Marquee bumper

If my car's bumper were a marquee sign, these are some of the things I might type (with some hands-free device of course) when I was out driving. Not all are negative either!

• Nice blinker.

• I can only go as fast as the car in front of me. Please get off my ass.

• Just because you have a weighted-down truck with 4WD does not mean it is safe to drive fast in a snow/ice storm. (See: flipped SUVs along the road.)

• Thank you/your family member for your service to our country.

• The public safety employee ones: Driving a police car should not give you the right to weave in and out of traffic. Driving a police car should not give you the right to speed. Driving a police car should not give you right to roll through a stop sign. Driving a police car should not give you the right to hold your cell phone in a hands-free state.

• GET OFF THE PHONE and/or MOVE OVER.

• Learn to merge

• Learn to drive in a roundabout/rotary/traffic circle.

What would you add to the list?

Expensive tastes

One of the stories my Mom has told goes something like this: at an early age, my parents opened a nice bottle of wine. This was before they regularly drank decent wine like they do now. I was probably 10 or so. I took a sip and said, "Oh, that's good." My mom jokes about how I had expensive tastes as a kid.

Recently, BIL guy invited me to tag along for some wine tasting with his friends for a restaurant/selling wine to make money deal with the sales guy. All the wines tasted completely different, but there was one in particular that I loved and was popular across the group. If I remember correctly it was a Cabernet. Not too dry. Had a caramel taste. Smooth. I wanted a brownie to eat with it.

It was the most expensive one there.

BUT, if they bought 10 cases they would get an AMAZING deal on it. BIL guy said he would buy one of the cases, then looked at me and asked if that was okay.

Um. Yeah.

TMI

I can't really figure out how to work the camera on my computer that I've had for nearly 5 years or I would take a picture of my cat deciding my butt was the most comfortable place to sleep.

I seriously wondered what she would do if I farted.

I figured it out.
Doesn't she look comfy?

 This is me wishing I didn't have to *really pee* right now.

Le sighs

You all get to read this because I do not have a roommate to share it with, although I am due for a phone call with one of my oldest friends so I could just tell her. I'm procrastinating on writing and packing though, so blog post it is! I did just fess up to a friend here about one of my crushes after we ran into him on the street. Of course later after I made the stupid decision to read an email from CF at the end of the work week and she kept asking me if I was crying, so I did cry, she got to hear that story too. Oiy.

I was at youth group the other night with VM and his brother and 4 teenage boys. We played Apples to Apples. VM and I picked each other's cards as the winner more often than not, and we were the tying winners. Does it mean anything? Probably not, but it made me smile. That and making him laugh frequently.

I asked RM if he wanted some Beer Advocate magazines I was debating about recycling. This conversation ensued.

I like that he thinks I have a sense of what he would find interesting. Of course we did talk for two hours over some beer the other night with no awkward silences, so he is probably right.

I got to spend the day with both men and others working on a Habitat for Humanity house. I am not having trouble fitting in social time my last month in this Midwest state!

Mosquito arsenal

Warning, and you're welcome: random complaining about mosquito bites includes photos of my most recent.

Some of you readers may have seen the awesome reaction I sometimes get to bug bites. I do not know if mosquitoes like me more than your average human, or I have a stronger reaction to their bites, or both. According to this website, it is entirely possible that I am a cursed mosquito magnet. Regardless, this is my current arsenal for preventing and treating mosquito bites.

I also bought some citronella candles today for when I am sitting on my screened-in, but not sealed, porch to supplement the plug in bug-zapper I have.

The same website linked above suggests that fruits and veggies that are lower in potassium than others help to prevent bites. Apparently this means blueberries, apples, watermelon, cucumbers, cabbage, and green peppers instead of potatoes, prunes, raisins, spinach, bananas, lima beans, and acorn squash. Here are some more prevention suggestions, some of which are repeats so maybe that makes them better to focus on? Down the road, I will consider some of these environmental options for repelling mosquitoes.

Interestingly, I have also read a little about preventing sun burns and sun damage through your diet, and foods high in antioxidants (like blueberries! and tomatoes) can help. Maybe to prevent sunburn and mosquito bites, I should just eat lots of blueberries...

