Sputtering to the start

So I’ve had my second hand lungs for just a little over 8 months and my second hand bus for just a little over a week. And I gotta tell yuh… this is not where I saw my life ever being when I daydreamed as a kid.

But I have to admit that even with all I’ve been through, I am happy and thankful for life’s current prospects. Good friends and family… New lungs… and a bus… I mean how freak’n awesome is that?

The road so far (SPN reference) had a few bumps in it this past week. But, I managed to get some stuff done. If not as much as I’d have liked. But isn’t that a part of everyone’s story?

Went to the DMV and got the bus title transferred into my name. (Yay taxes and fees!) Everyone seems to dread going into one of these. (Me included.) Yet I have to give props where props are due.

Other then seeming a little worried when I sat down with my bird flue mask on (Sarc). The lady who helped me was super helpful and informative. Getting me out the door probably 20 minutes after I walked in it. (Maybe the mask had something to do with this…?)

Purchased a heater so as not to freeze my caboose off while working on the bus. A Mr. Heater Buddy. That little sucker works to! The bus isn’t insulated properly yet and this thing had it warm in minutes. Though I’d suggest buying one from Menards or someplace similar where its about half the price of direct. (Whats up with that?)

Got a dead bolt on the door.  Isn’t it shiny? Small accomplishments. (So proud.)

It only took me aaaaallll week to find the proper dead bolt, finally take the correct tools with me, and not break the bits I was using. (Pro tip: fully charge your drills batteries before hand. Uh… Not that I didn’t…)

Purchased and started putting insulation in the walls. Removed all the bolts in the paneling. Gave it a tug aaaaand… No bueno. There is a little lip that goes under each of the windows. (Doh!) So windows needed to come out.

Said windows have two screws on the out side tucked into a tight space that the drill is to fat to properly reach. (Curse you engineers!) Plus they’re juuuuuuuuust high enough to require a shorty like me to stand on a step ladder. (Which I hadn’t brought the day I learned this.)

But now I know. “And knowing is half the battle!” (GI Joe reference)

Checked all the bells and whistles on the control panel. Everything seems to work except the left hand turn signal. Theeeeeeeen proceeded to leave the control panel on when I left for the day.

Draining the life out of the poor battery… (/facepalm)

Wasn’t about to try and jump it with my cars battery. So I pulled it and brought it home to put an a slow trickle charger. Let me tell you what… if you’ve not been working out. Be sure and hit the gym a bit before lifting one of these things.

Good grief they are heavy. Not like, need the strength of Hercules to lift heavy, but be sure and bend your knees heavy for sure.

Being a noob at this and having to stop early each day because of my noobish mistakes. Gave me plenty of time to measure every square inch of the bus.

(I really need to get her a name. I hate calling her “the bus.”)

Which I then used to render her in 3D and designed a layout as best as I could. (Yep. Nerd. Guilty as charged.) Which I had plenty of time to draw because I caught a cold somewhere along the line and stayed home to recuperate.

My first time being ill with my new lungs.

I went to the doctors and got a nose swab. If you’ve never had this done, boy are you in for a treat on the day it happens. Imagine the longest q-tip you can, going up your nose and tickling the farthest reaches of your nasal passages.

If it don’t get your eyes watering nothing will. I’m sorry your tear ducts have ceased to work.

Thankfully my results came back as just the common cold. No flue. No hospitalization. (/cheer)

So kind of a slow start. With more hiccups then I would have liked. Apparently I have yet to learn patience cause the Lord keeps giving me little test. Or maybe they’re just refresher course? (/shrug) Either way….

I’m thankful that I’m in a position to attempt this adventure. I’m really happy about it and enjoying myself. I truly hope that trying to live life to the fullest in this manner, does at least a little justice to the gift my donor gave me.

I hope that one day I can meet him/her and tell them all about the things I was able to do with the breaths they gave me. And hopefully they will chuckle at all my little stumbles along the way, like this week has been full of.

Because, yeah. I own my goofiness.

Onward to the starting line!