10-29-04 Meredith? What's
causing this?
•
link 10-27-04 I signed up for a knitting class yesterday afternoon - I'll be
making a sweater. This is quickly becoming a knitting blog, isn't it?
Today I got home from work and made a batch of matzoh
ball soup, a
casserole, a salad with homemade
bleu cheese dressing, and two loaves of cherry
pecan bread. The matzoh balls kinda fell apart in the soup (something
I've never seen before - we're still not sure how it happened, but at
least it still tastes good), the bleu cheese is super strong and I need
to add more... something. Something blandy. It's my own fault - I put
in a whole block of bleu cheese because I was so excited. The casserole
is really weird - the whole time I was assembling it, I was thinking "is
this right?! How can this taste good?" and it totally tastes good.
It's a casserole of crunchy goodness. The bread? Oh MAN the BREAD. Go
bake some right now. I think I'm gonna make it again, but with cranberries
next time.
Other things I got done today:
1. Ate a little bit of all of the above
2. Created a print ad for JA
that I liked
3. Almost finished Mom's scarf
4. Complained a lot at lunch to the point where someone asked me if I'm
expecting my period soon, which made me stop in mid-sentence and look
at him with a giant question mark over my head
5. Cursed the weather
6. Tested to see how far I could go on what little gas I had in my car
(really far! twice!)
7. Oh God please tell me there's more than this....
When Justin and I were in high school, he had this giant... what was it,
Justin? A Buick? And we would be following behind his car to go to his
house. But the left turn arrow would turn green and he'd suddenly move
around all confused in his car, throw his hands in the air, turn on his
hazards, sometimes even get out of his car and look at it. Then the light
would turn yellow, he'd hop back into his car, throw it into drive, and
make the light. Leaving you stuck at the red light.
It never got old. Especially if it was rush hour.
Now he's in politics.
And today's his birthday.
Happy Birthday, Chicken.
(Heather say pepper).
•
link 10-26-04 William's Going Away Party And here's a couple pictures of Todd's impressive lunch:
Hot dog with grilled veggies
and soup with Bugles
William's party had just too many pictures - so I had to make a
new page for it. This month has already gotten out of hand.
Today's excitement was a field trip to Metropolitan Market and then
the party tonight. I am craving a night of sitting still. (But once
I actually have it, I climb the walls.) Here's
a great article from the Seattle Times' Pacific Northwest Magazine
about Geoff & Lauren's house - I assume they'll remove the images
after a while so try to see it now. This is the house that you saw
at Chris Brown's going
away party. They've done an amazing job!
I think I'll work on Mom's scarf now, since Sean's working late
tonight - I have a hard time sleeping unless I know he's home.
• link
10-25-04
This page is getting way too long.... But! Luana! We've been e-mailing, and today she sent me pictures!
Everyone, meet my babysitter, Luana:
After
Crafty Afternoon (which we decided to make into a regular gathering)
I rushed to the store for ingredients for Alexandra's
Feta Pasta since Abbe and Brad were coming over for a visit.
I met Abbe in my Canadian Immigration e-mail list - she is American,
he is Canadian, and they live here in Seattle. There is another
couple here in Seattle like us too, but they are on their honeymoon.
Before we leave I'd like to have all three couples get together
and compare notes. I mean like immigration notes, not rate-your-Canadian-husband
notes. Although that would be entertaining as well. SIDE NOTE: Before I forget again - Amy needs a
flu shot - like really really needs a flu shot. She has a note from
her doctor insisting that she deserves a flu shot. So anyone in
Seattle or Vancouver that can tell us where they are, we'd be so
thankful. (Yes, we already know about the Ferry
Flu Cruise)
Today
after work Dawn and I had
Day of Beauty II. I got a manicure and my eyebrows waxed, she had
a pedicure and her eyebrows waxed. I noticed once I got home, though,
that my eyebrows look weird. They are the same thickness all the
way across, like a doll. Only not so cute.
