This week has been a bit of a challenge. Let’s see – trying to juggle one vehicle between Ron and I while finishing up holiday shopping (mostly online), getting the girls everywhere that they need to go, and oh yes – recovering from surgery still as well. I had no idea that a ‘simple’ laparoscopic procedure would take this much out of me – I’ve been pretty much out of commission altogether. Surgery was last Thursday – I finally felt well enough to try taking a shower on Saturday, got dressed for the first time (in my ONE pair of pants that I can wear comfortably) on Sunday for the girls’ Christmas concert at church, and drove for the first time on Monday (took Becca to preschool). I also had a chance to walk (slowly) around the mall and have lunch with Kristi on Monday too since Ron ended up with the day off. It was nice to get out and actually feel a bit more human again, as well as have the chance to hang out and catch up with Kristi. 

Ron has done a great job of helping out around the house when he’s been home – and has tackled a good half-dozen loads of laundry since my surgery, with the girls’ help in folding and putting away. It was quite entertaining on Sunday to watch the process since none of them really know whose clothes are whose – at least I was able to help with that much. He’s also worked on dishes and got the kitchen floor cleaned, as well as handling meals when he’s been here – which is good because the only delivery you can get here is pizza and we had that covered by Friday, lol.

Today is the first day that I’ve actually been able to avoid the pain meds – after falling asleep on the couch last night, waking long enough to get Abby and Hannah off to school and then sleeping again until noon. Poor Becca has been in front of the tv (again) all day – I can’t wait until I feel well enough to do more with her and get out of the house during the days again. At least those days when Ron doesn’t have the van. So far this afternoon I’ve managed to get to my inbox and do a little picking up around the house – enough to notice that the girls’ bedrooms really need some attention and the kitchen’s getting to that point again too. So I’ll be tackling what I’m able to, a little at a time. And setting Abby and Hannah to work on their rooms as soon as they get home from school.

Ron actually happened to run into a garage door guy at a job today and talked to him about what it might take to get our garage door re-hung, since it looks like the pieces seem to be in decent shape themselves. We’ll find out in about 20 minutes when the guy stops by – I’m hoping we can re-use this door and get it hung fairly cheaply, since the vehicle issue is a whole different story. We can neither afford to repair or replace Ron’s van, so at this point, I have no idea what we’re going to do. Sometimes being a grown-up really stinks. 

I’m being paged by a 3-year-old at the moment, so off to tackle what I can.  Have a great Tuesday… 

What are you tackling this week? And check out other Tackle It Tuesday posts over at 5 Minutes for Mom!

UPDATE: The garage door is back up and working! Here’s an in-progress photo – it’s all installed now and the guy even knocked the bigger dents out of the bottom panel.

In fact, he also lubed the rails, wheels and such up and adjusted the spring so that the door actually works better than it did before. He only charged us $100, which is a lot less than we were expecting. It’s still a lot, especially at this time of year, but it’s so nice to have it fixed and working again – definitely a blessing in disguise.  Now if we can just get the whole van thing figured out as easily (and cheaply)…