I Think On Paper

Here’s your giggle for the day:

I don’t know why adult, zip up, sock monkey, footie pajamas exist, but it makes me happy that they do.

Meet Marla, my coworker and teammate extraordinaire.

These are her hands.

No, she did not paint her nails while impaired. She allowed one of our patients to paint her nails. We had goals to work on fine motor control and stability exercises for this little girl who loved to have her own nails painted. So they traded manicures as one way to address this goal.

Sometimes I get bogged down with some of the sad stories I encounter at work or trying to keep up with my own productivity standards. I continually fight to achieve balance that is all too often it is fleeting.

But this moment was beautiful. Who else gets to have a laugh over the state of her nails and know that it was purposeful and therapeutic? It was a great reminder to me why I work so hard to do what I do.

Thanks for sharing, Marla!

Anyone else feel this way today?

I met R2D2 at work today.

No joke. See?

He came delivering an important message to some kids I was working with. He brought a storm trooper and Darth Vader with him (who incidentally had foreign accents… which made me giggle!)

It was a delightful pause in a hectic day. I loved seeing the looks on children’s faces who were stuck in a hospital room. Many sat up, smiled, and summoned all the energy they had to take a picture with these famous heroes and villains. I was also surprised to see how excited I got! I wanted my picture taken with them just as much as my kiddos did. It was a sweet moment of laughter and reprieve in the midst of hard situations. I work with sick kids. They are fighting for oxygen, strength, and endurance much of the time. But, even for just a moment, they got to be kids, forget they were ill, and shake hands with Darth Vader … without getting their arm cut off! It just might be that laughter and joy are our portals to a galaxy far, far away.

Until this week I had no idea there were different classes of cereals. I knew some were healthier, some more vibrantly colored, but I found an inarguable distinction in the store.

The adultness is present in the very names of these cereals. What kid would whine for Fiber Flakes or Colon Blow Clusters given the choice? What age is it when we transition from sugary rainbow cereal to good-for-you-fiber-filled cereals? Is it a physiologic need for increased fiber intake? Is it a social construct? A rite of passage? In my quest into adulthood I wasn’t aware that my cereal choices would be forced to change as well. But in adulthood, so much is different. I have to delay gratification and value my “future self”, in many ways, more than I value my “present self.” This is true in financial decisions, health choices, and apparently even breakfast intake! I’m still learning about this adulthood thing and I’m not sure why I fought so hard for it as a kid. It seems like I have an earlier bedtime now than ever! This trip to Target just provided me with one more reminder that I’m not a kid anymore. But as an act of rebellion, I bought Frosted Cheerios. Keeping the kid in me alive one bowl at a time!

How do you balance the “kid” and “adult” in your life?

So I’ve talked a lot about carpet this week. But just so everyone knows — it is great! I had a long, rough day at work the day it was installed and didn’t get home until about 8 pm. I traipsed in the door, doffed my shoes and gleefully did a few carpet angels! Taking in the softness, cleanness, and hard work on the part of so many people that went into this moment.

Worth it!

It’s hurricane season and everyone is talking about preparedness. But I’ve been preparing for my own life-altering situation.

Last week my house got new carpet… nice, right? Yes and no. It is beautiful, and currently stain-free, but it was back breaking work for weeks before and after. Our installers were particular about what furniture they would move and what they wouldn’t, which meant I basically moved out of and then back into my own house over the past two weeks.

ALL of my furniture went into my bathroom. It was the most amazing game of packing Tetris I’ve ever played.

Here’s some photo evidence:

Notice the lack of stuff in my room?

Here it is!

I hope I don’t have to take a shower…

Or use the toilet!

Here’s a few snippets of the rest of the house:

Packing Tetris WIN! It just had to be off the floor, it didn’t have to be packed away properly!

So, that’s the evidence of what we’ve gone through. Read later this week to see if it was all worth it!

Able to read, spell, and not use made up words… that’s not asking too much right? 🙂

I had a long day on Wednesday.

With a long day at work and a meeting scheduled afterward, I knew I’d be tired. I at least wanted to be able to change my shoes and relax a little bit. Only, in my haste, I grabbed two different styles of shoes.

And both right feet.

I had two choices at this point. I could have been frustrated that my toes scraped the pavement as they lopped over the edge of the wrongly-footed shoe. I could have been embarrassed at the way I had to limp and drag my foot to keep the shoe on. Or I could have laughed.

So I laughed.

And I took pictures to commemorate my ineptitude.

I want to live my life more like this. Able to laugh at things that catch me off guard instead of getting so flustered. Life doles out its fair share of two-right-shoed days, but I get to decide whether to grumble or laugh in the midst of them!

I’m still learning about this blogging thing.

I enjoy writing – that doesn’t take a lot of effort. And I’ve gotten used to whipping out my phone to take pictures when something strikes me as humorous or blog-worthy so I have some visual interest to my posts. But the web design and “blogging back end” still baffle me.

I am thankful for friends who helped me with set up and decision making at the beginning of this adventure.

I spent some time today working through my website again. Reminding myself where certain crucial plug ins or settings are because it’s not always intuitive.

And I discovered two things that made me smile:

1. I’ve had over 5,000 visits to my blog. Holy frijoles! That’s a lot of posts and a lot of readers. Truly, thank you! You keep me writing and processing life and that is a good and healthy thing!

2. One of my plug ins tells me how people got to my blog. They could type in the link directly or be directed here by Facebook or Twitter. It also tells me what people searched on a search engine like Google that directed them to Ithinkonpaper.com People sometimes search occupational therapy or MacGyver or log flume rides. And, as it would happen, someone searched “how to fix a crown” last week… and Google in it’s wisdom directed that individual here! I found it hi-larious! Hopefully my blog helped that person, or at least gave him a giggle, or let him know that someone else has been through such an ordeal!

So, maybe I should troll around my blog’s back end more often, because it made me laugh as well!!