Slow down people the roads are slicker than snot! Just a small coating of the white stuff and ta dah, slick roads. Good Grief.

SHADDIE...glad you are progressing on the upward side of things. Take your time with healing and don't push yourself. The wind machine may be from the anesthetic and the air they push into your gut. Lay on your left side, right knee pull up towards your chest. That will get rid of a lot of wind plus you will feel much better gut wise. Curtis had to get on all fours to break his final wind pain. I had to turn my head and chuckle at him. He was on the bed on all fours being very musical. His gut felt better instantly. Just a few suggestions on breaking wind. bah ha ha.

CEEG...good for you on making it to the gym. Would hate for your $$ to go to waste on a unused membership. Nice you and sis can keep each other motivated. How far does she live from you? I forget.

HAPPY...the chimis were very easy. I used leftover pork loin from the night before. Took a very fresh tortilla (right off the ole bread truck), plus I never put them in the fridge as they get to "crispy" to work. Anyway, then spready a thin layer of fat free refried beans (Kroger brand is very spreadable and soft). Pour a bit of medium taco sauce over the beans, then the shredded cooked pork loin then a layer of lowfat cheese. The secret to rolling them us is....put the short ends in first, then start to roll from the long end while pushing the short ends in as you go. Sorta stuff and tuck as you go. Make sense? Then I put a very small amount of olive oil or spray Pam in a pan to "fry" them up, really just browning till the cheese is melted. Serve with your favorite toppings. Easy peasy. Last night was homemade veggie soup. I pressure cooked a small beef roast. Cut up half of it to use for the soup. Saving the other half tonight for beef manhattens. Then used the potatos, onions and carrots from the pork loin meal, added a small bag of mixed veggies, low salt tomato juice, low salt beef boullion and spices and seasonings. Let it simmer for about an hour or so, not much time to simmer as all were hungry. Made cornbread muffins to go along. Jiffy mix with a tablespoon of sugar added is thee best route on cornbread. That is my cooking class for today...and it was free! Hmmm, farmers market, soy candle makers, rescue shelter<-- no money in that but enjoyable and think we all love that thought. C would love giving lessons on fishing, he would even catch our dinner plus he filets everything. Your DH could get busy on his photog book with you and Shaddie too! Brothel, oh wait, no on that. lolol. We may be alright afterall. With selling our two houses and our small pittance of SS, sure we can do this. Geez I am windy today. The soups at class sounded yummy. The cafe across the street from work serves homemade soups and the poblano soup is one of their best.

Posting before I lose then will finish next.

LAURA...was anyone hurt in the train/car accident? That is scary stuff. Had a HS friend's boyfriend try to beat a train once. Killed him, her and her little boy. Very sad. Not worth the few minutes you gain, and hey if you are late...you are late as my old boss used to say, 10 minutes or two hours you are late. How's the foot today? Seeing the doc about it or trying to work it out yourself? If/when I get extra Biofreeze, I will send some your way.

Like I said to HAPPY, last night was veggie soup. The new season of Scandal started last night. It was pretty good but not as good as past seasons. Kerry Washington is pregnant in her personal life so the show was all about hiding her belly as she is not preggers in the show. I found myself watching for that rather than the show. Oh gee blondie, focus. haha. Then How to Get Away with Murder came on, but that started at 10 pm, WAY past my bed time. Watched about 15 minutes of it before I had to close my baby browns and sleep. Grey's Anatomy, Scandal and How TGAW Murder are all written by Shonda Rimes. How does she think of so many plots and different writing at the same time? Talented.

Bout all for me for now. Make it a HEALTHY, HAPPY, GRATEFUL and BLESSED weekend all.

Hugs

Morning all.

I finally got downtown yesterday morning after my car-bus-bus-el train commute & only had a few blocks to walk to get to the office. About a couple blocks from the office, walking gingerly on my bad foot, I suddenly felt a snap in that foot. And then such pain I could only hobble another half block, then duck into a building lobby to sit down.

Phoned the boss to say I wouldn't be in, then ubered to the ER at the hospital back out in my area. X-rays. No broken bones, & no fully torn ligaments based on how my foot still works. Sprained foot. Very painful with weight on it. Too much compensating for my foot problem & now I've apparently overused whatever muscle that is on the top of my foot.

