So…remember yesterday when I wrote about my SUV breaking down on the side of the highway and how I had to get it towed to the mechanics then go rent a car?
Do you also remember how I was crossing fingers and pleading with the universe the problem would be the battery, a fairly easy and compared to other problems, cheap-ish thing to fix?
Well! The universe decided it was time to come for me and instead of the problem being the battery OR the alternator, it was both, with the serpentine belt thrown in for fun.
Seems the alternator was dying and as part of it’s death dance it took the battery and the serpentine belt with it. Like a double murder and suicide, inside my engine. My alternator was one mean bitch.
On the positive side (because oh boy do I have to try to find one!) the mechanic I go to is amazing and had it fixed by this afternoon so I left work early (which sucks) so I could drive in the rental to the shop, hand over my credit card and have a little cry over all that money being added to my debt (sigh), then leave my suv there so I could drive the rental back to the airport in rush hour, then take public transit back to the shop to finally get my suv.
I left work at 3:15pm and got home around 7:45pm, so ya know, just a minor chunk of my day eaten up. *rolls eyes*
At least by taking the rental car back before 8:30pm I am refunded for one of the two days I booked the car for. Only not right away. Seems they charge you right away, when you pick up the rental, but if you return early and get a refund that can take 2 to 3 days to process. Kinda annoying but I’ll keep an eye on the Visa and make sure the refund goes through.
The cost for all those repairs, in case anyone is curious, is $1485.43. Then add in the car rental which should, once the refund goes through, be somewhere in the mid $90s. Oh, and don’t forget to add in the cost of the tow at $77.
It’s been an expensive 24 hours. 😦
The mechanic confirmed the battery did last way past the normal length of time, and with all the repairs those three things should be good for, shoot, I can’t remember how many years he said, but a good chunk.
So yeah, now I am even more in debt, but my vehicle is back to working and hopefully things will calm down a bit. There has been a lot going on the past couple weeks and I could really do with life just settling down a little bit, the stress ball in my stomach would definitely appreciate it lol.
This evening, while driving on Highway 91N my car died. My dashboard all of a sudden gave me zero info, all the orange arrows were down at the bottom left as if the car was off. While going around 80km or so my dash showed I was at a stop. Even though I’d just filled up my gas tank the dash said I was on empty. You get the idea.
I wasn’t sure what to do but figured if I could just match everyone elses speed and get home I’d figure it out there.
Yeah, that didn’t happen. As I rounded a bend my suv decelerated, and that is when I realized I had been keeping up speed only because of momentum (ah science!), the engine wasn’t running.
Crap.
So I pulled over on to the shoulder, turned on the hazards, and realized that I was stranded on the side of a busy highway with no clear plan of how to get out of the situation.
Double crap.
Lucky for me my parents drilled in to me when I started driving to always always always have a current BCAA Membership, if I use it even once in the year it has paid for itself, well, I was definitely going to use it today! I called, got a very nice lady who was patient with me while I tried to figure out how to explain exactly where on the highway I was, and eventually a tow truck was dispatched to me.
While waiting I texted a friend to let her know I’d be missing our Zumba class and she, being the amazing person that she is offered to help. The plan became she would meet me at my mechanic’s shop and drive me to a car rental place, all we needed was for the tow truck to show up.
A tow truck did arrive, with a very attractive driver (yum!), but he was not my tow truck, sigh. A municipal city employee saw me on the side of the road and called it in and the tow truck was dispatched to see what was going on. He offered to tow me up the road to a truck pull off but I was worried if I was moved anywhere the tow truck I was actually waiting for would never find me, so I said I’d stay where I was. We had a lovely little chat, he took a look at the engine, had me try to turn it on so he could hear what it sounded like, then suggested he try boosting the battery.
Turns out vehicle batteries have an approximate 3 to 4 year life span and mine is coming up to 10 years old. Oops? Although, gotta say, props to the battery for lasting so long!
