A proper, picture update at last!!!

Song of the day? “Castle on the Hill” by Ed Sheeran, of course. Though not constantly, it has been an earworm from time to time this past week, along with “Symphony” by Clean Bandit. Both awesome songs and no punishment at all. Hah!

Soooooo. Yeah. I promised a proper update this time round, didn’t I? Yes I did, so thankfully I have been maintaining a list of stuff that happened, rather than rely on my somewhat spotty memory this time around. (Good Sammi!). There has been quite a lot going on since my last proper blog, so sit down, if you’re not doing so already.

First off, I promised to tell about the move, didn’t I. Well, we moved. It was a helluva job, I’ll tell, in particular since we preferred not to rent the van for two days in a row, but rather a solid 24 hours (as in 23 hours and 57 minutes) and save ourselves fifty bucks or so.

It all started on Key Day, on which I dropped big brother off at work before six in the morning, so I could continue on to the new place where I was supposed to get the hidden key and then spent a few hours cleaning before my district manager arrived to go over the contracts with me. Well, first issue was that I couldn’t find the key where I thought it was supposed to be….grrr. Didn’t discover until at the end of the day that the “electricity shack” was another than the one I’d understood from the description. Hah. Anyway. My appointment with the district manager wasn’t until  11 o’clock, and it was 6:30 AM. I was no pleased, I assure you. Tried the garage door: nothing. The  pantry door: No cigar! And then, after deciding to do a walk-around, finally found a back door that hadn’t been locked properly. Success! I was in!

Got the car into the wonderfully empty garage and started unloading the first batch of boxes that filled up the entirety of the car. Took about an hour, after which I took my trusty vacuum cleaner and went through the house with a fine toothed comb. Floors, walls, horizontal and vertical surfaces were sucked clean down stairs in the following hour.

Next came the kitchen, of which I had taken about 75 percent in this first trip, so there would be cutlery, china, cookery stuff and even some food on this first day. Was done just before eleven with the ground floor but the district manager was late, and didn’t arrive until friggin 2:37 PM! Seriously. The only plus was that I had time to vacuum and clean the second floor too. The “minus” was that I was late meeting a friend who was going to view the new house with me, after I had arranged for a van at 5:25 PM.

The plan was that we’d pick up the van at the latest possible moment, so that we could also return it at the last possible moment. The advantage to this was that we’d be home five hours before nightfall, meaning that we had that amount of time  load up the first batch of furniture, do a quick trip to drop them off at the new place (in the garage)  early in the morning, and then have the remainder of the day to load up the rest and bring that over in a second trip.

The trick to this was to only load big, cumbersome stuff, not pay much attention to stacking properly because that would take time with loading and unloading (big brother didn’t much like this part, because he was still under the illusion that maybe if we packed it well, we’d be able to do it in one trip. We couldn’t. I know my dimensions from years of calculating and planning with construction, moving stuff, loading stuff and whatnot, and I could tell up ahead that there was no way in heck that our stuff was going to fit in one truck!) and time wasn’t something we had. 24 hours, remember.  So until 10:30 PM we loaded our behinds off, after which I was so friggin’ tired and achy I just sat down on the floor with a glass of wine and cried a little. Hah. Jeeeeeezzzz. That was a friggin’ long day. Started at 6:30, unloaded, cleaned, drove about for hours, ran about to make arrangements (missed lunch and dinner) and then loaded up for another five hours. I’d just about had it, I tell ya.

Anyway, I’m getting ahead of myself. I’d arranged for the van and met with my friend, who loved nosing around a new place, just like me. So we spent a couple of hours together, after which we had to go pick up big brother and then quickly leave to get the van and bring her back home.

So then was the whole loading bit, after which we both crawled to our respective beds around midnight and passed out until six in the morning. There was just enough time to have breakfast and then we were on our way to the new place. Both in the van, this time, figuring we might as well use the Volvo in the second trip to get more stuff hauled.

Had an “OMG” moment while we were driving. There was this massive smoke plume in the sky, from somewhere near the new place, and stayed there as we gradually approached in the busy morning traffic. I mean seriously, wouldn’t that be just our luck. We’re moving to a new place, only to find out that it burned down during the night for some inexplicable reason. But it wasn’t that. We were about 2 miles from the house when it became clear that the smoke was coming from some place on the other side of the road. Yes the plume was massive, but the fire wasn’t visible, despite several fire trucks screaming past as we made for our new home.

While loading took some five hours, unloading was done in one. Yay! Of course this was because could basically throw everything out the back, right into the garage, rather than bother hauling it into the house and its proper spot.

Before you know it, we were on our way back, only making a quick pit stop at a supermarket before we arrived at the old place and started loading again. Luckily, around noon, our nice neighbour came to help out, which was a good thing, otherwise we might not have made it. She also supplied lunch (also good because we were rapidly on our way of skipping lunch again) so we were actually done loading after two (as planned) and big brother on his way while I said our goodbyes and got into the car, now loaded to full capacity with my small jungle of plants. So cute. A car full of plants.

