a99kitten's Musings

I just finished Andrew Gross’ recent release “Eyes Wide Open”.

It was good. There were actually a couple parts where I was very stressed out and locked the doors at night! Husband asked “Why do you read books like this?” I don’t know. Same reason I watch “Criminal Minds” I guess?

This book is about a guy trying to figure out why his nephew died. The how he died was obvious. But the why is not so. If you like whodunit/whydunit kind of story lines moving at a pretty quick pace, this is for you. He wrote a couple books with James Patterson as well as a few on his own. I’ve read all of his books and have enjoyed them all. And he sent me a signed book jacket for this book! True, my book is a Kindle book but that was cool.

I will say that I wasn’t sure I would like this one once I started reading it. It starts off (no plot spoilers don’t worry) with a kid (early 20s) seemingly killing himself. We find out that he had drug problems, family problems, family drug problems, not an easy “adult” life. He had an uncle (his dad’s younger brother) who had a good life. Lived on the opposite coast, basically separated himself far from his Dad and brother as their problems became to be more self-inflicted and he didn’t want to deal with them and he was living a great life with his wife, kids, career, etc. But the Uncle wanted to get the nephew away from the Dad/brother and get his life back on track. The kid also might have died because his doctors just plainly sucked.

As I was reading this I was reading parallels into my own life into the story. Just happens sometimes. Why I stay away from certain movies, shows, books, etc. My little brother unexpectedly died last November. By unexpectedly I mean I am still not “over it”. He was on psych drugs over-prescribed by his suck-ass doctors when he never should have been on any. I hate psych drug and doctors. Period. My Dad is an alcoholic. He could have fixed this. He didn’t. Yes, I firmly believe this. I have very little sympathy for him. I wish things were different but they aren’t. But my life, apart from the far away family drama, has been a pretty darn good one. And I did always want to get my brother out of there. I am still, and will always be, firmly convinced that had I gotten him away from the drama and out with me where people and life was normal, he would have done much better in life.

I almost stopped reading the book after the first bit actually. Was too scab-picky. I’m still not “over” stuff. Better I suppose. But still easily moved by the littlest/oddest things. But thankfully the story moved over into serial cult killer storyline and, frankly, I was happy about it. Would rather get freaked out by creep factor than saddened by real life emotions. And plenty of creep factor in this book!!

I remember reading about the Charles Manson stuff when I was young. I loved the Beatles and Helter Skelter was a theme that Manson grabbed onto so I was interested. But I also remember being insanely creeped out by the books and photos of the murders. Manson is the poster child for why the death penalty should be utilized. It’s rather ironic (and disgustingly gross if that could also define ironic here) that Jerry is our Governor once again and Manson is still being kept alive by CA tax dollars.…jackass.

Anyway, that is the story that Andrew Gross drew a parallel to with this story. Crazy. Creepy and great for diverting “real-life” story lines. I actually shut my Kindle one night and put it down. ARGH! Too scary! But picked up again the next night because I needed to know how it ended. :)

The tougher part was that Andrew Gross wrote a postscript on the book. About his own nephew dying of unclear circumstances. Bad drugs by bad doctors. Unexplained and inexcusable BS by doctors misdiagnosing their patient. Back to my own internal sadness about my brother. Hit home that I still have his ashes to hike up to the top of a mountain. Now that my ankle is healed enough to hobble up there, I need to. I am not waiting through another winter of too much snow. But I’m also not picking another location for convenience.

As I type this I have the TV on. I can’t even count the commercials for psych drugs offered for every little single thing. Let’s F up your mental and emotional state to treat aches and pains, smoking, weight loss, PTSD, addiction, etc. It makes me sick.

