boogieshoes | Entries tagged with life

Crossposts: https://boogieshoes.livejournal.com/271036.html

what it says on the tin. I'll post an update monday-ish. not expecting any issues except after-surgery soreness, standard, 1 ea. try not to worry guys.

i've been thinking of nanowrimo this year.... probably can't do the whole month, but maybe i can put some time in on projects i've been wanting to write on... here's hoping.

-boogieshoes, ready for alien baby delivery

Crossposts: https://boogieshoes.livejournal.com/270825.html

the alien baby thing is wearing on me. *sigh* so. ready. for the surgery and rest from all the stress. that is all.

-boogie

Crossposts: https://boogieshoes.livejournal.com/270148.html

Ok, so, the alien baby thing is progressing right along.... I now have a firm date for surgery, Nov 1st. I will be out from work for 6wks on short term disability/ FMLA. However, I have planned vacation starting the week after FMLA ends, and then the week after that is Christmas break, so, gone for the rest of the year. Which is ok, I'll probably appreciate the time.

The down side is that Christmas Revel, an event I usually go to every year, is unlikely for me this year, and so is driving to Mom and Dad's for break. I have invited Mom and Dad down for break, but no telling how that's going to go - Christmas is a pretty busy season.

Last weekend, I got a recliner, and shopped in-person and online for a few things to make it easier to recover. Recliner is in the house, most everything is set up, and the last thing to come in.... is the body pillow pillow-case. Why Wally-world doesn't sell body pillow-cases when they sell the body *pillows*, I'll never know....

Also! final roof thing is DONE, It's OVER! Everything is good and paid off and ok, except for the small loan I had to take out to cover my part of the roof. But that I can/ will pay off on my own time.

So next things I really want to finish before November 1st are sewing at the machine, oiling the wood chair, and putting water-seal on the boards i'm going to be using as my floor-joists when I camp.

Everything I want/ need to do in the yard completely depends on the weather, and it's been raining so much here that 'swampy' is the only way to properly describe ground conditions. And because of that, I've decided to move building the second garden box until after the new year. The ground will probably be drier by then (ok, *hopefully* drier by then) and I can drive out there with my truck to set the box up. Which is really the only way to get the sides out there when they're built with plasti-board, which is much heavier than straight wood. (The advantage being that plasti-board won't rot in 2 years....)

And I've decided on this year's Hallowe'en Prompt Theme Pics.... ALIENS, because what else could I do? But chibi-style aliens, because CUTE! ahem. :)

Feeling less stressed, and taking things 1 day at a time,
-boogieshoes

Crossposts: https://boogieshoes.livejournal.com/269927.html

... just feeling a little stressed. there's so much that needs to be done:

1) on the yard, but there's large swatches that are still soggy from the rains, making it impossible to do yard work. if i'm lucky, it'll dry out before surgery, so i can at least give it a good mow.

2) on the garden: i want to do another garden box (i do raised bed gardening), but that means ordering in the plasticized wood, cutting to size, putting the sides together, then pre-drillling, then dragging the entire thing out to the garden area to set up... *if* the yard dries out enough to bring it out there by truck!

     2a) and then i should fill the box with dirt and mulch and dirt....
   2b) and the garden area could use a bunch more pine straw mulch....
   2c) and i really need to re-do the fence... *sigh*

3) speaking of yard chores - i need to do yearly attack-the-trees, so the branches don't swipe people off the mower as it goes by.... i'm really thinking about getting an arborist or someone to just take 'em all out so i can replant with what i want. there's only 3 trees on the whole lot i want to keep. the other ones are plain ugly.

4) gotta somehow keep sewing and stuff, because i probably won't be able to sew at the machine while i'm recovering....

5) gotta clean up stuff for mom to come in and stay while she helps me.

6) gotta get stuff ready for me being on my back in bed for a bit... which requires some thinking, because i'm a do-er, and like to have something to do, and tend to rotate between stitching, puzzle books, reading DTF books, and reading fanfic.... that's going to require a slight change of set-up compared to what i have now. i was thinking it'd be nice to have a lap-desk that i can put a jigsaw puzzle on while i'm in bed - haven't done one of those in a while... and that's even more stuff!

and then there's : finish the last bit o' things from the roof. *start* all the paperwork associated with the surgery and the short-term disability, and in the meantime, my PC physician had a bit of a splort, so i'm wrestling with getting the right perscription...

oh, and i have no idea how abbie's going to handle things...

and i just realized October's around the corner, and i haven't even *thought* about the Hallowe'en prompt fest!

ARGH!!!!!

ahem, that is all....

