Crippie's Corner

Piggie Post- BATH TIME

2012-03-01T23:30:00.000-05:00

Ello!

Apparently Crippie is really good at jinxing things, I talk about not getting sick then I get sick... I talk about my doctor's appointment and it gets pushed back a week... oh well. I will say this opening in my schedule is for the best. It gave me time to watch "Harold and Kumar" movies with the family and of course... BATHE A GUINEA PIG. I was going to bathe several pigs today, but most of them were in hay induced food comas so I opted to only bathe the dirtiest pig, Mama Pig.

Generally speaking I clean the piggies with wet wipes, but every so often they get dirty enough to warrant an actual bath. So without further adieu I give you... PICS AND TIPPIES

Tip #1 - Just because Guinea Pigs can technically swim that does not mean that they should! If water gets into their ears they can get a very serious ear infection. I bathe my piggies in some form of tupperware with about 1.5 inches of lukewarm water.

Tip #2 - Use a shampoo made for Guinea Pigs. Human and baby shampoos are not good for their skin and hair. I use "Gorgeous Guineas Manuka & Neem Shampoo". "Gorgeous Guineas" IMO has the best piggie grooming products. I use their foot creams for when their little feetsies get dry or red, and I use their melts once or twice a year to soften their skin and hair.

Tip #3 - Try to make bath time a happy time. Mama Pig is a diva and realllllyyyyy enjoys her "spa time". Alas, not all of my pigs are this calm. Maggie, Aggie, Nellie, and Frida all try to jump out of the tub and claw up my shirt. For those pigs I try to bathe them as fast as humanly possible. I also find bribing them with food works sometimes.

LOVE ME!

Once I'm finished lathering up shampoo I use a cup of warm water to rinse her off.

Tip #4 - Dry your piggie quickly. DO NO LET THE PIG GET COLD. The piggie can get very sick if they are cold for a prolonged period of time. Once Mama was removed from the bath I gave her a quick towel dry. I try to get her as dry as humanly possible in this stage because next comes the blow dryer!

Tip #5 - When blow drying a pig use a medium to cool setting, keep the dryer constantly moving, and keep a safe distance from the skin. Most of my pigs are freaked out by the blow dryer. I try to bathe those pigs only in warmer weather, so I can get away with just towel drying them for an hour. Also be careful of the direction the dryer is positioned, if there are any poopies on your towel they might go flying (which happened today, several times)

So there ya have it folks! The whole process took about 40 minutes, most of that was in blow drying stage. Mama Pig is very clean and very happy.

Crippie's Tippie - Guinea pigs are not simple animals to raise, you cannot just leave them in a cage in your kid's room. They require lots of care.

Rare Disease Day 2012

2012-02-29T23:00:00.000-05:00

Ohai!

It's February 29th... you know what that means right? IT'S RARE DISEASE DAY! That's right, today's the day we raise awareness about our specialness. Today we all rise together, united in our crippled goodness.

In honor of Rare Disease Day I figured I'd share my story and my disability with y'all.

I was born with a genetic disorder called "Multiple Hereditary Exostoses". It causes benign bone tumors to randomly grow on the my bones. I have well over 100 tumors on most of the bones on my body. The only areas that are not effected are my skull and spine. For me, these tumors range in size from a teeny tiny pebble all the way to a baseball. MHE also causes the bones to warp and grow crooked. MHE causes constant pain, restricted movement, chronic fatigue, as well as possible mental side effects. There is no cure for MHE. The only current treatment is to have surgery when tumors become severely problematic. Thanks to my MHE I've had 10 surgeries on my legs, arms, and hip.

I got Reflex Sympathetic Dystrophy due to complications from my first surgery. RSD is a pain disorder that causes severe pain (think 20 on the pain scale), sensitivity to touch and temperature, and my leg turned a lovely shade of purple. My RSD went into remission after around a year of intense and very painful physical therapy. It reappeared nine years later, but quickly went into remission after more aggressive therapy.

My diseases have definitely had an impact on my life, both negatively and positively. I live in constant pain, I can't do a lot of normal activities, and I've missed out on experiences and milestones. BUT living with all of these challenges has turned me into a person with wisdom, strength, and perspective far beyond my years. I do my best to always remain optimistic, regardless of how bleak things may seem , because I know it could always be worse, and because things almost always get better.

So fellow cripples... rise up, be proud, and own your disability. It might suck sometimes, but at least we get a holiday!

Crippie's Tippie- Get more information about Rare Disease Day HERE

P.S- The guinea pigs are getting their baths tomorrow, and I will definitely be taking pictures :D

Crippie Plays Catch Up

2012-02-28T03:26:00.000-05:00

Sup Everybody?

My cold is finally starting to go away... YAY! I can breathe again!!! Apart from the general annoyance of the cold, it was really starting to get painful, tumors in my ribs were catching when I coughed, hella painful. Anywhooo today Crippie figured she'd talk about some random things that have been on her mind recently...

- Anybody watch the Oscars? Crippie enjoys watching award shows and picking out the winners regardless of whether or not she knows what she is talking about. I did pretty well last night, got a vast majority of my answers correctly. The biggest bummer of the night... WHY DIDN'T HARRY POTTER WIN ANYTHING? I mean, c'mon couldn't the academy at least recognize them for their make-up? Biggest moment of awesome (for me anyway)... when "The Descendants" won an award for it's script. Why? Because this means the academy agrees with Crippie in how the movie is not offensive in any way, shape or form. Snaps for validating my opinions.

- Now that my cold is going away I can focus on trying to sleep again. Last night I fell asleep around 5:30am. The night before that it was 4:00. Crippie really needs to think of some sleeping techniques. Oh, and for those who suggested either Tylenol or Advil PM... Crippie used to take those to go sleep for several years. What happens when you take a drug regularly for several years? You basically become immune to it. Alas they no longer have any effect on me.

- Crippie visits her pain management doctor on Thursday. My mom really wants me to consider the anti-depressant as a pain medication route again. This time we are gonna go to the doctor specifically discussing my hip pain (normally I just say I'm in pain from the neck down). I'm gonna bring my hip x-rays and discuss how I want to preserve my hips for as long as possible. Although part of me thinks I should probably be talking with my ortho about that, which reminds me... I haven't had an othro appointment in over a year, YAY ME!

- The piggies are starting to get dirty, I guess that means it's time to bathe the piggies. Something tells me Thursday will be spent at the doctor's office and then bathing and blow drying pigs (yes, I actually use a hair dryer on the piggies). Anyone interested in seeing pics of that super fun event?

- Speaking of piggies, here's some pictures of Frida sleeping in Nellie's house. Ever since Frida managed to get in Nellie's house she has refused to come out :D

- So yeah, that's about it. Random jumble of a post. Crippie's thoughts get jumbled at 3:00am... which is mainly why I NEED TO FRIGGIN SLEEEEEEEEEP!

Crippie's Tippie's - In this day of digital x-rays its super easy to ask for a copy, they can be emailed to you too!

Crippie Rolls Down Memory Lane

2012-02-26T03:46:00.000-05:00

Hey Y'all!

I'm soooooooooooo sorry that I've been MIA for the past few days. When I jinx myself and get sick I realllllllllllllyyyyyyyy jinx myself and sick. Yeahhh, Crippie has a massive head cold. On the bright side, it inadvertently gave me an idea for a blog post. Yay for massive head colds!
Crippie was trying to distract herself from the whole "my nose sounds like a trumpet" thing by browsing Pinterest and I came across a dandy little image. It's Becky, Barbie's cripple friend!

Crippie was so excited when she this Becky doll. Why? Well, Becky was manufactured in 1998, when Crippie was 10 years old. Crippie totally had this Becky doll, and I have very fond memories of having a cripple barbie. At that point in my life I didn't know anyone with a disability, so at times it was hard to cope with the fact that I was "different". Having a toy with a totally kick ass red wheelchair with holographic wheels helped me feel that I was not alone and that is was ok to be disabled. Alas, the Mattel company stopped producing Becky dolls a year or so after their release after people complained that Becky could not fit into any of Barbie's dollhouses. While I can understand how people would be pissed that their doll couldn't be used with a lot of Barbie's accessories, at that age I was just happy she existed. I would love to see the Mattel company just make a wheelchair that could be used for any Barbie. That way any girl could make any Barbie be more like them.

Becky was not my only crippled doll. Crippie also has a crippled American Girl Doll. Around the time that Becky was released (me thinks a year or two before but I'm not sure) The American Girl company made a wheelchair for their dolls. Naturally Crippie had (still has) an American Girl doll in a wheelchair. I absolutely loved how she had a totally kick ass blue wheelchair. There are two really awesome details about the American Girl wheelchair... 1) it was rather well made, mine is still intact as the picture shows, 2) THEY STILL MAKE 'EM. An updated version of my doll's wheelchair can be obtained HERE. As far as toy companies go... I've found that they are one of the more "cripple friendly" companies. Their current "girl of the year" doll has a learning disability and befriends a girl in a wheelchair.
At that age, my dolls were sorta like my friends, and to have friends that were going through the same things I was definitely helped me cope with my illness. I do wish more toy companies were "cripple friendly". They really are rare and few in between. The only other "cripple friendly" toy company I can think of off the top of my head is the "Monster High" series, especially their zombie character who walks slower and occasionally will lose a limb. What about you guys? Do you know of any toys designed for disabled children?

Crippie's Tippie For Toy Companies - MAKE TOYS FOR CRIPPLES

Crippie Tries To Go To Sleep

2012-02-21T23:30:00.000-05:00

Ohai!

Hope y'all had a lovely Tuesday. Apart from slowly coughing my lungs out my day went pretty well. I was kinda surprised by how not sucky today was considering it took me well over 5 hours to go to sleep last night.
It's weird, you think it would be easy for a person with chronic fatigue to fall asleep... but alas that does not appear to be the case with me. It's pretty easy for me to take a nap, I fall asleep within 20 minutes and I'm not in too much pain. BUT as soon as Crippie tries to go to sleep for the night either her hip, shoulder, or something random decides to hurt her. Sure, pain meds help to a degree, but I'm usually in some form of discomfort when I go to sleep. I've had trouble sleeping for as long as I can remember. The only time I don't have trouble sleeping is when I'm recovering from anesthesia (only good part about surgery... drugs and anesthesia make it super easy to sleep).
Recently, after growing ever frustrated with my sleep issues I thought of a novel idea... "Hey Crippie, if you can nap without issue, why don't you treat bedtime like naptime?". So Crippie tried to sleep propped up at a weird angle on her bed watching some random tv channel. Go figure I fell asleep faster than I usually do. I've been trying this for the past several nights and it's been working, with an exception for last night but I was up because I wasn't feeling well... so it doesn't count ;) What about you guys? What do you do to treat insomnia? I would try something like Ambien, but some of my relatives have had some crazzzzyyy side effects from that one (let's just say they involve show tunes).

Crippie's Tippie - Sometimes the best solutions are the weirdest

Crippie Lost The Immunity Challenge

2012-02-20T23:30:00.000-05:00

*ACCHHHHHHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO*

Yup *cough*... Crippie is a total jinx. I wrote a blog post about not *cough cough cough* getting sick and what do I do after that... I GET SICK. *Cough* it appears that Crippie has come down with a little cold. So yeahhhh, sorry about the lack of posts people, haven't been feeling well enough to post.

To make up for the lack of posts *cough*... here's some guinea pig pictures.

The Trio, eating hay and looking a wall

Nellie, Cleaning her Feetsies

Frida asking for food

Nellie asking for food/forgiveness for not posting in several days

Crippie's Tippie - Never brag about anything over the interwebz... *cough* it will come back and bite you in the ass

Hey Good Lookin'

2012-02-16T23:30:00.000-05:00

Whuzzup Y'all

I hope y'all had a lovely Thursday. Crippie's day was pretty uneventful. Mother Nature decided to be stupid and change the weather in the middle of the night. It took Crippie 4 hours to go to sleep. Yeah... today was one of those days where I was too achy to do anything of use. Although I am currently "babysitting" Helen while her mommy is still sick. While Helen loves me she is making clear that I am not her mommy. For a blind dog she gives a really convincing death stare.

Now on to Pig-tures! Maggie says "thank you" to everyone who thinks she's pretty. Tonight we are going to focus on her cage mage Aggie. Aggie is a blonde, black, and white shorthair who is a little over 2 years old. She is known as "Good Lookin' Pig" in my house. Her hobbies include eating her feelings, eating jewelry, and eating plastic. When we first obtained Aggie she showed some signs of piggie depression. The depression went away as soon as she realized that we have comfy beds, toys, and most importantly... FOOD. She is our loudest wheeker, I can hear her when I'm listening to music with headphone on... on the other side of the house.

I SMELL FOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOD

I might be a fat pig, but I'm a cute fat pig! Look at my lovely markings.

See, I'm freaking adorable!

BEAUTY SHOT! Look at them whiskas!

If you thought Maggie was cute... I probably just blew your cute filled mind!

Crippie's Tippie- Piggie depression can actually be very serious, weigh your sad piggies daily to make sure they are eating.

Crippie Wins The Immunity Challenge!

2012-02-15T23:30:00.000-05:00

Happy Belated Valentine's Day Y'all!

I reaaallllllyyyyyy hope all my readers had an awesome Valentine's Day. Crippie spent her day working, eating candy, playing with pigs and puppies, eating candy, hanging out with relatives, and eating candy. If you were wondering Crippie doesn't have a "valentine" per say, but I enjoy the holiday regardless because it's an excuse to eat massive amounts of candy.
Apart from holiday cheer going around there also appears to be a nasty stomach virus spreading around here as well. Pretty much everyone in my house has gotten sick... EXCEPT FOR CRIPPIE! It's weird, even though I am in general a very sickly person my immune system is oddly strong (get the title now?). I rarely have allergies and I might get the sniffles once or twice a year... that's about it. I have absolutely no freakin' idea what I'm doing right besides drinking insane amounts of vitamin C rich beverages whenever someone near me gets sick. *Shrugs* Crippie usually jokingly explains it as "proof that God doesn't totally hate me". Watch, I'm gonna get sick as soon as I press the publish button.

In unrelated guinea pig news, my trio beyond happy with all of their admirers on here. They brag about it all day. The problem is that my duo overheard them and now they want their shot at in the spotlight. I figured I'd give each of them a special day to have all the attention on them. The Piggie de jour is my youngest pig, Maggie Mae. Maggie is a brown Abyssinian Guinea pig and she turned 2 years old a few weeks ago. Her hobbies include trying to escape, listening to Diane Sawyer, being the boss, and standing.

Maggie when she was a baby... she made it on DailySquee!

Maggie is a big girl now

BEAUTY SHOT!

She was trying to eat my button -_-

Ohai, just standin' here... showing off my blonde tummy

Crippie's Tippie - Try not to get sick peoples, consume lots of vitamin c and use hand sanitizer... also if you need to cough, cough into your damn sleeve

SNUGGLY BLANKET OF DOOOOOOOM!

2012-02-13T23:30:00.000-05:00

Yo!

Soooo... yeah... about that title....

Crippie had a rather uneventful day today. Work, pigs, puppies, the usual. Absolutely nothing out of the ordinary today. I turned on my laptop and my heated blanket, just as I do every night. I was looking at stupid pictures of cats when all of the sudden I heard a *fizzle* sound. I figured it was a pop-up ad and continued on with my cat pictures. 5 minutes later I hear another *fizzzzzlee craaaaacck*. This time I'm slightly puzzled, but I really don't think much of it cause that's just how I roll. Over the next few minutes I hear more fizzles and craps and finally I realized... HOLY CRAP IT'S MY BLANKET! Crippie swiftly unplugged the blanket and investigated further and sure enough my damn blanket smelled like burning. Thankfully Crippie realized what was going on before any actual fires took place. Believe it or not this is not the only time one of Crippie's processions almost caught fire. My Furby almost blew up when I was 10 and my computer charger had a "mini-fire" a few years back. WHY DO MY THINGS KEEP CATCHING ON FIRE!?!?!

Oh well, it seems that Crippie is now without a heated blanket. Can any of my readers recommend one? Preferably one that won't catch fire.

Crippie's Tippie - Pay attention when you start hearing random fizzles and cracks out of nowhere

The Hunchback of Notre Lame

2012-02-11T23:30:00.000-05:00

Bonjour!

I sincerely hope all of my wonderful readers are enjoying their weekends. Thus far mine has been pretty good. I saw a local children's production of "Godspell" that was rather adorable and tomorrow my friend is gonna come over for pizza and a movie.
Speaking of movies, for the past couple of days Crippie has been trying to think of any recent movies that are actually offensive to the disabled community. Crippie could think of plenty of movies that have used the word "Retard" or "Cripple"... but they're all intentionally offensive. It took a while and Crippie had to redefine "recent" but she found one... Disney's 1996 classic "The Hunchback of Notre Dame"! Why is it offensive? Prepare for the Crippie Rant!

