Wrong

I blogged too soon. The pain today has been almost unbearable. It feels like someone is taking a blowtorch to my leg as it simultaneously splinters into a million pieces. I've got my leg in the motion machine right now. Surprisingly, doing this doesn't hurt. It's only when ** I ** try to move around. It doesn't make any sense to me at all.

The whole day has been so surreal. I actually did some work from my work laptop. I've watched movies. I've wept in agony. I've Twittered. I napped, ate, got sick. Now I'm blogging. I can't believe I've done all this in one day. Being in the movement machine must be like entering a parallel universe. Ha. Happy pills kicking in I think.

I really hate that cryo cuff. It is now making me freezing cold and it's really loud. It's super irritating. I understand I have to use it or else my leg will swell way up. But I hate it.

Getting really sleepy now. Maybe time to zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.

Franken-knee

SCROLL TO BOTTOM FOR UPDATE

I made it out of the Dead Zone. Yippee. I'm actually not in all that much pain either. Thank you, Vicodin. The Dr. said that the ACL repair was perfect. The cartilage was not too badly damaged and should heal on its own. I do not have to wear a brace - YAY!!! But I do have to use crutches for two weeks and cannot put any weight on the left knee. This will allow both the cartilage and the hamstring (from where the new ACL was harvested) to heal up.

I have this contraption around my knee. It provides constant cooling to keep swelling down. We put ice and water in the cooler part and it pumps in through the tube to the pad that is strapped around the knee.


I also have this fun machine. This moves my knee for me. I have to do it for 2 hours, rest an hour, 2 more hours, rest and hour....you get it. It doesn't hurt too much - it's not the bending that hurts, but when it gets straightened. It also kind of stinks because I have to be on the floor for this so that it can be flat.

I also have some lovely staples up and down the knee. All in all - I look a mess. But I feel pretty good considering everything. I can't take off the bandages or shower until Monday. YUCKY!!! I'm gonna be a STINK mess by then.

Thanks to all of you who left the nice comments on the last post. It really does help to have people wishing the best.

(P.S. - To all my Chantix buddies: it was sure nice not to be Jonesing for a cigarette on top of all my pain. I'm so glad that's all behind me now.)


FRANKEN-KNEE!!!!

Somewhere my love....

No wonder I love Dr. Zhivago. Turns out that most Native Americans came from Siberia. Neat.

Well it turns out I'm really morbid. All day I've been thinking wretched thoughts about my surgery tomorrow. That's just how I am. My dad once told me that I spend so much time and energy worrying about things that MIGHT happen, that when something actually DOES happen I don't have any resources to deal with it. Meanie. He's right though. I'm a worrier and fretter and a worst case scenario-er. Maybe it's not the most mentally healthy way to be, but think how happy I'll be when I wake up and realize that I did not actually slip into the Dead Zone with Stephen King. If you expect the worst then anything marginally better than worst is fantastic. LOL. What a load of BS huh?

Here's the real issue - I'm a control freak. I don't even like to be the passenger in a car. But I have to just trust these total strangers to knock me unconscious (but keep me alive), put little cameras in my knee and cut things and bolt things and rearrange things (while keeping me alive), sew me all back together, and then WAKE ME UP (preferably with non-scrambled brains).

I'm sure it'll be ok. I'm just a little teeny tiny itsy bitty bit scared. :(

See ya'll on Thursday.

Tee-hee

Someone sent me this joke and I think it's FUNNY!!! Jeff doesn't like it for some weird reason.

South Dakota Women

Three men were sitting together bragging about how they had given their new wives duties.

The first man had married a woman from Minnesota and had told her that she was going to do dishes and house cleaning. It took a couple days, but on the third day he came home to a clean house and dishes washed and put away.

The second man had married a woman from North Dakota. He had given his wife orders that she was to do all the cleaning, dishes, and the cooking. The first day he didn't see any results, but the next day he saw it was better. By the third day, he saw his house was clean, the dishes were done, and there was a huge dinner on the table.

The third man had married a girl from South Dakota. He told her that her duties were to keep the house cleaned, dishes washed, lawn mowed, laundry washed and hot meals on the table for every meal. He said the first day he didn't see anything, the second day he didn't see anything, but by the third day some of the swelling had gone down and he could see a little out of his left eye...enough to fix himself a bite to eat and load the dishwasher.

