The Other Boleyn Girl

Today I went to the movies (after a very long time of no movies) and saw "The Other Boleyn Girl." I really got hooked on the whole Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn when I started watching "The Tudors" on Showtime. Part of it was the great story, and part of it the hot guys. When that ended I was told that I should read the book "The Other Boleyn Girl." This was a great recommendation and a great read! It was a completely different portrayal of Anne Boleyn, much more scandalous than the show. Then I found out it was going to be a movie.

After seeing it, I have to say I'm a tad disappointed. I guess that always happens when you go from book to movie. Don't get me wrong, it was a good movie but the book was SOOO much better. The movie just jumped very quickly from one thing to the next without alot of explanation. I know they only had two hours to get it all in so some of the scandal had to be cute out. Unfortunately this just cut some of the "Wow" out of the movie. It's worth checking it, but I'm sure it's better to see if you haven't read the book yet.

Knee Update

I went to the Dr. today for my one month post surgery follow up. Things are looking good for the most part. There's some depression on the ride side of my tibial plateau, but he's not worried about it because during surgery it looked like it would be just fine. I'm still a bit behind schedule, but not so much that there is concern. The feeling is that there was just so much going on in there it's going to take a while longer to get back to normal. For now I just have to continue with my physical therapy and hope for the best! I'm hopeful, but have to admit there is that voice inside that tells me it's not going to be the same again. I remember that voice when I had shoulder surgery though so I keep telling it to shut up. Here's the most recent picture.

You can definitely tell that the swelling has gone down. It looks a bit more like a knee now. I think what you can really tell from this picture is how much muscle I have lost in that leg. It's so small in my calf area and decreasing more above the knee as well. One of these days it will be buff again!

I'm hooked!

Today I finally decided to give up on finding something to watch on TV and move on over to the streaming Netflix option. I've never used this in the past because the speakers on my laptop suck. Now that I have my new little speaker system, I can plug it directly into the laptop and voila...perfect sound. I decided to watch "Friday Night Lights Season 1." The first time I saw an episode of this show was up in Washington at Bill's sisters house and I really liked it. I was never really drawn to it because well, it was about football. It's not that I dislike football, but I'm not enough of a fan to think I'd really like a show about it. How wrong I was! Bill and I have been catching episodes whenever we can on TV, but often find ourselves confused since we're watching Season 2 and have no idea what happened in Season 1. Netflix has it for free online and today I watched 5 episodes! I couldn't stop watching it. It's such a great show! I love the way it is filmed with handheld style cameras and I love the characters. The dynamic between the husband and wife is excellent, probably one of the best portrayals I've seen in a long time. Plus...there are some good looking fellas!

Don't slip!

One of my biggest fears while we were at Donner Lake was falling. I get nervous when it is wet out so the thought of snow really put a shiver in my spine. This would be just one of the reasons why I figured I would just be staying inside over the weekend. When we arrived, I did make the trek into the rental agency to pick up the keys. The lady inside told me that if I went to the pharmacy in town I could get cramp ons for my crutches! They basically clip on right above the feet and when you are in the snow you just flip them down. I thought this was so cool and I also couldn't believe that I never thought they would have something like this. People who live in the snow must end up on crutches and I guess that I just figured they stayed inside for the duration. We went to the pharmacy, but unfortunately they were sold out. No worries, I still managed to get around and didn't slip a once. Have to give a big thanks to G though who was my knight in shining armour when it came to getting down the stairs!

Blizzard!

