Spent most of the weekend playing WoW, but I did manage to finish Mom's afghan. Also saw Transformers2 at drive-in. AWESOME!

Ideas

I have an idea for a writing project. I've been told many times that I should write and have had a few very short stories published for a small gaming company. I also have been told that I should write a book about some of the stories I tell. So, I think I might just create a book of autobiographical short stories. We'll see what happens. May lead no where. LOL

I still have been having some episodes of anxiety, but it's really to be expected and I'm so much better since I learned not to stress about stressing out. ;) I go in to the doctor's tomorrow for a cortisone shot in my knee. I'm not looking forward to that at all! Getting up early to make it into work by 6:00 am so that I can leave early enough to make the doctor visit. My stress test is the 9th of July.

It's been interesting how many people have been contacting me since my first visit to the cardiologist. I talked to my mother to let her know what was going on and how scared I have been. She offered to come up from California. I told her that I'd be okay, and I'd let her know if things got worse and I needed her. Then my best friend (who is like a sister) and her husband have been checking up on me. Oh, and one of my brothers called me last night and talked to me for over an hour to see how I was and swap medical stories with me. My husband even comes to check up on me from time to time. At least I know I'm loved and cared for. It's really sweet. Even friends I haven't seen in over 20 years have shown concern.

I have so many pictures to go through and clean up to put up on my Etsy site. I've also really been thinking about upgrading my Artfire account. Perhaps keeping Etsy strictly for crochet and Artfire for photography? I also have an account with RedBubble. RedBubble doesn't seem to have the hits that Artfire and Etsy do. Upgrading the Artfire account will cost $12/month - which is more than I pay for my personal website. However, Artfire has the marketing tools. I'll just have to think about it a bit more - and have a little "disposable" money.

The crocheting has kind of slowed down due to my need to finish up personal projects. The baby blanket for my boss' new daughter was finished earlier this week and given to him yesterday. I'm very close to finishing the afghan for my mother - which is a good thing since she's visiting us towards the end of July. I no longer have anything up on eBay. They were getting too confusing and constantly changing something in their policies. eBay may have the people on it, but it's not worth it if we're not making the sales and spending an arm and a leg in fees.

Well, I had best get to bed. It's almost 10:30 and I have to be up by 5:00. Ugh.

Don't stress the stress...

This is my new mantra. A friend of mine at work said it to me and the sentiment was later repeated by my mother. I've been worried about my health issues and how stressing out about them will just increase the problem. In a nutshell, I've been stressing about stressing. As I talked to my friend about this, he told me the following (and this is as verbatum as my poor memory will allow): "You're going to stress about this. Don't stress the stress. Allow yourself to go through it. Feel it and let it run its course." A very wise man, my friend.

Don't stress the stress.

Health - the ever growing saga

So, saw my doctor again yesterday to get my knee x-rayed. Turns out that there doesn't appear to be any tearing in my tendons. However, there does appear to be some arthritis in the knee. Joy. Now he wants to inject Cortizon into it and possibly drain fluid (if necessary). Um...do you know of my needle phobia??? *groans* So, I'm to go back later to get the shot. Didn't do it yesterday because I had a later appointment with the cardiologist and we thought I might be on a treadmill, which would defeat the shot. Goodie.

Oh...Cardiologist. There's another good time had by all. It appears that my episode a month ago was possibly a heart attack. Joy oh joy! So...try not to stress about that, but worry enough to do something about it. And the appointment was only an office visit! I get to go back on the 9th for the actual Echo/Stress test.

Can I just crawl into a hole and hibernate now?

New ideas

I have always loved candles and soaps. What girl doesn't? I bought some soap samples off of a friend on Etsy and love them. Then my husband asks me if I would like to learn how to make soap myself.

ACK!

Just what I need. I think I would enjoy learning how to make soap and/or candles...but do I really need another hobby that I hope will make money? Plus the start-up expenses! I don't know what to do or think about this. Perhaps I'll just research (which I'm very good at) and learn what's involved before completely making up my mind.

Health - Part II

So, I had my annual check-up with my doctor yesterday. Things are pretty good. My thyroid level is good and so is my blood sugar. My EKG had something on it and I scared my husband a few weeks ago with something he thought was heart related. So, now I get to go see a cardiologist and have a stress test done. Should be interesting.

Over the last month or so, I have been having issues with my left knee feeling like I'm hyper-extending it. Then it feels like it won't support me and I baby it for about a week. It's happened a number of times now. The doctor thinks that I may have collapsed a meniscus in my knee...so I also have an x-ray scheduled.

