You must pay a price for beauty

The girls had a Halloween Monster Mash Party at school on Friday so they got to wear their costumes.  The night before I pinned Darcy's hair to give her some curl as I didn't have any rollers (forgot to ask Kelly before she left).  When I was young my mother use to take strands of my hair, whirled it around til it formed a circle, and pinned it with two bobby pins in an X formation.  Then she would wrap my head with a scarf and I would sleep like that all night.  It was something her own mother did with her to give her pin curls.  I loved it.

Darcy's hair turned out quite curly and "poofy" as she called it.  She thought it fit her costume so well she made me do it again last night in preparation for tonight's trick or treating.  While we watched television I pinned her hair over and over and over.  I did a better job this second time around.

It took the entire episode of Survivor to pin it and we used 86 bobby pins to hold it all in place.  Then she wrapped her head in a twisty towel and went to bed.

This morning we removed all the pins and BEHOLD:  curls!

Halloween photos on tomorrow's post!  Happy Halloween everyone!

Out of the mouths of my babes

Me (pulling into the hospital):  Now listen up.  We are here to visit Grandma and that is what I want to see happening.  I don't want you to go in there and start messing around with the gloves.  Each of you have to sit and discuss a subject with Grandma for at least ten minutes.

Darcy:  "And then can we mess with the gloves?"

A day with Rustoleum

My brother popped into town to visit his mother.  We visited some rehabilitation centers as the hospital is talking about moving her to one.  Mostly we entertained her as that is what he does best.  I made sure to take notes, pictures, and videos.  Behold:

Sayings from his mouth:

• Let's just all relax.  Sit back and take it easy.  Simmer.
• Wherever you go, there you are.
• It's funny how people get out of your way when you pull out in front of them.

Pictures:

I told him he looked like a meat cutter.

"You mean a butcher?"

"What are you talking about? Do you have any sense?"

"I am loved by all!"

"When you are as good looking as I am...."

Videos:

He danced for me and I video taped it and told him I was going to put it on facebook so that our old neighbors and his buddies from grade school could see him now.  I mentioned names and that set him off on an old neighbor, Bill, while I was video taping.  I mouthed to him that I was video taping this and so he went off....

Then just because he was on a roll with the neighbors he moved on to another neighbor and left him a message.  Problem is....this is only funny if you know the players and the history....

R.I.P. Thumb

After Darcy's birth we discovered that she sucked her tongue while in the womb and thus had trouble outside the womb when it came time to eat.  She kept her tongue on the roof of her mouth and sucked it.  We had to spend a few moments before feeding massaging her tongue until finally after two months she stopped and latched on to the breast.  From those early days of the tongue sucking she went on to sucking her two fingers, a pacifier and finally her thumb. Obviously she has had to suck.

In the third grade she was diagnosed with tongue thrust, a condition where the tongue pushes against the front teeth when at rest or when swallowing.  She went to a speech pathologist but therapy could not begin until she stopped sucking her thumb.  She never did.  This past summer she had an orthodontist consult and he recommended an appliance that would fit on the roof of her mouth and would keep her tongue from reaching the front teeth.  It would also stop her from sucking her thumb.  He would put in the appliance even if we started therapy with a speech therapist.

Darcy was okay with it all.  She wasn't thrilled, but a part of her wanted braces and a part of her thought this appliance might not be so bad.  She didn't want to stop sucking her thumb, but she was ready to take the next step.  We set the dates.

Two weeks ago she got her braces, but the appliance did not fit.  She came out of the appointment quite excited at having another four weeks of time with her thumb.  That was the time frame we were given in fixing the appliance.  A week later we got the phone call that the appliance had been adjusted, but due to other circumstances we were unable to come in and have the appliance put it.  The office lady and I decided to keep the original dates.

Wednesday we went into the orthodontist for spacers that would help open up space between her teeth so that the appliance would fit.  These would be worn for one week at which time we would return for the appliance.  All the way to the appointment Darcy sucked her thumb.

