That was an expensive headache...

Ok, I might have mentioned something about having a Migraine from Hell and maybe a little vision problem in my left eye in my last post. After much panic, doctor visits, and a lot of money (I met my insurance deductible!), I now have a diagnosis.

It's a migraine.

A 3 week long, vision distorting, annoying, and sleep disturbing migraine. The vision problem is called Optic Neuritis. It caused my regular doctor and an opthamologist enough worry to send me off to get an MRI (Magnetic Resonance Imaging scan). The MD and the optho both had me totally freaked out, because they were suggesting all manner of scary shit that could have caused the eye problems...and then the radiologist who read the MRI said that I should probably go see a neurologist to rule out some of that scary shit.

So, this morning I went to see the neurologist (an ancient looking guy with gnarled fingers, and hearing aids who was probably good friends with Methuselah as a child). The neuro was pretty cool, he had me walk heel-to-toe, and on the balls of my feet and and my heels, and had me touch my nose with my index fingers with my eyes closed...all that fun stuff.

So, after all that money (an MRI costs $6,000...there goes my dad's 42 inch flat screen, wall mounted tv for Xmas this year) I have a diagnosis of migraines. Which, I think is pretty cool...cause after having all that other scary stuff being described to me, being told I've got a headache sounds pretty good to me. (you have no idea the stress...no idea...)

The eye thing should clear up (according to ancient neuro guy) in 6 to 12 weeks (I like the opthamologists estimate of 3 to 6 weeks a lot better) and it should go back to normal vision (or at least what was normal for me...I wear glasses)

After all that, I forgot to ask for a Rx to take for migraines...I guess I can ask the regular doctor about that the next time I get a bad headache.

At least now that I've met my deductible, if I get a bad cold this winter, I wont have to worry about paying for a trip to the doctor...I wonder if I should get my ginormous tonsils removed before the end of the year? (everytime a doctor looks at my tonsils, they always ask if I want them out...maybe I should take them up on it? it would pretty much be a golfball-ectomy)

I'm gonna go take a nap.

I am never taking antibiotics again!

I'm never taking antibiotics again if I can help it.

I just spent about 2 1/2 hours in one of the nicest Emergency Rooms I've ever seen.

I *think* I've been suffering from some nasty side effects from the Biaxin I was taking for strep. (notice, I said "side effects", it wasnt an allergic reaction)

I'd started the Biaxin last tuesday. Wednesday night I started getting a headache. The headache wouldnt go away and it got it's worst on friday night/saturday morning when it became the Migraine From Hell.

Also going on, was a feeling of pressure in my sinuses at the bridge of my nose, and a bad pain in the left eye that was contributing to the Migraine From Hell. Saturday morning, I woke up, the headache had backed off, but my left eye was kind of...fuzzy...kind of like someone's put vaseline in my eye or something.

I asked my aunt about it (she's a nurse practitioner) and she said it could still be the migraine bugging me, but she was calling it an "ocular migraine". Little after that, I took a Biaxin...about an hour after taking that Biaxin, my headache was starting to return, and my eye was starting to hurt more, and I had this weird anxious feeling. Called the pharmacy, the pharmacist told me to stop taking the Biaxin and talk to my doctor on monday. So the anxious feeling went away after awhile, altho my eye still hurt, and I was hoping it would feel better this morning.

Got up this morning, and nope, my eye still hurt (more today) and was still fuzzy. I called my regular doctor's emergency number and asked about it. They told me to go to the Emergency Room and get my eye checked out.

So, I went to the ER...they put the yellowish liquid in my eye and shined a Wood's Lamp at me. They said there was possibly a corneal abrasion or two on my eye, and the doctor looked at my eye with another machine with all sorts of lights on it.

He called whatever my problem is "subjective left eye pain", which basically means that it hurts, but he cant see anything majorly wrong with it other than a minor corneal abrasion, which doesnt really explain the fuzzyness. So tomorrow, not only do I get to go do a follow-up with my regular doctor, I get to go to the opthamologist and get more stuff dripped into my eye. (ohyayforthat...damn)

Since I hadnt finished my antibiotics, I really hope the doctor doesnt tell me to take more...'cause now I'm totally leery of taking a Tylenol, much less another antibiotic.

This is really cutting into my crocheting AND my reading fan fiction on the internet (fan fiction is basically fictional stories, written by fans about now defunct tv shows...some of the stories are pretty good)

After I get done with this blog post, I'm going to turn the lights off, put a dvd in my dvd player, and crawl into bed and listen to a movie...or I could go attempt to crochet with my eyes closed (I can do it)

Hopefully this will go away soon and didnt cause any permanent damage to my eyesight...

Geeze...I'm really sensitive.

