A Man, A Plan, a Canal, Panama*

I got nothin' except for the date:

01-02-2010

*Also a palindrome, in case you missed it :).

Happy New Year!

New Year's Eve Already?

I swear, the end of the year kinda snuck in and waited in the dark for HOURS until I finally staggered home under way too many bags, wet, and tired from the rain (in Seattle?!? Really?!?) and packing and more packing at work, and man do my shoulders hurt...

THEN JUMPED IN MY FACE as soon as I turned on the lights with streamers and awful noisemakers and looking way too happy to be here again.

I joked at work today that if I make it past 10 PM it may be a miracle. I'm not sayin' it's old age...it's just been a harder than usual week for me. I blame at least 90% of it on the moving. I detest packing and moving in my normal hum drum life...moving offices? While still trying to conduct business? Are you kidding me? AAAAaaaaauuuummmm. What's that Bezzie recommended? Push out the jive, bring in the love....I need a whole lot more love, I think. Come 2010/Monday (and that just looks weird) we'll be situated in the new building and hello my other hated task...unpacking.

But seriously, really? New Year's Eve already? You'd think I'd keep track seeing as it happens at the same time every year.

Maybe if I caffeinate enough I'll be willing to walk to the other side of my apartment building to watch the Space Needle explode with color and lights and such at midnight...but man, that's like 6 hours away! And it is COLD outside! And did I mention the rain?

Yes, along with my borderline OCD tendencies, I am a number one wuss. It's good to know these things about yourself.

Anywho, go party it up for me. My goal is to stay awake long enough to watch the "Harry Potter 1/2 Blood Prince" movie that I TOTALLY missed this year...they are going to take away my fan card if I keep this up, I swear. I might be able to finish my baby brother's hat...or maybe just sit there and pretend to be knitting as I nod off...

May 2010 not be so very exhausting.

Bizarro Girl Strikes Again...

So you know those people who can't be the ones to finish the last piece/bite of anything?

I'm part of the clean plate society, not a problem that one.

It's the ruining of a pristine thing: cutting a pie/cake/etc., or even opening a new box of cereal (until I verify that nope, there are no other boxes of open cereal to consume) or say a bag of super tasty Trader Joe's Hickory Barbecue Potato chips that I bought...not gonna do it...not if I share my kitchen and snacks with someone else who can do it instead, EVEN IF I KNOW there are no other open bags of chips around...

This is not a problem if I live alone...only when I do silly things like share groceries with people. Yep, this means if we split a box of cookies at work, I'll wait for you to open and take the first one...unless you give me permission...no really.

You'd think I weigh 90 lbs. as everyone gets a yummy handful of barbecue potato chips, cookies, pie, anything with way too much sugar, before me...I wish...

No, instead it's just another in my long list of odd things that makes me who I am...

And if I'm at my mom's house? And I'm going to open the Eskimo Pie box? Though it might be the absolute and only ice cream in the house? Of course I ask permission first, even if it's my niece who's asking for the thing and not me.

Thus ends another interlude into my wacky way of being...brought on by the fact that Andy opened up my bag of super yummy Hickory Barbecue Potato Chips...score!

I'm Ba-a-ck...

And so hating life at hours this early in the AM knowing I have to actually go to work today.

And it's the last week of the year an the last week at the current site (the whole kit and caboodle is moving starting FRIDAY) and it's all just hitting me now.

AND OF COURSE I didn't start any office packing before I left for LA, hello? Have we been introduced?

Okay, enough negativity...time to get out there and at least pretend a bit of productivity.

(Yes, maybe I am a bit more Pollyanna than I used to be in high school...I still wear the same amount of black though.)

On the Ground

In la la LAnd.

Surprising mom? Totally priceless.

I got a hug and a kiss and a smack on the rump for not letting her clean house before I arrived. But dude, totally worth it.

I've helped put up and trim the tree, have wrapped a million presents, and oh yeah, someone remind me never ever ever to go to a mall the weekend before xmas. I have no idea what I was thinking when I volunteered to go pick up "one last thing." It must be the euphoria associated with home-cooked food and family, that's my only excuse.

Okay, little brother is eying the computer like it's his turn or something...kids these days :).

