It's That Time Again!

Happy New Year, everyone!

I have fallen WAAAAAAAAAAY behind on blogging this month. One of the things I wanted to accomplish this year was to blog once a week. I did so well all year long and got lazy in December. Oh well, you can't win them all!

It's been a nutty year, for sure, but definitely a good one. I am working on another list of things of things to accomplish for 2014, but just haven't finished it yet. I will post it ASAP.

One thing I want to accomplish next year is to give myself a break. Admittedly, I am extremely hard on myself and don't give myself a lot of credit for things I should. Scott is on me about this a lot. Mainly concerning my weight loss. I have come a long way, but I still think I am extremely overweight and have a lot more to lose. This blog has helped me so much with this. Having before and afters handy remind of where I came from and I can relax a bit. On that note, I'm going to end 2013 with a few B&As.

Happy holidays, everyone!

Christmas 2008

Christmas 2013

Christmas 2012

Christmas 2014

Christmas 2009

 Christmas 2014 (sorry for the quality on this one- flash issues)

 

Cousins, Christmas 2009 

 

Cousins, Christmas 2014

Me and my mother, Christmas 2008

Me and my mother, Christmas 2013

(Not sure why I look cross-eyed here)

Another Accomplishment (2013)

In my list of things to accomplish this year, I wanted to donate blood as many times as possible. This is a huge thing for me, and here's why.

The summer I turned 10 years old, I had to have surgery to correct severe scoliosis. I had a stainless steel rod placed in my back. Cool, huh? Anyway, I was going to lose a lot of blood during surgery so I would need some transfusions. I needed 4 units of blood and had to give 2 of my own. So off to Blood Assurance I went. I was so traumatized by the ordeal that I vowed I would never give blood again for any reason, unless it was a life or death situation. In my defense, I was a little kid who had been stuck to death already and had a lot of scar tissue, which made for a tough (and painful!) stick.

Fast-forward to 2009. When Scott's mother became ill, I decided to go give in an effort to help her. Again, they couldn't find a vein, so I was unsuccessful. Never mind the fact that I had to sit in a side office with my head between my legs for 20 minutes because my pulse was too high to donate. They assured me that if I could handle them missing a vein, the actual donatation would be a breeze. I went back a week later and they were able to find a better vein. I was so proud that I'd done it and it wasn't a horrible experience. Once the needle was in and they left me to donate, I was so happy I cried.

Since then, I have tried to go as often as possible to donate. Seeing as I'm O-negative, I've always felt I should. All those years I didn't donate made me feel so guilty, so I'm trying to make up for lost time. The past few years I wasn't on a strict schedule, though. I'd just go when I remembered. This year I decided I would go after the 56 day period had passed and get it done. With the exceptions of being on vacation and going twice and having a low hemoglobin, I was successful!I gave a total of 6 times this year, so go me!!!

Me, donating, age 9

Bless my heart!

Me, post donation, my final pint of 2013, age 35

A Spinoff of the 10 Things You Shouldn't Say to Someone in a Wheelchair (My Five)

A sweetheart on Facebook recently tagged me and posted an article talking about the 10 things you shouldn't say to someone in a wheelchair. When I decided to get my rear and gear blogging this year, I promised myself to make sure the majority of the posts were not about things related to my disability. I have failed, somewhat, but I couldn't pass up making my own list. I'm borrowing some of the ones listed above with my explanations.

Please read this in the spirit it's intended. I don't take myself very seriously at all and have no problem laughing at myself. But there are some things in my life that make me bananas. Here are a few:

1. "You're really pretty for someone in a wheelchair."

Well, uh, thank you. Having a spinal cord injury has nothing to do with looks. I was just a kid when I was injured. Being cute didn't stop me from being in a car wreck, and being in a wheelchair hasn't stopped me from being (apparently) pretty. Spinal cord injuries do not discriminate.

2. "I had to use a wheelchair when I broke my ankle, so I know exactly what you are going through."

No, you don't. I don't believe in the "my disability is worse than yours," but using a wheelchair temporarily because of a broken bone is not the same. It just isn't.

