Alaskan Goal

As if I wasn't in enough of a hurry to be walking again, I now have a great goal to work towards. My parents are taking an Alaskan cruise in July and have invited us kids. My plan is to go if I'm walking well enough. A cruise is exciting enough but I've always wanted to see Alaska. I simply couldn't pass up the chance to go.

I've been working on rehabilitation for a bit now but I'm doubling my efforts. I do flexion exercises every night for about a half an hour. I'm increasing that to an hour now. I'm putting the suggested amount of weight on my foot so that I don't have as much of a transition once the crutches are gone. I want this recovery to go as smoothly as possible. This is just added incentive.

Jeff won't be going with me on the trip which is a source of guilt and sadness for me. It's been years since I last traveled without him and I'm not completely comfortable with the idea. I'm feeling guilty about the fact that I will have this fantastic experience while he'll miss out. And I'm sad that he won't be with me. I'm sad but not enough that I'm going to pass up a chance to see whales, glaciers, bald eagles, and the beauty that is Alaska. A trip is just what I need to be excited about getting better. I'm already doing research about our ship. And a family trip is even more exciting. If only Jeff were going it would be perfect. Well, that and walking.

Knitting Challenge

I've joked that I'm the world's slowest knitter. When I first started knitting with my sister, almost three years ago, it took me almost nine months to finish my first scarf. I was so worried about messing up and having to start over. Now I've learned how to fix my work so that is less of a worry but I'm still slow. It took me almost two weeks of intermittent work to complete my first mitten. I won't even begin to estimate how long my first hat took me.

But last night I set up a challenge for myself. I'm heading down to St. Louis this weekend for Jeff's brother's wedding. The dress I'm planning to wear is short sleeved and St. Louis isn't expected to be balmy. So last night I started looking at shawl projects. I found one that estimates as taking 12 hours. I'm going to put that to the test. This afternoon I am running out to the yarn store to find my yarn. And then I'm going to try to finish this thing by Saturday. You would think that this would be plenty of time but remember, I am the world's slowest knitter. My knitting group was very positive so I'm enthused about it. Plus sometimes it's good to challenge yourself. And I'm hedging my bets with a lacier shawl pattern. We'll see if I finish.

Light at the end

There is a light at the end of my work tunnel and I'm pretty sure it is not a train. Things have been very busy here. I've been working more overtime in the last four weeks then I worked all last year. And I'm finally almost done. Just in time for this trip. I spent most of the evening packing after getting back from dinner with my parents. They came back from London today and we head out tomorrow. Bon Voyage. 

Things have not been slow though this week. My car melted down, requiring a total rebuilding of the engine. Needless to say I was not excited. The car was apparently burning oil. About three weeks ago my car had been making all sorts of terrible noises. I drove it to work and back but kept waiting for it to breakdown. I got home and checked the oil level to find that there was not a drop left in the engine. I added oil and took it in. I guess my piston rings have been sticking and my car has been secretly burning its oil. I learned the rebuilding an engine is not quick or cheap. Ow. 

On Sunday I ran errand and ended up getting a disastrous haircut that my sisters made into something cute. I'll try to post pictures. It's far far shorter then I've ever gone. On a strange positive I now own barrettes and headbands. Who would of thought that I could be a girly girl? 

I did a rather large presentation at a professional developers conference this morning. I'm not much of a public speaker so this thing has been keeping me up nights recently. It went fine and for a moment I had the impression that I might actually be okay at this job. Or at least can fake that I know what I'm talking about. 

Sadly I have done no reading or writing in the last three weeks. I even have a stack of magazines that I haven't had time to read. I have three books I'll be taking with me on this trip and hope to read at least two while I'm there. I'll have pictures and stories when I get back. Right now I'm just tired. Thanks for your patience with me. I'll be back to regular posting in about a week. Until then, take care.