F*#! Fabruary

Despite my best efforts, Fabruary blows. It is the opposite of fabulous. Might as well call it F!ckruary. 

Today is day 14 of being on crutches. It's also day 9 of wearing a boot. Why?

I tripped on Andy's shoe on my way down the basement stairs to do his laundry. ........ UGH. He's definitely paying for it though because I am dependent on him for almost everything. I can't get around without crutches, which means I can't carry anything anywhere. I actually tried once... it ended up with me losing my crutches and falling, which made my ankle hurt even more, so I've learned my lesson. I can't carry anything. I also can't drive because it's my right foot. He's having to do a lot.

So what's the diagnosis? I don't know and that's really killing me. I went to Urgent Care immediately after the initial fall. They did x-rays and checked out my ankle. She said I sprained my ankle, gave me crutches, and said I'd be back to walking in 2-3 days. Five days later and the thought of not using my crutches had me in tears. I made an appointment to see an orthopedic. 

Yep, I sprained my ankle alright, but what Urgent Care missed completely was that I f-ed up my foot, more particularly, my heel. When the doc was examining my foot he pressed on my heel and I hit him. Yes that is right. I whacked his arm away. Total reflex, but it hurt! Then he sent me for x-rays of my foot. They came back still not showing a break. However. He said a tiny fracture wouldn't show up in an x-ray unless I put some weight on my foot (which I was not doing in the x-ray). So... now I have a boot, which is actually great because it lets me at least put some weight on my foot, I'm on crutches until it's not painful anymore (I sure hope that's sooner than later), and I go back on March 11th for more x-rays. If there was a fracture, then we'll know then because bone growth will show up in the x-ray. If not... well then I guess I just tore the sh*t out of the soft-tissues in my foot. But after the 11th, I'll know "what's next."

Friends. I. am. miserable. 

1) This is my busiest time of year at work. In a way it's good because once I'm at the office I'm so swamped with things that the time flies by and I rarely even think about my foot. But I could be a lot more productive if I could get around and say, grab my print-outs from the photocopier. Our office is the opposite of handicapped-friendly, so being on crutches makes a lot of things next to impossible. In the meantime I'm strapped to my computer and having to ask for a lot of help from my coworkers, who (the ones I like) have all been very kind and helpful, so I am thankful for all of them.

2) Um... we're moving in less than a month. How many boxes are packed? Oh, that's zero. I honestly don't know how we are going to make this happen. Like literally. I cannot begin to fathom how on earth we will move our entire house to another house without me being able to do a thing. I can't even think about it or I'll have a panic attack.

3) I miss my independence. I miss everyday things being easy. Do you know how hard it is to get in and out of a claw-foot tub and shower while balancing on one foot? It is a living version of hell. Yet showering is also heaven because I do it so infrequently now, that it's glorious to feel clean for one second. Do you know how tiresome it is to rely on rides everywhere? I'm glad I have friends to lean on for rides, and again, Andy has been a champ. But the truth is, you're stuck to life on someone else's schedule that way... there's no way around it. I miss being able to make my own food. I miss being able to bend down and pick up Birdie... I can't even take her outside, poor little girl. I miss going to the bathroom whenever I want. Why? Because our bathroom is upstairs - and up a steep flight of stairs at that - and it is soooo hard to get up them, I now try to delay it until it absolutely must happen. And even then, I can't wait too late or I won't make it up the stairs in time!

4) Also, it's winter. And there's snow. And snow + crutches = super scary.

I could keep going,  but I won't for your sake. Let's just say I have been crying pretty much everyday. I hate this. I'm so frustrated. And I feel lots of despair. 

Andy has been a great helper. He makes my food, does my laundry, drives me places... basically does everything for me (poor guy). And my little Birdie has been such a sweetheart. She's my little snuggle bug.

She also got a haircut. She is so so so cute!

And she still brings me her toys and places them right on my boot so I can reach them. :-) Smart little girl.

Oh, here's a picture of the snow.... this all happened in one day. Thankfully some of it melted, but we're getting more as I type. Oh joy.

