|| THOU HAST WOUNDED THE SPIRIT THAT LOVED THEE ||
Yeah, yeah, I'm still here. :D
The title of my post totally belies its content, which is hopeful and positive. The title is just something I had to say. That's cryptic and I apologize. Everything else is on the up and up!
The reason I haven't been blogging is I managed to break Semagic -- upon which I am hopelessly dependent for making LJ posts -- and I didn't know how to fix it. The problem was that the whole bottom half of Semagic disappeared -- the post button, the preview button, icon selection, mood, location, the clock ... all that. I tried all kinds of things to try and restore this part of Semagic and was completely unsuccessful. Even my husband threw up his hands, and he's an IT manager. But tonight I sat down, determined to fix this thing. I went through every link and drop down menu I could find, and finally I found the right selections to restore the sections of Semagic that had disappeared. Thank. GOD. Now I can continue to bring you the wacky hijinks that is my so-called life!
When we last left off my son had had his first kiss. Onward ho.
NOTE: IMAGE HEAVY
So, my husband and I are still celebrating Christmas, even though it's January and the tree's already gone to the compost barrel for Denver Recycles, because we were both so exhausted in December that we (meaning I) only managed to get the kids' gifts, get them wrapped and under the tree in time, and give them a nice Christmas. So we're having to celebrate late. I'm still wrapping presents -- we've got a nice pile going:
HAVE A HOLLY JOLLY CHRISTMAS ... IN JANUARY.
Those are for DH and me. When I wrapped for the kids, I, of course, managed to completely destroy my clean and well-organized living room:
BOXES FROM AMAZON, THE GAP, HOT TOPIC, AND OLD NAVY
ONE LIVING ROOM -- DESTROYED. MAY THE CHRISTMAS SPIRIT NEVER BE FAR FROM OUR HEARTS. AT THE RATE WE'RE GOING, IT WILL BE HERE 'TIL MARCH!
I'm not sure when we'll open them, but I'm hoping by the end of January at the latest. I know -- it's ridiculous. Ah well, I think we all do the best that we can with the circumstances we are given, silly or not :P Right? (Please don't tell me I'm floating alone in the chaos that is chronic disorganization!) Since this is, I guess, my official Christmas post, I should mention the tree ... we decided to get an elf tree this year. It came all ready to decorate, with a stand and water dish built in. It was about three feet tall -- a total Charlie Brown tree. Check out our holiday fug:
It was a long, hard fall from this:
Fa la la la la la la la la la la I wish you a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! :D
----
Well, I'm now totally imperfect and, no, I'm not being emo. It's my own fault really. See, I had never had a cavity. Ever. So I got lazy and ... well, I don't remember the last time I went to the dentist prior to the past two months. I went in December and had four cavities. FOUR. Holy crap. Not only did I have four cavities, but one of them was going to require a root canal. OMG, I go from never having to have any kind of dental work in my life to three fillings and a root canal in ... well, like I said, I don't remember exactly how long ago my prior visit was ... in a bunch of years.
I was actually pleasantly surprised (as far as that goes when it comes to dentistry). My dentist did a fine job on the three fillings -- I had no pain afterward or any problems. I had to see a specialized dentist for the root canal (I had it done Thursday; the cavity was between two of my back molars) and while I'm still a bit sore today, I didn't feel a thing while she was doing the procedure. I know a lot of people fear dentists and getting dental work done and that's understandable. My only complaint would be that the office itself was freezing cold and I had to ask for a blanket. Next up is getting the permanent crown put on. I've also decided to get my teeth whitened. After that, that'll be it. So the moral of my story is don't be complacent if you've had no cavities -- see your dentist every six months for x-rays and a cleaning. Okay, I'll stop nagging you guys now -- I'm sure you all get my point. No need to beat the dead horse.
----
Here's a nice pic of my douchebag neighbor blowing HIS snow into our yard. He's such a rude ass. When we first met him we were like, "Hi, nice to meet you." and he responded with, "Make sure your friends don't use my driveway to turn around." 0_o Uh, it's your fucking driveway. Monitor it yourself. Jeez.
----
You guys, I got a new office! Why, you may ask, is this such a big deal? Let me show you:
THIS WAS MY "OFFICE" BEFORE. GREAT FOR NECK AND BACK POSTURE, EH?
Look at where I'm surfin' now:
NEW CORNER DESK
Here's what it looks like in real life:
MY DESK!
AND A NEW CHAIR TOO (LOVE!)
