Watching the Up with Chris Hayes panel featuring Rich Lucibella

They flashed a bar graph on screen briefly of school homicides. I could not help noticing that the school homicide rate was much higher when a democrat has been in the White House. Coincidence, or psychic phenomenon?

A toss-up

Wednesday is 3rd week post op appointment. It's difficult to say which I will miss least: the jaw bra or the resin plate wired to my upper teeth. I'm hoping for clearance Wednesday to travel home and finish my recovery at my house with my puppies. Yay!

Some stitches came out a few days ago and more came out today. Progress!

Shawl #2 completed

This one is finished and now I'm on to the next project, but I'll probably start tomorrow. The pattern for this shawl includes a kind of fringe trim, but I made mine without. I don't know why, but I like the edge unadorned. On the first one, I accidentally used the wrong size hook to begin with, and I also started with a stitch that was too tight, and these factors made for edges that kind of curl up. I just need to block and stretch it. I'm enjoying crocheting, and the activity level is about perfect for my present energy.

Feeling better every day. :)

Music for going over cliffs, and such.

I showed some Tom Waits to Mom earlier on YouTube and we got some laughs out of it. Then tonight, oddly enough, a 1979 Austin City Limits with Tom Waits came on at 10:00 PM, and Dad and I watched that, and laughed some more. Dad said "whatever he is on must be really good."

Heh.

Slept very late, with strange, vivid dreams. Danger leapt all around me, but I was not afeared. Sleeping pill again tonight. Yes, I think so, yesh. Yesh.

Returning to the right again

Got to Knox/Henderson early for my appointment with my surgeon (more on that later) and popped by a favorite boutique, Emeralds To Coconuts, where I picked up this pair and 2 other coolie cheapie slippers. Friend Lin opined in a missive that the world is returning to right again when I am in shoe acquisition mode.

La!

Lost 5 pounds since last week. Bite not closing as preferred, Dr snapped some hellacious elastics on from top to bottom to better guide the settling of my bite , and hopefully spare me some time in the orthodontic correction stage. My choppers are fairly screaming, so I just took a pain pill which I hope will afford me the oblivion of sleep.

Stopped at Costco and picked up super-rich lobster bisque and the makings of a cheese soup. Going to try to stem the weight loss, since I need to be a bone building factory, just now. Still, the bands and the resin plate make eating so very tiresome. The lobster bisque is yum, though, and hopefully it will satisfy on many levels.

This evening, the first of several zones of oral sutures has sprung itself, to my relief. Even well-tucked, the free ends are pokey. This is all going well and I feel fortunate, even with these wicked new elastics. I will not be a baby. But I will make free with the pain meds.

On my way to 2 week post op visit with surgeon.

Driving myself, navigating downtown Dallas traffic.

Pretty day. Wish my tires had more tread on 'em!

Merry Christmas from the family

http://youtu.be/P37xPiRz1sg

Merry Christmas to all

Here's wishing happy warm times to all of you this Christmas.

Myself, I'm thankful to be in the company of my family, and so looking forward to getting home to my furballs, hopefully before the new year.

XOXO

This will have to be quick, having popped my painkiller/sleep aid combo, but something's been stick in my craw and I've finally hit upon it.

Jean-Baptiste Emanuel zorg.

In luc besson's 1997 dystopian Sci-Fi romp, bad guy zorg is masterfully portrayed by Gary Oldman who says the characterization is a composite drawn from such sources as bugs Bunny and Ross Perot.

What excited me was that I've seen articles in recent times declaring the twilight of the redneck. It was therefore slow to seep in, but at least some folk speculate that not only will rednecks be with us in centuries to come, but that may well be Running a lot of shit, too.

Oldman gobbles up several dimensions of scenery with a wink, and all those times it didn't occurr to me just how that accent/farm aesthetic really stuck out in that context. Now that I've noticed it, I love it even more.
Tee hee.

This one always fills me with delight- LED Sheep art

Crocheting again

Slept like a log last night.

Sitting with a lap blanket on and working on a shawl I started a few weeks ago for my niece. Feeling okay. Feeling better. Sleep did me a lot of good. I hope to complete this project in the next day. Will show you when it is done. :)

Reflections one week post operation

Wow. I suppose it does not seem a week ago because I was foggy the first few days after. Overall, I think I'm doing quite well. I've tapered way off the pain meds to a whole one at bedtime and half one with breakfast. I don't have much discomfort now, but the dizziness of pain meds was getting to me. I've not managed a full night of sleep, so in a short while I'm taking a sleep aid. I've also mostly slept in Mom's electric recliner, but I'm trying to make it through the night in bed this time.

