I Saved The Staples

When Vince and I went to Ohio for our film MFA interview Max was the bookstore dog at the Galaxy Bookshop in Hardwick

My staples are out which is a huge mental move forward for me.  The only way it could have been worse is if I'd had more knees.  In twenty years when I have to do this again :(, I want to be put asleep.

I'm thinking that the toughest component of my healing process, even with all the physical discomfort, will be the patience part of it.  I've spent most of the last couple days fretting, that after all my stretching, my flexion was getting worse and when we measured it with hand-held calipers rather than my head-held calipers, it had actually gotten better.*  Not as much better as I (the expert and knee owner) thought it should be, but better which is way better than worse. (that's a lot of 'betters'). 

I will admit that I am excited to 'get this show on the road', but just the same I am being very careful and thoughtful with my physical therapy.  Like today. My physical therapist tried to keep a non-judgmental look on her face as I described my plan for using the rowing machine as therapy.  I told her the hardest part about it is that it sits so close to the floor so I was thinking I could have Vin hang a trapeze contraption from the ceiling that I could use to lower myself on the the machine.  All she said was, "why don't we wait until next week," and I was OK with that.

It took me most of the day, but Sunday I figured how to link my blogs together with html code.  I am so much smarter than I thought I was.  It's fun seeing (stats page) that people actually use the new feature to go from one blog to the other like it's a real thing that a person who does that kind of thing did, and not me.

MY DAD

It looked like flying from Mesa, Arizona to Sioux Falls, South Dakota on April 18 was going to be cheap, so one weekday afternoon when all the Minnesota snowbirds were over at Janis J's for no special reason, Dad had her get him a ticket.  She has a printer so she could print it out while he was there too which made it even more of a great idea.  (when something seems to good to be true, it usually is)

Good Life.  Sustainable living.

Water aerobics on St Patrick's Day at Good Life.

A few days later he got to thinking that hanging around 'Good Life' resort for two weeks by himself (since people are starting to leave now), when it might even be warmer in Minnesota, may not have been worth saving the fifty dollars and leaving sooner would be worth any amount of money.  I'd bought my brother Dale a ticket to Mesa last Christmas time.  He didn't go so I had a voucher sitting in a file with all of my other unused airline vouchers.

Aunt Marlene had Janis email Dad, me and her a copy of Dad's itinerary so we would all be on the 'front' page.  I called the airline (Allegiant) but since Janis J. had made the reservation, she would have to make the changes (that's what she gets for being nice).  She gave me a list of the several passwords she may have used so I could get into her account.  One worked and up came a long manifest of tickets purchased and printed that afternoon at her house.

I made Dad's new reservation but I couldn't use the voucher because my step-sister Janet had put Dale's Christmas time ticket on her credit card so the voucher was in her name.  To use it Janet would have had to call Allegiant, with an average wait time 28 minutes, and OK the voucher transfer, then Dad would have had to call Allegiant, with an average wait time 28 minutes, and make the reservation over the phone.  TOO MANY COOKS.  We used a credit card so Dad's cheap ticket ended up being 91 dollars more than the one Janis got for him and I still have a voucher in Janet's name.

My dad just got his girlfriend her birthday present.  I can tell you what it was because, even though her birthday isn't for a few weeks, he couldn't wait to give it to her.  A card shuffler.



*In case you are interested......I have another blog.  I call it my knee blog.  It's like a journal and is only about my knees.  I update it almost everyday whether something is newsworthy or not.  I started it because, at the beginning of this whole process, I really wanted to see how my progress, pain and decision making compared with others and I couldn't find a site that had the information I wanted.  It's at the top right of 'Kathy's Big Adventure' under MY BLOG LIST. Anyway....go ahead, stalk me.