So I spray myself if I leave my apartment or screened in porch, yet this is what I end up with. You're totally welcome for the visual.

The bites on the right actually are not too bad, and I would expect them to heal in a few days if I do not scratch them.

I killed what I think was the mosquito that bit me in the left picture. I was wearing leggings and did not think it got me. Clearly I was wrong, but now it's dead and cannot do this to another person. I think this was from Wednesday night, and it looks a million times better than two days ago. I tried cortisone cream first, then oral antihistimine when that did nothing. It was still itchy, swollen, red, and hot. So for two days I have been applying cortisone cream and antibiotic ointment twice a day and keeping it covered. This has helped, but I am left with what looks like a round bruise. From experience, this could take a very long time to heal. Again, I don't know if this is an extreme inflammation from an allergic response or from an infection, but given that this happens several times a year, I think it is an inflammatory reaction to the actual mosquito. My guess is that I probably have different reactions to different species, but it's hard to compare what they look like when they are squished and your blood is all over your hand after they've sucked you dry.

My niece gets bad reactions too, so my sister and I have talked about this multiple times. DEET has worked to prevent the bites for her this year, and as much as I hate the idea of spraying DEET on myself, maybe it's time to wear long pants and shirts, spray myself with DEET, and shower every night before I go to bed. Yuck (to the DEET, not the showering).

Before...

...Sunset

I just watched Before Sunset. I may have seen it before; I don't remember these things. (Seriously. Try to have a conversation with me about a movie I saw a month ago and I will not be much of a conversationalist. I like to watch movies to escape, not to think and discuss.) (Also, if you want to watch Before Sunset for free, sign up for a HitBliss account!) (Also, I took all of these photos from my house.)

Anyway. The whole movie is a conversation between these two people. You are just listening to Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy talk for ~ 70 minutes. I totally enjoyed it. I will probably watch this movie again. Many things did make me think during the movie and make me a little sad - not in a bad way, but in a I-relate-to-that-sentiment kind of way. It got me thinking about if there was a one time thing that I wish had worked out. (No eye rolling, Mollybee.) It got me wondering if the move I made here to the Midwest was early enough in my relationship that I couldn't have foreseen how it has turned out, or if it should've worked out. It reminded me that there was this guy I date for about a month whose name I cannot remember. He was Guy #5! (I remember Guy #4. He was a good guy. If that had worked out I would've stayed in Boston. {sigh} Oh, and the update on the guys!) It made me realize if there is a movie with these thoughts, I am not the only one who has them, something I have thought about as a good friend of mine is excited about dating and I am dreading it. It made me think about why I have crushes on particular people right now. It made me think about the older man who is a friend of my downstairs neighbor and was around today (remember him, Aim??), and how that would make a good one-night stand. It made me think about the friend of a friend of my friend-who-is-excited-about-dating who lives where I am moving and is single and a dad and supposedly a nice guy. It made me wonder why if I have blocked my ex's phone number I had the option to download a picture message from him. It makes me think about the various lives I would have had if various relationships had worked out (not in a depressing way).

It also made me wonder what I wait for. Not just in relationships, but every day. Why do I come home and sit on my porch and watch the sunset when I have other things I need to accomplish? When will my head feel clear, and when will I feel motivated more often than not? Would a week on a beach alone accomplish this? Is it just a vacation I need or something more?





I love some of the old posts I find when I link back to old stories. I am just linking to them now for my future benefit. Like the story of my now 5-year-old digital camera I was so happy to buy. Or a summary of BFFs. SO many more. Some day, when I have a whole weekend when I do not have to do work, maybe I will read old posts like a journal.

Hope so

Hope...Sometimes hope feels far away. But hope is always there. Hope is the warmth of strong arms around you. Hope is the sad tears flowing, making room for joy. Hope is angry words bursting, making room for understanding. Hope is scared words asking for help, and finding that help is there. Hope is knowing that you are loved. Hope is knowing that you love others. Hope is holding tight to your mother's hand. Hope is your father's good-night kiss. Hope is remembering his kisses when he can't be there with you. Hope is finding happiness in simple things. Hope is daring to do something you've never done before. Hope is remembering that you are not alone. Many others feel just the way you do. Many others care. Hope is a candle flame in the darkness. Hope is the clear sky above the gray clouds. Hope is the glistening of the snow when the storm has passed. Hope is a heart that is open to the world around you. Hope is knowing that things change - and that we can help things to change for the better. Hope is always there inside you, waiting to unfold.

