Archive of Marcia's Musings April 29-May 5, 2002Sunday, May 5, 2002
Happy Cinco de Mayo!!
We did our celebrating last night with a nummy dinner at Case Lupe-- love that joint!! Quatro de Mayo has to be celebrated somewhere, right? It might as well start with us!!
More Dead Rats
This morning, we headed off to Costco where I bought "Michael J. Fox - Lucky Man". I've been thinking about buying that book for awhile but kept forgetting about it until I saw it. I've got that now and another essay book of Barbara Kingsolver's so I think I'm set for reading material. I also picked up "Spy Game" (with Robert Redford and Brad Pitt); that looked good on the previews but I never got to the theatre to watch it. "Training Day" also found its way into my cart-- I've gotta see a bad Denzel Washington cuz I almost can't believe that he can do it!! My friend, Nina, lent me "Shrek" so I'll get to see what the hoopla about it is all about, too. Lots of stuff to do when I want to be distracted and, when I want to pay attention, I've got a little hand-sewing and some quilt-tying to do, too.
We followed up the Costco run with a grocery store run. I've got my vegetables portioned out for my lunches so that Brian doesn't have to mess with "A" vegetables anymore than throwing them in the microwave for me. I've also got celery cut up and melons cubed (I picked a wonderfully ripe honeydew melon today!) and ready to roll. Besides the fact that he's a wonderful cook, it'll make it easier on both of us if he doesn't have to weigh and measure everything he gives me. Sooooo, the more I can make up ahead of time, the better off he'll be and the happier I'll be in my points range.
It gets better, doesn't it?
I gotta hope that I can only comprehend that after the pain of the surgery, I won't wake up in pain in my knee like I did this morning. I must've had it either too straight during the night or bent too far but it was hurting so much, that it woke me up!! It was around 7 so I just grabbed my icepack and sat our in the living room reading a Sunset magazine. Of course, Sunset's "Celebration Weekend" is going to be May 18-19 which means I won't be able to go-- I really liked it the one time that we went, too!!
More Preparation
I've gotta clean up my sewing room a bit better since it doubles as my office. I won't be able to sew after my surgery for awhile (since my leg will need to be in an "up" position, as opposed to hanging down off of a barstool sewing) so I need to organize it so that I can pick it up when I'm ready to start up again. More importantly, I need to get my office organized so that I can function in here without having to move stuff all over the place every time I need to move my leg or whatever. Tonight, that is my task: Organize and clean my sewing space and put fabric away and clean off the top of the sewing table.
The good news? You'll get to see a picture of the platform that Brian built for my free motion sewing-- I leave it up all the time because it is really helpful with everything but it really is great for the free motion stuff, too.
******
Well, I guess its time to get to it-- take care and have a nice evening!
Saturday, May 4, 2002Rat Killin'
When I lived in Texas, I learned a number of colorful phrases one of which was "rat killin'". To anyone else, it was running errands but to Texans, they'd go out on a Saturday and kill a mess o' rats . . . apparently.
The reason that I bring this up is because that's what I did today: I have things that I need to do that I'm not going to be able to do for a number of days or weeks so I had to do them all today. I needed some blush make-up so I went and bought some at Macy's; I needed a white suit jacket so I went to JC Penney (who still carries Sag Harbor, thank you very much); I needed some yarn for the next two nieces' afghans so I went by JoAnn's and, of course, four pieces of fabric jumped into my cart because they were too darn cute to pass up; and then, I finally came home.
Then Leah [no, she hasn't posted-- I just wanted to remind you of who I was speaking of ;>)] called and wanted to know where she could find matching fabric for Landon's and Danielle's quilts so . . . I went back out to try to find it for her to make curtain valances for their new bedrooms. I was only half-successful but I have an idea that should work for the other half. Leah's going to check a couple of stores up in Canada to see if she can find a matching fabric for Danielle's valance but I have an idea that should work if she doesn't strike it lucky.
Yes, it has been a busy day and lots and lots of rats are dead allllllll over Sunnyvale!!
Tomorrow won't be quite as bad but will be full of errands, too: I need to go to Costco to see what I can find for books and movies to keep me entertained while immobile (or pretty much immobile). I've got some quilt-tying to keep me busy if I feel the need to be creative but, sometimes when you're in some pain but need a mild distraction, a good book or mindless movie tend to come in handy.
Tonight, because we won't be able to do so for awhile, we're going to go out for dinner; we're just going to the little Mexican joint down the road that we like but it should be nice for us.
Later that same day . . .
I am never one to give up easily!! You could say that "Tenacious" is my middle name!! (You could but I probably wouldn't answer!)
I started looking online again for the fabric that Leah wanted for Danielle's valance and, this time I was successful!! Yeah!!!!! I just ordered two yards to be sent directly to the Syroids (hopefully-- I can't get a confirmation on the shipping address from the company!). I feel relieved about that and I know Tom & Leah are excited at being able to coordinate everything in Danielle's room!!