Be that as it may, unloading took an hour and a half this time,  for the simple reason that this was all the loose stuff, bits and pieces, bikes, boxes and whatnot. Again, just stuffed everything in the garage (gawd I love that place) and still had about half an hour to unwind, eat a bit, have a bathroom break and then had to be on our way to return the van with rush our well underway. Made the deadline with only three minutes to spare. *phew*

The first night we spend on mattresses on the floor. (Got a mail from the editor with the edited manuscript, which almost had me awake throughout the night, had I not been so exhausted.) But the next day I had the bedrooms set up before big brother returned from work. This was partly because cousin Ed came to help out with the unpacking bit, which did help, because I was pretty much running on fumes still.

So, what followed were a couple of weeks with me sorting out the house. It’s a nice and comfortable place. Reminds me a lot of the house we grew up in before moving to Spain. Same type of architecture and materials. Not my favourite style, but comfort goes a long way.

Got five bedrooms upstairs, two downstairs one of which is an en-suite. We use this as an exercise room,  which is rather cool, since we cancelled our gym passes.

A half bath downstairs, and another bathroom upstairs, with at the top an empty big attic that we’ve decided not to use.

I’d set my sights on a cute little room on the west side of the house, but since this house supplies so much space, I folded and got myself a 2^nd hand double bed…which didn’t fit in the cute little room. The cute little one is now a very cute little guestroom. Hah. Since big brother had already picked the room with walls that had actually been stripped and painted white, I took the master bedroom of which I still had to strip all the walls and paint them (some pieces several times just to have the paint cover dark spots). But the bed fits in there just fine, giving me plenty of space.

Big brother also folded (due to space available) and got himself a double bed too. Hah! Ah, the luxury. I love having room to move around.

Bedroom

Guest room

Fitness room

Living Room

Kitchen

Didn’t start on the edit/revision until five days after the actual move. Dreaded it, I tell ya. But I did get to it, and worked on it like a lunatic (big brother, too, in what little spare time he had) for the past few weeks. Didn’t have much time for anything, especially not since my job started in the first week of July.

Which reminds me. Had my interview about a month ago now. Had a nice chat with my new team leader, who’s a very nice woman, despite being seriously overworked at the moment. It is funny how the work is still the same as last year. Still not enough people, still people working their butts off to get everything done on time and still all the old frustrations. But, there’s nice folks there, so I guess it is a matter of getting used to them and the way they work. I do miss my old team a bit, but I suppose that will pass. At the moment, also because I need to invest time in writing, and everything around that, I’m working three days a week, with a possibility of four. With an average of six hours on those days. That is plenty, since this is not something as simple as sitting at a desk, but more something that equals a two-hour cross fit workout.

Had a doctor’s visit. Got a referral for the hospital next month for that stupid varicose vein they missed two years ago. Not looking forward to that, but the darn thing is bothering me every now and then, so it is better to do something about it, I guess.

Got a problem with my shoulder for a bit. Don’t ask me why. It’s embarrassing. But I strained it, meaning that a lot of movements, and some sleeping positions in bed are not at all comfortable. Stupid effing loose joints. Always giving me trouble. Like just this week, while helping out at work with moving furniture. Some joker young man suddenly decided to prop one side of the couch we were carrying together on the floor, meaning I had to tilt along or drop it. I did the first, and almost broke my effing thumb in the process. Seriously. It popped right out of the joint in order to turn along with the couch and it hurt like heck, until I popped it back in. So now I have a swollen thumb that is not liking much activities, such as work. Grrrr.  That is the last time I move furniture with some amateur.

There were groceries, naturally. Can’t do without those, much to my regret. But I do try to limit that to once every two weeks, with a weekly outing for fresh produce and dairy products. Doesn’t always work, but trying it counts for something. Hah

Had a friend’s dog stay with me one day, which was fun, even though he was young and peed in the hallway, and the exercise room. Hah. And also had a couple of dogs stay for a couple of weeks because their mistress went on vacation to Finland. It has been lovely to have dogs afoot again, even though on work days it has been a hassle to have walk them when I’m pretty much bushed when I get home. But, the pros by far outweigh the cons. Nothing quite as lovely as cuddling up to a  cuddly dog at night…well, some things are, but…well, you get my meaning.

Tinto

Gaia

We did spend  a few days at our father’s place more than a month ago. We’d promised to move a shed from the back yard to the front, which took a little longer than expected.  The shed had had some “improvements” over the years, meaning that we had to scramble a bit to make things right again after we took it partially apart and moved it to the new spot. Luckily it wasn’t too big, so we only had to take off the roof before we could carry the thing. Big brother and I would have managed, had we been on our own, but littlest brother was there, and stepmother, so we did it four, meaning it was a little less of a hassle. But anyway. It took four days instead of two. Four days of which the last two were all but comfortable for me, since I somehow ended up stepping on a bamboo shoot and had a hole in my foot of about half an inch. Seriously. That hurt. Ended up having to replace part of the roof and several pieces of wall due to water damage and bugs, but it’ll hold for a while now, I am pretty sure. A bigger task than expected, nut we managed, and got to spend some time with our father. Nothing like working on a project together to bond. It was nice.

In the end we went home content with the efforts made. Were right on time, too, considering construction of our father’s new place started a week or so later…which was why stepmother wanted the shed moved.

Ouch!

