Life After Amputation

It has been a LONG time since I got the chance to sit down and enter a few of my thoughts... the big news this month is that Mike has just returned from the hospital after his second amputation. He is now a "BK" which means that he has a below the knee amputation - what a weird turn of events! No one should have to live through one amputation, let alone have to survive a do over and go through it a second time. The news that they wanted to go higher on his leg kicked Mike into high gear, I think that he needed to keep his hands and mind busy and so one of the tasks that we have had on our " to do" list finally rose to the top. We started a master bedroom renovation.
To get an idea of how monumental this undertaking was, let me give you some background. About twelve years ago, I got tired with the peach tones in our bedroom and decided that what I really wanted to do with the room was make it look very, very old fashioned. I bought some extremely expensive heritage wallpaper and invisioned huge, deep crown mouldings, eight inch mop board painted trim and a very lacy window and bed treatment, with carpet to accent the color of the wallpaper. The concept was good. The execution was disastrous! Mike HATED the bird wallpaper - so much so that he refused to complete any of the other stages of the renovation. We never got beyond a fresh coat of buttercream paint and the heritage wallpaper. It sat for the next twelve years, with Mike complaining to anyone that would hear about the ridiculous wallpaper and how he had to wear sunglasses to bed at night. It irritated him so much that it became a standoff. Until they told him that he was going into surgery...the very next day he was ripping and tearing.
For Christmas last year (2007) Mike bought me new hardwood flooring for the bedroom, but that little fall that imploded his fragile foot put him in the hospital for Christmas and out of commission for the rest of the year. The hardwood floor ( Nutmeg Oak) sat in the basement until the weekend after the announcement of the amputation. I came home from the Inn to find that Megan had moved us out of the room and the two of them had about 1/2 of the new flooring down. Then I started to take the wallpaper off and I quickly realized that the removal was going to be more than I bargained for. I started to panic and think that I never would get rid of the "birds". Not only did the paper not want to come off, when it did, it took off paint in some places and in other it took the top off of the drywall. Mike wasn't really helping me at first, and so I suggested that he drywall over the walls because it would be quicker. He told me that it would not give him the satisfaction of watching me struggle to get the paper off - after he had told me not to put it on in the first place!! What a brat!! We ended up having to get a drywaller in to fix and paint the walls because they were so badly damaged.
From this job, he went to help Megan put new hardwood down in her house and we BARELY got finished in time to move the bed back into our room, the night before the surgery. We had one sleep on our new matress set and off to the hospital we went. Surgery took place on November 21 and we came home on November 26. Since then, we have had a steady stream of company - Allan and Brad, Gloria and Joy and all of our kids and their girlfriends/boyfriend. Most meals have been 10 or more people and four extra people staying over. Plus, I was not finished for the season and still had three retreats before I was off on Christmas holidays. What a month!!!

It's Been A Long Time!

I can not believe that July is almost over and so are my holidays! Quite the holidays - all work and no play. Haying season, Phillip coming from the Island to do a big siding job for us, shipping week and the prep for shipping (with no staff) and sick husband and daughter have conspired against me to prevent even one ounce of fun this month! I had three weeks off from the Inn, which I fully inteneded on spending on myself ... scrapbooking, scrapbooking and more scrapbooking and Poof! they are gone and I didn't get to play at all. Even my friends went scramping this year without me! It was the middle of shipping week and I could not go, I went out for coffee one night and that was all.
The big news this month - Andrew quit his job at Higginbotham's feedlot and is buying our roofing company. He has been on the job for about a week, finishing up a job for us before launching out on his own. Megan has been in the hospital for five days with infections. Mike got a new red wheelchair. I have had to do all of my own gardening, as Marie and Wendy could not work in July...I am finding out what a BIG yard that I have!
I spent yesterday baking, just for old times sake. I miss the life that I had before the Inn and Monday Night Class sometimes. I forgot just how much fun it was to play in the kitchen and bake up some goodies. I sorted through some old recipes and cleaned out some cupboards and felt much better at the end of the day. I have been pretty grouchy - it's not Mike's fault that I have been so busy and he has been struggling to complete haying with only one leg. I have not been very happy, with the thoughts of missing out on scrapbooking for my own pleasure and I think that I have been sort of blaming him. When it is totally me that has made life so hectic.
Another good thing - Phillip helped me plant the rest of the spruce trees and bring home my plant stand from the farm (Dad made it for me). It rained again, so everything is looking green and lush and my house is clean - or rather, it was when I left for the Inn today. Life will get better and someday I will scrap again

First Post

Okay, I have to admit that I don't know what I am doing, but I am loving the idea of JOURNALING!!! I am a journaling addict - some of my scrapbook pages have more text that they have images. My assistant, Tinna, is helping me tonight, but we can not figure out a way to get my photos onto the blog. Help!! What I would like to show is the amazing photos of my son, Andrew, and his girlfriend, Marcie at her graduation last week. This was Andrew's first tuxedo event and the complaining almost drove us nuts! But after much negotiation, Andrew wore the entire outfit and actaully looked happy doing it. Because we have homeschooled all of our children through highschool, Andrew opted out of going to the formal graduation excercises in Calgary with all of the other Alberta homeschooled children. So, while this was Marcie's special day, we enjoyed seeing Andrew in the grand march as her escort.