EVEN A NEW KEYBOARD -- AZIO COLOR KEYBOARD
I love my rainbow keyboard! I needed to raise my monitor significantly, and with a laptop the only way to do that was to get a laptop riser and connect a keyboard to the laptop. Ergonomics and all that. My neck feels so much better now, as does my back -- I'm not all hunched over anymore. (If you like the keyboard and want one for your own, as noted it is Azio brand, and runs about $40 at Amazon. You can select the rainbow effect or set it to just one color, and I think there are seven colors to choose from. I like the way the keys feel when I'm typing, too.)
MOST IMPORTANTLY, A PLACE FOR HARRY POTTER
And that, folks, is my new desk!
----
I treated myself to something I thought I would never invest in:
KINDLE VOYAGE
I've resisted electronic readers for years, mainly because I like the way a book feels in my hands -- I like holding a book and turning its pages, etc. I guess I just got a wild hair. I budget a certain amount of spending money per month, but I don't really use it very often (I'm talking mad money, not money for necessities). I realized I had $200+ dollars that was just sitting in my wallet collecting proverbial dust. I was at Amazon, getting my husband's Christmas gifts, and a Kindle ad flashed, and I dunno! I said to DH, "I'm getting a Kindle!" I opted for the $9.99 per month unlimited book option, although not all books are free. I think I could put fan fiction on it, too ... Yes? Maybe some long-time Kindle (or any e-reader for that matter) users can give me some tips? Any tips are welcome. The Kindle Voyage is pretty cool and sleek looking, plus it works off of wi-fi.
This reminds me -- I've read more in the past 18 months than in the past four years previous. A few of the books I've read:
♥ Bad Feminist by Roxanne Gay
· Feeling Good: the New Mood Therapy by David D. Burns M.D.
· Night Falls Fast: Understanding Suicide by Kay Redfield Jamison (Note: I am not, nor have I ever been, suicidal. I read on topics in mental health to keep abreast of new information and general clinical work in the mental health field. Just wanted to make sure that's clear!)
♥ The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls
· Fight Like a Girl ... and Win: Defense Decisions For Women by Lori Hartman Gervasi
· "Why Are All the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria?" And Other Conversations About Race by Beverly Daniel Tatum, Ph.D.
· Say Good Night to Insomnia by Gregg D. Jacobs, Ph.D.
· The Righteous Mind: Why Good People Are Divided By Politics and Religion by Jonathan Haidt
♥The Fry Chronicles: an Autobiography by Stephen Fry
And many more. It's good to be able to focus on reading again, after so many years of being unable to focus well enough to read. My life right now is completely solitary, but one thing has always been true for me: books are forever my friends.
----
I have a "failed knee replacement". I'm pretty much in constant pain, it's hard for me to walk sometimes, I have to execute a crazy maneuver just to get into my car, driving hurts, stairs kill, and I've become far more sedentary than is healthy. So on January 27th, I'll be getting what's called a genicular nerve ablasion. My doctor will go into my knee and cut the genicular nerves, which are the nerves that transmit pain from the knee to the brain. Pro: I won't (or shouldn't) feel pain in my knee anymore, which will allow me to really recover. Con: I'll have a numb knee for the rest of my life. I can handle that. They don't know why the knee replacement hurts me so badly -- it's just a fluke. I remember, when I signed off on the consent for treatment forms, that I was told getting a knee replacement was not a guarantee of pain relief, so it's not like I can go back and blame the orthopedist. I'm just trying to move forward, take care of the problem, and get on with my life. Oh, and if I have to have anesthesia, I want this guy to do it:
Heh, gotta love a tatted up, gothic-looking doc!
----
A few things that don't fit anywhere else:
· Did you listen to Serial? Yes, I did. Anything law enforcement related is going to catch my fancy. I enjoyed it. What do you think -- is Adnad guilty or innocent?
· Can anyone give me the down low on Penny Dreadful? I've heard it described as "psychosexual horror", which seems a bit hardcore.
· Late to the party, but I'm loving The Newsroom.
· I have thoughts on the new information JKR released on Pottermore about Draco, but that's a separate post.
· I stopped drinking Diet Mtn Dew. So far, so good, but I'm still in the relapse danger zone. I hope to quit jonesing within the next three weeks. In the meantime, I'm having water, Vitamin Water (Zero, with Stevia), and organic, fresh-pressed apple juice. Oh, and almond milk.
· So, who's going to try Soylent? I totally want to, but found out the main source of protein is oat flour, and I'm really allergic to oats. Plus, some of the other ingredients concerned me just a bit. No Soylent for me, woe. I love the concept. But, still, no.
----
I leave you with a cartoon that I think speaks for itself. Trigger warning: an anthropomorphized banana.
