Luigi is busy~!~!

Here is my Luigi~!  He loves to color and while coloring I just love his tongue wags outside of his mouth.. Ben uses a lot of lip balm.  We always have lots of fun when he comes to GranAnnie's house..
      Knee is getting much better. Today at Physical Therapy I was able to bend the knee to 100 and my straightness was 6.. Yeah ~ it's getting better. The pain this evening is not too bad.. I feel like I've had a turning point and things are getting better.. Still lots of pain and I still have lots of work to do to get this knee back to being healthy and able to walk again with no pain.. It's been 5 weeks since surgery.. This is major surgery so one can't think that it's going to be an easy recovery.. It is not..   So I'm working hard ~ being patient and keeping a positive attidute is most important when going through a Total Knee Replacement.. Do the exercises daily and know it's not going to get better in a short time.. Won't be long and I'll be on the mend and back to living again.. 
         My son Rich came to see Dave and I on Saturday and Sunday.. He lives in Barrington, Illinois and it was so wonderful to have him here for a couple days.. He left for home this morning to be with his family. It was nice to see him even thou it was a short time..
         Have a Tiggeriffic Day~ ta ta for now from Iowa:)

Calvin and GranAnnie taking a nap~!

This is my grandcat ~ Calvin.  This picture was taken by my daughter, Jodie.  I was going through some of my pictures and came across this picture of Calvin and myself.. He is such a great cat ~! I called Jodie and asked her when did you take this picture. She said it was  a few days after I got home from the hospital.. (I didn't know she had taken this picture).. Lol..  It was wonderful having Jodie here and taking care of me.. She is not a sit down person and she said "Mom is there something we can work on while I'm here?".. I said "Well, I have been wanting to go through the closets, under the beds, throughout this house."  So in the mornings we started one room at a time.  She had laundry baskets and brought everything that was under the beds upstairs in 2 bedrooms, and in the closets down to where I was here in the living room. We had 3 piles ~ 1 for Goodwill ~ one for the burn barrel and if there was any books we put into a pile to take to the library.(The library loves getting used books to sell in their book fair to help make money for the library)  They were so happy to receive these books.  I came across things that belonged to my children so Jodie found 3 large bags and put names on the bags so that way when we came across things that were Tracie's , Rich's and Jodies it was a great way of sorting and putting things where they belong. Get it out of my house and into theirs.  It took us a whole week of sorting ~ but she got through every room in this house.. (except my sewing room).  It is a great feeling to have all these things gone and you know I really don't miss anything.  Less to clean and less things to dust.. I'm sure someone at Goodwill is excited about some of the things Jodie and I dropped off.  I am so grateful to Jodie for helping me with this project.  There were some things I thought if I sold would bring some money ~ so we googled these items and found out that it was not worth what I thought, so we just gave it away.. I do have some of my things at a consignment store and periodically I get a check from the lady that owns the store.. I'm saving up for a Ipad.. It was a fun week and my house looks so much better.. Thanks to Jodie.. 
       Today is cloudy and going to be in the 30's today.. No snow in the air and it's just going to be a nice day.. I have physical therapy at 11:30 today.  So glad I have a exercise bike to use 3 to 4 x's a day to work on the bend of my knee.  Have also been working on the straightness as that is just as important as having a bend...Lots of work to do after total knee replacement.. I did look on YouTube and watched a video of someone having this surgery.. Yikes~!  very interesting and now I know why there is so much pain after this surgery.. It's remarkable and a miracle that something like this can be done...
     Have a Tiggeriffic Day~ ta ta for now from Iowa:)

GranAnnie your squishing me~!

Ben came over yesterday evening. We played the WII for a little while and then he had supper.. His mom, Tracie came  after she was done working and she had  supper with us and he was so excited to see her.. I just love it when he runs to her and gives kisses/hugs and says "Mom I missed you"..
After supper Ben put a puzzle together. It was a 2 sided USA puzzle.. He loves puzzles.. Then we played Parcheesi game.. Oh he loves it when he lands on a space where our playing piece is and he sends you home.  He just laughs and laughs.. We had to play a short game this evening because he needed to get home and get ready for school for today... So the rules were whoever got one player piece to the home space you win... He was so excited~!  He loves winning.
       Before he left I read him a story on my bed and he was laying across my bed.. So I put my legs over him.. He squirmed and squirmed and we had a good time laughing.. He finally got out and then it was time for him to go home.. He said "GranAnnie ?"  Do you know who my favorite person is?  I said "No, Ben I don't".. He said "It's YOU GranAnnie,,,You are my favorite person ~!~! He gave me a big hug and kiss and off he went.. So sweet.. I love it when he comes here and we can play...
       My knee this morning is very stiff and hurts a lot~! Took a pain pill and got on my stationary bike and worked on the bend for 10 minutes.. Now it feels better and I have ice on top of the knee and bottom..  Now I need to work on getting the tendons and muscles behind the knee to stretch out so I can get my leg straight. So much work to do when one has total knee surgery.  TIme and Patience and I'll get it done and then everything will be fine.. No pain No gain.. So I'll keep at it just knowing at the end of the road I'll have a new knee and pain will be in the past...
    Nice and sunny this morning and just calm and beautiful~!  Saw 12 pheasants walk across the neighbors driveway to go into the field . 2 cock birds and the rest hens.. Very beautiful to watch them strutting in front of the girls..    Earlier this morning there was a big buck with a huge rack walked up our driveway stopped and smelled the air.. He was so magnificent to watch and then in a flash he was running with his white tail lifted and running through the field that we have next to our property.   IT's an amazing view from my window this morning.  God is so good..
Have a Tiggeriffic Day ~ ta ta for now from Iowa:)

Red ~White~Blue~ with a Star~!

Here I am couple weeks after surgery reading to my Ben. He is such a sweet boy and I missed seeing him. We are reading a true story about a bear who rode with his master on the Titanic and survived. cute story. 

 It's been along time since I have posted anything here.. On Dec. 27th I had total knee surgery.  OUCH~!  It hurts a lot, but the old saying is "No pain ~ no gain~!".. So here I am with a leg that hurts but at the end of this long road I'll be able to have a normal life and be able to walk on trails again and go geocaching and have fun with Ben.  Exercising twice a day and going to Physical Therapy 3 times a week, the ole knee is getting better.. Ice is my friend and pain pills.  Give it another month and hopefully this pain will go away and I have a good bend.. So far I have gotten it to bend 108 degrees...Have to have 116 to ride a bike..   Just being able to sit down at a movie theater or be on a plane where one can bend the knee when someone wants to get out of their seat would be good enough for me.   

Had 5 inches of snow on Friday and the bird feeder was full of Cardinal, Blue Jays and finches.. What a delight to watch.   I just love to see the bright red color of the Cardinals against the snow. 

This is Ben at his Christmas Program.. It was called The Littlest Tree.  Ben was one of the stars.. It was so cute and of course he was my star..  

At Christmas Ben got to come to our house. He helped us all open our gifts.. It was so fun to watch him open each gift and get so excited that you received a present. He is helping Pa Pa Dee Dee open his gift. Christmas is not Christmas without children present to spark the excitement into the air.   
Today ~ it's Sunday . Got up early and got my exercises done ~ got on the stationary bike for 10 minutes and now I'm icing my knee.. It always feels good after a work out to apply the ice. 
Now it's time for a nap. Hopefully I can continue writing in my blog , I get so tired so quick.  Have a Tiggeriffic Day~ta ta for now from Iowa:)