Duxford Girl

This week I went back to work after being off for two months. It was almost like returning after maternity leave although being a teller requires very little technical retraining so I was able to hop right back into it. There was one hick-up when I got knocked off of certain systems for a couple of days but other than that, things went okay. I can't really wear heels at the moment so I found short white dress socks and wore them with my saddle shoes. A lot of my work clothes come from Modcloth.com so the look works really well.

By Wednesday, I finally got the PICC out of my arm and was able to shower for the first time without my arm being wrapped in plastic. It's the little things that matter. I'm still on oral antibiotics for the next couple of weeks but all looks good. I'm also back to driving. Happily, it's spring and I've been able to indulge in my favourite thing ever; driving my Mustang with the top down.

I have no experience with surgery or being really sick. Because of this I have really unrealistic expectations when it comes to recovering. I'm almost a month in to this thing and I can't believe that I'm not fully recovered.

My first week home was not the delightful recuperative romp I expected it to be. We managed to go out for a celebratory dinner on Saturday but I was exhausted afterward. It may have been okay to go home and get a good night's sleep, however, Simon came down with the stomach flu. We were up with him all night and then he wouldn't rest the next day. Jason got zero sleep. Then on Monday night, Jason and I got hit with the same miserable flu. It was exhausting and has taken us the entire week to move beyond.

As the two or three of you who read my blog probably already know, I've been in hospital. It's been quite the week and I'm starting to feel like myself again. That said, I've been warned that I'm far from recovered and I have some long weeks ahead of me. Surprisingly, I'm feeling generally pretty positive.

This whole mess started last Wednesday evening. I got home from cadets, got ready for bed and then found that my back was aching so badly that I couldn't sleep. Specifically, the left side of my back. I eventually took a robax and got a few hours of sleep. I thought it odd that I hadn't fallen or done anything weird at the gym but I chalked it up to being 40 and being on the heavier side at the moment. By Thursday night, robax wasn't working anymore and I was curled up into a little ball. I called my dad to ask what his kidney stones felt like and then on his advice, had Jason drop me off at emergency.

Edging done. My technique is coming with the angled paintbrush but my ceiling took a few hits. I'm never going to hear the bloody end of it.

Washed, puttied, sanded, cleaned and taped. Now I actually get to paint.

My house was built in the 1970s. It has great, solid construction but lacks the aesthetic sense of a lot of the houses being built today. To be fair, I'd rather have a house that's not falling apart rather than a trendy mud-room. I also love the three-level split design of the house as well as the huge deck and backyard.

So aesthetics are something that need to be added. My Dad did a pile of work landscaping the outside a couple of years ago and added a little deck in front of the house. He also added a shower to the downstairs bath and later retiled the floor. He and Jason also added an awning to our deck, last weekend (not to mention a thousand other various projects over the past years we've been in the house).

Jason has been spending the summer on outdoor projects like replacing the steps on the deck.

This is so awesome I had to share it on my blog...

For those of who've been wondering about my new shirt and what the hell it means:

I like video games. My dad also has a weakness for them and was known to come home with new games and gaming systems when I was kid. We had an original pong machine and I remember spending hours playing adventure games on the TRS-80 (You are in a tomb, it's dark... Light torch... There's a fearsome mummy coming right at you! Game Over). I was allowed to play Leisure Suit Larry until I got farther than my dad assumed that I could. After that, I was restricted to Kings Quest and Space Quest. I also had a lot of male friends, even as a tween, so I played my share of the classics like Space Invaders and Asteroids.

I recently saw this video and thought that it was a well-done piece: