I made stuff, migraine, fatigue, bad sleep, and cuddly cats

Remember that picture I posted of myself the other day. Well, this one is a better one in my opinion. 

I have been pretty busy these last several days. We went shopping at Fred Meyer for groceries and then we checked out a new store called My Fresh Basket. It opened up in Kendall Yards. My Fresh Basket a bit pretentious but they do have some specialty things that we haven't found elsewhere. I bought a bar of Sandalwood soap as a treat.  Anyway, because we have adopted a new food diet, I made sure we had plenty of fruits and veggies, which meant that I was in the kitchen cutting, slicing, and chopping- doing food prep- pretty much most of the weekend. When I wasn't doing that, I was cooking or baking. I made a peach pie and a Strawberry pie- both of which have been eaten. Last night I made eggplant parm without the parm. I also decided to make my own Popsicles. The above was supposed to be strawberry pomegranate but I forgot the pomegranate.   

This one is lavender lemonade with real lavender. I also used some of my lavender syrup, not a lot. 

Here is peach pineapple.

And this is vanilla matcha. I have a vanilla coffee syrup and I used just a little to sweeten the matcha.

I have been very exhausted the last several days. I have trouble focusing and staying awake sometimes and others I feel sick. At night I've had some trouble sleeping in bed again and end up on the sofa. Today, I woke with a migraine and it only grew worse as the day progressed. Thankfully, after some coffee, alieve, and laying down for a bit, its disappeared. However, I tried to make vegan apple cinnamon breakfast cups and misread the recipe for lack of being able to focus, and put in too much vanilla. Amanda had to take over for me and double the recipe. That did the trick. I decided to make bread today. It has been rising a little longer than usual, but I need it to double in size and with the air conditioner going, it's been a slow process. 

I am a bit annoyed with my Mom. I called to talk yesterday and during our conversation she informed me that I wasn't going to lose weight just because I decided to go vegetarian. Um, thanks. What the fuck?! I don't get it. We were vegetarian for a whole year when I was a kid. They still cook stuff from the vegetarian cookbooks they have, granted it's not much, but still. Plus me being vegetarian affects her in no way except for the the week or so she and Dad will be visiting in October. If she's worried that I am going to become one of those self important, high horse, condemn you for eating meat vegetarians, she's mistaken AND she should know me better than that. More importantly, I should have to feel that I have to justify myself for trying to see if this will be better for me health wise and reduce my physical pain.

On a much happier note, my cats have been very cuddly lately. Even Narcisa. She actually let me lay my head lightly on her last night. She even purred! 

Day blown, waiting on Amanda, something good might finally be happening....

Well since I have managed to blow the majority of my day, why not blow some more of it with some photos and some news while I wait on Amanda to figure out what we are doing for our date night at home. 

This is my desk. The place I write, do homework (most of the time), put on make up and do my hair, and look for inspiration (in crafts, writing, make up and hair ect...) or play on the internet. Sometimes I get some crafting done here as well. As you can see, I like Asian things but I also love Gothic things too. Seriously, our room is a clash of random things! There is no set theme or design scheme. That will have to wait until we have a place of our own.

Awhile back I went to community pot luck hosted by the IEPG wherein we made manifestation boards. Well, the one I made there did not turn out the way I wanted so it sat in a craft bag for a couple of months. About a week or so ago, before the New Year, I pulled it out, tore it apart, and reconstructed it. Yes, I know the beige Kanji paper is upside down. I like this version much better. 

This is what I call my "work wall". The sign is one that Amanda made me out of paint, cardboard, paper and vellum paper and a few other things. Below it is a DIY dry erase board that has a list of homework, tasks I need to get done (yes, I am a list maker and you have no idea how tickled I get wen I get to wipe that board clean), and other reminders. Beside that are smaller notes for myself and a fan. The Owl ornaments a friend in Colorado made for Amanda and I one Christmas. And the map is one I drew for a story I am working on. It needs some work, but it is up so I remember that I need to finish it and the actual story. It is there for reference and because it makes me happy.

This is our DIY Necklace/bracelet board. (I will post the construction of it later) We actually made this last year, I think, and its held up very well. We have to go through our stuff as you can see. Above it is a plaster geisha Amanda painted for me when she went to one of those "you pick and paint it" plaster places, on one of her Boston visits. To the left is a DIY cell phone charger holder that I made out of shampoo bottle. Below all of that are some blank canvases I have yet to open and put paint to. 

