I'm still doing my photos but I always forget to post them. So to the week that was whenever it was.
This is a little bottlebrush that grows in our front yard. Its a pretty little thing. The flowers just curl out of the buds over a day or two.
Lol. This is something that I think Kimba made for me about 12 years ago. I sent them to pottery classes over one lot of school holidays and now I have all these strange pottery creations about the house. This one sits in the kitchen. Always gives me a smile.
One day I woke up, turned my calender and found this. It really wasn't enough information to know what I was meant to be doing. I can't remember what it turned out to be.
Bacon is always good.
Betty having a nanna nap
The cook at the old peoples home I volunteer at makes the most beautiful cakes. She has two lucky sons. I think Lloyd would have liked to have grown up in that kitchen.
And this was yummo. It was a strawberry/kiwi fruit salsa that we had with salmon fillets.
If you could only drink one beverage for the rest of your life (not including water), which one would you choose?
Well thats easy.
Wine. White. Sem/Sav/Blanc preferably. Wolf Blass is good. With ice. Although if Jem and I are out we go with the Pinot.
And in fact wine already is just about the one beverage I drink besides water. I have one coffee in the morning. Water through the day, then wine at night. I'm thinking of giving up the coffee though. I don't really enjoy it, I think I just have it out of habit.
I haven't had any wine since last Friday though. Because on Saturday I read that drinking a glass of wine is equivalent to eating a slice of bread. So I figure I ate about a loaf of bread on Friday night. I wish I could go back and never have read that. Because I find it disturbing. I don't even like bread. But I think I've just about put it far enough to the back of my mind that I'll be able to ignore it tonight.
And I wish they'd all stop harping on about how alcohol gives you breast cancer and mouth cancer and dementia and cellulite and wrinkles, because it ruins the whole drinking experience for me. Not enough to stop mind you.
I'm always surprised when people say they don't drink. Its all my parents fault I think. I seem to recall they were drinkers when I was growing up. Now they have drinks at lunch and before dinner. And my father has a wine fridge in his bathroom. He says you never know when you might get caught out.
One of Lloyds friends dropped around the other night and they shared a bottle of wine. Thats another thing. How they say on the label there are 7.bla glasses of wine in a bottle! They are obviously not using my wine glass.
Anyway Lloyd and Lauren were going to a fancy dress party and the theme was red. Laurens was in black with red red lipstick.
I did feel a little stalkerish taking photos of Laurens glass after she was gone. I was still finding lipstick on it a week later.
The Academy Is... played an acoustic version of their set for the San Antonio leg of the AP Fall Ball Tour since Butcher (their drummer) was out sick. Boo, but thank goodness for Youtube!
I bought this soap the other day. It's called Black Paint. I first saw this when I was looking at a guidebook of Kyoto. When I went to Kyoto this spring I didn't have time to go to the shop. After coming back to Tokyo... I went to Mitsukoshi in Ginza... and found the store there! But yeah, I didn't buy it until recently. I tried it out... and it's pretty good, I think. My skin feels softer. (the white thing is a sponge! you use it to clean out your pores!)
Now that we are not going to be building a new home anytime soon, the question becomes "Where do you Spin?"
Right now, I have a small set-up in a small bedroom, approximately 100 sq ft, that still has a bed in it. It's a pain, because I can not have everything set up all at once. I would like to be able to leave my sewing machine up, all of my wheels set out and ready and also have a space for my circular sock knitting machine and a place to do dyeing.
Ideally, a studio should have a wet and dry area. A large work table, plenty of light and storage capacity. Right now, I have none of these. If I want to spin, I must put everything else somewhere else. If I want to sew, I have to find a table to set the machine on. Even trying to keep track of all of my fleeces and different yarns is a drag. I did get info on a knitter's project sheet, but even that seems to much to think about.
So, spinners, where do you spin? Do you make do, or do you have a space that is dedicated only to spinning?
I've been lazy about writing these days!! Anyways, today is a national holiday! Yay!
I have decided not to delve any further into the tinnitus situation for now. Even though it really can make some days bloody awful.
Main reason being that I'm fed up, and not in the mood, to get on that expensive, time wasting road of tests and specialists that seems to lead nowhere.
It all started a couple of years ago when I found a small lump in my breast one day. I went to the doctor, which lead to a mammogram, that lead to an ultrasound, that lead to them telling me it was just a cyst.
Then, my doctor decided that since I was over 40, I should have a full set of blood tests done. The one that they use to test for ovarian cancer came back at a high level. This led to a trip to the ultrasound place for an internal unltrasound, which is possible one of the most embarrassing yet humourous things I have ever had to go through. This led to a trip to the hospital for a laproscopy. This all led to nothing. Turns out there was no problem, some women just have elevated levels of whatever it is.
And then there was the Weird Undiagnosed Throat Thing. That remains undiagnosed. It started with a trip to the doctor, that led to an ultrasound, then on to the ENT guy who stuck a camera up my nose and down my throat, and finished with a barium swallow. All of this led to nowhere. Apparently I'm just making it up in my mind.
So. The tinnitus. I have been for a hearing test and I have some slight hearing loss so far. I was given a referral to another ENT doctor, but at the moment I just can't be bothered driving for an hour and a half, to sit in his waiting room for another hour and a half, then pay him a small fortune for him to tell me there's no cure anyway. I said to my doctor, well what will he tell me anyway that you haven't. And he said - he'll advise you.
Thats one problem with small town life. You have to drive to the big smoke to see any sort of specialist.
Maybe I'll look into it next year.
Have you ever been so stressed out that you don't know how stressed out you were until some of the stress is gone? That happened to me today.
To say this has been an incredibly tough year is an understatement.
- DH started surgeries in January, was off work from January until May, not back to full duty until August
- Daughter 2 graduating from college
- 6 close friends or family members have passed away, this year isn't over yet, plus the loss of our Bud.
- two surgeries for me plus wondering if I had suffered a previous heart attack without knowing it.
- Expensive vacation (that I wouldn't have traded!!!)
- trying to find a house plan that we could build, and afford, and be comfortable in for our retirement.
- Daughter 1 having her car crashed into (while parked)
Well, most of these things are or were out of my control. Today, one big thing was lifted from my shoulders and I can't believe what a heavy burden it was.
I am talking about building a new house. We have some property not too far from here that is idyllic, bucolic, isolated and beautiful. We have spent over 5 years in acquiring this property with the idea of building a retirement home on it. I have researched and looked at hundreds of floor plans, spent hours doodling my own, and countless hours of driving and looking to find the 'perfect' house. Today, DH and I went to visit some more. We found a bargain, a 2600 sq ft manufactured home with high end details for less than $100K. It was a home that could have suited us. But. . . . after lengthy and honest discussion we have realized that building a house on this property may not be the best choice for us. I, for one, am a person who does not do well being isolated. I have never lived alone and I'm not sure how I would cope being alone most of the time, with no social contacts close at hand. The cost of developing the property to make it ready to put a house on is over $20K. We have some local property that is literally right down the street from where we live now that is larger than where we are at and has all utilities at hand. So, for now, at least, we are putting any plans of building a new home on hold. We are just not prepared to go forward with it. And until today, I just didn't realize how stressed out this has made me. Now, I can get back to worrying about my upcoming surgery and possible surgery for DH's knee. Oh, the joys of growing old.
