BedLounge Reading Pillow

Our very first product, to kick off the Holiday Gift Guide & Countdown To Christmas is the BedLounge. Now, my back pain is so bad that the only place I could sit comfortably was at my desk, in my computer chair, leaning over on my desk.  I can't tell you how many times my daughter has asked me to come sit in the living room and watch tv or a movie with her, that I just couldn't do.  Every time I'd tell her "no", I'd feel like a horrible mother.  I wanted to, and sometimes I just dealt with the pain and did it.  Overall though, it was a few & far between situation.

Another thing about my illnesses, is that they also robbed me of reading.  This really made me mad.  I was an only child and we lived in the country.  Books, or rather the characters in the books, were my friends.  I'd sit outside under a tree, and read all day long.  I'd lose myself within my imagination as I was reading.  Of course my love of books, carried over from my childhood.  For the last 12-18 months, I haven't been able to read anymore.  It now hurts me too bad to try to hold a book in front of my face and read for longer then 5-10 minutes.  When I read, I like to do so for a good 2-3 hrs at a time (you can tell that I don't have little kids anymore lol).  I even have a Kindle and they are extremely light weight, yet even holding the Kindle to read, hurts my arms, shoulders, and neck profusely.  

When I came across the BedLounge online, it looked and sounded too good to be true.  Skepticism ran through my mind.  I was so desperate to be able to read books again, and watch tv with my daughter in the living room (instead of making her come sit in the dining room where my desk is at, and watching "tv" on my computer.  I contacted BedLounge and told them I'm a blogger and asked if they'd send me one in exchange for me doing a review on it.  Thankfully, they were kind enough to send me one.  

The short amount of time it took to get to me, was unreal!  I couldn't believe how quickly I received my BedLounge.  I think my daughter was as excited as I was lol!  She helped me open the box and remove the BedLounge.   We got the minor assembly done, then she was the first to try it. She loved it!  I hurried to grab a book, then I jumped in bed with it, to see if it helped my pain level while reading.  I couldn't believe how much longer my body held out for me to read!  I can even watch tv in my living room again now!

The pillow is hypoallergenic.  It's filled with synthetic down, and cleaned feathers.  The pillow was designed by a world-renowned back expert, Dr. Robert Swezey, M.D.  The coolest thing in my opinion about the BedLounge, is that it's completely adjustable to fit you!  The headrest is adjustable. It slides up and down, plus it also rotates!  So whether you're tall, or short like me, the headrest will fit you.  There's a lumbar pillow that's adjustable, to ensure you're getting great support for your back.  The best thing ever about the BedLounge in my opinion?  The armrests!  They pivot.  You can adjust them in towards you if you'd like a little tighter fit, and if you want more room just pivot them outward.  These amazing armrests also have built in pockets in them that you can stuff full of stuff so that you don't have to jump up for anything while you're relaxing! The armrests help to support the weight of your body to reduce strain on your neck, head, and shoulders.  These amazing armrests are what allowed me to start reading and watching tv again!!  

There's several uses for this pillow. I'm going to copy/paste right from the BedLounge Website:

• Reading Pillow
• Pregnancy Pillow
• Comfort Lounger
• Husband Pillow
• TV Pillow
• Back Support Pillow
• Study Pillow
• Video Game Pillow
• Sleeping Pillow
• Post Surgical Pillow

There are several colors that you can choose from when ordering your pillow!  They also sell BedLounge Slip Covers if' you'd like to get one.  

The BedLounge also has a sixty day risk free trial!  How can you beat that??!  Seriously though, you won't be disappointed.  The things it's allowed me to do, that I couldn't before, is worth every single penny they sell them for.  

Also, I must say that this company has been absolutely wonderful to work with.  Super polite, great customer service, super fast shipping *The pillow usually ships within one-two days of you placing your order! This pillow is a must-have for anyone who suffers from any type of chronic pain!  Let's show them how much we appreciate their awesome product that make the lives of chronic pain sufferers a little easier, and for participating in this giveaway!  Let's all go to their facebook page and "like" them to show our appreciation!  1 minute isn't much to give up!  =)  To like the BedLounge on facebook, click HERE.

*I didn't receive any cash compensation for this post, but I did receive a pillow.  Regardless, all opinions expressed on this blog are my own.  

