No longer on the patch, no longer pissy. Not only did the patch make me pissed off all the time, it made me unable to sleep. After nearly three weeks of not sleeping more than a couple of hours a night, I took the last patch off two days early. I was determined to use it for a full cycle which is 21 days, but I only made it 19 days. Close enough for me. By the last week, I was so sleep deprived that I was pulling old random medications out of my medicine cabinet in an effort to find something that would put me to sleep, but nothing worked. I even took double and triple doses of medications that normally knock me out, but to no effect. Screw the patch.

This leaves me with the problem of what to do about birth control and my reproductive system issues. I've also got a prescription for a pill, but I think I'm going to give myself a month's break after the patch fiasco before I try anything else.

Unrelated to that, I found a NIH study that's investigating IV-administered ketamine as an antidepressant. I'm going to call on Monday and see if I can get in, but I have my doubts about whether they'll accept me.

Still on the patch and still pissy. Additionally, I've had two days worth of headaches. Neither Ibuprofen nor caffeine has helped with the headache. The weather has been crappy, so it's possible that they're sinus headaches and not related to the patch at all. It's also possible that me being pissed off is causing me to clench my jaw while I'm sleeping, which in turn is causing headaches.

Whenever we want to see a movie, Ed makes me check Rotten Tomatoes to see what the consensus is there. If the rating is low, he generally won't see it. Just now I discovered that The Goonies has a 63% rating on Rotten Tomatoes.
http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/goonies/

I will never trust Rotten Tomatoes again.

I've always hated grits, but back in October, I was served "Shrimp and Grits," which was surprisingly delicious. I was determined to make it for myself, and I attempted it tonight, following a recipe from Paula Deen. I don't usually watch her show, but I figured she's southern, so she probably had a good recipe.

It wasn't really anything like what I had earlier this year. Her recipe was creamy and cheese-laden. The one I had before was hot and spicy. In short, screw you Paula Deen.

Christmas comes early at the Piper household. My Roomba 560 arrived in the mail today. I've been wanting one of these little dudes for years, and now I finally have one.

It needs a name. Any suggestions?

NOooooo, not Lafayette!

I learned how to knit in the past few weeks, and it's surprisingly easy. I've spent years putting it off because I thought it was hard, but I was (happily) completely wrong. After learning all my basic stitches and techniques from www.knittinghelp.com, I was antsy to start a real project using those skills. I went to the library and got a knitting book geared towards kids because I thought that would be a good way to find some easy projects. I found a hat in there that was, well....not stylish, but better than the other options I guess? It's ridiculous looking, with earflaps and tassels and whatnot, so I went with that.

And now I have finished my ridiculous looking hat!


It's way too big for my head, but oh well, it's the first thing I've ever knit. I don't plan on stopping here though. More to come.

I keep forgetting to update lately. I've been very busy, so it's not entirely due to laziness, but I won't try to claim that I'm not lazy.

I bought "the dogmobile" about two weeks ago. I finally settled on a used Honda Element. It's a 2006 and only has 23,000 miles on it, so it's practically new as far as I'm concerned. I would have bought the Honda Fit, but the models prior to the 2009s were not quite big enough, so I would have had to buy new. The new ones were going to cost me around $18,000, and I didn't feel comfortable spending that much money. I found my Element for just under $15,000, and while that's still a lot of money, saving 3k is good. And it's pretty much the ultimate dogmobile. Overall, I'm quite happy with it. Kina has ridden in it many times already, and she's pretty pleased with her new ride too.

It keeps raining, or at least drizzling almost every day around here, which is driving me crazy. The damp weather is making mushrooms sprout up all over my backyard, which wouldn't be a problem if I didn't own a dog. Mushrooms are very cute, but Kina keeps eating them and subsequently throwing them up (they must not be the kind that are safe for dogs to eat). This means that every couple of days, I have to walk around the backyard picking all the mushrooms so my dog stops poisoning herself.