<CrippieRant>
Okay, the cripple is considered a monster and is forced to live in a tower, I get it. That's not the problem. Let's think back to every Disney movie that involves a romantic interest, how many of them end up together? Hmmm... oh yeah... EVERYONE EXCEPT THE CRIPPLE! Poor Quasimodo loves Esmerelda but noooooooooooooooo he gets friend-zoned while she falls for the "hunk" Phoebus. It's not like Quasimodo saves Esmerelda's ass on countless occasions or pulls her off a burning stake or anything... oh wait... HE DID. Did him not getting the girl he pulled off a flaming stake help the story or prove a point? Yeah, it sure does prove a point... it doesn't matter how heroic you are... if you are horribly disfigured you will never get the girl!
While yes, Quasimodo eventualllllllllyyyyyyyy finds love in the horribly contrived sequel, it had nothing to do with the original plot and I think it was their way of saying "fine... the Cripple can get a girl too, she's from a Circus. There. Happy?" The only thing I can say in the movie's defense is that the soundtrack was awesome... almost Broadway like.
</CrippleRant>

So there ya have it folks! That's probably the only recent film that has offended Crippie. What do you guys think? Agree? Disagree? Did you forget that movie even existed?

In unrelated guinea pig news, my prior post on piggie introductions was featured HERE, with a lovely picture of Mama Pig. Mama Pig is beyond flattered.

Crippie's Tippie - Wanna see a good Disney movie that deals with disabilities? Go find Nemo ;)

Piggie Post - Introductions & The Trio

2012-02-09T23:30:00.000-05:00

Ohai!

I hope you guys are having a nice wheek. Crippie has been spending a lot of time with her piggies over the past few days. Our new trio is totally in love with their new cage and I think they are starting to bond with each other. If any of you guys have ever had guinea pigs and have had to do an introduction you know how hard they can be. Things can go verrrryyyyy wrong with introductions. Piggies need to sort out their dominance and someone (human or piggie) could get hurt in the process. Here are Crippie's Tippie's for successful Piggie introductions (try saying that three times fast... whew).
1) Know your pigs - Your pigs are gonna fight for dominance, that is a given. If you put two dominant aggressive pigs with each other bad things will happen. Emma and Frida had a nasty spat the one and only time I tried to introduce them. With this recent intro I knew that Frida was dominant, Nellie was recessive, and Mama Pig was neutral. Their personalities made this transition easier.
2) SALAD - Food makes everything better. When we first put Nellie in with Mama and Frida we put a giant plate of lettuce in with them. They cared more about food and less about fighting.
3) GRAB A TOWEL - Have a towel handy in the event that things get nasty. NEVER use your hands to break up a piggie fight. Blood will be shed. Throw the towel on the pig causing the problem.

Our trio's intro went pretty smoothly. After a quick nip in the butt Nellie assumed her recessive role. Even though we got through the first hurtle of the introduction, we had to make sure they continued to tolerate Nellie. The next few days involved a lot of Nellie be chased around the cage, Nellie being scared, Nellie screaming bloody murder, and lots of Nellie crying on my shoulder (literally). Here's what we did to help Nellie adjust to her new buddies...
we gave her extra treats and oodles of extra attention. We also had a hiding place with four walls that only she could fit in, so she had a place to go where she felt safe. Of course Crippie had to put the pig that was chasing her (which was usually Frida) in "time out", which involves putting them on their backs (vulnerable position) and saying BAD FRIDA! I might seem like a crazy guinea pig lady for that but Frida knows when she's being naughty.

Everything simmered down after a few days and Frida stopped chasing Nellie and blocking her in corners. Now everyone sleeps in the same general area, eats together, drinks together, and most importantly no one bites anyone else! Now for pictures! I wanted to add more, but my computer is being stupid and won't let me... I'll probs edit this post once it lets me.

MY BOWL IS EMPTY... FIX IT - Mama Pig

The Blur of Fury that is Frida

Mama Pig is so photogenic... she either tries to eat my camera or pose

Mama Pig in a hay ball

Nellie checking out my camera

Crippie's Tippie - Guinea pigs are not simple pets to raise... cannot stress that enough.

Back On Track

2012-02-08T23:00:00.000-05:00

Greetings!

"Crippie's Corner" is officially a year old! I can't believe how much this blog has blossomed in it's first year. For teh lolz, here's my FIRST POST EVER. I can't believe how much progress and change can occur in a single year, I eagerly await what the next few years have in store for Crippie!
This whole "first birthday/anniversary/thing" has definitely given Crippie a much needed kick in the butt. As some of you might remember, in January I posted a list of resolutions that I want/need to complete. At first I was doing rather well at working on them. I starting learning blog design, I made some designs that will turn into prints and t-shirts (I will share them with y'all once they're ready... I swear), and I was kinda cleaning my room a little. Then all of the sudden Emma got sick. She became my main priority and distracted me from everything else. When she died all my motivation for completing my resolutions went with her. Instead of thinking about design and making progress with my life I thought about Emma's last few hours. I was constantly questioning whether or not I did the right things, if I could've done something different. I still wonder sometimes if there was anything I could have done to help her. Crippie knows that most of this lethargy and doubt are part of the grieving process and I am slowly but surely recovering from her loss, but it's been a rough couple of weeks.
That being said, my blog birthday-thingie has reminded me of everything good that happened within the past year. All of these good things happened because I worked really hard to make them happen. I can't just sit around and play The Sims whenever I have free time (silver lining of this, I have made a lot of progress in my game) I have to spend my time working on my designs, figuring out all blog design, and cleaning my damn room. Stagnation gets you nowhere. While this little break was necessary in order to process all the crap that was happening, it's time to move on.

To lighten to mood of this post, here's Helen pretending to be a muppet

Crippie's Tippie - It's alright to kinda veg out for a while... but recognize when you have to get up and move forward

Crippie Discusses Fidget Toys... In Front of a Camera

2012-02-06T22:49:00.000-05:00

Ohai Y'all!

CRIPPIE MADE A VLOG PEOPLES! I'll just let it speak for itself...

Crippie's Tippie - Fidget Toys from Special McSpecial on Vimeo.
So, what do y'all think of Crippie's first attempt at a vlog? Frida is very proud of herself and she wants to be in more movies.

Here are some sites where you can purchase your own fidget toys...
http://www.officeplayground.com/ (FOAMIE BIRD IS HERE)
http://www.colonialmedical.com/catalog/Therapy-p-1-c-493.html (ACTUAL PT STUFF IS HERE)

On an unrelated guinea pig note, naturally Frida was acting like a total butthead today and had to be put in time out. I think the fame got to her head. Oh well, I guess I'll just have to feature another guinea pig next time I make a vlog ;)

Crippie's Tippie - FIDGET TOYS A FREAKING AWESOME

Crippie Plays "IS IT OFFENSIVE"

2012-02-04T23:00:00.000-05:00

Aloha!

Believe it or not, today's greeting is actually related to the topic I intend on discussing! Shocking... I know. Anywhoooo Crippie came across some free some on Thursday so my mom, grandma, and I went to see "The Descendants". Crippie lurvs her some Oscar nominated films, especially potentially offensive Oscar films!

As mentioned in a prior blog post, I'm not particularly comfortable with the word "retard" in most contexts. There was a scene in the movie where the r-word was dropped and some potentially hurtful things about mentally challenged people.

Crippie understands why people might find that particular scene offensive. Out of context the scene is reaaaaaaaaaalllllllllyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy hurtful to people with mental disabilities, BUT if you look at the scene in context the viewer would see that it is intentionally offensive. Why did the writer do that? My guess is that they wanted this specific character to seem like a totally dick. They wanted the viewers to feel the same hatred that George Clooney's character was feeling. Thus, Crippie does not find this film offensive at all. Crippie really enjoyed the film actually, it deserves every award it wins.

The trick with movies is that there might be parts of them that are technically "offensive" and are by no means politically correct... but they are in the movie for a reason. Whether it be to prove a point, develop a character, or to be soooooo offensive that it becomes funny, etc. When Crippie sees films that are intentionally offensive she is not offended. Crippie has not seen any recent films that she finds offensive, there are older movies where people play stereotypical "retarded" people that serve no purpose to the film. those are movies are kinda offensive. So what do you guys think? Are there any movies that you find offensive to cripples?

In unrelated guinea pig news, it took a few days but all the piggies in the big cage are getting along. Nellie and Frida and becoming fast friends. They absolutely love their new cage and all their new toys (and by new toys I mean toys they haven't seen in a few days). I am beyond thrilled with how that situation turned out.

Crippie's Tippie - If movies like "The Descendants" horribly offend you, try to look at the bigger picture and think why they did it.

Hips To Be Square

2012-02-01T23:00:00.000-05:00

HAPPY FEBRUARY!

Dontcha just love punny titles, Crippie certainly does! There is a reason for the punny though. Crippie's hips have been bothering her for... I dunno... maybe 5-ish years.

Yup, those are Crippie's hippies (and this x-ray is 4 years old so God only knows what they look like now). For anyone who has ever wondered what MHE was, it's the bumps and irregularities on my bones. It's most clearly visible in my entire left hip socket and in that circle on the right side of the x-ray (why yes that is baseball sized tumor on my back side).
Shockingly, my completely effed up left hip doens't bother me, at all. Literally no pain from that site. My right hip is the one that is being a mofo. It almost always causes me some form of discomfort, it's like a feeling like a lead balloon is expanding in it. Me thinks most of this pain is from arthritis.
I'm wondering if there are any solutions you guys could recommend? Why I am telling this to you, my lovely readers instead of a doctor? I know my doctor's answer, invasive surgery that involves dislocating the hip to remove whatever tumors are getting in my way and causing the inflammation. Yeaaaaaaahhhhhhh... noooooooooo. Crippie knows her hips will not last for her entire life. My guess is that I will have hip replacement surgery within the next 20 years. In the meantime I want to prolong the life of my hips for as long as humanly possible. Any hippie tippie's readers?

Crippie's Tippie- Learn to read x-rays, it comes in surprisingly handy at times.

Crippie's Readers Are Freakin' Awesome!

2012-01-30T23:30:00.000-05:00

Salutations!

Crippie can't believe that January is almost over... annnnnnnnddddddddddddd in a week "Crippie's Corner" will officially turn one year old! These blogs grow up so fast *snif snif*.
Seriously, I want to thank each and every person who reads this blog. Whether you read this once a year or once a day, words cannot describe how much it means to me that you took some time to listen to what I have to say. Thank you for all of your love, support, comments, questions, everything.
Crippie has to give a special thank you to a few special readers who recently bestowed Crippie with very awesome awards, thus Crippie is giving a shout out to the following bloggers!

Mary from "Shuffling Along With PD" - Mary runs a completely inspirational blog about living with Parkinson's Disease. Not only does Mary (AKA, Mariodatcatsmom) comment on this blog regularly with super nice words of support, but she recently awarded me with the "Liebster" (favorite or beloved) award.
Thank you so much Mary, I honestly consider you a friend.

Chris Dean from "Life Your Way!" - Chris also lovingly gave the "Liebster" award to Crippie. Chris blogs about her trials and tribulations living with a chronic illness. She also has a bunch of kick-ass tattoos which I approve of greatly. Thank you Chris, I hope you love my blog as much as I love yours!

Mario the Cat from "Mario's Meowsings" - Yes, Mario is literally a cat, as an internet female it is my duty to LOVE ALL TEH KITTEHS! This kitteh in pawticular gave me the "Shining Star Award". All the piggies say "THANK YOU KITTEH, WE LUV YOU ALMOST AS MUCH AS NOMS, we would say as much, but we're realistic". Thank you Mario, and your wonderful translator Mary, you guys are the cat's meow.

Crippie could probably continue on thanking everyone, but I reckon I could sum this all up with a meme. In conclusion readers, give yourselves a pat on the back, YOU ARE FREAKIN' AWESOME!

Crippie's Tippie- Cat's make for surprisingly good bloggers... also check out all of the awesome blog links I posted!

Piggie Post - New Cage!

2012-01-26T23:30:00.000-05:00

Yo!

As promised today's post is completely devoted to PIGGIES, more specifically their new cage. Just a quick recap for new readers, two weeks ago I lost one my piggies, Emma. I couldn't leave her sister and cage mate Nellie alone. Crippie decided it would be best to move her in with another bonded pair, Mama Pig and Frida. Mama Pig is Nellie's mother and Frida is her sister so I figured they would eventually get alone. After a successful introduction and several "play dates" Crippie was confident that they would make a good trio. The only problem is that we didn't own a cage big enough to humanely contain three piggies.

The best cages for guinea pigs are "C&C Cages", essentially they are home made cages. They are made from shelving grids and corrugated plastic. These cages can be made by obtaining the supplies at hardware stores, but that involves cutting the plastic, and I can't do that. That problem had a really simple solution... internet. Crippie went to eBay and found a 2x4 cage with a 1x2 loft for a reasonable price... SWEET!

Once we got the cage assembled and ready to go we put the piggies in it. They absolutely love the cage. It must be like going from a studio apartment to a mansion. The pigs need to work on getting along with each other... but that will happen within the next few days.

Nellie (L) and Frida (R) Enjoying some hay

mmmmmm... hay

Mama Pig thinks my phone looks yummy

Nellie (the blur) running from Mama and Frida

ALL HAIL THE AWESOME CAGE

Nellie & Mama

First meal in the cage

Om nom nom nom nom nom nom nom

Crippie's Tippie- Guinea pigs are a hhhhuuuuuuuugggggeeee responsibility. They require a lot of love, care, attention, food, supplies, etc. You can find more information on guinea pig care at www.guinealynx.com.

Don't Be Dissin' My Ability!

2012-01-25T23:30:00.000-05:00

G'Day Mate!

Crippie was browsing Pinterest last night when she came across a most interesting site, http://www.dontdismyability.com.au/. It's an Australian disability advocacy campaign... AND CRIKEY IS IT AWESOME. Why are they so awesome? First off, they have a really nifty blog authored by various cripples with a wide array of conditions. Second, they have a fantastic YouTube channel with some really inspiring videos. The best part about "Don't Dis My Ability" is their magazine "Made You Look", which is available as a FREE pdf download HERE. I love everything about it, the information is relevant, uplifting, down to earth, very useful, annndd IT'S REALLY PRETTY. I'm a graphic designer first, cripple second.

Here's a video of their 2011 cover girl Audrey O'Conner preparing for her cover shoot, watch and it tell me it's not crippletastic!

In unrelated guinea pig news... Nellie, Mama, and Frida are in their new cage! Mama and Frida are beyond happy about all the new space and toys. Nellie needs some time to adjust. I'll definitely post some pictures of the new trio tomorrow. In the meantime... bask in the glory of the awesome Aussie Crippies.

Crippie's Tippie - Don't judge a book by it's cover. I know it's super corny but it's true.

Crippie Fights Old Man Winter

2012-01-23T23:30:00.000-05:00

Nihao!

Happy Chinese New Year everybody!

I dunno about you guys, but whenever winter rolls around it seems to make my crippledness worse. Whether it's walking insanely slow with my crutch while holding on to one of my parent's arms just to walk outside or barely being able to move my fingers because they are so stiff... winter sucks.

That being said, Crippie has gotten pretty good at fighting old man winter. My first problem is walking outside when it is snowy/icy. I have said problems because my right leg drags when I walk and because I cannot always see the irregularities on the ground, thus I am more prone to slipping or tripping. The solution to this (for my situation anyway) is...

1- Walk reallllllyyyyyyyy slowly and make sure that your feet are firmly planted on the ground before taking a step. When I was in college and walking to classes it would take me twice as long to walk there when the weather was bad.

2- SPIKES! When it gets icy I wear extra grips on my shoes and I use a cane with an ice pick on it. I obtained my ice pick by ordering it from my local drug store, but they can be found on the internet as well.

My second issue is that the cold weather hurts my joints, the main areas where this effects me are my knees and my hands.

1- HEAT! I have a giant basket of single use hand warmers. When it gets really cold I keep one in my pocket so I can warm my hands when they get stiff. When my legs get stiff and sore I use thermacare knee wraps. Heated blankets and throws are also great for when I'm home.

2- I try to keep a pretty strict pain medication?NSAID regime.

There ya have it folks, these little tips and tricks don't make the problems go away, but they definitely help minimize them and make them bearable.

Now, I have a question for my readers. Do any of you have any internal metal hardware and do you think it reacts to cold weather? The reason I'm asking this is because I have several staples in my right knee. Whenever it gets realllllyyyy cold (think single digits and under) it hurts my leg to bend. I wonder if it is the staples in my leg contracting. Is this possible?

Crippie's Tippie- Be super careful when winter weather strikes, Crippie doesn't want any of her awesome readers to get hurt.

Crippie & The Great Medication Question

2012-01-20T23:30:00.000-05:00

Ohai

Well, it's been a week since Crippie lost her little fuzzball Emma. It's a process but everyone is adjusting. Nellie was starting to get a little bit lonely, so I decided that she should have a playdate with Frida (who is her biological sister) and their mother, Mama Pig (who doesn't like me at the moment because she has not been featured on the blog yet, she refuses to talk to me until I post her picture). All playdates prior to this week had been utterly disastrous, but go figure the playdate went swimmingly and Nellie was happy. So on Tuesday Nellie will officially move in with her mommy and sister... YAY! I'm so relieved that Nellie gets along with Mama Pig and Frida. Here's a picture of the playdate, salad makes for an excellent ice breaker, and the two happy sisters.

