Hit with 'old'

I'm a reasonably healthy person.  Ok... not to brag or anything, but I'm a ridiculously healthy person.  I think Dave has seen me sick for about 1/2 a day in the almost two years that we've been together.

So today, while I was at work, simply minding my own business, quietly typing on my computer, I was not expecting a muscle spasm to go ripping through the middle of my back like a giant angry bull mauling a matador!  The pain was so sudden and intense that it literally made me involuntarily jump, (which, I'm sure, just caused more damage to already tense and strained muscles...).  I immediately shifted position to relieve the spasm, but that didn't stop the tunnel vision, shortness of breath, cold clammy sweat... Yes, I think I almost passed out.  While sitting quietly at my desk.  Doing next to nothing.  Wow, am I glad that no one came into my office at that exact moment!  I suddenly have a lot of empathy for people who throw out their back.

I've managed to remain upright and mobile, having been warned once to never, ever lay down when you throw out your back, (for fear that you probably won't be able to get up yourself! - a certain brother-in-law of mine landed on the floor and it took the local fire department to get him on his feet again.)  Currently, standing is slightly more comfortable than sitting, but only slightly.  Every little movement brings with it the risk of making the muscles spasm again.  Sitting, standing, walking, reaching for the phone, picking up a glass of water, moving the mouse... *sigh*  I was going to go to the bank this afternoon, now I'm not sure I could walk down the sidewalk right at the moment without having to stop every two or three feet.  Maybe we'll wait to see if the 6 fistfuls of Advil I took take the edge off.

As for, 'ooh, Amy you should go see a Dr', I've already done the next best thing - I Googled what a Dr would tell me, thus, saving both him and me some time (duh).  Mid-back muscle spasms are usually caused by muscle fatigue (like by sitting still at a computer for endless hours - which I'm guilty of) or muscle strain (like by yanking a giantly heavy tree branch across the lawn - which I'm also guilty of).  Treatment involves stopping what you were doing when the spasm started, cutting way back on exercise, keeping small children from using you as their personal jungle gym, applying cold liberally, and ibuprofen to relieve the pain and inflammation.  If it's not significantly better in a few days, then go see a doctor.  Until then, leave him alone, he's already overworked.  Being that it's already much more bearable than it was an hour ago, I think I'll survive.

But, wow!  Did that hurt!
If you're having trouble fathoming the amount of pain we're talking about here, as a child, I was in the stands at a local fastball game, standing with my back to the game.  A wild throw came across the top of the safety fence and hit me square in the middle of the back.  I'd rather that happen to me 16 times than have another muscle spasm!
"Old", I could do without you.

Rodents with wings

This morning sounded just a little too much like Fall for my liking. 

There had to have been a thousand Canadian geese on the pond outside my bedroom window at 6am!  (at least... that's what it sounded like)

As long as the stupid things stay off my lawn....

One month

..plus or minus a day.

So, I've been somebody's wife for a month now.  How does it feel?  Well, way more relaxing than being someone's fiancee, that's for sure!  Marriage is great, but who made it so ridiculously stressful?  That was dumb.

Life is good (of course, I actually like summer, so that helps tremendously!).

We had already been playing house for a number of months before we were married, so there were no huge adjustments that way (other than finding room for gifts, gifts, and even more gifts!).

Speaking of gifts.  I'll get thank you cards out eventually.  Some day.  Probably.  Maybe....  :P

I do not yet have my hands on pics from the photographer.  Although, I have seen them.  They're A-OK! in my books, and I will be glad to have them.  In the meantime, if you were at the wedding with a camera, you should probably email me your pics.  Especially ones of people together having fun, dance pictures, cake cutting pictures, family pictures, little kid pictures, you get the idea.  I want your pictures.  :)

You may have noticed that I quit blogging halfway through my honeymoon.  I was... ahem.... busy.  I just had better things going on than sitting around writing a blog, k?  But really, you didn't miss much.  We saw vikings, more whales, did some stuff, and drove home.  I'm sure you'll hear more about it, eventually.