-boogieshoes, with a few headache-lines....

Crossposts: https://boogieshoes.livejournal.com/269608.html

So, a short update on the Alien Baby before I go visit relatives in Oregon for a week.

1) it has been decided to give the Baby a name.... I decided 'Shatner' was appropriate for an alien ;)

2) OB appointment yesterday was smooth. We discovered the baby wasn't attached to the uterus, but one of the ovaries, but there's no indication it's cancerous, so that's good.

3) Some time after vacation, but probably before Christmas, but not yet determined, the Alien Baby and Parent Ovary are going to be removed. Part of me wants to remove the whole shebang, uterus and all, but the logical side of me says I'm better off with the estrogen and progesterone the remaining ovary will provide. The trade off is still having periods until natural menopause. Oh well. It's not like I haven't dealt with periods before...

4) I haven't had a recovery timeline given to me yet; that will probably come with the pre-surgery consult. It'll be a minimum of 3 weeks, I'm sure, and our HR says 6 weeks is normal for this sort of thing. So, gotta plan for that. I was driving home yesterday and suddenly realized the dog-food bags I get surely count as 'lifting', because they AREN'T small!

5) Takeaway is that things are looking good. Nothing has alarmed my doctors, which is a really good sign.

-boogie

Crossposts: https://boogieshoes.livejournal.com/269339.html

So, I have no idea how fast news spreads among my friends and chosen-family, but I wanted to set down an update/ heads-up for everyone. Monday, I went home with what I thought was a kidney stone... it had all the right symptoms, right down the line. I laid down for a few hours, but when the pain got worse, not better, I went to my local urgent care clinic, who took X-rays, and then sent me off to get CT scans...

As I was coming home Monday, I got a call from the original doc I saw in the urgent care clinic - 'it's not a kidney stone. it's an unexpected mass.'

Needless to say, this was a shock. I swear to you, my first thought was, 'What happened to the kidney stone? It was supposed to be a kidney stone!'

They made an appointment for me with a general surgeon, who sent me to my OBGYN. (Which was the right call, this just wasn't his area.) Saw the OBGYN today.

The dx is: giant uterine fibroid. And by 'giant', I mean from belly button level almost to hip socket joint level'. Seriously, I was looking at this thing and going 'I bet that weighs 5 pounds!' Even the OB said she'd never seen one that big. Basically, it's an alien baby.

This is actually very good news, from my point of view, especially after vague, alarming pronouncements made earlier in the week. For 1) uterine fibroids are treatable with a range of options, the most severe of which (hysterectomy) has a very low risk to the patient, although I suppose recovery isn't that much fun. 2) unlike PCOS, it doesn't really mess with endocrine system issues, and thus introduces yet another spinning plate in the line of plates spinning on sticks...

Most importantly, IT'S NOT CANCER. Cancer is a scary beast, and even the best outcomes aren't grand in the risk-reward category. And also, FUCK CANCER.

I'm going back next Thursday for an ultrasound to allow for better definition of the fibroid mass, and doc and I will talk treatment options. If I can figure out where to host the image(s), I'll even post pix of the CT scans.

I don't want anyone to worry, ok? Things are good, or at least, workable.

Just, you know, with a alien baby in attendance...

-boogieshoes...

Crossposts: https://boogieshoes.livejournal.com/269029.html

i have a slight touch of synesthesia - mostly, i interpret sounds as touches(1). usually, ghost touches, barely there touches, but the more tired i get, the more intense it is. and i can't block it out. and today at work, for some reason, we had a concatenation of circumstances that was, literally, impossible to work through:

1) i was exhausted, that mind-numbing fatigue that's all-pervading.
2) i was trying to read and understand really complex, new-to-me information, and integrate with how i normally do things, at least on a mental level
3) there was a span of about an hour or 2 where it seemed like everybody and god was jabbering at once around our area.

this is coupled with the normal woes of work:
4) our building is basically made to echo, badly - steel girders in the industrial look, with an angled metal roof and exposed ducting for the HVAC system, which produces quite a bit of noise on it's own
5) we live in a half-height cubicle farm, which does absolutely NOTHING to absorb sound while
6) we (all of us) are on the phone a lot in meetings/ Webexes with colleagues across the seas. you can't just keep your voice down, because people need to here you. and then if you need to discuss something with local colleagues, all the sound transmits, distorts, and reflects across the very large room. it's never quiet.

today, during the time-period of #3, i literally could not work, could not concentrate, and the noise was so *much*. normally, my experience through the day is like getting hit with a bunch of pillows in a pillow-fight, repeatedly. today, ugh. i wrote a bit of a free-verse poem describing the experience, and thought i'd transcribe it here for anyone who'd like to get an idea of what things are like with synesthesia:

      sound like padded mallets against my skin
          sharp staccato slaps of doors closing
          stinging buzz of conversation
          my own ears ringing, echoing like constant tapping on my skin
                       Audio reflections constantly jingling
                                 pushing me this way and that.

