Have you heard more about bullying in the news recently? I know I have. If you have been awhile long you may be thinking that bullying was always around, why is it getting attention now? Maybe you have heard multiple news stories about teenagers committing suicide as a result of bullying. Why are there more bullies now than there were 20 years ago?
The truth of the matter is that there isn't. The bullies that do exist just have more tools than they used to. "Kids will be kids" and "children are cruel" are true statements now just as they were 20 years ago. However, 20 years ago children would taunt each other by cursing each other in the school hallways, or maybe be slandering another in front of the track team. In some extreme cases, they would slander a person using graffiti where everyone can see. Those were the worst. Any girl who would visit the ladies room would know what so-and-so thinks of you or what number to reach you at "for a good time". Graffiti was terrible because it was there "forever" and people who didn't witness the first attack would still see the results for months to come.
Now imagine if the graffiti could not be painted over or washed. What if the graffiti'd wall was able to travel to different towns and countries. What if strangers could not only see the message that was put up but also saw a picture of you next to it? This makes it hard to even switch schools to prevent the torment.
Now enter Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, Text Messaging, PictureMail, you name it. A slanderous name, a rumor, or an embarrassing moment can now travel around the globe in seconds. A humiliating video of you can go viral and be seen by millions of people. These new tools make the effects of bullying far more outreaching and more unlikely for the bullied to move on. A slander in the hall can be forgotten, overcome, moved on from... A slander online can live on forever.
Let me say one thing about suicides related to bullying. So many are treating this as a new and late-breaking phenomenon... a reason that bullying must be dealt with my the authorities. Let me ask you this, can you think of any reason a teenager would kill themselves besides bullying? The only other scenario I can think of would be a particularly painful breakup, but through the years bullying has been there and I have to believe it has caused many teen suicides, it just wasn't labeled as bullying.
So what do we do about it? The cold hard truth is that 'we the people'- as in government- can do NOTHING. In this age of information we are finding more and more instances of the police and government infringing on our freedoms. Freedom to assemble, freedom to marry who we wish, and to govern bullying would be a direct attack on freedom of speech. The government can do very little about this unless the bullying turns into assault.
So what? We just need to accept this behavior? Not a chance. As I often say about a well-meaning elder in my family "just because you have earned the right to say what you think doesn't mean you have earned the right to insult others while doing it." This is not a "right", this is human decency, something I think we have forgotten about these days. We all try so hard to put life into blocks of black and white... what we can do and what we can't do. What about what we shouldn't do? Can you sue everytime someone hurts your feelings? Sure, but why - Just to prove that your weak and a jerk? Can you go to church and not put money in the collection plate? Absolutely, I have done it myself, but if you are able, you should give. Can you make fun of the kid who seems awkward and doesn't have any friends in your circle? Sure, but again, why? We need to teach our children and each other that difference is the spice of life and that we can't always say what we think. We especially can't write what we think in public places (like I am now). So I guess maybe we need more clarification on that last piece. Back to my statement about what you have earned. You have earned the right to say what you think, but this is in regards to policy, procedure, current events, etc. This right should not be directed at one person or one group of people. When it becomes personal it has gone too far.
As a parent myself, I strongly feel we are failing in this game. I try so hard to teach right from wrong but I find myself falling into that black and white perception. Thou shalt not steal, thou shall honor thy mother and thy father, thou shalt not kill, thou shalt not beat up your brother... but I feel that I am missing the opportunities to teach decency and honor. I hope many parents are excelling at this but if I am missing the boat, others must be too. I try to live an honest and decent life and I hope I teach by example, but is it enough? With input from so many other sources like video games, TV, ipods, and music is my message too subtle?
So I am taking this rash of bullying related deaths as an learning opportunity for me and my children. Every time there is a story on about these tragedies I am talking to my children about them. How could this have been prevented? Why was this person different and was that so bad? "Look - she was a musician, what a great talent she had, how can you make fun of a violinist?" I am hoping this more direct approach will teach my children the consequences of their actions when they speak out against another human. From there I have to hope I taught them the black and white enough that they will make the right choice.
Saturday, December 17, 2011
Saturday, October 22, 2011
The Secret Life of Facebook
Unless you have been living under a rock, you have no doubt heard of Facebook. You may have even found this post using Facebook. Many people still don't understand the draw of Facebook though. Some, like my father, don't even really know how to use it yet. Some might argue I don't know how to use it yet. Everyone uses Facebook for different uses and everyone knows how to use it for what they need. Some people use it to keep in touch with their family or friends, others use it for marketing. Some people use it to keep up with technology or to share technology, and still others use it as a way of staying "in the know" of their peers, coworkers, or employees.
Keeping in Touch
Can you imaging going to your 20 year high school reunion and knowing exactly who everyone is, what they look like now, how many kids they have, where they work, who they married, what they drink, and who they hang out with before you get there? Imagine no more. Welcome to the new reality now that Facebook is here. My 1993 graduating class of 123 girls is almost all on Facebook and I am in contact with about 80 of them. Some of them own restaurants and bars which I have made a point of bringing my business to or sending business to. I am thrilled to see that some people who bullied me in high school because they were clearly so much better than me are now working at Target, divorced, and boozers. I am friends with every one of my ex-boyfriends, minus the ones that I am still in hiding from, just so I can make sure I know how they all ended up. I am Facebook friends with mortal enemies from childhood (keep your friends close but your enemies closer). I try to tell myself I am above such things, but I will never, ever, forget being spit on or being laughed at or ridiculed by large groups of girls. I can grow up and stand tall, but I will not forget what your heart looks like.
Facebook is a fantastic way of keeping in touch with friends that you had no intention of growing apart from, but you know, life happens. You move away for college, you have different jobs, different kids, different interests. However, strangely enough, when you share a pet peeve on Facebook and your old high school BFF likes your post, you reunite and share a moment. Facebook is also great for keeping friends and family a part of your life through pictures. Share where you ate dinner last night, or the new recipe you made for dinner. Post pictures of your kids' recitals or basketball games. Keep sisters, brothers, parents, and grandparents engaged. Stop promising that you will call or write. You won't. This is better. They can be a part of your life in real time.
Facebook Stalkers
Do you have tons of friends on Facebook that appear to never to be online or not active? Don't let their inactivity fool you. Facebook stalkers are a very real presence. So you friended your boss a couple months ago. He is never really on Facebook, right? Wrong. Never assume that just because someone didn't 'Like' or comment on your post that they didn't read it. My brother is on Facebook. I never see him posting anything. I never see him commenting or liking posts, yet when I see him in person, he knows EVERYTHING that has happened in my life because he read it on Facebook. Facebook Stalker. I yelled at him and told him he has to let me know he has visited so I don't tell him stories he has read already, so he now tags all my posts with the comment "seen". Don't assume all voyeurs will be so polite. So you wrote something last night while you were drinking Tequila shots, read it this morning, and were SO glad that nobody commented so you could delete it in confidence. Not so fast. It was read. By friends and friends of friends. Your boss saw it. Your Dad saw it. Your Grandmother saw it. You are better off commenting on it with a good joke than deleting it and admitting guilt.
So you think you are smart enough not to friend your boss on Facebook? What's the point? Now that Facebook has added the Share feature, even the wittiest comment you make behind your boss's back can be shared multiple times, eventually being seen by your boss and traced back to you. Take credit for your wittiness and be known as having a pair! Go ahead, friend your boss! Just remember, if you have a bad day at work, come home, have a few drinks, and hand your laptop (and iphone, and netbook) over to a trusted friend until the next day. Refer back to the last paragraph if you are not sure why...
Checking In...
Checking in on Facebook is a great feature, especially when you are on vacation in a place like, say, Dallas Texas, with 30 other people who are also on Facebook. You break up in small groups. Then you think, "gee, I wonder what the rest of the guys are going". So you log onto Facebook and see the rest of your group 'checked in' to many places throughout the town. If one of them is near you and appeals to you, go meet up with them! This was our plan for 10 days when 30 of the Grzybowski-Mammoser family convened in Texas for a wedding this past July. We all went as individual families to breakfast on our own schedules. When each family woke up and showered and meandered outside into the 120 degree crazy flippin 10am heat, they would wonder where the rest of the group is. A Texas Waffle House can hold approximately 38 people at a time. I know this because by the time the first family was done eating, the last family had logged onto Facebook, found us, met up with us, and sat down to eat at the Waffle House, there were 2 four person booths to spare.
Checking in is also handy when you are somewhere by yourself hoping to God that you meet up with someone you know so you have someone to hang with and don't feel like such a complete dork being there alone. Case in point, business travelers. Sitting alone with your laptop in the concourse is normal, and not so humiliating. But what if you have a 4 hour layover? When I traveled regularly for work, I would have LOVED to have had an iphone and Facebook. Check in at Chicago O'Hare. See who else has checked in lately. So you see, Oh! My friend so-and-so checked in an hour ago! Facebook them, "hey, I am here too! Wanna meet for a beer!" and wah-lah! You are no longer pathetic! You have a drinking buddy! See, isn't Facebook check-in great!
Checking in on Facebook can be not such a great feature too. For instance, when you have friended your mortal enemies (Refer to my second paragraph in post). They know there are 2 adults in your house. You have checked in from Timbuktu and the other adult in the house has checked in from China. Guess what? Your house is vulnerable! Luckily for me, I have an insanely obnoxious guard dog who is insatiably hungry for burglars and marshmallows watching my house while we are away. My house is always safe. However, other Facebook users without said crazy dog should be wary of this when they are 'checking in'.
Posting Pictures
The ability to take pictures at a moments notice and post them on the internet in real time has changed our reality forever. Have you ever been walking and tripped over your own foot, or had the ball of your foot really stick to the carpet where you almost trip yourself? You straighten up and the first thing you do is look around to assess the damage. Who saw me? You know that sigh of relief when you realize nobody saw you or only 2 people saw you? Damage Control. Imagine if only one person saw you, and she had her phone camera on and got it all on video. Big deal you tripped, right? Next thing you know, it is posted on Facebook with 1,487 shares and it has gone viral on YouTube. Still feel like it is no big deal?
