Favorite Things

Play along on your own blog if you feel like sharing!

My favorite:

Sport: hockey with baseball a close second
Game: poker
Color: green
Movie: Bridges of Madison County
Broadway play I have seen: none
Broadway Musical I have seen: none
Song: Simon and Garfunkel's "The Boxer"
American city I have visited: Savannah, Georgia and Skagway, Alaska
Foreign city I have visited: Victoria, BC
Book: "Lightning" by Dean Koontz
Children's Book: All Judy Blume books
Classic television show: Felix the Cat
Recent television show: Heroes
Actor: Johhny Depp
Actress: hmmmm....don't know
Perfume: don't wear it
Food: Lasagna
Dessert: cheesecake
Chain Restaurant: Ruby Tuesday
Local Restaurant: Jet's Pizza
Car: green Scion xB
Condiment: Mayo
Kitchen Appliance: Foreman grill
Home Appliance: macbook
Beauty Product: Bare Esscentuals/Bare Minerals products
Piece of clothing: shorts
HGTV Show: House Hunters
Food Network show: Unwrapped
Author: Marisa de los Santos
Male Songwriter: Neil Diamond
Female Songwriter: Sinead O'Connor
Holiday: Christmas
Ballet I have seen: The Nutcracker
Disney character: Eeyore
Flower: Daisy

Alcoholic drink: Southern Comfort with lemonade
Non-Alcoholic drink: Pepsi
Magazine: Interweave Knits
Animated movie: Brave Little Toaster

Television network miniseries: Roots
Season: Summer
Male vocalist:Neil Diamond

Female vocalist: Trisha Yearwood
Day of the week: Saturday
Household Chore: Laundry (Favorite? LOL I guess it's the one I mind the least)
Ice Cream: Death by Chocolate
Candy: Peanut Butter M&Ms
Artist: Van Gogh

A little getaway

Jake and I are venturing north to spend a few days at a cabin on the Manistee river.

I'm bringing my laptop, and will venture into town in search of a WiFi connection, and hopefully can check emails daily.

If you've ordered a pattern and don't receive it right away, this is why. Please be patient...all patterns will be sent by Thursday evening at the latest. Thanks!

TTFN!

Ouch, Part 2

So now that my back is better, what the hell, go for some stitches, why don't we? Let's add a little more excitement to the summer, huh?

Sheesh? What is NEXT? (If you're squeamish, perhaps don't read what comes next, though I will try to not be too graphic.....)

Under that large dressing are 18 stitches. (6 inside and 12 on the outside)

The gauze on my calf is just covering a scrape, and there is another (larger, deeper) scrape above the wound that needed the dozen and a half sutures. It was not pretty. It was not a nice clean cut. It was ...well...like something I've never seen before. I also have a small scrape and bruise on both of my arms.

What happened was...I was getting out of the pool, coming down the ladder. And unfortunately not one, but TWO of the rungs were missing the nuts on the bolts that go through the ends of the rungs. (Unbeknownst to me, because they are UNDER the steps of course). The middle step gave way first, then the bottom and before I knew it I was hanging on for dear life, with a gaping hole in my leg caused by the bolt on the middle step as I slid past it.

Jake was outside with me when it happened and I've got to hand it to the kid, he was amazing. He ran and got me whatever I asked for at lightning speed, didn't get grossed out by what he was seeing (I know Kaitlyn would have probably passed out and been totally useless to me at that point)

I first applied pressure with a towel, but then saw that it really wasn't bleeding much (I still don't know how that's possible). I then sent Jake for the gauze and tape that I had left over from my gall bladder surgery, got things covered up as best I could , and had Kaitlyn drive me to the ER.

It must have been an interesting wound, because the nurses (and other staff on hand) all filed in one by one to gaze, and comment, and call to whoever else walking by "Have you seen this?"

Then of course the parade again once it was sewn up (2 hours later) to marvel at how nice it looked.... you know, closed up and not gaping open and gross, and all.

And darn it, why didn't I grab my iPod on the way out the door? I could have listened to a bunch of Harry Potter, or some nice soothing music as I was trying to ignore the sewing up of my leg (and all the nasty things that procedure entailed.)

At least I had finally gotten around to shaving my legs after the pinched nerve incident.


ps...I do have knitting news. The Princess Lace Wrap is blocked, and photos will follow tomorrow. I just unpinned it from the sheet on the floor so Mike didn't injure himself in the morning as he stumbles around in the dark before work.

Ouch!

So yesterday I was just going through my day, minding my own business.....

Then right before I was going to make dinner, I tried to get up off the couch.  And couldn't. I was stuck in a hunched over position and any movement toward standing upright caused great pain in my lower back. The rest of the evening I was fine only if I was still, but any movement whatsoever brought about my phrase for the evening which was OW OW OW OW OW OW OW OW! (complete with an ugly grimace on my face).