Anyways, back to the story, he boosted the battery, and the suv started! Yay! He said to drive it to my mechanic, do not for any reason turn the engine off, and I should be able to get to my destination. He leaves and I call BCAA to cancel my request for a tow truck. Only, I’m still navigating the stupid automated system when the suv died. Again.
My inexperienced self is guessing it died because instead of driving once it got started again I sat there idling so as to avoid the ticket I would surely get if I phoned BCAA while driving.
Safety killed my shot at getting home unaided by a tow truck. Stupid safety.
I say stupid safety because my BCAA plan only covered the cost of 5km worth of towing, after that it is stupidly expensive. How stupidly expensive you ask?
$77.09 worth of stupid.
Ugh.
The tow truck driver dropped the suv and I off at my mechanics shop, it was of course closed, and I did the classic write a note and attach it to my car keys and toss them in the mail slot thing.
All this time my friend had been googling trying to find a rental car for me because my phone was nearly dead and I couldn’t search myself. The only places open to rent a vehicle were airport locations so she drove to the airport while I called Budget to confirm they really did have cars at the airport because the website kept changing car availability when we checked.
The guy I spoke to was so hard to understand, and not clear on what he was telling me, but luckily I had the basic info I needed from the website, so I pre-paid for a vehicle and we went to the Budget Rental desk at the airport.
The guy at the actual location was so nice! I told him I needed some clarification on things because the guy I spoke to on the phone was very confusing and hard to understand and he immediately agreed he most likely had been since my order had my first name spelled wrong, and it isn’t a hard to spell name! I got my questions answered, once again swiped my poor Visa card, and became in possession of a car so small I’m not convinced it isn’t a toy. I drove home in a Honda Fit.
So. Small.
And yes I know I am being spoiled and all woe is me when I should be grateful to be able to get a rental at all. And I am grateful! I am. I’m just also tired, and drove home is something that made me feel like I could be squished on to the road. And I’m freaking out about how much all this is going to cost because the rental cost $180 and gets me the car until Thursday 8:30pm and by then I’ll either be able to return it and will be dealing with a bill from the mechanic or I’ll need to extend the rental because repairs are going to take even longer, and probably cost even more, and well yeah, stress. Money stress sucks.
The first tow truck driver thought it was the battery, which if it is, would be the cheaper fix. The second tow truck driver thought it was the alternator, which is apparently a very expensive thing to fix and if that gets worked on I should also get the battery replaced, so double whammy.
Guess which one I hope is right? 😉
Please be the battery. Please be the battery. Pleeeeeeease be the battery!
Last night I bit in to a Snickers bar and had the oddest thing happen. As soon as the chocolate was touching my lips it felt as if my lips were on fire. Tingling, painful, fire sensations all along my lips. Being the dummy that I am I continued to bite in to the chocolate bar and the “on fire” sensation spread to the inside of my mouth.
How my mouth was feeling. Super pleasant 😉
For the life of me I couldn’t figure out what was going on. This is not what a Snickers is supposed to do to your mouth!
I paused, read the package to see if maybe it was some weird special kind that is supposed to be a spicy or hot flavour, which yes, I realize makes zero sense, but I dunno, I couldn’t think of what else it might be.
While reading the label I was holding one hand over my mouth, as if that might magically make things better. (go ahead, roll your eyes at me, I’m rolling them at myself).
After I removed my hand I started googling to see if I could figure out what was going on and while reading horrifying articles about nut allergies I scratched at my cheek and rubbed my eyelid and omg fire! The fire sensation immediately started in those two spots also. My eye started watering, my cheek felt like it was under attack, and all the while I still felt like my lips and mouth were on fire.
So I did what seemed normal and messaged some friends, described what was going on, and waited for them to solve the mystery of why I was on fire. They didn’t know either but our best guess was I, over night, became allergic to peanuts.
