Monday, April 27, 2009

a finish and then some starts...

I wrapped up (pun totally intended) the Clapotis recently so I thought I would share some pictures.

Yuzen Clapotis 4-26-09 (3)

Yuzen Clapotis 4-26-09 (2)

The top photo shows it more in it's true colors. I really should take a picture with it on so you can get the full effect. I'll go put that on my to do list...

I also started a couple of things as well.

Rowan Cozy 4-26-09

This is Cozy knitted in the Rowan Summer Tweed I bought at Knit in Charleston, SC. Cute store if you get the chance to go. It's my first time knitting anything this large with cotton. Now I see why some complain about knitting with it. Little to no give. It can make your hands hurt after a bit, but I have been doing OK with it. Just hoping I bought enough to make this long enough to wrap around me.

Noro blanket 4-27-09

Not much to show here, but this is the beginning of a blanket. The Shortrow Spiral by Sarah Bradberry. Here is the Rav link.

Alright, off to get ready for yoga. Need to get my exercise on!

Thursday, April 23, 2009

updates

Time for a bit of an update…

  1. The problem tooth is doing much better. The only downside is that I have to go back for the completion of the root canal on my birthday. It was either that or wait another two weeks to get this thing taken care of. My birthday it is.
  2. I finished the Clapotis shawl!!! Finished it last night while watching the final episode of BSG. Yes, I know it aired a month ago, but my friend (who does not have a DVR) and I are slow to plan and get together. I will take some pictures of the shawl this weekend. Blocked or not.
  3. Today I signed up for the fall session. Talk about planning ahead, classes don’t even start until mid August. Although, this means I will actually be taking a class I NEED to get into a nursing program. This also means that in my mind I have been set back a semester due to all of the nursing programs in the immediate area dropping the Chemistry course that was required when I signed up in the Spring, but is now not a requirement. Super!

Friday, April 17, 2009

a toothy update

Time for a toothy type update.

Yesterday morning I went to the friendly neighborhood endodontist. He was super nice and after completing his exam, which included checking to make sure my tooth wasn’t cracked… actually surprised it was still intact considering everything else that has been happening in this maw, but I digress… His final verdict was to go for a plain old root canal do-over. Not that other thing that I talked about yesterday, but go right through the crown and clean it all out again. Apparently, it is not all that uncommon to have to have your root canal done again. According to this guy he may even find a canal that was missed the first time. Apparently some roots have more than one nerve canal. Who knew! Well probably all the teeth experts out there, but not me.

So Monday afternoon I am scheduled for yet another root canal. They’re actually not much worse than getting a decent size cavity filled. But seriously! Another one? And one that has already been done? Sometimes I think I must have angered the Tooth Fairy at some point… previous life maybe? Cause I sure don’t remember doing anything!

Wednesday, April 15, 2009

the toothy revolt of 2008-9

The title there… refers to my actual teeth. The ones in my head. The ones that have decided it’s time to turn bad. In the past couple of years I have gone from normal tiny no big deal cavities to two root canals, which include caps for each, and additional good size cavities to boot. That is why I was beginning to get suspicious of an ache in the gum around one of my supposed already dead teeth. It’s dead, I’m not supposed to be feeling anything up there. Nothing. Nada.

So I go to the dentist today. They adjust the bite, that’s not the problem I said. They took an x-ray. Guess what… abscess. That’s right, it’s infected. The tooth that is supposed to be dead and out of my hair is now a problem. The x-ray proves it.

photo

The offending tooth is the one on the left. The obvious evil is that dark spot on the left root… it’s friend is on the middle root. Not so obvious from my really great iPhone photo.

Tomorrow I go to an endodontist for a consultation to see if they can perform an apicoectomy. Awesome! Well, at least I am on some crazy horse pill of an antibiotic that I have fondly named yeast infection in a bottle. Seriously, 875 mg twice a day. No flora or fauna can survive that onslaught. My only bright spot is that I discovered this well in advance of my trip to Europe. Can you imagine if this had happened over there? I can see it now… excuse me do you speak English? Yes? Great, I need a referral for a local endodontist… thanks!