And instead of heading right over to Samantha's for her pumpkin
carving party, I instead baked....... guess!
Yes, the banana cake with bourbon cream cheese frosting, as William's
going away party is tomorrow night and that's what I signed up to
make. I'm sorry Samantha, and I really wanted to go. There's a pumpkin
in the back seat of my car that's just waiting.
• link
10-24-04
Dinner & A Birthday Party Marc & Dawn
had us over to their place to go through their many beautiful pictures
from their trip to Europe last month (where they got engaged!). Dawn's
Dad and his wife and Jon's parents were also there so it was a nice family
reunion.
Dawn gave me a scarf that she gave up on ("I'm retiring from crochet")
and I had the task of pulling it apart and rolling up the yarn. And what
happens when Dayment gets a hold of yarn?
That's right - Jon's Mom Lisa couldn't hold herself back, and ended up
spending a good twenty minutes taking apart the tangled yarn so I could
roll it in a ball. It worked!
We were also treated to Jon's 6th grade projects, which displayed the
odds of each poker hand, and the 36 combinations of dice rolls. Anyone
who knows the history of Jon's experiences in Vegas knows that he didn't
retain any of it. And thanks to Dawn and Marc for the Toblerone bar. Which is the
way to my heart.
Assistance
Jon's 6th Grade Projects (he didn't learn)
After dinner Jon &
I picked up Sean to head over to Meredith's
25th birthday party.
Okay
so here's my story: In May I wrote a
blog entry about my cool babysitter in Las Vegas - Luana. (I thought
I wrote it forever ago but it turns out it was earlier this year!) Okay.
You have to go read it - I promise it's short. It's important to the story.
Go.
A couple nights ago I received this e-mail with the subject "Luana
here":
Well hello there!
I googled myself using the quotation marks for the first time today EVER
and found you. I have missed you too :-)
I'm
killing myself because I cannot for the life of me remember your first
name! I can remember the name of your golden retriever, Koufax, after
Sandy the pitcher....I can see your Mom all glammed-up for date-night
when I babysat. I first watched HBO at your house you know. Your family
was like the Jetsons! First house with cable TV in the old hood. Your
Mom gave me that great bed with all the little pillows as payment for
washing all the windows inside and out.
I tell the story of the hand mixer to this day as well. It was such a
freak accident! I hate using them too.
I thought your parents split-up and you moved to another state. But no,
you graduated from Clark High. WOW. As you can imagine, I am a long story
now. We'll get caught up soon, but for now here's some cliff notes:
I am now 37 years old. I've been living in the San Francisco Bay area
for the last 14 years. I did not finish high school, but had a kid in
1985. I have an 19 year old son named Kaja. I married at 19, divorced
at 21. I came out as Lesbian in 1994. I'm the call center manager for
a small publishing company in Berkeley: (company's website)
I still love Adam Ant, even though he may have gone a little crazy.
So little one, let's keep in touch. I'm swamped at work tomorrow, but
I will write you back!
Aloha
Luana
And that's my story - we've
been e-mailing back and forth. Man I love the internet!
•
link
10-22-04
Too many pictures First - Ryan is rolling over!
as soon as you put him down on his belly
ta-daa!
so fun!
Grand
Entrance
I
always insist on taking family portraits when I see them
Then after lunch I
had this big ole box full of styrofoam and Chris points out that it's
the kind of styrofoam that dissolves in water. Which had multiple people
licking the styrofoam (including me - it tastes like starch. Someone said
it tasted like Cap'n Crunch but it doesn't. Cary wanted to try it too,
but he's on the South Beach Diet, so I told him he probably couldn't have
it HAHAHA).
But you see, people in an architecture firm have to play with things -
it's their nature (I think some day when I grow up I will write a textbook
on Architect Psychology). We ended up dissolving the whole box of styrofoam
in batches and flushing it down the toilet.
