Found on Flickr

Cute little sheep!

Frustrating

As I was hobbling downstairs to flip the laundry, I noticed some menacing clouds. "Hmm, perhaps I should close my windows," I thought.

I waited the few minutes for the washer to stop, put the clean clothes in the dryer, and a new load in the washing machine, then hobbled back upstairs. On the way up, I noticed it was raining cats and dogs.

Sure enough, rain was coming in my windows. Not only were my windowsills wet, but so was my printer, a crochet book, miscellaneous other things, and one of my medium sized plants had blown over.

I hobbled around, closing windows and drying things that shouldn't be wet.

After I was done that, I stood by my fridge drinking some orange juice, when I noticed it had stopped raining.

!!!

Given that opening the windows was what had thrown my back out Friday morning, and there are still clouds in the sky, I decided to leave them closed and stick with the air conditioner. :P

Back

My back is quite a bit better today. It still hurts intensely, but not the way that causes me to break out in sweat and wonder if I'm going to either pass out or throw up if I happen to move the wrong way (where the wrong way is pretty much anything that isn't lying flat on my back). In other words, I'm no longer carrying my cordless phone around the apartment, in case I needed to call my mom to help me off the floor. Whee.

When I woke up early this morning, it occurred to me to read the rest of the directions on the advil, after "1-2 every four hours"... it turns out there's a maximum of 6 pills in 24 hours. Um... I had 12. I guess I shouldn't take 2 every four hours, then. (I'm not yet loopy, though, so that's nice. Taking the maximum dose of advil several days in a row makes me loopy.)

So, although the pain isn't totally gone, I'm glad I can function relatively normally today. :)

Thank you to everyone who sent me well-wishes!

Today

I'm still in pain, but I haven't fainted or had anything else dreadful happen. Things I accomplished today:
- visiting the bathroom (several times)
- having a shower
- brushing my teeth (harder than showering, due to leaning over to rinse)
- taking out the trash
- bringing in the mail
- walking to my mom's and back (a whole block! It only took me 10 minutes or so each way...)
- keeping myself fed
- finished another swatch for Marie (a lady opening up another LYS!)
Not exactly how I imagined today... but at least not totally spent in bed.

Well, it's late, so back to bed... perhaps my back will mysteriously heal itself overnight. I'm keeping my fingers crossed... tomorrow is laundry day, and I'm not looking forward to hauling laundry between the third (my apartment) and first (the laundry facilities) floors.

Ow. (Possibly TMI)

My lower back went crunch this morning when I opened up one of my windows. Owie! Luckily I didn't faint from the pain like I did several years back the last time something went crunch in my neck. (I did consider laying on the floor, but had the presence of mind to realize that my floor is icky-dusty, and that getting up would be much harder than staying up.) I did manage to grab the phone on the way to my bed. Then, when I was lying safely in bed (it doesn't hurt when I don't move), the thought occurred to me that I *really* needed to go to the washroom. (I knew that before I lay down, but my initial thought was to make it to bed before I fainted.) I couldn't remember how long the pain lasted the last time this happened... that is, should I "hold it", or find a way to stand up again.

I managed to reach the phone on the nightstand, and called my folks. They couldn't remember how long it lasted last time either, but the general consensus was I was going to need to get up.

While I had my dad on the phone, I had him look up the department phone number so I could let them know I wouldn't be at the funeral today, and to pass on my condolences. :( (A life partner of one of the faculty died earlier this week... another one that died way too young! She was somewhere around my age, and had aggressive leukemia that had gone into remission twice before, and then came back a week ago. Sad!)

Then I made it up, visited the washroom, ate breakfast (and some Advil), stocked my bedside with books and knitting, then sat down at my computer to see if there was anything urgent. That would be where I am now. (Nope, nothing urgent.) Sitting isn't bothering me too much, so I figure I'll sit a bit before attempting to get up again.

Mom brought me a cold pack. Thanks mom!!!

I think I may sit here until I need to visit the washroom again, and then lie down some more. (This time with stuff to do other than annoy people whose phone numbers I have programmed in my phone.)

*hee*

(I'm sorry, but mormons have some very funny beliefs.)

Mushrooms

Mushrooms

I saw this little cluster of wild mushrooms growing on campus, and had to snap a shot in honour of Resurrection Fern, a blog I started reading recently.

Crochet Socks

Crochet Socks

I recently finished making these for a friend, but the yarn was thicker than I thought, so I don't know if they'll be too big or not. Well, I guess there's one way (at least) to find out... (Speaking of which, I really need to get around to addressing and mailing a stack of presents...)

PS: This is yarn that Alison of The Blue Blog hand dyed for me!

Crochet Sock WIP

Crochet Sock WIP

This is the sock yarn I was feeling greedy about. ;) This sock is currently just past the heel.

Fortune

Fortune

While at the Conservatory, dad took me out for lunch. We had just mentioned how, for some people, "distance makes the heart grow fonder" (in those exact words).

Then dad opened his fortune cookie.

