My First Pinterest Experiment: Anniversary Photo Shoot

I always have these grand ideas that never amount to much of anything. I am not sure why this happens. I could be laziness of my part. I mean sometimes I am just so tired, my ideas just take so much work and my bed is just so damned comfy. My Pinterest boards are full of recipes and craft ideas that I will probably never get around to actually trying, but it’s comforting that they are there in case, someday, I find myself rich and rested with oodles of free time.

Once in a while though, I do get things done. I have, so far in my adult life completed a few projects or goals, including:  my college education, the first draft of three novels (please don’t ask about the revisions), ten quilts, a wedding and now, drumroll please, my first Pinterest pin.

Now, there are those of you that do this every day who are probably not impressed with that last one. Then again, you probably don’t find things like jumping or skipping to be impressive either, and I am quite amazed by those things. The rest of you who might be impressed are probably hoping I stop babbling and just tell you what I did.

Here it is:

It’s an anniversary picture where you take a picture of the two of you holding a picture from the year before. Cute Right?

Well it took me a full month after my anniversary, but I got my friend Martha to come over and snap a few pics for us. It was quick and painless. Although, Tom did have to shave a bit. (If you can believe it.)

By the way, are those shirts not awesome? The logo and shirt are the brainchild of a company called 3ELove. If you have not heard of 3ELove before I enourage you to check them out. It’s a great company with a great message.

Exciting June!

 I cannot believe that it has been almost a month since I have posted anything here. June has been a crazy whirlwind of a month! Allow me to elaborate:

·         I turned the big 3-0. People made bad jokes including the phrases “dirty and flirty” my friends from college came out to celebrate with me and my not from college but still awesome friends. We cooed at babies, drooled over my new Kitchen Aid mixer, did crossword puzzles and drank a lot less than we used to because, ya know, we’re old.

Me and the BFF at my birthday party

·         I went to my twin sister’s surprise birthday party all the way in Indiana and made her cry. Making her cry is my chief goal in life and boy was I full of win that day. Then came the awkward moment when my family tried to add “and Melissa” to the part of the song that goes: “Happy birthday Dear Angela”. Even though it was her party and not our actual birthday. Luckily, we are pretty used to sharing, but she should have thrown cake at me and screamed, “This is my day, B!@$* because that would have be waaay more entertaining.

My Sister and I at her Surprise Party

·         I attended two weddings. I’d like to think that I inspired both since the couples were all there for my big day and who wouldn’t want a wedding after that? In all seriousness they were beautiful and tons of fun. As you can see, my family and I were very excited to attend.

OMG weddings are Awesome!

·         My sister came to visit, and I actually got to spend time with her. My husband bonded with my nieces and nephews which he immediately regretting after he picked them some fresh raspberries from the bush in our yard and discovered the poison ivy… the hard way.

I also entered a writing contest. More specifically, the Simply Stated Blogger Contest and was selected as a finalist! (Trust me; I am as shocked as you are.) If I win I will get a chance to blog over at Simply Stated for a month and receive a $1,000 dollar cash prize. I dunno about you, but I think mainstream media needs a little more disability perspective (Plus, $1,000 never hurt anyone).  You can read and vote for my entry here!

July is shaping up to be a lot calmer and so I plan to get back on a regular writing schedule soon. I have a few fun ideas rolling around in my defective little brain. So stay tuned. It’s about to get crazy, but not too crazy. I have to be in bed by ten.

New Chair Day

Yesterday was a glorious day, not just because the weather was perfect and I got to spend an hour and a half reading in the sun, but because yesterday was the day most wheelchair users look forward to the way kids look forward to Christmas. Yesterday was new chair day.

Those of you who do not use chairs may not really understand the significance of this day; it is not just the chair. New chair day marks the end of a struggle. See getting a new chair is not as simple as getting a new car. Getting a new wheelchair can take up to a year and a half. I was shocked when I had to wait just under four months for mine that might be a record.

It’s not the ordering, the shipping or even the building that takes so long, it’s the paperwork. See first, you need to have a doctor write you a prescription for a wheelchair evaluation, that evaluation then has to be approved by insurance, then you have to go to the evaluation where a Physical Therapist and a Wheelchair Tech Guru (not their official title) evaluate you and decide which chair/parts meet your needs then you have to wait of insurance approval.

Insurance has to approve everything, from the type of chair, to the footrest, the backrest the weight of the chair every piece must be individually approved. Normally, I have not had to deal with insurance. This time, when they couldn’t get a hold of my doctor, they called me. I found out something interesting. Insurance (at least mine anyway) will not approve any part of a chair unless you need that part inside your home. For instance, if you need a lightweight chair because you have trouble pushing up hills or lifting it into your car. It will not be approved because you don’t have hills or cars inside your home. (Garages do not count.)

I find it interesting that how people function outside of the home is of no interest to the insurance company. Does anyone have any insight on this? I can see why they wouldn’t want to give someone something that was purely for recreation; (although, I wouldn’t necessarily agree with that decision) but it seems to me that getting to and from work or even the doctor’s office safely would be a priority. Apparently, for whatever reason, it’s not. Only what you do in the house matters.

The insurance guy that called me was awesome. He is very good at his job and was just as baffled by the policy as I was. He had no answers but was glad that he got to talk to me, because as it turns out, everything we requested for the chair had a function inside my home, but if he hadn’t spent an hour on the phone with me asking me questions, my chair might not have been approved at all! I guess on paper it didn’t seem justified.  I am so grateful to that insurance guy, who took the extra step to get a hold of me. Who took the time and the patience to go through every discrepancy with me and did it with kindness, understanding and humor. I wish I remembered his name. Here’s to you awesome insurance guy, thanks for making me a little less bitter.