I say overnight because I almost daily eat peanut butter, don’t judge, to me a day without peanut butter is just sad. Plus a week or so ago I ate some mixed nuts, and well, lets just say nuts and I have always gotten along juuuuuust fine.
The idea I might all of a sudden be allergic was not at all appealing.
My face started being itchy but whenever I touched it to scratch the fire sensation would spread to that spot so I did my best to resist and eventually things calmed down a bit.
By the time I went to bed my cheek had a rash, my lips looked like I had lip liner on because they were lined red, they also still felt tingling and fire like, my eye had at least stopped tearing up, oh, and one nostril felt like it was on fire. So ya know, great shape to easily fall asleep in.
In the morning I was happy to find the rash was gone and my eye seemed fine…don’t you love how my first concern was over vanity issues and not say, the pain issue? 😉
The fire sensation had gone down to tingling and my lips felt like how they do after they have been sunburned, they feel swollen but don’t really look it, and feel stretched a bit too tight when I smile. Something new was the fire sensation was in my throat in one little patch.
Except for the dreadful idea I might now have an allergy things seemed to be getting back to normal.
Well. Let’s just say your girl isn’t always the smartest, and when I got to work I snacked on a mini bar that has as its number one ingredient peanuts. Didn’t even think about the whole “maybe I have an allergy thing and should be careful for a bit” issue. Just bit right in. And what do you know, nothing happened, except my enjoying the snack bar.
Guess who isn’t allergic to peanuts? This girl! Yay!
I even made sure to eat some peanut butter at lunch just to make sure. You know, for science.
But now the Snickers Bar causing all that pain and weirdness is an even bigger mystery. Maybe it was contaminated somehow? Maybe they changed their recipe and some random ingredient in there gave me that reaction? Maybe my body was trying to teach me a lesson about eating chocolate bars late at night?
Before I ate the mini snack bar with the nuts in it and the peanut butter I was going to ask my doctor to set up an allergy test for me but now I don’t know that I need one. Instead I am going to contact whoever it is that makes Snickers Bars and let them know what happened and see if they know what is going on. Let’s see if they can solve the mystery!
For Canada Day (that’s July 1st for all you non-Canadians) I went to Squamish to hang with a friend and her peeps. We went for a walk with her dog, then back to her place where she made a delish dinner and I took care of dessert.
My only vague self imposed guideline I have for dessert on Canada Day is I want it to be red and white. I figure, if I’m going to have a flag on my car, and wear a t-shirt that has some sort of Canada pride image on it, and be all in your face about how it is Canada Day then that might as well extend to dessert. Listen, it may be weird logic but it is my logic, so let’s just all pretend we are ok with it, ok? 😉
Now granted, Eton Mess is a very English dessert, but the two countries still have a connection, and well, it is one of my fave desserts and I wanted to try making it. The first, and only, time I had it was in Wales at some random restaurant. The menu didn’t adequately describe it so I had no idea what I was getting in to when I ordered it and oh wow was I happy when I got my first taste. It is a light, not too sweet, perfect for the summer dessert, aaaaand, it is red and white!
The most simple version I have found online involves meringues, whipped cream, strawberry sauce, and cut up strawberries.
Basically, you make meringues (or buy them if you can find them ready made), blitz some strawberries to make a strawberry sauce, cut up the remaining strawberries in to bite sized pieces, and make the whip cream (or I suppose you could buy that ready made also if you wanted). Once all the ingredients are prepped you crush about three quarters of the meringues and mix them with the cut up strawberries, then you mix in the whipping cream. Add some of the strawberry sauce and lightly mix so it gets swirls of red. Then you evenly distribute between serving bowls and top with the rest of the broken meringues and maybe a sliced strawberry if you want to try to be artistic about it. I opted for saving some of the strawberry sauce and put a layer of it in the middle of each of the servings. If I make it again I’ll also drizzle some on the top of the dish, ya know, for prettiness sake. 🙂
Eton Mess, Canadian style!
