Back to Life, Back to Reality

(Do you have that song stuck in your head now? I'm sorry...)

Well, as the title implies, it's back to reality (read: work, blah) for me. Which is actually a good thing for the old blog here, because I found it hard to blog while I was at home recovering. I blog a lot from work when I'm procrastinating taking a short break, so being back now should prompt more frequent posts. Yay for you!

Recovery was actually a really nice time off for me, if you forget about the whole surgery and five incisions thing. My in-laws have had my son at their house since election Tuesday so that I could recover in peace, and while I miss the little bugger like crazy, I knew I wouldn't be able to really rest and relax with him in the house. He's 100% adorable, except when he's not. And being an almost 2-year-old, he has his non-adorable moments. So it has been really, really nice to be able to rest and know that he's having a blast at Grandma and Grandpa's house while I recover.

My R&R was spent mostly making Christmas presents. Since I'm a glutton for punishment, poor, and have a VERY large family, each year I try to find an economical way to make it through Christmas without breaking the bank. My parents are divorced and my Dad re-married into a large and lovely family, and then there's my husband's family, my mom and her family, and our friends. I consider myself lucky to be surrounded by so many awesome people, but at Christmas, it kind of makes me want to pull my hair out thinking about gifts.

Last year, I made each family a set of six bottle cap photo magnets with pictures of family/pets and cute scrapbook paper. It was a huge hit, and a relatively inexpensive way to give thoughtful gifts to everyone we love.

This year, I'm tapping into one of my (sort-of) talents and crocheting sets of dish cloths for each family. I am a novice crocheter and stick to simple things that require a short attention span and end up in a square or rectangle, so dish cloths are perfect. The Hubs and I went to Michaels and bought out the yarn section, and I've been a busy little bee ever since.

I actually have a couple skeins not pictured. I may have a problem. 

I've made two more since this picture was taken.

I haven't officially figured out how many sets I need to make (because I'm afraid to see that number) but I'm thinking it's in the 20-25 range. I have 3 sets "officially" done, so I'll be finished crocheting by the 4th of July or so. LOL

See? Glutton for punishment.

In other, actually band-related news:

I had my one week post-op appointment with one of the nurses at the office yesterday. Nothing exciting to report from that, except that she approved soft and mushies! Wahoo! I was so tired of liquids that scrambled eggs and mashed potatoes sounded like a steak dinner to me. Now, two weeks of soft and mushies (straight through Thanksgiving) and then it's on to "normal" foods. Easy peasy mac n' cheesy.

Surgery Day Weight: 257.2
One Week Weigh In: 254.4
Loss: 2.8 lb

I will SO take that!