Posting pictures on Facebook can be the coolest thing in the world for sharing the fun you had last night at the concert. It is amazing for letting Grandma be a part of your son's big moment at the football game. It is awesome for showing everyone your new couch set, or the paint job you did in your kitchen, or your new car. It's like having all your friends and family right there to share the moment with you! However, tread carefully with this freedom. Seeing a picture can bring a laugh, a smile, or a tear. A carelessly posted picture on a Saturday night can destroy a marriage. A humiliating picture can end a life.
Remember, don't believe everything you see. Almost everyone who has internet access can access some form of free photoshop. Some people are very good at it. Some not so much (and that would be me). Don't be naive enough to believe everything you read or see on Facebook. Not everything is as it looks and not everyone is as they seem. People lie, pictures lie.
Tagging People
This is my new favorite feature. On Facebook you can post that you are doing something and tag people that you are doing it with. That is the most traditional use of tagging, but you can also tag someone if you just really want them to see something, like an article or something. Of course, be careful here with tagging people because it has the same effect as checking in. If there are 2 adults in a home and one has checked in one place and you tag someone with you, their home is vulnerable. Also, perhaps that other person doesn't want anyone to know they are with you. If you are having an affair with someone, tagging them with you at the movies is probably not the smartest thing to do. Always ask before you tag someone with you. Accordingly, it is also appropriate to ask if you can tag someone in a picture before you do tag them (Although I never do). I never said I was the most polite person in the world, but if you aspire to be, you should ask before you tag people in pictures.
The Point
I work about 10 hours a day on Monday, Wednesday and Friday and 8 hours a day on T and Th. I have 2 kids. I should go to the gym 3 times a week, but if I get there twice a week, I consider it a successful week. I have guitar lessons on Thursdays, dance and basketball on Saturdays, and church on Sundays, and I personally do not take guitar, dance, or basketball. I don't see my friends except for bowling on Sunday nights every other week. I am married and I love my husband. I sit next to him and watch the Sabres and Bills games 3 - 4 times a week. It's a pretty sad existance really. I NEED Facebook.
When I login to Facebook, I have tons of friends. I am popular and funny. I have most of the friends I had when I was in high school. I can be skinny (I still put up pictures of myself from 2005 or else I put up pictures from my shoulders up). There is always something interesting going on. I always know what the current affairs are. I can always find stimulating conversations to interject my opinions into because I am friends with friends, adversaries, enemies, coworkers, politicians, religious groups, competitors, technology groups, and community groups. If there is anything that I ever want to know, I can ask Facebook. Some people Google it. I don't trust Google's algorithm. I trust people I know over a mathematical equation. It's like Apple's Siri. If you own an iPhone 4S, you may ask Siri how to do something. I ask Facebook how to do something, and I trust what I am told.
People may not understand why people like me are on Facebook so much. In this age of electronics and working too much, Facebook is my social network. For all you people who say "You're crazy for being on Facebook all the time", I say to you, You are crazy for being around people all the time. I don't get the flu from Facebook.
Keeping in Touch
Can you imaging going to your 20 year high school reunion and knowing exactly who everyone is, what they look like now, how many kids they have, where they work, who they married, what they drink, and who they hang out with before you get there? Imagine no more. Welcome to the new reality now that Facebook is here. My 1993 graduating class of 123 girls is almost all on Facebook and I am in contact with about 80 of them. Some of them own restaurants and bars which I have made a point of bringing my business to or sending business to. I am thrilled to see that some people who bullied me in high school because they were clearly so much better than me are now working at Target, divorced, and boozers. I am friends with every one of my ex-boyfriends, minus the ones that I am still in hiding from, just so I can make sure I know how they all ended up. I am Facebook friends with mortal enemies from childhood (keep your friends close but your enemies closer). I try to tell myself I am above such things, but I will never, ever, forget being spit on or being laughed at or ridiculed by large groups of girls. I can grow up and stand tall, but I will not forget what your heart looks like.
Facebook is a fantastic way of keeping in touch with friends that you had no intention of growing apart from, but you know, life happens. You move away for college, you have different jobs, different kids, different interests. However, strangely enough, when you share a pet peeve on Facebook and your old high school BFF likes your post, you reunite and share a moment. Facebook is also great for keeping friends and family a part of your life through pictures. Share where you ate dinner last night, or the new recipe you made for dinner. Post pictures of your kids' recitals or basketball games. Keep sisters, brothers, parents, and grandparents engaged. Stop promising that you will call or write. You won't. This is better. They can be a part of your life in real time.
Facebook Stalkers
Do you have tons of friends on Facebook that appear to never to be online or not active? Don't let their inactivity fool you. Facebook stalkers are a very real presence. So you friended your boss a couple months ago. He is never really on Facebook, right? Wrong. Never assume that just because someone didn't 'Like' or comment on your post that they didn't read it. My brother is on Facebook. I never see him posting anything. I never see him commenting or liking posts, yet when I see him in person, he knows EVERYTHING that has happened in my life because he read it on Facebook. Facebook Stalker. I yelled at him and told him he has to let me know he has visited so I don't tell him stories he has read already, so he now tags all my posts with the comment "seen". Don't assume all voyeurs will be so polite. So you wrote something last night while you were drinking Tequila shots, read it this morning, and were SO glad that nobody commented so you could delete it in confidence. Not so fast. It was read. By friends and friends of friends. Your boss saw it. Your Dad saw it. Your Grandmother saw it. You are better off commenting on it with a good joke than deleting it and admitting guilt.
So you think you are smart enough not to friend your boss on Facebook? What's the point? Now that Facebook has added the Share feature, even the wittiest comment you make behind your boss's back can be shared multiple times, eventually being seen by your boss and traced back to you. Take credit for your wittiness and be known as having a pair! Go ahead, friend your boss! Just remember, if you have a bad day at work, come home, have a few drinks, and hand your laptop (and iphone, and netbook) over to a trusted friend until the next day. Refer back to the last paragraph if you are not sure why...
Checking In...
Checking in on Facebook is a great feature, especially when you are on vacation in a place like, say, Dallas Texas, with 30 other people who are also on Facebook. You break up in small groups. Then you think, "gee, I wonder what the rest of the guys are going". So you log onto Facebook and see the rest of your group 'checked in' to many places throughout the town. If one of them is near you and appeals to you, go meet up with them! This was our plan for 10 days when 30 of the Grzybowski-Mammoser family convened in Texas for a wedding this past July. We all went as individual families to breakfast on our own schedules. When each family woke up and showered and meandered outside into the 120 degree crazy flippin 10am heat, they would wonder where the rest of the group is. A Texas Waffle House can hold approximately 38 people at a time. I know this because by the time the first family was done eating, the last family had logged onto Facebook, found us, met up with us, and sat down to eat at the Waffle House, there were 2 four person booths to spare.
Checking in is also handy when you are somewhere by yourself hoping to God that you meet up with someone you know so you have someone to hang with and don't feel like such a complete dork being there alone. Case in point, business travelers. Sitting alone with your laptop in the concourse is normal, and not so humiliating. But what if you have a 4 hour layover? When I traveled regularly for work, I would have LOVED to have had an iphone and Facebook. Check in at Chicago O'Hare. See who else has checked in lately. So you see, Oh! My friend so-and-so checked in an hour ago! Facebook them, "hey, I am here too! Wanna meet for a beer!" and wah-lah! You are no longer pathetic! You have a drinking buddy! See, isn't Facebook check-in great!
Checking in on Facebook can be not such a great feature too. For instance, when you have friended your mortal enemies (Refer to my second paragraph in post). They know there are 2 adults in your house. You have checked in from Timbuktu and the other adult in the house has checked in from China. Guess what? Your house is vulnerable! Luckily for me, I have an insanely obnoxious guard dog who is insatiably hungry for burglars and marshmallows watching my house while we are away. My house is always safe. However, other Facebook users without said crazy dog should be wary of this when they are 'checking in'.
Posting Pictures
The ability to take pictures at a moments notice and post them on the internet in real time has changed our reality forever. Have you ever been walking and tripped over your own foot, or had the ball of your foot really stick to the carpet where you almost trip yourself? You straighten up and the first thing you do is look around to assess the damage. Who saw me? You know that sigh of relief when you realize nobody saw you or only 2 people saw you? Damage Control. Imagine if only one person saw you, and she had her phone camera on and got it all on video. Big deal you tripped, right? Next thing you know, it is posted on Facebook with 1,487 shares and it has gone viral on YouTube. Still feel like it is no big deal?
Posting pictures on Facebook can be the coolest thing in the world for sharing the fun you had last night at the concert. It is amazing for letting Grandma be a part of your son's big moment at the football game. It is awesome for showing everyone your new couch set, or the paint job you did in your kitchen, or your new car. It's like having all your friends and family right there to share the moment with you! However, tread carefully with this freedom. Seeing a picture can bring a laugh, a smile, or a tear. A carelessly posted picture on a Saturday night can destroy a marriage. A humiliating picture can end a life.
Remember, don't believe everything you see. Almost everyone who has internet access can access some form of free photoshop. Some people are very good at it. Some not so much (and that would be me). Don't be naive enough to believe everything you read or see on Facebook. Not everything is as it looks and not everyone is as they seem. People lie, pictures lie.
Tagging People
This is my new favorite feature. On Facebook you can post that you are doing something and tag people that you are doing it with. That is the most traditional use of tagging, but you can also tag someone if you just really want them to see something, like an article or something. Of course, be careful here with tagging people because it has the same effect as checking in. If there are 2 adults in a home and one has checked in one place and you tag someone with you, their home is vulnerable. Also, perhaps that other person doesn't want anyone to know they are with you. If you are having an affair with someone, tagging them with you at the movies is probably not the smartest thing to do. Always ask before you tag someone with you. Accordingly, it is also appropriate to ask if you can tag someone in a picture before you do tag them (Although I never do). I never said I was the most polite person in the world, but if you aspire to be, you should ask before you tag people in pictures.
