I hope everyone out there is enjoying a fine Sunday - the nicest so far this year! It is around 80F outside right now, by far the warmest day of the year so far. And with the nicer weather my outlook has improved as well. I've just had so many aches and pains lately, well, you know how it goes. I don't want to be more of a whiner than I already am so suffice it to say that I'm feeling better today, physically and mentally. I still have a ways to go to be where I want to be, but that will just take time. In the meantime, plans and projects move forward!
My wife had the great idea a while ago to get a window film to let light in but still keep our privacy since our house is literally feet away from neighbor Dave's house. She brought this up over winter and ordered the film, but we had to wait until it was warmer to apply the film to the windows. That wasn't specifically laid out in the directions for this particular product, but we did see that in some places online and thought it best to wait until it was warmer. So, yesterday morning she did the kitchen window and there was enough left to do the bottom half of the window in the back bedroom by the computer desk today. I think it looks great and now we will be much more inclined to open the blinds and let more natural light in the house!
Today, we did the caulking around the tile and countertop in the kitchen. Not a big job, it was just a matter of doing it. I think we can finally call this project done....for now.... There's always something next and in the kitchen that might be either a dishwasher or a different set-up for the garbage and recyclables. But for now we can turn our attention elsewhere...
This is a view out the porch into the back yard. The sun was of course behind clouds when I took these pics just a bit ago! You can see the grass is just starting to turn green again. As I write this Kate is outside weeding and then will be washing her car (which we need to get into the shop as soon as I'm cleared to drive again). In this picture, the window you see on the right wall will be gone soon and a doorway put in. The custom door (mostly glass)was delivered a few days ago and sits in the garage right now. We hired a contractor to put in the door, plus a little wooden landing and steps going down to the driveway. This is going to make our backyard access so much easier for us. We will be much more inclined to grill, for instance, and eat out on the porch than have to carry food halfway around the house. This way will be just sooo much more convenient! Work begins in a little over a week and should be done in plenty of time for our Spring Anniversary Party. This will be our third party for friends and neighbors since we moved in 2 years ago May, and I hope we can pull it off again as good as, if not better than, last year. But more on that later...
I'm off to enjoy the rest of the day before the storms move in! Ta!
On Tuesday morning I had my last follow up appointment with the orthopaedic surgeon for my leg. The bone seems to have healed well on the back and sides, but the front still has a ways to go to fill in the gap. He said it may take several months up to a year for it to fully fill in. He also noticed I had a bit of a 'hip limp' and gave me an exercise to help strengthen my hip. To tell you the truth, I'm not sure it was a hip limp or just the sciatica pain in my back right hip/upper butt.
Today after work I had my first physical therapy appointment in about 4 weeks, my 19th overall, I believe. I have only 2 visits left that are approved and paid for by insurance and I scheduled those out 2 and 4 weeks. I need to get back into a rhythm of getting on the bike and doing all my exercises every day again. Neck surgery and recovery, followed by a general malaise this past week got me off track. Anyhow, my therapist worked me over pretty good today which made it clear to me that I have to get to working on it again. The highlight of the session was at the end when we measured the degrees of knee bend. When I had last seen him I was stuck at about the 114 degree mark. This time I had made it up to 122 degrees, which made me happy but I'm still not satisfied. I want more! But, for a little perspective, it has been almost 8 months now to get this far so, realistically, it may not get much better than this.
