Adventures in Crutchland

It's kind of amazing how quickly your life can just change course. Last Sunday I was coming down the stairs from my bedroom, thinking about taking down a couple of pictures to have the glass replaced with nonglare, when I slipped -- I guess. I was about three stairs from the bottom and somehow I just missed the last one or two. I fell, throwing my cellphone against the door and dropping my half can of pop on the new ceramic tile. As I fell, I heard/felt my right ankle snap. It actually didn't hurt. It felt, as best I can explain, like how it feels if you hold a piece of chalk in both hands and break it in two. I rolled over to my back as Kym came running, asking if I was OK, and my foot didn't exactly come with me. I told her I thought I broke my ankle, but I actually thought I was overreacting at the time. I was oddly calm, and I took a quick look down. I saw the inside bone jutting against the skin in a way that I knew was NOT right. She came into the room, took one look, and dialed 911. While we waited for the EMTs I held my leg off the ground because I couldn't find a way to lay it that didn't make things move around inside. It was completely creeping me out, but still it didn't hurt that bad. I had Kym clean up the pop and rinse the throw rug before the EMTs arrived. Hey, she needed something to do, and the tile and carpet are NEW! The ambulance arrived without lights or sirens, thank God. The guys were cute and very nice. I was joking with them and I think they thought I was lying when I said it wasn't that painful. They had a cool new hydraulic gurney that they were obviously enjoying trying out. When they got me into a room in the ER, the nurse said they like to jack people up 8 feet in the air so they can play with the buttons. I believe her -- I was just under the ceiling-mounted TV when they rolled me in. :) In a few minutes the nurse said "the family" was coming back. Oh.My.God. In trooped Kym, Mom and Dad, Lynda, David, Caleigh, Braden, and Caleigh's boyfriend Tyler! They finally had to shoo some of them out because the room was too small. They gave me a tiny bit of morphine and took me for x-rays. THAT hurt, but still not unbearably. The verdict was one broken bone on the outside, and torn ligaments on the inside bone. On Monday I had surgery to repair everything at the Surgicenter. I was religious about taking the pain meds exactly on time and it wasn't bad. On Wednesday I went back to get a hard cast. I got my first look at the incision (17 staples), then they casted it and took me for more x-rays to make sure it was in the right position. They showed us the x-rays (I never saw the broken bone ones). I have one screw holding the two parts of the bone together, then a plate with six screws. They fixed the ligaments internally so there is just the one incision. After two weeks I will get this cast off and have the staples removed, then it will be recasted for another 4-6 weeks. It's been a week now since it happened and I'm still getting used to getting around on crutches and all. Dad loaned me a walker that I use in the house. It's harder to use but more stable when I get up at night to go to the bathroom. It also has a basket on front that I can use to carry things from one room to the other. My world is my recliner, with a TV table on either side. Dad also loaned me his laptop. I finally slept on the couch for the first time last night, which was heaven because I could get onto my side. We now have a handheld shower, a bath stool (another loan from Dad), and a grab bar outside the door to the garage. My front porch steps need jacking up again and there is nothing to hold onto there, so they attached the step in the garage that's been loose forever and added the grab bar. I guess it's OK that it looks like a convalescent home, since it is one. I hate being dependent on everyone. I'm asking a lot of Kym. Chad seems to mostly avoid me, or he gets all kinds of nasty if I ask him to do something. I honestly just think it's because I'M not supposed to have anything wrong with me, you know? I try to ask as little as possible in the way of favors if I can do something myself. But before they leave I make sure I have a drink, or clean underwear brought down from upstairs, or whatever I'll need while they are gone. I have managed a couple of real baths, but haven't used the new showerhead yet. Everything takes forever to accomplish. A couple of days ago Mom and Dad took me to Walmart where I drove around on one of their little carts. I've always wanted to do that. :) Today I went with them out to the farm to see new lighting that Lynda and David have put in their kitchen. When we came back, Dad parked across the street, forgetting that I needed to be closer. But I hopped across OK, then hung out inside while Dad and David worked on the step. We went to Steak n Shake tonight (instead of last night, since we did Lynda's birthday then) and we had to park around the corner of the building -- another long hike on crutches. Tonight I am completely exhausted. I don't think I could manage to get up or down those stairs one more time today, and my foot is tingly and swollen-feeling. Hopefully, being able to come and go through the garage will be easier and safer than the front steps. I'll be off work until near Christmas, living on short term disability payments. I found out today that they are only 60% of my usual pay, though, which is really going to hurt. Really, I'm not sure how I'll manage money-wise. I'll get my first check next week, and until I see that I won't really know just how bad it will be. The good thing is, the disability people said there was nothing wrong with me working at my tax job even if I am still on disability at my factory job. I'll make sure and double check that before the time comes, just to be sure. But I'm not sure how I'm going to manage to stay out of real money trouble in the meantime. Hmmm, maybe I ought to send someone out for lottery tickets... on second thought, my luck hasn't been that good lately and I might need those dollars later. :)

