The one where Lisa breaks her neck and buys a new house

Hey there.  How ya been?

Guess what?  We moved again! Three thousand miles across the country.  Back to northern New Jersey.  The three of you remaining reading this blog may remember my prior blog called Trapped in North Jersey.  Voila! Full circle.  

All three of our kids were going to be switching schools this fall, so we decided that if we were moving back to the East Coast, now was the time.  We found a lovely town not too far from the Mister's new job, and we found a pretty house which I would love to decorate, except I herniated two discs in my neck in July and had spine surgery in August.  

How did I do such a thing, you ask?  Well, long story short, dear reader, I did a somersault in jiujitsu class and felt very poorly, then a chiropractor finished me off. The chiropractic visit took me from being in pain to being in excruciating agony.  After a few ER visits, every front line narcotic drug known to man,  not being able to sit down or lie down or sleep in any position, being awake for nearly a month (seriously), and losing strength in my left arm to the point of not being able to open the refrigerator, I had a C5-C6 fusion surgery.

I injured myself a month after the Mister had already decamped to New Jersey and I was alone with three children in California. I was (and still am) unable to drive.   The surgery happened two weeks prior to us moving to New Jersey.  The poor Mister started a new job in June, promptly asked for a week off in July to take care of his ailing injured wife, returned to New Jersey for a week, then asked for another week off in August to take care of his recuperating from surgery wife.  I didn't pack a thing for moving, as I am restricted from lifting anything for a few more months.  (A few people have noted that I could have just paid the movers to pack, instead of breaking my neck to avoid this chore.)

Go big or go home, as they say.

When I woke up from the surgery, I felt a million times better.  I still have a radiating pain in my arm, but its a 2 on a pain scale of 1-10, instead of the 11 it was before, so perspecticles and all that.

insta

I feel much better now, except for when I use my left arm.  I am hoping this issue resolves itself in the next few weeks, as I like using my arm, and not using my arm makes daily life challenging.  I have SO MANY house projects I would like to do, and am unable to accomplish at the moment.  Soon, I hope.

Thank heavens for good friends who picked up my kids and drove them all around to summer camps and extracurricular activities.  And thank heavens for my wonderful inlaws, who took us in for two weeks, did a ton of activities with my children while I was lying in bed recuperating, and traveled with us to NJ while I was unable to wrangle luggage and children.  

Enough about me and my neck.  Here are some pictures of the new house from the listing (old owner's stuff in the pictures).  

Front of the house:

How about some teal carpet? 

Here we have the living room:

Pretty much every room in the house looks like this, with creamy white paint and miles of honey oak trim and windows and doors. 

I don't hate honey oak, but its not my first choice.  Eventually I will paint this house a brighter white and paint the trim.  When I regain the use of my left arm, most likely.  

The kitchen is not large, but has good quality (more honey oak) cabinets, and new appliances and granite counters.  

Last night I discovered little furry friends in the kitchen, and the upstairs toilet broke and leaked into the kitchen light fixture, so, YAY HOME OWNERSHIP.