It's December

First, kudos to the Yarn Harlot for explaining what's going on in Canadian politics, because without newspapers, canada.com news not working on my work computer, and no real radio news, I've been completely baffled, but without much time to search out the news stories to inform myself. Now I know at least a bit, and can form my own opinion on the matter.

It's December and I'm working on Christmas cards, the Christmas letter, the donation to the Christmas silent auction, Christmas presents... Maybe it's Christmas soon? I am also on my twelfth day straight of working, and I'm tired. I would hope this weekend would be restful, but we have Mike's company Christmas party, the Jingle On Parade with the greyhounds, the bathrooms need cleaning, laundry needs to get done, and I really want to finish with the Christmas shopping and cards beyond waiting for the mailman to bring the online ordered stuff. But maybe I can sleep in one day...

Gosh, that's whiny. I don't mean for it to be, but I'm tired...

I got Priest two new toys for Christmas, one of which has replaceable squeakers. Do you think he'll like it?

Mike and I are going away overnight next Saturday, and Priest is going for a sleepover with his Aunt Sue and her three greyhounds (plus a foster). I'm sure he'll do fine, but I feel a little like a parent leaving her baby with a babysitter for the first time. I'll have to resist the urge to call Sue on Saturday night and see how he's doing. Does that make me silly?

It snowed here yesterday, but now it's plus 3 and everything is melting. It was all nice and light and fluffy snow, but now it's thick and wet and slick. It's December! As much as I'm enjoying the not-minus-30, this is just too weird...

And so ends today's randomness.

Soft and furry

My sleeve apparently tasted lovely, because this young alpaca couldn't stop nibbling on it! And on my bag, the bottom of my jacket, and I'm sure he would have nibble on my hair too, if he was tall enough! Thanks to Liz for taking the picture and letting me borrow it!

So that was Sunday. A nice drive out to the country, visiting with alpacas, petting them when they got close enough because they were sooooo soft, fondling the yarn, succumbing to a little bit of temptation, and making a few other stops on the way back home for other Christmas presents. I've made a good start on Christmas shopping, which is good because I'm running out of time. I know it maybe doesn't seem like it, since there's still quite a few days before Christmas, but when you actually count the calendar, it's... five weeks today to Christmas Eve. I have to get started on the cards SOON!

I'll be in Calgary Thursday through Sunday next week, tied to the Talisman Centre from 7 am to who knows when (5 or 6 I'm guessing). Come and visit!

She got the shawl

:D I feel all warm and wonderful. This is why I love giving gifts.

A word to the wise

Take my advice. No matter how tired you are, how absent-minded you are, how stupid you might be, or how frustrated you are with your oven that won't cook completely thawed chicken breasts at 350 in 50 minutes, always remember to put the oven mitts back on your hands before you try to put the casserole dish back in the oven! ALWAYS!

So, since I won't be knitting for a while, let me show you a picture of something I did knit.



This is the Luna Moth Shawl, done in Lucy Neatby Celestial Merino in colourway Royal Blue. It's just over one skein, and it is gorgeous. It is also on its way to its intended recipient, and she should get it today or tomorrow, since it's a local address. It's so beautiful. I love it. And I have quite a bit of the yarn left over! Small shawl for myself? Lace scarf? Hmm...

Must stop typing now. Too many blisters, and the anaesthetic spray is almost worn off.

Welcome to the end of October

The leaves and needles in the back yard and driveway will probably take a dozen bags to haul to the curb, and there's definitely a chill in the air on the morning walks, so I think we can officially say that Fall Has Arrived. With fall comes a variety of things, things that I have been derelict in talking about lately, due mostly to the fact that said things kind of are a Huge Time Sink, leaving little time for blogging. But I digress...

First and foremost with fall comes my birthday. This year, I took my last three days of vacation around the long weekend, which meant that I had my birthday off, as well as five other days in a row. It was glorious! And hard work! I took the Thursday and Friday pretty much off. I knitted, and finished the lovely blue lace shawl! It is (still) waiting to be washed and blocked before I can give it away, but I'm hoping for this weekend. On the Friday, I also went for a pedicure. My toenails are purple. I'm a rebel. Saturday and Sunday, however, were devoted to hard work. On Saturday, as Mike left for work, I decided my birthday present to myself was going to be a clean house. I cleaned from 8:30 in the morning until 4 in the afternoon, stopping only briefly for food and drink. At four, my body gave out, but only the upstairs bathroom was left, so I was happy. Sunday was devoted to cooking. I made a ton of food and threw it all in the freezer (except for a little bit of the one we had for dinner that night, and a container for Tuesday). Monday, I was going to finish the cleaning and the cooking, but my treacherous body derailed those plans, so I read instead. We had a small Thanksgiving dinner, just the two of us, and I opened my presents. Tuesday was my actual birthday, which I spent waiting while Mike's car got an oil change, misunderstanding the phone conversation of last week with pain clinic about my trigger point injection getting moved up (on the next next appointment, not that one. She was kind enough to see me two and a half hours early, though), getting eight injections in my back (two on the left, six on the right), and going home to sit on the couch, open the presents that arrived in the mail that day, and read more. I didn't have to sleep this time, but I was definitely sore and felt odd, and the nausea started in the late afternoon. I had dinner, but not much. And I went to work the next day, even though I really didn't feel up to it.