The Point
I work about 10 hours a day on Monday, Wednesday and Friday and 8 hours a day on T and Th. I have 2 kids. I should go to the gym 3 times a week, but if I get there twice a week, I consider it a successful week. I have guitar lessons on Thursdays, dance and basketball on Saturdays, and church on Sundays, and I personally do not take guitar, dance, or basketball. I don't see my friends except for bowling on Sunday nights every other week. I am married and I love my husband. I sit next to him and watch the Sabres and Bills games 3 - 4 times a week. It's a pretty sad existance really. I NEED Facebook.
When I login to Facebook, I have tons of friends. I am popular and funny. I have most of the friends I had when I was in high school. I can be skinny (I still put up pictures of myself from 2005 or else I put up pictures from my shoulders up). There is always something interesting going on. I always know what the current affairs are. I can always find stimulating conversations to interject my opinions into because I am friends with friends, adversaries, enemies, coworkers, politicians, religious groups, competitors, technology groups, and community groups. If there is anything that I ever want to know, I can ask Facebook. Some people Google it. I don't trust Google's algorithm. I trust people I know over a mathematical equation. It's like Apple's Siri. If you own an iPhone 4S, you may ask Siri how to do something. I ask Facebook how to do something, and I trust what I am told.
People may not understand why people like me are on Facebook so much. In this age of electronics and working too much, Facebook is my social network. For all you people who say "You're crazy for being on Facebook all the time", I say to you, You are crazy for being around people all the time. I don't get the flu from Facebook.
Saturday, March 19, 2011
The Day I Lost My Mind
Recently I came to terms with the fact that I am no longer a "young adult". I am purely an adult, may be even approaching middle aged. When the hell did this happen? I am ashamed to say I think I was drunk for most of my 'young adulthood'. I was married with a baby by the time I was 25 years old. Two kids by the time I was 28. Motherless when I turned 31. Pretty much from my 30th birthday on, I discovered the drinks that I should have discovered in college, but was too busy working full time and going to school full time to do that kind of stuff. I was living day to day and worrying about things as they came, had no 401K, didn't even know what that meant, had no life insurance, and no idea what I would be doing next week. About 2 years ago I got my stuff together and started to plan and be smarter about things. I have always been the youngest in my crowd. I thought things were still this way, when did they change?
Well this past weekend, my Aunt, Uncle, and cousins came in from Texas to celebrate the engagement of my cousin and her fiancee. It was three days of partying. Saturday night was a family birthday party for my daughter and husband. Wine, wine, food, wine, and did I mention we had some wine? Of course we did, it was a Mammoser and Grzybowski event. But I had plenty of time to recover, the Engagement party was not until 1:00 the next afternoon. Oh yeah, but we lost an hour thanks to 'Spring Ahead'.
What a fantastic party the Engagement Party was! Live band playing Allman brothers and other classic rock, wonderful carrot cake, open bar, and dancing. Oh no... Open Bar! I even capitalized it. I did not get drunk, I can't because I am watching my calories and each one of those suckers is like 110 calories. I only get 1200 calories a day, I would rather eat them than drink them, but 3 glasses of wine and I was ready for bed. REALLY? 3 glasses of wine and I was ready for bed? How old am I? 65? I was on the couch by 5. Watched the Sabres game, then some movies with the kids. Three glasses of wine and I was useless the rest of the day. I am really beginning to feel like a failure here. Two years ago, I could drink three bottles of wine, puke, and be ready for more! Could we really age this fast?
Luckily for me, I skipped bowling Sunday night and took it easy so I could make it to work at 7am on Monday. Monday I returned to almost full speed but not for long. Monday night we had a "multigenerational, martini and pajama party" at my Dad's house. My Grandma and her friend, my Aunt, My sisters, my cousins, and my sister's friend all came with drinks, food, pizza, and Wii. We played Just Dance 2 while drinking Strawberry Vanilla martinis and eating taco dip. Great time! Unfortunately it was a Monday night. I guess 2 days just aren't enough for the weekend so we Grzybowski's and Mammoser's have to carry them over into Monday. I left at 10 so I could easily make it to work at 7am Tuesday, but I wasn't out of the woods yet.
I made it until 3:00 and somehow made it home from work without falling asleep. That didn't last long. I laid on the couch with my laptop on my lap and the sound on full blast and closed my eyes. Every time I got an email, I was woken up by the loud ding and answered my emails, then fell back asleep. Come 5:30 my day was officially over, so I shut the laptop and put it away and fell COMPLETELY asleep. So what's wrong with that you might say? Well, my dog was being boarded for the day so he didn't eat all my oak while I was at work. He had to be picked up by 6:00. I had physical therapy for mn twice broken ankle at 6:00. It was dinner time and I hadn't thought of making anything for the family to eat. I promised my sister I would bring Dad's treadmill back to his house in Lackawanna that night. I promised my friend I would come pick up her stationary bike in South Buffalo that night. In other words, I had a ton to do.
So let me tell you what happens when an old person such as myself goes out on a work night and then falls fast asleep at 5:30 at night and doesn't wake up until 6:30. First and most importantly, nobody picks the dog up from boarding. The 'Doggie Daycare' place closes at 6:00. If your dog is still there at 6, he sleeps over and you can get him tomorrow. Secondly, I miss physical therapy and since I didn't give them any notice that I wasn't coming I owe them for the session anyway. Of course my children were hungry and lucky for me my kids are resourceful. They were nice enough to not wake me up, so they made their own dinner. That dinner consisted of frozen french fries (they were lukewarm when they ate them), reheated mashed potatoes, reheated spiral pasta with broccoli, and bread with butter. Good thing I was on a low carb diet... up to that point. Well, they were full after they ate. When I was doing dishes is when I dropped some food on the floor and called for my dog to come get it... then I realized "doh, it's 6:45!"
I ran to Doggie Daycare and pounded on every door, nobody home. Then I realized how scared my doggie must be to hear me swearing outside while he was in a crate inside and not able to get to me, so I left and my dog had a slumber party. Physical therapy was closed so I couldn't call them to apologize. Next stop, drop off a treadmill at my Dad's for my sister to use. My husband loaded the treadmill into the truck. My sister is stronger than 4 horses plus me I thought no problem getting this treadmill into Dad's house. I even brought a 2-wheel cart to help drag it up the stairs. My sister and I got the treadmill out of the truck easy peasy. Getting it up the stairs into the house was another thing. This treadmill was well made. It had to weigh over 150 pounds. I'll bet you my sister knows exactly how much it weighs since I left that treadmill right on her toe. Who needs all 10 toes anyway? Everyone knows that God gave us 10 in case we lose a couple. I felt terrible, but on the bright side, my friend called to say she wouldn't be home that night so I didn't have to go get the bike. At least that freed up my night to go shopping for 30 lbs of corned beef for Saint Patricks Day. By 9:00 I was back in bed and snoring.
So not only have I realized that I am getting old, I have also lost my mind. I drank three days in a row and basically could not function on day 4. I think it is safe to say I have left my wild and crazy partying days behind me. I don't know if I should be happy that I have moved on to the next phase of my life or sad that I am so damn close to being middle aged. Pretty soon, the phases of my life will start going backwards, where I can't walk the entire mall without having to sit and take a break, can't drive myself anymore, or need help from my children to take the proper vitamins every day. It is so sad. And about always being the youngest in my circle... my boss is 6 years younger than I am now. And even sadder is that my coworkers think I am 4 years older than I really am. I just don't know when my entire world changed. How did I miss it?
Well this past weekend, my Aunt, Uncle, and cousins came in from Texas to celebrate the engagement of my cousin and her fiancee. It was three days of partying. Saturday night was a family birthday party for my daughter and husband. Wine, wine, food, wine, and did I mention we had some wine? Of course we did, it was a Mammoser and Grzybowski event. But I had plenty of time to recover, the Engagement party was not until 1:00 the next afternoon. Oh yeah, but we lost an hour thanks to 'Spring Ahead'.
What a fantastic party the Engagement Party was! Live band playing Allman brothers and other classic rock, wonderful carrot cake, open bar, and dancing. Oh no... Open Bar! I even capitalized it. I did not get drunk, I can't because I am watching my calories and each one of those suckers is like 110 calories. I only get 1200 calories a day, I would rather eat them than drink them, but 3 glasses of wine and I was ready for bed. REALLY? 3 glasses of wine and I was ready for bed? How old am I? 65? I was on the couch by 5. Watched the Sabres game, then some movies with the kids. Three glasses of wine and I was useless the rest of the day. I am really beginning to feel like a failure here. Two years ago, I could drink three bottles of wine, puke, and be ready for more! Could we really age this fast?
Luckily for me, I skipped bowling Sunday night and took it easy so I could make it to work at 7am on Monday. Monday I returned to almost full speed but not for long. Monday night we had a "multigenerational, martini and pajama party" at my Dad's house. My Grandma and her friend, my Aunt, My sisters, my cousins, and my sister's friend all came with drinks, food, pizza, and Wii. We played Just Dance 2 while drinking Strawberry Vanilla martinis and eating taco dip. Great time! Unfortunately it was a Monday night. I guess 2 days just aren't enough for the weekend so we Grzybowski's and Mammoser's have to carry them over into Monday. I left at 10 so I could easily make it to work at 7am Tuesday, but I wasn't out of the woods yet.
