Life Limited to 280 Characters

I’ve gotten away from blogging due to the tweet machine and faceyspace. I’m tired of them. I’m not going to delete them or anything radical, just stepping back a little. I want to spend time crafting posts, sharing my life, and getting back to having more meaningful interactions.

While I was closing down my website, I realized that I have been blogging for 14 years. (WHAT!?!) Albeit not so much the past couple of years. I got a little nostalgic and I don’t want to just throw away those 14 years. I’ve made a few close friends, I’ve lost touch with more than I can remember, and I’d love to get to know a few new ones.

That being said, if you’ve been with me a while, welcome back. If you’re new here, hi! Grab a cup of coffee (or tea) and let’s get to know one another.

WIP Wednesday (a day late, but not a dollar short)

I started this post on the right day, but life, it happens. Physical therapy kicked my arse yesterday. Here are my three active WIPs. Please tell me I am not the only one with active and inactive WIPs.

Because of the elbow, I often have to switch between different size yarn or needles. Some days I switch to weaving or spinning. ( 12 years living with the floppy paw – and still no elbow replacement. So take that, doctor know it all! ) Of course there is always cross stitch or embroidery. For those of you who don’t remember or are new, I started this blog as a cross stitching blog called Stacey’s Corner Cafe.

And there you go, I brought it back around to 14 years of blogging.

What are you working on today?

Cool & Breezy on a Sunday

And a Monday. Because I can start all the blog posts I want, I just don’t always finish them.

The weather is cold! (at least for Texas) We went right from Summer to Winter temps. 48 F this morning. I had to put on a pair of hand knit socks for the first time Saturday.  I don’t know how long this is going to last, they’re saying we’ll be back into fall weather (high 80’s during the day and high 60’s at night) by the end of the week. I’ve had all of the windows open and am taking full advantage of it.

Texas and I did an American Horror Story marathon and are ready for the new season. It took a while to get into season one. Season two was better and I’m excited for three to start this week.

Sadly, I’m not doing much of anything else. I broke 3 embroidery hoop things this week and the cold is not playing well with the floppy paw. I’m trying to finish off the two or three socks that I have on the needles, but it is slow going, only being able to do a few rows at a time.

Cookie says I need a sock machine, but being able to find one is not so easy. I’m guessing wool socks weren’t that popular in Texas.

BTW, tomorrow I’ll have been blogging for 9 years. Nine years. Where did the time go?

Happy Monday y’all!

I think I was hit by a bus*

SoS ’13 is winding down. YEAH!!! I am one repeat and some ribbing from finishing one pair, have one footie completed and I finished the pair I started during SoS ’12.  Not bad for the arm. (Which I am going to address with a doctor, after much gnashing, wailing and denial)

With that done, (and eating up 3 months of the year) we needed a plan. So for the September portion of Cookie Made Me Do It, after much** discussion, we’re veering down a different kind of fiber path. Needlework.

Needlework is a broad term for the handicrafts of decorative sewing and textile arts. Anything that uses a needle for construction can be called needlework. The definition may expand to include related textile crafts such as a crochet hook, or tatting shuttles.

Since the definition of it is pretty broad, all y’all can play along. You! Yes! I am talking to you.

Embroidery, cross stitch, knitting, crocheting, and I think even weavettes should count since you use a needle to weave. Right?!?  And if we’re going down that road, since a crochet hook counts, couldn’t we technically say an orifice hook and some wool counts too?

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In other news, I really need to stop watching Monsters Inside Me. Or I need to make other people watch it with me. (They’re showing 5 or 6 in a row today) It’s interesting and informative, but DUDE!  People who may have certain tendencies for cleanliness probably shouldn’t watch it.

* It’s either the infusion, or someone actually did throw me under the bus somewhere. Just sayin’

**If by much, I mean one blog comment and an e-mail or two. Oh, and not actually asking Cookie this time since she’s busy and tired over there.

Because e-mail is annoying me

Hi!  Thanks for all of the comments!  Sorry, I can’t email right now.  Ok, fine, I don’t want to email right now.  It’s not you.  It’s me.  Really.

Anywho, on to Love Thursday:

01. Phenergan.  I may be asleep for the rest of the day, but I won’t be nauseous.  Sounds like a win-win to me.  😀

02. Stranded whatever knitting.  Please ignore that I took a shot of the jog.

03. Heat, electricity and a fireplace.  Yeah, we’re breaking a 22 year old record of longest amount of time below freezing.  Plus, my electric company isn’t part of the co-op that has to do the rolling blackouts.

