Minor Car Accident – Ugh!

I had the day off today and my mother came over for a visit.  We desperately needed coffee so we hopped in her 2002 Mercedes Crossover and headed to the Tim Hortons by the Fairview Mall in St. Catharines.  There is one really cruddy part of Geneva St. just before the mall that I (and apparently many people) hate.  It’s a weird series of two traffic lights, only about five car lengths apart, right under the QEW overpass.  The two right-most lanes go straight through from before the first light to after the second light.  A left lane forms before the second light for left turns.  We were in the middle lane and there was a red car directly to our right.  There were cars in front and behind us too – the traffic was pretty heavy.   We were second in line at the first red light.  It turned green and the next light up was also green.  We stayed in our lane, however, the red car directly next to us decided he wanted to be in our lane, so without any warning at all, he drove into our car.  Fortunately, I hit the horn the second I saw him come over and that made him quickly veer back to the right lane, but not before hitting us.  He pulled around the corner at the intersection and we parked behind him.  We hopped out and could not believe how little damage was done to my mom’s car (named The Dude).  No paint scratches, just a small dent (about the length of a finger) near the headlight.  His car was a different story:

We’re still trying to figure out how The Dude isn’t scratched at all and there is absolutely no red paint anywhere.  The guy’s first words to me were “I’m sorry – I was distracted and wasn’t paying attention.”  My mom looked over at him when we were back at the red light and he wasn’t texting or anything.  I figured we may find damage to her car later so I got his insurance info, just in case.  Apparently there was a pretty bad accident at that exact spot yesterday.  The intersection has also been in the newspaper a few times recently due to the number of close calls and incidents there.  They really need to do something about it.

Despite the minor setback, we had a good time out at the mall then over to Home Depot to replace an item I broke recently.  As you may have read in my last blog, I broke my iPhone case, screen and two shoes last week.  I figured I’d keep the destruction going by breaking a couple more things.  A couple nights ago, I had a dream that my mother asked me to come over to her house to fix her toilet seat.  Right after my alarm went off that morning, I walked into the washroom, and while I was lifting my toilet seat, I hit it with my leg and snapped it off the hinge.  What are the odds of that?  Wish I dreamed about winning the lottery!  Sooooo….I had to replace that today.  I was going to buy this one:

…..decided that I just wasn’t willing to pay that much for a toilet seat at the moment.

Elizadestruction continued as I also snapped the hinge on Zim’s tank lid.  Geesh – enough already!

Speaking of lizards, check out this grossness – little skin “glove” from Peanut’s last shedding:

Gross!

The old Goodwill office and Legion across the way from my apartment is being demolished.  Kinda neat to see, as I have a perfect view:

Jan and I drove by the back of the building on the way home:

With my destruction bout I’m going through right now, I should offer to go over there and touch the building – the whole thing will probably crumble in a second!

One last thing – I was doing an online survey today through a financial institution.  I wonder if I went a little off topic with my final answer:

Today’s symptoms: Felt pretty good today.  Still having those awful crushing pains in my hands.  MS symptoms can be so rude!  My energy was pretty decent this week though, so I guess I shan’t complain!  Life is good!

Elizafailure – Check This Out!!!

Ok, you’ll never believe this.  Mike and I took the day off of work today so we could take advantage of the amazing 19 degree weather and go for a nature walk around the Wainfleet quarry.  I should have known what a crappy day this was going to be when I pulled back the sheets this morning (while Abby was next to me) and I noticed the poop streak down my sheet that was up against me.  No, I didn’t poop the bed – Abby must have cut the cheese and accidentally discharged.  I then went to get cleaning supplies and came upon more of her poop and a pile of barf on my floor.  Good times.  So, Mike came over, we went down to my car and it wouldn’t open with my key FOB – it was dead.  I had to run upstairs and get my spare.  I came back down and we drove out to Jan’s.  Everything was good – nice visit then we drove out to the quarry:

As we were climbing up the wall in the back of the above photo, that’s where everything fell to poop.  I thought I had my beautiful iPhone 5s in my deep pocket, but apparently it wasn’t so deep at all.  I watched it fall in slow motion – watched the case break apart then the phone bounce and land on it’s face.  Yup, it was bad:

