Because we like sharp objects and those little paper booties

Friday, June 27, 2008

I apologize for not having any new information lately. I've been SUPER busy and just haven't had the energy. As I mentioned in my June 1st post, I was promoted and started the new job this past Monday. The two weeks prior, I worked nearly 24 hours of overtime just trying to tie everything up at my last office. There's a temporary hiring freeze that went into effect 1 week after I was offered my job and so they can't fill the spot I'm leaving. That meant that it was really important that I didn't leave anything hanging. Besides, that's just not the type of person I am. I worked way to hard over the past two and a half years to leave anything partially finished. Anyway, it goes without saying that it was a long two weeks and the weekend between the old and new was barely enough to recover. The new job, however, is great. It's been amazingly busy and I've pretty much been expected to just jump right in and start going, which is fine with me. My immediate boss started only two weeks ahead of me so we're both learning at the same time and we are very excited about the projects ahead.

So, enough about me...

Michael's surgery went well and he seemed to be recovering all right. But about two weeks in, he started having more pain in his shoulder and this past weekend it was hurting quite a bit. I suggested he move his next appointment up so that it could be checked out. On Tuesday he went in and was told that three out of the seven screws are backing out of the bone and he will have to have surgery. Again... with a bone graft. FANtastic.

I think part of the problem was that his bones weren't growing fast enough to support the muscles pulling on them - hence the bone graft now. But the situation was exacerbated by Michael's stubbornness and insistence upon being independent. While he was "careful" with his injured arm, he tried to do too much with his left side which caused straining and contributed to the current situation. Would this have happened if he'd had more bone growth? We don't know. But we're both pretty frustrated. The next surgery is scheduled for the morning of July 9. Don't worry, it'll be fine.

The Wolf range is installed. We hired someone to come out and extend the gas line into the kitchen and then Michael supervised as I learned woodworking. As it turns out, I'm pretty good with a router. (We won't mention the skill saw.) While the range looks a little out of place in our kitchen - especially sitting on a now-modified cabinet - it cooks like a dream and we love, love, love the griddle. 18,000 btu is pretty darn impressive. We still have to take out the upper cabinets to install the 36" hood (right now we're just not using the back burners), and when we do we'll also have to install a pantry to make up for losing that space.

Also, I finally bought a new piece of furniture for the family room. A pretty dark brown sectional with matching storage ottoman (perfect for my Rock Band guitar!) that is a nice change from the vintage 1972 Bruener's sofa we had before. Now, to save for a new dining room set!