I made it until 3:00 and somehow made it home from work without falling asleep. That didn't last long. I laid on the couch with my laptop on my lap and the sound on full blast and closed my eyes. Every time I got an email, I was woken up by the loud ding and answered my emails, then fell back asleep. Come 5:30 my day was officially over, so I shut the laptop and put it away and fell COMPLETELY asleep. So what's wrong with that you might say? Well, my dog was being boarded for the day so he didn't eat all my oak while I was at work. He had to be picked up by 6:00. I had physical therapy for mn twice broken ankle at 6:00. It was dinner time and I hadn't thought of making anything for the family to eat. I promised my sister I would bring Dad's treadmill back to his house in Lackawanna that night. I promised my friend I would come pick up her stationary bike in South Buffalo that night. In other words, I had a ton to do.
So let me tell you what happens when an old person such as myself goes out on a work night and then falls fast asleep at 5:30 at night and doesn't wake up until 6:30. First and most importantly, nobody picks the dog up from boarding. The 'Doggie Daycare' place closes at 6:00. If your dog is still there at 6, he sleeps over and you can get him tomorrow. Secondly, I miss physical therapy and since I didn't give them any notice that I wasn't coming I owe them for the session anyway. Of course my children were hungry and lucky for me my kids are resourceful. They were nice enough to not wake me up, so they made their own dinner. That dinner consisted of frozen french fries (they were lukewarm when they ate them), reheated mashed potatoes, reheated spiral pasta with broccoli, and bread with butter. Good thing I was on a low carb diet... up to that point. Well, they were full after they ate. When I was doing dishes is when I dropped some food on the floor and called for my dog to come get it... then I realized "doh, it's 6:45!"
I ran to Doggie Daycare and pounded on every door, nobody home. Then I realized how scared my doggie must be to hear me swearing outside while he was in a crate inside and not able to get to me, so I left and my dog had a slumber party. Physical therapy was closed so I couldn't call them to apologize. Next stop, drop off a treadmill at my Dad's for my sister to use. My husband loaded the treadmill into the truck. My sister is stronger than 4 horses plus me I thought no problem getting this treadmill into Dad's house. I even brought a 2-wheel cart to help drag it up the stairs. My sister and I got the treadmill out of the truck easy peasy. Getting it up the stairs into the house was another thing. This treadmill was well made. It had to weigh over 150 pounds. I'll bet you my sister knows exactly how much it weighs since I left that treadmill right on her toe. Who needs all 10 toes anyway? Everyone knows that God gave us 10 in case we lose a couple. I felt terrible, but on the bright side, my friend called to say she wouldn't be home that night so I didn't have to go get the bike. At least that freed up my night to go shopping for 30 lbs of corned beef for Saint Patricks Day. By 9:00 I was back in bed and snoring.
So not only have I realized that I am getting old, I have also lost my mind. I drank three days in a row and basically could not function on day 4. I think it is safe to say I have left my wild and crazy partying days behind me. I don't know if I should be happy that I have moved on to the next phase of my life or sad that I am so damn close to being middle aged. Pretty soon, the phases of my life will start going backwards, where I can't walk the entire mall without having to sit and take a break, can't drive myself anymore, or need help from my children to take the proper vitamins every day. It is so sad. And about always being the youngest in my circle... my boss is 6 years younger than I am now. And even sadder is that my coworkers think I am 4 years older than I really am. I just don't know when my entire world changed. How did I miss it?
Thursday, February 24, 2011
Here We Go Again
So 3 days after writing my last post about how I seemed to have gotten beaten up in 2010 and was looking forward to a healthy 2011, I suffered a tragic Wii accident and re-broke my ankle. No pictures this time because I had a crappy phone that didn't take pictures but this time I had a purple cast. This time I was not cutting my own cast off and when it did come off, I was not blowing off Physical Therapy. How in the world did I do that you ask? Well, it went down like this...
For Christmas, my husband, always eager to feed my latest obsession, wanted to get me something to help me lose weight. I had asked for a Bowflex TreadClimber, but since the cheapest one is $1299 and he was convinced it would end up in my garage next to my treadmill in storage, he refused to get it for me. However, he did manage to fit a great workout video game into my stocking. Jillian Michaels' Fitness Ultimatum 2009 for Wii. We have the balance board and the Wii so this seemed like a fun (and cheap) way to get some exercise to him. Well, I was excited to get this gift although not too eager. After all, it was the holiday season... time to eat, drink, and be merry... not the time to humiliate yourself in front of family and friends. So I waited to get on the board and try it. On Thursday December 30th while at work I got into a stimulating IM conversation with another coworker who struggles with their weight. He convinced me to stop procrastinating and get in the saddle. And so that night I put on my sneakers and gave Jillian Michaels a try. I am not a video game tester or rater by any stretch of the imagination... I am still quite entertained by Pong. But let me tell you, even by my standards this video game sucks big smelly eggs. The idea was really cool, and I did break a good sweat going through a 15 minute workout. The video game avatar just doesn't do what you do. Isn't that the whole point of the Wii? Your actual actions happen on the screen? Virtual reality? I am doing what Jillian tells me to do (And she isn't very pleasant about it) on the balance board while holding the 2 Wii controllers. I am sweating going so fast and my person on the screen is just standing there. Jillian tells me to jump from one tire to another, so I shift my weight from one foot to the other, like the example showed, but my person isn't doing anything. Finally I decide to screw the avatar on the screen, I am here for a workout and I am doing the work whether I am getting credit for it or not. The last exercise that got me was basically squats. On the game, I was pumping a self propelled rail car from point A to point B, but the motion was that of repeated squats as fast as I could for 2 and a half minutes. Wow, that hurt a lot, but what hurt more was that right after that exercise I went to walk up the stairs to the kitchen for a glass of water. With my first right step, I pulled my quadricep from my knee to my hip. OUCH. Then when I stepped with my left foot on the next step, I did the same thing to my left quadricep. And that was that. Until the next Monday, 4 days later, I was barely walking and "ouching" every time I had to take a step, sit down, or get up from a seated position. First night with Jillian and she already kicked my ass, even though the video game barely worked. This was going to be a beautiful relationship, I could tell already.
Once I was able to move freely around my house again, I figured "hey, that was a good workout. Let's try again." Now that I have done it I think maybe I will get the hang of what I need to do to make my avatar do what it is supposed to. I was wrong. About 5 minutes into the workout I once again just did what I was supposed to do and gave up on making my avatar on the video game play along. I made it through my 15 minute workout and was still able to walk around and talk about it. Hooray! AND I had lost 3 pounds since my last workout the Thursday before. I guess it was because I was in too much pain to navigate the stairs to the kitchen fridge too much.
I am on a roll and LOSING. I love this stupid game that doesn't work. I have a vendetta now to get that game to work, and I am up for a challenge. Tuesday night I set my workout for a 30 minute workout and I put on my Sketchers Shape Ups. Between every 3-4 minute exercise is a running exercise where you simply shift your weight from one foot to the other while standing on the balance board. I figured with my Shape Ups on, I can get some better movement up my legs while I am doing this. While I take on my challenge, my husband sits behind me on the couch playing with his iPhone. Those damn angry birds always win him over.... I got through 20 minutes of my 30 minute workout when I came across one of the most challenging exercises... the tire obstacle course. On the video game, you are supposed to jump from one tire to the other. To do this on the Wii, you are supposed to shift your weight with purpose to follow to the tires. If the tire is on your right, you shift all your weight to your right foot. If the tire is on the left, you switch all your weight to your left foot. Easy peasy, except I am doing all this work and my avatar is just standing there looking dumfounded. I am halfway done with the time limit for the exercise and my person hasn't moved yet. Jillian is yelling at me that I am not trying. So I start to exaggerate my movements a little more. I do a little hop onto my right foot and hooray! My person jumps to the right tire! I am the queen, I am gonna master this game! I keep hopping from left to right... sometimes the person moves, sometimes they don't. With about 15 seconds left in the exercise, I am basically doing the Karate Kid crane kick on the balance board trying to get the game to register that I have jumped. Well, when your hips are 25 inches across and hence so are your feet, the balance board is 20 inches across, and you are doing crane jumps in the air, it is just a matter of time before you land off the balance board. Unfortunately, I wasn't so lucky. My left foot, the one that I got the cast off of in September, landed half on and half off the left hand side of the balance board. This caused my foot to roll. Ouch, but hold on, theres more! Don't forget, I was wearing my ShapeUps, so I am basically wearing platform sneakers. Not only did my ankle roll, but it rolled from a good 6 inches above the ground between the mere 3 inch height of the Wii balance board and the height of the sneaker itself. Luckily for me, I hit my wall on my left side which broke my fall. If the wall wasn't there, I think my ankle would have just snapped. I hear a little "snap, crackle, pop" but there were no Rice Crispies. My whole foot immediately went numb and I just knew I had broken it again.
I lasted the night with some leftover narcotics from the first break and saw the orthopedic specialist the next morning. Yep, broke again. Same fracture as last time, just split a little more this time. 5 weeks in a cast and same old story. After having a cast in the summer and then again in a Buffalo winter, I tell you winter is so much easier. Thanks to fuzzy socks and jeans, nobody really even knew I had a cast on. They noticed the limp but that was about it.
So this whole situation brings up some concerns. First of all, what kind of backwoods pollack breaks their ankle on a Wii? The orthopedic specialist said it was not the first Wii injury he has seen, but it was the first Wii break that didn't include a broken TV (Which we experienced last year around this time). Secondly, who can possibly break their ankle twice in less than 6 months? A fat chick who is 100 lbs overweight, that's who. So obviously I need to lose some weight. DUH, that's what I was trying to do when Jillian Michaels shoved me off the balance board. Thirdly, Jillian Michaels Wii game sucks. How did anyone allow this game to get past the Beta stage? And once I tried it, I thought maybe I was retarded and just didn't know how to play video games, so I googled it. Everyone else said this game sucks too. Why are they still selling it? Why did they make 2 more versions which apparently suck too. Don't manufacturers look for feedback on their product before they send it to market? Have none of the employees of Ubisoft ever tried their own video games? So what is a fat girl to do?