04. Braised short ribs.  Yum!  Oh, and making enough so I can have more for lunch today.

05. A new floppy cozy. Almost completed sans the embroidery.  It’s made from the yak yarn Texas bought at Cookie’s yarn shop.  I love it so much I may make one for the other arm, so no details on it yet. But!  It matches my Harbor Housewives Cowl.

06. A good and decent and honest man.

Happy Thursday y’all!

Sat Sky – Floppy Edition

Today starrted foggy – both the sky and my brain.  😀  But, it’s going to be 80 today and Texas set up my area on the deck this morning so i can sit in the shade and watch him clean up the mess from the fire.

Sorry for the one handed and drugged typing

I’m following the advice of people WAY smarter then myself and the arm is not so owie today.

Happy Sat y’all

Be afraid

For many reasons:

01.  heading to Arkansas by way of back woods, middle of nowhere TX.  If I start hearing dueling banjos?  I’m so outta there.

02. An FO!

Details here, since I’m getting ready to bug outta the Harbor.

03.  Upcoming arm surgery on the 1st.  Yes, the floppy again.  There are things going on in the elbow that should not be going on. Yes, 3 surgeries all rolled into one day.  You remember my wonderful attitudes from the last two right?  (at least Texas will be there and home for at least one week of recovery)

04.  Texas and me together for the weekend in a hotel in AR.  muwahahahahahahahahahahahah

05.  Skinny Porkchop left unsupervised in the Harbor for the weekend.  O.o

So, be afraid my little darlings, be very afraid.

Catch ya on the flip side!

Eye Candy! I haz it

Clean hand knit socks waiting to dry.  Now that’s what I’m talking about.  I used the last of the hand knits while I was in the hospital, so it was a long time coming.  I seriously need to make more socks.

No, they’re not being tossed in the dryer.  I use the rack for the special ones and hang the rest or steal the heating vents from the dog and cat.

Speaking of socks… I finished a pair.  It was so cold and my arm was hurting so much that I dug out the IF machine and slapped it on yesterday.  I could knit!  I need to remember that.  Now if I could use it while using a computer.

And speaking of cold… can y’all take it back?  Please?

Besides the weird OCD cleaning thing I’ve developed in my old age, that right there is why I have to clean so often.  Katie swiped a bag from the trash and Daisy has decided that it is her mission in this world to destroy any toy that looks like a squirrel.  O.o

The froggy?  She loves the froggy.

I’ve been considering finding her a home since she is still young and some days I just don’t have the energy to give her what she really needs.  But then she pulls out these wonderful, well behaved days.  There is a kid in the neighborhood that is always looking for odd jobs.  He’s a good kid and two neighbors have vouched for him and I’m thinking of hiring him to walk her on days I can’t or it’s just too effin’ cold.  She does love her walks and I enjoy doing them with her and it burns off all of that puppy energy.

On the other hand, there’s a rescue group that takes dogs just like her and train them to be explosive and search and rescue dogs.  I’m still contemplating having them come over to evaluate her because she’s a smart dog and I know she’d have a ball with the training.

Anyway… enough rambling.

Happy Friday y’all!

I’m bringing cranky back…

them *bleepbleepers* don’t know how to act.

Yes, I have that song stuck in my head now.  I’ll start with the nice stuff so you can just jump over the cranky shit that’s coming up.

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Saturday sky from the day I spent on the lake.  Yes Carrie… that island looking thing is where Fat Dog’s is.

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Despite Nora’s attempts to entice me with this cake recipe or the decadent chocolate cake she sent, I need a different recipe.  I recently came into possession of an angel food cake pan.  I’ve never made one before and I’m looking fro a tried and tested recipe from one of y’all.

Yes, I know there’s a big internet out there, but I’d like something you enjoyed.

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Love is… a new .380.  SWEET!

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Now onto the things that are irritating me today.  I was aiming for 10, but ended up with almost 30.

*ahem*

I’ll condense.

*   *   *   *   *

01.  The fridge. Anything put anywhere near the freezer side of it freezes. Great for booze storage, not so much for food.  I just lost some fresh green leaf lettuce to it.  Plus, the ice maker doesn’t work so it’s just wasting space.

02.  Mosquitoes, black carpenter ants and wasps

03.  I want a washer and dryer. I’m tired of lugging everything to the freakin’ laundromat.

04.  The DVD player that started eating discs.  You have to unplug it and plug it back in for it to spit the disc out.  No easy task because of where the plug is.  I’d get a new one, but Texas has so many wires going everywhere for all of his electronic stuff, I wouldn’t know where to begin hooking it up.