The recipe I used is from the BBC Good Food website (www.bbcgoodfood.com), they also have an app if you’re interested, bbcgoodfood.app.link . I can’t vouch for the app, I haven’t used it, but it is there if any of you want to give it a try.
The ingredients measurements are:
2 large egg whites and 120 grams castor sugar to make the meringues
500 grams of strawberries, chopped. 1/3 of the strawberries get blitzed to turn into sauce
450 ml double cream (I used whipping cream) and 1 tbsp icing sugar for the whipped cream
A minor annoyance is that the recipe says to “spoon dollops” of the meringue mixture on to the baking tray, and cook on the bottom rack in the oven for an hour to an hour and fifteen minutes.
What, I ask you, is a dollop? And why in the world is it being used as some form of measurement? In a recipe! For a food that can easily burn! Oooooh, if the BBC could have heard the names I was calling them when I saw the word “dollop” they’d have ducked for cover. I ended up using the large sized spoon that comes in your cutlery set, and put similar sized “dollops” on to the baking tray, it made ten “dollops” in case you were wondering.
Other than the “dollop” issue and having to call my mother to get help converting Gas 1 to an oven temp that makes sense over here (ended up using 250F), the recipe is easy to follow, and has good results. So here is a link to the recipe I followed, in case you want to take a look:
If you’re American you could always top with some blueberries and make it a red, white, and blue dessert for July 4th. And as far as I know there is no rule that says you have to use strawberries so you could always use raspberries, or some combination of red fruits to jazz it up a bit, get a new flavour in there. I might try making a raspberry sauce next time for the middle layer…we shall see!
My friend’s dog and I taking selfies, he has the best expressions! lol
Normally my posts are recaps of something I have done or seen but this time I’m giving you a chance to take part, via your computer screen, with something I will be doing this weekend. Oh the excitement! lol 😉
This weekend (June 22-23, 2019) is the Concord Pacific Vancouver Dragon Boat Festival. That is a mouthful! So from here on out I am just going to call it Concord, k?
Concord is the largest dragon boat festival in North America. The racing takes place over two days, Saturday and Sunday. Opening festivities are Friday evening but I have never been to those because I am always working. Teams come from all over the world to take part, for competitive teams it is a qualifier (think of how some marathons are qualifiers so runners can take part in the massive marathons, like the Boston Marathon), even if you are a rec team the festival is still a big deal. For my team, we race other races during the season but our big one, the one we say we practice all season for, is this one.
No pressure or anything. 😛
For those who can’t get to the festival to watch in person, or who want to avoid the crowds and ever changing weather, you can watch a live feed online, which is how you can (sort of) join me this weekend.
Races are from 8am to 6pm (approximately) and are about every 11 minutes. There will be an announcer explaining everything you are seeing, which is useful because it can be hard to tell when watching a race the order the boats cross the finish line. There is a whole reason behind that but it is too lengthy to get in to here, just know it involves buoys, water, and angles.
I remember from last year that after the weekend was over you could go back and watch the feed for at least a couple days, I don’t know how long it was left up, I just know I went and watched our races because I wanted to see what they looked like. I point this out so that any of you who are in drastically different time zones can take a look when it is over instead of staying up late and being half asleep while glancing at the feed…which I realize is me making a large assumption that any of you will actually watch but hey, a girl can be optimistic at times, right?
So yeah, not much else to say at this point, I’m going to go get my gear ready and meander my way to bed, I’m psyched for the weekend and hope we do well! If you watch, awesome! If you don’t, that’s cool too, but maybe send some positive vibes my team’s way, you know, for good karma points if nothing else. 😉
The other day I encountered a Ninja Squirrel. Now, maybe what I saw is normal in the world of squirrels but it sure didn’t seem like it to me!…though, when I think about it, I suppose the only thing I know about squirrels is they are cute, so not exactly a font of squirrel knowledge over here lol
I came around the side of the house, heard a scrabbling noise, looked up, and saw a squirrel running along the side of the house. Not on an awning or ledge or anything, just on the wall, like how Spiderman climbs buildings, only noisier and with less spandex. 😉
Picture a squirrel doing this, only going length wise instead of up.
