TeamDandy

Unexpected comment

2010-02-17T13:38:00.003-05:00

At 5'2" tall and close to 200 lbs, I do not look like an athlete. I love playing many sports that I'm not trained in or good at but enjoyment is most important to someone who doesn't get paid to be an athlete.

My best sport is volleyball. I surely don't look like a "typical" volleyball player - 6'3" tall, slender, muscular. None of those adjectives describe me, so when I walk onto a volleyball court with people who haven't seen me play, the expectation is that I'm not as useful as someone taller, thinner and more muscular. This expectation is rational, I don't have a problem with it, but I find myself intentionally working extra hard to push against it by playing my best and showing that I'm better than I look. This intentional push to prove I'm more athletic than I appear happens on other courts, trails and fields as well.

Honestly, I don't know what other people are thinking of me most of the time, but I assume, without resentment, that people see me as not being an active participant in sports.

A couple of weeks ago I went to a running/specialty shoe store, looking like I do, and was asked by one of the employees, "Do you race in a lot of events around here?" In my mind I answered, "Are you blind? Do I look like someone who runs in a lot of events??"

Sometimes we remember the craziest things from our childhood - and then realize there's a point

2010-02-08T16:24:00.004-05:00

Each time I put a few drops of dish soap into a bowl to wash it (instead of in the sink for a whole load of dishes), I think back to my friend's stepfather (a very uptight and non-friendly-in-my-eyes man). One time he got on my friend's case the moment he walked in the door because while she was trying to be helpful and please him by washing the dishes, all he saw was that she used enough soap in one bowl to wash the entire load of dishes and she had that much in a number of the bowls in the sink.

This may seem like sound parenting on his part to teach her to not be wasteful, but I'll never forget - and I keep reliving, in fact - the feeling of condemnation from his remark. She was clearly trying to please this man who was very hard to please and all he could do was nitpick at her.

And I seriously think of this each time I put dish soap into one bowl to wash it! (this mostly happens at work) And I have to wonder why I remember this so clearly. Then I realize that I am a champion nitpicker of Kevin, always reminding him that he could do something better, cleaner, more efficiently and more responsibly. Get a grip, woman - just tell him "thanks!" and "you're doing a great job!" sometimes. Even if he is using half a roll of toilet paper to clean up a quart of water spilled on the floor. At least he's cleaning it up without being asked. Because of all of the previous times you nitpicked him to clean it up for Pete's sake.

Serving what some would call "the least of these"

2009-11-08T22:05:00.002-05:00

Last night, Andy, Kevin and I helped the Salvation Army's "Grate Patrol" in Washington, DC, handing out food to the homeless. The SA van goes out every night and has regular stops. Our church is responsible for donating the food and manpower (besides the driver) the first Saturday of each month and this month, my small group took on the task. Kevin and I delivered food one other time but this was Andy's first time doing it.

Kevin loves this project and enjoys getting out of the van to hand people things directly, including going with an adult to people who can't make it over to the van either because they are sick or injured or don't want to leave their belongings behind for someone to steal. The people we serve get a kick out of having Kevin there. I was sure one woman wanted to tuck him in her bag to take with her.

Driving to the city last night, Kevin asked, "What if we see homeless kids?" He asked in a thoughtful but not emotionally sensitive way. I said that we wouldn't likely see homeless kids because most people who are homeless aren't children and that most children who are homeless live in shelters. I also said that I don't really know that much so I could be wrong.

And wrong I was, as we did encounter two boys with their father. The older boy was about Kevin's age (7) and the younger was maybe 5. They were near the front of the line at a large stop so we were busy handing out food and didn't get a chance to talk to them but we heard from the driver that the boys' mother was deported. Their father was taking care of them - they were born in the U.S. so are U.S. citizens - trying to make his way and get the woman to be able to come back to the U.S. From the little interaction we had with them, they seemed well-adjusted, which is a strange thing to say about kids on the street but that's the first thing that came to my mind. They were with their dad and doing what they knew. I'm sure they haven't always been homeless, but they, at the moment we saw them, were taking it all in stride.

Looking back, I wish I'd gone outside the van to talk to them (I was inside dishing soup most of the time but could've made time to walk over to them). Something else that struck me was how Kevin looked at them the same way he looks at any kid. He was kind of shy and didn't want to make a trip over to talk to them but I could tell he would've gone with me if I'd gone over. And that's how he'd be with any child - in school, at the store, on a sports team...

Last night was a great chance to encounter the people that we serve - to look in their eyes and see part of ourselves and to then turn our gazes inward and see part of them inside us. What makes us human is the same in all of us.

Fun With Short Hair

2009-10-24T17:52:00.003-04:00

Every couple of years, I cut off my long hair to donate it. This surprises a lot of women with long hair as they can't imagine having short hair. Some even think short hair is boring and not versatile. I believe that a little creativity can go a long way and I've provided some examples below to help get your creative juices flowing.

Most days, my hair looks like this.

That style looks pretty good on me and it works well most of the time. But sometimes, I feel a need for change.

Without the weight of long hair, short hair can be given more volume rather easily. View Exhibit 1 - Voluminous Style.

The next example is for those days when you are oozing confidence and feeling a little playful. Exhibit 2 - Pigtail Style.

Don't we all have days when we're less than confident about that large blemish on our forehead? Bangs cover a multitude of sins! Check out Exhibit 3 - Bang Style.

I have moments - ok, days - when I feel like lashing out at the world! I display my feistiness with the look shown here. Exhibit 4 - Lion Mane Style.

When all else fails, you need to have a "go-to" style that makes you feel taller, thinner and more sassy, all at the same time. For those times, I present to you...

...Exhibit 5 - Bozo Style.

Tour de France

2009-07-06T08:56:00.002-04:00

The Tour de France started on Saturday! It doesn't show on our TV but I usually keep a close eye on it through the computer. Unfortunately, this weekend provided no time for that. Now that I'm at work I'm at the computer, but, well, I need to work. And I have serious deadlines that I have to work quickly toward.

I did spend a few minutes this morning looking for live updates, which I usually watch at the Official Tour de France website and VeloNews's Tour de France site. As technology marches forward ever faster, it appears that plain text, live updates that are reasonable for skimming through quickly every hour or so are not supported. Coverage is primarily by video with plain text being saved for the post-stage articles. There are text updates at the official site, but they automatically refresh differently this year and when I'm trying to read previous updates from, say, an hour ago, the view screen keeps refreshing and flipping back to the top of the page where the most recent updates are. VeloNews was like that in the past. Darn annoying.

I don't have time to figure out the best way to keep up with the Tour as it's happening, which is quite a bummer. It hasn't felt like nearly enough to just read at the end of the day who won the stage, who has which jerseys and what the general classification (overall, ie: yellow jersey) standings are. I need more Tour!

Maybe tomorrow when I'm not working and I have only 142 things to get done at home while entertaining the kid, then I'll find time to keep up with the Tour, at least for a day.

That ol' feeling again

2009-06-29T21:23:00.003-04:00

I just looked back through my blog and found a post from September of last year when I lamented about not getting the same "warm, fuzzy feelings" from the things I usually would enjoy. I remember a couple of months, or so, of general malaise and being easily angered. It went away rather suddenly, if I remember correctly, but it really sucked while it was happening and I couldn't figure out what to do with it.

I feel the same way again now. I'd like it to go away, please. Immediately. Thank you.

One piece of pantyhose

2009-06-24T07:01:00.002-04:00

I cut a piece of pantyhose to cover the hole at the bottom of a flower pot and Kevin didn't know what it was. I was glad for that because it means I never have to wear it! On the way back outside, I asked if he was still carrying the pantyhose. He said, "I just have one pantyho."

Today's mood

2009-06-23T21:21:00.003-04:00

I have been so tired and cranky today. Make that tired, which causes the crankiness. I tried hard to be "engaging Mom" on this first day Kevin and I had together for summer break. I would've settled for "happy Mom" or "tolerant Mom" but it just wasn't happening.

I was so tired that I fell asleep in the middle of a sentence while reading out loud to Kevin this afternoon. Actually, that's not so strange for me, but it's an example of how tired and drowsy and dozy I felt.

Today was my turn to go for a bike ride after dinner and I had a feeling I'd get 100 yards up the road and fall over. The opposite happened. My legs and lungs felt the best they've felt yet this season. I then expected to feel energized when I got home, which I often do after exercise.

While I was a bit more social than I felt like being the rest of the day, I still wasn't happy, gracious or engaging. I was tolerant, though.

Not sure what's going on, but I don't like it. Except for the great ride part. That was pretty awesome.

He must get that from me

2009-06-22T21:48:00.002-04:00

After dinner tonight, Kevin and I rode bikes around the neighborhood. He's gotten the hang of his new bike and we ride farther from the house now, so he needed something more to keep his interest. Not surprisingly, he came up with something imaginative. I was expecting a trip to the "grocery store" but got this instead.

"Hey, Friend... I'm riding my bike to raise money for homeless people. Do you want to do that, too?"

How do you say no to that? "Sure, Friend, I'll ride my bike to raise money, too."

We raised more money with each lap we rode and then handed the money off to the guy in charge. Then Kevin said, "There's some food leftover. Let's deliver it to the homeless people." So we rode around the neighborhood stopping to hand off pretend food to pretend homeless people in our neighbors' real front yards and driveways.

And then it was time to go inside to get ready for bed. Serving the needy is tiring work.

