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I hope everyone has a safe and happy 4th of July! And for my friends not in the U.S. I hope you have a fun and safe Saturday! ;)

My hand is doing quite well. Stitches came out on Thursday, and the doctor couldn't even force carpal tunnel syndrome symptoms! :D I made the consultation appointment for my left hand. It's in August, cos they like you to wait at least eight weeks. I cannot wait to start writing letters and making cards again! Ooo...and crochet and maybe even make jewelry again! :D

I'm off in a few minutes to make a grocery store run...I need some dinner for tonight.

I'm still mostly okay. I'm in quite a bit of pain, but it isn't so bad that I can't handle it. Managed a shower Sunday afternoon, that was nice. I am really not liking being one handed...July 2nd will be here soon, right? ;) Am exhausted...need rest.

The surgery went well, didn't even take them very long to do. I'm hurting, but not so badly that I can't handle it. So...definitely assume that no news is good news! ;)

Ooo...look at the pretty. :) I really like this new layout, obviously or I wouldn't have chosen it. ;) I've uploaded some new icons as well...all them from the so wrong but so funny icons by the person who does the Kawaii Not comic, see the links section in the sidebar. :)

Not a lot happened today. I discovered that my hair is just long enough for baby sized barrettes, that made me happy. :) I bought some lavender ones with plastic starbursty things on them...I will try to remember to take a picture of me wearing them. I have decided I am no longer going to make "plans" for my hair...whatever I feel like doing I will do. Right now I am leaning towards growing it long again...but that could change at any time.

Nothing else to say, really. My tummy is growling demands for food and I think I need some therapeutic Torchwood viewing. ;)

I know, I really should be better about updating. There just isn't much to talk about. My life has been nothing but same shit, different day most of the time. I do have something to say today, though. ;)

On Friday the 19th of June I'm having carpal tunnel surgery on my right hand and wrist. I have talked to a lot of people that have had the surgery, and I talked to my surgeon about it and I have come to the conclusion that doing it now before it gets even worse is a good idea...because right now it will likely be a quick fifteen minute surgery...as long as there isn't a lot to "clean up" in there. If I let it get worse and worse that surgery is going to get more and more complicated. So...right hand first and if it works and goes well and doesn't hurt too much I will have the left one done when the right one heals. So...I would appreciate positive thoughts, prayers or what ever it is you would do in this situation... if you don't mind. :) My mum, dad, nephew and the dog are all coming up the Thurs. before the surgery...and after the surgery my mum will stay with me that night instead of at my sister and brother-in-law's house. I am a little scared, but also I know everything will be fine.

Other than that, there really isn't anything interesting happening. I will do my best to update here with info about how I am doing post surgery. I can type one handed...and it's a good thing because my right arm will be imobilised for at least two weeks. Assume that no news is good news, cos if things go badly (god forbid) I will have someone update my LJ on my behalf. Okay...no more negative thoughts. :)

We have been having some seriously crazy weather here. There have been multiple tornado warnings here in the last few weeks. The thing is where I am, the funnel clouds hardly ever touch down and become actual tornadoes. East of me, in the flat part of Colorado, they get more actual tornadoes...but the chances of one hitting me are pretty slim. Anyway, because of the weather we have been getting some awesome thunderstorms and rain. I love it so much when it rains and thunders etc. :) So that's making me happy, except when I get caught in them on my way home from the town centre or something like that. ;)

Okay...I have some cards and letters I want to finish before I have surgery, but I have to work on them a little at a time cos otherwise my hand and wrist get a lot worse than usual! So...I'll update after the surgery if not before. :) Hope everyone is doin' groovy! :)

Wow...it's been less than a week since I updated, how did that happen? ;) Oh wait...I know, it's cos I went out Friday night, so I actually have something to talk about! LOL! 98% Chimp had a gig...98% Chimp used to be Stifler's Mom, so the band Marcos is in. Anyway, they sounded really good, I really, really, really like their new singer a lot! Anyway, there was this guy called Nathan who was making the rounds in the bar just talking to people. I was a little freaked out at first, cos I am terrible in social situations, but he kind of grew on Gina, Robyn and I. By the time we were leaving, I let him hug me and didn't freak out! :) I'm proud of me. LOL!

