This is how I feel sometimes when I can't get through to people (who shall remain anonymous lest I risk losing my job).
Friday, September 18, 2009
Monday, May 4, 2009
Maryland Sheep and Wool
Some of The Loot
A Five THOUSAND Dollar Spinning Wheel by Golding. Beautiful, and it sold!!
A Five THOUSAND Dollar Spinning Wheel by Golding. Beautiful, and it sold!!
Long-haired Sheepies
More Loot
Baa Baa Black Sheep...
So Cute! Think I could pass one off as a dog? Sheep Dog!
The Rav Creators (and me)
Lots of Yarny Goodness
Sheepies! 
We had so much fun! I loved it, and will go back again next year. I decided to start spinning, so I got three spindles and some Jacob Sheep roving and some luscious Mohair/Silk blend. Also got enough yarn for a sweater, and yarn for a baby sweater!
Baa Baa Black Sheep...
So Cute! Think I could pass one off as a dog? Sheep Dog!
The Rav Creators (and me)
Lots of Yarny Goodness
Sheepies! 
We had so much fun! I loved it, and will go back again next year. I decided to start spinning, so I got three spindles and some Jacob Sheep roving and some luscious Mohair/Silk blend. Also got enough yarn for a sweater, and yarn for a baby sweater!
Tuesday, April 28, 2009
An allergy question...
Why must ALL of the pollen from all the rooty things here in Virginia be solely in MY nose?
Wednesday, April 15, 2009
What's up with that??
A question I've been pondering this week:
Why do we spend time scouring the parking lot to find the closest spot to the gym door, only to walk in and run five miles on the treadmill?
Seriously, yesterday afternoon I went to the gym to meet with my trainer (I've gone three times this week, BTW), and saw this guy driving up and down each damn row waiting for someone to pull out of a spot he deemed worthy of being close enough to the door. I parked by the grocery store, walked in, and started my workout. I finally saw closest-parking-spot guy walk in ten minutes later. What was going through his head? "I don't want to waste any energy getting to the gym because I need to save it for my workout"???? What the heck???
Also, when you're not using the exercise ball, and I walk over to get it, don't jump off your weight machine and scream at me, "I'm using that!" You are not, and you know it, Mrs. hoard-the-equipment.
I also just finished the best diet book ever. Okay, so it's not a diet book, but it's everything we think and want to say about weight loss and never do. If you love reading memoirs, read Jen Lancaster's "Such a Pretty Fat." It is hilarious. She has a pretty foul mouth, but honestly, the book just wouldn't be good without the bad language. All three of her books are great, but this last one was by far the best for me. I love this part (paraphrased because I don't have the book to cite directly from):
Jen is at the gym with her trainer, and they are lifting weights in the weight room. Jen notes how small and dark the room is, with a low ceiling and dark walls. She says to her trainer, "This must be what lifting weights in prison is like. We're doing the same exercises that prisoners do just before they get shanked. And you're smaller than I am, so if this were prison I guess that would make you my prison bitch!"
My trainer could be my prison bitch. Her legs together are as big as one of mine. I swear, if she's not careful I'll crush her someday.
Why do we spend time scouring the parking lot to find the closest spot to the gym door, only to walk in and run five miles on the treadmill?
Seriously, yesterday afternoon I went to the gym to meet with my trainer (I've gone three times this week, BTW), and saw this guy driving up and down each damn row waiting for someone to pull out of a spot he deemed worthy of being close enough to the door. I parked by the grocery store, walked in, and started my workout. I finally saw closest-parking-spot guy walk in ten minutes later. What was going through his head? "I don't want to waste any energy getting to the gym because I need to save it for my workout"???? What the heck???
Also, when you're not using the exercise ball, and I walk over to get it, don't jump off your weight machine and scream at me, "I'm using that!" You are not, and you know it, Mrs. hoard-the-equipment.
I also just finished the best diet book ever. Okay, so it's not a diet book, but it's everything we think and want to say about weight loss and never do. If you love reading memoirs, read Jen Lancaster's "Such a Pretty Fat." It is hilarious. She has a pretty foul mouth, but honestly, the book just wouldn't be good without the bad language. All three of her books are great, but this last one was by far the best for me. I love this part (paraphrased because I don't have the book to cite directly from):
Jen is at the gym with her trainer, and they are lifting weights in the weight room. Jen notes how small and dark the room is, with a low ceiling and dark walls. She says to her trainer, "This must be what lifting weights in prison is like. We're doing the same exercises that prisoners do just before they get shanked. And you're smaller than I am, so if this were prison I guess that would make you my prison bitch!"
