Wednesday, August 06, 2008

One Memory Leads to Another

It is a sure sign that you need to lose weight when you go to do the mammogram thing and the worst part is not that they mash your boobs flatter than flitters. No, the worst part was that the nurse asked me to hold in my stomach because she didn’t really need a photo of it.

I had worn a button up blouse because you are suppose to (I'm not sure why when they just make you take it off). I hate button-up-the-front-blouses because they pull and get caught on things and then the buttons pop open when you least expect it. It reminded me of my first year of teaching. I was holding a book open while standing in front of the class. I would talk and read from the book. Then I would turn, hold the book up to my chest, and write on the board. After a while, I realized that in all my teaching animation, the kids were looking at me as if I were speaking another language (oh wait, I was). Anyway, I looked down to see that my blouse had come open - about three buttons worth. I was a bit embarrassed, but I figured they had already gotten a good look. I just walked over, set the book down, buttoned up my blouse, and continued teaching.

While waiting with several other ladies in the Mobile Mammogram Unit, I listened to the ladies talk about the August heat. One lady said that she had gone up into her attic to get a brass headboard. She had to carry it using a cloth because it was too hot to hold bare handed. Another lady said that her husband, an electrician, had measured the heat in their attic and it measured 135! I’m glad I don’t have an attic.

I came out of Wal-Mart about 2PM and loaded my groceries into the car. The (outside) temperature reading when I got in my car said 113, but it had been parked in the hot sun for close to an hour. As I drove home, the temperature gage came down to 107.

Last night in the middle of the night I got up to yell at the dogs, who were giving the coyotes yip for yip and yap for yap. When I opened the front door, it was not the heat that surprised me, but the humidity. It just felt wet and sticky. It reminded me of the time the kids and I flew from Albuquerque to Dallas during a particular heat spell. As we got off the plane in Dallas Jesse said, "Ugh! It's wet!" After living in the high desert of NM, Jesse had never really experienced humidity. She was as totally disgusted as a six-year-old could be, and I laughed at her. Her curly dark hair fuzzed up rather cute. Sometimes she still has that look.

Speaking of "little girl" looks, Jesse played soccer Monday night (yep, in this heat). Not only was her hair curly when she came home, but she sported a skinned knee. It looks kind of funny on a 26 year old. It reminded me of the last time I had a skinned knee. I was about 34. I was helping Toby move a refrigerator. I tripped and dropped my end of the fridge and skinned my knee on the sidewalk. I did a rather good job of it. I was teaching at the Taos Jr. High at that time. I had only been there about a month and did not know my coworkers very well. About the time the scab healed and was gone and I could wear pantyhose again, I was coming out of the girls restroom where I had just washed my coffee cup. I was wearing a skirt and high heals. I slipped in some water on the floor and slid across the bathroom throwing my coffee cup as I went and re-injuring my knee. I was really glad that no one was in the restroom and no one saw me. Then I walked out into the hall where the principal and two other male teachers were standing. They were looking at me with concern. I simply said, "I fell." They said, "We heard." I said, "I didn't cuss." They said, "Yeah, it was the only reason we didn't come check on you. We figured that since you didn't cuss, you must be okay." Then we all looked down at my knee. My pantyhose were torn and blood was running down my leg. They said, "You'd better get that looked at and write a work-related injury report." I said, "Thanks" and hobbled off to class where I had to explain to my students why I was late and what had happened to my knee. Great.

The good news is that we have cloud cover today and the temps are supposed to only get in the high 90’s. Yeha.

7 comments:

Inquiries said...

You crack me up. I have not skinned my knee in a long time. I better be quite about that because I will.

Buck said...

"You'd better get that looked at and write a work-related injury report."

Ah, Bureaucracy In Action. It's not enough to be concerned for a co-worker (or employee, in the principal's case)... gotta make sure that TPS Report is done.

It's a great good thing all y'all are getting something of a break from the heat. I can't imagine playing soccer in the heat... at ALL. I'll bet a LOT of Gatorade gets consumed at those games.

Bag Blog said...

Buck, Jesse and Toby have been fighting over the gatorade here at the house.

Ashley, Since you seem to be a bit accident prone these days, you should probably avoid soccer and Jesse.

Jo Castillo said...

I laughed at these stories. I fell UP the stairs the other day before we left for NM. I was carrying some paintings I had varnished and protected them. Duh... Big scrape on my elbow. It is still healing and that was in July. Yikes. Glad I didn't fall down.

Sorry to tell you the temp here is 80 degrees at 2:30 p.m. Is that evil of me??

Jenny said...

I dressed up one day for work in heels and a skirt and hose. Shocked everyone. Then I managed to fall down the steps from where my office was. Nearly all the way down. Got a heel caught on a step. Nothing hurt but my pride. Had Jeff bring me some jeans and I never wore a skirt to work again. LOL!

Bag Blog said...

Jenny, That was funny - sort of. I shock people too - most people don't believe I ever wore dresses and heels, but while teaching, I wore them almost every day. Kind of burns you out on dresses.

Jo, I'm jealous of the 80 degree temps.

Becky G said...

Funny story, Lou. We're expecting some cooler weather towards the end of the week, too. Highs in the low 90s instead of the low 100s.