EVERY Day Should Be An Awareness Day

As I sit here with a wet, gooey feeling on my mid-back from my pain patch, I started thinking about my personal facebook profile picture.  It's one of the "May 12 Fibromyalgia Awareness" photos that go around. Maybe I'm just grumpy tonight from being so tired (I couldn't fall asleep Friday night until after 7am Saturday morning).  Maybe it's because my arms, neck, and shoulders are aching just with minor typing tonight.  Probably  Possibly all of the above, but regardless it struck a nerve gave me pause for thought.  We're supposed to create enough awareness yeah, because that's a real possibility to do any good or bring about changes by making people "aware" one day out of the year?

I'm sorry, but it kind of makes me want to scream and cry, and kick, and throw myself on the ground in true temper tantrum fashion when I sit and really think about that tonight.  Before starting this post, even though I knew the answer, I still went to page after page googling "what is" ....Fibromyalgia, Lupus, RA, Ankylosing Spondylitis, Osteo Arthritis, CFS/ME, etc.  Why would I do this besides being completely crazy?  Just to look at what I already know.  "Although there is no cure at this time ....."

No cure "at this time".  Does that mean that there will be a cure in the future?  Will it be during my lifetime?  Well, I'll tell you my honest opinion.  Although I'm hopeful, realistically I really don't think there will be a cure in my lifetime.  I'm praying that a cure will be found during my daughter's lifetime.  The reason I'm not hopeful, is because there isn't enough advocacy.  There isn't enough awareness.  If you've been around my blog for awhile, you know that one of my key phrases is "without education there won't be change".

What do I mean by change?  You could say that I mean it in the same way as awareness.  My entire mission statement for The Fibro Frog could be summed up by the words on one of the awareness photos I made up.  You'll see it below:

I just think it's so silly to expect people, as in a lot of people, to become aware of how painful, debilitating, and real these conditions are by having separate one day awareness dates throughout the year.  According to the U.S. Census Bureau, as of July 2011, there's 311, 591,917 people in the United States.  Out of over 3 hundred MILLION people approximately 6 million people have Fibromyalgia, and all of the chronic pain illnesses together tally around 116 million people, that still leaves 195,591,917 people who doesn't have a clue what it really feels like to live with an illness that causes chronic pain.  You'll find the census bureau information that I used for this post, by clicking HERE.  That still leaves one heck of a lot of people that doesn't have any clue in the world how miserable our lives truly are have any idea how hard our day to day lives really are.

195,591,917 people that by no fault of their own, just can't grasp the type of pain we live with.  195,591,917 people that are still left to believe that the pain is "all in our heads", or that "Gee, my back, feet, and legs hurt after work so I do know what these people are going through and it isn't that bad.  They're obviously attention seekers".  We can't be mad at people for thinking these things.  As angry as I start to feel every time I read or hear of someone saying that Fibromyalgia isn't real, I have to calm myself down because it isn't there fault.  They truly have no idea of the scope of pain and fatigue that we endure every single day of our lives.  That's my fault.  Our fault.  

Some of you are probably starting to get completely a little miffed at me right now for putting the blame on us, aren't you.  Seriously though, unless we can make these people understand, they will never know what a day in our lives is truly like.  How do we do that?  By educating them.  By talking to them. By showing them proof from studies that these illnesses are real.  By giving them analogies of things that they can relate to.  For instance, using the analogy of when they've had the flu.  That really is one of the truest analogies out there.  

How can you start educating people?  Simply post the truth about how you feel on your face book page.  By writing and sending a bulk email with info, examples, study and research links in it.  By spreading the message about my "Living With Chronic Pain - A Patient's View" seminar.  By talking to your community leaders, pastors, lawmakers, doctors, clinics, college campuses about booking my seminar.  If people doesn't understand what it's truly like to live like this, then it's up to us to help them to understand.  If we ever hope to have a cure found (for whatever chronic pain/fatigue illness you may have), it's going to take pressure from multiple people to demand further research.  I go over the statistics of how much government money goes towards research for us, compared to the amount of government money that goes towards research other illnesses.  Now, I'm not being crass or cold hearted.  I've had people I love dearly that's passed away due to some of these other illnesses, but the distortion in the amount of research funds for these other illnesses, compared to what we get for fibromyalgia, was staggering to me.  I had someone say to me once "Well at least you won't die from what you have, like a person with cancer might".  Again, I'm not crass or cold hearted, I'm just throwing my honest opinion out there.  I'd much rather be diagnosed with some sort of heart condition, because they have treatments that can be tried ...medicine, surgeries, etc. that can possibly lead to the person being cured.  I've long and hard with this next one, and I still feel the same way; I'd rather be diagnosed with cancer.  Again, there's treatments and therapies and surgeries that can be tried an a lot of the time the person is cured.  Yes, a person goes through pain, tremendous pain, and sickness with cancer treatment. Still though, they have the hope that they'll achieve remission and be cured someday.  Did you know that in most of the auto-immune illnesses, a lot of people take some of the very same immune suppressants that is given to people with cancer?  It's true.  Yet even though they take meds and have infusions of the same meds cancer patients have, they don't have any hope that they'll be cured.  They live with the knowledge that they're going to live in perpetual pain every single day of their lives until they die.  Not only the pain, but the fatigue, the headaches, the nausea and sickness and depression that are co-morbidities of  Fibro, or Lupus, or RA, etc.  Co-morbidities such as ulcerative colitis, IBS, chrones disease, migraines, and on and on and on.  Real conditions that hurt.  Real conditions that make you sick.  Again, for me, I'd much rather have a diagnosis of something that could be fatal because not only is there hope of being cured, but regardless, I'd know one way or another that my pain would come to an end.  On days where my pain is incredibly bad and I've been stuck in a flare for days or weeks, I sit and think about it and I'd rather know I was going to die, then to know that I have somewhere around 40 more years to live in pain, sickness, and agony.  It feels as if I've been sentenced to a life of living in a slow, perpetual hell. 

