Archive for Sep 2006
Mon Sep 28 17:19:46 2006I've decided to make Christmas presents this year rather than wracking my brains trying to figure out what to buy for people. Which is not to say that I will not buy any gifts, just that a whole lot of people will be getting scarves so you all had best start hating me now and get it over with.
Last year, I bought a copy of the "Simply Elegant Batik Scarf Pattern" by Simply Ordered from Keepsake and meant to make scarves with it, but shuffled it into the pattern pile and never saw it again. My mother and I went up to Appletree Fabrics a couple weeks ago and they had such nice flannels that I had to bring some home. When I got home I realized I was not really in the mood for a big project like a bed quilt and remembered the scarf pattern. Dug it out and saw I had enough for at least two scarves ... and that's when I realized that (if I could get enough out of the way now) I could save myself some stress at Christmas by giving a whole bunch of scarves away.
It costs me about twenty dollars in materials and takes about two hours make per scarf. The only real problem is finding the right flannels -- not everyone I'd make a scarf for likes flowers or plaids and "funky, bright, but not juvenile" seems a loosing proposition. Thank god for eBay, hey?
Mon Sep 25 16:40:37 2006
Today, my library consortium is migrating to Innovative Interfaces's Millennium. Tomorrow morning, we will fire up the computers and either Millennium will be there in all it's spangly newness or we will be on backup. Happily, I don't go in until one and am spared the morning's excitement.
We've spent months getting to this point and everyone is so wound up about it, that I'm pretty sure even if Millennium works perfectly and the migrated data is all where it ought to be, many of us will still be twitchy and horrible for the next couple days. Been waiting and worrying for so long that it's going to take time to work all the bad foo out of our systems.
Me? I keep reminding myself to relax, already. Lives do not depend upon us. As long as I can check materials in and out and patrons can find things on the shelves, then it's okay. The catalog is corrupted? Patron registrations are missing? We'll get it sorted out sooner or later.
I'm bringing a whole lot of chocolate in with me, though. Just in case things turn out badly, I can fend my twitchy co-workers off with lovely little Lindt squares (rather like throwing a meaty bone at ravening dog). I certainly won't be the target of their irritation, but they'll try to drag me in and I don't want to be dragged. I want to be unflappable and take it all in stride.
Yes. As if that's likely.
Thu Sep 21 00:55:16 2006
Yes, that's right. I am more than halfway to goal. I don't know that I'll stop at this goal, but it's certainly a good place to aim for. It's weird to think I've been doing Weight Watchers since March 2005. It's a long time for me to have stayed committed to something like this ... when I signed up I'd never really dieted before so wasn't sure I'd be able to handle Weight Watchers as a long-term lifestyle change without going crazy and becoming violent in a meeting one day.
I'm not a Weight Watchers convert. It's not my new religion and I'm not going to talk it up to other dieters or rename one of The Cats after the ex-Duchess of York. However, I must admit the Flex plan has been easy to follow and has worked pretty well for me despite my ambivalence. I'll keep doing Weight Watchers until I get to goal, but my ultimate plan is to phase out Weight Watchers entirely and just focus on a healthy lifestyle which includes daily exercise and good nutritional choices. No more doing calculations at the grocery store ("if a has more fiber and more fat than b, but their total calories are the same per serving then I should buy ...") or wondering if my Kashi Go Lean hot cereal packets are Core or not.
It's probably not, because of the honey and the evaporated cane juice, but it tastes so good. I like to stir in half a cup of fresh blueberries just after the Kashi has finished microwaving and then let it set for a minute or so. Tastes like a hot blueberry muffin. Or blueberry pie. Or something equally scrumptious. I'm guessing frozen blueberries would work pretty okay -- you'd just have to let the bowl sit a bit longer.
I'm not seriously doing Core (Flex all the way, baby), but am finding that (what with my desire to eat more whole grains, lean meats, and fresh fruits and vegetables as well as my new and extremely superstitious avoidance of high sodium processed foods) my food choices seem more Core than Flex and I have been a little curious about how Core I really am. And the answer is ... much more than I expected. If I didn't have to consider The Husband and weren't so shamelessly addicted to homebaking, I could go Core.
Tue Sep 19 14:22:11 2006
Surprise, surprise, my blood pressure is still high. Systolic is down a bit, but diastolic is up by just as much so I am still fux0red. The nurse thinks my GP will want to boost the Norvasc since there's been no significant change in the last two weeks. Possibly, she'll wait until my next blood pressure reading in two weeks and if it hasn't improved by then ... and here the nurse just looked at me and, after a pause, said she was sure there'd be improvement by my next reading.
