pre -op bomb

Pre -op appointments today. I was at the clinic for three and a half hours!
holy crap.
I am registered, informed, and passed the physical.
The physical is a joke. She listened to my heart, lungs, check my reflexes. 
That's it.


The surgery educator gave me information overload.
And a ba-jillion restrictions.
No lifting anything for 2 weeks
No lifting more than 10# for 4-6 weeks after that. 
No lifting my arms above my shoulders, can't even take a plate from the cupboard,.
No pushing or pulling.
No sweeping.
No dishes (yay!)
No vacuuming
No turning
No twisting
No driving,
No using my hands
    Wait. what?
That's right. No typing, no crocheting, no sewing, no typing.
I am allowed to use the tv remote.
And go to the bathroom.
so glad they are going to let me do that!
The list of 'no' goes on and on. 


I am so glad I am getting this done before school starts.
Jill will be around to help :)


Also, I will probably not be eating any solid food for a few weeks.
He has to push my esophagus out of the way to get to my spine.
It will be very swollen for a while.
My larynx will also be "disrupted"  I could be without a voice for a few days.
She said its not unusual to wake up feeling like you are being strangled, because of all the swelling.
She said that so nonchalantly 
Yikes!
On the upside, maybe this will jump start my diet!
I wonder how I will choke down the pain pills?
There will be severe neck and upper back pain, the actual surgery strains the ligaments in my neck and between my shoulder blades. 
I have 20 or so pages of information to read;
It sounds like recovery is not going to be fun. 
All this and it probably won't relieve my pain.


*sigh*

August to-do list

Before surgery (on the 10th)

•  Find the fabric I bought for the back of Emma's quilt....I have searched high and low...no idea what I did with this, grrrr
• make a cute back for that and get it to quilter
• Get hair cut 
• Organize my fabric
• major grocery shopping so I don't have to think about it when I get home
• walmart run to stock up on TP , cat food, paper plates

After surgery. The surgeon told me I would be miserable for the first week or two, 

(I don't like the sound of that, but do appreciate the that he is up front with me)

and  I will be off work for at least a month.

• Sew
• Crochet - the surgeon told me none of this, the use of my hands will be very limited.
• Watch movies
• bind Emma's quilt.
• mail baby quilts

July recap

Making a list of things I got accomplished in July

• finished baby K's quilt. All I need to do is sew a label in.
• stocked up on some clearance yarn at walmart
• decluttered my kitchen cupboards (I tackled the worst one, the others will do)
• finished Emma's quilt top
• donated 6 (1) garbage bags of clothes to the local thrift shop.
• cut up a garbage bag full of t shirts for t shirt yarn

dang, I know I got more done than this, but I can't remember :o)

Weekend

Its been a fairly cool weekend here.
I have gotten a lot done around the house. 
Six bags of stuff to donate to the local thrift store,
plenty more to go to the dump.
(We usually burn most of our garbage, but still in a burn ban)
Still lots to do. Maybe this surgery is the kick in the butt I need to de-clutter.


I even got some sewing in.
I got my quilt for baby K back from the quilter.
I wish I knew what his name will be, they aren't telling, want to put a label on it
Got the binding on this afternoon,
tomorrow I will do the hand stitching at work.


I will post a pic when I finish.
I don't think Amy reads my blog :)

duh me!

I was thinking I could do some sewing when I am off work for a few weeks.
I just realized I will not be able to iron.
Ugh.
I am probably in the minority here, but I love to iron!
Instant gratification.
Maybe I can buy a cheapo lightweight one...hmmm...
Or I may have to stick to crocheting and watching movies. 


I have been such a blog slacker.
This was supposed to keep me sewing and hold myself accountable.
Now I am in this frenzy to get my house spic and span.
Good Lord! 
What if someone comes to visit me?
I would die! 
I am such a hoarder lately.
Don't get me wrong, its good stuff.
Just don't always have a place for it.

Neurosurgeon

I have decided to have my C5&6 fused. 
I am scared.
I will be in good hands.
I have tried everything else. 
I am getting by. But its hard to be in such pain every single day. 
Dr D was very sweet. Seemed shy, but confident. 
He told me straight out I would probably not be better.
Nerve damage heals slowly, if at all.
But he feels the weakness in my arms and hands will not progress. 
He promised to get rid of the bone spurs that are pressing into my spinal column.
I am ready for this step.




I think.

Laundry Soap

Here is the recipe I used for homemade laundry soap

1 (76 oz) box  20 Mule Team Borax (in the laundry aisle)
1 (55 oz) box Arm & Hammer Washing Soda (laundry aisle, next to the borax)
1 large bar Zote soap ( I got this from Amazon.com, you can also use a bar of Fels-Nappa also found in the laundry aisle. I picked Zote because it was pink )
1 (4#) box  Arm & Hammer baking soda (store brand would be fine, found it in the baking aisle)

Grate the bar of soap. I used my food processor. The soap was very soft, so using a hand grater would easily work too. I didn't worry about 'contaminating' anything, its just soap.  I dumped the borax and both sodas into a small rubbermaid container with a snap on lid. Then added the grated soap and stirred with a heavy plastic spoon. If you are doing this in a smaller container, you may want to add layers of the ingredients to make for easier mixing. 

I also added a container of Purex  crystals. Just so it would smell good. Honestly, I think they are a little over-powering so will probably skip this step next time. I did fill the empty purex container with some of my new detergent and use the lid to measure. half of a lid full got my clothes clean and fresh!

So far so good. I think it cleans well. We live on a farm and trust me, we get dirty! 
It doesn't make suds so I am hoping it will be easier on our septic system and washer. 
The best part? You only use 1 tablespoon for a load. (I used 2 tablespoons for Scott's super grungy barn clothes)  this is going to last a long time!! 

Edited: I read another recipe, just like this. Substitute a small box of Tide detergent for the grated bar of soap.  Make it easier.