Our New Japanese Friend

On last Friday our new Japanese friend arrived to stay with us for about a month. Her name is Kimiko, but we call her Kimi. She is 21 and has finished 3 years of college. She is here to go to the U of U's English Language Institute. (ELI) She rides the bus to and from school. She is very smart, fun, and helpful. She is eager to learn our language. She has studied it in school since she was little, but there's nothing like on-the-job-training. Last night we were talking about some of our "idioms". It is hard to explain them. ("top of the street", "raining cats and dogs", "I'm bushed", etc.) Just stop and think about all the things we say that can have a totally different meaning. When she tries to look them up in her electronic dictionary, it just doesn't translate well. But we are all having a fun time.

And I am going to have to cook more often.

A Fun Day in the E.R.

On Tuesday, Aug. 12, I was having a "hitch in my get-a-long", meaning that my upper left leg was not functioning well. It was also kinda painful. But I decided that I just had to "walk it out".
I woke up Wed. with tons of things to do, still hurting-but managable, and did all and more of them. But, on Thursday, I couldn't even step on my left leg without excruciating pain. I called my doctor, but he wasn't working that day. His office suggested I go to an Instacare. (I think most doctors who work in instacare couldn't get a real doctor job, and thus don't trust their expertise.) Mike and Kevin gave me a blessing, so I knew that things would work out, but I wasn't sure what to do.

Mike was supposed to be leaving that afternoon on a well-planned out trip to the Zion Narrows, but he gave it up to take care of me. We were also expecting the arrival of a Japanese girl who will live with us for a month on Friday. I was panicing about how I would pick her up at the airport when I couldn't even get into the car. Mike to the rescue again.

Anyway, we finally decided on the ER and the new Intermountain Medical Center. We were there for 7 hours doing an xray, an MMRI, blood tests, heart monitor test, blood pressure, and no food or drink. They were ruling out spontaneous hip fracture. (It happens to women my age....) So the final diagnosis was Bursitis (inflamation of the sac around joints). I was sent home with 3 prescriptions (Percacet, Ibuprofin 600, and Prednisone pack--plus the recommendation of using ice packs on it.)

I woke up Friday about 1000% better, but still in pain. Today, Saturday, I am even better though not thoroughly done. Thank goodness for blessings, husbands, and doctors who know what they are doing.

One good thing about my unplanned illness is that I was able to get, read, and finish the second book New Moon in the series that I am reading while I sat in bed or on the couch recuperating.
Now I have to find me a copy of the third book.

As a side note, our Japanese girl came Friday. She was delivered to our house by the person who sets up the housing. Her name is Kimiko. We took her to dinner at golden Corral to see what she likes to eat. She eats very healthily--vegetables, fruit, no meat. Then we went to the grocery store to buy stuff she likes to eat. Today she and Mike took TRAX to the U of U to check out the campus so that she will be able to find her way around. And next we are taking her to Snowbird on the Tram. (She has jetlag and is napping right now.) She will be with us for a month while she studies English at the U of U in a special program with 6 other girls and their professor. Kimi speaks very good English. She is 21. We are looking forward to lots of fun with her.

Free the Fridge!!

Well, I just accomplished my every two year ritual. I cleaned out the fridge AND the freezer. My family will be happy to note that I got rid of all the out-dated stuff, including the gooey raspberry sherbert that was oozing out of the carton on the door of the freezer. MEMO TO FAMILY and SELF: Do NOT store icecream products in the door of the fridge!!! The really cool thing (no pun intended) about today's project was that I actually recognized every thing that I threw away. Tomorrow is garbage day, and I wanted to get things out before then. But I am afraid the RHODES ROLLS are going to expand and fill up the whole can. And the old meat will be defrosted and start to smell in the hot garage, so I think I will take it to the street early. Then I will watch the neighborhood wasp, bees, etc. buzz around it for the rest of the day.

I also decided to jump on the Vampire Bandwagon and bought the first book in the series (Twilight) at the airport in Seattle. I finished it by the next day. Now I have to go hunt down the next book and avoid any chatter about the 4th book so it doesn't spoil my quest. I have been missing Harry Potter. This series is nice in that all of the books are done and I won't have to wait two years (and forget all the details and characters) like I did with Harry Potter.

We spent 4 lovely days in Seattle in a beautiful hotel with two huge corner windows overlooking the city. It was Mike's CEO group--very fun to be with. We did the Pike's Market, a dinner cruise, and took naps almost every day. Very Relaxing. No cooking! FUN!