This is just one of our bookshelves and it's double shelved on the second shelf. The little crocheted pouch on the first shelf with the Rune (looks like an arrow) is a bag of crocheted runes I got at the IEPG Yule celebration. We have some magical books, writing books, some of my paranormal romance novels, some candles and other things on the shelf too. Psst, I'll tell you a secret, that's not all of our books. We have more in the garage and some back in my parents' basement in Kansas. 

The shame shot! Something awful happened in our room. Last term of school really took a lot of my focus and whenever I could get out of the room for IEPG stuff, I went! Then the holidays happened and Amanda got sick, so our room fell by the wayside. Not that we are really messy people but when you live in one room and have Amanda for a fiance... yeah... things get cluttered and fall into disarray fast. Amanda's one of those people who comes home from work and pretty much throws their clothes off everywhere, dumps her stuff, and runs around in a t-shirt and underwear. Unless we have company, lol. So, yes, we have a basket of random stuff, a big comforter that needs washed, and I am in the process of taking down my Yule altar and setting up for Spring. I will probably move that sword to another wall. It just doesn't feel right, right there. Yes, that is another bookshelf behind the fan and the blue thing is a build a bear Trixie Luna Moon pony that Amanda got for her birthday. I have part of my collection of plush toy raccoon's. I painted peacock scenes on a wooden screen thingy I found at a thrift store for Amanda. The brown thing is a jewelry thingy I painted but I don't think I am done with it. I kind of want to redo it. Oh and the dresser is an antique that once belonged to my Great Grandma Richardson. It has a mirror that attaches to it, but we took it off and put it safely in the closet. It will go back on later. I actually thought someone in my family made the dresser because I'd seen other pieces of furniture made by members of my family with the same dark finish. But my Dad says it wasn't. 

Last picture I swear! Just a few of my little things I keep above my desk. 

So, there are several pieces of news and I will try to make them quick. 

First. Amanda doesn't have MRSA, which is a great relief. What she did have was cellulitis and no I can't spell that word. It just means she had an infection in the skin. After many trips to the ER to get intravenous antibiotics (every 12 hours), she finally started to heal. The IV port in her arm came out last night and she is able to return to work this Sunday. We had a scare with the antibiotics which a doctor took "a calculated risk" in giving her a cephalosporin. Amanda is allergic to cephalosporins, had a horrible reaction when she was in high school. But we couldn't get anyone to listen to us when we told them that. They just kept saying that if she was going to have a reaction, she would have already had it. But some people don't have reactions right away. So I am not happy about that nor am I happy about the first ER visit. We will be talking to the billing department to get some of the bill written off because there's no way we can pay for it all and the first ER visit was utter bullshit. 

Secondly, Galen never made it to the vet because we were dealing with Amanda's stuff and I was far to exhausted to take him. I feel awful but the good news is that he seems to be getting better on his own, which leads me to believe it was just a kitty cold. If his health doesn't continue to improve, I will take him to the vet for certain. And we are still planning to take him for an elderly cat exam.

The third bit of news, this term is startling to look a lot like last term, as far as me playing catch up and having butt loads of homework. That's okay, as long as there are no more big health issues.

Fourth, my Dad did not get the job with Wal-Mart. However, they apparently liked him well enough to look for other stores where he might be able to get on. I don't know if that is helpful or hopeful or not. 

And lastly, a place Amanda applied for called her back this week. We'd kind of forgotten about them. Anyway, she has a second step interview next week and if she gets this job, we might finally be able to move out of her parents house and into an apartment of our own! You have no idea how much the both of us need that. It would be a life saver, at least in my case. 

So this year got off to a very rocky start but maybe it will prove to be a year where things finally get moving in the right direction? I certainly hope so. I don't know if I can handle another bad year. 

A lackluster helloooooo and Happy New Year!

I hope everyone had a wonderful and safe Yule/Jul/ Christmas!

I will eventually post the books we received and maybe some of the movies. Amanda gave me The White Queen which is about Pre-Tutor England. I am excited for it. But posting that stuff will have to wait. I'm far too exhausted and in too much pain to go gather all the books and fight with my camera to do so. My camera is acting up and I'm not sure why. The photo above was taken with my phone but I really don't like my phone camera, it's grainy as hell and I haven't figured out how to tinker with it yet. Not that I have actually tried mind you. 

