Today is the 18^th, which means it’s time for another edition of 18 on the 18^th. Hi Angie! Hi Elizabeth!

I’ve decided to not view my failure to manage to take 18 pictures as, indeed, a failure. Instead, I will just celebrate the photos I did take, while just using words to describe 18 things about today.

1. Kendell had an appointment with his orthopedic surgeon this morning. This morning at 7:30. At 7:30 in Salt Lake City. I so did not want to haul my butt out of bed at 6:15. Let’s be honest: I don’t want to haul my butt out of bed when I have to get up almost an hour later. I’ve never been a morning person but lately the act of getting out of bed feels physically painful. I can’t tell you exactly where it hurts, but somewhere.
2. The surgeon thinks Kendell’s knee (he had a partial knee replacement in February) is coming along just fine. He told him to stop being vain about his scar (he’s sort of a blunt guy, that orthopedist) and to keep it covered with sunscreen all summer, which to me seems like sort of a contradiction: don’t worry so much about your scar but make sure you protect your scar. At any rate, because he can’t take anti-inflammatories, as they mix badly with blood thinners, the surgeon suggested a round of prednisone instead.
3. This sent me into a little panic. I took prednisone for two weeks when I was 14 or 15 for a lung infection and HOLY COW. It made me a moody, emotional mess. Part of me thinks I have never been the same since those 14 days of steroids. I really, really hope they don’t affect Kendell’s emotional state like they affected mine. (Of course…adolescence might’ve made my reaction worse.) To calm myself down I made a plan for if it DOES make him a little bit crazy (or a lot crazy): One of us will just stay in a hotel until it’s over. Totally doable.
4. I had Kendell drop me off on a side street just off the freeway so I could run home. Being dropped off after an errand=one of my favorite ways to fit in a run, because I love having somewhere different to start.
5. I did my long run today. My plan is to do all of my long runs on Mondays but, alas, I haven’t actually done a long run on Monday. Last week I was writhing with anxiety-induced neck pain. This week there were 40+ MPH winds and I was afraid that a branch of a tree might blow off and hit me. So I went to the gym and did 3.5 miles on the treadmill. Which might be worse than being hit by a wind-blown tree branch.
6. Anyway, today’s long run was seven miles. The first three miles were basically all uphill, which sounds like torture but I actually really love running uphill. Even though it makes me slower. I haven’t run long since I did my half marathon in New York City in November, and I’m always unsure as I start building miles: Am I strong enough to keep going? And I’m finding that I am, at least so far. I was tired, but not unbearably so. Plus, running in the spring is glorious. Right now there are forsythia bushes, tulips, daffodils, and grape hyacinths, flowering crab apple trees, and entire peach orchards in bloom. So pretty. And there’s the smallest hint of a floral scent here and there. So lovely.
7. I was afraid I dressed too warmly for my run, as my phone told me it would only be 36 degrees when I started but it was actually 41. And I had a wool long sleeve on, and long tights. But that’s the cool thing with wool, it regulates your temperature. Even when I was finished at it was almost 50 degrees, I was just…comfortable.
8. Stretching after running=the best thing ever. Maybe better than running itself. Especially when I can stretch outside. This morning I stretched underneath my apple tree, which is almost ready to blossom. My neighbor came over to say hello and show me some pics from a recent trip. A protein shake after a long run is pretty damn good too.
9. While I drank my protein shake, I hurried to finish the quilt backing for my soccer quilt. I was going to quilt it by myself…but I think some of that neck pain might also be coming from my recent spate of making quilts. It’s been a furious spate. A ridiculous spate. Four quilts almost finished. Plus, I just really, really love the way a long-arm quilted quilt looks. So, see #12.
10. Then I hurried to shower so I could speed (literally) to the next place I needed to be: I finally got my hair done. AH! I wish my hair could always be the same color it is on hair-color day. I really, really am not accepting my grey roots gracefully.
11. It was lovely to talk to my hair person. I’ve known her for ages, and even funnier: my high school friend had the biggest crush on my hair person’s husband, back when she and I were 17 and he worked at the cologne counter at ZCMI. Then a couple of years later, he started working at WordPerfect, where I was working but not, alas, my friend who had the crush. He and I became good friends though. And then he got married (not to my high school friend) and I started having his wife do my hair. There was about a decade where I tried going to other people, because she lives about twenty minutes away. But no one has done my hair as well as she does.
12. With freshly-colored hair, I stopped at the house of the person who quilts my quilts for me, Melissa of Sew Shabby quilting. She forgave me for running late. I dropped off the soccer quilt and can’t wait to see it finished. (Please overlook that by the time I actually finish the soccer quilt, soccer might be over. Or at least it won’t be freezing during games anymore. Then I will just call this the purple quilt.)
13. Next, I went to the Close to my Heart warehouse sale and bought a few things. Stamps, cardstock, a few inkpads. I also bought THREE pink post-bound albums. Haley doesn’t love pink but I will probably use them anyway. Because, you know. They were only $4 (I think the albums are $30 now. You do the math.)
14. I rushed home, changed for work, realized I forgot to take Kaleb’s track uniform to him. Nathan was just getting home from school so I had him drive me to the junior high to drop it off. On the way home we talked about a meme I found recently, “signs you’re actually a cat,” and we talked about why Kendell is, actually, a cat. Even though he dislikes cats. I took this photo of me and Nathan just so I could remember laughing in his car in the driveway with him. (And also, I confess, to commemorate Freshly-Colored Hair Day, as it is such a short, fleeting day.)
15. I didn’t have time but I decided to make time: I wandered around in my yard for a few minutes. April, too, is fleeting, and I haven’t taken enough time to savor my beautiful
    spring flowers. (Well, and, truth be told: Mother Nature has been pretty grumpy this spring. Not that I blame her, as we’re all in a fairly abusive relationship with her, but there have been almost no warm days so far this spring.)
16. I was starving. So before work I stopped at that bastion of healthy eating, Taco Bell. I know. But I needed some actual food in my body. Nothing fried was purchased.
17. Off to work. Yes: I was late. Yes: I ate tacos in my office while I filled book group requests. Yes: I savored the silence. Later that night I filled the new book display, which was looking pretty empty. Carrying large, wobbly stacks of books in both arms up a flight of stairs=special librarian skill. 
    
    
18. Finally home late. I am tired. Today was a long day and I didn’t accomplish everything I wanted to. (Kaleb’s uniform? The only thing I actually dried in the load of laundry I started before we left for the doctor this morning. Everything else is sitting in a cold, wet pile I will have to rewash.) (I also didn’t make a card for a birthday that’s tomorrow. So maybe I will just make and mail it tomorrow.) (And I’m only going to get in about ten minutes of reading before I fall asleep.) Some days are just like that, long and full. But I do feel like I got a lot accomplished, too.

How was your April 18^th? I hope it was full of orange tulips and bright green grass!