Moving on to actual cripple related topics. I'm usually pretty open about answering any questions people have about my disability. However there are a few topics that I really don't like to answer, one of the main ones is "Which medications do you take for pain Crippie?" Usually this question is asked by a relative or friend, mainly relatives. The only reason I object to answering is the fact the some of my meds are pretty strong and potentially addictive narcotics. I used to keep my medications verrryyyy hush hush during college, cause let's face it, someone could've taken them. Now a days someone stealing my meds isn't really a priority, but you never know when someone will say "Oh Crippie I hurt my leg... can you spare me a pill or two?" I know it's not the worst thing in the world, but it's terribly annoying. I feel like "these are my medications, I need them, it takes a lot of effort to obtain them, get your own".

Apart from the fact that I am very protective about my medications, its also kinda pointless for me to answer it. For example, I was prescribed Vicodin after one of my surgeries. After I took said Vicodin I went to watch some decorating show on TV. While I was watching the people magically turned into penguins. Crippie and Vicodin do not mix. While this is a humorous story does it mean that Vicodin will make everyone hallucinate? No, everyone reacts differently to medications. Vicodin does wonders for Dr. House. It really does not matter whether or not I had a good or bad experience with a particular drug.

To be fair, there are times when people do have a valid reason for asking what I take. In those cases I have no objects to giving that information out.

So in conclusion when people ask me this question I give them a generic answer like "narcotics" and if people ask if they can "borrow" some I tell them "LOL... no".

Crippie's Tippie - Unless you have a valid reason to ask someone which medicines they take, don't ask.

Crippie's SOPA Post

2012-01-18T23:30:00.000-05:00

Hi Y'all

Crippie wants to tell you her feeling on SOPA...

<Start Cripple Rant>
SOPA IS EVIL... SERIOUSLY THE INTERNET IS A GLORIOUS PLACE OF CATS AND FREE SPEECH. YOU CANNOT GET RID OF THE FREE SPEECH. SOPA IS EVIL... SERIOUSLY THE INTERNET IS A GLORIOUS PLACE OF CATS AND FREE SPEECH. YOU CANNOT GET RID OF THE FREE SPEECH. SOPA IS EVIL... SERIOUSLY THE INTERNET IS A GLORIOUS PLACE OF CATS AND FREE SPEECH. YOU CANNOT GET RID OF THE FREE SPEECH. SOPA IS EVIL... SERIOUSLY THE INTERNET IS A GLORIOUS PLACE OF CATS AND FREE SPEECH. YOU CANNOT GET RID OF THE FREE SPEECH. SOPA IS EVIL... SERIOUSLY THE INTERNET IS A GLORIOUS PLACE OF CATS AND FREE SPEECH. YOU CANNOT GET RID OF THE FREE SPEECH. SOPA IS EVIL... SERIOUSLY THE INTERNET IS A GLORIOUS PLACE OF CATS AND FREE SPEECH. YOU CANNOT GET RID OF THE FREE SPEECH. SOPA IS EVIL... SERIOUSLY THE INTERNET IS A GLORIOUS PLACE OF CATS AND FREE SPEECH. YOU CANNOT GET RID OF THE FREE SPEECH. SOPA IS EVIL... SERIOUSLY THE INTERNET IS A GLORIOUS PLACE OF CATS AND FREE SPEECH. YOU CANNOT GET RID OF THE FREE SPEECH. SOPA IS EVIL... SERIOUSLY THE INTERNET IS A GLORIOUS PLACE OF CATS AND FREE SPEECH. YOU CANNOT GET RID OF THE FREE SPEECH. SOPA IS EVIL... SERIOUSLY THE INTERNET IS A GLORIOUS PLACE OF CATS AND FREE SPEECH. YOU CANNOT GET RID OF THE FREE SPEECH. SOPA IS EVIL... SERIOUSLY THE INTERNET IS A GLORIOUS PLACE OF CATS AND FREE SPEECH. YOU CANNOT GET RID OF THE FREE SPEECH. SOPA IS EVIL... SERIOUSLY THE INTERNET IS A GLORIOUS PLACE OF CATS AND FREE SPEECH. YOU CANNOT GET RID OF THE FREE SPEECH.
</Cripple Rant>

There, I feel better. Seriously guys, we cannot let SOPA/PIPA pass, it is a gross violation of our liberties and rights. If it does pass the internet will be more crippled an I am.

Crippie's Tippie - Sign the petition HERE

Just Keep Swimming

2012-01-16T23:30:00.000-05:00

Greetings,

First off, thank you so much for the well wishes I've received over the past few days. They really meant the world to me and the piggies. Not gonna lie, the past couple of days have very hard for Crippie. My piggies are huge source of happiness and comfort for me, so to see one of them slip away while there is nothing I can do about it is devastating.
While it is very challenging, I'm doing my best to apply my "this to shall pass" mantra to this situation. I know as time goes on it will hurt less and less. This is just another hurtle Crippie has to find a way of jumping over. In the meantime though Crippie is distracting herself by taking care of my remaining piggies (who all say "HELLO... WE ARE REALLY CUTE"), watching TV, and watching stupid videos on YouTube.

With all the sadness revolving around Emma's death, there is a silver lining... her sister and cagemate Nellie. Nellie and Emma had been together for their entire lives. Naturally when Emma passed I was worried about how Nellie would handle it. Usually guinea pigs can sense the loss of their friend and fall into a depression, when they fall into a depression they stop eating and drinking, when they stop eating and drinking they get sick, and when they get sick they run a fair chance of dying. Nellie is not your usual guinea pig, she is very happy and very clueless. She's been prancing around the cage saying "I DON'T HAVE TO SHARE MY HAY WITH ANYONE! THIS IS FRIGGIN AWESOME!" So thankful that I don't have a depressed piggie on my hands. Speaking of Nellie, she said (and this a direct quote) "Mommy can you show your wonderful readers how cute I am... pleaaaassssseeeee"
How could anyone say no to that face!

Carrying on to other issues... who saw the Golden Globes last night? It was a fantastic night for cripples! Peter Dinklage won for his completely brilliant work in "Game of Thrones" (don't get me started on the whole Dwarf Tossing thing...). Let's not forget George Clooney stealing Brad Pitt's cane. When canes start becoming this years "it" accessory, let it be known that I started it first. I will say, I was hoping Brad Pitt would've had a bad ass pimp cane. Kinda disappointed that he went for solid black, a major fashion don't IMO.

Crippie's Tippie- Remember that loss is a really craptacular part of life, everyone has to deal with it, and thus you are not alone.

Nellie's Tippie- NOT NOW MOMMY... I'M EATING ALL THE HAY!

Emma Rose

2012-01-13T23:00:00.000-05:00

Emma Rose by Kate Wolf on Grooveshark

Hi Guys

Crippie is writing this blog post with a very heavy heart. As some of you might recall my piggie Emma had been sick for the past couple weeks. She had been making great improvements and was almost all better until last night when she took a sudden turn for the worse. Crippie spent most of the night keeping Emma alive and comfortable. Unfortunately I could only do so much and Emma passed away around 8:00 in the morning. She is the first piggie we've lost and today has been very difficult for Crippie and her family.

We got Emma Rose and her sister Nellie three years ago in December. Even from the beginning Emma was a spritely little punk, she loved running, eating, bossing around her sister, and taking massive wees on people.

Emma always had a sparkle in her eye, you could tell she was happy just by looking at her. She loved a good snuggle and she would snuggle you right back.

Goodbye my sweet little fuzzball, mommy loves you very much and will never ever forget you. I'd like to think that whenever it rains or snows, that's your way making sure you'll always be able to take gigantic wees on us.

Crippie's Tippie- I know how easy it can be for a pet to fade into the background at times, but we mush cherish every moment we have with our furry friends. They will not be around forever.

Remembering Pointy- One Year Later

2012-01-11T23:30:00.000-05:00

Hey Y'all!

Crippie was just looking at her calendar when she noticed that today marks the 1 year anniversary of her 10th surgery. It might not seem like something blog post worthy, but this means that I haven't had any serious medical issues for an entire year *knocks on several pieces of wood*! YAY CRIPPIE!!!
I remember it like it was yesterday *insert dream sequence music*. My really awesome display tumor Pointy had grown to a point where he could lacerate something and or break through my skin. So Crippie opted to spend her last week of her last Christmas break having the bastard removed and recovering from the surgery. I knew this particular surgery was going to be relatively easy compared to some of the other surgeries I've had in the past so I wasn't terribly worried. It wasn't until the night before surgery that the nerves kicked in. Since Crippie is verrrryyyyy familiar with having surgeries I know what's coming, the whole waking up from surgery thing, the whole "my heart beat gets really irregular after surgery" thing, etc. When the nerves and everything do set in I have a tendency to start violently shaking, picture having the chills times 10. So I spent the night before on my living room couch, watching movies, and violently shaking.
Crippie lives about an hour and half away from the hospital and my surgery was scheduled pretty early in the day, so we had to leave the house around 4:30 in the morning. Once I got to the hospital itself the shaking only got worse, eventually some heating blankets made it go away. Thankfully Crippie's nurses were super nice. I mentioned how much I hate having IVs put in and the nurse was like "Oh... if we put a hot compress on your hand for five minutes before I put the needle in it won't hurt as much", and go figure it really didn't hurt... OTHER NURSES FOR MY OTHER 9 OPERATIONS... Y U NO DO THAT!
Crippie is also known to very nauseous before surgery, we talked to my doctor beforehand and he prescribed a patch to put behind my ear which surprisingly stopped most of my nauseousness. I still threw up before the surgery anyway, but the patch helped. After Crippie was done vomiting the doctors gave me some "happy" meds and boy howdy did they do the trick.
Next thing I knew Pointy had been removed and I was waiting in recovery. I was literally in no pain, quite the welcome change. Crippie spent the next few hours napping, waking up from a nap, nap again, wake up, nap, etc. Before I knew it I was discharged and on my way home!

My recovery went really smoothly. I was hardly in any pain, probably a 3 or 4 on the pain scale. A week later I returned to school and everything went back to normal. All I have left of Pointy is my dandy Tampon scar, which still totally looks like a tampon.
*Raises a glass* Here's to you Pointy, you were a great little tumor and I'll never forget you. Tell your tumor brothers and sisters to NOT cause me any problems!

CRIPPIE'S SURGERY TIPPIE - Have the following things in the car for your ride to and from the hospital... blanket, pillows, and a trashcan with several trashbags.

Cripple vs. Retard

2012-01-09T23:30:00.000-05:00

Yo!

Today I'm gonna answer a question that I've been asked a few times, especially since starting this blog. Clearly I'm very comfortable with using the word 'cripple', but what about the word 'retard'?
This is probably gonna sound really hypocritical, but I do NOT approve of using that word. While both might seem very similar they are actually rather different. The word cripple literally means "disabled", the word retard literally means "slow" or "delayed". The terms start to differentiate here because over the past several years the word retard has come to mean "stupid" and now has a very negative connotation, but the term can still be used to describe a person with a developmental disability. This is why I don't use the word retard, because people with developmental delays are NOT stupid, I will not use a word that implies that.
I hope that's a clear enough explanation. The only other way I could prove my point would be to provide an example. Take the name of this blog for example, if this blog was named "Retard's Room" or "Tard-ie Time" what would think this blog was about? While the word cripple is considered offensive to some people, I do not put it on the same level as retard.

Crippie's Tippie- Don't call people retards, or gay for that matter. In this age of bullying and being cruel to one another how's about we try being nice to one another!

Crippie Actually Tries To Fulfill Her New Year's Resolutions

2012-01-07T01:55:00.000-05:00

Ello!

I hope my readers had a fantastic Friday. Mine went relatively well. Emma went to the vet again today for a follow up. They think she has a bladder infection and needs 10 more days of antibiotics. On the bright side, Emma finds antibiotics to be delicious.
Crippie has been spending the past few days working on some New Year's resolutions. First I started with the learn web design one. I figured I'd limit this one to blogger design so I can customize blogs and all that fun stuff. I've starting looking at tutorials and code from other people's blogs and think I'm starting to get a gist of it. I made a blog for me to practice coding on, it's viewable HERE if you want to see my progress. I've also been making some typographic drawings that I'm gonna turn into a Society6 shop. YAY for progress!
Crippie actually should amend her resolution list to add something that I really need to do, regulate my sleep schedule. I used to have a really solid sleep schedule and I wouldn't go to bed terribly late. Now my sleep schedule is awful, thanks college. I'm not sure of the best way to regulate my sleep. The whole "just go to bed early" thing doesn't seem to work, it actually seems to cause discomfort. Should I go for herbal suppliments? Spend an hour walking up and down my driveway? Milk and turkey? Any suggestions readers?

Crippie's Tippie- If you want a shnazzy blog and can't design one on your own, there are tons of free backgrounds out there.

Make A Wish!

2012-01-04T23:30:00.000-05:00

Howdy!

Crippie was just looking through some photos on the computer when she found pictures from what was probably the most awesome day of her life, the day Crippie had a wish granted from the Make A Wish Foundation. The Make a Wish foundation is a beyond awesome charity that grants wishes for seriously ill kids.
I remember it like it was yesterday. I was 17 (just realized that was FIVE YEARS AGO... *cries*). My aunt was visiting for the weekend and my friend has just come over to take Crippie out to lunch for some reason. We were all sitting around talking when all of the sudden my mom said "Hey Crippie... there's limo outside!" And sure enough there was a huge ass limo outside with two people from the Make A Wish foundation.

Crippie, my mom, dad, sister, aunt, grandma, grandpa, friend, friend's mom, and a lady from Make A Wish piled into the limo and it set off for some unknown destination (they wouldn't tell Crippie) While in the limo I got to open some presents. I got The Sims 2 and some nice cardstock for the notecards I was making, not to mention a shnazzy hat!

We had a dandy hour long limo ride to the mystery location. We had a toast with sparkling apple juice.

Eventually we reached our location, "The River Grill" a restaurant that I had never ever heard of before. Crippie's friends and family were treated to an awesome lunch outside with the Hudson River as our view, how freakin' fabulous is that! Crippie really enjoyed her steak and my dad and grandpa were realllllyyyy enjoying looking at the boats that kept passing.

After lunch we returned to Crippie's house, only to find another person from the foundation there AND presents on my doorstep! I opened them to find a laptop, design software, camera, and printer. HOLY MOLY. We then went and had a delicious chocolate cake. Awesome day was awesome!

That really was one of, if not the best day of my life. Not because of the things I got, but because up until that point my disability had only caused craptacular things to happen. This was the one time when something truly amazing happened because of it. The "special" treatment I got was actually special! It helped me cement my belief that good things can come out of even the worst situations.

Crippie's Tippie- The Make A Wish Foundation is one of the greatest charities around

Resolutions & Such

2012-01-02T23:21:00.000-05:00

Happy 2012 Y'all!

It's that time of year again, that time when Crippie makes a few resolutions that she probably won't be able to keep. I'm hoping that writing them here on "the interwebz" will help me remember/fulfill them

CRIPPIE'S 2012 GOALS & STUFF

LEARN WEB DESIGN- Crippie knows some verrrrrrrrryyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy basic html/coding things, but I suck at it. I'd like to relearn CSS and all that fun stuff. When I do learn this stuff, I wanna redesign the blog with all kinds of shnazzy things.

GET MORE FREELANCE CLIENTS- Crippie needs to expand her design horizons. I'm also thinking of setting up an online shop for my designs, sell prints, t-shirts, things of that nature. I was also thinking of mayyybbbeeeeee starting a design blog... but I dunno.

CLEAN MY GOD DAMNED ROOM- Crippie's room is a kinda messy and rather cluttered. I've decided that I'm gonna treat my room like a studio apartment, cause I'm probably not gonna be going anywhere for a few years.

LESSEN DRIVING ANXIETY- The whole driving anxiety thing is getting better... but I still have trouble going to new places by myself. I also NEED to learn how to drive on damn highway.

FIND SOME FORM OF SOCIAL LIFE- Crippie doesn't have much of a life outside of work, home, internet, and pets. Let's hope I can find some things outside of the house to occupy my time.

So that's about it, I don't think I'm being particularly unrealistic. I hope all my freakishly awesome readers had a lovely New Year's Eve/Day. Crippie didn't go to any parties or anything, I watched the ball drop with my family, dogs, and piggies. Frida was really happy because she got to watch Lady Gaga perform. Btw, if anyone thinks I'm kidding about that Lady Gaga thing I'm not. Frida LOVES Lady Gaga, she will just flatten out and purr listening to her music. Her favorite song is Poker Face but she also enjoys Bad Romance and Born This Way. Some of Crippie's relatives came over on New Year's day. We watched "Cyberbully" and had some pretty awesome food. All in all I'd say this weekend was purdy good.

Also, Emma is responding to the medicine! The tumor in her tummy hasn't changed yet, but even if it doesn't change I'm not terribly worried.

Completely random question for people who watched "Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve"... Did Ryan Seacrest look weird to you? Everyone in my house was trying to figure out whether or not he had plastic surgery done.

Crippie's Tippie- Attempt to keep your resolutions and make this year really freakin' awesome. Not much of a tippie but I can't think of anything else.

2011 Re(handi)cap!

2011-12-31T18:57:00.002-05:00

Sorry about the lame pun, IT HAD TO BE DONE!

Before I begin my 2011 update, Emma thanks everyone for the ninja vibes thus far. I see a slight improvement today but it's kinda hard to tell.

On to the recap!

