Overused

I am currently on a computer sabbatical. Although I will probably get a couple of blog posts up. Hopefully.

Many, many years ago (20+) in a state far, far away (California) I worked for a company called Hewlett-Packard. Maybe you've heard of them. One weekend, I worked some overtime, entering credits for customers. Unfortunately, instead of continuing to type with two hands and using the numbers at the top of the keyboard, I cranked out the work on the ten-key side. While I don't recall my speed anymore, I really rocked a ten key back in those days, entering over 300 credits in a few hours. That was when it all began - pain in my wrist, elbow, arm, and shoulder.

Since then, I've had a variety of pains, numbness, tingling, and other issues anywhere from my fingertips to my lower scapula up into my neck and base of my skull. It's a relatively normal thing for me, so while it may be uncomfortable, I mostly just put up with it. Sometimes, my massage therapist and/or chiropractor work on it. I know the things that cause me trouble, so I make some effort to avoid them or at least not overdo it. Sometimes, not so much.

The past couple of weeks have been pretty bad. I've had both extra chiropractor and massage appointments. It's much better, but as soon as I get on the computer, it gets bad. Quickly.

Today I was helping Caleb pick up ratty apples in the backyard and it hurt to even do that. UGH. So it was off to the chiropractor - again - especially since her office won't be open again until Tuesday. I told her I had already decided that I need to take a break from the computer beyond things that I absolutely have to do. She agreed that was a good idea. She also gave me a schedule of icing and ibuprofen for the next 5 days. Which I will adhere to, because I am sick and tired of this pain.

Some days I think I should just work on becoming left-handed so I could give everything on my right side a much longer break. It seems that everything I enjoy doing requires my right hand/arm, which is kind of frustrating these days. So it's time to take a break from much that aggravates my upper right appendage. I hope to get a few blog posts up, but that'll be the only recreational computer time for now.

Of course, a week or so away from the computer will probably be very good for me. And my household. And my family. I may even accomplish some much-needed things around here.

p.s. - I think this might have to apply to some of my iPhone activities, too. Sigh.

Wordless Wednesday - Pink

For more wordlessness, check out Live From Waterloo and the Wordless Wednesday hub.

25 Random Things

Thank you, Lisa of Pennington Point fame, for giving me something to post on Monday. I haven't participated in a random post meme in eons. Or years. Or something. Anywho, that's irrelevant, right?

So 25 items of randomness about me. It is all about me, after all, right? HA!

1. I love to write letters, but I pretty much never do, as I have no one to write to and no one who will write me back.


2. I was a Stampin' Up! demonstrator for 7 years


3. It is almost impossible for me to not take notes during a church service, teaching, event, and other such things where someone else is talking and I'm there to learn something. I'm a crazy, copious note taker.


4. I love the flavor of onion in food, but cannot stand to eat them. It's all about the way they feel in my mouth.


5. I can't fall asleep laying on my right side.


6. At Christmas, I like to wrap gifts with paper and bows. For birthdays, I prefer to use gift bags with tissue paper.


7. At Starbucks, I order an iced venti nonfat chai and a venti cup of ice to go with that.


8. I'm fine with washing and drying the laundry, but when it comes to folding or hanging up, you'd think it was my kryptonite.


9. I used to love having long fingernails and keeping them polished and manicured. Now I can't stand it when they get even a little long. I promptly clip them off.


10. I have a lot of undeveloped film.


11. SPAM and mac-n-cheese used to be one of my favorite meals when I was young.


12. I learned to change a tire when I was 11.


13. Because I grew up in the garage with my dad.


14. I was one of two girls who took auto shop my sophomore year of high school.


15. I used to live just fine on 2-4 hours of sleep a night.


16. I no longer have that ability. My body rejects that notion and wants 7-9.


17. I had an enormous Hot Wheels collection as a young girl.


18. I also had a Batman sticker on my Barbie case.


19. I used to torture my sister by taking her picture all the time. I think this was a sign of things to come.


20. I also once taped her eyes shut with Scotch tape.


21. I used to eat unsweetened baker's chocolate. Thus began the love of dark chocolate.


22. I played basketball in junior high. Not because I was that interested, but my best friend went out for the team and drug me along with her. It turned out that I really enjoyed playing, though. I was the second tallest girl on our team, so I was usually the center. I once gave an opponent a black eye in a game and it turned out that her mom was a friend and coworker of my mom's. Many years later, she was also my neighbor.


23. I spent my 14th birthday in Mexico City on a 9th grade Spanish field trip.


24. When I'm not in Colorado Springs or Denver, I tend to be directionally challenged, because I learned the directions based on the fact that the mountains are west. When I moved to California, nothing made sense for awhile - the mountains were west (or so it seemed to me; they were actually east) and the ocean was west. I didn't know what to do with the other directions.


25. My parents had to take me out of my crib before I was a year old because I would climb out and come downstairs and sit quietly in the doorway watching them play cards with friends. They figured that falling off the top of a crib would be worse than falling out of a toddler bed.

If you'd like to join in the random fun, leave a link to your post in the comments. The more, the merrier!

Manitou - the Penny Arcade

After lunch, we dropped by the Penny Arcade and YES, the photo booth was in working order! John and I have taken pictures in there a couple of times in years past, so this was very exciting to me. Of course, we inserted our three dollars in quarters so that we could have the little strip of paper with four dark, slightly fuzzy photos of ourselves.

John exchanged some green money for quarters and we hit the games. There's just about anything and everything at the Penny Arcade - rides, racing games, Ms Pac Man, and even the original Donkey Kong. You can shoot pool, play air hockey, look at yourself in warped mirrors, and earn tickets playing Skeeball. And then there's the room with the antique games. Like English Football, peep shows, love meters, shooting games, and pinball.

My personal favorite - the slimming, hipless mirror.

We also picked up some Patsy's Saltwater Taffy. They've been there long since before I remember and it's always a treat to have some of the best taffy around.

If you jumped in this story in the middle, here are the other two parts:

Pizza at Marilyn's

Mr Rockey

Manitou - Marilyn's Pizza

We did end up spending a good portion of yesterday in Manitou Springs. First up, lunch at Marilyn's Pizza, where you can get a pizza of incredible flavor. I again had the Five Cheese pizza - Mozzarella, Cheddar, Feta . . . and I forgot the other two. Probably something along the line of Romano, Parmesan, or Asiago. All that cheesy goodness is layered atop a basil pesto sauce and thin, homemade crust. Makes my mouth water to just think about it. Fortunately, I have leftovers that I'll be having for lunch.

In addition to fantastic pizzas, Marilyn's is quite the tribute to Ms. Monroe. There are photos and posters galore of her - some familiar, others not so much, an old refrigerator towards the back with small images of Marilyn glued/ModPodged over the entire thing, and everything is purple (except outside, which is pink). I'm not sure how purple evokes Marilyn, but that's okay. It's fitting for Manitou which is a quirky, artsy, touristy, sort of town.

A bike too big even for my 6'1" son, Zach.


Dog in the doorway of the Dulcimer Shop

This is actually a multi-part post, since I had so many fun photos, I thought I should split it up a bit.

The other posts:

The Penny Arcade

Mr. Rockey