The spacer appointment takes about five minutes.  After thirty minutes of sitting in the waiting room, I began to get a sick feeling in the bottom of my stomach.  The slow boil began inside my head.  If they were putting in that appliance today without her being prepared....

The technician came out and called me back.  Slowly steam started wafting out of my ears as I followed her through the maze of hallways listening to her chippy voice tell me that they had gone ahead and put in the appliance as her spaces were still open from two weeks ago.  By this time I could see the back of Darcy in the chair, sitting ramrod straight.  I came to her side, took one look at her forlorn face, and dropped to my knees to grab her in a hug.  The huge tears rolled down her cheeks and the steam poured from my ears and my stomach lurched.  I told her I hadn't known.  I hadn't known they would pull this dirty trick, and had I known I would not have let them do it.  Not without letting her prepare for the loss of her thumb, her security blanket.  The tears just continued rolling down her cheeks and into the front of my shirt.

The orthodontist came running.  He didn't understand.  From his point of view he had just wasted three weeks of braces that weren't doing any good against a thrusting tongue.  He thought we would be thrilled that we weren't going to waste another week.  I told him she was a thumb sucker and hadn't prepared for that loss today.  She was prepared for next week.  His face fell.  He had a daughter that was a thumb sucker.  He knew.  He felt terrible, but the damage was done.

We left and spent several minutes in the car hugging, both of us crying, Darcy for the loss of her thumb and me for the loss of my baby.  For as long as she sucked her thumb, I still had a little girl, a baby, that enjoyed sitting on my lap or curled against my chest. 

In the end the cold turkey was probably better for both of us.  Darcy had a hard first night and ended up snuggled in bed between us, Molly held tightly in her arms.  She likes me to scratch her back before I say good night now and so I still get some snuggle time.  Her speech is affected greatly, but she laughs along with the rest of her friends and family when she hears herself speak funny.  She cleans her appliance and her teeth very efficiently each night.  She has gotten over the orthodontist's deception.  She is growing up.

I have taken to babying the dog.

Monday Football Recap

Steelers football:

•  First week of the "we will suspend you if we deem it an illegal hit", and despite James Harrison's whining about quitting, the Steelers defense came out to play, albeit a tad more timid.  The way I see things is that players now have to hit lower to make a tackle and this just puts legs, knees, and ankles at risk.  Which is better?  As one announcer pointed out, the legs are the players livelihood.  But once retirement comes I'd assume you would want your mind.  Yet these men know what they are getting into....
• Ben was certainly more rusty this week then last so I hope he spends the week getting his head back into the game before we meet with the Saints.
• And the offensive line was as rusty as the quarterback so I hope they get with Ben and together work things out.
• We won the game on a call.  Right or wrong call it wasn't the way I want to win a game.  Winners can't afford to get lazy.

Other:

• Buffalo played a great game of football Sunday until it came time to put it all away. A stripped ball and a boo hoo penalty didn't help my Steelers nor did it help the winless Bills.
• Favre admits to making phone calls to a Jets employee?  Still not seeing how this is the NFL's business.  Move on....But I do recommend checking out the SNL Wrangler Open Fly Jeans commercial. 
• Watched the instructional video sent to all players and teams regarding the new way to hit and to not hit.  Think the NFL has opened up a huge can of worms, and while I figured the big wigs would be very busy today reviewing games it seems the players responded and behaved.  Think this will be an item on the list when it comes time to vote on whether or not to strike next season?
• Go Josh Freeman! Another Buccaneer fourth quarter comeback and another game with no interceptions.  Might just be the rookie is becoming a veteran!

Kid sewing 101

Two years ago or so Madison received a sewing machine for Christmas.  She had expressed some interest in learning to sew and enjoyed knitting and such so I recommended that my mother get her that gift.  My mother is not the sewing type.  She use to staple my father's pockets together if they came undone to avoid having to sew.  But Madison's paternal Grandmother, Mary Anne, is a seamstress and my friend's mother is a seamstress and both offered to help her learn how to use a machine.