 Did my last few days at my previous job before the move. The boss was really sweet about the whole thing and told me that if I ever needed a job again, I could call him up. Which is a very nice compliment, I think.

Had a very short touristy kind of trip and went to visit the pyramid of Austerlitz. Cool place, and totally worthy of conspiracy theory book. Hah

Our temporary cat:

And our daily visitor…one of four that roam about here in the area, together with a badger.

For social activities the time past was interrupted only by a dinner party at the old place with the neighbors, a dinner party with friends last week, and that just about sums it up, I fear.

Did have a lovely cooking experiment with zucchini, which worked out well visually and taste-wise, so, yay!

As for the new place…had to hang a door in the upstairs bathroom. For some reason it had been removed. Found a spare in the shed, which we cut off and fitted into the doorway. At least it works. Nothing quite as annoying as a bathroom without a door when you’re sharing a place. Oh, and we have a toolshed now. Yay!

And this is a pic of the old barn that goes with the property. Hah

The edit…well, I missed the deadline by two days, which isn’t too big of a disaster regarding the massive changes and the length of the manuscript. But still, it annoys me that I didn’t make it in time. Guess life got in the way of things again, the way it usually does. In the end, you can only do your best, can’t you?

Well, that about sums it all up, doesn’t it. At least the highlights. Yep. I am going to leave it at this and take the dogs for one of their last walks. Tomorrow their mistress will come to pick ‘m up.

Pat

Song of the day: “Royals”, but rather than by Lorde, I hear it from Jasmine Thomson, which is a really cute acoustic version.

Hi all. Sorry to have took so long, but my last post was difficult for me, and I was reluctant to return to the “scene of the crime” so to speak. But I’m back, and life has settled once more, so...let’s get to it.

Work as usual, although there have been some trials and tribulations in that regard. First off there was that little incident with my hip that took a couple of weeks to get back to normal. Seriously, do not slip when you are washing massive windows. I paid for that for a solid two weeks, thank you very much. And secondly, wear a hat, always, when working underneath the benches in the saunas, (for hosing it out, ya know) because builders are not picky about what happens underneath with screws and such. I was under there about four days ago and am still enjoying it. There I was, hosing out gawd knows what dirt (eeeeeewwww) and wham! I slammed the side of my head into one of the top beams. Wouldn’t have been all that bad either, had it not been for the screw end that stuck out and went straight for my temple, right onto the double-lined edge of one of my favorite baseball caps! (Love that cap even more now. I’m thinking of framing it.) Yep, yours truly has a genuine, if mild, concussion. Had a doctor’s visit and everything—meaning that we have an actual GP now, as is obligated round these parts, or so we discovered on that particular day—with this very nice older GP who will do just fine. His practice mixes traditional medicine with holistic and dietary, so it will be a good match.

The head hurt for only a little bit, but what worried me...and my colleagues...was the rising nausea and unsteadiness. In the end I got forced to sit down for half an hour with an ice bag on my head, while I struggled to keep down what little breakfast I had had. Did just that for a bit, then cowboyed up and got back to work. It was slow going, like wading through molasses, but still, got the job done. Had planned to finish my full Monday workday (which is usually nine to ten hours) but was feeling increasingly worse, so in the end I asked our teamleader if I could stop a bit earlier, and got permission to do just that. Went home, had doubted for a bit if I should drive, but only the nausea had remained by then, and being extremely tired (physically, not mentally, duh) so I risked it. No problems there, thankfully. Got home fine, went straight to bed, only to be interrupted by big brother with the concern that I might have a concussion. Debated a bit because I wasn’t experiencing any actual headache, except for an occasional stab and a somewhat floaty feeling in the back of my head, went over a list online about symptoms: nausea, dizzy, unsteady, blurry memory, light and noise sensitivity (I turned off my music player during work!!! *gasp*) sluggishness, etc. Finally we did decide to find a doctor, which isn’t all that easy. Did find one, and after explaining the symptoms, I was invited to come over within the next ten minutes. Since it is around the corner that actually was possible.

Had to wait for a bit, but since there were forms to fill in, that wasn’t a problem and before you know it, the doctor herded me into his office.

Talked for about half an hour, sort of like an intake. (He’s one of those starers, which could be uncomfortable, but is always better than a doctor who only stares at his computer screen while he asks you questions, hah.) Talked a bit about how I was raised, vegetarian, organic, holistic stuff, and how I am not really positive about traditional medicine except in emergencies, to which he assured me that he is not the kind to prescribe any medicine willy-nilly, so I could rest assured. We touched on sever topics, including my residual weight, and he agreed that the slow way which I have been applying is the best way to go. He is not of the diet mind, apparently, as seems to be the fashion this day and age. Balanced meals, an active life and going at it steadily is much better. Yay!

But back to my head thing. I went through a few tests, he checked my motor skills, eyes, pallor, etc, we went through a check list and he determined that though I could be bothered by the symptoms for up to eleven days, it was unlikely that it was more than a mild concussion. He did advise big brother waking me every two hours just to be on the safe side, which we agreed on.

Considering the next day was another working day, neither of us was happy about that, but what the heck. Wasn’t feeling worse the day after, and could find my Zen at times, meaning that I wasn’t bothered, so all in all that potential disaster finished with the proverbial puff of smoke.