Real or Imagined?

There is an old "Rhymes with Orange" comic that I may have referred to in one of my ever-growing number of posts...the text is basically:

If you study too much your brain will swell and dislodge itself from it's place, fall down into your throat, and choke you to death...or something.

So here is my theory, having studied brains, learning, and the stuff that happens therein:

If you study a whole lot, (can there be too much?) for a long time, you crowd out things your brain feels might be so trivial that it eventually starts shoving huge swaths of stuff into places you can only access when half awake in the shower. And it might drive you mad trying to figure out if it was a dream or really happened.

A whole lot of my past falls into this category. Granted, adding um, body chemical altering substances (so as to not say booze and smokes if my little brother ever finds my blog, hi!) in the mix really makes it hard to remember feeding L stove top one turkey day...or being in other L's apartment more than just that one time we played RISK...

I feel like I'm going to need other people to help me remember my past if I keep changing careers/learning new ways to make money. (Learning about fiscal closings and GAAP and USAID requirements is a little less trivial than I thought it'd be...silly me.)

But sometimes you don't have the someone in your life anymore to verify...

I can't stop thinking about the time I arranged to pick up my best friend from high school at the airport. We were attending colleges at opposite ends of the country and I was home first. Did I call her mom and volunteer? Did I call her? I don't remember the details anymore.

But at the airport, back when you could go all the way up to the terminal door? Really, kids, you could! There was no TSA and you could take LITERS of water onto a plane and the pilots used to walk around and say "hi" (so they could take a break and maybe stretch and maybe NOT FALL ASLEEP while doing their pilot thing?!?) and if you were under twelve and FLYING ALONE (is that allowed anymore?!?) or super cute, or even just smiled and said "hi," they gave you "wings."

I am so very old. Where was I...

At the terminal...a roundish one...I sat and waited for K's plane to arrive and...here is where I am wondering "live or memorex"...K's mom/dad/both? Appear...just to make sure I showed, then left before K's plane landed.

My 19 year-old self felt utter disappointment that they didn't trust me. (My 35 year-old self smiles at the lengths parents went through in the days before cell phones.) See, I remember the feelings associated with the whole experience...and I'm getting extreme deja vu writing this out...if I did already once, long ago, I blame learning about Use Tax Application.

Well...I gotta finish packing (procrastination, I am it), my flight to El Pueblo de Nuestra Señora la Reina de los Angeles del Río de Porciúncula (frankly, much cooler that just plain "LA" in my over-filled mind) is only a few hours away...so unless I can wrest the keyboard from my baby brother's grasp, more radio silence to come...

If I don't make it back on to post: Happy Holidays! Cuz they're all piling up around us whether or not we celebrate any of them.

Unless Blood or Tears are Involved, it Doesn't Count

I'm talkin' 'bout a sewing project of course!

So...I'm done.

I know, I know, my little Janome Jem (truly outrageous - sorry, couldn't help it) has been through thick and thin...some of these instances have even been chronicled here! Therefor it should be no surprise that it's bound to be an adventure whenever I have to take out my little patchwork Jem.

This was to be an easy venture. My dad's xmas gift, which needs to be packed and shipped tomorrow if I'm to fulfill my ruse. Oh, did I not mention this?

Right, it's been a while. And I've been under radio silence because somehow time keeps passing much quicker than I need it to and it's easier to keep quiet about everything to everyone that to make up stories to keep the lie going....

See, for the first time in what seems like decades, I'm going home for xmas. To make it extra crispy special, we're not telling my mom, it's her xmas gift :). Why am I spilling the beans now? Because I leave in 4 days and I needed some rant and understanding time.

I've planned and plotted with my mom every year to try to get the gifts home on time for distribution and general last minute nonsenses (i.e. "I don't know what to get so-and-so, what are "we" getting him/her/them.") It's usually my dad's gift, you see.

This time though! I figured it out! ALL. By. Myself. I was soooo proud.

The man needs an upgrade from the sad towels he uses to warm his legs in the early winter mornings on his drive across LA to get to work. I would find him a cool lap blanket. Yes, I do know the term oxymoron. Yes, I quickly found out that there is no such thing as a "cool" and/or lap-sized anything with the term "blanket" as a part of its name.

