Once Again, My Mother Was Right

If you have read my blog for any length of time, you have been subjected to many of my mother's favorite sayings.  One of the ones we would hear most often growing up was "It's either an a** or an elbow with you, isn't it?"  This was said when for instance you just got over a cold and then sprained an ankle, or some combination like that. 

She was right.  

Of course, you all know of my long and varied times of getting over one illness or injury, just to have another show up.  It happens to everyone at one point or another, but in my most self-pitying moments, I feel like it only happens to me.  The day in October that I finally felt like I was truly recovered from pneumonia was the day I feel and broke my wrist.  A**, meet elbow.

At the moment, it's not *exactly* the same, but close enough.  When I fell and broke my wrist, I also broke two front teeth.  One had been previously broken a few years ago when I fell (I guess) and ended up with kidney cancer.  Last month, I was eating yogurt, and the temporary replacement that had been put on the one tooth in October came off.  Since I had maxed out my dental insurance, I was waiting until now for them to be able to do two crowns:  one for the broken tooth, and one for the implant in progress.  The dentist temporarily fixed the tooth, and all was well.  I have an appt this coming Thursday afternoon for the crown over the implant site.

And now that appt will also include temporarily fixing that same tooth, yet again.  Tonight I was eating soup and guess what?  Ugh.  I called to see if they wanted me to come in right away, or wait until Thursday.  (It will get a crown, but they can only do one at a time with my insurance and the implant is overdue.)  Which is fine, but it means that I have to spend a couple of very uncomfortable and self-conscious days until then.  And I have to give a tour on Wednesday at work, which makes it even more annoying.  Plus, the broken tooth keeps catching on my gum and that really hurts!

I know I'm lucky to have dental insurance, and the original crown on the tooth that broke off again would still be in place if I hadn't fallen in October, but really???  I'm so tired of all of this stuff, and I was just starting to feel like I was getting back to normal. 

An a** or an elbow.  Once again, my mother was right.  ;-)

Furball Friday

When it's a very cold Friday, and you are a small, one-eyed kitty, sometimes curling up for a nap is the best idea.

It also works well if you are a large, 80-pound Golden Retriever.

Here's hoping your weekend will be cozy and relaxing!

Those Kids Need to Get Off My Lawn

I started today in a good mood, honest.  Hamlet and I had a nice early morning walk, the kitties were cuddly before I left for work, and I fixed myself a nice cup of tea once I got here.  

Now it's lunchtime, and stabbiness has taken over.  I just realized that three things happened leading to the stabbiness, so I am sharing them with you for Three on Thursday, aren't you glad???

Event the First:  One of my co-workers eats at her desk all of the time, even though we are not supposed to do that.  It's annoying mainly because of the food smells when you are trying to work.  This morning she arrived and found evidence of a mouse having been in her desk.  She called the maitenance dept and they were out of snap traps, so put down a glue trap.  A mouse was almost immediately caught, and the poor creature was so distraught it broke my heart, and still makes me feel terrible to think what happened to it.  Then said co-worker cleaned out her desk drawers and HOLY CRAP she had a small grocery store snack aisle in there!

Stabbiness Level:  Blood Red

Event the Second:  One of our co-workers is out this entire week at a workshop.  She has several volunteers who come in, and she told them to come in anyway, because her assistant would set them up to work, etc.  Today's volunteer starts at 10 a.m. and showed up about ten minutes ahead of time, and of course the assistant had not even gotten to work yet (long story, we're not even going there).  I tried to help the volunteer, but couldn't really do much.  The assistant finally showed up about 10:10, and got the volunteer settled.  Then he came back into our office and was annoyed because she "showed up early."  It took every fiber in my being not to say that she probably showed up early because a) she takes public transportation, and b) she probably didn't want to be late.  And that maybe he should have made an effort to show up early ...

Stabbiness Level:  ____ Brown

Event the Third:  I started to watch a knitting podcast at lunchtime, and about five minutes in, the person's phone rang, and she stopped and said, "I just got a text - let me see what it's about."  She checked the text, typed out a response and then picked up again with what she had been saying.  If you know you are going to be recording, and you forgot to turn off your phone (which, I'm sorry come on), and you get a text/call/whatever, wouldn't you say "Excuse me" turn the phone off, and then continue??  Let's face it, if you are waiting for a text saying the brain transplant surgery was a success, maybe you shouldn't have started recording.

