Kitty cat Wednesday

Nicky found a nice cool spot to beat the heat the other day and nap:

Seriously good eats

Saturday we headed down to Lewiston for a bit of shopping and we hit Effie's for lunch. Effie's is:

Effie's is a joint and a wonderful joint it is. Main claim to fame is the Effie Burger:





An Effie burger is 1 lb of beef on a special bun. We got the works (onions on the side) with both Swiss and American cheeses.

We usually split one:



Ordered a medium curly fries to go with it:



They use good quality beef and it is very juicy and perfectly done:



Hubby wanted the New Effie, but that was more then I wanted to eat, so we'll look at getting one next time down:

Happy Birthday to me! Happy Birthday to me!...

Happy Birthday to MEeeeee!
Happy Birthday to me!

LOL

I really don't feel 47, my brain still keeps insisting I'm still in my 20s (tho my bod keeps informing me otherwise, sometimes forcefully hehehehehe).

Decided to treat myself to a mocha from the Bean Farm (formerly Coffee Creations and still yummy coffee) and I'll wander over to the Commons for lunch (would love to go downtown somewhere for lunch, but I would need a ride as my knee isn't up to the hike yet). Will look at getting something nice for dinner. Otherwise I plan on a low key birthday day. One of my co-workers brought donuts, so have been munching on a chocolate Bismark.

Speaking of knee, I'm still coming along fine. I managed to do the steps at home and out back of the library normally, instead of going up one step at a time and babying the knee. They are pretty short steps and once I can do them with no pain I can start doing the stairs at work again.

Had several unhappy kitties last night. Read in the paper a guy got bit by a momma coyote Monday night somewhere along East Palouse River Drive, which is our area (silly guy stopped to take a leak, hopped down into a ditch and scared momma and her babies, so she bit him). They didn't say exactly WHERE along the road, so decided since there is a momma who will be looking for easy food that kitties need to come in at night. Managed to get Nicky, Scrapper and Pheobe in, but Rum Tum was nowhere in sight. I don't worry about him since he will crash over at D & J's next door when he can't get back into the house at night.

The new trolling motor we ordered thru Sure Shot finally came in. It got held up in Spokane, it was supposed to be here the other day. So hubby is a happy campers (he keeps looking at it and saying "Shiny!!!" hehehehehehe). Can't wait to take it out. It is a Minn Kota, 36 lbs of thrust and has several forward speeds and 3 reverse. Since the one we got with Da Boat is a brand no longer made and can't find parts for, the new motor will make fishing a lot more reliable since we won't have to worry about trying to fiddle with a dying switch in the middle of the reservoir.

WHOO HOOO!!!!!

The stitches are out (okay, I have to have on these plain stripes until they fall off instead of my way cute Hello Kitty band aids) and I can start weaning off the crutches. I've been hobbling around today with just one for the most part. I've also not needed to take a pain med this morning (so far, knock on wood).

The doc is please with my recovery so far and since I am doing well on my own, won't need to do any formal physical therapy. As is I've got almost full motion extended and bent with a little bit of pain. Which will go away as I recoup.

YAY!!!!!!!!

So I am minus part of my meniscus and have some arthritis in my knee (about 1/3 of the knee). The doc says to avoid high impact activities, which is not a problem since I'm not into those kinds of sports and activities. Biking, walking, swimming and such are fine. Just have to be careful getting in and out of the boat and avoid seriously steep slopes. So that one geocache on the Lewiston Grade is going to be out.

When it comes to gardening, I am going to work on raising the beds I have and add lots more containers to cut down on the amount of kneeling I do gardening.

How they find me

Every once in a while I like to look at what search terms people use when they come across my blog. Haven't done it in a while, but here is the searches since 7/20/08:

anne korin criticism
bbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbb
how to make cat house
amatuer bbw strippers
fat acceptance ted nugent (the date on this one is 8/3, so I guess the someone had just watched the episode and then found the clip right after the show aired)
cat shooting out window (this is a cute pic

cat shooting (seriously hoping they were thinking cat shooting with a camera)
cathouse porn episode
www,amatuer granny blogs.com
should i garden with a torn meniscus (NO!!!! At least not with a lot of bending. It would be easier with raised beds)
joss whedon geocaching (okay, have to see if Joss is a geocacher)
bbw fat granny yahoo. com.
sleep aid book with purple color (hmmm, sounds like a few patrons who've come in looking for a book, not sure what the title is, but it was blue LOL)
evan david kamida (had to look this up, so sad)
evan david kamida
se7en tea house reno 7/19/08
have a nice sunday
cathouse the serious
torn miniscus for 4 months
friday at last (my sentiments exactly LOL)
cathouse the serious
sunny lane cathouse
outhouse worley idaho
how to build a shooting house
torn meniscus
quotes of phoebe the goddess of moon
bunny range cat house
cathouse the series clips trailers
best friends society purple
plans cat house
tante porn
hissing turtle north idaho

