Just so I remember someday

If I ever get my paws on a big wad of money, here's what I'd do for Casa de Jammies:

Have the property line delineated, then have a pro go through the western edge and clean out all the brush and other crap, then put up a fence.

Strip off the siding and have it replaced with brick.

Have an addition put on my bedroom, a big room that is half bathroom, half dressing room.

Have a deck built that wraps around the side and entire back of the house.

Have someone dig, mulch and border some new flower beds for me to play in.

One of these days, I should buy a lottery ticket. There are two problems with that plan. First, I took Probability in college, and it was the only math course in which I did well. I am all too aware of how poor the odds are for winning. Second, the lottery drawings in Ohio are too frequent. In order to sustain a chance to dream about all my ideas for a week, I'd need to buy 7 tickets. So I'll just cherish this thought when it comes to me for fifteen minutes at a time, and then let it go with a sigh.

Inspired by Mike

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CRS Syndrome

I was yakking with Mallie, looking at macros on I Has a Hotdog and playing "Duelling Banjos" on Bigfoot's side, which I do whenever he comes and leans on me. I thought of something I should write about here, opened up the "Create New Post" window, and promptly forgot whatever it was. Yup, I'm getting old.

So instead of whatever it was I was going to write about, I'm reduced to sharing snippets.

I thought of Scott when I got a Spam e-mail titled "The quicker pecker-upper" (a play on a paper towel tagline).

I'm currently reading "The Perfect Scent" by Chandler Burr and enjoying the heck out of it. I just finished "21 Dog Years", and I'm wondering when the subtitle changed from "Doing Time @ Amazon.com" to "A Cube-Dweller's Tale."

Lush's Olive Branch is the perfect smoky orange scent and I wish they made everything in this--I would buy it and walk around smelling like this all day.

Today I had my annual OB/Gyn checkup, and Hot Doctor was cute and funny and charming as always. One funny moment--as I was checking in and going over insurance stuff, the UPS guy arrived, and when asked for the name on the package, looked at it very quickly and said "Dr. Bits." *snerk*

My MS Walk sponsorships are up to six, even if none of you blog readers has offered. :P

Oh, and I am loving the new Lowe's commercial with the bear.

And I still can't remember what I was going to post when I opened up the window.

Nice to have a nice day at work

MegaBookMan reviewed the book I'm going to be building tomorrow, and said that there were things that needed fixed, but none of them were with the stuff I'd done, it was all older stuff from earlier editions. Then he entrusted me with his CD stuff, and I got that done. I also did the CDs for my book for this week, plus a Federal litigation book someone else is building.

The FTC had the nerve to release a new report after I'd converted the old one to TIFF files and uploaded it, so I had to re-do that part of a different book.

On my third in-progress book, I ran around in circles for a while, then asked Galahad for help on the step I was missing, and finally got the new material loaded to the server.

It was nice to have a productive day where I didn't feel stupid and overwhelmed. :)

April 26, 2008

I'm doing the Akron MS Walk this year with Goldilocks and Kat. If anyone happens to be interested in sponsoring me, drop me an e-mail and I'll send you a link. If you don't already have my e-mail address, you don't need my full name. ;-)

"Waiting on the World to Change"

Me and all my friends
We're all misunderstood
They say we stand for nothing and
there's no way we ever could
Now we see everything that's going wrong
with the world and those who lead it
We just feel like we don't have the means
to rise above and beat it

So we keep waiting
waiting on the world to change
We keep on waiting
waiting on the world to change

These lyrics to the song by John Mayer make me very sad. The song itself is quite catchy--I find myself humming or singing it throughout the day. The lyrics, though, sound defeatist and apathetic. I can't help contrasting them with the lyrics to Marvin Gaye's "What's Going On?"

CHORUS #1:
Picket lines and picket signs
Don't punish me with brutality
Talk to me, so you can see
Oh what's going on, what's going on
Yeah, what's going on, ah, what's going on
Ahhh....

Mother, mother, everybody thinks we're wrong
Ah but who are they to judge us
Simply 'cos our hair is long
Ah you know we'ver got to find a way
To bring some understanding here today

I just keep thinking that you can't wait for the world to change, you need to change it yourself, and sending out a message that it's okay just to wait is doing the world a disservice.

*sigh*

Goodbyes and hellos

Nothing world-shaking, but my experiment in soap-selling has come to an end. I gave myself a year to see if I could break even, and since I didn't, there is no more Cockamamie Soaps. I'll keep the molds and still make the occasional obscene soap for gifts, but selling them is not going to happen.