JANUARY

-Crippie had her 10th Surgery

FEBRUARY

-Crippie started this blog!!!

MARCH THRU APRIL

-Crippie worked on finishing college

-Crippie briefly became "living impaired" after a chance encounter with some zombies. Crippie was cured a few hours later. Brains are oddly tasty.

-Crippie took a road trip to Yale. Mainly so I could tell people I went to Yale, see the impressed looks on their faces, and then see the disappointed looks when they find out it was only a day-trip

MAY

-Crippie has her senior project exhibit

-Crippie FREAKIN' GRADUATED COLLEGE... MAGNA CUM LAUDE BABY!

JUNE THRU AUGUST

-CRIPPLEFESSSTTTTTTT

SEPTEMBER

-Crippie got a job!

-We adopted Helen!

OCTOBER

-Crippie got a car!

NOVEMBER

-ummm... nothing really happened in November

DECEMBER

-Crippie turned 23

-Crippie got a tattoo!

So that's about it. I seriously want to thank everyone who's been reading this blog, posting comments, etc. it really means a lot to me. Crippie hopes you all have a happy and healthy 2012. CHEERS!

Crippie's Tippie - The cure for Zombie-ism? It's simple, all you need is to splash the effected person with make-up remover.

Luck Be A Piggie Tonight

2011-12-30T23:30:00.000-05:00

Yo!

I just wanted to say a quick thank you to everyone who has been posting such sweet comments here, y'all are seriously awesome. I'm also glad to see that people are enjoying my pee cup story. Yeah, Crippie has arthritis and tumors in her fingers, so opening jars and bottles is challenging to say the least. Can any of my wonderful readers recommend a jar/bottle opener that works for someone with a stupidly weak grip? I really haven't been able to find any good ones.

Carrying on, today was kinda scary for Crippie and her family. Last night I was taking care of my piggies when I noticed a fair amount of blood in one of the cages. After some examinations I found out the blood was coming from Emma. Upon further inspection I also found a tumor on her tummy. Internet research told me this was reallyyyy not good. The internet said Emma would need surgery. Guinea Pigs and surgery don't always mesh well. So last night Crippie was stressing out to say the least over Emma's possible prognosis. We took Emma to the vet today after I got home from work. Emma was not pleased about the whole prospect of seeing a vet, she told me so by taking a massive wee on me on the ride to the vet. The vet (who looked and acted a little too much like Dr. Cox from "Scrubs") thought Emma either had a bladder stone, an abscess, or a really bad infection in the uterus. ALL of those things require surgery to fix... SUPER. The doctor wanted an x-ray to properly diagnose her. Emma didn't like the idea of an x-ray, she let us know by taking a wee on my mom. Emma was a good girl though and let the vet take x-rays of her. I was getting purdy damn worried as to what the x-rays would show, much to my surprise the x-rays showed that Emma has no serious health issues... YAY EMMA! The vet then concluded that Emma probably has a infection that caused the tumor and the blood, some antibiotics should hopefully take care of the problem. So we have to give Emma cherry flavored anti-biotics for the next week, works for me.

I'm soooooooooooo freakin' happy that Emma doesn't need surgery. Let's just hope that the anti-biotics work. If y'all could send your ninja healing vibes to Emma I'd greatly appreciate it.

Crippie's Tippie- Normals make the best can and jar openers

Emma's Tippie - HAY STICKS ARE FREAKIN' AWESOME... and please keep a watchful eye on your pets so you know when they get sick

P.S. Yes, Crippie is aware that she made two posts in a row related to pee

Crippie Submits To A Random Drug Test!

2011-12-28T23:30:00.000-05:00

Ohai!

Crippie certainly had an eventful day today. I had my pain management appointment in the morning. It went better than expected. My doctor opted to not change the dosage of my medicine, but the amount of pills I have. That way if I need more I can use it. I'm very relieved that I didn't need a full out dosage increase. The doctor also recommended that I take extra strength acetaminophen during the day as needed. Also, as the title suggests I had to submit to a random drug test, just to make sure that Crippie isn't a druggie. Funny story about that, the drug test involves peeing in a cup. The nurse gave me a cup with a very secure lid on it and showed me to the bathroom. I go into the bathroom, try to open the cup, and gosh darn it I cannot get the damn cup open (arthritis + stupid cup = lethal combo). So Crippie had to go back to the nurse and ask her to open the pee cup, that wasn't humiliating at alllllll. Once the drug test was completed we continued on to do other errands.
My mom and I went to get some supplies for the pets at a local petco, and while I really do not advise buying any animals from there I couldn't help but snap a few shots of some the little critters they had.

Speaking of cute animals, Frida is in the running to be featured on a site about cute animals. Vote for her HERE.

Anyway, after we finished running errands I collapsed on the couch for the next few hours. I'd call today a success. I took the extra dose of medicine tonight, let's hope it works.

Crippie's Tippie- If you know that you have issues opening jars, ask the nurse to open your pee cup BEFORE you go into the bathroom.

Holiday Round-Up!

2011-12-27T23:00:00.000-05:00

HAPPY ALMOST NEW YEARS!

I hope all my readers had a lovely Christmahanukwanzika. My Christmas weekend went rather well. Crippie got to sleep in and consequently got enough sleep to have dreams that Voldemort was hiding in my coat closet, I made the family a Christmas brunch (if anyone wants tips on how to make kick-ass eggs... hit Crippie up), and I got to catch up on my video games.

Since today was the last night of Hanukkah *sob* I present you with the question I asked most often. You would think it is something deep like "what do Jews think of hell" or "Do Jews think Jesus existed?" LOL... no. The question I most often get is...

"You're a Jew right? Do you like that Adam Sandler Hanukkah song?"

The Answer: THE HANUKKAH SONG IS THE BEST SONG ABOUT HANUKKAH EVER WRITTEN. PERIOD. I mean c'mon "Dreidel Dreidel Dreidel" is cute and all... but it's kinda dumb. Crippie even likes the second and third parts of the song, viewable HERE and HERE.
Off-topic... OMG Adam Sandler looks soooooo young in that video.

Moving on to cripple related business, the weather got really bad again today so my pain levels were once again in the 7-9 range. Sometime during the day I realized that my pain levels have been increasing over the past couple of months. Part of this could be me developing a tolerance to my medication, but part of it is general progression of disease. Literally 10 minutes after coming to this realization my mom texted me saying my appointment with my pain management doctor had to be rescheduled for tomorrow. What luck! I probably need to increase my nighttime meds. I reeeaaallllyyy don't want to do that, but me thinks that's whats gonna happen. On the bright side, I have tomorrow off work so I can relax after the doctor. Doctor visits usually knock me out. Wish Crippie luck!

Jew-ie's Tippie - Stop hatin' on "Eight Crazy Nights". Sure it's dumb and crude... but hey it's a heart warming Hanukkah movie. They're aren't too many of 'em around.

Crippie's Tippie- Got some spare holiday cash? BUY MY BOOK! Use the code BLIZZARD305 to get 35% off your entire order! Hurry up, this coupon is only good for December 28th!

Pick A Damn Spelling

2011-12-23T23:30:00.000-05:00

Ohaiii

Thanks for all the well wishes, the weather has stabilized and my pain levels have returned to their normal 3.5.
Tonight was the 4th night of Hanukkah. Everyone here is having a jolly ol' time, even the pets. We got treats for Angel, a few outfits for Helen (she's blind so she can't see how ridiculous she looks), and treats for the piggies. It's really hard trying to pick out pressies for the piggies, because you can never really tell what they'll like. We got them little sticks of hay for them to nosh on. 5 out of the 6 piggies loved them, Frida on the hand is deathly afraid of the little stick of hay and will not go anywhere near them *sigh* oh well. Speaking of Frida, she was snuggling with me earlier, listening to her favorite musician "Lady Gaga" and I snapped some freakin' adorable shots. I figured I'd share them with y'all since I'm such the proud mama.

Ain't she just the cutest damn thing ever... even if she's afraid of sticks. Moving on to today's Jew-ey Goodness. One question I hear a LOT is "How do you spell Hanukkah?". There are several acceptable spellings and variations and it took me yeeeeaaaaaaarrrrrrrsssssssssssssssss to finally memorize a damn spelling. I use H-A-N-U-K-K-A-H because it starts and ends with an H, has 1 N, and 2 K's. I dunno, it just seems easier to remember that way.

Jew-ey's Tippie- Even if you put a C in front of the H, the 1 N/2 K rule still applies.

Happy Chris... Han... Hol... Whatever

2011-12-22T02:26:00.001-05:00

Yo!

I don't know about you guys but the weather has been kicking Crippie's ass for the past few days. I'm not usually one to complain about how much pain I am in... but Crippie is having a flair up and is thus not a happy camper. I'd probably rate today and yesterday as a 9 on the pain scale (for reference I put having a tattoo on my ribcage as an 8 with my normal pain level around 4). Everything below my skull is hurting. Not cool body... not cool. Yeah, Crippie spent the past several nights setting Sims on fire to feel better.

Moving on to the Jew-ey goodness! The question that I am most frequently asked is "What do you think about the 'War on Christmas'?" Maybe it's the pain talking... but I feel that a Crippie Rant is the only way to properly answer this question...

<CrippieRant>
Dear people in the majority... STFU YOU ARE IN THE MAJORITY! There is no great conspiracy to get rid of Christmas, there is no one telling you that you cannot celebrate Christmas. Do you think that the Jews, Muslims, Hindus, etc all meet every Wednesday and discuss how to overthrow your religion? Pul-lease... we meet every other Saturday for brunch and discuss 90's Nickelodeon shows. Stop being offended when a store greeter says "Happy Holidays", it's all encompassing. Just keep in mind that just because you are the majority that doesn't mean that your holiday is the only holiday that people celebrate. Keep your Christ in Christmas... but ya know being loving and tolerant of other religions could be another way to keep Christ in Christmas ;)

The only thing I'm gonna agree with you guys with is that sometimes people try toooooo hard to be PC and all encompassing. There is no such thing as a "Holiday Tree"and "Hanukkah Harry" is borderline offensive depending on the costume.
</CrippieRant>

Agree? Disagree? Let Crippie know in the comment section!

On a completely un-rant related Jew topic... my Grandma is making Latkes tonight... I'm really looking forward to them.

Jew-ie's Tippie- Latkes are awesome and should be embraced by everyone this Holiday season. And seriously, there is nothing wrong with saying "Happy Holidays"

Put On Your Yarmulke...

2011-12-19T23:30:00.000-05:00

Shalom!

I hope all of my wonderful readers had a wonderful weekend and Monday. I worked on Saturday and did some last minute Hanukkah shopping. On Sunday I went to a family holiday party and had a lovely time, I had a lot of noms and I met a turtle. So I would say my weekend was rather fun.
It was a refreshing change because mid-Decembers have really sucked for my family for past few years. My maternal Grandfather died on December 18th 2007 and my paternal Grandfather died on December 19th 2009, RIP Grumpy & PopPop, love ya lots. Yeah, and this year we're coping with our Aunt's recent passing. Death sucks. It's hard to deal with but I have a feeling that they are watching over us. Spending time with the family definitely helps ease the sadness.
Moving on to happier topics... IT'S ALMOST HANUKKAH!!! I love when Hanukkah falls around this time of year, it starts before and ends after Christmas :D. I figured since it's the Holiday season I'd answer "Jew-ie" questions for the next few days. So if anyone has any question for me, bring 'em on. I'll ease in to this whole "Jew" topic with a Crippie/Jew-ie crossover question... "Which do you find more offensive, Cripple jokes or Jew jokes?"

Honestly it all depends on the joke, I find lighthearted cripple and jew jokes heilarious. Anne Frankly, as long as the joke isn't terribly mean spirited I don't care. There is a line though, once you start implying that disabled people are lesser individuals or unwanted I take offense. As for Jew jokes I can take the "cheap" jokes pretty well (mainly cause I am really freakin' cheap) same with any other stereotype based joke. Holocaust jokes are another story though. Clearly I have no problem with lame puns, Nazi, and Hitler jokes but a line is crossed when you start making jokes about the Jews or the camps. Those camps represent the absolute worst of man, there's really nothing humorous about them. So I guess I would say I find really bad Jew jokes more offensive than really bad Cripple jokes.

Jew-ie's Tippie - Unless you pretty damn sure that no one in your general area won't be offended... keep the jokes to yourself or to the internet. Chances are your joke will be considered funny on the internet.

Drumroll Please...

2011-12-16T23:30:00.000-05:00

It's Friday, Friday gotta give away a shirt on Friday!

First off, thanks to all three eligible entries. I wish I had enough shirts to give to all three of you.
I used a random number generator to pick a winner. Since each person asked a question they were given two votes. For example comment 1 was given numbers 1 and 4.
Soooo congratulations to....

CONGRATULATIONS LIZZIE!!!!

I'll be contacting you with more details! YAY LIZZIE!!!

Crippie's Tippie- Entering contests on blogs is a decent way to obtain free things, depending on the size of the blog of course.

Pivotal Crippie Moments

2011-12-15T23:30:00.000-05:00

Ohai!

LAST CHANCE TO ENTER MUH CONTEST PEOPLE

Alrighty, recently I was asked "Besides when you were diagnosed with MHE (and the surgeries that resulted from having MHE), what would be one of your biggest pivotal moments in life (or life-changing so-to-speak)?"

While I've posted about things that changed my life a while ago, I saw this as a challenge to think of a pivotal moment in my life not related to having a disability. CHALLENGE ACCEPTED *Starts limping/pacing back and forth*.

Hmm... it seems that most of my pivotal moments involve having a disability in someway or another. *Continues pacing/limping*

20 MINUTES LATER (I'm not kidding) EUREKA! The biggest non-cripple related life changing moment (or moments) was when I was around 2 years old. My mom needed a way to keep my occupied during laundry time so she put paper on the walls and let me color away. First off, no I didn't color on walls without paper, I was a good noodle. Secondly, it taught me that art is freakin' awesome! Early love of art continued to grow and eventually led to my chosen profession! w00t! CHALLENGE COMPLETED!!!

Crippie's Tippie- Enter my contest, this shirt really is freakin' awesome.

The Big D

2011-12-14T01:10:00.000-05:00

Sup Everybody?

ENTER TO WIN MY REALLY AWESOMELY DESIGNED T-SHIRT HERE!!!!

I just finished cleaning the guinea pigs cages (they say hi btw), figured I'd get a quick blog post in before bed. I just checked my comment section and saw that someone asked me about my opinion on filing for disability. I've never filed for disability, but I probs will if I ever need to have major surgery again (btw, thanks Aflac for not covering pre-existing conditions... go duck yourselves).

Filing for disability is not something to be taken lightly. You don't get a whole lot of money and if you have health insurance you could lose benefits. I see filing for disability as an absolute last resort. My advice to anyone with a disability is to (as unfortunate as this sounds) plan your career around your disability. I have chronic pain and fatigue, thus I chose a career that involves sitting at a desk all day. Have social anxiety? Plan something that doesn't involve a whole lot of social interaction. Naturally you should pick something that you love to do but you really have to take your disability into consideration. I know this sounds really harsh but we have to be realistic. We also have to do our best to keep our symptoms at bay. I regularly see my pain management doctor to keep my pain levels at a tolerable amount. Of course everyone's situation is different. If you are really, really sick and cannot make enough money to support by all means file away. To summarize on the original question on whether or not it is a "good idea" to file for disability or not, if you have exhausted all other options, if you cannot function even when you are being properly treated, then filing would not be a bad idea.

Crippie's Tippie- If your disability doesn't always render you useless, I suggest seeing if your state has services that help cripples get employment. They can help you find some form of work that can be more accommodating to your needs. Crippie used this place to help her find employment.

Crippie's Bloggie Tips!

2011-12-12T02:11:00.001-05:00

Ohai

ENTER MY CONTEST PEOPLES!!! You have till Friday!

Moving on, people have been asking me for blogging advice recently. So without further adieu I give you

CRIPPIE ANSWERS BLOGGING RELATED QUESTIONS!!!

1) Why did you start blogging?

I started blogging because it was a homework assignment. Crippie was taking a social media course and having a blog was actually a requirement. I rather enjoyed the whole blogging experience so I decided to keep the blog going even though I am no longer being graded for it (btw, I got an A for the blog).

2) Do you ever get any negative feedback, if so how do you deal with it?

Luckily I've never had any real negative feedback or comments on this blog. I get the occasional spam comment which I delete. Generally speaking negative commenters are trolls, and you never ever feed a troll. Just let the comment be.

3) Do looks matter?

As a graphic designer of course I am going to say that having a pretty blog does make a difference. Seriously though, having a properly designed blog makes you look more legit and it sets you apart from other bloggers.

4) Any tips to boost viewership?

I get a fair amount of traffic from social networking sites for bloggers like bloggers.com and 20sb.net. I also get traffic by participating in events like blog hops and NHBPM. I've also found that consistently labeling my posts makes it easier for people using google to find me.

Crippie's Tippie- Remember, blogging "success" takes time and a fair amount of effort.

CRIPPIE GIVEAWAY!

2011-12-10T00:00:00.001-05:00

OMG!!!!

A couple of weeks ago Crippie was contacted by the wonderful people at ooshirts.com. They asked me if I could design a shirt and then write a review about the whole process. Btw, if anyone thinks Crippie is selling out with this... I've donated blood just to get a free t-shirt.

