Arm Strength

I'm finding myself disheartened. A month ago I made myself a promise that I would walk a minimum of 2 miles every week. I set a low mileage goal because I figured I would have no excuse to not meet it. I only made it through 3 weeks before I broke my foot. Now, in addition to not being able to keep that promise of extra walking, I'm not even able to move around 1/3 of what I would call my normal amount.

I've been struggling with how to honor the commitment to my health that I made a few weeks back. As I mentioned before, I am definitely finding crutches difficult to use. Taking into account the increased use of my arms, I decided to start lifting some weights to increase my arm strength. Ben got me set up with some weights that luckily we already owned and a space in the guest room with my Ipod nearby. He showed me a few different ways to target different muscles and I'm going to lift three times a week. It's a little depressing how little weight I can lift right now, but I guess you have to start somewhere.

Today the first song that came up on my Ipod was "In the Jailhouse Now." I've kind of been feeling imprisoned by this injury, and I found it sad-funny that this song came up right away.

Schmer’s Broken Foot

So…I broke the fifth metatarsal bone in my right foot. I was in San Francisco Monday, the last of our five days visiting Lisa, TK and Tommy. I was walking out in front of Lisa’s house carrying a large couch cushion (planning to scotch-gard it, her couch is new) and I wasn’t able to see my feet while walking. At a point where the slant of the driveway toward the garage meets the slant of the sidewalk down the hill, there is a mounded patch of cement. I stepped on it, rolled my foot sideways and fell.

I saw a GP on Tuesday who gave me a Velcro shoe and recommended I see a specialist. He also gave me Vicodin – I’ve been taking half a pill at night to help with the pain and to help me sleep. Sleep has been particularly difficult as I cannot lie on my right side at all and it’s tricky to negotiate a comfortable sleeping position that also supports my foot but doesn’t make the rest of my leg tense up weirdly.

Ben picked up some crutches for me on Tuesday night – I was using one crutch on my right side for a day, but have switched over to two to be safe. That’s also been difficult because the combination of being heavy and having weak arms means it’s not possible for me to have absolutely no weight on my right foot for very long.

I saw an orthopedic surgeon yesterday who gave me a boot to use instead. It’s better support than the shoe, although kind of a pain in the ass to get on and off. She predicts that I’ll need to use the crutches and the boot for four weeks, then just the boot for another four, which means hopefully I’ll be back up and moving by my birthday.

So, that’s the latest!

Someday, I'll sing...I think

So, Tuesday, I showed up at PGE park and walked down to home plate, where I met a five year old boy and his mother. The five year old was also scheduled to sing the National Anthem that day...sooo, I said I would take another day, since no one was able to come see me on Tuesday anyway. Now, I'm rescheduled for September 3rd, at a soccer game instead of a baseball game, which should be more fun to watch (for me) anyway. I keep having these moments where I say to myself, "in 12 hours you will have done it" and it keeps being a freaking lie! ;)

My voice teacher pointed out yesterday that including Grammie's funeral, we had two lessons in a row for songs I never ended up singing. ;) But, apparently, I'm not allowed to use that as an excuse not to pay her.

Break a leg, Sheryl! also news from Kay

Hope all goes well tonight, honey! This Christmas, could I have another CD of you singing? I sent you a birthday gift from Guatemala and will try to send a card tomorrow.

I heard a bit about Grammie's service and your time in Illinois from Kaylin. Wish I could have been there.

I now have a CD of pictures from Guatemala finished and leave Thursday morning on my trip to Australia. I'll leave a copy of my itinerary with Roberta here at the house in the basket near the front door. Will come back Saturday night the 22nd, about 8:30. I'm sure Mike Boldus will also have the itinerary. If Roberta can't pick me up, can you, Scott? She's also going to ask a friend from church if that is a possibility. Roberta often works Saturday nights until after 10 and doesn't know her schedule this far in advance. There is always the metro and taxi, if noone can come.

Lisa and TK, I sent a birthday pkg for TK and a Guatemala souvineer hot pad for chef Tommy to your house. I forgot to send it to the office. Sorry. Did I tell you Elaine and Doug will be in San Francisco before and after Lisa and Tommy return? They hope to get together while they are there. They're with a group of collectors of oriental art. This is their first trip since Doug was so sick except to visit their son and daughter in law in New York.

Guatemala trip was just great. Don't remember if I told you anything or not yet.

Need to get my bio off for the college 50th reunion. The deadline is about to expire. love, Mom, etc.

Happy Birthday, Fay!

Hope work was easy and that you ate something yummy!

Summer update

A few updates - I was originally scheduled to sing at the Beavers game on May 4th, but it got rained out. Then I was scheduled for June 12th, but then the scheduler called back and said she had made a mistake and that June 12th was already booked. I am now scheduled to sing at the August 4th game.

I learned to knit earlier in the year and have been knitting and felting bags for the past few months. My neighbor and I are going to have a table at Multnomah Days (a street fair in a nearby hamlet) in mid-August and see if we can make some sales!

Ben and I drove to his Dad's house in eastern Washington on the Columbia River. We made the drive there on June 13th, which was the two year anniversary of our arrival in Portland - we were driving some of the same roads by which we made the drive in that day, so it was kind of neat. Plus, driving right along the river is just amazing when it's clear. We drove back yesterday, so it was a short trip, but we went out on the boat yesterday morning and Ben water-skied for the first time in a long time.

We're discontinuing our home phone service

Just wanted to warn you guys - we are able to save a little money on our bill this way, and we almost always end up using our mobile phones anyway. So, the 503 946 number will be disconnected sometime in the next two days! Yay!!