For Christmas, my husband, always eager to feed my latest obsession, wanted to get me something to help me lose weight. I had asked for a Bowflex TreadClimber, but since the cheapest one is $1299 and he was convinced it would end up in my garage next to my treadmill in storage, he refused to get it for me. However, he did manage to fit a great workout video game into my stocking. Jillian Michaels' Fitness Ultimatum 2009 for Wii. We have the balance board and the Wii so this seemed like a fun (and cheap) way to get some exercise to him. Well, I was excited to get this gift although not too eager. After all, it was the holiday season... time to eat, drink, and be merry... not the time to humiliate yourself in front of family and friends. So I waited to get on the board and try it. On Thursday December 30th while at work I got into a stimulating IM conversation with another coworker who struggles with their weight. He convinced me to stop procrastinating and get in the saddle. And so that night I put on my sneakers and gave Jillian Michaels a try. I am not a video game tester or rater by any stretch of the imagination... I am still quite entertained by Pong. But let me tell you, even by my standards this video game sucks big smelly eggs. The idea was really cool, and I did break a good sweat going through a 15 minute workout. The video game avatar just doesn't do what you do. Isn't that the whole point of the Wii? Your actual actions happen on the screen? Virtual reality? I am doing what Jillian tells me to do (And she isn't very pleasant about it) on the balance board while holding the 2 Wii controllers. I am sweating going so fast and my person on the screen is just standing there. Jillian tells me to jump from one tire to another, so I shift my weight from one foot to the other, like the example showed, but my person isn't doing anything. Finally I decide to screw the avatar on the screen, I am here for a workout and I am doing the work whether I am getting credit for it or not. The last exercise that got me was basically squats. On the game, I was pumping a self propelled rail car from point A to point B, but the motion was that of repeated squats as fast as I could for 2 and a half minutes. Wow, that hurt a lot, but what hurt more was that right after that exercise I went to walk up the stairs to the kitchen for a glass of water. With my first right step, I pulled my quadricep from my knee to my hip. OUCH. Then when I stepped with my left foot on the next step, I did the same thing to my left quadricep. And that was that. Until the next Monday, 4 days later, I was barely walking and "ouching" every time I had to take a step, sit down, or get up from a seated position. First night with Jillian and she already kicked my ass, even though the video game barely worked. This was going to be a beautiful relationship, I could tell already.
Once I was able to move freely around my house again, I figured "hey, that was a good workout. Let's try again." Now that I have done it I think maybe I will get the hang of what I need to do to make my avatar do what it is supposed to. I was wrong. About 5 minutes into the workout I once again just did what I was supposed to do and gave up on making my avatar on the video game play along. I made it through my 15 minute workout and was still able to walk around and talk about it. Hooray! AND I had lost 3 pounds since my last workout the Thursday before. I guess it was because I was in too much pain to navigate the stairs to the kitchen fridge too much.
I am on a roll and LOSING. I love this stupid game that doesn't work. I have a vendetta now to get that game to work, and I am up for a challenge. Tuesday night I set my workout for a 30 minute workout and I put on my Sketchers Shape Ups. Between every 3-4 minute exercise is a running exercise where you simply shift your weight from one foot to the other while standing on the balance board. I figured with my Shape Ups on, I can get some better movement up my legs while I am doing this. While I take on my challenge, my husband sits behind me on the couch playing with his iPhone. Those damn angry birds always win him over.... I got through 20 minutes of my 30 minute workout when I came across one of the most challenging exercises... the tire obstacle course. On the video game, you are supposed to jump from one tire to the other. To do this on the Wii, you are supposed to shift your weight with purpose to follow to the tires. If the tire is on your right, you shift all your weight to your right foot. If the tire is on the left, you switch all your weight to your left foot. Easy peasy, except I am doing all this work and my avatar is just standing there looking dumfounded. I am halfway done with the time limit for the exercise and my person hasn't moved yet. Jillian is yelling at me that I am not trying. So I start to exaggerate my movements a little more. I do a little hop onto my right foot and hooray! My person jumps to the right tire! I am the queen, I am gonna master this game! I keep hopping from left to right... sometimes the person moves, sometimes they don't. With about 15 seconds left in the exercise, I am basically doing the Karate Kid crane kick on the balance board trying to get the game to register that I have jumped. Well, when your hips are 25 inches across and hence so are your feet, the balance board is 20 inches across, and you are doing crane jumps in the air, it is just a matter of time before you land off the balance board. Unfortunately, I wasn't so lucky. My left foot, the one that I got the cast off of in September, landed half on and half off the left hand side of the balance board. This caused my foot to roll. Ouch, but hold on, theres more! Don't forget, I was wearing my ShapeUps, so I am basically wearing platform sneakers. Not only did my ankle roll, but it rolled from a good 6 inches above the ground between the mere 3 inch height of the Wii balance board and the height of the sneaker itself. Luckily for me, I hit my wall on my left side which broke my fall. If the wall wasn't there, I think my ankle would have just snapped. I hear a little "snap, crackle, pop" but there were no Rice Crispies. My whole foot immediately went numb and I just knew I had broken it again.
I lasted the night with some leftover narcotics from the first break and saw the orthopedic specialist the next morning. Yep, broke again. Same fracture as last time, just split a little more this time. 5 weeks in a cast and same old story. After having a cast in the summer and then again in a Buffalo winter, I tell you winter is so much easier. Thanks to fuzzy socks and jeans, nobody really even knew I had a cast on. They noticed the limp but that was about it.
So this whole situation brings up some concerns. First of all, what kind of backwoods pollack breaks their ankle on a Wii? The orthopedic specialist said it was not the first Wii injury he has seen, but it was the first Wii break that didn't include a broken TV (Which we experienced last year around this time). Secondly, who can possibly break their ankle twice in less than 6 months? A fat chick who is 100 lbs overweight, that's who. So obviously I need to lose some weight. DUH, that's what I was trying to do when Jillian Michaels shoved me off the balance board. Thirdly, Jillian Michaels Wii game sucks. How did anyone allow this game to get past the Beta stage? And once I tried it, I thought maybe I was retarded and just didn't know how to play video games, so I googled it. Everyone else said this game sucks too. Why are they still selling it? Why did they make 2 more versions which apparently suck too. Don't manufacturers look for feedback on their product before they send it to market? Have none of the employees of Ubisoft ever tried their own video games? So what is a fat girl to do?
Sunday, January 2, 2011
2010 Greatest Hits
Now when I say 'Greatest Hits', I mean it literally. 2010 was the year of the injury for me. But I learned some priceless life lessons.
Fat People Shouldn't Ski
We should start in February. Let me give you a word of advice... if you are over 30 years old, 100 pounds overweight, and can't walk a straight line stone-cold sober, learning to downhill ski is probably not for you. I should have seen the signs when I shopped for 2 days straight trying to find ski pants that were big enough to fit my ass. Skiing is not for the over-weight crowd. But nonetheless, I want to try everything that life has to offer and no bit of logic is going to convince me otherwise. New York State has a wonderful learn to ski program for 4th graders. For $19 your 4th grader gets 2 lift tickets and 1 voucher for a training class at each of your local NY ski lodges. Along with this package, an adult guardian gets the same thing for 20% off, and these vouchers included ski equipment rental. What a steal! So I set out to learn to ski this year with my 4th grade son. He wanted to learn to snowboard, thanks to Sean White's amazing Winter Olympics performance, but I said that we should learn the classic downhill skiing first, then move on to snowboarding.
Our first lesson and trips down the bunny hill were at Holiday Valley in Ellicottville. Before I even left the lodge I was in trouble. The skis that I rented were brand new and the boots were unisex. They were so high and tight on my fat calves that I tried to walk on my tip toes inside the boot. No matter how loose I made them, they dug into my calves. I was almost in tears before my lesson even began. This lesson was 2 hours long... I made it 1 hour and 45 minutes before I had to give into the pain. I couldn't do any of the turns or anything because of the severe pain in my calves. Luckily for me the nice lady at the rental shack felt bad that I was crying and gave me my rental money back... The rest of that week I had pain walking because the backs of my calves were purple and swollen. I refused to do that again but I still wanted to ski, so during the week I went to Red Door Ski Shop and bought my own boots which flexed in the calf and were a bit lower. It was like wearing slippers! I allowed 2 weeks for the bruises on my calf to heal and then we went out to try again.
Next stop, Kissing Bridge. This was more my style because I didn't feel like I was in Aspen... yeah, it wasn't as nice in the lodge and stuff, but I was a sloppy beginner, I felt out of place at Holiday Valley. The hardest part of this day was holding onto the tug rope to get up the bunny hill. I swear if they had a chair lift to get up the bunny hill, I would still be there skiing now. About halfway through this lesson I got the lightbulb over my head as I got it.... I learned that I can control my speed by doing s-curves, I learned that I can stop simply by turning back up towards the top of the hill. And my son taught me to do it all without poles. He and I had mastered the bunny hill. We spent all day enjoying our time there and decided if we could make it down 20 times in a row without falling, we were ready for the real hill. And so we did and my calves felt great. Life was good, and we left KB eager for the next weekend so we can come back and buy a lift ticket.
That week, the first week of March, we hit a warm spell. On Wednesday the temps hit 40 and it rained for a day. I was so sad because it didn't look like skiing was going to be an option that weekend. I called Red Door to see if I could rent skis there too and the man told me that even if it snows again that week, once it has rained, skiing is not a smart move, especially for beginners. Ah fiddlesticks... what does he know! The temperatures went down to 20 on Thursday and it snowed an inch or so Friday. So now it was cold enough for there to still be snow on the hills. My son and I were off to try the "real hill".