Before I begin my review let it be known that I am a graphic designer with experience in screen printing. I also have experience with setting up cafepress shops and designing shirts with other companies. Also, my mother and grandmother used to work in the garment industry (my mom used to do color separations and my grandmother was an art director). So Crippie knows what she is talking about here ;)

The Process- First I went to their website and picked out a t-shirt and color. They had a whole lotta options as far shirt selections go. I opted for the "Canvas Unisex Tee" because it had some shnazzy colors and the fit was on the longer side. Then I designed my shirt. I used Adobe Illustrator to make my design and I uploaded EPS files.

Next I put the designs on my selected shirt. This whole process was super easy and I was soooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo happy about how big my design could be. When I did projects like this before the space was so limiting and my designs would look tiny and crappy. The colors of the design on the screen were not true to color. This is probably my computer screen's fault. I added the pantone colors of my design in a special note section just to be on the safe side.

I love how they "idiot proofed" the whole designing process. Ooshirts has services to make sure your colors are correct, that your background is transparent (if you want it to be), if you want your shirt to have a "vintage" effect, etc. I found the overall design process very pleasant and super simple.

Pricing - Ooshirts.com prides itself on being an affordable option for custom shirts. I did some price quotes for other sites, and Ooshirts actually was a cheaper option. Not a whooollleeee lot cheaper than some other places, but cheaper nonetheless.

Ordering - Placing the order was, again, super simple. My order was checked over by their designers, who gave it the OK to print. Within a few days I had my shnazzy new shirts!

The end results - Once my shirts arrived I was very pleased. The shirt is self is very soft and snuggly. The colors of the ink look pretty close to the colors on the design I submitted. I showed the shirt to my mother and grandmother who found no real flaws in the screening process. The shirt has also survived several washes in the laundry with no cracks or fading! The one downside I found was that the color of the shirt is waaayyy different than the color on the website.

Do you want to win a "Holy Crip it's a Crapple" T-Shirt?

Here's the rules for entering the contest!

-Enter the contest by posting a comment below with your email address so I can contact you

- 1 bonus entry for people who post a question for Crippie with their comment

- The lucky winner will be chosen at random via random number generator

-The winner will be picked on Friday, December 16th

- Crippie's relatives may NOT enter this contest. Want a shirt guys? You're gonna have to wait for Hanukkah

(For reference, the shirt is a large, but hey a free shirt is a free shirt)

Crippie's Tippie- ENTER MY CONTEST!!! And ooshirts.com is pretty damn awesome, thanks guys!

On Bullies & Being Bullied

2011-12-08T23:30:00.000-05:00

Hey Y'all

I figured I'd discuss a "hot button" issue tonight... bullying. Bullying has definitely been a hot topic issue for the past few months and rightfully so. It's become an issue because we allowed it to happen. Damn near all of us have been bullied at one point or another, so we are used to it and numb to it. We don't always see how bad bullying can get, especially with the onset of social media, and kids are paying the ultimate price of it. I figure I might as well share my experience with bullying.
When I was in Elementary School I was mainly teased for being slow in gym. It wasn't anything Earth shattering but it made me hate gym. Most of my experiences with teasing stem from Middle School. I was teased because I had "bad hair", "bad clothes", and the whole "cripple" thing. I got the occasional snarky comment and some genius tried to trip me once. Most of the people I knew opted to shun me for some reason or another, mainly because I was very sick in Middle School and the little normals couldn't deal with it. In hindsight most of what I went through wasn't terrible but it had a profound effect on my life regardless. When people stopped talking to me I stopped talking to them. I became socially awkward. This was the point when I started missing milestones. To this day I am what some might consider "socially retarded". I don't look people in the eye and I am insanely quiet. I pretty much useless in social situations with people I don't know, I just sit in the corner and keep to myself. So yeah, I have deep seeded feelings that being sick and stupid little normals ruined my childhood. I'm trying to "get over" all that stuff, it's a process but I feel I'm making improvements.
In High School I figured that bullies are just assholes and should be treated as such. Whenever someone would try to say something rude to me or to my friends I would critique their form and lack of originality. I recall one time when I was senior some little twerp was trying to say something rude to me (I think he was calling me a bitch, I don't remember) and I responded with a simple "You're a sophomore... why the hell are you even talking to me?". It shut him up.

So what can we do about this? Here's a special edition of Crippie's Tippie!

Crippie's Tippie for kids being bullied-
-Remember that bullies are assholes, you cannot let them have any power over you
-Be a wise ass right back to them, SHOW NO FEAR
-What goes around comes around. I recently found some of my old tormentors on facebook, they now lead lonely miserable lives!
-People tease others to feel better about themselves, chances are the bully has issues
-Remember that Middle School sucks for everyone.
-The whole "it gets better" thing is true. What happens in Middle School and High School is so insignificant in the long run.
-Please do not harm yourself or anyone else. If your bullying situation is that bad that you feel you need to do one of those things, please tell an adult. There is someone out there who can help you.

Crippie's Tippie for kids who pick on other kids to make themselves feel better-
-Grow the hell up, seriously
-R-E-S-P-E-C-T find out what means in general

Crippie's Tippie for Parents
-Teach your children to respect everyone
-Your child is not perfect, if you find out your kid is bullying others... PUNISH THEM. Let them know that what they are doing is beyond horrible and cannot be tolerated.
-If your child is being bullied remember that it might not seem like a huge issue, but to a pre-teen EVERYTHING IS A HUGE ISSUE
-Remember that its not "just" bullying, it can have very severe consequences.

What do you guys think about the bullying issue? What should we do about it? Feel free to post your opinion in the comment section.

Working With A Disability- Day 90

2011-12-06T23:30:00.000-05:00

Yo!

How are all my lovely readers today? I was a little achy today with all the weather changes. My tattoo is healing very nicely. It's getting less sore as time progresses. I can now touch it without it hurting too badly.
Now, as the title of today's post suggests I have officially been employed for 90 days (at least according to the people that try to get cripples hired). I get to start discussing benefits soon, OBOI. I do wonder if my disability will come in to play that, reckon I'll found out soon enough. So far my job experience has been pretty good. I think I'm doing a good job and as far as I am aware I haven't made any mortal enemies! No one has asked why I walk I with a cane, me thinks they just assume Crippie was in a bad car wreck. It doesn't seem like a big elephant in the room or anything, me thinks no one really cares why I am a cripple, I just am.
On to a more important anniversary. Today marks the 3rd anniversary of when we adopted two of our guinea pigs, Emma and Nellie. They started out as scared little baby piggies, now they are very content, well fed piggies.

Nellie

Emma

All of the pigs celebrated with oodles of hay and blueberries, followed by some pretty adorable food comas. It's hard to believe that we've had them for three years. *Sniff sniff* They grow up so fast.

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY EMMA & NELLIE... MOMMY LOVES YOU!

Crippie's Tippie- Check your weekly forecast so you can prepare yourself for weather changes.

Crippie Got Inked!

2011-12-05T23:34:00.001-05:00

Hi Everybody!

Crippie is 23!!! I feel older already, my hip popped when I tried to get up this morning. Crippie had a very fun filled weekend. My former roomie can to visit for the weekend. We watched Harry Potter (DOBBY... NOOOOOOOOO), some Holocaust movies (*insert name of protagonist* NOOOOOOOO), several episodes of "Hey Arnold" (ARNOLD'S PARENTS... NOOOOOOOO), several episodes of "Rugrats" (CHUCKIE'S MOM... NOOOOOOOOO) and... um... WE GOT FREAKIN' TATTOOS.
We got matching tattoos of a swan by one of my favorite illustrators, Charley Harper. I opted to get my tattoo on my ribcage area, yup one of the more painful areas to get tattoos. I was fully expecting it to be hella painful. Ultimately I would give getting a small-ish tattoo on your ribcage a 7-8 on the pain scale (for reference I put myself on a 3-4 on the pain scale normally). As promised... PICTURES!

Inspiration for the tattoo

Crappy Picture of Tattoo

Slightly Better Picture

I'll post better pictures once it actually heals. The whole getting a tattoo experience was oddly fun. My tattoo artist, who kept talking like "Big Gay Al" renamed my condition "Bonyitis", which I might have to steal. We also sang "Puttin' on the Ritz" and discussed the ending to "The Black Swan". So yeah, my weekend was purdy damn awesome.

Crippie's Tippie- If possible bring a squishy toy for your tattoo session. It's definitely helps with whatever pain you might be in.

Well... Now What?

2011-12-01T23:30:00.000-05:00

Happy December!

After 30 days of having prompts I have to get used to coming up with my own topics again! I figured I'd jus do a quick Crippie update on everything that's goin' on my life since I really haven't posted about it in a month.
Work- Work is going pretty well. I'm working between 30-60 hours a week at the moment. While it is very tiring thankfully that tiredness doesn't kick in until after I've driven home. Once I get home I have enough energy to play with the pets and eat dinner, that's about it.
Driving- Having a set of wheels is purdy damn awesome. I'm having fewer driving related anxiety attacks, which is good. Although I'm having more anxiety about running out of gas (I'm not quite comfortable with driving to the gas station by myself yet), but that will go away eventually.
Arthritis- As far I'm aware my arthritis hasn't been causing any issues. My hips are ok and I can move my fingers for the time being. Not bad considering I'm on a lesser dose of anti-inflammatory drugs.
MHE- My MHE hasn't been terrible. There are some tumors in my ribcage that have been catching on things recently... not cool. It's not the worst rib flare-up I've had so I really can't complain.

I do have a plan of revenge for my stupid freakin' ribcage. Sunday is Crippie's birthday (23... YAY ME). Crippie's college roomie is coming out for the weekend and we are both getting tattoos. Guess where I'm getting mine... yup, ribcage. That'll show those stupid tumors that I don't care if they catch on something or not. I'll post more about that on Monday (with pictures, no worries).

So that's about it, definitely have some interesting stuff going on right now :).

Crippie's Tippie- Heating blankets work wonders when the winter achies come around.

NHBPM- DONE!

2011-11-30T23:30:00.000-05:00

*Gives virtual cookies and skittles out*

It's November 30th and you know what that means... NATIONAL HEALTH BLOG POST MONTH IS OVER! DONE! The final prompt is... Play that horn. Want to hear a secret? You’re awesome. (It’s actually not even really a secret.) This is going to be hard for you, O Modest One, but you gotta give yourself props today. Write three things you love about yourself – things you’re great at – or just want to share. Don’t you dare signpost or undercut those self-compliments!

Anyone who actually knows me knows that I'm not terribly modest... if I do something awesome I let people know. So... I COMPLETED THE 30 CHALLENGE, YAY ME! Granted a missed the first day but I was allowed a post skip day.

Now, about that actual list of things Crippie is awesome at...

-Crippie is very, very good at rises to challenges. Senior thesis in 4 months instead of 8, DONE. Perfect attendance in high school and college, CHECK. Graduate Magna Cum Laude, CHALLENGE COMPLETED. 30 blog posts in 30 days, FREAKIN' DONE!!!!

-Crippie is an awesome graphic designer. Hey, I spent like, 30 seconds kerning that little "BOO YA" thing above (kerning is adjusting the space between the letters FYI).

-Crippie is apparently an animal whisperer. I dunno, I feel like I "know" what my guinea pigs and puppies want/think and I speak for them often. (Helen is sitting next to me BTW, she says "I AM TRYING TO SLEEP... STOP ASKING ME WHAT I WANT TO TELL YOUR READERS!").

I could go on but alas, the prompt said three things ;)

OMG... I just noticed this is my 100th post! Kinda fitting ain't it?

Crippie's Tippie- I've said it before and I'll say it again, celebrate all the victories in your life. I might be tired and in a fair amount of pain... BUT I COMPLETED THE 30 DAY CHALLENGE!!!!! BOOM!

This post was written as part of NHBPM – 30 health posts in 30 days: http://bit.ly/vU0g9J

NHBPM- You're Such A Card

2011-11-29T23:52:00.001-05:00

Salutations!

ONE MORE NHBPM POST TO GO... w00000000000000000000000t. Today's prompt is super special, I hope you all enjoy it. Greeting card post! The greeting card industry is all about writing generally universal feelings in a presentable way that you can use to express yourself when you just can’t think of the words to say. Write a greeting card for someone in your community to help them express themselves about a new diagnosis, treatment, or experience.

Now, Crippie has been making greeting cards for over 10 years... so when I saw this I opted to literally make a quarter fold card that you can print out! OBOI!

Whenever something really craptacular happens, people never really know what to say to you. I figured I'd make a card that pretty much says what the giver is thinking without too much flowery crap! All you have to do is click on the image and save it to your computer!

Shnazzy ain't it? I can't believe National Health Blog Post Month is almost over. I'm gonna try to keep up with this whole posting every day thing, it's fun. I'm also planning a giveaway or two... that's right... OR TWO! If anyone has any questions for me to answer... post 'em in the comment section. Chances are I'll answer 'em. Hey, Crippie needs material to blog about ;)

BTW, if anyone has any problems with the card, let me know so I can fix it. Thanks a bunch!

Crippie's Tippie- Making cards is surprisingly easy. I use Adobe Illustrator but there are tons of programs out there for you to make 'em yourself.

This post was written as part of NHBPM – 30 health posts in 30 days: http://bit.ly/vU0g9J

NHBPM- Say Whhhhaaaaaaaaaaa

2011-11-28T23:30:00.000-05:00

'Ello!

Over 5,000 blog views... HOLY MOLY! You guys are seriously awesome.
It looks like the last three blog prompts are gonna be very entertaining. Today's prompt is... Say WHAT?! What’s the most ridiculous thing you’ve heard about health or your condition. Was there any context? What did you think at the time you heard it – and what do you think of it now?
I've heard some dandy things about my condition. I've been asked if my condition is a form of dwarfism (I'm 5' 3" btw), I've been asked if I am dying, I've been asked if I'm sterile (which was realllyyyy creeeeeppppppyyyyyyyyyy), but today I'm gonna focus on one of my most "LOL-worthy" conversations
The Context- I am in my apartment, on campus in college. One of my roommates is about to go out with her friends. One of her friends is a douche-bag. He is a an annoying little twerp who acts like he is God's gift to mankind. He also likes to pretend that he knows everything. He notices my cane and asks me why I walk with it. The conversation goes as follows...
Crippie- I have a genetic disorder
Douche-Bag- Oh? Which one?
Crippie- Multiple Hereditary Exostoses
Douche-Bag- I've heard of that
Crippie- How the hell have you heard of it?
Douche-Bag- My mom's a nurse, I know these things. It's related to Cystic Fibrosis.
Crippie- No it's not. Cystic Fibrosis is completely unrelated to what I have. MHE has to do with bones, CF mainly has to do with mucus membranes.
Douche-Bag- No, they're related
Crippie- NO THEY ARE NOT
Douche-Bag- Yes they are
Crippie- NO THEY ARE NOT
Douche-Bag- My mom's a nurse, I know these things
Crippie- I've had this disease for over 20 years... I know these things more!
Douche-Bag- So... how do they treat it? Chemotherapy?
Crippie- Ummm... nooooooo. That's chondrosarcoma, bone cancer. Not a genetic disorder. I thought you knew all about my illness?

The douche-bag continued to try to "out-cripple" me by showing me his nerve damaged finger. I then told him both my legs have severe damage and RSD. He then said "I feel sorry for you" and then left. Dick. General rule of thumb normals, don't try to out cripple a cripple. You will not win. We will laugh at you once you leave. Also general rule of thumb, don't say "I feel sorry for you" say "I'm sorry you have to go through that" something that doesn't evoke real pity. What did I think at the time I heard it? Well, once the Douche-Bag left me and my other roomies were basically like "WTF?!?!?!?!" I was pretty impressed at my ability to out-cripple him and call him out on his BS! What do I think of it now? Looking back on it I think "Lulz... douche-bag".

Crippie's Tippie- If you want to ask a cripple about their illness, be polite and don't be a wise ass.

This post was written as part of NHBPM – 30 health posts in 30 days: http://bit.ly/vU0g9J

NHBPM- Crippie Quote-ie

2011-11-27T23:39:00.001-05:00

Yo!

I finally made an official Facebook Page for Crippie's Corner! The other page I have is technically for my graphic design stuff and I figured it was time to separate the two, although I still am going to send blog updates to my "wynning designs" page too.
I can see the light at the end of the National Health Blog Post Month! If only I could fully understand tonight's prompt... Quote Unquote. Grab a quote from this site (type in any word – see what comes up!) and use that quote to set you writing.
Seems like an easy prompt, right? NO! I tried typing in words like "cripple", "tumor", and other various disability words I came up with blog entries from other readers. I also tried words like "nachos", "llama", "weasel", and various other stupid words because I am an "internet female" and it's what we do. So it's not like I'm willingly ignoring a prompt... it's just that I fail at it.
To make up for my failure I'll discuss one of my all time favorite cripple quotes. It was told to me by a fellow cripple years ago and it really changed my opinion on being a cripple.

We are zebras, we must revel in our differences.

I love this quote for several reasons. The whole referring to cripple as a zebra thing is great, because zebras are freakin' awesome. They're like horses... BUT PRETTIER!!!! Sure, I might be different because I'm a cripple, but that's not a bad thing. It's something to embrace and be proud of. Sure, my arms and legs are kinda crooked, my fingers and toes are a little weird, I'm slightly shorter than what I should've been, whatever... it makes me unique. It sets me apart from everyone else, and being different from everyone else is a wonderful thing!

