Update on parts of my head

So, my teeth feel weird. The fillings are so flat, and my teeth should be jagged and sharp for tearing apart meat and stuff! I can't stop feeling them with my tongue and thinking how weird that they are smooth. Yesterday the tooth that needed the big filling felt sensitive to cold water, but today it's feeling more normal. I was hoping I would not have sensitive teeth forever, and it's looking good so far.

***An hour later: now my teeth are feeling very sensitive again. I hope it goes away! I'm just drinking tap water, with no ice, and it feels jarringly cold.***

My eyelids are feeling so much better after one and a half days of disposable lenses! By the end of the day yesterday, my eyes were getting tired of them, but I think that after my eyes and brain get used to my new prescription, it will be fine.

So, Mom does not remember having a fever while she was pregnant with me. She said she may have had a flu or something, but no big, memorable illness. Who knows if that is really the only reason I would have those cataracts? I am no eye doctor.

I'm trying to finish up the last little details of Christmas presents. Part of some presents are alive, so I'm hoping they will look the way I want by the time they are delivered! What could they be? Am I raising puppies or chicks?? I'll tell you after they've been delivered. :)

The Tooth Doctor

So, I was greeted by hygienists saying, "Your appointment is going to be so fast! Your cavities are so little! I wish my fillings were so little!" And I got 3 fillings really quickly. Then the dentist checked their work and noticed that my top back tooth was chipped, and it hadn't been when I was there two weeks ago. She triple-checked my x-rays, and is sure it wasn't chipped two weeks ago.

So, they had to fill that spot, too. That one was a bit bigger. Even though I got really tired of being there, I'm glad she caught it so I could just get it taken care of. Now I have 6 months with no weird objects in my mouth, no stinky latex gloves, no foul-tasting numbing agent (needed only for the 4th, surprise filling), and no foul-tasting bonding agent. Yay!

Also YAY is that my fillings are white (A-1 is the color). I'm so glad they do that now! Two of my new ones are on the bottom, so if I laugh, you could see them. But since they're not silver, you'll never know they're there. The joke's on you, mouth-looker!

********

The longer the day goes on, the more I feel those blisters inside my eyelids. Knowing what is wrong really makes me aware of it! My poor eyelids! I can't wait for them to heal up and feel normal again, after years of being mildly to very uncomfortable.

I'm also pretty excited about my cute new glasses. Maybe they'll be ready early and I can pick them up when I go back to follow up on the contacts I'm trying out. :)

The Eye Doctor

 
So, I went to the eye doctor today, and it was a very educational experience.

1. I have tons of tiny blisters on the insides of my eyelids. I am allergic to something in the contact lens solution that I've been using for a few years now. I have thought my eyes were so uncomfortable because of it being so dry here. Really, my eyelids have been BLISTERING (tiny blisters -- she could only see them with a machine) for maybe three to six years.

I had hated my last lenses SO MUCH because they would come loose and get up under my eyelids and become stuck to them, and I would try to massage my eyelid to get them to come down, and I would put in all kinds of drops to try to loosen them to come down, and finally I would have to turn my eyelid inside out and grab hold of the lens and PEEL it off of my eyelid. I found that very creepy.

Well, those blisters act like little suction cups, pulling the lens off my cornea and then holding on to the lens so that I have to peel it off.

Sometimes, I have felt like there was a piece of dust or something in my eye, and now I know that it was probably a blister that I could feel!

Obviously, I'm never using that brand of solution again! She said that it should get better after a few days without the solution.

Now, to be fair to my previous doctors, I have sometimes used other brands of contact solutions. So it's possible that I didn't have the blisters when I visited other doctors. Also, I had never complained about contacts getting stuck, because it had never happened before, so they never had that clue and looked at the insides of my eyelids. STILL, I wish that somehow they had noticed and told me to switch solutions years ago. Maybe I would like Colorado more if I didn't think it made my eyes so dried out all time!

I'm trying dailies this time, so there would be no need to use any solution -- you just take them out of their little packs and then throw them away at night. No cleaning, no rinsing, no storage. But, what she would have recommended was Clear Care, which uses hydrogen peroxide to clean them. You have to be really careful with that stuff, because it will burn your eyes if it's not neutralized. So, each bottle comes with a special case you use, which has a metal in it that changes peroxide into saline. There are no preservatives, which are what I am allergic to in the kind I've been using.

