somewhat back to normal

Both daughters are back in school, husband is on business trip thru next week and i'm driving everywhere.  Seems to be pretty much back to normal!  I "failed" my PT re-evaluation on the 3rd, so I've got three more weeks lined up with appointments.  Despite my diligence at doing the exercises, the strength isn't quite back to where it should be.  Sigh.  More one-legged squats.  I have determined that I don't yet have the strength to do forward lunge-walks unassisted (I use two sticks at PT to walk back and forth across the room), but I can now to the lunges where you put your leg behind you about 4-5 feet and squat down, then push off to return to the start.  Next step will be to do that forward, then to add the "walking" part.  Longer recovery than I'd anticipated, but I'm continuing to learn patience.

Both girls performed very well for their second quarter grades and are moving forward.  Maggie's determining her classes for next year, Abby will do so later this year.  Abby has her placement test for high school on Saturday morning -- this is used to determine and scholarship availability and if she'll be recommended to take honors classes.  Marks the start of a really busy weekend -- after that Abby's having lunch with fellow grammar school friends who are taking the same test, Maggie's playing bingo at a retirement home, then perhaps doing something in the evening.  Sunday morning is church followed by lunch with friends.  Then Maggie has a Girl Scout event followed by dinner with a friend.  Guess what I'll be doing this weekend?????

So all is well with us -- hope you're having a safe and happy new year.

2012 Summary

For those of you who received my Christmas letter, most of this is a repeat.  I did manage to forget one of the "major" milestones in that letter which has been added here -- our Isaac hurricane event.  And I've finished up with the end-of-year events as well.  Hope you and yours have a wonderful 2013.

This year has really flown by!  We are all well and looking forward to yet another year to enjoy life in this world.

Tom was able to enjoy a “boy’s week” with his brothers and one brother-in-law at Big Bend in Texas.  His brothers met him on AMTRAK in Houston and continued onto Alpine where they drove the rest of the way.  Beautiful country and I understand they hope to make a return trip.  Tom began yet another role within Shell this year and is back doing what he enjoys and does best – technology forecasting.  He celebrated a “big” anniversary with the company as well in October. 

Aside from the “normal” activities of driving children, exercise, and Bible Study, I’ve had more than my share of health-related issues this year.  An MRI in January created a need for fluid drainage from my hip which was followed by the realization while (thankfully!) the joint isn’t septic, it no longer has any cartilage.  In October I underwent an arthroscopic procedure to remove bone spurs and clean it up a bit, but it’s looking like a new hip is in my near future.  The joys of aging.

Maggie completed her freshman year and is half-way thru the sophomore one.  She again ran track in the spring and cross country this fall, this year participating in a couple of the varsity-level races.  She volunteered at the JCC summer camp (100 hours are required for high school graduation) and really enjoyed the kiddos.

Abby’s now in 7^th grade and will be joining Maggie at high school in the fall.  Hard to believe I’ll no longer have any children in grammar school!  Abby continues to play the violin and once again participated in the JCC swim team.  She also enjoyed her 12-year-old trip with gramma and granddad – choosing to enjoy Chicago for a week with them.

We all enjoyed a visit to Houston over Easter to visit with Tom’s family (especially our newest nephew!).  The girls and I drove over and met Tom (who had been on a business trip and flew in).  Over the summer the 4 of us went to North Carolina where my mom’s family gathered for a week together playing in the lake, going to the amusement park, and hanging out.  Tom and I were then able to get away for a week together while the girls continued to enjoy time at mom and dad’s house.  In August we had an at-home “hurri-cation” due to hurricane Isaac which hi7 years to the date after Katrina.  Thankfully we suffered only minor damage (dad and Tom just finished fixing the fence and Tom replaces some shingles) though the week without power was a bit long, particularly when it got to be hot again!  Tom was very effective in using our generator and we lost almost no food from the refrigerator and were able to charge electronics and by the end of the week had a wall unit running AC in one room.  Finally, we spent Thanksgiving with Tom’s family in Concan, TX where we rented a house and enjoyed a few days of eating heavily and each others’ company.

