being an old grandma...

 This will be a rambler.  Yesterday, Grace was coming over with Grant, Ruth and Maeve.  Miss Char and Miss Cam have been staying at Margaret and Adrian's for a bit, with Wulf, Tennyson, and Blythe so Marge and Adrian could take a little breather down in Key West.  Char and Cam were bringing the kids over for a visit here.  Then Kathryn came for a visit with Achilles, Rhys, Jamison, and baby Ellis.  Now, Wulf and Grant are the oldest of these kids, being seven years old.  The other eight of them are five and under.  That's two 7 year olds, two 5 year olds, two 4 year olds, three 2 year olds, and baby Ellis.  (And Grace is due for baby girl in four weeks!). (This isn't all the grandchildren, Ben and Ashley have 3, Molly and Josh have 3, and Sonja and Oscar have baby Kaia).

So they all came tumbling in the door, and the fun began.  Wulf went straight for the hoverboard, he's only allowed to use it in the kitchen at this time, because I don't want to be crashed in to.  Tenny didn't like that Wulf went straight for the hoverboard, and Achilles, who got here first and was counting the minutes until his cousins arrived, didn't like that they were sqabbling about the hoverboard, and not playing whatever game he had in his head that they were all going to play.  Ruth and Rhys got right into some playing, with some begging for treats mixed in.  Jamie slugged Blythe for no apparent reason, which Wulf didn't like one little bit, he might be a crazy kid, but he's gentle with his baby sister.  So just kids being kids.  They were actually pretty good, as they didn't want to bump me, I think all their parents told them beforehand not to run around near Grandma's Chair.  :).  

Camille made a whole pan of fries and a pan of chicken strips, so they had a simple dinner, and they seemed to like it.  One child thought he'd be funny and was dancing in the table, but he listened and got down and sat nicely.  They were happy and funny and loud.  

I didn't do anything but talk to them, listen to them, and enjoy them.  :)

They liked my Christmas decorations, and left a few toys scattered around, but their mamas and the girls cleaned most of it up.  (I cannot clean up yet.  I can carry like one coffee mug with me to put in the sink, and I can stand there and wash it, but...). I have also leaned over and picked things up, but it's a snail's pace, and I don't want to fall.  

Old Kitty and I, this fine morning.  She has been my little purring friend.  My nights are a series of naps, she likes to jump up and snuggle as close as she can get, and she seriously purrs.  She is half on my keyboard right now. 

Last night:  on the couch at ten, flat on my back...10:30, still awake...come ON, fall asleep!  It must have happened, because I opened my eyes, and midnight!  I was so stiff and uncomfortable, I got up, used the bathroom, bent the knee, switched out the ice, then tried again, on the couch. La de dah, I drifted off after forever,  I woke up again and it was three.  Up again, bathroom, switched the ice, stretched and bent the knee, then to the recliner...it was now 3:30.  I scrolled through my phone for a bit, had a drink, took two tylenol, then woke up and it was 6:30, so another three hours.  Okay, morning!  I got up, cleaned up and brushed my teeth, and did my exercises, I was so stiff from sleeping almost three hours!  

Paul got me a coffee, and after I iced and elevated, I sat here and relaxed.  He went to get the new tires installed on my car YAY, and I got up and used the little peddler, filled my water bottle, switched the ice, and here I am...it's time to get up again, and take a shower, because today is the dreaded PT.

Sonja might come visit later.  It's hard not having Char and Cam here.  Paul is great, but he also works full time, albeit from his office right down the hall.  One of the reasons I go out and about so often is that I don't like hearing all of his phone calls, I am a Get-Involver.  It's not even remotely my concern that Pam needs to itemize the sequences or if returns get pushed to level three or if India is coming onboard or whatever.  But when it's the only noise you hear, well.  So usually I keep busy and leave the house really often, and let him do his work.  

He will totally come help me when I need it, and thankfully this week I've gotten a bit more independent.  I can do all of my exercises by myself, get the ice out before I start, he just has to help me bring the big bolster thing over to prop my leg after for icing/elevating.  I can get it down by myself after, and carry the bolster back to where I sit and prop my leg.  He brings me my morning coffee, and when he's between calls and actively doing work, he asks if I need anything.  He helps me with showering, which is a whole 'nother comedy show.  (I shower myself, he just is there when I sit back onto the shower chair, it's over the ledge, and hard to get onto, then helps me back up after....)

I had a dream the other night that I was walking normally without the walker, and it felt fantastic.  So there is a goal here!

I talked on the phone with my sister last evening, after I finished up my exercises and I was lying on the couch icing/elevating.  I mentioned the alternate reality we seem to be living in...we are 60 and 70 years old, and both of us having trouble getting around, making it to the bathroom is a major adventure.  How is this us?  Why, just last week we were nursing babies while changing diapers while making peanut butter and jellies!  We were hatching plans to bring all of our kids on great adventures, at least to the mall once a week!  Oh time flies and one minute you're too young to be taken seriously, the next you're too old to be taken seriously.  :)

Ah well.  I won't publish this now, because what fun would it be without the physical therapy session update?  Just a hint:  the last session was a DOOZY.  They seem to think it's only a success if they push push push....oh that pop when my knee went around on the cycle...yay, they said, scar tissue!  Oh it hurt.  And shh, don't Drama Queen me!  :)

I'm baaack!  One more PT session finished!  My bend was:  97!  I would have liked more, but was glad we're moving in the right direction.  Slow and steady, right? I did my leg lifts and heel slides and thigh presses.  I got on the bike again, and pedaled back and forth, got my foot to the top of the pedal, then went back down the other way...then dang it, mind over matter, I pushed the foot around, it hurt.  ouchie-wah wah.  But, I did it again and again, for five minutes, which seems like the longest five minutes ever.  Shh, it did hurt less after a few cycles.

There was a new torture this week:  the leg press.  I had to climb onto it, which was hard...it was not comfy at all.  But, I was able to do it, only two sets of ten, as it's new and they don't want to scare me away.  I had to sit with my foot on a stool so the knee hung down, trying to get it more straight, that's another doozy.

But.  After ice and elevation, walking out of there I felt a bit more limber, and a bit more hopeful.  We stopped at a little store for some things for the Instant Pot beef stew Paul is making for dinner.  He also got some chicken to put in some marinade for tomorrow.  (He broke his own No More Chicken rule, as we had so much in the freezer, but he said it looked good, and we've been eating so much of the freezer meat lately.)

The little things in life, I'm having my much anticipated second cup of coffee.   Sort of a reward for PT, ha.  It's really yummy, if a little late in the day.  

Ah well.  It's been quite a day.  It's pitch dark out already at 5:30, but it's cozy in here.  The girls will be back home tomorrow.  But shh, it's been almost like when we go camping, just Paul and I here.  :). Except for I can't really walk, ha.  

Have a good evening.  :)

Then two pound weights and three sets of 10 hanging leg lifts,