2. I have cataracts in the middle of my cornea that I got in utero. The doctor said they're caused when the mom gets a fever during pregnancy (I haven't confirmed this event with my mom, but if that's the case, poor Mom! Isn't it hard enough to be pregnant, without being feverish?). The doctor had a fever during one of her pregnancies, so one of her daughters has this kind of cataract. She said it looks really cool through the machine, like 5 snowflakes on each eye.

These cataracts are the reason why my eyes are so much more sensitive to glare than the average person. I have wondered about that before, because Jason will seem just fine driving at night, but the high contrast between the darkness and the bright, bright headlights of other cars will KILL my eyes.

It's better for me to be the driver at night, because somehow the lights from the dashboard make it less of a transition for me between the darkness and the headlights. Around here, they have laws about keeping streetlights dim to save energy and to not disturb people in their houses. So even in town, it is pretty dark.

Jason used to have an ipod charger or adapter or something in his truck that had a really bright light on it, and I always had to cover it up at night because it gave me terrible, long-lasting headaches. His current device doesn't have the same effect on me.

3. This VSP insurance is freaking awesome for glasses!!! I ordered a new pair, and I only had to pay $44.20. Without insurance, it would have cost $736.00. !!!!! Of course, I wouldn't have gotten all the features that I did if I had to pay out of pocket. I will take a picture with my new glasses on as soon as I get them. They are supposed to be ready in about 2 weeks.

This afternoon, I will go to the dentist to get a cleaning and 3 fillings. I am doing all my doctor stuff this month! It's nice to get it all taken care of and not worry about it for a while.

After dinner

 The sky was beautiful.
 We stopped here, either for ice cream or anniversary tans -- you decide.

9 Year Anniversary

This month, we celebrated the 9th anniversary of our first date. We ate dinner at Southern Sun, where many of the employees and patrons are covered in tattoos, dreadlocks, and political statement t-shirts.
 And they wrap up your leftover sandwich as a swan.
 

My Juicer

Here is my juicer, a Waring Juice Extractor. I got a refurbished one directly through Amazon for $29.99. Now it looks like you can get refurbished ones through "authorized dealers." I can't vouch for the authorized dealers, but I like my juicer.

It would be better for me to eat whole fruits, I know. Drinking juice, you miss out on fiber. Plus you can drink a lot of calories without feeling full. But, I simply WILL NOT eat as much whole fruit. So, I get more nutrients by drinking juice regularly and eating fruit when I will/can/desire to do it.

I got a big hunk of ginger at the store, and some more apples. So tomorrow I'm all set to make Apple + Ginger juice all day long.

Juice Recipe

As you may know, I bought a juicer a few years ago, and I love it. I mostly make apple + orange juice, since that's my favorite. Once I juiced a pineapple, and that was awesome, but kind of expensive.

I tried a new recipe today, which I was a little suspicious of, but it was Yummy Yummy Yummy!
3 apples and a 1/2 inch piece of ginger. Oh, man. It's so sweet and delicious! I'm going to have to buy more ginger. This might be my new favorite.

It might be especially good for health, too, since ginger is supposed to help fight off colds. Apples are just good for you in general. How could it be wrong?

I have sneezed about 400 times today, so maybe this drink will nip in the bud whatever bug is trying to make me sick.

Another recipe that I like is spinach + carrots. It looks horrible! It tastes really good. Somehow carrot juice is really sweet, even though I don't think of carrots as being sweet.

Jack of all trades

Guess what I did the other day! I fixed my sewing machine. All by myself, with screw drivers and sewing machine oil and blowing air into mechanisms. It seemed to be dead, and was making a very HOT smell. It would only stitch v e r y s l o w l y a n d w i t h a g r o a n i n g. And then, once I was done with my tune-up, it was zipping along like a silent race car.

Here was the tricky part: I checked the manual, and it didn't help me at all! I just kept taking parts off and cleaning them and blowing on them to get any lint off, and then I finally oiled a part that isn't even shown in the manual as being an oil-needing area, and it was like a sewing machine miracle!