The only hope I have; the only hope we have, is that we bring about awareness to enough people that understands what a crap sandwich we've been dealt in our lives.  Enough people that's willing to help us advocate and put pressure on lawmakers and congressmen to push for more funding for more research. I really hope that none of my opinions in this post have offended anyone as that wasn't my intent.  The statements and opinions that I've expressed are solely mine.  Because I feel this way, doesn't mean that someone else with the same condition as I have, feels this way too.  As my last blog post talked about though, the number one cause of death for people with fibromyalgia, is suicide.  It's just so daunting knowing that you don't even have a chance to be healthy again.  Knowing that you'll spend every day of the rest of your life sick, hurting, and depressed. I've always been honest with all of you on this blog, and I always will be. Some people may find that honesty offensive, and I realize this, but that's who I am. If I give people nothing else, I at least give them my honest thoughts and opinions.  All of this to say please, please don't just try to bring awareness about on May 12th of every year.  Advocate for awareness every day of every year.

I'm A Real Person, With Real Illnesses And I Extend A Challenge To You

As I opened my eyes this morning, I could tell that it was going to be an "off" day.  The feeling that I was awakening after being hit by a Mack truck wouldn't shake.  Last night, everything hurt from my head down to my big toe.  You're probably asking yourself "her big TOE hurt?!".  Yep, even my big toe hurt as silly as that sounds.  

Today, my head hurts and my nose is stuffy.  Ultimately, since I get sick if I even pass someone in a grocery store that sneezes or coughs, I'm sure I'm coming down with a cold.  I feel sad and depressed today.  I just get so tired or never feeling good.  I'm sick and tired, of being sick and tired.  

Feelings of guilt keep me from posting a lot of the time when I don't feel good.  My oldest daughter who's 23 and a graduate student in both developmental and international economics at the University of Denver, gently reminds me every now and then, that I need to conduct myself as a professional.  She knows my hopes and dreams of presenting my seminar and being a speaker at conventions.  She knows that I'm passionate about activism and research to find a treatment plan or a cure.  If I want to be booked as a professional, then I need to act professional right?  Professionals don't go online and complain about their every day mundane aches and pains.

Nikki is one of the toughest people I've ever known.  I'm not just saying that because she's my daughter.  If you met her now, you'd never have a clue what she's been through to get to where she's at.  The amount of tenacity that this young lady possesses is unreal.  Coming from an extremely modest background, ok I'll be completely honest: a poor background, she got a job at 16 years old and has never been without one since.  Sometimes more then one job, all while going to school.  Both high school and college.  She's paid her own way all through college while carrying an insane amount of full-time college credits and still making all A's.  I haven't paid for so much as one single book, let alone anything else she's needed.  Not because I didn't want to, but because I haven't been able to afford to. Researching and finding the best college for what she wanted to do with her life, she switched from living at home and attending our local college of Bowling Green State University, to packing up and jumping on a plane to start a new life in Denver, CO.  She switched after her sophomore year.  She made new friends, found new jobs, and met new people.  Nikki has met some of the most influential people that we have in the U.S.  She's been to grand benefits where she's met and spoke with people such as the founder of AOL, among many others.  She doesn't complain about anything.  She knows what she needs to do, and she gets it done.  Sometimes putting in 14-16 hour days or more, without complaint.

