Wednesday, August 31, 2016

7+ weeks post op!

I went in Friday to get my "6" week checkup after the hysterectomy and got the blessing to resume life as normal!   The gyn said there are still some stitches up in there, but they'll dissolve soon. 

So apparently the ovaries do indeed still work.  I was driving into work yesterday and couldn't get comfortable in the car.  Once I got to work I realized that I was cramping in my lower back like the good ol' days.  Then today my belly felt really heavy, along with being crampy.  I kind of wished I still was carrying the belly binder around in my purse, but I had put it away at home.   It felt weird to be feeling that way without having Aunt Flo visiting!

Other than that, I've been feeling pretty good.   We went camping last weekend and it was nice to indulge in some adult beverages by the fire (and on the boat!).  One thing I noticed that I thought was odd.  At home, when I wake up in the morning, I have to flex my feet and rotate my ankles and stuff to ease my heel spur before I get out of bed.  Saturday morning I woke up in the camper and walked just fine.  My heel didn't bother me all weekend.  I wonder why that was?  I didn't do anything unusual.  It rained half of Saturday so we just sat around under the awning and visited.  We played games like washer-toss later.  Monday morning at home wasn't too bad, but it hurt more than on Saturday or Sunday. 

On the plus side, I got home from work this afternoon and relaxed for a while, then took the dog for a walk.  I was looking thru a tote in the garage for some fall leaves and stuff to put out to tide me over to Halloween decorating time, but I couldn't resist puppy-dog eyes.  
I somehow think Map My Walk's GPS is having issues.  It used to be, you know, accurate. 
 I'm pretty sure this is actually closer to 2.25 miles, but it said 4.1 miles and we did it in 47 minutes! 

So that's the scoop here.  Nothing particularly exciting.  I'm trying to get motivated to get more activity in, but it sucks having to get up in the morning when its still dark!  I love fall, but I don't love the shorter days.  I'll be out mowing the lawn tomorrow so I should get close to 10K steps again easily.  

Later, peeps!
#SnS

Tuesday, August 30, 2016

Camping!

Last weekend, we went up north to my sister & brother-in-law's place on a lake about 2 hours away.  They and 2 couples of their friends have 3 lots in a row.  Linda & Dave and Jeff & Annie both have 2 campers on their lots - the second ones being "guest houses".  Angel has been going up there since she was about 5 and is close buddies with Jeff & Annie's granddaughter, Ashley.  

 We thought we'd be a lot later, because Miss Angela was supposed to work until 10pm and we were just going to have the car packed and pick her up on the way when she got off work.  But at the last minute, she was able to switch shifts and got home before me!

It kinda screwed me up, since Thursday, with the thought I could do all the packing when I got home Friday, went shopping.  I had to go buy a new stapler for work (since the woman who orders supplies there acts like the $ comes out of her pocket and bitches when we need something), then I went to JoAnn Fabrics to use a 20% coupon.  Then I stopped at the Dollar Treasure to get a few things for camping - can cozies, coffee cups, clothes pins, etc.  And the Salvation Army was right there, so I wandered thru there.  I looked at my phone on the way to the car at 7:45pm and saw Angel had just texted me about changing shifts!  Crap!  I had a lot to do!

I hurried home, grabbed something to eat and went out at 8:15 to mow the back yard.  I finished by Braille since it was almost full dark when I finished.  

Friday after work, I had my closer-to-7-week check up after my surgery.  I got the blessing to proceed with life as normal - Yay!

So then I went to the grocery store, and then home to help Randy finish packing and loading the car.  He had actually left work at 1!!  We stopped along the way for dinner and got to Linda & Dave's around 10.  Not impressed with Cracker Barrel's Halloween offerings this year, but we did get a Halloween Mad Libs book that kept us entertained for the rest of the trip and half the way home.

