Adjustments

It's finally Friday! This week hasn't been especially busy, but it has been incredibly stressful. I'm looking forward to a weekend of relaxing and binge watching Breaking Bad. Of course, I'm sure that my boys have other plans, and I'll be lucky if I can squeeze in half an episode while rocking Timmy. I keep telling myself that someday I will regain my weekends, but during this stage in my life, the days are monopolized by my kids. 

Today I was hoping to put Timmy in school for a few hours so that I finally could see the newest Hunger Games movie which I swore I was going to see the day it was released in November. Things kept popping up, and seeing the movie never made it back to the top of my list. Obviously the stars are not aligning because it is again being bumped down on my priority list.  Instead of relaxing with a tub of popcorn, I'll be driving to get another prosthetic adjustment. 

I probably could wait for the adjustment until Monday, but I am not willing to be uncomfortable through the weekend. I'm just a tinge too tall on my prosthetic side, which is starting to impact my back and hips. I know all too well that those little twinges can quickly become debilitating. I'm not willing to take the risk, so I'm going to head into rush hour traffic this morning to get shortened.  I have no doubt that it will take me longer to drive to the appointment than it will for my leg to be adjusted. 

Driving to the prosthetist, dealing with ingrown hairs and not being able to go on my toes when Timmy and I are Sweating to the Oldies are all amputee annoyances which are beginning to wear me down. Hopefully this will be the last adjustment I need for a long time. I miss the days where I would just step into my leg and not think about it for the rest of the day.

Baking Buddy

Yesterday Robby had yet another snow day. Since there was not a speck of snow or ice on the ground, I was a tad surprised that school had been cancelled. Apparently the powers that be are hyper-cautious this year. I suppose it is better to be cautious when buses travel during inclement weather, but a day off for no precipitation seemed a bit drastic. Regardless, he was home and utterly delighted.

It has been a long time since Robby has been home with me without his Daddy. Although Scott was sad that his school was not granted the same cancellation, part of me was excited to be home alone with Robby and Timmy. With Hamlet strapped to my chest, my cooking Koopa and I spent the day in the kitchen, whipping up a variety of cookies and cakes. 

I have been baking with Robby since he was born. He used to beg to help me bake cookies to the point where we were parceling out our goodies to whomever would take them.  During the past few years as his interests have expanded, his eagerness to help me bake has waned.  Every once in awhile he asks to bake, and I have learned to jump on those opportunities. 

We began the day by whipping up a honey cake for him to take to school. In all fairness, I have no idea how it is going to taste. Robby is learning about Ancient Rome in school and discovered that the Romans used to devour honey cakes. A quick Google search and we were baking like the Romans, only with the addition of a Kitchenaid stand mixer and oven in lieu of slave labor and fire. I'm not sure how it will taste, yet I'm fairly certain it is not going to be good by today's standards. Regardless, he had a great time whipping up an Ancient Roman treat for his friends and is excited to share his creation today.

When we pulled the honey cake out of the oven, I assumed Robby's interest in baking with me would vanish. I was delighted to be wrong. He asked to make cookies for his Daddy and for Mr. Bill. My little Koopa and I ended up spending the entire afternoon in the kitchen, baking and talking. I found our time together comfortably reminiscent of our days when he was younger. 

I wasn't expecting a school cancellation, but I sure did need the special time with Robby. He is growing up too quickly, and I've come to cherish any time that he wants to spend with me. 

Misplaced Aggression

Yesterday during the pre-dawn hours, I mustered the courage to go downstairs to check the status of our freezer. Rationally I knew that it was still going to be broken. While I would have been eternally grateful if a team of little repair elves had sneaked into my house to fix the appliance, I suspected that they had passed over my house again. Still though, I held a glimmer of hope that I would be met with the comforting humming from the compressor when I opened the garage door.

Instead, I heard the deafening silence of a defunct appliance. I responded in the most logical manner. I proceeded to kick the side of the freezer, hard, hoping to somehow jump start the motor.  (This is where there lies a true benefit to being a prosthetic user. I can kick things repeatedly and never feel a thing!)

Even during the midst of my kickboxing bout with the now useless metal box, I knew that my emotions were misplaced. Since I can't physically attack other people and situations, the freezer became the unwitting recipient of my penned up aggression. Although it did nothing to bring life back into the freezer, kicking it repeatedly made me feel better.  Perhaps it is time to investigate purchasing a punching bag on Craigslist?

