I did a dumb thing.  Very dumb.  I didn’t mean to…but that doesn’t earn me any points, now does it.

I’m having a big party here at my house on Dec. 3.  I’m sorry to say, but I’m just not able to work at something all day any more.  My joints just won’t stand for it!    Therefore, it takes a while longer to get a project completed.  So, I have begun taking down all my Fall decor and getting ready to decorate for Christmas.  We are doing Thanksgiving at Joy’s this year, so it won’t matter if my decor is down.  I started yesterday and today everything is down and by the back door.  I also needed to put up the fall dishes and platters and such.  You know…basically wipe out fall and get on to Christmas!

Those of you who know me IRL know that I am vertically challenged….I’m 5 ft.1 in.  Not a complaint…just a fact.  But, it does require step stools and ladders quite often.  Now, I try to be real careful.  I make sure the step stools and the ladders are sturdy, and have rubber on the feet so they don’t slip as I am climbing.

I know alot of people are not like me. ( But, I know at least 2 people who are.)  I am of the opinion that if there is an unadorned flat surface …it must be adorned.  And, it matters not if it is 3 feet off the ground or15 feet off the ground.  So there is where the ladders come in.  I use them all the time.  And, I’m very careful…really.

Today, I had to get the tall ladder, because I was going to the top of the pantry.  It’s a good ladder and very sturdy, but I do not like to get it out, because I can’t put it up.  It locks into place, and I can not get it unlocked.  It bothers Don when I leave that big ladder opened and in the way.  And, if he is bothered…he is not happy.  And if he is not happy….I am not happy.  And I much prefer happy!

I have been up and down the big ladder probably 20 times today.  And, I was on my last trip up…I’d forgotten one little vase that needed to go up.  Up the ladder…no problem.  Down the ladder…BIIIIIIG Problem. 

I’m still not completely sure how I ended up on the hard, stone floor…but that’s where I was.  I landed on my hip and elbow, bent 2 toes backward, and hit my head on a wooden stool on the way down!  You know, I’m sure I looked very funny going down, but at the moment, I wasn’t laughing.  I lay there for a minute…trying to see if I was injured.  I knew I hurt, but I was praying I had not broken anything.  Then I tried to get up, but my arm was hurting too bad to steady me.  So, I called Alex.

Well, Alex is the sweetest young man.  And, he really does try to look after me.  So, when he saw me on the floor, he was worried.  I told him what happened, and that nothing seemed to be broken.  I just couldn’t get up.  So, I asked him to help me up.

OK…now I  can see some humor.  One of the results of the Cerebellar Atrophy that he suffers from is very bad balance.  So for him to get me up was not easy.  He had to stabilize himself against the cabinet in the kitchen, and then hold on while he pulled me up with the other hand!  He couldn’t HELP me up…just PULL me up!  Which was very helpful,  but my shoulder is now out of socket, as well! 

I slowly checked to see if everything that was suppossed to move did, and that nothing that was not suppossed to, didn’t.  And, all seems intact.   But, my pride.  We sat at the island for a minute or two, and then I told Alex that I was going to lay down.  I could feel my elbow throbbing and my head pounding.  “Thank you for helping me,” I said.  And, then he said to me, “Mother, you can not climb a ladder by yourself anymore.  You need to have someone to help you.”  I thought that was very kind and told him that I would be fine, and would be careful.  And, then he said, “You know, Mom, you’re at that age where you can be breaking your hip.  You are just too old to be climbing a ladder anymore.”

Well…call the home, get me a flannel nightgown and a cup to put my teeth in, Son.  Oh, and I’ll just use your wheelchair myself from now on!  Too old to climb a ladder, my foot!  And, by the way, if I had to wait on someone to be available to help me when I need to put things up, I really would be an old lady!

I’m getting more swelling and bruising…and I know by tomorrow I will be walking like I did break my hip.  So, I will sign off and find some aspirin and the heating pad.  But, my t-shirt will do just fine…no flannel nightgown.  No teeth in a cup.  No hearing aids.  No TV with the volume all the way up.  No riding in a wheelchair.

I’m NOT old….just clumsy.

SUNDAY  AM

I was right.  Stiff, swollen, and bruising.  Can’t walk on one foot, didn’t even know I hurt it.  Elbow and hip very painful, too.  Don’t think anything is broken, though.  I’m just going to take some more muscle relaxers and dream this day away.

Y’all don’t reserve me a room at ‘the home’ just yet, ‘m’kay?