OMG, words can't describe how beautiful the clear sky was up there!   We could see zillions of stars.  Just stunning. 
The fire was nice, too.
Unfortunately, Saturday morning, it started to rain as soon as we got up.  Linda and I had planned to go for a walk at 8, but that didn't happen.  It rained pretty steady until about 2.  
This is a Randy camping tradition - he has to hunt "Spaminoles" before he can make breakfast!  We always get a good laugh out of this. 
btw - this is the only time I eat Spam.  He fries up slices and we make Spam, egg & cheese bagels for breakfast.  It's actually quite good! 

Angel & Ashley & Ashley's boyfriend got bored, so they went into town to see a movie.  While they were gone, it stopped raining so me & Randy, Linda & Annie all went out on the boat.  Dave & Jeff stayed back to take the speedboat out of the water.  Guess no tubing this weekend! 
Channeling our inner Little Big Town - doing some Day Drinking on the Pontoon! 
Jack was a pain in the butt while paying washer toss.  
He kept wandering around in the way, following me from end to end!  
I suck at that game, but we decided alcohol helps our skill.
Emmetts on ice.  Labatt Blue.  Rum & Coke.  Yeah.  
Daddy Longlegs says "you can't see me!" 

The kids came back while we were on the lake, so Linda took them out for a ride.  They seemed OK with not going tubing.  It was chilly anyway!  I had shorts on, but don't think I took my hoodie off at all.   I waded out a little bit into the channel in the shallow water, which should be warm but was most definitely NOT! 

Saturday afternoon we spent playing games & taking golf cart rides & just relaxing.  It started to clear up after dark so we could see some stars, but not anything like Friday night.  We sat out by the first and chatted for a long time until it burned down.  A small storm rolled thru around 2am.  The long, low rumbling thunder woke me up and I had the quick thought about being glad we weren't in a tent and dozed lightly, listening to the rain on the camper. 

Sunday started out foggy, but then cleared up into a glorious day!  Jeff & Annie always leave early, as did Ashley & Garrett.  So we just hung out.  We took the dogs for a ride on the pontoon while Angel drove.  Linda & Dave coached her and she did great!   
Here we were doing donuts in the lake! 
Jack wasn't too thrilled with his first pontoon ride with his cousins, Webster & Baxter.  The big upper-left pic tells it all!  He did better sitting on the seat next to me, tho.
While Dave & Randy packed up, us girls went for a golf-cart ride around the resort.  
We mainly went to look at some of the houses we could see from the lake - to see what they looked like from the road.  Some are magnificent!   

We also saw the cutest thing.  3 young kids, around 8 or 9 years old playing with their pony.  They had the pony hitched to a Radio Flyer wagon.  The kid driving sat on a small desk chair in the wagon.  Another kid sat behind her and the third was on a tricycle tied to the back of the wagon!  So they were trotting up and down the driveway until someone fell out, then the pony would stop until everyone was situated again and then trot away!  Adorable!

We left to come home in the early afternoon and its always so nice to use your own bathroom after being away for a while. 

Yesterday was my birthday!  And just because I could....I wore my pearls to work. 
Neener. 
We went to Red Lobster for dinner and just missed Mom, Linda & Laurie - who's birthday it also was.  I was born on her 13th birthday - surprise! 
This "Alotta Colada" with a sidecar of rum hit the spot!

Randy has already acknowledged the fact that he's not the most inspired of gift-givers.  Usually I get free rein to buy what I want at the annual Yankee Candle Boney Bunch Preview Party that happens the last weekend in August.  But since we were up north, I didn't get to physically attend the party.  A lovely lady from the Halloween Forum offered to buy me the piece I really wanted (in case they sold out) and have it shipped to me. 
I got it today!!

I wasn't sure if I'd have interwebz access up north but I was able to get online Saturday and order 2 other pieces that I liked. 
They should be here Thursday.  Yay!
I'd like to get to the store so I can smell some of the new candles this season.  I'm funny with my candles - if they're too strong I get bad headaches.  And I really don't like any of their pine / spruce / dark green in general candles.  Sneezes!

 photo http---signatures.mylivesignature.com-54494-124-9BF74C716651145ECAC7EDD1AB729D6B_zpsxkuumtdq.png

Thursday, August 25, 2016

I've been lazy!