3. "With such a positive attitude as yours, you WILL walk again someday!"

I'm sorry, no, I won't. First of all, there is no cure for spinal cord injuries. None. Nada. Nyet. I personally don't think there ever will be. Second of all, I have no bone density in my legs due to no weight bearing. If by some miracle I had feeling back in my legs and you stood me to my feet, my legs would break. I also refuse to walk with aid. I walked with braces as a child and had to quit for my scoliosis surgery and just never resumed. It was such an artificial way of walking and I hated it. It gave me no normalcy.

Anyway, back to the original point. I'm a very happy person and I love life, but that will not restore my body to the way it used to be. It just doesn't work that way. Thank you for complimenting my personality, but it doesn't cure a person. I will walk in Heaven, and then it won't even matter.

4. "You need a license for that thing." "Slow down speedy!" "You're going to get pulled over!" "She'll run over you for that!"

This was really charming when I was a child, but I'm 35 years old. Comments like that aren't cute anymore.

Unless I'm walking with someone, yes, I go at a faster pace than the average person. My "footstep" is much bigger than someone walking so I am going to get places quicker than everyone. My wheelchair is an extension of my body, a part of my person. It's not something to be mocked or joked with. I know this one sounds like I'm angry, but it's really hard to be taken seriously when you have a disability and comments like this just infantilize a person.

Also, I would never intentionally run over someone's toes. That is beyond painful.

*The exception to the rule: I have a few friends that know that this drives me crazy so they say these things to me just to aggravate me.  :-) *

5. "Anything in your preschool voice."

I guess this one falls under the umbrella of me not being precious. I'm not fragile and don't need to be addressed like I'm a child. Like the author of the linked article, this doesn't apply to the little old ladies, but adults around my age. Like I said already, people in wheelchairs have a hard enough time being taken seriously, and being talked to like a child doesn't help the cause. Being talked down to that way makes me positively stabby.

I was going to go with a list of ten, but I'm going to stop here. I really don't want to ever come across like an angry person so I'm going to quit while I'm ahead.  ;-)

My Definition of Accessibility

Since we just got back from vacation, I thought I would take a few minutes and do a blog about accessibility, at least from a hotel standpoint. Good accessibility, having EVERYTHING I need, is the main reason I love staying at Coronado Springs Resort so much.

We will start off with the golden throne. A toilet is a toilet and I really don't need anything special in that respect, but I always appreciate hand rails. It makes transfers smoother.

And yes, there is a book in there. I read in the bathroom, so sue me.

The main area of accessibility for me in hotels is the shower. This resort has the best setup, as far as I'm concerned. Here she is:

This, my friends, is what is called a roll-in shower with a bench seat. I didn't get a picture of it, but the seat actually folds up against the wall so you can get it out of the way. In the top picture, you can see that there's not a traditional shower head up there, but instead there is a hand-held shower spray. Most of the time, you get handles with good water pressure. Unfortunately, this room did not. No big deal, it just meant longer showers and that's fine by me. The only downside to that is it takes forever to wash my hair when the water pressure isn't hot. That said, this is the first time in 11 trips that we'd had this problem.

The bathrooms are the main point of contention with accessibility. Most of time, the doors are wide and there's plenty of room to get around easily in the room. So, you want to know what I look for in hotel rooms, this is it. 

Wow, that was extremely boring! How about a goofy picture to end with?

Are you Mr. Sulu?

Ok, as promised, here's the long story of how Scott and I met the legendary Mr. George Takei while vacationing in Disney World.

It all began the Monday of our trip. While strolling around our resort, the lovely Coronado Springs...

...we passed two Orange County cops on bicycles. We found that odd, since we never see cops on property, just Disney security. When we returned to our room, Scott looked up the conference schedule for the resort, since it's also a convention center. He discovered that the keynote speaker for one of the conferences was Hillary Rodham Clinton. That explained the cops. He then laughed and told me to go check Facebook. I looked and saw George Takei posting pictures from the Magic Kingdom. That alone was pretty cool, being in Disney World at the same time he was. He was speaking at the same conference.

