I started the week making pie. For all those people who thought I was nuts when the last thing I did before going to bed the night before my surgery was roll 2 pie crusts - HA! Those crusts were the basis for 2 pies for Pi Day. I was still wearing the brace full time and so couldn't make a fancy edge but with frozen fruit and a simple crumb top, my ugly but delicious pies were a big hit. I brought blackberry peach to knitting on Monday night and there was a strawberry rhubarb for actual Pi Day.
Tuesday afternoon I did my first distance drive to visit Darla at work. UNL's Ag Research & Development Center is east of Wahoo and so it took me ~20 minutes to drive to Darla - a bit on the highway but mostly on gravel roads. I'd never visited her at work there so brought my pie and stopped in. Her co-workers were all appreciative of the treat and I got to see Darla's office. It was also the perfect intermediate distance to drive. All good. I was exhausted after only being gone less than 2 hours but still - I got out of the house and talked to people. I had Ed, my friend Donna's husband who does handy work for me once in awhile, stop by to pick up a couple of pieces of pie on his way home from work. It's good to keep Ed happy. : )
Wednesday was a busy day. The cleaning lady was coming at 9:15 and even post-surgery, I couldn't deal with the guilt of watching someone clean my house so I got out of Dodge before she came. I went to the library and hung out there until she called to say she was done. I had my Kindle to stream and my knitting so just perched in a chair the whole time, which was as comfy as being at home. I needed to rest up because I had to go out again that night for Jan's husband's funeral.
I put on real clothes for the first time since surgery (there was some painful wrangling to get the jacket on but I survived) and I met Lori there (she was supposed to pick me up but had such a horrible cold that we figured it wouldn't be healthy for me to be in her car so I drove myself) at 5:30. It was a mob scene but we had a chance to chat with Jan and then I picked up Chinese food (I'd had a hankering for fried rice of all things) and headed home for the night. I was pretty tired so slept like a rock that night.
Saturday was a big day with our spinning (wool not bikes) meeting in Fremont and I'd agreed to go if Andrea drove. But I had a brain storm that morning - if I drove, it would be a test for whether or not I could drive longer. I called Andrea to say I'd drive and off we went. The meeting didn't go very long so after only 1.5 hours of knitting with my brace on, we headed to Goodwill and then home. I drove just fine, even with being there a couple of hours. That meant I was ready for a trip to Lincoln. Yay!
I tried to have a relatively normal Sunday, which is chore day for me. I put a load of sheets in the laundry because it was finally a sunny day and I figured Lorri would stop by after church and so could hang them on the line for me because being unable to get my left arm up makes it pretty darn difficult to hang laundry. They weren't quite done when she stopped by but she waited and got them on the line for me. It's good to have friends. I could easily get them in but folding them wasn't an option either. At least they were in the house by the end of the day and smelled great.
So week #2 was successful. I was making an effort to get out of the house, even if it meant I needed a nap once I got back. There had been a rare couple of sunny days so I'd had some deck knitting and by the end of the week, I was even able to take my brace off for brief periods of time when I was in the house, which helped to ease stiffness in my neck and back. I was very careful to keep my elbow supported on a pillow and still not use my arm at all but it still felt like progress. Two more weeks to go!
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