My throat is still bothering me and I'm still getting more tired than usual faster that usual. Hopefully it will go away soon, and not come back! When the ENT told me I had the throat virus that was going around he said typically people would start to feel a lot better and then it would start all over in their chest. I'm really hoping that doesn't happen!

Okay...I've had my post bar meal and the telly choices for the next couple of hours is looking pretty grim, so I think that is my signal to go to bed. ;)

I am very tired and I have a throat infection so I haven't felt much like writing in my LJ. There really isn't a bloody thing going on that is worth writing about anyway. Current helper is wonderful, I expect something to happen to take her away from me at any moment. Maybe that won't happen this time. Got my $250 payment from the govt. it was to make up for a lot of people, like me, who didn't qualify for the stimulus payment that Bush sent out. I promptly spent all of it and had fun doing it. ;) Kitties are fine, crazy as always.

I think I'm done now. I'm going back to my couch and my book and my tea.

I was driven through downtown and Lo-Do Wednesday afternoon, as I was not the only one in the van the ride service sent to pick me up from a doctor appointment.

My heart still skips a beat and I start to tear up a little every time I see downtown and Lo-Do...I live here! I actually live here, in Denver in the loft apartment in the city, just like I have dreamed of since I was 13! This is why I walk around with a goofy smile on my face and burst into random song multiple times a day. :) This is what happy feels like!

I just finished watching a documentary on the Sundance channel, that honestly scared the hell out of me. I think it may very well be the most horrifying thing I have ever seen. It wasn't about human torture, not directly anyway. It wasn't about animal torture, not directly anyway. Did I grab you and suck you in yet? Are you wondering what the hell I'm talking about? Okay...I'll tell you. The documentary was called Addicted To Plastic You hear about the garbage patch in the Pacific ocean, in passing, while you're driving to work, or flipping through telly channels or skimming headlines on a news site...but you never really think about it, do you? I know I didn't. It's something else entirely when you see it on telly...when you listen to researchers and activists tell you and then prove that there is more plastic in the water there than naturally occurring plankton. That's right, I said more plastic than plankton. And it's not all plastic shopping bags and that old cooler with the crack that you tossed. No...most of it is actually little tiny bits of plastic, like the tiny resin beads that ALL plastics are made out of...and the fish eat it. They eat it because they think it's yummy fishy food, and why wouldn't they since there is more plastic than yummy fishy food. So...the little fish eat the plastic...the medium fish eat the little fish...the big fish eat the medium fish...guess who eats the big fish. Yup, that's right you and I do! So...it's in our food chain.

It's in our food chain, and our water, and everywhere else. Those nice exfoliating beads in your bar of soap, they're plastic...unless you bought an all natural bar of soap...and checked all the ingredients. Did you know that the polyester in your shirt is plastic?! I actually didn't know that...in retrospect the "poly" part probably should have given it away. Hindsight is always 20/20. It's in our landfills and it will still be there until the end of time. That's a big concept, I know...so I'm going to say it again. The. End. Of. Time. We live in a disposable society...we use things and we throw them out. And we buy new things...in plastic packaging that we carry home in plastic bags...and we toss the packaging and the bag. And then when that breaks we start the cycle over again. Do you know what our grandparents did when their toaster broke...they got out the tool box and they fixed it. Do you know what our grandparents did when the telly broke? They fixed it...and if they couldn't fix it, then they took it somewhere or called somebody who could fix it. Do you know what I did when my last toaster broke? I bought a new one. Do you know what I did with the old toaster? I put it on top of my kitchen cabinets, and made it a knick-knack. Not what you expected to read, I know... but it's a Hello Kitty toaster and it's really cute! ;) Do you know what I would have done with the toaster if it hadn't been a Hello Kitty toaster...yeah, I would have thrown it out.

When I was done watching the documentary, I sat there on my couch and looked around myself, at my things and my dinner and my drink...and I started realizing how many things are plastic. My computer, my printer, the ink cartridges in my printer, picture frames and cat toys and clothing and the egg decorations on my pink tree, my pink tree, my CD cases, the pens I use, some of the notebooks I use have plastic covers, my phones cell and land, my headsets cell and land, most of the stuff in my bathroom, most of the stuff in my kitchen...

