Just returned from a 2 week medical mission trip to Romania.

I know, I know, I haven't updated in way more than 2 weeks, but that's my story and I'm sticking to it.

Since Multiply doesn't let me upload more than 20 MB a month, I uploaded all the pictures to Flickr. And then I discovered that each picture was HUGE, was filling up Flickr's 100 MB-per-month limit too quickly, and had to break down and make them smaller after all.

Anyway.

They're in no particular order, not labeled, and probably make no sense. But here they are.

No, that's not 2/3 of a day. That really means second day/third day, because I did a class that was before everything else started, so it's day 3 for me but really only day 2 of the expo.

Cuz you were wondering and all.

Meanwhile, back at the Expo, today was better than yesterday. The classes were better; either that or my expectations were lower.

I'm seeing a lot more young fashionable sewists walking around the vendor area now as well. (I think me and all the old biddies were the early birds, hehe.) So I'm starting to climb out of my funk about where-are-all-the-fashionistas-from-PR-hiding and enjoying myself more.

To top it all off, I did the most incredible thing today. While sitting and waiting for the door prize drawing (why, I don't know. I really do understand probability, but hope is illogical) I started looking over an exciting new pattern I had just purchased. I started to fuss over some details like I usually do, and instead of stewing and second-guessing myself about the answers?

...I walked right over to the pattern designer herself and asked my questions.


That was neat-O, peachy-keen, and all kinds of cool.

Right now I'm in Atlanta attending a 4-day sewing expo. I've never been to anything like this before, so I had no idea what to expect.

So far it's been a roller coaster ride. As I sit in the classes and walk around the vendor booths I find myself critiquing a lot. A big lot. And then I start to wonder what's wrong with me that I can't enjoy because I'm finding too much fault.

Because of Patternreview.com and its sizeable population of young, hip, fashion-forward members, over the last few years I have begun to see a new dawn of possibilities. Well-fitting elegant fashion is possible from the individual home sewist, and should be expected.

Now, wading through a sea of tapered pants and crocs in the Expo hall, I again despair for the future of sewing. The home sewing industry is stuck in the 80's and early 90's, led by a group of apple-shaped menopausal women wearing unflattering "wearable art". Good techniques are buried in frumpy designs; stylish designs are frustratingly poor in quality and quantity. Every independent patternmaker out there is marketing their version of something boxy and asymmetrical and with odd design elements present purely for the sake of a design element.

Where are the sewists copying what's au courant? I know they're out there, I see them on PR all the time. Current fashion is wearable by many body types if it is fitted correctly and chosen wisely. And, much of today's fashion is insanely easy to sew. I mean, camisoles? Please. As easy as they come and obnoxiously expensive to buy.

And the vendor displays - oy vey. One would think we sewists were all a bunch of jackdaws for the shiny trinkets put out there for us to peck at. And we flock to it in spite of ourselves, because the people selling delicious designer wools were standing idle while the embroidered frippery and quilting fat quarters on eather side were hopping off the shelves. In addition, a good portion of the sewing "classes" offered are really used as marketing time for an instructor's patterns, books, videos, etc, etc.

So tonight I'm vaguely disgusted. I'm glad I came because I really needed the break from clinic. I've learned a lot so far, but not what I thought I would learn, and I guess that's the disappointing part. Expectations are difficult. Especially for a tough grader like me. We'll see how they get fulfilled tomorrow.

Wow, that was a hiatus.

I sent off all our Christmas cards with this website address so people could check it out and keep up with our news... and then I didn't update it for over a month.  That was good forethought.

Anyway, a lot has happened since December 30.  We've been home to Colorado and back, I delivered another baby (ok, that was just today), my brother corrupted us and introduced us to DDR and WoW, and I've actually gotten a tiny bit of sewing done.

Sebastian's tail hair still hasn't grown back in yet.  Sophie is still bad.  So I guess that in reality, not much has changed.

I think some of my inability to update this has to do with the fact that this blog was an outlet for me, a chance to do some creative writing.  Since December I've been writing a monthly health-related article for the faculty/staff newsletter of the university, and that has been sapping a lot of my creative juices.  I'm also so ADHD that if I don't blog something right after it happens, I forget and move on.  So all those great blog topics I've been saving up?  Wasted.

So I'll try to come back.  We'll see if it's worth it.