Christmas was spent at home with my parents.  We were treated to a REALLY nice dinner at Brennan's on the 26th as well.  The girls, mom, and I hit the outlet mall for early b-day shopping one day as well.  I'm not so sure I'm well-rested for this time of the year, but it certainly has been fun and I wouldn't change anything.

Hope 2013 brings out the best in all of us.

so far

As usual it's been a crazy few weeks here.  We're giving our master bathroom a facelift (new tile, paint, vanity, sink, mirror, lighting, etc.), adding built-ins to the tv room, quarter finals as school for the girls, and my surgery.  As with any home-remodel project, something always comes up as an unexpected issue.  The lighting for the bathroom had consisted of two canned lights from the ceiling over the mirror. Tom was able to move those around so that there will be one light above the mirror.  He also had to raise the outlet as the countertops will be higher.  And when he started peeling off the wallpaper he discovered that there was this strange other paper under it -- not a true wallpaper, but more of like a base-paper.  Which is a dickens to get off (trust me -- I helped with this part!).  The dry-wall underneath in places had the white paper coating scraped off (NOT due to our removal of any of the paper) and any remaining glue created a nightmare when he was re-mudding the walls.  ACH!

And then the dishwasher had a leak.  We started smelling a musty odor under the kitchen sink and Tom noticed some water seeping out the wall opposite the dishwasher.  I believe that during our efforts to get the dishwasher to clean the dishes again we inadvertently (perhaps?) created some leak or so.  So the repairman comes out but the part is not in stock so another week later, it's finally fixed.  Unfortunately it seems the musty odor remains so perhaps now there's a leak somewhere else in the kitchen sink area.  Sigh.

I believe the quarter finals were perhaps the least stressful of events, at least from mine and Tom's perspectives.  The girls performed well first quarter and are again inundated with homework for the second quarter.

As for the surgery, that's another story!  First there was a one-week delay due to the fact that the surgeon's father-in-law died and he was out of town.  Mom changed her flights at a large expense (mom's the best!) to come in a week later and stay through the 31st.  Then the various home-improvement projects were all coming together, so we went to "plan B" and mom took me to the hospital in the morning (well, I drove) and stayed with me there which allowed Tom to do some of the various work before the cabinet install people came the following day.  So mom and I sat and they got me all ready and we sat some more and some more.....Finally about 2:30 they took me back and sent her on to the waiting area.  As they gave me my "relaxing shot" at that point things started to get fuzzy.  I remember talking with the PA as she marked the appropriate hip for surgery and being wheeled into the OR and then the hook-up of the IV and the beginning of the nothingness.  Then I was a bit more aware in a hospital room, being told I'd be spending the night.  Tom was there -- apparently the surgery started late, ran quite a bit longer than anticipated (guess that hip was in rather bad shape) and they hadn't yest established that all my systems were working well enough to send me home so I was to spend the night.  I was able to chat with Abby on the phone and was so thankful that mom and Maggie were there to keep everything running while Tom was with me until visiting hours were over.  I FINALLY got to go home at about 4:30 Wednesday afternoon and, as the girls noticed, still a bit foggy.  I went to bed at 7 rather sore.  Each day has been an improvement in range of motion and less pain.  Right now it seems to me that the achiness is different than pre-op -- more from the surgery and the ways they had to move my hip around than anything else.  It's confirmed that there's little/no cartilage left in the hip and there were more/larger bone spurs than anticipated.  I've had one PT session and have to do my exercises regularly.  I'm allowed to put no weight on it at all for 2 weeks.  Sigh.  Then I'll gradually add weight.  Meanwhile I'm figuring out a lot of ways to get things done and every day is a bit better.  Hopefully I'll be even more capable before mom has to leave for home.....

Mom's taken Maggie to her cross country meet this morning -- I didn't think crutching all over city park was such a grand idea, especially as the ground is still rather wet.  Tom should be taking Abby to her ensemble practice and my goal for the day is to sponge-bathe and do my exercises and watch the OSU game......good enough for me!

