Wednesday, June 30, 2010

Canada 2010 - 6th

After they reopened the water park (closed because of lightning danger), there were hardly any little kids anymore, so ours got the place to themselves :)

Canada 2010 - 5th

We went to the beach a couple of times.  The weather wasn't really cooperating for us, but we didn't care :PWe went to Gyro Beach, just our family one afternoon.  We went to the City Park on another day with Mikael & Catherine.The parking is interesting now.  The meter prints out a ticket to put on your dash, showing when your time is up - so we put in for 3 hours at 1:15 and the ticket showed 4:15.  We actually wound up leaving early because it got pretty cold, so we just gave our ticket to someone who had just come in to give them a free hour :)

The parking is the same downtown, so you can print out a ticket for your dash, and then move your car around if you want, and your ticket is still valid.  That's better than individual meters for the spot where the car is.  :)

Tuesday, June 29, 2010

Canada 2010 - 4th

For Father's Day, my mom took us to her favorite pub, the Pheasant & Quail.  In the evening, we had Connie's family over for dinner & dessert.  

Canada 2010 - 3rd

Saturday was Aaron's 10th birthday.  He had it at a bowling alley.  Lee & I went along to help Connie & keep an eye on Connor.  Aaron got a lot of gift cards & money - not very many actual presents.  Hee.  One of his friends is a gymnast (in the sky blue hoodie).  We hadn't met him before.  Another friend, Stevie, does Tae Kwon Do with Aaron.  We'd met the other friends at prior birthdays for Aaron - I think we've been there for the last three now :)  Connor had a great time & we all thought it went well :)

Canada 2010 - 2nd

I had promised Connie I'd take her out for her 50th birthday when we got to Canada, so after trying to figure out a good place, we decided to go to the marina area & eat at Rose's because Connie had heard it was pretty good.

Well, it was.  It was also THE hotspot for Kelowna, complete with drunken women who insisted on telling us about the fight they had with each other (they made up later).  But the food was good & the company was fun.  We enjoyed visiting sans kids.

This is the cart that sells German pretzels and breads.  We got $20 Canadian worth (16 pretzels) and they were gone before we left for home again. You can store them in a paper bag, wrapped in a plastic bag in the freezer.  If you leave them out though, they'll just get hard as rocks.  They toast up nicely in the toaster oven though, which is how we enjoyed them after the first day (when they are fresh).

Monday, June 28, 2010

Canada 2010

We had a very nice trip.  I think everyone got to do what they wanted & see everyone they hoped to see.

Connor has been talking about going to Canada since April.  He had it all set in his mind.  First pack the car, then drive to Washington.  Then stay in the hotel and swim in the pool.  Then sleep.  Then waffles for breakfast.  Then to Canada & Omi.

I just booked the same hotel we'd used last year since I knew they'd have the pool & waffles :)

Because of my shoulder, we waited until Monday, instead of leaving on Sunday as we'd planned.  I had done the MRI on my shoulder & neck on Friday, when we picked up Diana from U of O (the MRI office is in walking distance of her apartment).   The results were in by Monday morning, and I was able to see my doctor by 9:30.  The MRI showed nothing at all - which is good, I guess.  But it also meant I couldn't get a cortisone shot, since it's not a bursitis or frozen shoulder :/  I got some new pain meds because the original prescription made me nauseous.  I am still having pain in my shoulder and babying it as much as I can...  We took off for Washington out of the Wal-Mart parking lot.

We spent the night in Kelso - Connor swam in the evening, as well as the next morning.  He ate all the waffles he wanted :)  This hotel is next to a mall, so the kids took a walk in the mall and also went to see "Karate Kid" in the evening since there was a theater.

The drive through Washington was uneventful.  We stopped for lunch at the mall in Bellingham, and Diana & I got to go to the Victoria's Secret semi-annual sale and get a really good deal on some merchandise :)

We didn't have any issues crossing the border, and the rest of the drive through Canada was fine all the way to my mom's.  She greeted us with "Schnibbelbohnensuppe" (green bean soup) & vacation really began :)

Tuesday, June 22, 2010

Shoulder doing better!

Yesterday while Lee watched Mikael do his Tae Kwon Do class, I visited the Massage guy.  He's not Chinese - he's Korean.  Here's the link to his blog:  http://dahnenergyhealingarts.blogspot.com/

He calls it "energy healing massage therapy" or Hwal-Gong.

Some of it was similar to a regular massage, but it seemed to be more about loosening the joints with a lot of jostling around on the joint areas.  He worked especially hard on my bum shoulder of course, but he also did my fingers, elbows, hips, knees and feet.  There was cracking of toes and fingers!

