It's been a long time since I blogged....AGAIN! I have a pretty good reason for it though. Jason and I have been very busy reflooring our office. Thanks so Kim who inspired us with her recent flooring remodel.

I have been gripping for the longest time about that ugly purple carpet in our office. I have a Dyson, which is in my opinion the vet vacuum on the market. My Dyson would not pick up the dog hair and all the dirt we bring in. So, the office carpet was a mess. It was so nasty and I couldn't do anything about it. When I was home on leave I developed a runny nose. It would not stop running. I told Jason I truly believe it was the carpet in the office that was affecting my allergies. So, I finally had enough a few weeks ago. I told him to rip up the carpet and we was going to refloor the office. It started out that I was going to put down linoleum, like what's in our basement. I was going to do it temporarily until we could afford to refloor the house. We drove to Lowe's one night and started to look at the Swiftlock flooring. We calculated it out and determined it was not going to be that much more expensive. So, we went all out purchasing everything to refloor the office. It took us a total of about 8 hours to refloor the whole thing. It's amazing. My runny nose is gone as well....Yippee! So, our next step is to do the hallway. Jason and I will probably tackle that this weekend. Then the following week it's on to the living room floors. I can't wait to get rid of all this hideous carpet. Funny story with the furniture. Not to brag but I used to be pretty strong before my surgery. Our desk is about 11' long and 1/2 of it is glass (as you can see below). Before my surgery I would have been able to pick it up and carry it without any problems. I can't pickup anything. I struggle to pickup Chase, who only weighs about 30 lbs. So, Jason had to come up with a system so I could help him. We took the wheels off the desk and placed my end up on our desk chairs. He picked up the other end and I wheeled the desk right out. Anyway, it was hilarious. Check out our floors below.

Before
After

Also, check out the Christmas photo below of my aqua aerobics class. This photo includes less than 1/2 the actual size of the class. Aren't they so cute?

Jason was in Philly this weekend so I had the weekend all to myself. I spent a lot of time cleaning and regretted it on Sunday. I don't know what I did but I hurt myself. It feels like my right mountain is on fire. HA HA HA! (laughing at the mountain joke). Anyway, when I'm sore I can't go to church. The pews are so uncomfortable and they hurt my back. So, I stayed home and watched about 12 - 13 hours of Felicity. It was crazy because I would watch 4 episodes and then I would get upset because I would have to get up and change the disc again. It went by so quickly. I'm still a little sore today but I feel so much better than I did on Sunday. The littlest things hurt. Oh well, I just suck it up. I only have a little over 1 year to go. :-)

A DAY IN THE LIFE OF A PROBLEM CHILD

That's right. This post is about Taylor again. Guess what I caught her doing tonight......eating Jason's retirement statement. I called Jason and was laughing so hard I couldn't tell him what happened. I had to email him. Ahh, we need to start agility soon or she's going to go crazy.

PROBLEM CHILD

That's right....Little Miss Problem Child did it again. First off, last week she was sick. She was so sick we took her to the vet because we thought something was wrong. This week.....she shattered her toenail chasing after a bunny. I picked her up after work tonight. She's still groggy after the drugs they gave her. I wonder what she will get into next week? It's always Jason's dogs. Does that tell anyone anything?????? :-)

So it's been another long time between posts. I have to say, I have become addicted to facebook so that seems to be where I spend most of my time now.

Just to catch you up. A lot has been going on. Each weekend we take the kids to the lake for a little hike. A few weeks ago we had to stop and come in early because it was a little too cold for Taylor. With Tay being a double coated Sheltie that tells you exactly how cold it was. Last weekend we went around sunset for a very short walk. It was icy out so when the kids ran up and down the hill the love I was a little nervous about broken bones. Also the ice fishermen were out so that's always very exciting to see.

Jason and I went on a hike last weekend. We went to our usual spot, Ricketts Glenn. Normally we deal with ice so we had our stablicers on. This time we needed snowshoes. We had to walk through about 4 - 5 inches of snow. That was difficult but we just kept going. I was very happy that my breathing wasn't bothering me at all. Before surgery, walking through that much snow, I would have been stopping all the time to catch my breath. Our favorite water fall was very beautiful and frozen over. I took my hiking poles and make sure the ice was thick before I started to walk over what is normally the pool from the fall. We walked right next to it. It's amazing that you can still hear it falling through all that ice.

Jason is sick this weekend so he's been home. I went grocery shopping (since another storm is coming) and had my normal breakfast at Panera Bread. I went to Lowes and just had a good time. Forgetting it was super bowl Sunday and everyone was out grocery stopping I was quite annoyed. I get in grocery shopping mode and short line mode. It's amazing to see the crowds of people standing in line waiting to check out when they should scope out all the lines for an opening. I found an opening right away with a quick cashier so I was very happy. Came home, cleaned the house a bit, played on facebook and watched movies.

This morning I went to church. Then I came home to pickup Jason and the kids for a ride. We went to BK for a Whopper. Umm, it was so good. Since we're not football fans AT ALL we'll just watch movies tonight and forget about the super bowl.

Oh yeah, probably the most important thing......On Friday I went to Johns Hopkins. When I arrived the check in lady said that they didn't have me on his schedule. More people had come in and had the same problem. Turns out Dr C. did not have clinic on Friday but he was doing a transplant. So, since I drove all that way the nurse practicioner was not very happy about my situation but was trying to get ahold of Dr. C while he was in surgery. Since I couldn't see him, I knew she could really help me with what I needed. I didn't have to see him. She told me he reviewed my X-Rays and the bar has not been displaced, which I figured. I told her that I did not want to go on any narcotics but I wanted a few things. I told her first off I wanted a hospital bed. I have been in a recliner ever since surgery and it's starting to hurt my back. I needed to be able to change positions throughout the night to eliminate all the pain in the morning that I end up with after I have been in bed. She wrote me a prescription. I cannot wait for my new bed. Finally, I can get a good nights sleep. I also asked for a prescription for botox. Botox is used for pain management. It numbs the nerves. I need to find a local doc first and then I will go for my first injection. If the hospital bed stops all my pain though, then I will not need the botox. So, I'm getting so excited about my bed. Only thing I'm worried about is how on earth anyone is going to deliver it. I have to put my jeep into 4WD before I can get up the hill. Delivery trucks cannot make it up our hill, period. Not even in the summer. If we can just get a break from this ice and snow then I can get my bed. We'll see. I'm going tomorrow to order it. Maybe they can deliver it that afternoon. Wouldn't that be exciting. It would come right before the snow storm. Woo Hoo! Today is warm too, 44 deg, so maybe the ice will melt to make it easier.