Hallux Rigidus - A pain in the foot...

My big toe joint has been sore for about 12 years. Over those 12 years I've had three cortizone shots and done a lot of complaining. (I won't go into why I partially blame my husband for this.) I finally decided to see a surgeon. I thought it was a bunion that had grown upward not out but I don't wear pointy shoes, shoes that are too tight or do I dance - I have weak ankles. I must have inherited the cursed maternal bunion.

I was diagnosed with Hallux Rigidus. Not to be confused with Hallux valgus - a bunion causing the big toe to point inward towards the second toe. Hallux rigidus is a disorder of the joint located at the base of the big toe. It causes pain and stiffness in the big toe, and it gets increasingly harder to bend the toe. It is a form of degenerative arthritis (a wearing out of the cartilage within the joint that occurs in the foot and other parts of the body). It can be caused by overuse, biomechanical issues in your foot, or even genetics. It caused a bony spur that is growing around the joint and forced the metatarsal bone to become misaligned. All that bone must be removed and the metatarsal bone must be cut and realigned.

I am in for three weeks of sleeping, knitting, reading, movies and TV watching, oh and did I mention pain? I hear this is painful. But when I walk it is painful, when I sleep it is painful and when the weather changes it is painful. If I do what I'm told and take my meds things should be less painful in a few days (weeks?)...
I have a Body Armor boot for my foot, new crutches, pain meds, a handicap parking permit and knitting projects lined up. I need movies and books too. Any recommendations?

My Family Doctor told me today that for the first two days I will want a baseball bat to hit myself in the head with.... (add bat to the list.)
So should I get some Demerol or be put in a coma for a few days?
I am going to have surgery in 8 days - the day after Thanksgiving- my Black Friday!

I think I will use my blog for updates on my toe saga.

I'm a Grandmother!

Reid Allan Niedfeldt was born on September 25, 2009. He weighed 7 lbs, 7 ozs.
He was a c-section baby (as was his mother) because he was breech. Reid
is beautiful and amazing in every way. Babies are such miracles!
I can't get enough of this little darling. I could stare at him all day long.
I have knit him a pumpkin hat and a matching hat and sweater - my first!
He is growing so fast they may not fit him much longer.
He is already 12 pounds at 7 weeks!
I'm sharing some photos of him.

I have a blog?

I have neglected this blog for so long. Not that anyone reads this but I do feel ashamed and I am going to try to post more often.

My husband and I will become grandparents in October! We are really excited for son-in-law and our daughter and hope to find out the gender on May 14.
<<<<<MEET SWEET PEA!


I have already started knitting for the baby. I made a pumpkin hat since it's birth month is in the fall. I plan on making matching booties. As I shop for yarn I have been bypassing the blues and pinks in favor of gender neutral colors. I have started a sweater in self-striping yarn, KNITCOL trends, www.adriafil.com . I chose color 049. Sweater will look great on a boy or girl, either way my grandchild will be adorable and look precious in anything! I sound like a Grandmother already!

I have plans for a blanket and booties and more sweaters when we find out if it's a boy or a girl. LOOK OUT YARN STORES STOCK THE PINKS AND BLUES!

We have kittens! In February, a beautiful grey and white cat was sitting on our steps when I returned from walking. She is really affectionate and looks like a Norwegian Forest Cat. She was so thin and really hungry. I put her on our porch and fed her. I checked the shelters and paper for a lost cat. No luck. I am really afraid to put ads in papers for found cats, I know there are sick people out there that do horrible things to animals. I once had a cat come inside one night and ALL the hair was ripped out of his tail. It was bleeding and raw. It eventually grew back but the vet said it was malicious and evil. Someone had really hurt him and I won't let that happen to another animal.
ANYWAY,I had her wormed and de-fleaed and checked for feline aids & leukemia.
She started to gain a little weight, gave us more affection in one day than our two current cats have given us in three years! This beautiful cat we affectionately cat we now affectionately call , Momma, turned out to be pregnant! Probably a drop off by someone not wanting to take responsiblity. We decided to keep her and made sure she was healthy.