So back to Kissing Bridge we went. First of all, the chair lift was the most terrifying experience of my life. I am afraid of heights, it seems that fear gets worse with age, and to be that high up with a 9 year old next to you is even more scary. As if the height wasn't enough, I had 40lbs of boots and skis that were beckoning my legs to hit the ground.... 40 feet below. And it doesn't stop there... This was our 3rd time on skis. Confidence is not in the cards. When you realize where the chair lift drops off, it doesn't stop and allow you step off. You need to time exactly when to 'hop' off and when you do 'hop' off, you are hopping onto a 2ft by 2 ft landing at the top of a steep hill. A short hill, but steep nonetheless... so as soon as you are off the chair, you are skiing down a hill.... with your 9 year old son next to you. I thought I was going to die right there. But I lived. I guess that which doesn't kill you makes you stronger.
We started on a nice easy hill, the easiest one there or so the person selling lift tickets told me. The name of the slope was 'Dream'. For me, it was more like 'Nightmare'. It was a 2 step slope. The first half was a nice slope, quick but not dangerous. I was able to make nice big S's and enjoy myself. It was a little icey and if I cut my S too tight, I fell, but I was able to hop right back up. This is so peaceful, I love it! Well, Dream only goes halfway down the mountain and then you end up at 'Exhibition'. Dream actually went up a bit like on a mound, then turned into Exhibition. 'La la la la' I think as as I go up Dream, then as I approach Exhibition, I can see for the first time the bottom of the slope and the lodge. Holy hell... my fear of heights kicked in again and BOOM, I hit the ground. Oops. I get up and try again, but when I fell I knocked the binding on my boot loose so 2 feet later I immediately fell again. Damn, this is hard.. Quite honestly, as I look down, I think to myself, 'how the hell am I going to get to the bottom of this hill? There is no flippin way I am skiing down it, I am going to crash straight into that lodge and kill myself... where is my son? Oh, there he is, at the bottom of the hill... how'd he do that?' Well, I am only 34 years old and pretty young... suck it up and let's do this! Woo Hoo! Big S curves I go, trying to slow myself down, concentrate on little bits at a time, don't focus on the bottom of the hill. 'Why the heck are these 4 year olds speeding straight down the hill? Don't they know they are going to crash and hit the lodge at the bottom?' One S curve at a time I go and I am actually getting there. This isn't bad, although I think I forgot to breathe since I hit the Expedition slope. Then I notice there is a huge patch of grass to the far left... oh no, I better not hit that or I will seriously hurt myself. Concentrating too hard on NOT hitting something is almost a sure reason why you WILL hit it. I know this, which is why as I somehow veered straight for it. I cut my S curve too tight and of course hit the ground with a hard thud. This time when I hit, I fell on the side of my right hip and slid down the hill on it. My helmet (Thank God I rented one) bounced off the snow about 6 times as I went down. My glasses shattered and cut my nose at my forehead. Once ski went down the hill and made it to the lodge without crashing into it (I should have just let the skis do the skiing, they knew were to go.) The other ski was still on my foot and my poles were... heck, I don't think I ever saw them again. Wow, I fell, hard. That was embarrassing. I look around and don't see a single person in sight, I don't even see the bottom of the hill anymore. Where the heck is my ski? But I was actually relieved because now with just one ski I had no choice but to walk down the hill. Hooray! I found a way to the bottom. But not so fast there... when I went to stand up I found that I couldn't support myself and fell immediately. What in the world had happened to my hip? I couldn't stand on it at all. What in the world was I going to do?
Luckily for me, a 6 year old happened by me and asked if I was ok and I said no, I couldn't walk, so she went to go find me help. Oh my God, I think I really broke my leg... I never even made it down the hill once. What the hell? People do this for fun? I always thought a broken leg skiing was just a saying, like "you'll shoot your eye out" on the movie A Christmas Story. Well, then 2 teenagers, one girl and one boy, came upon me and put me on a tobaggan and dragged me to the bottom of the hill. They were on skis and I remember being more scared of these 2 kids dragging me on skis... I am destined to crash into that lodge. Finally I am safe at the bottom of the hill and my son, his other 9 year old friend, and his Mom were there wondering where I have been and can they go down again. OMG. Go...go, please don't look at me, I am failure and I can't walk! I don't know how I am going to get up and go home. So I visit the first aid shack and the ladies are asking if they can look at my hip to see if it is broken. It is so fat I tell them not to waste their time, they won't be able to tell. So that is why fat people shouldn't ski. I never did go see a real doctor, but I could barely walk or sit for at least a week, maybe 2. Two months later I was still limping. That was the last time I tried skiing. People have asked if I will try again this year. It is not the pain of falling I am scared of, it is the feeling of terror when I saw just how high up on a hill I was and the fear of not knowing how I would get down alive. Damn fear of heights... how do I get over this??? So I tell everyone I will ski again, once I lose 50lbs. Well, we know that will never happen, so I should be good. And I have a brand new pair of ladies ski boots size 9.5 for sale, only worn twice, never made it down a hill once. Any takers?
Don't Wear Crocs in the Rain
We knew we couldn't be there for the showing, so we planning on taking some much needed R&R and bringing the kids to Jellystone campground for the weekend. Two kids, dog, and camper in stow we left Friday evening to relax and get some sun until Sunday. Friday was great although it was raining, so we didn't have a fire or anything, we hung out in the camper and watched movies. Hubby and I had both worked full days, so a low key night was just fine for us. We were so happy that the next morning was dry and warm. Not a lot of sun, but it wasn't raining. Hooray! Me and the kids headed over to the water park and hubby took the dog for a swim in the pond. We swam until about 3:00. The kids even got me to go down the waterslide. I went down 3 times until the last time, the sharp turn at the end flipped me completely over and I landed on my face on the hard waterslide. Man, the bigger they are, the harder they fall. My nose felt like someone punched me, but I fought hard not to cry as the kids as they fell into the water laughing at me. Ok, I was done with this, I am going to lay here and read my book. Let me know when you are done swimming. About 4:00 the kids were done swimming and wanted me to go make hot dogs, so I stop by the ranger station and order some campfire wood, tell them our site #, and walk back. By the time we got back it started to sprinkle and I was hoping the wood would come soon. If the fire was going good, a little bit of mist wasn't going to put it out. I was wet already anyway, so it wouldn't bother me. Then it came. A torrential downpour. Towns within 50 miles reported tornadoes. The wind was so strong we thought our camper was going to tip over. But on the bright side, they just dropped off a cord of firewood! They left it right over there in that puddle!
Damn it, I was here to camp and have a good time. No flippin rain is going to stop me, so I lift the wood out of the puddle, put it in the fire ring, dump an entire bottle of starter fluid on it, and stand over my fire holding an umbrella over it. About 45 minutes later I got that fire going. You CANNOT RAIN ON MY PARADE. When I set my mind to something, it is going to happen. End of story. We grilled our dinner on a 12" x 6" portable grill on the folding table under our awning so we could get it cooked. We boiled corn on the cob on the stove in the camper with a bucket of rain water we caught off the awning. You see, we are all about nature :o) Around 10:00 at night, after the kids watched 'What about Bob' for the 3rd time, the rain subsided to a mere drizzle and we all came out and hung out around my fire, which I used the entire cord of wood to make and keep going through a rain storm. It would be bed time soon since I was just about out of wood and had no more money to buy more. I had my first beer of the day and put my soaking wet crocs next to the fire to dry out for a while. Thank God I had those crocs. I didn't have to worry about them getting wet, but they were warm and comfortable. I loved those things. I was not looking forward to packing up in the morning. The 2 rugs under the awning had puddles on them, nothing was dry. Every towel we brought with us was soaked, the dog is covered in mud. the floor inside the camper was covered in mud... but we couldn't go home early because the house was pristinely cleaned and staged for tomorrow's open house. 10 loads of wet clothes and towels and a muddy dog would not help me sell my house.
Finally around 11 pm I went into the camper to tuck the kids in bed. The rain had officially stopped and I was going to relax in front of the fire with a beer or a glass of wine. The kids were pretty much sleeping already in front of the TV, so I quietly moved them to their beds and turned off the lights. Finally things were going my way. As I stepped out of the camper in my wet crocs, slowly walking sideways down the stairs so I don't wake anyone up and don't scrap the back of my leg on the step (it always dipped down and was awkward), my wet croc caught the very edge of the wet, carpeted stair and I tumble out the door of the camper and hit the big puddle in the middle of the carpet under the awning. My louder than heaven scream was preluded by a "pop" that could be heard up at the ranger station. So much for not waking anyone up, as my husband laughs, but rushes over to me nonetheless, and both kids are opening the mini blinds to see what that siren is outside their windows. "Do you think it is broken?" my husband asks me... but I say, "no, I am sure I just sprained it again". This would be my 3rd serious sprain in 2 years on the same ankle. I am thinking about just cutting it off to save myself the co-pays and x-rays. It hurt like hell when I fell, but I was able to hop over to the fire relatively painlessly. I honestly couldn't feel any pain in my ankle so I figured I just tweaked it. Some wine should take the edge off and I would be fine. In the dim firelight, I watched a softball grow out of the side of my ankle. Well, I had cankles anyway, so maybe I just never looked at it in this light. Wow, I need to lose some weight I am thinking. When I went to go to bed around 1, it hurt like heck to put weight on my leg, but if I wasn't walking, it wasn't hurting. So I took some tylenol and called it a night. I didn't want to turn on the lights to look at it because I didn't want to wake up the kids. So I took my cell phone out, the one with a 3MB camera and a bright flash, and took a picture of my ankle so I can see the damage. Hm, That didn't look right. I should stop by Immediate Care before going to work on Monday.... and I fell asleep.
