..While I'm on these new meds. Other than the usual warning of "suicidal thoughts", I'm thinking that the snacking better be kept in check as well.

"You take the blue pill - the story ends, you wake up in your bed and believe whatever you want to believe. You take the red pill - you stay in Wonderland."

Obviously, I'm not going to Wonderland anytime soon. Pity.

I just ate an apple... dipped into a concoction of kewpie mayo & miso paste.

It was a momentary lapse in judgement, I'll admit. The rest of the apple was consumed in a relatively normal fashion from that point forward -- peanut butter and cheddar or havarti.

Must make sure I don't eat my weight in kewpie mayo & miso paste :P

One other thought on the new meds -- the blue pill has a disturbingly "cool & refreshing" property to it. Weird.

My poor little old baby's got a skin condition due to it's old age. So the vet says it is better to keep her shaved down as it will be easier to maintain her skin.

But the first night that she was back, she was shivering really badly. I thought she must be really cold without her fur.


So I quickly rummaged thru my bag of unwanted clothes and found this sweet pink top that i used to love. A pity that I can't fit into it anymore.

But well, Snip snip Snap snap, SEW sew sew. I think she loves it too!( Doggy models )

I suppose I should talk about my visit to see Family Doc.

It would appear that the issues I acquired whilst in Las Bacon this year has lingered in my system long enough to prompt Family Doc to do some extra testing just to make sure nothing crazy is going on. He is of the opinion that he doesn't want us to get to a point where we let things slide just because we can't figure out what's going on. The whole thing with me constantly coughing up nasties even though we've done two rounds of antibiotics, plus a round of tamiflu, has made it that come January, I will be subjecting myself to another barium swallow. Weee. He's worried that the gunkies paired with my lung crunchies when breathing at night might be caused by the acids in my stomach coming up to say hi in all the wrong places. There's no guarantee anything will be found, as usual, but at least we're not leaving things to chance if we just sit around for another six months.

The only other thing to note is my pain issues. Kidney Guy did in fact write to Family Doc and he sent along his recommendations as to how we might consider going about trying to treat my pain. Apparently being prescribed tricyclic antidepressants is an old skool school method of treating patients with chronic pain. When Familiy Doc says "old school", he doesn't see it as being a bad thing, he just finds that doctors of a certain age tend to go that route. He even asked me how old Kidney Guy was and I would have to say that between him, Hawt Doc & Family Doc, they're all probably in the their early-mid 40's.

The thing that Family Doc found most surprising was Kidney Guy's rather aggressive treatment recommendation: 25-50mg/day. I think because of the increased amount of pain meds I'm taking lately, Kidney Guy probably deemed a higher doseage more effective to reduce the frequency of my useage. Wow. That sentence alone makes me sound like an addict. Taking into consideration how my body tends to react to new drugs and Family Doc's experience with the treatment with other patients, he recommended that we start at a low dose (10mg) for the next four weeks and then we'll go from there, as opposed to straight off the bat going for the sledge hammer doseage that would knock out a horse. I am a-okay with whatever he thinks is best.

This whole pain thing has been increasing in severity and freqency over the last two to three months and has been making me absolutely mental at night. According to The Hubbs, I get myself into such a stressed out tizzy from trying to avoid the pain meds that it's just not making things any better for me. Family Doc is doing everything he possibly can to keep me comfortable and get me to sleep, but it doesn't help matters and won't do any good if I'm avoiding the treatment that's supposed to make things tolerable. The drugs are by all means a huge double-edged sword and we're trying to find suitable remedy that both keeps me comfortable, but doesn't stress me out because I have to take it. Hopefully this antidepressant combo with the long acting stuff will work. I just have to have patience if it doesn't do anything for the first month.

I've said this before and I will certainly say it again -- It's such a relief having a doctor willing to do whatever it takes to get things working as best as possible for me. Family Doc has also reiterated to me that he quite enjoys having me as a patient. As puzzling as I am from a medical standpoint, he looks forward to seeing me once a month and talking about what's going on. He also enjoys the fact that our relationship has developed in such a way that even though things are crappy, we can laugh at a lot of the things that are confounding. The jalapeno antidote totally confuses him, yet makes him laugh every single time.

Keep your fingers crossed that we may have found some relief.

Last night was a blast.

Up until this point, I don't think I've actually posted pics of what the dinner looks like. I keep forgetting to take pictures of the hotel itself -- At this time of year, they have the whole place decked out in Christmas gear and they always have at least two kid-sized gingerbread houses you can go inside and have your picture taken. Maybe I'll remember next year.