What else...been incredibly busy. Went out to Cousin Ed’s a couple of times. Visited tenant who is now settled at a very nice senior home in her old home town (her choice). She’s got a nice double room, sitting area with an open kitchen and a bedroom with an en-suite bathroom, with a gorgeous view of the place’s wooden garden and it’s massive pond where she claims herons come to hunt in the mornings. She was rather emotional when she saw us, making it clear that she had been feeling a tad down (the way I suspected when I first saw her, and she hadn’t seen us yet), she struggled with tears a bit, had trouble talking, but then she quieted down and we talking for a bit. Then the lure of TV became too big for her (it had just been installed the day before and she’d missed it dearly) so we only stayed for a little bit, considering it was late in the afternoon already and we still had to pick up a free rubber mattress for big brother, who’s been troubled by his back. Guess the spring mattress he got from our last landlady finally gave the spirit, because he’s been feeling the springs lately. Now he’s got a genuine rubber one that should do the trick.

Gotta admit to feeling a little sad about tenant when we left her new place. However cozy and pretty, it felt very much like we were leaving her to spend her final days in a strange place, which is not something I wished for her. Not that there is a different option, it’s just...sad. A pity that society has come to a point where it is considered normal to stuff old folks in a comfy corner where staff takes care of them rather than family, but careers, civil obligations, cramped living spaces don’t really allow for anything else, do they? Like I said, a pity.

On a more positive note, I went to a Bryan Adams concert. Cousin Ed swore that if he ever came to the Netherlands she was going to go see him, and kindly invited me to go along. So…Yay! Was an evening filled with traffic and waiting, standing in line and waiting, going through security, finding a spot within the Ziggo Dome and and then...you guessed it...waiting some more, albeit cosily chatting with BA fans, folks that had been dragged along to the concert by said fans, and youngsters who were surprisingly big fans as well. Were about five yards from the stage, right in front of BA’s microphone, so that was very cool, except for the extremely tall dude who sometimes stepped in front of me. (Bugger.) Then the band came on stage and the remainder of the evening rushed passed with singing, shouting, whistling and bouncing. It was splendid, despite the fact that I liked the Reckless tour performance better, and we didn’t get home until after midnight. Passed out for the night, and didn’t even hear Cousin Ed depart early because she had to go to a job interview.

Went to the fitness club (Yay!) and did about 45 minutes of kick boxing, core training, stretches, weight lifting and rowing...then about four hundred yards into my 1 mile full speed row I felt my energy levels drop (too little sleep the night before and forgot lunch) meaning I managed to hold out half a mile before giving up on the day’s workout. Considering big brother had down a full day’s work compared to my five hour sprint in the morning, that was convenient. Hah.

Did quite a bit of experimenting in the kitchen these past weeks. Had a gorgeous eggplant zucchini lasagna. Made a very tasty pumpkin compote, partly for a colleague at work who is following a diet on medical advise where she isn’t allowed to eat raw meat and cheese, which limited her breakfast options. Made her the pumpkin compote as a substitute spread, and she’s loving it. Yay. Added to that I was inspired to work with oats again. (Always on the lookout for those iron filled ingredients, hah.) Had a sudden vision of three types of oat cookies. Oats, apple, cranberry, and spices, which is yummy, and semi healthy with only some raw cane sugar and honey for sweetness. The salty version would be oats, red bell pepper, onion, Italian herbs and Parmesan, which was just as yummy...and filling, considering could only eat a couple before I was stuffed. (One cookie is about 2x2 inches, at most.)

Another experiment were buckwheat burgers. Gotta say that the Netherlands supplies this particular ingredient a lot easier than Spain. Also, it is much more affordable. Prices are reduced almost by half, which makes it something worthwhile in the kitchen.

Had several visits with our father and stepmother, one an impromptu one, because we got a tax form that we couldn’t make heads or tails of, so our father offered to come and take a look at it with us. The problem is that the form is for half in this country and half in Spain, which is a whole can of worms that I won’t even begin to explain to you. Let’s just say, it is a pain in the behind. We did sort most of it out, about how to file and everything, so let’s hope that this is the end of it. This little visit led to a nice dinner together, including the buckwheat burgers, leftover lasagna and the pumpkin compote.

No writing since the last time, just some editing here and there in the Greek mythology story. Big brother and I are working on getting some sort of schedule worked out where we can work on a story together again, because that is still our future for as far as we are concerned. Everything else is making a living and surviving, which is not something we plan on during for the rest of our lives. Keep your fingers crossed.

Been having some trouble missing the doggies lately. I tend to fawn over dogs that I come across in the streets, which is not a good thing. I think it could freak folks out. Hah. Like yesterday I came across a 14 year old greyhound, muzzled because he’d apparently killed a small dog in his youth and was therefore obligated to wear a muzzle for the remainder of his life, and ended up smooching with the sweetheart that licked my face and ears rather affectionately. Stuff like that is the pits when you try to not remember your own dogs. Grrrr.

The weather has been poor lately. Mostly cloudy, some thunderstorms (not as bad as in the south of the country where it had been declared a stage orange just the other day) and only an occasional day with full sun. Did enjoy those tremendously.

