Friday, April 23, 2010

The short version... believe it or not

... of my ankle....

Last week I had a business dinner at a local restaurant. Mr. KB and I drive together in the morning, I drop him off at his office, and I keep the car at mine. (I do nearly all the extraneous shopping...anyone who shops with a husband probably understands why that is so much more efficient.) Anyhoo, this dinner was later in the evening, so I drove the car up to his office, parked behind his building, in case he wanted to go home while I was at this dinner, and proceeded to walk downtown to the restaurant. And it really is down, the campus is "uphill" from the town proper. It is probably a couple blocks. I was wearing regular business attire with a dressy pair of [sensible] clog type shoes. All of a sudden I was arse over tea cups tripping over something on the sidewalk...what? Dunno. Physical Plant has asked me twice now, but it could easily have been just a sidewalk join. This was not just a trip, graceful swan that I am, I am no stranger to a trip. This was a trip and fall. A woman student saw me and came over to see if I was hurt, that's how "violent" the tumble was. I had already leaped to my feet hoping against hope that no one had seen me. I told her I was fine, and she said that she had fallen in exactly the same place the week before. I continued on the restaurant, had dinner, and about two hours later, when I got up, was in horrible pain. For the next week my foot turned all shades of bruise. Of course, this didn't stop me from wearing high heeled ho'pumps to Swan Lake on Saturday night. Yes, I'm an idiot, why do you ask?

The problem appeared to be my foot, which was still bruised as of Monday, not my ankle. I felt for awhile, that I was improving, but this week the improvement seemed to stall. So while I went in for the scheduled test, that involved walking/running, I decided to see a doc/PA, just to have this checked out. I got sent for x-rays, and lo and behold, the radiologist found an "equivocal, non-displaced, fracture, of the lateral malleolus". Translated into English that means that they THINK there is a crack on that bone that sticks out on the outside, there is a lucency, but they're not sure. Because it is non-displaced, they can treat it like a bad sprain.

So here I am with anti-inflammatories, and a brace to keep my ankle stable.

So there you have it. The pain is from spraining the ligaments and I'm hoping to ditch the brace next week.

Meanwhile, what's brewing in my head is no great revelation, but it is antithetical to everyone's thinking around here. Please lower your expectations....Austen I am not!

Maybe I can distract you with Saroyan.


Really a fun knit. This is Malabrigo Silky Merino. It is gorgeous yarn. Alas I only bought two skeins. I would have made this a tad longer had I another skein.

I have no measurements.

It has been delightful to wear on the coldish spring mornings. When the tails cross in front, they hang down in a ruffle. It is knit across the short length, end to end, so it never gets boring. There is a pattern stitch on every row.

So there...everything else here is a work in progress....and I'm terrible at documenting progress.

Thursday, April 22, 2010

I Couldn't Make This Up....

Went for a diagnostic test and found a cracked ankle......which was completely unrelated to the testing. The test outcome was fine, I'm in great shape, the 15 year old disguised as a doctor told me so.

I'm just resolving the ankle issue, more to come.

I must also warn you. I am writing, in my head, an indictment of the women's movement as it relates to personal responsibility. I may have to share it or explode. Not a popular thing. Especially around these here parts.

Thursday, April 15, 2010

Bad Blogger.......

.... I started this yesterday, but real life, uh, I mean my job, interrupted.

When I wrote the title I was thinking about that commercial where the woman admonishes her credit score as if it were a puppy ("Bad, bad 509."). Yeah, my brain is still coasting.