Trying to sleep last night was not fun. Just getting into bed and laying down caused bolts of lightning to shoot through my spine. Getting comfortable? That took about 1/2 hour of very tiny movements. Turning over when I started feeling the bedsores forming from lack of movement? OW OW OW OW OW OW OW!!!!!  Getting out of bed this morning? Oh, fun! 

I managed to get into the shower, but was not able to shave my legs or even wash my feet. Of course I had to drop the soap (and knock the shampoo bottle down off the shelf too) each of which took a long, painful time to retrieve.  As soon as I was dressed I made my way downstairs and got right on the phone with the chiropractor. They were able to squeeze me in. I didn't dare sit down when I got there, for fear I wouldn't get out of the chair again, so I was ushered back to a room, where I STOOD waiting for over 30 minutes. Granted, they had to squeeze me into the schedule, but I was not happy to be left standing there for so long, especially at least 20 minutes of it was past the time they told me to come in! 

Anyway, he said I have a major pinched nerve, did some adjusting, and told me to go home, find a comfortable position, and stay there, with ice on my back. And come back at 6pm to see if the adjustment was holding. So I came home, had some lunch, took my book and my iPod up to bed with an ice pack. I watched some TV, listened to the Harry Potter audiobook on my iPod until I started nodding off. Took a little nap, turned the TV on again, wowed my sister with some emails from my iPod (she was whining that she can't email from HER iPod) and finally made my way back downstairs for another trip to the chiropractor, after asking Mike to pick up some pizza on his way home. 

I am back again, sitting here with ice stuffed down the back of my pants. Lovely. 

Maybe tomorrow I can shave my legs.....

Summer afternoon in the hammock

Remember my new toys that arrived a few weeks ago? Here they are all decked out in their colorful protective coverings. I originally wanted a green case for my macbook but orange runs a close second as far as favorite colors. It came today from Overstock.com. They were having a 10% off sale over the weekend, and since it was already cheaper than the original website I found it on, and now would be even cheaper, I took the plunge. 

Fun, huh?

"myPod" now has a lime green aluminum case (complete with belt clip which turns into an easel) I have also ordered a silicone skin for it for times when the clip is not necessary, and also some new green earbuds. Not just because they were green, but because I find that the earbuds they send along with the iPod Touch are pretty much useless (unless you have huge Shrek ears or something). I don't understand why this great piece of technology comes with such crappy earbuds. I have read/heard the same thing from so many people. When you're buying an expensive item like the iPod Touch, you should not have to immediately go out and buy new earbuds to go with it. Apple: listen to the people and fix this issue!

So my new toys and I are spending some time hanging out in the new hammock. Remember what I said yesterday?

Life is good......

Life is good

It's 12 minutes past midnight....12 minutes past the 29th anniversary of our wedding. Amazing. So many memories....

Mike and I went out to dinner (Jake came with us because Kaitlyn was at work) and then the 3 of us stopped for ice cream before visiting Mike's brother who is recovering from heart surgery. He's doing very well, thank the heavens above. 

The holiday weekend was so much fun. We gathered with family where we almost always do on the 3 holidays that mark the beginning, middle and end of summer.... on the shore of Lake Huron in Michigan's "thumb". The weather was perfect (save for the first night that was 45 degrees.... Hello? Isn't this JULY?) There was no rain, there were hardly any clouds, the wind was calm (a rarity, believe me) and the temperature couldn't have been more divine. 

Mike was able to enjoy a 3 day weekend (many weekends lately have been non-existent as he has been working every Saturday and a lot of Sundays too). It must've felt so wonderful for him to finally get a chance to relax and enjoy some down time. It sure felt good for me, knowing he could sleep in and just enjoy the days spent with family, having fun . Eat, Drink and Be Merry. There was a lot of that going around, that's for sure.

My SIL turned 50 on Saturday, so the festivities of the weekend were not just for the holiday, but for her birthday too. Her "real" party is on the 19th, but the preview was a lot of fun as well.

Of course today I spent a good amount of time catching up on things around here. MUCH laundry, cleaning out the camper, vacuuming the pool (which somehow became disgusting in our absence) etc. 

I just finished reading Belong To Me, by Marisa de los Santos. I am sad that I am done reading it. After reading Love Walked In by her, and now this one, I am longing for more by this incredibly talented author. I don't have another book to start, so I guess a trip to the library is in order for tomorrow. I have to remind Jake to read more. He's not reading as much this summer as in summers past. I think some reading time together in the new hammock tomorrow sounds good. As long as it's not too unbearably hot out there. Well, we could always cool off in the pool. 

Knitting content: Princess Lace Wrap is off the needles. Photos to follow, after it has been blocked. Back to the sweater I need to finish by October/Rhinebeck!