Once Upon A Tuscan Daydream

Once Upon A Tuscan Daydream

I declared it done. It's hanging at the Conservatory right now. (Anyone want to buy it? ;) )

Hollyhocks

Hollyhocks

I've been enjoying the hollyhocks behind my apartment building. :) They're such a pretty flower.

Conservatory Art Show

Conservatory Art Show

Me at the art show at the Assiniboine Park Conservatory. The painting on the right is mine. I have another in the show as well.

Hi

Hi

I got a chuckle out of this the other day... click on the image, and then click some more to view the largest size. then look at the third column at the top of the building. Hee! (I guess they were having a little fun before finishing up tarring the column.)

Sunrise

Sunrise

One morning I happened to wake up early, I can't remember why now. I noticed the beautiful sunrise, so I snapped a photo before returning to bed. :)

Ready for a Shower

Ready for a Shower

It turns out that this is really the biggest (widest) plant I can shower with... it was quite crowded even with this one. But its much less dusty now. :)

I miss you...

I miss telling you guys about all the stuff I want to tell you about... I'm going to see if I can cram in some posts between students.

I'll start with July, then if I make it through July, I'll go back to April, and start working my way forward again. ;)

fflush

fflush(NULL) is my new best friend. I *knew* there was a way to flush the output buffer, I just hadn't had time to properly google it the last time students asked me for help debugging.

One thing about this help centre job... all that C/C++ that was lost in hazy memory is coming back to me. ;)

(Now, if only students would properly indent their code, it would make helping them *so* much easier. I always nag them, and they always say that it takes too much time... little do they realize just how much time they *waste* by trying to track down wayward close braces with improperly formatted code. *sigh*)

Sadness

One of my friends is having lots of problems with her ongoing depression and stuff. Another friend was recently diagnosed with MS. It hurts that I don't have a magic wand to wave that can make them better. They're far away, so I can't even give them a hug, or sit and listen, or do *anything*.

I always feel the need to solve all the world's problems, and hurt that I can't. Is this normal, or do I just need to get a more realistic perspective on things?

It probably is normal.

Sock Greed

I am soooo bad. I said I'd make socks for a friend, so I had a look at her Ravelry page to see what colours she likes. Then I opened a box of sock yarns that I got at really good prices with the thought that then I wouldn't have to worry about using up my "precious" expensive sock yarn that I want to make socks for *me*. My eyes fell on one ball where my first thought was "perfect!", and the second thought was "but *I* like that one! I want that one for *me*!"

Sheesh! Bad me! I don't *need* more wool socks, what with an entire drawer *bulging* with wool socks. Then there's all the special yarns I'm saving for *me*. I can't part with one ball of nice yarn that I got at a great discount?!?

So I was good, and made myself use that ball. *pout*

This sock yarn thing is ridiculous. (I wish some of my fabulous wool yarns were cotton blends... I don't have as many of those, and it's hard to find fabulous cotton blend sock yarns.)

Loose Screws

My camera seems to have issues with it's screws.

Several months back, I found a tiny screw pressed into the bottom of the outside of my laptop sleeve. I couldn't find any missing screws on my laptop, but I found a bunch of holes in my camera that looked like they would fit the screw... and the first one I tried, did.

Today I found a screw on the floor, and again added it to my camera.

There are four more screw holes left that don't have screws. (I can't remember how many empty holes there were last time.)

Several things come to mind:
1. Is it just a coincidence that I find screws that fit in my camera holes?
2. How many screws can I lose before my camera falls apart in my hands?
3. How am I able to randomly find such tiny screws without even trying?
4. Are there more screws to be found if I try? Or are they lost forever?
5. Do all the missing screws have anything to do with the fact that the camera seems to keep asking me to replace the battery, but if I open and close the battery cover, it's fine? Or is that a *different* indicator that my camera may be not long for this world?
6. Should I put a new digital camera on my Christmas wish list, or assume that this one will keep chugging along happily the way it has for quite a few years now?
7. Why does my camera not like it's screws? Whenever I try tightening the ones that are left (usually after installing the found screw), all of them are tight.
8. Did Canon put in lots of extra screw holes just for this contingency? (So that it could lose lots before there was any effect?)
9. Did my camera even come with all of its screws installed? I seem to remember at least some of these holes being empty to begin with...

OwieOwie

Neck and shoulders still hurting. :( Advil had no effect last night... I guess I'll try Tylenol now, but I doubt it will be any better. A bath would probably help, but that's not something I really enjoy unless it's cold and dry. (Hot and sticky isn't my favourite feeling.) It's also kind of bad timing for a bath. Plus, it's been... um... well, long enough that I can't remember when I last cleaned my tub. (Teaching takes lots of time... and when I get a break, I catch up on sleep and sanity before cleaning... the tub has suffered. As has the toilet. The dust bison hiding under the bed are now a strong, healthy herd... or perhaps are more accurately described as dust pythons, they way they have formed thick rolls. I do usually have enough clean dishes to eat, though, and I did break down a bunch of small boxes for recycling last weekend.)