Monday, April 13, 2009

over easter weekend

Thankfully we were given Friday off, which was super awesome cause it gave me more time to spend up in WV with the family. Hadn’t been up for a visit since Christmas so it was long overdue. So what did I do the entire weekend? I knit. Knitted like a crazed woman on a mission. I also learned to spit splice, which is also related to said knitting. Oh, and I spent a lot of time winding and rewinding balls of yarn in order to keep the color scheme correct. In the midst of all the knitting I did get to visit with extended family on Saturday (one of which sent me a cool knitting link) and spent some time with the in-laws as well.

 clapotis2 

My brothers and Dad spent a lot of time going over maps of Europe attempting to plan a route for us to drive while we are there at the end of May. I’m a bit disappointed with all the planning… I had been bragging to my friends that they always just randomly drove around when they went. Now, nothing but a plan. I was sorta looking forward to having to spend the night in a rental car cause we didn’t get a hotel room early enough and all the inns were closed. I guess I’ll have to find adventure through some other venue. OK, so I’m not complaining since I know we will have a fabulous time and all, but now I have to explain that this time there is an agenda. No randomness this time. Oh, one good thing we sorted out this weekend is that Joe will go a few days before I do and meet up with part of my family and tool around with them. He will then meet up with me and spend part of a Friday and Saturday with me in Pairs. This is great since he wasn’t going to be going at all cause this was a family trip and all. It will be nice to spend a few days with him at least!

Thursday, April 09, 2009

mountains…

I came across this article on CNN today and it made me think that maybe the solutions to our problems are not as insurmountable as they seem. This guy solved a major problem for  a huge amount of people in his backyard, essentially as part of a science experiment. For five dollars. Seriously. Why had no one thought of this before?

Makes me think that my life and my problems are really not what I think they are. Not that my life is this big batch of problems that I am constantly working on, but it does put things in perspective. I know, personally, that I tend to make the solutions much harder than they need to be. Then that causes me to stall out and go nowhere. Simplify. Sounds so cliché. True none-the-less.

Tuesday, April 07, 2009

threats

I understand the need for anti-virus software and we typically keep it updated, but ours expired recently. Below is the message we received... click to embiggen...

Wow!

For your benefit I have enclosed the offending language in a nice red box for your safety. It's amazing that they think that immediately upon expiration of their product all of the nasties of the internets are going to find you and have a party on your computer. I guess if you were wanting to destroy our computer this is the time. Ooops! Too late... it's been updated. The relief is overwhelming!

Monday, April 06, 2009

a weekend in charleston…. sc

Let’s see… where to begin? This weekend was loads of fun. Joe, myself and a few friends drove down to Charleston, SC for the weekend. Unbeknownst to us when we planned this trip, the Bridge Run was scheduled for the same weekend. Luckily, we were able to get  a decently priced room at the Embassy Suites, which, by the way, is an excellent place to stay. We were really close to everything especially King St where all the really great shopping occurs! Joe and I went to the Steve Madden store on Friday and got some great deals! I bought two pair of clearance shoes that were under $20 apiece once all the markdowns were done. Ah-Ma-Zing! Love shoes and it was great fun picking them out and trying them on. Oh, before we stopped there Joe walked with me over to Knit, the local yarn store, which again, was only a few blocks from the hotel (we are totally staying there next time we go). I bought some great Rowan Summer Tweed in a really pretty shade of green that will soon be made into a nice summer stole. Well, after I finish the Clapotis I’m working on. The Clapotis that I completely ripped out this afternoon. That is another story… back to Charleston. Friday night we ate dinner at Tristan and all I can say is MMMMM. If there weren’t another 3872 restaurants I want to try I would be going back there every time. It was delicious and had spectacular service!

Saturday we got a bit of a late start. We ended up heading over to the Bigelow Tea Plantation. The ONLY tea plantation in the US. The tour was only about 25 minutes, but I really learned a lot about the plants/processing etc. I would recommend this if you have any interest in tea or some type of botany. Otherwise, it probably wouldn’t be worth the drive out there.

The rest of the weekend consisted of a lot of walking and a lot of coffee consumption. Oh, and Saturday afternoon we had a late lunch at Social Wine Bar. A really nice place to chill out and try some outstanding food and wine.

Sunday we drove all over the Battery and googled several of the homes for sale to see if they were within our range… anyone want to move down there and co-own a really beautiful home with us down there??? I’m sure it would be amazing!

Wednesday, April 01, 2009

slacker

I have my second Chemistry test tomorrow and right now I should be studying. I really should have been studying the past few days, possibly the past week. Not studying has then caused me to not get other things done… it’s like a chain reaction of denial and procrastination. So I sit here and wonder why I do this to myself, I mean this is nothing new for me. Somehow I seem to make it through in spite of myself.

This months NaBloPoMo them is Growing(Up) and that seems to be a very timely topic for me at the moment. I have a lot of things I need to contemplate and decisions I need to make about my future. To my family and friends: no need to worry, it’s not as dramatic as it sounds. This is more about the internal than say, leaving my husband and running off to a foreign land. Do you ever feel like you haven’t quite grown up (see how I can place the theme right in there without even trying? Seriously, it’s an art…) or maybe it’s more like the feeling of needing to give more and make a bigger impact on the world or even just one person. I think the cube sitting is starting to take a toll on my brain.