Weekly recap: 9/3/2018

Ahoy, mateys! We're sailing towards the fall here in the US, although it's been so dreadfully hot and humid where I'm at that it feels like the dead of summer again. ICK. Give me cooler weather any day!

My days are a little off lately; so many of them are dedicated to physical therapy and its aftermath that it feels like my productivity is waaaaaaaaayyyyyyyyy down. Bear with me while I'm getting repaired, and hopefully I'll be a little less creaky in a bit. ;)

Let's recap!


MONDAY

I cleaned the kitchen, started a load of laundry, then hung it out to dry. My daughter and I did her Reading and Geography lessons (we studied the Cook Islands; she loves islands and was both impressed and deeply upset that we couldn't go there immediately or possibly ever- plane tickets there are a little outrageous). My mom arrived, and so it was off to physical therapy with me.

WHEW.

This was INTENSE. A lot more intense than it was at my last place in Tennessee. BUT- we're undoing a LOT of damage here. In Tennessee, the first time I went, it was like, "Okay, my back's been bad for three months, help." And after that it was, "I'm having an acute flare, let's fix this!" Here, it's more like, "Hi, my back has been bad for four years with the past year and a half being acutely bad, but for a lot of different reasons, I couldn't get here until now...GO!" So it's going to take a bit of work, and I came out of there exhausted on this day. When I got home, I chatted with my mom for a bit, then she took off and I did dinner prep (Chipotle-style bowls with rice, taco-flavored lentils, homemade guacamole, garden tomatoes, salsa, and cheese for those in the family that wanted cheese). Afterwards, I cleaned the kitchen, read part of a book from my To Read list, then finished knitting the last part of my husband's Christmas gift.


TUESDAY

My daughter and I gave my husband a ride to the train, and later on, we stopped by Kohl's to pick up some t-shirts for my son for Christmas (I used an old gift card). We stopped by Walmart for cat food, picked up our WINIX Air Washer from a lovely lady who was giving it away for free on a local group, and after lunch I rested for a bit. This may be a bit of a theme around here, what with physical therapy taking a lot out of me, so expect more of that. :(

For dinner, I made bean balls (you know, like meatballs...but with beans) and spaghetti, and my daughter and I did her Reading and Geography lessons (Costa Rica). We hit up the library, and I picked my son up after dinner. I finished the final bits of my husband's Christmas present that night.

Strep throat is ready for Christmas!

WEDNESDAY

We gave my husband a ride to the train again (he usually walks, but it's been rainy in the mornings lately). After grocery shopping, my daughter and I visited a library in a neighboring town; they had several books from my To Read list, and my card works there. Their library is gorgeous, with windows everywhere, and it's so full of light. 

This hangs in the children's department. So cool!

And of course we had to stop to say hello to the library fish.

Hello, fish! She was especially fascinated by the plecostomus. 

For dinner, I prepared jackfruit sandwiches in the Instant Pot (I double the recipe but keep the spiciness level at about what it would be for one recipe; otherwise, it's too spicy for my daughter), along with sauteed green beans. My daughter and I did her Reading and Geography lessons- we learned about Côte d'Ivoire, and she was tickled, because we met a lovely woman who came from there at one of our grocery stores. She had a beautiful accent, and one day I got up the courage to ask where she was from and she kind of waved her hand and said, "Oh, Ivory Coast." I said, "OH! Côte d'Ivoire!" and her whole face lit up. "You know my country???" she said, and we both beamed at each other. We had a lovely conversation about French (which is the official language there), and I always looked forward to seeing her. Sadly, either she's not working there any longer or she's working a different shift. I would've liked to have told her we reached her country in our studies. 

That evening, I attended a production of the play The Humans with my son at his high school. It was a fantastic production. The Fine Arts department at my son's high school is truly phenomenal. The kids work SO hard, and every show I've been to has been amazing. Don't discount your local high schools when it comes to plays, musicals, and musical performances. It's a great night out for not a lot of money, and you're supporting all the hard work the kids have put into their shows. We had a great time. At home, I did a load of laundry (I try to keep my physical therapy pants clean and fresh!), cleaned the kitchen, and finished a library book.

THURSDAY

I cleaned the kitchen and whipped up a small batch of soup so that my mom and daughter and I could have a nice lunch together before I had leave, and my daughter and I did her Reading and Geography lessons (Croatia). 

