Friday, December 28, 2007
Par-Tay
I think people had a good time. There were many foods. Grandma (who actually expressed shock that I could cook a turkey) would have been proud of the spread that got laid out.
Everything got done--I even managed to finish some gift knitting while the turkey was in the oven. Well, almost everything. I still need to take care of sending the remote gifts. Oh well.
My back spasms have calmed down and my flute playing at church went reasonably well. I can't say it was great, but nobody noticed anything amiss.
We are now stripping wallpaper from the kitchen walls. Sadly, there will not be enough time to totally strip and paint, but I don't care. I'm relieved to see the paisley coming off in stretchy vinyl sheets and lying in tatters on the kitchen floor. Whoever decorated this place before we moved in was demented and color-blind.
I had a CT scan on the 26th and an upcoming bone scan this Thursday; presumably I will get my results January 8. I have also started physical therapy again. I am sore, but in a way that is probably good. I'd like to be able to comfortably tie my shoes and lift my legs into the car without having to use my hands to do it. Today I had a therapist throwing a foam ball at me as I balanced on a teetering board. I'm not entirely convinced this will help with my goals, but I'm getting better at catching a foam ball while balancing on a teetering board.
Happy New Year! Pop on over for some spinach dip and sparkling grape juice, if you like. We might be awake long enough to watch the ball drop.
Everything got done--I even managed to finish some gift knitting while the turkey was in the oven. Well, almost everything. I still need to take care of sending the remote gifts. Oh well.
My back spasms have calmed down and my flute playing at church went reasonably well. I can't say it was great, but nobody noticed anything amiss.
We are now stripping wallpaper from the kitchen walls. Sadly, there will not be enough time to totally strip and paint, but I don't care. I'm relieved to see the paisley coming off in stretchy vinyl sheets and lying in tatters on the kitchen floor. Whoever decorated this place before we moved in was demented and color-blind.
I had a CT scan on the 26th and an upcoming bone scan this Thursday; presumably I will get my results January 8. I have also started physical therapy again. I am sore, but in a way that is probably good. I'd like to be able to comfortably tie my shoes and lift my legs into the car without having to use my hands to do it. Today I had a therapist throwing a foam ball at me as I balanced on a teetering board. I'm not entirely convinced this will help with my goals, but I'm getting better at catching a foam ball while balancing on a teetering board.
Happy New Year! Pop on over for some spinach dip and sparkling grape juice, if you like. We might be awake long enough to watch the ball drop.
Labels: bone scan, Christmas, condominium, CT scan, flute, Grandma, physical therapy, wallpaper
Saturday, December 22, 2007
Blarrrghhh! Need...Time...Machine...
Nothing else is ready, but at least there will be food when people come to visit.
Brian and I have invited some family to come and spend Christmas with us, so his parents are coming, his brother is driving up, and my mom is coming over for Christmas dinner. I need to finish making cookies (I've jettisoned the bell cookies from my menu and will probably forgo the crispy rice treats; I've made the cookie candies, but they need to be covered with fudge and I haven't made thumbprint or chocolate chip cookies yet...not like people desperately need cookies, but I LIKE them and want to do it)--I have to bake a pie, and the actual dinner will need to be prepared. I'm confident the turkey will thaw in time, although I'm pretty sure that right now it's a turkeycicle. If we have to, we can eat cereal, mixed nuts, or the chestnuts and eggnog I've asked my mom to bring over.
The problem is the other stuff. I only assembled and lit the tree today; I meant to do it earlier in the week, but I pulled a muscle in my back and have to do things in short spurts. I started physical therapy (again) this week, but it's for my hips/legs, not my back. Tension is not helping. The tree isn't even decorated with anything yet except six tassels and a tree skirt right now. I'm sure Brian would be happy to help do it, but I'm too particular. All the decoration boxes are still upstairs and need to disappear before people arrive.
Nothing is wrapped.
We also don't have quite enough seating in the living room, the guest rooms need to be cleared out (which Brian has been making a heroic effort to do), the bathrooms have to be cleaned, we desperately need to buy toilet paper and I have only a vague idea of when people are coming over.
I also volunteered to play the flute part of a flute/organ duo at my mom's church for midnight mass. Why? I haven't played at Christmas in three years because I got braces and wasn't really well enough to in any case. Why am I doing it now? I sound rusty and twisting my back into proper flute-playing position is not helping my muscular distress. I hope I don't suck in front of Brian's family.