You're probably asking yourself right about now, why I just told you all of this about my daughter.  What does it have to do with me feeling like total poo today?  Well, it has a lot to do with it.  If Nichole says that I need to conduct myself in a professional manner, then I tend to believe her.  I feel guilty complaining because for one, it isn't professional.  For two, how can I complain when she works so very hard, supports herself while attending an expensive college, and she never complains?  Sick or not, she goes to classes and completes her jobs. 

A very old friend that I think a lot of, sent me a facebook message this morning.  He simply said "I feel that sometimes you're too hard on yourself.  Give yourself a break".  You know what?  He's right.  I am too hard on myself sometimes.  Thoughts about these two sentences, have plagued me all day.  Sure, no one wants to hear someone gripe and complain constantly, but if I really feel terrible, then it's ok to admit that.  As much as I want to be a professional, I'm not at this time.  Even if I achieve my dreams and have seminars scheduled every weekend of every month it still will come down to this: A public speaker or not, I'm a human being first.  A real person.  Unfortunately, a real person who has real illnesses.  Illnesses in which there isn't a cure, and not even solid treatment plans that will help.  Illnesses that cause depression. Illnesses like some of you, deal with every day too.

If you're reading this blog entry and you don't suffer from a neuro-immune disorder, or you don't suffer from an auto-immune disorder like I do, then you're probably not going to be able to fully comprehend what it's like to be stuck in a body that's always sick or to have a mind where you'll be right in the middle of speaking, and forget what you were trying to say or even what you were thinking about.  

One of the best analogies I've read, is in a pamphlet put out by the American Rheumatology Association.  It compares Fibromyalgia to having the flu.  Think back to the last time you had the flu.  Do you remember how tired and physically drained you were?  Do you remember how sore your skin was?  How about the sore, aching muscles?  Sometimes when you'd move, you'd get sharp pains.  Your head hurt, even your hair sometimes felt like it was hurting.  Take all of that and add in joints that swell and hurt to the point that you have trouble standing up from a seated position and hurts enough that you audibly say "ow" most every time you go to rise. Although my illnesses doesn't make you run a high fever like you do with the flu, you do run frequent low-grade fevers.  Now, I seriously want you to think about everything in this paragraph.  Then, I'd like to you think about the fact that you're going to have to live every day of your life feeling like this.   Do you know what the leading cause of death among fibromyalgia patients is?  It's suicide.  Women with fibromyalgia have a ten times higher rate of suicide then the general public.  These are people who didn't have any kind of mental health problems before contracting fibromyalgia.  Women with fibromyalgia also have a higher death rate from liver disease and stroke, then women without fibromyalgia.  There hasn't been enough concentrated research though, to find out why women with fibromyalgia have a higher death rate from liver disease and stroke so the correlation to fibromyalgia hasn't been figured out yet. Just one of the many reasons more research is needed.  If you're interested in reading about the study that was conducted to bring about these statements, you can click HERE.

If you'd like to hear a speaker that suffers every day like you do, and "get's it" then contact me and we'll talk.  I'm not a doctor, nor a researcher; I don't have any fancy initials of any kind behind my name.  What I do have though, is first hand experience and knowledge about what people like me, people like us, go through on a daily basis, just to survive.  This seminar will help those who suffer, to see they aren't alone.  It gives some survival tips and lists resources.  It also gives the person suffering the ability to help those around them, to understand what it's like to be sick like this and help them understand.  For those who attend that doesn't suffer, they'll be offered the proof to help dispel untrue myths about these illnesses.  It will provide information on recent studies.  It'll help them to be aware and hopefully instill some compassion in them, for those who suffer.  It also talks about how little research there is, and how important future research is, and why it's so important. Whether a sufferer or a community member; a lawmaker or in the medical field, this seminar will help you to understand the truth of these illnesses that cause fatigue and chronic pain. 

If you think about the paragraph previously stated, giving the analogy of having the flu every day for the rest of your life, hopefully you'll understand how important this seminar is.  How important future research is, for those of us who suffer.  If you have the understanding and compassion, I'm extending a challenge to you this holiday season.  I challenge you to give up a specialty coffee or two each week, and instead donate that money to my fundraiser.  Help me to help not only myself, but all of the others that also are living their lives one day at a time to make it through.  You can make a secure donation, on my GoFundMe page.  The link to it is on the right hand sidebar of my blog, but I'll also list a link to it as well: Donation Page.

Win A Frozen Drink Station With Our New Year's Bash Giveaway

Welcome to the New Years Drink Station Giveaway!