At physical therapy, I had to do what was probably the most difficult task I've ever had to do at a PT session: I had to sit on a large exercise ball with my eyes closed, for one minute.

That's it.

Just sit there. Eyes closed.

That doesn't sound hard, right?

It shouldn't be.

By the end of that minute, I had tears in my eyes.

I've always suspected my balance isn't what it should be when my back is bad, but I had no idea it was THAT bad. I looked like I'd downed enough whiskey to kill an elephant, I was wobbling all over the place. Frankly, it was frightening to have it not only confirmed that I'm that bad off, but that it was worse than I was expecting, and I was pretty shaken by this. I did have my physical therapist laughing, though, when I told her, "I'm going to go home and tell everyone you made me sit with my eyes closed and it was HARD and no one will believe me!" :)

This little guy likes to help me do my exercises. :)

We had Meet the Teachers night at my son's school, so I did that with him. It was after 9 pm when we got home, since we stayed for an extra session on College Planning with his choir instructor. I cleaned the kitchen, showered, and read just a little of  my book before bed.

FRIDAY

I washed and hung a load of laundry, then practiced piano for a bit before my mother arrived so I could go to Physical Therapy.

Oof.

Today was another rough day.

Not physically, although I was sore from stuff we'd done (and from my back being a jerk). At one point, when she was working on me, my PT got to something in my upper back (I'm there for lower) and went, "Wait...Oh my God. Does this hurt?" and, no surprise there, I said yes. She started feeling around for stuff and gasped a few times. Apparently, she's never seen muscles as tight as those in my upper back and neck (my entire left side is tight, but the upper back, shoulders, and neck are horrendous). "Your back is a hot mess" and "I don't know you're not feeling more pain" were two things I heard during this session. I'm definitely feeling pain, but I have a high pain tolerance, and I just try to work through it, so... It's actually nice to have outside confirmation that my back is as bad as I've felt it is, because sometimes I'm made to feel like I'm exaggerating things, so hearing things like this actually makes me feel relieved in a weird way.

To celebrate hearing that my back is awful, I took a short nap and then mowed the lawn. (OW.) I picked up my son and then went to bed early...but I was in so much pain, I barely slept all night. :(

SATURDAY

Despite my exhaustion, I cleaned the kitchen and living room, and my husband and I took my daughter to one of those bounce house places in the mall (I just sat in the parent chairs and read my book and watched her. Bouncing would be about the worst possible thing for me right now!). She had a good time; to be honest, I was pretty miserable. I was in a LOT of pain the entire time and ended up crying in the bathroom afterwards. It wasn't a good experience for me, since even sitting can be really painful at times. At home, I napped for a little bit. There was this glorious moment when I first woke up, where for about ten seconds, there wasn't any pain...and then it hit me like a brick wall. That ten seconds was the best part of my day. :/

I started a new knitting project that night, and my husband and I watched The Glass Castle on Amazon Prime. 

SUNDAY

Still a lot of pain but not quite as intense (although that could have been the two Tylenol PM I took the night before in a desperate attempt to get *any* sleep). I cleaned the kitchen, then cut up a ton of garden tomatoes and threw them in the oven to make sauce. I read a library book on and off throughout the day in between other projects. I used up some leftovers to make burritos for my son's lunch, which I tossed in the freezer and now don't have to worry about lunch for two weeks! I squeezed a brief nap in there, made two containers of tomato sauce, roasted a batch of cherry tomatoes, made a container of roasted cherry tomato sauce, and then I cleaned my dishwasher. 

This.

Was.

REVOLTING.

OMG. Be extremely happy that there is no photographic evidence of this- I considered it, but no one deserves that. This was the first time I've ever done this. How have I gotten this far in life without really understanding that this is a thing that needs to be done??? I was literally gagging at all the soap and filth and YUCK that had built up. I scraped, I rinsed, I sprayed, I wiped, I POKED THINGS WITH A PIN- that's how disgusting it was. But man, that dishwasher looks gorgeous now! After the vinegar wash, the insides looked brand-spanking-new. I'm pretty proud of that. :)

I worked on my new knitting project.

What is it? Stay tuned...

And then I read a little before going to bed.

And that was it! I'm looking forward to heading back to physical therapy this week, since my pain has been at double-plus ungood levels. I'm crossing my fingers that I'll get some relief, and maybe that my energy levels will improve a little. They've been struggling this week; I feel like my get-up-and-go has gotten up and left! Boo for that.

How was your week?