Socal Mom by Donna Schwartz Mills

Just Call Me Thumbelina

Who knew when I smashed my thumb in my car door at the beginning of the year, that I would still be dealing with it?

I certainly did not. I did not think it was important enough to see a doctor right away, and at the time, worried only that I would lose my fingernail - and that would be gross.

Three months later: The fingernail is still there, and has even started to grow again (I have not had to trim it all this time). And it's STILL looks kind of gross. But that's beside the point. I got some good news today -- the MRI I had earlier this month confirmed the previous discovery that no bones were broken, and also doesn't indicate tendon damage (which means it probably won't require surgery - HOORAY).

But I am still unable to bend it at the knuckle - which means I am not able to use my right hand for simple tasks like grabbing a Starbucks grande latte, or using scissors. This is due to swelling of the tissue there, which has not diminished, even after three months.

So today, I got a steroid injection in my thumb. It hurts, but my doctor is hopeful that motility will improve over the next few days. If so, she plans to stick me with one that's more powerful than the one she gave me today. 

And I'm probably still going to have to consult with a hand surgeon for a second opinion. And undergo physical therapy.

With any luck - this is the last post I'll write about the thumb.

And tonight, I'm breaking out the purple nail polish I bought last month, so the nail I've still got doesn't stick out like a er, sore thumb.

Best Laid Plans

I awoke as I do every morning: determined to get things DONE.

Eight hours later and I need to leave the house to get my child from school -- and what have I accomplished?

Not much.

At least, not many of the things that I thought I would work on when I got up this morning.

I got sidetracked.  This is a common occurrence, that usually results from an email or phone call with a task that needs to be done RIGHT NOW. And since everything these days seems to take five times as long as I think it will, by the time my work day is done (2:30, when I need to drive to the school), the new task is the ONLY thing I get accomplished.

Today was different. The task that sidetracked me was an INSPIRATION -- which I don't have too often these days, as I'm trying to focus on TASKS and WORK and BUSINESS. 

No wonder I'm always in such a lousy mood. 

Today, I resisted the to-do list and followed the inspiration. You can see the results on the MOMocrats site here.

And How Was YOUR Weekend?

Wasn't there some kind of drinking holiday on Saturday?

Yes, I knew it was St. Patrick's Day -- but it was cold and wet and blustery, and all our family wanted to do was hunker up at home. As I'm the only member of the family who likes corned beef and cabbage, that classic dish was not on the menu. Instead, I slow-cooked a beef stew for Megan and me and Gareth's favorite vegan chickpea stew for him.

No Irish whiskey, so I made do by uncorking a nice bottle of Pinot Noir (actually, 3/4 of that went into the beef stew, so I had a good excuse for drinking the rest). I spent the rest of the day catching up with season 1 of Downton Abbey.

I would have watched the second series of Downton on Sunday, if only it was available for streaming on Netflix. Instead, I went along with my husband to walk the dog in the local park (something we usually do together in the evening).

The rain had made our usual trail muddy (which I hate - I know, I'm awful) -- so I stayed on the paved main trail while Gareth took Mac up by the hillside. About halfway through the walk, they cut across the green.

"He was really agitated that we weren't together," my husband said. "He kept whining and pulling toward you , so we just had to come."

After two years of dog ownership, Mac and I have a funny relationship. I really do think I'm more of a cat person, and bringing a dog into our family has been really difficult on our cats. That is not Mac's fault. But he may sense a bit of remorse on my end. I am convinced that I am his least favorite family member -- and that the only reason he puts up with me is that I am usually the one to feed him. 

But that was very sweet. I gave the big boy a hug.

Soon after our return, I left again: I needed to do some shopping (something that seems impossible during the week these days, when I'm hard pressed to step away from the computer). I picked up some odds and ends for family members at our local mall, grabbed some lunch, and then headed to Topanga Plaza  for more odds and ends.

Of course, it would have been nice to do all my errands at just one shopping center, but I needed to hit stores that were exclusive to each of those malls. Besides, I found myself enjoying the time alone in the car, with the radio tuned to music I like (as opposed to what my daughter wants to listen to).

It was still kind of chilly out, but not rainy - so everything felt crisp and clear and clean. 

I had an urge to roast a chicken, and I had long ago concluded that the best tasting chickens are the ones from Rosie and Rocky -- which I have only been able to find at Gelson's. (And as I whined a couple of weeks ago, I no longer have a local Gelson's to shop at). Topanga isn't that far from Calabasas, so I did some grocery shopping there.

The Calabasas Gelson's was built around the same time as the one in Northridge, and is laid out in similar fashion -- only it's way larger. The company had said that the Northridge employees would be reassigned to other stores, and I was happy to see some familiar faces there. 

I was out of the house for about three hours, and was feeling good.

So was the roast chicken dinner. I use the Jamie Oliver recipe, which calls for adding potatoes to roast halfway through the cooking time -- you toss the potatoes in the chicken fat, which makes them taste unbelievably good. I roasted a separate pan of red potatoes for the vegan husband, and also baked some Gardein "stuffed turkey" for his meal.

Everybody was happy.

After the meal, my husband remarked upon what a nice weekend it had been. I told him the only thing lacking was Irish whiskey on St. Patrick's Day. He was surprised we didn't have any. Before we went to bed, he broke out a bottle of Lagavulin and poured us each a shot.

It was the perfect end to a really good weekend.

I'll Need to Get Ready for My Close-Up

My kid just called me, 30 minutes before school is let out -- which is kind of a no-no unless it's an emergency.

I guess emergencies are in the eye of the beholder.

Besides, her last class of the day is her elective: Film Production. And from what she's told me, that class is pretty free-form (much like the theater classes I took when I was in high school, when assignments to improvise scenes ended up as an excuse to dish about all the other people we knew.

I get the creative environment.

Her last words when I dropped her off this morning were, "I'll text you," referring to her usual communication with me on days she stays late -- which I knew was her plan with her producing/directing partners on their current student project. I just wasn't expecting a call.

"We need someone to play the part of the mom in our film," she said.

Uh-huh.

"And you remember, you already said we could film it at our house."

Uh, yeah. I did say that. That means I'm going to have to clean it first. When was that again?

"April 15. It's a Sunday."

Whew. And it's about a month from now.

"It's only one line. And you're already going to be there."

True. 

"OK," I said.

"Thank you!" she said. I heard giggling in the background.

"You just made Lisa very happy," my daughter said, referring to one of the other girls in her group.

So I guess I'll not only have to clean the house, but make sure I've got something clean to wear. And makeup.

I Hate Mondays - And Daylight Savings Time

Yes, I know it is Wednesday. But my week began with the rare kind of Monday that kept me away from my computer ALL DAY -- and it began with me sleeping in until 6:50, thanks to the time change. I drive carpool Tuesdays, Thursdays and every other Monday -- and this week, that day was mine. 

I had less than 30 minutes to get my daughter and myself out the door.

You would think that Tuesday would have been better, but in fact, it was worse: I awoke at 6:55, which gave us even less time to make ourselves presentable.

I'm actually kind of proud of the fact that I managed to both shower AND make the kid a lunch before the other kid in our carpool showed up at our doorstep.

Today should be better, because the other mom is driving. So even if I oversleep, I can shower and change any time before I need to pick my kid up at 3:00. (The reason I don't know if it's better is that I'm writing this post on Tuesday -- so I'll let you know how I do.)