Andrew adding water
it's dissolving!
flushing it
a whole box of styrofoam=a few cups of goo
Cary, Chris, Lauren M, Andrew, Lauren W
After
work Amanda came
over and we had spaghetti and baked
meatballs and headed out to see Interpol.
Jason called us a couple days earlier to tell us that we were
on the guest list and he would throw in some back stage-after
party passes so we were STOKED. So stoked, in fact, that we didn't
even blink an eye at paying ten dollars for parking.
TEN DOLLARS.
Amanda relaxes after dinner
In the Paramount bar
Interpol
after the show (WHY does he DO this?!?)
Wooo.
Sean & Jase
Note
Amanda and Sean backstage after the show. See how it's just them?
That's because WE were the after-show party. That's right - there
was no party. And after half an hour of watching the crew take down
the stage and load it up, Jason finally comes down and says "So....
I guess there's no party - Carlos is DJing at Chop Suey and nothing
else is going on" so we left. But when we left out the back
stage door we were facing a wall of fans hanging out by Interpol's
bus, so the "security guard" that was hanging out with
us had to yell "Okay everyone! These people need to get through!
Part ways and let them through please!" and we felt kinda important
although not really. But we laughed.
Also note the passes for the Showbox - even though the show was
at the Paramount.
I baked Sean a cake and me some muffins and I'm heading out with
Jon to a couple different places tonight. Stay tuned tomorrow -
I have a story to tell you!
• link
Seattle
Weblogger Meetup last night (which is where I got to meet Jon and
Jaden in person!) Samantha
and I both rocked the kneesocks, but hers had rivets and she wore
them with a schoolgirl skirt so she gets bonus points. But I am
34 and still rocking the kneesocks, so there's my bonus
points.
I left my winter coat there. Thankfully Jeff
& Samantha grabbed it on their way out. It was a total third
grade flashback. I was that child who lost everything.
I bought two of these*
to celebrate the new oven. The oven is currently sitting on the
dining room floor, wrapped in tape, but shall be installed around
9 am tomorrow. Therefore Sean has big, big plans to broil some nachos
for breakfast. Because he can. Our dead oven's broiler
never worked. Nor did the oven light. Nor did it have a window.
Can you tell we're excited?
* Does anyone know how to convert a cake recipe to a mini-cake recipe?
I mean as far as baking time and temperature?
Tonight was the October SDA
meeting and our guest speaker was
Joe Janes, who rules at Google. Amy
took his Google
class while getting her master's at UW and referred him to me.
It was very informative. And it was a nice reunion with the SDA
women.
Joe Janes
Me & Renae
Look
at Renae! When we did CANstruction
in August she whispered to me that she was pregnant and I was so
excited! And now she has this adorable little bump!
Here's some Google
fun for ya. And if you need Google translated into another language,
there's Klingon,
Pig Latin,
and Swedish
Chef. See what important things we learned?!
• link
10-20-04
Wow. I just got home from work and found out today's the 20th. I wrote
the 19th on every message.
Today
at lunch I worked on Mom's scarf (yes, Mom, it's your scarf, but
you probably knew that). Remember yesterday when I had to untangle
what I could and cut it? Well it isn't that much. And it tangled
as I was knitting with it. I am surprising myself with the patience
required for this task. Chris could see that it was driving me crazy
so she untangled one side as I knitted with the other. Then she
got all engineerdy and put it into separate loops so I only have
so much that I can tangle at a time.
Architects.
This is why you have architects in your life.
Or, this is why I have architects in my life. Oven! Friday morning! Cancel all appointments! WHO WANTS
A CUPCAKE?? I went to the Seattle
Webloggers Meetup tonight and took some pictures, but I rushed
home to watch West Wing (Oh WOW I'm excited) and now I'm gonna head
to bed.
And I leave you with new pictures from Josh & Emily of Iggy!
Arrrgh.
This was after half an hour. I finally just ended up cutting it
with scissors and tying a knot to get what wasn't tangled, then
knotted it in, and in turn, the knot just happened to fall along
the edge of the scarf so it's totally obvious. This yarn company
is getting a piece of my mind.
