Newness

New furniture! Huge! Overstuffed!

Comfy!

New car! Huge! Shiny!

Comfy!

Thank you, Mormor and Morfar.

No furniture until Monday

What a drama. I don't even want to talk about it. Living room will stay in a state of disarray until Monday. *sigh*

Blood from a stone and other adventures

Finally got my blood taken on Tuesday. This time it took an hour and three needles, including one in my FOOT! Has anyone else had them try to take blood from your foot? For me, it was a try, didn't work. The successful poke came after I ran my hands under hot water for about four minutes, then we rushed back to the room and the nurse tourniqueted both my hands to see which one would give her a usable vein. When the blood started flowing, I was admonished not to move or even breathe, lest we break the spell. I was hydrated, as warm as I could be. I can't say as I'm looking forward to going through this every time I need a blood test. There must be something else I can do. Suggestions?

I'm also quite frankly exhausted. I blame increased pain levels associated to both pain clinic not letting me go to the chiropractor (until today!!!), and the drive to and from Olds this past weekend, which has rendered my left arm unhappy and tending towards useless with reduced mobility, strength, and feeling. But Pain Clinic has told me that I can go to chiro if I want to! Not for the arm, of course, but for the lower rib that's out that's impacting my breathing. Hey, I'll take what I can get.

We get new furniture today! Furniture with cushions that don't start escaping when you sit down! Furniture that is comfy and overstuffed! Furniture that should allow for a reading lamp behind it! Yay for new furniture. Pictures to come. Any suggestions as to where to purchase a nice floor lamp? Home Depot? Ikea?

On the crafting front, I'm working on a Secret Project, which I will reveal once the intended recipient receives it. It's small and quick and much fun, but I finished it wrong the first time, so I had to unfinish it, and this weekend I'll finish it again. I am also considering learning to spin, and there's a great post at The Yarn Harlot that kind of gives words to why, even if I didn't realize it before. Work continues on The First Project blanket, now also known as The Great Gauge Experiment, since I've learned the importance of not letting the yarn run away with you. Ahhh... String.

We're babysitting a greyhound at the end of the month for nine days. Red is taller and about 10 pounds heavier than Priest (who was at the vet yesterday and hasn't gained any weight at all), but when Red came over to quickly visit and see how he did on the hardwood and tile, they ran around the house, and the backyard, and seemed to get along really well. So depending on how nine days go (10 minutes isn't really an indication), and if we think that the house is big enough for two of them, Mike and I may see if we can start fostering new hounds that come up for adoption. A second dog is probably not for us right now, but Priest has just brought us so much joy, it's a way to give back for that amazing gift. Yes, I know, I'll cry every time one gets adopted. I'm prepared.

A new backyard

Backyard Landscaping - 5-6 July 2008

With so much amazing help from Mom and Dad, we have a new, usable, functional, lovely, and almost finished back yard. If we hadn't been short-shipped on the blocks for the pine tree bed, then it would be done. I only hope when the blocks finally get in stock this week, that it'll have stopped raining. Unfortunately, I will be in Olds this weekend, and so won't be able to help do any of the work (and that's assuming the blocks come in).

It's so wonderful to look outside and not see the rotting deck, or the dirt pile upon which nothing grew, even in the five weeks between removal of the deck and this past weekend's work. There is a nice big space to brush Priest, a stable surface to put the chairs on and sit outside, the bed along the garage has a nice finished look to it, and all I need to do now is kill the random bush in the corner and fertilize and mow the little bit of lawn more often. Mike wants a turkish grill, and we're thinking of getting a kiddie pool for Priest, since it's bound to go up over 30 again.

Oh, and I need a door. Or maybe something from here. Just a door. We have the perfect fairy tree.

Bruised, Battered, but not Bloody

So today I went for a blood test. I wondered if the not-panic-attack was a fluke. Well, turns out it wasn't. I even sat up. I even looked at the needle once it was in. But what I didn't get was blood taken. Despite the fact that I was calm, my veins decided to flatten out like cartoon bears sneaking into the ranger's house and pretending to be a bear rug, and decisively said, "No, thank you, no blood today."

Three nurses. Five needles, two in the back of each hand and one in my right elbow. And no blood.

So I have to go back and try again. Which I'm not looking forward to despite this new reaction to the experience.

I made this

The colour, anyway; I didn't spin it. And the liquid? It was a milky white. All the Koolaid went into the yarn! It's drying now. I have to decide what to make with it. Ideas?

The Day the Physiotherapist Cured My Headache

Okay, well, maybe not cured, but sure as heck made a difference.

So this is my first week in the pain clinic program, and yesterday I had a bit of physiotherapy before the end of my scheduled time there. I was still fighting the barometric pressure headache left over from the day before, so that was what she wanted to talk about. She listened a bit to what I had to say about it, asked a few questions, and then said, "We need a lumbar roll." So she got one of those, and had me sit all the way back in a chair and put the lumbar roll behind me. "This is going to feel very exaggerated," she said. Darn skippy it did. "But how's the headache?" Well wouldn't you know, but putting the lumbar roll in my back made my headache less. Then she took my upper neck through a series of small movements. Each movement further reduced the pain, until the barometric pressure headache was pretty much gone, leaving only the normal pain behind.

Wow.

So they loaned me the lumbar roll for the next few days, and I'm working on stretching out those muscles a little bit with the movements she showed me. I don't have much movement, but you know what, it seems to help. She did warn me that my mid-back, shoulders, and lower neck would probably not be happy with me, and they're not, but we have to start somewhere, I guess.

One pain management strategy down. We'll see what else happens.