Gritting your teeth is bad for the enamel.

Ok, so the FiOS guy was here but couldn't install the FiOS because he couldn't get into the garage. Even after I told both people with whom I spoke on the phone that the garage was too filled with stuff to get into and they assured me that it wouldn't be a problem, it was a problem.

So, I've been bummed a bit due to that.

There have been some exciting things going on.
We have Brady!! Karen brought him up from my mom's on Sunday. He's doing pretty well settling in. I went out for a couple hours yesterday and nothing was torn up when I got home. We'll see what happens when I go back to work.
As long as he doesn't eat what's not food, he can have free run of the house.

I'm probably going back to work next week. I'm going to run the disability papers by my surgeon's office today and make sure everything is a go.
Physical therapy is going very well. I'm learning how to strengthen my core. It's funny how even the simplest exercises with the smallest of movements can cause pain or discomfort, but I'm working through it.

Right now, I feel like crap. My head is totally congested and if feels like I have a brick on my forehead. Figures that when I'm feeling bad, the kids decide to do irritating things. I won't go into the list of things, just suffice it to say, I have a full basket of bedding due to a Cocoa Puff mishap.

Ok, I'm off to walk the boy to the bus!!!

Fios!!

The Fios guy is coming tomorrow!

I've been dealing with bad phone for years. The problem is, this phone line is probably the original. The line comes off the pole and goes to a box inside the garage window. Well, it's impossible to get to that box because the garage is packed with chyte and on top of that, the garage door doesn't work now.
Whenever it rains, the line crackles and hisses. Every now and then (more now than then) the phone cuts off and I have to unplug every phone in the house and then plug them back in and hope for the best.
Many times, I've had to call the house phone from my cell phone in order to get my dial tone back.

So, I'm switching to Fios. I'm also changing the phone number. The one we have has been XH's phone number since he was in grade school. It's the first time in over 50 years that this house will have a different number. It will be in my name, as will the internet connection.
I'm tired of things being in XFIL's or XH's name.

I had to do some major scrubbing and dusting around the puter area. Don't want Mr Fios to choke to death on the dust before he's done hooking me up.
I'm not sure where he's going to install "the box" but whereever it goes, I'll make sure there's easy access always.

So, tomorrow this time, I should be able to think of a website and my puter will automatically go there!!!

Ok, so I'm slow

I know, I know. It's been a while since I posted. Much has been going on.

I gained 25 lbs over the holidays and it's not budging. I finally joined Weight Watchers to bully it outta here. So far, in the 2 months since I started, I've only lost 6 lbs.
Totally not fair!!!
How come it was so easy to put it on, but it's proving impossible to take it off?
With all the hard work I put into losing the weight I HAVE lost, I'm not going to slack off and let it creep back up.
No, I'm not talking about the 6lbs. I'm talking about the 100+ that I lost from 11/05-11/07 before those damned Christmas cookies betrayed me.

I'm trying WW's Core program. It's relatively simple. You can eat from their extensive list of healthful foods til satisfaction. Easy, no? Yeah, not so much.
I have learned a lot about grains since I started, though.
I had no idea what a wheatberry was. Now I'm eating salad made out of them. I'm eating barley, couscous (whole wheat, of course), quinoa (pronounced KEEN-wah) and bulgur. Well, I haven't actually had the bulgur yet, but it's up there waiting for me to cook it.

More new and exciting things going on...I had back surgery on the 29th of February.
L4/L5 fusion with screws and rods. That would be the picture on my profile. The screws and rods.
I'm feeling way better now than before the surgery. I'm able to stand for much longer. I can walk for longer, although there is a bit of pain every few steps just from leg placement and body twisting (I have to work on perfecting a pain-free gait that doesn't make me look like Herman Munster).

I started physical therapy last week and I'm already doing 4 new exercises!!
Exercise1: laying on my stomach
Exercise2: propping up my elbows, while laying on my stomach
Exercise3: lifting my upper body while laying on my stomach with my hands flat. Kind of like a half a push up.
Exercise4: pressing my fists into my lower back and arching my back.
I know they might not sound like much, but they're helping tremendously.

My quest to purge the house is continuing. I'm still hoping to get the back porch clear of all clutter and debris before summer comes. It's slow going.
I'd really like the kids to be able to keep their bikes back there rather than in the living room.
We'll be getting my mom's dog, Brady, sometime in the next month or so, and I want to be able to take him out the back door or let him run out there himself (once we have the fence up).

I'm sure it will all work out with a bit of time and some persistent prodding.

Ok, enough for now. Time for me to go back to my message board addictions and then head to bed!

Cleaning house

I've spent the last few months doing major overhauling of my house and my life. At first it looked like an unsurmountable task, but little by little, I'm purging. It's a very cleansing feeling (no pun intended) watching the garbage men fling bag after bag of stuff that's accumulated over the past decade.
Room by room, my house is getting back into a livable condition. I've found starting at one corner and moving methodically around the perimeter until I've made it all the way around, makes a daunting task more manageable.
My weekends are spent filling up trash bag after bag of things that are no longer needed or wanted. Much of it gets set on the curb for the trashman. Clothes, household items, things that are usable by others, get donated to either Goodwill, Vietnam Vets or Planetaid.org.
It's all got to go and eventually, it will.

The hard part comes when it's time to fill in the blanks that are left by tossing the useless items. I've been shopping a lot online for things that are needed, a rug for the dining room, a corner cabinet for the kitchen, a new bedside lamp (the mickey mouse one just isn't cutting it).

In the meanwhile, I'll just keep lugging stuff out to the curb. Maybe one day it'll just be me and the walls and the newly uncovered hardwood floors. Ah, to dream...