ah . . .

a guilt-free Sunday!

Tomorrow begins finals week, but my exam was a paper due tonight at midnight. I submitted it (electronically -- I love the Web) last evening about 6:45 pm, and IM'd a classmate all I wanted to do was read fiction for a week! (Mini-session class begins on the 12th.)

Today began with mid-morning breakfast with my DH, a quick stop for groceries and prescriptions was followed by a short nap and then a visit to the library book sale. (Found myself a hardback copy of the Artist's way for a buck, among a few other prizes.) But, I did get to read some fiction today, The secret of jin-shei, by Alma Alexander. I'm only five chapters into it -- about 36 of 488 paes; not sure I'll stick with it, but so far it's at least interesting, so I'm giving it a chance. Not long ago I read Mistress of the spices by Chitra Divakaruni, and enjoyed it; should probably try to find some more of her books. Really, though, I only have a few days to indulge in fiction, then it's back to scholarly articles and textbooks.

authors are (great) people too

(Neglected to publish this post, so it's about a two weeks old: written April 8th.)

I spent last week hobnobbing with the guest authors at our SLIS- & de Grummond-sponsored Fay B. Kaigler Children's Book Festival: Pat Mora, Vicki Cobb, Gerald Hausman, James Ransome, Loris Lesynski, Will Weaver (and Kimberly Willis Holt was also a guest author, but I didn't get to spend time with her). I also had the opportunity to get to know men and women in that children's literature arena of librarianship, as well as interacting with SLIS staff and faculty in social and informal settings. I was on the go for three full days (and crashed hard over the weekend), but it was such fun. Beside the introductions for Vicki and Gerald, I mostly just "stuck like glue" and made sure they were where they should be when they should be, and just generally escorted them for the festival. I felt more like my *real* self than I have for a long time -- not that I understand why, but there it is.

I suppose that many people, attending a gathering of writers, get bitten by the bug to write, or if they already have been bitten, find themselves scratching furiously anew. I remember hating to write as a young person. What we had to write as assignments was rarely fun, even if the teacher tried to make it fun. Somewhere along the way, however, I began to enjoy the process. (Although I still fight tooth-and-nail to get assignments written on time!)

By the end of our trip last May to Tibet, I had an idea brewing for a book. I've shared the idea with a few people, and was pleasantly surprised when talking with two of the authors mentioned above that the idea was well-received. Of course, getting published is extremely difficult and highly competitive, and at this point, I simply want to get the idea out of my head, and onto paper! Ideally, it would be part of my master's project, but I'm still a L-O-N-G way from having all those details settled.

I *was* looking forward to a summer off from classes. It would be the first since 2004 (and also different in that for the first time in three years I am not doing an international study trip). However, I was *not* looking forward to having to take my last 3-hour course at the same time I would be writing my master's project next spring!

Ah, well . . . such is life . . . the professor from whom I took a mini-session course over the semester break last December will be teaching a graduate-level, full-summer course after all, so I've asked to be registered.

saving time, saving money

So, it is not only my dad's birthday, but Tax Day,too. Guess which one I have on more than one occasion forgotten??

I decided to save myself the $14.95 e-filing charge, and file paper copies of our taxes. I had to print the returns at the college computer lab because something's screwy with our printer = $.60 (which would have been $1.20 on the library printers). Didn't mind that expense . . . but then I had forgotten to run to the campus P.O. for stamps, so I had to get some here in town.

Of course, our P.O. closes at 4:30 pm weekdays, even on Tax Day. S'ok, except there is no longer a stamp machine inside. One mini-mart and two grocery stores later and I still hadn't found stamps. Now, you would think the grocery stores (the mini-mart doesn't sell them) would lay in an extra supply of stamps today. Surely this is not the first time they have been out before 5PM.

Found a stamp vending machine at another gas-mart. TWO DOLLARS & FIFTY CENTS for four stamps (retail value = $1.64).

I feel like I gave it 'a lick and a promise' as my mom used to say; that I probably didn't get as large a refund to which we are entitled. But, they are done, and in the mail . . . and I remembered to call my Dad, too.

Happy Birthday, Daddy!

no flame!

