I did it!
I made it through Thanksgiving without having to spend hours or days on a heating pad.
I’m not going to say my back feels good or anything, but I can definitely get around. Way better than last year. Thank the stars for Connie Chung and Stranger Things. Between the dry needling from Connie Chung and the massage from Stranger Things, I’m only at “stubbed my toe 6 minutes ago” level of pain. Not great, but totally manageable.
Not only did I make it through Thanksgiving with only mild to moderate pain, I also finished painting my dining room a few days before the holiday.
I did something I have never done before. After the walls and ceiling were painted, I redid the baseboards. I did not move two pieces of furniture when I painted the 
baseboards. I painted around them.
I have never done that before. In fact, in my past, that was unthinkable. That is not how one paints. You paint everything. With no drips, streaks, or holes and you do not paint around shit. Nope. My hips, however, were super tired of sitting on the hard floor and being asked to scootch down every few minutes.
I didn’t want to move the furniture. And I was tired of painting. So, I asked myself “Hey, wait…wait a minute? Whose house is this? Whose? That’s right. It is your house. You can Jackson Pollack the fuck out of it if you want.”
Something else happened on Thanksgiving, When my sons saw that I was struggling a bit right before dinner was ready to be served, they took over in the kitchen. They made sure everything was out, carved and had serving utensils. I sat at the makeshift kids table and let them take over. It was honestly like a Thanksgiving miracle.
The next day, after Randy’s younger daughter and her family headed back for their home hours away, Joey cleaned the rest of the house. All of it. Sweeping and mopping included.
As I sit here on Sunday morning finishing this post, I sit in a house that is fairly put together. I have no deep cleaning to do. I can relax.
My hips have no reason to complain right now.
Image by 👀 Mabel Amber, who will one day from Pixabay
Sounds great! We did “something completely different”, having been invited to Z’s (relatively new) GF’s grandparents’ home for Turkey Day… I staggered home after my workday Wed night to bake 2 pies & generate another pan of my Famous Cornbread Dressing (the secret: lotsa butter!), but that was minor compared to hosting the whole shebang. I really felt privileged & lazy.
And the extent of any housekeeping I did this weekend was limited to mopping up after my poor ol’ incontinent smol dog (Hubby is SO ready for her to die), since my long-Covid issues with shortness of breath & fatigue continue.
No matter how much we bitch, sometimes family really does come through for you! The kids turned out O.K. and you really can’t do better than that!
Hope your hips cut you a break and take the winter off – one of these days I’m going to break down and to to a doctor to see if I have Sciatica after all. Or just need a new mattress. I don’t know which outcome will be worse.
If you ever do Jackson Pollock the fuck out of your house, or any room of your house, or anything else I hope you’ll share pictures. And I’m glad the kids were one more thing you can be thankful for.
Sounds like a bloody good time
Baseboards? Furniture? Pfft! Did you slather a thick coat onto the phone wiring and connection boxes? No? Then you still paint better than some of the landlords I have had.
I’m glad you are feeling better. Stabbity stabbity stab. We had a lasagna for thanksgiving, and it was glorious. It’s gonna snow again this week, but I have faith that our Mazda can get to the road on Friday so we can go get groceries. The cat says hi. Or at least I think that was hi, hopefully it wasn’t some fucked up cat inappropriateness…
You have such good boys! My son cleaned my gutters while he was home! Sounds like you had a nice Thanksgiving. I’m glad you got to relax a little.
Such fun! I felt I was there. And you are right! It is your house. Paint it any way you want to paint it. No one will ever know except you just told the whole world! Brenda
Dry needling is the bomb diggity.
I really think it helped. I will go back when I need it again