Edyta wore clothes for her first dance tonight! She’s never been clothed before! And I’m not a guy, but I thought this was the best she’s looked. Of course I did!

the J house has been severely neglected since the big push to get the book finished. now that i’m done with my part (Frank’s gotta go through a few of my changes), i can finally clean!

this house needs serious TLC. the funny thing is, i know it’s clean on the inside, so i don’t think it’s going to take that long. the guest room is still clean, and all the closets are still orderly (except the den closet, because i want to add one more shelf and organize it even better). but most things in the house actually have a home now, so it’s just a matter of getting everything to its home and then dusting, cleaning the floors really well (steam, it does the flooring good, pass it on), and cleaning the ceiling fans and light fixtures. oh, and the paper. i have lots of shredding and filing to do.

ok, i know that sounds like a lot, but the worst part for me of cleaning the house is putting things away, because if it doesn’t have an actual home, i’m resistant to put it anywhere, because i hate clutter in my closets. ok, that’s the 2nd worst part. the worst part is the paper. dealing with the paper.

i really don’t think it’s going to take me that long. maybe a week to get this place sparkly. then i clean out the garage, and i mean really clean it. then the painting resumes. i can’t wait to get back to the painting. and replacing light fixtures (but that will happen after we start getting book money). replacing light fixtures and blinds will really spruce up the place, which is full of default fixtures because Frank forgot to pick out his light fixtures. more fun for me!

i don’t really know why, but i’m so excited about being able to clean. probably because that will make me feel more like the housewife that i am on the inside.

oh! i’m also going to really pare down the kitchen. get rid of appliances and gadgets and excess mixing bowls that sit in the primo cabinet space and never get used. anybody want a salad shooter? i haven’t used it since Fort Worth. plus i must go through the pantry and ditch the expired food. the pantry is so full.

fun times are on the horizon, peeps. i am woman. watch me clean.

my favorite nephew

Yes, we went to one. For the 2nd year in a row we went to Jim’s & Rachel’s house for the Halloween party. We had a great time. They had a great turnout, and we met several new people and also saw most of the same folks from last year.

Frank and I went back and forth on what to be for Halloween. We decided last week sometime that we would be Horatio Caine and Calleigh Duquesne. But sometime around Friday, I realized it would be way too expensive, because I would need to buy a full Calleighesque outfit (sleek pantsuit), and we would have to buy a few things for our CSI kits. Basically, all we had were the guns, the blonde hair, and Frank’s outfit. So Saturday we decided we were going to be a couple of nerds. We had great ideas for our nerdiness, but alas, we could find none of our required items at Walgreens or Wal-Mart. So we decided at the last minute that Frank would be The Man With No Name (no purchases necessary), and I would be a vampiress. This is the first time I’ve ever gone as anything evil, which probably explains why my outfit practically fell apart.

I painted my face white, put black all over my eyes, eyebrows, and lips, painted blood dripping from my mouth, and donned the horribly clunky fangs. I wore all black (no cape, just a long skirt and long-sleeved shirt). My toes were red, and my shoes were tall, strappy, and black. We couldn’t find a long black wig, and I didn’t want a super-curly wig, so I settled on a long electric purple wig for lack of better choices. I bought these glow-in-the-dark and black press-on nails, but like most press-on nails, they wouldn’t stick on my fingers, because my fingers are too skinny. Alas. So I tried the long black nails that came with the makeup kit, and they fit.

Our plan was to be at the P house by 4:00, so we left the house around 5:15. The party didn’t start until 7:00, so we weren’t running late, but I’d planned to get there early to help Rachel and visit with them. So at 6:15 or so we were in Orlando and stopped at Chipotle to pick up food, having not had lunch (well, I’d had a smoothie, and he’d had a croissant) and knowing that there is a Chipotle super-close to their house.

We arrived around 6:30, a whole hour early (I thought the party started at 7:30, which it didn’t), and I was so pleased that we were only 2.5 hours later than I wanted to arrive.

We said hello and did what we could to help (I did bring Neiman Marcus Cake and stuffed jalapenos) and then ate our food. The red blood dripping from my mouth was faded and no longer resembled blood. And the makeup I’d brought for just such a crisis was nowhere in our bags, though I distinctly remember packing it. Oh, and I tried the “blood capsules”. They just made my teeth a little pink for a few minutes. And tasted like Chapstick.

