May the Odds Be Ever in Your Favor

The Hunger Games ticket. A blank movie screen. And my special boot.

You know when you fall in love with a book and completely inhale the words on the page? And fly so fast through the book that by the end of the weekend, you have read the three short novels written for young adults and you’re sad because you have to wait for months for the movie to come out?

And then you realize that the movie might not be as awesome as the book? Because when is a movie ever as wonderful as the world you created in your imagination?

The Hunger Games was completely the first and definitely not the second!

A group of us bought our tickets for the midnight showing of Hunger Games the first day that they were on sale last month because we could not stand the idea of not seeing it the minute it was available. We made a plan to arrive at the theatre around 10 pm, to get good seats and catch up. We were very glad for doing that, because even around that time, there was a 2/3 full theatre of a bunch of high schoolers, many dressed up like citizens of the Capitol! We had a few giggles at their expense, but ya know, they were having a blast on a Spring Break weeknight, so who cares?

The minute the lights went down, the kids were shuffling, making noise, giggling all through the previews. After what seemed like a ridiculous number of them, the movie finally started.

And it was amazing.

Pretty much like they had reached into my mind, pulled out the images of the woods and the fight scenes and the food at the Capital meals and plopped it straight into the movie. It was pretty spectacular. The whole group, except one or two, thought the movie lived up to the book very well and was a great one to celebrate at a midnight premiere! I had a bit of a headache from all the shaky filming but overall, it was worth the looooong Thursday, not enough sleep into Friday morning and the expensive movie ticket.

I can’t wait until the sequel!

It’s a Good Problem To Have

So you might be able to tell from my picture from yesterday, the whole Weight Watchers thing seems to be working for me.

Today, I am officially down 20 pounds from my original weight when I started the program in September.

And now? The crowning achievement of the whole thing? My pants don’t fit. At all. The ones that do are still kind of big, but least I have one or two that don’t fall off my hip or look like I’m playing dress up in my mom’s closet. In fact, there are some shirts that I bought at my biggest that I haven’t worn in months plus a few jackets that I thought wouldn’t ever get too big for me actually are starting to hang off me.

I know this is actually a really awesome problem to have, but given my surgical boot, it’s made getting dressed in the morning rather problematic. I spent some time in TJ Maxx tonight looking for new pants but they didn’t seem to have any in the short length and I didn’t have time to get them hemmed before another event day at work tomorrow. So I might have to rock another skirt for the big day.

And at the end of that big day? Hunger Games. Premiere. Midnight.

Need I say more?

My foot might be screaming at me at the end of the day but popcorn and Peeta on a huge movie screen? DONE. That might make up for a long day.

I’m Sexy and I Know It… sorry, now it’s in your head, too!

A bit of an update, since it’s been so quiet around here!

I’ve been back at work, walking around in my special surgical boot, since last Thursday. I come home exhausted just by walking to the bathroom and the copier once or twice a day. It didn’t help that I had an event on Thursday evening which meant more walking than I anticipated. The people at work have been awesome and helping me out a bunch, which is really nice of them.

Today? I rocked the skirt. I had to. It was the first day of spring and I couldn’t stand the idea of wearing pants for another day! Here’s the proof that I’m sexy and I know it! Look at that boot.

So at the end of the day, I come home and change into my PJs, snuggle up on my bed and continue with new obsession – 24. HOW did I not watch this show when it was on TV? I’m loving Netflix because I go through the shows so quickly and when you get really into the show, you just.can't.stop. SO GOOD.

On a not-so-positive note, we’ve been dealing with other family issues since the weekend. My younger brother, posing here with his dude Seneca when we were in Spain last year, was in a serious car accident on Saturday night. Seriously, these bad news phone calls MUST STOP.

After a seizure on Sunday morning and then surgery to relieve the swelling in his brain, he started to get better and quick. The nurses were also surprised at how quickly he was getting better, but then again, he’s 23 and in relatively good health! And that’s a relief. He’s been annoying the nurses in the ICU since he got out of surgery (hehe, just kidding!) and was given a regular room earlier today in the neuro wing. He has only a few IVs rather than the 6-7 plus a breathing and feeding tube he had while in the ICU and in the critical state. He’s awake for more minutes out of the hour now and eating and drinking on his own, and all those things that you take for granted when you’re not incredibly sick.

We knew he was going to be ok when he started making jokes about Immanuel Kant. Um, yeah, that’s my brother, the liberal arts major.

Seriously, though, the past three years coming up in August have been a trying time for my family. An aunt’s stroke and subsequent disability, my dad’s death, my grandmother’s illness and then death, two great aunts (one from each side of the family) dying within two weeks of each other and now my brother dealing with his injuries.

Me and my little bro, ya know, on camels in Morocco

Every time the year turns into a new calendar, we say that THIS is the year that things get better. 2012 doesn’t seem to be helping us out with that.

Wanna know the good news? My brother is still here with us. It could have been so, so, so much worse. We know that God is good and now we are just thanking the Lord that His plan kept my brother with us after the accident.

My dad, his guardian angel, must have been working overtime that night.

I Miss The Gym

I really do.

Who AM I, anymore?

A few weeks ago, this was my picture of the day -

45 minutes on the treadmill at 3.5 speed and I felt awesome. 400 calories? Well that was just peachy keen.