Hosted by Jenn's Blah Blah Blog & Pink Ninja Media Co-Hosts Simply Shawn & Jenn, Pink Ninja Blogger, Moms Vacation Spots, and Happy Home and Family. This giveaway will have you bartending like a pro at your parties! Good luck to all of you!

Giveaway Details:

One Lucky person will win a Nostalgia Frozen Beverage Station!

This all-in-one frozen drink machine will make perfect slush drinks, margaritas, daiquiris, smoothies and more every time! Perfect for your New Years Eve Bash! The two ice shaving options allow you to choose a fine or coarse shaved ice texture. Making one or multiple servings is easy, with the serving sizes indicated right on the pitcher. Use the included recipes to make delicious drinks, or create your own. With the Frozen Beverage Station, making refreshing icy drinks is fun and easy! Giveaway will begin on November 25, 2012 12:01am EST and run until December 23, 2012 11:59pm EST. Giveaway is open to US residents only and you must be 18 years or older to enter. Good Luck!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Disclosure: This blog is not responsible for shipping prize to winner, nor did I accept any form of compensation for this promoting this giveaway. Winner will have 48 hours to respond to winning email, so please look for these emails.

Hidden Treasure Candle Giveaway

Welcome to the Hidden Treasure Giveaway!

Hosted by,

Jenn's Blah Blah Blog & Pink Ninja Media.

Co-Hosts, Giveaway Bandit, Pink Ninja Blogger, Simply Shawn & Jenn, and Moms Vacation Spots

Add you own wording, say something about Hidden Treasure Candles!

About the Giveaway

• Five Winners will received TWO Hidden Treasure Candles Each! Like always, winner chooses their candles, so head on over to Hidden Treasure Candles and check out their fabulous scents.
• Event runs from 11/20/2012 at 12:01am EST until 12/20/2012 at 11:59pm EST
• To enter use the Rafflecopter form below, must be 18 years of age.
• Giveaway is open to US

Candles are one of my favorite things! I love anything that smells good and puts a nice scent in the air. Good luck! a Rafflecopter giveaway

Another Year Older

Today is my birthday.  I'm 42 years old today, yet I feel like I'm at least 72 years old.  I awoke to sharp stabbing pains in my lower stomach, thanks to IBS.   I thought I may pass out from the sharp pain.  I have a few times in the past.  Waking with the pain today has left me feeling exhausted and sad, and I guess I'd have to say kind of hopeless.  I don't know how else to describe it.  I'm weak and I'm shaky.  I just feel kind of completely defeated today.

I so badly had hoped for enough money by now to present a seminar.  The lack of funding help just proves to me how much these seminars are truly needed.  If every day people had even an inkling of how much real, physical pain people like me live with, they'd give up a large coffee from a specialty shop to make even a $5 donation.  People that aren't suffering though, just don't get it.  I can't be mad at people for not understanding how important these seminars are, and how important it is to bring awareness for more research, because if I wasn't afflicted myself, I wouldn't get it either.

I sit around, and chide myself about the fact that I'm not just independently wealthy.  If I was, then I'd never ask for a drop of help.  I'd fly across the country presenting one seminar after another, and making donations to research myself.  Again, I have no one to blame except for myself that I'm not independently wealthy.  I come from a middle class family, and grew up with my parents always telling me that I could be and do anything in life that I wanted to.  I could have gone to college and made something of myself.  Instead, I chose to graduate a year early from high school, so that I could get married.  I was still 17 when I married.  Five months later, I found myself pregnant with my first child, Nichole.

Nichole is making the life for herself, that I wish I'd have been smart enough to make for myself.  She's now in the graduate program at DU, and is going to continue on her education to get her PhD.  She'd posted a status on facebook today, that she'd received a copy of a final report that she helped to complete the research on.  She said seeing her name as a research contributor to this report, alongside two top PhD economists, reminded her why she's put in so much work.  She also has landed a job while she's in grad school as a portfolio manager for GSA, starting out at $50,000 a year.  -Not too shabby for still being in school.  This doesn't even touch on the fact that she's also a teachers assistant in the economics department at DU and even has her own office and office hours on campus.