I finally finished my Water and Fire afghan. I want to do Air and Earth next but I will save that project for a later date. I decided to start an afghan for my cousin because she needs all the love she can get. She requested purple and black and I chose a wave pattern. I started it last night while watching a Nova episode on the Viking Sword which only made me miss the blacksmithing I did when I was in the SCA. Yes, you read right, I did some blacksmithing. I wanted to try everything and found pounding hot metal soothing and was excited to see something take shape and form. We also watched Ever After High and a movie about a cat although I can't remember the name of it. 

Yesterday was an awful sort of day in that I awoke late and in a lot of pain all over, even my toes hurt. It was so awful! I spent an hour or so toying with the idea of going back to bed and Amanda made the decision for me when she arrived home early from work. She made me take some medicine and put me to bed, of course she came with me. She wasn't feeling very well either. Today, I'm not feeling much better but I am going to try taking a hot shower and use some of the wonderful bubbling body scrub that a friend sent us for Christmas. It's soft enough that I don't think it will hurt. Sometimes when I have big flare ups of pain, even my clothes hurt. 

I think Galen has a cold. He's wheezing more than usual and making a very strange cough/gagging sound. He is still eating and drinking and when Amanda gets paid we are going to get him some medicine. 

Well I've sat at my desk as long as I can stand so I am going to go take my shower and hope it helps. Have a happy and safe New Year and I will see you next year! 

   

A semi quiet start to the new year.

Rum Geisha © Hannah Richardson

First, I think I need to change and update all of my passwords again. It could be nothing but it could be something. I just opened up blogger and started a new blog where I got a message stating that I just logged out of another location and would I like to log back in. Grrrrr! 

My New Year started quietly with a few games of Rummikub and me coaxing Skoora's mom into drinking a whole bottle of wine. She's not really a drinker. The 1st was spent taking my time in doing almost nothing. I didn't go to the family new year's party, instead I went to Skoora's work and kept her and her assistant manager company for an hour or so. After we got home her parents came in along with a friend from their church and we visited with him meanwhile a Monster High movie was playing in the background. Skoora was kind of nervous about getting ready for her residency. 

Skoora worked the 2nd which made things more difficult for her in terms of being ready to go. Still, we got her packed, last minute errands run, and off to the airport in time for her flight. I was a bit worried since the North East was getting slammed with a winter storm but her plane landed safely, the only down side was that she had to spend the night in the airport last night until the bus could take her to the T (subway) in Boston this morning. I stayed up until about 3 am worried even though we sent text to each other and I spoke to her on the phone a couple of times. And despite not getting but a few hours of sleep the night before and being very tired, I just couldn't go to sleep until I knew she was out of the airport and on her way to the college campus. Then it was a matter of her not being next to me in bed. But exhaustion finally won and I fell asleep. 

I actually slept until a little after 1 in the afternoon. I really hate sleeping that late but didn't let myself get too upset about considering the circumstances. I haven't really done a lot today either. I've mostly played Game of Thrones Ascent on facebook. I saw the ad for it last night and decided to try it out and off and on today I've played. It's a time waster but it is interesting and fun. 

I did manage to get out of the house today and aggravate my back while doing it. I placed a hold on a few jewelry making books and went to go pick them up. After we had dinner, I took Skoora's mom, and Skoora's visiting cousin Amber to Hasting's. I was going to pay for the coffee and Amber's coco but Skoora's mom decided that she would. Then we parted ways in the store, they went to look at some things and I went to look for other things. Skoora's mom kind of rushed me when we met back up again despite me telling her that I was still looking. She wanted to get a book and then I guess decided that she didn't want to wait in line and put it back. In finagling my wallet and my purse, I managed to turn wrong and that's how I managed to make my back hurt worse this time. 

Back at home, Skoora's mom and dad watched Monster's University with Amber and I went out to watch for awhile. I stayed until the end of the movie but couldn't sit through another one. Since then I have been holed up in my room editing some photos, looking at what I have on my deviant art page, and yeah, that's about it. I should have logged on to play Guild Wars but I just didn't feel like it. I wanted to read but I didn't feel like doing that either. Writing was on my mind but again, I didn't feel like much of that. 

So here I am again, it's the middle of the night. I'm by myself, the cats want to go in and out, and I can't sleep but this time, I really wish I could! I don't think I will sleep very well until Skoora comes home.

Oh and my friend Christine B is coming to visit on Sunday. I'm not sure how long she's going to stay, but I don't care. I don't know if she will buy any fabric or not but she's asked me to make some pillow cases for her.