My first sewn garment...and it stayed together!

Daniel gave me a sewing machine for my birthday last year and up to this point I've only done the basics:
pillow covers
labor gowns (instead of ugly blue hospital gowns!)
re-sewn a drape into pillow covers
baby lamb (mission aborted b/c the tail is coming out the lamb's rear and the ears are on backwards)
a bit more, but nothing exciting...

So when Daniel told me the theme for Hail & Farewell, the annual family practice celebration for incoming and outgoing residents, I was sure that I was meant to sew my own outfit.  1920's here I come.  I figured the dresses were easy enough to make since they're basically long potato sacks with embellishments.

I was able to start the dress when I was in Wichita so my mom and I worked on most of it together!

Here is the end result!

Now excuse my shoes, please. They're a bit ridiculous, but I got lots of compliments and I felt like any of my other pumps just wouldn't finish off the outfit.  The morning of the event I cut off a ruffle that I originally thought would be nice on the bottom and sewed on a couple layers of fringe.  I'm just happy to report that no seems ripped throughout the evening of dinner, socializing and dancing!

Now Daniel's outfit for a 1920's hobo was a different story.  He hadn't planned any costume until literally 2 hours before and somehow he was able to pull together that look out of his own closet and our costume box.  Doesn't every late 20's couple have a costume box?

I mean that's a snazzy dresser.  Glasses without lenses, nice vest, one fingerless glove and to top it off, that's a black crow toy in his front pocket.  The crow is great except for when you hit a speed bump a week later and can't figure out why your trunk is screeching.

We ended the fun night at Denny's.  You just can't beat going to Denny's (other acceptable variations are Shari's, IHOP, or any truck-stop diner) after 1030pm. 

the end to a good night at Denny's

Have you seen this girl?

We recently hired an Education Coordinator at my workplace, the Kitsap Humane Society.  As a side note, we hired one of my friend's named Julie and she's awesome and will be a great Education Coordinator.  (No, she's wasn't hired just because she's my friend, but that's a bonus!)

One of our first tasks was to sort through education and volunteer files that I inherited when I took over the Volunteer department.  To give you some perspective, when I was hired as the department assistant over a year ago I asked my then boss what was in a certain file cabinet and she answered, "I haven't really gone through those."  She had enough on her plate, for sure, so I don't fault her for that.  However, Julie and I felt that if we were going to start her out on the right foot, we should know what resources we had...or didn't have.  So we dug in.

And we found the gem photo above.  Good ol' Lark Voorhies.  Lisa Turtle, I found you.  Apparently, the previous Volunteer and Education Coordinators didn't like throwing anything away so we found the KIND NEWSLETTER with an article about Lark.  That's when Saved By the Bell was all the rage.

Side note: I can still enjoy a couple good SBTB episodes in the morning here.  I guess syndication can last for-e-ver.

I have to say that the winner in the files was a pamphlet from 1979.  Yup, believe it or not most of the files we found here from 1993 and before.  Is that when computers were invented?

I'm an excellent healer!

I'm happy to announce that after 4 long, but not as long as I expected them to feel, months the ortho surgeon said, "yep, it's healed."

That's right folks.  The projected 6 month to a year recovery is not quite as bad as I thought it was going to be!  After 4 months my achilles tendon is back up and running (well, I'm not supposed to run quite yet) and now I just have to continue strengthening my leg. 

I've got to tell you, not being able to move like I wanted to was really tough.  There were the comical parts of recovery, for example:

 

 

Exhibit A:  The shower chair

 The shower chair is like being stuck in that tacky scene in Flashdance day after day after day.  I had to roll myself in an office chair to the shower then stick both feet in and somehow lift myself and stand on my one good leg b/c I couldn't put pressure on my healing foot and balance enough to stand like a normal grown-up.  Man, was I glad to get rid of that.

Then there was the funny part of recovery involving vacation.  We planned a trip to Hawaii and bought tickets literally the week before I busted myself.  Not being able to walk with out a boot makes getting into the ocean very tricky.  Behold Exhibit B:

The 3-legged crab walk.

The 3-legged crab walk was the only way for me to get in the water and out without taking Daniel out in the process.  We tried having him support me while I tried to hop down to the water.  But in sand that. does. not. work.  So I threw away my pride and was the "28 year old girl scooting on her butt down to the water on a public beach."  For all those witnessing this site, you're welcome.  (Side note:  when I crawled back up to the towel out of the water I got applause from a group adults near us.)