Anyway, I do recommend this book if you like creepy :)

I wonder if any traders are singing this…

I bet a few in Hong Kong are right about now…

Last weekend, I went outside to take care of my kitty Gypsy. She lives in a big outside kitty house with kitty trees, shelves to jump on, etc. She used to live inside with her brother Jack. Then we got Angelus. He would chase the cats but generally left them alone once they jumped up into one of the trees or out of his way. Then we got Storm. Storm’s addition to the pack turned Angelus’ wolf/pack instinct on BIG time. BIG time. They would chase the cats. So every day when I got home, I would go inside, put the cats away in our home office, and then bring the dogs in (who always went to work with me). Then at night, would bring the dogs into the bedroom and put up the puppy gates, and then let the cats out to have the run of the house at night. Then in the AM – they got put away and the dogs were out in the house as I got ready for work. Rinse/Repeat. Every day.

Then when I was out of town and husband was in charge of this schedule for a day or 2, he let the dogs in before the cats were secured. They instantly found Jack and, as husband described it, acted just like wolves and chased/tag-teamed Jack and Angelus grabbed his butt in his mouth and Storm grabbed his front end in his mouth. All the while Jack was scratching at Storm’s face and Storm did not care. This all happened in like 3 seconds and then husband picked up both dogs by the scruff of their necks and they dropped Jack who ran into the closet and likely began plotting everyone’s deaths…or at least whose stuff he was going to pee on first.

Husband told me this and I freaked. He said we needed to find the kitties a safer home. I was sad about this as I had Jack before I had husband. But they weren’t safe here and that was not fair to them. At the same time, trying to find 2 kitties a home is pretty hard. And I was not just dropping them off at a shelter. That was not an option.

In the meantime, husband drove to Fresno or some such inland hellhole and bought a cat house. No – not a whore house. An actual cat house that you build – they supply all the pieces. He brought it home and had it built in the backyard over a weekend.  We put 2 cat trees in as well as various levels of beds in there. And moved the cats out there.

It made me sad. And I still feel like a cat mom failure.   Jack died 2 years ago. This left Gypsy alone and this made me feel even worse. She really belongs inside with someone who will let her cuddle and luxuriate around the house. Maybe even in bed.

I try and visit and spend time with her every day. Sometimes it’s just to check her food and water and a quick pet. Sometimes I hang out and just pet her. Still not the same though.  She needs a new Mom.

But she has always been on Advantage. And the dogs have always been on Frontline. I have literally NEVER seen a flea inside the house or on any of my animals EVER. Not ever.

Then, last Sunday, I went outside to spend more time with Gypsy than a quick pet and food check. I swept her floor and cleaned her water fountain (we ran power down there from under the house and she has a running-water fountain.)

I usually let the dogs out in the backyard while I do this, as they like to sniff around. Especially Angelus who likes to sniff around for critter scents.  We all went inside and upstairs. I went outside to the top deck to pet Storm and saw like 10 fleas all around his face. ARGH! ARGH! I was thinking it was the beach or something weird as we had just returned from Mavericks before I went out and saw Gyspy. I took a pot of water and a brush out on the deck and brushed and picked every flea off Storm – drowning them in the water. Since he is white and half naked, this was fairly easy.

I still was thinking this was beach related and went back outside to put the freshly washed and dried blankets back into Gypsy’s beds and then I saw my pants were covered in fleas. ARGH!!!!! ARGH TIMES 100000000!!!!!

I dropped everything. I tore all of Gypsy’s beds and blankets out and threw them onto the deck.  I ran inside, ripped my clothes off and threw them all into the shower and closed the bathroom door. I changed and wrapped everything into a large towel and then started a laundry cycle of my clothes, then the dog beds in the bedroom (that I had to run by) and then rewash all of Gypsy’s stuff in hot water, double rinse and then hot dryer.

Meanwhile, went upstairs and checked the dates on the dogs Frontline and Gypsy’s Advantage. The dogs had just gotten their Frontline applied about 2 weeks ago so if any fleas bit them, they would definitely die. But Gypsy’s Advantage was due in a few days so I went ahead and did it early. Same thing – they had to bite her to die. These things aren’t repellant. They are supposed to actually work longer than a month though so there was NO reason they wouldn’t be working.

