Thursday through Sunday, and Facebook

I don't know how I could possibly catch you all up on what has been happening since last week! I may have to split it up over a couple days.

Thursday - Had a doctor appointment and we are revising all my meds. I am happy about this now, but at the time I was only 1/2 on board. The happy part is because I already feel better and have lots of energy. Of course, that may change by Thursday. Today is high energy, but it is a Monday and I am well rested. :) Anyway, she doubled my pain medicine. It is not really pain medicine so much as a nerve blocker. It "calms" the signals that transmit pain. So does the other medicine she is tapering me into. At the same time she is tapering me out of another I have been on for several years and really wanted to stop taking. So, yep, I'm on board now.

Friday - Was my last class with the 8th graders. They are funny. They just get up and leave, no big deal. My fourth graders need hugs, prolonged goodbyes, and once in awhile I get flowers or a small gift as a thank you. Ah, teenagers. The good part about this is that my schedule will be less hectic. I can work 8 hour days instead of 9. Sure, it is only an hour, but there is a lot you can do in an hour! I left 1/2 earlier today and was able to BBQ burgers before going to knitting. Usually I am stuffing a protein bar in my face as we head out the door.

After class, I stopped to visit with Mom and Dad, but they were on their way to look at a house so I got the bum's rush and headed home to pick up Sadie and go for a walk at work while waiting for the FedEx guy to come with my iTouch.

Yep, I got a iTouch! My boss asked me if I wanted one - what would you say? I even told him he needed one so we could learn together. lol This thing is wonderful. It is more than an iPod and less than an iPhone. It doesn't have a GPS (I don't think) and it is not a cell phone. But there are applications you can download so you can make calls over the internet! The iTouch is part of the college's mission to expand online learning and it is "trickling down" (no, not like Reganomics) into the K-12 learning community. Nice to be cutting edge, eh? I can check my email while driving or roll over in the morning, punch a button and read USA Today and check my email. Tonight, I caught myself tapping out an email on the iTouch with my laptop, open and online, sitting on the table next to me. The irony occurred to me after I hit send.

Saturday - LC Guy and I negociated a sheep shear day of April 10. Good Friday. I spent the day sewing some huge bags out of old sheets to hold the wool for 3 sheep. I documented this by using my camera's timer, set for 10 seconds. While I was at it, I did some spring cleaning. I cleaned all the packing supplies out of the closet and reorganized it. Told you I have more energy! Even so, I was pretty tired when I finally sat down to watch TV and knit sometime during primetime. 8ish, I believe. That's when I realized there was figure skating scheduled for 9pm and I needed to call my mom to let her know. But no, they were watching, like everyone else in America, the basketball game.

Sunday we got another winter storm. Dumped ice and snow most of the day. I used this depressing event as an excuse to stay in my pajamas all day. I did more cleaning, but even more knitting. I haven't had much time to knit the past couple weeks and I am finding it calms me. I have been pretty wired lately with my hectic schedule. I did spend the morning dumping my cable company and signing up for DirecTv again. I have missed it!

Okay, that is enough for now. One more thing. I have removed my Facebook profile from all searches and will be weeding out non-relatives. I am too busy to try and play the game "He who dies with the most friends in Facebook wins". If you are reading this, you will not be removed. I am keeping my original 20 or so friends. Maybe later I will jump on the FB train, but for now, I am going to be left behind at the station.

Warm and fuzzy

Today was a fuzzy day. A fuzzy brain day at work. Just wasn't feeling sharp or my best.

I arrived home after work to something fuzzy hanging outside my back door. A bag of wool! LC Guy had gone for a drive and dropped it off. I wasted no time. It was sunny and 55 today, so I went and sat on the sunny edge of my deck and proceeded cleaning it. The first cleaning is mainly picking the straw out of it. Sadie loved it. She kept burying her nose in it and sniffing. Finally, she tried to nibble it, but I put a stop to that. Can't have a "herding dog" nibbling the wares.

While I was doing that, my neighbor walked over and me commiserated about the long winter and the economy. She was laid off a month ago. No notice, her manager walked in the door and told her they were closing the store. The manager felt worse than she did about it.

After picking straw out of about 1/3 of the wool, I placed it in old mesh laundry bags. I filled my washer with hot water and added Tide. I heated water on the stove and added that to the washer also. Then I added the mesh bags and used a plastic hanger to slowly push them under water. After 15 minutes, I drained and spun the wool in the washer (no agitation). Then repeated that without the detergent. Then filled the washer with cold water and that is the 3rd and final rinse. The wool is "cooling" now. I can already see it is much whiter.