And then the very scariest thing of all hit me. I had just eaten a Caesar salad as my dinner. A salad that came in a plastic bag...that had another plastic bag in it and that bag had a plastic bag with the croutons, a plastic bag with the salad dressing and a plastic bag with the Parmesan cheese in it. That's 5 plastic bags and I'm not even done. I also drank a Coke Zero (poured from a plastic 2 litre bottle) that was in an acrylic cup, with plastic re-usable ice cubes floating in it. Oh shit, that's 8 plastic items now. And the trash went into a plastic garbage bag, in my plastic garbage can. Okay up to 10 now. That's 10 separate plastic items involved in ONE meal! And I regularly drink water out of 2 plastic re-usable bottles that I keep in the fridge. Plastic bottles from before the FDA admitted the dangers of BPA in plastic bottles. So...what the hell am I supposed to do with those bottles? Can't drink from them, can't throw them out...decorative flower vases I guess?! Art installation maybe?!

After dinner it was time for me to take my meds. Oh dear god the meds. All the meds in the plastic bottles that are not accepted for recycling in most places. I throw them out...what else am I supposed to do with them?! And the plastic inhalers and the plastic insulin syringes and the plastic bio-hazard container the syringes go into after I have used them and the plastic blister pack my decongestant comes in...and what the hell is that stuff they use to make capsules?! It looks like, feels like, smells like plastic. Great...some of my pills are covered in plastic...that cannot be good. Oh and all the meds are now in a plastic tool box, with a padlock that has a plastic dial on it.

The simple solution to this is for me to recycle, I know that. I do recycle my cans, which the city of Denver does not make easy and I will get to that in a second. So...if I am going to keep all these things separate to recycle I need garbage cans or bins or something to keep them separate in. First I have to find the money to buy them, Monday afternoon I had to dip into the "emergency $25" to buy cat food. Money is an issue. Second I have to find somewhere to put these bins (or whatever I buy, with money I do not have). That's hard, every inch of space is being used in this apartment. I might be able to put them behind where the front door opens...but that makes getting the walker in and out of the door almost impossible, so that's out. No place for them in the kitchen, I can't open my fridge all the way because the garbage can I put all the cans in is in the way. So I have nowhere to put the plastic bins/garbage cans (that I would need to separate my trash), that I can't afford anyway. Now here's the part about how difficult the city of Denver is making recycling my cans, and any other items I might try to recycle. There is no curbside recycling pick up for apartment buildings. That's right...NONE! So, even if I could find the room and the money to separate my trash into bins for recycling...I have nowhere to put the stuff when the bins get full. I suppose I could drive them to wherever it is the recycling goes...but I don't know how to drive, so I own no car. And honestly, am I doing any good if I drive only my recycling somewhere...seems like I would undo the good of the recycling by driving it to the recycling centre.

I don't understand why the city of Denver can't put recycling dumpsters where the regular trash dumpsters are here at the apartment...and other buildings as well. People have to take their trash down there anyway...how hard would it be for the city to pick up the bloody recycling, like it does the trash. My sister and her husband own a house, they have a bin for their recycling, just like their city provided trash bin, except that it is purple and has the recycling symbol on the front. They don't even have to separate glass from plastic from aluminum from paper...it all goes into the same bin and the city truck comes and picks it up once a week. So...why the hell can't they give people in apartment buildings the same service. If they can pick up our trash, then they can pick up our recycling! Rest assured, letters will be written, people who want to help will be found, and answers will be demanded!

In the meantime, I know there are a few things I can do to try to lessen my personal part in all this.

1. take my canvass bags with me when I shop. (Okay, I already do that, but it counts!)
2. no more disposable plastic cups or paper cups with plastic lids when I go to Starbucks, I have re-usable cups I can take, and they give you 10 cents off when you do that! :D
3. I can fight to get recycling made readily available to residents of apartment buildings.
4. I can try to "re-purpose" as much of the plastic that comes in and out of my life as possible.
5. I can think about things before I buy them, because thinking leads to actions like seeking out better alternatives...whether it's packaging alternatives or ingredient alternatives.

