Running Machine!

On the left, Joyce is at the entrance to the Lincoln Tunnel, getting ready to start the 5K race to raise money for the Special Olympics of NJ. Gary is on the right, in his scooter, watching all the racers that finished AFTER Joyce. He is also known as "Waterboy"!

TODAY: Sorry, Sorry if you have had trouble with my fonts being too large yesterday and today...I tried to make them a little easier for you to read, but messed up! I am learning how to use the template here in blogger and it is a lot of work. STICK WITH ME! Please!

STORY: In October of 2006, I decided to help raise money for the Foundation Fighting Blindness by entering a 5K walk in Central Park, New York City. When i told my 2 sisters that live in Vegas about this...they were as excited as Gary and I were, Really, I think they just wanted me to get off the couch and excercise...so they flew out from Vegas and the FOUR of us did the walk! It was awesome.

I did really well. The main thing that happened is that I am now hooked on 5K races, bought a treadmill to train and have been in about 5 more races since that cool October day.

The last one that I was in happened to be the COOLEST thing. It was a 5K through the Lincoln Tunnel between New Jersey and New York. I made my best time ever for the 5K (3.1 miles) run. 56Minutes and 31 Seconds! And i was not even NEAR last place.

I use my white mobility cane in front of me to help "feel" ther terrain and hubby goes along side of me in his scooter to be sure I go around potholes, cracks and pitfalls along the way. I refer to him as my seeing eye dog. He likes to call himself "Waterboy", cause he carries everything in his scooter basket that I might need along the race. He is an awesome support for me.

Tomorrow I will upload a SUNSET that I painted a few years ago. It is on canvas and I use Acrylic paints. I will share some more of my artwork later...stay tuned.

Mid-Day Message

So I was sitting here thinking that I should ask you to send me (Via Comments) what types of things you would like to hear about. This BLOG is research and marketing material for a book I am writing....who knows if it will ever get done. So I need your help in finding out what people want to read about. So, what turns you on...keep it clean please.
Let me know your thoughts! 8)

New Driver

Our old car looked something like this and dark blue.

TODAY: Good Morning. I am up at 4:45 a.m. to get hubby up and out the door, as he is working the polls today. I am exhausted, as I have been awake since 2 a.m. listening to the radio, trying to go back to sleep....ARGH! Home alone with the dogs and going back to bed after this entry. Zzzzzz.....

STORY: So let me tell you what happened the first day that I got my driver's license. . The day I got my license was very exciting and scary at the same time. Doubts surrounded me as the thought came to mind "What if they think I am too small to drive a car?" I had private driver's education and because of my size, I had some bicycle pedal extensions put onto the gas and break and had a few pillows to sit on and one behind me so I could be comfortable and safe driving.
I passed the driver's test with flying colors and parked outside my home and went in to let everyone know "I PASSED"! The local paper even did an article "Little Person, Big Plans" or something like that.

Dad came out to the kitchen to congratulate me and then said "Go and change the front right tire of the station wagon". "Why? It is not flat". He repeated "Go and change the front right tire". "OK Dad".

So, I was about 4 feet tall and weighed about 95 pounds soaking wet (Wish I weighed that little...haha). I took the tire iron and started to remove the lug nuts off of the tire. I put the tire iron on the first nut and stood on the it and jproceeded to jump up and down to loose it...phew that was hard work. I continued this process untill all the nuts were removed. What a sight that must have been. The process was the same when putting the nuts back onto the tire. I swear that Dad had the gas station put those suckers on with a machine...they were so tight.

This was one of life's BIG lessons for me. I was never one of those women who stood by and waited for someone else to come by and help...I just would jump out of the car and change a flat....anytime.

Of course there were deeper lessons learned that day. Just because I am little does not mean I can't do things. I just did (and do) things a different way.
My favorite quote is from my Mom "Where there's a will, there's a way"!
Today, most folks have AAA roadside insurance to call. I would like to think that if i still drove , that i would change that tire all by myself! (Be thankful i am off the road with this lack of vision).

If I can do it...so can you. Be careful out there and keep the road-rage to a minimum! 8)

Hubby always says "Life is too short....And so am I"

Moody Monday

Good Morning all...Welcome back!

TODAY: It's Monday and time to go back to work for some of you. I am retired, so I just work at home doing daily things. When you can't see well OR if you are as short as I am, daily tasks just take a little bit longer. Then when sinus pain slows me down even more...ARGH!

I started to use a Nette Pot, which drains your nasal passages and supposed to help...we'll see.

I bought this pot over a year ago and stopped using it, when I was feeling better...they say you should use it as a preventative.

I do some pet-sitting and my 2 standard poodles came yesterday and will be here until Thursday. It is nice to have them around. It is like having Grandkids, spoiling them and then sending them home! The problems is....I have no kids, so Grandkids is out of the question. Gary & I love our nice quiet home! 8)

RUSTY & RUFUS

THIS WEEK: Gary will be leaving at 5 am tomorrow morning...did I tell you he is NOT a morning person? It is election day and he will be working the polls. That means I have an entire day to myself! Partytime!! Not really, but it sounded good!

STORY: Let's go into the past a little today. I was about 2 years old and a tiny little thing. I had 4 siblings at the time and I could not get up on the swing in the backyard by myself. My baby sister was not born yet. It was very frustrating. Dad finally came up with a solution and put a thick board under one of the swings. Ha...this was now MY private swing. It now was difficult for the taller siblings to ride on MY swing. So the moral of the story is....sometimes it pays to be short!

