Real Comfort

We arrived home yesterday around noon. Our trip was wonderful despite all the bad weather. How can we complain when nothing broke and we didn't run into the back of anyone? (For the back story on that, click here.)

The weather coming out of Great Basin National Park was a little scary given the amount of snow and rain we traveled through, but the trip from Winnemucca to Bend couldn't have been lovelier. This is a view of the Santa Rosa Range in Nevada.

The drive from Bend to home...oh my. Terrible weather. What a difference a day and several hundred miles can make.

We're in the middle of a pretty bad storm here in the Northwest, but we're home now, and so we're indulging in the "real comfort" that only one's home can provide. This morning, Mike made Spanish Coffees (his recipe right here). Mike doesn't like cooking much, but he makes one helluva bartender.

Gracie is parked on her favorite quilt.

Smitty is currently parked in front of the fireplace, although he's spent more time outside in the rain than inside keeping warm. I think the cat doesn't have the good sense his mother cat gave him. We now have installed a towel on the breakfast bar so that we can dry him off when he comes inside. I think turning on the fireplace will be a definite incentive to stay warm and dry.

Mike is parked in front of the TV watching the America's Cup that was recorded while we were gone.

And I've been parked on the couch, sipping my Spanish Coffee and madly stitching away at my Home Sweet Home stitchery, trying to get it done for the day when Erik and Mae get the keys to their new home next week. So exciting for everybody! I smile every time I think of it.

And that's where it stands...or sits, depending on how we're feeling at any given moment.

I sent myself 64 emails while we were on the road...things I needed to do, print, remember, etc. It's my method, and it works. I went through most of them yesterday, but I still have about a dozen to deal with. I need to send out partner assignments for the Doll Quilt Swap, and I still need to unpack. Ugh. The worst part of any trip. I'm about half done now. The refrigerator is emptied out and that is always the most loathsome part. I've needed to go out to the trailer for this thing or that thing since arriving home yesterday, and each time, I filled up the laundry basket with stuff that needed to come inside. I should be able to finish in about an hour, I imagine. And then...I need to make up a grocery list because we have food for just one more night.

Next week, I start physical therapy for my knee. The knee has slowly but steadily declined since finishing up the anti-inflammatory. Knowing how much I love PT (not), you can imagine how disappointing that is. I spent quite a bit of time thinking about this PT "assignment" from my new doctor while we were gone. Will I go or won't I? With my knee declining again, it seems I don't have much choice. I have serious doubts that it is going to help, but I can't really go back to the doctor and whine about my knee still hurting if I haven't done what he told me to do, now can I? So here's what I'm telling myself about this: I decided to think of it as working with an athletic trainer, and I'm going to tell him that I want swimming to be a part of my therapy. That way I can trick myself into thinking I'm not at PT, and hopefully, I can convince myself to return to exercising. Not bad, eh? We'll see. And just maybe the doctor will be right. I imagine he learned something in medical school.

So that's it from me for today. Unpacking awaits my arrival. And in my effort to get back on some sort of schedule, I'm linking up to Slow Sunday Stitching. 

Enjoy your Sunday!