The Status is NOT Quo

I hate myself. I hate my body. I hate my headache. and I hate whatever god gave me this fucking thing. I hate my doctors and right now I most especially hate my nutritionist. Nothing any of them has ever done has done any good for longer than a couple of months. Why do I even try? Why do I waste my money, my time or my energy? Why do I get my hopes up every time? It just makes me more depressed. And when I cry my headache gets worse. Really, why do I even fucking bother? And take away my comfort food and it makes it even worse. Why can't I have a damn cappuccino if it helps me make it through the day? Oh, that's right, because I thought I would try something new. The Status Quo may not be good, but it is a hell of a lot better than this. I've been on this detox program of the nutritionist's for 17 days now, only 4 more to go. It hasn't done anything except make me more depressed. I haven't even lost any weight, which is supposed to be a side effect. And I really think I've been quite good about it. I've tried, I've really tried. So why isn't it working? No matter what I do it is never enough. Seems like I'm always busy but I never get anything done. I can never catch up with the housework and I never seem to have time to do my craft projects either. I dislike cooking too, so I never want to fix supper, but feel guilty when I don't. Why can't I feel better? Why can't it be easier? Why do I and my loved ones have to deal with this? And why do I have to feel so guilty about making them deal with this? Life is crap and anyone who says different hasn't dealt with chronic pain. Every time I try something new it doesn't work and I end up here, feeling depressed and worthless. I manage to keep a fairly even keel most of the time. Occasionally I get depressed, but I can count on hitting bottom when I try something new. And I don't like telling anybody. I don't want them to worry and I don't want to be more of a burden. Barry might have an idea but I don't think anyone really knows. I broke down in front of the psychologist that was evaluating me for disability. I guess if it was going to be only one person best that it was him, huh? I didn't mean too, but it happened. Nobody has seen me hit my own head before. Different pain, you know? No, not most of you. Or does that make me completely weird? So frustrated at that point too. I just want my headache to go away but nothing seems to really help. So why should I try anymore? Is all this just because I'm sick and tired of my diet? I've been wanting to post about this diet for awhile now, it has finally just exploded out of me. For 17 days I've eaten better than I ever have in my life. And nothing has changed. Not my headache, not my energy level and not my weight. I lost weight on the Curves diet. And no, I didn't exercise much, but when my diet has changed this radically it should have had some effect. The last 17 days has just been a complete and utter waste. And I want them back. Called the nutritionist and she said I should stick it out because some people have a change at the end. And to eat more citrus fruits since my adrenal gland must need supported more since I'm craving chocolate. I think I'm craving chocolate because I haven't had it for so long. It isn't like I ate horribly bad before. The worst was the cappuccino a day habit I had. Hardly ever any red meat, lots of veggies and fruits. I want to go out to eat again. I want my life back, not the life before my headache, that's just a dream now, no, I'll settle for the status quo.

Update: Right after I finished writing this yesterday afternoon Barry called to ask me something. I couldn't keep from crying so he came home early, he managed to get me back to about normal. I still want real food, but I'm not depressed anymore. He made me supper and we rented a movie. Lots of reassurance too. I debated about posting this, but I'm hoping other headache/chronic pain suffers will be helped by it. Sorry about the cussing, but I'm leaving them in just to show how frustrated I was. I hope showing my low point doesn't scare anybody off.

Yes, sir, Cap'n Tight-Pants.

Shindig roving, I took my inspiration from the TV show Firefly. Based on Kaylee's fluffy layer cake dress. 2 braids, 5 oz total, Superwash wool, Sheep Shed Studios, Brown Sheep mill ends, Jaquard dyes, hand dyed by me. Here is the dress. Picture from http://www.costumersguide.com/

Second sock made on the trip to Branson, Feb. 2010. Yarn from the Two Windows Dye Co. from Yarns in Hutchinson, KS.

Haven't felt to good this last week. Monday was downright horrible, Tues. I at least felt good enough to make it up to Salina for lunch with a couple of the knit girls then to Stitch N Bitch. Wednesday was much better and I managed to finally get a few things done I've been meaning too. Today I'm feeling fairly crapy again. Ah, well, this too shall pass.

Here are some interesting links I've come across.

Just how big is a billion? Awesome picture of Earth at the end and a great quote from Carl Sagan.

39% Of Bagged Salad Is Gross, Some Has Poop - The Consumerist

For my knit buddies out there. Use variegated yarn for lace!

Winter Wonderland

Branson was a lot of fun even though a lot of things were closed. We mostly admired the snow from in front of the fireplace and ate. Good vacation, huh? I love these pictures, I think most of them would make great Christmas cards.

What a difference a year makes.

Thanks for the compliments on the yarn guys. I'll try to work on the Etsy store after we get back from Branson. Leaving on Saturday and back on Wednesday. My parents are going with us and we are all looking forward to it!

Now for something completely different!

When I started having my headache we lost everything financially. Though we were just actually treading water before that, we thought we were fine since we could make the payments. I had to quit my job, so Barry had to close his business down and go get a normal job so we could have insurance. Then one of the cars was repo'd, then we lost the house and moved into a crappy apartment in McPherson. Let's not forgot all the medical bills either. When we moved to Mac we had a lot more breathing room since we didn't have a house payment or big utility bills. Then I finally was approved for disability and received a large lump sum in Oct. '08. We had learned our lesson and didn't do anything really dumb with it, though we did buy more car than we really needed.