I go in for my 6 week checkup tomorrow, even tho it was 6 weeks on Monday since my hysterectomy.  This will be the physical exam to make sure I'm all healed inside and hopefully will get the blessing to resume normal life!

I confess I mowed the lawn.  I did half yesterday and the rest tonight.  I blame the other 2 bums in my house for not doing it for for me.  Yet again, I lost the waiting game and did something that they could have, but didn't.  So if I have ill-effects from this - you know who will get the evil eye!
Love this face!

I'm actually feeling quite good.  I really haven't had any significant belly pain or anything since like week 2 post op.  Twinges here & there, but that's all.  It's hard to remember that I have had significant internal organs removed!  Of course I'm feeling some aches right now since I always do after mowing the lawn, but nothing that feels surgery-related.

Anyhoo, I got the guilt trip, "we miss you" card from Weight Watchers yesterday.  I'm ready to go back, I think.  I'm shooting for the September 6 meeting.  That'll be 2 months since I went last.  I don't feel guilty about missing 2 months.  I had cancelled my credit card back in June (someone in Indiana tried to charge $200 worth of stuff at a Dollar Tree on it!!) and forgotten that my monthly pass was paid for on that.  I got emails from WW about it while I was in Charleston with Miss Angela & her dance team, but they went into a special email folder that I didn't look at when I was on my phone.  So yeah, my monthly pass got cancelled.  I did get 2 meetings in after Charleston before we figured out what had happened, but by then I knew I was having surgery, so I let it be. They have some good deals going on, so I'll have to take advantage.  

Sigh.  What a time to go back, right when this has happened...
Pumpkin Spice Ice Capp time!  
MmMmMmMmMmM

I'm going to have to start planning my food better.  I've been eating oatmeal for breakfast so long that I'm getting tired of it.  I switch between strawberries and PB2 and occasionally maple syrup in it for flavor, but it's still getting old.    But it's quick & easy to make the night before and take it to work with me to eat at my desk in the am.  But yawn! 

I've been getting a few walks in, and dragging Randy along with me.  I know he's just going to humor me, but it doesn't hurt him to go, either!  I noticed my FitBit step count has gone up each week, so that's a good thing!  My heel spur has been acting up, but I wonder if its because I haven't been taking my Triflex (glucosamine stuff from GNC) since the surgery. I haven't had any knee issues ~KNOCK ON WOOD~ but this has been annoying.  I have to flex & point my feet before I get up in the morning or I seriously cannot put weight on my right foot at all!  Guess I should restock up on that. 

So it's getting late, I'll post again after my checkup!
Later!

#SnS

Wednesday, August 24, 2016

I swear I didn't get lost!

I can't believe it's been over 3 weeks since I posted last!  Wow.  I can't even claim anything exciting or drama was happening, because it wasn't! 

I go in Friday to the lovely gyn office to have my 6 week checkup and exam and hopefully I'm totally healed from the hysterectomy done July 11.  I've had no issues at all.  I confess to mowing half of the lawn today and would have done more but it started to rain.  

I found a website called HysterSisters.  It's a support forum for women who have had hysterectomies and so far all it's done is make me thankful that I've had such an easy time!  You can join a thread with other people who had surgery the same week as you and I almost feel guilty for posting any updates since some of the stories - sheesh.  

I got my guilt-trip "we miss you" card from the ladies at Weight Watchers today, so I am thinking about going back.  They're having some deals going on right now, so it would be a good time to re-sign up.  I had cancelled my credit card and forgot that my WW fees came out automatically, so my membership lapsed while I was in Charleston with Miss Angela & her dance team for Nationals but since I knew I'd be having surgery, I didn't renew it.  Sigh.  It's time to go back, but not until after my birthday (Monday!!)
Randy and I went to Belle Isle in the Detroit River between Detroit & Windsor one weekend to get some pics.  And we proceeded to miss half of the things on there!  This means another trip back, since it's part of next April's A to Z Challenge! 
I was trying to face swap with Maddie here but I can never get that damn thing to work! 

