Planning the next move

For her birthday Maisie received a very nice chess, checkers & Chinese checkers set from my parents and this past week she had plenty of time to play as my poor little Maisie Miao Miao hurt her back last Friday/Saturday and has been kept home in the afternoons, away from her favorite place and activity, the gym and gymnastics.

On Fridays at gymnastics practice when there isn’t a meet that weekend, if the girls have their skills on an apparatus they are then allowed to practice Level 4 skills while the coaches work a bit more with the girls who need some extra help.  Last Friday all the girls did well and had their necessary skills so the coach worked with them on the trampoline on back handsprings.  Maisie already has her Level 4 round-off back handspring and she has it connected gorgeously so while the coach was helping all the other girls learn the back handspring she allowed Maisie to go and practice, still within her sights, but on her own.  Since Maisie didn’t have to wait for a turn and was on her own she was able to do her skill over and over and over, probably doing well over 50 round-off back handsprings until she decided she was tired and sat down to watch the other girls. 

Saturday morning she was tired but wanted to attend her TOPs practice and share her birthday with them and then she had her pottery painting birthday party followed that night by, because she begged to go, four more hours at the gym for Parent’s Night Out where she was running around playing on all the equipment and doing even more back handsprings.  When we picked her up Saturday night she complained that her back was tired but after seven hours at the gym that day and all her festivities, I wasn’t surprised.  Overnight though she awoke several times crying that her back was hurting so I gave her some meds and we iced it.

Sunday we went out for DIm Sum but it was an overall quiet day at home and by choice Maisie really laid low which is very unusual behavior for her.  Monday was her science party at school and though she did okay, her teacher said that she complained of her back hurting and even had difficulty lifting her backpack, needing help.  So before we took her out for her birthday dinner I took her to the doctor to have her back checked out.  The doctor said that Maisie had pulled a muscle in her lower back just to the left of her spine, sending her back into spasm and that she needed regular doses of Motrin to reduce the swelling, heat, massage and most importantly she needed to allow the muscle to rest thus no gymnastics until at least Thursday and then, only if she was feeling better. 

By Thursday Maisie was just itching to get back to the gym and since each day her back had improved I took her but asked her coaches to keep a good eye on her and if there was any pain to have her stop and I would pick her up.  She did okay at practice yesterday and again today but when I watched her today I could see that she definitely was not 100%.  She has a meet tomorrow morning and tonight I’m still debating as to whether I’m going to have her compete.  I guess I’m waiting to see how she does overnight and how she feels tomorrow morning.  This is the final meet before State Meet and thankfully she got her necessary scores to attend State at her first two meets of the season so if she doesn’t compete it won’t hurt her and it’s only the experience that she’d be missing out on.  So tonight I’m the one planning the next move…

Tonight I am featuring this recipe again because I can’t keep from eating these Caramel Stuffed Apple Cider Cookies as they’re beyond delicious.  I have found that 20 seconds in the microwave makes the caramel all ooey-gooey delicious and they make my home smell like Autumn.  Seriously you must give these a try.  Simple to make and delicious, just click on the picture for all the details.

Other recent recipes posted on Cook Lisa Cook: Mango Lassi, Stir-Fried Asparagus with Water Chestnuts, Ginger & Cashews, Curried Roast Chicken Pieces with Spicy Sweet Potato & Carrots, Grilled Corn & Bacon Pudding, Oriental Chicken Salad, Potato Salad with Bacon, Coffee Crusted Steak, Home Style Chicken Curry, Watermelon Frosty,  Mango Gazpacho, Toll House Double Stuff Oreo Brownies, Long Beans with Walnuts, Blacksmith Pizza, Rhubarb Crisp, Laksa, Math Book No Bake Cookies, Aloo Gobi, Mint Lassi, Red Curry Chicken, Lamb Curry, Grilled Corn, Avocado & Tomato Salad with Honey Lime Dressing, Baked Egg Cups Two Ways, Thai Peanut Salad, Holy Guacamole, Cantaloupe Agua Fresca, Wallaby Darned, Piggy-Out Cookies, Wicked Good New England Lobster Roll, Long Beans with Garlic, Super Simple Summer Shrimp Salsa Salad, Grandma’s Teriyaki Steak, Watermelon Tomato Gazpacho, Red Chinese Long Beans with Peppers & Red Curry, 24-Layer Crêpe Cake Fig & Watermelon Salad, Grilled Chèvre & Fig Panini, Spicy Asian Cucumber Salad, Grilled Prawns, Spicy Brown Sugar Bacon, Kicked Up Piggy-Out Cookies, Pesto Pita Pizza, Cilantro Lime Chicken, Nutella Crêpes, Mango, Lime & Chile Spiced Ice Box Pie, Roast Beef & Garlic Herb Cheese Sandwich, Layered Crespelle with Bolognese, Fresh Mozzarella & Basil, Jamaican Jerk Meat Pies, Nutella No Bake Cookies, Velvety Mac & Cheese, Welsh Cakes, Tom Yam Ghoong (Spicy Shrimp Soup), Lime Jewels, Southwest Pasta Salad, Walnut Roca Squares, Uncle Bubba’s Shrimp & Grits, Chocolate Chip Gingersnaps, Levain Bakery Chocolate Chip Walnut Cookies, Copycat “KFC” Coleslaw & Happy 6th Birthday Maisie Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting.

Enjoy!