Guests arrived, and we sat eating Rachel’s excellent food and talking for quite some time. (Oh, and I only put nails on my left hand so I could eat, but they fell off maybe 5 minutes after everyone arrived. I gave up). Rachel’s neighbors with whom they’d never spent time came, as did their friends Kevin and Jack. Jack dressed as V from that movie I hated (of course I had to tell him!). Rachel the Younger was also there, dressed as a “Sweetie Fairy” (NOT a Sweetie Fairy Princess, ok?). In the wee hours, RTY looked at me and said, “You’re very pale.” “It’s makeup.” “I know.”

After what seemed like years, I finally realized that Rachel was just waiting for someone else to bring up the K-word. I’d been waiting for Rachel to mention the K-word, too, but since it was her party, I gave in and brought it up.

SarahK: “So Rachel, are you just waiting for me to bring up karaoke?”
Rachel: “Did someone say karaoke?”
SarahK: “I kept waiting for you to bring it up, but then I realized you were waiting for someone else to do it.”
Rachel: “I aim to please. If people want to karaoke, I’m all for it.”

Of course then we all talked for another 15 minutes or so before moving to the family room for karaoke. Rachel and I were dying to sing, and people wanted to talk!

Karaoke was a blast. Everyone except the Phantom actually sang, including Jim! Frank did several Johnny Cash songs and a Beatles song, plus “Zoot Suit Riot”, one of his favorites to karaoke. I sang “Alone” by Heart, “Broken Wing” by Martina McBride (and I did that one really well, if I say so myself), “On My Own” from Les Mis, maybe 1 or 2 others.

And Frank and I dueted. Mind you, neither of us has karaoked since the wedding. Rachel took video, unbeknownst to the clueless Js. As soon as we were done singing, I heard, “The video is going up on YouTube tonight!” Rachel was so tickled with herself. And true to her word.

The party broke up late, and we finally stopped karaokeing some time after midnight. Frank slept on the big chair, and I slept on the couch after removing gobs and gobs of paint from my face and giving myself a good Mary Kay night treatment.

We had fun. I have pictures, but they are still on the camera, waiting to be seen…

now, i’ve been blegnant with my latest blogdaughter for a very long time. like a year or something. and she has finally arrived!

i present to you Heather of Castle Fairchild!

ok, she was actually born back in late August, but being that i’m really a bad blogmommy (and being that i gestated with this one for so long), i’ve been remiss in announcing her presence until now.

most of my new blogdaughter’s posts are to do with the building of her house, which is coming along nicely… but let’s see what else we find…

* she’s a hockey fan who laments the Wings’ re-signing of the 100 year-old Dominic Hasek.
* her American Dreamboat husband has his own business (a hockey one at that!!), and she’s quite proud of him.
* and today, she has a Castle Fairchild EXCLUSIVE : news about Karl Rove!!

please go welcome her to the blogosphere!!

so… to be accepted as a contestant on the show, you have to be a complete retard, right?

i mean, 2 out of 2 shows we’ve seen confirm my hypothesis.

my internist’s office called me with some of the rheumo’s bloodwork results. i guess because the rheumo had them copied on the results — i’m amused by the fact that it’s the internist calling me rather than the rheumo. i suspect i’ll get the results twice. i’m amused because it makes me wonder if the internist’s office thinks they ordered the tests and maybe didn’t keep a copy of the paperwork… maybe they’re just being nice. most likely is that they got test results so they’re calling to tell me what the results are, because they always call with test results.

the Hepatitis profiles came back non-reactive. i am very glad of that. i don’t think that’s the only liver test they did, but i’m very thankful to not have Hep A, B, or C.

those are the only results that are in so far.

I’ve been wondering why my migraine aura has been getting worse recently. But I don’t get the same kind of “aura” as other migraineurs, so I’ve suspected (and told 2 different doctors) that this is not migraine aura after all.

