Category: Books and NOT COOL Stuff

This NOT COOL stuff is not in any order.  It’s just me acknowledging that something is NOT COOL when it happens to me.  I have owned my house for a little over 4 years.  I wasn’t completely dependent on my wheelchair when I bought the house as I am now.  I’ve had 3 contractors come to the house and tell me that the only feasible solution is new construction.  I can’t afford that!  I’m a teacher and a single Mom!  My son was able to get me into the house but we are having difficulty getting me into the house now when it is just the two of us (MOST times it IS just us two).  It’s understandable because I still outweigh him by like 30 pounds.  I usually fall backward on him but this time he was able to shimmy out.  I told him to get my phone and call my Mom.  He agreed and told me that first, he was going to take pictures of me. I told him “No” because the Lions game was going to start but what could I really do in this situation?!  Nothing!  So I chose to laugh.  I missed 10 minutes of the game because of this!  They won anyway.   My Mom got to our house and was able to get me back into my chair.

When the weather gets cold, I wear gloves because I “walk on my hands.” My wheels get cold.  Even before I got the really cool looking ones, they still would get cold.  Constantly grabbing something cold makes you cold.  I am both heat and cold intolerant so I melt in the heat and I can’t stand being cold. I normally start wearing gloves in mid to late October.  I wear them whenever I go outside and going to communion at Mass.  I also don’t like the feeling of lotion on my hands so my hands get extremely dry in the winter.  I know I will never be a hand model and I’m okay with that.

This year, I began wearing my hat and gloves in mid-October.  Not long after I started wearing them, they looked like this:

Obviously, it’s NOT COOL because I use my hands so much!  I go through at least one pair of gloves a season.  Two years ago, my Mom offered me a pair of really nice cotton gloves.  I told her that I only wear leather, no thanks.  It was when she looked at me a little aghast that I realized that NOT doing things very handicapped accessible isn’t necessarily mean.  It is just not knowing.  After I explained that I need leather because my hands WILL get wet.  Leather acts as a barrier.  I get snow on my gloves when I wheel through it.  Snow melts.  Then she understood.

So, it’s not even December and my gloves look like this!  Cold and wet seep in and that is NOT COOL!  Some manufacturer should reinforce them in places that are constantly on the wheels.  I would be a hand model for that!

I was reminded of this NOT COOL experience TWICE this weekend.  I am aware that this world is NOT fully handicapped accessible.  I get around the best I can in spite of these obstacles and/or barriers.  The NOT COOL part comes when able-bodied people take advantage of the accommodations made for disabled people. 

There is a reason restroom stalls are larger to accommodate wheelchairs or parking spaces are wider to allow for the extra room needed to get in and out of a car and into a wheelchair.  Or even dressing rooms.  They are bigger because wheelchairs need the extra room, not so multiple people can try on clothes together.  If I didn’t need the extra room; I wouldn’t use it.  If I didn’t need to park closer because it is SO hard to get in and out of my car/chair; I wouldn’t.  But I DO.  But I CAN’T when someone who doesn’t NEED TO does.  I don’t like it when there are 9 empty stalls in the restroom and I cannot fit in to any of them but the 1 stall I can fit into is being used by an able-bodied person.  So I have to wait.

The reason these accommodations are made, is so disabled people can use the parking space, the restroom, or the dressing room.  If you are ABLE to use a smaller one, PLEASE do.  I wish I didn’t need the extra space and I am working on NOT needing it.  In the meantime, PLEASE leave the spot available for anyone who does NEED it.

Currently, I am on the 4th book of The Outlander series by Diana Gabaldon.  It is an intricate storyline with a dual plot,18th century Scottish highlands and America in the 1960s.  It is a slow read for me (which kind of stinks!)  But, I REALLY dig it!  Apparently, an 8th book is coming out soon.

So, I have wanted to read this book for a LONG time!  Since undergrad actually.  I remember sitting in class and it being referenced often.  I didn’t want to admit that I have NEVER read it among English majors!

I recently heard this book referenced in a homily at church and it also was referenced in The Bucket List (Great movie!  I dig it!  It was on TV).  So I will put this book on my long list of “books I want to read.”  I’ll get around to it one day I think.

Two of my colleagues have talked to me about this series, likening them to The Hunger Games.  I’ll put this on my long list of “books I want to read.”

Divergent, Insurgent, Allegiant  by Veronica Roth

I have heard A LOT about this book!  My cousin Shannon (we’re NOT blood-related but she is very dear to me so she IS my cousin!) RAVES about it!  This one will go on my list of “books I want to read” as well!

I watched A Football Life two-part story on Vince Lombardi on the NFL Network over break and I am extremely interested in learning more sabout his life.  That AND I’m SUPER into the playoffs even though my teams aren’t in it.

 

Referenced in Barwis Methods: Parker

“My Mom wheeled me into his room and I held up my forearms to him and asked “Et tu Brute?!” with tears in my eyes. I am a literary person.  I taught English for 5 years before getting my master’s degree in education with a Reading Specialist endorsement.  That reference seemed so fitting to me.  Just as Julius Ceasar discovers that his friend Brutus has also betrayed him after he has been mortally stabbed; I too was experiencing insult added to injury with having trouble using my hands after the use of my legs had been taken away from me.”

Referenced in Barwis Methods: “Boing-Boing”

“I tell him that it feels like Susan’s curls in the Ramona Quimby book series.  He laughs and has no idea what I am talking about. Then I tell him all about Ramona Geraldine Quimby and how she was my favorite character in a book when I was a kid.  When I was a girl (probably about 25 years ago) I really liked Ramona Quimby books (Beverly Cleary wrote them) and  in one of those books she talked about a fellow student in Ramona’s class who had curly hair.  The student’s name was Susan.  I couldn’t remember Susan’s last name but I remember Remora calling them “boing-boing curls” because they would bounce up and down when she walked and Ramona always wanted to pull the curls. I said my legs kind of feel like that. I straighten them out and they ‘boing” back and I’m not sure why. I do know it kind of hurts.”

Ramona pulled Susan’s (her last name was Kushner) curls in the book Ramona the Pest and got suspended from Kindergarten.

I REALLY have to re-read these books!