Black Friday and Christmas Decor

by Marsha Ward

Today is supposed to be the day when merchants finally get into the black on their financial books.

You may have noticed that many stores started their Black Friday sales a week early. I'm told that is because the economy has been so bad that desperate times call for early sales to attract customers . . . and money, to make Black Friday really mean businesses are "in the black."

I say good luck to them all. I'm just glad I'm not out in the mess.

I don't pretend to have any fashion sense or decorating skills. However, I've felt for a while that I should make some attempt to decorate my outdoors for Christmas. Here is my attempt. It took me two hours to get two strings of lights attached to my porch railing, and although I had thought to put lights on my deck railing, my muscles and I have thought better of that plan. Therefore, this is all it is, folks. I have a wreath for the door, which I will put up when I'm less racked with pain.

Speaking of pain, I'm nursing a sore left arm. I was given a medicine that I was not told could have a side affect of tendons snapping! This earned the medication a "black box warning" due to having a potential complication so dire that the next step up would be an FDA-mandated pulling from the market.

Of course I didn't know any of this until AFTER I took the medicine, and AFTER I hefted several heavy boxes full of books at an event at the end of October, and AFTER I saw a newscast that mentioned the "black box warning." My left arm has been sore ever since the event.

Whether my tendons actually snapped or stretched, or what, I'm not sure. The upshot is that I have suffered quite a lot of pain in my left arm, which restricts my ability to type. I hope to get help for the problem this coming week. Enough is enough, but I'm hoping to be told "the body will heal itself with this or that assistance," not an "oooo, immediate surgery is indicated" sort of diagnosis. Please wish me luck!