The Crisis of the Toes

Well, it's been a fairly uneventful week for me, hence the lack of posts. Friday I went to BINGO and didn't win any money. Bummer, but not surprising. Thursday I did laundry at Grandma's house. Big excitement there. *insert eye roll here* The rest of the week I just hung out around the house, farting around on the computer and tidying around the house. Wow, my life is so exciting I can hardly stand it! *insert another eye roll here*

Saturday was an adventure worth sharing, though. I rode in a car with my Mom, Steve and Grandma B to Lauren's baby shower. She's expecting my nephew in June, two days before my 30th birthday. His name will be Dale Jon, after his dad and my dad. Everyone has already decided to call him D.J., to avoid confusion.

Lauren lives in Fort Wayne, which is about an hour's drive from Goshen. So Grandma and I carpooled with Mom and Steve. It was an uncomfortable ride down, in the sense that Grandma and I were in the back seat of Mom's little Aveo, which has very little leg room in the back. But still, it didn't seem as long because we all chatted the whole way down, reminiscing about pets and people we'd known. The conversation was comfortable and easy, which really lowered the stress on me. (I hate leaving Goshen, it makes me a nervous wreck!)

It was the first time I've seen Lauren's new home. She and Dale purchased it a few months ago. It's an older home, at least 100 years judging by the interior architecture. It has beautiful hardwood floors and still some of the original heavy oak doors with their pretty panes of glass.

Fort Wayne is one of the most historic towns in Indiana. Under the direction of American Revolutionary War statesman General "Mad" Anthony Wayne, the United States Army built Fort Wayne in a series of forts near the Miami Indian village of Kekionga in 1794. The original fort in the town is still intact, and quite the tourist destination. By Hoosier standards, Fort Wayne is a big city, the second largest in the state. There's a lot of Historic Landmarks, most built in the mid to late 1800's or early 1900's, and an awesome zoo as well. Down the road from Lauren's house is a water park we're planning to spend the day at as soon as it warms up. So my sister has picked a nice place to live.

Christina was absolutely thrilled to see us, as always. There was lots of hugging and lap jumping, followed by her running around with her buddy Zoe like a crazy child. But I bet you're wondering about the title by now. Well, it's true, there's been a terrible rash of toe injuries at my sister's home. It started with her friend, Michelle. I don't know the details, only that Michelle injured her toes a couple days ago at Lauren's house.

When we arrived, as soon as we were seated, Dale hobbled in and showed Mom (who's a nurse) that he'd just ripped the toenail off one of his toes. It was bloody and gross and Mom goes, "um, just put a band-aid on it and keep it clean." I think Dale was hoping for a bit more than that, but there's not really much you can do for that sort of injury. So that was toe injury number two.

I was victim number three. After some games and the opening of presents and the eating of cake, Mom and Lauren and some of her friends set to putting together the equipment Lauren had received. (A baby swing and an organizer that defied logical explanation and wound up with four people trying to figure out how to put it together properly and still failing.)

Once the putting together of new "toys" commenced, I excused myself and went out back to smoke a cigarette. Christina was playing in the back yard while I smoked. She ran up and down the chain link fence that was shared with the neighbors, chattering happily with the children that live next door. It was amusing to watch, because whenever she wanted their attention she'd yell "Hey Kids!" and show them whatever she wanted to show them.

When I was done smoking, I stepped around the corner of the house to a little flower bed, intending to put the cigarette out and tear off the tobacco. That's the part that smells bad, and it's bio-degradable. One good rain and it's vanished. The filter I planned to stick in my pocket and throw away later. As I bent over to stub out the cigarette, I felt a sharp pain in my right pinky toe and wince. Figuring I'd just stubbed my toe a bit, I dealt with the cigarette and stood back up. Then I looked down at my feet. There was blood all over the sidewalk. I'd split the toe wide open along the nail, a cut about an inch deep.

It hurt.

I still think I probably needed stitches, as deep as that cut was, but I didn't go get them. No health insurance and all. Instead I poured peroxide over the wound to help stop the bleeding and wrapped a bandaid around it.

So that's the Crisis of the Toes. Just remember, if you ever find yourself visiting Lauren's house, wear steel-toed boots. I think there's a toe-hating ghost living there, personally. :)

<3 Elisabeth

And here's your LOLcat for the day:

Cops, Hoses and Repairmen, Oh My!

Well, the title pretty much sums up my plans for today. We'll start with the cops.

When I was moving recently, there was a dramatic incident (I won't go into it, most of you already know about it anyways) that resulted in about $400 worth of gaming equipment being stolen from me. My Nintendo DS, six games and some accessories like a case and cleaning cloth, have all vanished. That DS is a vital coping mechanism for my disorder. Whenever I feel a panic attack coming on, that's the first thing I reach for. So, $400 value aside, it's really quite important to me.

Well, like a good, responsible citizen, I reported the theft to the police. I mentioned the people I suspect might know something or be somehow involved and waited to hear more. So yesterday, the police called me back! I didn't think that someone would actually take the case. Something like this would get tossed in the "sucks for you" pile in most cities. But yay for Goshen! The police have little enough to do here that they can investigate my loss!

So anyways I talked to the detective, a very nice lady we'll call Detective Pauls, and she is going to investigate further. Will she find it? Perhaps. If she does I'm totally pressing charges on the thief! If not, well c'est la vie, I suppose. But at least I tried.

Now onto the hoses and repairmen. Ever since I moved into this apartment, there's been one small detail that drives me crazy. My screen door has no latch. So an enterprising kitty, particularly Little Miss Rocket Scientist Onyx, could conceivably pull it open and have a little jaunt around the neighborhood. Since she's not yet spayed, I'm not real keen on that idea. Well today my lovely neighborhood repairman (who's name I do not know) came by and fixed it! Hooray!

Yesterday, much to my annoyance, the landscaping crew ran over my garden hose with the lawn mower! So Mr. Repairman also found a replacement for me! Yippee! The garden hose story is really kind of funny though. I'm a late sleeper, I usually go to bed late and night and sleep until noonish. Well, the landscaping crew comes through Tuesday mornings while I'm sleeping. Good thing I'm a sound sleeper or that would be highly irritating. As it is, I don't really notice them unless they're right under my window. Even then it's only the vague sort of waking up half way, rolling over and going back to sleep.

So anyways, when I got up Tuesday, I wandered into the kitchen and noted all this water spraying all over the place. This was odd because the sun was shining beautifully in the sky. Odder still, because my back yard is an odd place for a sprinkler to be. So I went out back and discovered the source of the spray was my garden hose. Bummer, huh? Thanks to my Mr. Repairman for replacing it!

Oh, the really funny thing? This morning the management sent out a notice that the landscaping crew comes on Tuesdays. It's Wednesday. Perfect timing guys!

Ah well, no biggie really. Well, from now on I'm going to end with an LOLcat I find particularly amusing. All LOLcats come from www.icanhazcheezburger.com, go check out the site - it's a hoot and a half!

<3 Elisabeth