Ouch

This is a picture of the steps that I walk up and down every day upon exiting or entering my home. I love our new house so very much in so many ways; however, I hate these steps! I'm not sure what it is about these particular steps but they've got me scared to death to leave the house. I have fallen down these steps TWICE. That's right, not once but TWICE. We've only lived here a month and I've fallen down the same steps TWICE. Most people would learn after the first fall, but not me.

The first fall was on Levi's therapy day two weeks ago. I knew the steps were icy. I had already warned Levi's Help Me Grow caseworker about the ice on the steps as she was leaving (approx. 30 minutes before my fall). I ran out to the van to start it up so that Levi and I could jump right into a nice warm ride. I opened the door and took one step out and before I could blink my eye I was sitting at the bottom on my butt and feeling much pain. I was more stunned than anything else. I haven't fallen because of ice in years. I was a little stunned that I had actually just fallen. Then I started to become very aware of the excruciating pain in my ankle and hip/butt. It was so terrible. It hurt so bad. But I was determined to be strong and just shake it off and NOT CRY. A few tears did manage to find there way out of my eyes but, hey, that really hurt.

I think I've mentioned before that I'm not much of a morning person and I think that might have played a factor in the second fall. It was first thing in the morning and since I own two young dogs, they go pee before I do. So, I'm carrying Max (he can't be trusted to not stop and pee in route to the door) and I see the stray black cat outside of the door. I can barely see as it is since my contacts are still stuck to my eyes but I thought the steps looked dry and occupied by the stray cat. I yelled at the cat and told it to leave. I kicked the door and screamed at the cat, but it just stayed there, looking at me, meowing at me. All the while, Max is squirming like crazy to get down and feel like I'm about to burst too. I'm afraid to let Max outside though for fear that he'll run off chasing that cat. Considering that I'm standing there in my house shoes, boxer shorts and tshirt I really wasn't wanting to chase the dog down. And not to mention it's only 6:30 in the morning. It's still dark out. So, I finally had the great idea that I would just step out on the steps and kick my foot at the cat while yelling and it would run away. So, with Max in hand, I stepped out onto the steps and before I could yell at the cat I was down on my butt and my house shoe was in a snow bank. My first thought was "AGAIN???!!!!" I didn't care about being strong this time, I balled like a baby. I turned Max loose and looked around for my missing house shoe. There was that black cat, just sitting there looking at me as Max ran off in the other direction. What was I thinking?!! If my fat ass falling down those steps isn't going to scare off that cat my little kick/yell combo wasn't going to do a thing! And Max~ no interest what so ever in the cat. He could have cared less. He peed and came right back inside. I finally got up, still bawling, retrieved my house shoe from the snow bank and went back inside. My poor little pitiful thin boxer shorts were soaking wet and dripping water onto my legs which made me cry even more. And I still hadn't even peed yet. When the girls came down stairs I told them what happened to Mommy and they both said, "Again?!" I told Dave. He said, "Again?!" I told my sister. She said, "Again?!" Yes, damnit, AGAIN! Apparently, you only get the 'are you okay' response on your fist fall. After that, not so much.

I am recovering nicely though. No worries. My bruise from the first fall is gone but my ankle is still swollen. It doesn't give any trouble really so I'm sure it will be fine. The second fall has left me with a bruise across my backside bigger than the eastern seaboard and is still quite sore. However, that too will heal. However, every time I think about that second fall~ I can't help but laugh out loud. Is that strange? It hurt so bad but I can't help but laugh hard. And here's a picture of Sienna just because.