The other fun part of the Donner weekend was the blizzard storm that came in on Saturday night. The snow was coming down hard and the wind was blowing in EVERY direction. We were all a little worried about making it home on Sunday. We knew that the cars would be buried and figured there was a good chance that the freeway would be closed. Luckily we all got our cars out and made it home without a hitch. In fact, there was VERY few cars on the freeway. It was the most serene thing I have ever seen. This is what we saw when we got to our cars in the morning: And this is what it looked like on the freeway driving home:

National Lampoon's Donner Lake Vacation

That would have to be the best way to describe the weekend! It was a fun bunch and an interesting, to say the least, cabin. When we got to the cabin Bill decided to get the satellite radio going. Unfortunately the cabin was not in a good position for the antenna. So what started as a simple task ended up like watching Chevy Chase try to turn the christmas lights on. There was talk of putting it on the roof, hanging it from beams and many other ideas. It ended up on a shovel that hung ever so delicately off the side of the deck. This worked good and when the antenna lost signal someone would hollar out "Move the shovel!" This was only the start of the weekend trouble.

During the day on Friday we noticed that the oven woudl randomly give off a beep. It sounded like someone was pushing on the buttons. It would come and go and was never too bad on Friday. That is until Friday night. At around 2am the oven started beeping constantly. It would range from sounding like buttons pushing to sounding like an alarm. Bill and I slept upstairs and got NO sleep. Saturday the beeping continued, though not as bad as it did through the night. It became a mission to see who could get the oven to stop. Unfortunately no one was successful. Saturday night I was lucky enough to have some earplugs because I was determined to not have to listen to the oven. When I woke up Sunday morning and took the earplugs out I discovered the the oven had been beeping like an alarm ALL night. No one slept and everyone was on the verge of kicking the oven in. Needless to say what seemed like an early check out (10am) turned out to be the first sign of quiet freedom.

Overall, it was a fun weekend. Though, I've never come home from a cabin weekend and wished for peace and quiet! If you'd like to feel part of the weekend, please watch the following video. You must turn your volume up max and watch it over and over though to get the real feel!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pSTtEWp0cJw

She's Escaped!!!!

After months of being trapped in my own house we are finally venturing out! Each year we take a trip to Donner Lake to stay in a cabin, so this year was going to be NO different. Bill and I are heading out at noon to spend a weekend here with friends:


The whole place is ours! This will be our view from that big ass patio....

Ahhhhhh...soo beautiful. This weekend was actually being called the "Stacey's Return to the Walking World Weekend Extravaganza." Apparently it's going to have to change to "Stacey is Still on the Damn Cruches, But We're Going Anyway Weekend Extravaganza." It's a little scary considering I still need sticks to get around and there is a bunch of snow right now and a big storm coming in this weekend, but let's be honest....I'm just moving from the sofa in my house to the sofa in a cabin. The catch is there will be a bunch of buddies to keep me company throughout the day. Checkback on Sunday for good stories since I'm sure there will be one, and it isn't going to be about me getting injured in any way this time!!!

My top ten!

One of the blogs that I look at recommended creating a list of the top ten blogs that you like to check out. I thought it would be a great idea because maybe some of you are looking for some blogs to read. Plus, it's a way to give homage to those that blog, which is one of the reasons I ever created a blog myself. So here is how it works..

"Give the award to up to 10 people whose blogs bring you happiness and inspiration and make you feel so happy about blogland! Let them know by posting a comment on their blog so that they can pass it on. Beware! You may get the award several times!"

