It was a dark and stormy night . . .
It was a COLD and stormy night last Monday when this little drama begins. And my icy feet just wouldn't warm up, even tucked snugly under our down comforter. Why didn't we just turn up the thermostat? Well, in the interest of not depleting fossil fuels, contributing to global warming or paying the sky-high cost of natural gas, we were no longer depending on our gas-fired central heating. We were using instead small portable electric heaters that we could move from room to room.
"What we need is an electric blanket", Otto said. "With dual controls," he added. So Tuesday he braved the rain and cold (snow on surrounding hills) and brought home a beautiful cream-colored electric blanket.
In deploying its various electric cords to be out of the way under the bed, Otto discovered that the bed had somehow moved several inches to the east, shoving the bedside table eastward several inches until it was denting a closet door when that door was opened.
Why didn't he just roll the bed back again? Because years ago we raised the bed on pyramidal wooden blocks with central depressions for the casters. This enabled us to look out of our western wall of windows to our magnificent view of the bay and San Francisco. Now, however we had the problem of moving the blocks AND the bed with its casters so that casters and block sockets met one another. After much shoving of the elements hither and yon, we had it almost right -- except for one of the wooden blocks that seemed firmly anchored in the carpet.
"Let me just lift the edge of the bed while you move the block," I said to Otto. I curled my fingers under the edge of the bed, lifting it about an inch, and WHAMMO! -- a freight train hit me in the middle of the back. I screamed.
And that is why I am now flat on my back, taking pain pills, being taken care of by my good husband, and why he will (if he can read my handwriting ) post it on my blog.
Moral: stupidity doesn't pay.
22 comments:
Dear Gigi,
How terrible! I am so sorry to hear about your injury.
I am so happy I'll be coming out in a few days so I can help out.
Take it easy and I'll see you both soon!!
xoxo Daria
How awful. I hope you start feeling better soon.
As I told Dianne, that sounds like something I would do to which she reminded me that we were related.
Love Stanford
Oh, Phyllis, I am SO sorry to hear this... rest easy, try and keep it relaxed, sending warm healing energy your way...
We keep our thermostat very low and I tend to do fine, I LIKE wearing wool sweaters :^) but Bobby not so much... we had pondered on the electric blanket idea and then I remembered 'once upon a time' I'd had an electric mattress pad, we have a down comforter to help keep the heat 'in' so... I sold the idea to Bobby and we're both snug and warm at night (dual controls :^)
Feel better soon.
xox
It's so nice of your husband to help you post this. I'm sorry about your injury and I hope that you heal quickly. A few years ago, I regretted lifting two toddlers - one in each arm. The result was a hernia and needing to repair it with surgery.
No good deed (saving energy and helping out) goes unpunished I guess. Sorry to hear about this! Take good care and let Otto do the rest.
xoxo and all good wishes
Mary Ann
poor darling... when i was younger i would say,, "the things we do for beauty",, but as i get older,, staying warm becomes ever so much more important!!!!
Oh dear! I don't know if you got it working before your accident, but take it from me, the electric blanket is the greatest invention of the 20th century!
Back pain is the worst! Hopefully, it own't last too lang!
it was a dark and stormy night! Love how you began your tale of injury. hope you mend quickly. :)
oh, goodness, i can only imagine the pain you must be going through!
sending you a lot of good healing energy and hugs,
((((rebecca))))
Do take care of yourself. You know, all of us in the blog world do care!
Arty? Not me!!
This is a wonderful post, because it is so richly written, but I hate that you hurt yourself! I hope you get back up to speed soon. I feel your pain literally (slipped disk)
Sorry about the back. Are you at least flat on the electric blanket. Maybe the warmth will help.
Ouch! That sounds awful :(. At least you've got a full body heating pad now.
I hope it heals quickly.
How awful! Why do we think we can do what we would warn others against? Guess we forget that we not invincible...
Anyway, get better, and have someone else move the bed.
'Moral: stupidity doesn't pay.'
Ah, but how else are we to learn?
Oh, no! I am so sorry. Back pain is such a miserable pain. Take care - get well soon!
Sad to hear you hurt your back. But, even the unfortunate is a good read from you. I really enjoy your writing. Surrounding you in Light.
Susan
Phyllis--just checking in on you. Hope your back is easing back to normal. Look forward to your next Sunday Scribbling. Gentle hug to you.
xoxo
Mary Ann
Thanks to all of you for your warm and thoughtful wishes!
I hope I'll be up to
Sunday Scribblings again soon.
~Phyllis
Ouch!
Did you end up with a herniated disk--sounds like my predicament last spring!
PT routine and I'm much better--but it takes a while.
Feel well soon! (nice blog!)
Phyllis--I miss you! When can you come out and play again?
gentle hug from Mary Ann
Post a Comment