I researched stuff online as I did not want super poisonous stuff around any of them but wanted some kind of spray to use outside. White vinegar supposedly repels/kills them but otherwise, you needed to buy stuff. I used some white vinegar in the laundry but pretty sure the hot water and laundry detergent was probably fine.

I then had to brush and pick off fleas from Angelus. Angelus has 2 thick coats. He is the fluffiest beast I know.   Excellent. I was wiping a cloth with white/vinegar and water on him as well as picking the fleas off and drowning them. They were concentrated on his face and paws. Same as Storm.   I know they were poking around behind our shed while we were down there and I think the fleas have come from critters in the yard. We have a family of either raccoons or skunks living under the house. I hear them sometimes and Angelus knows there is something under the deck as he tries to dig under there if left alone in the backyard. Which is why he is not allowed.

So off I went in search of a natural flea repellant and killer. It uses peppermint oil and other oils that apparently fleas hate. Turns out Pet Club had it. As I was looking at the various products they had (a whole aisle) I overheard the worker telling 2 women about flea control. He is describing the benefits of Frontline and other topical stuff for dogs. But then he is adding how the fleas need to bite the dog to die. So you need a repellant in addition to the topical. I have never had to use this. I guess the coastside has fewer fleas because it’s never really warm enough for them to thrive. And Tahoe has no fleas. Another reason to live there.

Anyway, he says to them “the stock market has been down almost 1000 points lately. Do you know what this means? It means people lost a lot of money. Then you have people who have lost their jobs. This means they have no money. You know what they give up? Pet care. And not food – but flea control.”  I think to myself “Ok, CNBC market commentator/Pet Club guy? Really?” But Ok…he’s not wrong either.

He goes on to say we might put topical control on your pets, but others may not. And then think of all the dogs your dogs meet and play with at the beach or in the park, or the cats that go through your yard, or the wild animals that do, and all those animals could carry fleas. And the fleas will be there until they bite your pet. ARGH!

So I bought the carpet powder, the spray for the beds and the dogs and then the spray for outside.  I HATE bugs. HATE. And fleas and ticks are on the top of that list.  So I wanted to use everything I could to get rid of them. It smells a bit but the dogs didn’t seem to care when I put the spray on my hands and them rubbed in into their fur.

So then this morning, I went out and sprayed all of Gypsy’s trees and then all around her house. I get inside and see about 5 fleas on me. ARGH!!!!!!!!! Because let’s be real here – all of the animals are flea protected and I just sprayed repellant on everything so if you were a plea – where would YOU jump? ARGH!!  I freak out once again (please be aware how much I truly I HATE bugs. Hate them. In a kinda sorta completely irrational kinda way hate. I would rather a bear was in my house eating all the food in my fridge.)

So I tear all my clothes off and throw them in the washer and turn on the hot water cycle and then go change. And then realize my iPhone was in my pocket. I yell out loud NOOOOO! And run to the washer. It was full. With hot water. And I stuck my hands in the hot water searching for the phone. Found it. On the bottom of the washer. And my right hand/lower arm seem a bit scalded. Phone is done. So I need to go buy one on Monday. Driving over the hill and getting annoyed by tourist traffic to do it over the weekend will just be rubbing salt in the wound.

So the fleas have cost me $80 worth of flea products. $400+ for the new phone on Monday and a ton of stress and time. The money is an annoyance. The stock market took far, far more of my money this week. But the stress pissed me off.  And the feeling of ARGH upsets me. I will now go through another day thinking bugs are on me and mentally freaking out.

This could have been an episode of I Love Lucy. This seems like a ridiculous Lucy and Ethel kind of situation. So Happy Birthday Lucy. You wear 100 well.