Crippie has a really random question for her wonderful readers... know any good ways to painlessly untangle hair? My hair is super curly and frizzy and has recently decided to start locking together. I don't think dread locs are good look for me. I could cut the really stupid areas out, but I have issues cutting my hair really short (bad memories). Any tips readers? And yes, my hair looks like this whenever I brush it.

Crippie's Tippie- Wanna buy my book? Use the code CYBERMONDAY to get 30% OFF... TODAY ONLY!!!

This post was written as part of NHBPM – 30 health posts in 30 days: http://bit.ly/vU0g9J

NHBPM- Crippie Remembers The Good Ol' Days

2011-11-26T23:30:00.000-05:00

Ohai!

Soooo close to finishing NHBPM... I can almost see the finish line! Today's topic seems entertaining... I still remember... Free write a post that starts with the line “I still remember...”

Alrighty, Crippie is about to go into 90's kid mode... prepare yourselves folks.
<StartCrippieRant>
I still remember when Nickelodeon had good television shows on it. None of this "Penguins of Madagascar" or "iCarly" crap. In my day there were shows like "Rugrats", "Hey Arnold", "As Told By Ginger" that actually taught kids to be nice. IMAGINE THE THOUGHT! I still remember when the cartoons had actual morals and lessons. Now a days all the shows have back-sassing brat characters with dumb ass parents. Seriously, I think today's television shows help contribute to the nation's bullying epidemic. They teach kids to disrespect their elders and each other. I still remember when TV shows either had the bully get what was coming to them (Rugrats) or showed that the bully was living in a less than ideal situation (Hey Arnold). Now it seems like attitude is the main focus of the character versa heart. I mean Spongebob is still an awesome show, but it's gettin' up there in age. "Fairly Odd Parents" isn't a terrible show, but Timmy Turner should've been taken away by CPS years ago. This all applies to the Disney channel too. Don't get me started on Hannah Montana.
To summarize, I still remember when children's television shows were still worth watching.
</Rant>
Lolz, I don't have any negativity towards Nickelodeon at all ;).

Crippie's Tippie- The entire series of Hey Arnold as well as other awesome Nick shows are available on www.netflix.com

This post was written as part of NHBPM – 30 health posts in 30 days: http://bit.ly/vU0g9J

NHBPM- Never Have I Ever

2011-11-25T23:57:00.001-05:00

It's Black Friday, Friday, gotta make fun of Rebecca Black on Friday!

I seriously hope none of my readers were trampled in any way, shape or form today! Crippie had a wonderful time with her Jersey relatives and enjoyed a rather nomerful turkey.
Let's carry on to today's NHBPM post shall we (ONLY A FEW MORE LEFT... W00T) today's prompt is... Never Have I Ever. You stick to your guns – now tell us about what. What is something you’ve never done but want to. What’s something you’ve never done and won’t budge on?

Okie dokie...
Something I've never done but want to- Travel outside of the US. Crippie's gone on a few vacations in her lifetime but all of them have been in the US. I would love to go to the following places:
1) Norway- to visit my Norwegians
2) Ireland- I wanna walk around Ireland with an Irish accent and see if anyone will call me out on it.
3) Holland- As "not fun" as this sounds I want to go on a tour of various sites from WWII, Anne Frank's house is on the top of that list. I also want to pay my respects at some of the concentration camps across Europe.
4) Egypt- I've always enjoyed mummies, I'd love to see all the famous Pharaohs in the museum in Cairo

Yeah, Crippie is a bit of a history buff.

Now, Something I've never done and have no intentions of ever doing- I have never gotten wasted/drunk. Apart from the fact that I can't drink with my medication, I was told that a hangover feels like waking up from a surgery. I hate the feeling of waking up from a surgery so I have no intention of willingly doing that to myself. I hate the taste of alcohol. Relatives give me alcohol to sip to see my "alcohol face" which, if you can picture it, is like a lemon face times 10. It just tastes like nail polish to me. If ever I do drink alcohol I don't let myself get beyond the buzzed point. Yeah, Crippie really doesn't approve of alcohol. I won't judge ya if you drink responsibly every once in a while, but if you go out and get wasted every other night... Crippie isn't terribly fond of that.

Crippie's Tippie- Doing any holiday shopping? Don't forget to use www.goodshop.com to donate money to the charity of your choice.

ALSO if you want to buy Crippie's BOOK use the code BUYMYBOOK305 to get 25% off your order through
December 15th!

This post was written as part of NHBPM – 30 health posts in 30 days: http://bit.ly/vU0g9J

NHBPM- Tommy Tumor

2011-11-24T12:00:00.000-05:00

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!
May the Light of Love by David Roth on Grooveshark

I figured I'd start this out post out with my favorite Thanksgiving song (apart from Alice's Restaurant, but no one would stay on my screen for 20 minutes to hear it). Crippie wishes all of her readers a happy and healthy holiday. I'll spending the holiday with some of my relatives in New Jersey, OBOI.
I find it a little weird that today's blog prompt has nothing to do with Thanksgiving at all, but it's still very enjoyable nonetheless. My Mascot! Give your condition, community, or self a mascot. Who is it? What do they represent? What is their battle cry?

True story, Crippie made a mascot for her condition yeaaaaaaarrrrssssssss ago. I was making a comic for a magazine that www.mheandme.com releases every couple of months and I created a character named...

Who is it- Tommy Tumor is a fun loving tumor that always manages to have part of it's tumor self chopped off in one way or another. Technically he is a malformed bone with tumors on it.

What does it represent- *tries to sound like an artist who knows what they are talking about* Tommy Tumor is a lighthearted metaphor for for someone with MHE who has to have what seem like constant surgeries to remove their tumors.

What is their battle cry- See the video below...

There ya have it folks. My diseases mascot is a tumor that sings the "I'm a Tumor Song". I'm so deep and metaphorical, it blows my mind sometimes.

Crippie's Tippie- Enjoy your Thanksgiving and remember to be thankful for EVERYTHING you have!

Tommy's Tippie- IMMA TUMOR IMMA TUMOR IMMA TUMOR IMMA TUMOR IMMA TUMOR... OH OH OH IMMA TUMOR!

This post was written as part of NHBPM – 30 health posts in 30 days: http://bit.ly/vU0g9J

NHBPM- Cripple Etiquette

2011-11-23T23:57:00.001-05:00

Ohai Everyone!

I hope everyone enjoyed their day before Thanksgiving. I got off work early so I throughly enjoyed my day. Today's blog prompt looks awesome, and by that I mean I can do whatever I want with saying something like "IMMA REBEL" before doing so. Today's prompt is... Health Activist Choice. Write about whatever you want! Swwweeeeeeeetttt. Several normals have approached Crippie and asked various etiquette questions, so without further adieu I give you...

If the cripple is a stranger...

DON'T- Stare at them, it's really annoying

DO- If you're gonna stare at 'em you might as well just ask why said person is a cripple

DON'T- Make cripple jokes, you will look like an asshole

DON'T- Ask the cripple (or cripple's caregiver) if said cripple is dying or what their life expectancy is. If you really must know, GOOGLE IT. And yes, someone asked if I was dying once.

DO- If you see a cripple clearly struggling with something, offer to help.

If the cripple is your friend

DON'T- Make cripple jokes unless the cripple makes them first. Not all cripples like joking about their situation

DO- Remember that cripple friends can't always do the same things as normal friends

DO- Offer your cripple friend help only when they ask for it or if you see them clearly struggling. It's not that we don't appreciate the help, it's just that we like to do things on own whenever possible.

So there ya have it folks, a basic guide for the normals! BTW normals, if I am offending any of you by calling you "normals" please let me know. If you have any other ideas for nicknames for normal people please post in the comment section. I was thinking of calling them "muggles" but I sadly I don't think it quite applies.

Crippie's Tippie- At the end of the day just remember that cripples are "special normals".

This post was written as part of NHBPM – 30 health posts in 30 days: http://bit.ly/vU0g9J

NHBPM- Crippie is a REBEL!!!!!

2011-11-22T23:25:00.001-05:00

Hi Everybody!

Crippie is gonna ignore ANOTHER NHBPM prompt tonight! The prompt I'm going to ignore tonight is... Be present. Describe something peaceful with as much sensory imagery as you can. What are the sights, sounds, scents, and feelings?
I'm ignoring this one for several reasons, one being I'm very tired and I think I might be getting sick, the other reason is that I'm not very good at describing "love-y dove-y abstract things" like that. I'm kinda literal when it comes to that stuff.
Instead I'm gonna answer a question that I was recently asked. Since Crippie is such a rebel I was asked if I ever do things to taunt and or "freak out" normals. When Crippie is vastly outnumbered by normals I leave them alone. When Crippie is with several other crippies... HELL YEAH WE FREAK OUT NORMALS!
We cripples are very subtle about our "normal freak outs". Generally we go out in public, somewhere with a lot of people in a small space, like an elevator and discuss our crippledness. It can be as simple as "hey look at my new scar" or as complex as "do you think society looks down on us for being disabled?" and we just continue this conversation and weird out the normals. Nothin' terrible, but boy do we enjoy weirding people out on occasion. Why do we do this? Why not? We're pretty sure that people get uncomfortable around cripples they don't know anyway... why not get some lulz out of it.

Crippie's Tippie- Don't freak out the normals tooooo often, then it loses it's magic.

This post was written as part of NHBPM – 30 health posts in 30 days: http://bit.ly/vU0g9J

NHBPM- PRETTY COLORS

2011-11-21T23:30:00.000-05:00

Yo!

I'm 2/3rds of the way finished with NHBPM... YAY ME. Today's prompt seems pretty nifty... Ekphrasis post. Ekphrasis (writing about another art form) – Find a Flickr Image in Creative Commons that inspires you in some way (positively or negatively) and free write about it. Give yourself exactly 15 minutes to write without stopping. Don’t think! Brave bonus: Publish to your blog without editing! (You can include a disclaimer)

Alrighty, I'm not terribly good at writing without stopping. So I'm gonna post some pictures by one of my favorite artists of all time, Matt Lyon. Prepare to behold the awesome!

Told ya they were awesome. Whenever I need design inspiration or just a little boost of "teh happiez" Matt Lyon's work is there. It's bold, colorful, organic, full of texture and pattern gotta love the pattern, and just beautiful overall. I'm relatively sure that I've mentioned in prior posts that I like to look at pretty things in order to distract myself from whatever ugly things are going on in my life. I literally feel happier when I look at his artwork and typography prints. What can I say, I'm a sucker for pretty colors and typography... and I'm in heaven when he works an inspirational quote into typography pieces.

So yeah, I'm pretty easy to please when it comes to art... as long as the colors are pretty I'm good.

Crippie's Tippie - Check out www.society6.com it's filled with other up and coming artists. They also have an iPod app for backgrounds. True story, I have well over 800 pictures saved from this app.

This post was written as part of NHBPM – 30 health posts in 30 days: http://bit.ly/vU0g9J

NHBPM- Crippie Makes A Funny

2011-11-20T23:19:00.001-05:00

Greetings Fellow Earthlings,

I hope you all had a lovely Sunday. I spent my day working, sleeping, and watching silly YouTube videos with my Frida. Speaking of YouTube, todays NHBPM post is... LOL post. Write a post about a moment that made you laugh. Or a video, picture, blog post, or something else that made you laugh.

Frida wanted to share a video with you guys before I share my favorite silly videos...

Now on to my favorite silly videos

BEST BOB DYLAN SONG

BEST MOMENT OF IMPROV EVER

BEST TIM GUNN IMPERSONATION EVER

BEST RANDOM LES MISERABLES MUSICAL NUMBER

BEST TOTALLY KYLE EPISODE

BEST HAPPY FERRET

I have no life and watch YouTube videos all the freakin' time... sue me. Got any videos you think will crack me up, post 'em in the comment section. I'll gladly edit this post to add more stupid videos.

Crippie's Tippie- Collegehumor.com and funnyordie.com are also great sites for stupid videos. I love them.

This post was written as part of NHBPM – 30 health posts in 30 days: http://bit.ly/vU0g9J

NHBPM- Crippie Highlights!

2011-11-19T23:44:00.001-05:00

Ohai Everybody!

Angel says thank you for any birthday well wishes and a special thank you for any well wishes that actually involved food. Moving on to tonight's blog prompt, its pretty easy so I won't ignore it ;). The topic today is... “Best of” post. Grab a post from your archives and repost it! Add a few sentences at the beginning to frame it. Why you chose it. Why you liked it. And why it should be shared again.
Alrighty, I'm gonna base my "best of" post by the amount of views/comments/feedback/etc. I've gotten from it.

1st Awesome Crippie Post - THE SCAR WARS POST. I guess people like hearing me talk about tampon shaped scars.

2nd Awesome Crippie Post - THE IT'S GON RAIN POST. It's awesome for several reasons... OLLIE WILLIAMS, RAIN, PEOPLE LIKE IT

3rd Awesome Crippie Post - THE CRIPPIE LISTS THE PROS AND CONS OF BEING A CRIPPLE POST - People like finding pros to being a cripple I reckon.

So there ya go, 3 of Crippie's most popular posts. Enjoy 'em all over again!

Crippie's Tippie- Google Analytics is a nifty tool to use if you want to track blog stats beyond what blogger has.

This post was written as part of NHBPM – 30 health posts in 30 days: http://bit.ly/vU0g9J

NHBPM- Crippie Ignores Yet Another Prompt!

2011-11-18T23:30:00.000-05:00

Hey Y'all!

I've decided to ignore yet another prompt! Yay me! The prompt I'm ignoring today is... A comment as a blog post. Pick someone else’s post (from the past or from today) and write a comment to them. Write that comment as your blog post for today. Link back to them to let them know you were inspired. Yeah, I'm honestly too tired to write something meaningful. To be fair I'll post some links of cripple blogs that I enjoy and read whenever I get the chance...
http://www.dysautonomic.blogspot.com/ - awesome blog and very honest
http://notesoflifeandlove.blogspot.com/ - one of "my" cripples (by that I mean we both have MHE) blogs about her life and her stupidly adorable children... I'm serious, her kids are freakin' cute.
http://afternoonnapsociety.blogspot.com/ - informative and well written *snaps for smart bloggers*

So there, I kinda did what I was supposed to do... but I really just wanna show you pictures of Angel's "birthday" burger. We were gonna do a little deli platter thing but we opted for a burger again at the last minute.

Do you have any food for me?

Is that a burger I see?

IT IS A BURGER

OMG DO WANT NOW

Can I have some more? Please?

Yes, to those wondering, that's what Crippie sounds like and yes, my sister photobombed the video.

Crippie's Tippie- If you are looking for a dog, always look at shelters and local rescues first. There are plenty of little Angels who need good homes.

Angel's Tippie- GIVE ME MOAR BURGERS, PPPPLLLLLEEEEEAAASSSSSEEEE

This post was written as part of NHBPM – 30 health posts in 30 days: http://bit.ly/vU0g9J

NHBPM- Let It Beeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee

2011-11-17T23:15:00.001-05:00

Ohai,

Well, it looks like today's NHBPM prompt is not quite as chipper as yesterday's... oh well. Today's prompt is... Let It Be. What’s something that bothers you or weighs on you? Let it go. Talk out the letting go process and how you’re going to be better to yourself for it.

Okay... <StartCrippleRant>
Alright, occasionally when I check out other blogs (I like pretty blogs... SUPPORT THE PRETTY BLOGS) and see posts where they are discussing things in their lives like buying an apartment, living in some big city, getting married, whatever it might be... it makes me feel... well... bad. I start thinking things like "I could've done that if I wasn't a cripple". I guess seeing random normals thriving makes me feel sickly. It's not that I'm unhappy with my life or anything, but being reminded of what I'm missing hurts. It's not an all consuming pain though, I feel happiness for the normal in their time of good fortune, it can just get me down from time to time.
As far as the letting go process, I try to be as rational as possible and think the following things...
-ENOUGH WITH THE "WHAT IFS"- There is no point in thinking this, stop wasting your time and emotions
-It is what it is - I can't change the situation so I might as well accept it
-There is someone out there reading my blog thinking "wow, Crippie is so lucky" she's overcoming her disability. She got a job, fantastic". Stop being a dick and be grateful for where you are in your life, could it be better, of course, but it could be a whoolllleeee lot worse.
</CrippleRant>

So yeah, there are times when negative feelings weigh me down, but ultimately I remember that a negative attitude will get me nowhere. I try to focus on the positives in my life and just accept the rest.

On a lighter note... ANGEL'S "BIRTHDAY" IS TOMORROW!!! We have decided to go with a deli platter of people food for her. I'm gonna try and get that on video.

Crippie's Tippie - When I am in a particularly bad mood I literally start singing "Always Look On The Bright Side of Life"... it usually helps me feel better.

This post was written as part of NHBPM – 30 health posts in 30 days: http://bit.ly/vU0g9J

NHBPM- I'm Pretty Sure I Can

2011-11-16T23:37:00.001-05:00

Whuzzup!