Another small goodbye is to the razor I've had since high school. Schick is no longer making blade cartridges for my beloved "Personal Touch" razor, so I've been looking around and experimenting. I have to roll my eyes a bit at razors with boobs on the handle, vibrating razors, razors which have solid lotion surrounding the blades, scented razors--what's next, the iRazor, which plays mp3s while you shave? I just want something that fits my hand comfortably and shaves my legs. Is that so much to ask?

I'm also not sure I'm going to be able to re-read The House that Jack Built by Robert Asprin and Linda Evans, since I just found out that Aleister Crowley, who is a minor character in the book, would have been thirteen at the time the book is set, and not the established occultist/Satanist/author/The Great Beast he later became. Unfortunately, somehow Asprin & Evans neglected to do a little bit of research, and knowing that is probably going to jar me out of the world of the book when I try to re-read it. That's a shame, because I loved the whole series, and I am saddened by the sloppy work on the part of the authors.

My first hello is to Don Foster's Author Unkown: On the Trail of Anonymous. I am absolutely loving this book. The subject matter (literary analysis) is fascinating and the author writes without academic pretension and condescension, which is pretty good for a professor.

I'm also saying hello to all of the paperwork spread across my kitchen table. I absolutely need to get my taxes done so I can pay all of these bills from my January hospital stay, oh joy.

And I'd like to say a welcome back to Scott, who's resumed blogging, and a please stick around to Becs, who was waffling about continuing to blog. I like both of your blogs too much to have either of you disappear, got it?

A little out of step

I spent the first hour at work today wondering why everyone was wearing green. Then someone sent out an e-mail that to celebrate her Irish heritage, she had made soda bread and it was available for everyone.

Oh. Ooops. I work black with royal blue accents today.

There are two reasons I didn't wear green today. The first is that mid-March has always meant middle little brother's birthday. He turned forty last week and he was NOT taking phone calls. It's also the birthday of the inimitable KellyGirl. I'm far more interested in celebrating natal days for friends/family than almost any other holiday.

The second is that I'm still not completely in sync with the whole corporate culture thing. Coming from a small office where we didn't need to do things to "forge a team spirit," I'm out of the habit of dressing in colors for holidays.

Ah well, at least I didn't wear orange.

It's been a bit more than a year

since I had my ovaries removed, and apparently I grew some stones in their place!

A friend had warned me that there was a chance that a check she'd written me would be returned NSF. It was for $10 and she's having a hard time right now, so no biggie and I just allowed for it when I balanced my checkbook.

Last night, as I was doing the telephone banking thing, I discovered that my credit union had taken $10 out of my savings account and charged me $30 for the NSF check.

This morning, I called the credit union, and was polite but persistent. The woman with whom I spoke kept saying that I'd have to ask my friend to cover the fee, as they charged it because it was took time and work to deal with a bounced check. She tried to tell me that they charge "significantly less" than national banking chains, to which I replied, "I had an account with Huntington until last December, and they charge $2 more--that is not a significant difference."

Finally, I said, "If you would like me to go back to a strictly cash economy and stop putting any money at all in your bank, I will do so." She then said she would speak with her manager and call me back. Twenty minutes later, the phone rang, and with much condescension about this being a one-time courtesy thing blah blah blah, they'd remove the charge.

Ha! I didn't know I had it in me. :)

Please don't settle

In the last twelve months, I've talked to a few newly diagnosed MS'ers. Most of the time, the best I can do is offer support--a shoulder to cry on, a promise that it's not the end of everything. A lot of the advice I give came from my MS guru, Patty. If it's an interwebbienetz friend, I point her to Queen Mediocretia's blog as proof that there's life after diagnosis, to the MS Society website for information and/or to Jooly's Joint for chat.

The one piece of advice that I never heard from anyone was "Please don't settle" and it needs to be said to anyone diagnosed with any kind of life-altering disease. For me, that was MS, so I had to not settle for the first neurologist I saw.

That guy was an arrogant, patronizing jerk who was upset because my diagnosis had been made by my primary care doc and the hospital radiologist. He kept insisting lupus hadn't been completely ruled out, ignored at least two pertinent questions from me, and essentially said I needed to subject myself to a spinal tap so he could make a "proper" diagnosis.

Being me, I bitched and stewed about it, but thankfully Zayrina was around to figuratively slap me upside the head and remind me that there are other neurologist in NE Ohio. I got a referral from a friend, went to the Mellen Center, and wound up with a neurologist who listens to me, doesn't talk down to me, and is someone I am comfortable with having a lifelong relationship with.