Dude. I'm going to kill me a nurse one of these days. I go into the nurse's office feeling fine and pretty hopeful of improvement, but I come out scared and worried every twinge heralds imminent death.
My blood pressure is high, yes, but not dangerously so. I felt fine before I knew about it and, when I'm not thinking about it, I still feel fine. While I've been on Norvasc for two weeks, I've experienced no weird side effects. Therefore, I am doing good and so damn the nurse and her ellipses.
And now I have to go get some cavities taken care of. Oh, I'm just falling apart allover.
Sat Sep 16 23:54:18 2006
The Husband, he is threatening to give me a Wii for my birthday. I know The Husband wants a Wii and I am not opposed to owning one -- although I have some reservations -- but I don't want one of The Husband's toys for my birthday. I mean, it comes bundled with a sports pack, for pete's sake. Am I the kind of girl who plays sports in the big blue room? No, of course not. So why should I want to play them in my living room?
(Obviously, Wii croquet is not on the offing).
Oh, yes, I know. Twilight Princess is coming out and won't that be ever so much fun? For other people, maybe. Zelda doesn't do it for me. Actually, none of the upcoming Wii games do it for me.
Really, I want a lovely, shimmery, pearlescent pink DS Lite bundled with Princess Peach 2 and Lego Alien, but such a thing does not exist and I already have an Arctic White DS Lite, anyway. Surely, one does not need two DS Lites.
Also, a game console for my thirtieth birthday ... seems horrid. I want lots of flowers, really good cake, a nice dinner, and some new goddamn carpeting for the home office. Or a new range hood. Or a new compost bin. Or ... well. I guess everything I really want is for the house. I am so goddamned boring.
Mmmm ... cake.
Thu Sep 07 20:39:18 2006
Shit. I have high cholesterol and high blood pressure. Shitshitshit. I am so pissed off, because here I am all with der exercizen and healthy eating and ... it's all a joke. I'm a joke. I'm the medically obese woman with health problems.
Goddamnit. Goddamnit to hell.
My general practicioner has put me on Norvasc for the high blood pressures (seems unconcerned about the cholesterol) and I really, really, really don't want to be on it as, basically, scares the shit out of me (calcium channel blocker! w00t!). I mean, this drug is used for treating high blood pressure and angina. The paperwork accompanying the pill bottle was scarily detailed in its listing of side effects and possible interactions -- a listing which haunts me every time I lay down to sleep. When I wake up at 3am with my heart pounding in my chest and a pain under my left breast ... is it residue from a nightmare or is it the Norvasc or fear of the Norvasc or the beginning of a real heart condition? In the cold light of day, it's obviously from an unremembered nightmare, but in the wee hours of the morning I'm fit to die.
Such a brain fuck, this mortality.
I have to go back to the physician's in two weeks and get my BP taken again, because the nurse said it is "dangerously high" (hence the Norvasc).
Except my BP isn't dangerously high. At least, not according to anything I've read. I am high-ish, but my heart isn't going to explode in my chest any time soon ....
Now, that would be cool.
Fri Sep 01 21:43:07 2006
Our insurance company is doing this big push to get its subscribers to switch over to generic drugs by promising to cover the total cost of the generics. In an effort to be fiscally responsible or some shit like that, I switched over to a generic birth control pill. From Triphasil to Trivora. Not a big deal, you'd think. My GP assured me I'd be fine making the switch and everything I read told me the drugs were the same and I wasn't any likelier to end up pregnant on a generic than a non-generic and yet I am completely freaked out.
I'd been on Triphasil since I was nineteen, you know. It's my primary form of birth control. Don't think about it much. Just take it religiously and do the happy no baby dance one a month. To change it out for a generic seemed like bad juju.
And yet. And yet thirty two dollars a month is nothing to sneeze at. I mean, yes, it is cheap when compared to the cost of an abortion or raising a baby, but aren't the pharmaceutical companies rich enough, already? And, yes, I know the insurance company is offering total coverage of generics because they make more money this way, too. But I could do with a extra thirty two dollars a month.
Thirty two dollars a month. That's three yards of fabric. Or a eight Kashi meals.
I've become addicted to those new Kashi frozen entrees. So delicious. So filling. So mostly good for me. So far I've tried three flavors -- Black Bean & Mango (7 WW points), Lemon Rosemary Chicken (7), Lime Cilantro Shrimp (5) -- and have liked them all. Lime Cilantro Shrimp is probably my favorite. The way the sauce blends with the kashi? Ohmygod. And the tender sweet shrimp? Perfect. Not cheap, of course, but the taste is worth it.
last updated: Sat 17 Nov 2007 08:19:03 AM EST