Sunday 27 January 2013

Snoozing, and Camper Building

Well, it's nearly two weeks since I was hit with what I assume was a flu virus, and while the recovery is going well the fact that it is still recovery is really annoying.

The week of the illness itself I was totally useless - running a mid to high 38 centigrade temperature, shivering and hidden under a large pile of quilts, I spent the week sleeping and (not really) watching films and TV series on the BluRay player.

Except for Wednesday, I was that bad on the Wednesday that I only put one disc in the player, sleep watched it (ie it was in the background whilst I snoozed) and then when it was done I just did not have the energy to crawl the 3 meters between where I was lying and the player to change the disc.  So I spent the day with bad daytime TV on in the background instead. If anything is going to stop you getting better it has to be the bad daytime TV (or does the numbing effect help you???)

Thankfully things went uphill from there on - Thursday I actually got dressed for the first time since coming home from work on the Monday.  I was still running a temperature, but it was starting to drop, and walking up one flight of stairs was enough to get out of breath and to need to sit down.

By Friday I had to leave the house in order to get food for the next week.  A quick shopping trip was again enough to put me to sleep, but it was definitely going in the right direction.

By Monday I was well enough to get back to the office - but it was not a pleasant week. Struggling for concentration, and just wanting to sleep made the days difficult. Getting home I had a very boring existence. I cooked, ate and then slept on the sofa. Crawled into bed to watch the Great Brtish Comic Relief Bake Off (if that is the correct title) and missed at least half of every episode as I fell asleep really quickly.

After a week of that I was rather fed up!  This weekend I started to work out again, 13 minutes using the Kinect to build leg muscle again (they are the exercises that I do every other day when I run to keep my knees in good condition).  Really hard work - it's not normally easy, but it has not been this hard since around the time I started doing them!

I was supposed to be running today, but the weather is not brilliant, and I am thinking that maybe waiting will be a better idea.  I'll decide in a couple of hours whether to go for just a few miles to get back into it.  I think going back to 7KM immediately is not a good idea :)

So what else is new here?  Well, I've been getting back in touch with the kid in me.  There was a stunning Lego model of a T1 Camper Van that we saw around Christmas time.  But as I saw it and commented on it Mrs Stace did not think that it would make a great surprise anymore, and it was too much of our agreed budget for her to get some other things she wanted.

Well, a friend of mine posted a picture on Facebook last weekend of the Camper that he built and I just thought...  You know what, I saved the price of the camper when we switched BluRay player by going for one a couple of models down on my original choice as it did everything we needed.  So I ordered it from the Lego site and on Friday it arrived!  A massive box containing 1332 pieces of *real* Lego (ie not large prefabricated panels that many of the models seem to be these days) that made me think what have I done here???

Well, it's been a great buy.  Two days of entertainment as Mrs Stace and I both work on it!  We have now got to the point where the roof is half finished, the interior is completely finished (including cupboards, chairs that recline, a drop table and best of all a chair that folds to make a bed.  There is even a hippie t-shirt hanging in the cupboard "Make Lego Models, not war!"

Once it's complete I imagine there will be pictures posted until then here are others pictures of the finished article to give you an idea of what it's like.


Right, time to make some tea and then start again! (Yes I know it's geeky, but I still love it!)

11 comments:

  1. Hi Stace!

    OMG, the van is *too* cool! Does it come with a Grateful Dead bumper sticker? :c)

    I loved Legos growing up, as well as Lincoln Logs. (Do they have those across the pond?) And I still love board games to this day.

    My best friend F and I used to play epic Monopoly and LIFE games. He usually won Monopoly, but I RULED in LIFE. He could be ahead by millions of dollars, but once he reached invariably I would come back and utterly destroy him. Every time. Hmm...I can see a trip to the toy store in my future. :c)

    Glad you're feeling better, Stace. I had something similar, and it took nearly a month before I felt better. You are wise to pace yourself. Hope the rest of your recovery is speedy!

    Take care, and don't forget to bring Muse on your iPod when you run! They have already powered several gym sessions for *this* gal. ;c)

    Hugs,
    Cass

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    1. It is, isn't it? :)

      No grateful dead sticker I'm afraid, just German (it is a Volkswagen) number plates.

      When I was young I had a whole load of Lego, some new and an awful lot of hand me downs from friends of my parents with kids a couple of years older than me. Petrol stations, ambulance, fire and police stations and lots of houses. I used to play for hours, redesigning the city week to week... Ah, memories!

      I can imagine that it is going to be a similar recovery time for me. I have started with leg exercises again, so that hopefully I don't injure my knees when starting, but it's really hard going. Tomorrow I am planning on taking a run for the first time in nearly 20 days... It won't be 7KM though!

      And yes, when I run I take my phone with me - it has about 25GB of music on it, including every studio album from Muse (and possibly also the live one)! It makes the world of difference :)

      Stace

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    2. My iPod has a large number of live shows on it that I listen to while exercising. Lately I've been enjoying the My Morning Jacket show I saw on New Years Eve, but I also listen to lots of Dylan, Springsteen, U2, Pearl Jam, Talking Heads, and many, many more. Oh, and now Muse too. :c)

      == Cass

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    3. I found out this morning on my 7km run that, yes, I do have the live album on the phone.

      And brilliant too, it is!

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  2. Whoops - meant to say "once he reached the *final bridge*, I would come back." Sorry... the painkillers are a bit *too* effective at times!

    == Cass

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    1. Board games were never my thing, I enjoyed playing them - but rarely won...

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    2. I was decent enough at Life, but that was pretty much it for me. I did have some success playing Candy Land with my nieces when they were young. (Gloppy the Molasses Swamp sure seemed to have my number, though...) ;c)

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  3. If I may say, that Lego is art. What a wonderful kit. Oh, the temptation and it's not pay day for *ages*.

    Glad to hear you are on the mend at last. That virus really knocked you for six :-(

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    1. Oh, it's great! Thankfully I had saved some of the spending part of my bonus this year so I had some funds available for it immediately! Waiting is not my strong point!

      Thanks, getting there - day by day it is better; but I think I have a way to go yet...

      Stace

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  4. Replies
    1. It does doesn't it?

      I've found a Beetle model too - but it's out of production and second hand versions of it go for hundreds of pounds. I'm not quite prepared to pay that much!

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