Updates and Workarounds

Here is where we stand in truckland.  The garage found a burned wire and a blown fuse.  Yay!  Replaced and on the way.  27 feet from the garage the dash lights and all the gauges quit.  Not Yay!  Back to the garage.  Now it won't start again.  Hmm... the fuse they just replaced is blown again.  Replace the fuse and bring it back during the week when the lead diagnostics guy is here.  Hmmm... Kelly says, "When I put it in four wheel drive, the indicator light never came on, but the gauges stopped working.  Could that be it?"  Why yes, yes it could.  So if you want to drive in four wheel drive you will have no dash instruments and it won't start again until you replace the fuse.  Not an insurmountable problem for a woman who drove a truck with no working starter for 11 years (yes, either push and pop the clutch or hook one little wire to the starter and touch the positive battery terminal.  every single time.)  We will go see the lead diagnostician when we have time and hopefully we won't be needing the four wheel drive again for awhile.

We won't be using it to go to school since there is no school again tomorrow.  Sigh.  I understand.  Many of the roads are unsafe for bus travel.  I don't want anyone to be unsafe.  It is hard when the school is right down the road and at this point I'd happily carry her on my back.  Not that we are stir crazy or anything, no not that...

Karina is also going stir crazy as classes are cancelled again at OSU tomorrow and it is finals week.  She thought she would be finished with finals on Wednesday.  Think again.  Biology final rescheduled to Friday afternoon.  Here is the kicker: many students already had plane tickets home purchased, so the professor made the final optional.  Karina currently has a high B+.  Will she do well enough on the final to get over the hump to the A-, or does she run the risk of doing poorly on the final and ending up with a worse grade than the B+?  She has three extra days to study.  Only she can make that decision.

We did venture out to Mia's house today for some advanced body work.  Mostly for advanced neck work.  Between my first surgery in 08 and this one, they have removed 52 lymph nodes from my neck.  That doesn't leave much to do all the draining that needs to be done in my neck.  She is doing all she can to get things moving along.  My sterno-clino-mastoid has been ticked off of a long time.  That is the muscle that attaches behind your jaw, onto your clavicle, and the top of your sternum.  Mine was cut through for my heart surgery in 07, again for the surgery in 08, then radiated, and now this abuse.  Plus the other muscles in my neck have been taking intermittent vacations over the last five years, so it gets stuck doing all the work.  Yes, it does a lot of swearing.  Wouldn't you?

We also stopped at the grocery store on the way home.  This was my first time at the Market of Choice since surgery.  I've been to Fred Meyer where I can distract myself with clothes and toys, but here it is all food.  All good food.  Samples out.  Good smells.  Sale on brie.  Whimper.  No, it wasn't horrible. No, it wasn't the most fun I ever had in my life.  Somewhere in between.  I can't let myself go to "I'll never eat that again land."  I can eat anything that can go in a blender, for one thing.  For another, if I really want to learn to eat, first I must learn to swallow.  Perhaps this is motivating in a mildly masochistic way.

Yumm bowls for dinner tonight.  Yumm bowls really are about the various textures, so they do lose something in the blender.  However, I've been tasting yumm sauce all evening in a good way.  There are worse things.  Now I can even put olives and avocado on mine since I don't have to taste then.  No cilantro, though.  I'm not taking any chance with having to taste that for hours.

Speaking of tastes, has anyone tried the Norwegian Fish Oil with refreshing lemon flavor?  I was considering it as a supplement, but I don't want to be tasting fish guts with a hint of lemon.  Does anyone know if it is good?  It is also $22 a bottle, an expensive risk.  It would be cheaper to buy the tinned fish and put them in the blender.  What goes with kippers???

Karina understands Kiara-language better than anyone, but even she cannot communicate with me on the phone.  It is just too garbled.  This has opened a new avenue in her relationship with Kelly.  While we instant message and text, if she needs to hash something out on the phone, she calls him.  I think it has been good for both of them.  Hearing them communicate so wonderfully after all the "HIM" comments over the years takes the sting out of it not being me.  To be honest, sometimes, depending on the topic, I'm a little glad it isn't me.

Karissa is over the moon to be home from school another day.  She wasn't even that upset that ballet was cancelled.  She mostly plays outside in the snow, so I'm not sure what I'm complaining about.  I have to just drag her in periodically and force calories on her.  If I wait too long I face the consequences ("I'm not hungry! I'm not tired! Naps are for babies" accompanied by foot stomping.)

If you aren't sure how long something should go in the microwave, you should put it in for a shorter time than you think.  Or move it around during the microwaving process.  Or at least monitor the microwave.  Do not put a cherry pit bed warmer in the microwave for six minutes and walk away.  Six minutes + cherry pit bed warmer = fire.  Flannel burns nicely, but velcro just melts.  The microwave survived.  Most of the cherry pits survived with only about a dozen burned ones.  The flannel cover not so much.  Three years in the making, six minutes in the destroying.  I do have another flannel crib sheet, people who know how to sew, and plenty more cherry pits.  All that remains is to marvel at my own stupidity.

I am still marveling at the support of my friends.  Cards are still coming.  Texts.  Daily jokes.  Volunteers. Offers of all kinds.  Some days I look at the count of how many people read the blog and marvel that that many people care about what I have to say about my malady of the day.  Thank you all!  It would be a far more difficult journey to the new me without all of your love, support and encouragement.  I hope you like the new model as much as the old one:)  It was a classic.