If I can't be successful at work, at least I can have these other kinds of accomplishments. :)

Tall People and Stuff

I've heard and read several times that tall people are at an advantage in getting a job, and that tall people tend to make more money. Here is an abstract for an article that says that tall people tend to have higher IQs. I never heard that one before, or believe me, I would have been spreading the news long ago!

So, if I could just get an interview for a job I want, and go in there and be confident, and have good posture, my height should do the rest!

I also recently read about how tall people use up more of the world's resources, like in countries where people are tall (I believe Sweden was the example given), airplanes have to have fewer seats to leave enough leg room. So, it costs more resources per person than, say, a Chinese airplane might.

Oh, Tall People! Taking jobs and then taking up space. When will we be stopped -- or completely take over the world?

More on the pillows

 
Geez, this picture would only show up sideways two posts down, so here it is upright. The back pillow has scooters on it! I still have to do something with all the threads, but they're 90% done. So far, they're keeping Francis out of my chair.

MISSION ACCOMPLISHED.

Something made for me today

Since my laptop is quite old (over 4 years! With an average lifespan of 3 years, that's not bad.), it has been having some problems with turning on after being shut down. So Jason is building me a desktop computer for Christmas! I have to have a working computer to do my job, so it's awesome that he can get that set up before my laptop dies forever.

 
 
 

Now I just have to transfer over everything that I need from my laptop. Luckily, he has some ideas about how to make that process a little easier and less time-consuming. I have maybe 30 bookmarks that I need for work, and I want all my Word files, and all my music files for itunes, if possible. It would be a lot to transfer one by one!

Things I made today

 
I made roasted chicken and potatoes for dinner. Here's how to make chicken really tender:
1. Marinate the chicken in some form of liquid. I used water, but often we use beer. You can use fancy things, if you are fancy. If you are fancy, you should probably pronounce it Frenchily: "Mahr-ih-nodh."

2. When it's time to cook the chicken for dinner on Monday night, say, "Hey, do you feel like going to Chili's for dinner?"

3. 24 hours later, finally remove the chicken from the marinade or (water) and cook it.

I put some chopped ginger and garlic on half the potatoes. Since it was a new experiment, I didn't want to ruin all of the potatoes if it was gross. But, it wasn't! They were good, and not too strong. I think a good idea might be to puree the garlic and ginger and then brush it on. Maybe next time.


I made two pillows today.

 
Their job is to sit in my chair, not only looking cute but also keeping Francis the Cat from sitting in and shedding all over it. He loves that chair so much, and fits so well in it when he curls up to nap, but it is a magnet for his fur.

I also took a lovely walk around the lake and enjoyed the nearly-70 degree weather! I was astounded by the periodic winds that roared and stung my eyes. Tomorrow we are supposed to wake up to snow. The weather people are admonishing those who drive to work to leave 20-30 minutes early. I don't have to be anywhere until 2:00, when I will get my teeth cleaned after 4 years of not seeing a dentist. Hopefully there are no bad surprises. I have always loved that post-cleaning feeling of sharp edges between my teeth.

Peaceful scene from a walk

 

A Moment of Zen

 

Will You Look at this Sky?

 

Semi-Homemade Thanksgiving

 
 
 
This year, Jason and I were on our own for Thanksgiving, and I decided to cook. Please imagine me dictating this post in Sandra Lee's snotty, nasally, condescending voice.

The only dish I made from scratch is mashed potatoes. I add a little bit of garlic for extra flavor without too much extra salt. Jason really likes it, though I'm not sure he knows WHY he likes it.

I heated up a pre-cooked turkey breast, which had a great, peppery taste. I love peppered turkey from the deli!

I made Stove Top stuffing, cornbread variety.

Crescent rolls from a tube.

I heated up corn and beans which I did not grow myself.

I bought a pecan pie and a frozen pumpkin pie, and used Cool Whip instead of whipping my own cream.

As far as beautifying the table, we appreciated the beauty of our new table without adornment, and the cleanliness of it with no cat hair or cat footprints or cat on it.

It was a success! I only very slightly burned the crescent rolls, and everything was ready at the same time: 12:40. I had predicted that it would be ready between 12 and 1, so it was right on. I don't think I've ever coordinated so many dishes to be ready at the same time before. I really admire that my Dad is an expert at timing meals with many dishes.

