Of Moose And Men
The Best Laid Plans Of Both Often Go Astray

The past few days my hands have been sore from overdoing it on video gaming while stuck on the couch. And of course my knee has been sore, because of the very necessary and very much appreciated physical therapy. I don’t like taking a lot of painkillers because they can retard the healing process, so I typically just tough it out unless it’s really obnoxious. Add to that the little indignities of not being able to get around as easily, not being able to grocery shop normally, not being able to drive, being stuck in the house, and my frustration levels were rising. Then one of the cats decided to pee in a way that spilled out of the downstairs litter box (likely due to the husband overfilling it) both last night and again this morning, both at times when the husband was not available to help, so I was stuck trying to awkwardly clean it all up. And with this morning’s mess I went to go get a plastic shopping bag from under the sink so I didn’t have to get my hands all over the pee-and-litter covered paper towels (again) to toss them and discovered we’d given all the bags away to my sister-in-law when she came down and hadn’t gotten any more because I can’t get out of the house to shop. At that point I hit my limit, stomped my good foot down, slammed the cabinet closed and wordlessly screamed at the top of my lungs for a minute or two while pounding the kitchen counter. And damn if I didn’t feel a lot better after that.

Saw my sister-in-law and niece off this morning, after they popped down for the holiday weekend.

Made some homemade pumpkin spice coffee additive last night (1.5 cups sugar, 1.5 cups water, bring to boil over medium heat, whisk in 4 teaspoons pumpkin spice blend and 1/4 cup pumpkin puree, lower heat to simmer for 20 more minutes. Strain through a fine mesh sieve (and cheesecloth, if you have it, to further reduce the solids) and add 1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract. Stores in the fridge for up to a week). Also made toddy coffee concentrate, so had homemade iced pumpkin spice lattes this morning (1/2 cup concentrate, 3/4 cup milk, 2 Tablespoons PSL mix). Was tasty. I’m normally a black coffee drinker, so anything beyond that is exotic for me, but this was a nice treat. And the SIL was impressed, which is what really counts.

PT this afternoon. I have some pitting edema going on, meaning there’s still a lot of extra fluid in the knee, so if that’s still there at the end of next week I get to ask the orthopedist about that. Flexion was about the same as last week, which may be related to the extra fluid at this point.

Short week last week (and weird because of the almost-government-shut-down), short week this week. My new attorney shadow gets here in two weeks; it’s someone I recruited from my old agency, so I know I’ll work well with him. Looking forward to training him on the new agency, and a new area of law, as well as passing off some of the stuff that I’m not as well versed in but that he has much more experience with.

Oooh, we played Uno Flip last night and really enjoyed it. The husband and I own it, but hadn’t played it, and it was quite a fun variation on the regular uno. Both sides of the cards are playable, a light side and a dark side, and every now and again people can make the deck flip from one to the other, which also flips all the cards in your hand. Kept things lively.

Got some more of the Halloween stuff put up, including the green-purple-orange light strings we bought last year but didn’t get up (maybe we bought them at the end of the season on sale? I don’t remember why they didn’t get put up). Our neighbor does a much better job with it than we do, but we outshine them at Xmas. 😉

Physical therapy is proceeding apace. Flexion in the knee is increasing; was 85 degrees last week, 110 yesterday. Still sore as fuck after PT, of course, but improving, which is the point of it all. Trying to concentrate at work afterward is annoying, but since we’re not shut down the panicked mood has subsided there. Heaven only knows what November will bring.

Mostly wandering around the house with just one crutch now, with occasional short stints without any support.

Made out like a bandit for my 51st birthday. I have a lot of Lego art pieces to build and hang now. And cupcakes. So many cupcakes.