Up, up and away!

One of my favorite memories from living in Kansas was watching the hot air balloons ascend from the schoolyard across the street. One balloon in particular launched from this site on a regular basis. The ballon was unbelievably large and the colors were brilliant. Brenda took this photo as the balloon was inflating. This was taking place directly across the street from our house. We always knew when the balloons were getting ready to launch and enjoyed a front row seat!

Broken Leg

When Ben was very young he was playing with his cousin in the bedroom. He jumped from his bed and landed on a toy, twisting his leg and sustaining a spiral fracture or "skier's break." This was unusual for one so very young and with such flexible bones. But it caused Ben a great deal of pain.


At first, we did not know Ben's leg was broken. When he did not stop crying we took him to the emergency room. An x-ray confirmed the break and Ben was given an injection to help with the pain. I made the mistake of watching as they inserted the needle, and for the next 45 minutes Ben and I were laid out next to each other on beds in the emergency room. After the doctor finished putting on Ben's cast and was ready to discharge him, the nurse would not let me walk out to the parking lot and drive the car up to the door. Brenda had to do this because the nurse didn't trust me to drive.


With the cast, Ben could no longer walk and he seemed to become depressed. I have often wondered if his thinking at such a tender age was that he would never be able to walk again. He certainly had gone from a very active, run everywhere at full speed lifestyle to instant immobility. Fortunately, his leg healed well and he was up and around again as usual.


Unfortunately, in removing Ben's cast the doctor scraped his leg with the saw and a large keloid formed over the scrape. For a time, we thought Ben would require plastic surgery on his leg to correct this condition. But as he grew the keloid became less prominent.


Here is a photo of Ben and his cute little cast.

Thanksgiving 2007

Today is Thanksgiving. I have much for which I am grateful, especially my children and their families. Happy Thanksgiving, everyone! I pray that Heavenly Father will continue to bless you in all that you do.

Because we were invited to a friend's home for Thanksgiving dinner, we did not prepare our typical meal. No turkey, no mashed potatoes and gravy, no marshmallow-topped sweet potatoes, and no three bean salad. Instead, we took some dishes with us to dinner to share with others.

Last year people seemed to like my frog-eye salad, so I prepared this again. I used a different recipe and wasn't sure how it would turn out, but it was delicious. I followed the directions for one batch that was supposed to feed 8-10 people. I did not know if that would be enough, so doubled the recipe. By the time I was finished I had enough frog eye salad to feed at least 30 people. Needless to say, we will be having this as a leftover for several days! Note: I can't find the Ancini de Pepe for this salad in the grocery stores here. I will need to pick up some more when I go to Utah for Christmas.

I also made deviled eggs. I could not find Lindsey's famous recipe, so faked it as best as I could. The most frustrating part about making deviled eggs is trying to get the shells off the hard-boiled eggs. Some shells slip right off while others seem glued on. Once I managed to remove the shells, I mixed the yolks with a little bit of this and a little bit of that until they tasted right. Then I wrapped them in several layers of plastic wrap to keep Mom out of them until the meal.

Finally, I prepared a glazed spiral sliced ham. This is so easy that even I can do it well. I poured the glaze on the ham and cooked it for three hours. Done!

We miss having our children here, but have very fond memories of the times we would all work together to prepare our Thanksgiving meals. Each child would have one part of the meal to prepare. Somehow the chaos trying to share kitchen space, pots and pans, stove burners, and the oven would all work out in the end and we would enjoy a wonderful meal. I miss those days. Today Brian joined the meal with us; we were very glad to have him present.

We enjoyed a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday ... and are very grateful for all our blessings.

Sacrifice

In Stake Conference today President Nye reminded us that ours is a church of sacrifice, not a church of convenience. I just want it to be on the record that I did NOT go see Brian Regan perform this evening because it is the Sabbath (just like last time he came to Des Moines). So I certainly DID sacrifice -- again! (Sigh) I've got to figure out how to get him to come here on a day other than Sunday. Or I will have to have Laura record him next time he is in Utah and send me the recording. (Note: this is a joke and for any authorities who may read this I want to state emphatically that I am not in reality advocating any illegal taping or distribution activity.)

What a pain in the ... heel!

For the last few weeks I have been battling heel pain. My podiatrist diagnosed the problem as plantar fasciitis, which is Latin for "hurts like #@!$% when I get up in the morning and take my first steps or when I sit too long at my computer and get up to go eat." Mom's diagnosis is that I am "too old to still be playing basketball like a kid, and why don't you grow up and act your age."

As this diagram shows, the plantar tendon that runs along the bottom of the foot and attaches at the rear to the heel gets inflamed and causes quite a bit of pain.

I have been to see the doctor a couple of times. At the first visit he gave me some oral steroids and stretching exercises to do. When I came back for a second visit, he wanted to inject cortisone into my heel. I asked him what was Plan B. Then he gave me a boot to wear, as in this photo. So this is what I am now wearing to work and to church. I haven't been able to wear a normal shoe in several weeks.

Next he added a night splint, which I wear to bed to stretch the tendon while I am sleeping. None of this seems to be doing much good. I can't wait to see what the next visit brings. I suspect I will be getting the cortisone injection after all.

Between Mom and me, our house looks like a cross between a pharmacy and a durable medical equipment outlet. I don't know what hurts worse, my heel or not being able to play basketball.