I guess I can add Biaxin to the list of antibiotics I cant take anymore.

Since starting the biaxin the other day, my left eye is all itchy and my vision is kind of blurry, I have a REALLY BAD headache, I've had insomnia for 3 days, I have a nasty metallic taste in my mouth, and I feel a little shaky and weird. (my dad says that it seems like my mood has changed...according to him I'm a little manic right now)

I called the pharmacist and explained to him the problems that I was having, which I've never had before...except for the metallic taste, and he at first didnt think those were side effects to the Biaxin...then he read a little further in his information. He told me to stop taking the Biaxin immediately and to call my doctor on monday to try to get another antibiotic.

Strange that out of all those side effects that one that's bothering me the most is the metallic taste. The vision problem is probably the one that's most annoying after that.

The manic feeling is a bit...weird, but aside from not being able to sit still, isnt all that bad.

I guess this explains the headache of migraine proportions that I had last night when I was writing my last blog post. I just wonder how long it will take me to metabolize my last dose out of my system. (took the last one around 12 or 1230pm CST, it's now 230pm CST) Maybe if I drink a lot of water and eat something, that will push it thru faster?

I wonder if I can use the manic feeling to get some crocheting done? ;) I dont think I'll work on anything important...just in case...

Why cant copyright theft be stopped?

(btw, if this sounds familiar to people, I wrote most of this post in a message that I posted on Crochetville in response to Kim Guzman's post about how one of her pattern leaflets was stolen by a Pattern Piggy a few weeks ago. The Pattern Piggy purchased the pattern from Kim, and then proceeded to email the pattern to all her friends. Now the pattern has probably been posted to a website for anyone who wants to right-click to save it to their computer can do so. I edited this message a bit to post here on my blog)

*****

I am on a Yahoo Group that is trying to fight the Pattern Piggies from stealing from designers.

I am so disgusted that there are people out there who think nothing of uploading someone's hard work to give away to their 500 closest friends for free. It's just as bad as shoplifting.

It's just as disgusting how they try to justify their stealing. They say "I'm on a fixed income and cant afford to buy them" (well, then just how are you paying for your internet access and printing supplies?) or, they post a quote from real copyright law, yet they've distorted the meaning of that particular law to make it appear as if they're just doing it for "educational purposes".

The one that gets me, I saw on eBay the other day. A seller had on one of her auctions (for cross stitch patterns) this saying: "It is not my intention to infringe on any copyright laws - all images used are obtained from the public domain. If you see an image which I have used and can prove copyright ownership, please let me know and the image will be removed immediately!"

Just what "public domain" did she get these images from? She had Thomas Kinkaide pictures, images of Spider-Man, Superman, Batman, Disney characters, The Simpsons...ect...

When did these copyrighted and trademarked images get put into the "public domain"?? (the internet is NOT the "public domain".)

I emailed the seller and asked where she got the pictures. She told me she copied them off of free websites, and then she claimed that the internet is public domain, and she didnt think she was doing anything wrong.

I told her she was, and that just in case she wasnt aware, she could end up having legal monetary judgements filed against her for each instance of theft. Last I heard, you can be fined up to $150,000 per theft!

Not surprisingly, this morning when I checked, she had removed ALL her auctions and is no longer a registered member of eBay.

But, I'm sure she'll be back in a couple of days with a new name, selling more cross stitch patterns with images that she stole from the original creators and designers...at least when she cancelled her eBay account she lost all of her eBay feedback.

And sadly, there are dozens if not hundreds of eBay sellers doing the exact same thing that woman was. People are using computer programs to generate patterns for several different needlecrafts using copyrighted and trademarked material they've stolen from the original creators.

I've monitored groups and websites that are known to be Pattern Piggy friendly... I just checked one group yesterday and was just floored by the amount of scanned copyrighted material I saw on it. (I'm not mentioning the name of the site here because I dont want to encourage anyone to go there and steal)

When I last checked that site, dozens of Pattern Piggies had been scared into removing the copyrighted material from the photo pages. I hadnt checked it for about a month until yesterday. Not only were most of the illegal scans back, they'd added a bazillion more to it.

There has to be some way to stop this...too bad a lot of people consider copyright theft a victimless crime. It's not. It cost the designers, the publishers, and all the people who are involved in the publication process money.

Imagine this. A hypothetical pattern book costs $5. A person buys the book, takes it home. Scans it, and posts it to a website for 10 of her friends to "share".

(EDIT: btw, if I screwed up on the math, tell me. I think it's right, but I have a sinking suspicion I screwed up the math in the second example, and that screws up the math for the rest of the point I'm trying to make. I'm just not sure if it's screwed up...I really really suck at math...I flunked algebra 3 times in high school. Hopefully my aunt, a teacher, will see this and help me correct the math if it's wrong)

5 scanned pattern books x 10 friends = $50. That's 10 sales the designer lost out on.