Then, about this time last year, Barry asked me to listen to an audiobook(The Total Money Makeover) and see what I thought. He (and me occasionally) had been listening to a talk radio show, the Dave Ramsey Show, the author of the book. All about financial problems. It is kinda like Hoarders, you can say, "At least we aren't that bad!" at the same time feeling bad for them. Anyway, I thought being out of debt, having money in the bank and most of all, having a plan sounded like a great idea.

We had been planning on going bankrupt. We didn't think we had another choice. We had hired a lawyer back when we first moved to Mac that took forever on doing anything about it, now I might thank him! When we decided to follow the Dave plan, since our plan(or lack of plan) wasn't working, we ran our credit to know for sure where we stood. The house wasn't on there which confused us till we realized since it was a 100% loan we had mortgage ins. That was a load off our shoulders. In March '09 we started Financial Peace University, a class put out by Dave Ramsey. Learned everything from how to do a budget to what life insurance to get, it covers a lot. Doing the budget was like getting a $1,000 raise. Made us realize just what we were spending.

Since then we haven't borrowed money from anyone, taken 2 vacations and going on another(one of our debts was a sampler timeshare) with plenty of money, put more money in savings than we've ever had, and payed off about a 1/3 of our debt. Well, ok, we have two big ones(car and hospital) that I'm not including, but they haven't sent us anything in years and we would like to get Barry through his bachelor program and save up the total amount first. Don't wake the sleeping giant until you know you are going to win the fight.

Yesterday we realized that we had all of our monthly bills for Feb. paid by the 3rd. Isn't that grand? March is our 3 paycheck month so we both wanted to see how the budget for March would look. Our extra money going towards debt will be like getting double time and half compared to normal. Plus we are getting a nice refund. We have since changed our with holdings, no sense in giving the government a loan! With all of that we should be able to get the paid off amount to half the original debt. Excluding the 2 big ones, which don't count right now, remember? We will only have the student loan to go.

This is so exciting for us. Every time we pay off a debt we cross it off(we have a chart and a graph!) and it is amazing how fun it is! Maybe we need to get out more... Anyway, getting to pay off 3 at once instead of one a month will be great. Not having to worry about money and knowing we have some in the bank if there is an emergency is so peaceful. Like when Barry had to have his teeth pulled. Money isn't everything but it sure makes things easier. When you have money it isn't an emergency, it is an inconvenience.

We are looking for another place to live. Overall this place has been good to us, but the negatives are starting to outweigh the positives. Moving might slow us down some, but now we feel we have a choice. That means a lot too.

I have lived paycheck to paycheck. Then I got sick and the walls came crumbling down. I wanted to share our excitement and our story so others can learn from our example. I wish everyone could feel this wonderful lack of worrying about money. Think about that, what it would be like not to have to worry about money?

What a difference a year makes.

Hello, Blogosphere? It's me, Faren.

Hi guys, Dana was wondering how I was doing, so I thought I would let you all know that I was still alive.  Last time I posted was in September, time sure does fly, doesn't it?  Still reading all your blogs, just don't have the brainpower to string words together to comment.  

At the end of September I was approved for Disability, so in October I went to Chicago to the Diamond Headache Clinic to see if they could help with these damn headaches. I stayed in the hospital for a week.  Had a great view of the lake.  They doped me up with Methadone (which Heroin addicts use to get off it), still had the headache, but didn't really care that I had one. I was totally out of it though.  Techpriest said we had the same conversion three times, once by phone, then by email, then once again by phone just to make sure he was really bored.  The doctor put me on new meds, which helped some.  Went back in January and tried Botox, it helps some people with headache, but not me.  Overall it was a crapshoot.  Medicare did pay for most of the hospital stay, but we were still out a heck of a lot of money for not much of nothing.

There for awhile I wasn't going to knit night, just didn't feel up to driving 30 min each way.  Haven't really been knitting much either.  I have been spinning a lot though.  Managed to spin some sock yarn so I started knitting some socks for me.  This is the first yarn I've kept for myself since the first yarn I spun so long ago (blogged about two posts ago!) I've made much improvement.  Check out my flickr if you want to look at them.  A lot of my yarn I've swapped on Craftster, I've gotten a lot of great stuff that way.  Last Wednesday I did manage to go to knit night, because I wanted to drop off a bunch of yarn for them to sell! Well, hopefully it will sell.  We will see. 

On the animal front, before we went to Chicago our upstairs neighbors abandoned they two cats on the porch.  One was a kitten and one was full grown.  So we decided it would be much easier to find homes for the two kittens and just keep Zoey and Lady, which is short for old lady she acted so old.  She wouldn't jump on anything, wouldn't play at all.  She is much better now so we have to wonder if it was abandonment issues.  

Well, that seems like all my brain can string together, so I better get out of here.  Take care everyone!