Here's my Top Ten
1) LJC - I have to put this one at the front because it's the first blog I ever started looking at. I was super impressed by her creativity in soo many different areas. I even hired her once to do a graphic for my cake business...which unfortunately never quite got off the ground. http://www.ljcfyi.com/
2) Fussy - Eden is fucking hilarious! I'm sorry to cuss, but this blog can get me laughing so hard that I wet my pants. Great stories about her day to day life (definitely read giving birth in her bathroom) and you can't beat the bulldog pictures! She's also the creator of Nablopomo and should get HUGE props for that!
http://www.fussy.org/
3) Carol Browne - Another blog that I like to read for the humor and the pictures. The Daily Advent Event is enough to keep me coming back year after year.
http://www.carolbrowne.com/
4) Posie Gets Cozy - This has to be one of the prettiest blogs. Between the AMAZING pictures that she takes of the everyday items that she makes...it's enough to make you say wow. Just he color schemes make me happy!
http://www.rosylittlethings.typepad.com/
5) Not Martha - Great links to great things, great crafts, great recipes! Nuff said.
http://www.notmartha.org/
6) Kate - She's under a year old and already has a blog and a boyfriend named Will.
http://www.kateduffy.typepad.com/
7) Crazy Aunt Purl - She's a knitter that loves cats and is hilarious to read. Plus she shares good knitting patterns.
http://www.crazyauntpurl.com/
8) Pioneer Woman Cooks - This one is ALLLL about the recipes! They are in such detailed step by step descriptions that there is no way to make them wrong. Well, unless maybe you don't like to cook.
http://www.thepioneerwomancooks.com/
9) Mighty Girl - She's mighty and she finds the goods. She's also really damn funny!
http://www.mightygirl.net/
10) Superficial - This one is all about trasy Hollywood gossip written with such poise that it creates an abundance of laughter. When you want to get your trash on I highly recommend it!
http://www.thesuperficial.com/

There you have it! There are many others that I read, but these are by far my favorites. Some post everyday, but most post frequently enough to keep me coming back for more. Thanks to all of you. You have provided great entertainment and information over the years!!

I'm like a ninja....

with knitting needles. Or maybe I should be like a samurai. Either way I have a DEEP obsession now for knitting hats. I look for patterns everywhere and when I see one I like I pounce on it like a cougar. A samurai cougar! I was browsing on Crafster the other day and ran across the cutest pattern. I especially liked it because it combined knitting with buttons, which I've been trying to do lately. I quickly found some yarn and started knitting away. When the hat was finished I knew that it was going to belong to Becki. I've been telling her I would make her a hat, and when I did the last one I must say it came out a sloppy mess. I quickly called her and told her to bring me the sloppy mess cause I had an upgrade for her! Here you have it....Becki in the brilliant new hat!! Maybe she will also meet someone famous.....

Wear a hat, find fame and fortune!

Ok, well maybe that's a bit of a stretch. I had a bunch of the gorgeous blue yarn left that I used for my hat and scarf set and I wanted to make another hat. I decided that I'd make a hat and send it up to Kristin in Washington. That way, someone would look super cute in it....but we wouldn't run into each other on the street in identical hats. Plus, it's been snowy and cold in Seattle and I wanted to be sure that Kristin was staying warm. So, the hat arrives, she puts it on and what happens?? She goes out that night and gets hit on by Adam Corolla!!! Well, she didn't get hit on, but she met him anyway and got a picture with him....in the hat! My hat has now met someone famous. At least one of us are up to something exciting!!

Daytona 500

Yesterday was the 50th Anniversary of the Daytona 500. We celebrated by having friends over for a Super Bowl style party of racing, drinks and food. Super fun! It was a good race overall, although I found last years a bit more exciting. My driver didn't win....but there are still many more races left in the season!

So long, farewell....

Today my Mom left for Florida....so sad! It's been wonderful having her here and a HUGE help. Now I have to go back to figuring out how to get to all my Dr.'s appointments when I'm not supposed to drive. Worse than that, I have to sit at home by myself all day. Things are so much better though after having her here and since I know she will read this....

Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! Bill and I couldn't have made it without you!!

See, most of you don't know that just a few days after Mom got her Bill got the flu. Not just the oh I feel sick to my stomach flu, but the I have a temp of over 102 and have to stay in bed for 3 days flu. Without Mom here, he and I would have been a complete wreck.

