Monday, December 14, 2009

Why I was staring at this courtyard at 10pm on a Friday night - OR - how everything can change in a single instant...

This is the courtyard of the Portland Airport Ramada. I took these pictures while I was waiting for my husband to check us out on Saturday morning. We were headed home.We stayed at the Ramada because it was fairly close to our house, and they accept small dogs. We couldn’t spend Friday night at our house because we had no bathroom facilities. Friday morning was to be the long anticipated installation of our beautiful new marmoleum floors, chartreuse in the kitchen and charcoal in the bathroom. I was so excited! This is the first time I’ve ever been able to choose my floors. Out with the ugly old vinyl we inherited with the house and in with beautiful and natural marmoleum.

The contractors were 4 hours late so the job didn’t get done when it was supposed to, so we had to cancel the plumber who was putting in our new toilet and sink. Hence the hotel. Oh, but the best part…
The crew that was removing the old vinyl floor tossed a piece out the back door and it was lying on the ground at the bottom of the step. I walked out the door, stepped down on it (not realizing it was there) and it slipped out from underneath me, down I went. My fibula is broken in 2 places.

It will be awhile before I walk again.
Things can change very very fast.

So our deep freeze weather ended over the weekend, but my plants are still wrapped. They’ve seen no light for over a week…if the cold didn’t kill them then this just might. Luckily my friend Denise is coming over in a couple of days and she’s going to perform a little garden therapy. Maybe I can talk her into taking pictures too. I’m wondering how things look, and if I have any cracked pots, but I can’t get out there to see for myself. My husband most certainly would have de-wrapped the plants over the weekend, but with only so much time he had to prioritize, the working toilet came first. Putting the bathroom and kitchen back together came next. Since I’m not going anywhere right away I need to at least be able to get around in the house.

Did I mention how much this really sucks?

You know that list of things you’re working on, things that you want to get done for the holidays? I had one too. Don’t think I’ll be getting to most of it.

I’ve never broken a bone before, and I’ve never had surgery (a possibility). At least I have friends and family to lean on, and so much worse things happen to people. I am lucky that this is the worst thing I’ve had to deal with. I’m trying to keep it in perspective.

I’ve still got a good portion of the photos from our California vacation to work through and share with you. So while I can’t be doing drive-bys to see how the local gardens fared in the cold, at least I have happy sunny agave pictures to share. Oh and I’ve got new floors too…but it hurts every time I look at them.

17 comments:

  1. Aw, Loree, that truly sucks. I'm so sorry.
    Another good reason to hate vinyl flooring.

    I guess it's been a while since I looked at Marmoleum - I didn't know it came in chartreuse. That must look fabulous with your fireplace. Couldn't you put a plant in the kitchen so you could post a picture of the floor too?

    Be sure to keep your weight off your leg if you want to maximize your surgery-free prospects. Keep your chin up, too, for a different kind of positive effect.

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  2. Wow, could there be a worse time of year to have something like this happen? I hope you heal soon.

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  3. Loree I am so sorry to hear of this-I hope you have a speedy and successful recovery. I havent been too well for the past couple weeks so I can emphatise with the desire to do things and not being able to.

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  4. Oh no, Loree! Not with your plants all covered and needing a little babying through the winter. If I was in Portland I'd volunteer to come help with your garden. The floors sound nice. I confess to not knowing what marmoleum is, so I hope you can post about it soon.

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  5. Ahh crap.
    That just sucks.
    Well look on the bright side, at least it is winter time and not summer.
    The San Marco's truck arrives tomorrow.
    I'll be sending out your plant soon. I might wait until the christmas rush is over.
    I'll let you know .
    In the mean while, time to catch up on some good reading and perhaps a few good movies.

    Here's to a fast recovery.
    Michelle

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  6. What an awful thing to happen!