See, this year? It's about throws. Big, fluffy, floofy, fancy throws made of cashmere, merino, mink (seriously?), high quality fake furs, and any and all things non machine-washable.

Hence the need for a trip to a big box craft store to pick up some fleece and thread, and time to pull out my wee little Janome Jem (truly outrageous) for some sewing fun!

Cuz sewing is fun! Really! Unless you need to wind a bobbin and notice this:
My bobbin winder's bobbin holder (say that 3xs fast) has had a piece of it snapped off. I found the piece in the bag. My theory is that it happened during the last move... Regardless, I either need to find a way to fix it, or buy a new machine.

What? Why so drastic a remedy? Because I am done.

I never loved this machine the way I did my Singer (see that linked post above), and every, single, time I need to use it lately has involved my laying out cash for bits, pieces or, in this case, pre-spooled bobbins.

Why didn't I just go get one of those "side-winder" thingies? Because I did. Go out. In the freezing pre-snow-feeling Seattle weather (maybe not down here, but it is snowing in Everett as I type), to hunt it down. The one place that had it? The same big box store previously mentioned, for $40. No, you're not reading that wrong. Yes, I know it's only $19 for the pink one on the website, but in the store? It costs more than I'm willing to shell out for something that might not even wind bobbins that fit with my machine. They had a whole list down the side of the box...not a gamble I wanted to take, I'd rather spend that $40 in LA next week.

So instead I went to Quality Sewing & Vacuum in Ballard to see what my options were...fixing that wee piece, is now more than the machine is worth. See, it's $150 just to send it in to be looked at. When I needed it cleaned and checked out for last years stockings? It was cheaper than buying a new one, I had a coupon, so I went for it.

After being told everything is good and yet STILL having to fight with it every step of the way? I kinda came to the realization that this little machine and I may need to part ways. Today? possibly the last straw.

See, I did accomplish my task:
One lap blanket in black fleece and some black/gray flannel that was going to become pajama pants, but as it was mis-measured for me at the same big-named craft store it was sitting in my sewing tub waiting for a project.

I folded it so you could see the two sides, but also so that it hides the fact that it's not quite rectangular. See, along with the usual cursing and letting of blood that my sewing adventure usually gives me...I also fought with the "teeth" that help move the fabric along. Apparently my little Jem was hungry.

I may have mentioned a straw breaking above? Yep...I'm thinking I need to start saving for a new sewing machine. By the time I need to sew again? I may have gathered enough pennies. (Have you all noticed I only bust out the machine a couple times a year? And to prove I'm not the professional sewer, um, this is the machine that I'm thinking of replacing my little guy with, and before you say anything, yes, it's another Janome.)

And for you knitters:

Done!

65 inches after washing. I didn't block it because, well, it's Berocco Comfort and it's not like the college student that gets this will either.

It's to be packed and sent off to OFA tomorrow...yey!

Speaking of packing? I need to get my act together as I leave on Thursday morning and there are a million things on my to do list before I get dropped off at the airport. This is the part of traveling that I really really hate.

58" Long, but Only When Lying Down

My red scarf (yeah, I'm doing one of those as well) is now 58" long, when laid out on the carpet...but only seem to come up to my chin when I'm standing up...(I'm 63.5" tall)

Either I've grown, or um, something changes quite drastically between laying something down and having gravity play with it.

Hmm, I just read what I wrote,and I am 12, as I am giggling with how dirty that all sounds. Is it sad I have to remind myself I am still just speaking about yarn? I must be tired.

Was My Last Post Really That Long Ago?

Hmm, the 22nd...I um, guess it was.

So 'member how I said I was stuffed last week? We had Turkey dinner #2 on Friday, the um, 27th (in lieu of black Friday, more on that some other day). I swear, there must have been a competition between L&L and J&L about how much wonderful food they could make and convince me to eat.

There was a couch with my name on it...and then given a blanket to collapse under...cuz boy-howdy, my system was so devoted to digesting my arms and legs totally froze!