         Let me out of this building!
               Let sound fall away like water
                    draining from the land.
               Let me be free!
                    and breathe.

-boogie, poetical

(1) well, and i often interpret colors as having texture/ feel all on their own, but that's not relevant here.

Crossposts: https://boogieshoes.livejournal.com/268662.html

for what it's worth, i'm dropping a quick note to say that i'm going on vacation and will be incommunicado for about a week. i don't post enough that people usually worry, but in case you're wondering, there i go, on the stage, er.... anyway. looking forward to vacation, and also coming back. :)

-boogie

Crossposts: http://boogieshoes.livejournal.com/265688.html

2017 appears to be starting off on the right foot at least. I remember last year, I started by getting the flu that was going around - TWICE. Things never quite picked up after that.

This year, I hope things are better, both in general and for personal health/ house health/ etc.

HOUSEHOLD MAINTENANCE

( potion no. 9 especially )

HOUSEHOLD UPDATES

( i'm gonna make this house my home )

GARDEN PLANS

( i will get things to grow, darnit! )

LANDSCAPING GALORE

( and i'll have a pretty yard! )

SCA SKILL SETS

( i especially want to improve arch-ing )

STITCHING GALLERY

( i'm really trying to finish old stuff before starting new stuff. really. )

FANNISH ENDEAVORS
( i promise this year will be better! )

PERSONAL ADMINISTRATION

( i expect to nail this one again... watch me fall on my face )

HEALTH MAINTENANCE

( tum-te-tum-tum - hey, donuts! )

FURNITURE PROJECTS

( ah, the sweet sounds of saws! )

WISHING THESE WISHES WERE MINE

( alms for the poor? anyone? )

So, a final note here - especially with the fannish things and trying to keep up community journals and things, I think the home PC being set up will help a lot. I've already mentioned the advantages of the pilates up there. :)

-boogieshoes, busy as a beaver

Crossposts: https://boogieshoes.livejournal.com/267906.html

Well, 2017 turned out to be a busy year, and part of that was the improved health over 2016. I never seem to make all my goals, but having the list and keeping it updated really helps a lot. Let's see what happened this year:

( Household Maintenance )

( Household Updates )

( Garden Plans )

( Landscaping Galore )

( SCA skill sets )

( Stitching Gallery )

( Fannish Endeavors )

( Personal Administration )

( Health Maintenance )

( Furniture Projects )

( Wishing these wishes were mine )

Overall, I'd say 2017 has been a good year. I felt productive at work and at home, and my health has had a great improvement. I'm really looking forward to the new year, and doing a lot more. Hopefully, that will include fannish endeavors - I'm working on setting up my DW account to mirror the set-up and feeds I had on my LJ account. I'm trying to update my FB to be more me-friendly. I'm going to try to spend Saturday afternoons/ evenings on the PC doing writing or other electronic-related things, probably starting around late March. But I'm happy to be alive, and in 2016 at this time, I wasn't even sure I *was* alive. So... let's get to the new year, eh?

-boogieshoes, the much improved.

Crossposts: https://boogieshoes.livejournal.com/267759.html

1) my parents are coming to visit me this year, instead of me visiting them - this means besides being really excited, I get to try to do both my '2017 Have-done' post and '2018 To-Do' post on time this year. Yay!

2) Because I am going to be here at home this year, I'm going to try to get fully on dreamwidth from livejournal.

3) I have discovered I'm old: I have a computer so old and decrepit (a 2000-era CTX rebuild) that the local computer store has to send it out to specialists to retrieve the data from it. Because the CTX has become an archaeological artifact instead of a technological one. I got that computer shortly after college - when did I become officially older than dirt? And also, it's going to cost $$. Because archaeology, not technology.

4) I am trying to forward all the FB posts that go across my newsfeed to my email, because i hate using the FB interface, but I'd like to interact more with people... many of whom mostly do FB, as opposed to something more logical, like writing on stone tablets. So my first effort was to change my notifications to send me email whenever anything like posts and messages to me happen. So of course, the first 5 messages that came in were in a different forum altogether...

5) I have decided on Google-plus for image hosting, which means that sometime over Christmas break, I will upload my embroidery pics and will make a post - hopefully - on things I have done this year. (I kept track, I was rather productive!)