Father's Day Interview - 2009

2009-06-22T21:22:00.002-04:00

Father's Day Interview with Kevin Aguilera - June 2009
(see previous years' interviews: 2008, 2007, 2006, 2005

What is Pápi’s name? Andy
How old is Pápi? 42

How much does Pápi weigh? 1,000 pounds *hee hee*
What is Pápi’s favorite color? Red

What is Pápi’s favorite food? Butter! *grin* For real? Watermelon
What’s his favorite thing to wear? Tank tops! *hee hee hee* - I don’t know

What does Pápi do at work? Build
What does he build? Books

What is Pápi’s favorite thing to do? Work
What is Pápi’s favorite thing to do with you? Play! I mean, make me tickle. Um, I don’t know.

What is Pápi the best at? Building
What should Pápi practice doing? Typing
What should Pápi go to timeout for? Yelling loud and timeout for sneezing real loud and yawning really loud

What is your favorite thing to do with Pápi? Play!!
Play what? Fun games Like what? Pretend games
Where do you like to go with Pápi? Toys ‘R Us

What does Pápi do that makes you laugh? Tickle me
Is Pápi a good singer? Hardly
Is Pápi a good dancer? Hardly

Do you have an idea for another question? “Is Pápi stinky?”
So, is Pápi stinky? Yes, very.
Any other questions? “What is Pápi’s favorite movie?”
OK, what is Pápi’s favorite movie? Batman. No! Scaaarrry movies *wiggling fingers*

[8 hours later, Kevin suggests another question]
Does Papi burp loudly? Very, very, very!

Does Pápi love you? Yes
Do you love Pápi? Yes

Ride Observations

2009-06-20T07:48:00.002-04:00

Road ride, 6/19/09

My new bpa-free but squeezable water bottle (I shopped around a lot to find one and I found it at Larriland farm, of all places, for half the price of a regular bottles at an outdoor or bike shop) is slippery and hard to get in and out of the bottle cage, but I plan to keep working with it.

There are trees in bloom right now that are very pretty with dark green leaves and long, yellow flowers that STINK like mad.

My highest heart rate was 175 bpm.

Route 99 is better riding than neighborhood streets because there aren't many places I have to stop and my average speed is higher.

Route 99 is harder riding than neighborhood streets because there aren't many places I have to stop and my average speed is higher.

I can't imagine how professional riders come down those mountains so fast in a clump of other riders without crashing every time - or having a heart attack.

There have been lots of changes to bike shorts in the past 10 years. It's hard to find them without thick gel padding now. The jury is still out on whether I like it or not. I think it extends too far to the front and will cause me problems after a few rides.

I hate running. Why do I keep trying to like it? Cycling is so much more "right" for me.

My ankle feels great but I have less range of motion than I thought. But it's still doing great and doesn't negatively affect me when riding (at least, not that I realize.)

Ankle progress

2009-06-17T06:59:00.002-04:00

My ankle has been feeling very good and the physical therapy exercises seem to be working like a charm. (Give it up for Robin Caruso at NovaCare Rehabilitation in Ellicott City!) I have almost full range of motion in all directions and my stabilizer muscles are coming around. I can now walk on uneven ground without a problem.

I'm still unable to move fast, jump, run, etc. But I've come a long way.

I have to wear a compression wrap on my ankle all the time or else my ankle swells a lot. With the swelling doesn't come extra pain, and I don't feel pain as I'm doing things that cause the swelling. However, the swelling is persistent.

Yesterday I had a followup with the surgeon and he was surprised by my recovery so far. He said my pain is ahead of schedule - I can do things without pain that he wouldn't expect this soon. My swelling is on schedule. He said to expect that by 3 months after the surgery (end of July) my ankle will be 75% healed on the inside. At 6 months (end of November) it'll be 90% healed. That means the swelling is normal and will continue for quite some time.

My instructions are still to do whatever I can tolerate, pain-wise, but because my pain is mild with the activities I'm doing so far but I'm still having the (expected) swelling, I need to take the swelling into account and make sure that it doesn't get out of hand.

Conversation

2009-06-14T08:25:00.002-04:00

I asked Andy what kind of shirt he thought would go with a certain pair of pants.

Andy: Something athletic-looking.
Me: Like what?
Andy: Something with a v-neck and cap sleeves.
Me: How do you know the term 'cap sleeves?'
Andy: I get around. *pause* I've seen Old Navy commercials.

Perspective

2009-05-09T17:11:00.002-04:00

Everything in life changes with a different perspective. I know that and am never surprised by it but I always enjoy being reminded of it.

Last year I spent a couple of months wearing an ankle immobilizing walking boot. It allowed me to walk around but kept my ankle completely still. I had to take it off to drive (on, off, on, off, on, off, on...ugh) and it wasn't comfortable to stand in because there was no flat part of it since it had a rocker bottom for more comfortable walking. I couldn't play any sports and it was tiring to lug that thing around.

On Wednesday, I got my cast off. Now I'm in an ankle immobilizing walking boot with crutches. My ankle is to bear weight as tolerated. Last year's stints in the boot limited my activity. This time, the boot gives me more mobility. I'm wearing it instead of a cast that I couldn't take off, couldn't get wet, and had no flat parts on it for even balancing my foot well, let alone putting any pressure on it. I had to use crutches constantly. I couldn't drive. Now I can walk, use crutches or not, take the boot off to shower and take the boot off to drive.

The boot meant limitation last year and freedom this year, and there's exactly nothing different about the boot itself.

Day 2 of surgery recovery

2009-04-25T15:19:00.002-04:00

Yesterday morning I had my "trigonum excision" surgery. It was not bad all around. The pre-op stuff was efficient but handled with care and kindness. I was in the operating room at the time I was slated to be there and the surgery took less time than expected. The surgeon told Andy that the bone practically popped right out of my ankle, which was surprising because there's usually more stuff to cut it away from.

While I did have to get fanned by the nurse when she stuck my IV needle in, I didn't faint. I tolerated the anesthesia itself in my usual way - meaning that I had to say "thank you!" with a big smile to every doctor, nurse or assistant who so much as looked at me. I woke up twice during the surgery - I didn't feel anything because they put a pain block in my leg - and I remember saying in my best drunk-voice, "You guys are doing a great job! Thanks!" I'm such a nerd.

We got home yesterday at 12:30 pm and I got settled on the couch with my leg up and then we had some lunch. We both napped after that and when Kevin came home from school, he visited with our neighbors for a couple of hours.

Last night I slept in bed (I thought I might stay on the couch) with my leg on a pillow and I was able to sleep on my sides as well as my back. I felt quite comfortable! Andy had to use earplugs as I snore when I sleep on my back, but he was ok with that.

This morning I woke up feeling pretty good. That's always a kicker, though, because when you feel good, you do more. When you do more, you feel worse. Feeling better leads to feeling worse! But I knew that would happen so I tried to remain laying down with my foot up as much as I could. A nurse from the hospital called me to see how I'm doing with the pain, the medication, eating and drinking, etc. She also warned me about the "feel good -> do too much - feel worse" cycle which is always good to reminded of.

I ate lunch outside with my foot up on a stool but it turns out that if I'm sitting up, my leg isn't high enough to thwart the pain. I'm best laying flat with my leg higher than the rest of me and I will do my best to stay that way for another day, or until it doesn't hurt so much more to be out of that position. I guess I should get off the computer and go do that now.

Good company

2009-04-20T12:36:00.002-04:00

On Friday I'm having surgery to remove the trigonum bone ("os trigonum") from my ankle because of pain and swelling it's caused me for the past year. Seems I'm in good company as I just found this blog post from a couple of weeks ago about a professional soccer player, Dean Ashton, who is out because of os trigonum syndrome. Then I checked out his website and found a recent post that says he had the surgery and is recovering well.

iPod Nation

2009-04-17T23:34:00.002-04:00

Andy gave me an iPod for Christmas and we've loaded our CDs plus some new tunes on it and it's really great to have all of that music at my finger tips. I can walk (someday jog again) while listening to music. I can do housework while listening to music. I can mow the lawn listening to music.

I've come to realize that although music is always available now in a very convenient form, I don't always want to hear it.

I have various genres of music as I'm sure we all do - from classical to reggae, heavy metal to country. I can listen according to my mood and activity. Sometimes, though, what I want to listen to is nothing. Or just the normal sounds of life.

When I listen to music all the time, I disengage from my inner thought life. It turns out that my inner thought life is an important part of who I am. I need that time to think. I need that blank space to allow my thoughts to wander. I need the chance to be at peace with nobody talking at me, even when the talk is melodic and has a good beat.

I wonder whether the youth of today will miss out on knowing how to be alone with their thoughts when they have grown up knowing all music, all the time. I wonder whether the adults of yesterday wondered the same thing about people my age when we grew up with televisions in every home and FM radios with cassette players in every car?

The Favorite

2009-04-17T23:27:00.002-04:00

All my life I've felt like someone's favorite. The favorite child, the favorite grandchild, the favorite student, the favorite niece... By no means do I feel like everyone's favorite everything. But there is always a group of people that I can think of and feel truly loved by; not by what they do for me but by how much they seem to enjoy my presence.

Maybe I've just been so self-centered and egotistical that it's obvious to me that people would like me best. But it's clear that in most parts of my life, I'm not the favorite, so I don't think that's it.

I wonder how different my life would be if I didn't think that people saw me as their favorite? Who would I be if I didn't feel that adoration (real or perceived?)

How important is it to let the people in my life feel that they are my favorite? Who could they become if they were made to feel that special?

Touching

2009-04-10T21:38:00.003-04:00

I rarely listen to "Christian" music and "Christian radio" and I don't get along. But there is one song that I feel each time I hear it.

"Surrounded by Your glory, what will my heart feel?
Will I dance for you Jesus - or in awe of you be still?
Will I stand in your presence - or to my knees will I fall?
Will I sing hallelujah, will I be able to speak at all?
I can only imagine."

