Matt Dancing

Above is a video that my sister Annette showed me when she visited last week. The guy in the video, Matt, goes all around the world dancing in front of different people and it's become a YouTube hit. Annette's son Kimball loves watching this video, and he even tries to dance like Matt. I was so fascinated by this video and I watched it over and over. It was so fun to see all of the different places in the world that Matt has traveled to, and the people who live there that join in on the dancing.

Matt Dancing, part 2

In the above post I wrote about the "Matt Dancing" video that my sister Annette told me about. Her son Kimball and two of my other nephews, Ethan and Jared, loved watching the video over and over. This video is one that my sister took of the boys dancing while watching Matt dancing. I thought it was so cute how they really got into it. So cute!

Shopaholic

In the past two months I've spent $850 on new clothes at Old Navy. Hear me out before you raise your eyebrows! I like to do a lot of my shopping online because it's a lot easier to buy things while sitting in my recliner then it is to go to the actual store. There are no tight corners to maneuver my wheelchair around and no large racks of clothing impeding my path. I can see all of my options just by saying, "mouse click."

As I've already written, I've spent hundreds of dollars shopping at Old Navy in recent weeks. The reason these online shopping excursions have been so expensive is because I usually buy two sizes in everything I buy so that I have a better chance of getting something that fits. Ultimately, a significant portion of what I buy ends up getting returned to the store.

Regardless if I shop online or in an actual store, I always spend a lot of money due to the fact that I can't try anything on until I'm at home and in my bed. Since I'm in a wheelchair and unable to get out of it at the store (in addition to the fact that other people have to dress me) it just makes sense to buy a lot and then return it after I've tried it on at home.

When all is said and done, my tab of $850 won't end up being near as much! Thank goodness for computers, the internet and online shopping!

A former obsession

When my sister Sharon was in town visiting a few weeks ago we went to the movies and were reminiscing about old times on the drive up and back. I was telling Sharon's friend Shellie about my obsession with Leonardo DiCaprio when I was in eighth grade. (I really was obsessed!) I remember begging my parents to let me see Titanic. They finally relented, and my dad took me and my sisters Annette and Kristin to see it.

Now that I'm older and wiser, I look back at my 13-year-old self and I see just how silly I was! If I were a 13-year-old girl right now, though, I'm sure I would have a similar obsession with the Twilight stars, or something like that. It's funny to reflect back on my life and remember what it was like to be a kid.

My love for Leo is something I definitely haven't lived down, because my sisters and friends still tease me about it today! And just for the record, I'm still a huge DiCaprio fan, but not for the same reasons. I think he is such an amazing actor, and the movie that I love him in most is Catch Me If You Can -- his portrayal of Frank Abagnale Jr. is so good!

What a strange dream!

I had the strangest dream last night that I just had to write about. I dreamt that I went to bed as a 25 year old, and I woke up as a 40 year old. I thought, "I can't believe I'm 40 years old!" (Not that 40 is so old, but aging 15 years overnight is a pretty extreme jump!

Here are a few odd things about my dream:
#1) I wasn't paralyzed. Actually, this isn't so odd because I'm usually not paralyzed in my dreams, but most people find this strange.
#2) In my dream I was sitting in my family room with an interesting makeup of people: my friends Hillarie and Nate, my mom and dad and my two uncles on my mom's side. This was a random group of people since my two uncles live hundreds of miles away and I don't see them very often at all. And most strangely, my dad has been dead for more than 11 years, so it's always interesting when he pops up in my dreams (which happens frequently).
#3) We were just sitting around, not talking, watching the weirdest show on TV -- the old console TV that my dad bought in 1988.

Needless to say, I was relieved to wake up and find that I was 25 again! I don't know what made me dream this -- maybe the fact that my birthday is one month from today or something like that. Who knows!

Good for a laugh

I wanted to write about something lighthearted since my last post was so serious. I want to write about the little toilet that was in my hospital room. I've actually seen plenty of little toilets like this before, but a lot of my friends that came to visit me hadn't, and they got a real kick out of it.

There was a cabinet in my room with a sink and counter on top of it. This is what the cabinet looked like from the front with the doors shut:

If you opened the cabinet doors you would find a little toilet inside. I obviously can't get up and sit on the toilet, but the nurses would empty the pee that would collect in my drainage bag into the toilet. This is what the cabinet looked like with the doors open and the little toilet popped out:

The funniest thing about the toilet was when someone would accidentally lean up against the cabinet and their body weight would push the little flush button. It always startled them and gave me a good laugh. I guess it's the little things that you have to find humor in when you're in the hospital!

Stick of gum, anyone?!

When I was in seventh grade I started my own little business to make some extra money. I'm not exactly sure how it started, but I sold gum to my classmates in my seventh hour science class... one stick of gum for a quarter. I don't know what was wrong with my classmates, because they actually bought it! They would seek me out and ask if I had any gum. The price was highway robbery, but if they were willing to pay $.25 for one piece of gum, then I didn't feel bad charging it! I actually made about $7 a week, which seemed like a lot to me, and helped supplement my small allowance.