At home really staying off the foot - crutches and all. Will call my doc to get a referral to an orthopedic doc, which was the plan before the snap happened.

Will post before I lose this & will get back later when I get myself to the home office desktop. TTFN.

Laura
Glad that you headed to the ER. Hope you feel better soon.

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Not much going on. I had to make a trip to Republic, the next town over,to make a deposit in the bank. Maybe next month my SS check will be deposited in this bank. Haven't had much energy today for some reason. Could be because of the hot flash last night and restless night. A bit depressed today also. Don't why that is either.
Before I moved to Missouri I purchased the Perfect Portions containers and used them today. Think I will measure my food this way next week. To my surprise I had a lot of food. No exercise today.

It was a winter wonderland today in Ohio and I had already chosen today to work from home as yesterday I had to be in the office, for a meeting, that was actually offsite in the afternoon. It was so nice to be able to sit and watch the snow and not have to commute to work.

I did go to the doctor today. I have been having a full feeling in my ear since Monday and yesterday my eyes were so red and swollen and it looked like a scratch under my left eye. This morning I decided I didn't want to feel badly all weekend so I got into my doctor. She said, it was allergies, & sinus infection. I have drops for my eyes, a cream to go under my eyes and and antibiotic .

She was very pleased about my weightloss...and I could tell a little bit in shock that I finally lost a substantial amount. She did tell me I shouldn't exercise today but to rest so I took her advice. She said, if I felt like a gentle walk tomorrow that would be ok.

I also talked to her about the pain in my foot that I have been having. She things I might have inflamed a tendon when using the bike and pushing the pedals on the bike with my feet and the arch of my foot taking a lot of that push due to the pedals being out in front on the recumbent bike and I should engage my quads and thighs more..when I did start doing the other day.

Our offsite yesterday was a really fun time. We had a meeting as a *** Personal Care Admin Team and decided on some training and areas we will influence with our work groups. There are 14 of us Admin in Personal Care that report up to my VP and we all work together on helping our groups work as teams..Admins are the glue of the organization.

Then we got to do a fun activity. We went to this place called Breakout. We split in 2 teams and went into these themed rooms where we had to solve a scenario to get out of the room. Ours had to do with a Casino heist and the other teams was to do with a Art Muse am Heist.

You have 60 min and have to work as a group sometimes and sometimes split the group down smaller to get clues and all work together to get codes that will unlock the door. We made it with 14 seconds to spare. Our colleagues got out of there room in 15 min.

It was a lot of fun. We also had a very nice lunch before our business meeting and going to the offsite.

At TOPS last night I had a 2.8 lb loss and I hit my 25 lb goal on My Fitness pal My next goal is the next 15 lbs.

Laura: you poor thing. My foot hurts just hearing what you have been through. I'm glad you were able to get to the ER pretty quick and get an answer as to what is going on.

Did you get your referral to an orthopedic doc?

Annie: I love soup, especially in this cold weather. It sounds like you have some interesting shows to watch. Not much else to do in the cold evenings.

Happy: Thank you for the retirement perspective. I found it to be very thought provoking and very down to earth thinking so I can figure out how I want to retire.

Ceejay: Are you enjoying getting your workouts in. Don't you feel a lot better? I know I do now that I'm exercising again and using portion control and losing weight.

You are doing great and I think the Perfect Portions containers sound like a good thing to use.

Shad: I am so glad to hear you are resting and starting to feel so much better.

It is time for me to get some sleep.

I hope to post tomorrow or Sunday sometime, even it if from my phone. We are watching the nephews tomorrow night for my brother and his partner. We have a gymnastic meet to go to on Sunday and it is in KY, right across the river...about a hour drive there.

I have been doing laundry all week and a little bit of housework here and there and today I picked up some groceries while I was waiting on scripts to be filled.

I get my hair cut and colored tomorrow.

Good night all!

Morning all.

Susie – Big congrats on you weight loss - 25 pounds gone!! You are awesome!! --Good you worked from home on that snowy day. Your offsite sounded like a lot of fun. We have some fun activities during our company's fundraising period each fall, but nothing at other times, and nothing as just a department. I'm glad you figured out the cause of the foot pain. What a bummer about the sinus infection & allergies - are you feeling better today? I hope so- you have a full weekend planned. --Re the orthopedic referral, yes I got one. Have to look him up - the phone has a city area code - Hope it's not an inconvenient location.