So lets see, 2 searches for porn (3 if you count BBW amatuer strippers), 9 involving cats and a couple dealing with the meniscus. This is a pretty tame list compared to what I used to get way back when I started blogging. Have to check my stats a bit more frequently and see if I get some more interesting ones.

Dear Tony Bourdain .....

and Ted Nugent,

You are both hereby directed to attempt an airborne indecent assault at a perambulating, perforated pastry.

After checking out the video link Rachel had posted here I have deleted your show from my DVR list and will be informing Travel Channel and the advertisers of your show why I will no longer be watching it.

If I had any Ted Nugent records I would be sending them back to him in tiny pieces after using them for target practice with my various firearms.

I knew Ted had gone round the bend a while ago, but I hadn't realized he was so far gone. I knew you were an asshole, but hadn't realized you were a hate filled waste of DNA. You both are.

I used to like you in spite of your assholeness, you were entertaining and had the occasional deep thought that made people think when dealing with other cultures. I loved watching your show and seeing the sights, sounds and foods of other countries.

I just hadn't realized you were hiding such hate for fat folk. Makes me wonder what you really where thinking when you did shows with fat cooking celebs. I guess you are a good actor because it really looked like you actually LIKED the people you were talking to. I guess when you were done you took a shower and disinfected yourself immediately after to avoid getting fat cooties.

I guess the changes in your personality after your experience in Beirut were only skin deep. If there were any changes.

no love left,
Jean C

New design at Purple Ducky Designs

Here is the newest design at Purple Ducky. It can be found in the Body Acceptance section.

Eating out and about

Forgot to mention inthe last post we had lunch at Dick's Drive In in Spokane when we were up there on Friday. If you haven't ever experienced Dick's, I HIGHLY recommend it next time you are in Spokane and want some good eats from a nice little joint.

Dick's is a place that MUST be experienced and I have been experiencing it for quite a while. When they had InCon at a motel near by for a couple of years, I'd wander over to Dick's for some eats and then back to the Con.

Dick's doesn't have any inside seating, so you eat at one of the picnic tables that are outside or in your car. Sitting at the tables is fun since you get to watch the sorriest looking sparrows on earth looking for food. I should mention that most nutritionists would have a coronary if they thought about what people eat at Dick's.

Dick's is located on the corner of Division and 3rd and you can't miss the sign:

You walk up to the counter to order and they have a pretty good menu and really good prices:



Yes, that lists a shake for $1.45 and malts for $1.64. They have the best malts anywhere. The bar on the window cuts it off a bit, but their burgers are 87 cents. As I said, their prices are great.

One really neat thing is the counter people don't write down your order. I have yet to get a wrong order, even when we've ordered for a large group. I wish I had that kind of memory LOL.

So I ordered the Whammy:



with fries:



The Whammy was delish. 2 patties, 2 cheese with ketchup, mustard and pickles, no onions (you can have it the way you like):



Hubby got some onion rings, so I had a few:



and he got tarter sauce which were good with the onion rings and very yummy with the fries:



So give Dick's a try if you are ever in Spokane.

Okay, let's see how this goes

Going for a full day of work. I've been feeling pretty good. Managed to get thru the whole day yesterday without even wanting a nap. Sat we went in for one, ended up watching Wayne's World and Wayne's World 2 and not sleeping. I love those movies. Hubby found a DVD with both of them on it at Target (we were in Spokane on Friday) for $10.

So, Friday we head up to Spokane for a bit of shopping. Hit Deleon's Market on Francis and picked up some REAL Coca Cola. They had some that is made with cane sugar instead of high fructose corn syrup. In real bottles, so I grabbed 4 and will enjoy them. Also nabbed some of their flour tortillas, made on site. Very yummy, made some shredded pork with fajita seasoning and had that on the tortillas last night for dinner.