Thankfully my boss is super understanding and has let me work a day here and there from home. That usually looks like this...

And when I'm actually working at the office, it usually looks like this...

Other things... we spent Valentine's Day in Buffalo with Andy's family. How romantic, lol. Honestly, it was actually really nice to get out of the house and lay on someone else's couch - how sad is that! Back to Valentine's Day - I got Andy a creme brulee kit, blow torch included, so he made those. Using the torch was fun.

 

The following weekend we went to the Corning Museum of Glass (we called ahead and they had wheelchairs, so that is the only we were able to go there). It was so cool!! My favorite parts were the glass blowing demonstrations and the class we signed up for where we got to make our own glass wind chime! 

Other crutches-bound activities have included:

- Going to the casino (again, they had a wheelchair)

- Seeing "The Revenant" at a recliner movie theater. That was disappointingly uncomfortable. I could not get comfortable with that stupid boot on my foot. Also the movie was pretty gross...

- Watching Birdie play at the dog park (I sat in the car to watch, there was too much snow for me to manage to get inside the park)

- Lots of reading. I am making my way quickly through "Room."

- And most of all sleeping. When I'm in bed I don't have to wear the boot and amazingly my ankle/foot doesn't hurt, so it is by far the most comfortable I am all day long. I wish I could sleep until this thing is healed and I'm done with it.

There you have it. My sad story with a few little happy highlights. 

Coming up: My birthday is in a week! What do I want? To walk again. hmmmm. Also, the Intermediate Concerts, my most busy crazy event of the year. And closing on our house! Ok, that panic attack is about to hit hard so I need to stop talking about this.

Hope you are all well. Be grateful for the little things - I promise you don't realize how much you take for granted. I sure didn't have a clue. 

Fabruary

Welcome to February, or as I am referring to it... Fabruary.

Now, I love challenges, but I tend to create them and not stick to them. Towards the end of January I thought, "I should really do a fitness challenge in February," and for whatever reason I decided that February would be Fab-AB-ruary, and I would make sure to do ab exercises each day. Thankfully I talked to Sheena, who reminded me that I wouldn't stick to it and then I'd feel like a failure, etc. initiate spiral of doom. And so I switched it up and instead decided that Fabruary would be a month of being fabulous by taking time to do something for myself each day.

Much better!

Let's get real. The REAL reason I wanted to do "something" in February was because this time of year tends to be my most stressful-crazy-terrible time at work. I go to work, I am stressed with all that I have to do, I am frustrated with people to my breaking point, and I usually end each night standing in the kitchen shoveling food in my face as fast as humanly possible. And I didn't want to do that, so I thought if I had something else to focus on, it would help change my usual routine. By making sure I was doing something nice for myself each day, I hoped it would keep my hands out of the fridge and my tush into the same pants (instead of going up a size, which seems to happen each year around this time).

Is it working? Well... as I type this right now I feel like I'm about to explode from frustration etc at work, so... I have 1) Closed the door to my office to keep people out, 2) Lit a new candle that's called "Stressless", and 3) have Justin Bieber playing on Pandora, because I like Justin Bieber. I admit it. Look at me taking steps to take care of myself!

Here are other things I've done for the month of Fabruary:

I painted my nails (actually have done that twice now).

I got myself a new powder compact instead of trying to dig the remnants out of the corners of my old one. Ain't nobody got time for that!

I went to Pittsford Dairy with Andy and treated myself to a Mexican Sundae. Yummmm

I made my favorite summertime salad. Even though it's not summer at all, I thought it would be nice to break up our usual "winter salad" routine (which is spinach, almonds, sunflower seeds, craisins, and goat cheese).

I took time to do a hand thingy... I have no idea what to call this, but it's like a scrub, special lotion stuff... my friend Brigid gave this to me and it's always fun to use!

I got a car wash! Birdie was with me, so I also learned Birdie is both fascinated and terrified of the car wash. Sorry little Bird!

I got my hair did!