So there is this squirrel, running along the length of the wall and I’m worried he is going to fall and hurt himself so I stop and watch, I suppose thinking he needs a witness to his death, or maybe I can catch him when he falls…which yes, I know, bad idea!
Ninja Squirrel gets close to the end of the wall and I’m relieved thinking he will go around to the front, get to the porch, and safely go on his way. Well, apparently that is not what the squirrel was thinking because he turned around and started coming back along the length of the wall. Up high, so so high. He stopped at an upper window, didn’t go on the window ledge for a moment of respite, just snuck a peek through the window like a not so subtle spy. Guess he didn’t see anything he liked because he turned around and started retracing his path. By this point I finally got my act together and was reaching for my phone to take some video because this was definitely something to be shown to friends and what does he do?
Gives me heart palpitations is what he does! The little brat leaps, leaps like he has a death wish, free falls through the air, and actually manages to land on the top of the fence.
How? How did he do that? It was crazy to see!
When he landed he didn’t even take a moment to have a deep breath, or consider the magical feat he just accomplished, or take a bow, he just scampered off like this was all just one more day in his awesome Ninja life.
Is this what squirrels are doing when we are at work all day? Scaling walls to look in our windows then flying through the air as part of their escape plan? I wonder if he comes to the windows to annoy the cats…
I think my neighbourhood Ninja Squirrel needs a new outfit.
There, that should be all that is needed for a book review. Right? A simple line saying either to read it, don’t read it, read it with low expectations…things along those lines. And yet, reviews are never that short, which means this one won’t be either, though I will do my best to not spoil anything for you, in case ya know, you actually go read the book.
The Silent Patient follows two story lines, Alicia’s and Theo’s.
Alicia is an artist who is in a psych hospital for killing her husband. The book is called The Silent Patient because Alicia stops talking, doesn’t say anything to the police who find her and her dead husband, not a word to her lawyers or other family members, not to any of the psychiatrists who try to treat her. Eventually she is committed and it looks like she’ll never get out. Her art becomes more valuable and there is a mystery around what really happened.
Theo is a psychotherapist who works at a different hospital but jumps at the chance to work where Alicia is when there is a job opening. He has been fascinated by her story since it first hit the news cycle and he is convinced he can help her.
The writing goes back and forth between Theo’s life, (his childhood, how he meets his wife, how his personal life is, through to some not so great parts about his personal life that I will refrain from mentioning so as to not ruin everything for you) and the time period in Alicia’s life leading up to the murder of her husband.
We get insights in to both characters personal lives, what they are thinking and feeling, we see how others treat them and how they cope with adversity.
Then the twist happens and boom! All the stuff you’ve been reading aligns in a slightly different way, clarity hits your brain, and you’re all “holy crap, I didn’t see that coming!”
Which you’ve got to admit is pretty great considering how often you can predict what the twist is going to be and how the book is going to end.
One thing, about a third of the way in to the book, it starts to drag and I got bored. Bored to the point I put the book down for three days and it was a max seven day borrow from the library, so not like I had three days to just waste. I only picked it back up because I hate leaving books unfinished, and I’m definitely glad I picked it back up. So prepare yourself for a potential loss of interest and push through it. Keep going, it’ll be worth it.
For all that I go hiking and for walks and dragon boat I wouldn’t call myself an outdoorsy person. I can handle being outside for various activities as long as nature keeps its distance.
Well, a couple weeks ago I was out walking with a friend around Burnaby Lake and nature attacked! It was brutal, and tragic, and involved the end of a life, and I hope it never happens again.