I meant to post on Christmas, but I was too busy.

No really, we spent most of the day on the bathroom remodel. And the rest of the day at a friend's house watching Jeeves & Wooster and eating ourselves silly. There just wasn't time to post pictures of the kids.

So here it is...

Sophie thought it was the worst Christmas EVARRR!!!



We had a "wet" Christmas instead of a "white" Christmas, so she couldn't go outside. The tree lost a lot of ornaments that day...


Here's our stocking lineup: my stocking from when I was a girl, Sebastian's stocking (with all the mousies on it), Casey's stocking (which is actually one of my stockings turned around backwards) which has yet to be labeled with his name after 6 years of marriage, and Sophie's stocking.

Last year, we found the tiny stocking among the tree ornaments and thought it perfect for Sophie because she was a little kitten then.

This year we thought it still appropriate because she's been so bad all year. She still managed to score more swag than could fit in it anyway...

The kids enjoyed the treat, and they actually shared for once. A Christmas miracle!

It has been another busy week - Casey is off for Christmas break, and I had my first OB call on Wednesday. By 3:30 AM Thursday, I had delivered my first baby in the new hospital and practice.

So this week, I heard about another internet phenomenon that I succumbed to. It's called "Catster". It's a bunch of websites for cats. That's right, people post pictures of their cats and their personality traits. You can even have a "diary" for your cat. Pretty lame, eh?

Um.

Yeah.

Sebastian's page.
Sophie's page.

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Casey is not at work, but he's still hard at work. We're remodeling the guest bathroom - you know the one that has the patch of unpainted bad 70's wallpaper on it? Everything has been completely torn out and we're re-doing everything. Since the painted-over wallpaper is just about impossible to do much with, we're just nailing up beadboard and painting over it. That one was Casey's idea. He's so smart. :)

Oh yes, and we just played the first round of the playoffs.  I lost. :(  Cutler outscored Manning by quite a bit.  Sitting on the bench.  Feh.

Anyway, merry Christmas, everyone!

...that if one were working as live chat support personnel,



one would be


required to be


able to


type more than


twenty words per







minute.


Calling and sitting on hold would've been faster. But I suppose at least now I don't have bad elevator music tunes stuck in my head.

1. Grasp cat firmly in your arms. Cradle its head on your elbow, just as if you were giving baby a bottle. Coo confidently, "That's a nice kitty." Drop pill into its mouth.

2. Retrieve cat from top of lamp and pill from under sofa.

3. Follow same procedure as in 1, but hold cat's front paws down with left hand and back paws down with elbow of right arm. Poke pill into its mouth with right forefinger.

4. Retrieve cat from under bed. Get new pill from bottle. (Resist impulse to get new cat.)

5. Again proceed as in 1, except when you have cat firmly cradled in bottle-feeding position, sit down on edge of chair, fold your torso over cat, bring your right hand over your left elbow, open cat's mouth by lifting the upper jaw and pop the pill in - quickly. Since your head is down by your knees, you won't be able to see what you're doing. That's just as well.

6. Leave cat hanging on drapes. Leave pill in your hair.

7. If you're a woman, have a good cry. If you're a man, have a good cry.

8. Now pull yourself together. Who's the boss here anyway? Retrieve cat and pill. Assuming position 1, say sternly, "Who's the boss here, anyway?" Open cat's mouth, take pill and...Oooops!

9. Collapse and think. Aha! Those flashing claws are causing the chaos.

10. Crawl to linen closet. Drag back large beach towel. Spread towel on floor.

11. Retrieve cat from kitchen counter and pill from potted plant.

12. Spread cat on towel near one end with its head over long edge.

13. Flatten cat's front and back legs over its stomach. (Resist impulse to flatten cat.)

14. Roll cat in towel. Work fast; time and tabbies wait for no man, or woman.

15. Resume position 1. Rotate your left hand to cat's head. Press its mouth at the jaw hinges like opening the petals of a snapdragon.

16. Drop pill into cat's mouth and poke gently. There! It's done.

17. Vacuum up loose fur (cat's). Apply bandages to wounds (yours).

18. Give yourself two aspirins by whatever means works best for you, and lie down.

Brrr, it's cold down here in SC. After weeks of 70 degree days, it was down to the upper teens at night over the weekend. Fortunately, I was able to bring my herb garden in for the last two nights. Unfortunately, I didn't know how hard it was going to freeze the first night and lost some sage and oregano. The basil has been long dead, victim of an early light frost. I don't seem to have good luck with basil anyway.