This year, the place was jammed packed. In past years the restaurant was at most half full when we've dined, so this was ultimately a huge surprise.

New to this year's lineup was a salad bar chef station. Similar to the pasta bar, but with salad. I'm told the offerings there were pretty darn good -- 3 kinds of greens, choice of dressings, lots of cold stuff like meats & cheeses, cukes, tomatoes, olives and red peppers plus hot'n'fresh cooked mushrooms and bacon to order.

The antipasti selection was fantastic as always, though smaller than I recall in past years but this could be because they split everything up into separate stations -- lots of thinly sliced grilled veggies (eggplant is always my fave), smoked salmon, mussels and calamari.

The cold salad bar had four offerings, if I remember correctly -- chickpea salad, a weird looking shredded carrot-looking salad, potato salad and artichoke salad.

There was also a cheese board, a deli meat platter (I could call it a charcuterie tray, but it wasn't THAT fancy), and a huge table of bread choices.

The Pasta buffet Chef station where you chose what ingredients you wanted had its traditional offerings -- chicken, sausage, mushrooms, onions, tomatoes, shrimp, scallops, mussels, mixed veg, fresh salmon. The pasta choices were only linguine, penne, rotini this year and the sauces were the traditional red, white, rose, pesto, garlic, oil. The Chef makes it right in front of you fresh, fresh, fresh!



As much as I'd like to say I enjoyed the dessert bar, I hear it wasn't as fantastic as past years. The spread was still huge, presentation was impressive, but somehow there was something not quite on the mark in a lot of the offerings. From what I can make out of The Hubbs' picture taking, the choices this year were: Fresh fruit salad, orange tiramisu, berry pie, chocolate brownies, cheesecake, carrot cake squares, white chocolate panna cotta, tahitian vanilla bean creme caramel, chocolate & caramel mousse flutes, dark chocolate banana truffle cake, creme chantilly, strawberry coulis, strawberry mango trifle, exotic fruit mousse martini, chocolate fountain, pecan pie, individual berry mousse, date squares, plum terrine, creme brulee, warm apricot butter croissant pudding with [insert name] sauce.



Is it worth the carbo-loaded hangover the next day? As far as the pictures below, show absolutely!

Took me about 2 hours, I think hes so adorable! My friend described it as "omg thats so cute I want to bite something"

I have posted this on my journal but hes so freaking cute I wanted to share him with everyone.

If you want the pattern just ask x

Sometimes it comes out looking too jumbled, sometimes its nice.

( Night Empress )

Night Empress is an 18" necklace/choker made from oxidized sterling chain, wire, and garnets. It took me an hour to attatch the tiny chain to the frame and about five hours to complete. It was fun to make. :)

( Never Ending Story )

26" long necklace made of oxidized sterling silver (I left some bright for contrast), a huge london blue topaz frosted pear with polished dots, swiss blue topaz, amethyst, freshwater pearls, onyx, labradorite, and apatite.

♥ Name:irene
♥ Age:39
♥ Location:Philippines
♥ Your cupcake history:I have always adored cupcakes but never got around to bake them until recently.
♥ Why you like cupcakes:Cupcakes make people happy.
♥ Anything to share?:I have recently started making devil's foodcake cupcakes at home.


ta-dah!

http://www.avocadolite.com/expiration/archives/002299.shtml

finally, there is a new game on our site: ink fight!

please send the bugs and suggestions our way... and we hope you like the little octopus :)

we also added a new game button on the main page of avocadolite, that links to our arcade section. last night, we updated the look of the arcade and took out two old games (the memory game and the puzzle game). those are so old and super buggy... so now, there are only three games left: the inkfight, the farm hustle and the old yoboblaster...

oh, about the yoboblaster... it was made back in 2001, when the speed of computers are rather slow. now, when played with the current computer speed, everything in that game moves too fast and made it really hard to play... i used to be able to beat the game (or at least get to the last level), but now i can't even pass the second level...

An embroidered belt, messenger bag shoulder straps, and a roll up screen for my patio... but what do I do with the other 57 pieces? I hate to see these thrown away, but I won't allow myself to take home more stuff if I don't have firm plans for it.
166" x 2", natural cotton color with gold stripes on one side (what look like grey stripes are lint, these are from an industrial ironer. The lint brushes off easily)

Happy Holidays :)

(Cross-posted)

I'm wondering if anyone has heard from a user called "applebisque" (http://applebisque.livejournal.com/) of late? Her real name is Cait and she's from Canada. She used to post on the different Kawaii communities here quite regularly.

