a little bit of comedy....

*found at Target



*found in downtown Iowa City... I think the restaurant is confused. :)

A moral question....

Are YOU... a good unicorn, or an evil unicorn?


Answer the following questions to find out....

1. Do you:
-a) like to prance through meadows
-b) go around impaling Teddy bears and baby seals

2. Have you ever:
-a) spent all day chasing butterflies and rainbows
-b) dreamed of ruling the underworld

3. Are you:
-a) friends with the fairies
-b) still bitter you weren't invited on the ark

4. Do you:
-a) believe the children are our future
-b) use your hooves to bludgeon the weak and innocent

5. Pick one:
-a) Your favorite sound is a laughing brook
-b) You occasionally breathe fire


...And the results are...

A's= good Little Princess Unicorn.
-You like pink... and rainbows... and frolicking in the sunshine with bunnies.

B's= evil Destructicorn.
-You seek out fire... and destruction... and enjoy rampaging through populations of small, fuzzy creatures.

-------------------------------------------------------------------

The battle is on....

warning: high levels of cuteness

Life has been extra crazy lately, but I promise to be back to the blog world soon. For now, I leave you with my two favorite kittens being ridiculously cute.

short walks from the car

In the ongoing process that is my recovery from surgery, it was determined that my exposure to adverse pedestrian conditions (such as icy pavement) should be minimized. In a nutshell, falling would be bad for my shoulder. Really, really bad. So, I got one of these:

I still can't drive (pesky stick shift), but anyone who happens to be driving me around is pretty much guaranteed rock star parking and a short walk to the intended destination. Thad and I took advantage of this phenomenon this weekend.

The mental picture of my yellow car and its bike rack eventually sitting in a handicapped spot makes me giggle a little inside, but in the end, it's all about just making sure my shoulder stays safe and sound. So for now, I will continue to be mildly entertained by the whole situation, and work on spending less time walking around in parking lots. :)

temporarily ambidextrous

Again with the AWOL... this time, due to heavy medication and extremely limited use of my right hand. I'm still temporarily a lefty, but at least typing has become a little bit easier. The story:

The corticosteroid injection back in December didn't fix my shoulder, so I had surgery on Jan. 22nd... works out to about two and a half weeks ago. Turns out the cartilage in my AC joint was all sorts of torn up, so they removed about a centimeter off the end of my collarbone to open up the joint and cleaned up the cartilage as much as possible. I believe the technical term is a distal clavicle resection.

These two are pictures of pictures, so apologies for the fuzzy.

(intact end of clavicle... with unhappy looking cartilage)

(end of clavicle, minus about a centimeter. plus cleaned up cartilage)

Surgery went well, and they sent me home with a green pillow, a plethora of medications, and what appears to be part of a football shoulder pad.

(post-surgery: home, and extremely drugged)

They also sent me home with a nifty ice machine. Nothing like continually circulated cold liquid to make a joint happy, right?

(still drugged, with ice)

(2 or 3 days post-op...they let me trade the bandage for neat, little band-aids)

Luckily, Thad was there to give mom a break and take care of me for the few days following surgery. I don't remember much of it because of all the meds, but I know I was glad to have him there. He also spent the past week here in Iowa City, so it's been great having him around to cheer me up and help out with all the things I can't do.

The past couple weeks of school (and in general) have been a little rough, but I think things are progressing well. I'm finally off Percocet (that made teaching all sorts of fun), and have it pretty much worked out so I only have to take Vicodin at night. We'll see how that plan works after I start PT this week, but I'm hoping to stick to it. Makes schoolwork and such a bit more coherent. :)

From a non-medication standpoint, I finally moved off the couch and into my bed... it involves a complicated nest of pillows, but it works. I got my stitches out this past Wednesday and met with my PT. Is it surprising that I almost passed out after he went through all the range of motion testing?

*small digression: Monday, I had my jogging classes do form drills... so I had to demonstrate some of them. I did leave my sling on, but it was way more hopping around than I was ready for. And of all people to happen to be in the fieldhouse to witness this little occurrence? My PT. Of course.

