Fat fingered

Anyone who has been around me longer than 5 minutes knows that I suffer from arthritis. Some days I can barely move, other days I can move but random body parts won't work, and most days I walk like an old, old, old woman. Lately I've been having additional trouble with my fingers and toes. They don't want to move or bend. Sometimes they swell up to look like little sausages. This is very frustrating because I use the computer a lot for my job and it's hard to type when you've got wonky fingers.

Today the swelling was so bad, I typed multiple letters at once. I messed up so many times the auto correct function started cussing at me. I think it started saying "you're screwed lady". I decided to do some other work until things calmed down but I felt like I looked like I had one of those foam fingers on. I couldn't pick my nose because my finger was too big!

Pintrest shows party treats modeled after my fat finger! I should get paid or credit or something! 

I'm not going to show you my toes. No one should have to see those. Fat, swollen, rigid toes will make you walk funny. Did you know that? I saw my reflection in a plate glass window as I was walking and it was an interesting sight. I was sort of hunched over and was walking on my heels a little bit in an attempt to not bend my toes. I was a sight. Not for sore eyes - I caused sore eyes!

I finally got loosened up by about 2 in the afternoon so basically my day was fairly unproductive. I hate days like that. I would have rather stayed in bed all day long but I figured that I could be miserable at home or miserable at work. And at least I would get paid for going to work which helps me avoid having to eat oatmeal or peanut butter for dinner every night. That gets pretty old. I know, I've had to do it. And my fingers weren't swelling as much back then.

Kidlet is getting her license!

My youngest baby aint a baby no mo. Nosirree. She's 17 now and she's about to get her official drivers license. That means she can  head out (escape) into the wild blue yonder all on her own . I'm happy for her and sad for me and I'm a little bit scared.

She's doing a pretty good job at driving. She's cautious, doesn't speed, and she follows the rules. Which means the other drivers are going to roll right over her. Caution is a good thing but she's so cautious it's going to take her ages to get wherever she's going. There has to be a 2 mile wide open gap between cars before she feels comfortable enough to pull out onto the street. She stops at least 2 (17) car lengths behind others when approaching a stop light. She's just really super duper cautious. The first day she takes off for school on her own, I'm sure I'll be glued to the window watching her drive off. With tears in my eyes. And an ache in the pit of my stomach. It's not her that I'm worried about, it's all of the other crazies out there whose erratic driving will probably scare her to death. 

We had an encounter where she didn't plan her lane strategy far enough in advance and didn't have time to turn when she wanted to. The good thing is that it doesn't bother her to have to drive around the block and try again. Somehow, I see her going around the block for a better approach becoming a normal thing. For a long time.

I'm not making fun of her, really I'm not. It's just hard for me to grasp not knowing how to drive, because I've been driving since I was about 10 or 11 so it's second nature. I figure that after being a passenger for 17 years, it wouldn't be hard to get behind the wheel and just go. I guess that's just the difference in people.

I will give kidlet credit - she remembers all of the rules she was taught in driving school. She schools me when I've done something wrong when I'm driving. She isn't a lead foot Lucy thank gosh so she won't have to buy brakes twice as often as the rest of the people out there. She doesn't tailgate, she doesn't switch lanes every 3 minutes, she's just super cautious.

I can honestly say that I've only used the invisible brake pedal on the passenger side once or twice since she's been behind the wheel. So all in all, she's doing a great job and I should slow my paranoid roll. I only hope that she learns to relax a little and enjoy driving. And not get run over by the other crazies. Cross your fingers and wish her luck.