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I'm lying here feeling incredibly silly because after such a lovely day yesterday which had brought a spring into my step this morning and had cured the long headache that I had worked up over the course of last week, I ruined it all by tripping over my shoe and falling down the stairs this afternoon while doing laundry.
*pies all sympathetics*
I don't really need the sympathy and I am not seriously hurt, thank goodness, but I do feel incredibly klutzy! Any other klutzes out there?
Posts: 1777 | Registered: Jan 2003
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posted
I just want to add that seeing your wife lying sprawled and largely motionless at the bottom of the stairs is an unpleasant sensation, and one to be avoided whenever possible. I'm looking into having airbags installed.
Posts: 37449 | Registered: May 1999
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I'm klutzy. Seems like I'm always dropping books on my toes, or something. Running into doorframes, and such. I bruise easily and am consequently a very colorful person. I had a huge black bruise on my upper arm when I went to Uncle Orson's writing class. It was freakin' JULY, so I wore short sleeves. I think a car door had slammed into my shoulder or something. Anyway, people commented because it was hideous.
So I told them it wasn't a bruise, just a really boring tattoo.
-Olivet, graceful femme with a million clumsy stories. Posts: 9293 | Registered: Aug 2000
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I routinely fall UP stairs (thank goodnes we live in a ranch now!). I have trouble not tripping even on the most level of surfaces, and I tend to bump into any and all of the following: legs of chairs, legs of tables, bedposts, doorknobs, cabinet handles, and wall corners. I very often have huge, nasty bruises and no idea where they came from.
I really can sympathize!
*braces for the inevitable pie*
Posts: 4077 | Registered: Jun 2003
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My poor coworker came in last week with a black eye. She works at an auto auction on Wednesday evenings for a little extra cash and time away from the kiddies. I guess she leaned down to tell a guy something in his car window and he didn't see her and opened the door right into her face! Ouch!
Olivet, I have that trouble with wearing shorts/skirts. I'm always banging my knees or thighs and getting monster bruises. I like the boring tattoo excuse! Posts: 1777 | Registered: Jan 2003
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You know, Tom, That is the main reason Ron had the "Dial 911" talk with Robert when he was only 3 years old. It went something like, "If you see mommy at the bottom of the stairs and she can't get up, this is what you do..."
Also, we went to a wedding at the Buckhead Club last night. It's on the top two floors of a rather tall building. The wedding was on the second floor of the club, and there was a lovely staircase leading up to it.
Which he never let me NEAR. Even on the way up. Of course, I was in 3 inch heels and an evening gown-- not the mommy-wear I'm used to.
Posts: 9293 | Registered: Aug 2000
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A few weeks ago I slipped on the stairs and fell right on my tailbone. I haven't bothered to see if it has actually gotten broken, because there would be nothing they could do about it. It still hurts, but that is my own fault. It was almost better until I had fun on waverunners last monday.
Posts: 3495 | Registered: Feb 2000
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Poor Amka. I did that when I was little and it took about a week to heal.
Mack -- Yes, I'm on quite a few ibuprofen right now, but I'm okay.
I think I saved my head by falling on my butt and back first. Actually, the funniest thing is that what really saved me is that I was more worried about the laundry and so threw my weight forward as I fell to catch it, which has to be the only reason I can think of that I didn't hit my head on the corner of the stair.
Posts: 1777 | Registered: Jan 2003
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We lived in a tri-level when we had Robert. Three long, deep stairs separated the kitchen and living rooms from the den, office and garage.
I was still working when he was a small baby, and decided to wear a black power suit and heels one day, just to prove I was still a hot young thang.
My heel snagged on a play mat at the top of those three stairs, and I went down while holding baby Robert in my arms. I fell awkwardly (duh, but more awkwardly than usual) because I was trying to protect him. I basically skated down the stairs on my shins, and hit my head on a doorframe as I went.
I was pretty sure I sheilded the baby from contacting anything harder than me, but I made a trip to the doctor, anyway.
