A Hoppy Week

My life, once again, is centered on pain and on trying to figure out ways of doing essential tasks with a "handicap" -- in this case, a torn hamstring.  I just took my first shower in our tub (don't worry, I'd also showered at a friend's house who has a walk-in shower....so No, I did  not go a whole week without one.  Yes, It's been a week.  A week today.  And already it seems like it's been for months that I've had this pain and that I've been limited to doing almost nothing because EVERYTHING hurts.  Even sitting in my recliner.  Even lying in bed.

But I do have to say that it is getting better.  The times when I exclaim out loud (ok: Yell) because of pain are now once or twice an hour instead of once every five minutes.  Does that mean that the pain is getting better, or that I"m simply getting used to it.?  Probably a combo of both.  It still hurts a heck of a lot.  I didn't go to church today, knowing I'd be miserable.  I went to Bible Study on Wednesday past and it was hell.  I couldn't stand and I couldn't sit.  So I went into the adjacent dining room and paced back and forth with my crutches or sat on the edge of the hardbacked dining chairs.

Now I've graduated to a cane. The crutches are more pain free to walk with, but they are a royal pain in the tush.  So I suck it up...no excuse me, I've been informed that the current expression is "Man it up"...so I man it up and endure the pain in exchange for convenience.  (man it up: isn't that a sexist remark???, someone ought to call the PC Police on the inventor of that one.)

My cat has decided that now, I'm better and that my bare feet are once again fair game to be tackled and bitten.  She has this terrible habit of always noticing when I'm barefoot...or  even just in flip flops which is what I"ve been wearing this week.  And she hides, then pounces and then chomps.  I hate it that she does this and I've done everything conceivable to make her stop, including whacking her (OK, DON'T call the PC police on that one)....nothing will convince her to stop.  However, when I came  home with crutches, she somehow understood that my feet were not to be messed with...and so she didn't.  Until today.  I had my cane, but that didn't thwart her....and she made munch-meat of my feet again.

I guess in her book, one week on disability leave is enough.

I've been reading (a blog series of Beth Moore sister's (Gay is her name) escape from severe alcoholism. into the loving forgiveness of Jesus' embrace.  My dad had collected all seven installments off of the internet and made it into a mini-Kindle book which he gave me to read. (I don't know if that is legal or not...We aren't going to sell it or distribute it :)  )So I read that--a great read and a great story of God's grace and reconstruction of a life that was devastated by that disease.  And I've also been painting.  Here is the product of my labors.:

She is supposed to be in an old car (her clothes are from the 60's or early 70's, so I assume the car is also. I was working from another picture that I lifted from a friend's Facebook account.   I've come to the conclusion that I'd better not do that anymore.  Maybe it is rude.  Or breaking some unwritten copyright rule.  I don't know.  Photographers are allowed by law to photograph people for their art...shouldn't artists be allowed the same privilege?  Of course by the nature of our work, we would either have to photograph a scene or work from a photo. Any thoughts on this? 

For example the famous picture of the Arabian girl with the incredible eyes who was on the cover of National Geographic...That is a famous photo...award-winning in fact.  But I painted her.  And I'm not the only one who did.  I saw on Deviant Art another artist who'd painted her as well.....Is that an infringement of copyright??  If you list your source, I shouldn't think it would be...but who knows, maybe it is.  If anyone reading this has any information or even opinion on this, please let me know.

I know that there is not much in the way of profundity here...but I was just catching you up on my week in case you wondered if I fell off the edges of the planet. 

I watched a great movie btw.  It's called "To Save a Life" and it was highly recommended to me by a good friend of mine...an MK (missionary's kid) to whom I speak on Google chat.  She's been trying to talk me into getting it for a while. And I did. (Amazon , $7.00) and it was worth it.  I watched it on my computer with my earbuds...and it was a good way to lose myself for an afternoon.  I love movies that do that.: suck you in so that you forget where you are and the pain you are in. When I'm in the hospital sometimes I'll watch a movie and that will happen.  An afternoon that I didn't want to have to live gets sucked up into forgetfulness and invested in the world of the movie....It's a great relief sometimes.

Well, it's been a week since I fell over my treadmill in the dark, and I've passed that milestone in the possibly months of recovery from this injury that I have a head of me.  Sheesh.  You'd think that I should have happier landmarks in  the road map of my life.  But no. I go from injury to sickness, one hospital to another.