S is for Sorry

No, I'm not doing the ABC along, it just fits.   I'm sorry I haven't blogged for 2 months, I haven't even told you all I'm back from New Jersey safe and sound!  That doesn't bug me too much since you should all know by now I am a bad blogger and don't update nearly as often as I should.  

What makes me feel guilty is not thanking Criquette   for sending me a Pay it Forward (scroll down) package.  It felt just like Christmas!  

Clockwise from top: Calorimetry(see pic below) wonderful yarn, torquise(sp?) and pink and dark blue, very lovely and then such a cute cat button to top it off!  Three packets of water flavorings that I keep forgetting to try, even though I've been wondering if I would like them for awhile now.  A pretty bookmark about adopting cats and dogs.  A very cute keyring with two different sizes of paw prints in my favorite color, purple!  Already in use, just like the bookmark.  And a tin of mints with a girl knitting on the top with yarn balls all over, this will be perfect for holding stitch markers after the mints are all gone.  Where did you find them, Criquette?  I haven't seen them before.   

I received the package last Monday(I know it was a Monday, please don't tell me it was 2 weeks ago!) and figured I would make a thank you post real quick.  Yeah, I need to remember that I'm a bad blogger and that just isn't realistic for me.  After a few days I thought I should at least write a short email to Criquette to let her know it got here and that I loved it.   Then we decided to take a last minute trip out of state this weekend and I totally forgot about it.  I plan  (cross your fingers!) to tell you about our trip in another post.   Forgetting to thank Criquette isn't just bad blogging, it is bad  manners.  I'm so sorry Criquette! Thank you for all your time and effort, your choices are all perfect for me!

Only one person took me up on my offer to pay it forward, Ms. Knitingale.  She doesn't blog anymore, and I miss her!  I probably should apologize to her too, since it has been almost a year and I haven't even thought about what to make her.  I will try to get on that.  

Wish me luck,  knowing me, I'll need it!

Excuses, Excuses

Yeah, I did it! I figured it out on my own! Yay, me! Here ya go, my excuse for the month of December.

Hey Dana, sorry I just now am managing to write you back.   When I stopped commenting around the blogosphere was because my husband had some health problems.  Since I really don't feel like writing it all out again and I would probably never get you emailed, I'll just copy and paste what I wrote to another friend.
I want to tell you more about the week we have had dealing with DH's crazy lymph node.  He started feeling bad two Thursdays ago, went to the dr.  the next Monday.  He gave us a good antibiotic and told us to come back if he wasn't feeling better by Wed.  Well, he wasn't, so he had DH get a cat-scan.   Couldn't tell what it was from that so we got sent to a ear, nose and throat surgeon in Hutch that same day.   That dr. threw a bomb on us when he said it might be cancer, lymphoma.  To find out he had a biopsy done, just went in with a needle to take a piece out.  Then we had to wait till Friday to get the results, which were inconclusive anyway!  So Friday(same day) he had surgery, the dr. cut a piece out and sent it off to be tested while DH was still on the table.  All they could tell was that it wasn't an aggressive cancer.  So they did rule out the worst case scenario but still didn't know what it was.  The dr. went ahead and pulled the whole thing out and sent it off to be tested.  Went back today and the dr. walked in and told us it wasn't cancer and he was very surprised about it, he was pretty sure he would be sending us off for chemo.  But they tested it all kinds of ways and did not find any malignancies, still don't know WHAT it is, some kind of infection, so they took some more blood for another round of tests.  He is on the mend though, he has felt MUCH better since they took it out.

Since then we managed to handle Christmas, it was nice but more stress.  We have a hearing for my disability on Jan. 24th, so had a meeting with our lawyer about it.  He kinda pissed me off and depressed me at the same time.  Told us we weren't doing what we should have been (why didn't he say something two years ago when we first hired him?), and that chiropractors won't count at all, and they have done the most to help me! Anyway, since then I have been slightly depressed and when that happens I tend to isolate myself without really thinking about it, such as respoding to email or even reading blogs.   My bloglines are really up there.  Things are ok and will get better.  

Zoe just had surgery for her hernia and got fixed at the same time.  So, she was abandoned and has two big incisions!  she made us feel really guilty for about two days.  The stitches on her belly she left alone so that scar is healed.  But she just couldn't leave the hernia one alone until I put Fuller Farms Tea Tree Salve on her.  I knew it wouldn't hurt her, but she sure didn't like the taste!  That incision is getting better now too.  

Thanks for checking up on me, hopefully before too long I'll feel like posting something.  Hell, I might copy and paste this up to the blog just to throw something up there! 
Faren

Both Techpriest and Zoey are doing great, though you can still see both of their scars. We actually just mailed out the last two Christmas presents to family in New Jersey, they had been finished for awhile, but I couldn't seem to get them boxed up and mailed.  And no, I didn't take pictures of any of the Christmas presents I made. Or the birthday gifts I made in January.    To distract you from those non photos how about more photos of Nathan from my birthday party?

Karla and Nathan, and below, her son and the little tike!  February 18th is his 1st birthday! Already!  You guys are right, he has gotten big!