I’ve told both my internist and my rheumatologist that I see spots and lines out in front of my eyes. The spots and lines move when I move my eyes, and they appear to just be floating out there in front of my eyes. I have actually wondered if I was seeing something that is inside my eye. I’m so smirt.

Floaters are actually cellular debris within the vitreous, the jelly-like fluid that fills the inside of the eye. They may be seen as strings, streaks, clouds, bugs, dots, dust, or spider webs. These objects appear to be in front of the eye, but they are really floating in this fluid, and at the same time, casting their shadows on the retina, the light sensing inner layer of the eye. The debris could be made up of blood, torn retinal tissue, inflammation, vitreous detachment, or could simply mean a normal aging change in the vitreous. Floaters could also signify retinal tears that might be threatening for vision loss.

Considering that my floaters have become more pronounced with this latest onslaught of pain and other symptoms, I’m thinking I should see an opthalmologist. I also wonder why, when I told both doctors this, and actually said, “I used to think this was my migraine aura, but I’m thinking it’s something else. It looks like something you would see under a microscope,” neither of them said, hey, it could be something actually to do with your eye.

It’s very encouraging that I keep reading that floaters are typically a sign of aging. Yeah, I’ve had them for many years, as long as I can remember. Man, did someone hit me on my head without my knowing and give me migraines, a brain tumor, seizures, and this eye debris stuff? If so, please tell me so I can mark some of my symptoms as explained.

Also in reading around, I noticed that uveitis is an inflammation of the eye that can cause visual floaters. Causes of uveitis? Autoimmune disease is among them.

Now I’m just getting annoyed with my docs. I’ve been of the opinion all along that they don’t have enough info to diagnosis so I need to help them along. But dang, I’ve told them all of this. My internist has a 2-page printout of all of my symptoms. I took a 3-pager with me to the rheumo, but he wasn’t so interested.

So do I have to do all the work that can’t be done by a blood lab?
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how much i hate um… what’s a good word… despise (is it ok to despise?) dog racists?

a good friend of the family has had his pit bull, Copper, taken away. i’ll write more details later. right now i’m busy doing research for him so he can be armed with info at his hearing tomorrow. his hearing where the judge will decide whether the sweet dog will be “destroyed”, as they like to say in the dog racism world.

the dog didn’t do anything wrong. the owner did, and he’s dreadfully sorry and has even offered to move out of the stinking city if only the judge will let his best friend live. i’m sure if this were a Lab, the judge would give the dear old tail-wagger a second chance because Labs are just so sweet. a chihuahua? oh, they’re harmless!

Btw, he didn’t bite anyone, he just got outside and roamed the neighborhood - did not hurt or corner or bark at anyone, and when the dog saw the police officers, he and his friend - another pit bull - turned toward the officers. before the dogs even moved in that direction, the officers shot and killed Copper’s friend. Copper went and threw his body down on top of his friend in mourning. Copper was devastated.

but don’t cry for Copper’s loss. Copper won’t be around much longer, because the police report says that the dogs were cornering and barking at a neighbor. said neighbor denies that this happened. all the neighbors who saw the events say the police report is a lie. Animal Control arrived and took the dog away right then, so my friend has been without his best friend (who goes everywhere with him, including work) ever since.

stinking dog racists.

if this dog dies, based on the information i know (and am, admittedly, getting 3rd-hand), i’ll be writing much more on this subject and writing angry rants against the city.

UPDATE: my friend is getting his dog back!! unfortunately, he has to promise to move the dog out of the city, but they’re returning Copper to his best friend. hooray!

i was outside with Rowdi and heard a neighbor out with some service guy who’s fixing something on the house or whatever. and the service guy, who is apparently looking for something and can’t find it, said this:

I feel like I’m looking for the ark of the covenant here… you know, on Mount Ararat.

it’s good that it took me a minute to process what he said, or i might have laughed out loud at him.

i love the commercials. the new caveman one where it looks like a political talking heads thing is hilarious.

i’m definitely NOT pregnant. that was the blood test that “one of my doctors” ordered STAT. i gave that blood yesterday and had a call by the end of the day. of course, STAT was written all over the place, so i figured i’d know quickly. it seems that when you tell your gyno, “i really don’t think i’m pregnant, i’ve had 4 negative pregnancy tests and very few symptoms of pregnancy, but i’m on meds that could hurt the baby, so i’d like to know for sure in case i need to stop my meds,” they FREAK OUT and get your results super fast. that’s good to know, at least.

i imagine it will take another day or so for me to hear from the rheumo about the 8 vials i gave Monday.

chiropractor stuff is going fairly well. i’ll tell y’all about it later.

