Dagbók Hrefnu og Finns

Fever, Snow, Coffee, No Snow

2016-03-11Us Standard

[Photos from Friday 11 to Monday 14 March 2016, posted online 14 March 2016. Now which date does this belong to, once I restore time?!]

It sounds like viruses are swirling all around these days. This past Friday one of them hit our humble abode, when Bjarki came down with a fever, headache, stomach ache, and an unending thirst for more computer time.

I will admit that I was pretty glad I had an excused to take Friday off from work, since I’d mentally (as well as physically) limped through Thursday. My work stamina is still pretty blah apparently.

The biggest thing that ‘happened’ on Friday was that Emma discovered we have a backyard that she can play in after daycare! It was not obvious to her before because it was always dark out, but now we’ve got happy brightness past dinner-time. Yay!

Saturday was a huge nothing-whatsoever-happened-day, but on Sunday the whole family (me included!) ventured out on a library/coffee house-run. We all desperately needed to get out of the house, but decided against actually infecting the friends that had invited us over for dinner, so downtown to infect strangers we went!

Monday rolled around with Bjarki still at home, but this time Finnur took home-duty, while I escaped to work (funny how that works!). Oh, and after two days of thaw, our backyard is now quite snowless for the first time in over three months! (15 images total)

Emma, having recently discovered this "backyard" thing of ours, where she can go out and play without us having to go out too (which we can't/won't).

Emma, having recently discovered this “backyard” thing of ours, where she can go out and play by herself, without us having to go out too (which we can’t/won’t because we’re lazy/it’s cold/feet don’t work). Taking photos through the window works though!

Back at Work

2016-03-09Hrefna Standard

[Photos from Wednesday 9 March 2016, posted online 10 March 2016. It’s good to feel on top of things for five minutes.]

I’m back at work!!! (Well, mostly.)

I decided I was getting good enough at sitting up, with my leg extended on a chair, to start showing up to work last week. My first day back was Wednesday 2 March, and I stayed pretty much the whole day (talking to people is fun!), but then left early both Thursday and Friday.

I must give major kudos to my company (Marel) for kindly offering to pay for a taxi to drive me home for up to two weeks, while I (literally) get back on my feet, and rebuild some mental stamina. This means I’ve been able to check out early if I need to, without impacting Finnur’s work hours too much. (He’s still driving me to work, it’ll be a few more weeks before I trust myself to drive.)

All in all it’s gone pretty well. It’s given me a reason to move about more, which is a good thing, and I can feel that my leg is getting much better at pumping blood. I think I may have stayed upright for some 15 minutes a couple of times today, without feeling too much pressure, which is a huge improvement over last week! (3 images total)

To document the one week anniversary of me returning to work, I had Finnur take a photo of me outside Marel. Those white things on the pavement are salt-bits.

To document the one week anniversary of me returning to work, I had Finnur take a photo of me outside Marel. Those white things on the ground are salt-bits.

Emma’s 3D Art & Rainy Windows

2016-03-07Emma, Us Standard

[Photos from Monday 7 March 2016, posted online 10 March 2016. Feeling speedy!]

Emma’s newest thing is to stack sticky things together. On the plane to and from England for example, she went through a whole sheet of stickers, and stuck them all on top of each other on a piece of paper, instead of spreading them out.

This wet and windy afternoon, she thus took it upon herself to fetch paper, scissors, and glue, and created quite a stack of glued-together paper-pieces. The mother (that would be me) dutifully documented the results of her hard work, as well as the rain streaming down the living room windows. (4 images total)

Emma (in photosmile mode) with her 3D artwork.

Dinner with Ragnar, Agnes and their Munchkins

2016-03-06Friends, Us Standard

[Photos from Sunday 06 March 2016, posted online 10 March 2016. It hasn’t even been a whole week!]

Ragnar and Agnes (or Agnar and Ragnes, as I usually miscall them, oh brain!) are old friends of Finnur’s. They’re good fun to be around, but live psychologically far away, so we never used to meet up with them much. (They live only 30 minutes away by car, but it involves driving across barren land towards Keflavik airport, making the trip feel much longer.)

Then, during a stroke of genius, we started planning our next meeting before the current one ended, some 6 weeks in the future. Of course, rescheduling happens, but once it’s on the calendar, chances are we’ll actually meet up sooner rather than never.