That provides a nice segue into work, because I couldn't stay home. After three years, I know there isn't a slow season, but the first couple of months of the season are pretty hellish, and when you add preparing for an AGM on top of that, and said AGM is four days after you have the shots that hit you pretty hard, you kind of have to go even if you don't feel like it. And I love my job. I do. But I've come to realize more lately that it is a stepping stone, not an end-point. We'll see where that realization takes me.

I also have much knitting to show, but that requires things like taking pictures. Give me a bit, and I will dazzle you with photos of knitting, including (dare I say it for fear of jinxing myself?) my first pair of socks. I also want to knit a sweater for Priest, but gauge is being troublesome. Stay tuned.

Speaking of Priest, he's doing well. We had a foster for a week, and they got along, though Priest does need to learn to leave her things alone, even if they are things like Dentastiks that he can finish off in about a minute, but takes her a day or so of chewing off and on to figure out. She gave him what-for, though, when she found that he'd gone into the kennel and eaten it for her. I also decided on the Yarn Ninja costume for him, and the walk is this Sunday. He's going to hate me, I'm sure. But he's going to be so cute. Assuming, of course, that I get it finished. And he's also famous. The (now sold out) Chinook Winds Greyhounds 2009 calendar features our beautiful boy looking very goofy for November. We're so proud!

Mike had a wisdom tooth pulled this past Friday, so we're on softer food for a bit, but he's recovering, though still in a lot of pain. He's also looking forward to school, which starts in another couple weeks.

Oh! And we have a new dishwasher! I should post pictures of that too. Thanks to Dad for all the help with installing!

There, I think I'm caught up. Thanks for your patience and support and everything else, and I'll try to keep the posts coming!

Trigger Point Injection #1

Urgh...

I am at home today, as the nausea is really bad, and I just wasn't going to be effective at work because of it. I'm going to eat here in a little bit, and quickly post this, as the nausea is so much better when I'm lying down.

The injections themselves were nothing, really. So as not to overwhelm me, the doctor only did my left side yesterday, four shots. The needle was no worse than an acupuncture needle, and for all except the one in my neck, I didn't even feel the medicine being injected. The one in my neck, though, I felt that go straight up into the back of my head. I can't really describe the feeling well. She told me I would feel miserable for a few days (uh huh), and had me sit in the waiting room to see if I would react to the medication (I didn't). The muscles definitely felt different. My left arm was tingly and hard to lift. On the drive home, my jaw muscles on the left side suddenly released, and even now are pretty loose. But when I got home, I had to lay down on the couch and sleep. But I was done for. I was exhausted and nauseous and had trouble with my left arm. We ordered in, and Mike sent me to bed at 9. Then I slept horribly, only dozing from about 3 onwards. So I stayed home today.

For all those negative reactions, the muscles do feel different, and she did say that I might not see much of an improvement after the first time, so I'll give it a chance. But this definitely indicates that I'd better pick another day to celebrate my birthday, because the 14th is DEFINITELY going to be shot.

Urgh, gotta lie down again. Thanks for listening.

Admitting defeat

I have been trying to write a post about Monty. He died earlier this month, and I went to his funeral two weekends ago in Calgary. I've been trying to write something that does justice to him, and to my own grief. I've been trying to find the words to say how much I'll miss him, and the things I wish I'd been able to talk to him about, and how much he meant to me. But words aren't coming. Maybe the grief is still too strong or maybe there can be no words to fully capture a man like him. So for now, I have had to admit defeat. The post I wanted to write just can't be written right now. So I will move on to other things until such time as the words come.

Dog costumes are mandatory at the upcoming Hallowe'en Edmonton greyhound walk, so I've been turning my boundless creativity and less than boundless seamstress skills on what to dress Priest up as. The obvious ones (a priest or a magician a.k.a. Dumbledore, after all he is Magic Priest) wouldn't be too hard, but maybe that's just too easy. So I was thinking and thinking and looking at toddler costumes online (as Sue told me that they're a pretty decent fit with few alterations), and I saw some like a unicorn, or a pirate (and I succumbed when Sue showed me the martingale she had for sale with pirate skulls and crossbones on it, so dressing him up as a pirate would be very appropriate), and then I thought maybe I could find a white costume and modify it so he could be a fencer. But then I saw the ninja costume. Oh, but wouldn't that be perfect? I could dress Priest up as a YARN NINJA! Because my seamstressing skills are so limited and I don't have ready access to a sewing machine, I'm going to go to look at toddler costumes and let inspiration guide me from there. Honestly, a pirate or a fencer or a YARN NINJA would all be great costumes. But if you have any other ideas, or suggestions for creating these costumes, I'd love to hear them! Also, people costumes are optional, but wouldn't it be fun to, say, dress up as a knitter with my dog as a YARN NINJA, or dress up in my whites if my dog was also a fencer? Hee hee

Priest has also been limping quite badly for the last 24 hours, and limping like that is so pathetic in greyhounds because they're all leg. I have him booked in with the vet this afternoon. No idea what's causing it. Wish us luck.

Also, for you crafty people, you'll get a kick out of this. Last Wednesday our library contact came to the knitting group and asked if we might be able to knit something for their silent auction in support of the United Way. Sure! we replied, when is it? Oh, October 3. Just over two weeks. Well, whatever we knit won't be big! Isn't it amusing sometimes how much time things actually take to make, and how long people think they take to make? But we'll have something, and they're also having a virtual auction on the 23rd, so we'll definitely have something by then.

Also, I'm not impressed with Stephen Harper for calling an election on my birthday, but I have my second trigger point injection that day anyway, so we'll just call my actual birthday kind of shot, and celebrate some other day. More on trigger point injections later; my first one is in a week!