I'm Not Laughing With You
That was appropriate for the funny saying on my dog calendar on Monday. You see, sometime in the early morning hours of Monday, I heard a Thump!
And then I felt one.
After a couple of swear words from me that are not suitable for this forum and an “Are you alright?” from my husband, I heard him laughing.
My brusied and swollen foot
I had fallen out of bed right after our Dacshund, Molly. She got up and scampered away obviously dazed and confused at the rude awakening, her nails, “tick, tick, tick” on the floor.
Emma, the Shepherd/Rottweiler mix I fell on was trying to get out from underneath me, and Sade the Pit Bull was licking my face.
I found myself wedged between the log bed frame and the dresser, unable to move.
Ok. You can laugh, I am now. But I wasn’t laughing with my husband then.
I’ve had plenty of occasions to laugh when he’s fallen out of bed, which I would say, averages at least once a year. My husband is famous for falling out of bed in his family. The first night in his “Big Boy Bed” as a toddler, he fell out and broke his collarbone.
I know he couldn’t help the giggles, because when I hear him falling out of bed, I usually can’t.
This is yet another lesson of living in a small house. You see, as our marriage has progressed through the years, our beds have steadily gotten smaller, from a King sized waterbed (I know, it’s so 70s & 80s), to a Queen, now to a Full as a Queen wouldn’t have allowed for a dresser.
This, while our body sizes haven’t gotten any smaller, nor have the amount of bodies in the bed (we’ve always had pets sleeping with us). I often wake up sleeping on the edge of the Full sized bed in The Little House, but have never fallen out.
Emma finally wiggled out from underneath me, seemingly no worse for the experience and I finally convinced Sade to quit kissing me.
I imagine she was thinking, “What a treat! Mom’s come to sleep with us on the floor!”
I got my body turned so I could get up, albeit I was in quite a bit of pain as my arm, index finger, foot and leg had hit the dresser on the way down.
I went into the living room and comforted Molly, who seemed in better shape than me. I wiggled all my toes and made sure everything was still bending and after a bout of nausea from the pain in my foot, was finally able to get back to sleep two hours later.
The moral of the story here for the folks who are thinking about building a small house, is to do plenty of thinking on the size of your bedroom.
Take into consideration the size of bed you need to be comfortable and always leave yourself plenty of landing room should you fall out of bed.
I can’t even remember the last time I fell out of bed. How about you? Or, can anyone explain why it’s funny when someone else falls?
Ouch! And … giggle.
Ouch! What a terrible way to wake up. I can't remember falling out of bed, but I've been woken up with a terrible cramp in my calf, then having to jump out of bed quickly to stand on it. This was when I was very pregnant. Another terrible way to wake up!
Oh, you're right, She Bear. Next to falling out of bed, those Charlie Horses are the worst! We sometimes get those if we've been out doing a lot of work, or sometimes even after taking a long walk. Probably couldn't do this if pregnant, but you can sit up, straighten your legs and pull back on your toes to get rid of those!
We also do not have room for a dresser in our bedroom (although we do have a king-sized bed). You can just barely get in bed from either side. Neither of us wanted to be flush against the wall. My husband uses a cedar chest for a night stand so he can put stuff inside it from the top. It is flush against the wall and the bed. Then we use open bookshelves for our clothes, books, music, etc. Clothes are in baskets on the shelves. When we need something, we take the basket off the shelf, put it on the bed and then return it.
Love your blog and really sorry about your foot. Don't bother having the toe xrayed. I've had six broken toes and all they do is tape it to the next one for stability until it heals. (unless of course, it's truly dislocated or breaks the skin)
Your set up sounds sensible, Mary Anne. Like everything else, we had too many clothes when we moved here. I'm culling all of that as well. We do have a large closet with shelves. I could do something else, but the dresser is more sentimental to me than really necessary.
Thanks for reading Living Large and weighing in the conversation!
Kerri,
Sorry to hear about your mishap. I broke 2 metatarsal (the longer bones in the foot) two years ago. Long story short, I was running after a dog and landed just right on a rock, and snap. Yes, some choice words were spoken. I felt so lucky not to need surgery but got to wear a knee-high ski boot looking thing for 6 weeks. This was a better option then a cast. It was an adventure driving a standard transmission and some tending to some other necessaries at the farm. An inconveince but life keeps going.
I hope yours is nothing serious and you're up and running soon.
Have a great day!
No, nothing serious SABLE. I'm already back on the walks with the dogs. I think I read once that tripping over animals is one of the most common mishaps that cause broken bones. I had to have a fatty tumor removed from one foot once and just as I was up and walking again, I hit a rock just like you and fell. The dogs were on a leash and I thought they were going to drag me all the way down the sidewalk! Luckily, I didn't snap a bone, but it was severely sprained. Glad you're all mended now.
Kerri-that foot sends pain waves all the way down here. Hope it is not broken! Little bones in the middle of the foot can break so if pain doesn't subside after 48 hurs-Xrays can make sure…take care of you!
Had to laugh because, I fell out of bed on Sunday afternoon in the middle of a darn good nap! Since I live alone, only the dog was witness. LOL…I did not bruise half as bad.…landed on carpeted floor-Sandy moved out of the way in time. Am already planning furniture placement in the little cabin of mine for this summer!
Thanks, BJ. Glad to hear misery has company!
Must be something in the water.
