Mimetic

That would be today's word--meaning imitate, btw, for those of you, like me, who had never heard of said word.

Coincedentally, while here at the hacienda de los parents, Sam was outside their sliding door making weird arm gestures and staring intently at my father. We both thought Sam was asking for something, so Daddy was like, "What do you need, Sam?"

More wild gesturing and very solemn face.

"What is it, Sam?!"

My sister glanced up and said, "Oh, he's just being a mime in a box. Nothing's wrong."

Sure enough, when asked, Sam did indicate that he was Marcel Marceauing himself through Basic Mime Box 101 and that all was well...as well as it CAN be when your seven-year-old is imitating a mime, I suppose.

Flashback!!

Sister and I are hanging at my parents' house for the weekend in honor of my sister's bday and Christmas. Via the wonder that is myspace, I tracked down a guy from high school that was in the band with us and he's doing karaoke at a bar here, so S. and I went to see him tonight. It was rather eerie because he and my sister both look VERY much like they did in high school (a few pounds, but otherwise no change). Then we listened to loads of singers performing songs from our 80's high school days--most of them were fairly decent, which was suprising. I'm sure the quality declined as the night went on.

I've been coming to Chattanooga on a fairily regular basis and it's been sort of like a time warp for me in a way. I grew up here (for the most part, we moved to the area when I was seven and left when I was twenty), but once I got married and the parentals moved to WV, I stopped going down there, so that was a span of nearly 15 years that I was out of the loop. Now coming back it's rather bizarre to see how things change and stay the same.

The Word of the Day is Palpable

Homer is still very palpable. Dr. said two weeks...it's been two tomorrow and no signs of leaving any time soon. I'm so over this. I'm tired of not being able to walk normally or put weight on my knee with any certainty.

In other news, I now have heat in my van--I'd been driving around under a down throw and a fleece while bundled up like Nanook of the North's older, grumpier sister with a military fettish (I don't own a coat, so I wore W.'s Army jacket and I don't have decent gloves, so I snagged Jay's black and white camo fleeces). Oh, and the only way to keep the windshield clear was to run the A/C. It was 29 degrees or so the past two days.

I'm ready for a snow day, dammit.

Meet Homer

The unfortunate, disgusting, egg-sized hematoma that has taken up residence on the back of my knee;

This was taken on December 29, so I still had stitches and quite a bit of swelling around the actual knot. It looks less scabby now and the bruising that you can sort of see on the lower right and swelling that is all around the top left are gone. Homer is much more red now for some reason (I suppose because of all the blood that's under there?) and is mushier sometimes. Other times, he's rock-hard and really sore.

The side view is a little wanky looking because of all the swelling--this ridiculously unflattering shot makes it look as if I don't have a kneecap. That swelling has gone way down, and that actually makes Homer stick out more from the side now than he did in this pic because all the puffiness around him is gone. Damn, I need to go tan.

The ortho says that it can take two weeks (which would be Thursday) or so to diminish. I can't imagine how it will be gone by then.

Homer is my body's way of reacting to the removal of a Baker's cyst that was evidently quite large. I had six stiches to close the incision, and that is, from all I've been told, a big ass incision for a Baker's cyst. Lucky me, right? The only upside is the lovely Demerol. I'm down to one dose a day now--just at night or after lots of walking and bending. Sitting at my desk all day today really did a number on him--Homer doesn't like being crushed when I cross my legs or sit with them bent, but he likes to wait and remind me of that two or three hours later when he grips my leg in paralyzing spasms and throbbing pain when I walk. He calls in all his fluid friends and they have a party around my kneecap. Good times, good times...I just invite Demerol and plant myself on the couch.

Now, admit it--you came to the blog purely out of morbid curiousity. Reveal yourself in the comments if you aren't too grossed out by the image.

MM if you're reading this...

I cannot comment on your blog for some effed up Blogger/Google reason.

Can someone pass this along to her, please? I suddenly feel like I speak a different language when I can't comment. Ugh.

Randomness

1. On my design in the previous blog, I thought the print was black, hence the red belt and black tank. I only later realized that the print was actually more maroon, which really made it look rather spastic. This is not unlike the navy socks I wore with black shoes not too long ago (why I even OWN navy socks is a question that I still cannot answer since I own no navy shoes or pants).

2. Dr. Phil is a wanker.

3. I can't quite put my finger on why I want to put my fingers in my ears and chant "La, la, la, la, la" when Hilary Clinton is talking, but I just do.

4. I could never vote for a man named Mitt.

5. I feel sorry for crazy Britney Spears.

6. There are only so many ways one can wear yoga pants and still create an interesting look.

7. The god-awful hematoma on the back of my knee (it is at least the size of an egg) refuses to shrink or drain. I have to admit that I am actually hoping it will somehow just pop, rather like the world's biggest zit (but only if I am at home. God forbid it should happen at Kroger).

8. I have LOST my new underwear. Not in an exciting or sleazy way, mind you. I just cannot figure out where I put the packages that I bought at Fred's before Christmas.

9. Fred's and Roses intrigue me in a way that I simply cannot explain. They are both meccas of white trash bargains, but I am inexplicably drawn to them and find myself looking at CLOTHING there. I bought three shirts and a pair of Levi's at Roses recently (ask me what size those jeans are. Just ask me). I do not own any clothing from Fred's, but my favorite gloves (one of which I have lost, natch) came from there.

10. Chocolate Lucky Charms, or the generic version thereof, makes me happy.

if you're bored

Go desig outfits on bravo's website! It's fun, if a bit mindless. People can vote on your design--my first one is here.

ever noticed?

It is much easier to plan things to do on your day off than it is to actually execute them? I had a long list of things that I couldn't wait to tackle today, but instead of working like a little bee, I've been dozing like a big ol' sloth. I got home from my doctor's appointment where I had stitches rather painfully removed and went straight for the pain meds and the couch. I've been here ever since--sort of half asleep, half awake. I've no real idea of what I've done for the past almost-three hours. I've read various online blatherings, checked my email, looked up vitamins and watched about 30 minutes of Atonement on a bootleg website (Keira Knightley's jaw bothers me to no end). I am fighting the urge to just hunker down, cover my head and go to sleep. Trying to decide why it would be a bad idea.

Playing Hookey

Tomorrow is the first day back to work after Christmas break. It's a teacher work day, which is a great thing, but I'm only going in for a few hours and then I'm going to be homebound until Monday. I'm staying home to let the knee get a little bit better before I take a chance on going to work for a long day. I have my disability insurance, which will pay me for the days, so I decided to take it easy and not strain the knee. It's still looking pretty nasty and I don't go back to the doctor until Thursday.

I've got a lot of stuff to do around the house, so hopefully I'll be able to get a few things done without my three helpers under foot. For now, I'm going to sit around and watch some more Law and Order marathon on TNT and enjoy mynew flannel jammies, cozy slippers and fabulous down throw. I had a very lovely Christmas.

Please Join Me In A Collective Sigh Of Relief

I have finally found a style of underwear that I like. Yay me!! Turns out that I **do** in fact like Hanes Boyshorts--the ones I tried last summer were just too small. Now I wear them and they are super comfortable. I went out and bought myself two more packs of them because I was tired of having to wash the same three pair over and over.

I have a drawer full of underwear that looked like it would be comfortable, but isn't. I don't donate undies to Goodwill and I hate to throw things away, so I'm sure they'll sit there in the drawer until I have to throw them away to make room for my new comfy boyshorts. Now I can spend my money on something else--maybe jewelry? I need a good gold bangle--not real gold because I'm too cheap.