A small black flying insect suicide bombed in to my eye. My eye! And I don’t mean it came near, I blinked in time, and it bounced off my eye lid, or that it hit just under or over my eye, no no no. I mean it flew right in to my eye ball, made contact, and died. Now granted, it might have died when I rubbed my eye because a bug just flew in to it, but whether it died from the impact or my reflexive action is irrelevant. The end result was a dead bug…in my eye! Ugh.
So. Not. Hygienic.
The plus side to that day, and the walk I did the week later with the same friend at that same lake, is the other wildlife, you know, the ones that aren’t deciding to suicide bomb in to my eyes.
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So sure, the only wildlife I took pictures of were the Canadian Geese but c’mon, did you really want pictures of the slugs on the trails? No, I didn’t think so. And who can resist little floofy baby geese? They are so adorable, especially the ones that are all chilling on the grass in a row. Let’s all just admire the adorable while we can, because soon they will be grown and mean, it is their destiny after all. 😉
Ok so yes, race day was two days ago but hey, I’ve been busy, and tired, so it took a while to write about it lol
We competed at the Inlet Spring Regatta in Port Moody this past Saturday. It is the second year of the festival, and the second year we have competed in it. Both years have been great!
You know those jokes about Canada where people tease about how you can experience all possible weather patterns in one day? That was what Saturday was like.
There was wind, sunshine, more wind, cloud coverage, even more wind, rain, hail, did I mention wind, then sunny…with a side of wind. 😉
Each team was supposed to race 4 times but the water conditions became too dangerous and they cancelled the last two races of the day. Doesn’t happen often, so you know it is bad when!
What I found slightly amusing is that after they declared races 3 and 4 cancelled, did the math to figure out who placed where (based on Races 1 and 2’s results) and the medals were handed out, the wind calmed a bit and the sun came back out. So personally, I think we could’ve kept going, but it was too late at that point. Can you imagine trying to get all the teams to return their medals so they can go race again and hopefully still win them? Not a thing that would go over well lol
For this festival they don’t hand out medals, they hand out woodals, because they make their medals from wood. They are really nice, and unique, oh, and did I mention yet that my team won one? 😉
We won Gold in Division B, were ranked 5th for the entire festival, definitely not a bad way to start the race season!
My team being goofy 🙂
The day after at work, yes I know I look tired! The filter couldn’t save me this time lol
How will you move when you’re old? How will you get in to bed? Or out of it? How will you maneuver around your home, your yard, your neighbourhood? What habits do you have now that you’ll have to change in order to be safe?
Do you ever think about things like that? I do.
I often joke that I’ll be that person who dies alone in their apartment from a totally preventable fall and is nibbled on by their cat before being found a week later. It sounds ghoulish and stupid, but is a thing that could happen.
I’m lazy, and used to being tall and able to reach just that little bit more so I can grab something I need. Which means, instead of walking around an obstacle to get what I want, I lean over it. Leaning to the point where I’m on tiptoes on one foot, while the other leg is kicked out behind me to balance out how far forward I am leaning and I’ve got one arm stretched out in the hopes I can reach with my fingertips what it is I’m after. If I try this when I’m old for sure I will topple over and if not die, get injured.
My thinking right now is I’m capable, so who cares? Except, what if I don’t recognize in myself the signs that signify change, that will make that maneuver unsafe? What if I don’t notice my balance isn’t as good, or my core strength, or my ability to stand on one foot? Maybe I won’t be acknowledging to myself how I am more prone to injury, or that my arm can’t stretch as far as it used to, or that the strength in my arm might not be good enough to pick up that item I want. There are a lot of things that change within our bodies as we age, some changes happen slowly and we either adjust without realizing or don’t realize the changes, don’t adjust, and then harshly get confronted with our decreasing ability when we have a fall.
It is so much easier to see the changes in others, and so incredibly easy to ignore the signs in ourselves.
It might seem obvious to you that a man in his late 80’s shouldn’t be walking a distance that leaves him shaky, weak and sweaty, to run a couple errands when he could easily have those items delivered. But to him, being able to make that walk, run those errands, is proof that he isn’t as old as the years say, he is still capable of taking care of his wife and himself, he has usefulness.