Birthday CD

2009-04-07T22:27:00.002-04:00

Andy has been buying songs from iTunes and burning them onto CDs for one of his coworkers whose tape deck just broke. Kevin now wants Andy to make a CD for him. So far, he's asked for "Who Let the Dogs Out?" as sung by Baha Men, "Stop! In the Name of Love," performed by Diana Ross and The Supremes, "Love Lockdown" by Kanye West and "Mambo Italiano" as sung by Rosemary Clooney. Is this a normal birthday present for a 7-year old?

Where have all the deer gone?

2009-04-01T22:34:00.000-04:00

We usually don't get such a nice showing of crocuses in our yard. More often, we get giddy at the sight of the first bloom and then the deer and rabbits come along and chomp down that flower and all of its buddies before they get a chance to grace our yard with their color. We never knew we had so many crocuses as we've seen this year.

My husband loves me

2009-04-01T22:21:00.000-04:00

Most nights, Andy has to annoy me before he can rest. It is usually something simple like ripping my pillow out from under my head as I'm about to lay me down to sleep or flicking his fingers in my frizzy hair poking out from my head while I'm trying to read. There were a few weeks recently when, every night, I came to bed to find this - reindeer butt - welcoming me to slumber.

On the road again

2009-03-31T15:48:00.003-04:00

I didn't start walking until I was 14 months old. That's within the "normal" range but in our culture of recording every drop of milk taken in, ounce of poop excreted and developmental milestone ticked off the chart(hopefully before all the baby books and mom websites say it should happen), it's a bit on the late side. There was nothing wrong with me. My mom says I just didn't seem to have any interest in getting anywhere. She could put me on the living room floor with a couple of toys around me and go into the kitchen to make lunch and when she returned, I would be in the same spot. I had no need to be pulling on her apron strings nor to check out what was past the length of my arm. I think that I still exhibit a general contentment with my life and acceptance of the way things are.

Once I got on my feet, I developed like most everyone else - I enjoyed scooting myself on the trike bike, pedaling myself on a regular bike, and, eventually, driving myself in a car. The feeling of freedom that permeated my soul when I got my driver's license was indescribable. I didn't own a car but had rather generous use of my parents' cars. For years, I loved driving. I felt free, unencumbered, full of opportunity, and independent.

These days, driving a car feels like the opposite of what it once did. It doesn't make me independent - it makes me dependent on the car, which is built with computer chips and circuits that I'll never understand and could never fix if I needed to. It makes me dependent on the roads - where they go and don't go and whether they're jammed with traffic. It makes me dependent on maintenance personnel - to diagnose and fix chips and circuits and get to those darn spark plugs that car manufacturers now make unreachable with normal tools - who hopefully don't take all the money from my wallet in the process.

When I want to feel true freedom of motion now, I get on a bike. Bikes are still simple machines even as they incorporate new technologies. All parts are fixable with a little bit of training and a small set of tools. I depend on no one but myself when I ride a bike.

When I move my legs, I move the bike. I feel my muscle fibers contract and work together, my heart rate increases and my lungs suck in more air. I cover ground. I put space between where I was and where I am. My legs are the pistons and the calories I've eaten are the fuel. I feel the wind in my face. I feel the sweat down my back. I hear the vehicle engines around me and see people stuck in their climate-controlled boxes. I hear the birds calling. I smell the fields, each one surprisingly different. I tuck on the downhills. I stretch on the flats. I sing songs in my head on the uphills and push, push, push. I smile and laugh when I make it to the top.

My body gives up a lot of energy to ride a bike. My soul gains a lot of energy to ride a bike.

When good fortune is a mixed blessing

2009-03-11T09:06:00.002-04:00

I have a great job. I work part-time in a professional field which provides a rather large paycheck. I have the flexibility to say on any given day that I can't work because my son is sick or there's a snow day or whatever. I don't have to find a substitute to do my work for me that day, I can use vacation time or sick time or make up the time - whichever is easiest for me. I get to play ultimate frisbee during lunch. I can do my work from home when I want or need to. I can get full benefits (health insurance, life insurance, vacation and sick time) even working part-time. And did I mention that I get paid a lot and can move my hours around however I need to without much stress?

Let's say that I had this incredible job as described above but didn't like the work itself. And let's say that it wasn't just that the work wasn't enjoyable but that I was so disinterested in the work that it was nearly impossible to do my best at the job, to give it my all, to become better at it each day.

It seems pretty easy to say, "Suck it up and enjoy what you get from the job that benefits your family." It also seems pretty easy to say, "If you don't like it, don't do it. Find something else. The details will work out and you and your family will deal with whatever changes you have to face."

The problem is that acting on either response is not easy. Can you imagine trying to find a job that doesn't require a college degree in its field and that I would enjoy that would pay what I make now? Or that I'd be able to work part-time? Or that I'd be able to get up in the morning, hear that school is canceled for snow, sleet or hailstorm and just email in to say I won't be able to work that day and the company is totally fine with that?

Sounds impossible. And yet, I believe that people should try to follow their passion even if it means that material things don't come as easily. And that people should accept chances to stretch their faith and personality. So it sounds just as impossible to follow the "suck it up" response.

If I wasn't so fortunate to have an incredible job, moving away from it - hypothetically - wouldn't be so hard.

Conversation

2009-03-09T21:04:00.002-04:00

Scene: Kevin and me lying in his bed at bedtime

Kevin: Mommy, *giggle* what if someone passed gas in someone else's face? *giggle*
Me: That would be very rude.
Kevin: Ok. But what if there was a small person and a tall person and they were standing in line together?
Me: *blink*
Kevin: And then the tall person passed gas and it was in the small person's face just because that's where they were standing?

My maturing sense of smell

2009-03-07T14:37:00.003-05:00

I hung some laundry on the line today. I don't have enough line space to hang much at a time so I usually leave the clothes for the dryer because it doesn't matter so much when they smell delicious and they're kind of uncomfortable when they feel like a board when we've grown used to them being soft.

As soon as the weather is nice enough to hang laundry outside (even if it's a warmer/breezier day in the winter) I immediately throw the blankets and sheets through the washer. When I bring them in off the line, I bury my face in them for 5 minutes to inhale their goodness. Then I make everyone else in the house stick their noses in, too. Then I spend a half hour walking on air with a ditzy smile on my face because I'm high on the smell of fresh.

When I was a kid, we hung miles of laundry on the line. And by "we" I do mean I had a big hand in that chore. For some reason, I forget how much I hated that now that I'm an adult and am making the choice for myself - plus there's not so much line to fill at any one time.

I sucked my thumb (and index finger) until I was 9 years old. My blankie was my lifeline. It smelled delicious in a different sort of way. My mom says it smelled like grunge but I prefer to think that it smelled of love. Love doesn't always smell of fresh air, though, and I HATED the smell of my blanket after my mom washed it. I tried desperately to not let her wash it and especially not hang it on the line.

I think that if I smelled that blanket now, as an adult, I'd think that it smelled good because my brain would remember. But I can't, for the life of me, imagine why anything could smell better than a blanket dried on the line.

I won't be wearing that today

2009-03-02T22:34:00.000-05:00

I left my sandals on the front porch after kayaking two weeks ago.

Things I could write about

2009-02-23T12:46:00.003-05:00

1) Lent - our church often mentions Lent as a side note but this year it is a focal point. I'm looking forward to that.

2) Getting re-acquainted - next week I'm meeting an old friend for lunch. We knew each other as kids and haven't been in contact since. It'll be more like meeting her for the first time than getting re-acquainted because the amount of time that we were together is very small compared to all that has happened to each of us since then. I look forward to 'catching up' with her, but it'll be strange because I really don't know her at all. I think it'll be a fun experience.

3) Birds - we have tried three times to see the White-winged Crossbills at Centennial Park that have been reported there by many people over the past few weeks. We've yet to see them. They're not usually around here so it would be nice if we could see them while they're visiting so close to our house.

4) Charisma - what's with our volleyball team always playing differently when our captain isn't there? It's not that we don't have the talent to play well without him. It's as if we mentally come unglued. We don't feel like a cohesive unit. Maybe it's just me and nobody else feels that way, but I honestly think there's something to it. I wonder what we can do to fix it.

Leave the past in your behind

2009-02-04T22:30:00.003-05:00

Andy always makes himself laugh when he says that.

Anyway, this Facebook thing is insane. Or, at least, it's making me go almost insane. I knew that I'd find people on there that I've lost touch with since college and that is really cool. I found a bunch of people from high school, as FB is basically set up to make that happen easily. That's been cool, too.

Today I came into contact with a bunch of people I knew mostly in elementary school and through a bit of middle school.

When I was 7, my mom enrolled me in a once-a-week gymnastics class. I wore my short-sleeved, hot pink leotard and my ringed tube socks, pulled all the way up, as I learned rolls and cartwheels, jumped off the springboard, balanced on the beam and swung on the bars. The parks and rec program I was in had a competitive team for older girls but my teacher said she was going to start a younger team and asked my mom to bring me to the try outs. I remember going through the different skills while different coaches wrote scores and notes on their clipboards. At the end, all of the people who tried out were sitting in a big group on the floor mat while the coach read off the names of the kids who made the team. She listed a bunch of people and I can recall looking over at my mom who was standing in the doorway and she smiled but shook her head a little, like, "Not this time, but oh well." Then I heard my name and both of our faces lit up!

Little did we know that those couple of hours of tryouts were just the beginning of 6 years of countless hours spent in the gym, in the ballet studio and on the road to meets. We practiced 3-4 days a week in the gym, took ballet lessons and had meets on the weekends (not every weekend, but we'd practice when we didn't have a meet.) I went through dozens of leotards, rolls of tape and Ecotrin (ibuprofen wasn't the star of the drug show yet.)

We spent a lot of time with our teammates in the gym and carpooling. We set the bars for each other, rooted each other on, spotted each other, set up the equipment at every practice, cracked each others' backs during warm ups, provided resistance during extra strength and laughed a lot together. Most of us grew up together from being little girls to teenagers.