He was able to loosen up my shoulder so that it doesn't hurt as much now, and I have twice the range of motion as before I went in.  I haven't had to take any Tylenol so far today, although I can feel the shoulder still has healing to do.

He also gave me some exercises to help with the shoulder.  He said that 50's Shoulder happens when you do something, and the muscles get stuck in place.  I have heard somewhere else that muscles are in something like a sheath in various areas of the body, and they can swell and get stuck in the 'sheath' area.  So I take it that's what he's talking about.

I'm supposed to do the stretching exercises & breathe properly while doing them.  I will also go ahead & continue doing what my doctor prescribed, which is just different stretches.  We'll see how it goes thru the week.

We figure we're here till Saturday  :)

Sunday, June 20, 2010

Vay Cay

We arrived last Tuesday after an overnight in Kelso WA.  Connor has been ready since April.  First is hotel, then bathing suit, then pool, then sleep, then waffles, then Canada!

The weather wasn't great when we got here, but that's okay.  Lee has been doing lots of handyman stuff around the house for my mom, for which she is very grateful, the first of which was cleaning up the computer so it would actually run at a decent speed.  :)  He also fixed a curtain which wouldn't move, a door handle that had broken, and a sprinkler that was run over.  The best fix was the nozzle on sprayer for the bathtub - it was spraying all over the bathroom instead of just downward.  He also decalcified the coffee machine.  Good stuff :)

My niece Catherine had her graduation ceremony about mid-May.  You'd think she was done then with 12th grade.  No.  She has continued regular school for another 3 weeks, and she has all her finals this week.  Where's the motivation???  She's already graduated!

Mikael is going to be 16 in a couple of weeks.  He's out of school as of Friday.  Aaron, the 10-year-old still has another week to go.  We have been hooking up when we can.  

My sister Connie had a very busy weekend, but we got in a nice dinner with her at the local hot spot, complete with blonde drunken bimbos (we didn't know it was THE hot spot!).

Today for Father's Day, my mom took Lee & I to her favorite pub, and then we did some shopping.  For dinner, we had hot dogs for the kids & portabella mushroom burgers for the adults.  My mom had gotten a very rich fancy cake as well, but most of the kids had ice cream cones.  Okay, MY kids had cake & ice cream cones.  :)

Anyway it's been a pretty good visit so far.  Connie is leaving for a trip to Toronto tomorrow & we'll have Mikael go with us to the beach & stuff while his sibs are at school.  Connie comes back Thursday & we'll see Aaron's Tae Kwon Do test.  I think we'll have Diana make sushi for us that night and then we'll be able to do something with Connie on Friday again :)

Photos to come when I can figure out how to get them from my camera to a computer - maybe via Diana's laptop...

Oh - the arm is still hurting, but I have an appointment tomorrow for an ancient Chinese master who knows the problem just from the description - 50's shoulder.  (I'm not 50 yet!!!)

Sunday, June 13, 2010

Funner stuff

Yeah - it should be "more fun stuff" - but I'm describing this stuff as more fun than what's going on in previous posts....

Friday we picked up Diana  from college.  As luck would have it, my MRI was being done only a couple of blocks from her apartment, so Lee dropped me off, took the van to Diana, and then ran back over to the doctor's office.  The MRI took over two hours, and when we walked back to Diana's, the van was almost packed.  Connor was watching Tom & Jerry from in Diana's bed & all was good.  We drove to a very good vegetarian food stand, and got some pretty dang tasty Philly Cheesesteak sandwiches.  Connor got a foot-long veggie dog.  Then we went to the mall so Diana & I could check out Victoria's Secret (we don't have one in the Burg).  Diana found some stuff on sale, but the things I wanted are about to be PUT on sale, so I held off...

Trevor & Diana both worked pretty hard from Friday afternoon to Saturday afternoon on getting the house cleaned.  Diana's friend Corinne is starting off as a Pampered Chef consultant, and needs to practice doing shows.  I invited probably 30ish people - six actually came.  One was my teacher & her mom, so that was pretty fun to see them :)  My friend Rose was there as well, and she's always a  good time.  And then another mom-daughter set from my TOPS club :)  Diana's friend Haley, who is also friends with Corinne, came a little later.