My excuse for January??   My disability hearing and the depression caused by anticipating it.  It turns out that since they can find no cause for my headaches, I can't get disability  because of it. Might be able to get disability because of the depression caused by constantly being in pain, but not for the pain itself.   Makes sense, don't it?  

Anyway, I decided to finally mark all my bloglines as "mark as read", cause I figured it would take forever to get caught up on over 800 of them.  Of course, I have read most of your guys blogs, plus the Yarn Harlot's and Crazy Aunt Purl's, but that is all the knitting blogs I've read.  I think I'll start weeding out some of the 150 feeds I have, so it isn't so overwhelming.  

later, gater

Hopping with Anticipation!!!

The Yarn Hop is tomorrow! I'm so excited! I'll leave McPherson at 7:15 am(about where the 135 sign is)to make sure I reach Yarns in Salina[the second star to the north(well, it is a magical place!)] at 8:00. Karla is opening at 8 just for us, so we can get our passports and some muffins and coffee! Then the 7 of us will HOP (hehe) into Ann's car and head all the way down to Wichita. The rest of the day we will head north as we feel like it.

With a few well placed hints(they were subtle,really! Quit laughing!), I received my birthday money early from two different sources. So I have more money in my purse than I have in a long time, and I don't have to feel guilty for spending it! Techpriest can't believe I'm going to spend it all on yarn. And I might not, but am considering buying yarn for Rogue. But if I want to spend all of it, I can!! Very exciting.

Hopefully DH and I can find the camera tonight. We have just been so busy we haven't had any time to look.

Hope you have as yarny a Saturday as I will!

Cheers!

I've had pictures uploaded for about a week for a big long post, but I just haven't managed anything more. I keep coming up with other stuff I want to talk about though, so I finally gave up on getting that other post done first. Here is a bunch of random junk.


1. NAIS
National Animal Identification System Plenty of bloggers(at least on my bloglines) have already talked about this and if I try I know I'll never get this post finished either. So, short and sweet, the government is trying to pass a law that will require every farm animal(down to pet rabbits) to have a id tag(which is cost prohibitive). The cost of tags and other equipment will probably put most small farms out of business. If the neighbors animals get sick they can not only seize your neighbors animals, but yours too. That is the basics, if you are interested here are some sites. Hopefully it is enough to get you started.
Small Meadow Farm
Homesteading Neophyte In her sidebar she has a list of NAIS sites.
NONAIS A very big site
Prairie Dreams

2. Oliver's Fund
Oliver is a handicapped child that needs a new wheelchair. They are asking for afghan squares(yes, I plan on knitting some) then they will raffle off the afghan. I have read Emma's(his mom) blog for a while now and really enjoy. I can't link directly to the post so here is her blog and it is the Nov 1 post. This just in, Kay from Mason-Dixon Knitting is going to be a clearing house for all of the squares in the USA. Nov 7 post

3. Fuller Family Farms
I don't think I've mentioned the Fullers yet. They are a single mom with 6 kids providing wonderful milk, butter, eggs, bread, soap, lip balm and all kinds of great stuff. All farm fresh and free range! I love all of their products I've tried. We have eaten much better since I met Chris.
Here is her online store and blog.

4. You Make Me Smile Award
Holly gave me this award, wasn't that nice of her?

The designer of this award gave it out to 10 people with this in mind: “I wanted to create something special for the top ten people who have inspired me through their blogging; the stories they tell, and the lives that they lead with grace and dignity. I visit their blogs for inspiration and encouragement.”

Ok, now I'm supposed to pick ten people huh?

• Florence Knitingale
• Marianne's Knotminding
• Celtic Memory Yarns I love her stories and her pictures of Ireland
• Sugar Bunny Boulevard
• Prairie Gumbo
• Prairie Dreams
• Blue Ridge Knittery
• Knitting in the North
• Stumbling Over Chaos
  
• Sheepish Annie
  

Sorry no descriptions, it just isn't gonna happen.


5. Any Firefly fans out there? Check out this wonderful fan video!
Alright just go check out this guy's whole site, if you like sci fi stuff. Great song about Heroes and Dr. Who and Star Wars and, and all kinds of great stuff! Here is his list of videos.

6. While Techpriest's Dad and nephew from New Jersey were here the whole family went down to Wichita and ate at Kobe's a Japanese steakhouse, you know, where they cook the food right at the table and make a show out of it? Great food. Most of us stayed outside during the wait and found a place the kids could play ball. Techpriest finally comes outside and we all get excited 'cause it is time to eat, right? Nope, he came outside to tell us Kirstie Alley is in the waiting area!
Yeah, that Kirstie Alley! He had seen her come in and thought it looked like her but couldn't be sure. Then he heard her talking and thought it really sounded like her. Finally, someone brought their kids up to meet her and he knew it actually was her. She did grow up in Wichita, so it isn't totally unbelievable. We didn't disturb her in anyway, well, 'cept for staring at her out of the corner of our eyes. Though it was really close with DH's mom. She hauled the kids over to look at the fishes which was real close to Kirstie Alley. "No, really, you want to see the fishes!" I did think about hauling out the camera to prove to you all that I did actually see her, but we all figured she wanted a quite night out with family.

I think that is it, since Techpriest can't remember where he put the camera. When he does, I have something to show you!

