Saturday, September 29, 2012

Text Time 26

Starring Kwiddens, since a couple of these ago she didn't get any texts in.

Kwiddens:
Seriously?


Kwiddens: Kill me. I want you to stab me with something. Just had to do work conduct training. Riddled with grammatical errors.
Me: Uuuugh.
Kwiddens: Any employee (blah blah blah) are required...
Me: Ugh so totally gross.
Kwiddens: "Adherence to company policies regarding these issues comply with state and federal laws is a requirement of all employees." Seriously?
Me: Wut.
Kwiddens: Right?


Kwiddens: What do you call it when you throw NaCl at somebody?
Me: ?
Kwiddens: A salt
Me: Hahahaha
Kwiddens: I'm cheesy and I know it


Kwiddens: Guess what I forgot to bring to work today?
Me: Meds?
Kwiddens: My left shoe.
Me: Hahahahahahahahaha!
Kwiddens: I hope nobody notices...


Me: I want to see the talking baby!
Me: His name is The Cuteness.
Me: Holy cannoli, you are my seester!
Kwiddens: You are the conductor of the potty train!
Me: I totally knew you would say that one!
Kwiddens: Haha

(Movie quotes...)

Thursday, September 27, 2012

Pros vs. Cons

There are pros and cons of my taking Abilify. There are pros and cons of taking any medication, for anyone. It's when you weigh them against each other that you decide whether to keep taking the medication or not.

When I first started taking the Abilify, it seemed like I had a bit more energy than I did before, and that it was a little bit easier to pry myself out of bed in the morning to go to my kindasorta boring job every day. But as I've been taking it, I've been feeling more and more tired, and hating my job more and more, and I'm starting to wonder if the job-hating is related to feeling so damn exhausted all the time.

So what are the pros? The gastrointestinal stuff seems to have gone away, so I don't have to worry about that any more. The dry mouth isn't a huge deal; I can ignore that. So overall, there aren't any side effects that I've noticed (or that I care to share...) that are making me hate this, other than feeling so tired. My anxiety over several things has gotten much better (maybe because I'm more sedated...?). I used to have crippling anxiety about driving, especially down to Salt Lake City or to places I've never been before, or anywhere involving left turns without traffic lights (pathetic, I know). There are certain people that I have to be associated with on a regular basis that used to bug the living crap out of me who are now tolerable.

Now, the main reason I switched onto Abilify in the first place was so that I could see if I could lose the weight that I gained when I started the Risperdal all those years ago. So far I haven't put much effort into trying that, but I plan on working on it soonish. It's easy enough for me to lose weight in the first place through dieting, it's just keeping it off that's the issue. I eat carefully for a while and am very good about making reasonable choices when it comes to food, and then I let myself have something unhealthy just this once, and then it landslides from there. It's always been all or nothing for me. But that's been in the past. I've noticed since starting this medication that I don't crave things as often, and I don't crave them nearly as intensely, and when I do eat something I really shouldn't I end up feeling like it doesn't taste as good as it used to, and then I usually just don't want it anymore. I'm wondering if the weight will stay off this time, and so I won't decide for sure if I'm going to stay on this medication or not until after I try for weight loss and maintenance again. If it turns out that the weight just piles on again even when I'm being careful, I'll conclude that the Abilify is going to be just as bad as the Risperdal was, weight-wise, and perhaps switch back, because I'm tired of feeling this tired.

I'm so freaking tired, people.

Saturday, September 22, 2012

Blessing Gown

My dear friend is having a baby in the beginning of October. This baby is a miracle baby, ten years in the making, so I wanted to make something incredibly special for her baby shower.

Enter the blessing gown. LDS babies are blessed (usually by their fathers) at about six weeks of age, so I got to make a teeny tiny little dressie!

When I started this project they were told they were having a girl...and then, after I'd gotten pretty far into it, the new doctor said, "Um, yeah, those are testicles." Oops. I had a minor panic, like OH NO I CAN'T MAKE A DRESSIE FOR A BOY but then several people assured me that traditionally many babies are still blessed in gowns, male or female. That was a relief!

So here's the picture on the pattern:


And here's the mega-ball of crochet thread that I used (yes, I made this out of thread):


The biggest part was the first part, the skirt. It was worked in a very large rectangle, and took I think about two months on its own (but I was working on other projects as well, so it wasn't the only thing for two months).


After that an edging was added to the bottom edge of the skirt:


Then the bodice was crocheted onto the skirt (one piece at a time) after gathering it at the top:


Next was making two teeny sleeves (can you believe how small bebby arms are?!):


Setting in the sleeves was a bit difficult, since I had only ever set in sleeves on adult sweaters before, and this was so small and fiddly, but it turned out well:


So here's the gown, with all the actual crocheting finished:


Here's the little bonnet that goes with it, pre-ribbons:


Post-ribbons (completely finished):


And the gown with ribbons, completely done:


And, I had to make it super cute, so when I put it in the gift bag I put it on a teddy bear:


I was super excited to give it to her, which I did at her shower this morning. She loved it! I'm so excited to see it on the baby when he is blessed in December. And I'm equally excited that I can now post this, since she's seen it now.

Friday, September 14, 2012

Whoops...

Yesterday I had a little mishap. Oopsie.


I went through a drive-thru to get lunch and hit one of the posts that keep you from getting too close to the building. My mirror broke clean off, and was hanging by a cable. I felt like an idiot, but Scott fixed it in about five minutes and then this morning I was able to take the tape off. Having a handy dude around is just about the best thing ever.