Quoted from the International Campaign for Tibet website:

“Either Tibet is open or it’s not. If it is, let independent monitors and the media go there. If it’s not, the torch shouldn’t go there either,” said Sophie Richardson, Asia advocacy director for Human Rights Watch. “The Olympic torch should not be turned into a smokescreen to cover up human rights abuses.”

Tibet in crisis

(May 2007) I am in tears this morning: eyewitness accounts from Lhasa.
Our friends live very near Ramoche.
More reports here.
We wait and pray.

Happy Birthday, Mom

Remembering a line from the movie You've Got Mail this morning:

"missing my mother so much I almost couldn't breathe [...] I need her to make me some cocoa and tell me that whatever's going badly in my life will sort itself out."

new toys

After work today, I'm stopping at BestBuy to pick up the new toy I bought Saturday night online:

We are in a bit of an eletronic toy frenzy -- at least a shopping one, if not always buying. We also looked at this:

And -- this:

This last item we need more than the middle one. It takes a full 5 minutes for our screen to pop in every time we turn on our (very old) projection television. We've been expecting it to die for about two years. In that time, the prices on big screens have really come down, so that's good. Maybe soon we will make a purchase.

winding down, gearing up

The intersession class ended tonight. It was a fast, but thoroughly enjoyable course. We focused on "social software" and its use and applications in library services. I almost wish there were an "Advanced Internet Resource & Applications" class.

Now it is time to gear up for the spring semster. Classes generally begin on Monday, however, it is also time for the mid-winter ALA meeting, and many of the SLIS faculty (along with some of our university libraries staff) are in attendance.

The only class for which I registered that I'm (fairly) sure will not change is the children't literature class. This one includes involvement with the annual children's book festival held on campus in April. After offering assistance to the professor, she asked if I would prepare a bibliography of recent work by the feature authors coming to this years festival.

I had already done a title search in our OPAC for my personal use (requirements for the course involve reading a good many children's books), so it should be a no-brainer... it's helping her by using my time to do it.

Until I hear from my advisor, I won't know about my other course(s).

After work, DH and I stopped by BestBuy to look at digital cameras. The one which was most tempting was out of stock and backordered. But I didn't really want to buy one tonight. Tomorrow I'll pull up the specifications for the three we liked best, and look them over. DH know about the film end of things, I know more about the computer stuff. I really need something better to take good digital photos. I want a skinny one, and I want one that takes SD cards, as I already have several 1Gb cards. That eliminates the Sony models -- and one of them we really liked. Memory Duo isn't that expensive, I guess... just wanted to make use of what I already have.

Time for bed, Bonzo -- sorry I'm too lazy to include links tonight. But at least I posted!

when [dryers] eat socks

The post title is taken from a children's book title I came across while working today, "When shoes eat socks" (written by Barbar Klimowicz, illustrated by Gloria Kamen), which reminded me of an incident about socks which occurred last month.

One morning, all dressed for work, I dug through my pile of socks searching for a matching pair. You know how it is: you try to keep socks together, but they keep drifting apart so no matter how many you grab they are never mates.

See?



That morning I managed to find five different purple socks (that one is pale lavender, not white) but only one pair that matched!

Isn't it sort of like winning the lottery when all the socks in the basket of clean clothes mate up?? Okay, not quite. But, but, it is like when you are working kloster blocks in a piece of hardanger, and you get all the way around and your stitches line up perfectly, though! (That previous link will take you to a tutorial for hardanger, if you are interested.)

I still haven't found all those missing socks . . . or my missing key . . . and this morning my black wool hat was hiding.

So, it was back to work today, after 12 days off. Morning whizzed by, but I sure ran out of energy in the afternoon and I thought "quittin' time" would never arrive. It is quite cold here, for southern Mississippi. The building was warmer than I expected, but then, I probably dressed warmer than usual.

Should have done so many things this evening, but DH warmed up some supper for me, we watched "Stardust" and I didn't get any laundry (or knitting or stitching or beading) done at all. I have a strange backache, and now I am sleepy, sleepy, sleepy, and looking forward to another sound night's rest. That is, without the neighbor's dogs barking -- it is cold enough that the dogs should be inside.

anniversaries

Today is the 8th anniversary of my mother's death; it might just as well have happened last year, or last week. You just don't get "over" losing a parent.