And yes, fleas, and the people that might not use flea control, are the scourge of the Earth to me today. Fuckers. Obviously wild critters who just happen to get fleas can’t be blamed. And I can’t go around buying them all Frontline. THAT would be a good Lucy episode though. Or maybe more Laverne & Shirley.

Sigh. Is it too early to open a bottle of wine?

Guy at post office just told me that he thought I was a little kid when I walked in. Hmmmmm….

1. Because I look SO young? (I vote for this one!)

2. Because you are like a foot taller than me giant man and this is your way of saying the rest of us are Lilliputians?

3. Because I am wearing a lot of pink today? (was asked earlier if could possibly wear more pink today. My answer was yes. I could. Is that a dare? And For The Record I’m wearing a pink top with pink ballet flats and a plaid headband that has some pink in it and THAT’S THE ONLY PINK sheesh. You’d think I was dressed like I was going to a Mary Kay convention.)

4. Some other unknown reason????

…it’s not really about the actual convention which I love but San Diego, the people all crammed in and around, etc. As we walked downtown to go to lunch away from the convention center today it was really trashy. And I don’t mean that the area is normally this way because I’ve been down here more than enough times when it’s not Comic Con time to know it’s actually a great downtown area. Much better than the slimy mudhole that most of San Francisco is.

But during Comic Con it has kinda turned into a weird Mardi Gras. Or the older, cheaper end of the Vegas strip. Where there are tons of people handing out tons of crap, too many people who throw that said crap onto the ground, a carny-like atmosphere with people hustling you for pedi-cab rides, to come into their bar, restaurant, etc, ads on everything and everywhere, people aggressively asking if you will sell them your badge, and way, way, way too many people. And these aren’t all convention goers. Just people who come downtown for the party that has now taken over the entire area and not just the convention center and a hotel or 2.

We walked about 15-20 minutes away and it was much quieter down there. But the closer you got to the convention center, the more obnoxious it became. It totally reminded me of the cheaper end of the Vegas strip. I never go down there anymore because it’s simply so annoying and Vegas can be annoying ion a good day. I stick by the Wynn. Although now that they opened the City Center maybe that will help that end out.

But yeah…it screams tacky. And yucky. Nerdy and geeky I take happily. Tacky, slutty, cheap and yucky – you can keep. And this is another reason I will only ever stay in a hotel right next to the convention center. So I can stay in my little bubble and be happy and unaware in it.

Simply put, San Diego has a beautiful downtown area/Gaslamp District. It just gets taken over for 5 days a year. And again, I am not going to blame the actual Con or the average con attendee. These are different sponsors. Different parties. Different crowd. I blame LA actually….

You would have been 28 today.

I remember all the birthdays I got you Ducktales cakes, Teenage Mutant Ninja cakes, or GI Joe cakes. Of all the GI Joe stuff I put together with you on your birthday. And the Super Mario we played. As you got older, I realized you preferred money or gift cards, which isn’t nearly as much fun to shop for, but hope you always had a good and fun birthday.

I recently received a letter from the man who received one of your kidneys. He has a new life off of dialysis to spend with his kids. He said he had given up on ever getting a match. It’s sad for me to read but good at the same time. I hope he realizes how lucky he is. Pretty sure he does.

I was hoping to hike your ashes up to Hawks Peak today. I always wanted you out here in CA with me, and you finally realized, after your tumultuous teen/early 20s years, that it would be a good thing. I want part of you free in the mountain air where I know you would have loved it.

I am still sad. And think life is wickedly unfair and stupid. But there isn’t much to do about that other than recognize it and deal with it. Never think for a second I will ever forget you. That I won’t still laugh at all the funny stuff. I have the Chewbacca action figure you gave me 1 week before you died. It will always be my most treasured and favorite Chewbacca.

I hope you are enjoying a much easier, fun new life where you are now. Wherever that is.

I miss you dude. A lot.

