Weird things that have happened as of 6:27 p.m. today

• The bumps on my eyelids are still there... not getting worse, but not significantly better. That's not really weird, but it's important to the next point.
  
• I went to the pharmacy to pick up two Rx for my eyes, the steroid drops I've been using (as a sample) and an antihistamine drop to try to calm them down some more. They're out of the antihistamine, but I can get it tomorrow. OK -- a hassle, but not a huge deal. I literally drive past the pharmacy every day on the way home from work. More importantly, after waiting and waiting and waiting for the steroid (which comes pre-packaged!), they tell me it's going to be $105. WHAT? I have insurance for these things. The (dippy) clerk says "Well, they paid $75..." Yeah, forget it. I'll call the doc tomorrow and find out if there are other options for that price!
• So I come home, to find out they painted the concrete floor in the laundry room today, so I can't do a load of wash as I had hoped.
  
• Even more odd, George-the-cat DOESN'T meet me at the door. Um, what? I come in, put dowm my stuff, and start talking to him, thinking he must have been sleeping pretty hard, and still no cat. Finally he wanders out the bedroom, takes one look at me and runs back in there, under the desk chair. Now, George loves to be under this chair (it's slipcovered, so it's a nice hideaway), but he usually loves me more. I figure I'll give him a few minutes to get his act together before I panic too much...
  
• In the meantime, I'm wondering if the steroid drops need pre-authorization (my allergy pills do)... I look online, and nope, they're a standard tier 3 drug, for which I should be charged $35. I call the pharmacy back, and speak to a pharmacist, who says the insurance company gave them the price, so I have to call Oxford to resolve this. They, of course, closed at 6 p.m.
• George is now sitting by the door, staring at the cedar chest. Dork.
  

Knitting... a sweater?!

I don't know why, but knitting has really enchanted me this fall and winter. One reason is probably that there's a wonderful LYS nearby, and the LQS I like is 45 minutes away! I've been knitting pieces to make kids sweaters for charity, and I made a few Christmas gifts... so I thought I ought to make myself something nice. I'll tell you, making a nice quilt would take far less prep work.

I picked a pattern, and went off to the store. I knew I'd have to swatch -- knit a 6" square to check knitting gauge -- but I didn't anticipate that would lead to three trips to the LYS in five days! It's good -- the LYSO still smiles at me when I come in the door -- but sheesh. We pick a yarn to try, and I get needles in the recommended size. Cast on 30 stitches, and knit for a while. Gauge is close, but not quite right; let's try the lace pattern from the sweater. Good, I can knit that without going crazy. Hmmm... let's try another needle size to nail the gauge. Oops... went the wrong way -- now I have too many stitches per inch. SIGH. Back to the LYS, where she says I have to block my swatch. Huh? She explains what to do, and I go home to try. This is the result:Cool. It's like a completely different object -- the character of the fabric is so different from the fabric right off the needles. But now the gauge is different, and I really don't know what to do -- other than go to the LYS again! We pick the correct needle size, talk about fitting, and I (ahem) changed my mind about the color. It's beautiful, but it's really blue, and kind of stripey in all the finished pieces I could find on Ravelry. Not a fan of the stripey... so I got this instead:

It's Dream in Color Classy (what a dumb name for a lovely yarn!) in Chinatown Apple. I think it looks kind of like dried apples, as I'm starting to knit it up. Slow going on this one... it's a cardigan knit with no side seams, so there are a LOT of stitches in every row! I'd show you the pattern, but I can't find it off Ravelry. If you're a knitter and on Rav, it's called Summer's End.

So, wish me luck. This could be a good or a bad adventure!

And the sun shone down

Yes, the sun shone today, but more importantly, I finished this block for Terri! (Miss December in the birthday block swap.) It's late, to be sure, but it doesn't look half bad, if I do say so myself.

Terri supplied the yellow fabric to all the swappers, and asked us to use only blue and yellow in her blocks. All of hers so far are gorgeous... I hope mine plays well with them. I got the blue batik in a bundle at a quilt show, and the print at home in Michigan over Christmas. It's so pretty... but so directional, which made things more complicated that I really wanted! I'll give it a good pressing, then mail it Monday. That's a very good thing.

It's a mystery

I had to go on Tuesday for my routine bloodletting. (I say that to be dramatic -- it's just a tube of blood every three months or so to check my thyroid function.) Since I have an awesome vein in my left arm, and I'm not afraid of needles, it's not really a big deal. The only pain or discomfort comes from ripping off the bandage later :)

Anyway, I talked with the doctor today about the results, which are unusual. She's been increasing my dose of Synthroid fairly consistently, trying to get me to a "good" TSH number. Three months ago, my TSH was 4. She upped my meds a little, and this week, my TSH is 8. Lower is better. More drugs should lead to a LOWER number. What the heck is going on?! (Two years ago, when I was diagnosed, my TSH was 11. The lowest dose of meds brought me down to 7 or 8, and I've been working my way down ever since. This is annoying!)

