My New Bedroom Christmas Day

Woke up in my new bedroom Christmas morning. I'm not used to all the windows so it was very bright. But very cozy. went into the new big bathroom and into the shower; It was so easy!! The inspector came and gave a thumbs up to everything... except the ramp ( which we have had for 17 YEARS!!!)  he said the new code calls for a metal railing to go along the ramp and steps. So Joe went out and bought the necessary materials. ( complying to NYC code!) it was huge metal piping, not very decorative. I didn't mind but I thought mom was going to have a stroke. but, when they saw how easy it was for me to ascend the stairs she accepted it. so all that was left was to wait for the inspector... again!!
The inspector came for the second time and we were all set for him to approve the railing. when he left the house he called Joe and UGH!!! the railing has to go along the WHOLE deck not just the steps. so we are still not approved. Update to come!!!

My New Bedroom

Well, it's finally here, tonight I will be sleeping in my new bedroom.  -- let me start from the beginning. The whole venture started over the summer, I wanted to expand my bathroom to be wheelchair accessible and we decided to add on to my bedroom as a whole-10 feet to be exact.
 The first thing we did was get a contractor, my neighbor's relative.Then we needed a plumber, so we asked my uncle who's good friend, Jay, is a plumber, but he couldn't do the work, so he brought in someone else and he would consult.-- Here is a small world story, The partner is the uncle of  one of my friends from the Spina Bifida clinic who I have recently got in touch with trough Facebook!! Well, my friend and i had a laugh over that. Unfortunately, he didn't work out and we had to get another plumber.

My New Bedroom (Part II)

This past weekend the contractors have been putting in my bathroom: On Saturday at dinner, Mom asked me about where to put grab bars and brought me into the room which has the sink toilet and shower pan already installed along with the tile. We needed now to place grab bars for when i am maneuvering from the sink to toilet to the shower and also to my new washer/dryer. so she had me going through the motions and, as usual, we had a little... SARCASTIC FOR ...HUGE...; tiff. She would ask me the same question over and OVER!! Frustrated, I said ' exactly what answer to you want me to give.' (OK wrong thing to say  guess ) she stormed out and that was the end of the bathroom venture for the night.  I went into the kitchen and the table was not cleaned off but I said to myself ( If i clean it off she'll comment, so the heck with it ) and of course she came out and said  'So you couldn't even clear the table' -( Damned if I do, Damned if I don't). We went to bed in a huff.
 Sunday morning we woke up and made up. I took a shower , had breakfast and Mom, Joe and Myself went into the room to figure out the grab bar situation,

My New Bedroom/sitting room

Well, it's Friday and the time is almost here the room is DONE.!!!!!! all that Is left is some touch up painting ( Mom's in there as I write) and to get all my furniture back in the room!! tomorrow I will go down the basement where my stuff has been stored and go through it and TRY to purge some stuff I don't need ( wish me luck I am never really good at getting rid of stuff!!) Mom says that I should be sleeping in my room Saturday night!!!

My new Bedroom-- First Installment of more to come

Well,today the painters are here. They are painting the walls of my new bigger Bedroom. Tan and Shark (blue) I just went to see the progress and it is beautiful! Let me backtrack…. I thought I started this entry when I began this venture, but apparently not, so I have a lot of ground to cover

. Over the summer, I decided to expand my bedroom into a sitting area since this is where I spend most of my time (other than times like now when I am on the computer playing games, and writing my blog).



Throughout this ordeal I have moved temporarily into the back spare bedroom, I thought it was going to be a nuisance but the bed is SOOO COMFORTABLE, even more than my day bed. Mom said it's because there is a board between the box spring and mattress, so she said Joe will put a board in my bed if I want (and I DO!)



