For a year the doctors prodded me to start, at least part time, using a wheelchair. The stubborn Norwegian in me thought the Irish in me was just being lazy. The truth was, I didn't have much of a life and I was falling down a lot. So the lazy Irish struck a deal with the stubborn Norwegian. We rented a wheelchair for a month. The first day in the chair was a miracle! I dusted, vacuumed, mopped the kitchen floor and still had energy to make dinner. In the next few days our house started to feel like home again. One Saturday I decided to do something I hadn't done in a year. Make cookies, using my favorite food group - chocolate! Cookie sheet in hand, bearing neat rows of unbaked goo, I rolled to the stove, opened the oven door and was met with a heavy dose of 'NOW WHAT'? With the oven door down, there was no way to reach across the opening to get the cookie sheet on the rack! I sat staring at this snafu till it occurred to me - what every wheelchair savvy, cookie-bakin' person about the kitchen has done since the oven was invented. I grabbed the door handle, closed the door halfway, moved the chair closer and leaned the door on my thigh. Mentally patting myself on the back I slid the cookie sheet on the rack and immediately burned my underarm on the hot oven door, Not once, but three times baking that batch of cookies.

The next day there was a lot of 'mulling' and smearing of ointment. Then there was the Oven Buddy. The first Oven Buddy had the important heat-resistant fabric (like a pot holder) on one side and a cotton print on the front side. It looked 'nice' when hanging on the oven door handle. The learning curve happened with the first use of the Oven Buddy. I was so excited about the way it protected my arm, I forgot to flip it back outside the oven when the door closed. The second Oven Buddy had the heat-proof fabric on both sides. So bake to your heart's content. If you have to close the gap of the oven door to reach in and out - use the Oven Buddy.

Life is hard, if the Oven Buddy makes it any easier - that is good. Sandra