Nov 11 – Nov 28
I forgot to mention that it was time to renew my driver’s
license and I should have been able to renew online, but I got a postcard
telling me I had to renew in person and bring several documents proving who I
am and where I live. I provided all of that last time (new law went into effect)
as did Greg. Greg renewed his online with no problem. So, we went in prepared
to do all that and when they asked if my address had changed and the answer was
“no” I didn’t need to do any of that. They couldn’t explain why I got the
postcard. I was worried about the vision test since I have been having blurred
vision presumed to be related to this sinus issue. The lady really worked with
me to pass it. I was 1 over what was needed to pass. She had me start at the
top and work down instead of just reading the one line and that worked. I had a
couple of days where I was having a hard time seeing anything my eyes were so
blurry and of course one of those days was the day I went in to renew.
Last weekend we went to a local Home Show. It was small and
really didn’t have much in the way of displays other than about 5 different
companies that do Bath Fitter types of jobs. We did see a Hunter Douglas display that had quite a few displays
of window coverings and that was helpful. I thought I knew which kind I wanted
until I saw them in a larger display (instead of the tiny ones at Home Depot)
so crossed those off my list. We saw another option that will go well in the
family & dining areas. I wanted something for the sliding glass door other
than vertical blinds and the vertical pleated shade looked very nice and the
windows can have the same type only horizontal pleats. They have a local store
we will check out when the time comes for picking colors/materials.
Nikon decided to replace my birding binoculars instead of
re-skinning them. I have now received them and they truly gave me brand new
binocs including new strap, covers & case. Wow, great service! They are guaranteed
for life so that is great.
Wow, I’m starting to lose that nasty smell in my nose. Looks
like the fungal meds worked and I’ve still got a couple of weeks of antibiotic
left to finish.
Despite trying to get my sinus surgery scheduled for the last
week in November, they said it was too booked up and the soonest they could get
was Dec 5. She also said the surgery center could still say no, but she wanted
to make sure I was available before contacting them for “special
consideration”. She also said I need to come in for 3 to 6 weeks of debridement
depending on how well I am healing. That’s cutting it pretty close. If it can’t
be done then, I may need to ask if it’s possible to wait until we get back at
the end of April.
Staying at a hotel often has some “annoying” moments. Often
times, they have large groups of sports girls or boys and they can be loud and
overwhelming. Right now we have neighbors that fight like cats and dogs. The
woman screams and is always angry when she talks. It got so bad the other night
I called the front desk as it was loud and threatening. The front desk called
them, but they resumed fighting for another hour or so. Last night they started
screaming, swearing and threatening again and one of them said “I can hear you
A-Hole, I’m not deaf”. Without missing a beat Greg yells through the wall,
“neither are we”. They did continue on and off, but not as bad as before. We’ll
see what tonight brings.
The holidays usually bring an interesting crowd to the
hotel. Though Thanksgiving here was not busy this year.
We went back to the models and the design center a couple of
times and we feel we are as ready as we can be for our appointment on Wed.
We also took the car in to CarMax to see what they would
offer for our car. We weren’t sure if it being set up for towing would be a
plus or a minus, but they made a very good offer. Way more than we expected. We
won’t sell it for a few more weeks and then will rent a car for the last month
before the cruise.
We also did some furniture shopping just to get an idea of
what’s out there. Also, helps us with making decorating choices for choosing
floor and granite counter top colors. We won’t need furniture for a long time,
but at least we got some ideas of what we like.
Our all-day design center appointment finished before noon.
We had done so much research ahead of time that everything went pretty fast.
Only a couple of “surprises”. One was that we had wanted to extend our patio
past the screened in area, but our lot size couldn’t have one that long, so we
will extend it as far as we can and then widen it to get the extra space. The
other wasn’t a surprise, but we upgraded our tile to a porcelain. I initially
was fine with the standard, but when she explained the benefits of the stronger
tile, we both thought it was worth it. I was between 2 different colors of
granite for the kitchen and the 2 bathrooms, and she gave me her opinion on
which one she felt looked best for the master and I agreed. We both liked the
kitchen one and she had a totally different option for the 2nd bath
and I changed to that. I was pleased that the house paint colors I wanted were
available. (neither of our neighbors and chosen it) We went room by room making
sure electrical and all other things were where we wanted them. We already knew
that the decorators in our model had “flipped” the den and the tv etc. would be
on the opposite wall so that wasn’t a surprise. We had a couple of other
options that we said we were still thinking about and we can finalize them on
Dec 31 on our final appointment.