The documentary was not all gloom and doom, it actually left me with a sense of hope. Every day all around the world people are finding more and more ways to make bio-plastic, and finding new uses for the plastic that is already here...like the woman at the end of the documentary that makes wedding dresses out of old plastic shopping bags. And as more people become aware, more people will be better about re-use and recycling and choosing bio-plastics. This is up to us, nobody can do this for us...and if we want to keep Earth habitable for our great, great....great....great....great (etc) grandchildren, then WE have to clean up our acts to clean up our planet!

Delilah turned seven today! I'm still trying to figure out where the last seven years went...I remember the night I brought him home, he fit in my hand...and I have small hands. ;) So...seeing as how it's his birthday...I thought I would share some recent pictures of him. :) As always...click and click again to view them full sized...



Catalog Shopping



Go away, mum, I'm sleeping!



He doesn't shed...much! Yeah, like hell. Although I would like to point out that is days and days worth of hair and some of that was probably Snowfy's.



I think this might be my favourite picture of him! :)



Such a sleepy boy!



His greatest weapon is the fuzzy tummy of doom...nobody can resist it! When it is shown, it must be rubbed!


The sullen teenager pose. ;)



That is a definite leave me alone, mum face!



"Honest, we were not cuddling on the couch!" Yeah, right.

And just for comparison, this is one of the first pictures I ever took of him...



Not much else is happening around here...so I will just make this a Delilah only post. ;)

Prepare yourselves for one very long update...where to start...I guess at the top of my list which is in no particular order...

I've had my first counseling session in four years. I am happy to say Teresa is a nice woman, and there have not been any indications that she is a psycho-hose-beast like my last counselor. So I made a second appointment. It's on Tuesday. We agreed to every two weeks, and if I need more I am supposed to tell her. Things are a little shitty...they are nowhere near needing a counseling session every week shitty! It was almost scary to me how quickly all the shit came bubbling to the surface...and it's always the same shit, I swear! And apparently, it really isn't as stuffed down as I like to think it is. That really does scare me a bit. Then you add all the new shit...and bloody hell...why am I not curled in the fetal position in a padded room somewhere?! Oh yeah...cos I am one bloody fucking strong woman, that's why! Anyway, more counseling session updates, as I see fit. I'm not going to sit here and type it all up in my LJ, if I could do that, I wouldn't need the counselor! ;)

I finally had my knee MRI! And it turned out I probably didn't need the sedatives after all, they have what the tech called "a short board MRI" which means I didn't have to go all the way into the machine to have my knee done. I had no idea, the last time I had a knee MRI, it was an open machine and the time before that I had to go all the way into the machine. It was the exact same meds as when I had my MRI last year and got so goofy high and was trying to touch colours. Yeah, I didn't get fun high at all this time, and in fact I ended up depressed and in tears later that night. It wasn't fun at all! :( Though it was nice knowing that L. was there with me, that was helpful, as I was more unsteady on my feet than usual. There was one crazy/cool thing that happened in regards to the MRI. The tech asked me if I wanted to listen to music, and I said yes, please. She asked me what kind, and I said classical, please. So she said, she had this great compilation called Classical Thunder and I said that sounded fine to me. So, as she is moving me into the machine from the, not sure what to call it, control room I guess. Anyway the music starts as I am being moved into the machine...and the theme from 2001 A Space Odyssey starts playing. I laughed so hard, she had to remind me to hold still! I must admit, that was pretty awesome. The universe has a wicked funny sense of humour sometimes! ;) I don't know the results yet. I have an appointment with Orthopaedics in the "sports/non-operative" clinic on 11th June. I'm already a little peeved that they have me seeing someone in the "sports/non-operative" clinic...cos I know exactly how this is going to go. They will tell me to try eight weeks of physical therapy and when that does nothing...they will tell me to try eight weeks more and on and on until I go away and stop bothering them. *eye roll*

