Okay, not going to therapy. I slipped and fell in the shower and banged up my ribs and hit my jaw. I am definitely going to get a referral for PT for balance, because I had a really bad fall 2 weeks ago that I didn't mention because I was so embarrassed about it. (Tumbled down the front steps, whacked my head into the stone foundation of the house, scraped up my ear and one knee — though the pants I was wearing didn't rip, so, small favors — and caught myself with my right hand, which still hurts. And my knee still hurts. So I can add today's bumps and bruises to that total.) The ironic part is that we absolutely have a grab bar in the shower — we added it before Tim's back surgery. I just...slipped and couldn't recover my balance.

I'm going to get ibuprofen and ice packs and go cry in bed for a while.

Oh, Teppy, be careful! I can't have you bonking your noggin so much. That's where you keep your spicy brains.

If you have an iPhone the health tracker will note if your balance is off. You don't have to activate anything, it's just in there keeping track of your wobbliness.

The margin in the House is something like two or three seats. The House could easily flip *before* the next election.

Please be careful, Teppy!

Can they give you an iron infusion I wonder? That can help a lot with the anemia and listlessness.

We discussed it as well, but I'd have to go in every day for 5 days and I can't stand the idea of trying to make time for that many appointments at once. If it gets bad enough, I'll have to consider it, but for now, we're trying the transfusion.

I'm also adopting your definition of listlessness.

I was going to ignore Thanksgiving this year (none of my local family does anything for holidays and my cousin in Orange County is very sporadic about invites and hasn't said anything this year), but I realized I need to make an effort to get out more and interact with people. So I reached out to a friend who, in previous years, said "you're always welcome" to see if I was, indeed, welcome. So, Friendsgiving for me again this year, though with a different friend group. I'm looking forward to it!

Now that I think about it, when I went to Colorado in September I tripped and fell at Oktoberfest, too. (I hadn't even had any alcohol -- just tripped on uneven pavement.) This is not a great pattern.

Oh, Steph! Ouch, and also, I empathize. I went through a bad spell of spills last year, so I know both the pain and the embarrassment. Part of it was def balance. Feel better!

Side note: after the really bad fall in the garage where I banged my head and hairline fractured my elbow, I learned that being on a blood thinner gets you whisked into trauma right away. Good to know, if slightly startling.

How is it almost 1p? Yikes. DH is going to brave the store for me, and then I will make mashed potatoes and broccoli casserole to take with us tomorrow. The potatoes will be fine, right? I'm baking the casserole up there, but I can't deal with making the potatoes in the morning, and it'll be too busy up there. One night in the fridge won't be bad, right? Yeah, I eat leftover mashed potatoes all the time, and they're fine. OK, talked myself through it.

Now to make the shopping list...

I learned that being on a blood thinner gets you whisked into trauma right away.

I take low-dose aspirin every day, but no actual anticoagulants like Plavix.

I think my sideboob protected my ribs from the worst of the impact (cast-iron tub, yowch). My boobs are my superpower. I will for sure have bruises from this.

You'd got to the ER if you had potential breakage, I hope, yes?

Definitely -- I really don't think it's a break, just a bruise. It's sore, but not sharp pain.

My dignity has been fatally wounded, though. (In our group text, my college roommates assured me that I never had any dignity to begin with. This is the danger of being friends with people for 35 years.)