For anyone who's newly diagnosed with anything long-term and/or life-altering, please don't settle. Keep looking until you find the right doctor.

From Lisa, at Brass and Ivory:

MS Awareness, Blogging Friends, and a little Link Love

There are at least 137 MS Bloggers out there actively discussing whatever suits their fancy. Below you will find many of these suspects....wait... I mean lovely blogger friends who happen to have multiple sclerosis.

Remember how I mentioned a group project was in the works? Well here it is. As the founder of the Carnival of MS Bloggers, I'd like your help in spreading the word, and in doing so we will strengthen the bonds of our own little Multiple Sclerosis Blogging Web (and share some linkie love with each other). If you are not an MS Blogger, but are a regular reader here, please feel free to help spread the word too.

Here's what you do:

Copy the entirety of this post
Create a new post and paste this content
Visit 3 of the blogs listed below which you were unfamiliar
Leave a comment on their blog encouraging them to participate
Please add Brass and Ivory to your sidebar, if it's not already
New editions of the Carnival of MS Bloggers will be presented bi-weekly at Brass and Ivory. Previous editions will be are archived here and the button below has been revised to include the new link. Please update your sidebar.

Names of the Blogs - Name of Blogger (if known)and # of posts in 2008 (as of 3/5)

Tokyo Girl Down Under
Mima's Doings
Mark and MS
Home Sweet Home (Jennifer)

9 Brand New MS Bloggers joined the blogosphere in 2008!!

New! Carole's MS Blog (Carole) 49
New! Great Mastications (Orla) 37
New! Movin' On with MS (Sammie) 26
New! Me, Myself and MS (Emma) 10
New! Being Ammey 8
New! Blogbuster (Daniel) 6
New! Etsy Crest (Shelby) 6
New! Serina's Blog 5
New! I'm Beating MS (Michael) 2

Most Prolific MS Blogger - so far in 2008!!

Jim's Deep Thoughts (Jim) 231

Top 10 Rather Prolific MS Bloggers - so far in 2008!!

A Stellarlife (Diane) 109
Merely Me's Multiple Synchronicities (& Sclerosis) 90
Friday's Child 70
My Journey - Living Well with MS (Diana) 69
Sunshine and Moonlight (Kim) 65
The MonSter Ate My Branes! (Natalie) 65
Queen Mediocretia of Suburbia 60
Brass and Ivory (Lisa) 56
Brain Cheese (Linda) 52
Maybe I'm Just Lazy (Julie) 51

28 Moderately Prolific MS Bloggers - so far in 2008!!

Maggsbunny (Maggie) 48
Living with Multiple Sclerosis (TC) 47
MS My Way (Callie) 43
Bugs, Bikes, Brains (Shauna) 39
Dancing with MS (Lazscott) 37
Trying to Catch My Breath 37
A Florida Journal (SwampAngel) 35
Now We Are Six (Tish) 33
Reality Check (Michael) 32
Access Denied (Herrad) 31
Multiple Sclerosis Blog (Charles of MSBpodcast.com) 30
MS Activist (NMSS) 29
Self-injecting Chinese Hamsters since 2007 27
Shirl's the Girl (Shirley) 27
Disabled Not Dead (Anne) 26
Life with MS (Trevis) 26
Living with MS (Blinders Off) 25
White Lightning Axiom - Redux (mdm) 25
Stevers! 23
Word Salads (Have Myelin?) 23
Danieldoo (Vivian) 22
Caregivingly Yours (Patrick) 20
Deo Volente (Lisa N) 20
Down the MS Path (Vicki) 19
Do You Have That in My Size? (Denise) 17
Jenn's Nook (Jenn) 17
Fingolimod and Me (Jeri) 16
Human Life Matters (Mark) 16

51 Mildly Prolific MS Bloggers - so far in 2008!!

A Life of Learning with MS 15
Behind Blue Eyes (Zee) 15
Katy and Mike's Adventure (Katy) 15
Living Life as a Snowflake (Sharon) 15
Mandatory Rest Period (Kim) 15
MS Maze (Mandy) 15
My Journey with MS (Christina) 15
The Multiple Sclerosis Companion (Pat) 15
'Tis Herself (Kell) 15
A Short in the Cord (Joan) 14
Blindbeard's MS Blog 14
Bubbie's Blog (Cathy) 14
One Crazy Chick (Chris) 14
Pat's Pond (Pat) 14
Rants and Musings (Cutter) 14
G and K's Mom 13
MS Toolkit 13
Newly Diagnosed with MS (Andrea) 13
One Life (Stephen) 13
MS Not Just a Diary (Doug) 12
Rayne's World (Jayme) 12
Chaos Personified 11
My MS Journal (Jaime) 11
Purely Patsy (14 yr old Patsy) 11
Victoria Plum - Technician! (Victoria) 11

