7 on Sunday

1. Well, I finally have a job!! I'll be working for a urologist right here in Athens, doing insurance and some front office work. It's a 30-hour week, which is great, and it's only about 5 minutes from the house, which is even greater. The doctor seems very nice and his wife, who is the office manager, was nice as well. I won't start work until after I come back from Thanksgiving weekend in Ohio, so this gives me time to get my ducks in a row around here!
2. Speaking of Thanksgiving weekend in Ohio, I can't wait to see my kids and grandkids!! We are having Thanksgiving dinner with my entire family on the Saturday after Thanksgiving at a restaurant in my old hometown in Ohio. Then we are planning a mini-Christmas with the kids and grandkids at Rob's on Sunday morning. My granddaughters are going to be spending the night on Saturday with us, and hopefully Heather & the boys, so it will be a perfect time to do Christmas. We aren't really planning to go up for Christmas because the weather is so unpredictable in December in Ohio. Ohio does have four seasons but they are Almost Winter, Winter, Still Winter and Road Construction!
3. I'm finished with Physical Therapy and I was right to be worried about finishing up because I'm having trouble motivating myself to keep up with my exercises, etc. that I need to be doing. I have to figure out a way to force myself to work on my knee because it still isn't where it should be. I think I'm just tired and worn out, but that's no excuse.
4. We still haven't gotten our sidecar that we ordered when we got our Royal Enfield motorcycle right before my surgery in August! It is supposed to be here soon, and I sure hope so. I still have trouble getting on the Gold Wing (because of my knee not bending like it should!) and it would be nice to ride in the sidecar and still be able to ride again. Hopefully it will be in before Christmas so that we can do our Christmas picture in it! Dave has a Santa hat that says "Bah Humbug!" across it!
5. I need to get my Christmas shopping done since we're having it at Thanksgiving weekend and I haven't even started yet. Auuughhh!!!!
6. My sister-in-law is having Thanksgiving at her house, bless her heart. I told her I'd bring some stuff plus come early in the day to help her get stuff ready. We aren't leaving for Ohio until Friday morning so that we can have Thanksgiving with Dave's family first. His mother is 87 years old and I figure she doesn't have that many Thanksgivings left, unfortunately.
7. We went to Bessemer on Friday to take my mother-in-law to the beauty parlor and get her groceries. She has a lot of trouble getting around but, other than that, seems to be doing pretty well. I enjoy talking to her and visiting with her. She appreciates everything we do and I certainly love doing things for her. I'm blessed with a wonderful mother-in-law!

Pictures from New Orleans...

I have been promising to put up pictures from our trip to New Orleans, so here they are!!

The Insectarium was great for me, who loves macro photos!

A beautiful lighthouse on Lake Pontchartrain:

Lake Pontchartrain from the bridge:

We were amazed at the damage still everywhere from Katrina:

We stayed in the French Quarter while we were in NO and pretty much walked everywhere:

The cable car of New Orleans:

Much-Needed Update...

Well, it's been a while since I updated my blog, so I guess it's time to update everyone on what's been going on these last few months.

The biggest news for me is that on August 23rd I became, at long last, a college graduate! That's right, it only took me 41 years after graduating high school to FINALLY walk across the stage and get my B.S. diploma from Athens State University. Granted, it's been a long and winding road to this diploma but I have met a goal that I've had for many years. My degree is Public Safety and Health Administration. Unfortunately my family was not able to come from Ohio and Indiana to attend but my husband's wonderful niece, Ronee, and her husband came up from Birmingham and surprised me by attending! And my former office-mate, Tambi, and her family came for graduation as well, so I was really excited to see some faces that I knew. It really meant a lot to me! Of course, my husband was there but he had to be with the faculty group. Ronee brought her camera, so now I have pictures of the grand event as well, thanks to her!

The other big news, of course, is my knee surgery, which I had done right after graduation, on August 25th. I'm almost 11 weeks out now. When I first had the surgery done, I was told that for the first 3 months I'd wonder why I had it done and then after that, I'd wonder why I didn't have it done sooner. I think I'm almost to that point, but not yet! It's been quite a journey! I'm encouraged when I look how far I've come in these last few weeks, but I'm still not where I want to be and that's frustrating. Of course, my knee was in bad shape before surgery so I can't expect it to be perfect overnight, or even after a few weeks, but I wish it could be that way! One thing I would tell anyone thinking about total knee replacement is to not wait too long. I know that you can't wait too long for the surgery itself, but when it comes to the muscles and ligaments in your knee and leg, you CAN wait too long. I did. My knee did not straighten completely or bend completely before surgery and because of that, I'm having trouble getting my knee to where it should be now. Insurance did approve some more physical therapy for me after my initial therapy but it ends tomorrow with my last visit and I'm not sure what I'll do after that. I have to keep working at it, I know, and I'm hoping I can stay vigilant on my own with my exercises. I'm so worried that I won't, mainly because it hurts!! (I know -- what a baby I can be!!) It's been quite a trip. On the good side of it, though, I have lost 40 lbs. during this journey!