Pumpkin Patch

Alright, here is the promised pictures of the pumpkin patch we went to on Saturday before heading on to Greensburg.
The Punkinator: an air pressured cannon on a decommissioned fire truck, will launch a 10 lb. pumpkin a 1/2 mile. Very impressive, you can barely see the pumpkins, just little black dots in the sky.

Mini version, Corn Cannon. DH's Dad and youngest nephew getting ready to shoot. The 4 yr old hit two targets while the 12 yr old missed totally, I find it funny and tease the 12 yr old about it!

See the scarecrow on the windmill and hanging out of the barn window?

Different barn, more scarecrows.

The 4 yr old couldn't reach the pedals, so Techpriest helped. Can't really see it, but these trike bikes have a third wheel in back. You steer by one person pedaling more than the other. As you can imagine, these things are dangerous. You never knew when you would have to jump out of the way of them! I took my life in my hands being this close to them, though I was safer directly in front of them than off to the side!

Even a scarecrow needs to get her hair done. In the building behind her they actually had scarecrow kits, make your own scarecrow!

Barrel ride, you had to watch out for this one too.

The actual pumpkin patch, fairly depopulated.

Techpriest's Mom, Dad, youngest nephew hiding behind him, 12 yr old, and Techpriest on the hay wagon ride.

Aren't we a cute couple? :)


They had some many other things too. I can't believe I didn't take any pictures of the animals though, guess I was to busy petting them! Pigs, bunnies(so soft!!), cows, I actually forget what else! We all had a good time, about froze for while though!

Greensburg

Techpriest, his Dad & Mom (divorced years ago), his two nephews (one with each of his parents) and I headed out Saturday into the Kansas wilds(west and south). First we hit Turon's Pumpkin Patch had lots of fun, I'll try to post some pictures later. After we wore ourselves out we headed to Pratt to eat lunch. My mother went through nursing school at the community college here and my brother attended for a while too. Mom and I had a lot of fun playing in the Wizard of Oz at the college. She, of course, was one of the wicked witches. :) I was just one of the soldiers of the Emerald City. The adults ate at a Chinese place, the kids had to eat at McDonald's, which took 35 minutes. Then, Techpriest's Mom was in a fender bender, someone pulled out in front of her. We finally managed to get out of Pratt and head on out to Greensburg.

I had left a comment on Prairie Dreams that I would be there Mon. and wondered if Anita could get together. Well, by the time we got to Nickerson to met up with everyone else, the plans had changed and we were going yesterday. Anita was nice enough to go along with the change. Heading into town from the east as we were, at first you don't see the damage. Then, all of a sudden, hardly anything is standing. It was quite dramatic. We met Anita, conned her into driving around with us, and let Techpriest take the kids to the park. It is on the northeast side of town, so was untouched, but it will be torn down along with the swimming pool so the highway can go to four lane.

No pictures this post, it didn't really seem right, kinda rude, ya know? Didn't want to take pictures of someone's heartache. I actually didn't think about it either, to busy absorbing it all. It is totally different seeing it for yourself. Except for a few buildings, the whole town is gone. The kwik shop survived, one brick shop building downtown of a row of shops was still up, a condemned house made it through. The bar and liquor store survived, yet none of the churches did. The courthouse looked alright, but the roof had gotten torn off and set right back down again, exactly where it was. So water had gotten in and caused a lot of damage. Probably be a year before it is up and running again. I saw a house missing, but the garage just a few feet away still standing. By the lake was a car upside down in the trees. We kept asking her "This was all houses?" because it was hard to tell until you got close enough to see the holes of basements and the foundations lying there. Sometimes there were flowers still growing in the flowerbeds. A few houses made it through, and there is some new construction. It was odd, a new house right next to a gaping hole where a house used to be. There was still rumble in lots of places. Some of the street signs were pieces of plywood with the street names spray painted on, some of those had nicer signs stapled to them. A lot of the street signs had been replaced though. It seemed like those street signs said a lot. Anita was raised in Greensburg, yet she said she had to count blocks to know where she was after the tornado. All the landmarks that used to be there are gone. I bet they really needed those spray painted signs. I wonder how difficult it was to figure out which street was which in the beginning. There were things spray painted on the house left too, made by rescuers to know which houses had been searched. Some of these little things hit me more than the big stuff.

I really don't know what else to say, but if you want to get an idea of the devastation here is Anita's list of photo galleries to look at.

MSNBC.com
Wichita Eagle
1133 photos
Ultimate Chase
New York Daily News
National Geographic

Though I haven't looked through all these pictures, I know they don't tell the whole story. They don't show you what it looks like now. Though the majority of the rumble is cleaned up, there is still so much left to do, so much left to rebuild. And it will never be the town Anita remembers from her childhood.

Thank you so much for sharing with us Anita!

Scottish Festival

Good thing it is random Wednesday, that means I can just throw this post up without it making any sense, right? I've been trying to post since two weekends ago, well, thinking I should post anyway. I wanted to make a nice, long post about the McPherson Scottish Festival. It ain't gonna happen.