DAVY!!!!!

Things are smoothing out here. Kym's stuff is put away, and school and work have started for her. She's looking for a different job, though, because she'd rather have something not food-related (she went back to a former employer here). We have accomplished internet connection in her room, but are still working on cable TV. I'm looking at a different company for my carpet (we've had another measuring) because I got a sale flyer in the mail the day before I went to order the other carpet. It might be a much better deal, so we'll see. I'll get the estimate Wednesday. Installation is free, though, so how could it be worse than the first estimate? This Friday is an event I've been waiting for for, like, well, lots of years. I'm going with a friend to see DAVY JONES in concert. Yep, the Monkee. MY Monkee. I would have died for this chance all those years ago, and I'm not missing it now. The sad thing is that he's playing at a skeevy little local club where I once took country-western dance lessons back in the Urban Cowboy days. Still, it should be fun. The whole audience will no doubt be women in roughly my age category. I have no idea whether it will be empty or packed -- but it's general admission, so what does that tell you?

Moving On

Well, the carpet has been measured for, I'm back under Skeeter's rule, and the move has been accomplished (though I still have a living room full of Kym's stuff). We (Kym, Chad, and I) had the truck loaded by 10:30 on Saturday and were back in town by 2:00 or so, only to find that the power was out. It had been about 100 degrees in Troy, and we were all exhausted by the time we got back -- and then we had to unload into a hot house. The whole neighborhood's power was out, and it didn't get fixed until 4:15. The UPS on my computer said the power had been lost at 11:46 AM, so it was off about 4.5 hours. Luckily, it cooled quickly after it came back on.

I've settled on a color for the living room -- I think. The estimate for the carpet was higher than I expected, but I can live with it. I want to look it over again, though, before committing to it. Once I have paid for it the carpet will be ordered, then it will be two weeks or so before it's in. Then I have to schedule the installation. So if I get busy, that gives me three weeks or so to get everything else done. Hey! I could have new carpet before I go to Florida!

Everyone but Jenny and I have been in Florida this week, so we have been going out every night to put the chickens to bed. Two of the girls, Blackie and Goldie, fly out of the pen every day, and you have to retrieve them from the pine trees to put them in for the night. Goldie is always on the same branch, which must be reached by a short ladder. Blackie has been switching branches all week, but always chooses one that I can reach from the ground. Sometimes they flap their wings, but otherwise they don't fight you or try to get away once you have caught them. Still....I'm glad my career as a chicken whisperer is over for now.

Now I have to be a ferret wrangler. Kym is going back down to her former town for a couple of nights before her school starts on Thursday, and I will be taking care of my little grandferrets, Freddie and Ashley. I don't have much planned for this week, so maybe I can get some things done to get ready for paint and carpet.