The doctor came in, heard my story and immediately examined ME. Robert was all smiles, cooing and playing happily. I was pale with a knot on my forehead and legs that were visibly greening. Of course, he examined the baby, too, but experience had told him that mommies tend to take the worst of such accidents, just based on instinct.
You, Christy my lovely, were protecting laundry , which only speaks of what a grand mother you will be, someday. Posts: 9293 | Registered: Aug 2000
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I always hit my arm or shoulder when going through doorways. Don't really know why, I just sort of lean to one side when I walk, I guess. Aside from that I am pretty clumsy, but I never get any bad bruises.
Posts: 4089 | Registered: Apr 2003
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Makes me realize that it is probably good our house is all on one level and doesn't have stairs. Steve is taking the airbag suggestion under consideration though.
Incidentally I have a seatbelt sunburn, after the convertible ride to Rockford yetersday. I have a white stripe across my chest, while the rest is red, but it isn't too bad.
posted
I had a job waitressing in high school at a pizza place that was actually an old victorian house. Of course, everyone wanted to sit upstairs, and the only way to get there with 2 extra larges and 9 mountain dews was to balance your trays well and know exactly how many stairs there were. Ever since, I've been a compulsive stair-counter so I always know when to stop stepping. The worst is when you think you're at the bottom, so you get ready to walk forward onto solid ground and then keep going down.
Posts: 8504 | Registered: Aug 1999
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quote: I very often have huge, nasty bruises and no idea where they came from.
It's not just me?! phew!
I did the trip-while-holding baby thing too, when my oldest was a few months old. She was asleep in the snugli, and I was walking on the UCLA campus, heading from my last class to the bus, to go home.
There was a temporary fence, and they must have previously pulled out the posts, and moved them; then the grass grew, so the holes in the ground were invisible.
Foot in hole, ankle twists badly, down goes Rivka, baby and all.
In spite of my best efforts, the baby hit the ground first. I managed to sit up, baby not asleep any more, but screaming hysterically. I tried to calm her down; no dice -- she just screamed and screamed and screamed.
When 10 minutes later, she was still screaming, almost as loudly, I decided to stop at the pediatrician's office on the way home. On the bus ride to the doctor's office, she stopped crying, and fell back asleep. Of course. Dr. F looked her over, felt her head (which she did NOT appreciate), and pronounced her fine. Told me what to watch out for, but not to worry. Examined my ankle, because as Olivet said, the mommy is often the one who gets hurt worse. Sent me home.
The end, right? Nope.
That night, I was attending a class, baby asleep in snugli, and noticed that she had a bump on her head -- a big one. The class happened to be at Dr. N's house (another pediatrician in our group). When the class was over, I apologetically asked Mrs. N if her husband was home and could possibly look at the baby? He was, and did, and said she was probably ok, but maybe x-rays would be a good idea.
Bad news: holding a three-month-old still for x-rays is AWFUL. Good news: she was fine.
Then there's the time I managed to twist my ankle right after I fastened child #2 into his car seat, about a block away from the same pediatricians. I had to get a stranger to drive me home, and was marooned on the sofa for two days.
Posts: 32919 | Registered: Mar 2003
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quote: I've been a compulsive stair-counter so I always know when to stop stepping. The worst is when you think you're at the bottom, so you get ready to walk forward onto solid ground and then keep going down.
I, too, am a compulsive stair counter. I like it, especially, while carrying things that impair m vision of the stairs. ^_^ I hate it, though, when I miscount, or confuse the number of stairs in two different staircases...I did that alot between my Dad's and my Mom's houses, heh...
Posts: 146 | Registered: Jun 2003
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hee hee... hear you there Danny. I hate going back to my mom's house and having to re-calibrate.
Posts: 8504 | Registered: Aug 1999
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I'm a total klutz. I fall up the stairs at my school about once a week. And I have big problems with doorframes - I'm always walking into them. Sometimes I walk into the doors, too.