After we ate, Jason loaded the dishwasher and hand washed some stuff while I cleared and cleaned the table and put away the leftovers. That was really nice! It's so nice to split up the clean-up.

Then he watched football and I watched You've Got Mail and Sleepless in Seattle while finishing making some ornaments. I love watching movies and doing a project. It was a great day, with a lot of appreciation for how much I have and how lucky I am to have time and means to do the creative things that make me so happy. I am also so lucky to know so many great people. Thanks, my friends, for adding to my life!!!

Making stuff for Christmas

 
Here are some little dolls and ornaments that I made for Jason's little nieces and nephew. I didn't make the whoopie cushion. I doubt the boy will like the crocodile/dinosaur ornament I made for him, but I worry about him feeling left out since his sisters will each get two little things.

I like that fat yellow bird a lot. I may make some more like it.

The Morning After

 

After Thanksgiving, that is. I woke up and it was really foggy outside. I love the fog, possibly because my mom used to love fog (and maybe she still does, but I haven't asked her lately). I don't see it very often right by our house.
 
Then this morning, we had a perfect blanket of snow outside. The weather people had predicted that we might get flurries, so it was quite a surprise Friday night when it was snowing big, fluffy flakes. I love the look of trees covered in snow, especially when the snow has no effect on my commute to work or other travel plans. Since I work from home, I have a feeling that I will enjoy the snow more this winter than in any year since high school.

Fall/Winter Uniform

 
This is how I'm dressing lately: boots, colored tights, skirt, and some kind of top. I love it. If I could get my skin to clear up on my chin, I would be extremely happy with my appearance right now: cute outfits, cute hair -- I've got a good look going right now!

hair update

Sparky, what do you think of my wings? Sometimes I make it smoother, but today I went for some little wings. 
 
I bet someone out there has been dying to have an update on my hair! Well, your Thanksgiving wish is coming true!

First of all, of course I couldn't resist buying my own razor comb, as suggested by Sparky, and slicing away at my own hair. So, I've been cutting it myself for a while. I am very happy with it! It was tough to figure out to do the back myself, and it takes me a long time since I have to look in a handheld mirror and the bathroom mirror, pick up the hair I want to cut, put down the hand mirror and pick up the razor comb, and finally cut.

BUT! It is finally looking how I originally wanted it to look! This is the haircut I asked for months ago, and then two more times after that, and it never came close. I don't have the back exactly how I want it, but I don't really know what's wrong with it, so I can't fix it yet. It's good enough though.

I also dyed it brown, and at first it was black around my face and I got to wear pretty heavy, dark eye makeup and lipstick and look fairly goth. I put on full coverage foundation to get my complexion as white and un-freckled looking as possible. It was fun! After a few days, it faded to this color, and it's lasted for almost a week. I think this dye is finally going to take. I've dyed it red at least a few times and had it fade back to strawberry blonde, which would be cool except that I'm tired of dealing with dark roots and light hair for now. FOR NOW, I am liking it being similar to my natural color. I reserve the right to blondify or otherwise alter it in the future.

I had a dream the night before last that I went back to Sonia and got it cut, and she cut my bangs in a heart shape. So, they came down to a point in between my eyebrows and then arched up over each brow. I actually thought it was SUPER CUTE in the dream, but I was SO PISSED because SHE KNEW that I was growing out my bangs to have a chin-length bob, and she cut them short again. I have such a vivid memory of looking at myself in the mirror and feeling both really happy at how cute I looked, but really angry that Sonia betrayed me again. It makes me giggle to think of it.
I don't know why, but my camera won't focus on my incredible artwork. It must be intimidated by my talent.

New Fish

We got three new mollies tonight, two speckled black and white, and one black one. Already, Little Blackie was picking on Skeletor, the white catfish. Skeletor is at least three times as big as Little Blackie. The two Speckles bit each other a few times, too. YES, I put food in there as soon as I let them out of the bag. They seem to have settled down now. Big Blackie, the swordtail we've had for a long time (maybe a year -- I can't remember. At least several months.) doesn't seem that interested in the new mollies. I thought she might like having company, since Skeletor and the algae eater mostly hang out on the bottom.

We also got a new Black Mystery Snail. Don't tell him, but we haven't had much luck with snails in the last year. I think we have had three pass away.
Here is the algae eater, with two empty snail shells behind it!