I was surprised that as Andie predicted, I've not felt like crocheting. Maybe tomorrow, but I'm not holding my breath.

Mouth cleanup after eating is a major pain, but a necessary evil. Can't afford to let nastiness breakout so close to ground zero. Or in general.

Sensation is returning rather quickly in most spots. I still have the sensation of rubber extensions on my lips and nose. Sometimes my nose itches and scratching does not satisfy.

Drove to CvS today and shuffled through the store in houseshoes and with my jaw-bra tastefully concealed in a lovely silk scarf. Schnoobie has declared me a zombie fashionista. La! I know I look startling to people because I look like a monchichi. Remember those? Just don't expect to see me with thumbs buried knuckle-deep in my nose-holes.

Everything is SUCH a production. I tire quite quickly. The heart is willing but the rest of me is wimpy in the extreme.

The swelling is going down, by and by, but one nice by-product has been the plumping effect on wrinkles. I could be 20! Matter of fact, later on I'll dig up the teenager on YouTube who had this surgery and could be my twin.

Weather is getting cold which will keep me further cooped up, but I'll settle for not getting sick. Glad I did this and I think recovery is coming at a nice pace. Looking forward to seeing my pups, though, hopefully at the end of next week.

SO FLUFFY!

GIFSoup

Mind over... mutter

Life has taken on a weird sort of routine orbiting the care and maintenance of my new oral ball of wax. I have a resin plate wired to the underside of my upper teeth, so my teeth don't have actual contact yet. All the extra wires/apparatus means that this rich diet I'm eating gets mucked up in there with remarkable efficiency, so cleanup is a big job. I seem to be spending about an hour a day cleaning my mouth.

This morning i weighed myself and saw the needle 3# lower than yesterday. This is not good. I drove (yes!) to Sonic for a chili cheese Tater tots. Took a fork and mooshed them up. After nomming them for about 30 minutes, I felt I had to give up on them. Then the cleanup began. Unfortunately, a hunk of tater lodged itself between the resin plate and the roof of my mouth. No amount of brushing or swishing would serve to dislodge the offending particle. Using my recently acquired knowledge of anatomy, I told myself that the amylase in my saliva would work on the potato and it would dislodge. It stayed snugly in place all day. I considered naming it.

After dinner, I got out the water pik(lowest setting) and determined to get out the offending article however long it should take. Turns out, it was a hunk of meat from the chili. But it came out, by golly. And amylase would have had no effect on the meat hunk.

Found a good white noise app and got some great sleep this morning. 2nd week post op appointment is one week from today. Feeling dramatically better today, but I still have monkey face. I actually put on clothes today. Yes, I wore pajamas to the dr yesterday. I feel entitled.

Ramping down on the hydrocodone. Hoping tonight will be the first night to sleep all the way through.

I would sport with your intelligence if I did not admit that focusing narrowly on my own la di da has been a huge relief given the recent news. There's nothing to be done beyond grieving in the face of such an evil act, and to grieve in turn at the outrageous compromising of our liberties by self-seeking "leaders" who politicize the deaths of children to make political hay. Enforce the laws on the books. We can't guarantee a crazy person won't go on a murderous rampage. Full stop.

How about addressing from the mental health angle? I suppose that would be relevant and make sense, so that angle will be ignored.

Defying groovity.

One thing that got me through the first several nights home from hospital was Pandora's Harold Budd channel. It's got some similarly minimalistic piano artists and the like of Sigur Ros to give texture, but is bordering enough on ambient in general to be soothing and not jarring. Love this station!

I miss my babies

Mochi is one of the sweetest puppies ever. In your arms , she feels so safe and secure that she goes as limp as an old rag. My baby girl.

Fixie!!!

Dr visit went well. He is pleased withy progress. I've lost 6 lbs and he doesn't want me to lose more-- need energy for mending bone. I can eat soft foods. Stopping at Panera for Mac n cheese. Yay!!!

Have you ever felt sorry for a toilet?

I'm happy to report myself fully functional in the bathroom department, but that poor porcelain! Fortunately, I've had some Nursie friends coaching me from afar (and a safe distance) so the whole mess seems to have been sorted out.