Somewhere in there, I ate some cheese spread I have had in the fridge for a month. I went from nauseous to stomach cramping. Maybe I should throw it out, eh?

I am going to go to bed. But first, I have to do the final spin, then lay the wool out to dry.

Good news!

The college asked me to work all summer and next fall and continue the current arrangement. Woo Hoo! I won't have to file unemployment this summer! On the down side, I won't be languishing in the hammock either. :)

Sunday

This is a picture of me this morning. This kinda answers the question "why are my co-workers afraid of me in the morning?". And no, I am not choking the cat! I am turning his head toward the camera I set in the cupboard to take this self portrait. This was my first and only attempt.

I resolved this morning to NOT work and before noon, I was working and cleaning again. Mad at myself, I got dressed, dropped off recycling, and headed to work to drop off all my conference stuff and take a walk with Sadie.

Sadie has been so bad since I got home. She has run away twice already. Today, she rolled in turkey poop before jumping in the car. PeeU! Then she refused to listen to me, in fact she pretended I didn't exist. She took off after a deer and when she returned, 30 seconds later (she loses interest when they will not chase her), she had a wild look in her eyes and wouldn't listen. This ticked me off to no end, so I turned around and headed back to the car. It was a short walk.

I came home and did some more laundry and hung some rugs out on the clothesline. It is a nice sunny day and I am feeling hopeful about spring coming soon. I had a taste of it in Detroit with the 70 degree weather. I want more!

I have been doing some research on processing wool. From sheep to shawl. I have remained friends with LC Guy and he will be shearing his sheep in about a month and promised me the wool from his sheep. This has me geeked to no end! Of course, being the dedicated blogger that I am, I want to document the whole process.

Therefore, I will be there on shearing day, with camera in hand. Even that isn't enough for me, I want to participate. Poor LC Guy, I doubt I will be much help, but I want to at least hold one while he shears. Sheep are funny. If you tip them back on their rump and back at an angle, they become still. Like twisting a horse's upper lip, it mysteriously anesthetizes them. He has been sending me photos of the sheep as he acquires them. There are not too many, maybe six, but they are brown, white, and grey. Right now, I am not planning on dyeing any of it, just keeping it natural. The knitting group wants to help with the process too and they are looking forward to the adventure.

I expect the hardest part of the whole shearing day will be catching the little buggers! The sheep photo is from a couple months ago. He has named them after the Flintstones, but I am not sure which is which! I think the pony is Bill. Obviously, he is not related to the Flintstone family. :) He just got a ewe and lamb a week ago and they are Mork and Mindy. He sent a photo, and Mork is adorable, but I keep thinking of the lamb chop I had in Greektown....

Homeless Encounter

Homeless
Originally uploaded by Etienne Fajardo

It has been a long time since I have been in the city. Last year, Cincinnati, but I always felt safe there, Cincinnati has a small town mentality. I never let my guard down, but I didn't feel threatened when I chose to walk from the ball field back to my hotel.

In Paris, we were part of a large group. Paris is a beautiful city, but huge, unfamiliar, and dangerous if you aren't careful. The Metro is the underground subway system. It is busy all the time and we were riding it at night, just hours after our long flight without sleep. It was chaos, dodging crowds of people, the stairs had human excrement on them, it was noisy, and all the signs were in French. Thankfully, we had an excellent guide that had the good sense to tell us how to act in the metro system. His name is Jake, and he briefed us before we left. He was adamant - do not make eye contact with anyone, if you do they will approach you. I have many things to thank Jake for during and after that trip.

However, regardless of how nice everyone I encountered in Detroit was, I didn't let down my guard. Detroit isn't Cincinnati and has a long history of violence and crime. When Anne and I walked all over and down the river walk after dark, it was still early and because the weather was so mild, there were many people out enjoying it as much as we were. It was not a scary atmosphere.

The first day of the conference, I decided to walk back to the hotel. We had walked there and back the night before so I was confident, it was a short walk, and a straight shot to the hotel. And it was a pleasant walk, except for the 10 lb laptop I was carrying that made my arms feel like gorilla arms by the time I got back to the hotel. :)

Finding my way around the hotel was much more difficult. I stayed in the RenCen. To get to the second floor, you had to ride an elevator to the 3rd or first floor, walk all the way around one of the rings, find the escalator, and take it to the 2nd floor, then walk around the ring again and find the tube that will get you across the street to the other hotel. Then find that escalator and take it to the first floor to an atrium that eventually led to the other hotel lobby. I went over there frequently to meet people for dinner.