This was also around the time that we decided to move houses. Now ladies, if you ever want to come up with a huge task that is physically demanding and then have a terrific excuse to not do any of the physically demanding parts, then you should rupture your achilles.  I packed as many boxes as possible...but I didn't have to lift them!  We had some really great friends chip in to help with the move to a new place.  It's a pretty great house with a HUGE backyard for the dogs, a half-court basketball court, 2 bed/2bath, AND A CRAFT ROOM!!!!  They didn't advertise it as a craft room, but I commandeered that sucker the minute we walked in.  A couple photos of our place for your enjoyment:

Oops! I guess I only have a picture of my Charlie sunning himself upstairs.

So long story short, while I still have a lot of physical therapy stuff to work on to increase strength, balance, range-of-motion, I'm back up and moving. I went to Zumba a few times and came home to reflect to Daniel that dancing with one bad foot "must be what normal people feel like when they try to dance."  That sounds snotty, I know, but man, I used to be a really good dancer.  I have continued teaching tap classes throughout the ordeal, although now I'm sure I'll be better b/c it's not reassuring looking into your child's tap class and seeing both the teacher (me) and the teaching assistant both on crutches. That's a true story.

Happy summer to all and keep writing your blogs.  I love reading them!
Oh, and here's my new favorite photo of my husband and me from a recent "one of my best friends is marrying my brother-in-law"'s weddings. 

July 2nd, 2011  Rhonda and Russell's wedding

Are you sure you want to navigate away from this page?

I'm so sad. I just spent 30 minutes on a blog entry and accidentally navigated away from the page.  Bam. It's all gone.

You were really going to like that one.  I was able to connect bananas, jennifer hudson and this picture all together.

Thank God for Moms

I think the past couple days would have completely stunk if it weren't for my  mom coming in town to help out.  I didn't realize quite how annoying little tasks would be since it takes forever to get around.  My mom has been wonderful at helping me out.  Aside from the fact all our laundry is caught up and the bathroom has a fresh scent from her cleaning, she's been very helpful making food in general keeping me company.

The last couple days were a little more awful than I expected b/c on top of recovering from surgery I got the flu.  Not good!!  I couldn't eat anything without being nauseous 30 minutes after and had to sleep most of the day.  This morning my mom washed my hair for me b/c it was gross after 4 days of no shower.  Daniel has a weird work schedule this weekend so he's not able to be around to help all the time.

So long story short, my mother rocks. 

All the time in the world

I now have no excuse not to post at least 3 times per week.

In light of recent events, and the fact that my friend, Julie promises to read my blog, I think I'll give this thing another go.


Recent events:
Sunday I was playing the basketball of my life!  Daniel recently started a weekly bball pick-up game with medical staff and corpsmen at the gym.  I started joining in a few weeks ago and was having  a blast.  I loved playing basketball with my brothers growing up.  I played in Middle School and High School, but definitely summer camp and weekend coed games were more fun than competitive high school play.  It's funny looking back on this weekend b/c I even had a really cheesy moment Sunday morning before we went to the gym thanking Daniel for re-introducing me to playing basketball for fun.

I even splurged on some awesome new basketball shoes b/c I tried playing one game in my running shoes and irritated my plantar fascia in my Right foot.  Pretty common issue.

Not a great picture, but they're pretty snazzy.

Plantar Fascia runs along the bottom of your heel and attaches to your achilles...

So there I was with some great assists, left-handed put-backs, making a couple "And 1" shots and then POP!  In the fourth game I was getting ready to run back the court when I felt someone punch my achilles.  I didn't know all the people I was playing with, but I was pretty sure that none of the guys would go so far as to chase my heels around and punch me.  I fell over, tried to stifle my urge to cry and when Daniel helped me up to hobble off the court I couldn't feel my heel to put weight on it.  It's the craziest feeling!  Dr. Dan elevated my foot, grabbed ice, and then Don, another doc, took me to the car.

Talk about bad timing, we had planned to have a few people over to watch the Oscars and celebrate Daniel's birthday since it's in a week.  I luckily have great friends that when they hear the word 'party' then instantly start thinking of what they will bring to the party.  What happened to the good ol' days when people could just show up without feeling compelled to bring things?!  I was happy to have their food b/c Daniel was busy calling the Sports Medicine doc and tried to figure out what was going on with my food.