I have a CT scan, infusion, and physical therapy the day after Christmas, but I don't have to worry about that yet. This year the holiday is going to be great. :)
Brian and I have invited some family to come and spend Christmas with us, so his parents are coming, his brother is driving up, and my mom is coming over for Christmas dinner. I need to finish making cookies (I've jettisoned the bell cookies from my menu and will probably forgo the crispy rice treats; I've made the cookie candies, but they need to be covered with fudge and I haven't made thumbprint or chocolate chip cookies yet...not like people desperately need cookies, but I LIKE them and want to do it)--I have to bake a pie, and the actual dinner will need to be prepared. I'm confident the turkey will thaw in time, although I'm pretty sure that right now it's a turkeycicle. If we have to, we can eat cereal, mixed nuts, or the chestnuts and eggnog I've asked my mom to bring over.
The problem is the other stuff. I only assembled and lit the tree today; I meant to do it earlier in the week, but I pulled a muscle in my back and have to do things in short spurts. I started physical therapy (again) this week, but it's for my hips/legs, not my back. Tension is not helping. The tree isn't even decorated with anything yet except six tassels and a tree skirt right now. I'm sure Brian would be happy to help do it, but I'm too particular. All the decoration boxes are still upstairs and need to disappear before people arrive.
Nothing is wrapped.
We also don't have quite enough seating in the living room, the guest rooms need to be cleared out (which Brian has been making a heroic effort to do), the bathrooms have to be cleaned, we desperately need to buy toilet paper and I have only a vague idea of when people are coming over.
I also volunteered to play the flute part of a flute/organ duo at my mom's church for midnight mass. Why? I haven't played at Christmas in three years because I got braces and wasn't really well enough to in any case. Why am I doing it now? I sound rusty and twisting my back into proper flute-playing position is not helping my muscular distress. I hope I don't suck in front of Brian's family.
I have a CT scan, infusion, and physical therapy the day after Christmas, but I don't have to worry about that yet. This year the holiday is going to be great. :)
Labels: Brian, chocolate, Christmas, Christmas tree, cooking, CT scan, flute, Joyce, mom, Roger, Todd
Monday, December 10, 2007
Penguins Deployed and a Wandering Ladder
The tree is not actually up yet. I need to acquire new strings of lights before I can decorate the thing.
I also have to put up the wreaths and will need to employ Brian to help with some window festoonery. I have some additional items I would like to put in the kitchen, but since we are planning to strip the butt-ugly paisley wallpaper and paint over the holiday break, it might not be a good idea to totally deck that room out.
On a related note, Brian observed that our ladder, the one which looks rather like the ladder sitting against the wall in the new neighbor's garage space, was missing. We are going to need that ladder for the aforementioned stripping and painting. Brian chose a moment during which my butt was about to be kicked by Ursula the Sea Witch in Kingdom Hearts to inform me of the wayward ladder, and so I was not all that helpful or cooperative at the time. Once my game was saved, I double checked the basement, fruitlessly as it turns out. Brian says he remembers specifically putting the ladder in the garage behind the shovels.
Is there a good way to ask a neighbor if they've stolen your ladder?
Today I checked the ladder against the wall for telltale paint spatters. Paint that exactly matches the blue of Brian's office and the pine needle green of our bedroom was clearly evident. I moved the ladder over to our parking space.
We'll see what happens next.
I also have to put up the wreaths and will need to employ Brian to help with some window festoonery. I have some additional items I would like to put in the kitchen, but since we are planning to strip the butt-ugly paisley wallpaper and paint over the holiday break, it might not be a good idea to totally deck that room out.
On a related note, Brian observed that our ladder, the one which looks rather like the ladder sitting against the wall in the new neighbor's garage space, was missing. We are going to need that ladder for the aforementioned stripping and painting. Brian chose a moment during which my butt was about to be kicked by Ursula the Sea Witch in Kingdom Hearts to inform me of the wayward ladder, and so I was not all that helpful or cooperative at the time. Once my game was saved, I double checked the basement, fruitlessly as it turns out. Brian says he remembers specifically putting the ladder in the garage behind the shovels.
Is there a good way to ask a neighbor if they've stolen your ladder?
Today I checked the ladder against the wall for telltale paint spatters. Paint that exactly matches the blue of Brian's office and the pine needle green of our bedroom was clearly evident. I moved the ladder over to our parking space.
We'll see what happens next.
