The phases of the moon....awesome style

This is the first big project of Ashton's school career. There were no instructions. Twenty two kids were sent home with the knowledge they gained the past 5 weeks in class about the phases of the moon, and told to create a project. 

Mr. Science came up with the idea (with slight help from google), and executed the project with very minimal help. (I got out the paints, and bought the supplies) I offered a suggestion of using star stickers for the stars, but that got an eye roll, sigh and lecture about how stars don't actually look like stars. 

Anyway, I am super proud, and impressed at the excellent job he did. It made me think back to when I was in fourth grade and my dad helped me make an incredibly awesome model of the California Gold Rush. He had a creative mind when it came to building anything like that. I think he would be proud to see Ashton has that quality. They would have loved to build stuff together.  Instead, Ashton is stuck with his lame mom who suggested star stickers for his masterpiece. Guess the creative mind skips a generation.

Brothers don't shake hands, brothers gotta hug...

This is an extremely rare occurrence.

It lasted a whole 15 minutes before drama ensued. I'll take it.

Half Marathon Fail

Fourteen years ago I twisted my knee at basketball tryouts, and couldn't hardly walk on it for almost a week. I never went to the doctor. Needless to say I didn't make the team, but that was probably due to my lack of all skills necessary to play basketball. 

Fast forward  to when I am actually counting on my knees to take me 13.1 miles. 

Within a week and a half of training I ended up with a swollen knee and a nagging feeling that I better get it checked out. The doctor sent me to an orthopedic surgeon with an x-ray and a note that said, 'classic medial meniscus tear'. The meniscus acts like a cushion between the knee joints. After confirming I had no broken bones in my knee I headed for an MRI to see exactly what we were working with and how much damage had been done. 

Today was my follow up for said MRI. I am not pleased.

Not only am I AWESOME at medial meniscus tearing, but I am super great at horizontal tearing a meniscus which happens to be the only kind of tear which can not be repaired, and only gets worse through the years. Go me!! 

When I get around to it (a.k.a. after I stop feeling sorry for myself)I will call and schedule surgery where the doctors will go in and see how deep the tear is, and hopefully scrape out just the right amount of the damage so the tear is not causing a problem anymore but leaving enough of the meniscus behind so I have close to full mobility in that knee. 

I'm sad to not only be banned running until further notice, but also to leave my running partner solo, but I know she will do great anyways. I'm hoping to be fully recovered and have another chance at my 13.1 mile challenge by the end of the year. Hopefully before the world ends in December.