Stabbiness Level:  Annoyed Orange

*****

And now that I have dragged you down with me, I wish you a good day and hope your day is going better and will continue to go better than mine has!  :-)

2018 Knits

Before we get much more into the new year, I wanted to do a summary of what I made during 2018.  I'm pretty pleased with my total, especially when you consider that I couldn't even attempt to knit for the months of October, November, and December.  Realistically, if I hadn't broken my wrist, I think I could have gotten one or two more pairs of socks done - though it still would have been short of twelve pairs for the year!  No problem though, since for me, the Box o' Socks is for fun and a bit of challenge more than anything else.

Anyway, I'm happy with what I was able to accomplish.

Eight pairs of socks

A sweater for me

A sweater for my new great-nephew Oden, who was born in April

A patriotic dishcloth for the 4th of July

A pumpkin hat and an eggplant hat for dear friends, whose babies were originally due in October, but arrived towards the end of July (they are doing really well, btw).

Total:  13 items - I thought it was a lower number, so that's pretty exciting as far as I'm concerned!

You *Can* Go Home Again ...

... if your name is Hamlet!

A week ago today, we had made plans to take Hamlet back to visit the family that he spent most of his life living and working with (the past 7 years or so).  It was the first visit since we adopted him in July, and both persons in the couple had been matched with new Seeing Eye Dogs since.

First, the cast of characters:

Hamlet - you know him!
Karma - a black Lab mix, and Hamlet's guide dog partner and companion before he was with us
Jeff - Hamlet's former owner, now matched up with:
Mike - a Golden Retriever/Lab mix
Sharon - Karma's former owner, now matched up with:
Oakley - a black Lab
Karen - Karma's new owner

We had a lovely day for our visit, so we got Hamlet into the car and headed over the bridge to New Jersey.  When we turned onto the street leading to the house where he used to live, Hamlet got really excited.  When we pulled up in front of the house, he started wagging his tail and whimpering. 

He could not wait to get out of the car, and ran right up to the front door.  Jeff opened the door, and Hamlet dashed inside.  Once inside, Jeff was really excited to see him, but the first thing Hamlet did was run around and gather all of the toys!  Then he realized Jeff was also there, and immediately sat on his lap.

Sharon was upstairs, as they were keeping Mike and Oakley up in their room, so they could introduce them slowly.  First, Mike and Hamlet got to meet.

That, of course was very exciting.  Before Sharon and Oakley came downstairs, Karen arrived with Karma, who could NOT wait to see Hamlet again!  (She had already met the other doggos.) 

Finally, Sharon and Oakley joined the group, and hilarity ensued!

Hamlet was also very happy to see Sharon, and had to go and shake hands with her.

There was a lot of running, chasing, playing, and "fighting," and a couple of times Hamlet disappeared upstairs!  (Jeff said he was probably checking to make sure everything was where he had left it, lol.)

Mike and Oakley "attacking" Karma

After a bit, things settled down, with all of the dogs getting quieter, and eventually all of them lined up and nearly asleep!  

Hamlet and Oakley

Hamlet made sure that he got lots of cuddle time with Jeff, supervised of course by Mike.

It was all really fun and really wonderful.  It was fun to see Sharon and Jeff, and meet Karen, who we had never met before.  We loved seeing Karma again, as she is just one of the sweetest pups, and a fan in particular of The Tim.  And getting to meet Oakley and Mike was such fun as well, as they are still somewhat puppy-ish (they are each about 2 years old), and busy as only young dogs can be.  We caught up with everyone's news and stories of their Christmas celebrations, and it was just enjoyable to know that all of the dogs had not just had a good time, but worn each other out!  We were all amused that Jeff's dog is named Mike, and decided he sounded like he was from South Philly, and that he "knows a guy" ... :-)

When it came time to leave, we were wondering what Hamlet would do.  In July, when we went to bring him home, he hid behind Jeff and whimpered, which was heartbreaking.  But when everyone was getting ready, Hamlet walked over to The Tim when he got out his leash, and seemed ready to leave, get back in the car, and come home.  Jeff said that means he has completely bonded with us, which of course is the ideal result.  Hamlet was pretty zonked on the ride home, and let me tell you, the excitement and fun of the whole day wore him out for a few days!

The cats found it interesting as well, since Hamlet returned home with many new and intriguing scents on him - they probably were wondering just where we'd taken him!

We made tentative plans for another get together in the spring, this time hopefully outside.  We told Hamlet he'd better start storing some energy now ...