Physical Therapy

Once again, I find myself learning how to walk. I'm praying this is the last time in a long, long while. I spent the two weeks before surgery trying to shake a cold that wouldn't go away. I repented of dairy products and spent all my time drinking an insane amount of liquids, soups, and anything with Vitamin C. I even found myself with a Neti Pot in my nose. ( I was desperate.) The day before surgery I was just a tad stuffy, and so they gave me the green light. I don't know if I've ever worked so hard and been so excited to have surgery before. I even brought my own crutches to the hospital, I was ready for this surgery. I however, wasn't ready for the after part. I remembered my last ACL surgery and the crutches for a month, and struggling in therapy for weeks and weeks to be able to roll an exercise ball and bend my knee. It was the most nauseous, sleepless, and painful summer of my life. However, this surgery with a graft from a donor was amazing!!!! I was able to eat and sleep that night, and the pain hasn't been that bad. I went to physical therapy two days after surgery (seriously two days) we took off all the wrappings and my knee looked so good, (well that might be debatable, but I thought it looked good) my therapist started moving it, which I thought would be impossible but it moved, it moved. I think I said, "Oh my goodness ," and "Wow" a million times. My therapist was equally impressed and he even had me start putting weight on it. Wow!!! Oh my goodness! Surgery was two weeks ago and after therapy today, I found myself crutchless, and braceless. It is a miracle! Now I'm just working on my physical therapy, which if you have ever had physical therapy may look easy, but is really sooooo HARD!!!!! Last week, my therapist, who I actually like a lot, had me put an exercise ball behind my back and do squats, which might not sound hard, but oh my goodness! He smiled and said, "Can you feel that you are favoring your right leg?" I smiled, and said through gritted teeth, "Yeah, that is because my left kneecap feels like it is going to explode and my whole leg collapse." My therapist smiled back, "Well just as long as you're aware of it." Yesterday, he had me walk around the gym in a figure eight backwards with one eye closed. That is right, figure eight, backwards with one eye closed, it is as difficult as it sounds. Each rotation he also made me change which eye was closed, which made all of the other people in the gym think I was winking at them as I stumbled around. However, I'm all for anything crazy, because with ever lopsided figure eight, my knee is getting stronger and I'm on my way to walking normally.

Bear Lake

Presidents' Day Weekend I was sick. However, for some reason, I still decided to go up to Bear Lake with 20 other girls. I spent most of my time asleep, or blowing my nose. However, I still loved being with so many friends in a beautiful cabin in the snow. I should probably also mention there was also a chocolate festival. Chocolate covered raspberries, seriously, that alone was enough of a reason to go.
These are some of the other highlights:
On the way up we stopped at Gossner's Cheese Factory. How can you not like a place with flower boxes and squeaky cheese?



I also liked this place because it's very unpretentious with signs like this:



Ummm . . .Root Beer flavored milk, who makes Root Beer flavored milk? And who could resist buying some? Not me, although, I still haven't tried it, well, because it's Root Beer flavored milk, and ummm. . . .I'm saving it for a special occasion.



If you look closely you can see the beautiful lake, it is a gorgeous place.



Coming home, how could we not stop for Aggie Ice Cream, which may not be good for a cold, but sometimes you have to live on the edge.

Cupcake Wars and Basketball Dreams

A couple of weeks ago, happiness struck twice. First, I was asked to be a cupcake tester at a cupcake war. Umm. . . . . 19 different cupcakes, judged on appearance, theme, and taste. Count me in!!! It was heavenly until around number 11 or so. I mean even a little taste of 19 cupcakes is a lot. Seriously, a lot and those little ladies kept coming in and saying, "Oh did you get a taste of the middle, because the middle has my special filling." I'm not going to lie, I was ill by the end, and the monkey brain cupcake just did not get a fair shake. Sorry monkey cupcake, I did give you a great on your appearance though. After the cupcake tasting, I decided never to eat cupcakes again, well until my mom gave me this recipe, which is amazing. Try it.

After coming home and resting a little, we took off to the Suns game!!!! I love being a Suns rebel rouser. We ended up invading the Jazz stadium and found our Suns magnetism attracting other Suns fans who ended up sitting by us. Every time something good happened, our new friend would say, "That's what I'm talking about Home Skillet!" and then he would give us high fives that never connected. Let's just say our Home Skillets weren't super hip, luckily, our team was. Take a look at the score, and know happiness.