OUCH! Just helping a friend...

I helped a friend to a doctor's appointment for some minor surgery today.  I waited for her and took her home, was helping her into her house, standing on the doorstep at the door.  The door was locked. She motioned to go in through the garage so I steped away to do just that.....only I forgot that there were three steps and I fell right on my face....well, everything on my front BUT my face, thank goodness! My hand was clutching my car keys and I put them up to my chest automatically so when I fell my fist jammed into my chest.  The breath was knocked out of me.  I could not breathe for a full minute. And there was my friend Leta standing at the door waiting for me. She could hardly stand and needed to get inside. I could not move, could not breathe, both my palms on my hands were bleeding, my chest and knee was in pain. And I am thinking, "You have got to breathe and get Leta inside NOW!"  

Finally I got some breath in and managed to get up and get to the garage door and get around to the front door to open it for Leta. Then I had to help her with her pills she was to take, tell her all she was to do and not do, be sure the instructions were where she would remember, get her laid down on the couch with pillows (she was NOT to lie flat) and get her an ice pack for her face.

Then I looked at my own knee which I could feel was probably skinned a bit. There was a HUGE giant swollen area below my knee.  It looked like it really hurt badly but it just felt like a scrape. I figue it will hurt worse tomorrow.

And still I could not breathe well. So as soon as I could leave Leta I did so she could sleep and I could go home and take care of me.

I took a tylenol and vicoden for pain when I got home, got into comfy clothes and lay on my bed and turned on TV.  But still I could not breathe well and it hurt to lay down, it hurt to get up, and I worried if something might be wrong. So I called the nurse through my insurance company and she asked me a bunch of questions and said my lung may be partiallly collapsed and I should go to urgent care or to the hospital. She looked and found no urgent care around here so I went to Evergreen Hospital.  They put me in a wheelchair when they saw I could hardly walk and breathe at the same time.
Three hours later (thank goodness I took a book) the x-ray showed I did not have a collapsed lung or broken ribs and I was sent home with my own set of instructions.  The verdict: Chest Contusion. I think a contusion is a bruise?
Kinda funny when you think about it. I went to take my friend to the doctor for minor surgery and end up injuring myself and finding myself in the hosptial.

Summer is cool...but lots of new and returning TV

Summer here in the great northwest has been very cool, literally. We have had MAYBE three days at 70 or better.  It is a tease....we get one nice day and the next day we get 63 again.
 So time for summer TV!
I am sure I have missed some but these come to mind right away:

Breaking Bad: This one I am really looking forward to. His wife is in on the "family business" now and things get really dangerous.

Entourage: The final season of this great show, both funny and dramatic. Love Johnny Drama! And Ari and Vince and the gang.

So You Think You Can Dance: kind of the dancing American Idol. Young people whose families have sacrificed a lot in most cases, to let their child train in dance, getting the chance to make their dreams come true. The choreographed dances they do as couples for the first few weeks include funny as well as very emotional, sometimes making us all cry.

The Bachelorette:  Usually this is fun to see how silly the contestants act to vie for the Bachelor/ette's attention many romantic scenes as well, although there is a lot of  predictable "amazing!" and "I'm so glad you are all here!" and "this is so hard to let one of you go tonight."
There have been only three successful relationships that have lasted more than a couple months after the airing of the show. But still we romantics tune in.  This year, however, we have the third place bachelorette from last season's Bachelor.  Ashley was not my favorite then but when this season's Bachelorette began I was all ready to be positive and get behind her.

Ooohhhh, did that go downhill REALLY FAST!  This woman was warned before she began to tape the show by a friend texting her that there was a man named Bentley (so sick of hearing that name) who was not there for the "right reasons."  She said she was willing to go forth and give him a chance and hoped he wasn't too good looking to make it more difficult to let him go. So she meets this creep and I think she was the only woman in the world who thought he was "gorgeous". I thought he was smarmy looking.
Ashley fell for this guy in two weeks and by week 5 she is still obsessed with him. He chose to leave on his own week 3 because he did not feel anything for her and well, many other very cruel unflattering comments left this creep's mouth. Behind her back.  She begged him to stay. He said he had to leave for his daughter, he missed her so.  We all cringed and wondered why she couldn't see and know what we all did.

This is the WORST season of the Bachelorette ever. I have been on Chris Harrison's website every day and Ashley's also and 99.9% of all the comments there say the same and believe, as I do, that she should have been warned much more directly and shown the video of Big Jerk's unflattering cruel comments so she could turn her swoon into anger, tell him off and move on. What woman hasn't had to deal with a Big Jerk in her life? If you haven't you are lucky.

True Blood:  This one I cannot wait for,  starts again this summer and is about Vampires and Fairies and Werewolves.  No, not at all Twilight-ish.  It is as far from Twilight as you can get, and I am a Twilight fan and I love this one too, for different reasons.  Takes place in the south, a love affair ensues between Sookie, a blonde southern girl with attitude (who also finds out she is a fairy) and  Vampire Bill. (These two recenlty married in real life).  Vampires are "out" and about in the world, drinking Tru Blood in bars instead of beer. They don't feed on humans unless they are bad vampires. Last season we got Werewolves and this season we get witches I am told. Can't wait. Lots of hot southern accents and hot sex! Watch after kids are in bed. You can get past seasons ON Demand.