*********
Okay, back to the mundane . . . I want to do some quilting today. I've done my rat killin' and my napping (I didn't mention it directly but, come on folks, you know me by now!) and I'm ready to have some fun!!Thanks for stopping by and come on back any time-- have a nice evening while you're at it, too!!
Friday, May 3, 2002Thanks!!
So many have already written to send their get-well wishes to me and I haven't had the surgery yet!! Thanks SOOOOOO much!! Both Brian and I appreciate this community that we have come to know called the Internet and, when something like this happens, it just reminds you that the Internet isn't that big afterall!!
Preparations are afoot both at home and at work. My new computer was supposed to have been delivered and set up for me today, after I left the office. I'm going to go into the office tomorrow (or at least at some point over the weekend) to pick it up and try to make it work from home. If I have problems with that, I need it fixed NOW, not two weeks or two months from now! I'm probably going to bring my keyboard from the office home and, if needed, the docking station as well so that I can plug the keyboard and the mouse in-- I can't work off of a laptop keyboard for more than an hour without going completely crazy so anything that I can do to ease that problem will help.
As for the home preparations, I stopped tonight and picked up a set of crutches-- they're sized "tall" but I think they work for me (like I have any base of comparison!) and, God forbid something ever happens to Brian, he'll be able to use them, too. I wanted the weekend to practice with them so I can get this right but, as Brian points out, the pain in my knee will remind me how to "walk" with them. Also, I had my annual mammogram scheduled for two days after my knee surgery but, frankly, I don't want to try to have to balance on one foot with crutches while I'm getting "squeezed"-- unfortunately, you get that picture, don'tcha?!?!? I've rescheduled that for mid-June to ensure that I'm recovered and as balanced as I usually am so that I can do the appropriate tricks required for the procedure.
I wrote John and the two directors that I support an email today to let him know my schedule and plans for work over the next couple of weeks. I copied the director of the maintenance renewal sales team but her reaction was: "Okay, we won't bother you!" My response? "NOOOOOOOO!!!!" That is, afterall, the whole point of "working from home", ya know? I did pick a good time, if one can do that though: middle-of-the-month as opposed to the end-of-month time and not an end-of-quarter month. Also, no one is on vacation or on jury duty so I've pretty much nailed the best time frame that I could have for this whole thing. I'm really glad that they could get me in that quickly-- that does make it easier!!
'Nuf Said
Enough of that! I've got placemats and table runners to finish so that I've got hand-sewing to do while I'm out. I've got to practice my free motion stitching as well because I want to use that for some of the quilting that I have to do over the next couple of days.
Gotta run-- thanks for coming by and, of course, have a great evening!
Thursday, May 2, 2002Well, That's Over!!
The "Wait" is over!! Yeah!!! Now we at least know how to fix the problem: Surgery. There are four things that he's going to fix that are on the front, middle and back portions of my knee and then there's a medial-repair that he's going to see that may need to be done. All together, if the fourth thing is done, I may be required to be on crutches for up to three weeks. The confirmation of the torn meniscus didn't happen with the MRI-- its still just a suspicion but I don't see how I would have pain if it were just the bone spurs and cartilage problems that he described so it almost has to be a torn meniscus. Oh, well, at this point, it doesn't much matter-- it'll all get fixed no matter what.
There is some cost involved for us but it is nominal compared to what it could be if I don't get it fixed now: Total Knee Replacement. Needless to say, that isn't my idea of a good time and it is better to get it fixed now rather than waiting and putting it off so that I'm in constant pain going forward.
So far that we can plan, I'll be completely out of work on Wednesday, the surgery day but then, I should be able to work from home using my brand-spanking new laptop with the sorrowful dial-up connection I'm on through the modem. (Oh, well.) That gives me time to get used to using the crutches because of working from home for a week or so, and then Brian will drive me to work and pick me up so that I don't have to figure out how to get into the building on crutches with my purse and my lunch and my crutches and my . . . you get the idea.
Now, at least, I can sleep tonight-- that's important.
Other than that . . .
There hasn't been much going on around here today-- I went to work this morning but wasn't able to concentrate much on it. Tomorrow I'll have to finish up a couple of contracts and then, next week, I'll have two days to finish stuff up before I go out. Working from home isn't what its cracked up to be, I'm afraid. I don't think I operate as efficiently and because of the dial-up connection, it is certainly not as efficient.
**********
With that I'm off to see what trouble I can get into tonight. You have a nice evening, 'kay?
Wednesday, May 1, 2002Happy May Day
No, that does not mean that I'm happily lost at sea although sometimes . . . but I digress.
Work was work and since then, its been home sweet home. Thank heaven for blessings like a wonderful husband and loving doggie!!
Brian helped me lay out a couple of quilts in the backing/batting/quilt top sandwich. He doesn't have to help but it does make it easier-- especially with my knee.