I think I over-did it this week/weekend.  Apparently it’s not uncommon for back/spinal issues when you have a broken limb due to the hobbling/cane or crutch use. Awesome. I ended up with a pinched nerve which hurt WAY more than the broken ankle. Went to the chiropractor and he said it was a mess. Nice. My whole right side is messed up from being off-kilter for 5 weeks. Sigh. For someone who has never really hurt herself or been ill, this truly SUCKS. Oh well, 2 chiro visits in and it’s getting better. Not great – I still need BioFreeze for my upper back/shoulder and my right arm. And use a heating pad. And wish I had those pain shots the football players get in their muscles to get back onto the field…I’ve been doing a lot of stuff around the office that I had put off these past 4 weeks so that probably didn’t help. Oopsie #1.

I took the buds for walks yesterday and today. Yes, I know. Not supposed to. But they needed a walk and needed to get outside. We just meandered sloooowly around the neighborhood. They wanted the beach but there was no way I could do that and even I recognized that. We were walking so slow, I know they were thinking “Jeez Mom, any slower and we’d be walking backwards…” but we walked around and sniffed and peed on a lot of stuff (well…they did that!) But I think the extra hobbling/walking didn’t help my back/shoulder/arm. And then the leash use. My chiro actually said working on the computer was the worst, especially mouse usage. Excellent. So leash usage is OK! (in my own head anyway) Oopsie #2.

BUT – I am now wearing my smaller aircast brace when at home and to bed. And I really like it so much better! Tried putting a sneaker on with it – HA! No…not yet. But at least I get to wear that at home. Yay!

I was also running around (OK, let’s be real…hobbling around) getting stuff done in the house. Nothing major – just stuff. But lots of stairs in my house. So between all of this, my calf/ankle/foot is pretty sore. BUT – not as swollen as after a full day of work. So there is that. And my shoulder/arm hurts. And I’m tired since I can’t sleep well. Ready for the work week! Meh. I’ll take the hobbly ankle over the back/neck/arm pain. That needs to go away now.

Mother’s Day was OK. I bought some more flowers on Friday and the ones I bought last week are still nice looking so now I have 4 vases of pretty flowers all around. Love it! Hung out w/the huskies all weekend. Was cold, cloudy and windy on Saturday. But Sunday around 11am, the sun finally came out! So I made myself 2 homemade mimosas and sat outside in the front yard with the huskies. Well, Storm hung out with me and Angelus was busy looking for a present for me (digging for gophers…luckily for me and the gophers, he didn’t find any.) Mother’s Day is a bit weird. I do miss my Mom so hearing everyone else go on about theirs  can sometimes put me in a melancholy mood. But it happens. Way it is.  And I had a good conversation with my mother-in-law who really is the best you could ask for. Plus my brother’s birthday is coming up very soon and I wanted to hike his ashes up to a certain peak in Tahoe but now I can’t. Thanks ankle. But I will have to figure out another day for that.

The body pain is just hurting and making me tired which then allows me to get sad. Got to remember that. And when I do – I will feel better. Mind over matter is my motto. I read a really good quote on tumblr last week. I don’t recall it exactly but I think something like “I’m not crying because I am weak. I’m crying because I’ve been strong for too long.” I thought that was a good one. Maybe a famous one, but I’ve never heard it. Every once in awhile you just need a cry to get it out. And then you’re fine. I didn’t cry this weekend or anything. Although Grey’s Anatomy was sappy! Hell – I never even cried after breaking my ankle. Thought about it. But I just rubbed some dirt on it instead (well…it was all rubbed in there from the fall anyway.) But I can’t say I won’t get sad on my brother’s birthday.

GAH! Enough emo. What I did do this weekend is buy a cute purse! Kate Spade Jardin Tweed:

I love tweed. I have a black and white with gold hardware tweed. But now wearing spring and summer colors – this one was totally needed! PINK! With other light spring colors and PINK chain and lock! Cannot wait to get it! And it was on sale! With free shipping! :) Oopsie #3 (but who cares!?)