Would you believe Sean offered to try to untangle the rest of it?
I love him.
I was digging around on Jon's
website and came across thesetwo
registered newborns. May the Lord (and all the other schoolchildren)
have mercy on the both of them. (And yes, Jalen is my
cat's name.) Hot
off the credit card. Should be installed whenever Sean2
can make it over here.
Could my Amazon
Wish List get any more housewifely? Ugh. I never thought I would be
signing up for quilting books, but just reading this
story made me interested to finally get started. And there are somanycoolquilts
out there! I mean, checkit!!
Now I'm all psyched.
* whew *
•
link
P.S. Happy Birthday to Tara!
I'M
GOING TO BE A GROOMSMAN!
Er, Groomswoman! Groomsmaid??
How do I look? I think the addition of hands will be nice. And thankfully
I won't be wearing a tux - I get a bridemaid dress to match Amy's
bridesmaids.
(<-- That's my immigration photo, by the way.)
Sean and I will stand on Jon's side (along with four others) and
Amy's sister and her sister's husband will be on Amy's side (along
with four others), so it'll be all matchy-matchy.
I knew about this a while ago, but I had to wait until everyone
was properly informed. And now they are.
I made a cute gift for Baby Iggy and I want to show it to you so
Josh and Emily DO NOT CLICK THIS
LINK. Cute, eh?!? I'm taking it over Friday. All of
the 6rms gang are making them dinner each night for the first week,
and Sean and I chose Friday. Then we realized that we don't have
an oven. But that's okay, Josh and Emily can just bake it after
we bring it over. I think we're gonna make them Alexandra's
Feta Pasta. Hey speaking of her pasta but not really, I've submitted
a few recipes at Recipezaar
and my
first review was five stars! ROCK.
Oh
going back to the immigration mention, some Canadian social service
employees have returned to work even though they haven't worked
out the contract yet. That's very good news. Our immigration packet
was signed and received last Friday.
<-- Here's Cary staining some plyboo
that surrounds my new front desk area. And by new, I mean
this summer. And a long time ago I took a
picture of the conference area getting the carpet ripped out.
Some people asked for the "after picture", but honestly
we're still working on the conference area. It's a joint effort.
That lamp
above Cary's head is gorgeous and we're getting three of
them to run above the center of the table. They are mirror silver
when off, and that opally-rainbow when lit. Some day I'll have to
take a picture of my front desk. When it's all souped-up/finished.
Maybe before I leave.
And one last thing and I'll let you go. Jon
Stewart on CNN's Crossfire. Just so beautiful. I was CHEERING
for him. PLEASE watch this! Quick
& dirty Quicktime stream. Full
show/better quality.
•
link
10-17-04
The Oven
Seans in the kitchen
Chris bonds with Jalen
Good
news for the oven!
Sean2 and Chris came over
last night for dinner in exchange for Sean2's
fine carpentry skillz. Not only did he rip out the oven with his
bare hands, he also found the culprit (the left door hinge). It's
hard to tell from the picture above, but ripping the oven door
off caused it to split open, which had Chris and I scrambling
away with our ears covered and our eyes squeezed shut. It was
a sad sight. But it's done.
The good news is that we can have a 24" oven in that space
with minimal changes done to the frame/cupboards/carpentry surrounding
the wall oven space. This means that we can buy a basic wall oven
in a fairly basic size and install it in the same space (and only
cut away a few inches of the cupboards below). We originally had
concerns that only a 21" oven would fit there - which they
don't make anymore. We even considered cutting out the cabinetry
below the stove top and installing a free-standing range, which
would have removed a lot of cupboard space.
This is the very best news we could have hoped for!
<--
Here's the culprit.
Sean2 asked me how long it
took me to sabotage that piece so I could get a new oven. I pleaded
the fifth.
This week I will be calling around to find the best 24" oven,
then Sean2 says he will fit
it in his (super busy) schedule to install it.