I have proof of that based on what happened immediately after Mom left. She had a 6am flight so I we had to take her to the airport by 5am. Wearily we pulled back into our house around 5:30am only to realize that we were locked out of the house. I am a big fan of locking doors and unfortunately Bill had grabbed my set of keys which don't have a house key on it. I know that sounds weird, but I don't drive so I don't carry the car keys...just the house key. That early in the morning it's hard to do much to get in the house and then I got a brilliant idea. My girlfriend Wendy has a key to our house and she works at Starbucks so we headed to her work to see if she had a key. I went inside to ask for her, and apparently I thought she worked at a different Starbucks because there was no Wendy there! Here I was in green daisy print pj's, slippers, a bright red sweatshirt and a green beanie limping in on crutches asking for Wendy. I'm sure the guys in there got a good laugh. Needless to say, we drove back home. Bill was determined to find a way in and ended up going through the attic and dropping into the house in my closet. Nice! Well, if you ignore the fact that I know have insulation all over my clothes it's nice. Oh well, we're in the house and will just have to learn to live on our own again! Wish us luck!

My new favorite

My new favorite thing to knit is berets! I started with a really floppy beret and I can't say that it came out fantastic (sorry Becki.) It would be super cute, but you'd either have to have a really big head of some really big hair. I then adjusted the pattern and made a more subtle beret, not as floppy. I also decided to use some of the buttons that I have to add some accent to the hat. I love the finished product and have now made three of these. I want to have one that's a bit more floppy so I'm going to have to work on that next.

Please forgive me for this AWFUL picture of myself. First off, I hate taking pictures of myself. This one is even worse because I look like I'm sitting in a hospital! That's my bedroom by the way, but the bedding was being washed so everything looks white, and I look like I have a blue gown on. So sad! When I can walk I am painting that bedroom so it's has more pizzaz.

Better than flowers and chocolate!

Bill got me the coolest gift for Valentine's Day! It's a portable speaker doc for my iPod that both sounds excellent AND holds everything inside a zip up case. I'm super super excited to use it, the sound is fantastic! Thanks Beeps! We had a good Valentine's Day overall. Got to hang out with Mom during the day running some errands. Well, lets not exagerate too much cause there was no running involved whatsoever. In fact, there was very little walking done! We celebrated by getting some Chipotle for dinner and pigging out. Ahhhh, there couldn't be a better Valentines!

Happy Valentine's Day

Today is Valentine's Day. I can't say it's an especially favorite holiday for me. I liked it more when I was a kid and got to make a little "mailbox" out of the construction paper that I would tape to the front of my desk so my friends could leave me Snoopy Valentines. Ahhhh, the good old days!

Thank you, thank you!

There is this little purse store called Finders Keepers that I like to go to when I need a new purse. The owner, Barbara, is super friendly and will always help you in your hunt for the perfect bag. I haven't been in for quite a while because I haven't been shopping much and I have been walking or driving. My Mom went in yesterday to look for a new bag and Barbara asked if she'd been in before. My Mom told her once, but that her daughter comes in more often. When my Mom told her who her daughter was (me of course) Barbara remembered me. She asked how the wedding was and my Mom got to tell her the lovely story of the wedding and events that followed. To say hello/congrats/get well she sent my Mom home with a cute little purse for me! How nice is that? Thanks Barbara!!

Here we go again!

I'm back at Phyiscal Therapy again, which is definitely a love/hate relationship. The therapists are great, and the knee will get better but it can definitely hurt like HELL! My first visit was Friday and I could both straighten my knee and bend my knee to 23 degrees. You've got that right, it stays in one position. Each exercise I did made me want to vomit but I plugged through. Luckily it's been a couple days and the knee is moving along much better. I can even use my walker to the end of the living room. Woo hoo! Pretty soon I'll be out on the town rocking my walker like the rock star that I am!

I love you motorized shopping cart!

A long time ago I was ashamed of the motorized shopping carts at the grocery store. Now...I love them. In fact, I think every store needs to have them. Right now I can only shop at places that have these carts. Since my mom has been here we've made a couple trips to Target. Target has these carts, but because the people at Target can be LAME the carts NEVER seem to be charged. It's a real bummer when you take all the effort to get ready and go out into the big wide world only to discover that there is no cart for you to use. Now, don't get me wrong, once I can walk I will never misuse the cart but it's a nice feature for those of us that really can't walk through the store. I just discovered that Sam's Club has these carts as well. I made myself a little trip and stocked up on Uncrustables.

