now with less hermityness

It's going to be kind of a busy weekend. Friday evening I'll be having drinks with three women with names that are a variations on the historical name Maryām. I offered to temporarily borrow the name Marion from my grandmother, to minimize confusion.

Saturday is more of a mixed bag. At 10 we've got a memorial service to attend, for a dear friend who passed away this week. My heart is breaking for her family and friends, as we've lost a beautiful, vibrant woman in the prime of her life.

I'll be going from there to K's house. She's petsitting for several dogs, but has to be out for the day. So I'm coming to give the pups a break outside and some people company for a few hours. The pups won't mind if I'm in a quiet mood, after the memorial. They'll just be happy to have a person around. And pups are so full of life, it will be a happy way for me to reconnect to joy after saying goodbye to our friend.

Then dinner at the St. Paul Tea House with my Mister and some new friends who are curious about my Mister's favorite Szechuan dish, boiled fish in spicy Szechuan broth. We're always happy to introduce more folks to the Tea House. And the last get-together with one of these particular friends was a fun occasion.

Yes, folks, after being a virtual hermit over the last two years, I'm getting out and being social. Thank FSM for the current combo of medications and acupuncture.

Sunday will need to be a day of house chores and unpacking. I'm hoping this level of energy I'm rolling on stays consistent, so I can get at least one room presentable. I actually love the "nesting" aspect of unpacking. It's just been too exhausting to get much done. The ear stabby J stuck me with a week and a half ago is still doing well, and I've been sleeping better due to the lower pain levels.

For those of you playing along at home, my Mister has been doing job interviews, and getting promising feedback from several of them. All digits crossed for a good match, and preferably soon.

Speaking of the ASP needles (my ear stabbies) I've been getting so much relief from, here's an article I found via the NIH on their use in a trial in Nigeria. Fascinating stuff. I spoke to my local acupuncturist and she said she won't use them due to a fear of infection, since they stay in your ear when you're no longer under her observation. Fortunately, J gave my Mister the info he needs to be able to use them on me when needed.

But I'd like to find a good acupuncturist in the MN Twin Cities area who does use them, so I have someone to recommend people to. I've had a number of people ask me about my sudden improvement, and then follow up by asking where they - or a loved one - can try a the treatment. Sure, it doesn't work for everyone. But when it does work, Wow!

Ok... break's over. Back to the grindstone.

Mixed Messages

Toll on a fence

My Honey, sitting in the dining room, says (via headset) to his party in World of Warcraft, "Did my silence work on her?" He's playing his troll shadow priest, Zwierdo.

Me to the empty living room, "Well it didn't work on me."

No answer.

I chuckle. "Wait, maybe it did work on me." To the three bathing cats in the room with me, "Can you guys hear me?" They don't even twitch an ear in my direction.

I chuckle at my own joke. I'm easily amused tonight.

My Mister hears my second chuckle, and says, "What? Sorry, Honey. Can't hear you. Boss fight."

I laugh harder.

He says, more frantically, "Boss fight. Can't hear you." I imagine the sounds of the spells and chattering of his guildmates coordinating the fight in his headset, and understand the level of fucos it takes to be a priest in a boss fight in Karazhan.

Me, loudly. "No worries. Just laughing.

"What?"

Louder still, "Just laughing. Tell you later."

My mister meets A B

Alton Brown at the Mall of America
Originally uploaded by Zwierdo

My Mister met one of his culinary role models two days ago. Alton Brown came to the Mall of America for a book signing, and Z got to attend, book to be signed and camera in hand. He came home an even more enthusiastic fan than he had been.

I'd've gone, too, but my lymphedema has been so puffy lately that I really didn't think it was wise to stand around in line all evening. Z said the line was so long, and so slow, that even though we'd both have liked me to be there, I made the right choice.

Not that my Mister was complaining. He loved the talk A.B. gave before the signing, and a slow line in this case was just indicative of Alton giving each person in line his individual attention. Certainly can't complain about that. But my leg would have been pretty unhappy by the end of a long evening standing around if I had gone.

At least I got to enjoy Z's photos.

Home again

My Mister has been off carousing and visiting family in Las Vegas for several days, and he's coming home tonight.

The cats, the rats and I have all missed him, so we'll all be very glad to have him home again. Not sure he's going to be thrilled with coming home to wind chill values between -13 and -23°F after the mild weather in Vegas. It was relatively warm here (in the high 20's F) when he left. But that's what you get when you live in Minnesota.

I understand he got to meet some poker pros, like "The Professor" Howard Lederer, and has become good buddies with the family dog at my sister-in-law's house. Good thing he didn't drive there or he'd likely come home with the pupper. He sent this photo of her, taken with his cameraphone.

sleep, sleep and more sleep

My Mister

I had most of today off today, as a scheduled day off. I needed to catch up on some rest. My lymphedema had flared up with a vengeance, and I'm starting to find that more sleep equals less puffing. With that in mind, I decided that today I'd let myself sleep as long as my system wanted to. I did wake up a few times to answer the phone fairly early. But I each time I got off the phone I'd lay back down to see if I'd drop back into sleep, or if I was really ready to be awake.

So, when I finally woke up and felt refreshed, it had been 15 hours of sleep. My foot was completely de-puffed. The cats were sitting around staring at me, apparently annoyed by the change in my schedule. (They're such creatures of habit.)

So now that I'm caught up, the plan is to get back onto my schedule again.

I spent a little time this afternoon playing with Photoshop. The photo in this post is the result.

Pufferfish

My Mister is walking around the house muttering "pufferfish".