The wine I drank helped me fall asleep fast, but not for long. About 4:00 the pounding in my ankle began. It was raining outside again and pitch black. Hubby and all kids were snoring. There was no way I was going back to bed. Was there a hospital around here? Where is here? Man, I don't want to wake up my family and make them take me home... what can I do... so I layed awake until 6am when I called my Dad and asked him to come get me. No big hurry, but soon please. My husband was going to need help packing up the camper and I couldn't stand. My Dad called around 10am and said he was just leaving. By this time I was mad with pain and my husband had pretty much picked up the big soggy everything and dumped it in the camper... let's get the heck out of here and forget this miserable weekend ever happened! Nevermind Dad, we couldn't wait.
We had a 1:00 birthday party that day and we couldn't go home because of the open house. I had my husband drop me off at Immediate Care so they could give me an air cast for my sprain and some 800mg Ibuprofen and then he could pick me up and bring me to the birthday party. One hour later and the doc confirmed it was not a sprain, my ankle (fibula to be exact) was broken. But it is a single fracture, nothing they could really do. Here is an aircast, some 800mg ibuprofen, and stay off it for 4 weeks. Oh, is that it? Of course, I can lay down with my leg up for 4 weeks... no crutches? Nothing. I couldn't walk out on my own 2 feet so I had my husband bring me my Dad's old crutches and we set off to the birthday party. No fun. And no present because I planned on shopping for it that morning.
I was at Pinnacle Orthopedics for 20 minutes when he saw how swollen my foot was and put me in a cast. Immediately my foot felt better. With my weight, he said I just needed more support than the aircast could give me. Even though the cast made it feel so much better, my summer was over. No swimming, no biking, and I still had an open house every weekend that I had to clean my house for. Man... when was this year going to be over?
Fat People Shouldn't Ski
We should start in February. Let me give you a word of advice... if you are over 30 years old, 100 pounds overweight, and can't walk a straight line stone-cold sober, learning to downhill ski is probably not for you. I should have seen the signs when I shopped for 2 days straight trying to find ski pants that were big enough to fit my ass. Skiing is not for the over-weight crowd. But nonetheless, I want to try everything that life has to offer and no bit of logic is going to convince me otherwise. New York State has a wonderful learn to ski program for 4th graders. For $19 your 4th grader gets 2 lift tickets and 1 voucher for a training class at each of your local NY ski lodges. Along with this package, an adult guardian gets the same thing for 20% off, and these vouchers included ski equipment rental. What a steal! So I set out to learn to ski this year with my 4th grade son. He wanted to learn to snowboard, thanks to Sean White's amazing Winter Olympics performance, but I said that we should learn the classic downhill skiing first, then move on to snowboarding.
Our first lesson and trips down the bunny hill were at Holiday Valley in Ellicottville. Before I even left the lodge I was in trouble. The skis that I rented were brand new and the boots were unisex. They were so high and tight on my fat calves that I tried to walk on my tip toes inside the boot. No matter how loose I made them, they dug into my calves. I was almost in tears before my lesson even began. This lesson was 2 hours long... I made it 1 hour and 45 minutes before I had to give into the pain. I couldn't do any of the turns or anything because of the severe pain in my calves. Luckily for me the nice lady at the rental shack felt bad that I was crying and gave me my rental money back... The rest of that week I had pain walking because the backs of my calves were purple and swollen. I refused to do that again but I still wanted to ski, so during the week I went to Red Door Ski Shop and bought my own boots which flexed in the calf and were a bit lower. It was like wearing slippers! I allowed 2 weeks for the bruises on my calf to heal and then we went out to try again.
Next stop, Kissing Bridge. This was more my style because I didn't feel like I was in Aspen... yeah, it wasn't as nice in the lodge and stuff, but I was a sloppy beginner, I felt out of place at Holiday Valley. The hardest part of this day was holding onto the tug rope to get up the bunny hill. I swear if they had a chair lift to get up the bunny hill, I would still be there skiing now. About halfway through this lesson I got the lightbulb over my head as I got it.... I learned that I can control my speed by doing s-curves, I learned that I can stop simply by turning back up towards the top of the hill. And my son taught me to do it all without poles. He and I had mastered the bunny hill. We spent all day enjoying our time there and decided if we could make it down 20 times in a row without falling, we were ready for the real hill. And so we did and my calves felt great. Life was good, and we left KB eager for the next weekend so we can come back and buy a lift ticket.
That week, the first week of March, we hit a warm spell. On Wednesday the temps hit 40 and it rained for a day. I was so sad because it didn't look like skiing was going to be an option that weekend. I called Red Door to see if I could rent skis there too and the man told me that even if it snows again that week, once it has rained, skiing is not a smart move, especially for beginners. Ah fiddlesticks... what does he know! The temperatures went down to 20 on Thursday and it snowed an inch or so Friday. So now it was cold enough for there to still be snow on the hills. My son and I were off to try the "real hill".
So back to Kissing Bridge we went. First of all, the chair lift was the most terrifying experience of my life. I am afraid of heights, it seems that fear gets worse with age, and to be that high up with a 9 year old next to you is even more scary. As if the height wasn't enough, I had 40lbs of boots and skis that were beckoning my legs to hit the ground.... 40 feet below. And it doesn't stop there... This was our 3rd time on skis. Confidence is not in the cards. When you realize where the chair lift drops off, it doesn't stop and allow you step off. You need to time exactly when to 'hop' off and when you do 'hop' off, you are hopping onto a 2ft by 2 ft landing at the top of a steep hill. A short hill, but steep nonetheless... so as soon as you are off the chair, you are skiing down a hill.... with your 9 year old son next to you. I thought I was going to die right there. But I lived. I guess that which doesn't kill you makes you stronger.
We started on a nice easy hill, the easiest one there or so the person selling lift tickets told me. The name of the slope was 'Dream'. For me, it was more like 'Nightmare'. It was a 2 step slope. The first half was a nice slope, quick but not dangerous. I was able to make nice big S's and enjoy myself. It was a little icey and if I cut my S too tight, I fell, but I was able to hop right back up. This is so peaceful, I love it! Well, Dream only goes halfway down the mountain and then you end up at 'Exhibition'. Dream actually went up a bit like on a mound, then turned into Exhibition. 'La la la la' I think as as I go up Dream, then as I approach Exhibition, I can see for the first time the bottom of the slope and the lodge. Holy hell... my fear of heights kicked in again and BOOM, I hit the ground. Oops. I get up and try again, but when I fell I knocked the binding on my boot loose so 2 feet later I immediately fell again. Damn, this is hard.. Quite honestly, as I look down, I think to myself, 'how the hell am I going to get to the bottom of this hill? There is no flippin way I am skiing down it, I am going to crash straight into that lodge and kill myself... where is my son? Oh, there he is, at the bottom of the hill... how'd he do that?' Well, I am only 34 years old and pretty young... suck it up and let's do this! Woo Hoo! Big S curves I go, trying to slow myself down, concentrate on little bits at a time, don't focus on the bottom of the hill. 'Why the heck are these 4 year olds speeding straight down the hill? Don't they know they are going to crash and hit the lodge at the bottom?' One S curve at a time I go and I am actually getting there. This isn't bad, although I think I forgot to breathe since I hit the Expedition slope. Then I notice there is a huge patch of grass to the far left... oh no, I better not hit that or I will seriously hurt myself. Concentrating too hard on NOT hitting something is almost a sure reason why you WILL hit it. I know this, which is why as I somehow veered straight for it. I cut my S curve too tight and of course hit the ground with a hard thud. This time when I hit, I fell on the side of my right hip and slid down the hill on it. My helmet (Thank God I rented one) bounced off the snow about 6 times as I went down. My glasses shattered and cut my nose at my forehead. Once ski went down the hill and made it to the lodge without crashing into it (I should have just let the skis do the skiing, they knew were to go.) The other ski was still on my foot and my poles were... heck, I don't think I ever saw them again. Wow, I fell, hard. That was embarrassing. I look around and don't see a single person in sight, I don't even see the bottom of the hill anymore. Where the heck is my ski? But I was actually relieved because now with just one ski I had no choice but to walk down the hill. Hooray! I found a way to the bottom. But not so fast there... when I went to stand up I found that I couldn't support myself and fell immediately. What in the world had happened to my hip? I couldn't stand on it at all. What in the world was I going to do?
Luckily for me, a 6 year old happened by me and asked if I was ok and I said no, I couldn't walk, so she went to go find me help. Oh my God, I think I really broke my leg... I never even made it down the hill once. What the hell? People do this for fun? I always thought a broken leg skiing was just a saying, like "you'll shoot your eye out" on the movie A Christmas Story. Well, then 2 teenagers, one girl and one boy, came upon me and put me on a tobaggan and dragged me to the bottom of the hill. They were on skis and I remember being more scared of these 2 kids dragging me on skis... I am destined to crash into that lodge. Finally I am safe at the bottom of the hill and my son, his other 9 year old friend, and his Mom were there wondering where I have been and can they go down again. OMG. Go...go, please don't look at me, I am failure and I can't walk! I don't know how I am going to get up and go home. So I visit the first aid shack and the ladies are asking if they can look at my hip to see if it is broken. It is so fat I tell them not to waste their time, they won't be able to tell. So that is why fat people shouldn't ski. I never did go see a real doctor, but I could barely walk or sit for at least a week, maybe 2. Two months later I was still limping. That was the last time I tried skiing. People have asked if I will try again this year. It is not the pain of falling I am scared of, it is the feeling of terror when I saw just how high up on a hill I was and the fear of not knowing how I would get down alive. Damn fear of heights... how do I get over this??? So I tell everyone I will ski again, once I lose 50lbs. Well, we know that will never happen, so I should be good. And I have a brand new pair of ladies ski boots size 9.5 for sale, only worn twice, never made it down a hill once. Any takers?
Don't Wear Crocs in the Rain
Come June my hip was feeling almost back to normal, except on rainy days when it ached, but I was ready to move on to summer activities. We had decided that instead of bitching about how small our yard was each and every summer, we were going to do something about it and set out to find a new home with a bigger yard. We had put so much work into our house, we thought a good cleaning and it would be market ready. Then we had a stager come through and give us about 5 months of chores that needed to get done to make our house market ready for the price we wanted to sell it for. My husband and I worked endlessly cleaning, clearing, selling our belongings, moving furniture, repainting, reflooring, re-landscaping.. and finally the day was here: Our first open house.