She first did this one night when Rowdi was in deep sleep, and Rowdi never knew it happened. But lately she’s decided she can do this while Rowdi’s wide awake. Rowdi doesn’t seem to mind, though she has looked at her like “Um, what are you doing?” a couple of times. Minerva’s response is always, of course, “I’m sniffing your paws. This is completely normal. But I’m going to leave now.”

Minerva also loves to stalk Rowdi and do things like peek over the gate, and then when Rowdi looks Minerva’s way, Minerva spits at her and hisses.

Sydney does the same thing but doesn’t stick around for the pictures. :-)

ugh. the Scratch & Dent girl is back.

so i rewound to the previous commercial and watched that one, then fast forwarded back through Ms. Annoying Scratch & Dent.

yay for the DVR!

Today I gave blood for all those additional tests ordered by the rheumatologist. I thought he was only running 5 tests, but he had 3 scribbled in on top of that. So I sat down and watched as the phlebotomist lined up 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8!! Lined up 8 vials for the stealing of my blood. 8!! But I like my blood!

I will say that it was one of the best needle sticks ever for me. Phlebotomist Guy stuck me with the needle.

SARAHK: Oh. That didn’t hurt very much. [I was trying not to sound too disappointed here.]
PHLEBOTOMIST GUY: Well… I can move the needle around if you want me to.
SARAHK: Ha. Um, no, it’s just that usually when the needle stick feels like that, it means they missed. My vein likes to roll.
PG: No, I got it.
SARAHK: That’s good. Last time they missed the vein, it took 3 tries and 2 arms. But I’m very impressed. Thank you, you’re doing a great job.

Of course, by this time, he already had 6 big vials of blood. I actually watched the last 2, which is something I haven’t done since the first time I made the mistake of watching, back in 1999. In 1999, there was a blowout right as I looked, so I never looked again until today.

Oh, then you know how they always rip the needle out when they’re done? And it hurts? Yeah, I didn’t even feel this one come out.

I hope I get the same phlebotomist tomorrow when I go for yet another blood test. One of my doctors called and urgently ordered me to get over to the blood lab STAT for a test. The nurse actually said STAT when she left the message. Haha.

Let’s see… Oh yes, the chiropractor thing is going well, I think. I’m trying not to get too excited, but he’s doing Low-Level Laser Therapy on me for my migraines and what appears to be carpal tunnel syndrome in my right wrist. It’s the worse of the two, so he’s sure he’s going to fix that. So far, we seem to be making progress on the headaches, though I’m such a pessimist about the headaches that I don’t want to say we’re making progress. No progress on the wrist. The nerve pain in my legs is much more subdued after 2 visits (no LLLT there, that’s from manipulations, electroshock therapy, etc.). The low back pain is gone. Yay for that.

In the seizures department, I haven’t been having as many of those. So the Lyrica must be working.

I can’t wait for the results of these blood tests to come in. I’m really hoping the rheumo finds something. I know he’s testing liver and kidney functions and maybe my heart, plus he’s doing several tests for autoimmune diseases, including more tests for My Disease(TM). I’m sure that I have a certain type of disease, and it would suck to have what I think I have, but at least I’d know what’s going on and be able to get the appropriate treatment. If I don’t have this certain type of disease, then my next guess is lead poisoning. But if the rheumo doesn’t figure me out, we may check into the costs of Mayo. Our insurance through Frank’s company has a contract with them, so it might not cost too much. And anything over $500 will be considered too much. But I hope to never have to make the calls to find out…

Oh. I started back at Curves tonight. Yay me.

I’m done with the IMW edits, once again. Everything is backed up. I’m going to burn it all to CD as well, just in case. Because if I happened to lose 2/3 of the edits again, I’d just burn all the source material and await my punishment.

Yay!