I forgot to mention the recipes I posted the last few weeks. Some were Thanksgiving recipes; the rest were from getting into an organizing fit and deciding that I was going to start trying some of the 10,000 recipes on scraps of paper that I have stuffed into various cookbooks. The ones that are worth making again are being posted here so I can throw away the paper. And share it with ya'll, of course.

Since then, however, I have fallen into a deep blue funk and there ain't no recipes bein' cooked nor posted. So there.

Let's see, what else... I took the Family Medicine board exam on Friday. There's nothing like getting asked a bunch of questions that you feel you should know the answers to but can't quite get there to make your blue funk deepen to purple. Even better - reading the question, being sure of the answer, and then not finding your answer among those to choose from. Or not being sure exactly what they wanted as some of the questions were *incredibly* vague.   Yeah, I know.  Wahhh, waaaahhhh.


Denver has now lost 4 games in a row. Feh. After the first quarter of Sunday's game vs. the Chargers, I just started cheering for LaDanian Tomlinson because I need the fantasy points and I knew Denver was toast. Oh yes, and after all that angst last week, I ended up winning my fantasy football game after all. I won this week too because my opponent benched Drew Brees. That's Mr. Threw-5-touchdown-passes-Brees to you. Now *that* is angst-inducing.

Sebastian is doing well. The vet called and said that his kidneys look good but that he also had a urinary tract infection, so we're giving him antibiotics for a week. They gave us a few little "pill poppers" to help - little soft cat treats with a pocket to put the pill in. Bash ate those a few times, but then became uninterested. So now it has been a twice-daily ordeal to try to get the pill down his throat. Currently our strategy is to sneak up with the pill, pet him gently, then quickly cover his eyes, force his mouth open, drop the pill in the back of his throat, and hold his mouth closed until he swallows. He's become pretty good at yowling at us through clenched teeth. But overall he is acting much better: starting to jump up on things again, purring more, glaring every time I try to get a good look at his tail incision...

Sophie was moody yesterday, being a teenager I suppose. Either that or she's getting sick too. Kids.

Also forgot to mention that I started my garden several weeks ago by planting a row of grocery store garlic. I was going to order some fancy-schmancy gourmet garlic to grow but Casey rolled his eyes at me and asked me not to spend 35.00 on garlic bulbs because we were growing a garden to save money. I figured he was right, especially since it's my first time growing it. I'd better do a trial year with the cheap stuff first, given the significantly conflicting information about just when to plant garlic in the South. Some places said late October/early November, others said December 31st was the traditional day. Apparently, it's supposed to grow for a while in late fall, go into hibernation over the winter (even living through heavy frosts/snow), and then restart growing in early spring. I planted early/mid November, we had extensive late warm temps, and they sprouted well. They look unscathed by the 3 days of hard frost. So far, so good!




And finally, remember the Gunnison river float trip I mentioned that occurred right after residency graduation? You probably don't because I didn't mention much about it. Well, part of the trip involved crashing into a tree hanging down into the river cuz we were being stupid and not paying attention. Last week I had to have one of my partners dig a piece of that tree out of my knee. Guess I tried to bring a bit of Colorado with me, LOL.

And that's about it for this week. I haven't done much worth linking to, so this continues the streak of non-traditional Monday posts.

I've been needing to take Sebas to the vet this month because at his last checkup he had some gingivitis that needed to be checked again in 6 months, probably needs a cleaning, yada yada. 

He's also had a tumor on his tail for a good 7-8 years that we were told was a benign tumor to be left alone unless changing.  (I could've sworn that it had been biopsied and everything, but I'm not so sure anymore.)  The treatment for it, unfortunately, would be just to whack his tail off at the level of the tumor.  The last several days we've noticed that tumor getting hard and changing shape. 

And finally, Sebastian has been acting old lately.  Yes, I realize he's nearly 13, whaddya want, etc.  But seriously, he went from pretty-active-and-jumping-easily-onto-things to barely-able-to-climb-on-the-bed-from-the-chair-next-to-it in a matter of 6 weeks.  And the last 2 weeks he has been seriously clingy, usually just wanting to huddle in your lap in a ball of apparent misery.  I had increased his Cosequin (kitty glucosamine for joint health) with no resolution of symptoms.