26 Less Prolific MS Bloggers - so far in 2008!!

Broken Clay (Katja) 10
Mark Pickup (Mark) 10
My Chain Driven Ride through Life in Alaska (Michelle) 10
Deborah Does Navel-Gazing (Deb) 9
Funky Mango's Musings 9
Inside the Mind of a Squirrel 9
Living Well with MS (Michon) 9
No Time for MS (Courtney) 9
Sorting It All Out (Michael) 9
Travels With Lucy (Virginia) 9
MS Caregivers (Prudence) 8
Can You Hear Me Now? (Donna) 7
Irreverence is Justified 7
Multiple Sclerosis Notes 7
My Tysabri Diary (Lauren) 7
Chris Has MS (Chris) 6
Diary of MS X (7 Divas) 5
Electrical Disturbance (Stephan) 5
Know Multiple Sclerosis 5
MS in the OC (Frank) 5
MS News and Notes (Deb) 5
MS Recovery Diet Blog (Ann) 5
The Endomorph (Ruth) 5
The Jaws of My Life (Jaws) 5
Time to Deal with MS (Homer) 5
YodaMamma MS & More 5

38 Barely Prolific MS Bloggers - so far in 2008!!

Some of these folks have multiple blogs or co-blog and are loved none-the-less!! Let's help spread the love and let them know that WE know they are appreciated.

Carolyne's MS Odyssey (Carolyne) 4
Defeating Illness (Chris) 4
Intent, Context, Perception (Chris) 4
Libbi's MS Journey (Libbi) 4
MS Recovery Diet Blog (Judi) 4
My Autoimmune Life 4
The Life & Times of Sancho Knotwise (JM) 4
The Zen Pretzel Trick (Zen Angel) 4
When it's Raining... (Keeley) 4
Kebenaran - The Truth 3
Montana Homecoming (Sister Jane) 3
Ms Quill 3
Reality Chick (Keli) 3
Catch My Disease (Lisle) 2
Clods and Pebbles 2
Dissonance 2
Georgia MS Advocates 2
Lazy Dog Public House 2
Looking Forward with MS (Pamela) 2
Surviving MS in Alaska (Michelle) 2
These Pretzels Are Making Me Thirsty (Trrish) 2
Troy's Multiple Sclerosis Experience 2
You Me and MS (Judi) 2
Camille's MSadventures 1
Comment Column (Virginia) 1
Erik's MS & Lyme Blog 1
Hop Bloody Hop (Philip) 1
Jenn's Journey with MS (Jenn) 1
Living with MS (Cyndee) 1
Mismorphic's World of MS 1
MS Musings 1
MS Real Life Stories & Issues (Kristin) 1
Postcards of My Life (Sherry) 1
Rebooting Times 1
Shoester (Doug) 1
The BS of My MS (Heather) 1
The Perseverant Pincushion (Trish) 1
Tysabri Help (Deej) 1

Having too many items from various posters to count:

LJ Users with Multiple Sclerosis

And finally - 26 MS Bloggers who have been silent in 2008!!

Angst on a Shoestring (Gina)
Dandelion Wine (Lynx)
Doug's MS Journal (Doug)
It's Not All in My Head (Optimist)
Just Above the Abyss (Heidi)
Life with MS , seeking a cure (Karyl)
Managing MS with Tai Chi (Joel)
Managing Multiple Sclerosis (Vince)
Marciarita
Michele's Blog
Mike's Place
MS - My Scene (Virginia)
My Complications (Amanda)
My Demyelination (Tina)
My MS Experience
Object of My Injection (Michelle)
Say It Isn't So (Mouse)
Talk Story with Kimberly
The Great NetXperiment
To Be Continued... (Jaime)
Truth and Beauty (Baraka)
Tryin' to Imagine Bliss (Suzy)
What is MS to Me (Dave)
Willy's MS Rants
Wind Among the Reeds

Hard to categorize:

I Have MS (Tim)
Huggins' MS Pages (James)
MS - A Personal Account
MS Protocols (Jeff)
MSB's Podcast
MSing Around
Multiple Sclerosis Blog and News
Multiple Sclerosis Sucks
OUCH! It's a Disability Thing
Squiffy's House of Fun

I'm too damn lazy to find, copy & paste all the relevant links. You can find them at Brass and Ivory, linked above, and over at Queen Mediocretia's blog.