Now imagine that each of those 10 friends gives the link to 10 of their friends.

5 books x 10 friends x 10 more friends = $500.

At that point the costs to the designer and the publisher starts rising exponentially.

5 books x 10 friends x 10 more friends x 10 more friends = $5,000

This means that designers lose money, and since no one is buying their work because they'd rather steal it instead, they lose their jobs. A job that I am positive most designers love to do. The publishers cut back on their publishing, the employees of the publisher lose their jobs.

Eventually it will get to a point where it will become extremely difficult to find a crochet or knitting magazine in the stores.

The Pattern Piggies either dont realize the damage their doing, or they just dont care. I imagine it's the latter.

My 100th blog post!! yay!

As the title says, this is my 100th blog post. Took me a year to do that much. Surprised that I didnt lose interest the first week.

*****
Started a scrap-a-ghan tonight. I have a ton of Red Heart Starbrights color (variegaited color, kind of like a spectrum) I'm doing a rectangle granny. 3 rounds of scrap, with one round of the Starbrights inbetween each color change. I've got about 6 rounds done so far. I might have this finished in time for a friend's birthday at the end of the month.

*****
(may be some profanity ahead...sorry)

I have a fairly serious interest in forensic criminal science and criminal psychology. Not serious enough to go to school and do anything practical with it, but enough that I read forensics books, and watch a lot of documentaries on tv. It's a hobby. Today I'm tickled pink that they have FINALLY caught the bastard that raped and murdered JonBenet Ramsey in 1996. He actually admitted it!

OhHellNO!! I just heard on FoxNews that he says it was an accident. Where the fuck does he get off claiming it was an accident?!? I've read books about her murder, and seen dozens of shows. He wrapped a garrote made of nylon cord and a paintbrush around her neck! If that doesnt show intent to kill, nothing does! Her official cause of death is blunt force trauma from a head injury, and asphyxiation due to the garrote he put around her neck. There's no way in hell anyone can tell me that he "accidentally" killed her.

He tortured her, used a foreign object to rape her, tasered her (taser is a stun gun), hit her head hard enough to cause severe head trauma and then choked her to death with a garrote.

Colorado has the death penalty. If he actually did this (they still have to prove it forensically), this prick (John Karr) deserves it.

What really creeps me out about this guy, heard this on FoxNews this afternoon after the news broke, is that John Karr had apparently been emailing Patsy Ramsey in the months before her death from cancer, and had been describing to Patsy Ramsey in the emails what he did to JonBenet the night he killed her. I feel so bad for Patsy Ramsey that she had to suffer thru that while dying of cancer. What a sadistic thing for him to do to her.

I am a firm believer that anyone who could harm a child like this deserves the death penalty. From what I've read, child molesters are very unlikely to change their ways, even with psychiatric treatment. They have a high recidivism rate (the definition of recidivism is: "The continued, habitual or compulsive commission of law violations after first having been convicted of prior offenses.")

I think that convicted child molesters should not only be segregated from society for their entire lives (preferrably on a desolate island with man-eating wild boars roaming around) but also that those who repeatedly re-offend should receive the death penalty...with no opportunities to appeal.

I hope this bastard didnt make any deals with the Boulder, CO prosecutor's office to avoid the death penalty. Hopefully he pleads guilty and gets a speedy execution.

eeeewwwwww!

the antibiotics just kicked in...ohmygoshireallyreallyreallyhateantibiotics!

This. is. going. to. be. a. long. 10. days.

I hate being sick and I really really really hate Biaxin! It really sucks that antibiotics make me feel sicker than the sore throat was making me feel.

*****

I'm watching a show on The History Channel about September 11th. I cant believe it's been almost 5yrs since that day. Seems like it was just yesterday.

*****

This is my 99th post on my blog. My blog will be 1yr old at the end of the month. I'm surprised I didnt get bored with this long before now. *yawn* ;)

I think I'll go crochet something.

Ohmygosh those are freaking huge!!!

well, I have golf ball-sized tonsils. I just got back from a doctor's appointment, and I've apparently got some mutant sized tonsils that are just teeming of strep.

Before the doctor looked down my throat, I warned him that my tonsils are abnormally large when I'm healthy, so dont be surprised at how big they are. I could see him thinking "ok...just how BIG could they really be?". He looked, his eyes got about as big as my tonsils and he pretty much exclaimed that they were probably some of the biggest tonsils he's ever seen....and yes, they were infected.

He didnt really need to look at them to see they were infected. The nurse showed some initiative when I went into the exam room and did the swab ahead of time. She said the doctor was running behind, and she knew he'd want to culture it anyways, so she just went ahead and did it. So, the doctor knew I had strep before he even stepped into the room and met me.