:)

A balmy Canada Day weekend

....everywhere but where we are!

It was 27 degrees today in Rocky Harbour Nfld - one of those rare hot days they get here on the island.  Unfortunately, we left Rocky Harbour yesterday.  We're in St Anthony Nfld today, where we purchased toques to brave the 7 degree weather.  That's right: SEVEN degrees!  Dave always says that he prefers the cooler weather to the hot weather, but this is a little extreme.  Thank goodness we had the good sense to book hotel rooms for our three days in this town of 2,500 rather than continue camping in a tent!

We're staying at the Grenfell Heritage Hotel & Suits.  'Grenfell' is a famous name in this town.  Something about a Doctor who lived here and started a hospital etc, etc...  We haven't been to the museum yet to see what it's all about.  The hotel is gorgeous!  Small, only 18 rooms, but well worth it!  We had the 'honeymoon suit' for our first night here.  King sized bed, 2 person jacuzzi, bath robes, flat screen tv, hardwood floors...  Way nice. 

Except for the water.  The water here is the colour of pee.  Like, after you flush the toilet, you turn back and wonder if you've forgotten to flush the toilet!  Yellow.  Imagine a jacuzzi tub filled with beer-coloured liquid...  It was somewhat off-putting. (It didn't stop us from using it, mind you!  But we sure didn't drink it.)  It was almost enough for us to consider switching hotels for the rest of our stay in St Anthony.  I'm glad we didn't though.  When we asked, we were told that the water is naturally yellow in this area; it's safe to drink, and in fact some of the best water in the area - it's just yellow.   ...still very weird to have a bath in. 

We've had to give up the honeymoon suite for the rest of our stay though (it was previously booked by someone else); so our new room doesn't have the jacuzzi, but it does have a full kitchen!  Which, in the long run, is probably better for us anyway.  If you ever find yourself in St Anthony Nfld, stay at the Grenfell!  You won't be disappointed.

We spent the morning exploring Fishing Point, which is just where the road ends at the lighthouse.  There's the lighthouse, a gift shop (where we did indeed purchase a toque, as well as a few souvenirs) and a seafood restaurant where we had some lunch (I ordered the most nonsensical thing on the menu: Thai moose spring rolls and rice.  That's right, spring rolls made with moose meat!).  Fishing Point is also home to "Leifsburdir"; the Great Viking Feast, (think Medieval Times, viking style).  The feast takes place in a real sod home out behind the restaurant.  It's something I would have liked to do, but unfortunately, the next show isn't until Tuesday evening and we'll be back in Rocky Harbour by then.

The adventure of the day was the iceberg and whale watching boat tour.  And man!  Was it cold!  The ocean is a chilly four degrees right now, and with a northeast wind, and the threat of rain, it was frigid!  But so totally worth it!!

The largest iceberg seen in this area well over 15 years, beached itself off the coast of St Anthony just the other day.  It was a kilometre long when the tour boat first discovered it.  Since then, it has broken in half and part of it drifted away.  But the section we saw, at 700ft long, is still way bigger than normal.  It was approximately 90ft high, and snagged on the bottom of the ocean in 300ft of water.  That is one big cube of ice!  There's currently a big crack in one part of it - I was hoping we'd get lucky and be there when it came apart, but no such luck.  Lots of little chunks of ice (bergy bits) floating around too.

We did see a puffin, but it was simply flying by and didn't look like much more than a black dot.

The highlight of the tour was the humpback whales for sure.  We spent quite awhile chasing around a 40ft cow and her calf.  At one point the calf came right up alongside the boat just to check us out (of course, that's the moment I fumbled my camera and missed the picture!).  In all, we saw 4 or 5 different whales - all humpbacks.

All in all, a pretty fun day.  Dave even admitted that boat tours aren't all that bad after all!

Tomorrow, vikings!