No E.Q.

Remember like 10 years ago everyone was talking about how the "emotional quotient" was just as important as I.Q.? My E.Q. is nil. I know that sounds like an exaggeration, but my mom can back me up on this. We watched this 20/20 or Dateline thing about E.Q. and they said a simple test you can do to your own child (5 is the optimal age) is this: 1) offer them a piece of candy 2) tell them that they can have that one piece right now or if they can wait 5 minutes they can have an additional piece 3) leave the child alone for the 5 minutes - if he eats the candy, bad E.Q. - if he doesn't, good E.Q. Anyway - at the time this was a big news thing, Dylan was 5 years old. My mom and I watched this 20/20 thing and by the time it was over, Dylan was already asleep. I actually wanted to WAKE HIM UP to do this test because *** I *** couldn't wait over night. Too funny.

This ridiculous preamble has a point. I had to have a pre-op physical today. It appears that I am healthy enough to cut open. Good to know. But the doctor made me do a chest X-ray and I was really offended. He said that I don't get to erase 20 years of smoking with (almost) 4 months of quitting. Well fine. Jeez. Did it have to be put so bluntly?? I KNOW I haven't erased all that damage, but the way he put it just made me kind of....I don't know....frustrated. I wanted to light a cigarette purely out of spite at that point. And I actually normally like my doctor. Grrr.

Also I was told "good luck" when I said that I wanted to be back at work on Monday. Not that I'm some workaholic nut - but I like my job and the people I work with, I don't have a lot of leave left, and anything I can't get done either piles up on my desk (yuck) or becomes someone else's problem (not fair). I WANT to go back Monday. I want this leg thing to be over....YESTERDAY.

I'm tantrum-ing again. I'll stop. I was talking to a friend who also has an injury and we decided that we're just being big babies. There are people who live with permanent disabilities every single day. At least there IS an end to this for me. I really shouldn't complain. Must be a brown thing. ;)

Brown?? Seeems boring

What's Your True Color?

My Result: Brown

You're brown, a credible, stable color that's reminiscent of fine wood, rich leather, and wistful melancholy. Most likely, you're a logical, practical person ruled more by your head than your heart. With your inquisitive mind and insatiable curiosity, you're probably a great problem solver. And you always gather all of the facts before coming to a timely, informed decision. Easily intrigued, you're constantly finding new ways to challenge your mind, whether it's by reading the newspaper, playing a trivia game, or composing a piece of music. Brown is an impartial, neutral color, which means you tend to see the difference between fact and opinion easily and are open to many points of view. Trustworthy and steady, you really are a brown at heart.

Take this test >

Boo Blogger

Is anyone else having trouble embedding videos today? I just did the one below with no problems. I wanted to put a new one up. I'll just give you the link here. I thought this was pretty cute.

I know we're all stuffed but I'm going to put up another recipe. We had this for dinner tonight as a break from all that turkey. Served with a cold pasta salad (from a box) and fresh broccoli.
I found this recipe at AllRecipes.com.

Salmon Rosemary Burgers

INGREDIENTS
2 1/2 pounds king salmon fillet, skinned and de-boned
1 cup dry bread crumbs
1/2 cup minced red onion
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
2 teaspoons prepared horseradish
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1 tablespoon minced fresh rosemary
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
2 tablespoons olive oil

DIRECTIONS
Prepare the salmon by cutting into strips, cutting the strips crosswise, and chopping the fish until well minced. Be sure to remove any remaining bones.
In a large bowl, mix the minced salmon with bread crumbs, red onion, Dijon mustard, horseradish, and eggs. Season with rosemary, salt, and pepper. Chill at least 30 minutes in the refrigerator.
Preheat an outdoor grill for medium-high heat.
Form the salmon mixture into 8 burger patties. Lightly coat each patty with olive oil.
Place salmon patties on the grill, and cook 4 or 5 minutes on each side.