Ceejay - I hope you haven't got the winter doldrums! We've got a little ways to go before spring! -- The portion containers are a good idea. Too much of the wrong thing is my issue. Smaller portions would help. ...and more of the right foods as well.

Annie - the train vs car accident killed the driver of the car. I heard he drove around the gates, but i also read that the accident site is a tricky 5-way intersection. The pedestrian vs train accident also resulted in a fatality. So sad.

Gonna post before I lose this, be back soon.

Shad – Glad you’re progressing in your recovery, though surely not as quickly as you would like. Hang in there.

Happy - Your retirement thoughts were very interesting with regard to your specific situation & re retirement in general. I honestly feel like as much as can be saved will never be enough, and that "easing up" and taking a low- stress or part-time job won't happen until post-retirement. Which sounds goofy, but there's no assurance SS, Medicare, or the pension will still be around in 15 years. Instead of 4 resources, there'll be just one (401k) or some variation of diminished benefits from the other three. ...So it'll just be a "keep on keeping on" scenario for me. == On to other topics. Sorry the soup cooking session wasn't up your alley, but it sounded tasty to me because I like spicy foods. But not so much heat as to overpower other flavors. == The honeybells sound delicious.

==
Nothing much to report on my end. Bored silly sitting around all day. The crutches are a PITA. I was also given one of those ugly shoe casts, but I'm really trying to stay off the foot entirely to get it to heal.

Supposed to go to the vacay lunch tomorrow, so that'll be interesting.

That's it for me. Have a good weekend everyone.

Good morning ladies,

I honestly thought I had posted yesterday because I remember specific responses I was going to make. Oh well I guess I am just drifting amongst the clouds lately.

Laura - you are correct in thinking that no matter what you save, it's not enough. I am always afraid we will run out of money but at the same time I am pleasantly surprised that we are doing ok and grateful that we are not struggling. I guess you learn to adapt to what you have and providing you are not spendy or have some unforeseen huge expense - you will do ok. And even sometimes with the huge expense - the universe takes care of things. Case in point - DH was worrying himself sick because we needed a new roof and the deck was built incorrectly and was buckling and needed replacing. And the siding was cheap and had seveal holes where rocks hit into it. It was a VERY COSTLY repair and he was wondering how we'd pay for it. And then, Mother Nature kicked up a storm that was as close to a tornado as I've even seen. It damaged our home as well as everyone around us and lo and behold - we got insurance money to cover the damages. Not enough to fix everything but it was welcome assistance to offset a fair part of our out of pocket costs. I remember fondly that Mel who didn't have much more than 2 nickles to rub together and was helping her daughter out to boot said she never worried about money. Somehow something would come through - a check for her work at the apartment complex, a friend would send a few dollars to help her out - things always worked out so she never stressed about it. After we had that storm, I finally understood what she was saying. But like I said - depending on how spendy you want to be in retirement determines how much you need saved up. And you are right - at your age I don't think you can depend on Social Security. That's a good point about Medicare also although people do contribute payments to that and Medicare is only hospitalization - you still need a supplemental plan for doctors and prescriptions. Keep working as long as you are making the good money!

I will try and post a recipe or two from our class since you ladies like spicy things.

I'm sorry you had such a problem with your foot Laura. That sounded incredibly painful and talk about inconvenient when you were already having to take an alternate route to get to work. Everything in physical therapy so far agrees with what you said about using alternate muscles around an injury - and they are secondary muscles not intended to carry that load so when they pop - OUCH. I hope you won't be on the crutches for too long. Will just have to baby that foot as much as possible when you can stay off it. Will you be working from home for a bit or will you have to soldier it into the office Monday? That won't be easy on crutches with the sea of commuters. I hope you feel better. That's also sad too about the crash and death of the driver. Especially if it was a true accident caused by confusion.

Susie - congratulations on such a milestone weight loss! I will have to post some of the soup recipes - you can easily leave out the fish - chef uses a lot of vegetables in his soups although you would have to make your own vegetable stock as a base since he uses fish or meat stocks. They are hearty filling soups too. Hope your eye feels better.

