Physical Therapy Today

So I went to see a pain management specialist today. I am so tired of dealing with my back and doctors and insurance I could just cry. Okay well I've cried not today but last week or something. Anyways, physical therapy has never really worked as a fix it and forget solution and that is fine. I realize whatever is wrong with me takes constant attention and exercise and machines and medicine to keep in control (see in control not "fix").
So this specialist said that I have loose ligaments in my shoulders. So basically your ligaments are what hold your body parts together and still let them move. They are like rubber bands, and my ligaments are stretched out rubber bands. There is no reason to believe they are like the even worse of partial torn if I use that it is going to snap and leave a welt, rubber bands so that is good.
The last specialist said that my spine had a Z shape and it should be more of an S shape. The one before that said we should try out different pills, three months for each one and see if we can find one that will magically fix it. The one before that said that I had a rib out of place. The one before that said that I had a tiled pelvis. The one before that said that I had rounded shoulders.
So I guess now I am going with the current diagnosis of loose ligaments. The one thing they all seem to agree on is that I should do physical therapy and a orthopedic surgeon will not help me any. I am now at a point where they are also suggesting cortisone shots. These have been around for awhile, I know I read "old people daily" (that was a joke). I was wondering if anyone has any stories they'd like to leave for me on weather or not they worked well for you and also leave where on your back the major pain is. My major pain is along my right shoulder blade wing and spine. The general pain is pretty much everywhere.
Also being the person who goes to specialist all the time for pain, I get to know about crazy new manage medicine. I have been given many pills that are "new" to the market and I will not try those out any more, ever. The rule is has to have been on the market for more then 1 year and I have to go home to research it before I try it. Today though I was not given a new pill, I was given a new patch. It is really interesting this patch came into my hands actually. When I went to the dentist just about two weeks ago, I said "Honey, why can't they just put some Novocain into my back?" I mean I wasn't think permanent but sometimes, I just need a break from the pain. The more I remember of the time period with less pain the better (drugs kind fog the memory sometimes). This is a patch that uses lydocain , and it numbs your muscles. Just the top layer mind you but I am feeling a bit like I'm on vacation, from my major pain area.
Well, I hope I wasn't too sarcastic or unwitty. I am quite tired from this week and today my sister called and said she would be dropping by tomorrow. Then later my dad called and said he would be dropping by on Saturday. Life just keeps on going no matter what and you just have to love that, you really do.
Also I got Monkey an appointment with the Early Intervention people on Monday of next week. So that made me feel much better too.
 Another thing, I am not upset or sad, if I am anything I am frustrated and that is all.

Today I bought 5 pounds of mini marshmellows

Isn't that a funny thing to have to admit. I have a good reason, I am not trying to make the worlds largest rice crispy treat or anything silly. I got a recipe for marshmallow fondant. I am going to practice making and using it before Monkey's birthday party. Also on Thanksgiving my dad is going to make his home made hot chocolate. I figure by the time I make a few batches of fondant and figure it all out and have lots of marshmellows in our Hot Cocoa, we will have a nice little bag of them around for instant hot cocoa or a random batch of rice crispy treats.

So we went to the Speech therapy evaluation today. Basically, Monkey is about 6 months behind language wise. At this age pronouncing words isn't an issue, just how many words they are attempting to pronounce. She tried getting Monkey to point to pictures in a book, which she just doesn' t do. You can see her eyes lock on the item and she tenses and you think she is going to lift her hand and point, but she just doesn't. So eventually the therapist tried to get her to point to the ball at in the book, which she didn't do, but she DID point to the ball in the room on the floor. I said she does this all the time, if we have an apple in the kitchen and we are looking at a book and I ask her to point to the apple on the page and runs out of her room and finds (remembers) the apple in the kitchen. Then I said it seems weird. The lady said, yeah it is kinda weird. That was all she had to say about that, so I guess it just a weird Monkey thing, nothing to actually worry about.

Basically it was recommended that we come in for weekly sessions, which we can't afford. She also recommended we get Monkey's hearing checked, just in case. She also said that Monkey is near the top of the curve for 1yr 6month to 1 year 11 month but in a few days when she turns 2 years old she would drop down to the bottom of the curve for children in the 2 year to 2 year 6 month area. She gave me some recommendations to do at home, most of which I am currently doing. So I guess we will keep doing what we are doing, try to do it better and see what the hearing test says.

Now, I always wonder if they are just trying to make money for if this is all really necessary.I mean is it that big of a deal if she is below average at the start of a new age grouping? Should I really be THAT concerned? They say the gap just seems to get bigger and bigger with speech, but is it big enough to really be worried.

I don' t know and my mom instinct is torn on a day to day basis on the issue. Especially, when some days she repeats every single words I say for hours on end. Then the next day she has NO words, I can't even get her to say Snack or Dog.