3 of the 4 critters had checkups at the vet and I took them all in within a week.  
 It sucks that everyone except Daisy is considered geriatric, so they wanted to run all sorts of tests on them.  I had them check a lump on Jack's (who will be 12 next week) belly that ended up being a roll of fat (they stuck a needle into it for a sample ~gag~!) and his liver enzymes were high but they just want me to keep an eye on him and told me what to watch out for.  For Maddie (who is 9ish) I opted not to run all the tests right then, since Jack cost us $300+ a couple days before!  Then Chester (who is 16 or so) was in a couple days later.  He has always been well over 16 lbs, but he weighed in at 14, so I did let them do the blood tests (and had to provide a urine sample!!) even tho he's been acting normal to maybe figure out the drastic weight loss.  He had pancreatitis and needed medicine, which he was not happy about.  But other than that, he is a fine, healthy old man!  Whew.  
A monster under my bed!

 

OMG.  I got this local beer from the Thai restaurant Angel works at - I'm not usually adventurous with my beer, but this was really good!  
Fire Drill Selfie!
We had an actual fire drill at work last week.  Pretty sure if they had a truck running in the garage, we would never hear the alarm.  As it was, there's no alarm in dispatch, aka the old part of the building, so we could only hear it from the new part, so it wasn't very loud at all.  And all of the dispatchers ignored it.  I heard it and asked if that's what it was?  Then the VP wandered into the room from the new part and I asked him and he finally put 2 & 2 together that that was probably why the security door at the bottom of the stairs was closed!  So he shoo'd us all outside where there was a big argument about where exactly we should meet.  We thought the back of the yard, farther away from, you know, diesel fuel tanks and other flammable stuff in the garage?  But HR told us by the fence right across the parking lot from the garage.  Sorry peeps - if I see flames I will NOT be near the garage!  And yes, I will grab my purse, too.   

So Angel started her first college courses Tuesday.  She is starting out with 2 classes this semester, which is plenty with work & dance.  She's got a College Study Skills class (and will be watching Amadeus??) twice a week and a 4 hour computer class once a week. I read the syllabus for that.  Microsoft Word, email & Interwebz searches were listed!  Sounds tough!

She's already signed up for the 2016-17 dance season, and I actually heard her say it's her last.  She'll be getting her 10 year award from the studio this year and for the competitions, the senior age group is 17-19 and she'll be 19 in just over a month.  She basically is taking every class she possibly can, making the most of it.  The one new teacher has already taken her under her wing and is going to teach her a lot of new stuff and work on improving what she can do. 

We got her recital DVD from last season.  While the content was excellent, the quality of the DVD sucked!  I'm sure I could have gotten a better recording on my phone.  Whoever this company was used non-hi def equipment and it was just bad.  Nothing was in sharp focus.  The coloring was horrible - everyone was washed out in whatever the background color happened to be, especially the red / orange / yellow.  One of the little girls did a solo wearing Barbie / Pepto Bismol pink and she looked like she was in white.  They had stationery cameras on the corners of the stage and we couldn't decide if they were fish-eye lenses or just smudged.  The sound was pretty good, but they covered up the sound of the taps and any yells the girls did like in their All Stars routines.  Watching a tap dance and seeing mouths open, but no sounds happen?   Can't believe we paid $50 for that!  The video last year was excellent so in comparison, this one was painful.