Thursday, September 13, 2012

Text Time 25

Me: As I'm moving things out of these upstairs closets, I'm realizing that during The Zombie Apocalypse I will have no shortage of extra pillows and blankets. And peanuts. For whatever reason, I have a lot of cans of peanuts in my house.
N.: It's important to be prepared, LOL
Me: Funny thing is, Scott can't even eat peanuts...
N.: Perhaps not the best choice to have on hand. Maybe you're hiding them so you won't make him feel bad?
Me: Lol. I need protein! I'll build lots of muscle running from those zombies! I kinda hope they're not rage zombies, though. Those are actually scary.
N.: Every time I take a donation to Savers I find myself wondering if I will regret giving that stuff away in a zombie apocalypse. I'm hoping for a slow-moving zombie if a zombie outbreak must happen. My husband is looking at old Jeeps. I just told him that a hard top would be a better choice for a zombie apocalypse.


Me: Damn it all to hell. I bought deodorant this morning and now I can't find it anywhere.
N.: Look in all the cans of peanuts ;-P


Mim:
Me: Empty text?
Mim: It's like a gift card. It can be anything you want!


Me: New record! 170 samples!
Boss: Frame that and put it on the wall!


Mim: Once a vampire is in your house, can you rescind the invitation?
Me: I don't think so. Have you found one in your apartment?

Tuesday, September 11, 2012

Great Basin Fiber Arts Fair Fiber

A few weekends ago I went with a few fibery friends to the Great Basin Fiber Arts Fair. It was bigger than last year, and was indoors, and didn't have alpacas to pet, which was a bit disappointing. I felt better after a bit of shopping though...

One of the two things I bought (Two! Go go self-control!) was this lovely braid, made of wool, bamboo, and silk. It was deliciously soft.



Unbraided:


On bobbins:


During plying (chain-plied this one):


Wound off into a skein:


And boom, there they are. They're very soft and will soften up even more when I wash them and then make something out of them.

Monday, September 10, 2012

The Colors!

Every time I finish a major project (and I can't post about it until after the baby shower...) I get the urge to make something small and fast, so even though I have a wedding shawl to work on and Scott's socks to finish, I cast on some socks for myself with some yarn Mim bought me this past Christmas.


They were just about the only thing I worked on for two weeks, with the exception of a bit of spinning, so they came to be much more quickly than my socks usually do.


They turned out a little big, so I'm hoping that if I wash them they'll shrink a teeny bit.

Sunday, September 9, 2012

Stripey Knee Socks

A long freaking time ago I started these, and then I ran out of yarn slightly over halfway through the project, and then for a while I was lying to myself, saying I wasn't going to buy more yarn, and then I did, and while I was at it I ordered the rest of the yarn for these socks, and then finally finished them.

Here they are in all their glory:


Behold, the stripey knee socks!


(Sorry that last picture is blurry)

Thursday, September 6, 2012

Text Time 24

N.: Went to Dr. They took 5 vials of blood. Bloody vampires...
Me: Ha! At least they weren't zombies. Five vials of brains would leave you a bit stupid...
N.: Maybe that would be ok. I wouldn't know about the impending zombie apocalypse because I would be light on brains.
Me: Hmmm...good point.

Em: A woman called in furious that we had a presale on Sunday because it might encourage people to break the sabbath. Then she demanded we let her have all the presale discounts on Saturday.

Me: I'm a little worried that my friend will have to bring her babies with her to my house...
B.:Ugh, I hope not.
Me: Yeah. We have guns EVERYWHERE.
B.: I think shooting her babies might be a little extreme...
Me: Noooo, I meant that babies get into things. Bad things. And my house isn't childproof.
B.: LMAO, I know, I was hoping to make you laugh!

Jorg: "Wait, was Hitler still alive during WWI?"-some guy in my history class.
Me: You're JOKING.
Jorg: Nope.
Me: I'm so glad you're brilliant!

Me: Scott is eating chicken! Solid chicken!
Mim: Yay! Is it dead?

Wednesday, September 5, 2012

Three Weeks?!

So you know how the other day I pinpointed what was causing my depression?

Mim pinpointed something else. I was venting to her the other day because she's one of the few people who completely understands what I'm going through, not only because she's going through it herself, but also because she watched me grow up and knows what I'm capable of (or what I used to be capable of...).

She said "Haven't you been on your period for like three weeks?"

Oh. Duh.

(I know that's not normal. I'm looking into it.)

Monday, September 3, 2012

The Tale Of the Tonsillectomy

Did I tell you Scott got his tonsils out? Nope, I don't think I did.

It was last month on the 15th, two days before his birthday, poor thing.

Scott had been snoring, and since sleep apnea runs in his family we were concerned. He went to see an ENT and he wanted to take his tonsils out before doing a sleep study to see if that would take care of the problem.

I took the day off of work so I could drive him to and from the surgery and take care of him, and since I wasn't able to get any more days off work, Jorg came up for a few days to help me take care of him while I went to earn the money that would pay the giant hospital bills. Hooray.

Anyway, he's healing pretty well. The first ten days or so were really rough for him. Apparently the surgery is MUCH worse for adults than for children. I wasn't prepared for how bad it would actually be, though... There was the pain, of course, but he had such bad nausea that he couldn't keep anything down, even water, for a few days, and he wasn't healing well because of it. We had to go in to the doctor again early to get some anti-nausea meds, and once we did that, he started healing a lot better, since he could drink more water (or, more accurately, eat more ice chips) and actually get some soup and mashed potatoes down.

He took eight days off work (paid, thank goodness), and he had left a to-do list for his coworkers to cover for him while he was gone, and when he got back none of it had been done. None. So when he got back he had to work from about 7 a.m. to 1 or 2 in the morning for a few days to get caught up. He was exhausted, and still healing, and I'm a little miffed at his boss for not having people actually cover for him while he was gone so he didn't have to put in 18-hour days the week he got back.

Anyway, he's doing a lot better now, and since the pain in his throat has mostly subsided, he can now focus on the pain in his back. Hooray.