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  7. I hope you got a discount on the floor :o/

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  8. I am so sorry to hear about your accident. But great to hear you are happy with your Marmoleum floor!
    Piera Marotto
    Forbo Flooring

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  9. WOW do I understand: Wednesday before Thanksgiving 2007 my parents flew down for the holiday but had gone early that morning to deal with my step-uncle's apartment as he had been emergency placed in a nursing home the week before & it was clear he was not coming back out. Ever.

    They took my husbands car, so I needed to drive him to work & then go grocery shopping for all the fresh vegetables, etc. for the next day (we had several other people coming). Andrew was aggravated because his grad student had waited until that deadline morning to collect signatures for his thesis & was calling from school wanting to know how soon he could get in. It was 8:23 am.

    I stepped out the front door, turned on my toes to lock up & SNAP! torqued & broke my fibula below the ankle joint. XRay revealed I had recently broken the tip off the tibia, also below the ankle (probably when dealing with stoopid stompy horses; I get not-emergency-room-worthy hurt a lot) & so my foot was almost free-floating but for the soft tissue & needed to be immobilized ASAP or further damage was inevitable, just the weight of my foot was a problem.

    The short version is I could not get in to see anyone about stabilizing it until Monday (yup-five days), parents cooked their own & everyone else's Thanksgiving dinner, supplemented by Chinese take-out & the grad student had to hang around another semester. Also, I was in a walking boot/brace combo for 9+ months & I gained 20 pounds.

    I will say it was all so bad it was funny, honest & except for the last ten pounds I hardly mind at all now. Good luck!

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  10. Damn those stupid workers! Yay for my work in the Danger Garden on Wednesday afternoon! I hope I don't disappoint the garden - afterall, it is used to a much more expierenced "mommy" taking care of it!

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  11. Bummer! Dear Loree,
    I do hope the healing process proceeds smoothly.
    My husband is an ortho tech, and so I'm sending
    positive vibes your way based upon our discussion.
    And, hoping you might avoid surgery.
    (btw, the floors must be quite beautiful.) Alice

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  12. Oh no! I'm so sorry - what an unpleasant surprise! You say you have it covered with your friend coming over, but if you need any help in the garden or Christmas errands, let me know, I would be happy to help.

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  13. Shucky-darns! Bummer! #%/@!*! &_____(insert favorite curse). Now I am going to go all Pollyanna on you and point out that everyone will forgive any and all lapses in normal Santa activities performed by you, friends will volunteer to wait on you hand and foot (as evidenced by several commenters above), and you will have the perfect excuse to skip any activities that fail to fill you with burning desire. Happy armchair holidays!

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  14. Everyone, thank you so much for your positive vibes and sympathetic comments! It means so much to me, it really does. With all the positive energy ya'll are sending my way good things must be ahead for me. For those of you that have expressed interest in the marmoleum floors I will definitely do a post soon. Since it is a natural product I should be able to work a garden related post out of it, no problem. Or as Jane suggested I'll just plop (correction, ask the husband to plop) a plant in the picture!

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  15. Oh no, Loree! I have been out of the loop for a bit (again) and didn't realize you were injured. How terrible! And now, surgery and recovery. What a massive bummer. Well, plant-unwrapping duties aside, as far as the garden goes, it's a good time to be laid up if ever, right? I'd say your contractors have some major apologizing to do, if not financial reparation-izing... rare for them to clean up after themselves but it should be mandatory, to avoid what just happened to you! So so sorry and hope you are on the mend soon. I guess this is a good year to let the list go and just be thankful, as you show here, for what is good in life, like family and friends who want to help you get better. Sending healing wishes your way!

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  16. Loree, Sweetie. Damn it to bloody hell. You can still drink cocktails, though, right? As soon as the rush is over, let's plan something.

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  17. Karen, you are so right about the time of the year. If the poor husband had to take care of the garden as well as himself, me and the dog I think he just might crack. Thank you for the healing wishes!

    Patricia, that's the hell of it. I haven't had a sip of wine since this happened! I guess the narcotic pain relievers are a nono with booze. But, as soon as I run out of those then let the party start!

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