It's too late for me to look back and see what I should have done in my life when I was young enough to grab the world by the horns.  That won't help me a bit here in today.  At this point, all I can do is take a deep breath, look forward, and keep taking baby steps until I get to where I want to go.  Nichole is my inspiration in all of this.  Like I'd said, I was raised in a middle class family, but where I didn't get a college education, and neither did Nikki's father, she was raised in poverty.  The fact that she hasn't let that stop her, she's worked and put herself through college and now grad school, is a huge inspiration to me.  If my own daughter can beat the odds, and obtain exactly what she wants out of life, then how in the world can I just lay down and quit?  I can't.  I may never, ever, reach my goal.  I may not be a big activist and advocate, that people recognize my name.  I may never be able to make a living as an advocate and motivational speaker.  What I will promise you though, is that I won't ever stop trying.  Sure, I have days where I feel like giving up.  I have days where I tell myself that I was dumb to even try and think I could do this.  I allow myself to feel sad for a time, then I pull myself up again by the boot straps, and I send out another email.  I make another awareness photo and share it.  I come make a post on this blog.

Even if I never, ever reach my goal, I will die knowing that I did the best I could and that I never gave up.  It's embarrassing to me, to ask for donations.  That's one of the reasons I made one of my photos/sayings into a key chain and am holding a fundraiser selling the key chains.  It makes me feel a tad bit better knowing that someone is going to get something tangible out of their donation to my cause.  Embarrassed or not though, I know that I'm not asking and doing this just for myself.  I'm also doing it for the approximate 116 million of us that suffer from some sort of chronic pain condition here in the U.S.  With that said, my key chain fundraiser is going on through November 24th.  If you'd share about it through your social media networks, I'd be forever grateful.  I'm trying so hard to get at least 50 of them ordered.  With an order of 50, I get the back side of the key chains printed for free.  The link to the fundraiser is here: Key Chain Fundraiser.  If you'd rather make a straight up donation, the link to my GoFundMe account is here: GoFundMe Account.

Here's a photo of my inspiration to succeed.  My beautiful, successful daughter, Nikki.

The Greed Trap

Pretty snazzy little car, isn't it?  My parents just bought one of these, a 2013 Hyundai Veloster, a couple of weeks ago.  Their's is even white in color, as this one is.  When I saw it, I thought "Oh my gosh!  It's so cute!".  It is cute!  It isn't a 2-door car, nor is it a 4-door car.  It's a three door car.  Of course when they first got it they wanted to take me for a ride in it.  I eagerly opened the 3rd door for the back seat, and proceeded to crawl in.  Yes, crawl.  There was no way to just open the door and get in, like a person would do in a "regular" car.  I though to myself  "Hmm ...this car is really cute, and the inside, dashboard, built in message screen, etc is completely awesome.  But it's sure rough to get in and out of!".  Riding upfront it's a comfy, sporty little ride.  The backseat though, is a whole 'nother story!

The day before yesterday, my phone rang around 9:30am and woke me up. With my eyes blurry I came charging into the dining room to answer the phone and have it be a solicitor calling.  "Congrats!  This is your captain speaking.  You've won a free cruise!"  As a fog horn was blowing in the background.  Disgusted, I hung up.  I let out a big sigh and went to start a pot of coffee.  I usually can't fall asleep until around 4 or 5am so I was quite tired, but once my feet hit the floor, I can't go back to sleep. 

Around 11:30am my phone rang again.  This time it was my dad.  All loud and cheery sounding he said "Hello Amy!  How are you today?"  I visibly winced at the cheery-ness of his voice.  He said that he was going to go about 40-45 minutes away to look at a car.  -They buy new cars, but then they always have what they call "an older beater to bum around in".  He said that my mom didn't want to go but she didn't have any choice because if he bought the car, he'd need to drive it home and mom would need to drive the Veloster home.  Dad asked me if I'd go with them to ride back home with my mom, because she gets nervous driving by herself on the highway.  Then, he completely bribed me without even trying to disguise the fact it was a bribe.  He said "If you come with us we'll stop and eat out for lunch, and I'll buy.".  Hmmm ....well, I was really tired, and was having a pain day that could potentially escalate given the opportunity, but... he was going to buy me lunch out.  I don't have the money to do that often these days, and I sat there thinking about that.  Finally, the greediness in me won out and I quickly told him "Ok, I'll go.  I'll go get dressed while I wait on you two to get here.".  

I stood outside talking to my neighbor, waiting on my parents.  They came pulling up, and I eagerly walked up to the car and opened that tiny crack that's called a "third door".  I wiggled and squeezed, and huffed and puffed, and got my head stuck ...yes, stuck trying to get in the back seat.  My head was shoved completely forward with my chin on my chest, my rear-end and legs was in the car, but the top/back part of my head was smashed into the ceiling of the car.  I started saying "ouch" and wriggling around and finally I was able to get my head popped back to behind the ceiling.  See, in the Veloster, the ceiling is lower and then back by the rear window, it gets taller.  After clearing the ceiling and finally having my head straight up again I thought "Wow, do I really want to go with them in this tiny little car?"  I quickly remembered the bribe.  The chance to eat out for free.  My mouth started watering and I quickly put the thought of abandoning ship behind me.  I thought to myself, "Well, it's not like I'll have to get in and out many times anyway.".  Little did I know the in-out fate that gladly awaited me.