To say we were worried is an understatement.  Casey was nearly sick with the fear that his kitty might have cancer.

I called for an appointment on my day off with the litany of issues to be addressed.  The nurse who took the call recommended that we keep him from eating for 10 hours before the visit in case he needed to have anaesthesia for the tooth cleaning.

Well. Comic relief time, because that was going to be interesting in and of itself.  The cats have dry food available at all times, and when you can just start to see the bottom of the bowl they let me know about it.  I was not looking forward to the outcry at finding the bowls completely gone.

Not funny.  Now put them back.

But they survived the deprivation, and we actually got some sleep last night.

Anyway, when we checked in at the vet's, we found to our dismay that Sebastian had lost 2lbs in the last 6 months despite having a seemingly normal appetite.  The vet was concerned about possible kidney failure and wanted to do some bloodwork.  Bash had been particularly cranky during the visit, so we decided to give him some light sedation to obtain the blood.  Then the vet looked at his tail, and said, "Hm.  I think this looks like a sebaceous cyst rather than a basal cell tumor," and decided to open it up while Bash was out. 

They took him away and we sat in the exam room reading the posters about heartworms, flea protection, and "Everything I need to know I learned from my cat" (why just sleep with someone when you can sleep on their face and other realities of cat ownership).  Casey asked me to translate everything the vet said again.  And we waited some more.

The vet came back in.

The tail tumor was a sebaceous cyst after all.  All the years' worth of "gunk" inside of it had been removed and his lump was essentially gone.  The vet went ahead and did the bloodwork too, but he thinks Sebastian has been acting poorly because his tail was hurting as the cyst grew and got inflamed.  Poor baby has been dealing with that thing for years, and it was a simple little procedure to get rid of it.  He's just left with the floppy stretched section of skin from having it for so long.

We waited for Bash to wake back up and the nurses brought him in, telling us he was still a little wobbly but ready to go home. 

And then we noticed his shaven tail.

Poor vain kitty.  I realize I'm probably anthropomorphizing here, but he normally walks around the house with his gorgeous long fluffy tail high in the air, little curl at the top making his signature question-mark as he saunters around.  Even Sophie has picked up the habit.  I had feared for the fallout if we ever had to cut his tail off at tumor level as we thought was eventually going to happen. 

Now his beautiful big tail is reduced to a skinny rat-tail with a tuft at the end and leftover skin in the middle. I can't seem to reassure him that hair will grow and that he still has every inch of tail left.

It doesn't help that I laugh every time I see him.

Shut up.  I give you the buttocks of disdain for your insolence.

Even if the the laughter is mostly out of relief.

 

 

Hmm, forgot to post that the pictures of the sewing room are now up for viewing.

I think I may have to change the day that I post things. Mondays are consistently more hectic now that I keep relatively normal hours. Not that I'm consistently posting on Mondays, but you know what I mean.

Well, this morning I was reminded of my love-hate relationship with fantasy football. I love waking up Monday morning to see what my players did on Sunday (cuz I'm too cheap to pay the $10 to have live scoring and so have to wait until the next day), and I've done relatively well every year I've played. For a girl.

But sometimes I do more than just let my standard lineup play. Sometimes I pretend that I know something about the inner workings of the game of football. Or more accurately, can predict the outcome of a future football game. Sometimes I research what's going on, make changes in my lineup, confident that I benched a stinker and played a sleeper who's about to have a breakout game.

Like this week. Eli Manning is my quarterback, and I had the choice between the Pittsburgh Steelers and Dallas Cowboys for my defense. The Giants and Pittsburgh have been having an awful time the last several weeks. Eli even got me (-)4 points a few weeks ago and has probably scored a total of 15 points over the last 4 weeks. Both teams were emotional wrecks coming off abysmal losses and had the talking sports heads discussing their demise. And Dallas has been on fire.

So I picked up a different quarterback. Two, to be exact. Roethlisberger and Kitna, both of whom were ranked higher than Eli. Then I emailed Casey and asked which one he would play, and he said, "What about Cutler?"