Finally found a place where I can get some decent Jeans that fit proper and are not extremely expensive. Regretfully I’ve not been at all successful in finding anything useful at the thrift stores lately, so I’ve resorted to wading through normal stores, darn it. But these are okay, sturdy and the fit is good, so Yay! Much relief there. Was already worried I’d have to go to work in a bathing suit, or something (Hah) when even the last of my pantses gave the spirit during one of many water tests. Am going to have to go the store to get a couple more and then I’ll be all set.

Our vacation is coming up, of which we will be spending five days in Finland. T’s invitation bore fruit and it is official. It’ll be an experience, for sure, in particular since the other option of vacation would be staying at home and sleeping the week away. Hah. I know, very unadventurous of me. But seriously, sleeping for a week sounds very tempting. Still, the trip will be fun, and it will be splendid to see T again, this time on her turf, and meeting her family, seeing E again, which has been almost a year when I went to pick up grandpa’s dog in Finland, and visiting a country where the sun now won’t set until the 26^th of June! Can you imagine? No night? I’m so curious!

Talking of grandpa’s dog(s)...since tenant is unable to take care of a dog on her own, Cousin Ed was forced to find a home for grandpa’s wee dog Ollie, but he landed splendidly with a family that has two chihuahuas, which he now dominates like the little macho he is. Apparently he’s already very fond of his new mistress, so that is one worry less, at least. Pim, the one I fetched from Finland, has already settled with a bachelor in the North of the country, who lives on a boat (which Pim loves, apparently) and travels to the UK frequently to visit his girlfriend, taking Pim along. So there everything is all neat and pat.

Lots of folks pregnant or trying to be here. An interesting concept that. Makes me wonder how I feel about that. The way I figure, I gotta meet a very special dude to find the idea attractive, because at the moment it would just seem like a tremendous hassle, not to mention one big worry. Am having fun watching said folks being all excited, though. Some of them actually glow with pleasure.

Went with a colleague to a holistic doctor in Zoelen. Was an interesting experience, in particular when I discovered that the guy worked with Vega tests, which was a throwback to my childhood where mom worked with that too. Actually had a really nice talk with the guy, but was was a bit astounded that he couldn’t give me the ingredients used for some homeopathic remedy he prescribed to my colleague. I would think that if you prescribe it, you are at least interested in the contents, but apparently assuming that was a bit presumptuous. Hah. It amazes me sometimes, I tell ya. If you work with something, the least you can do is know as much as you can about it, right? I mean, even I am starting to learn about components of sanitary components. It comes with the friggin’ territory...or at least I thought it did.

Well, that about sums it up for now. Jabbered on for about four pages anyway, so it should tide us all over for a while again, right? Have a good one, I’ll be back!

Bummed...

“Madness” a cover by Chester See and Andy Lange. Gorgeous version…so much better than the real version. And appropriate for the past few days.

So I’ve had my operation. I’ve been under the knife. Popped that cherry (there went the perfect record of only having needed to be in hospital for myself during my birth. *sigh*) and am now officially a veteran…well, sorta anyway. Totally not planning on doing that again, if I can do anything about it.

Don’t get me wrong, they were very kind, helpful and professional, but I have definitely had enough of hospitals. Seriously. I gotta ask, what is this weird thing of hospitals and taking off underpants. I ain’t kidding. Here I was, clean undies and everything, appropriately prudish and comfortable in neat bikini briefs, and the first thing they do when I’m semi-conscious is take off my underpants. I was not amused. There you are, barely coherent, worrying about your privates. Sure, I understand that for them it is nothing they haven’t seen, or shall not see again, but to me it is. I don’t show my privates to the public, thank you very much. And boy was there public. Eight or nine people in the operating room, only two or three of them female. I just don’t like it. Prude is my middle name, and I’d like to keep it that way. Grrrr.

Guess what the first thing was I did when I got back to my room?

Anyway, I’m getting ahead of the story. I just had to get that out.

I arrived at the hospital right on the dot, and was taken up to my room in about ten minutes. I had exactly five minutes to go to the little girl’s room before the nurse arrived and told me (very nicely, but firmly) to get in my gown and lie down on the bed. I had just laid down when this, very cute, way too young male nurse arrived to wheel me to the operating room. (Think 20 year-old Brad Pitt, and me at my most attractive—not—in a hospital gown. Aaaargh.) He was also nice, and we chatted a little in a mixture of bad Spanish (me) and bad English (him) on our way down to the surgery. Came across the young fellow who’d brought me to my room…he was all surprised that I was taken to surgery already…and then I was transferred to a bed in the prep room.

Met with the assistant surgeon and the anesthesiologist who started joking with me about my chart saying I did fitness and kickboxing…apparently that’s a strange thing that they never expect round these parts. Don’t see why. One of the best ways to blow of some steam and burn calories.

He assured me that I was going to get the mildest form of an epidural (not the big needle but a small one, that would cover the pain but wouldn’t make me insensitive) and a mild sedative against the stress I was experiencing. You’ll be glad to know that they checked which leg several times, and my identity, my numbers, whether I had allergies, fake teeth and everything. Almost makes you worry that that went wrong a time or two, eh?