Tom, Darcy and I made a trip to the fabric store and consulted with a nice lady on what to start Madison out on making.  She recommended an apron or pajama bottoms, something the store taught in their beginning classes.  Because an apron was what I made in my first attempt at sewing in Home Economics class so that we could wear them while we learned to cook, I skipped right over that and went straight to the pajama bottoms.  Darcy and I picked out cute material we thought Madison would like and purchased the pattern and all the extras needed to complete the task.

In the months after Christmas while all the other gifts were being used the sewing machine sat forlornly in the corner of the playroom.  One day Madison got it out and, with her father's help (he learned at the knee of his mother), learned how to thread the bobbin and work the machine.  She made things on her own:  Barbie stuff for Darcy, headbands for friends, and darning for her mother. Something always seemed to come before the sewing lessons for both the student and the teacher and before we knew it two years had passed.

Finally this summer the two got together to make the bottoms.  Madison went to her grandmother's house and they learned how to work the machine.  Then Grandma came to our house and taught Madison how to cut a pattern, iron, and sew.  They quickly went through the job and by the time Mary Anne left the bottoms were almost completed.  She left Madison with instructions and a few days later Madison completed them and showed off her creation.

We all oohed and aahed and were quite proud of the job she had done.  I began to envision the piles of bottoms she would sew for the family.  I discussed where we could purchase tops to match the cute bottoms.  Then we all cheered for her to put them on, and so she did.  Only they were too small.  They weren't long enough and were a tad tight around the waist.  Two years ago they would have fit quite nicely.

No matter, we shouted.  Enter the younger sister (who just happened to have a matching shirt).

We have promised Madison more material and a bigger pattern and maybe another outfit of her choosing.  In the meantime; however, the younger sister is quite happy.  Isn't that always the way it goes?

Monday Football Recap

Steelers Recap:

• Ben was rusty, but he did a good job of shaking it off and making big plays.  I missed his entrance into the stadium, but I'm told he was cheered and not jeered.  The fans, along with his teammates, are willing to stand behind him in his character re-building, but he is going to have to show me more then just a few weeks of signing autographs and saying the right things.  Still, he is our quarterback and a good one at that.  It was nice to have him back leading the team.
• James Harrison's helmet hits on two Cleveland Brown players were seriously awful, knocking out one player and ringing the bell of another.  The league wants these kind of plays stopped, but how can it do that?  A defensive player runs after an offensive player and a lot of times he lowers his head to make the tackle.  At the same time the offensive player is lowering his head to get further on the field or his head is lowered for him from another defensive player tackles him.  Sometimes neither player can stop the momentum.  I don't know how a ref can say what is direct and what is an accident.  That said, Harrison should have been penalized on the first hit.  Not so sure about the second one, awful as it was.  I don't know what the answer is, but something has to be done.
• Once again the defense let a touchdown through toward the end of the game.  Shouldn't have happened in the last two games and it shouldn't have happened yesterday.  Play the game until the end boys and you really will bring back the Steel Curtain.

Around the league:

• I still don't understand the whole Brett Favre scandal or why the NFL cares.  I don't think either player is complaining are they?  This sounds like something between Brett and his wife not between Brett and the NFL.  I need way more information on this and until I do I'm tired of hearing about it.
• And did anyone really believe Brett wasn't going to play today and ruin his record of consecutive starts?  But tensions seem to be mounting where Favre is concerned as this quote from Vikings' coach, Brad Childress, seemed a tad nasty.  On the many hits Favre took from the Cowboys, Childress stated, "We're paying him enough a game.  He's going to get hit."  Ouch!
• Had a hard time rooting for the Patriots and Tom Brady with his long, fluffy hair, but we needed them to beat the Ravens.
• The whole "can not celebrate" rule in the end zone has to be one of the dumbest rules.  Really?  This is what makes me crazy about the NFL.  We allow thugs, wife beaters, rapists, animal abusers to continue playing, we allow helmet to helmet hits, we allow men with concussions back out on the field, but we can't celebrate a touch down?  AAAAAHHHHH!