It’s like our neighborhood is in a competition for Least Friendly Neighborhood, except they forgot to tell us about it.

Just now, Frank took Rowdi down the street to pee, and an old man (it sounds like he was older than our friendly neighbor Bill, so I’m guessing 70s) turned his car around to follow Frank, then yelled out his car window that “in this neighborhood, we pick up after our dogs when they [s-word].” Frank was confused and said, “Wha?” He repeated himself, and Frank said, “Well, I always do pick up after her.” Crotchety Old Pinkytoeface said, “Well, she [s-word] back there just now, and you didn’t pick it up.” Frank said, “Um, no, she only peed.”

And the guy turned his car around and drove off in the opposite direction. No apology, no sad goodbyes, nothing. I’m guessing this is the same old man who will stare harshly (if one can stare harshly) at me when I’m with a pooing Rowdi, and won’t stop staring until I have picked up every last ounce of poo off the ground. Seriously, this man near the end of the street will actually walk out of his house, stare at my dog and me, and then walk back inside after I pick up the poo. But see, I’m not as nice as Frank. I stare back. Harshly. This Crotchety Old Pinkytoeface is so lucky I wasn’t with Frank when this happened. Frank is nicer and slower to react to people being ugly, and I’m all over the situation immediately (he’s a better Christian than I am). To the point that when we’re driving together and someone is a complete jerk on the road, he’ll say, “Man, I should have honked at that guy but I didn’t think about it until it was too late,” and I’ve already played through what I would have done, which is honk and yell at the nitwit at the perfect moment so he has no question as to whether I noticed him being a rotten buttface.
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for Boss’s Day! hahahahahahahahahahahahaha!

I told him, “I should have gotten you flowers, because you’re the boss.”
He just laughed and said something like, “Yeah right.”

He called at 8:20 to invite Frank to have breakfast with some of the other church men at Golden Corral.

We were still sleeping, and Frank is still getting over the flu. But it was nice of him to call, no matter how early.

I guess I’m just going to have to go to some place like the Mayo Clinic where you spend a few days and get a diagnosis.

Nobody can figure me out.
(more…)

*Too much Lana, but I’m glad they finally turned her evil and schemey - justifies my hate! If only that would stop her criticizing everyone for everything and crinkling that stoopid forehead while she plays the “I’m never wrong, I’m perfect, prove you love me” card. Hey, did anyone else want the scientist guy to turn on her in the elevator and stab her in the carotid with his science pencil?
*Too little Clark. What’s up with that? Tom Welling should be front and center. Every episode.
*Lois rocks. I’m glad she doesn’t forget her mad kung fu skillz when under attack - you know. Like Lana.
*Oliver annoys me. Too whiny, and what’s with that voice transplant when he’s his alter ego? Of course, that gives him a better disguise than.. um.. Clark.
*Chloe’s so cute. But she should scale back the number of times she does the thing where she sticks her tongue to the roof of her mouth while grinning big. That’s getting a little too frequent.
*That’s about it.

That’s what I’ll call this.

I made a yummy soup last night and am sad that there’s only about 1 bowl left. I want to share the recipe, if you can call it a recipe, and I also want to make sure I can find the recipe in the future. So here you go:

Boil a whole chicken (I took off most of the skin first so less fat would cook into the meat). Take the chicken out and drain the pot & clean the gunk out of the pot. Let the chicken cool, then get all the meat off the chicken. Discard carcass or use it to make chicken stock. (Yes, you could have made the chicken stock while boiling the chicken by throwing in carrots, celery, cloves, onion, and a little salt, but I never actually use the chicken stock when I make chicken stock, so I’ve given up on that part of the procedure).

Anyway, while the chicken is boiling, cut up all your vegetables and herbs:
*1 bunch of celery, chopped (hold some of the leaves out, because you’ll throw them in the soup for flavor)
*1 bag of carrots (I got a small bag of whole carrots and peeled them), chopped
*1/3 head of cabbage, chopped, but not too small
*1 small onion, chopped
*2 jalapenos (next time I will probably use more), chopped
*half a bunch of flat-leaf parsley, chopped
*half a bunch of cilantro, chopped
*couple tablespoons of fresh basil, chopped
*next time I will also use fresh garlic, but I didn’t even think of it this time (sooo not like me), and I’m actually hesitant to add the garlic, because the soup is so yummy as is.