Speaking of which . . . I've got an appointment tomorrow to find out what the results of the x-rays and MRI were, i.e., do I have a surgery or not? I'll be glad to find that out finally!!
I'm going to start the fringe on my nephew's afghan tonight. Who knows, I might get lucky and get that out in the mail before the end of next week!! It could happen-- it could!!
Well, it isn't "How-To" night because of the KTEH auction but there's always HGTV. Whatever--
Thanks for coming by and have a nice evening!
Tuesday, April 30, 2002Better . . .
It was a better day today. Among other things, I'm getting a new computer. Part of my problem yesterday was that my Outlook stopped sending email at one point yesterday. Everytime I hit the "send" button, it locked up and started to pull a "not responding" thing on me. Not good. Eventually-- about the third time that this crashed-- it stopped recognizing me as a person. Definitely not a Good Thing. I had my admin get ahold of the MIS people but, after an hour and a half of waiting for them, I called because we hadn't heard anything from them. (Lately, not hearing anything from them is difficult to understand-- they've been much better about responding to calls.)
The supervisor came over and sat down at my computer. He did "some things" including looking at and re-setting settings. (I don't know-- I watched but none of it was anything I understood.) Then, he asked me how old my computer was and, after a little thought, I determined that it was between 3 and 4 years old. He looked surprised. Apparently, they don't have live that long enough-- I apparently treated this machine pretty good! ;>)
He pronounced that I needed to ScanDisk and defrag both drives, copy everything from my "My Documents" folder to the main servers and then, he would write an email recommending a new computer be purchased for me. I'm still not sure that I understand why but part of the problem was that Windows 98 starts "eating" applications-- Outlook was the first and, at that time, he didn't know what would be next.
Well, overnight he sent out his emails and copied it to the director who doesn't have it in her budget to buy a new computer so she forwarded it to the General Counsel who decided that I needed to have a computer so that I could do my job. For those of you who may understand this, I'm getting a new IBM T-series laptop with about 28gig of hard drive space and 256 plus modem, CD player, etc. I have no idea what all of that means except that it is different enough to require a different porting station at work. Fun.
Oh, by the way, this morning, we found out the next application to be "lunch": Word. I copied a paragraph in one document and went to paste it into another document but, something completely different is what ended up getting pasted there. I don't know why-- it isn't my job to figure that out.
Guess what appeared on my desk this afternoon? A loaner machine!! Yeah, the piece of... the old computer is gone and I've got a newer one to use for a few days until the brand new one comes in!! I'm just thrilled-- in case you couldn't tell-- except for all the settings that I have to re-set and the programs that I have to reload and, oh, yes, I'll have to repeat that process when the new machine comes in, too.
Oh, I know-- beggers can't be choosers, right? Well, why can't anyone figure out how to copy settings? Oh, no, nevermind-- don't answer that. With my luck, everyone else can figure it out but not my MIS department-- don't even tell me, okay?
The Rest of the Story . . .
Remember Paul Harvey? Well, that's who used to say that-- I remember listening to my sisters listen to it! ;>) That is but a part of the reason that I had a bad day yesterday. The rest of it wasn't that peachy either but, today was better and that's always a Good Thing.
Stats and Searches
Due to the fact that there have been some questionable individuals hitting my site from different search engines, I won't be quoting any of the searches, however comical, that have been roaming their way into my site. Trust me, there's one individual that I'm sure didn't like the email that Brian sent him. :>)
Anyway, stats were great again this month and, as always, that is appreciated by me and Sally both. I haven't had much call to update my quilting page lately but I'm likely to do so soon enough. Brian built a platform that I can use for my free motion sewing so I've got to show you that fairly soon.
With that, however, I'm off for the night-- early post and all!! I'm cooking dinner (pork chops and zucchini) and there's always quilting to do!!
Have a great evening!
Monday, April 29, 2002Crapola Day
Is that how you spell that? Like it matters.
I didn't have a good day at work until I got home. Long story, naked city-- am not going to pay the shopkeeper for that one so . . . maybe another time.
Thank goodness I have a wonderful, creative, intelligent husband to come home to and, of course, Sally.
It IS Who you know!!
One of my co-workers is married to an aspiring politician-- Michael is sick of seeing the politics of the City of San Francisco getting more and more mired in . . . politics. He's going to put up a good fight, I'm sure. I know if I lived in San Francisco, I'd vote for him!! There's a good article about him over at the San Francisco Sentinel-- check it out!
Good luck, Michael!!
Harry Potter
I forgot to mention that I finished the fourth book in the series of Harry Potter adventures. I can't wait for the next installment!! These are amazingly well-written books with only a few things that are designed in for the younger reader. I'm actually looking forward to the next installment and regret not having this left for my reading enjoyment at night!
**********
On to some major stress relief . . . have a good evening!
Current Musings
Return to 2002 Archives
Return to 2001 Archives
Return to 2000 Archives
Return to 1999 Archives
All Content Copyright © 1999, 2000 Marcia L. Dykstra. All Rights Reserved.