Supercalifragilistic...

...hemochromatosis.

If you have it and ignore, you might just get cirrhosis.

If I hear it oft enough, I know I'll have neurosis.

Supercalifragilistic hemochromatosis!

 

The latest chapter in my Old Egg saga.  I won't bore you with the details...if I haven't already.  I just want to ask for prayers and positive thoughts on Wednesday, when I will be having minor surgery.  The phlebotomy treatment for the hemochromatosis is not working out so well, so I'm having a portacath implanted so that it can be used for removing blood rather than constantly fighting to find a vein.

 

And since I had to stop my blood thinners (taken for yet another Old Egg malady) leading up to the surgery, I get to inject myself in the stomach twice a day instead till it's all over!  Yippee! 

 

photo credit: ActuSoins

 

I had to do quite the internet image search to find a photo of an attractive abdomen being injected.  Most of the photos I found looked much more like mine...doughy and flabby!  I just couldn't subject you all to that.  :)

 

Cloud Atlas the movie...

I wrote awhile back about reading Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell before the movie came out.

 

 

Well, I finished two parts of the book.  Then my work schedule changed, and I started falling asleep whenever I tried to read.

 

So the movie came out this weekend, and I talked my son into going to see it with me today.  I thought that seeing the movie might help me make more sense of the book.

 

No such luck.  I found it incredibly frenetic and hard to follow.  And I found its description of 'An exploration of how the actions of individual lives impact one another in the past, present and future, as one soul is shaped from a killer into a hero, and an act of kindness ripples across centuries to inspire a revolution,' to fall pretty far from the mark.  There didn't seem to be much growth or even relativity along the progression...rather depressing to think that mankind could learn and change so little.

 

After reading the reviews, it makes me want to go back and give the book another try...if only to see if the movie did it justice or an injustice.

 

Maybe next year.

Happy Birthday to me...

 

Can you guess my age?

 

I was annoyingly celebratory today.  I told everyone I encountered that it was my birthday...starting with the policeman who pulled me over first thing this morning for having a burned-out headlight.  I did manage to wait until I was thanking him for just giving me a warning.  I took all my birthday cards to work to put all over my desk.  I happily displayed my jack-o-lantern mini cake that my bosses' wife brought me. I worked hard and rewarded myself with chocolate.  I came home to flowers.

 

Now it's time to file this one away.  But I think I'll enjoy the speed-limit postings all year.  :)

 

Bat-tastic...

Here's a little project I've been quite looking forward to.  You may have to enlarge the photo to see it well.

It's a Martha Stewart idea that I first saw on Pinterest.  (If you need an invitation to Pinterest, just let me know in a comment.) 

I needed Carey to 'help' me put up some file wall pockets at the office this weekend, so I figured he could 'help' me put this up too.  What can I say?  He's my partner in crime.

Mr. B is bat-phobic.  I can hardly wait to see his reaction in the morning. 

And just why do I like it so much?  Because for me, it's all about the pun.

It's a bat mobile!  :)

Boo...hiss...

 

I planned to get SO much done today.  Did I?  Nope.

 

Morning commute in the fog. Had to request and re-request corrected documents. Had to do redundant and unbelievably boring online training (for a job I've done for the past eleven years!). 

 

Moved furniture to make room for delivery.  Vacuumed up dead crickets behind moved furniture. Emptied trash cans. Organized. Labeled. Filed. Phone calls. Made nice. Blah. Blah. B. L. A. H. 

 

Delivery still hadn't shown up by lunch.  So I took a 10 minute lunch break to run across the street to McDonald's (blech) and bring back to the office.  Spent the rest of the half hour throwing together a card from scraps and office supplies.  I guess that bat stamp can be considered an office supply now...Mr. B. requested a 'cute' stamp to use to mark a trainee's progress on a 'passport.'

 

The photo super sonically sucks, because I had to use Carey's phone.  Why?  Forgot mine.  So when he dropped by this morning on his way home, he left me his phone.  Always thoughtful.  Always a gentleman.

 

More training.  Watched the parking lot to see who parked in 'my' space again (grrrrr).  Yes, I am THAT territorial.

 

Ate chocolate.

 

Accepted delivery.  Larger than expected.  Rethought furniture arrangement.

 

Made some phone calls.  Sold some stock.  Made some notes.  Resumed training.

 

Ate more chocolate.

 

Lather.  Rinse.  Repeat tomorrow.

 

Cute as a bug...or two...

Yesterday I took Diego shopping for his birthday present and out to lunch in San Antonio.  When I dropped him back at home, Caitlyn wanted to come home with me.  It worked out well for her and Chloe to spend the night with me, so over they came.

A week or so ago, I was walking past the storefronts near my office, and I saw the cutest little bee costume in one of the windows for Halloween.  I really wanted to buy it for Chloe, because she is my little Honeybee.  I called Kasey to see if they already had new costumes for this year, and to run the bee costume by her.  We discussed the possibility of my making a lady bug costume for Caitlyn (because she is my little Catiebug).  Then when I went back to the store to get the bee, there was a ladybug costume on the rack too.  Score!

