Crutches, Slings & Caramel Things

Remember that part about me playing derby?

Yeah, well it's not all sunshine and rainbows and unicorns as you may have imagined. Being a legit contact sport, there are injuries involved and the Derby Gods have decided that it was a good idea to saddle me with not one, but TWO bad ones right in a row. Remind me to send them a nice gift basket.

For the second half of June I was on crutches due to a torn tendon in my thigh sustained during the Mayhem vs Gridlock game.

Me at ECDX in June, watching my team roll to 2 awesome victories. Clearly, beer is a great pain medication.
(evidence courtesy of Hela Skelter)

Then, just as that was finishing healing up and the prospect of playing in the next All-Star game in July was looking strong, guess what? Here Pie! Have a separated shoulder! So, it was back to the sidelines for me, this time in a sling. (By the way, slings in July weather = very not fun.)

Obviously as you can imagine, these little annoyances made cooking quite the task for me. Precisely the reason why I keep a Jon around the house! I was more than willing to hand over the kitchen – dirty dishes and all – for a while, and despite my constant cries of making sure I eat healthy and light because I wasn't able to do any exercise, Jon made sure I got my fill of calories.

My favorite was definitely the caramel popcorn. Sweet, sticky, crunchy and gooey.

Not even done and it's already stuck in his teeth.

Break out the dental floss!

And, thanks to a 3-armed trip to the farmers market, he put up his first batch of garlic dill pickles.

We got to eat a jar (well not the actual jar) two weekends back. They were garlicky with a perfect vinegar bite to them. Really snappy pickles! A big improvement from the batch last year, and I'm looking forward to more treats to spoil me from Jon in the kitchen! I could get used to this...

... but alas, the sling is long gone, I am four weeks into physical therapy and back to dirty dishes detail in the kitchen.

I'm feeling pretty strong and in shape thanks to some weight training, a bunch of brutal spinning workouts and many many (also brutal) protein shakes to help my muscles rebuild and strengthen from my injuries. I just got cleared to start skating again without physical contact next week and things are looking up!

I owe it all to the caramel popcorn. Thank you for coating my misfortune (and teeth) in sugary goodness. I hope we meet again, sans medical aides.

Oh, and Jon, thanks for doing the dishes.

Adhesive mustache kiss at ECDX!
(picture by Hela Skelter)