I've been singing that "Imma Tumor Song" in my head AAALLLLL DAY LONG. I'm pretty sure i was singing it in my dreams last night... yeah, my username is Special McSpecial for a reason. Lucky for you guys tonight's prompt doesn't involve songs that will get stuck in your head for the remainder of the day. Today's cue is... Little Engine Post. Write a list post with 10-15 lines that start each with “I think I can...” Write 5 lines at the end that start with “I know I can.”

Let's being shall we?

- I think I can drive on roads that I'm not completely familiar with without someone else in the car

- I think I can teach some of my guinea pigs how to do tricks (I would say all but I'm realistic)

- I think I can obtain a bunch of freelance clients

- I think I can work a 40+ hour week and not feel completely tired

- I think I can learn to play the song "I'll Fly Away" on my mandolin (seriously, that's the only song I want to learn to how to play... CRAP I'M SINGING IT MY HEAD NOW... NNNNNOOOOOO)

- I think I can get the song "I'll Fly Away" out of my head

- I think I can gain more independence over the next year or so

- I think I can learn how to cook (I can make a mean fried egg, but that's about it)

- I think I can design and illustrate a bunch of books

- I think I can come up with ten "I think I can phrases"

- I KNOW I can finish NHBPM without missing a day

- I KNOW I can lift a giant ass branch when it falls on my property after a storm (long story)

- I KNOW I can overcome my driving anxiety

- I KNOW I can push myself to do things I didn't think were possible

- I KNOW I can come up with one last "I know I can phrase".

Crippie's Tippie- If this whole concept of "I think I can" seems stupid to you... break your your goal into smaller goals. Ex. I can work for five hours *five hours passes* I can work for 10 hours, etc.

This post was written as part of NHBPM – 30 health posts in 30 days: http://bit.ly/vU0g9J

NHBPM- Crippie's Anthem

2011-11-15T23:03:00.001-05:00

Hey Y'all

WE'RE AT THE HALFWAY POINT OF NHBPM! Tonight's prompt looks purdy damn entertaining... This one’s for you, baby. Dedicate a song to your condition. Why did you pick that song? Find a youtube or link to a version to embed in your post. Not gonna lie, I've been pretty stoked for tonight's prompt since day one. Honestly, the moment I saw this prompt I knew what song I was going to dedicate to my condition. QUICK REMINDER- My condition is Multiple Hereditary Exostoses, it causes benign tumors to grow on my bones.
So without further adieu I give you...

Yes, I dedicate the "Imma Tumor Song" from Family Guy to my condition. Seriously, what else other songs could I have done? "My Humps"? I don't think so. Why did I pick that song? THE SONG IS SUNG BY A SINGING TUMOR ABOUT HOW IT'S A TUMOR!!! It's been my theme song from the moment I saw the episode.

Crippie's Tippie- If you ever want to find a hilarious/borderline offensive clip about a specific disability, Family Guy is the show for you.

This post was written as part of NHBPM – 30 health posts in 30 days: http://bit.ly/vU0g9J

NHBPM- Crippie Walks Onto An Elevator...

2011-11-14T23:37:00.001-05:00

Howdy!

I hope everyone had a good Monday. I was at work for 11 and a half hours today, I'm kinda surprised I'm still conscious. So I'm gonna try and finish today's prompt before passing out. Elevator blog. If you were in an elevator with someone and they asked about your blog. What would you tell them? Make a version for a 30 second elevator ride. Make a version for a 1 minute elevator ride. Make a version for a 2 minute elevator ride.

30 SECONDS- My name is Crippie, I was born with a rare genetic disorder and I blog about living with a disabiliy.
1 MINUTE- My name is Crippie, I was born with a rare genetic disorder and I blog about living with a disabiliy and trying to remain positive in spite of all the crap.
2 MINUTES- My name is Crippie, I was born with a rare genetic disorder and I blog about living with a disabiliy and trying to remain positive in spite of all the crap. I answer questions that people are too embarrassed to ask. I also incorporate humor and design into my blog because apart from being a cripple, I'm a wise ass designer.

DONE

Crippie's Tippie-hhhyyyyyyyyyyyyydjttukkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkki (crippie has fallen asleep on her keyboard)

This post was written as part of NHBPM – 30 health posts in 30 days: http://bit.ly/vU0g9J

NHBPM- Crippie Ignores The Prompt

2011-11-13T23:07:00.001-05:00

Hi Y'all

As the title suggests, Crippie is being a rebel and not following today's prompt... mainly because it's not very good. It was... Open a book. Point to a page. Free write for 10-15 minutes on that word or passage. Post without editing if you can!

Yeaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh nnnnooooooooooooo

Oh well, I'm still doing the post a day thing so I don't see this as failing. Moving on I'd figure I'd answer a question that I've been asked several times "Do you have a Cripple-dar or Cripple-sensor? Essentially they are asking if I can spot a person with a disability and can I figure out why they are disabled. My "cripple-dar" is pretty strong when it comes to visibly crippled people. I can pick up on certain limps, movements, mannerisms, physical characteristics, etc and I can usually figure out what's wrong with them. I think of this as a sixth sense if you will

"I SEE CRIPPLED PEOPLE". Why can I do this? Probably because I've watched one too many discovery health specials.

Crippie's Tippie- Try to find a more interesting and or useful sixth sense, being able to see cripples is not particularly useful.

P.S. Did you like my cane tutorial? Would you like a custom cane of your own? Well, you can check out Crippie's STORE where I sell canes I have made or check out my BOOK, where I discuss making canes.

This post was written as part of NHBPM – 30 health posts in 30 days: http://bit.ly/vU0g9J

NHBPM- Crippie Makes A Shiny Pimp Cane

2011-11-12T22:54:00.001-05:00

Ohai,

I hope everyone had a lovely Nigel Tufnel day. Mine went pretty well. The anti-stigma conference was very fun. It was good so see so many people who were able to understand each others issues. Babysitting also went well, I lost a bet to an 11 year old... but what can you do.

Moving on today's NHBPM prompt is most entertaining... Teach a class. What’s something that you’re uniquely great at and could teach a class on? Write the tutorial in a blog post. Bonus points for images, links to resources, and video.

Today Crippie will be teaching you guys how to pimp out your cane and make it shiny. You need the following items...
1- A Cane
2- Rhinestones- flat backed, the smaller the better
3- Glue- I prefer PVA Glue, but gorilla glue or some other freakishly strong glue works too

STEP ONE- GET YO SUPPLIES

STEP TWO- PUT A LITTLE GLUE ON A LITTLE PART OF THE CANE FOO'

STEP THREE- PUT A RHINESTONE ON THAT BITCH

STEP FOUR- REPEAT OVER AND OVER AND OVER AGAIN FOO'. Make a few lines of rhinestone and let them dry (the glue will dry completely clear)

And eventually you will have something like this..

Crippie's Tippie- I used two different sized rhinestones to accommodate for the fact that they don't fit perfectly around the cane.

This post was written as part of NHBPM – 30 health posts in 30 days: http://bit.ly/vU0g9J

NHBPM- Something So Right

2011-11-11T01:33:00.001-05:00

HAPPY NIGEL TUFNEL DAY!!!!

Today better freakin' go to 11. Lucky for us today's prompt is happy and positive so it's a start to going to 11. The topic for Nigel Tufnel day is... If it’s not broke, don’t fix it. What is working well in your community, healthcare, blogs, social media, or your work in particular? What do you like about it?

First off, the is working reallllllyyyyy well is Nigel Tufnel's amp that goes to 11. The other thing that is working really well for me as cripple is social media. Just today I was engaged in an epic battle of "Words With Friends" with one of my fellow cripples who I only get to physically see once a year if that. Things like facebook, twitter, etc. help me keep in closer contact with my fellow crippies. I remember in the days before facebook (five years ago-ish) I didn't have a lot of direct contact with my cripples and it was also a lot harder to find new cripples. Thanks to facebook I can socialize and spam the walls of some of my cripple friends, give advice to someone who made a page or a group about my disorder, and just in general see what my cripples are doing. It helps reassure the fact that I'm not alone.

So yeah, that was the prompt for today. Movin' on today is going to be very busy. From 8:30-4:30 I will be attending an "anti-stigma" conference for mental illnesses. My sister (who has bipolar disorder) will be performing at the event. I'll definitely tell y'all about it. I'm also gonna be babysitting tomorrow but that's not particularly interesting. Actually, I really should get to sleep... I have to be up in 5 hours!

Crippie's Tippie- Don't see any pages or groups for your disability... MAKE ONE.

This post was written as part of NHBPM – 30 health posts in 30 days: http://bit.ly/vU0g9J

NHBPM- Crippie Tries To Predict The Future

2011-11-10T01:00:00.001-05:00

Hiya!

How are all my lovely readers doing today? I hope you all are good. Crippie spent last night being a psychic and predicting 97% of the winners for the CMA Awards. Seeing Brad Paisley molest Miss Piggie made my night. Anyway, speaking of being a psychic today's NHBPM prompt is...The future of online activism. Our favorite social media sites are constantly undergoing renovations to become quicker to navigate, easier to interact with, all encompassing, mobile, and everywhere. Imagine the same thing about your community – how will they evolve, improve, and grow?

First things first, I believe that the future of web design will be less coding and more user friendly in terms of design. This will make it easier for smaller, lesser known diseases and causes to have better, more efficient websites simply because they won't have to hire some fancy shmancy web designer and web masters to keep the website running. Currently, most of the smaller non-profit organizations have very simple websites, homepage, contact, basic info, and some pages with more in-depth information where people go to find support. They might have e-mail or facebook groups where people can contact each other and ask questions.

I think that the non-profit support group website of the future will have a smarter organization system for their information, and more importantly... forums. I imagine that these sites will be able to create forum boards for people to ask and get information. The people would have to register and make a basic profile, thus helping keep up a database on the people involved with the group.

Technically there are websites like this out there, one such website is the site Crippie goes to in order to obtain information on guinea pigs, www.guinealynx.info. This is a very smart site design wise. It has relatively easy navigation so if I needed to look something up quickly I can find it, also it has the almighty forum. People post about issues they are having with their pigs and they get replies rather quickly. This site also requires you to "sign a contract" of sorts before posting. They don't allow things like intentionally bad grammar, and the strict rules have kept the site troll free.

So yeah, that's what I imagine the websites of the future will look like. I think twitter and facebook will mainly serve as traffic directors for the main site since all of the social aspects will be contained within the website.

Crippie's Tippie- Until this magical future arrives... BEFRIEND ALL THE NERDS. Chances are they will be able to code a nice site for your non-profit.

This post was written as part of NHBPM – 30 health posts in 30 days: http://bit.ly/vU0g9J

NHBPM- Branding "Crippie"

2011-11-09T01:33:00.000-05:00

Aloha!

Statement #3 was the lie, apart from the episode where Marsha gets pelted in the face with the football, I really don't care for the Brady Bunch. Moving on to a more interesting prompt, today's is... My personal brand. As a Health Activist, you are a front-facing leader. What do you imagine you look like to your readers? What qualities do you possess. It’s ok to toot your own horn today – you have full permission to indulge. And don’t hold back.
Ideally I'd like to appear as awesome smart, quirky, funny, optimistic, ginger and a cripple. Realistically this is what I think people see when they imagine me

If there are any rage comic readers on this blog that agree with that image... PLEASE COMMENT. I really want to know if I'm right in this assumption. So yeah, I think people see me as quirky, nerdy, optimistic (almost annoyingly optimistic), ginger cripple. I tried to take some photobooth pictures of how I "want" to appear as an activist/blogger but this is what I ended up with...

Yeaaaahhhh... I ended up with a weird blend of serious and funny which works for me, and yes Frida Kahlo is photobombing those pictures. Ultimately that's what I try to brand myself as. Crippie is a blogger/activist who uses humor and optimism to get through tough times. That's me in a nutshell right there.

So what do you guys think? Am I in the general ballpark here? Am I a totally dallusional asshole?

Crippie's Tippie- As far as general blog branding goes, I think having a nickname helps you be more memorable in the reader's eyes.

This post was written as part of NHBPM – 30 health posts in 30 days: http://bit.ly/vU0g9J

NHBPM- 3 Truths And Maybe A Lie I Guess

2011-11-08T01:21:00.000-05:00

Greetings,

One week of this NHBPM thing down, 3 to go! Speaking of the number the topic de jour is... 3 Truths and 1 lie. Tell us 3 things that are true about you, your condition, your Health Activism, or your life. Now tell us 1 lie. Do you think we will be able to tell the difference?

I'm not quite sure how I would do this for my condition and or "health activism" so I'm just gonna do it about good ol' Crippie. Here are four statements about Crippie. If you think you know which one is the lie, post it in the comment section. I'll reveal the answer tomorrow.
STATEMENT ONE: I collect American Girl Dolls
STATEMENT TWO: I have about 25 Canes in my living room
STATEMENT THREE: My favorite show of ALL time is "The Brady Bunch"
STATEMENT FOUR: I can whistle the theme song to "The Andy Griffith Show"

So there you are folks, have at it. Not the most interesting blog post in the world... sorry 'bout that. THE WRITERS CHALLENGE PROMPTS TOLD ME TO DO THAT I TELL... BLAME THEM.

Well, to make up for this rather dull prompt, I'll discuss how Crippie's pets are doing. November 18th marks the first anniversary of our dog Angel's adoption. When we first got her she was a scared little Lhasa Apso who was abused at one point and left a shelter. A year later she is a very loved and very well fed dog. She loves long walks, playing with neighbor dogs, eating, belly rubs, and begging. We want to do something sorta special for her for her "birthday". Crippie was thinking cooking her a hamburger and letting her just go to town. Any suggestions readers?

New puppy Helen has been here for two months and we are already seeing a huge difference in her. She now recognizes me as "the aunt that spoils her". She gives her "mommy" great big kisses, and she prances around the house like she owns the place. We're pretty sure that she thinks she's a baby, she cries when she's unhappy and she likes to be held like a baby. She says thank you to whoever said she was adorable on this blog.
The piggies are doing very well. Three of my pigs (Including Frida) turned 3 in October. They celebrated with huge salads.
Yup, so that's how all of Crippie's pets are doing.

Angel's Tippie- Give your dog lots of treats, we are happier when we have lots of treats.
Helen's Tippie- Give us lots of treats and tell me I'm pretty.
Piggies Tippie- Just feed us and we'll be really happy

NHBPM- Things That Piss Off Crippie

2011-11-07T02:23:00.000-05:00

Sup?

I hope everyone had a good weekend, let's aim for a good Monday. Speaking of Monday, today's NHBPM topic is..
Case of the Mondays. Write about something that gets you down, burns you out, or makes you sad. Purge it in a blog post. Turn it around at the end. Tell Tuesday why you’re ready for it.
Alrighty, ready for a Crippie rant? If this offends anyone I'm sorry, feel free to counter rant me in the comment section. If you wanna agree with me in the comment section you can do that too ;)
<StartRant>
Okay, there are times when "normals" burn me out and in general piss me off. When I hear a normal person complain about really mundane things I get really aggravated. It feels like "how dare they complain, do they not know how lucky they are?" or "puh-lease do you have any idea of how much I go through?". I rarely tell said normal this because they really won't get it. It pisses me off they won't realize how good their lives are until something horrible happens and they will lose something. They don't know what they have and how lucky they are to have it. I'm probably rambling a little bit so here's a quote from Disney's "The Hunchback of Notre Dame" that pretty much sums this part up...

Out there among the millers and the weavers and their wives. Through the roofs and gables I can see them. Ev'ry day they shout and scold and go about their lives. Heedless of the gift it is to be them. If I was in their skin I'd treasure ev'ry instant

I do my best not to complain about my health because I know that there are so many people who are worse off health wise than I am. I NEVER complain about my parents because I know how good they are, regardless of how I might get annoyed from time to time. (mini-rant I HATE when teenagers complain about their parents, unless your parents are literally abusing you in some way, shut up, they know more than you do). I know that things can always be worse, so I feel weird whining about something that isn't terrible.

</Rant>

So, knowing that things can be worse also helps me deal with this little bit of frustration. When you think about it of all the things in the world that could bum me out this is not bad. It's not like people are actually being rude to me. No one is intentionally (as far as I am aware) doing this to make me mad. Would it be nice to hear more normals talk about the things they are thankful for, sure? But I still love my normals very much and it's gonna take a whole lotta bitchin' for me to really dislike someone.

Why am I ready for Tuesday? Because I am thankful that I have somewhere to go. I have my lovely job and my car to get me back and fourth. When I come home I have a very supportive family waiting for me and some very hungry pets waiting for attention and food. How can I complain about something like that!

Crippie's Tippie- Don't wait till Thanksgiving to realize you're grateful for something.

This post was written as part of NHBPM – 30 health posts in 30 days: http://bit.ly/vU0g9J

NHBPM- Crippie Yells At Doctors

2011-11-06T21:54:00.002-05:00

Hi Everybody!

I hope you guys had a good day, I went to go see "A Very Harold & Kumar Christmas"... OMG SO FRIGGIN FUNNY, I LOVED IT.

Moving on to NHBPM, Today's topic is...

If I could do anything as a Health Activist... Get aspirational. Money is no longer an option. What is your biggest goal that is now possible? How could you get there? Now bring it back down to size. How much of this can you accomplish now, in a year, in five years?

If I could do anything as a health activist I would get doctors to understand this one teeny tiny itty bitty concept...