Shad - I see you are up and about on Facebook. Don't be moving around too much - I see DS has threatened you if you look at the lawnmower At least for a couple of weeks take it easy and resist the urge to do more than you should. Even gardening might be intense - there is much to heal inside and if you overdo it - you WILL pay for it in pain and such. Glad you are up and about though.

Ceejay - hope you are feeling less blue today. There is still some settling in to be done after the big move and all the changes in your life. Just like water in a bottle, it takes time for everything to settle down. You must have many towns around you now - not like in Arkansas where there was nothing but fields outside of the main towns. That's nice - more to explore! Are you getting used to more traffic? How's the kitchen coming along?

Annie - Shonda Rimes - all I can say is that when you are a writer your brain goes into overload and all these thoughts just pulse through your head. You also become more adept at noticing things around you and ohhhh that would make a good plot! I say this because we have noticed how you develop an "eye" for things. With DH's photography we are more aware of our surroundings and notice - what a great picture that would be. I also notice more things that would be fun to draw - not that I'm putting pen to paper But there's so much garbage on TV that it's nice to see some good dramas that grab your interest. Thank you for the chimi lesson - I am going to try that. Sometimes regular tortillas get a bit boring - that's a nice alternative. Maybe we can add roadside food truck to our moneymaking ventures in retirement! I would love it if C would catch us fresh fish - enough of a variety to catch here. I agree with you about the frustration of people driving stupid in inclement weather. We are supposed to get around 5 inches of snow mid week so here we go again with the speed demons.

DH ordered my NuStep yesterday - should be here in about 3 weeks. He is also chomping at the bit to order a new camera and lens. That is our big present to each of us for this year. He said the NuStep will help his heart as much as my intention to strengthen my legs. Now we need to rearrange some things in the basement to make room for the bike and NuStep. He likes to watch tv while working out so we will probably keep both in the rec room side of the basement. I'd like the NuStep up on the loft but he said no - it's not sturdy enough for something like that.

We went to breakfast yesterday after Tai Chi (which is really bothering my knees so I need to adjust something). And last night we went to the Italian restaurant for dinner so the day was a calorie bomb and I almost fainted when I got it into MyFitness Pal. Again, recommitting to better eating today.

I've got a mountain of laundry to do and some cleaning so I'd better get to it. Have a good weekend everyone.

Afternoon all
Just lazing about here. I have discovered that I can stand up or lie down but sitting cramps up what is left of the stomach muscles and pain will follow fast and vicious. So I have been walking a little, working a little and lying down a lot.
Ds2 went to a house demolition sale over the weekend and has bought floor and wall timber that will suit the style of his house. The lady told him to get anything out of the garden that he wanted so he has come home with a bunch of stuff for me to pot up. He has set everything up at table height so I don't have to reach or bend. I'm about to go out there now to see what I can achieve.
The pain is bearable today as long as I stand or stretch out so I am getting about reasonably well. All keyhole sites are healing nicely and becoming very itchy. My belly will never win a beauty contest again.
I'll be back to do personals tonight when I will spend 20 minutes on the computer but I just want to congratulate Susie who is rocking the weight loss right now. Awesome.

Susie
I want to congratulate you also on your weight loss. A job well done. Yes I do feel better when I exercise and actually miss it when I don't get to go. Lucky you that you didn't have to drive in the snow. We've been lucky that we haven't had much snow.

Laura
I'm not sure why I am being so sleepy. I told my sis that I do this when I'm in need of a b12 injection so I'm going to start taking a b12 vitamin. I think I'm going to make it a goal to go to the doctor at least twice a year.

Shad
I am happy that you know your limits and not overdoing things. Rest as much as you need to.

Happy
The guy doing the kitchen ran out of tile but he said they should be in Tuesday so things should be finished this week. Things really look different. I'm loving my bathroom's. My hall bathroom is completely decorated. I'm not sure what I want in the master bathroom. What is a NuStep?

Annie
How are the grand babies?

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Funny thing happened last night. I turned down my phone before I put it in my locker at the gym Saturday afternoon and forgot to turn it back up. I sat down in my recliner and off to sleep I went. I woke up and was going to the bathroom when my doorbell started ringing non stop. My nephew usually does this so I got up to answer it. Then I heard a key go into the lock which usually means my sister is coming in. I opened the door and my sister started crying saying why didn't you answer the phone. I haven't heard from you in two days. I felt really bad. I told her my phone was right here but when I checked it the volume was still down. Oops. They drove all the way from Ash Grove which is about 45 minutes at night to check on me It did my heart good to know that they were concerned. NO one would have done this in Arkansas.
Today I went to church and went out to eat with a group from church. It was really nice. One of the ladies and I went to a special singing at a different church. But wasn't quiet as what I expected.

