Well, it’s been about a month since I posted anything. I’ll take that as a good thing — it means I’ve been insanely busy and blogging has been an afterthought entirely.
So what exactly have I been doing?
I went to my new neurologist and she took me off of the horrible Topamax. It took a few weeks to phase out but it has been awesome having me back. I spent over a year wandering around in a fog and not sure why or how to do anything. All of the side effects faded about 2-3 days after I took my last dose, including the eye twitch that my former neurologist swore up and down couldn’t be a side effect because “this medicine is used to treat Tourette’s.” The twitching was so bad it would actually wake me up…and it’s gone!!!
Also along medical lines, I had my first real exam with my dermatologist. She said my morphea is really softening and looks lighter thanks to the medicines she has had me one and the eczema on my hands is almost fully controlled now. Yay! The full body exam revealed nothing other than a skin tag I asked to have removed…in my armpit…and she froze it off. It felt like I was carrying a very pissed off bee under my arm for a while. Otherwise, I was told I have remarkably clean and clear skin. Who would’ve ever thought that?!
We did our spring migration south to visit with my husband’s friends. It was the best gathering we’ve had in years there and it seems most everybody agreed. It’s crazy how one person not being there caused all of the tension and drama to evaporate.
Our little dog has been having unusual episodes. We took her to a doggy neurologist and had the follow up appointment. She had a MRI (yah, wrap your mind around that for a minute) and it was determined that whatever is going on with her is a functional disorder — either partial seizures or a muscular disorder – so she’s on medicine now for it. To completely determine what it is that’s wrong with her, we’d have to take her to Cornell University for an EEG. The MRI was insane enough, but there’s no way. They also did an x-ray of her chest while she was there because she has a slight murmur. It checked out well and the vet said if we didn’t have videos of her odd symptoms, he’d never believe it because she’s perfectly healthy otherwise.
Spring finally arrived and we have a robin nesting in the little vestibule outside of our laundry room door. It was a blast watching the entire process, including the mama coming back to lay an egg every day.
The chicks hatched yesterday!
We’re all doing our best not to disturb them, so I only grab photos when the parents are off the nest and searching for food. Hopefully in the next few days I can get a photo through the door’s window of the chicks being fed — it’s adorable.
Entertainment wise, we saw Colin Mochrie and Brad Sherwood (from Who’s Line is it Anyway?) last week at an improv show. Logan wasn’t familiar with either of them, but I’d spent many sick days as a teenager watching them on TV. They certainly didn’t fail to impress and the show was hilarious. I laughed so hard my sides ached.
I’ve been doing an insane amount of food preservation. Our freezer is almost overflowing. The good news is, that means we have fun meals! I don’t take too many photos of food buuut:
Since we went south we came home with more country ham than anybody should legally be able to have and a really great batch of green tomatoes. You know what that means!
Fried green tomatoes. Logan likes to top his with my pimiento cheese and bacon jam. He’s not wrong in that combination.
Last night Logan asked for smørrebrød. I haven’t made them since I lived in Denmark over a decade ago, so it was a bit of an adventure trying to find some of the harder ingredients around, especially the bread since I didn’t quite feel up to baking my own. But I did manage to pull it off last night. He wants to visit the Nordic countries even more now.
I can’t say how happy I am to have a real fish monger in the area — I can get sole! 😀
Finally crafting things! My favorite!
I set aside the sock because I was getting frustrated with the endless cycle of impossibly small cables. I love cabling normally but this was getting ridiculous. Instead, I decided to make a pair of mittens. What’s with me and small needles right now?!
I chose Butterfly Mittens by Emily Bujold from Ravelry.
They’re Fair Isle, which I’ve never done. I’ve also never made mittens.
Me, being me, I decided to change everything and make it harder.
I’m mixing in intarsia in the round so I can make my butterfly a monarch. AND I just finished altering the pattern so that the thumbs are by the butterfly’s wings, so the butterfly looks like it’s being held in the palm of your hands.
Nothing like having to completely rewrite and chart a pattern, eh? Her instructions and stuff are fine but just didn’t give the result I wanted in the end. I didn’t realize this until I got to the butterfly and had to tink back a bajillion microscopic rows. The designer promises to change the instructions for a palm-held butterfly in an update — it’s a bit deceptive on the Ravelry page because people have changed it before and are featured in the photos, so it looks like it’s an option when it’s not.
So far I’m loving the color work, even though I was worried about it at first. I’ve never had to float yarn before because all of my pieces with two colors have been double knit. Lots of fun stuff in this one!
I’m using Cascade 220 yarn because it was cheap, 100% wool, and had the colors I wanted available. It’s not the best or softest yarn, but it’s working well with these mittens so far.
Hopefully I’ll remember to update in a more timely manner (and catch up reading blogs!) next time.
We’re going to three shows this weekend, (Mastadon, Hammerfall/Flotsam & Jetsam, and Apocalyptica) so I’m in for another busy one!
Stitched Roots 