Grab a chair and a couple of root beers...

Okay, so... let's see... I went to see an orthopedic specialist two weeks ago about my knee. Verdict, yes, I banged it up good and proper, I also have osteo-arthritis in my right knee (not unexpected, considering the way I've injured it in the past), and... at some point will need intervention. I'm too young and active for knee replacement, he could do surgery to clean out all the crunch stuff in there, but it would come back eventually (also true), or there's an injection he could give me after the inflammation and irritation calms down in my knee called "Synvisc One" that would basically replace the fluid that lubricates and cushions the joints in my knee. He's had good results with that one, and it turns out that the mom of one of Mr. Impossible's team mates has had it and said, "OMG, Auntie... get it. It's wonderful. I can move, I can walk, and it doesn't hurt!!"

You know... I was doing pretty well there for a long time. I mean, I was able to run and play with my kids, and while stairs were tricky at times, mostly, things with Rice Crispy Knee were good. Until now.

So for the time being, Dr. S. gave me a steroid injection in Rice Crispy Knee to calm down the inflammation and help with the pain, and advised me to stay off of it as much as possible, no stairs, no bending it, no kneeling, no lifting, etc., and to use a crutch when I needed to walk around.

Okay, cool, I can do that, and I promise, I've been very, very good. Very good. Except, I haven't told my mom about it because... really, she would freak for no good reason, and right now, I just can't see the point of upsetting her. Really. Besides, I really, really don't want to hear the "Marching Band Ruined Your Health, And So Did Drum Corps, If You'd Only Stayed In Swimming And If You'd Only Gone to Bellaire High School, You'd Be So Much Better Off" lecture again. I got a five year break from that one, but now that she has Alzheimer's, she doesn't remember settling that one so... it's being recycled. Yay.

Last week, the Impertinent Daughter turned... sixteen.

*incipient freak-out*

Have I mentioned how awesome my daughter is? May the 4th is her birthday, it's Star Wars Day, and "The Avengers" came out in the theaters. TRIPLE BONUS!!! So... we took her to San Marcos for dinner at her favorite Chinese restaurant, where the Impossible Son got this in his fortune cookie...



If you can't read it, it says, "About time I got out of that cookie!"

After that, we went to the theater where I'd pre-ordered tickets and got in line. And hey, I just have to say, I really like this "ordering movie tickets online" thing, because the show was sold out!! It was awesome!! Yes, yes, I know, welcome to the 21st century, Auntie.

I learned a valuable lesson that day, too. The Impertinent Daughter is absolutely NEVER allowed to ever, ever, EVER drink Mountain Dew again. As far as she's concerned, it's a controlled substance. OMG... one of her friends gave her a can for her birthday, and she was feeling tired when she got home from school. She wanted to stay awake for the movie, she said, so she decided to drink the Mountain Dew with her snack. This is around 4:30 p.m.

Holy Mackinoly, y'all, that child was wired for sound!! I mean, seriously, she talked nonstop (except when she was eating, and even then it was a close thing) from 4:35 until 1 a.m.!!!! EVEN DURING THE MOVIE.

I would shush her so I could hear the dialogue, and I'll say this for her, unless her enthusiasm got away from her, she mostly kept her voice really soft and quiet, which had irritations of it's own, because I couldn't hear her well enough to understand her!! And she tried valiently to be quiet in the car on the way home after, but... chatter chatter chatter!!! At least it mostly made sense!!

"The Avengers" was ... awesome by the way!!! Just... oh, yeah, gonna go see that again just so we can catch what we missed the first time!!!

The Impossible Son had a soccer game Saturday, and didn't play like himself at all. By Saturday evening, he had a fever of 103 F (39.4 C). That was fun. Turned out to be a virus that's blasting its way through town. The Impertinent Daughter fell victim to it Sunday night, but her temperature didn't get as high as the Impossible One's did, thank goodness. Mr. Impossible missed Monday, and Miss Priss should be back at school tomorrow.

After her doctor's appointment tomorrow, I shall retire to the couch with pillows to prop up Rice Crispy Knee with an ice pack and not do one damn thing until the kids get home from school!!!

OMG.... OMG.... OMG....

The Impertinent One and I just got back from seeing the midnight showing of Harry Potter, and... oh, holy Mackinoly, y'all....

It's gonna knock your socks off!! Prepare to be blown away!!

How on earth am I gonna get to sleep now????

Happy Mother's Day to all the mom's on my f-list!

Oh, boy, yesterday was exhausting!! And Auntie got thoroughly baked, too, in spite of slathering generous amounts of sunblock all over her arms, neck, and face!!

Yesterday was the U-10 tournament, and both the Husbandly One and the Impertinent Daughter had refereeing duties. The Impossible Son also had his last U8 game yesterday morning, and spent the last part of it in my lap after getting his fingers jammed by another player's foot when he was playing goalie, and then twisting his foot badly when he was playing forward later.

He's much better now.

Yesterday was very hot, and very humid, which is unusual for this area. Not the heat part, but the humidity. It was well over 90%, which made the entire area feel like a sauna, and it was hazy as well, thanks to agricultural burning in Mexico and Central America. Funny how all that smoke ends up in Central Texas!!

Anyway, between the haze, and the humidity, we were all baking and broiling in the sun, and the Husbandly One sent me home with the Impossible Son, mainly because the Asthma Monster was making an appearance. However, I had to return to the fields by 3:30, because the Impertinent One had one last game to ref, a U12 game which turned out to be very exciting. However, this was when I got broiled and baked. Though I had re-applied sunblock, I still got burned on my left arm, the left side of my neck, the bridge of my nose (though I was wearing a visor) and a very painful burn in one spot on my left cheek. Took me until this morning to figure that one out. That, I can blame on my glasses, which are supposed to have a UV block on them as well as the Transitions shading, but hey... whatever! Next time, I'm taking the damn glasses off and watching the game BLURRY!! Or just smearing zinc oxide on my cheeks, period!

Today, the Husbandly One and our brood intend to take me to see Star Trek, which is very cool, because THO and I both grew up watching the series. In fact the first thing I ever watched on a color television was Star Trek. Before that, we'd had a black and white TV, then my dad came out of the oil fields and started working in the office for the drilling company, and got a payraise, and they bought a color TV. Dad plugged it in, turned it on, and we sat down to watch Star Trek, and my first memory of color TV is of a small white space ship floating over the curve of a brilliant orange planet. It was 1967, and I was four years old.

Yes... I am old. *laughs merrily*