I could be baking again by Thanksgiving!!
In less super news, we ran out of home heating oil yesterday.
They filled up our
tank outside this morning - and the bill? Almost $700 dollars.
Good thing there was nothing wrong with my car last month. This just made
up for it.
And to the people who left such nice comments about my hair lately? I
grew out half of my bangs, resulting the the wispy face-framing look.
Growing out my hair has been an annoying process for the past year, so
I appreciate the compliments!
•
link
10-16-04
An Iggy for our anniversary!
Our anniversary was
great - we had dinner at Saltoro (same as last
year) then we watched a dumb movie ("Dead Pet"), then we
celebrated with a carrot cake from Trader Joe's.
I called Josh and Emily at the hospital and informed them that they had
to have their baby before midnight so he would be born on our ten year
anniversary. At that time her contractions were 45 seconds apart!
Gavin
Hennigs McNichols (a.k.a. Iggy) was born at two a.m., October 16,
weighing 9 pounds. After struggling for about 20 hours, he was delivered
by cesarean. All of them are doing wonderfully!
We stopped by today around one to visit them and Sara and Jeremy
visited as well - they gave Josh the Iggy Pop t-shirt (isn't that
great?) and also brought champagne and orange juice. The rest of
the Six Arms gang will be visiting
them throughout the day.
Tonight we are having tacos!!! with Chris from work, and her husband
Sean. Sean is taking a look at our kitchen to figure out our oven
dilemma. More later.
• link
10-14-04
Jazz hands, third position, 4/4 time 1- 2 - 3 - 4 - 1 - 2 - 3 - It's
in the mail it's in the mail it's in! the! mail!
Ittttttt's innnn the maaaaaail!
It's in the mail it's in the mail it's in the mail it's in the mail
It's in the mail! mail! mail! mail! maaaaaail (mail!)
•
link 10-13-04
Yeah, I Have an English Degree - You Wanna Start Somethin'? My Grandmother cringes when she hears a news report that someone
"went missing." How does that make sense? Did they set out to
go missing? Wouldn't they just be missing?
Tonight John Kerry said "gonnew" as in "going to".
For some reason, I allow "gonna" but "gonnew" just
drives me batty. This word hung over my head for quite a while, that is,
until George Bush said "idealogs." That one just slayed me.
I always point out when someone says "That's a whole nother..."
It's an other. Not a nother.
This concludes our grammar lesson for the day.
I'm off to find ways to use "idealogs" in casual conversation.
•
link 10-12-04
I went through
the drive-through car wash today. I also knitted, called my mother, bonded with another Canadian
immigration applicant, and ate a salad.
I wish I had more for ya, but frankly I'm quite happy with the amount
of Not Much Going On these days.
Our anniversary is this Friday!! Sixteen years together and ten years
married! If I woulda gotten knocked up right in the beginning? The kid
would be able to drive by now.
Scary.
And you know the 80's song "(Ain't Nothing Gonna) Break My Stride"
by what's-his-face? Sean and I sang it like chickens today. And really,
it fits just right. Try it. Out loud. Bwak bwakabwaka bwak-bwak
bwaaaak.
I need to send the muppets a letter....
•
link 10-10-04
Last
night we went to a lovely church in the University District to celebrate
Noah & Monica's wedding reception. The food was exceptional
(greek!) and the atmosphere was very nice. We were pleasantly surprised
to see Emily there, who is now 8 days overdue and she looked
beautiful.
Noah and Monica had a display of their wedding pictures and it looks
like it was the perfect autumn wedding.
After this we headed over to Kraig's house for a housewarming dinner,
although we showed up for dessert. Which we didn't have, although
Kraig hooked me up with half of a chocolate pie from Marie Calendar's
to take home.
I
kept telling him "Sean doesn't like chocolate! Not so much!"
and Kraig said "It's okay! You need it! You're on your period!"
Which really, who am I to argue?