I paid her for a commission back in July, and after receiving a concept sketch, I haven't heard anything. I know she suffered a loss in her family around that time, but it's been almost 6 months now since I've heard anything from her. I'm not so concerned with the commission as I am with her personal well-being, because I really don't think she'd scam me (I've dealt with her before without any problems).

If anyone has heard from her, could you please comment and let me know? Or Cait, if you're reading this, please comment or email me and let me know that you're alright!

HAPPY THANKSGIVING EVERYONE (tomorrow)!!


http://bittersweetblog.wordpress.com/2006/11/07/gobble-gobble/


We hope that you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving, filled with love and peace and harmony!

Amongst my other blessings, I'm giving thanks for having this wonderful group of people in my life. :o)


Here are some turkey patterns, in case you have nothing to do with yourself today. ;o)
Okay, how about for NEXT Thanksgiving? (I know I should have done this sooner, but having to move to a hotel in a hurry, while the owners of our house are replacing the roof, I apparently left my brains behind - along with a lot of other things we need!)

( pattern links here... )

Have a wonderful holiday!!

Shop ACRYLICANA!


(click image to enter shop)

Over 200 items in stock!
New items added daily.

NEW high quality acrylic charm jewelry and accessories!
HUGE clearance section!!
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All items feature original artwork to the Acrylicana Brand. Wholesale orders available for retailers and boutique owners.

Here's a few of the things I'm bringing to the craft sales this weekend:

( See the rest. )

I have a wooden stand for displaying my necklaces, it was graciously given to me by another necklace-maker, but it has her name burnt into the wood. What's the best way to cover this up? Should I try spray painting it (all I have is black) or should I hot glue some fabric to it?

Hey everyone -- I am moving to Boston (from New York) and one thing has been keeping me up at night... how will I ever familiarize myself with a whole new city's hidden crafting gems? In addition to not knowing anyone in Boston other than my boyfriend, I don't know the first thing about where to go to buy anything there.

Where do you get your stuff? I knit, hand embroider, draw and have been attempting some painting lately, and am often looking for all kinds of general materials. Lately I've been itching to carve my own stamps. Tell me where you go and where it is (a link if you can manage it), from the big chains to small indie stores.

Thank you!

Sooo... it's getting to be about that time.

Next week I'll be spending three days, back and forth, at the hospital participating in that PAH study I mentioned a few months back. Somehow time just flew right by. I shouldn't be surprised, but it did come up on me faster than I anticipated.

Am I worried? Not terribly. My parents still aren't thrilled, particularly Mom, but there's nothing that I can say that would really make anyone understand.

Mom made rather silly comment on Monday when I was over for breakfast after my monthly lab work, "Do you really want to be a guinea pig?"

My reply to that was, "I've been a guinea pig since the day I was born. That's a rather silly question, don't you think?"

It took her awhile to digest that comment and I'm pretty sure Dad knew what I was getting at.

So tomorrow (today) is a very belated monthly visit to see Family Doc. There's a ton I wanna have him fix, but I know the likelihood of any of it panning out is prolly nil. Pain issues need some serious addressing, insurance papers need to be returned and hopefully have been filled out, eating issues are frustrating me to death, my lungs are all crackly at night and of course there's always discussion about next week.

The upside of tomorrow (not that I've noticed there ever being a downside to seeing Family Doc) is that we're headed to Banff for Pasta Buffet night at the Rimrock Hotel with friends. I can't believe we've been going without fail every year for the last.... Oh God, I don't even know how many years it's been anymore. It's just that awesome. The annual "let's see who can garlic themselves out first" is always great fun. The only disappointment is that I can't eat as much as I'd like. Puking will probably be inevitable. *sigh*

Next week will be rather hellish:

* Tuesday is the interview with the Rheumatologist
* Wednesday is PFTs + Bloodwork (and more bloodwork on top of THAT bloodwork) and Chest X-rays(?)
* Thursday is ultrasound and then I hang around twiddling my thumbs until the actual procedure is done, which I'm told is scheduled around noon.

Lots of toys will be brought on Thursday to keep The Hubbs entertained (distracted?) during the whole period we're there.

So yea, that's the lowdown for the next week.

(Total unrelated side thought: We put up our brand spankin' new Christmas lights up on the pillar outside the front door on the weekend. They're awesome. They're either going to cause someone to have a seizure OR it'll encourage martians to stop by and say hi with all the insane blinkiness. Srsly.)

I picked up an old breadbox at the Salvation Army for 3.99. It was pretty grimy and weirdly black inside, but I rubbing alcohol-ed that sucker to within an inch of its life to get it clean, and then gave it a light sanding, primed it, and gave it a good coat of spray paint.

Before: breadbo-RING!



( After: Bread-SEXY! )