We make a 1/2 recipe and adjust the ingredients accordingly. I usually use shallots instead of red onion - mostly because I don't ever use red onion for anything else and I always have shallots on hand because I love them. If it occurs to me to get fresh rosemary then we use it, but dried works fine in this too. Don't be scared by the horseradish. I'm no fan of that stuff either - but you do not get a big huge horseradish taste, it's very subtle (but necessary). Also, we always make these in a pan on the stovetop with a little olive oil. I was too nervous that they'd fall apart on the outside grill and get all smashed on the George Foreman grill. The taste great out of the pan - brown up nicely too. Jeff eats his on a bun with lettuce and tomato. I don't like all that bread so I just eat mine with a couple drops of soy sauce.

By the way, the Sweet Potato Casserole recipe I posted a few days ago was a big hit. My parents really preferred it to the gooey sweet marshmallow yam thing.

Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Can't.....move.....Food.....coma.....taking.....over.................zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.

Gobble

I hope you are all enjoying your Turkey Day!!!

(Actually, I'm wildly jealous at the thought of allllllllll you people eating allllllll that yummy food right now. We're never doing this a day late ever again!!)

Guilty Pleasure

I'm likely the biggest dork in the world, but that's ok. I still get all a-flutter for Adam Ant.

(Yes, I see the weird crotch strap outfit and the make-up. No, it doesn't bother me. Yes, it would bother me on anyone else....HAHAHA. I'm getting a seriously twisted mental image of my dear hubby dressed up like this. hahahahahahahahahahahaha)

Enjoy

Guilty

I didn't want to hike forever at Wal-Mart so I used the handicapped sticker thingy. What if a *real* handicapped person needed the spot? I'm a jerk. I told myself I wasn't going to use it until after the surgery. But Wally World was packed (with all the other idiots who put off their shopping until tonight), and my leg hurt, and I was tired, and I was lazy. What if I've totally messed up my karma and now I really WILL have the brace/crutches for 6 weeks?

Enough about me. I hope everyone has a happy Thanksgiving tomorrow. We're not eating until Friday (for a complicated reason), but I hope you all stuff yourselves silly. I've been reading some recipes put up by other bloggers and everything just sounds so yummy. Here's our menu:

Turkey (we use a counter-top roasting oven)
Stuffing (some in the bird and then my dad makes his own giblet stuffing)
Wild Rice Casserole
Sweet Potato Casserole
Fresh Asparagus with Hollandaise Sauce
Fresh Green Beans with Some New Sauce My Mom Discovered
Peanut Butter Pie
And the only reason to make any of this food (except dessert): GRAVY!!!!!

We don't ever do rolls or regular mashed potatoes - there's enough carbs up there already.

Pain/Hope

I hurt my knee...like...more. I was lying on the couch and tried to get up and kind of...did it wrong I guess. I actually yelped and started crying. I even scared Noah. That's always a good thing - scare your own kid. Anyway, I had to take a pain pill last night and it hurt like a @#$%^&*!! today. I can't wait for this to be over.

Despite all the cigs and all the extra weight and some random events like a bum gallbladder, I've always been fairly healthy. At least healthy enough to pretty much do what I want to do when I want to do it (assuming that "what I want to do" doesn't involve looking really good in swimwear!;). Being constricted like this is just horrible. To not even be able to get up when I want or to carry Noah or whatever is just.....offensive. I'm offended by this.

I know I shouldn't whine. I know it could have been worse. But.....*sigh*

I'll stop the pity party now. Let's try to think of something positive. Let's find one small silver lining. Like....maybe since I don't smoke anymore, the surgery won't be as dangerous. Like...I've learned what a great teenager I really have - one who can be a rock when it really isn't his job to do that. Like....my husband is the most non-complaining person I've ever met. Like....the people I work with are all basically really nice, helpful, and understanding. Inhale, exhale, inhale, exhale. Om.

:)

Something to think about

My regular readers and people who *know* me also know that I am not one to promote causes or be a Miss Do-Gooder. But I read this article and I think this is something we could all do this holiday season. We're all planning to pig out this week and that just isn't possible for everyone. We all have something in our pantry that we're not using or could afford to give away. Drop by your local food pantry and drop off some food. You might be giving someone else a good holiday as well.

Food pantries struggling with shortages

My new favorite author is....

....Jacquelyn Mitchard. I've read most of her books. They've all just been kind of ok to me - until tonight when I read this line from The Breakdown Lane:

"I considered camping a sin not for but against nature, a form of primitive subjugation, disguised as recreation, a way for men to beat their chests at the dawning and women to wash the same dishes fifteen times a day, and with sand."