The doctor can't really answer the "why" question right now, although it does explain why I've been so exhaused. For now, I'll be increasing my dosage again and having more blood drawn in 10-12 weeks. And I want to do some more independent reading on managing TSH and hypothyroid. I have a great book, but there's definitely more to learn.

OK. Whining over. In the grand scheme of things, this is not that important. It just, well, IS.

Hmmm....

I think my life is boring. I don't have much of anything to say :) Judy asked today how that could be possible -- and I don't really have an answer.

1. I'm working on my (very late) birthday block for Miss December... but there's a lot of precision rotary cutting at this point, and I need to do that during daylight hours. (*See #3 for why.) Pictures when it's done, I promise!
   
2. I'm swatching for a new knitting project. Not very interesting at this point -- a +/- 6" square of navy blue stockinette... now I have to figure out how to count/measure what I've knit!
   
3. I'm anxious to go back to the eye doctor on Monday. Oh, maybe I didn't tell you this...I have some kind of irritation or inflammation or something on the insides of my eyelids. (I had this once before, about 15 months ago.) It makes wearing contacts utterly impossible -- there's a reason contact lenses are so thin! With lumps and bumps in there, too, well, it hurts. Luckily, I recognized it quickly this time, and made an ophthalmology appointment right away. Treatment is basically steroid eyedrops until it goes away. (And yes, once you get this condition, whatever it's called, you get it with some regularity, so it's going to be part of my life now. Yuk.) Anyway: my glasses are scratched and I have a real problem with glare from lights and my glasses and stuff... careful rotary cutting in less-than-ideal lighting would surely lead to unfortunate consequences!
   

And now, I'm sure you'll want to run over and thank Judy for prompting me to share these fascinating tidbits with you. ::snarfle::

Obsession

OK, my brain is going to explode. I've been looking a images (stock photography and illustrations) for about a week now, for a work-related project. Yes, it's fun, but it's also strangely exhausting. Choosing the perfect keywords to capture an idea can be a challenge, and sometimes I can almost see what I want to find, but it's just not out there in a way I can find it.

So, I need help. One of the concepts is "OBSESSION." Without being a Calvin Klein ad, what kinds of images say "obsession" to you? I'm not necessarily looking for the answer to "what are you obsessed with" (I love fiber, for example, but my target audience is probably reasonably less obsessed with that than I am!). It's more the abstract concept of being or becoming obsessed with something or someone, especially if it's unattainable. Am I making *any* sense at all? Photos, illustrations, art -- just has to be in the public domain or stock imagery (unless you own the copyright and are willing to license it for literally peanuts!) -- give me some ideas and/or some links!

Thank you!

Let it snow...

I knew it was a bad sign when I got called into an emergency meeting yesterday about snow plans for the weekend -- and they were predicting 3-6" over 12 hours. Um, that's just your everyday, average kind of January weather where I come from -- 3" of snow does NOT a storm, blizzard, panic or emergency make!

It did start to snow around 1p today as predicted, and I had to clean off my car before I could leave for work. I'd guess about 2" by that time, which was a little after 5p. Of the three highway lanes, the left and right were almost snow-free, just wet, but the middle one was pretty snowy still. People were going about 40 mph. Yes, it was snowing, but the road was completely fine. I finally worked my way around the worst of the idiots, including the guy driving with his brights and hazards on ('cause that's not distracting or anything!), and managed to go about 60 most of the way. It took about 15 extra minutes to get there, which was fine -- I left earlier than usual since I had no idea how the travel would be.

But it gets better. On my way home, when it was not snowing, I was on a highway entrance ramp behind a small SUV, and the driver wouldn't go more than 20 on the *straight* road. I guess I should have expected him to STOP when he got to the three-lane highway. Not. Who stops to get on the highway at 10:00 at night? Are you kidding me? Especially since there wasn't a car in sight going our way, and all lanes were completely clear. SO glad I managed not to hit the dumb-***.

I saw two trucks spreading whatever, and one snowplow during the entire time... interestingly, the plow was down on a road with no snow. Um, it's a better use of time and resources to plow roads that have snow, isn't it? Or not -- it's Jersey, after all ;)

It's weird -- this almost never happens.

The antibiotics are actually working!

I felt worse yesterday than I did on Tuesday, but I feel considerably better today. Good thing, since tomorrow is a 14-hour work day, no getting around it. I think taking these two days to rest really helped, too -- I called in sick Wednesday, and my boss called me later in the day to tell me to take today off too. (Yes, it's a holiday, but we had a concert today, and I was scheduled to be in the office this morning and at the concert this afternoon.) Instead, I sat on my bum all day. Didn't get anything productive done, but I can breathe through my nose from time to time, so I'm going to count that as an accomplishment ;)