Tonight on Facebook, I've found a number of the girls - now women - that I spent all those hours with in my youth. It's so bizarre to see them as adults with histories of college classes, friends, roommates, husbands, kids, and countless other experiences that I didn't experience with them and will never know. But I still feel a kinship with them and am excited to find out what's going on in their lives, even if the last time I saw them was 23 years ago.

What are you doing right now?

2009-02-02T19:14:00.003-05:00

That's the question that Facebook posts to me every minute of every day. And I must confess, I love Facebook.

That's what has been keeping me from my blog for the past couple of months. But Facebook is not a blog and doesn't allow me a reasonable (to me) way to write the lengthier things I sometimes like to write. I don't write so much for my 'audience,' as there isn't a big one out there and at this point, I believe all except maybe one person from my known audience is on Facebook and can keep track of me there.

Most of the time, writing something in my blog allows me to ponder it, question it, mull it over and dig deep into it - sometimes before, sometimes during and sometimes after writing it.

So, anyway, to start myself back up on this blog, I'll post a conversation (some of my favorite posts to re-read after the fact are conversations) from last night.

Me: Andy, I'm about to fall asleep but I don't want to miss the end of the game! Make sure I don't lean over on you or I'll surely fall asleep.

Andy: And I'd want you awake why?

Christina

2008-12-15T21:45:00.000-05:00

Our brother-in-law visited Maryland with his youngest daughter, Christina, last week. This is Christina sleeping on her grandmother's lap.

Chore help

2008-12-05T12:32:00.001-05:00

This is what happens when you don't feel like taking the compost garbage to the compost pile and you leave it on the porch to get to it later.

The wildlife comes and takes care of it for you!

Tonight on... Survivor

2008-12-04T23:14:00.001-05:00

The part of Sugar is being played by Dianne.

Sometimes I pretend to be a real photographer

2008-12-04T07:10:00.001-05:00

This is a "garden angel" on our mantel.

Life lives on

2008-11-22T23:26:00.001-05:00

My grandmother - the one who is 104 years old - had a stroke in her upper-90's and moved out of her apartment into an assisted living suite in her community. That meant her furniture and other belongings needed to be distributed amongst the family and one of the things I got was her "Christmas cactus" plant. I am usually pretty good at taking care of plants but this one didn't like living in our house no matter what I tried to do to it (or stop doing to it.) It lost leaf after leaf and eventually branch after branch. I read that I could root cuttings so before it completely died on me, I took a few cuttings and put them in water. It worked! I planted the babies in a set of small pots in a matching tray and let them go, hoping that at least one would survive.

That was at least 5 years ago and lookie what we have here. My first ever blooms! Yeehah!

Creative Play

2008-11-22T22:57:00.001-05:00

When Kevin asked to play with some of my kitchen utensils while I made dinner one night, I assumed he'd pretend to make dinner himself.

Nope. The whisk became Wonder Woman's jail and a lock on the cabinet in which all of the other bad guys were staying (I don't know why WW was a bad guy.)

The potato masher served as an elevator.

Look who came to dinner

2008-11-18T20:38:00.001-05:00

This guy/gal stopped by our yard shortly before sundown, sitting on the shepherd's hook that holds our finch feeders. The finches were mighty perturbed at having their dinner time stock up thwarted by the big beast and they were all around the area making a ruckus. Within 5 seconds after the hawk flew away, the finch feeders were covered with finches again.

Life

2008-11-18T09:05:00.004-05:00

I'm reading a novel ("Killer Material" by Dan Barton) about a stand-up comic and it's written by a stand-up comedian so I trust that most of the stuff that happens at the shows is close to real. His main character says:

The connection you could feel with a crowd that was engaged in your performance could be... better than anything. Reality paled in comparison. It made addicts out of people. Life was on the stage. The rest was waiting.

Emphasis mine.

That begs the question - What is "life" to you? What is better than anything else? What do you wait the rest of your life for?

There is no wrong answer.

Lone red leaf

2008-11-13T07:08:00.001-05:00

At the edge of our property there is a line of Bradford Pear trees. They're the last leaves to change color and fall off in autumn. This leaf decided to be bold and change early.

It's the only leaf in a row of trees that isn't green.

Microsoft Security at its finest

2008-11-12T11:12:00.001-05:00

From the Microsoft Developers Network website:

To view all the hidden objects, right-click the Navigation Pane (but do not right-click an object), select Navigation Options, and then select the Show Hidden Objects check box. The hidden objects appear but they are partially transparent. Casual and intermediate users generally will not stumble on this, so your objects are protected.

Emphasis mine.

Kevin is still sleeping

2008-11-10T07:16:00.002-05:00

Shhh... I know it's already 7:15 but Kevin is still sleeping! He hasn't slept this late in months.

Yesterday was the 2nd Annual Turkey Trot at his school. It was actually on the track at the high school. The main event was a 30-minute period in which we walked, ran, skipped, whatever, around the track. Each lap was marked on a card and if you finished at least 4 laps in a 1/2 hour, you received a "charm" for your school charm necklace. I finished 5 laps wearing my boot.

Kevin ran more this year than last and completed 2 miles! I also forced the family (both guys grumbled) to walk to and from the event, so that was maybe another half mile of walking.

Then we had a couple of Kevin's friends over to play for a couple of hours in the afternoon.

After dinner, when it was still only 6:30, Kevin laid down in his sleeping bag on the dining room floor and listened to a book on CD. For an hour! Just laying there! With only a stuffed animal to keep him company!

After that rest, he went to bed. And he's still sleeping.

Kevin would never run or walk that much on his own or at just my behest - so can we have a Turkey Trot every few days? Or at least every weekend? This sleeping in thing is kinda nice.

I'm back in the boot

2008-11-05T13:11:00.004-05:00

I have new information regarding my ankle pain. When I researched it online after going to an orthopedic surgeon who gave me two different diagnoses, I determined that I might have os trigonum syndrome. Turns out I was right.

I have this extra/accessory bone (os trigonum) in my ankle that is in the way of my joint and causes pinching which causes inflammation which causes pain. Most people don't have that bone but some people do, so it's not as if I'm an anatomical anomaly (at least, not because of just this.)

The only way to get rid of the problem for good is to surgically remove the os trigonum. We are first going to try other methods. I had a cortisone injection where the troublesome bone is and I'm to wear the walking boot for 3 weeks. Then I'm to resume walking on it for 3 weeks and then, slowly, add athletic activities back into the mix. If at any point the pain gets worse or if after all the rest it isn't better, I then have the choice of living with the pain or having the bone surgically removed (and going through that recovery.) The recovery from the surgery would be 100% barring any complications, but it is still surgery and is not trivial.

I'm back in the boot for now and am not to play any sports. At least there are lots of leaves in our yard to rake, even if it's not as many as we had before the tree fell down this summer when I had the boot on last time.

Pumpkin carving

2008-10-31T23:39:00.001-04:00

"Son, first you need to listen to the pumpkin. Discover what it longs to be."

"Who needs a store-bought set of plastic pumpkin carving tools? Not us!"

This is as close as Kevin would get to the pumpkin guts.

Andy: "What we need is..."
Kevin: "What we need is more pouf," as he sticks the feathers in Andy's face.

Kevin's creation; he drew the design on the pumpkin all by himself.

What a team.

Happy Halloween from Officer Kevin

2008-10-31T18:54:00.000-04:00

Don't tell him I posted this

2008-10-30T23:14:00.001-04:00

Kevin told me not to send this picture to anyone. I said, "Not even Grandma and Grandpa? Or Mrs. Labanz?" He decided that would be ok as long as I told them not to laugh at it. So maybe it's ok that the rest of you are seeing it, too, as long as you don't laugh.

You can't help but smile though, can you?

School Picture

2008-10-28T10:06:00.000-04:00

I pledge that next year I will, before the morning of the day school pictures will be taken, make sure Kevin has a suitable shirt that is a good color for him to wear in his portrait.

The photographer made Kevin say, "I love girls" to get that grin and a hint of neck scrunch.

The bird kind

2008-10-27T20:40:00.002-04:00

Kevin and I played Rush Hour, Jr. before dinner and we are missing one of the cars so I substituted a different one of the same size in its place. Kevin said, "Yeah, you just need another 'two-bee' to use instead. Haha, 'two-bee,' 'blue-bee,' 'boo-bee.' You need boobies!" I wasn't sure if he's heard that word used at school before so I just kept my mouth shut to see how he reacted. After my pause he said, "You know, boobies!" I said, "Like Blue-footed Boobies?" He said, "Yeah, like those." Nary a giggle from the kid. Still safe, for now.

Conversation

2008-10-25T23:22:00.002-04:00

This conversation took place on Friday evening during another of Kevin's playdates at our house. This one, however, was not with a giggling girl telling Kevin she's in love with him.

Note: No weapons mentioned in this conversation were used against one another.

Kevin: I want to use the sword.
Z: No, I want to use the sword. You use the gun.
Kevin: No, I want the sword. YOU use the gun.
Me: Why don't you take turns?
Kevin: Good idea.
Z: Let's do "rock, paper, scissors" to see who gets the sword first.
Kevin: Ok!

I think we adults should consider using "rock, paper, scissors" more often.

A bird in the hand

2008-10-18T23:16:00.000-04:00

Today we visited the bird banding project at Eden Mill in Harford County. Kevin helped let go a couple of the birds including this White-throated Sparrow. These sparrows are only in our area when they're not breeding, so they've just returned from up north to stay here for the winter.

Conversation

2008-10-17T12:33:00.004-04:00

Kevin has a (girl) friend over for a playdate today. I just overheard this conversation.