Long Week Ahead

Monkey still isn't talking. She is however sleeping like a champ. She is sleeping so much it doesn't surprise me that we are taking her to speech therapy to be evaluated. I feel like I never have enough time trying to teach her to talk. I never have enough time because she is always ready to get back in bed for hours.
I am feeling better. I guess I was taking way too much Advil. This is great and horrible. It was an easy fix, although Tylenol doesn't do much for me and I react very oddly to Alieve. This means I am taking the muscle relaxers more often then I had been. I asked my Dr. about getting something different and she said that she doesn't deal with pain management. So I have to go to a specialist that my insurance doesn't cover. That is fine I guess, I think I am need of some ultra sound treatments anyways.
So we have both of those this week and the Zoo as usual. Plus there is some Christmas shopping to be done. I am almost all done with it. We are making many of the items for Christmas this year so I will be busy with that too.
We spent the weekend relaxing because from here on out it is going to be total chaos. There is Thanksgiving, Monkey's birthday, Christmas and our Anniversary. This is kinda funny. Monkey's birthday is three weeks before we got married, if you are just looking at the dates, it looks like I got knocked up and had a wedding while I was nursing. In reality I celebrated our 5 year anniversary while I was nursing. Well, I think it is funny.

85 Year Old School Burned Down

On Tuesday November 10th Marysville in North East Portland, Oregon burned down. The whole school was evacuated in 2 minutes flat. There were no injuries or deaths. There were only hero's. Teachers who stayed level headed and got 460 children out of the building even though it was lunch time for some of the students. However, all of those children and the teachers lost many things in the three alarm fire. Children were escorted out of the school, without their backpack or their winter coats or their lunchboxes. All the supplies the school had in the closets, everything is gone.
My husband and I are going to take whatever is leftover after we pay our bills to buy some new coats, and probably some gloves to donate to the children. It is right before Thanksgiving and it is especially cold outside here this year. Not to mention the poor economy and Christmas coming up too. If you would like to donate to the school and help them out I have provided the link for you.

Worth Sharing

So I woke up and was reading through status updates on Facebook and I couldn't help but laugh that these two happened to follow each other

Meatless Monday Chili

I made this a few weeks ago and I think it is one of the best pots of Chili I have ever made. I will never ever take 3+ hours to make chili I don't think it should take that long.

Eggplant Chili 

Saute up a large to medium eggplant, an onion a 3-4 bell peppers, 2 cloves minced garlic and some fresh green chili's (2-3 medium) in a ...so sorry I can't remember what it is called...a deep fry pan with a little drizzle of olive oil.Season it all up with some salt, pepper, paprika, and ground cumin.
Once the eggplant starts to brown throw in one can of dice tomato, a can (or two to stretch it out) of black beans, some tomato paste. I can of vegetable stock.
Let everything simmer up for about 20 minutes, if you have one of those splash gaurds I would suggest using it so you can watch and get it the thickness that you like.
Also if your family is against eating meatless chili or eggplant don't tell them that it is eggplant chili and the first few times you make it use a rich beef stock or chicken stock and then it out a little each time until your using broth and then which over to vegetable stock to make it truly meatless.
All my cans for 12 oz.

Getting Ready for the Holidays

I sat down and totaled the cost of buying/making all the gifts we planned on getting this year for Christmas and Monkey's birthday and Mr. OCD handed it over yesterday. So I've been out and about. One thing I wanted to let all my readers know about is that Costco has a KidKraft Dream Mansion for $78.99 in store. There is one of these * on the sign which means they won't be lowering the price anymore and that the won't be getting anymore in stock. Considering most KidKraft dollhouses are more like $130.00 I thought that a great deal. The dream mansion comes with two beds, two lamps, a table with chairs, a lounger, a couch, a toilet, bathtub, curtains, stairs, moving elevator, birthday cake and a piano w/bench.
I went and bought it last night because I was afraid they'd run out before I got another chance to get it. We put it together too. Monkey will be getting it for her birthday, but her party isn't for a month so now we have a dollhouse stuffed in the closet. I woke up yelling at hubby to get out of my closet, now where am I going to hide everything else?
It took us 2 1/2 hours to put it together. I put one piece of the elevator on upside down and had to take it off and redo it. We also agree that the first few pieces were all put togather correctly, but they weren't. Around step 10 we had to stop and pull of a side piece and flip it over so the living room wall wasn't facing out and the brick wall wasn't facing in. Otherwise it went smoothly. These little things in life have a way of bringing Mr. OCD and I closer. I feel like we had been drift with him sick and three jobs and me still overtly exhausted and uncaring about many things doing this together gave us a chance to talk.