Another thing. Everyone asked me how I was doing, and when I admitted to being a little stressed, they would look startled and then assure me that was normal but that I didn’t need to be.

Cliché for sure, but good advice regardless. Hah.

Anyway, I was transferred from the prep bed to the operating table—arched like a bridge for some peculiar reason—and a shield was set up between my head and the rest of my body as my first sedative was administered.  

 It felt a little bit like when you sit in a particularly uncomfortable position for too long and your legs fall asleep. A little tingly and way numb. Weird but better than painful, right?

Though mildly sedated, I remember only the first and the last half hour of the two hour procedure (and the underpants removal, and this particular moment when I felt some fierce burning sensation in my lower leg, after which they gave me another shot of something) the last of which I was apparently busy trying to cover my lower half with a sheet. Hah. Imagine my chagrin, lying there, having some beefy dude, (thankfully together with a young lady) wrapping up my leg and rolling a couple of socks onto my leg. Talk about uncomfortable.

Next came the recovery room where they asked me if I was in any pain, to which I answered some, wondering where this was headed. On a scale of one to ten, ten being the worst, how painful. I told the girl (yes, the nurse was little more than a girl) a 7, maybe and eight, after which she gave me a shot of something.

I gotta admit to being a little panicked, due to the fact that the pain reminded me of way back when, when I burned my upper legs with a couple of gallons of boiling water. It subsided nicely after the shot, and when the girl asked me again some 15 minutes later, I gladly told her that the pain level had gone down to a wonderful 2, or 3 on the scale. No one was more surprised than I when she sighed deeply and gave me another shot. So, apparently, you have to be without ANY pain for her to do her job well. Good to know, because those shots sure messed up my coherency in the hours that followed.

I do remember seeing my doctor at one point (he’s a nice fella. The last time we spoke we had a nice long chat about him taking up fitness for the first time in his life, and discussing the beneficial effects of kick boxing). He told me that it was a good thing we did the operation because the veins he’d treated had been a diameter of 3 quarters of an inch. Good to know I did the right thing, really.

I was returned to my room, and as promised given the choice of going home or staying for the night, depending on how I felt. First things first, though, my underpants…are you noticing that I’m a little hung up on that one? Well, I am. Seriously.

Anyway, big brother was there, waiting for me in my room. Luckily big brother is good at waiting, and entertaining himself with his phone and such. Was much reassured seeing him there after the procedure. Added to that, I was rather hungry, so he got us both something to eat from McDonalds…good thing too, considering the hospital didn’t know I’m vegetarian, so the meal that was brought to me was…well, only partly edible. But I’ll tell you this, after fasting from 10 in the morning, until 9 in the evening, a small package of pineapple juice was absolutely divine. Not to mention the handful of French fries that I managed to choke down.

Was just done when the doc’s assistant arrived and asked me what I wanted to do. At that time, I was sitting up, trying out how that would go.

I was feeling pretty okay, so when he asked I said I’d prefer to go home, to which he agreed.

Had to go to the bathroom first, though. So big brother helped me walk there, no matter how inelegantly. Was feeling just slightly woozy. Did my business, was sitting there, and the next thing I know I was staring at white and grey tiles, wondering, for only a moment, what I was doing at a train station, on the floor (I don’t know where that came from) but then I heard big brother asking me if I was okay, and realized that I must have passed out. Must say I was happy with my training, because it really wasn’t a big problem to get to my feet…foot, while my shoulder hurt like the dickens.

Don’t know what happened, or when, clearly I’d blacked out, so big brother helped me back to bed where I laid down while he went after the doctor to say that I better stay the night after all.

My shoulder was KILLING me during the night. Not when I first dropped into bed, but as the night progressed. I was woken up several times during the night, people asking me if I was alright…in Spanish naturally. Strangely enough, I didn’t even notice. I was pretty out of it, I guess. The only thing I could answer was that I was REALLY really tired. Which I was. Slept for hours, spent about thirty minutes reading around three in the morning, and then fell back to sleep until after six when some boy…seriously, BOY, came to ask me if I needed to go peepee. Not in this life-time. I was  determined to wait for big brother to help me go to the bath room (as in walk me there) but around nine the need became high, so I dared.

First I sat on the side of the bed for about fifteen minutes, then on the couch (there was bed couch in there, which I thought genius) for another ten, before I finally dared to head into the bathroom and did my thing. I persevered! I actually went to the bathroom without passing out, so, Yay! Major victory for me.

Considering that after three times of mentioning that my aching shoulder was really bugging me, and getting some extra pain killers, I gave up trying to mention it and just had big brother help me get dressed and pack up to go home.

In all honesty, the procedure was hardly painful at all. In fact, if it hadn’t been for the shoulder incident, I would have said that it wasn’t a problem at all. It wasn’t and I would definitely advise laser to anyone who needs their varicose vein treated.

As to the shoulder, it got worse as the days past, so today big brother and I went to Trafico (I know, you are wondering where that came from, but this dates back to when we still had the Daewoo. We’ve been paying taxes for it for years, simply because the guy I gave it too, never got around to dealing with writing it out. Had to make an appointment, which was today) where I had to explain the problem and then fill in half a million forms, which was hard with the friggin’ shoulder and the bad leg, until the woman took pity on me and finished filling in the forms for me. Bet she was afraid I was going to pass out right there in front of her desk…which was a viable option, in all honesty.