Huskies, flowers, sunshine and retail therapy = good fix :)

So yesterday, May 1st , not only marked the day of dancing around may poles with flowers in your hair (the OG dirty hippies!), or the stupid union s who high jacked the day to celebrate a massacre and disorder by THEM (jerks) or even the day Osama was gotten rid of. No, it also marked the 4 week mark of my ankle break. Much bigger news – I KNOW!

Anyway – got my check up today. X-ray showed it was still broken. Dammit. Was hoping it was a dream like Bobby taking a shower and coming out and seeing Pamela and that whole dreadful season was a dream…I digress…my doc showed me the break. I saw 2 breaks. He said my break is called a spiral fracture. He said because we are looking at the x-ray straight on, it looks like 2 breaks. He said imagine taking an empty paper towel roll and twisting both ends until it spiraled up. That’s my bone.  Uhh….no…let’s NOT imagine that!

But he said (obviously) not healed yet, but still aligned so that’s great. I asked “should it still hurt this much?” He scoffed. Out loud. Sheesh. He said yes. The soreness, pain, swelling – all normal. Now, if all of a sudden I get a SHARP sudden pain = not good! But achey, uncomfortable pain = all fine. That’s good…I guess. He pressed on my BROKEN fibula and asked if it hurt – YES! WHAT THE HELL? Then pressed on the tibia side – no – didn’t really hurt, just sore. He said yep – all normal. Witch doctor.

I asked how long did he expect till the bone is healed. 6-8 weeks. WHAT? More?! ARGH! I asked when could I exercise, walk the dogs. He scoffed…out loud…again. I said come on – a mile or 2? Not 20. No hills! He said well, in 4 weeks I could try it with my boot on. But I will be hurting. A lot. Sounds fun! :/  He said he’d prefer I wait to do anything like that until I get my next x-ray in 6 weeks. Ugh. But he said I should schedule physical therapy appointments for a couple weeks from now. I don’t want physical therapy appointments – I want dog walking on the beach appointments.

I did get a smaller air cast thingie to wear at night – no more boot to bed!!! YAY!!!! And I can wear it around the house too. Not out and about yet. But progress….

I watched a movie tonight that made me sad. For silly reasons I guess. It was The Switch with Jennifer Aniston and Jason Bateman. Jason B is being an uncle/dad to Jennifer A’s kid (but he really is the actual dad but he hasn’t told her yet…you need to watch.) Anyway, she calls while out of town and he has to go and pick up the kids from school and de-louse the kid. That made me remember when my brother was living out here in CA with me (he was 10 I think) and his school (private so small enough to panic all of the parents quickly!) had an outbreak of lice. So I brought him home after buying everything in the store to delouse and washed his hair with the special shampoo and comb and washed everything single thing we owned in the house.  And we laughed about how stupid it was (but I was paranoid!) He didn’t have lice so yay – it worked. I guess I would be a decent Mom even to little humans. Sometimes.

But anyway, I got sad. Remembering. Weird trigger that’s for sure.

Then all of a sudden I heard the huskies barking. Loudly. They don’t do that often. I had taken my boot off to watch the movie and as soon as I heard the barks I jumped up and hopped to the window to see them. They weren’t up front. Crap. I remembered that I have the back door open which means back yard. That meant they were out back. Which means they likely saw skunks. NO! I cannot deal with deskunking a dog by myself on 1 good leg! Or worse – them getting a critter (raccoon, cat, etc.)

I hopped to the stairs, slid down them on my butt, hopped to the back deck and then outside. They were on the lower back deck looking and barking at something. I called and called them. They were not listening. This means critter. I hopped down to the lower deck and corralled them.  By the time I started to hop back up stairs with them my ankle was hurting a LOT. As well as my right leg, knee and arms from the hopping. Uh-oh.  I need the good leg! I finally got up to the sofa. Rested a bit. Pressed start on my 2nd movie and cursed the little rat bastards. Angelus did end up with a bite/scratch on his nose. I didn’t see it right away but when I brought him in for sleepy time, I saw a spot on his nose from a distance. Then saw it was blood when he got closer. Sigh. Cleaned it with antibiotic wash. He seems fine and likely annoyed he didn’t get revenge on the critter that did that to him. But I’ll stress about it until it heals. *grumblsnarfgrrfracknberry*

But I wasn’t sad anymore. Tired. In a pretty decent amount of pain. Annoyed. But not sad.