Ugh, I felt so sick.  My case broke apart too (it was a nice case – more than one should spend on a case, but I’ve had it for almost three years).  It took a few minutes to find the little corner part:

While still standing there where the tragic event unfolded, I phoned Best Buy.  They said they don’t replace screens but mentioned Wintronics in St. Catharines.  I phoned them and they said they replaced the screens.  Ok, this is good.  I said I would be there soon.  As we climbed back down the wall and toward the car, I felt something off with my right shoe.  I’ve had these shoes since university (so like 67 years now)..  Well, I guess shoes rot over the years.  Half of the sole on my right shoe fell off!  Regardless, we drove to the phone repair shop, as I attempted to walk in my rotted shoes:

I told the guy in the shop that I was truly having a “rotten” day and slumped my way over to the repair department.  They said they didn’t have any screens on hand and would have to order one, so it could be repaired Monday.  They said I could check out Miki-Wireless on St. Paul, which is close to where I live.  I was pretty impressed that they would refer me somewhere else!  I called Miki and they said they could repair it today.  As we headed back out to my car, my sole gave way:

I felt like I was driving in slippers.  We got back to my apartment and started walking up to my unit.  That’s when I realized my other shoe had also rotted.  So I had a “slipper” soleless shoe on one foot and a flopping sole on the other.  I looked like a real winner!  We got upstairs, I changed my shoes and we walked over to Miki.  They said they would do it in an hour.  About thirty minutes later, they called Mike on his cell and said my battery was old and started to expand, and therefore needed to be replaced.  I’m not too surprised as it was seriously starting to lose performance over the last couple of months.  I said to replace it as well as the screen.  I must admit, I’m SO impressed.  They replaced my screen and battery and it came to $163.  I won’t mention any names, but there’s a place in the PEN Centre that would do it as well, but my bill would have been $374 and they would have had to send out my phone for about two weeks!

I thought I was done being a klutz for the day, but when we got home, I dropped the handi-wipes I brought with us to the quarry, and they spilled everywhere:

Mike just had his own little bad moment.  We were watching a movie and Abby was on his lap and apparently let a big one rip:

I must admit, it was pretty rank.  Even Abby was gasping a bit!

What a day – I think I need to go to bed for a few days!

Today’s symptoms: Felt pretty decent today despite sleeping fairly little last night (fell asleep after midnight and woke up just before 4:30).  Yuck!  Still having the crushing pain in my hands but I think it’s getting a bit better.

Nice Attitude!

We had some pretty nice weather this weekend so Mike and I went for a fairly short flight Sunday morning.  I hadn’t done aerobatics in a couple of months and assumed I would be quite rusty.  I’m happy to report that I was actually rust-less!  Check out a couple of these nice attitudes:

Mike and I were giggling like school girls for much of the flight!  It was kinda sad when we landed:

We visited with Jan after our flight. I told her I wanted a new Christmas centre-piece for my dining room table.  Jan, being quite creative and skilled when it comes to flower arranging, came up with this perfect number:

Tee hee!  I love it!  It’s SO me (you know, weird, whacky and far from normal).  After our visit, we headed home to chill with the kitties.  Mya was sleeping like an angel (since she IS a perfect angel):

Boo looking like a monk:

I also brought the geckos out for a little a bit:

At least my animals are completely innocent and would never get into mischief (cough, cough)…unlike Mike’s reckless fish who maliciously knocked over their adorable (I helped pick it out – go figure!) aquarium decoration.  Before:

After:

Clearly they have no appreciation for high-class decor.  Humph!

Today’s symptoms: I’m finally feeling a bit better after another little bout of yucky symptoms that started a few days ago.  It’s only happened once before (a couple months ago) where my hands became extremely, almost unbearably itchy.  They also felt like they were on fire and being crushed right down to the bone.  I’m happy to report most of the itch and burning is gone and now I just have the crushing pain.  It’ll keep getting better, I’m sure!