Andy did not make it past the first few minutes post feasting, opting to go to bed instead of watching "the something Riddick" or whatever movie was on. Knowing it would be very very bad of me to lie down so soon after eating (hello heartburn) I watched and inspected my eyelids in turns. We were all stunned into silence, and part of it really was because the movie was soooo gimmicky and terribly cliche...but really, what were we expecting.

My eyelid inspecting won the coin toss in the end and I awoke to the final line of the movie...which, along with most of Vin Diesel's dialogue needed translating...but whatevers, a click of J's magic remote and suddenly we were SUCKED into the stories behind The Facts of Life. No really! And we were all awake and laughing and commenting and my word, what is wrong with Natalie's eyebrows?!?! (If I pick up the outside edges of mine and lift them a la Mr. Spock, I get the same weird skin looking deal going, so I should shut up now...). And Mrs. Garret was still alive! And singing on cruise ships! Oh my youth...

It was a grand way to end the evening.

Another Thanksgiving successfully navigated. Oh, except for the pies I made...

I didn't mention the pies for J&L's did I?

Well, same pies as L&L's. Except I fiddled with the crust after some more comments and recommendations at work...I did something TERRIBLY wrong. I have pictures I can load later. They are quite pretty. Perfect for the bright lights and long hours of food photography. But if you want a slice? Break out a hacksaw for the crust...no really.

I have no idea what went wrong. As of last night I can finally cut into it with a regular non-serrated knife. But on Friday? HA HA HA HA, we had so much fun making fun of my rock hard pretty crust, lemme tell ya.

Remind me not to mess with a good thing.

Early Thanksgiving...

I am officially stuffed.

And there are so many leftovers!

Which I didn't cook!

I love being the "single person" at couples' Thanksgivings...especially early ones like L&L&T's! Now I'm set for sweet potato pie until Turkey Day!

I would upload pictures of the pumpkin pie and the stuffed mushrooms Andy and I contributed, but a) I forgotted to take pictures of the mushrooms, and b) the pie pictures didn't come out AT ALL as my hand hurt too much when I was trying to take them...

Besides, these pictures outdo what mine would have looked like a million to one:

Sun Dried Tomato Stuffed Mushrooms
Silky Smooth Pumpkin Pie

I used this pie crust, and I just gushed about it in Bezzie's comments:

All Butter Really Flaky Pie Dough

Dude, I shall never fear pie crust again, all I'm sayin'.

About my hand...
So you know how when you stub your toe/have a hang nail/papercut/whatever you seem to find it over and over and over again and hurt and rehurt and rehurt it ad infinitum?

Well, whaddaya know, when you burn your hand as you're taking your bean-filled pre-baked pie crust out of the oven? You will inevitably burn it again with scalding hot water! Then burn it again when you put in the ready-to-be-baked but VERY HEAVY pies into the oven! And yet again when you go to take the tin-foil tents off the edges! And then what felt like a few more hundred times as you're frying the shallots (did you know they are also known as green onions?)! And flying grease on an oven burn? Oh yeah, a new kind of torture, not to mention more burny bits while baking the mushrooms to prepare them for the stuffing!

Or maybe you do if you are me...Regardless, my left hand HURTS, and looks like I set the back of it on fire, or maybe ironed it...or, as I actually did, found that the oven racks are WAY TOO CLOSE TOGETHER! And adjusting them while the oven is set to 400 degrees is a STUPID IDEA. Also, pumpkin pies in pyrex baking dishes are heavier than they look.

I hope next year's me will reread this post before attempting either of the above recipes to avoid looking like I ripped duct tape off the back of my hand. I'm off to go find the neosporin.

Never Ever EVER Mention Your Plans to Save Up for a New Computer In Front of the Old One...

I know this, really I do, an yet I must have swallowed a stuuuuupid pill as I was working on my budget yesterday.

I'm sorry, Mini, but I REALLY miss having a lappy. It's rather hard to hall you into bed to watch some late-night online b-movies (dude, reliving my misspent childhood with all the old b-movies on hulu, seriously).

And during my pox scare? (No spots yet, I have never been so happy to have my sinuses so stuffed and my head pounding so hard...just a sinus/cold thing...so far...) I really could have used some in-bed computer-doctoring instead of dragging my sorry sore body out of it to see what Dr. Intarweb had to say about how my symptoms compared to the dreaded adult-chicken-pox...