The First thing I picked out was my floor; I went with my Aunt Patti and my mother to G Fried Carpet. and met a salesperson I can't remember his name I just recall he was a Yankee fan and the Yankees were playing that night so he and my Aunt ( another staunch Yankee fan) were chatting away about the game and the players ( HO!HUM!) The walls were filled from top to bottom with samples. I told him I needed a floor that had good traction and one that wouldn't scuff, since I sometimes use my wheelchair in the house. That narrowed it down to a reasonable amount. I started to pick out tiles and --You guessed it,-- Mom found something wrong with EVERY choice I made; the first one I picked and loved Mom said that it had a pattern in it, and it would drive me nuts when it was down. after biting my tongue, I picked 4 samples, gave a deposit and took them home - One was too white, I said it made my room look like an examination room in a doctors office, and another, which I really liked, Mom said it had a color in it that would clash if I wanted to change my color scheme, even though to me it looked neutral. (The HS Art major strikes again).In the end I ended up with my original pick. (Score 1 for me)
Next stop, Blackman, a bathroom showcase place where I saw many bathrooms set up, again nothing struck me right away. The place was HUGE! There I picked out a sink. and toilet: I saw a shower from a vendor in my book from the Abilities Expo, but It was a one piece pre fabricated and the material seemed slippery so I bought three pieces separate; a shower pan, shower chair and a hand shower. the contractors ( a neighbor's cousin and his son) have been working diligently to get my room framed out. and finally finished that, the spackler was here and took two days. and boy did my room finally look like a room.

My summer Florida Vacation

The first week of July, Mom and I did what we've been doing for the past few summers; packed up and took a off for Florida with my Aunt Patti.We got there on July 6th; Patti stayed for 5 days and in that time we swam in the pool,.went to her in-laws for a visit .and our cousins' kids and grandkids came. We went to Hollywood beach and  rented one of those terrific beach wheelchairs, all we had to do was show a license. (you can even buy one  from http://www.wheeleez.com/ ). Mom and Patti wheeled me right down to the water, and I went in;. the waves were amazing; mom and Patti were holding on to me for dear life, Had fun but lost a pair of earrings in the process. On another day, Mom and I took Auntie to 'Le Tub' a fantastic hamburger place near the water. we got a table in the back and the waitress asked us if we wanted bug spray... after a while we took her up on the offer it was very buggy (guess the flies like the burgers too!!). The hamburgers were delicious, but that's not all we were treated too, while looking out at the water we started to see what looked like air bubbles from fish; everyone got up from their seats too look out; It turned out to be ...MANATEES!! Our waitress said she's been working there for more than 10 years and this was the First time she saw a Manatee!!! HOW EXCITING!!Patti left and we stayed for another 2 weeks, at first we felt homesick but we stayed, and got down to business decorating our condo.First up was  my room; I had to do something with nanny's old furniture. We realized we couldn't get rid of it, so we did the next best thing... Changed the draw pulls; and boy did that change the look completely from 'Nanny old-fashioned' to 'Lisa Modern'. Then we (Read: 'mom') made new slipcovers for the living room couch throw pillows. and, finally, what we have set out to do for the last few trips down....Put a fresh coat of paint and went to the store and bought new chairs and cushions for the lanai, AAAHHH beautiful......

Runnin' on empty

  OK, so the other day I went to work and after had to go to a union meeting. when I got to there, I looked at my gas gauge and I saw that it only had 4 dots!!  this is how I judge whether or not to get gas, mom and I figured out that each dot is a gallon-- anyway,  I had all  intentions of going home after the meeting and telling my mother but of course I got side-tracked and forgot!! well, the next morning mom went out to turn my car around (17 years experience and I still can't back out of our driveway) and she noticed that my gas was low.  i said that i meant to tell her and forgot. She said not to worry that i had enough to get to work and she'd get me gas when I got home; So off to work I went.
 Well, I got as far as the turn before Motor Parkway and panic set in, . Now, I don't know how many of you have noticed in your travels, but there are not many Full Service gas stations around these days, so when I saw a one I decided it's now or never and turned off the Service Road to get gas. So I'm sitting outside in my car and not an attendant to be found, so I had to ask someone heading in to the store to get one for me, and he so nicely informed me that this was a self serve island. So I had to go through the edited version of how a disabled individual can get their gas pumped at a self serve price. Anyway the man finally came out and of course I was parked in front of a pump that was out of order, so I had to maneuver to another pump --back up turn the wheeel, pull forward .!.repeat!( this was an interesting experience) I got the gas, called work to say I may be late, and was on my way. No sooner was I on the main road  did I realize my trunk was open. ( I did this when trying to open the gas tank.!) not to panic up ahead at a red light  I saw construction workers; I rolled down my window and asked the guy to close my trunk. then proceeded. Well, I got to work with time to spare, and called my mom and told her about my experience.

