Almost there

 The last few days of the semester are upon us. The energy in the hallways is electric as both students and teachers prepare for a long two week respite. I have to admit that I'm looking forward to putting away my bras and good pants as I prepare to lounge and relax throughout Christmas break. This year has been nothing but exhausting and I am desperate for a break.

Robby, who has already begun his winter break, is settling into full relaxation mode. I love having him home although I can tell that he is struggling to assimilate. It is hard to go from being on your own to being a child back in the family home. Of course, by the time we all figure out our footing it will be time for him to go back to school.

Speaking of going back to school, I need to scoot. My students await. Have a great day. 

Shoulder

 I have a sore developing on the outside of my residual limb. I am not terribly surprised by the skin breakdown. After more than 2 decades as an amputee, I know that cold weather and increased activity are my perfect storm for blister development. My experience has also let me become adept at treating the issues quickly which usually allows me to avoid immobility. 

I felt the sore start to develop towards the end of last week. I immediately applied a blister band-aid and adjusted my gait to relieve the pressure. While the sore healed quickly, adjusting my gait led me down a rabbit hole of issues. Almost immediately the knee on my sound side started to hurt. As my body adjusted to compensate for the knee pain, my hip began to ache. 

Ugh. I was miserable walking over the weekend, but I was determined to heal before work. I brought out the crutch and informed my family that mom was taking a day off. Almost immediately after this declaration I reached into the pantry for a can of beans and twisted my back.

The pain on Sunday was relentless. I usually have a high threshold, but Sunday's back issues brought me to tears. Each movement led to wafts of pain radiating across my shoulder and down through my oblique. After medication and a lot of stretching, the pain began to ease into a manageable misery. 

In the wee hours of Monday morning I felt a strong desire to twist my back. The popping that was created within my shoulder brought stars to my eyes it was so intense. Almost as instantly, the nagging pain released and I felt better.  My shoulder is still very sore, but I am again mobile. 

Getting old stinks! 

Pentatonix

 It has been a long time since I've attended a big holiday event. Last week that unfortunate streak finally came to an end when I attended the Pentatonix holiday concert with my Mom, sister and niece. It was an amazing show! 

My mom, who still has her leg in an immobilizer, refused to let her leg keep her from the show. To our surprise she agreed to utilize the wheelchair for the event, which was our saving grace. Guest services changed our tickets to the press box so that my Mom could remain comfortable and we could all stay together. Talk about an upgrade!

If you have the opportunity to see a Pentatonix show, I highly recommend going. After such a difficult year, it was the perfect way to switch my head into a holiday mood. I'm still struggling to fully embrace the season but I definitely felt uplifted and happier because of the show. 

This weekend was also special because we moved Robby home from college. It is hard to believe that another semester has come to a close. I'm so proud of him, and I'm really looking forward to having him home for an entire month!

 

Sick

I want to start by saying that after an angst riddled weekend, I find myself feeling increasingly angry and frustrated that my anxiety was needlessly triggered. 

 Robby had initially planned to return to the dorm yesterday in anticipation of his first final exam on Wednesday. By the time I came home from work his fever was matching Timmy's, and both were little mucus factories. Sigh. The Chenoweth Brothers are fighting the first cold of the season, and they are miserable.

I made their favorite 'soft' dinner and tucked them both into bed for the night. I'm hoping that they will wake up feeling better, or at least not feeling worse. Robby has three finals tomorrow and simultaneously fighting a cold is not advantageous. Of course there is nothing I can do about it except medicate them, hydrate them and worry over them. Good thing I can multitask!

 

 

Turkey

 This past weekend was our Thanksgiving family re-do. Because Scott went to Ohio for the holiday we missed our family dinner. I spent the afternoon on Sunday in the kitchen, chopping, prepping and cooking another full Thanksgiving dinner with one exception. This time Robby put dibs on cooking the turkey.

Enticed by cooking videos, Robby has been exploring his culinary skills. He asked to spatchcock the turkey before rubbing it with his curated spice blend. Happy to let somebody else take the lead with the protein, I let him take the lead. 

While I spent the afternoon working in the kitchen, Robby spent his time fretting over his bird. By the time the turkey was ready to go into the oven, it had already been spatchcocked, buttered, spiced, flipped and repeated. The final step, an olive oil drizzle, was all that was standing between us and roasted turkey perfection.

Almost as soon as the oil hit the turkey I smelled that something was off. It took me about 5 seconds to identify and process the mistake that had occurred. When we cleaned the classroom on Friday I reclaimed many of my household supplies, among them my olive oil. I didn't realize that it wasn't my olive oil anymore. It was Timmy's science oil, a mixture of olive oil and rubbing alcohol. 

Robby's prized buttered and herbed turkey was immediately taken to the sink where I furiously rinsed away the science oil that was coating half of our bird. While I'm confident that we removed the oil, I also removed all of the butter and spices.  Our beautiful turkey looked like a wrinkled, waterlogged mess by the time it was pushed into the oven.  

Despite the mishap, we thoroughly enjoyed our half turkey Thanksgiving dinner.  And I learned to always smell the oil! 

Advocate

 Describing this week as frustrating would not do the past few days justice. It has been a long time since I have felt this frazzled and stressed because of work issues. It feels like I say "This is a hill I will die on" a lot more than the average person, but I do not take the sentiment lightly. 

I cannot stand seeing abuses of power within systems. As much as I try to keep her tempered, my inner advocate always comes to the table. If you know me personally or have been reading this blog for any amount of time, you already know that staying silent is not one of my strengths. 

So yesterday, after much internal angst, I spoke up.  I don't regret it at all although I am a tad weary about the ramifications.  We will see how it all shakes out, but please send me some positive energy today.

This weekend I'm going to try to put work issues to the side and focus on Christmas. I am going to bake cookies and start to infuse more holiday spirit into our lives. I think we could all use a little sugar and glitter about now. 

Ice

 After several years of being completely unimpaired by the decisions, yesterday Scott and I were glued to our devices waiting to learn if the school system would delay or close due to the anticipated weather. To our collective delight, a 2 hour delay was issued early enough in the evening for us to stay up later and turn off the alarm. Thankfully it appears that the freezing rain is already melting away, so hopefully we will just be dealing with wet roads by the time schools open up.

I love my job, but I am not looking forward to performing my job during inclement weather. I abhor ice, but I know that navigating slippery sidewalks and stairs is part of the gig. I'm sure I'll figure it out, but I do miss my work from home attitude during winter storms. 

 Of course, it would probably be easier if I was transparent about my ice and snow walking worries. At this point, I've been working for nearly three months and, so far, none of my coworkers know that I'm an amputee. After living my life so publicly, it is oddly empowering to completely and totally blend in with everybody else. 

Start baking your cupcakes today. Tomorrow is International Day of Persons with Disabilities!