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On The Road To Recovery
I have chronicled my ACL injury and repair and people are curious about what life is like post surgery. I am almost at the 4 month post-op mark and am still on restrictions, but here are some factoids about my recovery journey so far. On 2 Crutches: First 4 weeks. First Look: After 6 days…
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Perlers (Melty Beads)
For many years now my main artistic hobby has been making art out of Perler brand melty beads. I generally use or tweak existing designs and have given away many pieces as thank you’s for Extra Life donations. Since we’ve got quite a few pieces up around our Urgezes home I thought I’d show them…
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Surgery Day
I arrived to inpatient check in at Hospital da Luz Guimarães, which is separate from the standard appointment check in desk, just before 9:00 the morning of January 31st. I felt a bit disembodied, floating around in a near dream like state. I had been struggling with my knee for such a long time that…
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Lost Cities
Another small two player game I brought on our journey to Portugal was Lost Cities by Reiner Knizia. This game is faster to play and easier to learn than Patchwork but has a depth of strategy that has kept me eager to play for many years. Before moving Michelle hadn’t played the game and I…
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Cooking Up A Storm And Hanging With ACNH Homies
Attending 2 months of physical therapy was a blessing in disguise. It allowed us to plan ahead for when Andrew would have to manage caretaking for me, wrangling all 4 pets, and household management during February when I would be hobbling around on crutches. The first thing we did was stock our freezer to the…
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Patchwork
Michelle and I often play cooperative two player games, for example I’m sure we’ve mentioned playing Gloomhaven. I won’t put words in Michelle’s mouth but I think it is safe for me to say that she doesn’t love games with excessive direct conflict between players. I bought Patchwork thinking it would be a good fit…
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Torn ACL! Now What?
I had struggled with left knee instability for about 2 years. I was unable to run, jump or twist and dancing was right out. Lateral movements were limited and getting in and out of cars was challenging. If I stepped wrong or slipped on leaves or a slick spot on the ground, I would almost…
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Timespinner
Sometimes I have a bad habit of starting games and then getting distracted and setting them aside halfway through or just before the finale. This year I hope to clear out some of that backlog of unfinished video games. As I complete them I’ll write up a quick review for those of you who might…
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Navigating Healthcare Abroad
Access to quality healthcare that is also affordable was an extremely important factor when we started considering early retirement and a move abroad. Our 911 occupations in Oregon provided us with a “Cadillac Health Plan” and our employer paid the lion’s share of the expenses. We had become exceedingly spoiled, especially since we were double…
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Holiday Celebrations
Andrew kicked off our preparations by lugging all of our holiday bins in from our still quite full garage. We planned to pull out all the stops and REALLY decorate this year. When seasonally bedazzling our home in Oregon, everything had its place, but we had to start from scratch here in Urgezes, having only…