We'd been driving about 15 minutes when my mom said to me "You should've brought one of your travel mugs with coffee in it".  She knows of my love of coffee.  That prompted my dad to ask my mom if she'd like a cup of coffee because if so, he'd stop and buy her and I one at a gas station.  She said sure, that she'd like that.  So, about 5 minutes later we were parked at a gas station and I was trying to push and pull and pry my big butt out of the back seat of the car, to go in and get coffee.  At this point I made a comment in a laughing, nice way about "boy is this car hard to get in and out of, but it's sure a cute, sporty little thing if you're not abolished to the back seat".  After getting the coffee, we walk back out to the car.  I told my mom that she'd have to hold my cup of coffee for me to get in, because without anything in my hands, it's near impossible, not to mention painful, to get into that car.  I proceeded to try to climb in, muttering a few "Ouch!" and "gosh" comments.

We get to where we're going.  Mom and I wait in the car while my dad talks to the guy who has the vehicle for sale.  We sit there waiting for him to test drive it and decide if he's going to buy it or not.  We watched him shake hands with the young guy and head back to our car.  No sale.  Dad starts heading back towards home, only he went the wrong direction.  After getting turned around the right direction, he decides he has to use the restroom.  When he stops, he basically demands that my mom and I get out of the car too, because we should "try" to use the bathroom too.  Ummm ...dad, I'm not 5 anymore.  I told him I didn't have to go and would wait in the car.  He told me I "really should" at least go try.  *sigh* Arguing with him about it wasn't worth it.  I again heaved my fat butt out of the car.  Now, don't get me wrong, getting OUT of the car is MUCH easier then getting IN the car, but even getting out was hard, hurt my arms with me pushing and prying to get out, and hurt my leg muscle.  

Back to the car we all went.  I'll spare you all the "ouch" words I again muttered, while even worse words ran through my head.  About 15 minutes down the road he whips into a restaurant.  Finally.  My reward for the struggling and the pain.  Eating lunch out for free.  I eagerly hoisted myself out this time, smelling the food, and having my mouth start watering again. The food was good and I kept thinking "Well, I guess this wasn't *too* bad.  It was worth the in and out of the horrible back seat I guess".  Going back out and trying to get in again, was even harder with a full stomach.  This time, my head really DID get stuck.  I started to panic a little bit telling my mom "Oh my gosh, my head is completely stuck I don't know what to do!".  Every time that I'd get in and it would smash my head forward until my chin was on my chest, it'd just kill my neck. I'm having two surgical procedures on my neck real soon, so it's not like it hurt or gave me problems in the first place.  <----Yes, insert sarcasm here.  Finally, after pushing, twisting, and now angrily not caring if I hurt their feelings or not by exclaiming "I HATE your new car!", my head finally popped backwards so that I could sit straight again.  

About 20 minutes before we got home, dad saw a vehicle sitting by the road for sale.  He stopped to look at this one.  The guy he talked with said that the vehicle wasn't his, it belonged to his friend.  The guy who owned the vehicle was an older gentleman who lived in a small town about 10 minutes away from where the vehicle was sitting.  Waiting on dad to come back to the car, I told my mom with a huge sigh "I have to use the bathroom now, but I'm going to try to hold it until we get home".  My dad came back to the car and told us we had to go to the other town to find the guy that owned the Explorer.  Dad had his name, but not an address or phone number.  Mom told him that I had to use the restroom, so he said "Ok.  There's a little IGA type grocery store there, so I'll stop and see if I can look in their phone book for the guy, and Amy can use the restroom".  I said "Well, can you go in and make sure they have a restroom before I pry myself out of this car again?".  He told me "Oh don't worry.  They even have a Subway inside there so they'll have a bathroom".  WRONG!  I hauled myself out of the car, went inside, walked to the Subway part, asked where the bathroom was and the girl looked at me and said "Oh I'm sorry.  We don't have a public bathroom here.".  I was disgusted, wondering how in the world they could get around laws to have a place to eat inside, without having a public bathroom.  I thought it was state law that if food was served, they had to have public access to a restroom.  Show's how little I know.