They are pretty crafty little guys. :)

It’s amazing what not doing anything and sitting on your arse does for the healing process. Last Monday and Tuesday I went to work and worked full days. At work i do try and stay seated most of the time but yes I do get up for the copy or fax machine or to go the bathroom which now seems about 10 miles away from my office. Plus I can’t really elevate my leg properly so it does get swollen. Plus my knee actually gets torqued under my desk trying to keep my leg elevated so it’s just a giant painful mess.

So by Tuesday night, my leg hurt. I think there is the pain/ache from the break and all of the associated swelling and bruising and healing going on all around it. But then there is the weight of this boot on my leg. It’s dang heavy. Plus I have to keep it on tight so my calf is just really over it. Then I think my other leg is just sore & tired from having to do all of the work! And when it hurts this much going to bed, I know I won’t sleep well. I sleep with the boot on since if I move my ankle the wrong way (which is any way really) during the night – OWWWWW! F***!!!!! (happened once, don’t need another lesson!) So I have a blanket on top of my bedspread to put my booted leg on and then just sleep on my back. Super comfy (no, not really.)

Sure enough, Wednesday AM I was exhausted and in pain. So I stayed home from work. Laid on the couch with my leg up and icing it throughout the day. Felt a bit better. But I still didn’t seem to sleep all that well. Woke up exhausted on Thursday. So stayed home again. I knew I had a LOT to do that had to be done ON Friday so rest up and work all day Friday. Again, stayed on the couch mostly except for when our accountant called with a gazillion questions about things that are downstairs in my home office (way to not wait until the last minute dude…grrr.)

And then I heard a ruckus outside. Lots of kid noise. So I hobbled over to the window and see 2 little boys in the street (one of them being our neighbor) poking something in the street, throwing pine cones at it. I think “if they are killing a critter I am going to go down and beat those serial killer in-training little bastards with my cane!” So I hobble down and out my driveway and down my street to the corner. They had already walked away and by the time I near the middle of the street, I see them coming back so I shout “Hey – you” and they look at me like the crazy lady I’m sure I looked like. “Yeah – you” I say. “Did you kill something out there in the street?” The one who is my neighbor comes right over “No, no – it was dead already and I was trying to move it out of the street.” Dead already huh? What is it I asked. He said it was a headless mole – wanna see? Umm. No. Thanks. He said maybe a cat got it? Sure – plausible. I do come across them on occasion (or more exactly – the huskies are sure to find them for me on our walks.) I did believe him because my neighbor’s kids (well, the boys) are the most polite, well mannered little kids that I have ever met. I call them the Stepford children. They call us the Huskies so it’s fair.

He starts walking back with me and asks “did you come all the way out here like that for an animal?” and points to my boot and cane? Yes I sure did. I wanted to make sure there wasn’t something suffering out here. “Oh…wow” he says. Then he starts chatting about the headless bunny they found in the park by the school. Umm..thanks kid for that pleasant visual. I say perhaps a mountain lion or coyote. He says we don’t have those here. Yes we do I say. No I don’t think so he says. So then I say “Vampire maybe?” He just looks at me like I just told him there are indeed ghosts. And then turns around to go back to his friend who is waiting for him. He turns around and yells “BYE!” They really are well mannered children. Meanwhile, Angelus was looking at me from the yard with a look of “Mom, I could have told you it wasn’t alive if you asked…”

I hobble back upstairs and collapse on the couch. My leg hurts now. You can feel the swelling against the boot. So ice time again. But if I didn’t go out there and check, I would have been inside wondering about it and not able to get it out my head that a critter was out in the street suffering in pain. I couldn’t deal with that.