Just when I think I am getting the hang of it, I would realize I skipped a step or went the wrong way on the circles. As long as I wasn't in a hurry or in a lot of pain, I didn't mind. Once, I passed the GM Legal Offices. The doors and front of it were all glass. There were light on inside, but nothing else. It was completely bare. It hit my tired brain as hilariously ironic and couldn't wipe the smile off my face.

The second day of the conference, Thursday, was a long one. I was not feeling good, I was sore from all the walking and I think I was flaring too. Part of it might have been the rich and heavy spinach cheese pie I had at Greektown. Don't get me wrong, it was good, just not my usual fare. Oh, I had a bite of a lamb chop, just to try it, and I loved it. Better than steak! Anyway, by the end of the day, I fell onto my bed, hungry, exhausted, and sore. I managed to sit up long enough to call Anne, who felt pretty much the same as I did, and arrange to meet her in her lobby to have an early dinner in the lobby's restaurant.

I did my usual obstacle course to get over there and found her sinking into one of the lobby's comfy chairs. Because we were so tired, we had a subdued dinner, compared to the other evenings, and said goodnight around 5:30pm. Then I started my obstacle course back to my room.Uploaded on July 29, 2008 by Etienne FajardoUploaded on July 29, 2008 by Etienne Fajardo

I hadn't made it very far before I almost ran right into him, but I was tired and preoccupied with the course I needed to take to get back to my warm comfy bed (see the silly post from a tired blogger). The warning flags took too long to register in my strained brain and my legs kept propelling me forward. I distantly heard him saying "Ma'am, ma'am" and saw him shuffling toward me. It was as if it was slow motion as my eyes changed focus from a figure coming at me, to his bloodshot eyes, and registered that he had raised his arm and pointed his finger at me. As I finally focused on his hand, I realized he did not have a finger, just a stub that he was now shaking at me. His odor hit me next and I was already reacting. I broke off eye contact and hurried by him to the escalator, as I rose upwards, I could see him still pointing at me and calling "ma'am" in his raspy voice. He was really more creepy than scary, but my knees were just a little shaky on the escalator and I continued to look behind me until I reached the tube.

Thanks, Jake.

Best laid plans...

I enjoyed my stay in Detroit, but I am glad to be home. I was so tired and sore when I got home, I thought I could sleep for a week. So much for that plan, when I awoke, I discovered that I had carried over my conference enthusiasm to Saturday morning.

It was snowing when I woke up and for one moment, I wished I was back in Detroit. Snap! That's just wrong. So I drank some coffee, picked up the computer and started working on something I learned in Anne's session. I never even turned the TV on. Several hours later, I had a headache and an uncontrollable urge to get dressed and do something!

Clean house!
I am still in de-clutter mode after all. Dust, haul stuff to the shed, unpacked, sort stuff for garbage day, take apart the vacuum to install the new belt, then vacuum the house, under the bed, move the cat box, laundry, water plants, put photo albums in storage container and store under bed, tried to shovel off the deck, but it is still frozen solid. Briefly considered pooper scooping the back yard, but it really was too overwhelming for a 4" rake and the ground is too wet to rake. Before I know it, its after 6 and I hadn't eaten. I put some goulash in the toaster oven and jumped in the shower for a long, hot shower.

My plan had been to rest, but that didn't really happen. Oh well, at least I was productive. And I am finally on the couch.

Sadie had no trouble sleeping through it all. Her stay with Brandi must have been exhausting!

Friday morning, 7am

I am moving really slow today. Despite being sore and tired, I was still awake at 11pm. I think it was because I was sore. Just before room service knocked on my door with my coffee (here's a business idea - daily coffee delivery!), I looked out my window and had to take this shot with my camera.

Camera stuff: I used two different settings, fireworks and night scene, and the night scene turned out best. For some reason, the steady hand feature is automatically activated with some settings, both of these, for example. I have trouble with this setting because it actually makes my photos blurry! But I haven't figured out how to remove it when it is on.

A bit of silliness from a tired blogger

This is what is looking good to me tonight.

I am not alone. I have heard several dreamy descriptions of this luscious bit of decadence today. It is like floating on a cloud. Soft, white, cushy, and perfect. We all want to take it home.

