School's Out For Summer

I posted a status on Facebook about how Kevin, on his first day of summer vacation, brought me breakfast in bed. He always promises that this type of doting behavior (along with flowers every week or two) isn't because we are newlyweds and will continue throughout our lives. Here's hoping, because I feel so lucky to be spoiled and pampered. Let me tell you, it's not bad being treated like a queen.

After that lounging start, we went to work. It was a very physical day for me -- much more than I normally would ever pack into one day. Call it end of spring cleaning. 

Tuesday night we bought a new-to-us bookshelf off Craiglist, from a guy in Fairfax. We already have two bookshelves that are about 8 and 9 feet respectively and one in the 4 foot range. We turned a skinny 4-footer into a DVD shelf. The remaining three were not even close to enough room for the book collection of a couple who met working for their college newspaper. We are book nerds, plain and simple. And we can't even merge our collections because we have different ways of organizing our books. Kevin does what probably every normal person does (or would do if they read) and alphabetizes by author. I would, except I can't. I'm serious, with my "memory" or lack thereof I can't! I'd never find anything because I don't know who wrote it, unless it's Stephen King. So I clump my books in sections based on topics (a much broader thing to remember than a person's name!). I have sections on poetry, sports, animals (subsections: dog fiction, pit bulls, and sharks), philosophy, vampires, Stephen King, Harry Potter, Chicken Soup for the ______ Soul, mafia, religion/spirituality (subsections: new age, Christianity, and Wicca), college books I found interesting enough not to sell back, etc...

While Kevin reorganized our bookshelves and vacuumed the house, I gave our 4 bathrooms a thorough, deep scrub clean (top to bottom, every nook and cranny). Four bathrooms sounds awesome when you're shopping for a home. It is not awesome when you have to clean all of them. Halfway through cleaning the bathrooms, I took a "break" to organize our office with Kevin. Over the last two months we haven't ever put anything away in the office. We've just put office-type stuff into unassigned piles. Afterward, we went on our daily family walk, which is Blaze's long walk of the day. 

When all was done except the half bathrooms, we made ourselves a lovely dinner that happened to also require a lot of work. We had grilled kabobs: chicken, grape tomatoes, and both green and red peppers with a side of corn on the cob. Kevin cut the chicken; I mixed together a marinade for the chicken: a blend of teriyaki sauce, EVOO, egg, poultry seasoning, and lemon pepper. Kevin chopped veggies and shucked corn; I cleaned the main level half-bath. We skewered together.

We ceremoniously started our brand new grill (thanks to my in-laws!) together. Our grill is charcoal, because I'm old school and had no interest in a new, schmancy propane operated machine. Kevin's used to boiling corn and a more modern style of grilling, so when it came time to cook, I (wo)manned the grill. And while the coals were burning I cleaned the basement bathroom. 

We sat down to dinner at our brand new patio furniture (courtesy of Kevin spoiling me with stuff for the house). Dinner was fantastic. We considered our first new-grill meal a huge success, and we're very happy that grilling burgers is on our menu for next week. For his part, Blaze probably ate an entire pepper's worth of veggies, because we made way too much.  

In other backyard news, I've grown lush new grass (which is ironic because I have killed my one houseplant). We had a patch that was overrun with rocks and weeds, except for a few poorly maintained rose bushes. About 2-3 weeks ago, I poisoned and ripped out the weeds and raked the area until I got fresh dirt and sprayed out grass seed. With all the rain we've been getting it has flourished. Mommy made great grass for Blaze!

In healing news..... No, I'm still not getting any better, but my henna-like tattoo is all healed up. And quite pretty, if I may brag about my ink ;)

One more piece of healing! My scar, from the March surgery. My physical therapists always comment on how well it has healed. Nothing else is healing, so at least there is that!

PT in one hour! And pain doc, maybe resuming injections, tomorrow! Updates likely to follow....