Hmm... New Denver quarterback, looked phenomenal in the preseason, perhaps the spark Denver needed to finally win a game. Yeah he's a rookie and the Denver O-line has been part of the problem with Plummer, but hope sprang eternal. I dropped Roethlisberger, benched Kitna and Eli, and played Cutler.

Well.

Not only did Denver drop their third straight game, Eli scored 17 points. Sitting on the bench.

Oh yes, and I played Dallas instead of Pittsburgh. Dallas, the hot team, scored 3 points. Pittsburgh, the broken-down losers, scored 20.

Did I mention I was playing the league leader this week? And if I beat him, I would be in first place? And he had Tony Romo, who has scored a phenomenal amount of points recently?

Fortunately, I have LaDanian Tomlinson. And Romo didn't do much yesterday. But I'm still 9 points behind, cheering desperately for Brian Westbrook who is playing tonight to make up those 9 points but not expecting much out of the Eagles since they just lost McNabb.

Every. Single. Time. I. Try. It. Backfires.

Had I left things alone, I would've played Eli and Pittsburgh, and handily beat my opponent.

I refuse to think about fantasy football again. Unless I have a bye or an injury, my lineup isn't changing.


Unless I can pick up a better quarterback...

Urg.  Mondays after a long holiday weekend are always jam-packed.  Hope everyone had a happy Thanksgiving - we had a bunch of friends and a couple of Casey's students over for turkey and all the trimmings, and then we had more over the next day to eat the leftovers.

We took advantage of the holiday weekend to work on another home improvement project: painting over the dark wood paneling in the sewing/computer room. As we were emptying the room on Wednesday night, the cats started running around wide-eyed with barely contained panic. Sophie finally flopped helplessly in the middle of the empty room, eyes glazed over. Since no other rooms were emptied and no moving boxes have appeared they have calmed down, but I think they have PTSD.  Poor babies.

Anyway, I would love to be able to post pictures of the finished product, but it's not photograph-ready right now.  I figured it's worth taking the time to really organize things rather than throwing it all back in just to get a picture on the internet.  In the meantime, I've loaded some in-progress pictures for ya'll to enjoy.

Not much else to post.  The internet was broken for quite a while tonight and I don't have much time to put together a normal entry. 

Well I'm getting to be quite the lawbreaker.

When I'm on call, I go to the campus infirmary in the morning before clinic to see any patients who need to be seen by a physician. I get to park in the special doctor's reserved space because campus parking is tight. And I'm the doctor, see.

Last week on call, I spent probably 45 minutes to an hour seeing patients prior to going to clinic. It was a busy morning. I came rushing out to my car heading for clinic and noticed a piece of paper under my windshield wiper.

Parking ticket. For, uh, parking in the reserved spot. Reserved for the, uh, doctor. Huh.

At first, I was furious that some overzealous moron had ticketed me. Then I started laughing, because hey, that's pretty stinkin' funny when you think about it.

Walked into clinic, showed it to my office manager, and she got it all straightened out.

This morning I was on call again. (Ok, so I just thought I was on call. I really wasn't. But I didn't figure that out until I had seen everybody and was back in clinic. As you will soon see, no good deed goes unpunished.) It was a quick morning; I was in and out in probably 20 minutes.

Got in my car, and - well, dear reader, I'm sure you have guessed it already. Another parking ticket fluttering flirtatiously on the windshield. Same overzealous signature as the last one, and who prominently wrote at the bottom, "PARKED IN INFIRMARY RESERVED SPACE. WORKS AT THE CAMPUS RADIO STATION", as if to say that the last time I had escaped his clutches only on a technicality. This time he had checked who was registered to the car with campus security (apparently only my hubby), and had caught me red-handed. Dirty reserved space parker-person.

I laughed, took it to my office manager who took care of it once more.

I'm on call again (for reals) on Wednesday. We'll see.

***************************************************************

But anyway, other than my felonious activities, this week...


...W00T again! I made TMQ! (scroll down until you see the picture of the ski lift) Ok so that was longer ago than this week. I just forgot to post it...

...I spent a good 6 hours or so fighting with Multiply trying to set up a new theme...

...and I've posted a few things more than usual. Having a fit of accomplishment, apparently.


That's all for now - I have some sewing to get to. :)

Spent another days worth of time working on this - and I wonder why my house is a mess all the time.

Check it out here (and view the first one if you haven't already).