It really is like a cloud. Six super soft pillows to surround your head. A feather bed beneath you that seems at once bottomless and uplifting. The fluffy duvet is feather light and rich feeling cotton. I could not wait to crawl into it last night. Tonight it is calling my name softly, beckoning me, but I resist, lest I be lost in sweet dreams until morning...hey!? That's all good stuff, why am I resisting?

Good night!

Greektown

The Lights of Greektown

Just a quick photo, I'm exhausted and running on coffee fumes. This was taken after dinner at Pegasus in Greektown with my TWICE friends, yep, we're geeks, Chris. :) Videoconferencing Geeks.

http://www.twice.cc/

Time for a change

I am sure you noticed immediately that I changed the blog format. I am not sure it will stay this way, but I needed to see the green of spring. :)

Sadie had her annual appointment today. Expensive for me and stressful for her. They took her in back to do the blood test and I heard them talking about how bad she was shaking and then they muzzled her. Her exam is every bit as invasive as the annual exams we have to endure. She has gained only one pound since last year. She is 46 lbs. After the Christmas holidays, I expected much more. I was cautioned not to let her get any heavier. I think she will lose it next week when she stays with Brandy and when Brandy comes to stay with us in April.

I started the PhotoShop portion of my 8th grade class today. While they worked on the tutorals I created, I worked on one by Marnie Maclean. I love her blog! Knitting, dogs, travel and photography. I first saw her on Knitty Gritty, a HGTV show, I used to watch, but I don't think it is on HGTV anymore. Anyway, I printed this a long time ago and finally had a chance to try it out in between helping students. I worked on the new image of Sadie (see sidebar) and another of Prince today.

When I got home, I crashed around 3. Sadie's appointment was at 4:20, so I was up again at 3:45, but even that short nap really helped. Thankfully, the last week of March is my last week of class. Next week will be a break, still busy and exciting, but I am looking forward to getting away. I have lots of friends that go to this conference. I can't help thinking that it may be my last trip to this conference and as a part of the videoconference friends that have been so supportive and just plain wonderful to work with. My job description has changed and is moving away from videoconferencing and more toward online learning.

I have decided that I am going to use Facebook for family and current friends only, and may even limit it further. I don't need the whole world knowing every move I make! And just because I know someone doesn't mean I want to know every move they make either. I even removed myself from the area network and restricted my privacy even more. I have been bombarded with friend requests this week and ignored all but one. Last night, I had a chat conversation with someone from high school that reminded me of another reason I dont want to revisit the whole high school experience. I let it upset me. I just don't want my FB to go that route. Family first.

Okay, that's the exhaustion talking! I'm going to go make some popcorn and curl up with a book and some warm flannel sheets and sleep for 12 hours. Tomorrow, I am going to start getting ready for Cari's dinner, and start packing for my conference. I am going to try making my favorite granola in my convection oven. Have I told you how much I love this little oven? Everything turns out great and it is easy, conveinent, fast. It's fun too. Love it!

Seems like I am always playing catch up...

Wow, it has been a while since I have posted and the only excuse I have is my usual "tired" excuse. I came home on Friday and went to bed for a 3 hour nap. Asleep again at 11, slept twelve hours. I went to lunch with Erin and Patti. We have been craving chinese food! We had a nice "girl lunch" and stuffed ourselves silly. We had one of the waitresses take our photo. Notice the picture on the wall over my head? It is a french themed cafe picture. Erin noticed it and everything else in the room is hard core kitschy chinese - gold, red, and black. So it stuck out like a sore thumb.

I had planned on going shopping afterwards, but Erin talked me out of it and I went back to her house. I showed her Facebook, did some carpet repair and played with her adorable pomarainians, Prince (the blonde) and Duchess (the brunette).

Sunday...I will have to think about it, I don't remember. I know I got up early.

Monday, I had the first half of the day off for a snow day. Then out to work at the college and to knitting group that evening. I finished my sweater and wore it to group to show everyone. I have it on in the lunch photo.

Tuesday, I had an appointment to have The Black Chair considered for re-upolstering. It was originally leather, but leather is outrageous! So I looked at some recycled leather and some other "faux" leathers. To the woman's credit, she didn't scream when I showed her the photos. lol The dang thing is only held together with duct tape! I have some samples and will run them by everyone on Sunday at our 2nd annual St. Paddy Day Dinner at Cari's.

Oh, and Tuesday was my birthday too. I didn't tell my new co-workers, so it was a nice uneventful day at work. I did have lots of email, FB, phone calls and cards! Thanks everyone!