So, now I'm going to have 10 fun filled days of antibiotics...biaxin 500 mg b.i.d. x 10 (that's biaxin, one pill, twice a day, for 10 days) I guess I better go buy some lemon yogurt to make the antibiotics a little more palatable.

:(

I'm not happy. But, at least the doctor said I'm also supposed to rest, so I guess I can spend my time resting, crocheting. (hmmm! what should I make?)

I'm still practicing my knitting. I should probably take a picture later so I can prove that I can actually do it. The knitting is getting easier to do...I havent made much more than a couple of swatches, but at least I can do it.

I've had an idea for a new afghan. I'm thinking of using some of my scrap to make 4 large granny squares, and then sewing them together into an afghan. It's nothing exciting, but just thought that would look cool with all my different scrap colors.

Why is the world so freaking insane?

I dont know if anyone else has watched the news tonight (I'm a news junkie...my tv is always on FoxNews unless there's something more interesting to watch)

FoxNews

http://www.foxnews.com/

is reporting that the British have arrested at least 20 people who had somehow managed to get LIQUID EXPLOSIVES past airport security. As far as I've figured out from the news, they think they got all of them (hopefully) and that all the planes were headed for the United States.

edit: They just announced they're still looking for at least two people

edit 2: Now they're saying the plot was for 6 airplanes to be blown up, but that they've arrested anywhere between 20 and 50 people involved in the plot.

I just talked to a friend, and he said that most of those planes (the kind that do overseas flights) could potentially have at least 250 passengers per plane. So, do the math. Twenty potential explosives laden airplanes x 250 people per plane. That's at least 5,000 people that could have been killed tonight. (The September 11th attacks killed just under 3,000)

About all I can say is "what the F%&*?!?!?!"

Killing people just because they dont pray to the same god(s) you do is just insane. (the terrorists arrested are all British muslims).

I'm really glad that we're not going to have a 8-10 (today's date) to memorialize like we do 9-11 (that's as long as they got all the terrorists involved in the plot) You have to love the British for managing to get this stopped.

I'm going to bed now. Hopefully there wont be any bad news for me to see on the news in the morning.

Owwwwww....knitting is painful....

I think I have a serious gauge problem going on. I'm still not used to the whole knitting thing, and I know I'm holding those needles a little too tight tonight. My fingers are sore, and my wrist (darned carpal tunnel) is starting to really hurt.

I guess that's why I'm making swatches and not actual knitted projects yet. Maybe I'll start off with some knitted dishcloths? (my aunt Jan loves stuff like that) I have nearly an entire cone of crochet cotton left over from my crocheted purse I made last winter to sacrifice to a project like that.

Even tho my hands are sore now, the knitting is looking a bit more even. So, I'm happy about that. I'm a bit of a perfectionist when it comes to crocheting, so it was bugging me that the knitting didnt look perfect and even right away.

I got some decent knitting needles yesterday, so at least now I have some that are of a size that's easier for me to hold than the ginormous size 11's that I learned on. Got a pair of size 8 Clover's, and a size 8 Susan Bates circular. Love the Clover's! I'm going to have to get one of their crochet hooks. I almost bought one today, but then found 6 skeins of Lion Brand Chenille on clearance for $1/skein. I have no self control when it comes to clearanced yarn. I've noticed a lot of places are putting that particular brand of chenille on clearance (probably being discontinued) so if it's a decent price, $1.50 or less per skein, I've been buying it. Not quite sure what I want to do with it, but I've got enough for a really weird looking afghan. (none of the colors are going to match...guess that it'll make an interesting scrap-a-ghan)

I just realized that my blog is a year old this month (first post was August 31st 2005) and that this post here is my 96th. Kind of surprises me that I didnt lose interest a week after that first post. I think it surprises me more that people actually read it!

Ok, back to torturing my fingers for awhile longer with some more knitting and listening to AIROS (American Indian Radio On Satellite) http://www.airos.org/

Knitting update....

Ok...I've been knitting off and on for about the past 6hrs (have to stop occasionally because I've been holding the needles too tight and fingers are getting sore)

I've finally gotten a small swatch knitted long enough that I can see my stitches. So far, so good. I've got the same amount of loops on the needle as I started out with (10) and as far as I can tell, I havent purled when I wanted to knit.

My dad was a big help on that part. The first swatch I tried, I had mistakenly purled the first 3 or 4 rows. (still, not bad for someone who had never gotten past the casting on stage before today) Dad took it and knitted several more rows to show me what the difference is. Then he watched to see what I was doing. Said that so far, it looks like I'm doing pretty good.