Daniel, I think, was starting to realize that it was not a minor injury.  I've rolled my ankle before and I knew for a fact there was no roll.  I never felt it roll, just KAPOW! and then this strange release and numbness.  At home Daniel did the telltale test for ruptured achilles, the Thompson test.  If you lay on your stomach with your knees at 90 degrees, when someone squeezes your calf, your foot should flip.  There was no flip in my foot.  DARN IT!!

Monday I went to the hospital and got the bad news.  Completely ruptured achilles.  Strangely, and thankfully, if you completely rupture your achilles it's not as painful as a partial tear.  And truly, except for the first couple hours after it happened, it didn't really hurt!  The worst part was hopping around on my right foot that I had been favoring for the last 3 weeks b/c of my plantar fascia irritation.  If anything, I expected to injure my right foot, not the left.  I got a temporary cast and was scheduled for surgery the next day.  Dr. Maurer did my surgery.  My best friend's maiden name is Maurer, so that felt like a sold choice and Dr. Maurer went to Duke.  They're no KU, but still an acceptable, I guess.

Yes, purple-painted toes...much cuter when my foot was not horrendously swollen.

This is a pretty long post considering I usually don't write much.  But this was a big deal!  I've never broken anything or had surgery!  I remained pretty calm the night before.  Only cried a few nervous tears. 




In the morning, my great friend, Candace, and her daughter Laekyn picked me up to take me to the hospital.  Daniel had to leave for work at 5:45am and luckily was going to be able to hang out with me while I was getting prepped for surgery.  He kept distracted by working while I was having surgery and then took me home that night.

Surgery was pretty smooth, once it got going.  I elected initially to have regional anesthesia so I got a shot in my back.  It didn't take the way it was supposed to though, so we had to go with plan B- general anesthesia.  I started to get a little emotional as they put the gas mask on and then ZONK. I was out.  When I came to, one of my husband's staff doc's wife was there.  I know Julie S. from our naval spouse lunch group and it was so nice to hear a familiar voice and see a friendly familiar face immediately. I was hoping she was working that day.  So the rest is pretty simple.  Wait for the feeling to come back in my legs, take some pain meds and go home and rest.

Oh, and Dawn Setter, another great friend, dropped off dinner for Daniel and I.  Oh my gosh. It was so tasty!  Enchiladas that somehow reminded me of good ol' Chef Boyardee Ravioli.  I hope that's not taken as an insult to her cooking if she reads this...b/c I thought it was unbelievably tasty.  The ultimate comfort food!

Yesterday Libby Pike brought her daughters over (AND LUNCH!) and hung out with me.  Or rather, she cleaned up the house from our Sunday evening get-together.  Amazing.  She unloaded two loads of dishes, and essentially washed everything else.  I had to practically beg her to not do laundry or she would have the whole house back in order.  I'm so grateful for her helpful heart.  It meant a lot to me and Daniel to have someone help out.  Sarah also kept me company while mommy was cleaning.

I'll add more exciting posts as my ankle starts to heal.  My mom comes in town today to help and I can't wait to see her.  She was thinking about coming to visit some time soon, just not THIS soon. 

My home base for the next few days.  Couch, pillows, Snuggie and 4 more seasons of The Wire to watch.  Hooray!

Cards from friends and flowers from my wonderful Mother-in-law, Cindy!

No one reads my blog

I think I've sabotaged myself by not writing regularly.  I was excited to blog, but man, it takes a lot of dedication.  I think that because of this no one reads my blog.


If I didn't feel sick today, I'd write the best darn intriguing funny witty blog you'd ever read.  So there.

Christmas in Washington

Oh my goodness.  Has it really been a month and a half since I've posted something?

Many apologies dear friends.  I think the best thing to do is just post a bunch of pictures to show you what I've been up to for the holidays.  Oh, and Happy New Year!

Happy Birthday to me!  Daniel got me a sewing machine!

Daniel hung some awesome Christmas lights on our house when it was freezing cold outside.

Our nephew Liam shows how stoked he is about his new Navy onesie from Uncle Dan and Aunt Amy.

The whole Biggs clan posing on Christmas Eve for a family photo!