So, yeah, my mini has started to act up by locking up or not shutting off applications, or simply refusing to wake up and force a restart. I'm hoping that whatever temporary insanity it has will amend itself with the next Apple Update. They tend to release them at about the same time that my mini starts freaking out...so fingers crossed because my budget has me not purchasing anything costly for at least a COUPLE YEARS, Mini, did you hear that? YearS. Pretty please get better.

Also, no plague here. And yes, definitely planning on becoming Chicken Pox inoculated as soon as I can find out if my insurance will pay for it...otherwise it's another budget item expense. I realized that if I stay on with my present company, we work with so many countries and people that um, well, it does not hurt to have some extra protection when it comes to childhood diseases I never had.

Sadly, my extra day of staying inside waiting for the pox bloom, also made me miss out on reserving space for the Theo Chocolate Tour. Okay, it was more like I spent all day sleeping and therefore did not call the place to reserve any spots seeing as I was unconscious. I obviously needed the sleep, but um, yeah, kinda pissed at myself and disappointed that I'll not be doing the tour this time around. This is where staycationing trumps a real vacation, though. I can always make it a Saturday trip sometime in the distant future, no worries :).

I did venture underground yesterday, and that was rather fun. There was even a, um, "not quite right" person on the tour, at least for a little bit...to me it just added to the Seattle ambiance. To others? They were much happier to see the backside of his floppy coat and dirty sneakers as he took off at a run far far away from our group.

If the predicted weather holds (torrential rain beginning late tonight) I can go to the Zoo today. The only thing stopping me is the fact that being outside mucking it from one damp display to another in temperatures that "feel like" the upper 30s might not make me happy about such a decision. I'll be begging for a sinus/cold relapse that way...I think my best bet would be to go to the Seattle Art Museum today and catch the Michelangelo/Calder exhibits. Which, being a big dork, really call to me more than the cute Long Tailed Macaque. The zoo might be cheaper in winter...but I might have to wait for temps in the 50s for me to enjoy it better.

The Seattle Times just published a "What to do in Rainy Weather" article...which I found rather amusing. As little as I've accomplished this staycation, I'm not disappointed at all. It really does beat being in the office working, after all. I do still have to motivate and get the xmas shopping done. I've scoped out where I want to go...just need to firmly decide on when.

Staycation or Sick Leave...That is the Question

Have I mentioned I've never had the chicken pox?

On Wednesday AM we were let known someone in the building had come down with them. I was told I couldn't even know what floor they were on, but really how likely would it be that I'd been in contact with them? (!?!)

Are you kidding? You are kidding, right? Hello? Accounts Payable just before the closing of the month sees more faces, paper, and interaction with everyone in the building than the public bathroom near the Space Needle! (Okay, maybe I exaggerate.)

Hello yesterday...I stayed in bed pretty much all day:
- Low grade fever.
- No energy.
- And yeah, I'm kinda itching a couple spots where neither my psoriasis nor my pityriasis rosea have ever been...
- BUT, sniffly as all get out.

So, it could be anything! Personally, since I didn't wake up covered in spots today, I'm leaning more toward stress rash + sinus infection from the 40 year old dust that was blasted over us during the confetti cannons at the They Might Be Giants concert + maybe standing in the rain and cold and wind after midnight at my age and not getting enough sleep might make me catch one of the million colds out there right now + IT'S MY VACATION I WILL NOT BE SICK! = Me in a very bad mood.

But I am just back from the outside (!), armed with Aveno Anti-Itchy Baby Bath stuff (I could not find the adult version), just in case.

For some reason I have it in my head that if I succumb to something, it'll be tomorrow, cuz you know, that would be my first day of vacation and all. Not that I made the best time/weather choice as the Pineapple Express is supposed to hit us full force then...

If bad things come in threes, um, universe? What's it gonna be? Or am I being to brazen to ask?

11-10-09...Countdown Day...

Okay, I'm a big dork, and get a kick out of the silliness of numbers sometimes.

I guess last year's 10-09-08 was more melodic, but um, I remembered today's today, so there.

