Weekly Mileage #84 and the Super Productive Day

Halloween hike hugs

We had some warmer days pop up in the forecast, so I took the opportunity to start building our desk. Since I sold the buffet and school cupboard, we now have space in the living room for it. Which means once it's done, we will finally be able to get the laptops off the dining table.

What the desk looked like Wednesday- the pieces of plywood are sitting on top so we could get an idea of how it felt in the room. I didn't have the right size screws initially, so I just tacked it all together while we got a feel for it and decided if we liked the size or not. Then I took it apart, sanded it, and put it back together with glue and the correct screws.

Ocean had his follow-up audiology appointment. There's still fluid in both ears. His hearing in his right ear is about the same, but his left ear has worsened, though still isn't as bad as his right ear. On the plus side, they tested to see if he has permanent hearing loss, and he doesn't. His hearing is just muffled because of the fluid. We've got another follow-up in 6 weeks. Gah.

I had hoped we could move forward with getting tubes in, but they want to continue documenting the presence of fluid in his ears. I realize they want to document the on-going presence of fluid, but fluid has been an issue since he was born, so I feel like we're kind of past that at this point. If we take him to his primary care provider because his ears are bothering him, we can request an EENT referral. For the most part, his ears don't bother him, but since he's had these issues since he was born, it's probably more a matter of him not knowing any different. Though lately he has started telling us to "talk louder!" on occasion (I think it's related to his left ear being worse). Next time he says his ears are "owie," we're taking him to the doctor and getting things moving.

We got through the last of the Halloween festivities. I think the kids hit a total of 4 trunk or treats and Sunshine and River went trick or treating. Let's just say they don't need any more candy anytime soon.

Mr M's back has been bothering him a lot lately (he injured it doing PT with the Army when Sunshine was a baby), and he had an appointment with the VA Friday afternoon. Only it was canceled that morning (the dr was sick) and rescheduled for a month later. Instead of waiting four more weeks to get seen, he went to the ER at the VA clinic. As expected, it took forever, but at least he got seen. Supposedly the ER doc scheduled a follow-up with one of the primary care docs sometime this week, but we don't have the details on that yet, so we'll see if that actually happens.

this large branch fell and River wanted a picture with it before he threw it over the side of the deck (with some help from me)

Saturday I managed to have a very productive day, despite a bit of a slow start to the day. I spent some time on the treadmill, for the first time since I broke my foot. At first I was tempted to try a little slow jogging, but once the twinges in my foot started, I knew it was not the time for that. Hiking in my stiff hiking boots hasn't resulted in much pain at all. But walking in my much more flexible running shoes allows a lot more movement in my foot, which isn't what it's used to, resulting in some pain. Not bad, but enough to know that I need to be patient for a bit longer before I try any running.

After the treadmill, I cleaned up my craft area and, since I had wood and tools out already for the desk, I finally built shelves for all my GlowForge materials. I forgot to take a before picture, but trust me when I say this corner was a mess and it was impossible to find anything.

The shelves aren't fancy, but they are functional and I finally can easily find everything. While I was building the shelves, I had the GlowForge working on some ornament designs.

Once I finished the shelves, I went upstairs and worked on the desk some more. I need to caulk the base, then I can paint it. Once the base is done, I'll put the top on, which will be split down the middle and hinged so laptops and books can be stored in the desk.

ready for caulk and paint

Both boys were asleep by 6:30, which is totally unheard of, but they haven't been taking naps and they insist on getting up way too early, and it's catching up to them. Their early night meant I had a nice stretch of time in the evening to spend with the GlowForge, working on more projects. I don't always have such productive days, but it's nice when I do.

Weekly Mileage
Wednesday- 1.86 miles hiked
Friday- 2.23 miles hiked
Saturday- 1.55 miles walked on the treadmill
total- 5.64 miles

27 hikes towards #52hikechallenge
2.14 kayak miles towards #365milechallenge

327.48 foot miles towards #365milechallenge
265.00 bike miles towards #365milechallenge
594.62 miles total