Design Day, Burlap Heart Wreath

Love this wreath!  Learn how to make it at choosetothrive.blogspot.com.

Weekend results

This weekend was region for swim. One of L's relays took 3rd. Now for state swim in a couple of weeks.

Edna-isms, Part Sixteen

1.  "More than one way to skin a cat."  A frequently used phrase to mean there was more than one way to do a task.

2.  "It looks like it's painted on."  This phrase referred to something that was very tight.

3.  "Shirt-tale relatives."  This might mean distant relatives or people that might be relatives of in-laws or somehow not directly related but having some relationship that felt like a relative.

This side of the diaper pile

A little birthday "happiness" a few years ago!

When my children were tiny, I would try to cast my mind ahead to the time they would be eighteen years old (and theoretically adults) and I never could do it.  I could not see over the pile of multiple daily diapers, midnight feedings or sickness, birthdays, all the millions of things children need to do and learn as they grow, and all the many needs tiny children have. Let's face it--from that side of the diaper pile, I could not see Kindergarten.  Eighteen was as far off as if I had tried to look east from my house and see New York City. I just could not see it but, to quote Dr. Seuss, "It came! Somehow or another it came just the same!" We have almost imperceptibly moved forward one day at a time--clear over and well past the diaper pile--to the here and the now. We have another child--our Best Ever Girl--who has reached eighteen and it is still hard to fathom even though it is really here. We wish her love and all good things!

Our Best Ever Girl!

Design Day, Fun Craft Book

For Christmas, I received this great book full of fun craft ideas.  I may never do all of them (well, let's be honest--I won't do all of them) but there are a couple I would enjoy doing.

Checking in . . .

Here is just a short update on my ankle. I am making progress in my recovery, though I still have far to go. I rented a rolling kneel-on scooter this week and went back to work for a few days, just half days. I still cannot put much weight at all on my foot but I do not have to keep it constantly elevated, either. I am going to try a full work day this week and, if I survive, I will work another full day again this week, since the days are spaced out in the week giving me time to recover between each one.

Last regular meet . . . ever

Last night was the last regular high school meet of the season, which means the last regular high school meet for L forever. The coaches honored the senior swimmers by giving them one red rose for each year they were on the team. Here is a photo of L receiving her three roses.

Edna-isms, Part Fifteen

1.  "Crackin' headache."  It was never a "bad" headache or a migraine--it was always, "I have a crackin' headache."

2.  "Go roundy, roundy."  This meant to go around in circles and was more often said to a child.

3.  "Blankety blank."  This is a common phrase and not Mom's invention.  Mom would use it to imply she was leaving out a swear word but was usually said with humor rather than anger.

Design Day, Cloche Reality

This is the cloche in real life that I posted about last week and, my goodness, it is huge.  Note to self:  read details like dimensions before you order something!

A wave from me

Although life is still going by rapidly round me (imagine a giant, immobile boulder in the middle of a rapidly flowing river--and that boulder is little ol' me!), things are quite quiet here with me.

I did go to church today for the first time since I fell.  Three hours and I was worn out and ready for the recliner.  I am going to go to work later in the week for a few half days.  I have some trepidation about that (not sure how I can do much other than be there) but we will see. I won't know until I go . . . .

As for life rushing around me, the three kids are busy with school, L has less than a month of high school swim (and therefore we have less than a month of swim carpool), B is busy with work and work, and many things seem to beg for my attention. I am just working on keeping a Zen calm and ignoring those things that are undone that I like "done up" or that seem to have my name on them.

I believe B and the kids are just about ready for me to "arise, take up my bed and walk" (see Mark 2) but I think that is not for some time yet, since I cannot actually put any weight on my foot. 

So in the mean time, I will continue to keep my foot elevated and to keep calm and quiet, and--boulder like--I will let things just keep rushing by me.

Edna-isms, Part Fourteen

1. "Egg bread."  My mother's name (and evidently her mother's name) for french toast.  Mom's french toast was always soggy so I was not a big fan of it.

2.  "Lumpy dick."  This would refer to food that had unnecessary lumps in it.