Happy Monday All....I am healthy, I am happy, I am grateful, I am blessed....

Let me see...hmm, Friday night was roast beef manhattens which were quite tasty. I had saved some of the roast from the veggie soup to make them on Friday night. Saturday was very busy for me. My 9am Saturday meeting which I chaired. We had great attendance, about 22. Cold windy, snowy days we don't have as many. So 22 was a good number. The week before we had 37. Anyway we read Step 1 out of the big book followed by discussion and our experiences. 1. Admitting we are powerless over alcohol and our lives have become unmanageable. IF you are interested, I will tell you about my very first meeting I went to and my experience of going to the meeting. Let me know.

Then was errands, all day long...grocery, banking, bills, birthday cards to mail, laundry, then came home and made meatloaf. At the grocery they had a 10 dollar veggie tray with all very good, non-rotten veggies marked down to 1.99. I got two. I came home and bagged them all up. The broccoli I served with the meatloaf. The tray had grape tomatos, carrots, celery, pea pods, broccoli, mini sweet peppers and no dip. Perfect. So my heart is in the right place with healthy eating. Now to get my head there. Just have to get my hands and fingers to not reach for the bad stuff. Baked cut up potatos with sprinkled olive oil and seasonings. C ate leftover meatloaf sandwiches for dinner last night as did Sam and still have a bit of meatloaf leftover. I added some celery cut up finely as C and DD do not like celery in their meatloaf and some of the sweet peppers. Neither of them noticed the celery, but I did. haha. The only thing I don't like celery in is dressing.

We had snow most of the weekend. It was light, small flakes that didn't make too big of a mess. This morning's drive in was a bit slick in spots and of course the drivers were as nutty as ever. It was very cold out this morning. 20 degrees and today's high will barely make it into the 30s. Come on spring! Which is 49 days away. Yeah!

Going to post and come back for personals. Have to do some work for about a minute.

Good morning ladies,

Quick hello from me. I am chugging the last of the coffee and about to hit the shower before heading out to Tai Chi class. Still not a fan of Tai Chi but I have been really bad these last 2 weeks about food and exercise and the scale shows it. Annie I need the cattle prod.

Ceejay - that is touching that your sister showed up on your doorstep in tears. Don't scare her like that again although I know you didn't do it on purpose. Goes to show you that you picked the RIGHT place to retire. A NuStep is a recumbent (you sit in it) eliptical machine. I had one in physical therapy for my knee and I really liked it alot as I am too short to work a stand up eliptical. NuStep is the name of the company kind of like Bally LifeCycle.

Annie - I am glad you are working so hard on the positive attitude. I need some to spill over to me and I would LOVE to hear more about your meetings as we can always learn from each other. Glad you had good attendance. Yay on the score for the veggie trays. You can always cook up the vegetables in soups or hot dishes to get a little more life from them if they are a bit wilted for raw eating. Ice water revives them too sometimes. I love meatloaf!

What kinds of fun things did you get for planting Shad? Nice of DS to set you up a garden table so you don't have to cramp while repotting things.

Gotta run - will be back later to catch up with everyone.

Ok. Let's see here.

CEEG...just a suggestion. If you start taking over the counter B12, please get the sublingual type that you dissolve under your tongue. These are the most effective. This is what I had to take after my bariatric surgery. Gets into your system better and faster. The grandbabes are doing great, thanks for asking. So glad you are close(er) to family that loves you and can check on you. What a good feeling that is.

HAPPY...chugging hot coffee. Isn't that tough on your mouth and throat. Guess that is one diet I have not tried. Fry your mouth and throat diet so you cannot eat-sounds like a painful plan. lol. Please do tell us about the NuStep. I know I can google it but it is just easier to ask you. L A Z Y. HA. As for writing, thoughts pulse through my head but none I care to write about...bleh. Or should share. I will write about my very first meeting in a separate post. We will have to have an area in the the commune for various cattle prods and prodding. Kind of like the time out corner.