And we are counting down very important things this time around:

- I'm leaving work early to go get the apartment ready for visitors

- We're going to THEY MIGHT BE GIANTS tonight!!!

- I'm playing Seattle Tourist (tm) ALL, NEXT, WEEK

Yep, staycation here I come.

I can't wait! I've got a list of things I'm going to do, but only one per day, cuz I am also very lazy and what's a vacation that doesn't involve sleeping in and having time to chill?

So far I want to:
- Take the Seattle Underground Tour

- If it's clear, go up the Space Needle

- If it's not pouring, go to the zoo

- If I can convince Andy to come with me, go wine tasting

- Do the Theo's Chocolate Factory Tour

And in the PM/AM rest of the day? Get my xmas shopping done and over with.

Small goals, really.

If you've done the Seattle tourist thing? Or ever wanted to be a tourist in Seattle? What would you want to do? I need alternatives due to that silly WEATHER thing we have here.

What's that Word that's used When you are Using Someone for Profit?

And can you exploit a dead person?

Bodies, the Exhibit? (I won't link, you'll see why.) I went the the Seattle showing. From an artistic and possibly medical point of view? Very informative.

From a gut-feeling? It made me very sad.

The website spoke in vague generalities, giving you all kinds of factoid information that seemed super informative in that trivial-pursuit kind of way. But once I scraped away all the floral language I understood that all these bodies came from China and that this exhibit was in no way tied or associated with anything medicinal. Looking at the bodies and body parts and the way they'd been posed and the people they'd hired to care for the "exhibits" made it obvious that every bit, from the laser lights to the bone-shaped ice trays at the gift store, was for raking in as much money as possible.

This part may not be true but it's what I imagine taking place:

- People died.

- Their families sold their bodies to this corporation (not science, mind, but a corporation out to make loads of cash).

- The corporation then plasticized the corpses and molded the muscles and tendons into people running and shooting darts and playing football.

And by their sizes and again, my imagination (possibly overactive), I think the fellow swinging the tennis racket, well, I totally got the feeling that he had never even set eyes on one when he was alive.

Because really? I totally understand donating your body to science and your organs to others and all that stuff. I was a pink-dotter when I had a license that had the dots, but what scenario do you imagine occurring to "give" your body over to a company? It's more like sell...and it wouldn't be you doing it but maybe your relatives...that maybe can't afford to bury you...(I did mention my overactive imagination) and that made me really want nothing to do with this exhibit and it's fake nod to the wonders of science and the body.

It's the Holden Caulfield inside of me I suppose...but I hate this kind of fakery. Disneyland, Renaissance Faires, Roadside Attractions, even Casinos are honest with you. The main goal is to part you from your money as they entertain you. You paying to get a learning experience with the kids running around in fake lab coats giving you BS stories about the "attractions?" That was kinda hard to swallow.

The website, and some of the kids in the coats, were happy to tell you about the process used to create what was there. And truthfully? It is amazing that this process exists. We are definitely living in the future and all that noise. I just wish we lived in an honest one.

Now, if you're an artist and don't feel like digging up and dissecting corpses to figure out the skeletal and muscular structures? Go. It's useful and informative. And some of the bodies and especially the circulatory systems? Amazing. Just don't over-think it, the way I did.

Shock the Monkey

So maybe I'm a wee little bit out of the whole "knit this cuz everyone else is knitting it" loop...About three years behind, it would seem:

Monkey Socks for Mom:

Yep, another xmas, another pair of socks. But shhh, don't tell her these are for her, 'kay?

I followed the pattern as written, and when I saw they would actually fit my "thick and wides" I decided to frog the one I'd started a million years ago (back when I was on the Italy trip with my xMIL) which was also size 2s, but I'd "adjusted for size" and they could have easily fit my dad's feet...(where I get my "dainties from") except they are in a shade of pink that I don't think he'd appreciate. See, I'm learning again, certain stitches have WAY MORE STRETCH than others.

And I know you're gonna want to know what yarn I used...and I honestly can't remember...it's one of those 50% cotton/50% wool ones...maybe....maybe nylon/bamboo...fer sure it was on sale. I guess this is what that whole Ravelry Queue thing is useful for...