J: Kevin, guess what?
Kevin: What?
J: I'm in love with... *giggle*...
Kevin: What?
J: *giggle* I'm in love with... *giggle*... can you guess?
Kevin: *laughing* With what?
J: You! *giggle*
Kevin: Don't say that!
J: But I LOVE YOU, Kevin! *giggle*
Kevin: Don't tell anyone.
J: *giggle* Ok, you either. Especially not your dad.
Kevin: Don't tell your mom.
J: She already knows.

I had a dream last night that I was a nerd

2008-10-15T12:33:00.002-04:00

Last night I dreamt that everyone on Earth was going to die and there was nothing we could do about it. Everyone handled the situation differently - a number of senior citizens where I was got all dressed up and had an extravagant dinner at the fanciest, most expensive restaurant around. Some people just couldn't admit there was no way around our demise and tried to convince everyone that they had a plan to save us. I found myself walking around, observing the different reactions. I was scared and sad and I slit one of my wrists in an effort to speed up the process - I certainly didn't want to be the last one to keel over and die, watching everyone else do the same first.

After some time, those of us still alive noticed that as the sun was rising over the horizon, nobody had died recently. We began to wonder if we actually weren't going to die after all - 99.9% of the world died, but we were the chosen few who didn't. I checked my wrist and instead of the group of bloody slashes I'd seen previously, there were a few faint scars where I'd quickly healed.

Looking around at the others that were left and who had conveniently gathered together in some sort of town square, I didn't think about why we were saved and the others weren't or what to do with all of the dead bodies or how were we going to choose a group of leaders. No, what I yelled out to the group was...

"This gene pool is way too small for effective repopulation!"

Call it what it is

2008-10-14T22:23:00.001-04:00

A few weeks ago, Kevin received a birthday party invitation in the mail. He asked me to read it to him, so I did.

He was excited for the party and had a great time with the moon bounce, play house and swingset in his friend's backyard. The only Hannah Montana items were some paper goods.

When we got home, I commented on how nice it was that his friend invited him to her party and that I was glad he had fun and that he better make sure not to leave that favor bag on the living room floor.

His response was, "It was fun but it wasn't a rockin' party. The invitation said, 'You're invited to a rockin' party' but it wasn't rockin'."

"I'm picking up your sarcasm." "Well, I should hope so, because I'm laying it on pretty thick."*

2008-10-14T10:03:00.004-04:00

After breaking the exciting news to one of my closest, dearest, truest friends, she replied with this comment.

you were THAT close to greatness?

i think that lance armstrong sat behind you in homeroom, too.

Snarky is as snarky does, Elesa.

*Do you know what movie the title is from?

Do you recognize this woman?

2008-10-13T23:08:00.003-04:00

Below is a photo I took of my 8th grade yearbook. The woman in the picture was my home economics teacher in 6th and 8th grades. She was really fun, which you probably have to be to teach a bunch of middle schoolers how to cook, sew and wash their faces properly. When I was in 7th grade, in 1985, I had a different teacher for home ec but I remember this teacher being pregnant as she walked around the halls of school.

Her note says, "I'll never forget making those blue & white shorts. That was a riot. Take care & have a fun summer. Much happiness..."

Can you read that signature?

I change, you change

2008-10-06T10:16:00.002-04:00

Yesterday I helped with the kids during second service at church and as we approached the building Kevin said, "I've never been to second service - I wonder what it's like!" We always go to first service but there have been a few times we've gone to second, I guess we just haven't done that since having Kevin. I told a friend about it and said, "So it's been over..." (pause while I consider how long ago October 2004 was, when Kevin came home) "... 4 years - oh my gosh! Last week was our anniversary of meeting Kevin!"

I've been saying, "He's been home for 3 1/2 years" for awhile and hadn't considered that we'd already passed the 4 year mark. Oops. I'm not that far overdue, at least. Today is the anniversary of us flying home from Guatemala, Kevin's first time setting foot in the United States. It wasn't until Oct 7th that he stepped foot into his new house as we had to spend our first night at the Sitnick's house because ours smelled too strongly from having our wood floors refinished while we were away.

Here are links to my posts regarding previous anniversaries. Seems that I missed it last year, too.

2005 - 1-yr anniversary
2006 - 2-yr anniversary
2007 - 3-yr anniversary

How has Kevin changed? Mostly, he's changed like any other 2 1/2-year old changes by the time he's 6 1/2 years old. But he's also grown from a scared, quiet, clingy, eating machine into a social, expressive, hanger-on-for-basic-safety-but-not-out-of-fear, eating machine.

Perhaps the bigger change has been in me. I've changed from a beaten down, life-hating, tired, angry, selfish person who had a kid in the way of her life to a sometimes sparkling, sometimes life-loving, only sometimes tired, and sometimes unselfish person who can say to Kevin, "It's ok that you woke me up with your coughing - I only want to help you feel better and that is more important than me being grumpy in the morning."

Kevin's first catch

2008-09-22T23:06:00.004-04:00

We camped at Greenbrier State Park in Boonsboro, MD, this weekend. The weather was BEAUTIFUL and we enjoyed hiking, kayaking, fishing and roasting hot dogs and marshmallows.

This was Kevin's first time using a hook on his fishing pole. He has practiced a lot in our yard with just a weight and is good at casting but never had to be that concerned about hurting anyone. Andy took quite a risk allowing Kevin to fish with him in the kayak.

The first day, Andy caught one fish and that was it. Fishing quickly became boring.

The second day, we fished from the shore with smaller hooks and Kevin caught his first-ever fish! And then he caught his second, third, fourth and fifth fish, too. He exclaimed that the fish was so heavy - I think he thought he was reeling in a marlin.

No pouty, bored face here!

I caught some fish, too.

Andy only caught one fish, but it was a Big Daddy (in Bluegill terms, anyway) - he coulda made a sandwich for lunch with this guy.

What to do when feeling blue about what usually makes me feel yellow

2008-09-15T10:59:00.002-04:00

What do you do when what usually provides you with the most happiness becomes one of your biggest frustrations?

Here's my dilemma.

I love sports. I enjoy watching sports, I love to play sports. I regularly play ultimate [frisbee] a couple of times a week and volleyball once a week.

I spend a lot of time looking forward to games of any sport. I smile more talking about and playing sports than just about any other time. Sports energize me.

Usually.

Lately, that is not the case and it's thrown me for a loop. Last week's ultimate games were so frustrating I would've walked off the field mid-game if it wouldn't have drawn attention to me and my bad attitude. Last night I didn't want to go to my volleyball game. When I was playing, I would've been fine for the match to be over at any point. Afterward, I didn't feel like talking about how we played.

I'm apathetic about playing but also quick to anger when I do play. If someone makes 2 stupid plays in a row (mental mistakes, not just missing something) I get angry at them. When two people do it, forget it, I feel like stomping off the field. The anger I felt last week at myself and other players was so great that I would rather not play today.

This is coming from a woman who plays even when she has a migraine. This is coming from a woman who has driven 30 minutes home and 30 minutes back to work (during the work day and knowing the time would have to be made up in the evening) when she forgot clothes to play in. This is coming from a woman who knows what each player needs to hear, in order to decide to play on a day that they're not sure if they want to come out or not, so that she can get enough people for a game. This is coming from a woman who knows that she should get home to her family but instead stays for an extra hour of volleyball because it's impossible to pass up a chance to play doubles.

All my life I've had what people might call a "bad attitude" about things like my performance in sporting events. When I was young, I competed in gymnastics and I recall a distinct event when, during practice, I used a very serious curse word at my coach when I was 9 years old.

Over the past 10 years, I've gotten away from some of my more childish behaviors regarding sports, in particular. Now it seems as though I'm a kid again, unable to control her temper, wanting to stomp off in a huff.

Where did this come from? Why is it showing up now? How do I get rid of it???

Needs nobody

2008-09-12T10:52:00.004-04:00

This comment, made last night by a dear person whom I love very much, provides a glimpse of the life of an extreme introvert. It was made thoughtfully and honestly.

"I have never missed anyone."

The mental picture is at least as good as real-life

2008-09-11T10:17:00.003-04:00

Tell me you can read this without laughing:
(By the Associated Press as read in the Baltimore Sun)

MISSOULA, Mont. (AP) A middle school teacher suffered some bruising and a big scratch on his back after he struck a bear while riding his bicycle to school.

Jim Litz said he was traveling about 25 mph Monday morning when he came upon a rise and spotted a black bear about 10 feet in front of him. He didn't have time to stop and T-boned the bruin. [T-boned! Ha!]

He tumbled over the handlebars, his helmet hit the bear's back and the two went cartwheeling down the road.

The bear rolled over Litz's head, cracking his helmet, and scratched his back before scampering up a hill above the road. [I hope he got that spot right in the middle that's so hard to reach on your own.]

Litz's wife drove by shortly after the crash and took her husband to the hospital. He hoped to be able to return to teaching science at Target Range Middle School on Friday.

Lance Armstrong to be in 2009 Tour de France!

2008-09-10T09:46:00.002-04:00

This summer's Tour de France passed by without any comment by me, at least not on this blog. That doesn't mean I didn't pay attention to it. That doesn't mean I didn't get wound up and excited about it. It just means I didn't write anything about it on my blog.

However, I have to comment on next year's Tour even though it is 10+ months away. Why? Because LANCE ARMSTRONG IS GOING TO RACE AGAIN!

Here is a VeloNews article about his return to professional racing.

Top Ten Things Overheard When the Neighborhood Girls Come Over to Play

2008-09-07T13:19:00.004-04:00

10.) "Can Kevin come out to play?"
9.) "Can we play with your cat?"
8.) "I love foamy stickers!"
7.) "Where's your cat?"
6.) "Can we have a piece of candy?"
5.) "Can you go find your cat?"
4.) "Can you play SPUD with us?"
3.) "Can we give your cat a treat?"
2.) "First, we need to clean off this table - it's a mess."
1.) **squeal**!!!