And now I'm ready for more football!

And now back to the slides

I've occasionally gone back to copying slides on to my computer while doing other computer chores because my mother-in-law is wanting her scanner back.  I still have tons of slides to copy, but I've gotten through my birth to the 1970's.  Pretty much after that my Dad didn't do as much with slides unless it was a vacation.

My Dad loves to get out the slides and watch them about three or four times a year, and I was always the one that sat with him in the dark basement flipping through them.  I loved looking back on a life I didn't remember and laughing at the photos of a me I couldn't grasp.

In his later years my Dad video taped the slides as he went through them adding his commentary.  I think I might have those videos somewhere in the piles of junk inside my closet, but I haven't had the strength to watch them.  Now that I'm missing slides I feel the need to search for those videos and see if those missing slides will turn up.

But in the meantime I'm  thrilled with the slides that I do have.  It is surreal to go through them and guess the date and wonder what my parents were thinking and feeling, especially knowing more background now then I certainly knew when I was younger.  Odd to be in the same place as a parent now.

Next up is tackling the entrance of my baby brother.

The beast takes a licking but keeps on ticking...

Monday night as I was locking doors and turning off lights after 11:00 PM I noticed the front door ajar.  I peeked outside and saw my husband in the front yard playing catch with the beast, Elliot in the pitch darkness.  He was not on a leash because it was a time when all good people are snuggled up in their beds sleeping.  For the most part my husband does not put the dog on a leash in the evenings because he usually meets up with some of Elliot's friends and they frolick without the hindrance of a leash.  You getting the foreshadowing here?

I went to bed and apparently fell into such a deep sleep that I missed what happened next.  Around 11:30 or so a car came slowly down the street and turned into one of our neighbor's driveways.  It did not stay long, prompting me to wonder when hearing this story what was happening there, before backing out of the driveway and coming back down our street.  Tom was trying to distract Elliot with the ball, but he was having none of it.  In the last six months or so he has wanted to chase certain cars:  cars with trailers hooked to the back and cars that have loud mufflers.  I don't know what attracted him to this car, but he took off after it.  Tom shouted at him, but it did no good and he heard a loud "THUMP".  The car continued down the street and out of the darkness came the beast, limping and panting, a nice tire tread across his side.

Tom, his heart racing, brought the dog inside and checked him over and over and over, again and again and again.  Other than the mark and the panting Elliot appeared fine.  Tom gave him a bath and then let him crawl into our bed where he spent the entire night, not something he does because he prefers the coolness of the tile.  The next day he was quite clingy, but showed no signs of distress.  Today he is back to driving me crazy.

While I did not want a dog and while I whine and grouse about caring for the beast, I am hooked.  The little pain in the ass has grown on me and stolen my heart, and of course I don't want anything to happen to him.  Even if he is not the smartest dog....he tried to chase a car today while in the very same spot in the front yard.  I can't even tell you the years that have been shaved off of my life with this beast, but for better or worse he is a part of our family.

Connie Update #3

Sunday night the podiatrist removed the wound pump and gave Connie's foot a 24 hour rest.  He wrapped it and told her she could put all the weight she wanted on her toes, but to work on keeping the weight off of the wound.  This is something she has been doing all along because to heal she needs to be off the wound.

Monday the wound nurse came to reapply the wound pump.  I was there to document the results.  I had not seen the wound since the day after surgery so I was anxious to see it.  I was also anxious to record the results for all my blogger readers out there waiting with bated breath.  The wound nurse's reply to that?  "You have one sick family."