In our bullheadedness to prove we are useful, and not old, we make stupid decisions, refuse to make lifestyle changes, all to prove to ourselves and others we what? Have value? Are independent? Are capable?
Society takes away so many things from our seniors that we grow up thinking are markers of entering adulthood. Their drivers licence, living in their own home, making medical decisions, cooking, working. And sure, some of those things might not seem like a big deal to give up, I mean c’mon, who really wants to be cooking everyday? Not me! But if all of a sudden my microwave and toaster were taken away and my cook top was disconnected, so I can’t cook, even if it is for my safety, how will that affect my self-worth?
Just to be clear, I’m not saying things like licenses, and living alone, and solo medical decisions, are things that shouldn’t be changed. Eventually we all become unsafe drivers (some much sooner than others lol), we all become unsafe living without some level of care, we can become isolated and depressed from being alone so much (do you know how many seniors are isolated and depressed? A lot! Go visit your grandparents people!).
I thought, because I work with seniors, I already knew all this and I dunno, was aware? But oddly enough, I saw a series on YouTube by The Try Guys about becoming old that made me think about aging in a more specific, how will I be physically affected, kind of way.
There are four videos in the series, I recommend the first and the third. By wearing a special outfit they physically feel what it is like to be old, their range of motion is decreased, their stamina is lower, a bunch of things are affected, and they try to go through their regular day like this. It showed how grocery shopping, baking, exercising, simple walking, all these things are harder, and in ways I hadn’t really thought of.
Did you know your arm won’t reach as far up as it does now, so getting things from the top shelf at the grocery store will be difficult? Even though I have contact with seniors on a regular basis, I never put that together in my brain. Sure I know their range of motion for arms is less than mine, but in how many simple day-to-day tasks does that affect them? A whole bunch more than I ever thought of I bet.
The videos got me questioning things but it all culminated in my head when I was getting in to bed one night. I like a high bed, I climb in to my bed, one arm holding a hot water bottle, the other holding my iPad or a book or the cat, so I put one knee on the bed, and climb on to my bed with no arms keeping me balanced or providing aid. And remember, I like a tall bed, so I’m going up on to a bed, not down or level with where my knees are when I’m standing. I do this, every night, without thinking. Just sorta climb up in to bed, then scoot around, get comfy, and pull the blankets up.
One day I won’t be able to do that. Hell, one day I’ll have to acknowledge it is unsafe for me to be in a high bed and get a lower one, and the only way I’ll be able to get in to it is by sitting on the edge and slowly swinging my legs up on to the bed. The entire way I get in to bed will have to change to accommodate my aging body. It might seem a silly thing to be contemplating, how getting in to bed will change for me, but it is one small thing that will be part of a larger amount of life changes I will have to make.
I’ll probably have to change the style of living room furniture I have, I have a low chair but I’ll need to invest in higher ones, I’ll have to have less items in my little hallway so it can be clear of any hazards, I’ll have to have more lights because my vision won’t be as good, I’ll have to stop leaning over things to reach items, I’ll have to leave outlets exposed instead of hidden behind furniture, there’ll have to be fewer cat toys lying around waiting to trip me up.
All these things are silly I suppose, but they have been occupying my mind lately, the changes I will have to make to accommodate my body as it ages and becomes less physically able to do the things I want it to. I wonder, will I be the person who acknowledges the changes I have to make and adapt to them willingly, or will I be the person who insists on doing things I shouldn’t be doing anymore to try to prove I still can when in reality I’m just putting myself in unsafe situations? I think I’ll probably be a mixture, adapt well to some changes but poorly to others.
To think, all this introspection because of some YouTube videos! I should be more careful what I watch lol I’ve linked to the two videos I’m talking about just below this sentence, in case you want to risk watching them. 🙂
The Amazing Shrinking Woman 