Kym's Adventures at the Fair

Things are changing quickly around here. I've been getting used to the new work schedule (5 AM - 1:30 PM), with its afternoon naps (sometimes) and early bedtimes. Actually I've been getting quite a bit more done around the house with the "extra" time. And it still feels like I'm getting out of work early all the time. But this morning I was informed that I was being recalled to my former area, which means I'll be going back to the regular 7 AM - 3:30 PM (and I doubt that I'll get up at 3:45 AM to do the stuff I've been doing between 1:30 and 3:30 PM). I'm happy to go back except for having to work for Skeeter again. I had the option of staying on my current job, but I want to be back up the ladder, another level away from being laid off "out the door". I'm not sure when this will be effective, but since it's a shift change for me they are supposed to give me a week's notice. It will most likely be Monday. So, it was a short term on the paint chain, but I got some overtime out of it! The other big change is that Kym is moving home. She intends to find an apartment, but for now she'll be living at home. Several things have happened leading up to this. She was working for a restaurant whose owner also has a concession trailer that goes to fairs. She worked at the Heart of Illinois fair in Peoria a few weeks ago, and during that time there were a series of incidents with her boss that completely creeped her out. It's a very long story that I don't even want to get into, but in essence he was trying to separate her from everyone, not allowing her to chat with other concessionaires, giving her a curfew to be back in the camper (they stay onsite while they are at fairs), not allowing her to go to first aid when she was burned....and ultimately starting rumors about her to keep other guys away from her. Oh yeah, and introducing her to people as his "fiance" and "future wife". Iccckkkkk!! Thank God he never touched her or anything -- or I'd be in jail now. After the rumor incident, she called me crying at 1 AM (just after the fair closed for the night), wanting to leave. She knew if she did she'd lose her job, and I told her to come home. We had to get the police to help her leave because her boss came back to the trailer, drunk and yelling. They got her out quickly and calmed him down, I guess, but no charges were filed because there was actually no crime committed. The next day we went back to talk to the police in Peoria to see what we should do. They basically lectured her about what a rough place fairs are, and that she got off lucky, and should have left sooner. And they gave her some good advice about collecting her last paycheck. After that weekend, with no job and no real prospects, she decided she wanted to get serious about finishing school (YAY!!!!). She has been trying to move away from her roommate for awhile, and her other close friend in the town where she lives has gotten back into drugs in a big way, so there's really nothing there for her. She says it's too hard to try to go to school around people who aren't going to school, and there are no jobs other than food jobs. So she will be enrolling in ISU in the spring (the deadline is past for the fall), and for now she'll be going to Heartland Community College. She already has a job lined up here, too. It's going to be kind of fun and kind of strange to have her living here again. And somehow we have to fit an apartment of furniture into her room for the time being. I am thrilled, though, that she made this decision. She was registered for SIUE for fall, but will cancel that. And I have her books ordered on Half.com again -- I got spoiled when she was at SIUE because they rent books there. Oh, and her final paycheck? Payday was last Thursday, but they told her to come back today. They agreed that they owed her for three weeks, and they'd have a check for her this morning. Nope. This morning they told her it might be two more weeks, they aren't sure. So, on the advice of the Peoria police she has contacted the state Department of Labor to file papers with them to collect. The place has 13 days after the payday to get her money to her or she can file. Still, the delay is a problem, given her upcoming move. School starts Aug 16 (she came up yesterday to get registered), so she'll be here within the next couple of weeks. She and I spent the weekend in St Louis last weekend going to Union Station and eating at Hard Rock Cafe, attending "The Lion King" at the Fox Theatre, staying over at a Sheraton (thanks to Lynda, for use of her points), and spending Sunday at the St Louis Zoo. Kym claims she had never been to the zoo, but she most certainly has. Her first trip there was at age 5 weeks (for some reason she doesn't seem to remember it), on the hottest day of all time. She was also there when she was about 7 and Chad was 12. She does remember that trip, but thought it was at another place. Anyway, we had a great time -- it was a nice little getaway and a good chance to talk things over regarding the pending move. I'm getting new living room carpet, and the guy will be coming to measure later this week, so I need to get busy cleaning, and pitching stuff, painting the living room, and pulling up carpet to paint the floor with Kilz before the installation date (2-4 weeks from now, I guess). How I'm going to accomplish this while also moving Kym, I'm not sure right now. She spent a good portion of yesterday moving things around in her room to make room for the furniture, but she didn't get done. I can foresee some late nights and busy weekends ahead. But for now, even though things are crazy, it's good crazy and I can deal with it.