Pfft.  This?  This is nothing.  I mentioned our persistence with fecal updates just so she knew we were way sicker than she thought.

 After cleansing the wound, she cut and inserted a black piece of foam into the wound.  The wound has closed so much that no longer can I insert a golf ball.  For the most part the foam was over the wound instead of in it.  It is then attached to the pump which in turn pumps out the goop and heals from the inside out.

Connie's foot is looking much better, although her toes are still slightly swollen as is the right side of her foot.  She has graduated to walking outside her room and up and down two hallways.  On Tuesday the therapist wheeled her outside for the first time to give her some fresh air.

Her spirits are still up.  She is enjoying someone cooking her three meals a day.  She enjoys conversing with all of the employees from different nationalities.  She keeps a daily log of all the names, occupations and ethnicities on a Kleenex box. It is almost full, but they have brought her another box just in case.  She is doing well.

Monday's Football Recap - on hiatus

The Steelers had off this past Sunday and are busy welcoming back Big Ben.  While they were busy getting prepared for next Sunday's game I took time off as well.  To help with my youngest daughter's science project.  She is to collect 12-15 different insects for a study of entomology.  She is to kill these insects, identify them, and pin them to a board for a collection.  It is not a project I relished.

Two years ago my niece had this same project only she had to collect 48 different insects.  You can read and see her project here.  She knew about her project four months ahead of schedule and she had all summer to collect them.  Since I spent quite a bit of the summer with her I got to experience and help her in this project.  I actually transported a giant scarab beetle we found outside our hotel in Tennessee all the way to Illinois where it got loose in the car before we gave up on the damn thing and chucked it.  I can still remember opening my sister-in-law's freezer to get an ice pop and instead finding a bag with a frozen insect!  I thought then it was an incredibly hard and idiotic assignment.

Fast forward to now and my constant itching.  Not to mention that I'm helping two kids complete this assignment.  My friend, the mother of Darcy's buddy, Sarina, absolutely abhors animals of any kind.   One time I was standing outside her front door talking to her.  She was inside the house and as we talked she started to slowly close the front door until only her face was peeking out.  At this point she said, "I'm sorry, but there is a cat behind you trying to get inside my house so I have to close the door good-bye."  And she did just that.  I stood there thinking, "What?" and I turned around to find a small kitten at the end of her driveway heading my way, a good sixty feet away from the front door.  I knew then she didn't like animals.  She does tolerate my dog, but I would never ask her to care for him or pop over to let him out in an emergency.  Now her daughter has a project where insects will have to be brought into her home.  No way!  Sarina's insects have been residing at my house. 

Since I do not want Jyoti's fears to cross to her daughter (more so then they already have) I took it upon myself to help her catch her 12 insects.  She found two dead insects at school and passed them to me in baggies.  She discovered a large grasshopper during break time in the grass at the school's sports field and Darcy and a classmate caught it.  Since Jyoti doesn't want Sarina to have to kill any insects and risk therapy down the road Darcy killed the grasshopper in the "kill jar" with a fingernail polish soaked Kleenex.  Meanwhile Darcy has nonchalantly collected insects from the neighbors' garages and lawns.  The two boys down the street gave her a grasshopper, a dragonfly and a roach.  The neighbor next door offered her a cricket.  I found several bugs for both girls in the windowsill of the garage and our screened in back porch.  Most all of these bugs were already dead.

The assignment was to kill the insects and then dry them out.  Most of ours were already dried out.  Unfortunately when we started to identify and pin them we found that they were slightly over dried.  Several were missing limbs and some just plain exploded into pieces when the pin pierced them.  Darcy's bugs that is.  Sarina's bugs were nicely preserved and she completed her board by the end of our Sunday nine hour work day. 