- Lauren Thompson

'Tis the week of the 'hope' candle in advent. 'Hope' is something I have been struggling with. While I think this excerpt is from a childrens' book, it helps separate the idea of hoping from wishing. I am fine with the present. The day-to-day. It is looking ahead to what will be going on 3 weeks or 6 months or 2 years from now that makes me want a glass of wine on my couch and then to curl up in bed.

In other randomness and to get into the holiday spirit, I finally treated myself to a nativity. I had been looking for one that was not super-breakable and not a bunch of white people. I got this from the Serrv shop at church, and they have other lovely ones.

 I got and put up and decorated my lovely tree all by myself. I am self-sufficient like that.

As needy as my cat often seems, you gotta admit she is awfully adorable when she cuddles in like this. She slipped and didn't make it up when she jumped up on a dining chair this evening. She either needs more exercise or is getting old or both.

 

Random weirdness

I do not often remember the anniversary of my thyroidectomy. I do remember to take my replacement hormone daily, like I am menopausal, only not. Yesterday there was something on the radio about an executive at some bank or company that did something stupid who is 'retiring'. One reason cited was that he was recently diagnosed with thyroid cancer. Now I was lucky in the sense that I did not have to undergo the radio-therapy after my surgery, but I have a close friend who did for different reasons, and then there is VW's story that I read too. So I hope no one takes offense at this, but thyroid cancer is the MOST curable cancer. In a medical sense, NBD. Of course as surgery, recovery, isolation during treatment, cancer anniversaries, etc. go, it is a big deal.

What really reminded me of this though, was that I just went to rub my neck and can BARELY FEEL MY SCAR. It has been a little over 4 years, and I can still see it faintly, sure. Right after I had surgery I met a man with much darker skin than mind who barely had a scar just months after his surgery. It bothered me because I took REALLY good care of mine - lotion, sunscreen, it never burned, etc. - and I figured this meant mine would always be super visible. It is true that these scars fade though. :-) Maybe a metaphor for all life's scars?

Dangling shiny objects

I am making progress on my quilt, but have been taking other random pictures in the meantime that I feel like sharing because it does not require much thought to post them. Lazy? Sure, but what ever. :-)

CF visited two weekends ago and we spend several hours putting this puzzle together. I literally had to ask him to stop working on it and keep me company while I put some dinner together. I needed to coach him to work together. Funny thing is, every time we switched spots where we were working, we could get huge sections put together. Team work does work.

I picked up some stick-on nail polish. It works pretty well, actually. I do not think you can tell the extent to which this color is fluorescing pink. It is though. I guess the reason it was on clearance was the polish strip in front was extremely faded to make the unknowing purchaser think it was a nice pale pink. Tomorrow I am going to work at a Habitat for Humanity house, so it will get ruined anyway.

 

My mom special ordered soldier beans and shared them around. This particular type of bean is difficult to find (although maybe not in Maine), but it is the specific type of bean that is supposed to be used in the family's baked bean recipe. I used this one two pound bag to try the recipe in my crock pot, and it came out quite well.

A recent trip to Tar-jay revealed these candles to me. I highly recommend them. This one is citrus-y, and I suppose citrus equals happiness?

While some may not, I TOTALLY get Pinterest and love it. I have bookmarked stuff in the past and never think to go back to it. Or when I have a hankering for a recipe, I spend time searching various food sites for it. I have made a lot of things from my pins though. The most recent was this brownie recipe. Usually when I crave baked goods, it is brownies I want. This is a healthier alternative. Next time, I will probably skip the "caramel" topping and add some apple sauce/caramel flavor/chocolate chips/other to the brownie part. This time around, I also used ~ 1/4 c of honey instead of the fake sugar.

 

I have been buying myself flowers. CF does this a lot, but I just tossed our Christmas poinsettia and the rose plant he had given me when I moved into my current apartment. I saw these calla lilies and couldn't resist.