After resting up from the near-unconsciousness, I was sent on my way with a few ROM exercises and a stern warning to take it easy. I'm also allowed small stretches of up and about without the sling. First PT appointment is on Wednesday, which will focus on stretching and ROM. Once the joint heals up a bit, I get to start in on strengthening. I'm also hoping for an idea of when I might be able to get on a bike. Or drive my car. I've got a team training camp down in Arkansas in March, so I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

For now, I'm trying to stay on top of my school responsibilities (or at least get caught up), getting better at being left-handed, adjusting to my (temporary) limitations, and awaiting the arrival of my handicapped tag in the mail. Not that I'm allowed to drive anytime soon, but at least my friends won't have to walk far if I'm with them. Oh, and I seem to have developed a small phobia of being bumped in the shoulder or unexpectedly hugged. Nobody needs me passing out on them.

And now, it's time for PT exercises... followed by Vicodin and sleep. I'll post updates soon.

random idiocy

Can anyone tell me what is wrong with this picture?

Riding the three-way bunny train to Critter Nation

I've been a bit AWOL from the blogworld lately (obviously). So, here's a mid-winter break recap... with pictures!

Finals week ended with a flurry of grading, and I decided to head up to Webster City a day early to try to beat the impending weather. I still got to drive through a blizzard, which was fun. And what is the first thing one might do when driving in a white-out? Yes, that's right... dig through my bag to find my phone and take pictures to document the occurrence.

(blizzards are fun)

(the sun started to peek out a few miles from Webster City)

Needless to say the drive was less than enjoyable, and it took much longer than normal to get to Thad's house. Kip was none too happy upon arrival. I would go as far as to say that the little focus was pissed off something fierce.

(grumpy focus)

BUT... once there, all was good. Lots of time spent lounging (seems to be a theme for break so far) and sitting at the local coffee shop.

(quaint coffee shop decor)

Oh, and I almost forgot the bunny train! ... While visiting Mikey's pet shop (Critter Nation), we observed three cute little bunnies in a cage (all males, by the way). The two grey ones looked like they were chasing a grumpy-looking white one around the cage. Then, all of a sudden, three way bunny train. The grey ones were all about it, but the puffy white one at the front was none too pleased. We almost died laughing though.

Alas, I could not get out my phone quickly enough for a pic before the white bunny got away, but he still looks disgruntled in the one I managed to snap. He spent the rest of the time we were there with his tail firmly backed into a corner of the cage. Nothing like frisky bunnies to brighten up the day, right?

(disgruntled bunny. Note the mean grey ones lurking nearby)

Then it was back to IC on Christmas Eve... with much less snow this time...

(just wind, no blizzard)

...and off to Wapello with Mom to hang out with the family. The Hicklin's tree had the most ornaments I have ever seen in one place, and Sadie (the dog) was enjoying her first Christmas with us (she's usually at the kennel).

(so many ornaments... and that's only the top part of the tree...)

(Sadie getting into the holiday spirit)

Then it was back to IC to wrap presents (yes, I'm a slacker and put it off way too long)

(adventures in wrapping paper)


(hanging out on Christmas Eve)

Christmas day was much more low-key than usual, what with no family gathering at Grandma's house. Thad, mom, and I opened presents and then headed over to Starbucks for delicious holiday coffee.

(Tomo guarding the presents)

(Thad got a turtle [Shelly]...)


(... which then went to Tulsa with him)

Mom and I cooked what very well may be the first full meal ever in my kitchen (I tend to not spend much time there). Little tiny cornish hens, stuffing, sweet potatoes, asparagus, and cranberry sauce. All sorts of yummy. I took a picture, but it was a casualty of a massive photo-erasing adventure that my computer decided to go on (grr).

It appears that my picture-taking motivation rapidly dwindled after Christmas (further impacted by the aforementioned computer issues)... but New Year's was a good time spent playing card games and drinking wine, followed by a weekend of relaxing and playing scrabble.

(I kid you not, Thad actually got these letters. Had to take a pic)

(Tomo refereeing the Scrabble game)

Aside from that, I think the following pic just about sums up my general activity over break:

(nothing like relaxing on the couch)

And a final note for the day: My latest ink project finally wrapped up this afternoon. See this post for the progression. My tummy is happy to have it over with. Or at least it will be in a few days.

(the finished product)