As far as I know, I havent dropped a stitch...no clue as to what to do if that happens...but I'm only making swatches right now to get the feel of knitting and purling. I'll ask my dad tomorrow what to do if I drop a stitch.

He's gonna have to do the bind off for me. No idea what to do with that, altho I suspect it's probably similar to something I've done with Tunisian crochet. (am I right?)

I now understand the disdain that knitters have for Red Heart yarn. I never could figure it out before. Red Heart yarn splits like crazy when worked with knitting needles.

At least now I know what to do with the leftover skein of blue Rainbow Boucle' yarn I got from Joann's Crafts. (I'm gonna knit myself a scarf with it!!) I can only crochet with boucle' yarn if I'm making a granny square with it. (just made a really neat shawl with some Rainbow Boucle'...it's a giant half granny square) It's just so difficult for me to see where to put my crochet hook. I think I'll probably have better luck knitting with it. I'm just going to do a lot of practicing with the knitting needles before I attempt the boucle' scarf....and I'm going to get smaller, circular knitting needles. The ones I have are size 11's, and they're so long I keep jabbing myself in the ribs with them. I'm guessing circulars will be easier for me and my crochet-wired brain to hold onto.

I think I'll get my circulars at String of Purls yarn store...that way I can take my swatch in and possibly take a lesson (for $20/hr...or is it $30?)

Well, I'm shocked....

I just did something I never thought I would ever do.

I knitted! *gasp!*

even more amazing....I purled!!! *Eeek!!*

I had been watching an episode of "Knit one, Purl two" this morning just to see if there was any interesting yarn that I might want to try to crochet with. The French lady was teaching a couple of celebrities how to knit a scarf with that crappy fun fur yarn. I'm not exactly sure what happened, but when the French lady was showing them a step on how to knit, something in my Crochet centered brain had a an epiphany. I picked up the knitting needles than my aunt Jan gave me last year that I've just been using as back scratchers and casted on (I still screw up casting on, even tho it's the same way you cast on to do needle tatting.)

Then I just did what I thought I saw the French lady did....wouldnt you know it, I was actually purling, but hey! I actually got something that looked kinda like knitting.

Showed it to my dad, the only person I know who knits other than my sister and my mom's sister (neither of which live anywhere near me to show me these things) and he showed me how he knits and purls. (he Continental knits)

So, I guess I've crossed over to the Dark Side. I dont think I'll ever do much more with knitting other than scarves, but at least I added another skill to use with my yarn.

If I manage to make anything worthwhile with my size 11 knitting needles (I'm going out tomorrow to get some smaller circular needles) I'll post a picture.

At least my dad is here to show me how to bind off (cast off???) and what to do if I start dropping stitches or adding too many stitches to a project.

My hands hurt...apparently knitting uses completely different muscles than crochet does.

Finished! (well, mostly)

It took me five days, but with the help of my trusty yarn winder I got most of my scrap yarn under control. I'm sure I have a few stragglers lurking around, but I got just finished getting everything put away.

I gave up all hope of actually getting everything organized according to color. But at least now everything is all in one place and at least not getting tangled up into unrecoverable wads.

The stash.

What I couldnt stuff into the cabinet

Works in progress

The Rubbermaid tote is full of skeins that are still in their yarn bands.

and a completly stuffed former computer armoire...now a yarn containment center.

My arm hurts!!! But I love the yarn winder.

This stash is just what was in my bedroom. I still have at least 4 Rubbermaid totes (larger than the one tote in the pictures) that are stuffed full of even more scrap and full skeins. It'll be awhile before I can drag those out of the store room. Tons of other junk is piled in front of those boxes. Right now, I need to let my wrist and shoulder rest from 5 days of winding.

Now I just need to figure out what to make with all my scrap. I'll probably be able to make one heck of a good scrap-a-ghan with it all.

I love my yarn winder!

Do you think that maybe I might have gotten a bit too excited with winding yarn?

This is all from my scrap yarn stash, and that's not even half of my scrap yarn!

I dont even know how many balls of yarn I wound! I kept losing count!

I love this yarn winder. It's really helped me get my stash organized somewhat. I had two ginormous zipper bags (like blankets and comforters come in) and my craft cabinet just totally stuffed with all these loose hand-wound balls of yarn that were starting to become a tangled mess. I took every hand-wound ball of yarn, and used the yarn winder to wind them into neat little cake-shaped skeins. I cleaned out my craft cabinet (my old computer armoire) and have the skeins all stacked neatly, and (sort of) in order according to color.

Getting all this yarn organized actually helped me cut down on storage space. The two ginormous zipper bags of yarn were actually cut down to one bag. I put unused, still in the original packaging skeins in the largest bag. I still had half the bag to fill, so I put some of the yarn cake skeins that I wound with the winder on top of those skeins. The other zipper bag I'm now using to hold my works-in-progress.