So, I went back to see the ENT doctor again, as I am still a fucking snot machine and I wanted him to try something new...if he could think of something we hadn't tried already. He showed me the CT scan of my sinuses from last year sometime, which was actually really fucking cool to see. He was right when he told me that structurally they are normal. I have a slightly deviated septum, but that runs in the family and it's barely deviated. So, I said to him...then why am I always so stuffed up and full of snot?! His answer was kind of funny in the perverse way that my health usually is. He said it's just that I have such bad allergies and so many allergies that no human body could drain all the snot I produce. Fucking great...*eye roll* now what then?! He did have one new idea...he said let's try a nasal spray called Nasonex. That's the stuff from the commercial with the adorable animated bee that sounds like Antonio Banderas. Oh my goddess....it's WORKING! WORKING! I almost never have to blow my nose anymore, and am down to two 4to6 hour Sudafed doses a day! I am also still taking Zyrtec twice a day. Also...that stupid fucking Staph infection I had last winter came back. :( I guess because of the combo of being a human snot machine and a diabetic (we are very prone to Staph infections) it didn't really surprise him much that it was back. So, I used the same antibiotic ointment up my nose as last time. He told me to use it for ten days, wait two to three weeks and then use it for ten more days. I'm in the "off" time right now...and I can tell right now it's either not there or it's inactive cos when I do have to blow my nose...there are no scary colours. :) I go back for follow up on 15 May...which is also Nicky's birthday. I think I am going to hug Dr. LePore when I see him! :D

I'm sure you remember the previously mentioned saga of the ingrown toenail...if not, let me refresh your memory: Toe Issues That's from the 26th of January, by the way! So, Podiatry wouldn't see me, when the referral of the referral finally went through it didn't matter because they didn't have any new patient appointments for three months. And since Denver Health won't "open up" the schedule past then, I was shit out of luck! Great. So...I did finally manage to get an appointment with my GP, who is a nurse practitioner and not an actual MD. That appointment was on the 23rd of March. She looked at it and said, "I can't fix this, seriously I'm not qualified to fix it. I'll make sure you get the next available appointment with one of the MDs." So...that appointment was supposed to be on the 27th of March. It got canceled due to that insane snow storm we had. When I called back on that Monday, the 30th of March...they couldn't fit me in until the 8th of April. I was pissed! First of all, they canceled that appointment, not me! And second I wish that Denver Health would cotton on to the fact that sometimes people don't need a same day appointment but they can't wait weeks and weeks either. I am eternally annoyed by that! So, I went to that appointment and the doctor I saw was horrified at how bad it was, and amazed that I managed to keep it from getting infected. I worked hard to make sure it didn't get infected! So, I sat my butt up on the exam table...and the doctor came back with a second doctor and tons of scary looking medical stuff. I knew I was screwed when she suggested I lay back and listen to my iPod while they were working on my toe. Here's a little tip from me to you...any thing that ends with, "caine" and is injected hurts like a mother fucker! I have a high pain threshold, this has been established by things like me fracturing my back and not even knowing it happened until it just happened to show up on an X-ray goddess knows how many years later. I cried when they injected the Novocaine, or whichever "caine" drug they used. Cried...in front of people...complete strangers even because something was physically painful! I don't do that! After it took effect though, it was fine...it didn't hurt when it took them 20 minutes to dig the ingrown part of the toenail out of my skin. So, I have a large-ish wedge of toenail missing from my left big toe now. It hurt like hell for a few days, but it has slowly gotten less painful. I am now at the point of walking normally, okay normally for me, and it doesn't hurt much unless I bump it. The wound from them digging the toenail out of my skin is healing well. I just have one problem...it still hurts like hell to wear shoes and/or socks! I was fine with that for a while cos I was just wearing my sandals...until Thursday night/Friday morning when we had another snow storm...this time it was "only" nine inches. *eye roll* I tried wearing a shoe on Thursday, and it did not go well. Keep your fingers crossed that it gets better enough for shoes soon, cos who knows what the hell is going to happen with the insane Colorado weather next!

