A Healing Time

Somehow, in all the fun of last weekend, you didn’t get an update.

The week of Tom’s surgery and recover was pretty low key.  He slept a lot, rested a lot, and generally moved pretty slowly.  He didn’t have a lot of pain and was off pain meds by Thursday.

He was diligent because he really wanted to go and visit the kids and grandkids over the Memorial Day weekend.  We thought he might need to go to church in his stylish blue scrubs, but he managed to get into suit pants…although not buttoned on top.

He thought he might just go in for his early morning meetings and Sacrament meeting, but he stayed the whole time. By the end of the block of meetings, he looked a little gray.

He came home, ate, napped, and we headed to Russellville to see Kera and Andy and kids and Miranda and Dan and kids.  He napped on the way.  We’d both looked at Google maps and kind of knew the way.  But neither of us printed it out. And the GPS didn’t agree with us.

So maybe we went a bit out of our way.  We found some really narrow winding roads and stopped once to ask directions.  Umm. And we went home a different way. But we arrived about 6:30 and enjoyed a tasty dinner.

David McClellan had gotten an RV and Andy had borrowed the neighbor’s RV.  So there were two.  The kids might have slept outside, but it was raining when we got there.  Chandra’s Mom and brothers had also come down to see the grandchildren.  So after dinner the oldest 4 went off to their hotel to sleep.  The next day they went to a fun park and boating, so we didn’t see a lot of them.

Tom was pretty tired.  He found a hammock and sacked out for the morning.  Rested and played some card games, then zonked for an afternoon nap.  Miranda said, “Dad, I don’t think I’ve ever seen you do nothing for so long!”

Miranda and Dan left late Monday afternoon.  We’d thought about staying over until Tuesday, but then learned everyone would head out about 8 or 9 am.  We figured we’d be more of a hindrance than a help for them to leave on time.  And the lure of our comfortable bed called.  So we left about 7pm and drove the 3 hours home.

It was fun to play with grandchildren, walk them to the bathroom, read them stories, and visit and play card games with the adults. We were on Lake Dardanelle and it was lovely! Again, it rained on and off on Monday as well.

Kera and Andy brought up the fabric covering of their metal chair.  It matched our metal rocker with old worn out covering.  We changed them out and now our chair looks almost brand new.  Thank you Andy and Kera!

Tom went to his follow up appointment on Thursday and they pronounced him healthy and released him. The nurse was impressed with how well he walked into the office.  I guess some guys really gimp in.  He’s feeling better.  He mowed the yard on Friday, and while he was tired, he wasn’t sore.

Saturday we went to see Percy Jackson and the Sea Monsters… or whatever the name of the second Percy Jackson movie is.  It was pretty good.  We wanted to see the first one first, but Netflix didn’t have it. Hastings didn’t have it.  We called Rebecca to whine.  She gave us her Amazon Prime number and we were able to access it there.  HOWEVER… it was for a tablet sized screen.  If we tried to enlarge it, the system crashed. (Don’t ask us how many times we tried before we figured it out.)  It was kind of nice to see the second movie on the BIG screen.

Not a lot else going on.  Tom and I continue to take this options trading course.  I’m continuing my copywriting jobs.  I’m teaching institute (Wed) and the teacher development course (Sun.) and I was asked to substitute teach for Relief Society as well today. So it was a bit busy.  And tonight we have the CES broadcast.  I told the young single adults I’d bring the ice cream sundae fixings.

Oh, in an effort to find a good use for all the peppers that were coming ripe, I searched for and found a Harry and David sweet and hot pepper relish clone recipe.  We tried it last night, and both Tom and I pronounce it delicious.  I had to trade the promise of a jar to Wendy to get the jalapeño peppers for it.  Well worth it!  We will have to make more!

Tom did a great job of chopping all the hot peppers.  He says next time he will not touch his face for 24 hours after chopping the peppers.  Ouchy eyes and hot lips!

My chickens are laying about 10-11 eggs per day.  It’s fun.  Wendy sold them at the farmers market this week.  I think it might pay for the chicken feed.  We get the joy of watching them for free.