Another Ankle Update

I was pretty nervous about this orthopedist appointment.

Greg and I prayed and came up with some lists of questions to ask,

and that helped.  I know there were other people praying, too (thank you!)

I dressed in a cheerful happy outfit and felt cute.

It turns out that my ankle has not healed.  The physical therapy exercises strengthened my leg muscles, but my ankle itself stayed painful.  Whenever I do a lot of standing or walking, it swells up and gets sore.  

I had an MRI last Monday and I saw the orthopedist this morning to go over the results. A number of ligaments in my left (injured) ankle were torn in the accident, some bones are bruised and swollen (bone marrow edema - who knew that was possible?!) and cracked a piece of cartilage. He said that since these things haven't healed on their own by now (more than three months out from the time of injury), they aren't likely to.  It looks like surgery is the next step to repair the broken parts.

The recovery will not be very fun.  

I'll have to do no weight bearing (so whenever I'm moving around I'll need crutches or a little knee cart for three weeks.  Then I'll be back in the big (knee-high) boot for another six weeks.  I'll be doing physical therapy again during that time, I think.  After three months I should be all better.  

I'm glad to have some answers and I feel extremely confident in this surgeon.  He answered all my many questions and gave me lots of time, which I appreciate.  I'm thinking about scheduling surgery for August sometime so that I will hopefully miss mostly hot summer weather recuperating, and hopefully I won't miss much beautiful cool winter weather!

After the appointment, I needed some run-off-the-adrenaline time, so I stopped by Hobby Lobby and TJ Maxx on the way home.  I bought some fun and useful things!

A pouch for storing things in my purse.

This is where I'll keep my lipstick, nail clippers and file, floss, etc.

It's bigger than it looks in this photo.

This little winking ceramic cat stole my heart.

She has black and gold dots and stripes around the end of her tail.

She is a reminder to me that God is with me and He is faithful at all times

in all circumstances.

Her spots look great next to the holey tree!

The reason I went to TJ Maxx in the first place was that I needed a suitcase.

The corner of my beautiful marble and gold one (that was brand new in January!)

got broken in transit.  The corner with one of the wheels on it broke completely off.

TJ Maxx actually gave me a gift card for the entire purchase price of that suitcase because I still had the receipt and tags.

Today I found THIS BEAUTIFUL ONE!

Look at the pretty shiny reflection on the tile!

I was able to pay for most of it with the gift card from the broken old one.

I am a little scared about the surgery and recovery, but the future does indeed look bright!

Surgery is scheduled for August 20.

California - Day 2

Most mornings were cloudy and cool.

There were still surfers out enjoying the waves,

and it didn't stop us from getting in the water . . . 

though we did have mostly SLOW mornings.

Greg woke up with a cold and had a scratchy voice, so

Jillian and I made him some tea.  Jillian contributed the chai

and I heated the water.

The girlies don't sleep in late, so they were up playing (and cuddling)

nice and early.  There was a lot of room to roam, though, and a sandy backyard with the ocean right there, so it was still pretty fun for them.  They do prefer a schedule of some kind, but they did GREAT with being more laissez-faire than normal.

The house was BIG and well-equipped.

The sun room was probably my favorite part.

Look at that view!

There was the main level where we came in from the street.

There was the upper level that the girls claimed as a play area.

There was also a downstairs, where Mark, Jillian, Cora, & Esme lived.

I took my blender along just in case there wasn't one, but it turns out I only took the top part!

It was good that this really nice blender was stocked at the house.

I was able to make smoothies for breakfast to get at least some greens in 

(plus all the other good stuff in there)!

ice

2 bananas

frozen cherries

1 T flax seed, ground

1-2 cups chocolate almond milk

all the greens I can stuff into the blender

(when I'm at home, I add 1 T chia seeds, 1/2 T amla powder, 

frozen blueberries, frozen cranberries)

The girls made cities and towers and moats and rivers.

Then we got ready to go to the beach!

dress: Target
suit: Macy's
sunscreen: Mychelle & Australian Gold

Warning: this is the last time you'll see this hat . . . 

the ocean stole it!

We eventually got down to the beach and started playing in the water!

Even Greg got in the water!

Being in the ocean and having my dude with me made my heart feel 

very very happy.

Unfortunately, on one of his longer runs, the ocean stole his glasses!

Thankfully, they were 3-4 years old . . . 

We looked a long time, walking back and forth, but they did not show up.

After playing in the water,

we came home to take nice warm showers and get in comfy clothes for dinner.

`

I had some hot chocolate almond milk and enjoyed the view.

After dinner, Greg and I went out to see if there were any cheapie glasses available for near-sighted people.  I also needed a hat, since my pink one was also stolen by the waves!

It was humid and I was sweaty within a few minutes.

But I loved this outfit!

I did find a hat!

(Turns out it was too light to withstand even a tiny little breeze,

so I had to get a different baseball style hat later!)

When we got home, the breeze through the house was chilly,
so I put on jammies!

top & pants: Target (pajama set)
fleece: Old Navy

And I looked forward to the next day in the sun and water!

To California! Day 1

My parents celebrated their 50th anniversary (!!!) on July 18,

so they decided to celebrate in a big way.  They rented a house on the beach

in Oceanside, California, and we all went to celebrate with them!

Here's where we stayed!

"We" includes my parents (Tom & Dory), my brother and his wife (Mark & Jillian),

my precious nieces (Cora & Esme), Greg, and me!

 We actually like each other and have fun together.

Greg and I drove from Arizona to California (around six hours in the car).

I planned lots of food in advance.

This is a veggie pasta conglomeration with an apple 

that I had at McDonald's while Greg was eating McDonald's food.

A man sitting next to us saw us pray before our meal.

While I was taking a phone call (about 1:1 team stuff),

he told Greg that we reminded him of him and his wife, that he missed her because he was driving a truck across the country, and that he would like to treat us to lunch that day. 

Awwww!  Thank you, sir!  I hope you're back at home with your beloved wife!

Everyone else flew.

We met them at a cute little yellow house on the beach.

Here's the back (from the beach side).

As soon as we walked through the front door, we could see and hear the OCEAN.

This was right outside the back of the house.  There were incredible views.

It wasn't too long before we were at the beach, getting in the water!

Getting down this steepness was a little tricky with a hurt ankle, but I did it!
(We found an easier way later.)

Even Greg got his feet in the sand!

And in the waves!

Cora & Esme got their baths and then read books with Grandpa.
I brought the books!

Some of us got pizza, and I had some of the pasta & veggies I brought from home.

Brown rice pasta

eggplant

red bell pepper

carrots

corn

mushrooms

onion 

I co-opted a full drawer and one corner of counter space.
Sorry this photo is blurry, but you can get the idea.

Here's the cute kitchen!

I bought special M&Ms from their website that said 

"Tom&Dory

50 years"

on each one!

They were a special treat.

We ran to Wal-Mart after dinner to pick up supplies for the next day.

And here's what I wore!

This was on the drive:

skirt: Rekucci (Amazon)
camisole: Kohl's (about 10 years ago!)
blouse: Ross
purse: Amazon
hair bow: J Crew

I changed later because I got quite wet from the beautiful waves.

t-shirt: Bold Banana (Amazon)
pants: Target
hair bow: J Crew

Tune in for more vacation fun soon!