Oops!

I noticed this sign after a couple trips to my Dr's office. Finally today I got smart and took my camera so I could share it with you. I think there is nothing funnier than signs that aren't spelled correctly. Especially when there are 4 of them, one over each parking space. You better watch out for your Clearnace!!!! It's somewhere between 6 to 10 feet though so enter at your own risk.

Target audience

One of the shows that I typically watch is The Price is Right. There isn't much on in the late AM hours and I can definitely kill an hour with this show. My Dad used to be a huge fan of this show, so I think I got it from him. There is something that I have noticed watching this show. The target audience is definitely broken into two different categories.

1. The Elderly

2. The Sick

Every commercial is targeted for these two categories. You are either watching a commercial for some sort of cold remedy or for some sort of motorized wheelchair that will help you get through the house. Unfortunately I have to to put myself in the elderly category since those commercials are really enticing! I wonder if I would qualify for a free motorized wheelchair through Medicare? One of these days I'm going to have to call. I'll do that right after I get off the phone for my new life insurance plan, cause you know...it costs as much to bury a woman as it does a man!

Holy Bejezzus!

I've been feeling a little better about the leg lately. Could be cause Mom's here, and it's been feeling a bit better. I measure it daily and it also has dropped in size a bit, up to an inch in two places! I decided it was time to take another picture so I could at it to the "Woe is my Knee" documentary. The first picture I took I thought to myself, "Wow, it looks so much better. It actually looks like a knee!" Then I decided to take a picture of it with my left knee so I could compare. What a mistake that was! It may be feeling a bit better, but boy is it far from looking normal. Now, it's your turn to play one of these things is not like the other. I guarantee that you will get the answer correct!

Woooooo Hooooooo!

I finally got the wedding pictures today. I was so excited to get the cd with them all on there and now I have been having fun! I've already ordered a TON of prints and a coffee table book of photos from Kodak. I can't wait to see how it turns out. Now, I can share with you my favorite picture from the wedding. It's funny cause Bill and I were pretty against the posed photos and yet this one ends up my favorite...go figure!

This is the one where we posed like we were under a mosquito net....oh and we wanted to make out!

I'm in love.

And the new love in my life is Uncrustables. I know, this is absolutely ridiculous, but I'm guessing you've never tried one of these bad boys!! My sister in law had one for my newphew at Christmas and my brother kept talking about how yummy they were. Right now I can't get anything for myself and Bill has to make me a lunch before he leaves for the day. I thought this was the perfect time to try them. He can take them right out of the freezer and put it on my "lunch tray." At the first bite, I knew I was in love. I'm a big fan of the peanut butter and grape jelly flavor...but haven't tried any others. They are so moist and have just the perfect blend of peanut butter and jelly. I highly recommend that you go and get some to try. They are pretty pricey in the store, so you are better off getting them at Sam's Club or Costco if you have one available. Enjoy!

I need a hero!

I can't say that recovery from surgery has been all that swell...in fact it downright SUCKS! For all of those that bounced right back after arthoscopic of the knee I say "Lucky you." I, on the other hand, have been struggling with it. My knee is finally at a point where it doesn't hurt all the time, but I still can't move it. I can't do leg lifts, well I manage to get maybe one in every now and then but most of the time it just won't work. It swells up like a balloon still and I'm sleeping on the sofa cause it's the only place I can get comfortable. On Tuesday I was ready to just curl up and fade away...it got really bad. My Dad called me that day and I bawled on the phone with him. This was probably the first time my Dad has heard me cry since I was about 5 years old and broke something off his Mercedes. Needless to say, he did not know how to react. Bill and I decided that we needed to throw up the white flag and get someone to rescue us. My Mom! I'm happy to say that she will be here in a couple days to help out. It will be so nice to have someone here during the day with me and have someone who can just help out in general. Thanks Mom, can't wait till you get here!!