Following an easy and purring filled labor but difficult delivery, she has four adorable furballs. Two were breech and one was stuck, one was unable to suckle for a few hours and was really tiny.
I helped deliver them and feel an bond to them all. They are known as: Phog/Bat-Cat (all grey male), Lily (female with white calla lily mark on her face), 'Stash or Smiley, (male with white smile/moustache on face) and Lola (female with BIG HEAD that was born breech) .
I have fallen for these darling kittens. I can't tell you how much fun they are. They are now 5.5 weeks old. They all use the litterbox and are learning that momma isn't the only food source.
Although Lily protests with cries everytime food is put in her mouth. She loves her cat milk!

These kittens need homes and I want to be sure they have FOREVER homes. They are affectionate and full of energy. They crawl up on me when I sit with them. One loves my shoulders and hair, the others follow by roosting on my legs and Lily will crawl into my arms and fall asleep.
I'd love to keep two: Lily and Phog but as a mom I have developed that unconditional love and really find choosing to be hard. It will be harder to let them go since I let myself bond with them. I think I will cry for days. Even Kitten Butt hasn't caused me to want to speed up the home finding process.



Larry and I will be celebrating our 25th Wedding Anniversary on June 9, 2009! I'll have to add our wedding photo to this post.
I can't believe 25 years has gone by. I wish we could go someplace fabulous for our anniversary. But the checkbook says otherwise. So did the taxes, we had to pay. I am so sick of the IRS taking our savings. Don't they have enough of our money by now? EVERY TIME we seem to get ahead something else comes up. I haven't had a vacation in over 8 years! Kansas City trips don't count. So we have no plans as of now. Seems sad but the norm to me.
The contests I've entered aren't panning out and buying the lottery ticket was just stupid and I've got these kittens to feed. Can't afford to board 5 cats and two dogs. The other two cats, Spoox and Sophie are very self sufficient and fare well for a few days with the house to themselves. But dogs aren't so smart and kittens need food.

I also want to say VIOLENCE/fighting isn't the answer but WAY TO GO Z-MAN!
I found my son inside in the office Friday after school with ice on his hand. Z was kicked in the crotch Friday as he was waiting to be picked up afterschool. This BULLY got surprised by Z when he swung around with his fist and cold-cocked him upside the head. Z isn't the tallest in his class and therefore seems to receive more than his share of taunts and crap from bullies. This particular bully has picked on Z before and had earlier that day. Z has learned to turn the other cheek and has avoided confrontation with his intellect, humor, and fast legs. This time his IRISH red-headed temper had had enough and the bully got his due. Violence is not the answer and I had to give Z my speech about that subject. But I also gave him the I'm proud of you for standing up for yourself and not taking it. I saw the BULLY in the office too but hadn't heard the story. MOMMA BEAR was coming out in the hallway but I held her back.

The bully is in (ISS) In School Suspension today with a sore head and my son needs to spend a half hour after school sometime this week, or before school is out for fighting back. Thank you Assistant Principal Tammy for your understanding. I am looking into self defense classes for my son this summer. DON'T MESS WITH MY CUBS!

CUTE! KNITTING! BAGS! and NEEDLE ROLLS!

I just found the cutest bags at Nana Sadie Rose
They are just adorable! She has needle rolls and accessories to go with the bags too.
The fabrics she has are beautiful. Even knitting fabrics!

She is having a contest her blog to determing a closure for her new KnitPick Options case. I will do my best to promote it! So click the linky and VOTE!

I love handmade things. I'm a sewer too and I can really appreciate a well made item.