I now have space in my room to actually sit on some furniture while I'm crocheting, rather than just sitting on my bed and peering over the top of all my projects and bags of yarn to see my tv.

I still have a ton more of scrap yarn to organize (I have like 4 Rubbermaid totes in the store room that I havent looked at for more than a year). Now at least I have some sense of order. Plus, I like being able to see just how much scrap yarn I have and how much I have of one color. Now I'll be able to tell at a glance if I have enough yarn for a project, or if I need to go to the yarn store.

Last week, before I got the yarn winder, I was already on an organizing frenzy. My dad found an entire box of plastic page protectors in his stuff when he moved his home office from upstairs into the newly finished room downstairs. He gave me the box! (200 page protectors!) so I took my favorite binders of printed out patterns and organized my pattern stash. Since I could put two pages each inside each protector page, I increased the capacity of pages each of my binders could hold. I was able to reorganize and go from 5 binders to 4 by condensing all those patterns.

Next time I go to Office Depot to get printer ink, I'll probably pick up another box of page protectors.

Also, a few weeks ago, I picked up a file folder box that I could put all my crochet magazines into. I need to get a few more of those file boxes (the 50 or 60 something Workbasket magazines that I inherited from my paternal grandmother still need storage space)

It's really cool to finally have most of this stuff organized. I even found a bunch of my missing crochet hooks in all that scrap yarn. I found 13 "I" hooks and about 3 or 4 hooks of other sizes...I guess my favorite crochet hook size is the "I" hook...otherwise I wouldnt have so many of them.

I found three unfinished projects in the chaos. One of them was a poncho that just needed the last couple inches of the edging finished (did that), a pineapple shawl that I ran out of blue yarn for (found enough in the scrap heap to finish that this weekend), and a giant rectangle granny square afghan that I was doing with scrap yarn. (at least I know I have enough scrap yarn to finish that!). I'll probably finish up all those projects next week so that I can figure out what to make with my newly organized stash.

Got myself a new toy!

I finally got to the yarn store http://www.stringofpurls.com/ and purchased a yarn winder. I absolutely adore this thing. Gadgets are cool, and this is probably the neatest crochet/yarn related gadget that I've ever had. I've already wound about 30 little balls/cakes of yarn with it. (I have a big scrap box)

The lady at the store said that it was addictive...she was right.

Here's a picture of it

*****

I also (un)sucessfully completed an amineko (Japanese crocheted cat) today. I know I screwed up on it, and that it doesnt really come that close to the original Aminekos that I've seen others do, but it was my first attempt.

Here it is, hugging my new yarn winder. (ignore my messy 'puter desk)

I gave this one to my aunt Janice to give to her granddaughter. I'm planning on making another one. Hopefully the later generations will look more like the pattern designers did.

This is so creeping me out.

So far this week, I've gotten two statements from my medical insurance company. Which is weird, because I havent seen a doctor since April and I paid that bill. What's also weird is that the statements I'm getting are for medical procedures I've never had, doctors that I've never heard of or seen.

This is the part that's creeping me out.

The person that these bills are supposed to go to has almost the exact same name as me. Her name is Erin, she has the same middle initial as mine, and the same last name as me, but her last name is hyphenated with another name, so it's Erin *middle name* *last name*-*2nd last name*. And for added freakishness, her YEP number (insurance ID number) is MY social security number. (which, coincidentally, used to be my YEP number before the insurance company stopped using socials as the YEP number)

The only thing I can think of, is that she went to the doctor(s) and didnt have her insurance card...so they looked it up thru her name. I'm not sure, but I might have been to a doctor in that same medical association about 6yrs ago (ruptured an achilles tendon), so it's very possible that my insurance info is what came up when they entered her name into the system. They probably just assumed that was her info. Probably didnt bother checking the mailing address or anything like that.

It's pissing me off because now her psych consults and some neurological test are now on my insurance, and I'm probably going to start getting her bills or something. (right now all I've gotten are Explanation of Benefits letters)

So now I've called and kvetched to my insurance company several times (I'm sure they're cursing my name as we speak)

I'm getting seriously worried that my identity is being stolen. I've had one or two relatives that have had that happen to them, one of which has never really gotten everything straightened out and her mother practically went broke paying off the bills because they couldnt prove it wasnt her (lesson in that, is never allow your dorm mates have access to your purse) The relative was in college, and somehow one (or ten) of her roommates got a hold of a credit card of hers and used it to buy a bunch of stuff at an electronics store. I guess she didnt find out about it immediately and ended up in debt because of these "friends" of hers.

