July Update

Even though August is still technically summer and still quite hot, the end of July signals the end of summer to me. It's not a bad thing. I don't love the cold, but I don't care for the blistering heat either. There are other reasons I'm grateful to say goodbye to July.

Surgery. At the beginning of July, I was like a totally different person than I was the end of the month. I started the month with draining tubes, my mom was staying with us to take care of me, and I could barely walk or stand on my own. Slowly, I started to regain my strength and my mobility, especially once the drains came out (very painfully!). I had frustrating moments when I felt like I wasn't getting better as fast as I would have liked, but during the last couple weeks of the month I progressed a lot every week, feeling better and better every day. Best of all, I finally stopped wearing the support undergarments the doctor required me to wear for six weeks post-surgery! I'm not 100% better - my stomach muscles and skin feel tight still, especially if I've been sitting too long. I can finally sleep on my side but not my stomach. Certain movements cause me sharp pain, like sneezing, but they are dwindling in number. Finally, I look great! It's fun to actually see my belly button where it's supposed to be, and wearing clothes is a lot more enjoyable and easy now that I don't have a huge stomach. I have a huge scar, but it's already fading a little and as neither Steve or I have a problem with it, it doesn't bother me at all.

School. Nothing to say really. I enjoyed another month free of homework or classes. That said, I'm looking forward to starting classes. It will be fun to see my friends and to get going with my Masters degree. I'm only taking two classes this semester instead of three and plan to keep with that load until I graduate - which seems like an eternity from now!

Work. The reason I lightened my class load is my new job! After two years of trying, I finally got hired on full-time at Weber State University. I am the new Office Specialist (aka secretary/bookkeeper) for the IT Division. I think I'll like it. The people are really nice, the job seems like things I'll enjoy doing, and the pay is okay (more than I made as a part-time hourly) and the benefits are good. The VP of the division is fairly new and has been making a lot of changes that people haven't been loving. My position is taking on  new responsibilities that has some people disgruntled and others thrilled. It's a political mine field unless I tread carefully until everyone gets used to the change. I can do that though I don't love office politics.

Journaling. Didn't happen. My surgery interrupted my usual routine and totally killed any attempt to restart journaling. I was surprised that I didn't feel like writing more while recuperating. Mostly, I just wanted to watch tv - anything that didn't require thinking of staying awake too long. :)

Exercising. I didn't track my exercising in July at all. It was pointless. At the beginning of the month, the farthest I walked was from my bedroom to the living room once or twice a day. I slowly worked up to over a mile a day both in the morning and the evening with a much shorter walk in the afternoon, and I eventually managed to get close to my pre-surgery pace. I thought I'd start recording my exercise this month, but with starting my new job and being totally out of the habit, I will probably wait until September. I'm not worried about not exercising because I walk the dog in the morning and in the evening with Steve. Once I start classes, my evening walks will be affected (I have classes two evenings a week) but I'll try to start riding my bike in the evenings to make up for it.

Other. We had our annual cousins weekend in July. We met at Cassie's new home in Salt Lake and had a lot of fun. Kristi didn't feel too well most of the time, so we stayed pretty low-key, mostly staying at Cassie's but we did go out to dinner Friday and Saturday nights; Greek one night and Italian the other. For the first time in several times, we stayed up really late each night talking and laughing. Kristi made a delicious Oreo dessert and we ate it all three days, actually finishing it by the time we left Sunday afternoon. We missed Alyson a lot but it was wonderful to have Kristi there. At one point during the weekend, I had a mind-blowing, life changing ah-ha moment. It was crazy but much needed. Sorry, that's all I'm going to say about it.

Last weekend, Steve and I went down to Cedar for a quick trip. With the help of my mom and Corey, we painted the bedroom walls in my condo because one of the last tenants had put a ton of holes in the wall. It was a lot of work, but with the four of us we were able to finish in four hours - having painted two coats on the wall! Now, the walls look great and fresh. We also hired a friend to go in and clean the whole condo (it needed it!), so the in-coming tenants can start at a good point and I can expect them to leave the condo with it looking as good as it does now.

Summer To-Do List
Didn't accomplish as much as I thought I might while recuperating from my surgery (mostly writing and other nonphysical activities); Like I said, all I wanted to do was watch tv or even read. However, I did manage to accomplish a little.

Watch "Citizen Kane"
Organize my desk upstairs
Paint bedrooms in condo
Get new tenants for condo (filled only 2 of the 3 rooms)

Now that I have a full-time job, I'm considering my summer as over, at least as far as my summer to-do list is concerned. I'd still like to accomplish some of them, but I won't focus too much attention on them. All in all, I think I did a lot this summer, especially since I was recuperating from major surgery.

Well, that's my July. I can't say it wasn't a good month. It felt good to be able to relax and not feel guilty about not doing more. Of course, by the end of the month, I was doing housework, but just a little every day. I started to feel a little bored, so I'm glad to be working and having things to do again.

I hope you had a good July and that August is even better!