January 2016

It's been a busy last half of January 2016.  Ron and I decided to paint for two Saturdays - first the bedroom and bathroom upstairs and the next Saturday Amanda's bedroom and bathroom on the lowest floor.  We realized more than ever that we aren't 25 anymore!!!  Geez.  We painted 5 hours straight both times and got it done, but we were sure tired afterward.  Pictures are back up and the rooms are back in order - which was actually the bigger part of the jobs.  Moving furniture isn't for people in their 60's - especially when I was suffering already with knee problems.  Made it much worse.  After we accomplished those projects, we decided to hire Ed the Painter to paint the family room downstairs and both staircases/landing upstairs.  And while we were at it, we decided to have him paint the garage and put up boards to put in hangers to hang things on the walls out there.  Needless to say, this took lots of prep work to get the walls ready both inside and in the garage, especially in the garage - causing my knee more pain.  But - it is done now, and it looks nice.  Still not completely finished with the "put back" part, especially in the garage, but everything is livable.

Knee - I first hurt my sciatica and leg/knee on Christmas Eve at water aerobics.  Then on the day after new years, I twisted my knee again.  Then I took on all the painting projects - moving furniture - up and down the stairs a million times, etc., and things went from bad to worse.  The final "bad" time was this past Friday when I went to KC with Kelly for a little shopping.  When she let me out at Kohl's while she went on to Best Buy, I slid out of her truck onto the blacktop and forgot how far it was from the seat to the street and landed on it "wrong", causing excruciating pain.  Then walked forever in Kohl's - then walked forever at Walmart - then had a very rough ride home which jostled it even more - wow - by the time we arrived back in Clinton, I didn't think I would get back into our house with 4 steps!  I needed a walker once in the house (good thing I had kept one of WJ's) and was hurting.  Didn't sleep well due to pain.  Spent Saturday in recliner with leg elevated and ice on it - again using a walker.  Pain, pain.  I slept pretty good and felt a lot better Sunday morning - of course I had taken 7 Prednisone and 2 Hydrodocone on Saturday which didn't hurt.  We decided to go to Overland Park, as planned, to see the Todds for a short visit and lunch.  The kids were happy to see us, and we played Candy Land and Chutes and Ladders and Trash before going to Olive Garden for lunch.  I had made smores brownies for dessert, and then we drove home.

Once home, we spent some time in the garage getting things back in order so we could get our vehicles back in the garage.  Mission accomplished, but now my knee hurts again - more ice - elevated - arghhhh.  I'm planning to go to the doctor on Monday to have some x-rays to see what is going on.  I've only walked 3 times since 1/1/16 and only been to water aerobics once.  I'm going to be staying with the little people for a week starting 2/2 - need to be well!

There is a picture of the PEO peanut butter cake I decorated for our meeting a week or so ago.  It turned out pretty and was delicious.

Ron is leaving Wednesday for a buddy golf trip to San Diego and will return the following Monday night very late.

Bible Study has resumed after a break through Christmas and New Years.  I went to visit Uncle Jim/Gloria last Thursday.  He is doing well at home.

As I was doing some decluttering, I ran onto the pictures of Joe and Tom with their grandmothers, etc. - such cuties.  Wild Wilma and Mom enjoyed each other very much and spent a great deal of time together in their later years before Wild Wilma passed away.  Mom always missed her and talked about her fondly.  They were at a grandparents day gathering at their school that day.  Wild Wilma was always the life of the party.

Hopefully I find out what is wrong with my knee and things improve this week.  Mary is improving with her physical therapy - yay!

We are blessed.