Cold on the 4th

Ok, ok...it's been a while since I last posted. The last post was titled 'Still Working' and could have been used for today's entry as well. The marathon of long days began on June 19th and has been relentless. I ended up with three 17 hour days in that week alone and several since. I could use the amount of work as my excuse for not doing an entry. While this was a big factor, I can't discount my own laziness as a major contributor.

Tomorrow marks six weeks since the surgery and my back and leg feel good. I still have occasional twinges of pain and aches in my leg, but those episodes are becoming rarer. I feel like I am ready to start things again like mowing, remodeling or riding a bike. The doctor said to ease back into those things at around six weeks post recovery, so I'll still take it slowly.

Holly is getting ready to lose her two lower teeth. The lower, middle incisors are both loose and the permanent teeth have broken through the gum behind the baby teeth. Every day I ask her how her teeth are doing and if she wiggled them. Usually she gives me a thumbs up but follows with 'well, I didn't actually wiggle them'. I asked her why. She told me that she doesn't really need any money from the tooth fairy since she has a lot of coins in her room and 'like $700 in the bank'. I guess that's reason enough but odd for a six year old to think that way.

Today's the 4th of July and I get to enjoy it with a terrible cold. I woke up Sunday morning with a funny feeling in the back of my throat. By mid-morning the post nasal drip had not gone away so I took a Claritin. At noon, I was paged to join a conference call for work and stayed on that until 10:20 that night. Throughout the call, I progressively felt worse. Monday was worse than Sunday and by Monday evening the cold had settled in. I had a fitful sleep and woke Tuesday sick and tired. This is definitely the worst cold I've had in a long time. My eyelids, upper and lower, both itch. My forehead and cheek bones feel like they are going to explode. My throat is raw and gets worse with every cough. My joints and muscles ache. I have Niagara Falls in my nose.

I hope I feel well enough for the fireworks tonight. Last year, we discovered that our locality hosts a big fireworks show, preceded by several hours of food and games for the kids. The parking at the city park is limited so the city provides bus service from parking areas a couple of miles away. Except for the bus part, it's a great event. Last year, all 9 million people headed for the busses at exactly the same time and there was much confusion as to where the bus stop would be. It took about an hour to get a bus back to the parking lot. Jane and I will discuss strategies this year and try to make it better.

That's all for now!