My trainer could be my prison bitch. Her legs together are as big as one of mine. I swear, if she's not careful I'll crush her someday.
Monday, March 2, 2009
Glad to finally have some answers.
Hello everyone who reads my blog...
I know it's been almost two months since I've written, but a lot has happened since then that I've been dealing with. So here goes...
The Monday after Christmas I got a sinus infection. I was miserable, but was able to get over it, or so I thought. I started out the New Year pretty good, joined they gym, and kept taking my NyQuil.
The day after I wrote my last post, January 12, I developed some redness in my right eye. As a contact wearer, this has happened before, and when I take my contacts out, it clears up. However, this time, I also had a migraine-like headache that never went away. By Thursday I was at urgent care, where I was told I had Conjunctivitis caused by my contacts, and was prescribed some Erythromycin antibiotic ointment.
Over the weekend, the ointment seemed to work, but by Tuesday (inauguration day), my eye had completely swelled up and was more painful than ever. I wasn't able to get an appointment to see a doctor on Wednesday, and was to the point of wanting to go to the emergency room. I got into the doctor again on Thursday, and she said I was allergic to the ointment and made an appointment for me to see an opthamologist at the navy hospital in Bethesda.
Dr. Blice, the opthamologist, took one look at my eye and immediately told me I had what I heard was "eye-ritis." Um, yeah, totally sounds like I'm making that up just to get out of work (by this time I had missed a week). It's actually Iritis. He said it's an inflammation of the Iris, and that mine was so swollen it was actually stuck to the lens of my eye. The only way to treat it is to dilate it, so for the next couple days I walked around not being able to see out of one eye. Saw him again on Monday (around the first of February) where there was no improvement, so I had to put drops in to keep it dilated for the next week, as well as put in another drop every hour to keep the swelling down.
The following week, there wasn't much improvement, so Dr. Blice decided to do some "routine bloodwork" because he said that there must be something systemic causing the eye inflammation. He also asked if I had been experiencing any joint or muscle pain, which I thought was weird.
That night on tv, I saw a special on TLC about a woman who had eye inflammation and joint pain, so I "googled" it and got a laundry list of possible causes of Iritis, including Rheumatoid Arthritis and Lupus, leukemia, etc. Yeah, pretty scary.
On the fifth of February, the doctor called saying he wanted to talk to me about some of the lab results. Unfortunately I didn't get the message until Saturday night, so I had to agonize through Sunday thinking I had cancer or Lupus or something. My mom has RA, and her sister has Lupus, so it was quite scary.
It turns out that my lab results for RA and Lupus are negative, but I tested positive for HLA-B27, a gene mutation that is an indicator of auto-immune diseases. I was scheduled for a rheumatology appointment the following week.
I saw the rheumatologist this past Thursday (finally), and was given a complete physical. I was given a tentative (but pretty positive) diagnosis of Ankylosing Spondylitis, a spinal arthritis that causes a lot of pain in the lower back, hips, knees, ankles, and the bottoms of the heels.
I have had pain in those joints since I was about 20, but had always attributed it to being out of shape, so I ignored it. The pain has been getting increasingly worse over time, but I never knew why. I never said anything to anyone because I'm so young, too young to have old bones and complain that it hurts when I walk. Going upstairs is very difficult, and even more so now that we've moved into a three-level townhouse. My hips and back hurt so much that I wake up at night.
Dr. Witter, the rheumatologist, prescribed an anti-inflammatory, but said that the best thing is exercise, like walking, bike riding, and swimming, and to lose some weight. Did you know that an extra ten pounds puts 50 extra pounds of pressure on your knees?
I'm just glad to have some answers for my chronic pain that I've been suffering from for over 8 years, and to know that I'm not crazy.
It's been a long couple of months, but I'm finally going to get better. I'm sure a lot of you have a lot of questions, and so do I. I can still live a normal lifestyle, I'm not feeble or sick. I've decided I'm not going to let AS "get" me. I've watched my mom live with her RA my whole life, and she is my inspiration.
I know it's been almost two months since I've written, but a lot has happened since then that I've been dealing with. So here goes...
The Monday after Christmas I got a sinus infection. I was miserable, but was able to get over it, or so I thought. I started out the New Year pretty good, joined they gym, and kept taking my NyQuil.
The day after I wrote my last post, January 12, I developed some redness in my right eye. As a contact wearer, this has happened before, and when I take my contacts out, it clears up. However, this time, I also had a migraine-like headache that never went away. By Thursday I was at urgent care, where I was told I had Conjunctivitis caused by my contacts, and was prescribed some Erythromycin antibiotic ointment.