They got to try them on and play in them last night.  And I got to snap a couple of photos.


 

Sunrise, sunset...

The early-morning commute has its rewards...like enjoying the sunrise...which BELIEVE me, I would not be awake to enjoy if I didn't have to be at work.  This was the sun rising last week over the office.

 

 

And this was the sunset on my way home tonight.  Long days, and not too many waking hours at home, but things are going well.  And the days are filled with beauty.

 

Weekending in style...

One of the reasons for my trip to Dallas this past weekend is that my friend, the other Kathleen, was visiting there too.  She is such a good Girl Scout, that she took her camper with her.  When I decided to go, I asked her if I could sleep in the second bed therein, and she said, 'Sure.' 

 

What she forgot at the time was that the key part of making up the second camper bed was left behind at her home, several states away.  She didn't want me not to come, so she decided to book a night for me at a bed and breakfast!  She makes rather grand gestures occasionally.  So instead of sleeping in a somewhat cramped camper...

 

...this was my warm, comfy nest. 

 

I wasn't sure that I would be able to find my way on my own through the dark urban neighborhoods, so I made her come with me.  She feigned reluctance nicely.  :)

 

 

I would never look a gift horse in the mouth...unless she started it, of course...so we spent a few minutes pointing out the flaws around the place.  A) It was upstairs...an outdoor, steep, set of stairs that was not kind to our out-of-shape knees;  B) There was a lovely pedestal sink in the bathroom, but nowhere to set down makeup etc, and no other mirrors in the entire suite;  C)  The furniture was more reproduction than authentic;  and D) said furniture wasn't very comfortable.

 

We got a good giggle when we were talking about the difficulty of putting on makeup with no counter in the bathroom, and no mirrors anywhere else.  Kathleen said that she preferred pedestal sinks that had a counter top around them.  Ummm...wouldn't that basically make it a vanity?  :)

 

 

For the second night, I asked to be allowed to ditch the b & b and choose and pay for my own room.  I chose the Holiday Inn Express, where I had stayed once before and happened to know that they had the most comfortable beds in my recent memory.  She decided to stay with me there too.

 

Maybe because of the nice counter top around their sink.  :)

 

Seven random thoughts on the 7th...

1.  There is too much fun to be had on the internet for me to have a clean house.  Please tell me I'm not alone.  Really.  I sit down just to check email...five minutes tops...and find something fun to do...like using imagechef.com to make an image for a blog post.  :)  Two hours later...  You know.

2.  I just got back from Dallas where I spent the weekend with girlfriends.  It was so great to spend time with them, to take a break from the norm, to enjoy restaurant meals, to take a nap, and to read myself to sleep in a comfy hotel bed.

3.  While away, I shopped at Williams Sonoma and spent a grand total of $0.00.  I wandered through an antique mall and again spent $0.00.  I did spend $3.70 on some thrift finds at a Goodwill store.

4.  I love to drive.  I love to drive by myself.  Boy am I glad that I'm able to.  (There have been times when I wasn't.)

5.  The weather is cool, and very fall like...time to think about soups.  Which brings me to...

6.  Tomorrow night's dinner...assembled and in the slow cooker crock, ready to turn on low when I head out to work in the morning.

7.  I'm SO thankful.  Thankful for friends to visit, and a home to come home to.  Thankful for a job to go to, food to prepare, and family to share it with.  Life is good.

 

What I'm reading Wednesday...

photo credit: amazon.com

 

Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell

 

While waiting for the Presidential debate to begin tonight, I saw an ad for a new Tom Hanks movie...Cloud Atlas.  It looked really interesting...hard to describe, but interesting.  Time travel?  Spiritual?  Romance?  Anyway, I think it's about how our lives and actions touch the lives of others across time and space.  I really want to see it.  It opens October 26.

 

And since I always like to read the book before seeing the movie...and since I haven't been really excited with my reading material lately...I went straight to amazon.com and bought it for my Kindle.  Can't wait to start it!

 

Back to Paleo...

I'm jumping back on the Paleo wagon.  I felt so much better while I was doing it before.  I cannot even count the number of times I've been to the chiropractor in the past month.  Aches and pains...back and joints.  I've read that Paleo helps rid the body of inflammation.  I know my knees felt a lot better last time, as well as my energy level.

Paleo is eating fresh, unprocessed food: meats, vegetables, nuts & seeds...some fruit and a little starch...no sugar, grains, or dairy.

I feel like I've taken a zillion photos of salad with berries, red onion, and salmon, homemade honey mustard dressing, and just a tiny bit of feta.  Can't help it, it's SO good!  This one would please Elaine Benes.  And there's some in the fridge to take to work tomorrow for lunch.

I need to find more Paleo recipes for the slow cooker!