Once the chair is approved, it is shipped and put together and then you make another appointment for a fitting and adjustments. After that, it’s yours.

Thanks to that insurance guy, I picked it up yesterday. It looks pretty similar to my old chair, but looks can be deceiving. My back, (which was the man reason for the new chair) does not hurt all day anymore!!! I am more comfortable and sitting up straighter, plus the new chair is easier to fold and easier to maneuver. Really the difference is me. Everyone is saying how much better I look.

Do you see the difference?

The new chair is one where I am in orange. Please ignore the boxes behind me on my wedding day, we were waiting to walk down the aisle. I posted it so you guys can see that even when I tried I could not get up nice and straight in the old chair. (No wonder my back hurt.) The new chair back wraps around my sides to hold me up. My shoulders are still never even but they are much improved. I self took the pictures of the new chair so I am still slouching a bit but my natural positioning (where I am without trying) is much better.

This is only day two, so I am sure some adjustments will be made. But I am super excited. Tom and I are going back up north with friends for Memorial Day and hitting up some of the attractions we missed on our honeymoon and I can’t wait to see the difference it makes.

How Not to Stress the Small Stuff

*Breaths a big sigh of relief*

Today many of my co-workers left to embark on the 5^th annual Great Lakes Independence Ride or IRIDE as it is called around here. It is a four day, fully accessible, inclusive cycling ride across the state. Their departure marks the end of a two-week long whirlwind of chaos: a fundraiser for the event, planing the after party and ironing out the details. I have been left behind to host an event on Sunday. Which means I am sitting still, in blissful silence, for at least the next 15 minutes.

So I figured what better time than now to update my blog. Especially since several important events have happened since I last communicated with you and at least half of you probably thought I jumped ship. Well, I am not a shipjumper, I tend to drown in deep water, so those of you that bet against me better cough up the cash.

Betting aside, you have missed a lot in the last few weeks, all of which I promise to update you on. The first order of business though is my bridal shower.

My bridal shower was hosted by two of my very favorite ladies, my twin sister Angela and my college roommate Stephy. This was not my first bridal shower, but it was (obviously) the first bridal shower in which I was the guest of honor. I sincerely hope that it is my last.

Not because I hated it.


No really.

My shower was lovely; Stephy and Angela did a beautiful job dolling up both me and the room. They made awesome punch using frozen fruit and juice. Ordered a huge, and what I am sure was delicious, cake, and had fun games planned for my guests. Stephy even coordinated her outfit to match the decor. And Angela saved the day by shopping for a new shower dress for me (in Indiana) while I sat on the couch, almost in tears, over the old one just 3 days before the event. Three cheers for sisters!

But there is one thing that I hate about large events, one thing that keeps me awake at all hours of the night, one thing that makes me stress about things when I should be able to have fun. What is that one thing you ask? Only everything you can’t fix/control.

In case you aren’t aware that encompasses quite a few things, some examples might include:


Weather and or Room Temperature
Traffic
Late/lost/stuck in traffic guests

Guess what?  These are three things that happened on the day of my shower. I did enjoy myself. I laughed, I hugged long lost friends and relatives and met new ones. I chatted about babies and weddings and other life changing events people chat about in casual conversation. But in the back of my mind I kept thinking that everyone else was wondering why I wasn’t making the room cooler, breaking out my traffic control flags or sending out a pack of bloodhounds to search for my missing guests.

Obviously no one actually expected me to do any of those things, but that didn’t change the way I was feeling. I did my best to smile through it, to push the negative thoughts to the back of my mind, but I couldn’t shake them entirely.

Then I got to thinking about the wedding. Surely there would be even more uncontrollable factors at the wedding than at the shower and I certainly didn’t want to be fretting on my wedding day. How was a going to let go of all those things and enjoy my day?

I got my answer when I got home. I was reading through a journal that Angela and Stephy had my guests write in. They were asked to fill it with words of wisdom, advice, etc. I came across the page written by my Step Mom. In her scrawling, barely legible handwriting, she had written: Remember for the wedding: People look at you for how to act. Smile and stay calm, be happy and everyone around you will be happy too. It seems a little too easy right? But I thought about it. Have you ever looked at a laughing baby and felt angry? Or watched a bounding, joyful, puppy and felt sad? Moods are contagious. If I am happy on my wedding day, my guests will be happy too.

Now that the shower is over I can see that I am very lucky, I have some of the best friends in the world. My family is loving and supportive. My new family truly loves and appreciates me for exactly who I am. How could I have possibly been so worried about the little details when the big picture was so awesome? I will remember this for September.

For the all the other days of my life I have found this list of 50 things I can control right now. Hopefully, it will give me some perspective.

Now for your viewing pleasure: 

My beautiful cake. Surrounded by cupcakes. I bet it tasted AWESOME

The centerpieces at each table

Gifts from my generous family and friends. There were so many it was a little overwhelming. They were all lovely.

Me, with my practice bouquet. I didn't break a single ribbon.

Five of the most important woman in my life. Top photo: me and my two sisters Cassandra and Angela Bottom from left: Christy, Stephy, me, Angela and Martha. I am so lucky to have them in my life.

What bridal shower is complete without toilet paper wedding dresses? I lost the contest. I think it was rigged.

Thanks to my friend Jen for taking the photos. It wasn't easy, the lighting was not so great.