Labels: Brian, Christmas, Christmas tree, condominium, neighbor
Friday, November 30, 2007
Time to Deck the Halls
I don't actually have anything groundbreaking to report, except that I spend far too much time doing silly things with PhotoShop for this blog.
I don't know what my marker counts were last Tuesday, as I tend to not show up for the blood draw as early as I am supposed to, and the reports are never ready by the time I have my appointment. Of course I sat at the hospital for several hours waiting for my actual infusion (it always takes forever at Ann Arbor...I don't really know why), but the reports weren't ready when the nurse gave me a copy of the labs. Go figure.
Since I feel great and my liver function looks good, my December will not be wrecked with scans.
I need to start decorating for Christmas soon. Brian has no idea what he is in for, never having seen the results of a total Janet festoon-spree. I need to box up the trinkets that are currently laid out so that I can put out my penguins, snowglobes, candles, Star Wars Hallmark ornaments, stockings, Breyer holiday horses, more penguins, snowmen, and the actual el-fake-O tree itself. I need new lights for the tree since the lights went wonky last year and the top half refused to stay lit.
I hope the condo doesn't burn down.
I also have Christmas cookie jars, salt and pepper shakers, and special dishes and glasses I will start putting into the cabinet. I've got wreaths, fiber optic things, angels, and have even been known to wrap my framed pictures with wrapping paper and bows for the season.
Feel free to come on over; if I manage to bake cookies this year, you're welcome to have some.
I don't know what my marker counts were last Tuesday, as I tend to not show up for the blood draw as early as I am supposed to, and the reports are never ready by the time I have my appointment. Of course I sat at the hospital for several hours waiting for my actual infusion (it always takes forever at Ann Arbor...I don't really know why), but the reports weren't ready when the nurse gave me a copy of the labs. Go figure.
Since I feel great and my liver function looks good, my December will not be wrecked with scans.
I need to start decorating for Christmas soon. Brian has no idea what he is in for, never having seen the results of a total Janet festoon-spree. I need to box up the trinkets that are currently laid out so that I can put out my penguins, snowglobes, candles, Star Wars Hallmark ornaments, stockings, Breyer holiday horses, more penguins, snowmen, and the actual el-fake-O tree itself. I need new lights for the tree since the lights went wonky last year and the top half refused to stay lit.
I hope the condo doesn't burn down.
I also have Christmas cookie jars, salt and pepper shakers, and special dishes and glasses I will start putting into the cabinet. I've got wreaths, fiber optic things, angels, and have even been known to wrap my framed pictures with wrapping paper and bows for the season.
Feel free to come on over; if I manage to bake cookies this year, you're welcome to have some.
Labels: Brian, Christmas, Christmas tree, liver, tumor marker
Friday, December 15, 2006
The Joys of Home Ownership
Brian and I are now the proud owners of a three-bedroom condo practically across the street from where we live now. We have already:
I am thrilled to have a home that is not a rental property. I am very happy that we can paint and replace carpet and fixtures. I'm very psyched about the prospect of crown molding, and am hoping that it's not too difficult to install. A year ago I honestly did not think that signing a thirty-year mortgage and moving into a two-story home with a basement would ever be within my reach.
I have never been more happy to be wrong.
- Removed the crappy spindles on the half-wall between the dining area and the kitchen.
- Removed wallpaper and put a first coat of paint on the walls in the master bedroom, engendering some achy backs and knees; I am never doing edging along the floor again.
- Gotten the Christmas tree over to the new condo. I feel like putting it up will be an important milestone.
- Had the carpets and ducts cleaned.
- Ordered new carpeting (berber) for the master bedroom to replace the existing crappy worn stuff.
- Recruited some people to help us move on the 26th (although anyone else is welcome to come).
- Acquired puppy gates (YES!).
- Picked out paint color which will go up when the rest of the crappy wallpaper comes down. There's some serious ugly on the walls right now--pics are coming soon.
- Anticipated conflict with the one neighbor who deems the area outside our new dining room as his/her garden--just wait until we inform them we would like to build a deck there.
I am thrilled to have a home that is not a rental property. I am very happy that we can paint and replace carpet and fixtures. I'm very psyched about the prospect of crown molding, and am hoping that it's not too difficult to install. A year ago I honestly did not think that signing a thirty-year mortgage and moving into a two-story home with a basement would ever be within my reach.
I have never been more happy to be wrong.
Labels: Brian, carpet, Christmas, Christmas tree, condominium, mortgage, neighbor, paint, pug, wallpaper