It was fitting that last night, my sister and I had "breakfast" for supper. Not only was that one of my mother's favorite things to do late at night, my sister and I had several late night breakfasts together during those last few days of Mom's life.

I am swamped with end-of-semester course work, and did not go to the cemetery today, though I did stop for a few moments on my way home last night. My sister set out new flowers today also.

I might as well head to bed soon... my eyes are totally shot from being on the computer all day reading and writing. I can't work much more on one project until I hear from the professor anyway. And my hands hurt too much to knit. I will be better after Wednesday when all my school stuff it due, done and then only six more working days until Christmas break.

(it's also the 4th anniversary of this blog)

flower fun

I am a Canna What Flower Are You?

"You stand up for what you believe in, even if it gets in the way of what other people think. You are proud of yourself and your accomplishments and you enjoy letting people know that."

. . . latter part is not particularly accurate, imo.

childhood memories

If I hadn't been of the type all my life, I would certainly attribute some of my recent sentimentality to aging.

I do cataloging work at a university library, so one wouldn't expect that I handle children's books. However, we have a nationally renown collection, The de Grummond Collection. For several weeks I have been working with a list of donated books, determining whether we already have these items in the collection and if so, how many copies, etc. It is, like most cataloging, a bit like solving puzzles. Every time that I get to put "copy 1" in the list, I get a little thrill. Then there are the moments when I stumble across titles that (or authors who) are near and dear to my heart and my memories!

This morning it is Frances Boyd Calhoun's Miss Minerva and William Green Hill. If the copy I'm checking on the list today is a first edition, it will be a "copy 1" for the collection! We have 7 other editions currently in the collection. I'm curious to check the family copy for publication date.

I may have first read this book one summer while visiting my grandparents, but I am not sure. I know that the copy we have was always considered my sister's book. (Lo, and behold! When I went to get a link for you about the book, I discovered it is available in PDF from Google Books -- and also from many other locations. That's the cover on our copy, too!)

Sigh. But I suppose it is very politically incorrect to have fond memories of such a book . . . speaking of books, my list of reading over there on the right is woefully out of date.

morning break tidbits

* I'm glad I never uploaded the NaBlPoMo graphic, as I was out of town the first four days of November! I'd like to try the NaNoWriMo one of these years, though for short stories, not a novel. Two blogger "friends" have taken up the challenge (both for at least the second time, I believe . . . Rachel, and Karin.

* Today is 3rd Annual D-blog day. Although my D-blog technically is over at TuDiabetes (you have scroll down to see the blog as there is no direct link to it), I mention it here cause over there they all know about it! LOL!


* November is National Diabetes Awareness month -- aimed not only at those who are walking around undiagnosed, but as an attempt to inform and dispell the mis-information generally believed about this chronic disease.


November 14th, in fact, has been designated World Diabetes Day, too. Take time to be informed about this great threat to our health.

* There was something else . . . gone now.

snuggling

I finished one half the entrelac scarf, except for the pointed end. I send a request for help to Purl's Yarn Emporium last night. Hope to hear from someone there soon. So, I secured the live stitches and the remaining thread on that ball, then began with the second ball on the second half.
However, I haven't made much progress tonight (I have just now finised the ribbing and am ready to begin the entrelac), due to this:

Now that's he's changed positions, perhaps I can get back to it . . . or I could work on papers.

$120 later...

that's how much the tests cost me today at the university clinic. At my doctor's office they would have cost me n-o-t-h-i-n-g.

I am only taking partial responsibility for this fiasco, though.

un*believeable

What do you do when you adore your physician, but despise his office personnel and the way it is run??

--warning: long whiny post ahead--

I have been trying to see my doc for about two weeks. I'm not crazy about taking time off from work (it has to be personal leave, not sick, and I just don't have enough right now for all my needs, so I've been putting off many appointments/tests). Last week I tried to get an appointment. The NP I have been seeing is no longer there, Dr.R was only going to be in half-a-day on Friday, and they weren't taking appointments until that morning.

ok... he/they changed the way they do appointments a couple years ago. they *will* make you appointments a couple days ahead, but not several weeks ahead, and even then, there are only a few. the rest are made the day of or the day before... this is REALLY difficult on people, like me, who not only have to be at work before his office opens, but live a half-hour and work an hour away from the office...