I've never seen a better way to explain to Jeff for the billionth time why I don't want to go camping. Thank you from the bottom of my heart Ms. Mitchard.

Tired

I am mentally fried. I've been working all weekend in order to make up for some of the time I missed with the knee injury. I still have at least an hour or two of stuff that I could be doing. Maybe later. I'm sick of it right now. Still it's very nice that I can work from home. I would have already burned up all my sick leave by now. I will be out of work at least 3 full days with the surgery, plus there are the further PT and follow-up doctor appointments.

Speaking of PT, that went really well. The therapist showed me some exercises to start strengthening my leg and some that she will have me do after the surgery to get back to normal (as normal as I ever get anyway). She was one of those medical professionals that seem so rare anymore - someone who actually takes the time to explain things. I hate when medical people either condescend to me or just assume that I'm going to blindly follow their god-like decrees with no explanation. But this lady was nothing like that at all - she explained what each exercise was supposed to accomplish as well as what the entire PT process would accomplish. She really made me want to work at this because I can easily see that such work will provide me with a tangible result. I was so apprehensive about this and I feel so great about it now.

Finally, just an observation - I've been hitting the NaBloPoMo randomizer (that doesn't seem to be terribly random) as well as the blogger random button and noticed that MOST of the bloggers out there seem to be women. Have you all found this to be true? I mean, look at my links over there - only one of them is for a guy. Why is this the case? Or is it just a function of NaBloPoMo and Blogger? Maybe other blog hosting sites have way more men? Maybe we just can't shut the hell up in any forum? Who knows??? It just kind of struck me as interesting.

Oh gross - I just saw a turducken put together on the Food Network. I don't care how it tastes - that just seems kind of obscene to me. I once read about a recipe for a hot dog with hamburger wrapped around it and bacon wrapped around that. Do we REALLY need to be pigs like this???

I promise

I do solemnly swear that I will NEVER give someone a raspberry again. Because this is what it REALLY looks like!!

More recipes

The first recipe is going to be wildly imprecise - this is something I never really measure. If you like more mushrooms, use more mushrooms. Go crazy. Have fun.

Wild Rice Casserole

1 - 1 1/2 cups wild rice
4 - 5 cups of chicken stock (preferred) or broth
3 tbsp butter
3/4 cups each finely chopped yellow onion, celery, portobella mushrooms
1 can water chestnuts, diced
1/4 - 1/2 cup soy sauce
1 small bag of slivered almonds, toasted

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
In a large covered saucepan, simmer rice and chicken stock for 45 - 60 minutes. Rice should be mostly opened, yet still hold some firmness.
While rice is simmering, melt butter in large skillet over medium heat. Saute onion, celery, and mushrooms until tender, but not brown.
Drain rice and RESERVE THE REMAINING STOCK/BROTH (more on this later).
Combine rice, vegetables, water chestnuts, and soy sauce in a casserole dish. Sprinkle slivered almonds over top of casserole.
Cover and bake for 30 minutes until all ingredients are thoroughly heated.

You can make most of this well before serving. I usually make everything but the almonds the day before - if they sit in the casserole they get soggy. But sure to use the soy sauce to your taste. I like a lot, but most don't so I add more to my own plate.

About the reserved chicken stock/broth. My mom and I have discovered that if you use this reserved broth when making turkey gravy, you will have THE tastiest gravy ever. You also get the added thickening of the rice starches (though you still will have to use another thickener - we use cornstarch). The rice adds an amazing flavor to the chicken stock. If you're not making a turkey (or anything else that needs a gravy/sauce), freeze the reserved stock until you do. If you REALLY don't want to keep it, email me and I'll give the address where to ship it C.O.D.!!!!

One thing I've done is cooked up cubed chicken breasts and added it to this with some parmesan cheese - a whole meal in one bowl.

Ok now for a more precise recipe. I am not a huge PB fan, but this is amazingly light and airy and really REALLY good. I found this in a magazine a couple of years ago and my whole family just loves it.