Flowers always make people better, happier, and more helpful; they are sunshine, food, and medicine for the soul. ~ Luther Burbank, American Horticulturist

Then I started getting all creative and  put out what is probably my favorite song to play on my flute. (That is not me playing...)

 

Last, but not least, my tea is always inspirational...and apparently I have been drinking it since grad school.

I also wonder if this tea is why I was so tired all of a sudden yesterday evening. Maybe the relaxing of the tea works better than I realized?

One time, my grad advisor made some comment about undergrads being easy to work with because you just dangle something shiny in front of them to distract them. Then the undergrad in the lab actually batted at the keys said advisor dangled in front of him. No joke.

A journey

I open the curtains for the cat so if it is sunny, she can lay in the sun, but also so she can look out the windows. I went looking for her last weekend before I left, and she was laying at the foot of the bed in a patch of sun. She did not greet me when I got home a few hours later so I went to look for her again. She was now at the head of the bed in a patch of sun with a clear path of indented comforter from her earlier spot. This is what I suspect happened:

Cited

Funnies seen on Le Pin-terest.

• I don't get drunk. I get awesome.
• You are not stupid. You just have bad luck when thinking.
• If you're happy and you know it, share your meds.
• Wine! How classy people get sh*&faced.
• Real women watch football.
• I usually try to keep my sadness pent up inside where it can fester quietly as a mental illness.
• I didn't see anyone important today, so I'll just wear these clothes again tomorrow.

Ready for my close up

I do enjoy my digital camera - it is an easy-to-use point and click that takes great pictures. A while back, I said something about being ready to upgrade from my Canon Elph 850IS, and my Mom suggested I put it on my Christmas list. The camera I will eventually upgrade to will likely cost a little too much to put on a Christmas list, plus I have not put ANY thought into what camera I want! I do think it will be fun to learn to use a more advanced camera and a macro lens to take close up pictures. In the meantime, my camera does fine taking photos with the macro setting, it is just impossible to tell the camera exactly what I want it to focus on.

The High Line Park in NYC

Hot chocolate with handmade marshmallow from City Bakery.

Tiles on the floor at Ellis Island. (As an aside, if you have any ancestors who came through Ellis Island, the records are mostly or all online now and you can search them!)

Mushrooms from CF's yard.

My kitty...who was just chillin' on the dining room table watching us unlock the door when we came home last night?! She is NOT supposed to be up there.

 Um, strawberries.

Two sides

There are two sides to every story. I get the whole "occupy where ever" thing. Some of those people are unemployed, but some have also decided that this is more important than their job right now.It is impossible to see the whole picture if you are not there.

There are some aspects of news coverage and opinion pieces I value over others.

For example, it helps when you talk to people to figure out what they are about though, as this woman did. [And yes, I linked to a Fox story!!]

...rather than accusing parents of raising their children more poorly than you do and all entitled and pierced. I actually feel sorry for this woman's children. She says nothing is "free". I wonder what they have to do for her respect and love. It she did not write this when she was having a bad day, I would hate to see what she writes if she IS having a bad day.

Randomness

Saw this on someone's wall on the FB just now:

Sometimes people cry not because they’re weak. It’s because they’ve been strong for too long.

(A quick g--gle search attributes this to 'Anon')

Also saw someone write 'iDead', and while I should not have, I laughed.

Also, in the past week I made pumpkin bread, pumpkin cookies, cheese and veggie soup, and sweet potato biscuits. Yum.

Now back to work.

Bug magnet

Warning: unnecessary detail about my reaction to bug bites, but also a review of what I have tried to treat them!

I few weeks ago (luckily AFTER my brother's wedding), my ankle looked like this all doctored up with calamine lotion.

(You are welcome for posting that.)

Then they healed up. Then this weekend I got eaten alive again. Or maybe I have poison ivy too?

Symptoms: My bug bites sometimes just get your average red raised bite that is itchy for a couple of days. Other times I end up with a pretty serious site reaction that gets raised, red, hot, and as it heals looks bruised. This concerns me a bit because it is almost like I get some tissue necrosis at the bite site. My third option for a reaction is dermatitis (I think), just tiny blisters and super itchy. Now that I look online, these worse reactions may be varying degrees of cellulitis.