I've missed you guys ♥
The title of my post totally belies its content, which is hopeful and positive. The title is just something I had to say. That's cryptic and I apologize. Everything else is on the up and up!
The reason I haven't been blogging is I managed to break Semagic -- upon which I am hopelessly dependent for making LJ posts -- and I didn't know how to fix it. The problem was that the whole bottom half of Semagic disappeared -- the post button, the preview button, icon selection, mood, location, the clock ... all that. I tried all kinds of things to try and restore this part of Semagic and was completely unsuccessful. Even my husband threw up his hands, and he's an IT manager. But tonight I sat down, determined to fix this thing. I went through every link and drop down menu I could find, and finally I found the right selections to restore the sections of Semagic that had disappeared. Thank. GOD. Now I can continue to bring you the wacky hijinks that is my so-called life!
When we last left off my son had had his first kiss. Onward ho.
NOTE: IMAGE HEAVY
So, my husband and I are still celebrating Christmas, even though it's January and the tree's already gone to the compost barrel for Denver Recycles, because we were both so exhausted in December that we (meaning I) only managed to get the kids' gifts, get them wrapped and under the tree in time, and give them a nice Christmas. So we're having to celebrate late. I'm still wrapping presents -- we've got a nice pile going:
HAVE A HOLLY JOLLY CHRISTMAS ... IN JANUARY.
Those are for DH and me. When I wrapped for the kids, I, of course, managed to completely destroy my clean and well-organized living room:
BOXES FROM AMAZON, THE GAP, HOT TOPIC, AND OLD NAVY
ONE LIVING ROOM -- DESTROYED. MAY THE CHRISTMAS SPIRIT NEVER BE FAR FROM OUR HEARTS. AT THE RATE WE'RE GOING, IT WILL BE HERE 'TIL MARCH!
I'm not sure when we'll open them, but I'm hoping by the end of January at the latest. I know -- it's ridiculous. Ah well, I think we all do the best that we can with the circumstances we are given, silly or not :P Right? (Please don't tell me I'm floating alone in the chaos that is chronic disorganization!) Since this is, I guess, my official Christmas post, I should mention the tree ... we decided to get an elf tree this year. It came all ready to decorate, with a stand and water dish built in. It was about three feet tall -- a total Charlie Brown tree. Check out our holiday fug:
It was a long, hard fall from this:
Fa la la la la la la la la la la I wish you a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! :D
----
Well, I'm now totally imperfect and, no, I'm not being emo. It's my own fault really. See, I had never had a cavity. Ever. So I got lazy and ... well, I don't remember the last time I went to the dentist prior to the past two months. I went in December and had four cavities. FOUR. Holy crap. Not only did I have four cavities, but one of them was going to require a root canal. OMG, I go from never having to have any kind of dental work in my life to three fillings and a root canal in ... well, like I said, I don't remember exactly how long ago my prior visit was ... in a bunch of years.
I was actually pleasantly surprised (as far as that goes when it comes to dentistry). My dentist did a fine job on the three fillings -- I had no pain afterward or any problems. I had to see a specialized dentist for the root canal (I had it done Thursday; the cavity was between two of my back molars) and while I'm still a bit sore today, I didn't feel a thing while she was doing the procedure. I know a lot of people fear dentists and getting dental work done and that's understandable. My only complaint would be that the office itself was freezing cold and I had to ask for a blanket. Next up is getting the permanent crown put on. I've also decided to get my teeth whitened. After that, that'll be it. So the moral of my story is don't be complacent if you've had no cavities -- see your dentist every six months for x-rays and a cleaning. Okay, I'll stop nagging you guys now -- I'm sure you all get my point. No need to beat the dead horse.
----
Here's a nice pic of my douchebag neighbor blowing HIS snow into our yard. He's such a rude ass. When we first met him we were like, "Hi, nice to meet you." and he responded with, "Make sure your friends don't use my driveway to turn around." 0_o Uh, it's your fucking driveway. Monitor it yourself. Jeez.
----
You guys, I got a new office! Why, you may ask, is this such a big deal? Let me show you:
THIS WAS MY "OFFICE" BEFORE. GREAT FOR NECK AND BACK POSTURE, EH?
Look at where I'm surfin' now:
NEW CORNER DESK
Here's what it looks like in real life:
MY DESK!
AND A NEW CHAIR TOO (LOVE!)