05.  The fact that I didn’t buy a bigger french press and that I probably should knit a cozy for the one I have.  The hot pads and towels wrapped around it kind of suck.

06.  That I let someone bring out the pettiness and anger in me.  But I can’t tell them to piss off.  And that I can’t just be me because I feel like I’m walking in a minefield blindfolded with them.

07.  I want to take some trees down today – because destruction makes it all better – and I can’t because Texas doesn’t want me doing it alone.

Yeah, part of me feels like doing it anyway.  I mean really. What’s he going to do about it?  Spank me?

08.  I want a cigarette so bad that I could kill someone.

09.  We don’t have a grill.  I want to grill.  I want to taste meat that has been kissed by fire.  And it’s frustrating because we can’t agree on one.  What he can afford and what I can afford are two vastly different things.    And I’m fiercely independent and I don’t want him just paying for it all.

10.  The floppy… I can seriously condense this one. I can’t open the heavy sliding door with it, I can’t take the boat out today, I can’t mow, I can’t knit for long, I can’t dig a garden. I can’t … I can’t … I can’t.  I’m so freakin’ tired of can’t.  ARGH!

11.  That there is no working light at the dock.  I’d love to go down and fish when I can’t sleep, but a.) it’s a little bit of a rough terrain and b.) one word: snakes.

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See… I did it!

I’ll try for some love tomorrow.

Maybe.

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Happy Saturday, bitches?

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ETA: Go see Joan by 3 p.m. today (Saturday), leave a comment and she’ll donate $3 to help support relief organizations in Africa.  GO!  NOW!

Haz you seen my brain?

Holy shit!  I was only gone about 48 hours and y’all blew up my e-mail and google reader.

Slow down, stop living life when I can’t keep up!

§

I prepared for a 5 hour, overnight layover … I brought knitting, reading, my gameboy, cross stitch and my drop spindle.

My bag overfloweth.

And TSA let me through.  I think they saw a woman on the edge.

Of course I made it back to LAX  in enough time to catch an earlier flight that got me back to Dallas last night.

If I would have physically done the happy dance I was doing in my brain, they would have called the little men in white coats.

§  §

I think I haz finally found my brain.

Or it could be the really strong french press coffee I’m drinking.

O.o

§  §  §

So is everyone waiting on the edge of their seats for the floppy paw update?  Didn’t think so.

01. As far as work:

• no repetitive motions
• no typing
• no mousing
• no scanning
• no lifting over 10 lbs

02. Future medical coverage for:

• regular doctor’s visits to keep an eye on it
• surgeries (yes, multiple)
• physical therapy (6 a year for maintenance)
• drugs
• alternative modalities  including acupuncture

03. Retraining in a job that doesn’t have repetitive motions.

§  §  §  §

Angie’s first question was “How about knitting?” and then “TYPING!!”

Like there’s been much knitting going on since I met Texas anyway.  Pffft.

I’ll be able to keep on track with my one FO every year.

Honestly, everything has been harder since the last surgery, so I’ll do what I can, when I can.

AND YOU’LL LIKE IT!

*ahem* Sorry.

§  §  §  §  §

The other stuff? It all comes down to the situation.  If I’m doing typing or mousing at home, I can stop and walk away.  I know my limits.  I know how much I can do before it will start to hurt or swell up.  You can’t exactly say “hey boss, I can’t get that report done because I can’t type anymore today.”  He did recommend voice recognition software, but where I was working, that’s not possible.

We had a good talk about the lifting thing too.  I push limits a little.  (stop laughing back there) Ok, fine, I push them hard.  I don’t want to have these issues with my arm.  He said with repetitive lifting of low weights, I could cause fractures because of where the original break and hardware had to be placed.  He also said that could happen with trying to lift something really heavy.

The nerve hypersensitivity.  After this long?  He was sorry to say that it wasn’t likely to get better. Eh. Well.  Suck it up buttercup… right?

§  §  §  §  §  §

Anyone know a job I can train for that doesn’t involve repetitive motion?

Besides a W*lm*rt greeter that is?

Nooooo…. no snarkiness here. That wasn’t snarky and cranky.  Really.

§  §  §  §  §  §  §

FYI, I wrote this to keep friends updated and so I have a place I can go back to remember what exactly the doctor said.  I don’t want a pity party… I throw enough of my own.

Now it’s for the attornies and insurance companies and doctors to hash out.

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Happy Thursday y’all!

Leaving, on a jet plane…

Yeah.

It’s one of those days.

I’m getting ready to fly to L.A. again.

Too much to do, and not enough time.

And a sucky flight combo.

I’ll catch y’all when I get back.

xoxo