Ed is master of breaking things lately. Following closely on the heels of the wedding ring incident, he has now also managed to break his car, and our friend's dining room chair.

His car was a 1998 Saturn, so I knew it wasn't long for this world anyway. Friday night he ran out to grab something to eat, and his transmission exploded. Exploded being a fairly literal descriptor. It's in little pieces all over the road and the parking lot. The car is worth less than the repairs would cost, so we've pretty much got to buy a new car ASAP. Unfortunately we weren't exactly expecting this, because I took the extra 1k that I had and paid off our car insurance for the next 6 months the day before this happened, so we've got no money for a down payment.

I did a bunch of car shopping yesterday (in the pouring rain, no less), but I've still got a bunch to do. What's going to happen is that he's going to take my car (a sedan which was bought new 2 years ago), and I'm going to get the new car. I bought my car before we had the dog, and I really need a vehicle more suitable for hauling dogs. We've been wanting to get a second dog, but we haven't been able to because 2 dogs would not have fit in my car, so trips to the vet or the dog park would be a two-car operation, which is pretty stupid.

So now I am tasked with finding what we refer to as "the dogmobile." It needs to be something that two large dogs can fit in, and preferably something that two dog crates could fit into, though that's not completely necessary. I don't like large vehicles, so trucks, minivans and big SUVs are out. I don't like SUVs overall, but I'm not entirely ruling out very small ones. Something like a very large hatchback would be perfect if it has enough room. Even a station wagon is fine, as uncool as that is.

Yesterday I looked at the Toyota Matrix, Toyota RAV4, Scion XD, Scion XB, Nissan Versa, Nissan Rogue, Honda Fit and Honda Element. I am well aware that the Honda Element and the Scion XB are the two ugliest cars on the road, and are probably the ugliest cars in the history of car-dom. Regardless, they meed my requirements. Both of the Nissans were pretty poorly suited to my needs, so they're basically out. I've got a couple more cars that I'd like to check out still. I hate having to make decisions involving tons of money under pressure.

I've been wanting a lightbox for years and years now. Various doctors have supported my using one, but unfortunately, I haven't been able to afford it, and most insurance doesn't cover it. My current doctor has kind of laid the pressure on for me to get one for the past 6 months or so, so I placed my order last week.

It arrived a few days ago, but the bulb was broken. Fortunately, the awesome people over at Sunbox.com sent me a new bulb, which I just got today. Hopefully this thing will be as helpful as I'm hoping.

So uh, let's start with a photo of Ed's wedding ring.



Yep, check that out. It's been run over by at least 100 cars.

Ed and I were driving out to get dinner earlier this evening when I noticed there was a bug inside my car, walking around on the ceiling. Like the wuss I am, I pleaded with him to get it out of my car and to not allow it to fall on me in the process. He cupped his hand over it and made a big swishing motion, across the ceiling and out the window. The bug went out, but then there was this "ding...ding....ding..." sound following it. I recognized it as the sound of his wedding ring hitting the ground outside the window, but I was driving, the car was in motion, and there wasn't much I could do.

I pulled over as soon as I could and Ed hopped out of the car. We searched the road for between 30 minutes to 1 hour during rush hour before finding it. And that's what it looks like now. Ed thinks it can be repaired, but I'm not so sure. I'll be taking it to the jewelers tomorrow to find out.

A few weeks ago, I found out that the sleep-away camp (well, one of them anyway) that I used to attend as a kid has a facebook group. That caused me to go check the camp's website just to see what was going on at the camp nowadays. I was quite surprised to find out that they now have a "Grown Up Girls weekend" once a year. Every summer, I always whine to Ed that I want to go back to camp, and talk about how sad I am that there isn't a camp for grownups. At that point, the Grownup Girls weekend was going to take place in 2 weeks time, so I signed up as fast as I could. I told Ed I didn't care what else was going on, screw everything, I was going to camp.