Sugar Creek

This is my favorite weekend of the summer, the Sugar Creeks Arts Festival in downtown (not "uptown", I will never say "uptown") Normal. It's a juried art fair (not cheap stuff). This year is a special one, too. It's the 150th birthday of Illinois State University. In past years the festival has covered two downtown streets, but a lot is torn up down there because of massive construction and renewal projects going on. A lot of the former parking is gone now, so it was necessary to rearrange the festival a bit to accomodate visitors. Because ISU wanted to draw attention to its birthday, too, much of the expanded festival this year is on the In Exchange sculpture garden and on the quad, and ISU opened several of its parking lots free for the festival. There are 60 new vendors (210 all together), two music stages, lots of food. Normally, this weekend features one blistery hot day and one day where it pours down rain. This year, though, both days promise to be sticky hot -- in the 90's. The quad portion of the festival was absolute heaven under the trees, and the Shakespeare Festival performed a Green Show on the steps of Hovey Hall. (The Green Show is a brief, funny version of whatever the current night's play is.) I managed to buy some things for upcoming birthdays and other events, and I bought myself a beautiful Pegasus made out of woven rope (hard to describe).

Tonight is my second Illinois Shakespeare performance, "Much Ado About Nothing". Last week, for "Henry V", it was perfect weather. Tonight it's supposed to cool off after dark, but I'm afraid it will still be humid so I'm debating about how to dress. Dad will be my date this time.

I have been off work since Wednesday, and I'm amazed at how quickly my little mini-vacation has gone by. Since I still don't know if my September week of vacation will be approved, I have nothing to look forward to now as far as time off. I think I need to plan a long weekend or something.

Summer Stuff

Kym's and my birthday celebration was nice tonight.  We got nice loot, and had "steak with red junk" and chocolate cake with glaze -- and homemade macaroni and cheese for Kym.  Normally we don't share a birthday dinner, but Mom and Dad were in Scotland last week.  It was still a little weird, though, because Lynda, Courtney, and Caleigh are in Israel right now.  We could have waited (Courtney will miss her own birthday on the 8th) but it will be the 21st or something before Courtney is back (the others come back earlier).  That's almost a month past Kym's real birthday and three weeks past mine, so it was just easier to do it now.

Shakespeare Festival season has started.  On Saturday night Chad and I attended the first of the performances, "Henry V".  It was really good, though the histories aren't usually my favorite.  It helped that it was one of those perfect summer nights -- it cooled off to near 65 by the time it was over, with low humidity and no bugs or rain (it's an outdoor theatre, so that matters a lot).  Next week is "Much Ado About Nothing".  I think Dad will be going because Chad is working.  The grounds of the manor are torn up because they are still working on the big garden project.  They were bequeathed something like $5 million to develop gardens around the manor by a man in honor of his wife, who loved both the festival and gardens.  ISU wanted to name the gardens in honor of both the husband and wife, but his instructions insisted it be named after only her.  It will be stunning when it is done, but right now it's a winding brick path surrounding a lot of dirt.  One bonus this year is that I got my favorite seats for all three plays!

My new job starts at 5 AM, so I need to get to bed -- 3:45 will be here before I know it.

Work Drama

It's been quite awhile since I have posted here, partly because my Spain trip. Nothing much of any importance has gone on since then until recently. Tomorrow will be my last day in the job I have had for over eleven years. I received a lack-of-work notice at the beginning of the month, effective tomorrow, which bumps me back down to a lower level position that I held before, years ago. It's weird and sad to be leaving "my" job, though I know it will go away altogether soon enough, when they take the line out. My bump could still be canceled (some have been), but I'm not expecting it. I'll only be working across the aisle from where I am now, but I still have to move my personal belongings (fan, clock, CD player, etc) as though I was leaving the building completely. My shift will change slightly. I'll be going in two hours earlier, but also getting off two hours earlier. If I really hate that part, I might be able to switch with another woman who is getting bumped with me. She got the regular shift, but would like the earlier one. I want to at least try it for a bit -- I like the idea of getting out of work in the early afternoon, but I don't know how much the early bedtime required will work with everything else in my life. On the plus side, Skeeter will no longer be my boss! Yay!! We have a new contract, too, which is good. It's a four year deal with some nice improvements. My health insurance and drug costs will go up, but I expected that. We have been royally spoiled in that area for a long, long time. It's interesting to think, too, that by the time this contract expires, I will be within days of being eligible for early retirement. If the plant is still here by then, I would seriously consider taking it if it were offered. Of course it's easy to say that now, since I have four years to go before I could really do it. I might not be that brave when the time comes. :)