Mid-Week Post

For the last several days I have been crafting a "masterpiece" blog entry.  Since I am still working on it I obviously haven't posted it yet.  It's not the typical piece of writing that I do.  It is some what of a statement on the current state of the world and in particular the worlds economic and political situation.  Much of what I am writing was inspired by the supposed "world-changing" events that occurred this past weekend with the election results in France and Greece.  The basic point that I am writing about is that nothing changed as the result of those elections - just as nothing changed in the United States after the notable elections of 2006, 2008 and 2010.  The world is stuck in neutral and there is no difference between the thought of the political parties in the US or in any country around the world right now.  It's taking me a sometime to finish my manifesto on realism, so I won't publish it for a bit.

Since I haven't written in about a week there is a fair amount to update.  The changes in our home are dramatic!  Though they won't really show up on picture as most of the work has been done around structural framing that is needed to construct the new space.  Several smaller walls have been removed, a central beam that huge and supported part of the weight of the family room has been removed and replaced with much smaller, hidden structural support.  HVAC and water lines have been removed and rerouted.  To me it is a huge amount of difference and is setting the stage for the next part of the job - the addition of 2 new windows and a new sliding glade door to the deck.  Once those changes occur the improvement in the space will become obvious!

The chaos in the house right now definitely sucks however.  The first floor of the house is pretty much unlivable as we have the contents of the kitchen and family room spread all over and on top of that pretty much everything is covered with a fine dust from the destruction of the kitchen.  At this point, aside from sleeping we are totally living in the basement.  The great thing about that is the basement is now set up as home movie theater and is very comfortable.  Over the weekend and early in the week, the temperatures were so cold here that I lit a fire in the wood burning fire place in the basement and we kept ourselves toasty roasty warm even despite the high temperature of only 47 degrees on Monday.  Despite the chaos in the house, it is good to get this done as I really can't wait to experience the new kitchen and family room. 

As of today I am now 2 weeks out of my back surgery - yay!  I have had to deal with some complications concerning the healing - but it has finally totally scabbed over and now looks OK for no infection.  I still have another 4 weeks or so until I can really start resuming all my major activity.  This past weekend I was down town on Saturday - it was Cinco de Mayo of course and I did a lot more walking than I should have done and I paid the price on Sunday.  On Sunday morning I awoke to the exact kind of back and leg pain that the surgery had relieved.  Thankfully once I got a warm shower and loosened up my muscles in my back, the pain went away.  But somewhat of a lesson learned for me - I have to keep the activity under control for yet another little bit.

It's hard to believe but Zack only has 4 weeks of school left until he is done with his 7th grade year and is on to being an 8th grader!  In some ways that is so awesome, but in some ways it is oh so scary!  I can't believe how quickly his schooling is going!!  Next year is his final year of middle school and then on to high school.  I am already beginning the mental debates of what high school to which to send him.  Right now I am pretty much 100% certain I am sending him to Cherry Creek High School.  However several families - who know Zack well - have recommended he go to Denver Academy.  They have offered up some really good points of why Denver Academy would be good.  My feeling right now how is as long as he still has an IEP then he should go to Cherry Creek.  However, we are having a review meeting with the school on Thursday to review if he still qualifies for an IEP.  I have been told in advance by the coordinator of the program at West Middle School, that they anticipate with drawing a lot of the support that has gotten in the past as he no longer needs it.  Tomorrow is decision day on that - so it will be a hot topic the next time I write a blog post.

With the coming of Spring and some Summer, our trips to the mountains are going to increase.  Depending upon the construction schedule for the house, we might attempt to get away for part of the weekend and get up to the mountain house.  Can't say for sure right now but if there is a lot of construction taking place this weekend I would rather be here than not.

That's a quick update for the week.  I hope everyone is doing well and making it through the week OK.

Thanks and peace to all! ~J.