My Sno'FLake is RACHEL!

raeknits!_and_spins aka

http://www.inspinknity.com/

She knits, she spins and sells wheels now! I'm a little late in posting this, I apoligize Rach, I've had the crud. I'm feeling so much better today I'm getting things DONE!

http://knittyknottyblog.blogspot.com/

She sent me some wonderful things! A tea pot, teas, yarns, needles and chocolate kisses & chocolate Chex Mix ! Thank you so much Rachel! You are a super Sno'Flake!!!

I love it all! Thank you again! Visit her store and get some of this beautiful hand-dyed yarn yourself!

Happy New Year....YARN!

Happy New Yarn?

I rarely win anything. I've convinced myself not to ever get my hopes up about winning any contest, lottery or even a cup of coffee from the local news channel's morning coffee giveaway.
Heck, I can't even win at BINGO.

I did win a tote bag about 19 years ago from the World Famous Topeka Zoo http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Topeka_Zoo with Max the ape's handprint on it.

I also won a contest at a local department store where I worked 18 years ago, for getting tons of innocent people to sign up for credit cards. I turned that money into a lovely emerald ring. I'd been on a dry streak for so long that I'd given up any hope of winning anything....





















until I found out I won the Grand Prize for the K.A.Y.E. contest from Bezzie's blog, Random Meanderings. The 2007 Grand Kootchie Awarness Yarn Extravaganza Prize. I'm still stunned about this. I am sooooo amazed at all the beautiful yarn that I will be receiving.
Thank you to everyone that donated all the wonderful yarn. Can you believe it? Instant STASH! It's better than S.E.X.! It will be put to good use I promise! I'm dreaming of patterns right now...


I must thank Bezzie for raising awareness for women to get out there and have that annual cooter rootin' done. (That's a pap and pelvic exam.) I had my exam and it was normal.

Too many women put off having the annual. JUST DO IT. It could save your life.
Find a dr if you don't have one. Make the appointment and go to it. Take a friend, go for coffee and dessert afterwards or shopping. Make a day of it! I've heard of mother/daughter or sister/sister mamograms, why not annuals? Call your BFF and GET 'ER DONE! Please?

Thank you BEZZIE!!!!!!!! ;-) Here is the great glass she made me too!

Knit, Drink and BE MERRY!

Update to Thanksgiving, a bit late but...

My son Red, wanted a blueberry pie for Thanksgiving. I'd never made one before so I was off to find frozen blueberries.... WOW~ too expensive for a whole pie. I decided that he'd be the only one eating it so I bought 1 can of blueberry pie filling. Yes, canned filling and 1 can (I know it takes two).

He was too busy watching the parade to be bothered with helping me open the can and unroll the Pillsbury dough.... Yes, pre-made dough. After I trimmed the dough from my lovely Longaberger pie dish (yes, I broke out the good pie plate, no tinfoil for Thanksgiving) I had a tiny bit of dough left over. I tried to make a shape with it but failed miserably.

It happened that there was a commercial break and I asked Red to come make a leaf for the pie. He washed his hands and created a lovely leaf which topped the canned filling, pre-made dough blueberry pie.

I must tell you that this pie was GONE by evening. It vanished faster than the time it took to create. All that was left was crumbs and my pretty dish. Everyone raved about it and I just smiled and thanked them. ;) Maybe I'll try it again with two cans of filling for Christmas!

Here is Red and Mr. Merrymom in their Turkey comas!

Five Kernels of Corn

It was very cold for the Pilgrims that first winter.

Food was in short supply.

Some days, they had only five kernels of corn.

When spring came, the Pilgrims planted the remaining corn.

The sun and rain helped the seeds to grow

and much food was harvested in the fall.

Every Thanksgiving thereafter, the Pilgrims placed

five kernels of corn beside each plate

to remind them of their blessings.

The first kernel reminded them of the autumn beauty.



The second kernel reminded them of their love for each other.


The third kernel reminded them of their family's love.



The fourth kernel reminded them of their friends...

especially their Indian brothers.


The fifth kernel reminded them of their freedom.



This Thanksgiving, let us all remember the blessings of our lives.

Count the kernels, count your blessings.