Slept very well last night. Face is pretty swollen today. I love Mom's electric recliner. Dr visit this afternoon and ill let you know what he says.

Zomg!

I made a B in A&P II. Can't believe it. I thought I did pretty well on the final, but I must have hit it out of the park.

Now if I could poop, this day will be a winner!

Yawning.

An unexpectedly painful experience.

...and something just came out of my nose. I think 'twas an extra from the filming of The Hobbit and looks to be the harbinger of the drainage stage of the proceedings. I'll take it. The swelling stage has been kind of awful.


Puppyless Sunday was sad but necessary. Last thing I need is them bouncing around my head and dislodging things.

I think I am doing quite well generally, but I believe I underestimated how miserable this would be.

Viva hydrocodone. Looking forward to no longer feeing like there are rubber extensions on my nose and lips.

And why did the ear worm I'm stuck with have to be "never trust a big butt and a smile."?

I can close my lips.

I can drink from a cup.

Granny squares, however, are unpossible.

Phlegm limbo

Nose surrealistically swollen. The stuffiness therein is strange because I can't blow my nose, so congestion will dribble from one end or the other, and which end is a crap shoot.

Thank goodness for hydrocodone. Suspect I'd be in spectacular discomfort if not for the painkiller. Excited about feeling better and recovering and getting on with my life. For now, though, sleep. And phlegm.

Wow!

36 hours post-op and I can breathe better than ever through my nose, this despite swelling and congestion. While he was up under the hood, Dr. Bates fixed my deviated septum.

Yay!

Home to mom and pop's.

Surg went well, but very tired. More soon

WHEEEEEe!

GIFSoup

here i go.

XOX
:)

On my way to the hospital

Thirsty and tired. Didn't sleep a wink excited to get it over with

JAWS: We're gonna need a bigger bite.

 Here's the panoramic image of my bite.  You can see that it is open.  (Look, Ma: no cavities!)  Weird, huh? 

Then there's the picture of the ball/socket joint on my left side.  Pretty normal with smooth surfaces and, ya know, cartilage and stuff.



And then there's my right side where you can see the evidence of rheumatoid arthritis, bone-on-bone action and no cartilage.  Is that a CORNER on the bone? Yup.  Bone spurs in there too.  This is because of the bite that does not give good contact and the weird way I have to chew.  This is why I pretty much constantly have the sensation of a mild earache. 

The surgery will not undo the damage, but will hopefully at least stop its progression and ideally will lessen the pain. Also, it will be nice to eat stuff you have to bite off.  Things that hurt to eat: bagels, pizza, chewy bready type stuff, some meat, hard fruit and veg.  I learned early on not to take lettuce on my burgers because the unbroken piece would slide out and flop down onto my chin after I tore the bread and meat away.  This stuff is a nuisance, but you work around it and don't think of it that much.  Yeah, I've eaten pizza when that is served all these years, but it's an unpleasant association.  That said, there are some really good pizzas in the world that I'd like to enjoy, and soon I'll be able to.

Surgery is in the morning, set to start at 7:30.  Eek!

Today I'm meeting aepilot_jim and Matt G in Dallas for dim sum - one of my favorite food types that I can't get out here in Elsewhere. 

I'm nervous and anxious.  I've got a lot to do to finish packing my suitcase but I'll get it all done.  Going to load my crochet and knitting supplies in the car after this post, and my laptop.  Finish a load of laundry and I'm off. 

I'll be so sad to be away from my puppies for a couple of weeks, but this is a necessary evil, and will only be a brief while in the grand scheme of things.

Tonight I'll pre-load some posts, of favorite music and stuff.

This is the right thing to do.  I dread it, but I was thinking about Mom getting both her knees replaced last year, and my dear friend FarmMom having a knee replaced about 2 years ago-- what they did was incredibly scary and daunting, and they were very brave about it, so I can learn from them and try to be brave, too.  To top that off, I got an email from gunsmith Wally that his girlfriend Miss A had this self-same surgery 5 weeks ago!  She very generously talked to me on the phone for about an hour last week and told me what to expect, so it seems less scary. 

I was supposed to have this surgery about 7 years ago, but my then-husband was unsupportive and didn't think I needed the surgery and shouldn't have it. Then again, he thought it would be cheaper to pay for a funeral than to pay for my hospital visit for the pneumonia that almost killed me. (Final hospital bill was less than $2000 with our insurance.  This event precipitated le divorce. If that sounds like a ringing indictment, well... Nuff said.) So here I am in my much-reduced financial circumstance, scrambling a credit card to pay and this is all going to be worth it.  In contrast, when I told Himself about the problem, he immediately said "Sweetie, we've gotta get that fixed for you."  I'm so looking forward to having this over with.  And I appreciate being surrounded by loving, supportive people who care about my well-being.