Enjoy the rest of October!

things i like and dislike about hurricanes

So first off is the disclaimer -- I have absolutely no right to complain at all -- we had the means and the ability to evacuate and CHOSE to stay in town for Isaac.  That said, here are the things I liked:

1. Listening to the wind and rain (cat 1, so not horrific!)
2. Reading by candlelight (the first 2 days)
3. Remembering how to get around in the dark (before I had LASIK I had this sort of inner-radar thing going on and was able to navigate the house in the dark without my glasses/contacts)
4. Tom's ingenuity -- he'd purchased a HUGE generator after Katrina -- we lost NOTHING in the refrigerator due to melting or being off temperature (we lost a head of broccoli from lack of use!). He enabled us to charge phones and other devices, rigged up the TV, washer and dryer and strong fans to make the house bearable -- he'd just about finished rigging up a window a/c when the power came back on
5. Playing card-games with my girls
6. Finished ALL my library books -- especially after remembering and finding the book-lights we had
7. Just being at home
8. Going to church Sunday
9. Celebrating Tom's b-day 

Things I disliked:

1. Showering in the dark (actually it was rather funny this morning -- the power came on while I was in the shower and Abby came to tell me it was on.  I let out a "whoop!" and had her call Tom and Maggie who were out buying MORE gas for the generator.  Then I realized I could turn on the light and did so.  THEN I realized I could also turn on the exhaust fan).  Bliss.
2. Cooking in the dark -- made spaghetti on Wednesday, the day it made landfall
3. Doing laundry in a serial fashion as only one big appliance could be run at a time -- wash clothes, dry clothes, then wash/dry second load.
4. House smelling like a locker room due to the fact that it got hot and humid and towels and bathmats weren't able to dry out
5. Having what seemed like EVERYONE else getting power on faster than we did
6. Trying to figure out what to do considering the fact that Tom's leaving for Holland tomorrow and we didn't have power yet this morning AND the girls go back to school tomorrow (plan was to get a hotel room for the three of us)
7. Not being able to enjoy my coffee
8. Feeling slightly "sticky" all the time

Considering there are more things I liked (also see previous post), I suppose it wasn't so bad.  Today was the first day I really felt like crying from frustration and everything.  All things considered I'll stay again for a cat-1 (maybe cat-2) and the biggest lesson I've learned is to include in the supply list PAPER PLATES (doing dishes is NOT one of my likes!).

Hope your Labor Day is wonderful -- I enjoyed a "normal" day including going to my yoga class and going to the grocery.......

things i like about the time leading up to hurricane isaac

Gotta put something positive, no?  So here's a list of things I'm liking so far:

1. Sleeping in on a Tuesday morning
2. NOT driving to/from school
3. Staying home all day (yep, I'm a home-body) -- though I may be tired of it Thursday!
4. Cooking with Maggie
5. Eating supper as a family
6. Feeling prepared yet still somewhat cautious
7. Watching the wind blow (not really loud yet!)
8. Not having time constraints

That's all I can think of for now!  Stay safe and I'm sure I'll come up with thins I DON'T like before this is over..........

Summer Holiday 2012

So, how'd we spend our family vacation this year?  We headed to North Carolina to spend 2 weeks.  The first week we were joined by my aunt, cousins, and their families for a "reunion" of the Tolar clan.  First time we've all been together since my gramma's death in 2006, so it's definitely a long time coming!  Great to see those we haven't seen in a while and so fun to see the kids interacting.  Had a funny moment when I overheard my mom and aunt talking about "the kids" and realizing that my sister, two cousins and I are no longer they.  Been replaced by 7 others!  The reunion week was spent playing on Lake Norman with swimming, tubing, and fishing being done to a great degree.  We spent on HOT day at Carrowinds amusement park riding coasters and lots of other rides.  My sister, cousin and I spent a day shopping at the outlet mall.  Others hit the furniture mart and Tom and my cousin traveled to Greensboro one day for some genealogy research.