Fernanda stopped by this afternoon to bring me papayas, for reasons
I hope I don't have to explain. I ate one right away.
I also spent this morning fighting with two skeins of yarn, which
I tangled so badly I had to return them at the store to exchange
for two new skeins. The woman there showed me how to unravel the
skeins, and I got them home and tangled them again.
You know this frustrates me.
Kraig
Becky & Doug
Sean & Doug check out the kitchen
Evil yarn skeins (returned)
As
we speak, Sean's making dinner. My one and only (major) responsibility
in this household is the shopping. I'm a good meal planner, and
I chart out the next 5 days worth of meals and buy the groceries
needed. But I didn't leave the house last week unless I was at a
doctor's appointment, so we've had pizza and mexican food and PopTarts
all week.
I'm pleased to inform all of you that we now have salad stuff and
meal items and fruits and veggies. And Sean's happily plodding away
in the kitchen.
Things are finally getting back to normal.
Thank you, everyone, for the phone calls and well-wishes. Super
Props to Sean, too. He deserves a vacation now.
•
link
Second attempt (which failed)
10-08-04
I Know What's Wrong With Me!!
Here's the verdict - on Monday, I had a cyst on my left ovary that ruptured.
That was the initial pain. The following pain was when I tried to go to
the bathroom. Those muscles were just pooped. (stop it.)
This is actually a good thing in the end - it means that my body recognized
a foreign object and cleaned it up. That was why I had a rise in white
blood cells. That was also why they spent so much time on my left ovary
during the ultrasound - they were measuring the scar tissue to determine
how big the cyst had been, and they were also looking for additional cysts.
That was it - just that one big one.
How I've passed the time for the past week
I
asked if I needed a pap smear to check for abnormal cells, or
if I needed antibiotics to help clean things up. Thankfully, both
answers were "no." Turns out there was one problem and
my body is taking care of it on its own.
And good fun on the same day! I got my period with horrible cramps!
But that's okay - I believe that this will encourage my smooth
muscles to get moving - if you know what I mean. So to all of
you who are e-mailing me and calling me to ask if I've pooped?
I'm okay now. Thanks.
Really, thanks. To all of you.
What started with me telling you what was going on, simply for
the reason of updating my site like I should, ended up
creating a myriad of support that reminds me what a great Blog
World we have here.
I love you guys.
Zao for lunch today!
Lauren, Me, Chris, Caitlin, Cary, Andrew, Sally
Sean at our Mexican dinner last night
(to get things moving)
My insides are still
in turmoil, but the pain should go away in a matter of days. I'm on a
Midol/Tylenol cocktail as we speak. (I actually called Sean this afternoon
saying "Dude, I need you to cook me up a spoon of Midol because I'm
injecting it as soon as I get home." And he said "Errr... how
`bout I just meet you at the door with a glass of water?" "Okay.")
And the debate! Was so fun! What an excellent time to (over-the-counter)
drug myself up and watch TV in a pile of cats and clean laundry piled
on the bed!
•
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10-07-04
They aren't allowed to tell me
I had two kinds of
ultrasounds done today (one external, one internal in my hoo-hoo), for
almost two hours. I had no idea it took that long. They took tons of pictures
and measurements, and when I asked questions, they said "We're not
allowed to really answer any questions, the doctor has to do that after
they look at these pictures." She called in another woman, who then
called in another woman and I had three women poking and prodding and
whispering.
The blob above? I think it's a kidney. I don't remember.
They spent a really long time on my ovary though. Just one of them. And
it did not look like the other one. But she did say something about an
ovary looking different depending on where I am in my cycle or something.
It was hard for me to get much information out of her.
Of course the doctor didn't call me today, and now's it's 6 p.m. so it
doesn't look like I'll get a call until tomorrow. I tried to go to work
but I was hobbling around and exhausted and did a couple things before
giving up and leaving. Then I came home and slept for two hours.