Anyhow, some knitting.

~~~~

Update on the health stuff:

I've switched my fish oil pill with a flax seed oil pill.

After a week? I can honestly tell you that if you want the omega 3s but not the fishy burp? Take flax seed oil. It may as well be iocaine powder, colorless, tasteless and it must dissolve instantly in my tummy.

Also? I have ankles again. But that might be due to the fact that I've practiced abstinence on the whole fish thing, I'm talkin' even veggie sushi (I don't know how purine rich seaweed might be)...you know, just to be safe...after all, when experimenting on yourself, you need to do it one bit at a time. This getting old thing? Sucks. Avoid it at all costs, I say.

~~~

Cuz I'd never leave you with a song in your head: Shock the Monkey, for reals. And can I just say...I think Peter Gabriel is actually younger in that video that I am currently, and that both makes me feel really old...and that I'm kinda not at all living to my potential...le sigh. (And a bigger shocker? Especially if I can't figure out how to not make it auto-play for you? The next song is him in 2009...oh my, time is a cruel, cruel thing.)

Go Flax Seed Oil!

So I know I said something about knitting and pictures and it's a draft...but I wanted to share this with you all first.

On Facebook a couple days ago I posted something along the lines of:

Dude, my life is so over...purine rich foods (salmon being one of them apparently) are making my inherited gout-like-symptoms, um, bloom. Stupid genes.

See, we made Salmon cakes....and almost immediately after I had dinner I noticed my left ankle was what Andy's cousin affectionately calls a "cankle." You know, when your ankle is so inflamed that you can't tell where the calf ends and the foot begins?

Fun times in TaclessLand, lemee tell ya.

Of course I didn't go to the doctor, hello? What is the internet for? That's how I came up with"purine rich foods." And the fact that I have a world of pain to look forward to in my "golden years..." (sigh)

Only, I didn't think I'd scarfed down all that much Salmon.

Then last night it happened again...and there was NOTHING that I ate that was on the list...except for maybe the pasta...(certain carbs are purine rich you see...). But as my right ankle was getting in on the action? I was getting a wee bit more concerned.

Two things have changed in my life the last few months:

• My BC pills went generic
• I switched to the Costco brand fish oil.

Yes, I know taking any kind of hormone is prone to making your life a mess, and as much as I LOVE not writhing in pain for 7 days every month...I'm still thinking of ditching the pills if things don't change for the better...i.e. I get my chubby ankles back. Cuz I never realized how much more attractive my stumpy chubby ankles until they were gone...and Dr. Internet says BC/hormone pills will adversely affect a woman's water retention ability to the big clumpy nothing-fits end of the scale. Oh it is SO fun to be a girl.

Before getting all drastic though, I decided to ask the intarwebs about fish oil causing swollen extremities. I mean, remember, I did decide to experiment on myself using fish oil as an anti-inflammatory for my hip woes, right? Maybe it's a side effect?

Um, no. Or rather, I can't find any correlation.

What I did find out I want to pass on as a kind of PSA though. If you mix vitamin D (which I also take) with certain fish oils you can get bad things happening in your system. Nothing mentioned cankles...but the word "toxic" was thrown around a WHOLE lot. So I read the ingredients of my Nature's Made vs Costco omega 3 oils and...did you know that Nature Made has some fish but also flax seed oil in their Omega 3 oil pills? And the Costco brand is like 100% fish oil?

So maybe, just maybe, mind, I was kinda o-d-ing on the purine richness of the oil + salmon cakes + (cuz I fergotted until just now) sushi the other night + maybe a sushi lunch the day before the night of the sushi dinner... Add that to the fact that (since they don't list what kind of fish they use in their pills) I might have been poisoning myself with the oil + vitamin D...and that might explain a few things...

So I'm altering my experiment on my use of fish oil. I'm switching back to the burpy goodness of Nature Made (the Costco brand did reduce that little aspect of taking fish oil, by the way) and seeing if I can have ankles again.

Time for an Update

Except I didn't upload the picture I wanted to show you.

Let's call this one the wanna be update and tonight I'll be more on the ball and upload my picture and all will be well.