I've also taken a tiny nap, which I usually never do. Last night I treated myself to loafing on the couch and watching two episodes of "Fixer Upper." It was great. And possibly the best one of all... I put clean sheets on the bed, and took a shower right before bed... crawling into a clean bed while being clean yourself... best ever.

For you Parks and Rec fans out there, this is a month Donna and Tom would be proud of.

There you have it. Fabruary - going strong. You know what I've learned most from it? I actually do a lot of things for myself already, like treating myself to a Dunkin Donuts coffee at work pretty much every day at 11am, haha. :-) 

What else is going on??? Well let's see...

House stuff is moving along. We aren't packing yet, but we have started to go through and set things aside for Goodwill. I've been reading "The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up" again, and it is really helping me to get rid of quite a bit. When in doubt, throw it out!

Andy and I drove by the new house over the weekend and CHECK IT OUT!!!!

SOLD!!!!!! Pretty cool, huh??

This was also on a tear off calendar last week and it made me laugh - I have a feeling this will be Andy and I to a T...

Birdie is still my favorite. I LOVE HER SO MUCH! We went to the pet store last week and she had a blast. She also looked pretty adorable wearing her hoodie from Auntie Sharman. :-)

And as for work... I had a flute masterclass on Saturday, and the Primary Concerts yesterday and today (the Primary Concerts have over 2,000 kids each day and they are exhausting).

All of that, and we're only 9 days into the month! Stay tuned to hear how the rest of the month turns out. 

Goodbye January, Hello February

January has gone to the dogs. Seriously... the end of January was all about dogs.

Will and Rose's dog, Luna, stayed with us from Thursday night until Monday night. It was actually quite an interesting experiment. Andy has been talking about getting Birdie a brother or sister for awhile now, and my 'only child' brain cannot wrap my head around the concept of loving two things at the same time. Anyway...

There's quite a size difference between Luna and Birdie, but all in all, they played very well together. Luna turned out to be a very patient big sister. She would just want to lay on the couch and sleep and Birdie would NOT leave her alone. I love my little Bird, but I can definitely recognize that she was being pretty annoying. She can't help it though! She's just a curious puppy FULL of energy.

Here are pictures of the two from this weekend:

Andy loves Luna.

A brief pause in the mania.

There were a couple of games of tug-of-war, but the size difference didn't really make it a fair match.

Birdie would always climb on top of Luna's head whenever she would lay down.

Fighting for Andy's love.

More interested in each other's bowl than their own.

Nothing will get in Birdie's way of looking out the window!

Finally! Both sleeping.

Pros of two dogs
- They entertain each other
- Going for walks with Andy was fun - we each had a dog to walk
- More snuggle buddies to keep you warm in the winter

Cons of two dogs
- They never seem to have to go to the bathroom at the same time
- More $$ for food, vet, etc
- I'm sure this would get better, but you have to be constantly vigilant. It seemed like one always had a toy the other wanted, etc.
- Our bed was a little small for four...

On the whole, I wouldn't be against another dog, for the sheer sake that I think Birdie would like to have a buddy. But... well, maybe not yet. :-)

We did manage to do a few non-dog activities this weekend. Bipul was in town, so we went to Han Noodle for dinner (love Han) and then played a round of Scrabble. Gotta love a good game night!

I also did a quick drive-by of our new house. Check it out! Sale Pending!

Things with the house are moving along really well. We've had to do so much for the bank, etc that it feels like we've been working on this for awhile, but the truth is... we only first saw it 2 weeks and 2 days ago. That seems crazy to me. Anyway, we are far enough through the process now that I think (fingers crossed) it is safe enough to start packing! I think it's all going to go through!

We also made a trip to Buffalo to see Andy's family - and both dogs came... that was interesting. And we made it home in time to watch Downton Abbey, which... holy cow! Did anyone watch?? Lord Grantham?!? I knew something was going on with him, but didn't see that happening!

So there you have it. The end of January. What's next?? Well... I have decided to make February....FABruary!!! More on that next time. :-)