For those of you who haven't had the opportunity to enjoy opera enough to understand what's being sung, here's the original italian along with a passable translation.

"La donna è mobile Qual piuma al vento, Muta d'accento E di pensiero Sempre un amabile Leggiandro viso, In pianto o in riso, È mensognero. (chorus) Part 2 È sempre misero Chi a lei s'affida, Chi le confida, Mal cauto il core! Pur mai non sentesi Felice appeino Chi su quel seno, Non liba amore!" (chorus)

"A woman is as fickle As a feather in the breeze Capricious in word And in thought Always a lovable Pretty face, But whether weeping or smiling, She is deceitful. (chorus) Part 2 He is always wretched Who trusts her Or confides in her, His heart is broken! But he can never be Completely happy Who on that breast Does not sip of the cup of love!" (chorus)

Heh.

Did some research, and Multiply did do something new - they call it "Multiply 3". I call it "fixing what ain't broke."

As you can see, I just reset it to the default theme while I figure out how to personalize it again.  And I spent all that time fussing over the CSS trying to figure it out...  Oh well.  It was good for me, I suppose.

****************************************************

Maybe I should make "What I Learned This Week" section of this blog, because I'm running across all kinds of things that I really should remember for the future.

Like this week.

I found out recently that I should've gotten a business license for my corporation that I set up for tax purposes.  (My eyes glazed over there too, don't worry.)  My lawyer said, "No problem.  Just go down to City Hall, tell them you need a business license, and pay your $50."

Right.

I walked in, said I needed a business license, and it all went downhill from there.  What kind of business?  (It's just a corporation for tax purposes.)  No what kind of business? (Really, it's just a corporation.  But I'm a physician.) So you need a physician office license. (No, the office is taken care of by the corporation that my corporation is part of.)  You obviously don't understand what's really going on.  Where are you located? (Well, where I work now.  But that's not really where my corporation is, that's where the other corporation my corporation is a part if is.  Really.)   Whatever.  What do you think your gross income will be for the rest of the year? (That's impossible to say.)  Try.  (Ok, this much.) You really think that much?  There's only 5 weeks left in the year. (Well, I've been working for 2 months already, that's for a quarter of a year.) Don't tell me that, you'll be penalized for working witout a business license. (Oh.  Doesn't the business license for the office take care of that?)  No.  (Hmmm.) You need an occupancy permit, fill this other form out and pay more money.  (Are you sure?  My business doesn't really work in this location, the physican corporation my corporation is a part of takes care of the building.)  Just fill it out and pay the money. (Ok. *tears welling up*) Do you own or rent the building you're in? (Neither.  It's just a corporation!!) What is the square footage? What is the occupancy limit? (I DON'T KNOW!!  IT SHOULDN'T MATTER!!!! REALLY!)  Don't get frustrated, just fill do the paperwork and pay the money.

After this exchange in the middle of filling out the paperwork, I seriously considered leaving, going home, having a good cry, and having somebody else do this for me.  I know that doesn't sound like me, but I was (am) sick with a head full of mucus and on the verge of a breakdown anyway.  Obviously I didn't have any idea of what is really going on, despite the best efforts of my lawyer to explain what an LLC is and all the "legal fictions" involved.

But, I stuck it out, and walked away paying over $100 for my business license and occupancy permit with instructions to call for the building inspection so he could look at the little room I sit in when I'm not seeing patients at the building that already has an occupancy permit and I can't wrap my brain around that but apparently the people at City Hall who do this all day every day can. 

And then I told my lawyer about the experience, and agreed I didn't need an occupancy permit.  He said, "For my business license, I just walked in, said I was an attorney and needed a business license, and they said to pay $50 and it was over."  Feh.

Today I told my office manager about my experience and she said, "No, you didn't need an occupancy permit.  I don't know why they gave you such a hard time.  I'll call them."

Within an hour she had them processing a refund for me.

Why is this so hard when everyone else finds it so easy?  I feel like an idiot savant or something.  One would think that if I can manage diabetes and hypertension or even just take a medical history that I could handle City Hall.

Guess not.

Well, I haven't really checked my Multiply site since last week. I'm really confused by the changes - am I the only one with a slightly odd website or did they do another restructuring? I seem to be unable to find many of my usual links and the font color of the title of my site is essentially unreadable.

Monday the 13th strikes again.


Anyway....