We did the most upgrades in the kitchen. The gas range we
upgraded to a convection oven, a larger microwave and we upgraded the
dishwasher. We upgraded the pantry to cabinets to match the cabinets (a shiny
glossy white which was the highest level) instead of wire shelves and bifold
doors. Phew, glad that is over. The final appointment shouldn’t be much other
than to make sure the contract matches our choices and payment of course.
Hope you all had a great Thanksgiving. We went to Orlando (a
couple of hours drive) to Royal Pacific Resort and the buffet was exceptionally
good this time. We took an extra long walk to Universal CityWalk and to a new
hotel they have on our walk back to the Royal Pacific. Unfortunately, on the
drive there we encountered an accident on the other side of the toll way and we
saw numerous firetrucks, emergency vehicles and police cars streaming by us.
Traffic was stopped and we were glad it had cleared by the time we were headed
home in that direction. We heard later that they had been run off the road and
there were 10 people in the SUV (only seats 7) and one woman was dead. Everyone
else was taken to the hospital. The car that ran them off the road did not stop
and they have not located them yet. So, their Thanksgiving was not so great and
surely all the ones in the future will never be the same.
It was also our anniversary (27 years married and 32
together). Where does the time go?
I also found out that I can’t get my sinus surgery on the 5th
as they (and I) had hoped. The soonest the hospital had was the 19th
of December. Not enough time for return appointments for debridement 3 to 6 weeks after the surgery. So, the doc is
on vacation until Monday and his nurse said she will contact me to see if the doctor
has any tricks up his sleeve for getting me in sooner. If not, I’ll be going on the cruise and it will have to wait until we return at the end of April. Not ideal, but……
Monday, the ENT’s nurse called and he worked his magic to
get my surgery scheduled for the 4th of Dec. I go to the hospital
for pre-op stuff this Friday. I also see the oral surgeon this afternoon on the
dental tumor and see what he has in mind for treatment.
Well, the oral surgeon threw a wrench in the works. He said
the tooth needs to be removed and he will suction the sinus at the same time.
He was not pleased that I had such a tight timeframe as there was not time
to do both procedures before we leave. IF, I healed extra fast he might have
time to do the tooth then. He also said he feels the cyst is the cause of my
recurrent sinus issues and he said if I just did the sinus surgery, I should be
prepared to keep getting infections. Then, we discussed would it be prudent to
have him pull the tooth and suction the sinus and reclose the opening and wait
to have the septum/any residual sinus issues surgery after we got back. He
agreed it was really the best plan. He said for me to call and discuss it with
my ENT to make sure he agreed.
This morning my ENT’s nurse called and said she
had discussed it with him and he agreed it was the best plan. So, they
rescheduled my surgery for April 9 with an appointment with the ENT on the 6th
to go over the pre-op and post-op instructions and the surgery itself.
Somewhere between those 2 dates I’ll have the pre-op appt at the hospital
before the surgery. So, for better or worse that is the plan.
Phew! So, we now have all of our medical appts set up for
when we get back. Dental cleanings on May 30, dermatologist on April 1.
Somewhere in there I will need to set up an appt with my family doc for my
annual visit with him. Geez, it’s true that after a certain age doctor’s visits
become your social life…. Once all of that is done and I'm healed we can start traveling again until the house is completed.
Oh, our loud swearing neighbors here at the hotel got intolerable. It really is only the woman as the man is very soft spoken. She is very loud and says a lot of things that sound paranoid or just unusual. She swears about every other word. As the night goes on she gets worse and worse. Then, we noticed a strong cigarette smell coming from their room. (we have an adjoining room with a door). They had their windows fully open (not sure how since they are supposed to only open about 6 inches) and a fan in the window. That caused their A/C to pour in around the door and the smoke was strong. We called again to complain. Again, we hear the house phone ring and he answers it while she screams in the background saying it wasn't her with lots of colorful language thrown in for good measure. The yelling and the smoke did not stop.
So, next day we go down to have a chat with the manager of the hotel. She said she would handle it. Smoking is illegal in any building here in Florida and it also is against Marriott's policy.
Well, the solution was to move them one room over. At least we can't hear her anymore. We could hear her complaining to the maids that they were forced to move and mentioned our room number. So, that was unsettling. Not sure what you have to do to get kicked out of a Marriott, but seemed like that would have been enough.
But, it's quiet and we're happy. So far, not too impressed with all the new staff here. We didn't want to move since we requested this specific room for the extra space for when we start our packing.
We are pretty much ready for the cruise and will just need to pack everything we have gathered.
I'm scheduled for Dec. 11 for my oral surgery unless they get a cancelation and I can get in sooner. The recovery shouldn't be as long as the other surgery so it should be sufficient time.
Our final appt with the design center for the house is New Year's Eve. We found a few things wrong in the summary she sent us, but she said it can all be fixed at our appt.
Never a dull moment with us..... Until next time......