The next day we were eating lunch at The Pepper Market. I just happened to look over Scott's shoulder and saw him. I told Scott, "Don't look now, but I'm pretty sure that's George Takei sitting back there eating." Of course, he whipped around like a weather vane and confirmed it was him and his husband, Brad. I grabbed my phone and headed over to say hello. Scott, no kidding, said, "What?!?!? You're not!" Of course, I was! This was a once in a lifetime opportunity to meet Mr. Sulu! I was going, with or without him!

We walked over to them. As I approached the two of them I said, like the dork I am, "Excuse me, but are you George Takei?" *face palm* Not my proudest moment. Anyway, he confirmed and I went on to gush about what fans we were and how awesome it was to meet them both. He asked where we were from and he spent the next several minutes talking to us about how much he enjoyed Chattanooga. I then asked if he minded us getting a picture with him. Brad happily took it, we thanked them, and off we went.

I then became a total fangirl and started texting everyone I knew, including my dad, who I knew would be very jealous :-) I had heard that George was very nice to the fans and always willing to chat, and boy, was that the truth. He was so kind and so easy to talk to.

And that's the story of how we meet George Takei while in Disney World! Oh myyyyy!

Of all days for me to be in vacation mode: hair up, no makeup, shorts...ugh. I could have at LEAST popped on some lip gloss, right? :-)

♫Holiday Road.....♫

So, Scott and I just returned from our latest vacation to Walt Disney World. We had an awesome time and had a few unexpected little treats along the way. The best one being meeting George Takei. He was such a nice person and it was quite an honor to speak to him.

Surprisingly, one of the best things that came out of our trip didn't occur until we got home. I was looking at all of our pictures and realized that a few of the shots we took were identical to ones we took last year. I pulled them up and did a little comparing. Needless to say, my jaw hit the floor. Let's compare, shall we?

Cracker Barrel in Valdosta, 11-2012

Cracker Barrel in Valdosta, 11-2013

Yacht and Beach Club, 11-2012

Yacht and Beach Club, 11-2013

The California Grill (our nice dinner), 11-2012

Yachtsman Steakhouse, 11-2013

Coronado Springs Resort, 2012

Coronado Springs Resort*, 2013

*Just as a side note, yes, I'm well aware of the fact I look like the last rose of summer in this picture. It was warm but insanely windy that day so my hair went up. I didn't have any makeup on either, so that's why I look so odd ;-)

Beaches and Cream, 11-2012 (this one is painful to look at, honestly)

Beaches and Cream, 11-2013

And one from WAAAAAY back, 12-2005

Same bus stop, 11-2013

These are just a few fun ones at the gym at our resort. Sorry to be a braggart, but I'm a little proud of myself:

That's 62.5 pounds, baby!

And a cheesy one:

Sadly, I'm not as proud of this one. Overhead presses are not my forte (yet). That's only about 30 pounds. Ugh. Also, apologies for the VERY unladylike pose. I'm a paraplegic, for goodness sake.

There you have it, friends! You know, I was pretty dang proud of my pictures last year. But looking back on them now, I can really see how far I've come since then. I've mentioned a few times that I still see a fat girl staring back at me. These kinds of pictures give me that slap across the face I need! I'd also like to add that this is the first time I wore shorts on vacation since Scott and I got married. Yes, my legs are white, they always will be, but I'm not embarrassed to show them anymore.

Again, I'd like to stress that all of this was done with simple diet and exercise- no pills, no shakes, nothing artificial, no surgery, and no gimmicks. 

Vacation, at last!

This trip makes our 11th trip to Disney World. We usually go in November. We arrived yesterday (11-1) and will be heading home the 9th. Oh my word, it is absolutely gorgeous here right now. It was a nice, breezy 80 degrees without a cloud in the sky. Tomorrow we plan on going to The Yacht and Beach Club to grab a bite and walk the GORGEOUS path to Disney Studios. I will post pictures.

On that note, I will run. I will leave you with a picture of me in my happy place.