Better yet, build a low, raised platform (25-40cm high) that runs from wall to wall, but only from the door till the window. That way you can have storage in the platform (including pull-out drawers along the front of the platform) and place a Queen sized mattress directly on the platform. Room for comfy bed, 2 adults, assorted pets, storage and you can never fall out of bed again!
Apologies if you are not looking for furniture placement advice…
No, great suggestions, Vida! This house was never meant to be a full time residence, or I would have planned it a lot better. I was trying to have my cake. The dresser is an antique heirloom of my mothers and the only piece I got to bring in the house. The rest of it is in the storage building collecting mildew and I'm coming to terms with letting it all go (more on that on Friday). Anyway, when funds allow, I'm planning some built-ins. Thanks for weighing in!
(((laughing)))I have to say it made me smile and chuckle at the same time. I could just picture the events as they unfolded. Last summer the same thing happened to me. Asleep and unknowingly close to the edge of my bed I rolled over and right off the side of the bed. I hit the floor stomach side down managing not to hit my face by throwing my arms down. However the knee did not fair as well. I swear my knee was sore for 2 weeks. My oldest son and husband were in the living room and never came to check on me! They did ask me later what the loud thump was…had I fallen out of bed? I lied and said no, at that point I wasn't about to let them think I had fallen out of bed! I'm guessing most people have a favorite side of the bed, I do. And it's on the left side, so when I roll to the right — there's always more bed. That particular morning I had migrated all the way over to the right side when the DH got up. So, imaginge my surprise to roll over into thin air. I'm quite sure I would have been compared to a beached whale had anyone witnessed it! lol
Thanks for making me smile, Sandy!
As I told BJ, it's nice to know I'm not the only one tumbling out of bed. Maybe we're all on well water!?
But wouldn't "well" water make us well? LOL.…sorry, too many fourth graders..and one more day til Spring Break!
Hope we are all feeling better!
Wow, I would never give up bed space for a dresser. If I don't get a good night's rest I'm a beast the rest of the day! Have you thought of getting a larger bed with alternative storage space, perhaps narrow, built-to-the-ceiling cupboards on either side of a centrally positioned bed? We live in a small house too, with 5 dogs and our storage and furniture is planned to the nth degree.
Ouch. That looks really painful. You know I love your whole tiny house thing, but I've got to say that sprawling in a big-enough bed is one of the great pleasures in life. I'm not sure I could give that up.
I admit, I miss it. I've never had a California King or anything, but a Full is just too small. After Dale and I lived here awhile, we went back home and I had a coupon for a suite at a luxury hotel and I think our bed was bigger than our entire house!
Your poor foot looks painful…I sure hope nothing is broke and it heals quickly.
A year and half ago I broke my baby toe by hitting my foot again the bedroom door jam.…got a little to close as I walked out of the room,( plus I'm a fast walker), anyway 4 toes went straight and the baby toe took a hard left. Had to go to ER to have it straighten.
OMG, Susan. Your toe story made me wince. Ouch.
Oh my that really looks painful!Glad it isn't serious though. David and I sleep in a full sized bed and though we haven't fallen out of it, it can feel very cramped at times. Once in a while one of our big yellow cats decides to join us and then it's really crowded.
Kerri– I hope it doesn't sound mean to say that I did in fact, laugh out loud reading this. I could picture the whole scene! Hahaha I'm sure that everyone involved was sleepy and startled to find themselves suddenly in a heap!
Hope the foot heals quickly! Great blog!
Not mean at all, Kathy! I was actually trying to write it so it sounded funny, so thanks.
Now, if I had broken anything and weren't able to work, that would be a different matter!
We had a 20 lb. cat once that used to love to sleep with us. Try waking up with THAT on your back!
Ouchie! that foot hurts to look at it. I imagine it will display more 'color' as the day goes on. Be sure and ice it as V says! Glad the doggies also survived.
I feel the pain of sleeping in a smaller bed though! The pups still want their piece.…dead center! I get to sleep around them! so far haven't fallen out…but came close when trying to turn over and there was just air..was able to roll back in time.
I guess another question could be, "Why do we allow the pets to take up a good portion of the bed, who is the boss here!?"
I haven't yet, but I imagine it is a matter of time. I often wake up on the very edge in summer trying to escape the too hot bodies of man and cat.
Watch out, Frugal, don't do what I did!
My husband fell out of bed once and it scared me to death. Now, since we are older, 60 & 70, we tend to sleep in separate beds, since sleep becomes more elusive as the years pass. This would be a problem in your little house, wouldn't it?
Actually, now that Dale isn't working, he usually prefers to stay up at night watching TV and he will fall asleep on the futon on the living room most nights. If he has something to do the next day, he will come to bed.
Thank you, V. No worries. It looks worse than it feels now. I'm just glad my face didn't hit the dresser and I didn't break a tooth or something. My face just hit the stinky dog.
Isn't it always fun to explain bruises to someone? My doctor once sent a counselor to talk to me after my horse picked me up and threw me. It looked like someone had beaten the holy hell out of me and I guess she wanted to make sure I wasn't being abused at home.
I'll add when I got through telling the story about the horse, she looked at me and said, "Well, I believe you. No one could make THAT up!"
Ouch!!
Boy, Kerri you really did a dilly of a number on that foot. I do hope that you have a ice pack or frozen peas, til that calms down.
I didn't fall out of bed, but I stepped on the dog by the bed and we had a little bit of a rodeo in the bedroom, and I hit my head on the dresser and had a shiner that I had to explain to my dad. That was interesting to say the least.
Please take care of the foot, and keep it elevated if it starts pounding.