Karla and her son came over both Sat. and Sun. We had a good time. Her son bought us both walking sticks, good kid, huh? Techpriest worked (volunteered) both days, but was able to spend some time with us. Karla and I decided that kilts almost always make guys look better. And there were plenty of guys in kilts around. I decided Techpriest would look good in a kilt too, too bad they are so expensive. He did buy a set of 3 samurai swords, he has been wanting some for a long time, and they were a good deal. Our camera finally went kapluey, so it is a good thing I'm married to the webmaster for the festival, I sneaked some pictures from last year to give you some idea.


Sheepy goodness. It is quite amazing watching the sheepdog move them around.

McPherson Pipe band, my chiropractor is on the front right.








I've finished and mailed my squares to Ms. K for the Miners blanket, but no pictures. My phone will take pictures, but apparently it isn't talking to my computer, or Techpriest's either. And yes, he tried to figure it out too, no go. I am almost done with seaming the afghan for the Greensburg project too. I wanted to start Fetching, even bought the yarn, but no dpns in the right size. So went to the Weasley Sweater Ornaments in Charmed Knits.....and yet again no dpns in the right size. Seems to be a recurring theme, doesn't it? Now, I could magic loop it, but I really am coming to the conclusion that I really don't like magic loop, takes to long to fuss with the stitches. So the only way to solve this problem is to go shopping! My plan is to go ahead and buy a set of Knitpicks dpns in all they offer. I have the sock set(up to 3), but that is it. Do I buy the metal ones to match my current set, or go wild with the harmony set? Or do I just buy the sizes I need tonight at Yarns? Decisions, decisions.


Now for some sci-fi geekiness.

Your home is a Spawn-camping Wizard's Headquarters Your kitchen is manned by a team of Keebler Drow Elves. There's a pantry with emergency backup caffeinated beverages. You also have some breakfast cereals in there, but you haven't had breakfast since last Spring. Your master bedroom is decorated to look like the treetop village of the Galadhrim. Your study has every fantasy novel ever written, including multiple editions of the Silmarillion and advance copies of Dungeons and Dragons Fifth Edition. One of your garages contains a life-sized X-Wing fighter, and KITT. (KITT was a gift from a well-meaning uncle.) Your home also includes a roost for griffons. You've never actually seen a griffon, but you keep the roost ready anyway. Your guests enjoy your home theater with hi-def plasma screen TV, and the thrones you watch it from. Outside is the moat that protects your home from goblin invaders and extended family. And, you have a pet -- a unicorn named "Shadowhooves". Below is a snippet of the blueprints:

Build YOUR Dream House!

Some people have to much time on their hands.


Laura posted this awhile ago, she did a great job putting this video together too!

Random Wednesday

• Robert Jordan (fantasy author of The Wheel of Time series) has passed away. Those of his fans that have actually made it through all eleven of his books and are fiendishly awaiting the last one will be glad to know that he has it made plans for others to finish the story. So we might find out what happens to Rand, Perrin, Mat, et al, but it won't be the same. No one could tell the story like Jordan. Or not tell it, since didn't it seem like sometimes the plot wasn't moving at all? I still enjoyed it though. I wonder what the series would have been like if he hadn't have gotten sick? Seems like there is a lot to wrap up in one book.
  
• Here is a comic about it. And here is an essay for why you shouldn't be offended by it. For the two people that reads this blog that might be interested. :)
  
• For the knitters: A demonstration of Stephanie knitting Irish Cottage style. Very interesting.
  
• Back to fantasy authors, Madeleine Le'Engle passed away earlier this month, the Times has a good article. Her fantasy books are classics, The Wind Through the Door was the first I read that had a teenage girl as the hero, at the time I needed that.
• Apparently knitting needles are dangerous to public safety.

• Zoey went to the vet yesterday. For her weepy eyes she has drops until they are better. I already see a difference. She has a parasite so she gets antibiotics for 10 days. She also has a fairly big hernia that will need surgery. In two months she should be big enough to handle the anesthesia. Most hernias, specially one this big in this young of cat, are caused by blows to the kitten. Sounds like it was a good thing they did get dumped, better than them living with the people that did that.
  
• The McPherson Scottish Festival is this weekend! If you are in the area you might check it out, should be lots of fun!
  
• That it all I can think of for right now, but it seems like there was something else I wanted to mention...

Filler

I'm busy trying to get ready for tomorrow since I should head out of here about 8:30 to get to
El Dorado at 10 for the seaming party. Hopefully I don't forget anything like the camera, batteries, knitting bag, directions, phone, etc, etc. I might try to post tomorrow evening, if not it will be after the Yarn Harlot!

Karla sent me this, it seemed like pretty easy blog fodder.
Subject: First Reaction Quiz
Body: This is called "First Reactions Quiz". You have to type the 1ST thing that comes to mind whenever you hear these 35 things. You can't think and go back and change your answers. Copy and Paste, then delete answers to make them your own.

