twinkle toes Thursday...

Thistle exploring her deepest snow ever!

Yay, I seem to come out the other side of this knee surgery! Last night, we removed the big old bandages the doctor put on and got the first look at what he’d repaired.  I just have two little holes in my knee with a couple of stitches in each.  After we removed that big heavy bandage, I am walking much better. The knee is still pretty stiff and not bending real well but the pain is pretty much gone. I have put the medication away and switched to just ibuprofen.  I am still using my trusty friend, Mr. Cryocuff, but all in all, I think I’m finally through the worst of it! I just have two rather large band-aids covering the surgical sites now.

see, just a couple of little punctures to do all that great work!

Tuesday night and Wednesday were not fun, though, let me tell ya.  They should have warned me how bad it was going to hurt after the medication they injected into my knee wore off.  I did manage to make it yesterday to the State of the County Address, with the help of my loving husband. It was so nice to get out. I know I was only in the house for two days, but it felt like eons!  Everyone seemed kind of surprised that I was already up and about but they should know me by now.  Everyone came up and offered sympathies and we all swapped stories of everyone’s past surgeries. It’s so funny how people like to relate their own painful memories to commiserate.

Except for the County luncheon, I pretty much slept yesterday, which was probably the best thing I could do. This morning I feel like a new person.  Like I said, the knee’s a little stiff but I really don’t have any actual pain left.

I’m going to try to get back to my normal routine now. I got things to do, people to see, ya know! My friend, Bobbie, who I frequently walk dogs with, also had surgery on Monday. She has had a problem with detached retinas and they had to do some repair on her eye.  So, I’m going to hobble over to her house after my tan this morning and see if I can’t cheer her up and make her laugh.  She’s the friend that has the four dogs, all of them more precious than the last.  The only one that doesn’t really mind playing with Thistle is Agnes, though.  I’m going to leave Ms Thistle at home, however, no need to make a scene with dogs going nuts, right?

I can’t believe it’s already Thursday!  I really lost this week with the surgery!  I just got an email from another bestie, Pam, who had to fly to Syracuse, NY last week because her Gram passed away.  She recounted the horror of flying out of Gillette during that big snowstorm we had the middle of last week. Amazingly, even though they had delays lifting off, she made it to New York on time.  She said coming home yesterday was no fun either!  Can’t wait to hear what all she ate and shopped for while in the “big city”.

That’s one of the funny parts of living here in Wyoming.  Anytime we go somewhere else, it’s like going to some exotic foreign land after living here in such a quiet little place.  We all lament about not having the big city perks at times, but when we do leave and go to the big city, we are all high-tailing it back to Buffalo as fast as we can!  It’s almost like running back into the comfort of your mother’s arms after some big bully has attacked you. All of us here really enjoy going places but I think we enjoy even more, the return home.

Last night, Jim and his wife and kids came over to visit for a few minutes. They are settling into their new home quite nicely.  Jim starts his new planning/GIS job with Rob as of today!  The kids were all a-flutter about the new house and just bursting with what they’ve discovered.  Breean is pretty much all unpacked and says it’s starting to feel like a home, too. I see a bright future here for that family.  Jim seems to be a real go-getter, like Rob and I think the Planning Dept is going to be running really smoothly now.  I hope so, because Rob has been really overworked lately.  One of the Planning Commission members seems to think Rob doesn’t do anything but approve sub-divisions.  It irks the heck out of Rob because these people only step foot into his office 12 times a year for meetings and have no idea what he actually does. Rob has been trying to re-work the Minor subdivision regulations for years but because he is constantly interrupted by phone calls and people coming into the office, it is taking him forever.  That’s not a project you can just pick up and work on, you have to be concentrating on the area you are working at or you get all screwed up.  I think citizen boards are awesome but they really need to realize that they are just lay-people and don’t know the inner workings of planning!

Yuck, was I just talking about planning? I am not a planner, by any stretch of the imagination! I think that’s why Rob and I get along so well.  He plans everything and I implement. I could no more have a list of things to do that a dog would. I don’t know why, believe me, I’ve tried to be that sort of person, but I am just not that organized.  I’m the ADD half of the equation, flittering about and landing on several projects at a time. I do manage to get them all done eventually, however, but it can look quite messy in the middle of my routine. I know it drives Rob crazy because he’s a super list maker. I’m grateful that he is, especially when we’re going on a trip or something because I’d forget half the stuff if it weren’t for him.  On the other hand, when we are traveling, I spend half my time messing with his itinerary because I like to be spontaneous.

We have to pack up all our photos tomorrow for a show in Sheridan on Saturday.  They are having a “Spring Fling” Art and Craft show at the Sheridan Fairgrounds. We really enjoy this particular show every year as we are usually the only photographers there.  It’s one of those shows where they don’t allow any commercial booths.  I usually spend half as much money as we make at these things, though.  Rob has a lot of new photos and we just got a new banner for the booth that just looks awesome.  Hopefully, the weather is going to cooperate, there’s been times we’ve taken our lives in our hands to get to this particular show!  Spring in Wyoming can be treacherous. We are coming into the time when we get our heaviest snows, although they melt quickly with the rising temperatures.

Anyway, hope you have a beautiful Thursday!  I am feeling so much better, feel like I’ve been through the wringer but hey, that’s what surgery does to a person, right? Now, go out there and show the world what you are made of. Smile at people you pass today and you just might get a big old grin in return and maybe even make someone’s day!!

This was my "home" since Monday, gonna be tearing this all down today!

“After 12 years of therapy, my psychiatrist said something that brought tears to my eyes. He said ‘No hablo ingles’..” ~James Johnson