But Friday AM I woke up after a decent night’s sleep and my leg felt as OK as it can. So 2 days of arse-sitting (new Olympic sport??) with my leg elevated correctly and icing it was good for it. So off to work I went and got a lot done. By around 2pm, my leg was hurting but I needed to finish some stuff. I left a little after 5pm in a decent amount of pain. Brilliant timing on my part – 5pm on a Friday. Just me and everyone else going home. Doh. When I got to the Safeway by my house, traffic was stopped on Highway 1 so I swung in to get a few things. I was tired and grumpy but wanted to do it now while I was right here and it beat sitting in traffic.

Motoring down one of the aisles was a guy on the motorized Safeway cart. Dang i think – I should have looked for that! And this guy was grumpy. And taking up the entire aisle and not caring or even looking around. Bumped his cart into a woman. What a jerk I think. When I drove my cart at Costco – I paid attention to not run into other people’s carts! He turned down the wine aisle and and I’m thinking “you already drive so poorly….” But then I saw he was missing a leg. OK – he trumps me for sure. Because no matter how annoyed or grumpy I get with my immobility right now, I know it will heal. So while I will still get annoyed and grumpy about it, I do keep it in perspective.

So I continued my store trip which takes forever since I move so slowly. I see another lady in there wearing my same boot! And it’s not nearly as horrifying as someone wearing your same dress :) We chuckle and point at each other while I think “it’s clearly gimpy day at Safeway today”. Also, I have to say, there were a fair amount of rude people in there. All older men with glasses. Weird. Like it was Grumpy Old Man with Glasses field trip day. Just leave their carts in the middle of the aisle so you can’t get around. When you ask politely “excuse me can you please move your cart?” Mean looks back! Ok, I’ll move your cart for you ass-clown. Using mine to ram it into yours and then into you! Thankfully a younger guy moved the cart for me (on 2 occasions in 2 different aisles. So maybe there is hope for good manners in youth.)

Finally I’m done. Awesomely I find a line with only 1 person in it! Oh wait, it’s because the guy is arguing with the cashier over the proper use of coupon. Sadly, I don’t actually get this until I take my stuff out my cart. They need the manager to come and explain the coupon, point out which items don’t qualify, etc. Seriously, dude? I’ll give you the $2 if you just GO! Finally he does go – to put his non-couponable items away. Wow. Oh guess what? Older guy…with glasses. W.T.H.?

They help me out to the car and I am so happy to be able to sit down but then remember I need dog food. OK. In I go. They saw me hobbling in and immediately ask what I need, they get it for me, one person is already ringing me up and they help me to the car with it. Very nice and efficient customer service! Love that place.

I swung by the bank and the mailbox and then home. I figured this way I did not have to leave the house at all Saturday. Got the dogs out of the car, groceries in the house and fed the dogs dinner. Then I officially collapsed. I was so tired and so swollen I could feel my leg just pressing on all side of the boot. So I got my ice pack and sat there for 2 hours. Sure enough, did not sleep well. But a Saturday of mostly couch patrol (a couple loads of laundry done plus I baked those easy bake Pillsbury chocolate chip cookies!) and I slept much better last night!

Lesson from this week is a full day of work causes pain. As do too many errands or chores. The doctor said stay off of it for the first month. He seems to be right. Who knew all those years of pre-med, medical school, internships and practice would actually be right. Damn it.

So, now I have a wedding to go to today. I have a feeling I will be in pain by this evening. But I need to go to this wedding. A very nice guy who I’ve known for over 10 years, and who lost his wife to cancer a few years ago, found someone to again share his life with. How can you not celebrate that? I’ll be the gimpy in pink not dancing but hopefully with a champagne glass in her hand :)