News and Views From my kids accomplishments, to my heretical perspective of the world

Our new floors are in!

The carpet has been down in the guest room for over a week.

The tiles in the bathroom and laundry room are finally complete, though they had to redo them more than once to get them reasonably even.

The laminate is complete in the family room, hall and office. At first I was disappointed in how the laminate looked, but once they installed and painted the molding, it suddenly looked much, much better. I like it a lot now, at least appearance-wise. It’s not as comfortable to walk on as carpet, of course.

The new vanity should be installed on Monday or Tuesday, and the counter top a week after that. So we still have a couple of weeks before everything is really “back to normal”. But except for the bathroom we are in the process of moving everything back.

It’s been really cool here lately. The past couple of nights it got down into the 70’s — the first time since around May that it is cooler outside than inside.

We slept with the windows open in our bedroom for the first time since May. It still got up into the high 90’s during the day, but it’s much easier to tolerate when the nights cool down.

Big change from those days in July where the low was in the mid-90’s, highs in the mid-110’s.

I told you previously about the broken water line and the flood in our house. Repairs are progressing, more slowly than we would like, but actually at a reasonable pace.

All the walls have been repaired, and painted. We took this opportunity to change the colors in all of the rooms that were being repainted anyway. We had to pay extra since it required two coats in most places instead of one, but still the insurance company is paying for over half the painting bill.

And we are going to upgrade the flooring. We’ll keep carpet in the guest room so our guests can enjoy stepping out of bed onto softness, but we’re replacing the vinyl in the bathroom and laundry room with tiles, and replacing the carpet in the family room and my office with laminate. We chose a laminate that looks a lot like wood, at least to my and Gisele’s eyes.

We’re in limbo right now between painting and flooring, so we still can’t do much in any of those rooms. I temporarily hooked up the washer and dryer, and dug out my computer, but most of the rooms are piled with boxes and furniture. We’re hoping to have everything done within two more weeks — by September 24 or so. That leaves me a week and a half to focus on preparing for the Great Hike.

On Thursday morning I went to play basketball, as usual. At one point, someone heaver than me fell against my leg, bending the knee in a way it didn’t want to go. It hurt a little, too much to continue playing, but I was able to hobble off the court and drive home. I iced it up and took it easy for the next couple of days.

On Saturday I felt pretty good, and went back to play basketball. Wouldn’t you know it, like a sore thumb that keeps getting hit, someone larger than me landed against my leg again, same leg, same direction. This time there was more pain, and I needed help to get off the floor. One of the doctors playing with us examined the leg, bending it this way and that, “Does this hurt? How about this?”, and concluded that it was just a sprain, nothing serious, and would heal by itself in a matter of a few days. In fact, I was feeling better already and was able to walk to my car and drive home.

As soon as I got home, we loaded up the car and drove to Prescott, where Gisele’s church was holding their annual retreat. I always enjoy this time, because I can use the excuse that I don’t understand Cantonese very well and it becomes my own private retreat, walking in the woods, sitting on the balcony or under trees reading, and just taking it easy.

Soon after we arrived, they held their basketball tournament, where most of the men and boys played games against each other. At first I was just going to be a spectator. Then they talked me into being a referee. Finally, seeing that I could move around on the court without any pain, I decided to put on a jersey and play, but with the clear understanding that I would not be running and would just stand around and take open shots if they were presented.

That’s how it started, but I saw that if I ran in a straight line, without putting sideways pressure on my knee, it felt OK. After I hit a couple of shots it was hard to hold back.

I played a couple of games, then went back to my room to shower. I iced up the knee again, which was starting to feel sore, and mostly took it easy.

This morning when I tried to get out of bed, I couldn’t put any weight on that leg at all. I almost fell to the floor when I tried. I slowly limbered it up, took some ibuprofen, and after a while I was able to walk to breakfast.

It’s now Sunday evening, and it’s feeling better, but still weak and hurts if I put weight on it while it is bent. I still believe it is just a sprain, and expect to recover in a few days (if I can let it rest!). But if it doesn’t get continually better, I may need to get x-rays.

Basketball may be the death of me yet, but it’s also what is keeping me in shape. I have not found any safer alternatives that I can find the will to do regularly.

I’m still not sure I did the right thing buying the Acura, but I am sleeping at night again.

My plan is to keep it a year, and then see how I feel. They hold their value well, so I won’t lose too much selling it next year if that’s what my heart says to do. In the mean time, it is a lot of fun to drive.

Thanks to all the suggestions from you guys, I have also decided to keep my mini-van. Just yesterday I used it to take a whole sectional sofa to Derek’s house — all in one trip. It would have taken three trips in the Acura, if I would have even dared put it in there!