I'm going to try something different for my next scarf project. I'm going to try an illusion scarf. This illusion scarf, to be exact: The illusion isn't created by different colors, it's created by different stitches. The 2 row pink and white stripes don't change, but the stitches in the rows do. Instead of knitting, you purl. Instead of purling, you knit. So, the image that you're creating is subtler than if you used colors to create it. I'm makin...
As I sit here, a fever simmering behind my eyes, I feel like I have a couple of hot rocks in my back. Peeing has felt like passing fire for over a week now, and whilst I KNOW I have UTI I think that I have a kidney infection to boot. I should have gone to the doctor. I should have gone and got seen. But things have been so hectic...between Christmas and New Years and family and visits and travelling and all the other stuff that comes with the holidays - well, there jus...
I got a letter today from a local hospice, asking me if I could attend the upcoming volunteer training in February. I first contacted them last year asking about volunteer opportunities, but for ome reason or another I've never been able to attend. Either Dave's been gone, I've been too ill to attend, I haven't been able to find a sitter...there have just been a myriad of reasons keeping me from attending. This next one, though....this one I can go to. It's on two Saturd...
Our Jake's drums arrived. He hung out with his dad, watching him put them all together. Before they got done I had to run into town. I was only gone for an hour, but when I came back, Jake was tapping out very clear and very well timed rhythms. He's mixing it up, using his snare and his toms. He's practicing rolls that end with a cymbal crash. He's leaving the bass alone most of the time; I told him he should concentrate on his hands before he threw his foot ...
I went to the doctor's this morning to talk to him about my high heart rate. I got some blood drawn to see if perhaps it was my thyroid that was causing my ticker to run faster than normal (this morning's rate was 115 in case you're interested). My thyroid levels are normal. So we can rule out hyperthyroidism. My cholesterol is normal - 177 overall, and triglycerides are at 77. So, it's not hyperthyroidism or cholesterol that's causing the tachycardia. Bas...
The last few times I've been to see a doctor, my heart rate has been high. A few weeks ago it as 150 bpm - that's pretty high, but I was in a lot of pain that day so they wrote that off as being the cause. Today at the pain management center, my resting heart rate was 110 bpm. And I wasn't in that much pain. The nurse there asked me if anyone had ever worked my tachycardia up. I said no, that it's never been mentioned. She retook my pulse with a pulseoximiter...
I'm off to see Dr Tabakian this morning to see what he can do to help me with the neuropathic pain I've been left with since the spinal fusion surgery. I'm a bit scared, to be honest. I'm afraid that he's going to say "there's nothing I can do, go home" and that I'll have to live like this for the rest of my days. Having said that....I do have confidence in his abilities. He's the Director of Anesthesiology at St Louis University Hospital and has credentials out the wazoo. I wa...
Shea and I were it Gordmann's earlier, looking at hoodies and Christmas stuff. As we meandered around the store, we came across something that....well, that no person should ever have to see, ever. It was something so awful, so abhorrent....it is a vision that will stay with me for a very, very long time. Man thongs. Red and green velvety man man thongs with a red and green elf hat to wear them with. There were also black and white tuxedo style ones that came with...
The kids grandparents sent them some money for Christmas, and rather than be Grinch-y and make them wait until AFTER C-Day to spend it we decided to let them have a little of it now (Jake was the exception; I ordered his drums today so he used all his money - but he might just have them in time for Christmas now). Shea used her money to buy her a Furby. She had some Furbies the first time they came around back in the mid 90's. They were pretty entertaining at the time, but they had t...
D graduated from the Academy this afternoon. He called to tell me that it was over and said "I'm D.G." Me: "Done Graduated, you mean?" Him: "No. I got Distinguished Graduate." This is a big deal. This is the kind of thing that scores points on an EPR (just attending the school and graduating isn't enough for a bullet on an EPR, but making DG is), the kind of thing that follows you the rest of your career. It's pretty impressive. I know I'm impressed. I'm...
I've been bitten by the knitting bug again. I have yarn fever; some of the money I got for Christmas I spent on yarn...beautiful, silky, soft and fuzzy yarn in gorgeous colors and textures. It all started with that Mobeius strip (that I'm still working on). Then LW asked me to knit His Empness a snood (which is pretty much complete, I just have a couple more rounds and then I can bind off and get it in the mail). Then I decided that once I was done with His snood, I was goin...
Well, the kids grandma and grandpa send us a Christmas card today, and in it was a check from them, the kid'd uncle and greatgrandma too. Jake's going to have enough to get his drum kit. He knows, and he's incredibly excited. When he first found out he said 'excuse me a moment', stepped out the back door and screamed 'YAAAAAAAAAAAAYYYYYYYYY!!!!!!!' at the top of his lungs. Then he got all of his sister's concert DVD's together and spent the rest of the evening watching the d...
The latest separation is almost over. Dave will graduate from the Academy tomorrow and will drive home the day after. This TDY has been a tough one. The frequent separations have finally started to take their toll on us, and we've pretty much bickered the last 6 weeks away. He's done stuff I don't like, I've done stuff he doesn't like, old hurts have been brought to the forefront of our minds by new problems...it's really sucked. Last night we had a talk about thin...
Our Jake's decided what he wants for his birthday (despite it being 6 months away). A drum kit. Not one of the kid ones you see in Toys R Us or Wally World, but a proper junior starter kit from Musician's Friend. The basic kit is $120, and right now they're throwing in the throne for free. Jake might be getting money for Christmas, and his dad and I have said that if he gets $100 all told that we'd be willing to sub him the extra $20 and he can get his drum kit earli...
My two eldest kids are watching 'Mississippi Burning'. I can almost see their innocence slipping away. It makes me sad, but at the same time I understand that it's neccessary. They need to see the atrocities that we have visited upon each other. They need to see how it was to be black in 50's and 60's. They need to understand. Sometimes being a parent is hard. It's hard to prepare them for the uneven playing field that is life, yet maintain their innocence and...