The fact that it was this camp in particular was really what made it a big deal for me. I attended several different camps, both sleep-away and day camps when I was a kid, but this one was head and shoulders above the others. I went to this one for 4 years, and it's really like a second home for me, a home I haven't seen in 13 years.

It's up in the mountains of North Carolina, so it's too far away to just go to visit, but a weekend where I could stay was doable. Nicole and I drove just under 600 miles each direction to get there. We got back a few days ago, and it was fucking awesome. I will definitely be going back next year. Pictures will be forthcoming, but may be a while because my computer is going in for some service tomorrow.

Anyone who may be interested in going to camp next fall, or knows a young girl in need of a summer camp, here's the website:
http://www.camptonawandah.com/

I meant to do this a long time ago, but kept forgetting, so here it is (from graashoppa)

Rules:
1) Copy this list into your blog or journal, including these instructions.
2) Bold all the items you’ve eaten.
3) Cross out any items that you would never consider eating.
4) Optional extra: Post a comment at www.verygoodtaste.co.uk linking to your results.

( Read more... )

Not bad for a picky eater, I think. I will admit that I wouldn't eat a majority of them again, but the ones I wouldn't eat again would probably surprise people (Krispy Kreme doughnuts, I'm looking at you.)

I'd just like to take a moment to complain about how Microsoft can get away with shit that people would jump all over Apple for doing.

I just got a new computer (sorta) and I'm trying to use the "Windows Easy Transfer" for the first time ever. Microsoft's "preferred" way of doing the "Easy Transfer" process is to use the official, Microsoft-approved "Windows Easy Transfer" cable. The cable costs $40 and can't be used for anything else. WTF Microsoft. Why can't I use any old USB cable, or FireWire cable? If Apple required people to buy a cable that was useless for anything else just to do a one-time transfer of files from one computer to another, people would be calling for Steve Jobs' head.

Thankfully, Microsoft allows me to do the process across a network, or via an external hard drive. This doesn't help me much because trying to do it across the network times out every time, and searching the internet shows me that this is the case for most people. Now I'm doing it via my external hard drive, and though it's working, it's ridiculously slow. This is the second day where I've wasted my whole day trying to get this to work, and I'm not exactly banking on it working properly at the end of today either.

We went to a dog event today where there were cops with radar guns clocking how fast the dogs ran. Kina came in at 33 MPH, even though she's sick right now and wasn't running at top speed. She was the fastest dog they clocked today, but we didn't have any sighthounds there, or they probably would have kicked her ass.

The bad news is that she may have a non-food item lodged in her intestines causing a partial blockage. $300 worth of X-rays later, we have no answers other than if her bloodwork comes back clean on Monday then we get to stick a camera down her throat. Maybe if this dog would stop getting herself sick and injured we could afford to get a friend for her.

Yesterday, I had horrible post-nasal drip, which was causing my throat to be sore. Due to the time of year, I assumed it was just my seasonal allergies. Then late last night, the body aches set in, so I guess I've got a cold.

Thankfully, the PBS website has all kinds of awesome documentaries on their website for me to watch while bedridden. Right now I'm learning that concussions are much more serious than previously thought. Apparently they're a mild form of brain injury that can continue to impair you in minor ways your whole life. I love science.

Inspired by a thread on the Something Awful forums, I decided to make a "rainbow cake" for the family picnic on Sunday.



( The rest under a cut. )

Poor Kina, she's got an ear infection. And now poor me too because I have to put goop in her ears 3 times every day for the next two weeks. Anyone who had ever tried to squeeze goop into an animal's ears knows that they do not put up with that crap at all. She also has to take oral medication twice a day, but that's not a big deal. That doesn't involve me trying to wrestle with a 69lb animal.

Sixty-nine pound animals > me.

I've made two bodies out of the book so far, but no heads yet. I'm trying to decide on what type/brand of yarn I want to stick with, The one recommended in the book is somewhat expensive and the color selection sucks. I found another brand that is a similar size/weight, and it costs half as much, but it's much tougher to work with because it has less "give." That brand has a much better color selection, too.