After I finished the appliance smack-down, I ventured back upstairs and began to regroup. Drinking a cup of coffee I quietly researched freezers. I hated that we had to buy another one, but when I considered that ours was 15 years old, I could no longer complain. There is never a good time to buy an appliance, but our old one had served us well for a long time. I actually started to feel remorse for my going kick crazy.

By the end of the day a new freezer had taken residence in the basement.  Our old one, now slightly dented from my mini-meltdown, is ready to be taken to the dump. My anger may have been misplaced, but releasing it sure felt liberating!

Sour Mood- and Food

Yesterday can only be described as miserable.  I woke up at 4 AM with Timmy to discover a steady stream of freezing rain coating everything outside. Judging from how it looked and how my bones felt, I wasn't surprised by the 5 AM phone call informing us of a 2 hour school delay. Despite knowing that a delay was the correct decision, I was frustrated with yet another disruption in my schedule.

I had an appointment scheduled to start work on my activity leg. It feels like I've been waiting forever to become more active, and I was looking forward to trying out the new leg. Of course, the 2 hour delay meant that I was not going to be able to make my oh-so-carefully scheduled appointment.  I sent Elliot an email cancelling the appointment and promising to reschedule when the office opened.

By the time the sun rose, the temperature slowly nudged past freezing, but the rain never stopped falling. The sky was dark and dreary all day, enhancing my humdrum mood. I tried to be happy and jovial, but around lunch time I surrendered to the melancholy feelings. It simply took too much energy to feign happiness. 

Despite my blah mood, I tried to salvage the evening for Scott's benefit. He was looking forward to the big Ohio State National Championship game for weeks. Unbeknownst to him and in the spirit of the event, I prepared a special dinner of roasted mighty duck. Okay, it was actually a rotisserie chicken but I should get credit for trying, right?

While the "mighty duck" was spinning on the spit, I ventured downstairs to retrieve a bag of corn from our freezer. I opened the door and instantly knew that my day just went from bad to horrible. The freezer was stocked full of food, and it wasn't working.

I began to purge the freezer, dumping all of the food on the ground. I noticed that the shelves were iced over, and I was hopeful that was the issue. I spent the next two hours standing in the garage holding a hair dryer to the freezer trying to get all of the ice to melt. I was not a happy camper! My mood soured even more when I realized that the freezer was not running and my efforts were in vain.

Hopefully I'll be able to find another freezer today or I risk losing all of the food I have been preparing and saving. At the moment I'm not enjoying being an adult! Why was I in such a hurry to grow up when I was younger? If I could go back in time I would slap my younger self on the side of the head and tell her to stop rushing life. I don't want to be grown-up anymore!

On a positive note, the Buckeyes won last night.  I will have a happy husband today. Or at least he will wake up happy, because I'm sure that schlepping soggy food to the dump will probably put a damper on his spirits. 

Game Night

I have a vague feeling that tonight there might be a big football game being played? I'm kidding of course. I have been inundated with information about player stats, predictions from experts, and other seemingly nonsensical information for the past few weeks. I find it amazing that hundreds of hours of sports commentary have be filled simply talking about the possible outcome of a single game. I don't understand my husband's compulsion to watch every video segment, and to read every article detailing the game. He has been watching the team all season. Certainly he knows their abilities and weaknesses by now!

Scott is a huge Ohio State fan, and the fact that his school is playing for the National Championship has him simultaneously delighted and terrified. He spent the weekend glued to ESPN and the internet, absorbing all of the commentary. Apparently the Buckeyes are the underdogs. I've tried to change his perspective, pointing out that most of the teams he roots for are long shots.  Note to self- that was not a good approach.

Needless to say, I have a feeling that my husband has been prepped almost as much as the players.  (Another tidbit I learned this weekend- it is not advantageous to remind the fan that he or she is not playing in the game so getting hyped up is unnecessary.)  I have the fridge stocked with all of the tasty treats deemed lucky. Hopefully Ohio will win because if they lose, the snacks will be demoted to the unlucky category. My snack selection is becoming severely impacted by this system!

Scott is a nervous wreck today, but I am eagerly anticipating Wednesday morning when the game, followed by the 24 hour follow-up coverage, is over! For the sake of my husband, and for my own sanity, I am hoping that Ohio can prove the naysayers wrong.  Go Buckeyes!