Here we go:
1. Beer: yuck
2. Robin: 's egg
3. Relationships: good
4. Purple: pretty
5. Power Rangers: not me
6. Weed: mary jane
7. Steroids: too many muscles
8. Cartoons: online
9. The President: a mess
10. Tupperware: handy
11. Florida: Grandma Lillian and Ken
12. Santa Clause: beard
13. Halloween: fun
14. Alice: in Wonderland
15. Grammar: a pain
16: Myspace: blogs are better
17. Worst fear: headache forever
18. Marriage: good
19. Paris Hilton: spoiled hussy
20. Patty cake: Bakers Man
21. Redheads: Me
22. Blondes: have more fun
23. Pass: skip
24. One night stands: not me
25. Donald Trump: with all that money you think he could get a better hair piece
26. Neverland: Peter Pan
27. Pixie Stix: Playing Gurps with chelle and Dan
28. Vanilla ice creature: ice ice baby
29. Hooters: owls
30. High school:sucked
31. Pajama: PJ's
32. Woody: let's keep this pg
33. Wet Socks: uncomfortable
34. I like: pizza
35. Love: Barry

This has been on several blogs lately. This is perfect for me, it is fate I'm telling ya.

You're The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy!

by Douglas Adams

Considered by many to be one of the funniest people around, you are
quite an entertainer. You've also traveled to the far reaches of what you deem possible,
often confused and unsure of yourself. Life continues to jostle you around like a marble,
but it's shown you so much of the world that you don't care. Wacky adventures continue to
lie ahead. Your favorite number is 42.


Take the Book Quiz
at the Blue Pyramid.

.

I'm not an etertainer though, or one of the funniest people around

And her name is Zoey

Hey all, thanks for all the good names, but I decided on Zoey. She is actually a pretty sweet little cat. She cuddles with us and plays with us and is starting to explore the house. More because she will "lose" us and then we play marco polo until she finds us again. She also will hear me coming in the door and will run to greet me and meow until I pick her up, very cute.

Speaking of cute, I picked this up at the Yarn Barn in Lawrence while we were there for my cousin's wedding. Great place, I had a hard time deciding what to get, but finally choose this beautiful koigu, since Yarns in Salina doesn't carry it.


I've been wanting to get some non wool sock yarn and almost got some Tutfooties (sp?) at the Yarn Barn. I'm so glad I didn't. Because this was waiting for me at Twist in Wichita.

The color(wisteria) drew me first, I picked it up and thought "Hey, wait a minute. Sugar Bunny Boulevard? I know her!" Then I really had to get it, THEN I noticed it was a bamboo/cotton/nylon mix, and I knew it was destined for me. I haven't knitted it yet, but it is nice and soft and springy and so pretty, I love it Laura!

And this is my contribution to the Yarn Harlot's quest to get a square from every state and providence. Knowing my luck she probably already has ten of the silly things. Pattern from here. I did change it a little so that Kansas actually looks like a rectangle with a bite taken out like it is supposed to. Can you see it? Squint your eyes and turn your head. The state is at the top and KS is at the bottom. You really can see it good in real life. Wonderful yarn (isn't it pretty? I love knitting with this stuff) from here. Oh, no, she doesn't have any yarn for sale! Go back through her sold items and take a look at her yarn, so pretty.

Ah, no, it is NOT a willy warmer, why do you ask? It is supposed to be a golf club cover for Techpriest's uncle. I made him one last year and do not remember it looking like this. Oh, well, since I didn't notice it till I took the picture, maybe he won't notice it at all. Got the pattern from Lion Brand's website, hopefully the link will actually take you the right page.

The seaming party for the Greensburg project is on Sat and the Yarn Harlot is Sun. I think I might print up a few cards with my blog address on them, wonder if it will actually happen? Don't think I'll have anyone to go with me, but I'll still have loads of fun. I'm going up to Salina tonight, see if any of those ladies can make it. And I kinda miss them, I haven't been driving up there since the knitting group here got started. I also need to see about buying some yarn for a pair of fetching for Techpriest's Aunt (wife of the uncle who is getting the phallic symbol for Christmas) and yarn for the little Weasley Sweater ornaments from Charmed Knits. No link, I'm holding the kitty, and I'm also just plain linked out. I didn't tell you I bought that, did I? It was during my blogging hiatus. Good book, if you want more info, just holler at me.

Well,until next time, true believers....

(yes, we do watch Who Wants to be Superhero, how did you guess?)

The weekend book 7 came out

I picked up my book yesterday at 10:30. I had to finish up a load of laundry, so that ate into my reading time. Why yesterday and not my usual laundry day(Tuesday)? Because Raffles has not been doing good. He had gotten so weak that he couldn't make it out of the bedding without help, then it got so bad we just changed the bedding instead of stressing him. At this point he hadn't eaten in 4 or 5 days either and wasn't drinking much. So we were running out of bedding.

I held him most of the day while Techpriest was at work. For the 12th day in a row by the way. I knew from Tika's passing that Techpriest would have to realize that it was time to put him to sleep. As a former CNA(nurse aide) at a nursing home, I have seen death a lot more than he has. Makes it easier to realize when the time has come. By the time Techpriest came home Raffles was twitching, shuddering, when ever he breathed. He knew it was time to say goodbye then. I did fairly well, Techpriest was a mess.


