Saturday, April 4, 2026

Injuries Abound (Klutzes R US)

Repeat after me "Suellen is a KLUTZ"

ROFLMBO

My right knee is going to need to be replaced due to arthritis, hoping it will last until after I retire on February 26, 2027.

And I have a knack for injuring myself that has to be seen to be believed!!
br>Came in the house one day last year and tripped over a freaking broom (not to mention, one hand was full of a cold brew and the other hand full of a Rebel energy drink). The cold brew landed right side up in the nearby garbage can, the Rebel landed on the floor, and it took me 15 minutes to get my fat body off the floor (I only wich I was joking)

Part of the reason that I am trying to clean and declutter is that everything in this house (other than the cat) is trying to either trip me or kill me

I have fallen or otherwise injured myself at work so many times that I've lost count (my employer is a bit of an ass about Workers' Comp claims so I usually do not treat ANYTHING as a Workers' Comp claim, I use my own personal insurance to cover anything or I just don't treat the injury, especially if it's minor.

Am dealing with knee pain (falls, arthritis, aging, etc), back pain (scoliosis, bone spurs, etc), and shoulder/neck pain due to a manual staple gun that tried to kill me!!

I am learning to pay attention to what I am doing .... not thinking of the next thing I have to do....and respecting my bodys' need for rest, relaxation, and being aware of my surroundings.

Yes...I am alive!! LOL

Okay I just realized it's been well over a year since I updated this blog. Still working for USPS (I retire in less than a year). Lost Percy Cat to a brain tumor in November 2005 and engaged in a war of whatever with my rude/inconsiderate/jerk of a new next door neighbor relative to the cat (and other things). I buried Percy Cat next to my carport--on my property-=and put a small piece of cardboard plus a rock on top of the grave to prevent the local wild animals from digging him up and eating him (gross I know but that could happen). The aformentioned rude/inconsiderate/jerk of a neighbor removed both rock and cardboard in approximately three days. I lost my temper!!

First I checked with management (I live in a manufactured home park) to confirm that the grave was on my property. It was. Management decided to put a larger rock (actually a square of concrete) on top of the grave with a sign saying "DO NOT REMOVE" I cried like crazy when I discovered that. BTW, the cat was over 18 years old, and he had lived with me since he was 1 1/2 years old. He slept on my head!! We were attached!! I was furious with next door neighbor and have pretty much remained so due to things other than the cat.

I had somebody build me a gate that extends from jerk's area to my carport, and I painted that sucker BRIGHT PURPLE. Percy's grave is behind the fence next to my carport.

You would think that that the new gravestone and sign would have been the end of it, but you would be wrong. I leave for work one day (night actually, since I work nights) and I notice that dear old rude/inconsiderate/jerk neighbor has a bunch of his stuff (rolls of wire, large garbage can, big hand truck, and bag of potting soil) leaning against my BRIGHT PURPLE gate and MY CARPORT). This man had already extended his property (with wood fencing) well into my area so I contacted management (not into confronting jerks directly) and they had him move the stuff onto his OWN DAMN PROPERTY but he moved it back SIX DAYS later. Contacted management again and I think they put the fear of something into him as it has stayed where it belongs (on his property) ever since. He has remained thoroughly inconsiderate/rude/jerk in any other area you can imagine but as long as he stays off my property I'm happy-ish!!

The house is an absolute disaster area except for the master bathroom/bedroom but I have the next 10 days off (paid vaction, baby!!) so will do my best to get it cleaned/tidied/decluttered.

Healthwise, lots of injuries but my asthma has calmed down (as soon as I got FMLA approved for my asthma, it started getting better), have started taking Align probiotic for my IBS (it helps a lot), started Ozempic (have lost about 20 pounds and have a lot more energy), am mostly med compliant these days (that means that 9 days out of 10 I take ALL of my medications).

Somehow a packet of negatives showed up in my bedroom so I took them to Walmart (only took 3 months to get them all developed) and WOW WOW WOW pictures of my mother at about 5 years old (she would be 97 on April 8 2026), pictures of my great grandfather (he died shortly after I was born), pictures of my maternal grandparents (both gone now). Not so WOW WOW WOW were the pictues of randome horses, cows, sheep (I kid you not!!) but I am planning on making a collage of the wierd pictures (I already hung up 99% of the other pictures).

Went to a family funeral in Wallowa (Oregon) and graveside service in Lostine (Oregon) in August 2025. I reconnected with family members and friends that I hadn't seen in literally decades so that was great even though it was a sad reason!!

I need to share an absolute COLOSSAL frugal failure. So I may have mentioned that I adopted a new cat the end of November (NO, he is NOT the frugal fail!!)

Mr Mittens is a scratcher. He has a scratching post which he uses but he much prefers my sofa(s) ....and I prefer them not to look like they've gone through a war. I looked locally for stuff to cover the arms of the sofas as I'd ordered some off of Facebook that never showed up (and the shop closed down). No luck locally, so tried Amazon. I found some and that's where the frugal fails starts: I bought two 2 packs ($24.00 each), self adhesive HA and trimmable.

First off it took one full pack to partially cover ONE arm of the dining room sofa (of course there wasn't coverage for the area he loves to scratch)---Self adhesive my rear end and the twisty push pins they sent along--half of them failed and untwisted when pushing in. Next idea double sided tape which I had to buy, wasn't expensive BUT...worked better at sticking to my pants than to the sofa or the covers.

Next idea: staple gun which might have worked had I not cheaped out and bought the $23.00 manual version. It took two hands to staple the material to the sofa, ok fine. EXCEPT for the fact that the using the staple gun pinched nerves/muscles in my neck and right shoulder. Urgent care, follow up with my PCP, multiple packs of heat packs to cover my shoulder, a hot water bottle, a muscle relaxer, AND now I'm looking at physical therapy as the injury will probably not heal on its own. I'm avoiding figuring out how much this debacle will cost me in total.

PS Anybody interested in buying a CHEAP staple gun? ROFLMBO!!

PS PS Anybody have any other ideas for cat-proofind the sofas?? Anybody suggesting that I get rid of the cat will be shot!! Not really, but I do love him a lot even despite his destructive habits (he is just doing what cats do) and he is a real sweetheart otherwise.