It's frighteningly easy for someone to steal your information nowadays. I hope that's not what is going on with me and my health insurance. I'm really hoping it's some weird, bizzarre clerical error of some sort. There's just so many coincidences with the name it's freaky.

Tomorrow, to make myself feel better about my identity possibly being stolen, I think I'm going to go to String Of Purls yarn shop here in town and pick up a yarn winder that I've been wanting to get forever. It wont help me straighten out the current screwy-ness, but I'll be able to work out my frustration by balling up a bunch of yarn.

That was weird...

My blog post from yesterday has magically appeared. Blogger just hung there yesterday when I clicked the Post button and after about 10 minutes of watching it just sit there and not post, I closed the browser window in frustration. Apparently I was wrong and it did post. I think my internet must have had a gremlin or something yesterday.

*****

I. Feel. Like. Crap.

My seasonal allergies that usually strike in April and May held off till today in their annual attempt to kill me by suffocation. I was so happy, not having to deal with allergies and was seriously hoping that I was cured, but I guess it wasnt to be *grumble* ...and apparently I've built up a resistance to Claritin (the over-the-counter version of it) I guess I'll have to go find a doctor who will give me an Rx for Allegra.

*****

I'm about halfway through with my Rainbow Boucle shawl. (at least halfway thru the skein...not sure if I'll have to dip into the other skein to finish it or not) and I'm almost finished with my latest pineapple chairback doily shawl. I've also got a giant rectangle granny scrap-a-ghan in the works. If I stop sneezing long enough to be able to take a picture without jerking the camera away during a sneeze I'll post some pictures later.

The Fourth was cool!

We had a good Fourth of July this year. The weather cooperated. It was cool enough last night that my aunt Jan had a blanket on her lap during the fireworks. Usually it's so hot outside that we're all sweaty and have been a buffett for the mosquitos. Last night was cool, and the mosquitos were only mildly annoying. Hopefully we wont all end up with West Nile Virus.

My dad cooked steaks and hotdogs on the grill, baked potatoes...my aunt Jan made corn-on-the-cob, chili, german chocolate cake, and homemade blueberry ice cream.

I went and saw Superman Returns with my boyfriend Don earlier yesterday afternoon before we ate. Then we came back to my house, pigged out on steak, chilidogs, and blueberry ice cream. While we waited for it to get dark enough to see the neighbors try their level best at blowing up the neighborhood, Don and I worked on....well...ok, Don worked on getting my wireless internet range extender working correctly while I sat and watched in boredom...errr...ummm....awe. :)

I now have a constant connection to the internet now, instead of having it drop out every 5 seconds! It's really cool having a friend who knows what they're doing with computer stuff. I just try not to impose on him to fix my system for me too much.

When it started getting darker, we dragged chairs across the street and watched the fireworks from my aunt Jan's driveway. Champion's Run Golf Course does a fireworks display every year. They dont advertise because it's a "private display for club members only", so we tried really hard not to watch the private display, but that was pretty difficult since it took up most of the southern sky. ;)

The neighbors (most of them) apparently imported the entire state of Missouri's supply of fireworks (Omaha has a law against selling fireworks) and they all seemed to put on a good show...except for one misfire. One of the neighbors around the corner from Jan's house had a canister that fell over after they lit it and instead of going up into the sky it blew across the street and into the Commons area and exploded there. I thought it might have bounced off a parked car before it hit the grass. It made for a neat explosion, but was kind of scary because of how quickly it happened. At least no one was hurt and the neighbor sent someone over with a Super Soaker water gun to make sure there wasnt going to be any grass fires.

It was really weird not having TinyMonsters around yesterday. (he died in March) I was so used to having to check on Tiny, and having him trying to climb into my arms during the fireworks. Tiny weighed 100 pounds and was a fierce looking dog, but when loud fireworks were going off, he thought he was a little guy again and just wanted me to protect him. My mom and aunt Jan both kept saying they wished Tiny was there last night. I was actually glad he wasnt, because I was the one he always leaped for when he was scared, and there was a lot more fireworks going off in the neighborhood last night than ever before. Tiny would have been so traumatized that I just wouldnt have wanted him to go thru that. Miss him to death, but it was nice to not have to worry about him being scared.

*****

Saw that North Korea couldnt hold it in any longer and just had to launch at least 7 test launches. From what I've seen on the news, the launch of the taepodong-2 missile petered out after 30 or 40 seconds. Some "experts" on the news thought the other 5 or 6 missiles (Scud missiles) were launched as a smoke screen to cover the apparent failure of the taepodong-2, and possibly also were symbolic shows of "strength" against America. Thought it was interesting that they waited till the biggest patriotic American holiday to do their test.

