Ethel & Wilma & New Hooray Stuff

Dearest My Peeps,

So I sent am email to a friend. He told me that I should blog it, since it was a very nice story about my two stuffed panda bears, Ethel & Wilma. So I figure that I better, since I was told too. Besides, it's been ages since I've blogged.

So yesterday evening, I lay down for a 'few minutes'. Dad popped his head in 20 minutes later to get a cd of pictures that I'd borrowed from him & said something about laundry. Then suddenly it was 3 hours later & I was wondering where on earth I was & how in blazes did I get in bed? It was a nice sleep, entirely needed, but incredibly too early.I wasn't up half the night, so that was a bonus. I made it to bed by 3 or so, the usual time & slept right through, except for a few washroom breaks. Just like normal. It was nice, even if I did sleepy again WAY too quickly.

The stuffed panda that my sister gave me for Christmas past had her first bath tonight. I've been trying to be careful with her, so she doesn't get all raggy quickly. My Auntie Ethel gave me a stuffed panda for Christmas when I was four. Being so VERY original, I named the bear Ethel. Speed time forward 19 years to Christmas when I was 23. Ethel is still around. A bit ragged around the edges, incredibly flat & starting to get threadbare in more places than one, but still kicking. In fact, still sleeping with me every single night, generally ending up as a pillow before morning.

That's fine. Every once in a blue moon I would mention how I need to find a new Ethel, before she finally kicks the bucket & I'm left all alone, but I never bothered to do anything about it. Then both siblings came home for Christmas. Hooray! It was the first time we've all been home together in ages. It was nice, barring the big fight about politics.

Anyway, I was unwrapping presents, as are we were, when out of one falls a stuffed panda bear. I set aside the pillow shams that were wrapped around it & pick up the bear. "IT'S ETHEL! SHE'S NEW!" I freaked right out & throughly gave my sister the reaction she wanted, entirely without meaning to. Then when I was calming down again & everybody had stopped focusing their attention on my little outburst, I was cradling my new found treasure gleefully. "Hello Wilma." I said this quietly, intending it only for the bear's ears. However, my sister was sitting
directly beside me & burst to hysterical laughter. Through the cackling I heard something about how she knew it. She should have just put an "Hello My Name is Wilma" sticker on her & had it over with.

Well, she obviously didn't need a "Hello My Name Is" sticker. Wilma was just Wilma, no questions asked. To clarify as to why the name was just what it was, my Auntie's full name is Wilma Ethel Baisley. She goes by Ethel, but her first name is Wilma. When I was a kid, I didn't know this. But as I grew up, I found this out; thus it only seemed fitting to name the new bear the same thing as the old bear. They are exactly the same, excpet that Wilma isn't nearly as old & raggy as Ethel. She's still all plump & not threadbare or ragged at all. I'm out of names though. So in 18 years when somebody else gives me another new Ethel, I dunno what I'm going to name her. Probably Baisl, after the Auntie's maiden name.

It sure was nice to be given a new one though. Poor Ethel; I don't know what I'd do if she really did kick the bucket. She's the only one who has been there with me through everything. I quite literally mean everything too. She's the only one who has never judged me, never picked on me, never made me cry, never ditched me or hurt me or was mean in anyway to me. She did nothing more than uphold me, support me, love me, protect me, listen to me, let me cry on her, be sick on her, laugh on her, and generally be myself entirely with her. She's been getting quite a bit more snarky with age, but that's alright. I have too, so what can I really say? "Stop being snarky at me when I'm snarky at you?" Honestly. That'd just be hypocritical & that's one thing I try my hardest not to be.

Wilma is a great cover, a great ... replacement? That's not the word I'm looking for, but it will suffice. Ethel (and my baby blankie, the last blankie my paternal grammie ever knitted) have FINALLY been retired to a shelf. She's in the corner with a picture of my cat on her knee & a couple pictures of important friends/family around her. It's my little "Ethel" sanctuary, though she doesn't always get to stay there. If I'm having a really rough go of it, she comes back out of retirement for a few days until I can deal on my own again, but she's been there pretty steady now for at least 6 months. Considering that I had a hard time going just a night without her before, I'm quite proud of myself.

And now that I've made you all aware of exactly how needy I really am, I'm going to change the subject before I frighten you all away. So I'll fill you all in on what's all new with me. Not that it's anything that great or exciting, but that's fine. I think it's exciting. Well, some of it is exciting at least. Not all of it I'm sure, but some.

The bit that isn't exciting is that I hurt my wrist. I'm not sure for sure what I've done exactly to you, though I do have a basic idea. I was slouched at my computer talking on MSN Saturday evening when this sharp, shooting pain suddenly started in the base of my wrist, in line with my middle finger. It hurts worse when I moved my fingers around to type, so I started moving the whole hand instead, but wow that tired my arm out pretty quick. I was talking to my brother on MSN, so I asked him about it. He said that it sounded like carpal tunnel syndrome and told me to stop slouching, that should help some. SO I sat up straight, in spite my desperate dislike of it & low & behold, it actually did help.

Since then I've been wearing a wrap on it (just when it hurts too bad to deal with) & trying to stay sitting straight whilst using the computer. Wow it's some hard to do, but soembody jsut suggested something that makes it a bit easier. He told me to keep my arms parallel to the floor & that should help too. So I shoved my keyboard further back on the tray thing & have my arms resting on the desk tray, instead of angled in front of it. I think it might be helping too, but I don't really know. It's not that sore right now, since I already have the wrap on. I'm going to start using it like this all the time though & maybe it'll stop hurting me.

I do have an appointment to see the doctor about it on Friday, so maybe he'll be able to fix me. Well, she. My family doctor is a guy, but occasionally he'll get young doctors in to help him. Usually they're ones that have finished their schooling & just need their work experience before they graduate. Occasionally he'll even ahve in the ones that are still in school, but almost done. They'll do the exam & stuff, but can't write the presciptions or anything. It's a good setup. Not to mention that the waiting time drops by about 2 weeks when he has one of them in. It's great. It can be up to 3 weeks from when you call in to when you get an appointment. It's sad really, but he's busy too, with lots of patients, so it's a little udnerstandable. He does volunteer at the free night clinic & he does emergency room at the hospital sometimes too, so he is a busy man.

Onto more jouyful news, the stomach yucky is gone away. Hooray hooray hooray! So that's good. And even more joyful news, I get to see Patrick on Friday too! Hooray! He has to come up for loan stuff, so we're going to get together for food whilst he & his mum are up. I'm incredibly looking forward to it. His mum is great & Pat is... well... there aren't enough adjectives to describe Pat. I'll settle for splendiferious. Pat is splendiferious. AND he's coming back for good (well more for good anyway) on the 4th. I even can go over & see him that night since I only work till 5. That'll be really nice.

And I'm off on the 3rd, so I should be able to get to bed at a decent hour that night so I won't be played out & do something evil like fall asleep on his couch or something. And the 3rd is the day for the 70th anniversary celebrations at the church, so I'll be able to make that too. Hooray! I really want to go, but I thought I was working. I'm off, so I can go. Isn't it spiffing? Simply spiffing.

Anyhow, I'm headed out for now. My wrist is still sore, & though the wrap & sitting up straight & leaning on the table turns it into more of a dull ache, I want to save my typing efforts for my MSN message with Pat. So happy day! Cheers! Be safe, dearest My Peeps.

Vicky Ellen
"Take the first step in faith. You don't have to see the whole staircase, just take the first step." -Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.