Under the Knife

I had surgery on my foot on March 20th and here are some thoughts from the process...

* Anyone who intentionally has surgery (basically meaning people who have plastic surgery, cause that's the only kind I consider totally optional) is crazy! C-R-A-Z-Y.

* Trust the nurses. When the doc says "you'll be up in no time!" and the nurses say "you'll be moving real slow and it'll be painful for a few weeks"  -  the nurses are right.

* Wearing a "shower boot" over the bandaged foot can make showering interesting.  And it makes shaving impossible in the shower (well I couldn't have supported myself on one foot anyway) so I had to use my crappy little electric razor. Did I mention how crappy it is? 

*And my right leg said "YES" on it for several days. (They write 'yes' on the leg so they operate on the correct limb. I think that's a good plan.)

* It was kind of nice to have that forced vacation where I really couldn't do anything. (well, ok, it'd be much more fun to do nothing on a beach with happy feet that don't hurt but I'll take what I can...) It was over spring break so I didn't have to be anywhere either. I read books that had nothing to do with school (well until Friday anyway) and watched movies.  I also made this necklace and bracelet set for Becky:

Here's a better shot of the necklace:

* After I reminded Justin that my room is in the basement he was very attentive and helpful. :) 

*And finally here's today's update... I had the stitches taken out and I still have to wear a surgical shoe but no bandage and no more shower boot.  Yeah.  Not that I can stand on my right leg alone yet but this is progress.

My foot is quite a bit more red and swollen than the doc would like so I have to elevate it above my heart and ice it 2-3 times a day and hope that I can avoid an infection. I'm not too sure how I'll do that 2-3 times a day on school days but I'll figure something out. Apparently this is part of the reason that it still hurts as much as it does.

And for those of you who like icky pictures, here's what my foot looks like today. Be warned - it's not pretty! I fondly refer to it as my Frankenstein foot.

Molly Brown

I am officially a docent at the Molly Brown House Museum in Denver and I led my first tours this morning. I was worried about what I'd forget but it turned out really well. And my first tour of the day only had two ladies which really was perfect because it allowed me to get into a groove and feel comfortable. In case your wondering, your throat is really dry after talking non-stop for 45 minutes. I think this might be more of a problem when it's summer and I'm in long sleeves and there's no AC in the house so I'll have to figure out a way to deal with that... Anyway, it was really fun today. And I think it'll be even more enjoyable after my foot is happier. ;)  

Volunteers are invited to various meetings and lectures and so forth so this should be a great networking opportunity for me into the world of museum work.  I'll also be interning this summer at Rock Ledge Ranch, which is near the Garden of the Gods in Colorado Springs. The Molly Brown house is a Victorian era home and one of the buildings at Rock Ledge is Victorian, so I have to come up with a Victorian costume to wear. "Come up with" means sew. And let's be honest, that's not my speciality but I'm about to dive in head first. Wish me luck with the sewing thing (don't worry, Mom has been assigned to be by my side throughout the ordeal). 

I have to share this picture of my birthday cake while we're on the subject:

It's kind of hard to see in this picture but this is a Victorian woman and this cake was so darling! You can check out Becky's cake blog to see better pictures of it. Thanks Becky!! 

French Toast

Yesterday J made me French Toast and scrambled eggs for breakfast for my birthday. It was delish! And a great surprise! And then he wanted to know if he could go back to bed for 15 or 20 minutes and just be a little late for school. Ha-ha! Sorry Charlie!

Who says teenagers are rotten? Oh yeah, I've been known to say that. So maybe this was a reminder for me that they aren't rotten all the time.  :)

Baby Gifts

My sister, Mandy, just had a new little baby that I really wish I could hold and cuddle cause he's so cute! But he's far away so I'll have to wait...  Anyway, Becky and I made some baby gifts that were fun so I thought I'd share:

This is a waterproof bag. It's cloth fabric on the outside and vinyl tablecloth fabric on the inside. The idea is that you can put wet things, such as swimsuits, inside so they don't get everything else soaked on your way to your destination. This bag is big, but since she now has 4 kids we figured that'd be good.

Then we made a hooded bath towel. She has several of these, but let's be honest, what kid likes to share? That's right, none of them do so baby Cameron needs his own towel. The good thing about the homemade bath towels is that they are thicker, because you use a real bath towel, and bigger. An added bonus is that these towels keep kids warm and happy at bath time for many years, not just during babyhood. I think the naked Cabbage Patch baby in this towel is just perfect for demonstration purposes. I mean what else are naked Cabbage Patch kids good for?

When you make a hooded towel, at least the way I do it, you use a hand towel for the hood that's been cut in half. (A hand towel is better than a washcloth because it's bigger and remember, if you're going to make it, you want it to last for a long time - therefore, you want the bigger hood.) The question is always what to do with the random half that's left over. This time is used fat ribbon, folded it over the cut edge and sewed it on. It makes for a big washcloth or a small towel but I'm pretty sure any mom can find a use for it.

Lastly, and this is probably our favorite, we made a taggie toy. This is just two pieces of flannel and various ribbon. And it's almost square. I was laughing when I was sewing this because I'm somehow supposed to make a Victorian dress for myself (more on that later) but I can't even cut and sew a simple square... 

We also decided that these are gifts that we really should only give our sisters who understand our sewing abilities. Or lack thereof. 

This was such fun. I haven't crafted in a long time and now Becky and I are in a crafting mood. Which is fun but can be dangerous too... 

PPT Sing-Along

One of the morning DJs on the radio yesterday was talking about new slang being used around offices and one of them just cracks me up - "powerpoint sing-along." The idea is that some people make a powerpoint that is nothing but words, and perhaps a few pictures if you're lucky, and they simply read it to you. It makes for a great presentation! It's sort of like story time for grown ups but there's no fun characters or plot line - it's just boring work/school stuff. 

The more I thought about it, the more I laughed. I have a teacher that does this exact thing - BUT - to make matters better, she even has a laser pointer to point to the words as she goes along! I wish I was kidding. But, I'm not. I'm so glad she does that because we would be so lost if she didn't 'point' the way. I mean who can read and listen to the exact same words, often repeated more than once, without being totally confused? (Now, to be fair, I should tell you that she doesn't point to every word. But the point is that she points to far too many words.) Pointers are for charts or pictures where you have to pick out a small section or something, not to show us which word was just spoken...

If you've ever seen one of those Disney sing-along movies where the Mickey Mouse head or little ball bounces along from word to word, you'll know exactly what I mean. So don't worry kids, you'll still get sing-alongs in college! 

Powerpoint Sing-Alongs! That is my new favorite phrase! 

The Wasp

It seems that sitting outside at school (I have a rather long break between classes) may not be my best plan this semester.  Last week I got a sunburn. Hey! It really hurt! Then today I was sitting in class, before it started, and the guy behind me said "Don't move" and put his hands on my shoulders.  

"You have a bee on your back.  You aren't allergic are you?"  

"No."  

"Well, actually it's a huge wasp."

"Oh." (I mean, what else can I say?) 

Then he said to stand up slowly and he used his notebook to try to shoo the thing off my back and it really didn't want to go. Maybe I smelled like flowers? Hmm, maybe not... I was a little concerned for a minute that he was going to try and smash it on my back - like he was lining up his notebook for a good hit but he was just angling to get my little yellow jacket friend to leave.

He finally did shove (push, scoot, whatever term you like) it off and the wasp was ticked off! It went tearing around the room - and don't worry, half the class was watching by this point - and we all watched it zoom around the ceiling for awhile. I'm not sure where it went in the end but thankfully it did not end up back on my back.