We started at 1:00 PM on Sunday.  We had the two girls, three adults, and later, Madison, identifying these insects.  We were to use Purdue University's entomology website, and we downloaded a huge file of pictures and information of insects found in the field.  It took forever!  We had a magnifying glass and one pair of surgical tweezers (from Connie in the hospital).  Jyoti, Sarina, and I worked on Sarina's bugs while Kelly, Madison, and Darcy worked on hers. It took about 6 hours to identify all of the bugs and I think I may have just made up one along the way.

The pinning came next and Kelly and Jyoti took over that project while Madison and I cooked dinner.  I did manage to catch the end of the Tampa Bay Bucs' game on the TV and watch the Rays' baseball game on my second computer screen, but for the most part sports were out and insects were in.  By the time 10:00 PM rolled around I was done.  I made the girls pack up their projects, sent the guests home, and tucked Darcy into bed.  Five of her bugs are useless and so we are back out in nature come Tuesday.  The project is due next Monday.  She has Friday off from school.  It all has to be completed by Sunday's Steelers' kick-off at 1:00 PM.  Come hell or high water....

Happy 80th!

Back in September, before my mother ended up in a hospital on a six week antibiotic regiment, my husband and his siblings threw a surprise birthday party for their mother.  My mother-in-law, Mary Anne, turned 80 years young at the end of the month. 

The party was in a restaurant on the water with good food, good friends, good music, and family.  My mother-in-law was very surprised.  When she arrived everyone was there and shouted out the obligatory, "Surprise!" and then broke out in the Happy Birthday song.

 Because the party was during the month that school had started, all of the out of town grandchildren were not there to help celebrate, but those that live here were there to pick at the strange hors d' oeuvres, dance on the dance floor, and help grandma blow out her candles.

It was a very nice celebration of a very nice lady.  I am quite lucky that she and her husband welcomed me into their family, and I couldn't have asked for a better mother-in-law.  Happy Birthday Mary Anne!  May you have another twenty years so that we can party to an even bigger celebration!

Darcy takes 3rd

Each year our school participates in a National Immigration Writing Contest.  It is for all fifth graders and an immigration lawyer comes into class and talks to the students about what immigration is and what it is the lawyers do in representing immigrants.  The students are sometimes given a topic such as, What it is like to live in a land of immigrants.

Darcy wrote her paper in March when she was a fifth grader.  She chose to write an essay and worked diligently with her teacher and then her mother to finalize her paper.  She turned it in and promptly forgot about it.  Last month she received a letter from the Central Florida Chapter of American Immigration Lawyers lettering her know she had placed third in the writing contest and was invited to read her paper at a luncheon. 

Darcy and the other winners (her classmate won 2nd place and a young man from the Orlando area took 1st) went to the luncheon on Friday and read their poems and essays.  Each winner received a nice check and a plaque. We are very proud of her!

Here is her essay:

By Darcy Boos

The United States is a melting pot of many different cultures due to immigration.  Many foreign people immigrate to our country for one thing: personal freedom.  They bring with them a piece of their world, and we in turn embrace the new customs, foods, and languages.

            Customs are certain ways of doing things that are common to people and places.  As people immigrated to the United States they brought their own beliefs, their own holidays, and their own ways of life.  We in turn began to incorporate these customs into our own lives.  Where Americans once only shook hands when greeting one another, we now hug and kiss the European way.  Many of our holidays came from other countries.  Halloween and St. Patrick’s Day came from Ireland, and Valentine’s Day originated in Rome.  Now these holidays are a part of our own traditions as are the different foods introduced to our country. 

            Spaghetti, poori, and paella are types of food we now eat in the United States.  Spaghetti is a very common dish here, but it originated in Italy and was brought to the United States by the Italian immigrants.  Poori came from India and paella is a dish from Spain.  Having these new recipes have added spice and variety to our dinner table and given us many different types of restaurants.  Besides the new foods immigrants have also given us many new languages.