...the movie Casey and I bought this week and watched Saturday night...

...the skirt I finally finished. Almost.

...and happy Veteran's Day to my baby brother, who is an Army veteran of Operation Iraqi Freedom. He's been home for about 3 years now, but every year I realize a little more what my brother being a war veteran entails.

I'm also realizing more and more the burden of being a physician for a group of people to whom I am significantly socially connected. It is so hard for me not to just mention to my hubby (who also knows many of these people) that I saw so-and-so today in clinic. It's privileged information as to who I even see in clinic - not to mention whether who is newly pregnant, who has psychiatric issues, or who really should be taking their anti-hypertensive meds but aren't. The emotional involvement is deeper and I feel as though I need to talk about it to be able to let go - but everyone with whom I would talk is connected to the people about whom I would talk.

It's lonely knowing everyone around you.

I want to blog about a bunch of things, but I'm running into some serious writer's block. It's been an interesting week too, between my going to New York City with some family for 4 days and Casey having a kidney stone over the weekend.

For now though, I'm having a hard time putting it all to words.

Flying into NYC on Thursday was like being in a time warp. The view of midtown Manhattan with the Empire State Building and Chrysler Building as we descended were instantly exciting. Walking across the subway platform and hearing the car horns on the street below made me laugh at the absurdity of New York drivers. It was such an energizing feeling to be back in NYC, almost as though the last 4 years had been a dream and I was alive again from a long sleep.

Running around New York City with my family from Colorado further confused my brain. People and places are now mixed in disconcerting ways. My cousin whom I have only seen in Colorado is now the New York native instead of me. We stayed in Manhattan rather than leaving at night to go to the 'burbs, continually infusing the pulse of the city to the point that my pulse was in rhythm with New York rather than with my former life.

Flying back into South Carolina I couldn't figure out what state I was visting from or how long I was staying or if I belonged here for good.

It has taken me a day or so to figure out who and where I am.


And I guess it's hard to tell stories about a trip when you're still not sure if you're back yet.

Well, another week down. I'm still working on the same skirt I've been working on the last 2 weeks and it still isn't ready to review. Actually, it would've been done if I hadn't pressed the pleats the wrong direction... Now I have to undo part of the waistband and re-do it. Since ripping stitches and re-doing things I've already sewn is rated just below cleaning out the catboxes, it hasn't happened yet.

Anyway,

...what we watched that teetered on the border of disturbing...
...where we were partying Saturday night. (See party pictures here.)

The Broncos lost - but they kept the game close. which is about all one can expect against the Colts. So we're not quite in sackcloth over here.

I attended Greenville city council meetings the last 2 Monday evenings because they've been considering a city-wide ban on smoking in public places. I signed up to speak last time but didn't get called. I signed up again this time to speak, and was the first one up.

Wow. I haven't been that nervous in ages. Maybe even ever. I normally enjoy public speaking, but between the TV camera crews, photo snapping, and imposing circle of city council members I could hardly see straight. I had a neat little speech all prepared, printed in big type, but for some reason I didn't even look at it. I covered the main point, (which was based on this study out of Pueblo, Colorado) but after I sat down I realized there were a few other things I was going to say that seemed important at the time. (Actually, once I could hear myself think over the pounding in my chest I realized it.) And unfortunately, I'm the type who cries when really nervous or when I feel strongly about something.

No, I didn't cry in front of the Greenville city council. But I came so horrifyingly close for a brief moment that I was shocked out of it.

So much for being a professional physician articulating my views on public health issues. Feh.




And in other news, Sophie's latest nickname? "Her Royal Badness".

That's life here with my juvenile delinquent kitten.

There are some new pictures of the kids posted. Well, just Sebastian this time. Start here for just the new ones or click here for the whole album.

Been working on a few random topics, and since I have nothing else to post late on Tuesday night for my Monday post, here they are. I'm going to bed.