3.  "Boer's nest" or "Bore's nest."  I never knew exactly what the reference was but assumed it was somehow related to the Boers in South Africa.  However, it could also mean "bore" as in "boring."  My mother referred to her father's back room as a "Boer's/Bore's nest."  So I call my husband's spot in the downstairs family room the "Boer's nest."

Design Day, A Cloche

I have been fascinated by bell jars and cloches lately.  I LOVE this cloche at Pottery Barn!

Cozy Evening

I am having a quiet evening sitting in my recliner, enjoying my white Christmas tree, "communing" with L while she does her homework, hearing the boys in the back bedroom yammering on to their Xbox friends, having my lapdog Rosie on my lap, breaking out a new book to start reading, and anticipating B, J and L making dinner when B gets home from work in a while. Sigh. Other than this blasted ankle, I am pretty darn content right this very second.

Secret Revealed

There is a saying in my immediate family about how when things would get stressful, my dad would go out and fall down the stairs. In his late years, he had dementia and when the whole house was in an uproar, such as getting ready for a trip or some big event, he would catch that "uproar" feeling and become very restless. On several such occasions, my dad literally went out and fell down the stairs--right "in the middle of all that hurrah" (another Edna-ism).

Fast forward twenty years to a dark and stormy night--the Sunday before Christmas this year.  I was delivering neighbor gifts with my son J as chauffeur.  Is there a more hectic time than just before Christmas?  I went up some wooden side stairs at a neighbor's house where there was no exterior light, set my gift down (the neighbor was not home) and, while running back down the stairs in the rain and the dark, I miscalculated the number of stairs.  Thinking I was on the last stair (but was in fact on the second to the last stair), I stepped into mid-air, came down on a mat or something, twisted my ankle--landing hard on the outside of my ankle.  If this was all, I believe there would have been a less painful ending to this story.  However, inexplicably, I rose up (maybe my hand was momentarily still on the railing and I pulled back up but my momentum kept me going forward?) and then I came down a second time like a jackhammer, with all my weight and with my momentum from running down the stairs, straight back down on the outside of that ankle.  I crumpled to the ground and could not get up.

 Like father, like daughter:  amidst all the Christmas hurrah, I went out and fell down the stairs!

I knew J could not see me there behind the stairs. I searched my pockets for my cell phone, hoping to call him to come help me. No phone. So I knew I had to crawl.  With my foot held up gingerly behind me, I slowly and shakily crawled about fifteen feet before J caught sight of me.  He unrolled the window and said, "Mom, WHAT are you doing?!"  He thought I had lost something and was searching for it on the ground! Funny, now.  He helped me to the van and we went home so B could take me to Instacare.

Initially, the doctor thought I would need surgery to put in a pin, but the x-rays showed I probably did not (as did the x-rays this past Monday). Of course, x-rays do not show soft tissue damage.  He said it looked like a third-degree sprain. He instructed me to go home and keep my leg elevated.  Today, two weeks later, that is basically where I am: in bed or in a recliner with my foot elevated, getting around on crutches and not able to put weight on my foot.  Really, I am not able to have my foot down for more than about five or ten minutes without pain.  Talk about a schedule-clearer.

I have my able kids and my husband here at my beck and call (mwhahaha) so I am getting along just fine. So do not worry or bring food.  I have plenty of help.  And next time things get hectic, I will stay away from stairs!

A week after the fact.

Edna-isms, Part Thirteen

I hope you enjoy reading this weekly entry (at least parts of it) as much as I enjoy doing it.  It is fun to think of these happy memories of my mother.

1. "Not on your tin type."  My mother would use this like someone would say, "Not on your life."
2.  "That's the 'by Gad' of it!"  Other's might say, "That's the heck of it" [Utahans!] or "That's the h*ll of it."
3.  "That would be loverly."  Pretty much like it suggests, maybe from the song, "Wouldn't it be Loverly" from My Fair Lady.

Design Day, Cool Gadget

Isn't this Layer Cake Slicing Kit the coolest thing ever?  I should have guessed a gadget like this existed!  This is available through opensky.com.