My dad found where the guy that owned the Explorer lived and had called to let him know we were coming.  We came up to a gas station and dad pulled in for me.  Out of the car again.  Walked inside and asked where the restroom was.  Guess what?!  It was OUT OF ORDER!  You have to be kidding me, right?  Nope, no joke.  Their toilet was broke.  Back to the "cute, little, sporting-looking car" that I now envisioned as a huge monster, trying eat my entire head!  By now, I'm thinking about this car, the entire trip, even the free lunch out, using nothing but some very vulgar words in my head.  Had I said them out loud, my parents would've been convinced that I had morphed into a sailor or trucker!

We get to the guy's house and dad goes in and talks to him.  Of course, nothing with my dad is ever quick.  I kept sitting there in horrible pain in my neck, back, arms, and right leg all while having to pee "like a racehorse" as the old saying goes.  The guy walks dad out and he's finally heading back to the car.  Dad goes "Oh, could my daughter use your bathroom?" the guy said sure.  I quickly hollered to my dad that it was ok, that I'd wait.  I don't know what my problem is, but all my life using a bathroom other then my own, or my parents, almost kills me.  I really, really have a thing against public bathrooms and there was no way in he!! that I was going to go into some strange guys house and use his toilet.  Dad got in and I told him that there was no way I would've ever done that and he should've known I wouldn't in the first place.  He said "well I have to go back to where the Explorere is to test drive it".  Really?! You have to be kidding me.  My parents picked me up at 11:50am and my dad had promised we wouldn't be gone any longer then 2.5 hours.  It was already going on 5pm because of the way my dad piddles around and talks non-stop to people.  I again reiterate that I really just need to get home because I really need to use the bathroom.  So he looked at me and said "There's a bar here in town.  Do you want me to stop there for you to use the bathroom?".  Oh my gosh.  I felt like throttling him!  "Well dad, you stop and buy me about a 5th of whiskey to take away my pain I'm in from this evil little monster of a car that you're so proud of, but no way in he!! that I'll use a bathroom in a bar. Come on, I'm 41 years old and an only child.  You HAVE to know me better then that".  His response?  "Well, yeah I know that a lot of people who could have std's or something use bar bathrooms, but if you have to go you have to go".  

Completely disgusted, I sat in silence on the ride back 10 minutes in the opposite direction of my house.  Dad drives the Explorer.  Tells us he's going to buy it so back to the owners house we had to go yet again.  By now, I'm thinking that this older guys toilet would be just perfect for me to use.  I really didn't care any more that it's a strangers bathroom.  We get there and I get out to go in with my dad while he pays, so that I can use the bathroom.  I'm standing there and dad's getting ready to tell the guy that I needed to use his toilet, when his wife started hollering from some far off place in the house.  "Oh! Oh! Oh!  Jim, help!".  Jim makes a quick turn and sprints away.  Come to find out, his wife had plugged up their toilet and it was over flowing everywhere.  I couldn't even believe it.  I had struggled to get out of that blessed car again, with a bladder that is about to explode, all for nothing yet again.  Un-freaking-real!  By this time, it was starting to get dark out thanks to the time change and dad and Jim had decided that dad would come pay him the balance in the morning because then a bank would be open to get the title notarized and all of that fun, legal stuff. 

As dad started the car, he kindly offered that he could pull off down a side country road, and I could go squat in the trees.  At that, I was so disgusted that I just started laughing.  Uncontrollable, made-me-sound-like-a-complete-mental-case-laughing.  He said "Well, where to next, Amy?".  Are you serious?!  Where to next?!  TO MY HOUSE!  PLEASE!".  I only lived about 13-15 minutes from the town Jim lived in.  Please, please, just get me home.  As I was scurrying to try to quickly get out of the car when we pulled up to my house, I told my parents "Well, I enjoyed the company.  I enjoyed the eating out.  I did NOT enjoy your car though, and I will never, EVER, EVER go anywhere with the both of you again if you take this damn car of yours!  If I can ride upfront with only one of you in the car, fine, but I don't have enough pain meds to get rid of the type of pain this has caused me today.  Never again".  For some reason, this amused the both of them.  As I was running towards my front door, mentally chiding myself for being so damn greedy for a free lunch out, that I'd go and put myself through torture like that.  

I learned a couple things though, greed is a terrible thing, ...and so is the back seat of a 2013 Veloster!! Neither one of them is worth a free lunch out. I promise you, every detail of this pathetic story is true. I couldn't even make this up lol.