A Little Mishap

There are certain things in life that must be done methodically every time that they are done or things go wonky rather quickly. Take Eric's new lift for example. It is mounted to the ceiling with the lift being operated by a pneumatic air compressor which is operated by a switch. We ask everyone who uses it with Eric to make sure that it does not get tangled. Tangles always cause problems.  I noticed that this mornings aide did not put the lift back on the charger, but failed to notice how badly tangled the wires were left until it was too late.

Do to tangling in the wires the pneumatic motor became disengaged, is simpler terms it broke at a most inconvenient time. Yes half way down. This left Eric miffed to be stuck in mid air. My tall guy was out and about an hour away. I am to short to reach up and fix it. The bed was to far from the problem to safely fix the lift. It would have been a very embarrassing call to 911. I can not lift Eric by myself.  I finally found a step ladder so I could reach up and fix everything. The whole incident took less than 2 minutes, but to me it felt like hours. Eric's glares did not help much either, but I could not blame him, his ride broke midway through.

This will result in everyone who works with Eric to be retrained on the lift. I personally hate redundant training, but will do this because it is a safety issue.

By the time everything was fixed and I was calm enough to drive we had missed the movie that we wanted to go to across town and hurried to catch a later showing at another theater. By the way we went to see Zootopia. It is a must see movie for this summer.

By the way as long as we are talking about retraining, I would like to mention that a movie theaters the handicapped seating is for those who truly need to use them. For example people in wheelchairs and their companions, people who use walkers or canes and have other mobility issues. You just do not know how hard it is to move a wheelchair through those heavy doors to go to the other side. I think it would be much easier to move your able body self and kids a few seat and show some manners. I am off my soap box now.

Just A Thought

I have thought long and hard before writing this blog post.  I don't want to sound preachy or holy than thou. I just want to put forth this idea.

I know we all live very busy life's. Most of us have more on our plates than a reasonable person would consider prudent. We are in a hurry to get everywhere. We live in our own bubbles. Who has time to pull over for a siren, even for a minute? What difference would my minute make?

What if I told you it could make a world of diffrence for someone outside of  your bubble? Wouldn't be nice if everyone pulled over? Maybe even say a prayer for those on the ambulance for a speedy recovery. Pray that the Public Saftey Officer returns safely to their families at the end of their shifts.  I feel that the power of prayer is very powerful. We can make a diffrence by one act at a time. I know that there are a few atheists who read my blog and think the whole idea of prayer is useless at best. For you all I ask is that you pull over for sirens because it is the right thing to do. 

The thoughts and opinions are my own. If you agree with this blog post please feel

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Have a nice weekend and enjoy your families. 

The Bear is Off Limits

Whatever you do don't blame the bear. Let me back track a little bit. At 3:30 this morning Eric was a little cranky. His favorite bear was wrapped snuggly in his blanket, while a very cold Eric was trying to cover himself with his pillows. So I talked to Eric's bear about stealing Eric's blankets in the middle of the night while I was getting Eric resettled in. This morning that included a change out and some physical therapy. By the way John repeated this exercise a little while after I finished, but he did not lecture the bear. So daddy was golden.

By the time I got Eric settled again 30 minutes latter, he was really mad about me talking to his beloved bear like that. He was still mad when I dropped him off at his day program.  He would not even let me give him a kiss goodbye. It took Maggie a little bit of persuasion to send a smile picture of himself to me.

So the lesson learned today was never ever blame the beloved stuffed animal. No matter if they steal the blankets in the middle of the night and leave your child cold, they are still off limits for a mommy lecture.

By 3:00 this afternoon he was no longer mad at me and let me drive him home.

Tuesday's Unplanned Day

Today started at 5:30 am with Eric not feeling well.  That of course threw my plans for the day in the blender.  So I spent the day bouncing around between Taking care of Eric, laundry, cleaning and spinning.  

Talking about spinning, I finally finished the very soft and pretty 15 micron merino wool dyed by my friend Jimmy.  It was the first yarn that came off my spinning wheel since the December 7, 2015 car accident.  I guess it shows that I am making progress on the road to recovery, albeit very slowly. 

Monday

My body and I were at war most of the day.  I even managed to snap all the tendons in my right hand while wearing my hand brace today.  I am just so talented like that. So needless to say not much got done today.  At least I got some spinning today.

A Bad Night

As I write this I am waiting for Eric to fall asleep.  I woke up a little over 3 hours ago with bad joint pain. Just as I had managed to loosen up the joints in my hands, when Eric decided it was time for a complete change out.  Twenty minutes later he is still kicking off the covers and crying when he gets cold.  I have been to his room 4 times in the last hour to recover him.  

I am now officially tired and cranky. So today's word of the day is NO.  As Teri likes to point out, NO is a complete sentence.  

A Funky Day

I just know the day is going to be a bit off when I have wheelchair repairs before I have had time to get dressed. To make matters a little more rushed my favorite set of Allen Wrenches were not where I wanted them to be. So I had to get the box of spare Eric equipment parts from his room. Sometimes pieces of equipment come with some spare parts and tools.  I am also still training a new aide for Eric, yes its million question time yet again. So getting Eric to his day program only 30 minutes late was not bad at all.

Once we got to Eric's program, I noticed that the chest positioning strap was not quite right. So I then readjusted all the straps, so Eric does not have to work as hard sitting up. I then took a few minutes to relax before I went to the gym for my 10 minutes planed on the elliptical. I managed to get 15 minutes done.While I was cooling down after my workout a lady noticed my knitting and said that she was having a hard time with it. I asked if I could help her and she then proceeded to try to get me to cure her hands of arthritis. I told her she needed to talk to her doctor or a specialist about her hands. This was repeated several times, I felt like I was in a loop. I was just about to suggest duct tape, it fixes everything, right? When her personal trainer walked up. How do these people find me? What part about talk to your doctor is so hard to understand? I do admit that I am a stay at home mom and I can do a lot of diffrent things, but I am not a doctor. I don't practice medicine without a licence. If you are getting your medical advice from strangers on the street you have more problems than just the arthritis

 Then home to catch up on paperwork. I was only 10 percent through with my paperwork before I need to take a nap. Somehow flare ups make me tired. I woke up with just enough time to eat a quick lunch before I went to get Eric. The rest of the afternoon was taken up by Eric, cooking dinner, cleaning and relaxing.