Monday, October 19, 2009

Shroom? Condos?


Shrooms101109
Originally uploaded by Food Fanatic
A friend refers to this as a photo of mushroom condos. They do look a little like some sort of multi-family housing, don't they? Aw. Sure they do. Use your imagination, for pete's sake!

It's finally cooling down here in the Carolinas. We are wearing SHOES. And SOCKS. And even the occasional JACKET. Yup. Of course, that doesn't mean we might not have an 80 degree day on Halloween, but things are definitely seeming rather fall-like here.

Mensa Boy is busy trying to put new rubber coating on the dishwasher rack. We had noticed brownish spots appearing on some of our dishes...the edges. Finally he decided to get to the root of the problem and discovered that the coating has started to come off in spots and the bare wires are rusting. New rack: $75. Bottle of rubber coating: $6. Keeping Mensa Boy busy and happy ("I'm sure having fun doing it!" he crowed.): PRICELESS.

Next project? Finding a way to replace the passenger rearview mirror on Big Green. I sideswiped a garbage cart last week. Photo to follow.

Time to retreat upstairs. Turns out that bottle of rubber coating stuff has a bit of an intoxicating aroma.

Sunday, October 18, 2009

Operation Foot Rehab

Operation Foot Rehab is underway and I think I'm making progress.

This summer I sustained a stress fracture of the third metatarsal of the left foot. The ensuing treatment, which involved a special shoe, caused the plantar fasciitis to flare up to epic proportions. It was bad enough that my friend Terri actually dubbed the foot the "Foot of Doom." It caused real psychological problems for me, as it not only hindered by jazzercise, but also my yoga practice, and intermittently caused me to double over in pain as the heel would seize up suddenly and go into spasms.

Now, due to the miracle of prescription drugs and Birkenstock and Earth Shoes, I think I am working my way to normalcy.

But I am also working on my stance. I tend to pronate, which contributes to the arches falling. So I have put on a stretchy bracelet I bought from the Dorcus Widows Fund and I use that to remind myself to keep standing so that my weight is evenly distributing among all three points of each foot. I'm also working on making sure my feet are parallel and pointing forward. The bracelet reminds me to check. I'm starting to notice I'm doing those things more automatically now.

The prescription anti-inflammatory runs out in about a week. We'll see how the pain is then.