  • But we finally got our taxes done and mailed (hubby is a Luddite). Besides the Post Office really needs our help.
  • My personnel review, as expected, came back like a boomerang for [minor] revision. [deleted text to protect my long term employment] If you're really interested, email me for the rant. I long for the days, when I sat down with my supervisor, and she and I had a casual chat about what was good, what needed work, and where the unit was headed in the near term. Along with that there were always griping about our own supreme poo bah. Often I was given a new and usually challenging assignment. Fun times....
  • I have one more med test lined up, to complete my winter of getting hit with the illness stick. This hopefully will wrap up my odyssey [fingers crossed]. I did however emerge with one overarching issue, and there is a not so simple solution...lose about 25 lbs.....There I've said it. It's not so simple because even though I'm a pretty good eater....little fast food, no soft drinks, not big on sweets (outside of sugar in my tea, and dark, fine chocolate), I am weight loss resistant. I have a bit of insulin resistance going on...yes, it is documented. I am also exercise averse....meaning outside of yoga, I hate exercise. A deep abiding hate. I find it wasted time, unless I'm going somewhere....like hiking. Oh yeah...and I'm over 50, you can figure out the rest.

    The bright side is I could knit smaller sizes! I don't know how I'm going to do this, but it must be done. My doctor, who is really a nice honest gentleman, simply said, yes, the weight mattered. And I'm smart enough to know this.

  • But for following along this far you get a bonus.

MORE French Press Slippers!! Yea!! I know what you're thinking--that the flu back in January, or bad daytime TV, or both, killed brain cells. Actually, these are a Christmas gift 2010 for my Mom. So there's a method to the madness.




Details:

French Press Felted Slippers
Less than 2 skeins Lambs Pride Worsted (85 wool/15 mohair) my felting favorite. And I got them for half price at our LYS Superbowl sale.
The delightful Pistachio colorway







More details:


The button.....precious no? Bought it at JoAnn fabrics.












The soles with puffy paint hearts, which really do make them less slippery. (I know this because I jammed my too big flipper into them to check.) Yeah, not nicely drawn, but it was a bitch because the tip of the paint bottle kept catching in the wool. My mom's house has mainly hard wood floors, and if she fell and broke something because of slippers, MY slippers, my sister would murder me in my sleep.






I will soon be starting yet another pair in a wonderful goldish color. But because I don't know who they're for yet....I have several options, I'll forgo the puffy paint until I decide. Stay tuned.

I also have another finished piece that I've been wearing a lot this spring, but I'll save that for next week. Knitting has been verra slow lately. Work has been so busy, by the time I get home, grab something simple for dinner, I'm falling asleep and knitting isn't even an option.

Friday, April 02, 2010

Good news, bad news.....

Good news...
  • The pneumonia cleared up completely. I didn't know how bad I was feeling until now. I'm even getting my feisty back.

Bad news...
  • Left me with a raging sinus infection and ten MORE days of antibiotics. I do not have one cell of fauna left in my whole body.The sinus infection, however, seems to be gone.
Good news...
  • After many weeks worth of angst, my personnel review is (fingers crossed) finished. (Backstory: for some reason, this office elevates a simple process to bizarre levels of busywork. It is horrifying.)
Bad news...
  • Even after several go-arounds, the "fat lady" hasn't sung. The exec. dir. has to "approve" the review. This has been tricky in the past...like hitting a moving target.
Good news...
  • I read a number of blogs, but don't comment on many. However, in the past month I've "won" two blog contests. I am someone who doesn't ever WIN anything. Hence my aversion to games and gambling.
  • Thank you Zeneedle for the Sublime Kid Mohair. So very cool.
  • And I just received a free pattern from Wendy Knits...her work is lovely!
To say I was stunned this morning when I was notified about the pattern is an understatement.

Bad news...
  • It almost makes up for me backing into my neighbor's bumper yesterday morning. (Though I don't think my husband will agree.) Fortunately, used loosely, the only damage is to MY car. My driver's side rear bumper is pretty much toast (which means the whole bumper will need to be replaced), and the tail light is broken up. There is good news here though. The fellow who's truck I hit had virtually NO damage save a little scratch on the underside of his bumper. I left a note and he called to tell me that it didn't concern him. (Good karma points to you Ron!)
So I hope this explains, the silence here from Happy Valley. I am now hoping that my review is passed along without further comment. Then maybe I can actually concentrate on my job!!

Knitting content is languishing on my camera......maybe Monday!!

Oh yes, and Happy Easter to those who celebrate the holiday, or holy day, you pick. And Happy Passover to my Jewish friends and colleagues.