Summer CatchUp

My sister, Miss SmartyPants, and I have decided that 2013 is going to go down as a crap year healthwise.  Both of us have had issues all year that have seriously gotten in the way of our everyday activities and plans.  I've been dealing all summer with a blown-out hip and I now know why old people walk funny.  It's not because they think it looks cool.  Who knew??  They are in pain!!

I had no idea that I had a bad hip.  I had been going to the chiropractor and physical therapist for pain in my lower back from a big gardening push.  I just kept getting worse and my hip started to bother so I asked for x-rays.  Why don't doctors want to do x-rays??  I spent a fortune on therapy that just made me worse. 

Anyway, lo and behold, the pictures told the story.  After consulting Dr. Watters, I got signed up for a new hip.  That was so not on my wave length!!  I have opted to wait until November when I am 65 to have the surgery.  I would go broke with just one insurance company but combined with Medicare it should be doable. 

In the meantime I have spent the last six weeks trying every pain medicine out there and throwing up.  I haven't thrown up so much since I was pregnant in 1973, so I decided to have a cortisone shot, and hope for the best.  The  Bradster hauled me down there yesterday for the procedure and I'm really doing much better.  Not wonderful but I can walk (funnily) without a cane.  I'm hoping to hold out until I can give myself a new hip for my birthday.

It is a good thing that I had most of my garden in before everything went to hell because I can barely get it watered and harvested.  Forget weeding.  Here is the before picture:

Doesn't everything look neat and tidy??  Check it out this morning:

Granted it would look better if Chris could get over here and mow but he is so busy with everybody else's big paying yards that he only gets it done every couple of weeks.  Even though my garden isn't beautiful this year it has been a great producer.  Between the garden and friends who share I don't need much from the store - milk, eggs, bread.

My new strawberry patch has been crazy its first year.  I wonder what they do in the store to make strawberries tasteless.  Mine are a party in my mouth - just bursting with sweetness and flavor.

If you are getting overwhelmed with produce from your garden and have given as much away as your friends will take, try roasting your catch.  I fill a big pan with everything (my last pan consisted of onions, zucchini, crooked neck, tomatoes, green beans) add olive oil, salt and pepper, pepper flakes, and roast it at 400 until done.  I then add the roasted veggies to two servings of cooked pasta and a couple tablespoons of pesto.  It ends up being this big bowl of fabulousness that you eat on for several days and not feel too guilty.  Add a squirt of lemon and some parmesan and I'm in heaven.