Happy Sunday!

Good morning readers,

TODAY: We had a terrible storm last night and I did not sleep very well. Hubby, who has a sleeping disorder, did not go to bed until 7:15 this moring. He will be in bed until 1 pm. this afternoon. It will be a quiet morning for me, which is good, as the allergies are getting me today. Hey, after my fruit, tea and muffin, maybe I'll go back to bed too! Have to call our transportation and cancel a ride to church this morning. Transportation being hubby's Mom & Dad...hehe.

UPCOMING WEEK: TPrimary elections on Tuesday and Gary is working the polls.
At the end of this week we are going to a retirement celebration which is going to be outside....so let's hope the weather is good next Saturday. I will have to drag out my clarinet and practice a bit, as I may have an opportunity to play a little at the celebration.

STORY: Because of my vision loss, I had to quit driving in 1993 and my job 1997. Later in the week I can give you my story of "My Last Day Driving"., but for now I will settle for a poem I wrote during a very sad time when I had to give up my job. I was thinking "Who Am I now"? and What do I do with my life now"? "How will losing my vision effect my life?" I was in a dark place, trying to get out of it and into a brighter place that I knew was still there.

Unsuspecting Victim

A fire is such a cruel cruel thing
As smoke seeps under the bedroom door
Oxygen is slowly sucked out of the room
And unwary victims slowly lose the gift
Of precious life forever more
Slowly, slowly, dying, dying

RP is just like the smoke of fire
It slowly steals away your world of vision
Often undetected by its victims
It creeps up on you slowly, slowly
Killing retina cells in its path

Each day, as I walk in creation and color
Oh how I wonder, how it may be
When the cruel cruel monster will come
And take it all away from me
Every single day I try to burn
Each blade of grass, each flower
And even the dark gray skies
Into the depths of my mind
For the day may come when it will be
The only place the picture, I may see

The monster is ever so slowly grasping
The life from my very eyes
At times I suddenly notice the difference
And hope that it's all a lie
I guess I have reached a new stage of loss
How long will it take them to die?

NOTHING ever can compare
To God's great awesome wonder
His hands paint such awesome beauty
That no man can ever ponder
Houses, cars, paintings or any man made thing
Are dull in contrast to nature's colorful sea

The fresh cut grass smells so sweet
What a deep shade of green, oh my
The sky is a massive span of blue
White puffy clouds go by
The Forsythias, oh what a brilliant yellow
Announcing the coming of spring
Nature in it's fullness, oh what a wonderful thing

The beauty is always reflected
On the water's open surface
The sun dances like brilliant diamonds
As the wind churns up the waves
Even though, I enjoy these scenes
Each day I am reminded
The color black may be the only one
That is seen with open eyelid

The monster is ever there, killing killing
Like suffocating smoke, dying, dying
Attitude can make or break you
That is something that I believe
You see, it is, better to have seen
Than not, to have seen at all

So each day I absorb my surroundings
And stop to smell, and see the roses
Oh how blessed I am to experience such beauty
For The Creator, made them all you see
A special gift, just for you and me!

Copyright ©1996

Start HERE!

Welcome to my BLOG. "Little Joyce" is my name. I am short and visually impaired. This is my first try at blogging and it is going to be a wonderful adventure. YOU and me together, as we weave in and out of my daily life and into my interesting past. Never ask a woman how old she is....but I will answer before you ask, since I will try and be open and honest with you as I write my story.

Fifty Four years old, short according to the average world and legally blind. That's why the title " The Small Blind Life"

I was born a "Little Person", you know, like that TV show "Little People, BIG world". I am a pituitary dwarf, which is different from Matt and his family.

There are 6 kids in my family...I am the second to the youngest. NONE of them is small like me. Mom always said "BIG things come in small packages"

OK, more of life as a little person later.

Another issue I will be posting is that I am visually impaired. If a cure is not found for this eye disease (RP-Retinitis Pigmentosa) there is a possibility I could go totally blind at some point. Please hope along with me, so that my vision does not degenerate faster than a cure is found.

My husband of almost 35 years is also a "Little Person" and has some mobility issues. Together we are a team. We have named that team Another ____ Adventure. The blank is for our last name, and you and I don't know each other well enough to share that information yet.

My Daily (Hopefully) blog will be in two parts.

TODAY:

Every morning I eat my fruit and make tea. I sit with tea and 1/2 englsih muffin with melted peanut butter while playing my online games.

I'll let you know what might be going on today or what happens to be on my mind. I listen to a lot of talk radio and try and stay up on current issues. Politics is one area I would like us to stay away from.

You can sympathize when I scream at myself for leaving a chair pulled out...then falling over it later. Maybe I will just tell you that I am bored and need to find something to do.

STORIES:

I can take you on an adventure of growing up in Salem, Mass. (The Witch City), my childhood, teen years and getting married at 19. We actually got engaged by mistake....that story for later.
We are animal loveres, especially dogs. We no longer have our own but pet sit for others. It's like having Grandkids...send them home after spoiling them for a week! Hawaii, Alaska, England, and many states have been visited during my 54 years here. Bowling, ice skating, running 5K races, traveling and hot air ballooning are a few of the cool things that hubby and I have done together. We LOVE life and try to be content as much as possible.

Come, make tea, sit down and travel with me through this blog and let's see where the adventure takes us.......