Corinne did a good job - I still haven't ordered because I may have a couple of book sales.  Turns out Haley used to live in Juneau, as did Rose. Rose used to work with Haley's grandparents :)  Also turns out I have more Pampered Chef products than Corinne has in her kit (thank you Carolyn).  Any time she'd mention stuff from the catalog that I had & she didn't, I'd just bring my own stuff out :P

I brought out some salmon 'candy' (sweet-honey-smoked), because I kept forgetting to bring it to work for Maureen to try. Everyone thought it was pretty dang tasty.  When I went out to see off the other guests, I came back in the living room and the plate had been licked clean.  I asked Diana if that was her - but it was actually Corinne!!  Hee.  After things were cleaned up, the girls went in Diana's room to hang out.  Corinne's mom came & picked her up later, and Lee fixed dinner.  Haley stayed and then the kids & Lee all went roller skating ($1 nite on Saturdays).  They met up with Trevor & Diana's friend, Kyle, too.  I stayed home with Connor.

When the group got back, we sat around the table & had ice cream & did a lot of laughing.  I didn't squeak, although Lee tried to get me to - if Carolyn would have been there, we probably would have...  The four kids had a good time together - it's nice to have Diana  home & the family together :)  I like this stuff :)

Saturday, June 12, 2010

Here's the Sitch

Shoulder is still hurting a lot.  I'm wearing an arm sling and I can't do much of anything, including drive, because then my OTHER shoulder starts to hurt because I've been doing everything one-armed for a couple of weeks now...

So I got an MRI done yesterday in Eugene.  The gal at my doctor's office said they can bug them for results and maybe get them within 24 hours.  That means Monday sometime.  If that works.  Otherwise, it could be as late as Tuesday evening.  Hopefully it's the former, and I can get in & see my doctor by Tuesday.  If it's a bursitis or frozen shoulder (seems to be the most likely), then I could possibly get the cortisone shot, and we could leave for Canada on the same or next day.  We intend to overnight in Washington anyway.

OR we could just leave on Sunday, like we originally planned, and deal with the whole thing when we get home again.  Well, and hope the MRI doesn't show something that they say, "You need to come in NOW!" and we drive home again after a day...

I'm thinking it would be prudent to wait and hear the results first.  What do you think?

Saturday, June 05, 2010

Still hurting...

Well, I tried going in this morning to see if I could get a cortisone shot.  Nope - gotta wait until I'm cleared through worker's comp.

According to the paperwork I got from SAIF, it can take up to 90 days to process my claim.  Huh?

However, in the packet I got in the mail today, it also says you can get treated for pain management in the interim.

So I'm going back on Monday to the doctor I saw on the first of the month.  I'll let him know the pain meds he prescribed are not doing enough, and can I please have a cortisone shot.

At least we don't have kids at school any more.  We're just packing up the room now.  Don't worry, my arm is in a sling & I'm not lifting anything.

Wednesday, June 02, 2010

Frozen shoulder or Bursitis?

I went to the chiropractor today.  OUCH!!  He moved my arm up & around and it really, really hurt :(

Now I'm supposed to ice it as much as I can. *sigh*

Next stop is the Urgent Care on Saturday, because they will do an x-ray AND a cortisone shot.  Ugh.

I just got my notice of temporary hire for summer school in the mail today.  I'm praying this all helps so I can do my summer job...

No word back yet on whether this is a worker comp claim or not.  I did today's visit on my regular insurance.

I understand a frozen shoulder can 'just happen' for people between 40-60 years old.  Twice as much in women as in men.  The best treatment appears to be cortisone & physical therapy.

If it's bursitis, there's usually a cause or injury.  The chiropractor couldn't tell one way or the other, which is why we need the x-ray.  The cortisone works for bursitis as well.

There may still be an MRI to determine any tissue damage, but it's probably one of these other two.

At least the aches & pains of getting old is still better than the alternative.....

A little loopy

I went to the doctor yesterday, and he had me do a bunch of pushing & pulling, using both arms, to compare them.  He prescribed me Flurbiprofen (anti-inflammatory) and Chlorzoxazon (muscle relaxant).  I think the Chlorzoxazon makes me a little loopy...  but it would be an excellent scrabble word if it weren't a name.

Anyway - today I have another appointment at the chiropractor.  I'm hoping with the muscle relaxant, the massage will be more beneficial this time.  And if I use the sling and isolate my arm after my adjustment, maybe that will last a little longer too...

I'll keep you  updated!

And Donna, I should be home after 3:30 today if you want to chat today :)  Sorry I missed you yesterday!

Tuesday, June 01, 2010

Happy Birthday, Carolyn!!

Hey little sistol - I hope you had a great day!  I'm sorry I didn't call yesterday - as you can read from my previous post, I've been a little distracted :(

I'm  hoping when you come thru visiting that we can do a lunch or something together as a belated gift?

Love you!!
Tina