So, yesterday, I decide I would try to get an appointment this week. While talking with his nurse (I was SO happy she answered the call; she I also adore), we decided I should get the tests done first. My plan was to leave work at 3:30, fly down to the office and get the lab work done, i.e, have the blood drawn. There is really NO point to seeing him until the results are back anyway. On the way, however, #1Son's car breaks down on me. Fortunately, it is right south of the exit where we live, and I have plenty of time. Or so I thought. And so there would have been IF i hadn't told him the wrong exit (there are two, one at the north end of town, one at the south).

About 20 minutes *after* the sheriff's deputy stopped to see if everything was all right, #1Son arrived and jumped the car. It was 5:45 and I was still a half-hour from the office, so home we went.

Now, today, I felt really awkward going to my supervisor asking to leave early again for the same reason... but, today, we arrive in plenty of time. Except... they closed the lab at 4:30 because they are administering flu shots.

Let us all groan together

THEN the little witch at the reception window starts giving me grief: do I have orders, yadayadayada. I walk back over to #1Son, talking, and trying to figure out what to do... the only choice I can think of beside returning AGAIN tomorrow afternoon (which I really can't do anyway) is to get the test done at the university clinic. So, I walk back to the counter, waiting behind the man now at the window. Said witch *interrupts* what she and the other staffer are saying to this man to tell ME "Mam'm, there is no one here to ..." I said, "I just want to ask you a question. I'm waiting for my turn." Holy crap... I could not believe how rude she was! In a couple of moments, she opens the window on the other end of the area, complete with pained, and offended facial contortions.

What I needed to know was, if I had the tests done at the clinic on campus could they send the report? (She thought probably so.) Would they require me to have an order from my doctor? (She didn't know.). . . . you know what, I'm tired of telling it, and I know you are tired of reading it.

I finally got an order, but he/they didn't include the cholesterol test I wanted.

They gave me all kinds of hassel: why *I* didn't have the order. One even insisted that the doctor "always" gives me an order at the previous visit for what I would need next. (NEVER has he done this in the year and a half he's been treating me for DM!) None of them would listen long enough to comprehend that I had called, HIS NURSE had told me to come, knew what tests I needed and why. These goofballs have NO idea what I need, nor any inclination to go out of their way.

Damn. I don't want to change doctors, but I am SO tired of dealing with his staff. (I recongnized ONE woman in the front office.) This kind of thing happens over and over down there. So, now two trips down there, an hour of leave, and I still don't have the tests done. And I do not know when I will have time tomorrow to even get to the clinic...

I probably should have posted this over on my tudiabetes blog and not bothered y'all with it. My stomach was full of whatever it is that gets dumped in there when you get stressed; adrenaline?? I don't know but I was naseuous as could be by the time we left and starving (hadn't eaten since noon because I wasn't even sure if I should have been fasting for the cholesterol) -- all these things are SO SO good for someone with diabetes, donchaknow?

Time for class, chicos. Hasta.

healthy attitudes?

This is a(nother long) diabetes-related rant post. No knitting or stitching or any kind of fun stuff. So, feel free to "mark as read" now... but the information may actually say as much about us all as people (or some of "us") in general in modern society than about those with diabetes in particular.

First, it's amazing how following the "doctor's orders" can make a difference in BSG readings. After only a few days of getting back to taking my meds as prescribed and cutting back my carbs (again), my numbers are back down and I am feeling better. I guess I was walking around in a "carb fog" and didn't realize it. The scale even went down a pound for a couple days -- I bounce 3 to 5 pounds some days, but I try to only weigh myself in the morning and no more than each morning. The greatest difficulty now (beside eating well) is remembering to take the metformin earlier in the evening so I don't wake up in the middle of the night with stomach pains. I thought it was the Vytorin and stopped taking it, but now I am beginning to believe it is the metformin.

Now to my real point: when my doctor first put the fear of god into me about how high my BSG had gotten, I was really scared. This was my third go-around with high BSG (gestational diabetes, and and then again in 1999 -- lost 20 pounds and everything went back to normal, hah hah). I took him and his instructions seriously and when I went back 2 weeks later, he looked at my numbers and started laughing. He asked me, "What did you do?" "I did what you told me to do."

If only everyone would, he said...

