Beat

I. Am. Beat.  This has been the longest extended weekend in a long, long time.  I took Friday, Monday and today off from work for a variety of reasons.  Lots to do and taking the time off was the best way to accomplish it all. 

Friday I had a follow up appointment with the urologist.  This was a follow up for the kidney stone I had last fall. The appointment consisted of a sonogram, a urine specimen and a talk with the doctor.  I was very happy with my visit.  My kidneys look good and stone free and my blood pressure was fucking amazing (94/60).  I pretty much got a gold star because I've been such a good boy.  This takes a lot off my mind.  I'm so afraid I'm going to end up with another one just when I'm not suspecting it.  But it looks like it's not going to happen, at least not in the near future.  The only out of the ordinary thing about the visit is the doctor discovered some calcification on one of my kidneys via the sonogram.  He said it's absolutely nothing to worry about.  His best guess about why it's there is I must have had some sort of trauma (blunt force or laceration) sometime in the past and the calcification is, for lack of a better way to describe it, a scar or a scab over top of the injury.  But all in all, I'm doing damn fine.

The rest of the weekend was spent working on the master bedroom, as I mentioned earlier.  Ken insisted we needed four days for it (Saturday through Tuesday) and I thought he was being a little bit nuts, but it turned out he was right.  Monday I put the second coat of paint on the walls while Ken went out in search of drapes.  I was so happy that he was out of the house so I could work by myself.  I tend to work better unsupervised, I think.  I took my time, got to be in charge of the music and had a really good time, or at least as good of a time as you can have painting.  Ollie stayed with me the entire time (he's such a good supervisor) and for the first time during this project, Lucy decided to come help, too.  Once the walls dried, we gave them the once over and were very happy with how they came out.  Unlike the ceiling.  After two coats, it still looked like shit.  Ken tackled the ceiling for a third time, running out of paint half way through.  I ran out to get another gallon and he finished up.  And the third time was a charm.  I can't get over how much better the bedroom looks.  It feels so much bigger, looks so much nicer.  And, for the most part, it's done.  Once everything was dry, we put up a new ceiling fan.  While I really think fans detract from the look of a room, I don't think this one does.  It looks like it's supposed to be there.  Ken is a freak when it comes to doing anything electrical and was so proud of himself for putting this up.  Until we realized that the fan portion of the ceiling fan wasn't working.  The light worked fine, but the fan wouldn't work.  By the time we discovered this, it was too late to do anything about it.  Ken did a little bit of troubleshooting research online and had a small list of things to check, but that was going to wait until today.  Sure enough, there was a connection that wasn't connected.  It's working fine now.  The bedroom is (mostly) all put back together.  New drapes and blinds are hung.  A new mirror is up, as well.  The only thing left is art for the walls.  Ken's having lots of trouble finding just what he wants for it, but he'll find something eventually.  I personally don't care what's up on the walls.  As long as he likes it because I don't look forward to hearing him bitch about how much he hates something for the rest of eternity.

Today was long and tiring.  I haven't slept well all weekend and it's really catching up to me.  Today I got up early (actually, Ollie got me up early.)  I needed to go grocery shopping, so that was first.  Got home, woke Ken up at 11 and then headed out to the gym.  When I got home, it was time to clean the house.  I spent the entire afternoon working on the first floor.  I don't know how we let things get so bad so quick.  But we do.  I feel really, really good about how the house looks right now.  (Well, at least the first floor.)  I ran out of time and steam to tackle upstairs.  That's this weekend.

As a treat, we went out to dinner tonight.  I'm feeling extra bloated and I hate myself for undoing everything I did earlier this morning in the way of exercise.  But tomorrow it's back to life as we know it and I can get back on the wagon then.