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Jane, you reminded me of an embarrassing incident I had in High School. Dr. Bingham was my Biology teacher, and, being scientifically inclined, I was sort of a pet of his. He cut me no slack because of it. He'd call on me if he even suspected I was daydreaming or talking to someone instead of paying attention. The next year I was a student helper for the science dept.
In any case, I came to class still carrying my backpack, one day (the timing and positioning of my classes and the location of my locker made trips to the locker between certain classes nearly impossible). I just had it slung across one shoulder. I was running close to the bell, and walking fast.
I didn't hit the doorframe, but passed close enough that the hanging strap from my backpack caught on the metal doorlock plate. I was two feet into the classroom when the slack went out and it jerked me back. I fell very, very comically. Dr. Bingham asked me if I needed them to widen the doors (that was especially funny since I was as wide as a toothpick). Then he said at least my class performance made it worth the injuries I seemed to court getting to my seat. Posts: 9293 | Registered: Aug 2000
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Boon
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posted
You are not alone. As a child, I was so clumsy my mother enrolled me in dance classes (tap and ballet) to help me learn "grace" but it didn't work. She says I spent so much time with my nose in a book that I didn't gain the coordination most other children learn through normal play. I've always been a wierdo, I guess.
I'm still extremly clumsy. I walk into walls and doors. I bump my head on a daily basis. I burn and/or cut myself cooking at least once a week. I spill stuff, and drop stuff, and am generally a butterfingers. I have bruises constantly, and more scars than I care to count.
I've found that these things usually happen because I'm so absorbed in something else (sometimes just in thinking about something else) that I just don't have enough left over to pay attention to the relative position of my body.
I will say that this particular condition was much worse while I was pregnant. Along with all the normal stuff, I'd also knock things off counters with my belly.
During my first pregnancy, I had custody of an 18-month-old girl. At around six months pregnant I was carrying her down the stairs, got almost to the bottom, and tripped. I cradled her as close to my body as I could with my hand under her head and landed on my knees and the other hand. The little girl and the baby were fine, but I still have trouble with my knees, particularly the right one.
You know, there seem to be a number of clumsy Hatrackers...maybe one more of those wierd things we have in common?
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My thing is stubbing my toe. Not your normal, run of the mill 'ooh, that stings!' sort of stubbing, but the metatarsel breaking, whole foot bruising stub. Where I can barely walk the next day. I solved that by wearing shoes all the time.
Posts: 5422 | Registered: Dec 2001
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I'm ALWAYS bumping into things-and stairs at school, god help whoever was behind or in front of me. I've falled down a whole set of bleacher (OW) and even walked into a mailbox that was directly in front of me. I refuse to wear high heels or platforms because I invariably sprain an ankle. Luckily, I seem to be good at falling well-I've never broken a bone, even falling out of the top of a tree higher than our house, and when I'm holding children (or more likely having children climb on me) they haven't been hurt yet, just surprised that anna fell, and then delighted that she is now on the floor and therefore easier to jump on.
posted
I'm much less accident prone than I used to be (although you wouldn't know it from all the Aikido injuries I've been having lately), but in the past I was always running into things, falling off ladders, etc.
When I was in college my summer job was always painting houses. One year I was on an 8 foot step ladder, near the top but not dangerously so, painting something or other outdoors. Because of landscaping it's almost always an enormous pain finding good footing for a ladder near a house, and this place was no exception. The ladder overbalanced, and I could easily have hopped off and been just fine, but for some reason I was so focused on not spilling my paint that I didn't even think about myself. I hyper-extended my elbow, which hurt much more than I would have imagined, but I didn't spill a drop of paint, and managed to keep my paint brush from falling in the dirt. I really, really wish I'd just spilled the paint and ruined the brush.