Now for the ongoing Gilli's helper update.... L. quit on Wednesday the 15th of April. I'm not sure exactly what the hell happened. I had an appointment with my acupuncturist/chiropractor at about noon...and then I wandered around the town centre a bit, did a little shopping, and enjoyed the absolutely beautiful day after my appointment. As I was walking in the door, my phone rang and I ran to answer is, as I thought it was L. arriving a little bit early. Yeah...it wasn't. It was M. from the agency...she's in charge of the staffing and all that jazz. She said she wasn't sure if L. was coming or not. M. told me that L. had come to the office that morning and handed in a medical leave of absence letter and then left. M. said there was no effective as of date, so she wasn't sure exactly when L. was leaving. She asked me to call the office when/if L. got here, so they could get a better idea of what was happening. As soon as I hung up with M. I realised I had a voice mail waiting for me, so I checked it. It was L. calling to tell me she wasn't coming, and that she had turned in a leave of absence letter that morning and that she would call me back to fill me in on what was really going on. Yeah...she never called back. I was not a happy camper, as L. was a nice lady, and she did a really good job. So, I called M. and told her that L. wasn't coming. And as usual M. said she was looking for a temp for me for Thursday. I told her not to bother sending me a temp. I really hate having a temp come in. I have to show them everything and that wears me out as much as actually doing the stuff for myself...and it's pointless cos I just have to do it all again when the "permanent" person comes in or the temp for the next day comes in. So there were a bunch of phone calls back and forth while M. was trying to find me a new helper. Then she did something she does every time I lose a helper and it really pisses me off...she said, "And I'm still looking for a temp for you for tomorrow." I reminded her that I didn't fucking want a temp! And she did that annoying disappointed sigh thing she does when I say that. Nice try, lady, but I am not a slightly demented old woman...you are not going to succeed in tricking me into anything. I know she does it so they can still get money for me from Medicaid. She always tries to talk me out of it when I call and tell her not to send someone because I'm sick. Whatever. The person who comes to check on people every couple of months is coming on the 27th and I plan to bitch about M. and her attempted trickery and bullshit! So, now I have S. helping me, she came on Friday. She did temp for me once, and I really liked her, but she couldn't be my permanent helper then, cos it didn't work with her schedule. So...here we go again is all I can say!

I have to keep all my meds locked up now. I woke up a lot earlier than usual on Easter Sunday cos I had the tension headache from hell, and it was one of the tension headaches I get that almost always morphs into a migraine at some point. So, I figured it would be a good idea to just take a couple of Midrin (Tylenol, vaso-constrictor, mild sedative combo) and go back to bed...usually that does the trick. So, I pick up the Midrin bottle, which was in the meds basket with all the other meds...the bottle was in the same place it always is...but there weren't any pills in it! Here's the problem...I don't have to take Midrin very often anymore, because the Amitriptyline I take, is a migraine preventative. I had last taken two of them with me to a Stifler's Mom gig...because I was already getting a headache that night and I was afraid the noise of a punk band might make it worse. And as I remember, it did and I took the Midrin. That was sometime in the last three or so months, but I don't remember the exact date. When I took those two pills out of the bottle, it was a brand newly filled bottle...so there were 22 pills left in there. To say I am not amused is the understatement of the millennium! I have no way of figuring out who took them, as I had multiple helpers in that time period. I did let the agency know in case someone else calls and reports a meds theft...if there is a common helper there it gives them a bit more to work with. Last year in March or so...half my month's worth of Vicodin was taken...I was with a different agency then...and I have not had any "repeat" helpers so that isn't very helpful in finding out who took the Midrin! So now I have to have all my meds locked up and it is a total pain in the ass, and I hate that I have to do extra work because other people are arseholes!

See, I told you this was going to be one hell of a long entry! I started it at 1:34 am and it is now 3:26 am. Mind you that includes a bunch of searching through my LJ trying to figure out what I had talked about already. So, now I am going to go find a snack and then go to bed cos I am tired and I have been sitting at the computer for WAY too long now. ;)

If you actually managed to read this all the way to the end...I am impressed! ;)

I just caught Delilah and Snowfy cuddling on the couch*...



Seriously...too cute for words! :) It's been snowing again...like real on the ground, messing up traffic, no way I can walk to the town centre snow! The Denver metro area has 9 inches of snow right now. And there is supposed to be more! There is a winter storm warning in effect until noon...it's 5:26 am right now. I think Mother Nature is confused about what time of the year it is!

I really do have a "real" update planned...I just don't wanna do it right now. I swear, I will get to it soon! I'm going to go back to chatting with Nicky now. :) And Nicky had to go...so she can get ready for work. So, I guess I'll go read...yeah...that sounds good. :)




*as always click and then click again to see the picture at full size.

I invited Gina and Marcos over for an Easter egg dyeing and cookie eating party:
Click and click again to see pictures at the best size...


Here's me, shortly after I woke up this morning (afternoon) I was between batches of cookies.