I love my friends and family.  Thank you to Himself for being so sweetly supportive and for taking such good care of my sweet puppy dogs.  They will probably be out of sorts with me gone, so I know they'll be needy, but they'll be in protective and gentle hands and they love him, too. :)  Thank you to Mom and Dad.  I know it's going to be painful to see me all banged-up and swollen and stuff, but that phase will quickly pass and I feel like this is the doorway to a whole new chapter, and one that's going to be better than everything that came before.

I will likely be home from the hospital Friday or Saturday, and I've got enough yarn to stretch to the moon.  Or maybe Texarkana.  I'm going to be a crocheting fool for the next month.  I thought it might be fun to do a daily granny square and see how the pain killer is affecting my motor skills.  Maybe that will be the barometer.  I'm going to try not to get hooked on painkillers, but I won't spare the horses, either.  I'll likely be out of it for most of the next week.  So. I'll try to let you know when a post is NOT pre-loaded.  I'm hoping I bounce back quickly, but it takes as long as it takes.

La!

Guns & Roses necklace nearly complete

In addition to wrapping up school, I really wanted to get this completed and mailed before my surgery. Made it just under the wire. I have a sterling musket charm that is Wonderful but i can't find it nd will have to send it along. I hope the raffle winner will enjoy this or will give it to someone who will enjoy wearing it. :)

I'm really proud of everyone who contributed to the raffle.

Thai one on!

Out having probably my last meal out at home before the end of the year. Thai food. Yum. I'll recover from surgery at Mom and Dad's because I can't be around jumpy puppies while the bones in my face mend.

Couldn't find a dining companion so I'm flying solo and reading a crochet book I just got. Planning a lot of crochet while I recover.

Test went well this morning. I feel much more confident than of previous tests. unlikely I'll pull a B, but much better off than I thought I was.
I think.

Furry barnacles and competitive snuggling

We got snow in the region Sunday night and it was actually cold enough to bust out the electric blanket. I had the heat on in the house, but pretty low. Monday I turned the heat up a bit. Bedtime came and I cranked up the heat on the blankie about an hour before bed.

Now it's 3:15 in the AM and the furnacles just did a leap-froggish swapping of positions. When I got in bed, I was freezing and thought I'd never be warm this night. Now I'm burning up. Oh, look: there goes the furnace. I'd better turn the blanket down some more.

I think I could heat the house with the BTUs the varmints are giving off. Especially Mochi. She's a hot little dog.

Here's some sweater puppies photos for your viewing pleasure.

I made a 78 on my Macroeconomics final and only needed a 60 to keep my A, so YAY!!!

I scored an 80 on my A&PLAB final, and I'm ecstatic about that. If I ace the written portion later this morning, a B will still be within my grasp. Yay again. Wish me luck!

Technicolor yawns. Or burps. Or...

For what few gifts I'm giving this year, it's a home-spun Christmas. Making this rainbow scarf for a very colorful creature, I foolishly left the project on the coffee table. The next day, Miss Mochi came gaily sashaying through trailing a wake of tangled yarn and scarf-to-be. I had to liberate the yarn and scarf, and a couple feet of yarn had to be pulled from Mochi's guttiwuts. Back on task, I am crocheting and erred on the side of good taste and cut out the yarn wot she swallered. If the scarf was for myself, though, I woulda left in the nommed bit.

Questions raised by "The Devil Went Down To Georgia"

If the chickens are in the bread pan, wouldn't they be picking out bread, not dough?

Should I worry that I preferred the devil's version in the duel?

Does anyone really think the Devil would have honored the agreement not to hasten young Johnny to the fiery inferno anyhoo?

That is all.

Sunday, Puppy Sunday: shouldn't we be asleep already?

If it's dark, the puppies are ready for bed. Thought this was particularly persuasive.

...or just punch him in the gooch

That's what Himself said when his fortune cookie held the wisdom from the photo.

Teehee!