Luckily the private hospital that I’m allowed to go to with my insurance, didn’t force me to wait for hours and hours and hours. Decided to not risk things (luck hasn’t been on my side lately, as you undoubtedly know) I went to the ER and had Xrays taken of my shoulder (no breaks, thank you very much) just a lot of swelling due to inflammation. In the end I just got a prescription for anti inflammatory and painkillers…not much point to those, since I’m already taking Ibuprofen, but you gotta give them points for trying. That worry taken care of we went back home in the rental…

Right, the rental. You didn’t know about that one yet, did you? Well, considering we are wanting to sell the Land Rover, and since it needs some minor repairs and fixings, we decided to rent this tiny zit of a car to get us around for the next of the month. The way we figure it’ll save enough in fuel to practically pay for itself, so that is one worry less. It’s a Fiat 500, and we both fit in it, as long as we push the front seats up against the back. Hah. It has been our savior this past week, in particular due to my hospital visits and all the other stuff that needed arranging…and still does. The days have been insane. On the overall we’re out an average of 6 to 7 hours a day, arranging stuff, and the remaining hours are spent taking care of the dogs, doing the minimal amount of cleaning in our rooms and kitchen, while still trying to get some “clearing” done. Luckily the younger sibs did pitch in with cleaning up the last storage room by the house. Regretfully they weren’t very selective, meaning that lots of stuff got tossed which could have saved them a lot of money in the future whenever they needed to fix something. But, whatever, they’ll have to cross that bridge when they get there. I’ve got other stuff to worry about, least of all being sorting through my clothes and picking what to take with me.

Not such a hard choice anymore. Anything that was remotely important (kindergarten drawings, my first hand written sentence, sculptures that I took along to Spain almost twenty years ago, first drafts of my books) was already gone due to the big disaster. Strange how this last bit…including the Land Rover, I admit, I’m finding that extremely hard…hurts just as much as the rest. You’d think you develop a certain numbness, but for some reason you don’t.

Oddly enough I have heard of many people lately the well-meant advice, “Don’t gather clutter, Sam, you’ll only get frustrated from not knowing what to do with it. It is much better to have an uncluttered life.” I guess it is different when you are not doing it by choice, but rather the lack of it. Personally I find it intensely painful, but that’s me, I guess. I wouldn’t mind taking along a little bit of clutter. Hah.

Ah well, no sense in wallowing, right? Can’t change the facts, so I rather not care, if you don’t mind. Hmmm. Is that too much sarcasm in my tone? I’ll try to restrain myself, I’m feeling a tad out of sorts lately, so you’ll have to excuse me. *sigh*

Nice bit…went to dinner with our friend T tonight. Big brother cooked, which was a big success…which is so good for his confidence. First relaxing evening, just talking, eating, drinking a little, in months, and as an added bonus T is going to help us find a home for Tadaika. Our girl behaved beautifully tonight. She was polite, didn’t make a mess, and smiled for the camera, so to speak. We were very proud.

Did another trip for the Safari tours (actually took some pictures, yay…but you’re not going to see them because I’m lazy, and it is late, and it would take way too long to load them here. Sorry.) which went to Ronda this time. Saw the old ruins, only made one tiny mistake for a change, and the customers seemed to have enjoyed themselves, which counts. In the end that is all that matters, really, and they were nice, which was good for me. Always a pleasure to have good customers. These were Canadians, and they were very enthusiastic about the whole thing. Still have to send them some pictures of the trip, because I promised I would. The whole operation thing stopped me from doing so, however. Was nice seeing Ronda and all the historical sights there. As an added bonus I got to spent time with a bunch of grumpy old men (remember the movie with Jack Lemon and Walter Matthau?) bickering together like a bunch of high school kids. Seriously, it is fascinating. Four men behaving like small kids. Like throwing rubbish into the car of one of their colleagues, just to tease him. I was asked to join in, but laughingly told them that I was way too mature for that sort of thing. Luckily they could appreciate the joke. All in all, I had fun.

What else, there was some cooking (of course) cleaning, and all that basic stuff like cutting dog food, feeding them, etc.

Had a nice chat with my doctor, who has recently started doing fitness (surprised me too) and we got to talking about how I was really enjoying mine and that it can be addicting. He was also really interested in kick boxing, so I wonder if he is going to pick that up at some point. Would be fun if I talked a doctor into doing kick boxing. Hah.

Well, this it for me, really. Gotta call it a blog. Almost two in the morning, and I definitely, definitely need my beauty sleep. You’d be amazed at how quickly you get tired when you’ve got a bum leg and a bum shoulder. *sigh*

Reluctant hero

Song of the day: “Rawhide” from the Blues Brothers, of all things. *sigh* Don’t ask me where that came from. I don’t have a clue.

Well, well, well. Time flies, doesn’t it. Here we are again.

So let’s get started immediately. First thing up is the scan of my varicose vein, right? I had this Thursday and it was by far less painful (mentally, I mean) than my primary visit to the doctor. This particular lady didn’t know much English either, but she was friendly, in an aloof kind of way (I can imagine that when all you do all day is use an eco machine on an endless row of people, that you get a little desensitized) and didn’t get me upset in any way. Yay.

