Friday, September 29, 2006

When bicycles and cars collide...


See this picture? That's what Juan's car looks like after yesterday morning...when a bicyclist and I collided.

Here's the story:

My knee has been swollen for 3 months...it's now roughly the size of a softball. I had made an appointment with my old orthopedic surgeon to have it looked at finally. My appointment was at 8:45. Juan stayed home for the morning from work to watch Paul so I could go to my appointment.

So at 8:15 I went out to Juan's car, which was parked behind our camper in the driveway. I put it the car in reverse, look both ways to make sure it's clear, and back out slowly. I get about 1/2 - 3/4 of the way out of the driveway, and look again over my right shoulder and SLAM! - a bicycle and mans body hit the car about 1/2 way down the passenger side.

OH MY GOD! Did that just happen? I put the car in 1st, and pull it back in the driveway, get out and the guy is sitting on the curb across the street holding his jaw with his left hand, bleeding. His bike is in the middle of the street. I grab is bike and put it in our yard, and then run over to see how badly he's hurt. He says his chin is busted, and he's sure he's broken his right wrist. He asked me to get his cell phone to call his wife, so I search through the bags on his bike and find that, call his poor wife and tell her that we've had a collision. The bicyclist kept telling me that he was sorry, that it was his fault because he wasn't paying attention. He said that he was messing with a light on the back of his bike and wasn't looking up, otherwise he would have had time to stop.

In the meantime, Juan has come out because he heard the wreck. He asks if the man (named Lee) wants us to call 911 or take him to the nearby (5 mins away) hospital. Lee says to please take him to the hospital, so Juan brings him a towel and an ice pack, and off they go.

Once Juan got back from the hospital, we decided that we had probably better call to get a police report. So I called 311, and the officer came to take our statement. He was SUCH an asshole. I told him what happened, and his first comment to me was "Well did you look?" with a total "you're such a stupid blonde, woman driver" attitude I wanted to slap him. (I didn't, of course.) I said "Yes I looked!" Anyway, the whole time he was there he acted like we were total criminals and I sped out of the driveway to purposely hit the bicyclist. So then he left to go get Lee's statement at the hospital.

Later that day I was out talking to my neighbor across the street, and Lee and his wife pull up. They told me that Lee had a compound fracture in his wrist and had to go into surgery to have it set and have pins put in. Poor guy. He also had 9 stitches in his chin. His wife took the bike, and they went home.

But wait...there's more to come.....

Tuesday, September 19, 2006

Just beachy...

Ahhh....the beach. Beautiful sand, crashing waves, relaxed atmosphere....and quarreling, picking, bickering in-laws.

Not to say that our trip was horrible. It wasn't. We had a really nice time. Paul did surprisingly well on both the plane ride down and the trip in general. He wasn't too keen on the beach, but he did love the pool at the hotel. His sleep wasn't great...but kind of cute.

I think Paul wakes up most nights, plays with some of the toys in his crib, and then goes back to sleep. Well, when he woke up in the hotel, in the pack and play, right next to us in the bed, he thought it was great! He patted us, started saying "Dadeee!" over and over, and threw his pacifiers, and other toys in his crib at us. He ended up staying up about 1 1/2 hrs that night, and woke up the other nights for shorter and shorter periods of time. So, under the circumstances, Paul slept pretty well.

I, on the other hand, did not sleep well the entire trip. I'm not used to sleeping in the same room as Paul, and his noises as he slept and moved around kept me from sleeping well. The bed was actually better than I expected, but still, every morning my back was killing me. And, on top of it all, most mornings, Paul was up before 7 AM.

Paul also started saying "cracker" while we were at the beach. Monday afternoon, I was sitting on the couch, Paul got the Goldfish crackers off the table, brought them to me and said "cwa-kur." I thought at first that I didn't hear him right, but everyone else heard cracker, too. Since then, he's said it on request, and for most food items that he wants. It's awfully cute.

Then there were the the in-laws. Oh, the list of complaints is long...Here's the short list: 1. We ate out almost every meal. 2. They bickered constantly. 3. We were always trying to hurry them up, whether to leave to go eat, or to hurry up and eat because Paul was about to lose it in the highchair. Those were the big complaints...the small ones...Tina couldn't stop squeezing Paul's cheeks, she says the same thing about him over and over ("Ay, que chulo, que chulo. Ay, que chulo! Cositas lindas, cositas lindas!"). That's just annoying.

The worst was the constant quibbling, arguing, about ABSOLUTLY NOTHING! One of them would be telling a story and the other would start disagreeing about some minute detail that didn't matter at all! It made me (and Juan, too) completely crazy!!!

Oh well, we made it, and were sooooo happy to be home. In fact, Paul completely lost it on the way home and had a total melt down. But, once we got home, he just played quietly until bedtime. He seemed to be really happy to be home and in familiar surroundings.

Nice to go, but nicer to come home. We're all glad to be home.

Wednesday, September 06, 2006

Rabies Update

I called Animal Control Monday morning to see if they had results from the decapitated skunk. The skunk tested NEGATIVE FOR RABIES!!!!! YEA!!!! So, now we're totally in the clear as far as the skunk incident goes, and we're clear to go to the beach!! Yea!

I'm a little nervous about the beach trip. I'm not sure how Paul's going to do on the plane ride, but at least the flight is short, just one hour. Juan's parents have a time-share in South Texas, so we're going to fly down and stay with them on the beach! I know Paul will love the beach...playing in the sand and waves. But, I'm not sure how he's going to do with his naps and sleeping at night. We're going to take his pack 'n play for him to sleep in...I hope it goes well. We'll see. I'm sure I'll have lots to write about after we get back...Juan's parent's always give me lots of material. I love them to death, but they make me crazy!

Monday, September 04, 2006

More house updates



They installed the tile backsplash in the kitchen, and the HVAC, A/C compressor and A/C vents.