My ankle is all better, right? Wrong.

2008-09-04T07:08:00.004-04:00

Before vacation, I had a cortisone injection in the sheath of my peroneal tendons. It took care of the pain on the outside of my ankle but did nothing for the pain in the back of my ankle, which was a little better from wearing the boot for three weeks. After vacation, I restarted playing ultimate, very carefully at first. It felt ok, so I played some more. After the third time playing, I woke up the next morning with a very sore ankle that was swollen once again.

*sigh*

This week I had a followup appointment with my doctor and told him that the cortisone injection worked for only 2 weeks and did nothing for the pain in the back of my ankle. He revisited my MRI report and said, "Well, the radiologist noted signficant arthritis in there. You should see a specialist yadda, yadda, yadda...." I admit to zoning out when he said there was really arthritis in there. I pictured my grandfather who worked outside and lumberjacked "for fun" as a way to combat the painful arthritis in his spine and not succumb to a wheelchair as his father did from debilitating arthritis. I pictured my mom's hands which are becoming more gnarled as the years pass with arthritis in her fingers, despite the rest of her looking and acting like a much younger woman than she is.

I never found the presence of mind while in his office to ask why he hadn't mentioned that before. I also didn't ask how a slowly developing disease suddenly caused my ankle to swell and made me limp one morning.

Either way, he said I should go see a foot and ankle specialist (orthopedic surgeon, not podiatrist) at Union Memorial Hospital in Baltimore. Yesterday I decided to go ahead and make an appointment (earliest available is Nov 6th - next available is sometime after January) because I really want to know what the problem is although I had little hope of really finding out.

After making the appointment, I headed to Google yet again to search on ankle pain. I found - THE ANSWER. I discovered a description of the pain in the back of my ankle! It was the first time anything made sense regarding my ankle. The problem is called "posterior impingement of the ankle." Something in the back of my ankle is getting pinched, simple as that. Now the problem is to figure out what is getting pinched, and why, and then how to stop it from getting pinched. There are lots of possible causes for posterior impingement, including subtalar arthritis and an os trigonum getting in the way - both of which I've been told I have. The os trigonum is a bone that up to 10% of the population has in their ankle which usually causes no problems. X-rays when I was much younger showed I have that. So.... I could still have the arthritis as a problem, but how it is a problem makes more sense now. Or it could be something entirely different causing the impingement.

But now I have hope again that we can figure out the problem and work out a plan to take care of it. I look forward to November 6th.

Labor Day Kayaking

2008-09-03T06:47:00.001-04:00

Oddly, this Great Blue Heron didn't flush even when I floated slowly by it fairly closely. They usually don't stick around that long.

The front of my boat. Can you find my camouflaged water bottle?

The engine of a train that roared overhead. The first time one of these came over the bridge while we were kayaking, I thought, "Wow, I'm gonna go float under the bridge as it goes over!" Then I realized that is way too scary and not worth the adrenaline. Sitting close by is ok - still exciting what with all the noise and rumbling. This picture was taken from farther away because there were other people watching from closer.

We hadn't been to this area - the Daniels Area of Patapsco Valley State Park - in about a month. Since the last time we were there, this part of the river just above the dam had filled in with a lot of greenery below and on the water. Andy looks like he's in a swamp somewhere.

Migraine Relief?

2008-08-25T11:41:00.003-04:00

I've mentioned before that I suffer from migraines. There are different types of migraines and I have the kind that almost always starts with an aura which includes various visual disturbances such as "swiss cheese vision" (multiple blind spots) and silver, sparkly rivers. I also sometimes have hemisensory symptoms such as tingling and numbness in my body on the opposite side of the headache.

The aura occurs first and then after it subsides, the headache pain comes on. The hemisensory symptoms can occur during the aura or the headache and sometimes in the prodromal phase before any other symptoms occur - sometimes days before I get an aura and head pain.

Many migraine medications (including all of the triptans) are contraindicated in patients with hemisensory symptoms as the medications can cause stroke in those patients. That limits my options for migraine relief.

There's a new device coming on the market perhaps next year that provides drug-free relief to some migraine sufferers who experience migraine with aura. It provides an electrical pulse that zaps the migraine response out of the brain's nerves (that's the technical description) before the blood vessels can dilate, causing the headache pain.

Here is a local news story about it.

You can be sure that I'll keep a close eye on this one.

First Day of First Grade

2008-08-25T08:43:00.000-04:00

Last year's photo here.

Anniversary Card

2008-08-24T21:00:00.004-04:00

For my parents

True Love isn't just about finding someone who makes you feel happy. True Love isn't just about finding someone who says what you want to hear. True Love is about finding someone who you commit to being your best for but who understands when you're not. True Love is about finding someone like each of you found.

Squeezing the budget

2008-08-20T13:12:00.002-04:00

Do you find time to pray? Do you make time to pray? What if the first thing you put in your schedule was time to pray?

This is a quote from Reverend Susan LaMar, pastor of a church near us:

My priorities are sleep first, meditation and prayer second, and everything else follows. If my day seems too busy to pray, I double the time I spend in prayer . . . and all else follows. And goes better. It is the tender offering that I give to that which I call God.

Do I dare try this? Would I even succeed at trying to double the time I spend in prayer instead of removing it from the schedule when I can't find space on the calendar for all of the other things? Can I handle what God might show me, say to me and ask of me if I do this?

Pandora Radio

2008-08-15T09:25:00.002-04:00

Have you been to www.pandora.com? It's a cool music site that puts the Music Genome Project in your hands.

What is the Music Genome Project? It's "a group of musicians and music-loving technologists" who have listened to tens of thousands of songs to map them at a fundamental level. What does that mean for you? You can create your own stations, seeded with songs or artists that you like and then the information in the music genome project allows the site to play other songs like that, based on their "musicality" (did I make that word up?) For instance, maybe you like music that has a lot of vocal harmony and a driving rhythm guitar - then other songs that have that will be presented to you. Maybe songs you already know and love and probably some songs you didn't realize you'd like or have never even heard of!

Check it out - it's lots of fun to see what music it picks out for you based on your selections and it's also just an easy way to get a nice mix of tunes when you don't own an mp3 player. Ok, so I'm probably the only person left without one, but that's ok. You can also use Pandora on your iPhone.

Thanks to Elesa for showing me the Pandora site a couple of months ago - I use it all the time!

Precision Rafting Expeditions

2008-08-13T07:07:00.003-04:00

If you're in Garrett County, MD, or nearby, and looking for a whitewater rafting trip of any level, check out Precision Rafting Expeditions. We went on a float trip last year with them and an easy whitewater trip with them this year and couldn't have been happier with our experience - and theirs!

Every guide that we encountered was friendly, learning everyones' names including people in other rafts, and highly experienced and knowledgeable. I kept telling our guide this year that it was hard for me to see myself heading right for a big rock and trust that he wouldn't let me slam into it and yet, he never let me slam into a big rock. I'd call that a successful trip.

Whitewater rafting the Cheat Narrows

2008-08-12T22:02:00.001-04:00

Before getting in the raft - Andy, Dad, Dianne, Kevin in the front

My dad and me in the front, Kevin in the middle and Andy and our guide, Bill, in the back

Thrown for a loop, Bill reaches out to keep Kevin in the boat while I'm about to fall out of the boat myself and instinctively grab for anything to hold onto (Andy was there and he's pretty solid so I guess that was a good idea)

Through one of the rapids, Kevin sat in the front of the boat and got drenched - he loved it!

More Deep Creek Happenings

2008-08-12T21:32:00.001-04:00

Kevin swam in the rain while I watched him in the rain

Eating homemade ice cream lakeside is enjoyable rain or shine

We spent a good bit of time just looking way cool

Deep Creek Vacation

2008-08-12T14:16:00.001-04:00

It was supposed to rain a lot while we were on our vacation at Deep Creek Lake in western Maryland but, fortunately, it didn't rain the whole time. We had the chance to....

Kayak on Deep Creek Lake (my parents are pictured there), Herrington Manor Lake, Savage River Reservoir and New Germany Lake

Catch minnows and other fun things to study

Purchase delicious, fake lemonade through the car window from a cute little boy

And steal each other's food during picnic lunches

More to come in another post...

Timber!

2008-07-29T21:29:00.000-04:00

The tree is down.

On Saturday, Andy felled the part that was stubbornly stuck to the trunk. It was a longer task than we expected with that piece just not wanting to fully detach itself from the trunk it had been a part of for so many years.

What amazes me most is how much EVERYONE who knew about the tree wanted to have a piece of it. I don't mean they all wanted the firewood, which some did, but that everyone wanted to help take it apart. They wanted to help with the lopping, the chopping and the chainsawing. Especially the chainsawing.

There's something really satisfying about all that hard, physical labor to rip something apart and control it and deep down everyone knows that.

Now the question is, who of our friends wants to tackle the rest of the tree that's still up in the sky? We're willing to give up that part to someone else :-)

Just like a professional athlete

2008-07-29T21:00:00.002-04:00

My doctor injected cortisone into the peroneal tendon sheath in my ankle today. The process itself was no big deal but I did have some pain from the shot this afternoon. A little ice, a little ibuprofen and that feels ok. Now, I wait for the tendon pain to go away. Which it's going to do in another 1-2 days as the inflammation subsides.

It better, because we're leaving for vacation on Saturday. Deep Creek Lake, here we come!

