in the hay stack.  Probably not too unusual – after all, he’s a goat – and goats eat hay.  I got a bit closer, and it became clear he was trying to get out of the haystack.  Yup, he got his head stuck in the wire fencing used to hold back the hay.  He wasn’t anxious or overly upset, but clearly wanted to get out of there.  I tried to move his head to untangle him, but no luck.  I tried several times – moved his head to the left, down, tried to get his horns in the right spot – still nothing.

I had been smart enough to bring my cell phone with me.  The Hubby was home, but sleeping.  I really didn’t want to wake him up. But I didn’t want to go home and find wire cutters – it felt like it would be too long to leave the goat.  So, I did what I had to – I called my dad.  No answer.  Tried again – calling my mom (I’m so glad they each have their own phone!)

So, my mom answers in her cheerful voice – Good Morning – and I’m like – “yea, except for this one thing.  Your goat.”  I could hear her breath catch – what could be wrong? “He’s stuck in the hay”.  So she gets dad on the phone.  He directs me to the workroom in the basement and helps me find the bolt cutters.  So off I go, to cut some wire first thing in the morning (really, isn’t that the first thing you do every morning?).  I make a few cuts and voila! Tug is freed from his jail (you know, the kind where your food is shoved in your face and you can’t stand it anymore).

So now it’s time to go inside to check on the baby chicks.  Everything is fine – and as I’m about to go, my cell phone rings.  It’s Mom.  She says she and dad were talking and they want me to get the goats outside in the run and put the chickens inside the coop.  That way, the chickens will lay eggs where they are supposed to and will be in there to roost at night, and the dumb goats won’t a) get stuck again or b) get cut by the wire where is was cut back.  Makes sense – so back out I go to the coop.  I get the goats outside into the run, and start rounding up the chickens.  I get two of them without any issues.  There are three more, plus the rooster that just will not cooperate.  Any time I got close to one of them, I would get butted by a white goat with horns in the back of the leg.

This morning was going downhill.  Fast.  I was out there for a good 30 minutes, chasing chickens and getting attacked by a horny goat.

I finally reached the end of my rope.  I called my mom back.  “How badly do you want me to get those chickens into the coop?  They are just not cooperating and the damn goat keeps knocking me in the back of the leg!”  No problem, she says.  Just leave them out there and they’ll just be cold and have to deal with it.  Awesome! I think, along with the thought that the next time I have chicken for dinner, I’m gonna enjoy it like never before (after all, the best revenge is eating something, right?).

So kids, the moral of the story – never let the chickens out of the cage until you’re sure the goats haven’t gotten themselves stuck in a hay feeder in case you have to cut the goat out and then kick him out of the coop for his own good.

Ah, lurking… you are probably doing it right now, aren’t you?  You surf, you read, you check on your favorite sites… check out the links and blogrolls on a particular site.

It’s almost like the game Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon.

I found a site for food – Cheap Healthy Good – that I really liked.  I read it often, and then started to check out sites they highlighted on the Tuesday Megalinks.  That’s how I found several sites I now have bookmarked – Prudence Pennywise, Baking Bites and A Year of Crockpotting.

And from there I found other sites – Smoky Mountain Cafe and Bake or Break – that got bookmarked as well.

Links truly make the world wide web go round.

well, somehow I survived the last two weeks.  It’s been pretty intense, running a church finance campaign (which, technically, isn’t over yet!) and a fundraiser.

I am still trying to get un-buried from everything, so this won’t be a big post.  I’m feeling tired and overwhelmed.  But slowly and surely I am getting back on track – grocery shopping, laundry, baking, etc.

A big push for a work project has put a bit of stress, but after tomorrow that will be over.

Talk to you soon!