It's not easy to stay on track. And the U. of Chicago study mentioned the other day on Bernard Farrell's blog and on Daily Diabetic is scary -- there is a better article about the study at the University of Chicago Medical Center site.

The study is distressing because it speaks to our obsession with having a perfect life. Almost 20% of the participants would trade 8 to 10 years of life not to have to have to treat their diabetes:

"many patients found both complications and treatment onerous. Between 12 and 50 percent were willing to give up 8 of 10 years of life in perfect health to avoid life with complications. More surprising, between 10 and 18 percent of patients were willing to give up 8 of 10 years of healthy life to avoid life with treatments."

"Some patients, if you judge by their behavior, would rather be well on the road to future blindness, kidney failure or amputations then work hard now at their diabetes" (diabetes specialist Louis Philipson, MD, PhD, professor of medicine at the University of Chicago, who was not part of the research team).

I've not walked in a Type 1's shoes. I've been lucky so far to be able to control with only one med, diet and exercise. So, I certainly will not judge the participants. I can only hope that I never feel that hopeless.

An encouraging point in the report is that "Those who had experience with a specific medication or complication saw them as having less of an impact on quality of life than those without such direct experience." We always fear the unknown, and often unduly.

I would really like to read the full study article. If you happen to have access to Diabetes Care you can, too (that link will let anyone read the abstract, if you are interested). They have a three-month embargo, so I won't have access to it online for three months; campus library doesn't subscribe to the print version.

things i do for friends!

So... Rissa wants to buy something, and she needs some (more) enablement. BUT, she does so under the guise of "talk me out of it."

Now, you must remember that although I love having lots and lots of purses and bags and totes, I do not love to pay a lot for them, nor am I a name-brand person. I'd rather have ten purses for which I paid $10 each, than one for which I paid $100... because I like to c-h-a-n-g-e purses often!

[insert disappointing memories from childhood of not being able to afford John Tremain purses -- of which I can find nothing on the internet -- or Go-Go boots]

Just before we walk into Belks, she says, "If it's not still on 40% off, I'm not going to get it anyway." And, of course, it wasn't. So, we just turned around and left, right?

Of course, not! We wander around looking at all the purses (for me, it was curiosity about what I must be missing). Long story shortened: I left with this:


an "Authentic" Fossil Kendall Tote in Multi Print.
16" x 8.5" x 6" w/ 8.5" handle drop
cotton/canvas fabric w/ top-stitched embroidered accents
leather handles, bottom, and trim
two large interor compartments w/ center zip section; magnetic top closure
(for me, more of an overnight bag or tote; not a purse/handbag!)
Now, just who is enabling whom?

diamond

Today is my parent's 60th wedding anniversary.
(Diamond is the traditional gift.)
Their wedding took place in my mother's parent's living room. My mother wore a light blue suit.* I have at least one imprinted napkin, and I think a favor from the event... seems like there is another momento, too, but right now I can't recall.

They honeymooned at the Fountainbleu hotel in Biloxi. It has been gone since long before Katrina, but it sat near where the bypass to I-10 comes (came? is it still there?) down to the Coast and swings out over the water. (Can you tell I don't know my geography down there very well?)

Mom's been gone almost eight years, but I wanted to acknowledge the day.

*interesting to me because I wore a light blue suit (which my mother made for me) to 'get away' from my first wedding...no, not like THAT... I 'got away' from the marriage about three years later. also wore it on my one-year anniversary. See?

ohmygosh! look at the pointy collar and lapel! and you know what's really weird? that necklace was a gift from the man I almost married, not the one I did!

¿tu diabetes?

SugarStats led me to another diabetes site, a social network, in fact. There's a new link to it and to SugarStats in the sidebar (Tu Diabetes is the trio or hands -- with pricked fingers.) It's a little unwieldy to get around, and it's quite slow moving from one page to another (maybe it's just my computer), but I hope to benefit by being there.

hay una versión española también: EsTuDiabetes.com

ETA: My problems with TuDiabetes seem to have been related to something particular to Tuesday night -- last night things worked fine... by "unwieldy" I meant that the forums format was different than I expected. It is more like an aggregate reader...which is not bad, just different! :D I've added the forum RSS feeds to my Google Reader; I might like that better.