A day out Shopping --(WITHOUT my mother)

Last weekend,  my mom and Joe were doing yard work to prepare for the upcoming Mother's Day Brunch, my aunt called me up and asked me if I wanted to go to the movies  or just take a ride around since it was such a beautiful day; after thinking I said let's take a ride. When in the car, I remembered that I needed new sneakers for the summer so we decided to go out east to Tanger Outlets in Riverhead where they have SAS shoes.. this store is good because it carries shoes in wide widths ( DOUBLE wide to be exact) and they supposedly came out with a new sneaker. So Aunt Patti and I went inside and it was very busy.  I asked about the new sneakers and the sales person measured my feet and brought a pair out.I put them on my feet(after a bit of a tug-of-war with a shoehorn and the sales lady), got up out of the chair and walked around when I looked in the mirror, my feet looked HUGE , (and not in a good way)I didn't want to make a rash decision so I walked up and down the store for a while, but in the end I wasn't too crazy about them. That is when the lady said that she had the same pair of shoes I had on-- SAS Free Time-- in White ( the pair I had on were beige.) so she went to get them. I put them on and, again, walked around the store, looking in the mirror... I loved them .A white shoe that had support and looked like a summer sneaker; a win!!... I thought. I turned to my aunt and said I like them but,  I can hear my mother now saying 'why did you get another pair of shoes? I told you to buy sneakers.' well, my aunt said she liked them, and I should make my own decision. (Imagine that make my own decision at ONLY 44 years old ,lol!). So I bought them and out the door I went. When in the car driving home my cell rang and it was my mother I told her that we went to the outlets and without asking me she said "Oh, I wish I'd known, you could've bought your sneakers there"  and I said " year it's too bad... oh well- (WINK WINK) when i hung up I told My Aunt what she said and we both laughed.Then we decided to get an ice cream at Friendly's and while we were there I bought a Chicken Caesar Salad since Mom said she didn't know what to make for dinner. On the way home my aunt wanted to stop at a farm stand to get fresh eggplant, we stopped at two before a farmer said they were not in season (BUMMER). so we just drove back to my place. I said to my aunt,   'Don't mention my new sneakers see if my mother notices them'. When we got back to my place Mom and Joe were working in the back yard I called her over and started talking seeing if she'd notice. she didn't, so I pointed them out and, wouldn't you know it, my Mother had a hissy fit!!!  

WHY DID YOU BUY THOSE??  YOU HAVE A PAIR ALREADY!!?

'I tried to explain that I tried on the sneakers but they didn't look good,and that the shoes were different. because they were white. She wasn't buying that and said now we have to go all the way back to Riverhead to return them and get the 'RIGHT ONES'!! I just looked at my aunt who tried to stick up for me but to no avail and rolled my eyes. we said goodbye and she took off.-- with my wheelchair still  in her trunk--  so she turned around and came back and talked with my mother, I decided not to stick around and went into the computer room. a little while later mom came in and looked at my shoes and said 'Oh wow they ARE white' ....DUH!... and did her nervous giggle .When I said 'now do you feel dumb yelling?',she started to make up some story that she really believed that  I was joking and I had my same shoes on that I  left with and that she was playing along she would've never yelled at me if she thought i was serious (Yeah right!!) Well, in the end we made up as we usually do after the scolding and everything is back to normal!! Can't wait until the next outing!

It's a crappy job but someone's gotta do it

I don't want to alarm anyone I just want to share my experiences. I have never been regular from 'Day 1' . I was mostly constipated. i was on everything imaginable ( senokot, citric of magnesia, suppositories, senna tea) nothing worked. when i was 14 i went to a school where my nerves were shot, I started having like a colitis. and one day found myself in the girl's room crying because my bowels let loose big time. when i started to try daily laxatives, i could not hold my bowels and I would go anywhere at any time. i Didn't have any sort of regular routine. then in 1987 when i started work, i I would use a laxative on the weekends. i still had some acidents during the week in the beginning. but now, 22 years of persistence later, what i do is take a combination of laxatives ( what i affectionately call my 'BOMB') on friday or saturday night, It works me through the night and most of the next day. I don't make any plans for that day but it is worth it. It cleans me out enough that i can go the whole week without an accident and my body is so used to it now that i don't feel sick and I can go to work without any worry. this solution is not for everyone, but it works for me!!