Now, I’m still stuck on bed rest and getting kind of bored. On Saturday, I was actually kind of excited about going back to the office this week, but now that it’s only two days away, I’m not so sure I feel that way anymore. I mean, I love my job, but it’s going to be exhausting walking around the office in the surgical boot. I’ve been trying little excursions the past few days to get up to it, and I know I’ll be fine.

But more than anything, I want my foot to be magically heeled so I can go bust out a good work out at the gym.

And that got me thinking – who AM I anymore? Last summer, I would have said you were crazy if you actually missed the gym. Apparently, I’m crazy! Because I sure do. I guess that’s what months of exercising every other day topped off with two weeks of bed rest and the removal of any possible exercise will do to a person.

I can’t wait until the doctor clears me for light exercise and I can get back into the swing of things. Because almost twenty pounds later, I don’t want to go back to that girl from last summer who didn’t know the key code to the apartment complex gym.

The Journey of Fixing a Foot

When the doctor first told me that I would be on bed for two weeks following my surgery, I was excited about it! After all, who doesn’t want an imposed vacation where someone has to fetch you dinner, clean your house and do your laundry because you can’t go up and downstairs, and allows you time to read and watch endless amount of DVRed shows and Netflix? All in all, that sounds like a great thing to me!

So we started on February 29th with this…

A big bunion on my left foot (with a “yes” written on the foot to be sure they cut into the right one!) and a milkshake immediately afterward. You can see my big surgical boot sticking up behind the milkshake, too. I was hanging out in the backseat, carefree as a lark on the way home from surgery!

This has been my view since then. Stuck with a foot up in the air (toes above the heart, mind you!) with the TV moved up from the craft room. A week after the surgery, the doctor rewrapped my foot so it doesn’t look so ridiculously huge anymore.

He also said I don’t need those crutches anymore! I’ve been moving on my own two feet since last Wednesday. So THAT’S a good thing, at least! That also marked the time I didn’t have to elevate the foot again, which makes working on the computer so much easier.

Things that have made me happy while hanging out in my bedroom? Stuffed animals and chocolate crème eggs, of course!

Once I stopped taking the narcotics (because boy, do those things NOT agree with me, even with extra-strength nausea meds), I was living on this stuff – Tylenol and crackers. Being sick is not for the feint of heart, I can tell you that!

My coworkers also sent me the sweetest get well basket – teas, crackers and jam with a pink Downton shirt (do you notice that font? ). It was perfect! Their note even had things like “Get the HEEL out of bed and back TOE work” – hehe.

And of course, my nook. It’s amazing to have all those books at my fingertips. I’ve gone through a few books so far and hope to finish another one by the end of the bed rest this week. If all goes well at the check up on Wednesday, I’ll be back at the office on Thursday. I’ll still be in the walking boot for another month, until they remove the surgical pin that’s currently sticking out from the side of my foot! I sure hope that one isn’t going to hurt. But really, anything is better than that bunion. Thank goodness for modern medicine!

The Story Behind the Surprise

I guess I left you all hanging in last week’s post, didn’t I?

I’m sorry! If you only knew how crazy the past eight days have been, I think you’d understand. But that’s a post for another day. I really did write a nice long post about the surprise visitor from last Friday but somehow Blogger ate it.

That’s ok, because now I have video to show you what happened. Here’s the set up…

Hubs has been in France since early January, studying law, doing interviews for internship, having fun eating at cafes and sending me macaroons. It’s a good gig, if you can get it! A few weeks ago, we realized there was a week-long break in his schedule at the end of February. We went back and forth, trying to figure out if I could get over there to Europe to vacation for a bit while he wasn’t in classes. For many various reasons (my foot surgery being only one of them!), we weren’t able to make it happen. We were bummed, but we moved on – after all, we knew going into this semester that it would be a while before we could see each other again. We were determined to get on Skype and talk more, email more, and just wish the days away so we could be together again.

Well, these past few weeks have been harder than most for some reason and I was really kind of bummed. I wasn’t looking forward to this major foot surgery coming up (more on that later) because who likes anesthesia and getting cut open? But my mom was coming to help me out so I did have that to look forward to. In any case, Hubs’ cousin asked if I wanted to come to her daughter’s elementary school variety show last Friday because Scrappy really wanted me to come watch her dance. My mother-in-law kept texting me, telling me I should come, and that it would be good for me. I told them I’d think about it, because I had a big work weekend after that and I didn’t know if I would be up for it.

In the end, I decided to go because it would make Scrappy happy and of course, who doesn’t love kindergarteners through fifth graders singing and dancing to silly songs? :) So Friday night comes, and I drive way south to Arnold to the variety show. I meet up with the in-laws and we’re hanging out, watching the kids dance. They’re adorable, by the way.

Then, after Scrappy has done her two dances, my father-in-law gets up and motions for me to join him in the lobby. My mother-in-law does the same thing, asking me to come to the bathroom with her (say what?) for some reason. Rolling my eyes, wondering what in the world has gotten into them, I get up to follow.

In the lobby, my FIL stands by the floral stand, asking if we should get Scrappy one flower from each of us or a bunch of flowers or what… and then, someone taps me on the shoulder. I turn around to see my wonderful husband standing there. My brother-in-law caught it on his iPhone:

Apparently, when I get surprised, I can’t talk and I just cry a lot. But to be fair, I had NO idea he was going to be there! I really was surprised. The whole family had known for weeks, because they had been setting this up for me.

I really am quite loved.