So that's the state of boogie today. Abbie is sacked out on the couch, per usual.

-boogie

Crossposts: https://boogieshoes.livejournal.com/267498.html

i keep trying to convince my dog to go to work for me, but i think she's holding out for a pay raise. >.>

-boogie

Crossposts: https://boogieshoes.livejournal.com/266890.html

today, i *finally* managed to finish mowing the far back yard. for the *second* time this summer. the problem has been a combination of the weather and the fact that the entire neighborhood drains through my yard. if it's a dry year, like last year - no problem. if the weather pattern is 'rain hard enough to produce standing water in the low places of the neighborhood, dry out just enough to tease you about it, rain to produce standing water *again*, lather-rinse-repeat', you get the situation i had this summer - i could barely mow the front yard 3-4 times since june, and haven't been able to *get* to the backyard to mow it at *all* since june. and the grass here grows like bamboo in the summer rainy season. as a result, i have enough grass hay to see if i can burn a tree with it (one on the interior of the yard, not the back fence!). i'm seriously considering doing this as an experiment....

-boogieshoes, kinda lawn-mower stinky right now....

Crossposts: http://boogieshoes.livejournal.com/266530.html

this is more an update list than a post-post, but it's time to let people know i'm still alive. i think. *checks pulse* yup, still alive.

so here we go:

*in Feb, at my routine dr's appointment, i was dx'd hypothyroid - the gland isn't making enough hormone. the good thing about this is that now i understand why i was so *completely and utterly* dragged out at the end of last year. also, now that i'm on synthroid, my body isn't fighting losing weight, and 4 mos later, my chemical soup seems to be just about completely in balance. the bad news is... i'm not going to be 'cured' from this - taking pills forever. don't get me wrong, there are FAR worse things in the world, but my health goal has always been to minimize the pills i'm on... this is one step away from that. It does make me very thankful for modern medicine, though.

*2 weeks after my dr's appt, Gulf Wars happened - it's a pretty amazing event when you're not too sick or too glazed over too appreciate it. Otoh, I forgot that last year, the things in my 'Accessories' box had gotten quite damp. I took a few things with me, but decided to clean the rest later... which happened only a couple-3 weeks ago. I lost a couple things to mold - just couldn't kill it, or in the case the belly dance scarf, the jingles were just too rusted to save - but I did save the majority of the items. Since I am trying to streamline my SCA closet, a number of things are going to wind up getting donated, but I'm not entirely sure when.

*more recently, i sewed slipcovers for the couch cushions. this is because in less that 2 years, my dog pretty much shredded the original fabric. Cotton duck is much more resistant to Great Dane claws that the original what-ever-it-is. I'm thinking of going back and sewing slipcovers for the back-cushions, too, so the entire couch is a bright cheerful yellow. it'll match the curtains that way.

*speaking of the great goofus - she gained 10lbs in the past few months. Oops... guess I was a little too enthusiastic about giving her treats. Abbie and I are both on a diet now.

*my diet consists of continuing good food choices, and counting calories and recording non-caffeinated intake. the last two are mostly to keep me honest. My progress this week supports my theory that I'm 95% there, but I needed one last puzzle piece to make it stick... apparently, that's keeping myself accountable.

Abbie's diet consists of limiting her to 1 or 2 treats a day.

*Abbie got a new blankie today - it's Wonder Woman. I thought about giving her Darth Vader to chew on, but then I decided I'd rather she ingested the power of a strong woman than the Dark Side of the Force. She won't miss the cookies. I promise. *hides cookies from Abbie.*

*today, i'm going to start organizing the personal papers in the office. This should cut down on even more clutter, though right now it's mostly clutter limited to the closet.

*I paid off my truck on Thursday! next up: the CC.

*I am 3/4 done of the dual embroidery piece: 'this is your flame... this is your flame on O2'. I will find a way to get and post pictures, because while I love Mary Corbett's needlework site, and the piece would not have happened without the blogs very encouraging tone, I'd like to show her what happens when you let a nerd work stumpwork, lol.

That's all from chez boogie *brushes off dog-hair* you may now go about your business...

-boogieshoes

Crossposts: http://boogieshoes.livejournal.com/265435.html

So, I'm not too late on round-up and to-do lists this year. I finally got around to setting up the office, and this figures into my 'done it' file. Poor Abbie (my dog) is sitting next to me wishing i was sitting on the couch, instead of said office...

Anyway, on to the listy!