Sean is on his way home now, and I think we're gonna use our monthly coupon
for Azteca tonight (We had a windshield replaced by Empire Glass before
they switched the deal to Sheri's Restaurants - Seattleites will get that
one). I want so badly to feel normal again.
And I'm BORED.
•
link P.S. Greg (in Vegas) and his wife Corrina are going to have a
baby!!!!
10-06-04
Still no change. I had a doctor's appointment/follow-up again today
at 5 p.m. They did another urinalysis and said that my white blood
cell count is still pretty high - so tomorrow I have to schedule
an ultrasound as soon as they open in the morning. Not that they
are going to have an opening for me tomorrow morning.
I'm so bored. I've been knitting a scarf a mile long.
I want to go to work.
I'll keep you all posted.
• link
10-05-04
Get To Know Me!
No, really.
While leaving work yesterday, I was walking down the stairs and I was
gripped with a cramp in my abdomen. I thought "Man, I'm getting my
period something fierce!" and hobbled my way to the car.
But then I sat down in my car and felt a shooting pain straight up into
my organs, which wasn't right.
Coming home, I tried to, uh, relieve things, but found myself in dire,
sharp cramping pain. I thought of Dooce and her
tales of woe, and thought "so this is what it's like." It
hurt to push. It really really hurt. So I didn't. I gave up. I laid down
as slowly and carefully as I could, and fell asleep.
Once Sean came home, I told him what was going on, and how strange it
was that it wasn't my period. He suggested that I drink some
coffee, since that seems to get things moving. And I did - I went to Starbucks
and drank a double tall almond latté and got a few groceries as
well, but I was walking as lightly as possible, since my organs screamed
out every time I stomped. Or moved. Or got up. Or sat down.
I don't know where the latté went. It must be stuck somewhere.
I spent the majority of the rest of last night with no relief. I even
tried taking Pepto-Bismol by Sean's insistence (Pepto makes me vomit the
second I swallow it - something I learned when I was a kid. Very useful
when I needed help vomiting, not so helpful for anything else). Thankfully,
I was able to keep it down, but it didn't do anything.
I had a fitful, crampy sleep last night. I was exhausted. And still, nothing.
This (early) morning, I took a fiber pill. I don't know where it went.
It must be stuck somewhere.
I called Group Health (my insurance) and made an appointment for this
afternoon.
They
tried everything they could. (And I mean everything - I called my
Mom when I got home to tell her "Baby had her first rectal
exam today!")
Multiple prodding exams, a list of what I ate, blood panel, urinalysis,
pregnancy test, x-ray. If I feel the same tomorrow, they may do
an ultrasound.
But here's the weird thing, she doesn't think it's just constipation
- the pain is higher, in my intestines, so there's something else
going on.
She suggested kidney stones, so I have the order to pee into a coffee
filter for the next 24 hours, looking for something that resembles
sand or gravel. Have you tried to pee in a coffee filter? Go try
it now, and get back to me.
And I had the pleasure of calling MY BOSS to tell him that I'm bunged
up and have to pee into a coffee filter for the next twenty-four
hours, which just doesn't sound like a pleasant working environment,
which he agreed. And frankly I'll bet he's wishing that I had lied
and told him I had a migraine.
Here's my x-ray, which doesn't show much except my skeleton and
a whole lotta gas. Not sure what they thought an x-ray
would show.
It
hurts, you guys. It's like period cramps but not in the back, in
the front. And for you men? I guess it feels like I've been kicked
in the stomach. Constantly. No position is comfortable. When I sit
down it feels like my organs are being shoved up into my body. They
prescribed me Vicodin, but they want me to stop taking it tomorrow
so I can tell them if it still hurts as bad tomorrow (without covering
up the pain). But it should help me sleep tonight.
The woman on the right was my radiologist who did the x-ray above.
She was great. She does not have a double chin; I got her at an
unflattering angle. I thought her daughter's blog was livinginscotland.blogspot.com,
but it isn't. I wanted to read it.