Peanut Butter Pie

1 prepared chocolate cookie pie crust (or graham cracker)
1 cup creamy peanut butter
1/2 cup sugar
8 oz cream cheese (at room temperature)
12 oz container of thawed Cool Whip (I should a put a TM thing here, but oh well)
1 jar of hot fudge topping (about 12 oz)

In a medium bowl, use a hand mixer on medium low to beat together the peanut butter, cream cheese, and sugar.
Gently fold in about 2 cups of the Cool Whip.
Spoon mixture into pie shell, using a spatula to smooth mixture to edges of pie.
Reserving 2 tbsp of fudge, place remaining fudge in microwave safe bowl or glass measuring cup for 1 minute or until melted. Stir.
Spread hot fudge over pie to cover entire peanut butter layer.
Refrigerate until serving time (at least 1 hour).
Just before serving, spread the remaining Cool Whip over the hot fudge layer, being careful not to mix the two layers.
Place 2 tbsp hot fudge into baggie and knead for a few seconds. Cut a tiny hole in the corner of the baggie and drizzle fudge over pie.
Repeat this procedure with 2 tbsp of creamy peanut butter.

I was going to blog about my physical therapy appointment, but I'm so hungry now that I gotta go eat!! I hope you try and like these recipes.

I can't wait for Turkey day!

I am not a fan of sweet potatoes. I think they taste like....well....like yucky. But my husband seems to like them, so every big holiday I make that revolting sweet potato/marshmallow thing. That thing just looks so gross and it cannot be good for you. I found this new recipe from the Food Network that seems slightly less offensive and I thought I'd give it whirl. Hubby said he'd be willing to try it out. If any readers have had anything like this, let me know. I'll post my famous wild rice casserole recipe tomorrow.

Sweet Potato Casserole

2 1/2 lbs sweet potatoes (about 3 large), scrubbed
2 large eggs, lightly beaten with a fork
3 tbs unsalted butter, melted plus more for preparing the pan
2 tbs packed dark brown sugar
1 tsp kosher salt
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground ginger
pinch of freshly grated nutmeg (I'm subbing dried here)
freshly ground black pepper
1/4 cup coarsely chopped pecans

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Put the sweet potatoes on a baking sheet and pierce each one 2 or 3 times with a fork. Bake for 45 to 60 minutes or until tender. Set aside to cool.

Turn the oven down to 350 degrees F. Scoop the sweet potato out of their skins and into a medium bowl. Discard the skins. mash the potatoes until smooth. Ad the eggs, butter, brown sugar, salt cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, and pepper to taste. Whisk the mixture until smooth.

Butter an 8x8 inch casserole. Pour the sweet potato mixture into the pan and sprinkle the top with the pecans. Bake for 30 to 40 minutes until a bit puffy. Serve immediately.

Darn

I missed a day. I am a NaBloPoMo failure. I was REALLY tired last night and just collapsed - that's why I'm doing this at 4 am. Oh well - I didn't smoke yesterday. I more interested in keeping quit day to day than I am in posting.

Strange

I just read a story that TV Land and Entertainment Weekly have come up with a list of the 50 greatest TV icons - this will air on some channel some time..I didn't really pay attention to that. I get kind of sick of these X number of greatest Y lists. (Although this list apparently puts Johnny Carson first - I gotta agree with that. I STILL miss him at 10:30.) Anyway, what struck me as strange is that I went to the TV Land website to see the whole list and apparently this thing is sponsored by Chantix. I have to wonder why Chantix would choose to sponsor this event, of all things. I just find it kind of ironic given how many early TV shows were sponsored by tobacco companies. I didn't see the whole list, but I would assume that many of these "icons" are going to be from older shows (e.g. I Love Lucy, The Honeymooners, etc.) where smoking was A-OK. Maybe the makers of Chantix are trying to target all those folks who grew up smoking right along with those shows and are now trying to quit. I actually find that kind of infuriating for people in that demographic. (I may miss Johnny but I Love Lucy and The Honeymooners were WAY before my time.) To go years and years seeing all that cigarette advertising and now have to sit through quit smoking advertising. Honestly - I'm thrilled that I was able to quit smoking with this pill, but...I don't know...it seems so pushy to be sponsoring this thing. Maybe I'm being weird, but I just find the whole thing slightly distasteful. Does anyone remember what killed Mr. Carson?? Emphysema. I guess Chantix was too late for him.

Ok, now I'm REALLY going to bed.