Anyway, I’d been smart this time around. I was wearing a skirt with short leggings underneath, so I didn’t have to undress. All I had to do was hike up the skirt, roll the legging out of the way and we were in business. In case you’re wondering, it is a painless procedure. Inelegant, sure, but painless.

You lay down, get a junk load of transparent goo squirted over your leg, and then lay there while the doctor begins rolling the eco thing toward your groin. When she gets there, you have to tense up your gut for a few seconds, so she can check your blood flow, or some such, and then when that is okay, she checks all the other veins down your legs and hums and nods and then tells you you can clean up.

I asked her if it was really bad, and she said not too bad…later I read the report that I’m supposed to give to my doctor, and it indicated that the varicose veins that are the problem, are superficial, not in the main veins, and that I don’t have thrombosis, so…yay!

Had to make a doctor’s appointment for Monday, and while they were making it I was, all casual like, “Hey, would it be possible to get a different doctor. Like one with more English?” It wasn’t a problem, in the end, thankfully. Apparently, when it is about medical issues, people fully understand that you do not want to mess with a foreign language. I’ll keep you posted on how it works out.

I’m planning on painting an old blanket chest, so I had to practice it. Did it on a small wooden chest, which I sprayed black first and then painted roses, buttercups and cornflowers on it. Sprayed it afterward with a transparent varnish, and voila, a nice little box that served as practice. Since it was cousin Ed’s b-day soon, I opted to put it in the mail and send it to her as a present. Two birds in one hand, and all that. Anyway, it looked a bit Hungarian for some reason, and very nice. Cousin Ed liked it, so that was good, and it made the effort not completely useless for anything other than practice. So for the chest I’m thinking a very bright turquoise, with swirls of ribbons and flowers painted on them. I’m thinking Bohemian, Russian even. I’m curious how it’s going to look in the end, I’ll take pictures and show you.

What else…well, I found my camera, finally. Cleaned it up. Figured I might as well use it this spring, maybe take some nice shots, post them on the photo blog, just for the heck of it.

Had a few dog emergencies this week. Abacara (small Golden Retriever) had a uterus infection, meaning that she needed an emergency operation, poor baby. She was a trooper through the whole thing. At the same time, Niobe, cousin Ed’s dog, got into a tussle with one of the other dogs through the gate, and got his paw seriously ripped up. Got a gazillion stitches between three toes, meaning that he is a very unhappy camper, poor baby. Lastly, Sitabah was feeling so poorly that I thought that she might have a torqued stomach, so that was another trip to the vet. Luckily that wasn’t it. Still don’t know what it was, but she did get a little better, and seems to almost be her normal self again. Lastly there is Dax, who, I think, jumped off something a little too high and got a cut in his back paw, meaning I had to bandage him up…like Niobe, who’s taking off his bandage all the time. Silly dog. Ah well, such is the habit of silly dogs. The whole thing cost a ridiculous amount of money, of course, and will undoubtedly cost more.

What else? So far no news yet about the job. Did  I mention already my first ride? With customers? Well, it could have been a disaster, but luckily it wasn’t. They were very nice people, from Orlando Florida, and they made my first ride a very pleasant one. As for the disaster…well, I was right on time to pick them up, was driving them toward the intended location when a traffic jam started. Yep. I had four paying customers in the car, when some odd hundred yards ahead of us a rather severe accident held up traffic for a whopping 40 minutes. Gawd. They were good sports about it, though. Joked that it was okay, just like home. The thing is, I could have prevented it, if I’d taken a short cut, which was, as it turned out, the thing I should have done. *sigh*

Anyway, it was a nice day, all things considered. We chatted, I did spiels the way I was supposed to, and on the overall, I rather enjoyed myself with the whole thing. Got a nice tip to boot.

Was completely and utterly stressed at the end of the day, however, partly because of the error I had made. Guess it was the previous work experience that caused it, because my new boss was really good about it. He said mistakes happen, no biggie. Had a whole burden drop off my shoulders in the end, but I was exhausted and I needed to unwind so bad that we went to the gym and I worked out for an hour and a half. Hah.

Been training a lot lately. Four to five days a week, and hour to an hour and forty five minutes per visit. T has been going there with us, which is nice. A little more motivation to keep going is never bad. Been increasing my weights steadily, some of them are now up to 140 pounds, meaning that within two months I’ve doubled most of them. Not bad. Added to that back pains are hardly a problem anymore and endurance is getting better two. I know that at the moment it seems a little obsessive, but it is helping with the stress levels really well, which is the aim.

Writing has been a steady thing too. Got the book up to 40K words now, so Yay. The character is slowly realizing that it is too hard for him to only look out for numero uno. I’ll make a hero out of him yet, despite his reluctance to do so for the first part of the story. There is quite a bit of humor in it, and I think I’ve managed to maintain the same level…at least, I hope so. Anyway, I like where the story is going so far, so keep your fingers crossed on that one.

Well, it is incredibly late now, so I better wrap this up. I’ll try not to wait so long with the next blog and add some more detail. Gotta go.