Pile of egg shaped sugar cookies, with pretty coloured sugar decorations. The cookies came pre-cut and with the designs cut into them already...I just sprinkled sugar and baked.


Super close-up of one of the cookies.


Here is a picture of the sparkly pink holiday tree, with plastic eggs. :)


A very cute picture of Snowfy, sleeping a little like a bunny. :)


Did I mention silly head wear was required for the party? ;) Here are Marcos, Gina and I: with our silly head wear and our dyed eggs.

You Are Combat Boots

You are a complete and total rebel. You refuse to do what you're told, and you're quite stubborn. You really don't care what other people think of you. You are tough and often ruthless. You are independent, iconoclastic, and countercultural. You resent authority figures. You are very headstrong. No one is going to pressure you into being someone you're not!

What Kind of Boots Are You?

This is so true...no further explanation needed. ;) Stay tuned to this bat channel for a counseling session update...sometime soon. ;)

It's baseball season opening day! This makes me stupid, ridiculous, off the charts happy. If my knee wasn't hurting so much that it's hard to walk...I would be up doing the happy dance! Trust me when I say my happy dance looks ridiculous even when my knee isn't killing me! ;)

I had my MRI on Thursday...so now I guess I wait to hear from Orthopaedics?! If they take too long to get back to me...I plan to start hassling them on the phone. I'd say a week after the MRI is a reasonable amount of time before I start calling them on a daily basis. That may be too generous, but I'm in a good mood. *smirk*

I blew the money I was going to spend on a new electric kettle on toys. LOL! I can keep boiling water in the stove top kettle for a while longer, but how often am I going to find something I loved as a kid...and have been looking for for a good portion of my adult life? I am talking about Bristle Blocks...which apparently have other names as well. So, rather than trying to describe them....I will just show you a picture. :) This is the silly bristle block city I built Friday night, as always....click and click again to see it big with details...


That is not the only thing I bought on Friday...but it's the one I'm most excited about. I seriously played with them for hours while I talked on the phone on Friday night. :) I'm so easily amused. ;) Years ago a therapist once told me that I grew up too fast, and that I needed to start playing with things...so I did. Know what...that therapist was mostly full of shit, but she was right about playing with stuff! :)

Okay, I'm off to chat with Nicky and paint my nails...Gina brought my Avon order over Saturday afternoon, I order from a woman at Gina's office, so I have new nail polish to use. :)

My friend Shoshanah just had a birthday. I made her a card...and I'm pretty proud of it. It was one of those rare times that the finished product looked exactly like the vision in my head. Anybody who creates knows how rare that is. :) I waited to put a picture in my LJ because I didn't want her to see it in my LJ before she got to see it in person! Her birthday was the 27th...and she has received the card...so now I can share...
As always click and click again to view full size. I recommend that, to see it properly.



So there it is. :) Feel free to tell me what you think! I am going to go watch telly and fall asleep. :)

I'm not exactly sure where the last ten days have gone. It's like I was here but I wasn't here or something. Wednesday night into Thursday we had some serious snow! Ya know, now that it's almost April...we get the biggest snow-storm of the Winter. Yes, I know it's Spring now. See, Mother Nature doesn't know where the time has gone either...she's confused about what time of the year it is. LOL!

Still having trouble with helpers. It seems like they either send me people who are really too stupid to be allowed to live, or they send me someone who disappears off the face of the planet all of the sudden or they send me someone good and then take them away when one of the "problem" clients asks for them. I'm kind of sick of this, to tell you the truth. As much as I appreciate the help, I really hate having someone here. I miss having my afternoons to myself. Sound a bit anti-social? I don't care. It's the truth. I have someone new starting on Monday. I hope L. will be the one and all the bullshit will be done with!

