Announcing the Safe Arrival of Tarquin et Pindar

The girl bought two hermit crabs on Saturday...Tarquin and Pindar...named for a couple of characters in the book "Gone Away Lake" (which incidentally is one of my - and the girl's - all-time favorite books for children).

The girl regularly tries to bring "pets" home from the "wild" - so now she has some legitimate pets (from PetSmart) that hopefully will live for nigh on 10 yrs (according to the literature we read).

They live in a "crabitat" - a dry aquarium...incidentally "crabitat" is one of my new favorite words - and I dare say it could sometimes refer to my own domicile.

101 Uses For A White Kitchen Trash Bag

#43 - use it to cover up your fracture boot.

It was raining one day at the farm and I was planning on going to town. I didn't want my boot getting soaked so I came up with a lovely cover. Perhaps a black trash bag would have looked more fashionable...but the white matched my white tennis shoe better (though if you are wandering around with a trash bag tied onto your leg no one is going to notice whether or not it matches your shoe)...

As it turns out I just wore it walking over the wet grass getting to the car - and by the time we got to town it had stopped raining. I would have had a smidge of shame walking into stores with it on - but better than a soggy boot...and wouldn't people just be dying of curiosity to know what is hidden by the trash bag...perhaps just a stump...

The Birthday Girl - 10 at last!

We celebrated the girl's 10th birthday with her grandparents out on the farm. A trip to the Missouri State Fair was the highlight of the trip.

The candles were on the pizza as I was worried about setting fire to the cupcake stand.

100 Years - Poem By GroovyGirl

My Grandparents' Old Yellow Farm House

Who had it a hundred years ago?
Was there the shade of the tulip tree?
Did roses and morning glories grow?
What was in the woods,
Or the fields where cows now feed?
For a century this house has stood,
A hundred years gone by.
But though the paint may chip away,
Our memories shall never die.
GroovyGirl (Aug '09)

Our week at the farm coincided with the 100th Anniversary of the building of the old farm house.

Grandma decided to have a little celebration and asked the girl to write a poem. The above poem is exactly as she wrote it.

I'm Going Out To Smoke My Pipe

"I won't be back til Sunday night - and don't let the witch in!"

Kids and I are taking the train out to the farm tomorrow and staying til Sunday (dh will drive up on Thursday).

We're going to celebrate the girl's 10th birthday with the grandparents and take in the State Fair.

Don't know if I'll be posting again until we get home.

Woofies Hot Dogs

Today we had to make a trip to Home Depot (used a wheelchair) and to the library (shank's mare). I don't want to give the idea that I can't walk on my own but my feeling is that if a wheelchair is available and I can avoid hoofing it - I will!

After our errands I reminded dh about a restaurant that we've had on our 2009 List of Things to Do...Woofies.

As this was an unplanned trip I didn't have my camera on hand - so for some photos you can click here.

Woofies is located on Woodson Road in Overland, Missouri. It's not the nicest area - but seems decent enough.

Woofies opened in 1977 - and by the interior - it looks like it hasn't been updated or even just painted much since that time - which only adds to the charm :) The walls are covered in photos of "famous" folks, copies of newspaper articles featuring Woofies - and various Woofies reviews.

Since we'd only ever driven past it - I thought the only seating was outdoors (under a covered area that had ceiling fans - nice for the hot St. Louis summers) - but was happy to find there was some inside seating...and it was somewhat air-conditioned (cooler than outside).

The kids had corndogs and fries, the hub and I both ordered Chicago-Style hotdogs (tomato wedges, lots of diced onions, sports peppers, pickle, mustard and bright green relish) and fries. Delicious!

The girl commented on how big the corndogs were ("They were almost a footlong!")... The boy thought the corndog was sweeter than others he has had. The hub and I both thought the Chicago dogs were great! The fries were shoestring and fried to perfection!

The french fry portions are very generous...I had ordered one large and one small for the 4 of us to share and we could have done with just one large.

The price was pretty reasonable...for 2 corndogs, 2 Chicago dogs, 1 large fry, 1 small fry, 3 waters (free) and one medium soda - it came to $18.88.

I should point out that Woofies is NOT open on Sunday...we had plans to go there one Sunday for Father's Day and found out it's only open Mon - Saturday.

Chocolate Stumps

I'm not sure what is so appealing about candy that looks like little tree stumps...but when the candy happens to be milk chocolate it doesn't really matter what it looks like.