SHADDIE DARLING....do take it easy sister. Let the DS and SO do the cooking. You need not push yourself. Don't make me send you to the cattle prodding corner.

SUSIE...hope you are feeling better and the swelling from the sinus infection has gone down. Maybe the antibiotics for that will help with the inflammation in your foot. I know probably not related in curing but we can hope. Ibuprofen helps with that. I have sworn off ibuprofen due to my heart issues and liver (so-called) issues. Ibuprofen is hard on your heart and very hard on your liver. I just suffer through certain things like headaches and body aches. WHEW WHOO on the 25 lb weight loss, girl you are on a roll. Keep up the great work. You are doing this by eating mostly protein and veggies and exercising? What is the total you are wanting to lose? Good for you sister friend. Overall your admin meeting sounded like a lot of fun.

LAURA...Glad you got your foot attended to. I know what you are talking about sitting around healing. I had mostly 12 weeks of that with my ankle surgery. It is very boring and TV tends to suck when you actually have time to watch it. Did BF get mom's closet done? Is she happy with it? Sometimes hard to please. Hope your foot is feeling better by now.

Better get this posted, lots to do on this Monday morning.

Hugs

Hi gang
Annie
I would love to hear of your experiences with AA. Good find on the veggie trays. I love meatloaf. I'm planning on having steak, carrots and potatoes for lunch. Maybe a blt for dinner.

Happy
I really didn't mean to frighten my sister and she made me promise to keep in touch every day. In fact she just text me to check on me. I will text her later on this afternoon.

Laura
How are you feeling today? Did you make it to work?

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Nothing much going on. I may go to the gym a bit later. I really need to do some house work.

Afternoon all.

Happy – Sorry Tai Chi is giving you problems. I hope you figure out some modifications that will work for you. == You must be excited to get your Nu Step. Must be a big heavy machine if it’s too heavy for your loft!! == Yep, I definitely overused muscles in my foot that aren’t accustomed to doing the heavy work that other muscles do. I sure hope I don’t mess any other body parts up while trying to recover from this sprain. My right shoulder and wrist are not happy right now. == I’m glad you’re not struggling in your retirement, but I imagine it’s been quite an adjustment to know you have just that nest egg to live on and hope it can keep growing and last you for the rest of your life. Yes, you’ve got SS too, but that won’t be growing much, and I bet the cost of living adjustments don’t keep up with the cost of living when living includes medical care!!

Shad – Glad your incisions are healing well and the pain is lessening, or at least bearable now. What kind of plants did DS2 score for you at the home demolition? Nice of him to set you up for potting them, but please don’t overdo it!!

Ceejay – I hope B12 vitamins will help with your energy level. Awww, your poor sister was worried sick about you. But I can totally relate re the phone volume – I keep mine on mute at work and mostly have my phone on vibrate outside of work. I pretty much miss all calls that come to my phone unless I happen to notice the screen lighting up or if I have my headphones on and hear a beep. Anyway, you probably just need to shoot her a text each day so she knows you’re alive & well, LOL. Oh, just saw your latest post and texting is the plan. No more of those kind of scares.

Annie – Great score on the veggie trays. Already prepped for eating - easy peasy. I’m not a fan of celery at all. I only like it when it’s cooked down super soft in soup. I guess that's why I've never been a huge fan of potato/tuna/chicken salads - they always have celery in them. == I’m glad your meeting was well-attended on Saturday. I’d be interested in hearing about your first meeting experience. -- Keep that mantra going, sistah!! == Oh yeh, bf did get Mom’s closet done. So glad that’s done with. There are other tasks that will be done, but nothing as difficult as that closet turned out to be. Whew!

Hi Susie!

==

Here at work today. I really wish bf and I had driven downtown and picked up my laptop yesterday. Getting around on the crutches is a PITA, even just to get around the corner to get a taxi from the train station. So I told the boss this morning that I would be taking the laptop home with me today and working from home for a bit. He didn’t seem thrilled, but that’s the way it will be. Through at least Thursday when I have an appointment with an orthopedic dr. I might get the dr to write something up for me about working from home because the crutches are bothering my shoulder and wrist on one side and I really don’t need to mess up another body part or parts while trying to fix another.

I have nothing much else to report because I did nothing but sit around all weekend and it was booooring. I’ll get this posted now.