Ouch

Last night's award ceremony was a success. Thank god. I expected forty at the most and wound up with eighty in attendance. The room was over-flowing and we had to set up more tables as people arrived throughout the evening.The teen council did an exceptional job of decorating and everyone came dressed up. Even the parents got into the spirit of things. I suspect one family walked out unhappy, but there is only so much I can do with no effort on a kid's part.

I must take a moment to say something as a mother. My oldest son stunned me a few days ago by asking me to take him to the local thrift store so he could buy a button down shirt with a collar and some slacks for this event. The boy hasn't voluntarily worn anything other than a t-shirt in four years. Last night, he walked into the livingroom wearing the slacks, a buttoned-down white shirt and a sports jacket he borrowed from his father and my heart stopped. I have four good-looking boys, but my oldest is becoming a good looking man. I saw the girls watching him, but, bless his heart, he is somehow oblivious to it. When we returned several hours later (I let him drive for reasons explained below), his father had the same reaction I did. I'm not sure we're quite up his growing up just yet.


The only downside to the evening was coming through the door in pain. Arthritis runs in the family--and I have it in my feet and neck (which combined with bone spurs creates the pinched nerves). I can only assume that the worn out dress shoes I donned yesterday have something to do with the discomfort. I feels like I sprained my entire left foot so I'm sitting here now with my foot on a pillow as I type. I am not just limping today, I am hobbling. I didn't make it to church today as I couldn't even get a shoe on. As the day wears on, it's swelling more, but hurting a bit less (or I'm adjusting to it). As usual, my husband offered vicodin. God no, I told him. I think when he's not looking, I'm throwing away the last of the bottle. He's like a drug dealer. This being pain thing is getting old, but there's got to be a better way. The weight I'm battling isn't helping matters much. As usual, I am working on this, but I suspect that I'm not going to be able to address the issue until I quit work (which is a strong possiblity).

Gary and the kids went to Walmart to pick up a new keyboard for me. My wireless gave out a couple of days ago and I've been making due with a cast-off ever since. I really wanted to pick the new one out myself, but I'd rather have a working keyboard to write on tonight so I showed my oldest a picture of the one I wanted and I can only hope they can find it. I haven't written anything since yesterday morning and I need to crank out another two thousand today and three tomorrow if I'm going to catch up.

If I can get comfortable enough to write I'd say this would be a perfect time to concentrate on this as I am clearly not going to be doing all the cleaning I'd planned. I sure miss Kathy's old lap top. Darn her for wanting it back anyway.