Catching Up

I would provide you with your usual photographic journal in lieu of recap of a week of missed blog entries (ok, it's been five days, not a week, is it a surprise to anyone who has ever met me in real life or has read my blog for more than a hot minute that I exaggerate? I didn't think so.) but the only photos I have to show for the past few days is an out of focus sunset and a picture of the cone behind the Dish truck parked in the driveway at the mountain house.

Ok. You twisted my arm. Here you go:

Maybe I had that backwards. It's an out of focus photo of the DISH Network truck and a decent photo of the sun sort of halfway setting. It would be an exaggeration to say that it was a sunset but you can tell it's going to happen soon.

I took the photo of the DISH truck because a) we finally got satellite tv at the mountain house! and b) do they really have to put a cone to warn - nobody - in our driveway at the bottom of a hill that you can't even see from the private road that is off the dead end that is off another dead end off of a road that even at the highest peak of tourist season is still not so busy that you ever worry about traffic that their truck is there? That DISH truck hasn't had less of a risk since it was in the assembly plant. Furthermore... the cone was between the truck and the house. 

Anyways. Neither of those really captures my life over the past week but, then again, they do. My life is that boring. I mean, relaxing. *wink* 

On my drive home today, one hundred blissful miles of me alone in the car with my thoughts and a very quiet cat, I thought of a really great blog entry or four. Those all quickly dissipated nine miles away from home when some caravan of losers decided to foul up traffic by using their hazard lights to indicate that they were together - that, and the fact that they were driving ten miles under the speed limit and not allowing traffic to get in between them in the few miles of interstate where you have the option to exit for the airport. If you're not from Atlanta you will never understand this - ok, maybe if you're a licensed driver from anywhere other than Hooterville (or anywhere with paved roads) you would understand why it would create a problem on a major interstate just south of a major city to play follow the leader blocking traffic in a lane that people HAVE to transverse to get from the two left lanes to the exits for a major metropolitan airport. It's 2013, people. Use your GPS  to get there and your cell phone to find your buddies. There was a brief moment where I was certain a guy in a Fresh Express truck was going to bust up their caravan by landing a few of them in the Grady Memorial Trauma Unit. (which you won't get if you're not from Atlanta).

See? Six hours later and I still can't stop thinking about it. For the record, I would have testified on behalf of the Fresh Express truck. 

However, we all know that this week has been about more than my road rage. (By the way, Purple Michael does a really funny impression of me singing along to Contemporary Christian radio with road rage... "Jesus loves you... YOU DUMB %$#"  but funnier when he does it.)  This week people, normal, average Americans were interrupted from exercising their hard won freedoms by two young men who hate Americans for being... well, American. I've watched about a gazillion uninterrupted hours of FoxNews (thanks to Mr. DISH!) and shed a tear or two watching other people shed a tear or two. I think I got the most emotional watching Neil Diamond lead the crowd in "Sweet Caroline" today because... more than anything else, I get sports. (And if you've never really understood the Sweet Caroline thing, or any of the Boston Red Sox traditions, you should watch the movie Fever Pitch with Jimmie Fallon and Drew Barrymore - really, really sweet movie!) And I can't help but think... two brothers aged 26 and 19 would be like my Ryan and Austin. I can't wrap my mind around the two of them planning and executing such a horrible crime against humanity. Because they wouldn't. And if they did, they would never be caught. Because never in the 26 years I've been a mother have any of my kids ever owned up to anything they have done.

Anyways... my three chores for my trip to the mountains were to renew my car tag, renew my drivers license and to see the pain doctor. These cost $65.45, $20 and $115 respectively and took ten minutes, HALF OF MY BORN DAYS and half an hour. The first was super easy. The second was the most painful thing I've done since UNMEDICATED CHILDBIRTH. The third was ... productive, I guess. 

I had a lot of witty things to share with you about the DMV, most of which I've long since forgotten but you should know that I wanted to stand up and yell, "BINGO" when they called my number but I was halfway afraid that it would make me go to the back of the line and that was an hour and a half I didn't want to relive.

At the pain doctor we discussed the burns to my back from the heating pad. He has encouraged me not to use it ever, ever, ever again because, as it turns out, people with nerve damage shouldn't use heating pads. He thinks, based on the scarring, that I had a huge (heating pad sized) second degree burn. Any wonder I've felt like poo the past two months? He encouraged me to use the TENS unit instead. That's like an electronic device for shocking the muscles and he reviewed with me the best way to use it. And he changed my muscle relaxer so I'm not dealing with the muscle spasms that I get when I'm away from the heating pad for more than an hour. And he said, again, time to hang up the cleats, which, if you're not sports minded, is another way of saying he encouraged me to quit working. He was glad that I've drastically reduced my hours (I'm not, being broke sucks especially when you have to renew your tag and your drivers license and pay the doctor, but of course being in pain sucks worse) but said when we think about "quality of life" that I will be better off once I'm past the disability process. He recommended that I obtain a lawyer at the start because almost everyone gets denied the first attempt and with an attorney things happen faster and often will get approved the first go-round. He listed for me the diagnosis' covered in my records with them and he said several of them by themselves would qualify me... so there's that... it still makes me anxious but at least validates my pain, if that makes sense.

Otherwise... the only other thing I wanted to be sure to blog about was to let you guys know that google reader is going away soon so if that's the way you keep up with my blog... and you want to continue to know when I've blogged, rather than having to just check back... that you will either want to friend me on facebook (if you haven't already) or there is a place you can sign up to get email updates when I blog... on the left of the page. Let me know if neither of those is working for you. If you care one way or another. If I might not recognize your name in a Facebook friend request, would you leave me a comment here or email me at heathernancine@gmail.com to let me know to watch for it? 

So that's it. Except for one more thing. I've previously mentioned a friend that is without transportation. Her situation has become exacerbated in the past week and ... picture it this way, picture me, with three kids still at home, no car, no income, no family support and having to walk everywhere. Her health is just as bad, if not worse, we have a lot of similar medical issues. And she has nobody. So if you would, please remember her in prayer. Something has to get better for her. 

That's it. Happy Saturday!