EVEN A NEW KEYBOARD -- AZIO COLOR KEYBOARD
I love my rainbow keyboard! I needed to raise my monitor significantly, and with a laptop the only way to do that was to get a laptop riser and connect a keyboard to the laptop. Ergonomics and all that. My neck feels so much better now, as does my back -- I'm not all hunched over anymore. (If you like the keyboard and want one for your own, as noted it is Azio brand, and runs about $40 at Amazon. You can select the rainbow effect or set it to just one color, and I think there are seven colors to choose from. I like the way the keys feel when I'm typing, too.)
MOST IMPORTANTLY, A PLACE FOR HARRY POTTER
And that, folks, is my new desk!
----
I treated myself to something I thought I would never invest in:
KINDLE VOYAGE
I've resisted electronic readers for years, mainly because I like the way a book feels in my hands -- I like holding a book and turning its pages, etc. I guess I just got a wild hair. I budget a certain amount of spending money per month, but I don't really use it very often (I'm talking mad money, not money for necessities). I realized I had $200+ dollars that was just sitting in my wallet collecting proverbial dust. I was at Amazon, getting my husband's Christmas gifts, and a Kindle ad flashed, and I dunno! I said to DH, "I'm getting a Kindle!" I opted for the $9.99 per month unlimited book option, although not all books are free. I think I could put fan fiction on it, too ... Yes? Maybe some long-time Kindle (or any e-reader for that matter) users can give me some tips? Any tips are welcome. The Kindle Voyage is pretty cool and sleek looking, plus it works off of wi-fi.
This reminds me -- I've read more in the past 18 months than in the past four years previous. A few of the books I've read:
♥ Bad Feminist by Roxanne Gay
· Feeling Good: the New Mood Therapy by David D. Burns M.D.
· Night Falls Fast: Understanding Suicide by Kay Redfield Jamison (Note: I am not, nor have I ever been, suicidal. I read on topics in mental health to keep abreast of new information and general clinical work in the mental health field. Just wanted to make sure that's clear!)
♥ The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls
· Fight Like a Girl ... and Win: Defense Decisions For Women by Lori Hartman Gervasi
· "Why Are All the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria?" And Other Conversations About Race by Beverly Daniel Tatum, Ph.D.
· Say Good Night to Insomnia by Gregg D. Jacobs, Ph.D.
· The Righteous Mind: Why Good People Are Divided By Politics and Religion by Jonathan Haidt
♥The Fry Chronicles: an Autobiography by Stephen Fry
And many more. It's good to be able to focus on reading again, after so many years of being unable to focus well enough to read. My life right now is completely solitary, but one thing has always been true for me: books are forever my friends.
----
I have a "failed knee replacement". I'm pretty much in constant pain, it's hard for me to walk sometimes, I have to execute a crazy maneuver just to get into my car, driving hurts, stairs kill, and I've become far more sedentary than is healthy. So on January 27th, I'll be getting what's called a genicular nerve ablasion. My doctor will go into my knee and cut the genicular nerves, which are the nerves that transmit pain from the knee to the brain. Pro: I won't (or shouldn't) feel pain in my knee anymore, which will allow me to really recover. Con: I'll have a numb knee for the rest of my life. I can handle that. They don't know why the knee replacement hurts me so badly -- it's just a fluke. I remember, when I signed off on the consent for treatment forms, that I was told getting a knee replacement was not a guarantee of pain relief, so it's not like I can go back and blame the orthopedist. I'm just trying to move forward, take care of the problem, and get on with my life. Oh, and if I have to have anesthesia, I want this guy to do it:
Heh, gotta love a tatted up, gothic-looking doc!
----
A few things that don't fit anywhere else:
· Did you listen to Serial? Yes, I did. Anything law enforcement related is going to catch my fancy. I enjoyed it. What do you think -- is Adnad guilty or innocent?
· Can anyone give me the down low on Penny Dreadful? I've heard it described as "psychosexual horror", which seems a bit hardcore.
· Late to the party, but I'm loving The Newsroom.
· I have thoughts on the new information JKR released on Pottermore about Draco, but that's a separate post.
· I stopped drinking Diet Mtn Dew. So far, so good, but I'm still in the relapse danger zone. I hope to quit jonesing within the next three weeks. In the meantime, I'm having water, Vitamin Water (Zero, with Stevia), and organic, fresh-pressed apple juice. Oh, and almond milk.
· So, who's going to try Soylent? I totally want to, but found out the main source of protein is oat flour, and I'm really allergic to oats. Plus, some of the other ingredients concerned me just a bit. No Soylent for me, woe. I love the concept. But, still, no.
----
I leave you with a cartoon that I think speaks for itself. Trigger warning: an anthropomorphized banana.
I've missed you guys ♥