Also hit Bay Market out on Sprague, tho they had moved a few blocks east. Picked up a couple packets of soup bean paste and some shrimp chips. I'm looking at making an Asian style soup to have for breakfasts, still need to pick up some firm tofu and decide what else to have in it. The shrimp chips are the type you toss in hot oil and they poof up. I love them to death and they taste really good with hubby's Keister sauce (which we need to make a big batch of soon).

Hit Harbor Freight and that is a VERY dangerous store. Picked up a new compressor and some spray gun supplies and a few other odds and sods. Still need to get a bigger paint sprayer for it, I'm planning on using it for painting the boat and the trailer.

Speaking of trailers, we finally got the little utility trailer done. Before my surgery I went after it with some paint:

I still need to finish the bottom, I'm taking the scheme all they way down and onto the tongue. Hubby got the lights wired onto it yesterday, tho when we did the dump run on Saturday he did a quick and dirty wiring. Now that the wires are in place I will hit those with paint so they blend in better. I've decided Da Boat is going to have a tiger stripe paint scheme hehehehehehe.

Saturday I popped a pork blade roast into the crock pot and let it cook. Just added a bit of water and no spices since I'd planned on using the pork for a couple different things. So Saturday night we had pork bagel sammies with shredded Tillamook medium cheddar cheese on them. Very yummy. As mentioned, last night I reheated the pork with some fajita seasoning for last nights dinner. Was thinking about bringing some of the leftover fajita pork for lunch, but decided to just have toasted bagel with cheese and tomato instead.

So today I am doing fine. Tried to see how long I could get thru work without a pain pill. 1/2 hour. Oh well, not bad. I can go short distances without the crutches, very handy at home where the crutches are a royal pain in the ass. My knee is healing up nicely:



I should be getting the stitches out this Thursday when I go in for my doctors appointment. Not sure if they will be having me do any rehab, as I mentioned, I've been getting around pretty well so far. I do need to start getting off the pain meds, I am starting to have out takes in my dreams and they are getting just to weird.

Didn't get out fishing this weekend, tho getting into and out of the boat is going to be interesting. Hubby is still trying to figure out why the trolling motor won't work on the low and medium speed settings. He picked up a new switch and at one point had it working, but then it stopped. So he's going to see what he can find online if he doesn't find a friend who knows about them first. Still need to get the big motor into the mechanic to have it worked on, but there is no real hurry on it. Speaking of boats, we picked up a couple life vests while we were up in Spokane, so we are now fully kitted for being out on the boat.

Here we are

A look inside my knee:

The one labeled "post medial menistectomy" is apparently a mis-label. I'm not exactly sure what it is supposed to say, I was still a wee bit out of it when the doc was showing it to hubby and explaining what we were seeing. I'll find out what it is when I see the doc at my next appointment on the 7th.

OY!

Okay. maybe going in in the afternoon wasn't the best idea. Started out fine, then I seriously crashed. The bod REALLY wanted its afternoon nap. So I will go in in the morning instead and that way I can get my afternoon nap in.

But it was really nice to be out of the house and back to work, even for a few hours. Since it is the not busy time of the year, easing back into work will be good.

Hubby picked me up and we hit Safeway to pick up some of his meds and a few things for dinner. Came home and I immediately grabbed a pain med since I was really aching by then. I have to remember to take them with me in case I need to pop an extra one at work.

Dinner was simple, I sliced up some roast and sautéed it in a bit of olive oil and then added a packet of au jus and a bit of water. We had the beef in some whole wheat rolls with a bit of shredded cheese.

The elk burgers came out nicely last night. I'd mixed it with regular ground beef and seasoned with salt and pepper. Did them in the oven and made some carmalized walla wallas and MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM perfect! We'll pick up more ground elk and do those more often.

Starting to go seriously nuts

Getting a very bad case of cabin fever. Looking forward to getting back to work tomorrow, even tho it is for half a day. I'll go in for the afternoon and see how things go. Probably do half days this week to get back into things.

My knee is getting better, tho I have to be careful of overdoing it, which I do quite easily. I hate using the crutches in the house, even if I am only using one of them at times. I've been working on the exercises and variations to keep my knee from getting too stiff.

We've made a few forays out and about, usually to the store and back. I'm wearing my regular tennie runners as the PT wants me to have better support then my Crocs can give me. I'll be going in on the 8th to see the doc again and get the stitches out. Not sure how long I will be using the crutches, tho I can't go very long puttering around without them.