Act of Faith or Act of Idiocy--you decide

Okay, all ya'll have seen the pics. There's upwards of a foot of snow all over my yard. So what did I buy yesterday?

Two baby lilac trees, that's what. I can't decide if I was affirming that spring would come, reacting to cabin fever, or grieving for the little Korean lilac that might or might not have survived the high winds which uprooted it last fall.

Either way, there are two teeny-weeny little lilacs on my breezeway, waiting for the snow to melt so I can plant them.

Oh, and Bigfoot has decided he'd rather be inside than out.

March is MS Awareness Month in Ohio

And boy, am I aware!

After my snow day yesterday, I needed to do a ton of stuff around the house today. That included shovelling out the driveway. I got clean sheets on the bed, a load of dishes done, the laundry started and suited up and went outside.

After 45 minutes, ⅛ of the driveway was done and my left arm felt as if it was full of broken glass. Whether it's MS-related or the pinched nerve I've had for twenty years, it hurt.

I caved.

I came inside, got the phone book, and started calling plow companies. After about eight calls, I found one that was open today and taking new customers. Right now, there is a scary young man who looks like an extra from Deliverance, is chain-smoking and yelling to himself plowing my driveway.

Despite all the logical arguments, I feel defeated for not being able to shovel my own damn driveway, as if I should have started yesterday while it was still snowing, instead of goofing off all day. *sigh*

Snow Day!

Six to ten inches predicted on top of the four we got yesterday, and no work at Mom's office today. I am going to clean a bit, test perfumes, maybe do laundry, take a midday bath, follow it with a midday nap, watch Shrek the Third and in general pretend that I am a carefree kid who's been let out of school on a test day. :-)

A few pics:

More enabling

For Mom's birthday, I got her six sample lotions from Julphia, and not only does she like the floral scents I chose for her, she likes "having a stash of bath products." Bwahahaha!

When I was in Florida, I gave Mallie a bar of Lush Snowcake soap, which is a Christmas-only almond frosting scent. She loved it so much I wound up getting her more for her birthday, and I know what one of her Christmas pressies is going to be as well.

On Tuesday, when Maresche and I headed downstairs to get bagels, a coworker was behind us and she said, "One of you smells really good." Maresche indicated that it was probably me, and the coworker asked what I was wearing. I said, "Vanilla, sandalwood and orange," and she looked at me and said, "All together?" Wednesday morning I took in a business card and sample of the Julphia conditioner I'd used the previous day. Speaking of Julphia, she's having a hard time with the MS right now, so if everyone would please send lots of good thoughts, that would be great.

And finally, because of my "cheap date" post on Saturday, I've got Scott interested in bath bombs, as long as they're not "girly."

Pretty good enabling scorecard for the week. *buffs nails*

Bark, bark, woof, woof, WHINE!

Every night, Bigfoot does his best Lassie imitation, running from the bedroom to me and back again. All he really wants is for me to go to bed, but you'd think Timmy was down the well doing crack from the urgency in his manner.

NOW! COME NOW! IT'S IMPORTANT! CRITICAL! VITAL!

And all this is so that I can get into my bed, have him jump up, walk across the bed/over me, and jump down onto his own bed.

Dogs!

Wisdom of the Ages

The World According to Plaid and Flannel Jammies.

Dad: There's no such thing as stomach flu. There are just varying degrees of food poisoning.

Mom: Aspirin cures infections.

Dad: Lock your doors!

Mom: That dog needs more exercise and so do you.

Dad: The only Super Glue that doesn't dry up on you is Loctite.

Dad again: The "Close Door" buttons in elevators don't actually work. They are only operable when a fireman needs them.

And of course after thinking about this all weekend, I can't remember the rest of them, so I guess this post is "To Be Continued."

NB: When we were in Florida, Dad needed some Super Glue to fix his teeth. Sherri provided some and mentioned that Loctite glues are the only ones that close tightly enough. When I gave Dad the glue, he said, "I've been saying that for years!"

Who needs booze?

Not me (I'm a cheap drunk anyway), especially when I can get the same effect by combining MS with a too-hot, too-long bath. Tonight I combined a Lush Amandopondo bubble bar with a Tisty-Tosty ballistic, and followed up with lemon sugar lotion. I smell like roses & lemons, which is much better than most drunks smell when they're at the stage where I am!

Plus, I get to cuddle down in my bed and smell yumminess until I pass out.

*happy sigh*