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Where I grew up in the west, the only oak trees we had were scrub oaks, which are, at most, 8' tall bushes with acorns the size of peas. The last few weeks, the oaks surrounding our house here in the east have started dropping their fruit, and I have discovered that real acorns are amazing things. While Casey and I sit watching TV, the program is punctuated by the shot-like sound of acorns landing on the roof. When the wind blows? It's like a machine gun. I've been awoken at night (with earplugs in!) by noises so loud that I was sure an entire branch had landed on the roof rather than a single acorn. The driveway, despite Casey's best attempts with the leaf blower, is a microwave popcorn bag full of noise when you drive on it. Hearing acorns fall on the car while it sits in the driveway makes me cringe as it sounds like hailstone-like divits are being pounded into it. I don't know why acorns are so loud - they aren't that heavy, and aren't falling from a super height. Perhaps something about their composition amplifies the sound? Maybe the little cap leaves enough space between it and the fruit to make a reverberation chamber? It's very bizarre. I'm going to have to google it and see if any research has been done into this phenomenon. Unless easterners have just never seen this as odd - just as I don't see it odd to get only 7" of rain a year.


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fvvvvvvvvvvvvvvf?



Glb()))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))fxwxz


Sophie doesn't understand why mommy doesn't appreciate her writing help.



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I've got a great big bruise on my forehead right now because I am just that dumb.

While washing my face last night, for some reason I brought my face towards the sink rather than the handful of water toward my face.

If you look really close, you can read "Moen" on it.

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We bought a new cat litter this week So far we've been using Tidy Cat clumping litter which tends to crumble into little bits when scooping - kindof obviating the point, if you ask me. Recently, I saw a commercial for Arm & Hammer litter that had "amazing clumping ability",so, I bit and tried it. It may have amazing clumping ablility, but it apparently wasn't tested against Sebastian the Pees-Two-Cups-at-a-Time-Wonder-Cat. It still crumbles in to little bits, but at least the little bits are big enough to still be scoopable. A small victory, but a victory nonetheless.


Well, my blog has just turned into a mommy blog with all this talk about kitty poop and pee.

I'm too tired to do anything about it right now anyway. I'm guessing that's also a characteristic of mommy blogs, hehe.

I am officially in love with Tom Deters.

Who??

I know.

Lemme 'splain.

I've recorded a few episodes of "All Star Workouts" on FitTV, which are different exercise videos of the latest fad workouts - everything from Bhangra to Ballet Strength to Afro-Latin dance. I haven't been able to do a large number of them yet, and most of the ones I've done to this point have been, in my opinion, pretty stupid. I'm a bit of a cynic when it comes to exercise videos. For one thing, I get bored *very* easily. For another, I get really sick of perky little chickadees telling me how well I'm doing as they barely break a sweat and perform complex hip-hop-dance workout routine as though it's the most natural and easy thing in the world.

So when I started the "Kick-box Cardio with Tommy Deters" episode, I wasn't expecting much. (Ok, I was expecting a really tough workout, but at least I knew I could handle kick-box-type choreography, as I've done a ton of Tae Bo. Maybe I just respond better to male instructors? I like Billy Blanks too...)

Anyway. I started off in my usual "whatever, just get the workout over with" mode. But even before the warm-up was over I was enjoying myself. He has this funny way of being...

...well...

...a warm, fuzzy...

...drill instructor.

There. I said it.

I didn't like every move in the workout that we did. He didn't always explain what he was doing that well. There were even a few times where he was completely out of synch with the music (or the people around him, for that matter), which usually drives me nuts. But the way he alternated between saying things like "Don't you quit now, you can rest when you're dead!" and "We're going to do one more set because we love you" (squeeeeee!!! I love you too, Tommy!) and "It's my job to watch you so you don't run to the refrigerator during the next commercial break" had me so completely bewitched that I was yelling kiyi and counting down out loud with the rest of his brainwashed automatons. I even did the toning/cooldown portion of the workout - which I usually skip and go straight to Namaste Yoga instead.

I'll probably get tired of the platitudes after working out to a few more episodes - sometimes gimmicks work against a TV personality. (Like Emeril, for example - he says the exact same clever phrases EVERY NIGHT. There's only so many BAM!!s a girl can take.) But when Tommy Deters tells me I can do one more set of side kicks, my jaded, cynical self really believes him. That jaded, cynical self even looked online to see if he had a line of workout videos to buy - and guess what?

He's mostly been a soap opera actor and model, LOL.

I don't know how he got into doing a spot on FitTV other than the fact that he's cute and into martial arts.

But for now, I'm ignoring his B-grade status (and sickeningly positive personal website) and thoroughly enjoying the puppy love. Because anything that makes me look forward to exercising - well, who am I to argue?.