Dearest Darling Asshole,

Although in your realm of lawyerdom you are a big wheel and rilly, rilly important, you should learn than you don't know everything about everything. I work in a field so very beneath your exalted self that it is inconceivable to you that there may be minutiae to which I am privy of which you are -- Shock! Horror!-- ignorant. But it is true. I know stuff about which you know nothing. You probably think you could operate a backhoe or a helicopter or catch the biggest fish because all the people who do those jobs are so obviously stupider than your bad self. You know what the frightening reality is, Mr. Raspberry? You NEED your garbage men. You NEED that lowly grunt who reads your meter. You need the guy who cleans the backed up shit from your plumbing so you don't have to sully your lily-white collar with the putrescence of real life that "incompetent" (read lower economic classes) people like myself tidy up for you because you do, indeed, poop and it does, indeed, stink. And you NEED me.

It's rather delicious that you called my colleague one desk over to complain that "some idiot in Texas" called you, because we are nowhere near the border. Unlike myself, she was BORN here in Texas and took profound umbrage.

Myself, I admit I cried when I got off the phone with you a couple of hours ago, but I am over it. I have bigger fish to fry and an actual life. You, otoh, are saddled with the unimaginable burden of going through life as yourself. I feel sorry for the lonely Hell that must be for you, but you deserve it.
Signed,
An idiot in Texas who is thankful for the brevity of our relationship

P.S.: You have a very distinctive name. My boyfriend promised me if he ever meets you, he'll punch you in the gooch. I advise you to steer broadly clear of Texas.

A brave, new, kinda stoned world...

Oh, the irony.

In this article, a Seattle spokesman sums Washington's nascent legalization of marijuana thusly:

On the city's police website, spokesman Jonah Spangenthal-Lee said: "The department's going to give you a generous grace period to help you adjust to this brave, new, and maybe kinda stoned world we live in."

I don't mind going on record saying that I think pot should be legal, but I can't help noting the irony of the invocation of Huxley's dystopian cautionary tale, which was named for the ironic moment in The Tempest when Prospero's daughter, seeing non-staff humans for the first time declares this a "brave, new world" as the drunken travelers slither off their ship onto the remote island.

In Brave New World, people are kept docile by the steady administration of Soma, a contentment inducing drug.

Again, I do not criticize Washington for the legalization of pot. I think our legal system and detention facilities would be better served not to prosecute/incarcerate people who enjoy recreational weed. I just think that someone in so lofty a position as to be a city's spokesperson should be more aware of the implication of their words, and should be more careful about which words they choose to state.

One down, two to go.

A&PLAB final was today. I think I made a decent showing of it. I have two big review sessions planned with a classmate, and I may pull this off yet.

Macroeconomics is more cut and dried, but it's solid.

I (mis)calculated and thought I'd have to make a 16 on that final for a B or an 86 for an A. Turns out I was wrong. I need to earn a 60 to land an A. Just when I was going to blow it off! Professor sent an announcement today that the final is open book, no time limit and may take as many times as we like online. Wow. I guess I will try, after all.

New phone

My new iPhone arrived Tuesday. I was pleased to see how small the literature was this time, because who really rtfm? Not me, apparently.

Going to be more selective on apps this time. Probably no ocarina or glow sticks or scritchin kitty.

Surgery is a week from tomorrow. A&P lab final is tomorrow and macroeconomics final opens Friday. I have a good solid B there, so I'm putting all my study energy into anatomy. The end of this semester will be a huge relief.

Feeling a little wistful.

This is the start of the final week of me working from home. Next week starts my time off for my surgery, so I'll be out for at least a month, but I'm pretty bummed about working away from home after this. I do better and more focused work from home. And I find it easier to have a good attitude about the surly, navel-gazing 20-somethings at work when I don't have to, you know, see them. le sigh. Oh well.

For my lunch today, I went out back and picked up a few pounds of pecans because: free food! I can't eat nuts because of my braces, but I can gift them, and I can also freeze the shelled ones. Thing is that I'm a little weary of shelling pecans. I can suck it up and deal with it, though, because, again: free food!

Then when my braces come off next year, I can celebrate with a pecan pie or something.

Nice to look forward to that.

In the meantime, though, I'll hate being away from my pups for work, but needs must. Onward and upward.

Sunday, Puppy Sunday: I help mommy crochet

Mochi is a very nice little helper, keeping my leg warm and all. :)
Thank goodness for recliners, though. The whole pack would never fit on a rocking chair.



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...and glad hosannas erupted from chez Phlegm.

The apocalyptic white trash is moving out of the house next door.

Yee haw!


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