*****

I've gotten some crocheting done on two shawls I'm working on. Doing another one of those pineapple chairback doily shawls (with Red Heart SS), and the other one is just a half granny square shawl. The half granny shawl is being worked up in Joann's Rainbow Boucle. I'm really loving this yarn. It's the first time in a long time that I've used something other than Red Heart for a large project. I think I might head out to Joann's Crafts and see if I can get a couple more skeins.

Send a postcard!

I saw a news story on FoxNews this afternoon about this website. The link is http://letssaythanks.com/Home.aspx

When you go to that website you can choose from several different postcard designs and then you can personalize the card with a short note to a serviceman/woman (you cant specify who you want it sent to) Then the postcard is printed out with your message on it, and are placed in care packages that are sent to the soldiers. It's free to do.

I thought it was a cool idea, and have already sent one off. (I put my email address on it too, maybe they'll write me back?)

****

My parents have to find a new maid service. (mom always wanted a cleaning service when I was growing up, so dad finally got her one for Xmas a few years ago) Anyways, We got a phone call yesterday from the cleaning service that we've used for the past 3yrs. Seems the owner has been forced to shut down. Her husband used to have a franchise with a nationally known maid service (not naming names) and last winter, he decided he wanted to concentrate more on his carpet cleaning business and so he cancelled his contract with that nationally known maid service franchise and started a new cleaning service, with a new name. (the nationally known franchise was about to start raising the franchise fees, so they'd have either had to raise the rates, or give their cleaning crews a paycut)

When he started the new cleaning business he gave ownership of the business to his wife, who up until that point had been just an employee.

They consulted a lawyer to make sure starting the new business wouldnt be stepping on anyones toes, and they contacted their customers and asked if they wanted to continue on with the nationally known company or stick with their new company.

So now, 6 months later, the nationally known company is now suing them, and they've got some sort of injunction keeping them from running their cleaning business for at least the next year. (her husband's carpet cleaning company is not affected) They had to lay off ALL of their employees too. Which is horrible because a lot of their employees have been with them for years and now they'll have to start all over again with a new job.

This really sucks. They're such nice people, and I know the cleaning company was probably where they got most of their income from. Hopefully they can get things straightened out and can get back to cleaning for my mom. I'll probably start pricing some of the other cleaning companies in town soon. But I'm actually hoping they'll get things straightened out quick and will be back soon. I'd kind of like to stay loyal to these people since they've done such a good job for my parents.

Finally!

Finally, I've managed to complete a Seraphina shawl. I'm not so sure I'll ever do another one of these again. It was such a pain in the ass to start, took me a year and many a ruined skein of yarn to get past the fourth row.

I used worsted weight yarn, and it's very possible that there's a mistake in it (since the text of the pattern was full of mistakes) but it's now finished, and it will probably be years before I ever attempt another one of these things again.

I used Red Heart Giant "Candy Print", and Red Heart Super Saver "Amethyst". When I first started this shawl, I thought the Candy Print color was pretty and that it would look good in this shawl. Last night, as I was finishing up the shawl, and was checking it for mistakes and rogue yarn tails, it started to dawn on me that the Candy Print is a really really really busy yarn.

I'm not all that thrilled with how it turned out. I'm going to keep it for myself since I think that if I gave it to a family member, I'd be disowned. So far the only person who's said they like the color was my dad, but I dont think he's going to wear it unless he's got a disguise over his face.

Here's a picture of my ugly Seraphina shawl.

I'm starting a scrap-a-ghan tonight. I bought a couple of skeins of Red Heart SS Mexicana and I'm going to mix that with the scrap yarn. I'm using my giant rectangle granny square pattern. I'm doing one round of Mexicana to three rounds of scrap yarn. (started the center with Mexicana) Just started it, only have 4 rounds done so far, but I like how the Mexicana looks with my first color. I've been wanting to do a scrap-a-ghan for a long time, but have been too busy finishing up a couple of other projects to start it before now.

Went to Hobby Lobby tonight to buy the RH Mexicana yarn, and found myself four skeins of Bernat Velour for $1.51/skein. Not at all sure what I'm going do with it...not sure if 4 skeins is enough to do anything exciting, like a shawl.

How freaking scary is this?

I've been watching the news about North Korea's impending missile test. FoxNews just reported that this missle is potentially capable of reaching as far as Chicago, IL.

This scares me. I live in Omaha, Nebraska...which I'm pretty sure is just a few hundred miles closer to North Korea than Chicago is. Plus the fact that Offutt AFB is right "next door" in Bellevue and has long been considered a potential target for the U.S.S.R during the Cold War.

If North Korea launches it's test missle, let's hope that it doesnt end up in a cornfield somewhere in the American Midwest. (the last time N. Korea launched a missle, it flew OVER Japan, and the Japanese were mightily pissed off by that)