Big Brother:  This one is coming up soon, a bunch of frat boys and girls stuck in a house together for a couple months, trying to manipulate each other to stay in the house and win a quarter of a million dollars. Not a bad gig if you can get it.  Also lots of sex but not as good as vampires, fairies and werewolves.

Torchwood:  I have found out lately, in the last year or so that I am a SciFy fan. Totally. I have a Netflix membership and it allows streaming video to my laptop. So I watched movies that way for a while. Finally I figured out how to hook up my laptop via HDMI cord to my TV (Thanks, Devon) and have been watching that way.  I am totally addicted to all the Stargate shows and am now watching 5 seasons of Stargate: Atlantis for the second time. I already watched ten seasons of Stargate: SG-1 and  4 seasons of Battlestar Galactica. I love the Stargate series. It would be so cool to travel through a wormhole through the Stargate to other galaxies and planets and meet other humans and non-humans (not so exciting).  Instead of going to Hawaii for a vacation go through the Stargate and visit another world!

Anyway, Torchwood was one of the first sci-fi shows I found and it is about Captain Jack who came from another planet and cannot die. He found Gwen Cooper, a mere human, and her boyfriend, and he also found Ianto. He falls in lust with both of them. Yep, he is an equal opportunity lover. This was on BBC for years and now it is going to be on Starz and starts July 8th. I love Captain Jack, so sexy,  and can't wait! Unfortunately Ianto died last season but Bill Pullman will be in this new story. And it doesn't take place in Wales anymore. We shall see what Hollywood does with it.

Expedition Impossible: Starts tonight, by the makers of Survivor, so I have to check this one out. Looks kinda like combination of Amazing Race and Survivor.

Falling Skies:  Remember Noah Wylie from ER? He is now starring in this one.  This one is right in my wheelhouse....SCI-FY!!  Unpredictable unearthly things happen to real people that we care about. So far so good.

So if we never get summer sun and warm days we have lots of TV to watch. Bring it on!
What are you watching?

The new me...FINALLY

I was so excited to get my hair cut today!
For anyone who has seen me lately it had gotten pretty long and I have been wearing it up mostly because it is too warm on my neck and shoulders. 

My daughter-in-law Annie gave me a card to get my haircut at this salon in Bel-Square. She won it and since she has her sister Molly who is now in a new salon and they are going to visit her next week, she had no use for this card.  I was so excited when she gave it to ME! Yes, I did need my haircut and she came to my rescue.

THANK YOU ANNIE!

I thought I might get somethng new but I got pretty much what I have been wearing for a while but I like it, will be easy to care for.

I am so proud to be....."OMA"

Since my youngest grandson Max said his first word I have been waiting hopefully for him to find SOMETHING, ANYTHING to call me.  I realize "Grandma" is a word with many hard sounds in it for a little one.

When Lucy was about Max's age she also could not say "Grandma" so she said something like "Maga" one night when I was babysitting her and I knew I had my name.  So for almost a year I was "Maga." She very quickly learned to say "Grandma." 

So Max calls me "Oma" and when we say it back to him he seems to try to correct us, knowing it is really "Grandma" so he wants us to still say it right even though he can't quite.

I LOVE BEING "OMA!"

Community Service

I went to court yesterday to have my ticket "mitigated."  Yes, I was driving with expired tabs for two months, looking in my rear view mirror the whole time. Well, I was watching the road too.  When it happened I was surprised. I was a week away from being able to buy my car tabs. I was pulling into the parking lot in Issaquah where I was going to get my mammo.  And there were the lights flashing behind me.

Oh no, I know why he is stopping me. I felt embarassed, guilty, stupid, you name it. If you have ever been stopped and you know exactly why, you know how I felt.
The officer was actually very kind.  I was two months overdue and he only gave me a ticket for one month overdue. About a $100 difference.  The ticket was about exactly the same as my license tabs would have been. But I had no money for either.

The officer told me I might be able to get it reduced or even waived if I went to court. IF I had my license tabs.  So I sent in the ticket thingie and got a notice back telling me my court date was June 1st.  Ok, good, I could have my license tabs by then for sure.

So yesterday was my day in court. And I was prepared. My hair needed coloring, gray roots showing. I wanted to paint my nails because Lucy's ballet performance was coming up. But I would wait until Thursday to do both. I did not want to look too "rich."   Not a problem. I wore no earrings and just my regular clothes, jeans, black shirt, olive rain jacket.  And I had my tabs.

I got to court early and sat and waited while the judge called each person, in alphabetical order but reversed. The judge explained his name was Stewart and he was always one of the last called so he goes in reverse alphabetical order.  Ok, but my name starts with a D so......I waited. And listened. He seemed to be a very fair judge.
I was going over in my mind what I would say. Finally I am called, I walk up before him, as all the other people in court listened too.  I was terrified.  I began with, "First, I live on social security...." and went on to sound as pitiful as I could, explaining my quick chance to move to the eastside nearer my son and family, and how that was expensive.  I also showed him my license tab document.

I think it paid off. He reduced my fine to $80.  I was expecting less.  BUT he said I could pay that or do 8 hours of community service and I would have 60 days to do it. 

So I can do my community service for any non-profit organization.  I think it will be at the food bank. I have thought about helping out there anyway. 

It feels weird to have to do community service. It makes me feel like Linday Lohan or something (without her money).  It seems like you only hear about someone doing community service who has commited a minor criminal act. So somehow I feel like a criminal. 

But I am glad I don't have to pay the $80.

Today I am coloring my hair! And painting my nails!