Other than that, there really isn't a lot happening around here. My hands/wrists have gotten as bad they were before I got any treatment for the carpal tunnel. I get to see a hand specialist next. I was supposed to have my nastily ingrown toe nail fixed today (finally) but the doctor's office was closed due to the weather...which truthfully amuses the hell out of me! ;) I'll reschedule on Monday. I also missed my first counseling appointment on Thursday...due to the weather...which also amuses me! I have seen my new counselor once already, but that was my intake appointment. Anyway...I think it's going to be a good thing. I just need a little help dealing with a few things, nobody is perfect. ;)

Okay book and couch are calling me! :)

Happy Saint Patrick's Day, everyone! I had corned beef and cabbage with Marcos and Gina on Saturday, it was actually the first time I've had it...it was damn good! Gina made some really good Irish Soda Bread as well. :)

As some of you know, my first kitty's birthday was Saint Patrick's Day. Oscar would be 8 today, I don't know where the hell the last 8 years have gone, but that's beside the point. I always put some pictures up, and wish him a happy birthday, and Delilah, Snowfy and I celebrate. Seeing as how it's barely the 17th...we aren't celebrating yet. But, I wanted to do the journal entry now, because I have a very early appointment in the morning...and I'm probably going to end up stupid tired and spacey later!

I usually end up posting the same pictures every year, because I don't have very many digital pictures of Oscar. But...this year you get to see new pictures, the last pictures I ever took of Oscar were on those rolls of film I finally got developed in September...and I had Target do picture CDs too...so, new Oscar pictures. Click and click again to see them full sized.


Chargin' up the eye lasers! I love how...psycho he looks in this picture. Mind you, he didn't just look psycho...he was psycho! ;)

He loved to burrow under and into blankets.

"Excuse me, human...I was sleeping, do you mind?"

That's before I had someone helping me around the house, can you tell? ;)

He absolutely loved to knock my stuff off the counter and hide it. It used to drive me nuts, and I kind of miss it!

All curled up in a sleepy ball. I love it when cats do that!

He was my first furry kid, and I still miss him terribly every day. He was crazy, and destructive and demanding and sweet and cuddly and a very special cat. I know he's in kitty heaven right now, getting into things he's not supposed to, eating lots and lots of people food and getting to play outside...cos those are the things he loved. I hope he knows how missed he is down here.

And I'm crying, so it's time to go. I'm off to take a shower so I won't have to do it in the morning before my appointment.

And the appliance death watch at Gilli's continues. We can now add two cordless phones to the list of casualties. Yes, I said two cordless phones. It's was one of those sets that has a phone that plugs into a phone jack and a satellite phone that only needs an electrical outlet..so if the main phone goes, the rest go too. So...I have this weird phone in my room...it plugs into the wall and then the handset plugs into the phone too...it's really weird. It also doesn't have Caller ID or anything fancy like that. I think I sort of vaguely remember phones like that from my childhood. ;) I'm going to hate not having Caller ID in the bedroom until I can get a new cordless phone...or a non-cordless phone that has Caller ID. I'm pretty sure I can make it. ;)

So...there you go...further updates on appliance death watch as news occurs. ;)

I think there is a conspiracy to keep me from getting my caffeine fix! Friday my new helper accidentally put the metal filter part of my espresso maker down the disposal. It truly was an accident...she didn't see me put it in there, so she didn't make sure it was out of the sink before she ran the disposal. It was as much my fault as hers. So, I asked Gina if I could borrow one of theirs, since they have two. Gina and I spent the afternoon together on Sunday and had a blast! Anyway...instead of bringing me one of theirs...she stopped off and bought me a new one. She is way, way too wonderfully nice to me! Plus...she got me the 6 shot one, I only had the 3 shot one before. I'm not sure if being able to make 6 shots of espresso at once is a good thing or a bad thing. *smirk* I guess I will know in the morning! ;)

So...just a few minutes ago, I filled the electric kettle and plugged it in so I could make a cup of tea. I noticed the counter was all wet...so I lifted up the kettle and wiped underneath it with a tea towel. Erm...it was dripping more water onto the counter as I was wiping it. Ahhh...not my kettle! Do you know how long it takes for water to boil on an electric stove?! Do you know how much energy it takes to boil water on an electric stove?! Apparently the insanely hard water we have here in Denver and Albuquerque ate through the bottom of my kettle! I'm just glad I have a stove top tea kettle...I can make do with that until I can buy a new electric kettle. Before I threw the old one out, I thanked it for its years of service. ;)

Okay I am going to go drink my tea, and fall asleep on the couch. I feel like death on toast and I have to get up at 8 am and make a couple of phone calls and then go back to bed. Keep your fingers crossed that I can actually fall back to sleep!