Tendons are intact

2008-07-23T06:44:00.002-04:00

Visited the doctor yesterday and found out there are no tears in my ankle tendons. That means there's no good reason for the pain and swelling I've been feeling! Just kidding. There is a lot of inflammation which is causing the pain but there's no significant cause for the inflammation. Treatment is to continue resting it (including wearing the boot) and taking anti-inflammatories. Another option is to get a cortizone injection to cut down on the inflammation which should lessen or get rid of the pain.

My plan is to rest and wear the boot as I have been through next week. On Tuesday of next week, I'll get a cortizone shot to hopefully get me through vacation the following week with little or no pain. The doctor thinks the shot will help me be able to do light hiking and other vacation activities as planned. Let's hope!

I can get up to 2 courses of cortizone and hopefully that will break the cycle of inflammation and pain. If it doesn't, I will continue to rest it and use anti-inflammatory medication as needed. Exploratory surgery is an option but we're a long way from considering it a viable option.

Because there are no tears, I'm no more likely to damage anything by playing through the pain than by playing when I have no pain. So... you can see that there's a darn good reason I first put in writing that I plan to rest my ankle as directed. Proof that I'm going to do that this time. Really. I mean it.

Guess what wii got?

2008-07-22T10:41:00.000-04:00

Andy got lots of cardiovascular exercise boxing against a cartoon on the TV!

Fallen tree

2008-07-19T23:10:00.001-04:00

We've made great progress on the tree. It's hard work, especially in the heat we've had here the past week, but it's been fun.

This first picture was taken from the back porch on the day the tree fell. All of those leaves you see are the top of the tree facing the house instead of the sky.

This picture was taken from the tomato garden to the left of the back porch on the day the tree fell. Only the top 1/4-1/3 of the tree is shown.

This picture was taken from the steps off the back porch, same perspective as the top picture but from closer, between the posts, today, ten days after the tree fell. [Editor's note: Yes, we know, there are a LOT of commas in that caption.]

The eyes of a doctor

2008-07-18T22:42:00.002-04:00

Today I had an MRI of my ankle. The technician wouldn't give me any info (I know she's not supposed to but I asked anyway) and the radiologist wasn't in when I was at the office. My appointment with the orthopedic surgeon is on Tuesday so I won't hear a thing about the results of the MRI until then. That's a long time to wait, knowing that someone, somewhere knows what's up with my ankle and what we need to do next.

So what's a girl to do? Search the Web and pretend to be a doctor, of course! This site is great for looking at MRI images of a normal ankle. By comparing my films to the images on that site, I was able to pick out which views were which on my films and I could see my peroneal tendons (peroneus brevis and peroneus longus, to be exact) in some of the views. As far as I could tell, they looked just like the pictures of the normal ankle. However, the text I was reading at that site and others mentioned all sorts of things I should be noticing about "low signal" and "normal pockets of fluid" that meant nothing when I actually looked at the films.

How many images must a person look at before feeling confident that they know what's normal and what's not? And how does someone know what to look for in each part of the body? Even if I saw 50 images of ankles and started to have a feel for what's normal and what's abnormal, what if someone showed me an elbow or a head or a gut? I would be back to square one, knowing that I didn't know anything instead of just thinking that after 50 images I had some sort of a clue.

Happy Birthday to me

2008-07-17T14:12:00.002-04:00

I'm 36 today! Still in my mid-30's but aiming toward 40. Although so many of my friends are 40+, it just doesn't seem like a big deal anymore.

When Andy turned 30, THAT was a big deal to me. I was only 24 so you can imagine how OLD 30 seemed. It's that first "big something-0" birthday because the "big 2-0" means nothing, what with the "big 2-1" on the way.

So, yeah, I'm fine with turning 36.

Zora the Explorer

2008-07-14T07:58:00.001-04:00

This is a picture of Zora on our couch. On Friday and Saturday, she was a 'fraidy cat, staying under Kevin's bed unless we spent a long time coaxing her out. Now, she's a professional explorer walking around the living room, getting up on the couch, walking through the kitchen and hopping up on our bed (this morning for the first time.) She feels safe with each of us but now also seems to feel safe in general in a few rooms of our house. Safe enough to start exploring the rooms we haven't previously given her access to.

A new member of the family

2008-07-10T14:28:00.003-04:00

Our 3-year catless streak is coming to an end! Meet Zora:

This is the shelter's picture of her. Kevin and I will bring her home from the shelter tomorrow afternoon so that she can have the rest of Friday plus all day Saturday and Sunday to get used to us and our house before we all head to work on Monday.

If a tree falls when nobody is home...

2008-07-10T07:23:00.001-04:00

...does anyone hear it?

We lost half of one of our large maple trees in the back yard. There was no storm, no wind - we don't know why it chose yesterday to fall over.

It's pretty big!

Fortunately, it didn't hit our house but it was close - within a few feet of our porch. One of Kevin's swings was in it and one bird feeder, but only our clothesline got taken out by the fall.

The portion of tree that fell over provided most of our back yard shade. We have other large maples back there, but this was in the middle and covered the main area of our yard. I suspect we'll be able to grow grass there better now, but it won't be cool and shady anymore.

In Search Of Creative Exercise Ideas

2008-07-08T19:04:00.001-04:00

While my ankle must be immobilized because of peroneal tendon damage, I can either a) become a seriously grumpy pain in the rear from no exercise or b) find a way to exercise that doesn't allow my foot to move much, if at all, and boosts my heart rate.

Anyone have any ideas? Comments are wide open - please use them liberally.

Truckin'

2008-07-03T10:19:00.002-04:00

It turns out, country music does sound better in a pickup truck.

Last night we borrowed a friend's Ford F-150 flare-side 4x4 pickup to transport our new refrigerator from the store to our house. Andy took care of that but this morning I was the one who drove the truck to drop Kevin off at camp and take the truck back to our friend's house.

Shewwwwee! That is a big, honkin' truck. There were no other vehicles on the road (I didn't see any tractor trailers) that were taller than me. After dropping Kevin off at nature camp, I pulled out of the land conservancy property wanting only to jerk the wheel to the side and plow through the hilly fields of tall grass - just because I could have!

Since getting rid of my (much smaller) truck and driving the car regularly, I've come to love the car. It fits me well and handles great. It responds quickly, which a large vehicle can't.

However, I proved this morning that you can take the girl out of the truck but you can't take the truck out of the girl.

Penny-wise and Pound-foolish (or is it pound-wise and penny-foolish in our case?)

2008-07-03T07:17:00.001-04:00

We spent oodles of money on this fridge only to say, "No way we're paying you $65 to deliver and install it!" And then we spent HOURS of time and GALLONS of sweat trying to get it into our house and we still ended up with the same number of dings and scratches on it that we would've if we'd paid someone else to do it while we watched, drinking margaritas.

If only you knew more of what I do for the environment, you'd understand!

2008-07-01T15:30:00.003-04:00

I try to be nice to the environment. We use organic products in our yard and garden, I clean with old socks and t-shirts instead of paper towels, I buy large containers of food and repack it into smaller reusable containers myself, I buy environmentally-friendly cleansers, I recycle, I occasionally ride my bike to the grocery store, I don't drive over 65 mph to get better gas mileage, I turn off the dishwasher when it hits the dry cycle...

But this week, I - consciously - decided to be less environmentally-conscious by buying pre-packaged fruit cups and juice boxes to easily pack Kevin's lunch for nature camp since I'd like the summer off from the ugh-inducing task of packing a healthy, filling and environmentally-sensitive lunch and this one week didn't seem to be a big deal. In fact, I smiled as I pulled the shrink-wrapped package of 10 foil-lined juice boxes off the sale shelf at Giant on Sunday, imagining myself plopping a box in Kevin's lunch box and quickly moving on to the rest of my day.

Yesterday morning I dropped Kevin off for his first day of nature camp. The counselor who checked him in gave me a piece of paper and said, very politely, "We're trying to have the kids eat trash-free lunches this week. On this paper are some tips for doing that like using re-usable plastic containers instead of foil and plastic bags and bottles of water that can be refilled..."

Thank you for raining on my easy-pack-lunch parade.

Father's Day Interview - June 2008

2008-06-15T09:00:00.001-04:00

Here is 2008's Father's Day Interview with Kevin Aguilera.

Click the links to see previous years' interviews: 2007, 2006, 2005

What is Pápi’s name? Andy
Is Pápi tall or short? Short
What color are Pápi’s eyes? Brown
What color is Pápi’s hair? Black

How old is Pápi? 41

How much does Pápi weigh? I don’t know
Do you have a guess? 60 lbs

What does Pápi like to eat? Watermelon
What does Pápi like to drink? Coke
What is Pápi’s favorite color? Red
What’s his favorite thing to wear? Shirts. Clothes.
Any particular kind? Tank tops

What do you like to do with Pápi? Play imaginary games
What’s your favorite imaginary game? Spaceship
Any others that you love? Overboard. Power Rangers. Fighting like Super Man and Batman.
What is Pápi’ s favorite thing to do with you? Play with me.
What kind of playing? Fun, imaginary games.

Where do you like to go with Pápi? To the bird store
What do you like to help Pápi do at home? Work around the house

What does Pápi do that makes you laugh? Does silly faces

What does Pápi do at work? He builds stuff and he orders stuff

What is Pápi’s favorite song/music? “Oh Mickey, you’re so fine, you’re so fine you blow my mind. Hey Mickey!”

Is Pápi a good singer? Nnno
Is Pápi a good dancer? Yes

Do you have any good ideas for questions? “How smelly does Pápi smell?”
So how smelly does Pápi smell? VERY smelly.
What’s the smelliest part of Pápi? His armpits

Does Pápi love you? Yes
Do you love Pápi? Yes

Tag

2008-06-13T11:52:00.000-04:00

I'm trying to figure out what it is inside me that's causing my overjoyment at making this tag for the plate of cookies I'm giving to Kevin's bus driver on this last day of school.