Anyhoo.  It's about time to turn in for the night, but I have a purring kitty on my lap so I'll sit here and suffer from feline paralysis for a bit longer.   I'm sure there are other things I wanted to ramble about, but I can't think of them right now!   Oh man - that means another post soon!
 photo http---signatures.mylivesignature.com-54494-124-9BF74C716651145ECAC7EDD1AB729D6B_zpsxkuumtdq.png

Tuesday, August 2, 2016

Just stuff & nonsense

Life is slowly getting back to normal after my surgery.  I had a hysterectomy on July 11 (and if you really want to read more about it and the recovery - Part 1   Part 2   Part 3 ) and I'm slowly getting back to normal.  I still feel a bit achy, but nothing worse than cramps.  I have an elastic waist band that I wear at work to help keep everything squished in while sitting.  And once I get my sleep schedule back to normal, I'll be great! 

I was off work for 2 weeks.  The first week, I didn't do a whole lot.  Randy had Monday & Tuesday off to keep an eye on me, then worked from home the rest of the week.  But I felt good enough to drive out to my sister's house that Saturday to check on her cats.  I let Angel drive us home, tho.

I was able to start getting my Halloween headstones repainted.  I realized that I needed to put a couple coats of DryLok on them to seal & protect the cheap foam.  And of course I'd already painted them.  Sigh. 
He wasn't very much company!
Before. 
Jack was my stupervisor, as usual.  
After DryLok / before paint
I grabbed a couple other foam stones out of the shed and DryLok'd them, too. 
As of today - they're done except for some splashes of color I want to put on them. 

I went back to work the day after my 2 week check-up on 7/26.  I probably should have asked for just half days to begin with, but I'm surviving.  My co-workers did a great job of keeping up with my work so I wasn't slammed when I came back.  

It's not the toad with the extra toes, but he's still pretty!

I came across this book Miss Angela made in probably 1st grade - this is the greatest page ever!
"God Bless the USA.  I was born"
LOVE IT!!!

Speaking of Angel - she did move back home.  Her incentive to come home was the fact I wouldn't pay for summer dance classes if she was staying somewhere else.

Things have been going pretty well with her back.  I haven't felt the need to get my referee shirt out.  She actually signed up for college courses!  She's taking 2 classes to begin with, which is just fine.  Between that, work & dance - she'll be kept busy.

She also did a big change with her hair.  She's been platinum blonde for a long time, and she chose to have the stylist dye it to match her roots!  And she got about 5 inches trimmed off.  It's weird getting used to seeing her so dark, but it looks so much healthier. 


Last Friday was auditions for the competition team at the dance studio.  She wanted me to be there for moral support, so I got a chance to visit with people I haven't seen in so long (heehee, as if we didn't spend a week+ with them in June!)
There were some younger girls that I hadn't seen before - they were funny!  Angel and some of the older girls were in the first group to audition.  After they did jazz, they bust out of the room to grab their tap shoes, but they were all dripping in sweat and breathing really hard.  Those younger girls just stared!  I'm sure they had no idea what to expect, then seeing the big girls like that probably freaked them out!

Results came out on Saturday.  There's nothing really surprising in where she was placed.  
solo
small group jazz
small group tap
small group lyrical
jazz line (which may become a production)
hip hop line

and then she'll be taking the usual ballet, technique and was asked to be in advanced acro.  She's mentioned taking a couple recreation classes for fun, too.  She's OK with not having a duet this year, since her partner isn't dancing this year.   She couldn't begin to imagine who they would have paired her with, anyway.  

There are 2 new teachers this year that all the girls are excited about.  They all love Miss Gabby, but she had to have gotten burned out last year.  She taught a zillion classes, in addition to working, going to school and planning a wedding.  So the new teachers will ease her workload a bunch and bring some new ideas to the stage. 
I've had this plant at work forever.
I leave for 2 weeks and the damn thing flowers for the first time! 

So that's all that's going on here.  I felt mildly guilty Sunday watching Randy mow the lawn, since I'm usually the one who does it.  But I can't for a while!  Luckily its been so dry that it was mostly raggedy weeds sticking up and not thick grass.  It hasn't been mowed since the weekend I left for Charleston in June!

   I'm taking Angel to vote for her first time tonight.  We had to look up what all was on the ballot and talk about it.   Should be an adventure!

Well, since I'm at work right now, I should actually, ya know, DO some work!
Later!