We will bury him beside Tika. Just like what happens to many married couples, these two life long companions passed away very close together. Of the two, Raffles was always the more sedate one, relatively speaking of course. He was more likely to stop to sniff something or let you hold him while he napped. For more pictures and stories about Raffles visit ourlair.



I was hoping for more time to get used to the idea of not having any pets. We are thinking about finding a new place and that is so much easier without pets, but we have both had pets for most of our lives. The last time I did not have a pet was about 8 years ago for 2-3 months between moving out of chelle and Dan's place and moving in with Techpriest. That is also the only time I've lived alone in all my life. Boy was I lonely.

Anyway, last night about 11 I decided to not stay up all night reading, so I did get a good nights sleep, but got up today and stayed in my jammies until I finished reading Deathly Hallows. Didn't even brush my teeth or shower till then. I do have my priorities straight, don't I? Called chelle, she was done too, so we dissected the book for awhile. Called Karla, she wasn't done, so I got off the phone before I let something slip. I doubt Miranda is done so I'll leave her alone for now. And all I'm saying here is that I enjoyed the book.

Since I had been ignoring the dishes for almost 2 straight days I thought maybe I should tackle them before they got to out of hand. Then I started picking up ferret stuff. It was hard to look at, but even harder to deal with. I kept coming across something else. They had several different boxes to hide stuff in, a couple of napping spots plus the cage and accessories, supplements and health stuff. Plus, lots and lots of bedding(we had started adding old tshirts).Oh, and the clear dryer hose. Techpriest was out auto cross racing, so I spent all day alone with no weasels to keep me company, the first of many.

I am doing ok, just a little sad.

Things to Squee about

There seem to be a lot of things percolating in my brain that I'm quite excited about, I hope I remember them all!

Tomorrow I'm going to the chiropractor and renting an alpha-stim machine. It uses electrotherapy for pain management. We've been using it in the office and I have had some good results. I'm hoping by using it daily I get some great results! As a side note, my chiropractors (one while I lived in Hutch, and this one in Mac) are really the only ones that have helped me, all the regular doctors ran all sorts of tests, gave me all sorts of pills, that really never did much.

The LYS hooked me and Theresa up and we've been driving up to knit night together ever since. We, of course, have always talked about starting one up in Mac. A knit night, not a yarn store! She got in touch with the county extension office and they said they would sponsor us! Today I went over and finalized plans with them. It will actually be a fiber arts group, knitters, crocheters, cross stitchers, weavers, who ever. We start on Aug 7th, 7-9, every Tuesday!
They are going to put ads on the radio, newspaper, and some newsletters. We get to keep a key to the building(that's how small the town is), and have access to several different rooms. Hopefully we will grow out of the small one! I'm pretty sure there is a frig and coffee pot too.
Isn't that great?

Oh, and I'm planning on taking another class at Yarns. It is a Christmas stocking to learn color work. Same teacher I had for Nathan's baby sweater. I really enjoyed that class and learned a lot. I have been wanting to try colorwork for awhile now, it opens up so many new possibilities!

The best thing to squee about? Marianne thinks I'm a Rockin' Girl Blogger!


Since I think she's pretty darn cool it works out good! I'm supposed to pass this on to 5 other Rockin' Girl Bloggers, so let's see if I can narrow it down.

• Miranda: SIL extrodinare, she fits in with my family wonderfully, actually her Mom and stepdad are invited to most of the family get togethers! I'm proud to call her a friend as well as my brother's wife and my nephew mom. She has just started her new blog so to get a sense of her humorous writing style also check out her pregnancy blog and the blog before that! Third time's the charm I guess? I'm so glad she started blogging again!
• Karla: Yes, it is on myspace, and no you can't comment unless you have an account, I'm trying to con her into starting a normal blog. We have been friends for about 13 years now, met in the college jewerly class, boy did we have fun. She has a lot of the same interests I do, Harry Potter, any good fantasy book, 80's teen movies(anyone know who Ducky is?). She is a single Mom of a brand new teenager telling tales of her trials and triumphs.
• Laura at Sugar Bunny Boulevard: I haven't met her yet, but I'm planning on it come Sept 15! She is the heart of the Squares for Greensburg project. I love hearing her enthusiasm for this project! She is a sweetheart and her girls are adorable!
• Farm Mom at Children in the Corn: a great homesteading blog. I haven't commented to much, but I always look forward to her posts.
• Prairie Gumbo: I'm fairly new to reading her blog, but she has been very entertaining so far!
  

People I would pick if they hadn't already been rocked! These are some wonderful ladies!

• Ms. K at The Life and Times of Florence Knitingale
• Marianne of Marianne's Knotminding
• Charity of Knitting in the North
• Phelan from A Homesteading Neophyte

And the biggest thing to make me squee with delight?

THE YARN HARLOT IS COMING TO WICHITA!

Do you believe that? I'm not sure I do! See for yourselves, check on her sidebar click on Harlot on Tour. Sept. 16th the day after the seaming party! A whole weekend of being with fellow knitters! I don't think I can stand it! For those of you non-knitters that read my blog, the Yarn Harlot is kinda like the knitting comedian, that is the best way I have to describe her. Her books are very funny, and I hear her shows are amazingly funny.

I really can't wait!