Over the weekend, the ointment seemed to work, but by Tuesday (inauguration day), my eye had completely swelled up and was more painful than ever. I wasn't able to get an appointment to see a doctor on Wednesday, and was to the point of wanting to go to the emergency room. I got into the doctor again on Thursday, and she said I was allergic to the ointment and made an appointment for me to see an opthamologist at the navy hospital in Bethesda.
Dr. Blice, the opthamologist, took one look at my eye and immediately told me I had what I heard was "eye-ritis." Um, yeah, totally sounds like I'm making that up just to get out of work (by this time I had missed a week). It's actually Iritis. He said it's an inflammation of the Iris, and that mine was so swollen it was actually stuck to the lens of my eye. The only way to treat it is to dilate it, so for the next couple days I walked around not being able to see out of one eye. Saw him again on Monday (around the first of February) where there was no improvement, so I had to put drops in to keep it dilated for the next week, as well as put in another drop every hour to keep the swelling down.
The following week, there wasn't much improvement, so Dr. Blice decided to do some "routine bloodwork" because he said that there must be something systemic causing the eye inflammation. He also asked if I had been experiencing any joint or muscle pain, which I thought was weird.
That night on tv, I saw a special on TLC about a woman who had eye inflammation and joint pain, so I "googled" it and got a laundry list of possible causes of Iritis, including Rheumatoid Arthritis and Lupus, leukemia, etc. Yeah, pretty scary.
On the fifth of February, the doctor called saying he wanted to talk to me about some of the lab results. Unfortunately I didn't get the message until Saturday night, so I had to agonize through Sunday thinking I had cancer or Lupus or something. My mom has RA, and her sister has Lupus, so it was quite scary.
It turns out that my lab results for RA and Lupus are negative, but I tested positive for HLA-B27, a gene mutation that is an indicator of auto-immune diseases. I was scheduled for a rheumatology appointment the following week.
I saw the rheumatologist this past Thursday (finally), and was given a complete physical. I was given a tentative (but pretty positive) diagnosis of Ankylosing Spondylitis, a spinal arthritis that causes a lot of pain in the lower back, hips, knees, ankles, and the bottoms of the heels.
I have had pain in those joints since I was about 20, but had always attributed it to being out of shape, so I ignored it. The pain has been getting increasingly worse over time, but I never knew why. I never said anything to anyone because I'm so young, too young to have old bones and complain that it hurts when I walk. Going upstairs is very difficult, and even more so now that we've moved into a three-level townhouse. My hips and back hurt so much that I wake up at night.
Dr. Witter, the rheumatologist, prescribed an anti-inflammatory, but said that the best thing is exercise, like walking, bike riding, and swimming, and to lose some weight. Did you know that an extra ten pounds puts 50 extra pounds of pressure on your knees?
I'm just glad to have some answers for my chronic pain that I've been suffering from for over 8 years, and to know that I'm not crazy.
It's been a long couple of months, but I'm finally going to get better. I'm sure a lot of you have a lot of questions, and so do I. I can still live a normal lifestyle, I'm not feeble or sick. I've decided I'm not going to let AS "get" me. I've watched my mom live with her RA my whole life, and she is my inspiration.
Sunday, January 11, 2009
movies
Last night we say Gran Torino. Clint Eastwood played Walt, a recent widower. He has lived in the same neighborhood for a very long time, and has watched it change over the years. Now it is mostly populated by the Hmong, and having been in the Korean War, Walt has his own distorted prejudices about these people.
Thao is one of the young boys who lives next door to Walt. He is quiet and is a "good kid," but has a cousin who is involved in a gang. The gang wants to recruit Thao, so they tell him that in order to be initiated, he must steal Walt's vintage Gran Torino from his garage. Walt catches him in the act and chases the group away. Thao's family finds out about the break-in and in order to pay back the debt, Thao must work for Walt. Over time, Walt befriends Thao and his family, and becomes a positive influence in Thao's life. The ending was poignant. If you liked Crash, you will enjoy this one, as its themes are similar. It really forces you to think about the way we treat other people without getting to know them first.
In other news, I went to Yoga yesterday morning. My abs hurt today, but it's a good hurt, and over time I'm sure I'll tone up and it will get easier. I have step aerobics again Tuesday, and I am looking forward to it.