It is probably as simple as the fact that I haven't done any "crafting" in over a year. But there's something deeper that makes that matter in the first place. I shall figure out what that is - and then do something about it. This feeling of joy is nice.

Small town

2008-06-09T13:11:00.004-04:00

The other day, I was telling Andy a story about growing up and I found myself going on and on about all sorts of things that had nothing to do with the story but which I couldn't remove from the context of the story in my head, so it all had to come out together.

After voicing some of those things out loud, I realized that there are some fun aspects of my childhood.

We had no shower. Just a tub, on feet.

When I waited for the bus in the morning, in front of our house, Mr. Bailey would walk by on his way to work at the bank and he always waved and smiled. Some days he carried a folded up umbrella in his hand.

When we were sick, we'd walk up the street to the doctor's office, which was in the basement of the doctor's home (which was next door to Mr. Bailey's house.)

Ralph Klein's store down on the corner, now a chain of grocery stores run by his sons and probably their sons, was where we walked to for food and hardware plus some clothes and my Dad's Herman Survivors work shoes. They also had a basket of penny candy by the cash register and they handed out a free piece of bologna at the deli counter.

One time when our well pump stopped working, we ran a garden hose from our neighbor's farm house into our 2nd floor bathroom so that we could wash up in the tub. Our houses were a few hundred yards apart.

We only went to church a few times that I recall. When we did, we cut across the neighbor's lawn in our dress shoes to get there. The church was (and still is) right in front of the elementary school.

We could tell when the neighbor's cows got out of their fence overnight by the cow flops in our yard in the morning.

Mrs. Vaughn lived 2 houses up and worked at the Post Office, which was in the same building as Klein's, across the street from the bank.

On Halloween, Mrs. Monk (who was extremely old and lived alone in a 2-story house) would put animal crackers and lollipops on a cookie sheet for us to pick from. My brother and sister and I were probably the only trick-or-treaters on our street.

Jam On It

2008-06-06T20:53:00.002-04:00

Today was strawberry jam makin' day at our house. I only made 2 batches but, of course, it was the hottest day we've had lately and this is a hot process.

I picked 22 lbs of strawberries on Tuesday. We ate about 7 lbs of them fresh over the next couple of days. After jamming today, I now have one medium sized container of berries left in the fridge. Methinks I shall need to go a-pickin' again next week. Otherwise, we won't have any stored in the freezer for the winter. And "fresh" berries in the winter are just so yummy.

Wash, hull and mash the berries.

Cook the berries with a box of pectin.

Add sugar and bring to a full, rolling boil.

Process in canner et voilá!

Readoption

2008-05-29T09:23:00.003-04:00

If even just one person finds this blog post helpful, it will be worth it. I continue to be amazed at how hard it is for the thousands of parents who adopt children internationally to get this necessary information. I'm no expert but I've been through the process successfully myself.

If you have adopted a child from a foreign country and your child came home with an IR-4 visa in his/her passport (not an IR-4), you will need to "readopt" your child in the United States in order to get your child's Certificate of Citizenship.

Each state handles the readoption process differently and in our state (Maryland) each county handles it differently. For our readoption process, we basically had to run through the domestic adoption process.

To determine what you need to do to readopt your child(ren), go to the Child Welfare Information Gateway website - http://www.childwelfare.gov/

Click on the link for the National Foster Care and Adoption Directory - http://www.childwelfare.gov/nfcad/

You can go directly to the Directory but you might find other helpful information at the main site so I posted that link, too.

Select your state and the information you want to know - for readoption info, check the box for "State Foster Care and Adoption Officials." On the resulting page, find the contact info for the State Adoption Program Manager or similarly titled person. Contact that person and they or someone from their office should give you the details you need to know for readopting your child in your state.

Good luck!

After 1, After 2

2008-05-27T06:48:00.001-04:00

After "1" (right after removing the bushes and organizing the debris - this was the "After" picture in a previous post)

After "2" (after washing the green matter off the wall and removing the debris entirely)

Our next step is probably to take care of that awesome walkway. We might do a poured concrete sidewalk - less money and easier to do than a nicer-looking paver-type path. Definitely nicer than what's there now.

Mother's Day Interview

2008-05-20T15:47:00.002-04:00

For Father's Day, I always interview Kevin and write his answers down as a gift for Andy (and a source of embarrassment for Kevin in the future.) This year, Kevin's kindergarten teacher did a similar thing for the mom of each kid in the class.

Q: What is your mom's name?
A: Dianne [correct]

Q: How old is she?
A: She's not 40... maybe like 50? [correct answer: 35]

Q: How much does she weigh?
A: I think she's 300 pounds [correct answer: less than 200]

Q: What is her favorite food?
A: Pizza! [correct]

Q: What is her favorite color?
A: Dark blue [correct]

Q: What is her favorite thing to wear?
A: Every day she goes to work she has to wear pants. [correct in that I'm not allowed to wear shorts to work]

Q: What is her favorite thing to do?
A: Work with my dad [lots of correct answers; this is one of them]

Q: What is her favorite kind of music?
A: High School Musical [correct answer: pretty much anything EXCEPT music from a musical; I think Kevin joked this answer on purpose because he snickered when I read this one aloud.]

Before and After

2008-05-19T17:12:00.001-04:00

Before

After

I know that the "After" picture is supposed to look nicer, but we're just not there yet. We removed 5 juniper bushes that have been growing like weeds since we moved in and which Andy keeps "trimming" into bowling balls despite me telling him that juniper bushes are supposed to be scraggly. When they're scraggly and this big, they're really in the way, though.

We plan to put butterfly- and hummingbird-friendly plants in this space but we first need to figure out how we want it edged.

Pulling out the bushes was so much fun. Andy tied a rope around the bottom of the stems/trunks and then we hooked the rope to the car and then I hit the gas. Out came the bushes! We really wish we could've videotaped that process but safety was of the utmost importance, so neither of us could hold the camera while it was going on.

So sour it's goooood

2008-05-16T17:25:00.000-04:00

Haute Cuisine

2008-05-06T09:13:00.001-04:00

I'm eating a bowl of cake. It's not a cupcake or a slice of cake, it's a bowl. You could think of it as a big cupcake with an unpeelable paper.

I have a 12-cupcake pan plus a 6-cupcake pan. The problem with that is a regular recipe or box mix of cake makes 24 cupcakes. What to do with the leftover batter? I could eat it that way, but the raw eggs concern me in such a large quantity. I could wait for the first batch of cupcakes to bake and then refill a pan with the rest of the batter. That requires more patience than I have, all that waiting for 15 minutes and then waiting for another 15 minutes.

Conversation

2008-05-02T08:23:00.002-04:00

A friend at work (K) walked into my office unwrapping a large box of protein/energy bars.

K: Here, I owe you an energy bar.
Me: No you don't. I only gave you one - I've eaten plenty of yours.
K: But it was your last one, it was special.
Me: No it wasn't, I had 3 left.
K: And you only gave me one?
Me: Yeah, so you don't owe me anything.
K: Ok. So do you want one?
Me: Sure.

Not much makes me happier than feeling independent with a brain full of chemicals induced by exercise

2008-04-29T13:12:00.003-04:00

It appears that I went for a bike ride today. But that's not Kevin in the trailer.

It's groceries! And more of them than I thought I would be able to get home from the store.

I admit to limiting myself to 1 gallon of milk instead of my usual 2 and only 2 boxes of Coke instead of anywhere up to 6 that I would usually get when at the store with a car but I still think that I got quite a bit of stuff into the trailer and to our house by only my own muscle power.

And doesn't it figure that the way to the grocery store is all downhill while the ride home is all uphill.

Andy's is not pink with flowers on it

2008-04-28T07:14:00.000-04:00

While Andy didn't want a blue kayak, we are "function over form" people (and he didn't want to wait 9 weeks to order the orange or army green version.)

We've been out twice in our kayaks and it's been a good time. Andy tried sitting in the back seat with Kevin in the front but the front portion of the boat was out of the water. The boat stays flat when Andy rides in the front/middle with Kevin in the back so I think he'll stick with that from now on. Now he's on the hunt for an appropriate fishing rod holder that mounts effectively to his kayak. I suspect that once he finds that, I'll never see him again except for those rare occasions when he feels the need for a shower with real soap.

Sewing With Dianne

2008-04-22T22:30:00.005-04:00

Hello and welcome to today's show. On this exciting episode, Dianne will display how NOT to sew a simple pair of shorts for her son.

What could be easier than sewing a pair of 4-panel shorts with an elastic waistband? A no-sew fleece scarf, perhaps? Not much, that's for sure! But stay tuned as we learn the many disasters lurking within the pattern, fabric and bobbin just waiting for their chance to spring loose!

At this time the producers of this program would like to state a warning that viewers with weak hearts may be susceptible to holy outbursts ("Oh my Goodness!", "My Word!" and such) when viewing these graphic images.

Behold Exhibit A. The ungathered gathering of the elastic waistband. In Dianne's defense, it was her first time ever sewing an elastic waistband. But still.

Exhibit B. This is a prime example of how not to sew a hem. Nowhere in the instructions does the pattern call for pleats and yet Dianne creatively added approximately 5 (one of them might be a wayward dart) to the hem of this garment.

Exhibit C. It's hard to see what's going on here what with all of the wrinkles at the top of the shorts, but look lower, near the hem. The arc above the hem was a simple mistake of catching the fabric from underneath when finishing off the inside edge with a zig-zag stitch. Proper patience and perseverance were displayed during the ripping out of the seam but people! The twill! It does not forgive!

Thanks for joining us for today's episode of "Sewing With Dianne." Tune in next time when will be heard such comments as, "How do you make a button hole there?" and "You want me to do *what* with the crotch seam?" Don't miss the fun!