As it happened, it was Agnes’ birthday (!!!), but they still came over, and we all had a lovely time.

Some photos from my corner on the couch follow… (11 images total)

Agnes, the birthday babe, with her second born.

My 39 Year Old Birthday

2016-03-01Hrefna, Us Standard

[Photos from Tuesday 01 March 2016, posted online 09 March 2016. I’ve been sleeping off the sugar overdose.]

My last birthday before the big Four-Oh happened the other day.

I spent most of the day lounging on the sofa, but when everybody came home after school and work, I got flowers, chocolate, and a cake! (11 images total)

Mommy got flowers!

Winter-Break Trip to England

2016-02-24Hrefna's family, UK, Us Standard

[Photos from 24-29 February 2016, posted on 01 March 2016. Yes, it’s my birthday! 🙂]

Long before I fell and broke my ankle, we’d bought tickets for the whole family to visit England over the kids’ winter school break.

All the doctors I talked to leading up to the trip said that I should be able to travel, but I was doubtful because my foot would get swollen and painful very fast when down low. Then the cast came off (on a Tuesday) and I realized that the majority of the pain was from my swollen skin pushing up against the cast, so the odds of going to England the next day went from 10% to 90%.

Then I looked at the seats I’d booked, and realized that we’d have two adjacent window seats on the correct side of the plane, meaning I could keep my leg on the armrest in front of me. Thus I decided I would go after all, because a change of scenery is always a good thing. Happily, we discovered that Easyjet has pretty flimsy seats, so there was plenty of space for my leg. (Icelandair has bulkier seats, and the gap between the seatback and the fuselage is smaller.)

Also, compressure socks are amazing! (41 images total, including TWO PHOTOS of SCARS 13 images down as Friday begins)

Group photo, taken as we were about to head for the airport.

Group photo, taken by Finnur, as we were about to head for the airport.

No More Leg-Cast

2016-02-23Hrefna Standard

[Photos from Tuesday 23 February 2016, posted on 25 February 2016. It feels nice to be freeeee!]

This past Tuesday morning, I made my way to the ER to have my leg-cast removed. I had an early appointment, which was great, because as I waited to have my x-ray taken, a ton of people lined up after me in the their wheelchairs, all waiting for the same thing!

Anyway, the doctor liked what he saw, so now I’m to start putting some weight on the foot, but not too much, or a screw may break. This screw will then be removed on 22 March.

THE PHOTOS SHOW NASTY LOOKING CLOSED WOUNDS, X-RAYS OF SCREWED LEGS, AND UNSHAVEN LEGS!

Á MYNDUNUM ERU LJÓT LOKUÐ SÁR, RÖNTGENMYNDIR AF SKRÚFUÐUM FÆTI, OG ÓRAKAÐIR LEGGIR! (12 images total)

Waiting outside the cast-removal room .

Emma’s 3rd Birthday Party

2016-02-21Emma, Finnur's family, Hrefna's family, Us Standard

[Photos from 21 February 2016, posted on 25 February 2016. In a galaxy far, far away…]

We celebrated Emma’s third birthday with a family party. It was pretty interesting trying to get everything done with one adult hopping about on one foot, but we managed.

Photos! (28 images total)

Three-year-old Emma, getting sung for.

Footy-News

2016-02-15Uncategorized Standard

[Photos from Monday 15 February 2016, written on Tuesday 16 February 2016. Fish for dinner!]

Hello from BrokenFootLand! Things seem to be improving, albeit slowly. The unhappy feeling on the inside of the foot is mostly less unhappy now than it was a week ago, and I’ve hardly taken any painkillers at all. It’s still not fine and dandy, and I sure hope this unhappiness won’t be permanent.

The most troublesome thing is that as soon as I drop the foot down, blood starts collecting in it. It’s like the pumping-blood-up-the-leg is too hard still. This problem is what really keeps me indoors, and stuck on my spot on either the bed, the couch, or kitchen table. I took a photo to demonstrate, see below the fold. (2 images total)

Not my feet. Bjarki took this photo of me as I was trying to coax him to practice guitar.

Emma Ósk is 3 Years Old

2016-02-12Emma, Us Standard

[Photos from 12 February 2016, posted on 16 February 2016. It’s light out until 6:30 pm!]

Our adorable munchkin is now 3 years old! (9 images total)

Daycare sent us this fun image of Emma!