I got shafted at work on Friday as well. Earlier this year, around October, I spoke with my principal about developing curriculum for the ESOL department, as we didn't have one to speak of across the entire district. I had already written 10-12 pages of curriculum that I showed her at our meeting (and stupidly emailed her after the meeting). The response was good, and she told me that she had been talking to the associate superintendent about possibly having me do this as an ESOL Specialist instead of teaching, and asked me to come up with a vision (aka-job description). In early November I had the opportunity to travel to Richmond with this superintendent, and spoke with her about the job, and was told I still had to apply for the position once it was posted just for formality. The posting came up in early December so I applied right away and interviewed over my holiday break. I was basically told I was being considered for the Elementary ESOL Specialist position and to wait for a phone call in early January. This past Friday I got an urgent email asking to call the superintent "ASAP." I did so, only to find out THEY HIRED SOMEONE ELSE FOR THE POSITION!!!!!!!!! I was floored. The whole damn thng was my idea to begin with, and I'm positive that if I hadn't mentioned it, that the positon wouldn't even exist today. The person who got the position didn't even know it existed until it was posted, and slid right in without knowing a lick about it.
Lesson learned? Just write your own curriculum, shut up about it, and turn it in as your professional development plan. I swear, if they use the curriculum I've already written, I'm going after them with a big stick.
Thao is one of the young boys who lives next door to Walt. He is quiet and is a "good kid," but has a cousin who is involved in a gang. The gang wants to recruit Thao, so they tell him that in order to be initiated, he must steal Walt's vintage Gran Torino from his garage. Walt catches him in the act and chases the group away. Thao's family finds out about the break-in and in order to pay back the debt, Thao must work for Walt. Over time, Walt befriends Thao and his family, and becomes a positive influence in Thao's life. The ending was poignant. If you liked Crash, you will enjoy this one, as its themes are similar. It really forces you to think about the way we treat other people without getting to know them first.
In other news, I went to Yoga yesterday morning. My abs hurt today, but it's a good hurt, and over time I'm sure I'll tone up and it will get easier. I have step aerobics again Tuesday, and I am looking forward to it.
I got shafted at work on Friday as well. Earlier this year, around October, I spoke with my principal about developing curriculum for the ESOL department, as we didn't have one to speak of across the entire district. I had already written 10-12 pages of curriculum that I showed her at our meeting (and stupidly emailed her after the meeting). The response was good, and she told me that she had been talking to the associate superintendent about possibly having me do this as an ESOL Specialist instead of teaching, and asked me to come up with a vision (aka-job description). In early November I had the opportunity to travel to Richmond with this superintendent, and spoke with her about the job, and was told I still had to apply for the position once it was posted just for formality. The posting came up in early December so I applied right away and interviewed over my holiday break. I was basically told I was being considered for the Elementary ESOL Specialist position and to wait for a phone call in early January. This past Friday I got an urgent email asking to call the superintent "ASAP." I did so, only to find out THEY HIRED SOMEONE ELSE FOR THE POSITION!!!!!!!!! I was floored. The whole damn thng was my idea to begin with, and I'm positive that if I hadn't mentioned it, that the positon wouldn't even exist today. The person who got the position didn't even know it existed until it was posted, and slid right in without knowing a lick about it.
Lesson learned? Just write your own curriculum, shut up about it, and turn it in as your professional development plan. I swear, if they use the curriculum I've already written, I'm going after them with a big stick.
Wednesday, January 7, 2009
Oh, sloppy day
My arms hurt. Why do my arms hurt? It was step aerobics, and God knows I didn't step with my arms! Maybe they're just jealous because my legs got a better workout than they did. Well, tomorrow is Pilates class, so get ready arms! You have to hold up all of this weight! Then you'll be hurting! Ha! Phhbbbbt!
It's been raining non-stop for two days. Yep. I'm used to rain lasting 15 minutes or so. I drove to work in the dark in the pouring rain everyday this week. If it doesn't stop soon, we're going to have to blow up the air mattress so I can float to work. I just keep thinking, if all this rain were snowflakes, we'd have the rest of the week off! They delay and close schools in every county around Prince William, but the storm always skirts us and we just end up with big sloppy puddles and extra curly hair.
Tim is out of town until Friday, so it's just Dad and me for a couple days.
It's been raining non-stop for two days. Yep. I'm used to rain lasting 15 minutes or so. I drove to work in the dark in the pouring rain everyday this week. If it doesn't stop soon, we're going to have to blow up the air mattress so I can float to work. I just keep thinking, if all this rain were snowflakes, we'd have the rest of the week off! They delay and close schools in every county around Prince William, but the storm always skirts us and we just end up with big sloppy puddles and extra curly hair.
Tim is out of town until Friday, so it's just Dad and me for a couple days.
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