I think that catches me up. I didn't sleep well last night, maybe it was the wind buffeting the house all night. The cat was too clingy and the dog too jumpy.

I have an appointment on Friday for Sadie. It is time for her annual check up. She needs a license too. Next week I am going to Detroit for a conference (why can't they be someplace warmer?). I am leaving Sadie with her buddy, Brandy, the red lab. She stayed there last year when I went to Cincinnati and had a blast. She gets the run of 20 acres, a houseful of interesting furry creatures, and a family of five that lavishes her with attention. I miss her, but I don't think she notices I am gone! Anyway, that is why I have to have her license, shots, and flea/heart meds up to date. Cha-ching.

I am really looking forward to the conference, even if it is in Detroit. I will be packing on Saturday, at Cari's on Sunday, drop off Sadie on Monday, go to knitting and leaving on Tuesday around 1pm, right from work. Then a 3 day whirlwind of learning, networking, socializing and getting in touch with my inner geek! Woo hoo!

Found: The Snow Man

I found him! I found it in my Flickr account. Last Friday it was just a little bump. It was in the 40's today and I am not optimistic it has survived this warm up.

This is the snowman TS and the girls made while they were here at Christmas.

I forgot his name and the "reason for his being", perhaps someone can refresh my memory and the memory of my "multitude" of readers?

I am having lunch with some friends tomorrow and will blog more after that.

Oh, and I am still healthy!

My mantra for today!

I am healthy, I am healthy, I will stay healthy, you can't make me sick. My mantra for today!

All my co-workers are falling sick all around me. Thankfully, it is Spring Break at the college and it is like a ghost town. So far, I have been able to answer the phone and answer questions and not break anything. My boss called me after she left for her doctor appointment. She has a sinus infection AND pink-eye! She sat next to me all morning while training me. She touched my mouse! She swears she sanitized her hands...are you getting the picture! I told her I was a semi-germaphobe and I think she thinks I am freaking out. LOL So far my eyes are itching only because I am tired.

I am finishing the sweater. I am weaving in the ends. Tiresome because there are a lot of them. I don't feel like working on it tonight. Maybe I will cast on something new...

I took today's photo this morning on the way to work.

On the bright side...

After the storm on Friday, we had a bright sunny weekend. There were record low temps, but we saw the sun, the sun! It felt wonderful!

Yesterday was Cari's birthday, and I went to visit her this morning. She was up before noon after going out last night. When I called they were sitting down to breakfast so I rushed over - sausage gravy and biscuits! It was really good. Sadie wouldn't eat the little that was left after my second helping. After Cari almost stepped on the plate, it went into the trash. Sadie kept whining so every time Jerry went outside, I sent her with him. Cari opened her present and we played with it for awhile, now I want one too! It was a small battery operated vacuum. I told her she could get others to vacuum for her because it was fun to operate. Sadie kept finding sunbeams to lay in. You don't have to be human to appreciate the sun in the dead of a Michigan winter.

We hung out for a few hours, looking at Avon catalogs, watching the birds, and we tried the brain game on my Nintendo. We both scored as in our 70's. On the bright side, there is room for improvement.

Then I headed over to my parents with a load of things from Cari to deliver! I visited and ate some blueberry pie - made with Splenda. Ymmm. Dad was falling asleep at the table while Mom and I yakked. Another bright side to a not so happy development in the past...I asked Dad if I should use my appraisal to ask the township to lower my taxable value. After all, it came out for less than I paid for the house 2-3 years ago. He said "absolutely", so I am going to try and find time to call them tomorrow and see what I need to do.

I am having a fibro flare up. In an effort to track their onset, I am trying to remember what happened prior to it, that may trigger the onset. If I figure it out, maybe I can manage it.
I distinctly remember, Wednesday, was a pretty bad brain fog day. Thursday was fine, no issues. Then, I became upset on Friday evening. Saturday, it was very difficult to function, mentally. It took me 2 hours in Walmart to get my small list filled. It probably could have been done in about 45 minutes. Sunday, (today), my hands, arms, and shoulders are burning and sore.

eHarmony update - I think it has stalled. Whether it is temporary or not remains to be seen. I have left it up to him.

Knitting update: I should finish the sweater tonight. I am going to try and wear it to knitting group tomorrow.

The photos for today were taken at Cari's of her birdfeeder.

My Storm Stories show was pre-empted this evening because of the snow storm hitting the East coast from Atlanta northward. That means MORE snow for the NC relatives. Enjoy! On the bright side, I still get to see my weather hunk, Jim Cantore, either way.