            Muchos idiomas diferentes estan usados en nuestro mundo hoy.  Many different languages are used in our country.  While the United States does not have an official language most of the people speak English.  But they also speak Spanish, German, French, Chinese and even Norwegian.  Having other people in our country speaking different types of languages helps the rest of us learn.  Without immigrants bringing these languages with them I might not be learning Spanish and Chinese in my school today.

            Every year people enter our country from near and far looking for a new way of life.  They bring with them their country’s traditions, foods, languages, and customs.  All of these different ways of life are intermingled with one another to form a rich melting pot which today makes up the United States of America. 

It's beginning to feel like fall

A week ago we had a little front move in over our state and suddenly the 90 degree weather was gone just like that (snap).  I went out in the garage to get the water bottles for the lunch boxes and brrr...I was chilled.  It was wonderful.  Suddenly everyone flipped off the air conditioning and threw open the windows.  Fall was creeping in on little cat feet (yes, Connie, I know it is fog).

I was so in love with the weather that I pulled out the Halloween decorations and spent the afternoon decorating.  I did some outside and a little inside, and I enjoyed every minute of it.  Elliot helped me on the outside decorating, but after the scarecrows were put into the ground he suddenly saw them as intruders and he barked and ran around the yard as if the scarecrows were chasing him.  Eventually I had to pull them out of the ground and let him exam them before I could put them back.  He got use to them, but he still likes to keep an eye on them.

My neighbors put out their scarecrows the same day too, but Elliot didn't discover them until a few days later on his walk.  Commence the barking and running around growling.  His making noise set off the dog inside the house and her barking made Elliot more frantic.  It took a day or so, but he is now resigned to all the decorations in his territory.

I love driving up to my house and seeing that fall has arrived, such as it is in Florida.  The girls are looking through catalogs for costumes and I'm checking out recipes with pumpkin as the main ingredient.  The weather is suppose to warm up by next week, but in the meantime it jump started all of us into embracing the month.

 

An oldie, but a goodie!

Forget Monday Football Recap - Rays Win!

Congratulations to the Tampa Bay Rays the AL East Division Champs!

Out of the mouths of my babes

Me: (helping Darcy study for a science test)  "How many pairs of legs do insects have?"

Darcy:  "Insects have 3 pairs of legs."

Me:  "How many body segments?"

Darcy:  "Three"

Me:  "Name them."

Darcy:  "The head, the thorax, and the abob-da-men."

Me:  "The word is abdomen."

Darcy:  "Well, it looks like abob-da-men to me."

And still she sits

Connie still sits in the hospital, although she sometimes moves slowly from her bed to sit in a chair. She has yet to investigate the bathroom, but she maneuvers well from bed to bedside commode. What? You think that too personal? Hey people, long term care ain't pretty!

She isn't suppose to put any weight on her left charcot foot so walking on one leg is quite difficult.  She has occupational therapy to work her upper body and physical therapy to work her lower body.  She is strong in the upper and very weak in the lower.  The PT has her walk from the bed to the door and a few steps out the door where she can peek down the hallway, but by the time she is back to the bed she is done.  One legged walking isn't easy for anyone....except for Darcy. (should have a picture of her on the walker, but didn't take it)

I try to make it up there once a day, but it isn't always easy.  Once you are there you must gown and glove up, something the girls embrace with relish for awhile.  Madison was wandering the room today in her gown and I commented on how she looked like a doctor in her gown.  Since she wants to be a vet I said I could certainly see her as one at least in looks.

Me:  "You aren't suppose to wear the gown out here in the hallway."

Madison:  "That is silly.  It is just a waste."

Me:  "But you are bringing germs out into the hallway and putting other patients at risk."

Madison:  "And the germs aren't wafting out the top of the door into the hallway infecting others?"

Darcy:  "I have to use the bathroom."

Me:  "I don't know where it is."

Darcy:  "Madison, come with me."

Me:  "No!  She can't go with you dressed in that gown."

Madison:  "Of course I can.  I'm a doctor."