Still need to get the surgery pics scanned in, the scanner isn't wanting to work for some reason. We'll hook it up to hubby's machine and see what we can do. If all else fails we can use the scanner on the printer. Hubby got my Linux machine up and running, but the scanner just doesn't want to work. Hope he can get it fixed as it is a nice scanner, it is the one I was using to scan in the old family photos.

Pulled out some ground beef and the package of ground elk last night to thaw in the fridge. I'll mix them together and make burgers for dinner tonight. We are thinking about cooking them on the gas grill, but that depends on how we both feel. May be easiest to just cook them in the oven. Dinner last night was a chicken I butterflied and then seasoned with garlic seasoning, white balsamic and olive oil and severed with egg noodles with butter and sesame oil. Simple and yummy. The leftover chicken I turned into chicken salad for lunch. I added some crumbled feta with garlic and herb seasoning for an extra special kick it. Made very yummy sandwiches.

Need to get out and water plants tonight and just sit outside and enjoy the weather.

Whimsy

The ace wraps and gauze pads are gone:

and I just had to decorate my crutches:

When no other phrase will work

My newest design from Purple Ducky Designs. Can be found in my Miscellania section

Puttering along

Got up and about today, it was nice to get out of the bedroom and actually outside. Hit Super China for lunch and managed some veggie chow fan and a bit of General Tso's chicken with some jello for dessert. Almost pushed it too far, so it was straight home and back into bed for a 4 hour nap. Finished the one Kay Scarpetta book I have thru ILL and now am out on the couch watching one of the races I've had on the DVR for a while.

Been sleeping a lot and not getting as much done on my designs for my shop as I'd planned, but I've also been a bit loopy from my pain meds. I'm only taking one at a time during the day and then I pop two before bed and that is really helping me to sleep thru the night without much pain.

I've got the ace wraps off and bandaids over the stitches. The wraps bunched up and got painful. I'll have hubby re-do them when he gets back from his errands later.

Been doing the exercises, the legs lifts are the ones that hurt the most. The heel slides are good and I am getting more flex in my knee each time I do them. But it really nice to not have that really sharp stabbing pain in my knee anymore. Right now it is a dull ache and that is heaven compared to before LOL.

I do need to get the 'scope pics scanned in, it is really fascinating to see what the inside of my knee looked like and what the tear looked like. I esp like the after picture where all the tissue is nice and smooth.

Picture Wednesday

Knee before:

After:



Before surgery:



After:



Finally mobile:

Hay LUUUUUCY, I'm HOOOOMMEEE!

Surgery went fine, was on the table just after 7:30 am yesterday and getting the good drugs. I opted for the spinal block and the seriously good drugs since general would have required a breathing tube. I don't
remember much of the procedure, so the drugs were REALLY good.

I was supposed to be home yesterday by noon, but Dr J decided to be extra cautious and had me stay over night. The hubby was right, our hospital IS the best 5 star hotel I've ever been in LOL. Managed to survive the night.

It took a while for the spinal block to wear off, had to use a walker to get the to the bathroom and tho I could feel my feet, my bum was still totally numb and that did make things interesting :P

A gal from physical surgery came by and checked me out on a walker, and the later in the afternoon, she brought crutches and I made a couple turns around the floor. Did really well and the Doc says I can put weight on the leg, as much as I can comfortable do so, so the gal brought a new pair to bring home. A walker would not be maneuverable in our house.

Managed to get a bit of sleep last night, but was awake abut 4am. Call buttons were going off from several other rooms.

Hubby had brought me my laptop yesterday afternoon, but forgot the power cord, so I had to be content with my palm and some of the games that he'd he put on. Watching the TV there really made me appreciate our sat dish an the DVR as I couldn't zip commercials and I could only
run the changer in one direction.

So I am now home, had a nap and am now finishing this post. Kitty cats are really happy I am home, now I just need to keep them off my knee while it is propped up.

Surgery time

20 after 5am and we'll be heading over to Gritman in a few minutes. Have to be there at 6 for check in and I should be home and in my own bed by noon.

Managed a couple hours of sleep, finally. The house isn't as in shape as I'd planned, but it is more then 50% better then it was. The kitchen is ready for hubby and the laundry is all caught up, so I am not going to worry about it.

So, I'll talk at everyone later, not sure how soon I'll get back on the 'puter today, will probably spend most of the day sleeping once I get home.