these things

are going to be the death of me! Growing up I never lived in a two-story, and I guess I'm learning how to climb and descend stairs now. In my late twenties. I guess it's better than my late thirties or forties, but it still hurts my bum when I fall.

I've had lots of little slips and even more close calls that leave my finger tips and toes tingling from quick blasts of adrenaline. Up until yesterday I had only experienced one huge fall (which I would pay big money to see because I'm sure it was very comical) which was not painful. It scared the girls initially, but when I started laughing at myself sitting on my bum about 10 feet away from the top of the fall they thought it was pretty funny too. Funny enough to mention "Mommy fell down the stairs!" followed by loud, high pitched giggles whenever I or Steve chuckled at something totally unrelated. FUN!

Anyway, back to yesterday. I was getting ready for family to come over for dinner, and I was multi-tasking upstairs, thinking that I could take this and that downstairs when I remembered that I also needed to bring down a kitchen chair from my scrap room. I made it safely to the turn, at the top of the stairs in the above photo. I over shot the top step though, making me slip down two more stairs before I dug in my heels enough to stop any forward progress. I was very surprised that I was successful at doing so and also able to keep a grip on everything that I was carrying (minus the water in a cup that ended up on me and the stairs) but very disappointed when I discovered that I had put a hole in the wall with the top of the chair.

The hole is smaller than a dime, but it is a hole nonetheless. Dang it. Now we have to repair drywall. Now I have a big bruise on my back side. Now I have an even bigger bruise across the tops of my thighs from pulling the chair down and close to me. Now I have a huge bruise across my ego. How is it that my children are better at navigating the stairs than I am?

Shortly after my little "trip" I notified Steve that our next house must be a single story.