Skeletor is hiding and he won't come to get his picture taken! What a jerk.

Parsi Chicken Soup with Rice

This is one of my favorite cold-weather meals. Jason goes back for seconds, so you know he really likes it. I think it originally came from a San Francisco newspaper, which I used to read when I lived in Napa in 1998.

3 lbs chicken, cut into chunks
6 c. water
1 tsp. salt
3 Tblsp. oil
1 c. onion, cut into chunks
1/2 inch piece of ginger root, peeled and coarsely chopped
1 tsp. chopped garlic
1/2 tsp. red chile flakes
1/2 tsp. ground cumin
1/2 c. tomato paste
cooked basmati rice

Cook the chicken in the 6 cups of water with salt over medium heat for 20 minutes.

In a food processor, or with a hand blender**, puree the onion, ginger, and garlic.

Heat oil in a skillet and over medium heat, fry the onion paste for 3 minutes.

Add the cumin and chile flakes and stirfry the mixture for 3 minutes more.

Add the mixture to the chicken and water, along with the tomato paste and simmer over moderately low heat for 20 more minutes.

Serve over rice, or add the rice to the pot. Yum!


**Mine is this same set, but I just checked, and when I bought it in 2006, it cost me $24.99. If you can find one at a reasonable price, they are incredibly useful and convenient. But I don't think it's worth $114.99. And certainly not $199!!

Fun with hair

 
 
Jason's been having fun with his beard this week.

First Snow

 

Yay Yay Yay!

Things are looking so good for the President, Vice President, Congress, and my state government. Change really IS coming, Maverick, but you're not!

I am so giggly at CNN's holograms of people who are at other locations. There are so many Obi Wan jokes, and the guests have a glowing line outlining them. The nerds got to go SO crazy for this election!

I am also loving that CNN has two full tables of pundits analyzing everything they can think of, PLUS Anderson Cooper-Vanderbilt, PLUS Wolf Blitzer. They have those fancy touch screens full of all kinds of graphics and charts.

I'm working, too, but checking in with TV every so often to make sure I'm still happy. So far, so good.

Update on the Writing Commitment

Well, I did a great job for a few days, and wrote quite a bit. Then, on Thursday, I worked from about 10AM until 4AM, and I forgot to write. And now it's Monday, and I still haven't written since Wednesday. It's only one sentence that I'm expecting of myself, so there's really no excuse.

I am interested in becoming a more committed person, like I used to be. I used to decide to do something, and then I just did it. I didn't argue with myself and make excuses for why I didn't really have to do it, or I didn't have to do it NOW. Okay, maybe I did, but it seems like it's a lot worse now. I didn't used to be aware of it, so it couldn't have been this much of a struggle.

So, I have to realize that life is going to keep getting in the way of the things I want to do, and I have to do it anyway. I have to shut down that Monkey Mind that keeps messing around and making rationalizations, and saying, "this is stupid. I'm above this." (Whatever "this" may be, Monkey Mind will think it's dumb.) (Monkey Mind is an idea that I've read about in terms of meditation. You try to meditate, but your darn Monkey Mind keeps saying, "I should do XYZ. I don't have time for this. This is so stupid. My butt hurts from all this sitting." But my Monkey Mind messes with me about all kinds of commitments.)

I really want to prove to myself that I can disciplined and decide to do something and then just freaking DO IT! But, I will cut myself this much slack, my friends:
Since this week is the busiest week of this season for my work, and I will probably have at least two days of working 12 hours or more, I will begin again with my writing commitment on Saturday the 8th. The rest of this month, my work hours will be much more reasonable and I WILL be able to spend a few minutes working on my novel.

This month is the month when bloggers are supposed to blog every day. Just so you know, I won't be doing that. I already missed two days, so it shouldn't be a surprise to you. I may post 30 entries, but they won't be One-A-Day. Okay?

Two Weeks Ago

 
 
 
We had a party, with dinner. I made a flourless chocolate cake, which you can see on the counter. It looked awful! But it tasted great, especially with vanilla ice cream to cut the rich, rich chocolate flavor.

Our kitchen was a mess while I was cooking enchiladas and making guacamole. It was a lot of fun. Maybe in a few months, we'll do it again. By then, we will forget how much work it was.