Occupational Hazards

...or, "Why God Made Ice Cream Scoops"

Oh, the things they don't tell you in teacher education programs!

We had ice cream left over from Valentine's Day. Knowing that if I took it home it would end up on my hips and thighs, I decided to use it for something else. My kids set math goals. Those who reached their goals this marking period got ice cream sundaes. All fine and good, except I forgot to bring my ice cream scoop from home on the day of the party. oops.

No problem, though, I decided to just use a plastic spoon, which didn't work as well, but it was OK.

Except.....
I ended up having to use my thumb to get a large enough scoop, and to get the ice cream off the spoon and into the bowl. Midway through dishing eight bowls of ice cream, I noticed my thumb was beginning to hurt quite a lot. I whined about it, and one of my girls asked if I had a glove. I did, but didn't want it covered in ice cream, so decided not to use it. My thumb continued to grow more uncomfortable; by the time I was finished it was burning. It continued to ache all night, and when I got up this morning, the skin on the tip of my thumb had turned white. Yup, the tip of my thumb suffered something between "frostnip" and "frostbite." WebMD says there won't be permanent damage because my thumb has "uninterupted sensation," meaning it still hurts like the dickens whenever I push on it.

Do you have any idea how many things you use the tip of your thumb for?