The day my aunt's family left for home Abby and my sister's kids took a session of waterskiing lessons.  It was difficult to really watch from shore as there were 5 or so boats and they had to spread out so that the water was smooth for the new skiiers.  The kids each got up on the skis and reportedly had fun.  After we got back to mom and dad's, Tom and I headed out for a much-needed r&r holiday alone.  It's been a couple years since we've had an opportunity to be alone together for a length of time and we enjoyed it.  We stayed at a hotel in Greensboro and partook of the spa services there as well as trying out and enjoying the services at Hand and Stone spa.  Definitely a great way to spend time off!  We headed back to mom and dad's to enjoy a day with my cousin Amanda who lives in Charlotte.  She'd been to Carrowinds with us, but this was more of a relaxation day.  While Tom and I had been gone the girls had tried out my parent's latest toys -- a kneeboard and a wakeboard.  We got to see them do both and, for the biggest surprise of my recent life, TOM did the kneeboard!  Meanwhile, I stayed safely in the boat.....

Here's some of the photos..... 

Brigdens

Abby showing her skills on the wakeboard

Abby 

  

Maggie and Abby

Maggie and Abby

Maggie

I hadn't known there were turtles in Lake Norman -- Taylor caught a HUGE one!

Mom had a "big" birthday -- Tom's showing the latest way to wear party hats

My guy

The proof!

Tom and Maggie

Kneeboarding is tiring

Mackenzie doing yoga with me

Maggie and me

Hope your summer holidays were just as special!  School starts this week.........

really quick!

I have 20 minutes before heading to pick Maggie up from work to take her and Abby to the dentist.  Crazy busy summer, spent mainly driving daughters (or having daughter drive me) all over the city.  But it's certainly been productive.

First major project has been re-doing 3 rooms in the house plus replacing "my" chair.  Tom and Maggie painted 2 rooms, we re-carpeted the same two rooms, sold the old furniture, moved Tom's office upstairs (to co-exist with the guest room rather than the tv room) and bought new furniture.  Mom was here to see the new stuff and we continue to progress -- still haven't landed on a "solution" to Tom's book collection (he'd like glass doors on shelves and we're pricing options) so they're stacked in the dining room.  Less chaotic than before, but getting there.  The third room getting a face lift is the master bathroom -- decor circa 1984 when the house was built.  Not doing anything about the (small) size at this point in time (it's an interior room, we're on a slab, cost, cost, cost), but redoing cabinets, tile, walls, and countertops.  Should be much better!

Second project has been getting Maggie to drive as much as possible.  She'll be 16 in March, and we'll be ever so much more happy with her behind the wheel knowing she's got a LOT of experience.  She drives to/from work every day (with me as passenger!) and anywhere else where family is going.  Even drove to the airport to pick my mom up!  She's again working at the JCC summer camp with the kiddos going into first grade.  This year she's doing it to accumulate her required volunteer hours (100) for graduating high school plus a bunch of extra ones.

Abby's summer projects included summer theater camp and swim team.  Mom flew down to attend all three performances of Aladdin.  Abby was a fish-mom and a jewelry peddler.  She made it to the district meet this year in the "country club" league, but didn't qualify for the city meet.  Mom was able to attend the meet on the west bank this year 2 July and was a really GREAT SPORT considering for half the meet I was working inside the air conditioning as an averager.  And Abby got to cool off in the water!  She's also adjusting to her new braces and doing well with them.....

As for me, I continue to do what yoga I can daily and try to keep the old muscles strong.  I return to the orthopedist in September and I think that will be time for considering "next steps" as the slight improvement experienced from the synvisc injection seems to have tapered off a great deal.  He's thinking the next step will be some arthroscopic work to clean out "stray" pieces of torn cartilage before we move into full joint replacement.  Quite frustrating, but a test of faith and patience.  Sigh.....

Enjoy the rest of summer!