In the chicken pot, saute all those chopped veggies in a little bit of olive oil. Meanwhile, pick apart the chicken into smallish pieces. Oh, I also boiled the giblets and cut those up and threw them into the soup with the chicken.

Ok, after the veggies are softish, add:
*2 regular cans (or 1 large can) of diced tomatoes (with sauce)
*1.5 boxes of organic chicken stock (I use this because it has less sodium)
*the chicken (and giblets if you so desire)
*3 or 4 whole cloves (IMO, the cloves made the soup)
*a teaspoon or so of dried sage
*several big shakes of cayenne pepper
*shake or two of ground black pepper
*shake or two of seasoned salt (or sea salt)
*2 teaspoons ground white pepper
*5 or 6 stems of fresh thyme (you know, just the leafy parts)
*a few celery leaves for seasoning

Boil it all together until the flavors have blended. I think this would also be great with veggies alone, or with turkey breast. You can top it off with avocado chunks. Would also be great poured over muenster cheese.

I called the Dr.’s office, because it’s Wednesday, and I gave blood 5 days ago… They’ve just now gotten the results in, but the doctor has to look them over and sign off on them before they tell me. So one of the nurses will be calling me later today.

UPDATE: everything’s “normal”.
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but i’m sure the money fairy will send us a bill in turn…

Ok, so every few days, we’ve been getting a notice from the insurance company saying that our homeowner’s insurance will be cancelled next week if we don’t pay it by next week. So I’ve been waiting until this week to send the check, because I don’t send it until I have to…

Yesterday we received in the mail 2 envelopes from the insurance company. The first one contained yet another cancellation notice. Ok, we get it! The second envelope contained two things. A cancellation notice and a recission of cancellation. Talk about a head-scratcher. The recission said to disregard the cancellation notice (just the one, or all 55?), because the insurance premium has been paid by the mortgage company.

Huh? But the mortgage company told us in the beginning that we would be paying the insurance, and there’s no escrow, blah blah blah.

So Frank called the mortgage company and asked if they paid it, because we want to know whether to expect a bill from them or expect our payment to go up, and if the payment goes up (most likely scenario), what month will we start paying escrow?

The mortgage company says they didn’t pay the bill. Frank said well the insurance company said you paid it, so… are you sure? They have no record of paying the bill and no record that we will be billed for it or paying into escrow for it. As a former auditor, my stomach ached when Frank told me. Bad internal controls! What kind of archaic system isn’t updated for the info? And what kind of controls are in place that they have no record of paying this bill? I’m sure they just haven’t hooked it to our account yet, but I really hope - for the sake of accounting humanity! - that they don’t just pay random bills for no reason at all.

So Frank called the insurance agent. She confirmed that the mortgage company did, indeed, pay the bill, and we do not need to worry about sending that check next week. For sure.

Tomorrow he’ll call the mortgage company again. Really, I just want to know whether to budget a higher monthly mortgage payment or keep the full amount budgeted for this month.

Of course, I can’t say I’m not waiting for the money fairy to call and say he/she paid it on our behalf.

been there. almost exactly there… except for the part about having it all sifted through by the media, and having 3 kids to help through the crisis. and the part about actually having to see him in the act.
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There is a Nerd(TM) stuck under my CTRL key.

Marty Turco: one of the NHL’s three Stars of the Week. #1 Star, actually.

GAA: 1.56
Save %: .948
Points: 1
Assists: 1
Class: tons

He makes sure to credit Jokkinen and Zubie with the team’s success in the shootout games. I think he has something to do with that success, too. :-)

“The River Sings” from Enya’s Amarantine CD. BTW, I’ve had the CD since shortly after it was released but haven’t listened to it that much. It’s one of her best, right up there with The Memory of Trees, and maybe even better than The Celts and A Day Without Rain.

E.D. Hill asked Bill Hemmer how big a Kiloton bomb blast is… and Bill said that he’s not sure about the blast, but [consulting laptop screen] a Kiloton is about (he really said about) a thousand tons.

Thanks for the insight, Skippy.