We knew we couldn't be there for the showing, so we planning on taking some much needed R&R and bringing the kids to Jellystone campground for the weekend. Two kids, dog, and camper in stow we left Friday evening to relax and get some sun until Sunday. Friday was great although it was raining, so we didn't have a fire or anything, we hung out in the camper and watched movies. Hubby and I had both worked full days, so a low key night was just fine for us. We were so happy that the next morning was dry and warm. Not a lot of sun, but it wasn't raining. Hooray! Me and the kids headed over to the water park and hubby took the dog for a swim in the pond. We swam until about 3:00. The kids even got me to go down the waterslide. I went down 3 times until the last time, the sharp turn at the end flipped me completely over and I landed on my face on the hard waterslide. Man, the bigger they are, the harder they fall. My nose felt like someone punched me, but I fought hard not to cry as the kids as they fell into the water laughing at me. Ok, I was done with this, I am going to lay here and read my book. Let me know when you are done swimming. About 4:00 the kids were done swimming and wanted me to go make hot dogs, so I stop by the ranger station and order some campfire wood, tell them our site #, and walk back. By the time we got back it started to sprinkle and I was hoping the wood would come soon. If the fire was going good, a little bit of mist wasn't going to put it out. I was wet already anyway, so it wouldn't bother me. Then it came. A torrential downpour. Towns within 50 miles reported tornadoes. The wind was so strong we thought our camper was going to tip over. But on the bright side, they just dropped off a cord of firewood! They left it right over there in that puddle! Damn it, I was here to camp and have a good time. No flippin rain is going to stop me, so I lift the wood out of the puddle, put it in the fire ring, dump an entire bottle of starter fluid on it, and stand over my fire holding an umbrella over it. About 45 minutes later I got that fire going. You CANNOT RAIN ON MY PARADE. When I set my mind to something, it is going to happen. End of story. We grilled our dinner on a 12" x 6" portable grill on the folding table under our awning so we could get it cooked. We boiled corn on the cob on the stove in the camper with a bucket of rain water we caught off the awning. You see, we are all about nature :o) Around 10:00 at night, after the kids watched 'What about Bob' for the 3rd time, the rain subsided to a mere drizzle and we all came out and hung out around my fire, which I used the entire cord of wood to make and keep going through a rain storm. It would be bed time soon since I was just about out of wood and had no more money to buy more. I had my first beer of the day and put my soaking wet crocs next to the fire to dry out for a while. Thank God I had those crocs. I didn't have to worry about them getting wet, but they were warm and comfortable. I loved those things. I was not looking forward to packing up in the morning. The 2 rugs under the awning had puddles on them, nothing was dry. Every towel we brought with us was soaked, the dog is covered in mud. the floor inside the camper was covered in mud... but we couldn't go home early because the house was pristinely cleaned and staged for tomorrow's open house. 10 loads of wet clothes and towels and a muddy dog would not help me sell my house.
Finally around 11 pm I went into the camper to tuck the kids in bed. The rain had officially stopped and I was going to relax in front of the fire with a beer or a glass of wine. The kids were pretty much sleeping already in front of the TV, so I quietly moved them to their beds and turned off the lights. Finally things were going my way. As I stepped out of the camper in my wet crocs, slowly walking sideways down the stairs so I don't wake anyone up and don't scrap the back of my leg on the step (it always dipped down and was awkward), my wet croc caught the very edge of the wet, carpeted stair and I tumble out the door of the camper and hit the big puddle in the middle of the carpet under the awning. My louder than heaven scream was preluded by a "pop" that could be heard up at the ranger station. So much for not waking anyone up, as my husband laughs, but rushes over to me nonetheless, and both kids are opening the mini blinds to see what that siren is outside their windows. "Do you think it is broken?" my husband asks me... but I say, "no, I am sure I just sprained it again". This would be my 3rd serious sprain in 2 years on the same ankle. I am thinking about just cutting it off to save myself the co-pays and x-rays. It hurt like hell when I fell, but I was able to hop over to the fire relatively painlessly. I honestly couldn't feel any pain in my ankle so I figured I just tweaked it. Some wine should take the edge off and I would be fine. In the dim firelight, I watched a softball grow out of the side of my ankle. Well, I had cankles anyway, so maybe I just never looked at it in this light. Wow, I need to lose some weight I am thinking. When I went to go to bed around 1, it hurt like heck to put weight on my leg, but if I wasn't walking, it wasn't hurting. So I took some tylenol and called it a night. I didn't want to turn on the lights to look at it because I didn't want to wake up the kids. So I took my cell phone out, the one with a 3MB camera and a bright flash, and took a picture of my ankle so I can see the damage. Hm, That didn't look right. I should stop by Immediate Care before going to work on Monday.... and I fell asleep.
The wine I drank helped me fall asleep fast, but not for long. About 4:00 the pounding in my ankle began. It was raining outside again and pitch black. Hubby and all kids were snoring. There was no way I was going back to bed. Was there a hospital around here? Where is here? Man, I don't want to wake up my family and make them take me home... what can I do... so I layed awake until 6am when I called my Dad and asked him to come get me. No big hurry, but soon please. My husband was going to need help packing up the camper and I couldn't stand. My Dad called around 10am and said he was just leaving. By this time I was mad with pain and my husband had pretty much picked up the big soggy everything and dumped it in the camper... let's get the heck out of here and forget this miserable weekend ever happened! Nevermind Dad, we couldn't wait.
We had a 1:00 birthday party that day and we couldn't go home because of the open house. I had my husband drop me off at Immediate Care so they could give me an air cast for my sprain and some 800mg Ibuprofen and then he could pick me up and bring me to the birthday party. One hour later and the doc confirmed it was not a sprain, my ankle (fibula to be exact) was broken. But it is a single fracture, nothing they could really do. Here is an aircast, some 800mg ibuprofen, and stay off it for 4 weeks. Oh, is that it? Of course, I can lay down with my leg up for 4 weeks... no crutches? Nothing. I couldn't walk out on my own 2 feet so I had my husband bring me my Dad's old crutches and we set off to the birthday party. No fun. And no present because I planned on shopping for it that morning.
If that wasn't all fun enough, I find out later that day that we didn't have a single person come to our open house. Now I was pissed. By Tuesday, my ankle was every shade of black, brown, yellow, purple, and blue and the coloring was under my foot, all the way around my ankle, on top of my foot, and halfway up my calf. I could hardly stand the pain. Even just lying on the couch with my leg up, the pain was unbearable. I couldn't sleep because the pain of the sheet pulling across my toes was too much to handle. I called my primary doctor for a more powerful pain medication because the ibuprofen wasn't working. They gave me Tylenol with codeine. I might have well been taking St Joseph's chewable aspirin for pain as good as that did. No pain relief whatsoever. My primary refused to call me in anything else, they said I had to see a specialist. A week later I decided to go see the orthopedic specialist (Immediate care told me to make an appointment before I left, but also told me that they would not be able to do anything so if I wanted I could just not go and save myself the copay).
I was at Pinnacle Orthopedics for 20 minutes when he saw how swollen my foot was and put me in a cast. Immediately my foot felt better. With my weight, he said I just needed more support than the aircast could give me. Even though the cast made it feel so much better, my summer was over. No swimming, no biking, and I still had an open house every weekend that I had to clean my house for. Man... when was this year going to be over? Well, so my summer goes on, and even though it was hard to walk in a cast, it beat being in pain. Three weeks into wearing the cast the pain was almost completely gone. The only pain I had now was in my knee from walking in a cast. The bottom of the cast was almost completely worn away from showering with a plastic bag and constant walking around the house while getting it ready to sell. I even painted the outside of the house in it. The shiny black cast was covered in paint, all broken up and smooshed on the bottom, and our trip to Erie County Fair in the rain just about did it in. Man did that thing stink... and my toes were all itchy and stuff. It was 95 degrees outside and I was DONE. My ankle was fine. Immediate Care told me I didn't even need a cast, so now that the hard part is over, let's get this stupid thing off! Life Lesson: A cast does not come off easily, even if you believe it to be just about dissolved already. I went through 4 razor blades trying to cut that thing off. Halfway through the 2nd razor blade I thought, gee, the doctor wanted it on for 6-8 weeks, maybe I don't know what's best.... The smartest ideas are quickly fleeting from me. At that moment the razor blade broke off in my cast. Now it HAD to come off because there is a blade stuck in it. An hour later HOORAY HOORAY!!! I am free at last! It was the best day of the year! Except that my husband and father kept telling me how utterly stupid I was, and that didn't feel good. By that night, I couldn't walk again and my ankle was purple again. But my toes didn't itch and my leg was cleanly shaven. I still think it was a pretty good idea. Nonetheless, I was back at Pinnacle Orthopedics first thing Monday to get cast #2 put on. Fun fun, this time it was a fun pink color and I committed myself to keeping it on until the day the Doctor agreed to remove it, maybe longer.
On September 9th, I had my cast removed, promptly went home to shave my legs, and even more promptly reported to QNails for a pedicure. It was the best day of the year. But with all this not being able to exercise I had gained 10 lbs. And so it goes... the fat get fatter.
Auld Lang Syne... on to 2011
So from my injuries and stupidity of 2010, I leave this year and start a new one much smarter and with a clear picture of what needs to happen. Firstly, I need to lose 100 lbs. Secondly, I will not attempt things that I would do when I was 21 without proper training and conditioning. Thirdly, I will not wear crocs in the rain. And lastly, I will follow the instructions of people who are smarter than me and have years of education and training (like my doctor and the ski expert at Red Door Ski Shop). With that said, cheers to 2011!
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