Crippie's Readers Are Freakin' Awesome!

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!

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!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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!

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

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.