Especially since I won't be leaving the house for 24 hours as I'm
bunged up and peeing into coffee filters.
And I still have no
oven. Still working on that one. And haven't organized the immigration
application to mail to Canada, although that's all sitting on our living
room table. Hurts too much to sit at the table (why did we have to be
all hip and have a dining table that requires us to sit on the floor?
What am I supposed to do when my intestines are screaming?).
In
non-pooping news, I took Jalen to the vet after my doctor's appointment
so he could get his monthly allergy shot. While there, I met Lou,
who was Really Not So Happy No Not At All about being at the vet's
office that evening. But he was beautiful and I had to take a picture
of him. So to the owners of Lou? Who came here to see the picture
of Lou? I am sosorry that you are learning so
much about me by coming here. You have a beautiful dog.
Watched the debates tonight, which should have been lovely, only
the cats saw it as "TV TIME!" which means that they can
pounce on my lap and do that revolve-around-to-get-comfortable dance,
which just wouldn't do.
( Was there any answer by Edwards that didn't include "the
reality is..."?)
Please send pooping. Not the actual poop, thank you, just the pooping.
And an oven. Totally
not related.
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10-04-04
I'm a bit bent outta shape today, a la Dooce,
if-you-know-what-I-mean (and no I don't mean the reconvening), so I spent
little time at the computer tonight. Although I did discuss my physical
trauma (the pain! I had no idea!) at length on the phone
with Joe. And he listened.
He's good like that.
My first recipe was published
on Recipezaar, my favorite recipe site! There's a slight typo, but
I'll let it slide.
Also updated my Links page which always takes longer than I planned.
Final paper is in for the immigration application(!) but it hurts too
much to sit on the floor. Will have to assemble the package to Canada
tomorrow.
I have to go now.
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We
ended up leaving Seattle at 2 p.m., and the traffic and construction
were atrocious, so we didn't get into Vancouver until 5 p.m. Much
too late to turn in my resume to the US Consulate. I brought it
back with me to mail.
After spending a couple hours catching up with Sean's cousin Debra
and her boyfriend Dave at their beautiful apartment with the
killer view from their giant deck, we headed over to Paul &
Rachel's for dinner and dancing drinks, and hung out until
1 a.m.
Uncle
Pete, Cousin Shane, and roommate Shawn stopped by on their way to
a show that evening. We also met Jake (an architect, of
all things) but I didn't get a picture of him.
I am so, so thankful to have them as friends before I even
move up there. I really hope that we will continue to hang out with
them. And after that whole night, we weren't done talking!
The next morning we had breakfast at Sophia's to celebrate Uncle
Pete's 55th birthday! After breakfast I walked around 4th Avenue
but quickly got bored since I didn't have any spending money after
buying two magazines. Except for the puppy store.... man, it was
hard to leave that place. It took everything in my power not to
kidnap the boston terrier puppy. But I explained that we had three
cats, and he said "Oh. Right. See ya."
Since we experienced such horrible traffic on the way up, we decided
to leave early. Sean had to work early Sunday morning and I didn't
want to be traveling late at night. I also knew that we had no groceries
in the house, and I needed some time for creative meal-planning,
since our oven finally died it's final death. It's all about the
skillet meals and crock pot meals for a while
(as we speak I'm trying a cake recipe in the crock pot!).
The traffic was actually
a breeze - until about 30 miles north of Seattle, then it was seriously
inch-by-inch for an hour. Turns out the Aurora Avenue bridge is shut down
for repair this weekend, causing all of Seattle to use I-5. What a mess.
We ended up making an oven-cooked meal anyway. I was really craving baked
veggies with feta, so we used Sylvia's oven. In exchange, she got a small
pan of the same meal. I rented "Rabbit Proof Fence" by request,
but haven't watched it yet.
I also want to point out that it's the two year anniversary of Chad's
death, and our friend Emily
was due with her baby on the same day. So we are expecting that phone
call any minute now!
Happy New Month, everyone.
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