In lieu of entertaining knitting (cuz you know, of course, that's what's in the picture,) I'll recount what I wrote in my wee journal as I rode the bus this morning:

As it's too foggy for me to drive, I thought I'd take the bus. Safety in numbers as well as size, if you look at it that way...of course the bus almost jumping the curb and nearly taking us all out at the same time did not make me feel very confident about my decision.

The driver apologized and as the wheels were still functional we continued on our way...he slipped, we concurred, because of the super wet tram tracks that he was driving on...I did mention the fog? This fact was punctuated several times as we felt the tires skidding all manner of ways as we continued down that same street...oh what fun.

But not nearly as frightening as feeling the same nausea inducing squiggle when we got onto the metal bridge to get me to work. It's one thing to crash and burn into a building, but to crash and fall into the canal? Not really what I had in mind.

It took hours for my stomach to settle.

And it's still grey and wet out, but no rain. Just the constant mist/fog that would make an awesome background to a slasher flick.

Pictures of soft yarny stuff later.

Too Many Things, All at Once, Again...

I feel like a broken record sometimes.

It must be the sine-wave-esque existence of my current employment.

Trying to keep above water...but like I just stated a few minutes ago in an email that has prompted this post...it really is too many things...all at once...again...but this time? With "feeling." If you get my drift.

So I need to learn to thread water a little longer, else I drown. (Such a drama queen some days...)

More laters...

Almost an FO

This is a hat for L&L's baby girl...almost.

As T can't stand stuff on her head...and it gets kinda nipping in Seattle, she needs a hat. One that can be tied on. Mom agreed, so I'm adding some ear-flaps and a i-cord style cording to fit the bill.

So almost an F.O. It gave me something to do as I watched that new Stargate show. Is it me or does the main doctor-guy strike you as a cross between Baltar and Dr. Smith? Or are all super-smart science-y guys that end up on space-ships in the middle of nowhere like that?

Motorheads don't get Giants...

So the thing about sinus headaches and all the nastinesses I've been living with all week...they vanish as quickly as they go as long as they don't take root anywhere and become an infection.

This is what gave me the gumption to go down to the Showbox SODO after work today to snag some "They Might Be Giants" tickets for their November "Flood" show.

However, I must be some kind of hardcore "Giants" fan at heart seeing as I was patient enough to endure the traffic for the ballpark (hello, Mariner's game...) AS WELL AS all the surly burly guys that were hanging out at the SODO as MOTORHEAD is to play tonight. (And dude, their fans look a lot like them....)

I may as well have been asking for a Strawberry Daquiri at the motorcycle dive bar across the way...Not only did I have to convince the door guy I was not trying to buy any sold tickets to tonight's all-star line-up ("Come on, look at me, do I look like a Motorhead fan?") but I had to convince him to call his surly boss on the radio as the box office girl had gone home early...I mean, hi, the show was sold out, who goes to the box office now-a-days to buy tickets for a different show that's on the same night when you can pay the online ticket people up to an extra $10 to get your ticket! (And then wade through the masses the night of the show to pick up your ticket because they opted not to have the TMBG tickets mailed out to folks, which I thought odd.)

With 5 minutes until the box office closed, I took a big gamble...he looked a whole lot like a number of my students from the Big Island...only adult sized, and I could have sworn I heard "bra'" and not "man" when he patted a fellow down before letting him in...so...I asked him to call his "manager-guy" and his eyebrows shot up and the next thing you know we were speaking in the lilting sing-songy Island talk I loved about Hawai'i.

We were all smiles until his actually manager-guy showed up.

I know I'm at least, AT LEAST 10 years older than the guy that finally came up to sell me my tickets, and I know, I KNOW he was wondering why oh why was this lady wasting his time cuz dude, Motor-head, practicing, right behind THOSE DOORS! Can't you hear them (I could hear nothing else...) And he had to reopen the box office for me? For some obscure band that is older than he is? It's not like it's Moby, or even the Pouges (who are also showing up at the SODO and don't think I wasn't tempted to buy some of those tickets...but they were probably sold out eons ago and more likely more than what I could afford (I just checked, and yes to both). Oh how he suffered.

Is there a merit badge for this kind of thing? For either of us?