This little box of chocolates is from Japan. On the box there is a hippy-ish lumberjack-ish man smoking a pipe sitting on a tree stump.

The candy was consumed before the photos took place - but the tree stumps on the box are an accurate facsimile of the candy we ate.

Delicious! Milk chocolate with a cookie crisp interior...

Shades of Green

Yesterday I was able to be out and about due to my dh getting off work early and the aid of some wheelchairs.

When I'm at home I walk on my boot - but limit the walking. There were a couple of places I wanted to go yesterday and I didn't think I could do all the walking involved (a store and The Magic House). I called ahead and found out both places had wheelchairs available so I was off!

The kids had obtained tickets to The Magic House via the library summer reading program (free for both kids and parents - regular tickets 8.50 per person) - my husband could have just gone with them but hey when you are pretty much house-bound you'll jump at any opportunity to leave your domicile!

The kids had a great time. Mom and dad both agreed that it is not a place we can "handle" for more than 2 hours (tops!)

Tomorrow I see the doc again - I'll have another x-ray and an opportunity to ask all my questions I've been saving up...

Here are some photos for those who like seeing multi-colored feet...and yes my feet are clean - it's just the bruising that colors it :)

Big Foot Sighting - Day 4

Last night and today my ankle hasn't been hurting as much. There was a raw/rubbing feeling on the left side of my foot and when I took off "Big Foot" this morning I saw the largest blister I have ever seen.

And what is "cool" about this blister is that besides the large blister you can see, moving up the leg is a super thin strand of micro blisters. Ouch.

My beloved doctored up my leg with a padded surgical bandage. I also kept "Big Foot" off for a couple of hours.

I did a stupid thing this morning which necessitated "Big Foot" needing to take a bit of a "sunbath" on the front steps for a couple of hours.

"Big Foot" is supposed to be removed for a shower...but I thought maybe I could just hang my leg outside the shower and all would be well. It wasn't.

"Big Foot" got soaked. Ugh.

The nurse had warned me not to take apart "Big Foot" entirely "or you'll never get it put back together again". Well it had to be taken apart to dry properly and dh had no problem putting it back together...thankfully.

The Latest Fashion in Women's Shoes

Well I decided to go to the doctor today to make sure my ankle wasn't broken.

It is broken.

I got this nice black orthopedic boot in lieu of a cast. It's velcro-ed on and then has a little built in pump that you pump up to make it snug.

At least it matched the outfit I was wearing.

After one day with crutches I'm sure glad I don't need to mess around with them anymore.

The doctor thought it would take about 5 weeks to heal.

No driving - aahhhhhh!

Guess I'll Just Have to Watch a Lot of Hulu

This is my ankle looking very swollen.

This morning when we were playing tennis I twisted my foot and fell and the above ankle is the result.

It's either a sprain or a break...haven't been to a doc yet - going to see how things feel this afternoon. I actually have very little pain right now (took ibuprophen) when I'm just sitting or have my foot elevated. The pain in my ankle was quite severe when the accident occurred but "thankfully" the numbness set in quickly.

Think I might send my dh out later to find me some crutches...problem is my "good leg" now is my leg that gives me calf pain when playing tennis too much - so it is already "sensitive" and I don't want to hop too much on that leg.

I have never broken a bone - and haven't had a sprain in many, many years.

Once we got home from the tennis courts - the kids went into helping mode without being asked...the girl got me meds (and she's been running back and forth bringing pillows and fetching my breakfast), the boy got me some lemonade and a footstool and then when he saw I was just sitting there - he went and brought me a magazine and Bible :) Oh yeah and he gave me a kiss. DH went to the computer to do research on the best way to deal with my ankle and to see if we could ascertain whether it was more likely broken or sprained. From what I've read it's quite difficult to determine if it is broken or sprained, especially when it is very swollen.

My dh had my blessing to head off to work - he's only 20 min away - and the kids can help me with whatever I might need (hmmm except they can't really run out and get me a slurpee or a Wendy's Frosty - two things that are definitely necessary for healing injuries...especially all that milk for strong bones in the Wendy's Frosty.

2 Free Tacos Jack in the Box

I found out that for today only at Jack-in-the-Box, you can print out a coupon to receive two free tacos!

I've never been to JITB but this offer will make me a first time visitor. It appears that you can print the coupon numerous times - but only one coupon per guest - per visit. Hmmmm - does that mean if you go now and then 2 hours later you can get 2 more??

Just type in jackinthebox.com

Happy Eating!