Back In The Skies

After almost a month of not flying, Mike and I were able to fly out for breakfast on Saturday.  Our plan was to go to Guelph, but about fifteen minutes away, we realized the weather (low clouds) weren’t lifting like we hoped.  So, we called the Hamilton Tower and let them know we were heading south-west to Brantford.  Just before arriving in the Brantford circuit, we heard four other planes coming into land.  Oh geez!  The restaurant there is always so busy as it is.  I spoke with the other planes to get their positions, and followed the fourth guy on the downwind.  We taxied like crazy to get over to the restaurant.  I booted Mike out to get in line as soon as the propeller stopped.  Darn – no tables left.  Fortunately, there were a couple seats at the other end of the six-seater that two guys were at, so I asked if we could sit at the other end.  The whole time we were there, other folks kept coming in.  They have amazing food so many folks drive in to eat.

While we were there, Ornge Air Ambulance landed to drop off a patient to a waiting ambulance.  Mike took this shot while we were heading out:

We took off and had a nice tailwind on the way home:

The new arch over the Burgoyne Bridge in St. Catharines looks pretty cool from the air:

As we came in to land, we noticed the Homer Bridge by the St. Catharines Skyway was up.  Mike got a couple of nice shots:

It was a great day and a pretty nice weekend.  I started feeling pretty lousy on Sunday though.  The glands in my neck have been very sore and swollen and I have a bad ear ache and killer headache.  Not sure what it is, because I don’t have any other symptoms of a cold or anything.  Weird.

On Sunday, we did manage to make it out for some shopping.  I needed to get more crickets for breeding.  I’m not sure if the last batch was successful – the eggs (if there are any) are still incubating.  The apartment has been colder than normal and I know crickets don’t breed much in low heat.  I decided to add to their under-the-tank heater with some overhead lighting and I insulated the bottom and sides of the tank.  Hopefully this batch will yield a bunch of babies:

Today’s symptoms: Still feeling pretty punk, but fortunately not much worse than Sunday.  I’ve already made the decision that I’m going to feel better tomorrow!

Happy Birthday, Abby!!!!

This is Halloween for most people but for me, it’s the birthday of my youngest daughter, Abby.  My mother sent her an E-Card, so I picked Abby up and showed her:

She loved it!  Then, Mike bought her this amazing cake (and by her, I mean us):

She loved it!  And by her I mean Mike and I.  We were forced to eat it on her behalf.  Tragic.

Mike and I were watching a movie the other night.  Here’s a screen shot.  Yeah, classic Christmas zombie movie:

It wasn’t too good so I tried to distract myself with this awe-inspiring idea.  Y’all know of Lee Iacocca.  Well, Mike’s parents have three Siamese cats, one is named Coco.  For some reason, I thought of this and went through with it’s creation:

After creating it, I decided it would be best to send it to Mike’s dad.  His response:

Yup, that’s his son as a hamster…and some Pinky editing:

Meanwhile, it took me about fifteen minutes to create my Coco photo and he sent me about seven Pinky recreations in less than ten minutes.  Clearly I need to update my software.

So here’s another little tidbit on my life recently.  Mike has been collecting the Disney Planes diecast characters.  I have found and picked up at least 80% of his collections (because I go over to the States more than him).  Jan and I went over the river last week and I kinda found three new characters, and they were all Cessnas, just like my Vyctor.  There was only one of each so I kinda had to acquire them for myself:

I already had the one on the left.  I pointed them out to Mike and here was his reaction:

I had to dash his hopes and dreams and tell him I was selfish and bought them for moi, but I would look for the same when I go to Rochester next month.  He’ll stop crying eventually.

In more wondrous news, we have been faithfully watching 60 Days In.  What a great show.  One of the Sheriffs totally reminded me of someone all this time but I didn’t figure it out until the other night:

It finally hit me, he’s Bobby Hill from King Of The Hill:

So now you’re up to date.  You’re welcome!  And4 please get your Flu Shot:

Even Boo is thrilled at the thought:

Today’s symptoms: Felt pretty decent today.  Life is always better when you wake up covered in kitties.  My energy has been close to MS-average for the last few days.  I’ll take that over MS-yuckola any day!