With one arm tied behind my back

It's been very itchy around here. Rich has poison ivy on both his arms that he caught from his brother's dog at Thanksgiving. And after we modified my cast, I'm convinced I've got fiberglass on my face and hands from touching the dust. We're both paranoid about every itch we feel. Gah! I actually tried to convince Rich to cut this cast off me today. I can't type well with it and typing never hurt it before. It's making my whole arm sore now, though. The irony would be if wearing the cast made something worse on my hand.

He refused to cut it off of me. I promised I would wear the brace and just take it off for showering and when I needed to do a lot of typing. I would still wear it for a long time. I'd even wear the brace longer than four weeks if it meant I could type.

I told him, "I'll just take it off to type."

And Travis retorted, "which you do all day."

DAMMIT!

So the stupid cast it still on and I hate it. This better work or I'm gonna be pretty grumpy.

Sparing a dime

I gave $10 to a homeless man on Wednesday. I don't tend to carry that much cash on me but I did then and it seemed worthwhile. I was on my way home early from work with my son, we were going to have numerous guests over the weekend and my brother was working on his third turkey that week. I'd bought $10 worth of avocados earlier that day so it seemed like the least I could spare. And really, I don't care what he spent it on. I hope he spent it on food or maybe parlayed his way into somewhere warm to spend the night. I'm not even sure where he would have gone based off that location. But if he spent it all on liquor or drugs, so be it. His life is rough no matter how you look at it. He may not really be homeless. He may not really be a veteran. I don't think it matters. His life is crappy enough that standing out in the cold hoping for handouts was the best he could hope for that day.

I've known people who ignore homeless people. I've even known people be outright nasty to them in areas where there are lots of them. But I just feel sorry for them all. Life has been hard for them in one way or another and maybe they just could use a little kindness.

I know several people who are one supportive person or understanding job situation away from unemployment which could easily slide into homelessness. Bipolar? Depressed? Disabled? No health care? It could happen to so many of us. How far is anyone from a cardboard sign on the highway median? It's scary to me.

Is it just me? Do you give money to homeless people? Is there something else that does the most good?

Shopping

No time to post. 50% off sale at Tiny Prints on things I had already planned to buy as gifts but I have to design them all first. Too much pressure! I would make a horrible graphic designer. I keep changing things.

I've made it one week so far in this cast. Three more to go. Rich and I did some "modifications" this evening with the dremel to make it a bit more comfy. At this rate I'll have removed it in another week.

It's been a good vacation but I'm ready to get back in the swing of things. I'm feeling a bit of holiday spirit, which is out of character for me this early in the season. Maybe it's my rushed shopping this evening but I'll take it.

Ok, back to the designing board.