I also talked to him about issues I thought were related to the fibromyalgia...brain fog, short term memory issues, mood swings, quick to anger, etc. He has started me on an anti-depressant. The pharmacist told me that this particular drug (which I only take 1/2 per day for a week and then go to 1 per day) can either cause an inability to sleep or cause drowsiness. She recommended that I take it in the morning because more people in her experience have had difficulty sleeping on this. I took my first dose this morning. Ohhh boy! Not only did it make me incredibly drowsy, but I also got a few other nasty side-effects - extreme dry mouth and, my personal favorite, nausea. I'm going to try and take it at night and see how it goes.

New Health Concerns

Anyone who knows me knows that if it won't kill me outright, I'll get it. Maybe that's changing?

As I've mentioned before, I have Hashimoto's Disease - causing hypothyroidism, fibromyalgia, and am hypoglycemic. I am also overweight and have eczema, IBS, and acid reflux. Well, yesterday was my annual exam and my doctor now thinks that the meniscus in my knee has collapsed. Oh! And I have to go see a cartiologist for a stress test. *sigh* The fun never ends. Oh...and I told him some of my mental symptoms that have been popping up lately - brain fog, short term memory issues, difficulty concentrating or comprehending - especially when stressed. So now I'm on anti-depressants to see how I respond to them.

Can I please just have a new body?? How about one that fits my personality?

Children turning 18

OMG! My daughter is 18 today!!!! ACK! I don't think I'm ready for this. I don't think she's ready for this!

We took her to see Storm Large yesterday in Portland (where we also introduced our friends to Storm's Live performance). Today is going to be simple. Her Dad and I are taking up her chores for the weekend. She's getting an awesome breakfast as soon as everyone wakes up and a card from us. This evening she's going to see the Seattle Storm's opening game - we don't know if it will be with me or one of her friends.

Her main present from us will happen on Tuesday when I will take her to the courthouse to get her name legally changed. Her surname right now is that of my first husband's and her biological father. However, she's been wanting it changed to her step-father's since he and I got married almost 10 years ago. Now that she's legally an adult *shudder*, she can have it changed without needing permission.

I'll see about getting her registered to vote then as well.

She's still not driving. I may just have to buckle down and take her out for driving lessons more.

Storm Large - Crazy Enough

We love Storm Large! We, like so many people, started tracking her when she first appeared on Rockstar Supernova. Some of you may know that my husband won a contest with that show that brought us down to Los Angeles for the tapping of the final show and the cast party. At the party, we met most of the "contestants." Most. We did not meet Lucas Rossi (not that we cared) or Portland, OR's own Storm Large (which we were really bummed about).

The following February, we found out that Storm was going to be up in Seattle at a local club. We immediately got tickets even though the club scene is not our scene. The show was phenominal and Rob gave her the pictures he did for the Rockstar show that he was unable to give her earlier.

We have since made trips to Portland on several occasions just to see Ms. Large. Twice we've been to the Wonder Ballroom to see her concerts, and twice now we've been to Portland Center Stage to see her - once in Cabaret (totally awesome!) and yesterday to see Crazy Enough.

I can't say enough about how GOOD CE was. It's basically about Storm's own life. It's got laughter and tears...and a lot of wisdom. It's not for the feignt of heart. As Storm says in CE, "My mouth cop was killed in the line of duty." She tells you exactly what she's thinking - without censors.

Storm is larger than life, but surprisingly in touch with herself and down to earth. She's a truly gifted singer who will never fit in with mainstream anything, a wonderfully talented performer, and a beautiful human being.

Reinventing the wheel.

Instead of reinventing the wheel, I've decided to use tools already available to me from my Google account. My blog page is now here on Blogger and my photo album is on Picasa. I have photos on Flickr, but I paid for an account there that I don't think I'll be keeping.

Just to make anyone aware who may actually be tracking what I have to say, I may post a lot all at once and then nothing for months. If I have nothing to say, I generally won't say anything. LOL

Originially posted 05/24/09 - moved here 06/07/09

Well, I'm almost done with the basic design phase of my new site. I have to do my links page, get individual item pages up for the crochet, gather my characters together with their statistics for that page dedicated to my World of Warcraft addiction, and figure out how to create a Flash photo album that I like for my photography. It's a slow process as I am endeavoring to do a lot of things at once (as shown in my current crochet projects).

Tomorrow we're going out on the Olympic Penninsula here in Washington State to get a lot of pictures of Crescent Lake, Marymere Falls, and Sol Duc Falls. I am hoping that we may also get some ferry shots in Port Angeles and go up on Hurricane Ridge. I have to play with my new camera and learn how best to use it.

Monday is my baby brother's birthday. I wish I lived closer so that I could celebrate with the rest of my family. Instead, we're going to meet up with friends for a Memorial Day supper and then visit our friend's home on Hart Lake. Should be another great opportunity for the cameras!

Eventually I will be adding a health page to this site to discuss the various issues that we deal with. My husband is pre-diabetic and suffers severe asthma. I am hypoglycemic and also suffer from fibromyalgia and Hashimoto's Disease - an auto-immune disease causing hypothyroiditis.