( household maintenance is expensive! )

( *dusts off the house update list* )

( This is purely the section for the partierre garden. )

( $50/mo doesn't go far )

( the SCA is awesome! )

( look, i finished stuff! now i have to finish it, lol )

( still in mag7 honeymoon... and still biting off more than i can chew here... )

( i nailed this one! )

( I've always said flexibility is over-rated... )

( *runs away screaming* )

( *sighs sorrowfully at the wishlist* )

and that's all she wrote today. my wrists have been getting pretty sore lately, probably carpal tunnel or arthritis, so the 2017 To-Done is going to have to wait for another day. Probably tomorrow, since I don't want to lose momentum. In Feb, at my normal check-up, I'm going to ask doc about my wrists, though...

I survived 2016, which turned out to be a shitty year for a lot of people. My hope for us all is that 2017 is much better. We need much better in our lives. And I'm not talking politics, I'm talking good jobs, good friends surviving, and good family of choice loving us. So 2017, take my advice: take off your pants, and slide on the ice!

-boogieshoes, wishing everyone a happy new year

I'm finally getting around to doing this post, which is one of only 2 posts I try to make certain I do. The other post is, of course, the yearly round-up. So it's with mild guilt that I realize I've not posted this until nearly Feb.

( Deck the halls of the house with folly... )

( Mary Mary quite contrary... )

( Yarding by the Garden.... )

( Middle Ages Mash-ups )

( Stitchy Woman... )

( I swear I will be fan-active! .... someday )

( bills bills bills )

Personal ADMIN:
1) Organize household items, including
a) disaster kit
2) Transfer data from old laptops to PC, when i get it.
3) Make the database for my library
4) File rest of bills from 2012 – and now, also 2013!... and now 2014...2015...
5) Convert VHS and audio tapes to updated platforms. (Contingent on buying platform converters)
6) Make a list of cyclical maintenance duties and times due.
9) pay good chunk of personal CC

( to my health! )

( Furniture Fair (-y Tale) )

( Wishlist )

-boogie

... at least on my bones. right now, i've got plantar fasciitis in my right foot, and my back is feeling like it's amazingly arthritic... or something. if i stand up, my foot hurts, if i sit down, my lower back hurts.

i want to stop hurting now, kthanxsbai. :(

-boogie, whimpering

and happy for it! it's really hard to go a week without an internet fix!

now, i have to wait another week for my next paycheck, and i can fix the a/c. summer in the deep south, meh. but it's finally going to break 75F tonight - down to 71 - and it's supposed to cool off later into this week. finally! but i can't wait to have a/c anyway because the days will still be hot.

in other news, the office is coming along. i am working on the final placement of various boards and etc. looks like i'll have enough space to get everything onto a shelf, which is good. then i can go through and organize, trim, organize, donate, organize, catalog, etc.... should only take me until dec 2017 *snort*.

-boogie

i keep thinking i'm going to start posting a series of essays, in the form of:

"This what i don't believe: catch-phrase
expandsion/ explanation

"This is what I believe: concept
expansion/ explanation"

i figure this will happen as soon as the heat death of the universe occurs, at the rate i'm getting around to things....

right now, it's kinda like:

I don't believe: I'm ever going to get the time to spend on the internet typing up all the enlightenment i've discovered over the ages....

i do belive: i will find a *ton* more things to rant about!.... and forget to do so!

oh, well - hey, fanfic!

-bs

i just wanted to post that i'm feeling much better today. still a little emotionally wobbly, but not the panicky hopelessness of yesterday. i think posting about it on lj really helped, and not just because i got friends here. :)

one of the defining characteristics of depression is a tendency to keep it inside... and it is true that sharing can really help.

( possibly triggering material here (but no cuss words) )

and that's why i love my medication, and don't ever want to go off it, and why this hit me so hard. i *love* to live. i *want* to live.

i'm going to stop now - the 'emotionally wobbly' bit of today is telling me i'm going to start crying if i keep dwelling on it, and as i said, i'm really feeling much better. and i'm going to try to keep the momentum going and gain a little height...

-boogieshoes

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The Dressage Ring

Boogieshoes' Fanfic Endeavors

Entries tagged with life

surgery tomorrow

i'm ready for this to be over

Another Alien Baby Update, and things

nothing to see here, move along...

Update on the Alien Baby

this is not the kidney stone you're looking for...

Coping with synesthesia...

vacation!!!

2017 To-Do List

2017 To-Done Wrap-up...

5 things make a post

life with dogs...

d*mmit, i'm a responsible adult!

quick update on chez boogie

2016 To-Do round-up

2016 To-Do List

40 is def harder than 30

just wanted to let everyone know i was back online...

one of these days....

feeling better today