Treatment: Two things can happen with a bug bite - an immune response and an infection. I have tried various combinations of treatments with this in mind. Usually I put some antibiotic cream on it right away. I started doing this per the recommendation of a doctor friend after her dad was reacting to a 2-day old sting, and she made the point that you never know what bacteria bugs are carrying. I have discovered that the ointments with pain relief seem to reduce the itching too! Then there is calamine, which I think is most helpful at drying them out. I do prefer the clear anti-itch cream over pink calamine for going out in public or to work. This clear lotion is less drying, but does protect the skin and reduce itching. A friend recommended applying Tiger Balm right after showering. This also seemed to work, but my skin reacted to the Tiger Balm so I figured that might not be good. Last time my bites got bad (see above picture) and hot, I kept them clean, used antibiotic ointment, and iced them. I HIGHLY recommend the ice! There is also the classic AfterBite (ammonia), but really this seems to do nothing for me. Spray Benedryl works sometimes if I spray it on RIGHT after getting bitten.

CF swears by spit. Right after he gets a bite, he puts a big ol' finger full of spit on it and does not react. He may also be less allergic to the bites, but whatever. I keep meaning to get some aloe with lidocaine. I figure that should work too.

Here is the biggest problem of all. I sprayed Off DeepWoods with DEET all over myself last night and still felt the mosquitoes biting! But CF and I went to a botanical garden where they display (with a RED sign) a huge poison ivy plant in the 'Injurious Plants' section, and today I went for a walk along a paved river trail where surely there was poison ivy too. I have some "bites" on my ankle that have suspiciously large blisters and are not really itchy, but rather more sensitive. So I either get big ol' blisters in response to mosquito bites or have poison ivy in addition to bites right now. Tonight, I stopped drinking sangria, took an antihistamine, cleaned the areas twice with rubbing alcohol, and put calamine all over. We will see how that goes...

Maybe at some point I should go to a doctor when I have a bad reaction?

Pleasure reading

I obviously do not read often enough before bed.
 
Yes, that is cat hair held in place by cobwebs.

Apparently it is also time to do a thorough cleaning of my apartment.

EWWWWW - when I just looked at the post and zoomed in, there's also a spider on the bottom of the book. Going to clean it right now...

100 things: 81 - 90. Define this!

I don't know how well I fit into a two-party political mold. My guess is that few people do.

81. I support women's rights.

82. I support gay rights.

83. I believe in social safety nets to help people.

84. I do not believe a social safety net equals a free ride in life. You should not get public assistance if you are not helping yourself to earn money, be healthy, or otherwise contribute to society.

85. I love how diverse this country is and how non-U.S. citizens still want to be here even though many of us citizens think it is so awful. I do think you should be able to communicate in English to get a Green Card or citizenship. Especially citizenship.

86. I would probably be considered somewhat fiscally conservative, but see #83 above. I do think that paying taxes is crucial to the country's well-being. Also, I still don't understand quite the rationale behind tax breaks = increased jobs. Anyone have a good explanation?

87. I think our troops and the sacrifices they and their families make are incredible. We owe them a lot.

88. I think a lot about what I can do personally to make where I live better - plant flowers? do something for the schools? conserve energy and water?

89. I have no problem requiring people to have health insurance. My understanding is that one problem with the health care system is uninsured people being treated in ERs and hospitals trying to recover those costs, for example. In fact, if you are on unemployment, you should automatically be enrolled in an insurance plan that is deducted from your unemployment check. That is how it works when you have a job!

90. I do not understand how it is legal for new political leaders to finagle ways to break union contracts. I have a lot of issues with my perception of how unions actually run (not the early intents of why unions happened). But, dude. Aren't contracts legally binding? If not, what's the point of having contracts?!

Hmmmm...maybe it is not so difficult to sorta pigeon-hole me into a political category. However, many of my liberal leanings come with a strong dose of people-should-be-good-people or how-do-we-make-sure-people-don't-take-advantage-of-our-system.

TMI?

I mentioned this a while ago...I would do this man in less than a heartbeat.

Sorry, CF.

Happy Friday.

P.S. This is not my picture. I do not know where I got it. I did not alter it. Etc., etc....