Wednesday, July 25, 2007

Good girl...

Today was a really good day.  As I started to leave the house I took Brodie out to wait for the van and this little dog from down the street came running out from the neighbor's house and when Brodie saw him she started barking and ran towards him.  I yelled for her to stop and she did and then she turned around and got into the van, I was so thrilled because I didn't think she listened to me that well, I was so proud of her I took her to the store and bought her a piece of beef jerky.  Jack is a little Russell Terrier that lives down the street and goes around the neighborhood and leaves little presents on everybody's front lawn, Brodie does not like him at all.

I was going to take Brodie downtown to walk around for a while but when I got there it looked like they were setting up for some kind of NASCAR race.  They had part of the lanes blocked off in huge bleachers around the park.  Instead I decided to take her to the big park on Curtner.  I love this park because it reminds me of the place I live when I grew up, a lot of redwood trees and a really nice breeze.  It's always really hard to find a place to park in front of the park but I drove around back and there was tons of parking.  I went to get something to eat at this place that got a really good review on a web site that I follow called Jatbar, Jason and Terrys Bay Area reviews.  It was a hole in the wall Mexican restaurant and the food was AWESOME.  I had the super taco which was recommended on the site, cheese quesadillas and a bowl salad... I will definitely be going back.

Last Saturday my contractor's daughter took me to Santa Cruz to see the progress on my new home, it is so exciting to see the progress.  They had it framed out and you could actually see how it was going to look.

Tuesday, July 17, 2007

Manicure and Pedicure

Finally... there's a lady that used to have her own beauty shop and she retired and now she goes to people's homes and does their hair, manicure and pedicure and waxing.  There is about six ladies in the park, including my mom and I, that she does every couple of weeks.  I have been trying to get my mom to get a pedicure because she wears a lot of sandals and she doesn't wear socks.  She decided to do it today but unfortunately I had to leave because I had an appointment with my dental hygienist.  When I got back I called her but she was at her friend Chris's.  When I asked her why she was there there was a long pause so I told her she could tell me later and she said "it might be much later", that cannot be good news.  I hear that Chris is really not doing very well and getting worse every day.  She has been a really good friend of my moms for many years, I wish there was something I could do.

Tomorrow I'm finally going to be able to go to Santa Cruz and get updated pictures on the progress of my house.  I have not seen it since before they started and I'm so excited.

Sunday, July 15, 2007

IMAX

I had a great weekend.  Stanley and his family got here on Saturday morning so Stanley, Corinne and I took Brodie and Tue Tue to the lake to run around for a while.  We saw Harry Potter the order of the Phoenix on IMAX at 2 p.m. and then went out to dinner at Holders Country inn, it was a great day.  Whenever Stanley comes down we seem to have a bunch of errands and maintenance for him to do and we really appreciate it.  We went to Orchard Hardware Supply and ran into Leticia and her husband.  One thing we went to get was a 50 foot garden hose for my mom.  While we were looking Stanley dropped three of them on his toe and it started bleeding, very strange since I hurt my toe the day before.

On Saturday we went back to the Tech Museum and it was very interesting.  I can't believe I have lived here all this time and have never gone there.  Then I found out that you can see the IMAX movie and then see the museum for free.  I took Brodie to the park across the street and we walked around for a while and watch the kids play in the water.  It is a really neat park and I plan to go there a lot more.  It's right downtown and every Thursday they have a band there and a lot of really good restaurants that I would like try.  Then we came back home and ordered pizza.

Today I'm just relaxing and staying in bed and watching movies.  My morning attendant left at 10 a.m. and I have the rest of the day all to myself.

Friday, July 13, 2007

My poor toe...

Yesterday something happened that I have always been afraid of since my injury.  It started out as a really nice day.  I went to IMAX and picked up the tickets to see Harry Potter and then went to Smart and Final, I have always wanted to check it out and it's basically right across the street.  I really liked it.  You don't have to buy as much bulk as Costco.  After we came home I took off my AFO's,Ankle-Foot Orthoses, basically braces that I wear during the day so I don't get foot drop again.  Then I decided to go get some KFC, I have been wanting to try it since they change the recipe, and because my brother and his family were going to be here and I wanted to have something for them to munch on in case they were hungry when I got here.  So instead of putting on my shoes I decided to strap my feet in and just go in my socks.  When I was getting out of the van at KFC Lulu looked at my feet and said "Oh My God", never a good thing to hear.  She lifted up my foot and her hand was covered with blood.  I remember hearing that there's really nothing you can do for broken toes except for rest them up and let them heal so I decided to go ahead and get the chicken and go back home and take a look at the damage.  When I got back into the van there was a puddle of blood where my foot was, that was a little bit scary.  When I got home Jerry was outside so I asked his opinion and he agreed that there would be nothing they could do in emergency at Valley Medical except make me wait for six hours.  When Lulu took off my sock it looked like it was just the toe nail on my Bigfoot got pulled away from the skin.  That doesn't sound very good but it was a relief, nothing was broken.

When I was living in Los Banos I went outside one time and for some reason took off my shoes and as I was driving down the street I felt my chair roll over something so I immediately stopped.  I thought I ran over my foot and since I cannot feel anything it's hard to tell.  I went in the House and call the hospital and they wanted me to come in right away to get x-rays, I was an hour and a half away from the hospital and no way to get there so they told me to put my foot up, put ice on it and if it started to swell somehow I had to get to a hospital.  It turns out I think I just ran over my shoes that I had taken off but it was pretty scary.

While I was in the Independent Living Center I went outside one day with my hospital moon boots on and my foot jumped off the pedal and Iran over my foot.  I could not see my foot but I could see blood in the moon boot so I had to just sit there until somebody came by or came home.

Like I said my biggest fear is always to break something for hurt myself really bad and not even know it.  I have heard some real horror stories from other people who don't have full feeling in their bodies.

Sunday, July 8, 2007

the last day of the fair

I didn't make it to the fair to see Colin Ray, I was just too hot.  I went Friday because I figured it would be cooler in the morning but I only ended up staying an hour because of the heat.  Usually I wait too long and get myself overheated so I left before it got too bad and it's a good thing that I did because when we were pulling in the groundskeeper stopped and said that the electricity was out and asked if I needed help with my generator.  They are always so nice and when the electricity goes out they come down and start my generator for me and turn it off when the electricity comes back on.  Luckily I turned the air conditioner way up before I left so was kind of cool in here.

Next Thursday Stanley and his family are going to come for the weekend.  We're going to go see the new Hairy Potter movie at IMAX, that should be pretty cool.

I was going to go to the support group tomorrow but Madonna just called me and said that she would not be in because her mother is in the hospital and she went to be with her.  I called Lulu and asked her to come in early so everything will be okay.  I just hope everything is OK with Madonna's mother.

Tuesday, July 3, 2007

Alameda County Fair

I really have a lot of fun with Deziree and David.  Stanley brought David here and Deziree flew in the next day.  We went to a miniature golf course and then of course the next day I saw even bigger and better one.  After miniature golf they played Wheel of Fortune and one about a thousand tickets.  We also had one night where we got pizza and watched movies.  We went to the Alameda County fair in Pleasanton and a bunch of food that was not good for us and then had cotton candy.  It always seems to go by really fast when family visits and there's never really enough time to do everything that we would like to do.  Luckily they will be back in a couple of weeks.  It will be nice to have everybody here.

Tomorrow's Fourth of July and Lulu is off.  My mom and I are going to go out to dinner and maybe go see a movie, there are a lot of good movies out there.

On Thursday Colin Ray is going to be at the Alameda County fair so I'm going to go see him and spend the day at the fair.