Another time I was using a 16 foot step ladder to paint the balcony in a theater. I was, foolishly, using the ladder the way I would have a regular extension ladder, leaning it against the wall rather than extending its legs. The aisle where the ladder's legs were resting was inclined fairly sharply, and carpeted. I had a drop cloth over the carpet. As a result of all of this, there really wasn't nearly enough friction holding the ladder in place. I was at the very top of the ladder, trying to reach the top part of the balcony wall (why I didn't just do this from the balcony itself, I don't know), when the ladder went out from under me. Surprisingly, I fell all 14 or so feet beautifully, landing in a graceful crouch that absorbed all of the energy of the fall. The newly installed theater seats, however, didn't fare so well; I completely doused them with most of a gallon of paint.
Posts: 16059 | Registered: Aug 2000
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I fell up the down escalator once. I was almost to the top when I tripped, and rode halfway down before I picked myself up. Then, because the friend I was with had already made it to the top, I continued running up the down escalator until I made it to the top, where I looked down to find blood trickling down my shins. The "teeth" of the escalator stairs, where they interlock, had made two little punctures in my knee. I still have the scar - looks like I was bitten by a *very* short vampire.
Otherwise, I'm not terribly clumsy - unless I'm wearing shoes I don't usually wear. Unfortunately, I bruise easily and do martial arts, so I still look like a klutz.
posted
Lifelong klutz here. I used to hurt myself a lot when I would trip and prevent myself from falling. Then it occurred to me that most of the injuries I was experiencing were a result of preventing the fall. I broke myself of the habit and learned how to fall instead. Of course, I haven't tried it out on stairs and would like to avoid the experience if at all possible...
Posts: 4344 | Registered: Mar 2003
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Olivet, I've gotten my backpack hooked on the doorframe numerous times. I don't often do it when I'm walking into classrooms, though - more often it's in the stairwell.
And then there's my brother, who, within half an hour of walking into Amka's house for the first time, managed to knock down a peg board on her wall, scattering coins and other objects all over the floor. And the cell phone ended up in the dog's water dish.
We rented TTT last night and watched it. As a splurge I bought one of those Huge buckets of microwave movie style popcorn. It was good. But it filled me up and I didn't eat anything for dinner. So at 5 am I staggered out of the bedroom all bleary eyed to find some antacid.
Before I got home from work yesterday. Steve had been working out. He has the generic version of the chuck norris home gym. There is a metal platform at the bottom of the apparatus that is used for pushing off etc. It sticks up at an angle. Staggering back to the bedroom I CREAMED my knee on this. Acually the metal hit just above the knee and I fell. The pain from the knee completely obliterated and overwhelmed all of the stomach pain. An hour and a half later when I really woke up for work I had a large welt that was already swelling and turning purple. I have chastised Steve for not moving the gym out of our normal walking paths but it didn't help much. Now I can barely bend it and am hobbleing around work. I've already taken advil too.
The phone rang the last time we rented a movie and if you remember our couch, it has that nice wood frame and arms. Well they're just the right height that as I hurriedly got up, lunging for the phone, I banged my thigh right into the corner of the arm! The really sad thing is that two days later I did the exact same thing and had a nasty bruise exactly on top of a nasty bruise.
Posts: 1777 | Registered: Jan 2003
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My cousin fell down a flight of stairs holding her three-month-old baby. She "ducked and rolled", and broke bones, dislocated her hip, and was pretty beat up. Her husband ran in and grabbed the baby who was laughing and smiling, and in general, having a fun time. She knew just what to do in the moment of crisis and saved her baby, but took all of the abuse herself. She's my hero!
But she does fit in the klutzy category, I'm afraid.
Posts: 6367 | Registered: Aug 2003
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...and here's one from about a year ago where we're talking about being clumsy. Maybe it's a seasonal discussion.
Posts: 16059 | Registered: Aug 2000
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Wow, I didn't even remember this thread. I start so few topics, I was shocked to see one on the first page.
Luckily, I don't have TOO many klutzy incidents of that type. *smile*
Although I am feeling a bit chagrined again today because I went out and finally hacked my prairie into some semblance of shape and a mosquito did quite a number on my face. I have a bite on my lip, my eyelid, my cheek and three on my forehead and my family is coming over in an hour. I look like a wreck!
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