Seriously, this is the only thing I would really love to get across as a health activist. I'm tired of hearing all my crippled friend's saying that their doctors don't believe they are in pain. Listen to us and don't assume we are at your office to obtain drugs. I'm not talking just about drugs here, I went to a doctor once who refused to treat me because he thought I wanted to be cure... he clearly didn't hear me say multiple times that "I just want to manage". If I was doing this for attention I wouldn't be coming in with my x-rays and full medical record. I'd be using some lame ass story like "I hurt my ankle, I think I have this super rare disease I saw on House one time". *Does Forest Gump impersonation* That's all I have to say about that.

Crippie's Tipper- Doctors... DO YOUR JOB RIGHT AND LISTEN TO YOUR DAMN PATIENTS

This post was written as part of NHBPM – 30 health posts in 30 days: http://bit.ly/vU0g9J

NHBPM- 5 Thing-ies That Changed Crippie

2011-11-05T02:44:00.000-04:00

Hey Y'all

I had my pain management appointment today. My doctor quickly shut down the anti-depressant idea for me for several reasons...

1- I'm not depressed, and anti-depressants can have some pretty unfortunate side effects

2- I'm young and she doesn't want me to start on an anti-depressant regime for the next few decades

3- While anti-depressants can be used for pain relief it is meant for older people with a different kind of pain. It's more for fibromyalgia related pain, not there is a tumor pressing against your hip socket pain.

Now, on to today's NHBPM post. Today's topic is...

5 things that changed my life. For better? For worse? List 5 things that changed your life as a patient, caregiver, or Health Activist and how.

1) My first birthday- The day I was diagnosed with MHE. Pretty self explanatory of why that changed my life.

2) My first surgery- I was ten years old. My first surgery was supposed to be a fairly easy with a quick recovery. It ended up causing massive complications and the worst pain I'll probably ever experience. I was forced to grow up very quickly in order to deal with everyhing. Before my surgery I was a child with a minor disability. After the surgery I was a young adult with a severe disability.

3) Crippie Meets Fellow Crippies- When I was younger I thought I was all alone with my disability, but after my first surgery my family started reaching out to other families with MHE. Within the next two years I was in contact with several Crippies my age and we became friends (I'm still in touch with most of 'em btw). From that point on I stopped feeling alone and pitying myself.

4) Physical Therapy- I've had PT on and off for the past 12 years. When I started PT it was incredibly painful. The therapists were crying watching me struggle. One of my therapists told me that if I wanted to get better I would have to deal with the pain and work through it. This was a huge epitome moment for me. I worked really hard at my therapy, struggled through the pain, and saw results. I have applied this philosophy to everything else I have ever done. If ever I feel like I can't do something, I push myself and try to make it happen.

5) CRIPPLEFEST- Every year we have a gathering of cripples at my house. It really is one of the biggest highlights of my year. Apart from it being a blast, it has always been a day of support and activism for us. I became a mentor for some of the younger cripples and I am trying to see to it that my little "buddies" don't suffer in the way that I did.

So those are the main things that transformed Crippie into the cripple she is. Most of them sprung out of the first surgery one, the more I think about it the more realize how much that bastard screwed me up.

Crippie's Tippie- Even though something royally sucks and has probably changed your life in a negative way that doesn't mean something good can't come out of it. Without that first surgery I never would have met my cripples!

This post was written as part of NHBPM – 30 health posts in 30 days: http://bit.ly/vU0g9J

NHBPM- Oh My Word, WHAT DID I JUST POST?!?

2011-11-04T01:00:00.000-04:00

Ohai Everybody!

First off, Frida says "thank you" to anyone and everyone that thought she looked adorable as "GUINEA BEE". If anyone is wondering, she really didn't mind the costume all that much. I tried to put it on one of my other guinea pigs, Maggie, first. She started screaming and tried to rip the costume off, so after snapping a quick shot of her we took it off. Frida did not scream or try to kill me, she did try to pee on the costume... but she does that with everything. Here's a picture of me with the "Original GUINEA BEE", Maggie.

Moving on to day 3 (for me anyway) of National Health Blog Post Month. The topic du jour is...
What happens after you press “publish.” Write about your post-blog-writing process. Do you immediately tweet a link? Email it to everyone? Re-read it for spelling errors?
After I finish writing all the crippled goodness that is this blog (which I usually write really late at night/early in the morning when I am tired and not exactly functioning) I do a quick skim through to find typos. Generally speaking I don't spell words wrong, I either forget a word or rearrange it with something else. Once I finish the basic look over I press publish. After that I actually view the post and find more typos. I go and fix those and then I press publish again.
I use Networked Blogs which automatically updates my twitter and facebook page with a link to the new post. I highly recommend this feature because I can never freakin' remember to update those.
So yeah, that's the glorious story what happens after I publish the blog.

Tomorrow I have regular appointment with my pain management physician. Crippie's Mommie thinks I should switch some of my medications. She wants me to replace my anti-inflamitory drug (which can do a crap ton of damage to my heart and stomach) with an anti-depressant. Crippie is not depressed nor does Crippie suffer from depression, but apparently anti-depresants stop certain pain signals in the brain. I'm curious as to what my physician will say about this manner, I'll def keep you updated.

Crippie's Tippie- Research different pain treatment options, http://www.painfoundation.org/ is a great place to learn and get information about pain and pain treatment.

This post was written as part of NHBPM – 30 health posts in 30 days:http://bit.ly/vU0g9J

NHBPM- Dear Slightly Younger Crippie

2011-11-03T01:29:00.000-04:00

Greetings

NHBPM Continues! I'm not completely freaked out about blogging every day... yet. Anyway... today's topic is...
Dear 18 year old me. Write a letter to yourself when you were 18. Be sure to tell yourself what to do more of, what to do less of, and what you have to look forward to in the next few (or several) years.

So here goes nothing...

Sup? I'm writing you four years in the future to tell you that you are a going to be a... gasp... BLOGGER. Whod've thunk it, right? Moving on you are about to royally screw something up that you really shouldn't have... your first driving test. Don't let that whole "oh my God the guy giving me the test is talking on his phone thing" psych you out, just take your time and breathe. Either that or reaaaaallllyyyyy fail that sucker, none of this failing because of one mistake crap, FAIL FOR A BUNCH OF MISTAKES, go big or go home Crippie! Once you get your license you need to drive, get some experience on the road so your anxiety won't be so bad, go on the highways. PLEASE LEARN TO DRIVE ON HIGHWAYS.
Please try to be more social Crippie, while you do have some very nice friends who don't have a whole lot of them. Try not to let your crippledness interfere with your social life.
Speaking of crippledness, I suggest you get your ass into pain management ASAP. You might actually avoid that surgery on your hip if you treat it properly. Try to avoid that hip surgery if at all possible, it didn't do squat.
Also, you should spend as much time with your grandfathers and your aunt as possible, you don't have all that much time left with them.
Getting all the sad crap out of the way, you are doing something very right. Your planning and concern for the future pay off greatly. Taking all those AP courses in high school have left you with enough room to enjoy your college experience without being overwhelmed and you are gonna have time for a kick ass senior project. You know your little habit of staying quiet and then surprising people with a kick-ass project... you are gonna do that soooooooooooooooooooooooo many times during college, especially your last semester.
The next 4 years are going to be full of lots of challenges, lots of ups, lots of downs. But you will get through them with flying colors.

Crippie's Tippie- Invent a time machine so letters like this would actually be useful! Or you can find the Tardis... whatever works for you.

This post was written as part of NHBPM – 30 health posts in 30 days:http://bit.ly/vU0g9J

NHBPM- Crippie's Syndicated Television Series

2011-11-02T00:50:00.001-04:00

Ohaiii

I happened to be checking out some other awesome cripple's blog when I noticed that it is "National (Health) Blog Post Month". 30 posts in 30 days seems interesting. When I saw this I thought two things, the first being "I WANNA PARTICIPATE", the second being "CRAP I'M ALREADY A DAY LATE!". Oh well, better late than never. Today's blog topic is...
My TV Show. Your blog is being turned into a TV show! Congrats – you’ve earned it. In fact, you get to co-write it. Write about the TV show based on your life or blog.
Okay, if I had a TV show it would totally be about my life. I think it should animated, because let's face it, the best shows are animated. It would focus on the two main places I spend my time home and work. The work portion would be kinda like "The Drew Carey Show". This part would be the rag-tag bunch of WoW playing, reddit reading, graphic designers vs. the world. Expect lots of internet humor and cats. The home portion would be like any family sitcom. We've got the two loving parents, the live in eccentric grandma who tells dirty jokes, the little sister who gets you into some comedic situation, and a bunch of pets. The twist is that the pets are actually EVIL and are plotting to destroy the world. Sad thing is... this is only a mild exaggeration of my life.

Here's my idea for the pilot- After a long day of secretly incorporating troll faces and cats into all of my work, Crippie returns home to find that her guinea pig Frida has transformed into an evil GUINEA BEE. We spend the next 10 minutes trying to find and bring Frida back to her natural state, eventually finding that a few slices of pepper are all it takes to make her happy. I smell EMMYS!

This post was written as part of NHBPM – 30 health posts in 30 days: http://bit.ly/vU0g9J

Crippie's Tippie- Guinea Pigs don't like to stay in costumes for very long, give them lots of treats after their photoshoots.

Happy Halloween!

2011-10-31T01:17:00.000-04:00

BOO!

Mother Nature has not been kind to me lately, first the earthquake, then Hurricane Irene, and now this stupid snow storm. Apart from being very achy from the changing weather, three of Crippie's trees fell down as well as some giant ass branches. Not cool Mother Nature... not cool.

Anyway, I figured since my achy-ness is keeping me up tonight I would make a list of fun Halloween costumes for cripples.
1- Dr. House- All you need a pair of jeans, blazer, t-shirt, and bitchin' cane. You get bonus points if you keep poppin' candies into your mouth all night and go around telling people "IT'S NOT LUPUS".
2- Joe Swanson (Family Guy)- If you're in a wheelchair this costume is super easy, grey t-shirt and jeans, maybe a cop uniform. You have to scream a lot though.
3- Timmy or Jimmy (South Park)- Depending on your level of crippleness you can go as a cripple from South Park. Only thing with Timmy is that you are morally obliged to say the word "TIMMAY" every time you speak, and Jimmy has to stutter and say "I mean, c'mon" (I'm planning on being Jimmy next year).
4- Handicap Parking Permit- Make a giant handicap parking permit and hang it around your neck... BOOM
5- Roller Skate- If you're in a wheelchair you can just wear a shirt with laces on it
6- Any wizard that uses a magical staff- Wear a robe and pointy hat (unless you're Luscious Malfoy)

I usually do cripple related Halloween costumes, cause let's face it, THEY ARE AWESOME.

The picture to your left would be me 4 Halloweens ago. I went as Dr. House. I entered a costume contest, popped candy vicodins while everyone was voting, and placed third. I was rather pleased.

People have asked me if I thought costumes involving cripples are offensive and I can honestly say no. If it is a cripple using their crippledness to make their costume funnier and more ironic... go cripple. If a normal person is dress up like Timmy I see it as "awe they wanna be cripples too <3". So either way it's a win/win.

Crippie's Tippie- Bonus perk of being a cripple on Halloween, if some punks are trying to annoy you chances are your wheelchair, crutches, cane, whatever will do nicely to scare them off.

Crippie Remembers Her Auntie

2011-10-28T00:52:00.000-04:00

Hello,

Sorry for the lack of posts, it's been a sad week at Crippie's household. As mentioned in my last post, my aunt was very sick. She finally won her battle of lung cancer and passed away early Saturday morning. Naturally I am very sad but I'm doing my best to look on the "bright side" of this whole situation, which is that she is no longer suffering (btw... if any of my readers are smokers and/or are doing something that increases their chances of lung cancer... STOP NOW. Lung cancer is a terrible way to go. I cannot even begin to describe how much pain my aunt was in. I cannot describe how much the cancer destroyed her body. Please, do not be ignorant and think this cannot happen to you, it can happen to anyone. My aunt did not smoke cigarettes and yet it happened to her).

My aunt was an amazing person. She never really complained about anything, and like me, always looked on the bright side. The last time I saw her (which was two weeks ago) she was in very poor shape. We asked how she was doing and she said "Not terrible, I mean I wish I could walk but I'm mentally strong". She never believed in speaking ill about anyone. Regardless of how much a person might have been annoying her they were still "very nice". This is something everyone should try their best do, partly because anything bad they say can come back to bite them in the ass, but mainly because you never know if that horrible statement could be the last thing you say about them. She loved art and music. We both share a love for Simon & Garfunkel, her favorite song was Cecelia. She was a kind, loving, beautiful (even the Rabbi speaking at her funeral said she was hot) person. She will be forever missed and forever loved. Rise & Fly Auntie, love you lots.

The next couple of days and weeks will be difficult, but a quote from Stephen Sondheim's musical "Into The Woods" helps me and gives me comfort...

Crippie's typographic rendition of Sondheim's quote.

Crippie's Tippie- For more information on lung cancer, go to this link.

Crippie Has A Set of Wheels!

2011-10-22T02:46:00.003-04:00

Hi Everybody!

I hope everyone has been having a lovely week. My week has been pretty good, mainly because I got my first set of wheels! Well, technically my wheelchair was my first set of wheels but this is the first vehicle I need a license to operate. This is probably one of the biggest steps towards independence I've ever made and let me tell you it feels freakin' awesome. For someone who often has to rely on other people, having the ability to just do what I want to is incredible.
Some people have asked me "Did being a cripple effect your car choice?" My answer: You bet your ass it did. I opted to lease a car so I could get a better car with better gas mileage first of all... so I essentially could pick any car that fit my price range and personal tastes when it comes to cars. Once I picked out cars that I liked in general I had to factor in my crippledness. I had to pick a car that was high enough off the ground that I could get in and out without putting any additional wear and tear on my hip sockets. The pedals needed to be in a place that was comfortable for me to use both of my legs while driving (many of my car choices didn't pass this test). I also needed to be able to use all of the features of the car on my own, a folding seat is nice but if I am too weak to fold it down it's useless. In other words it took a lot of effort and lots of visits to dealerships to narrow my choices. Ultimately I went with a Chevy Cruze. It fit my normal person requirements but it best fit my cripple needs. It's at a nice height (bonus points for the trunk being higher up too), the pedals are well positioned, and it has some bonus cripple perks...
-Chunky steering wheel so I can still get a good hold of the wheel when my arthritis flares up.
-Supportive seats for fewer back problems
-A back-up sensor, since I can't turn my head very well it adds extra security

So without further adieu I give you... Penelope Cruze (10 points to the people who get the name, it took my relatives a good long while to laugh)

I cannot explain how happy I am to have made my first real "grown-up purchase". I missed a lot of milestones in my childhood and teenage years (as a post by a 22 year old discussing their first car ever might indicate) and reaching proper adult milestones like graduating college, getting a job, and buying a car give me hope that I will catch-up. Hell, I reached three major milestones within 6 months... not too shabby right?

Crippie's Tippie- Do lots and lots of research before obtaining a car, I didn't think about the height of the car until I read it in an article.

Life's Not As Bad As It Seems

2011-10-17T02:08:00.000-04:00

Ohai!

I hope all my lovely readers had a lovely weekend. My weekend was pretty good, did some work, played with the pets, and um... oh yeah I GOT A CAR!!! Well, Crippie started the process of obtaining a car, I should actually have the car in a week. I'll post about it as soon as I get those keys in my crippled lil' hands.
So today after starting the whole car process I got to thinking "wow, this time last year I was afraid to drive on my own" once I starting thinking that a whole bunch of "wows". I thought about how it's been over six months since I've had surgery and how *knock on wood* I haven't had any major complications since my last surgery. I thought about how even though there are times when I have been in pain is thankfully manageable. Ultimately I came to the conclusion that my life is going pretty damn well right now. It's funny because for the past few weeks I haven't been feeling like that at all... far from it actually. Sure there are some really craptacular things going on my life now both disability related and not, but that's not what I am focusing on. I am focusing on the strides I have made in the past year, the milestones I have achieved so many things in the past couple of months. I cannot let the bad things shadow the good.
I am also making sure that I take advantage and appreciate the time of "good" health that I am having. I am well aware that this time of good health is only temporary and that sooner or later something will creep up and bite me in the ass, but in the meantime I'm enjoying my health while I have it.

Crippie's Tippie- Heated blankets and throws can be your best friend on an achy day.

PS. One of the reasons I have been sad is that one of my close relatives is very sick, so if my readers could send some healing ninja vibes to Crippie's Auntie I'd greatly appreciate it.

New Blog Design!

2011-10-13T01:36:00.000-04:00

Hey Y'all!

I reckon that some of you might have noticed that I redesigned the blog. What can I say, I'm a graphic designer, I enjoy redesigning my blog. This time I decided to be "deep" and made a pattern that was a metaphor for the blog itself. It has pills and scars all over it, but they combine with flowers to make an ornate and beautiful pattern. So what do you guys think of the new design? Love it? Really Love it? Hate it? Indifferent?
If any of my totally awesome readers would like a blog design that matches their awesomeness feel free to email me at crippies_corner@yahoo.com.

Crippie's Tippie- If you're as inspired by patterns as I am, check out this blog!