ravnsdaughter

Last weekend totally felt like the weekend that wasn't. I slept in both days, which left me
feeling off all weekend, and we were so busy running all over the place that I don't really feel like I got any downtime at all.

Though I did get in enough playtime on the Star Wars: The Old Republic beta to decide that I'm definitely going to be picking up a copy; in fact, I'm going to pre-order it.

Work hasn't been anywhere near as busy today as it was on Friday, though I've had enough to keep me busy for most of the day. While I was getting my work done this morning, in the back of my mind I've been churning ideas through my head. Over the past couple of weeks, I have been coming up with tons of ideas of things I might like to do once my month of being skint is over and then realized that if I just do everything all at once, I'm just going to get myself back into the same situation I was in before. So I'm writing it all down and setting some priorities, and some of the things will be done right away, and some will be done later as rewards for accomplishing things.

The tattoo? That's coming right away though. :)

It's absolutely GORGEOUS out here, so I got out of the office at lunch and went for a walk and got myself some sunshine to help my SAD. I managed a kilometre in about 15 minutes, which is a good start. I'm also thinking about going swimming this evening.

Also, I've decided I want to learn to draw and paint. That's going to be my big goal for 2012.

I just realized that I've taken to posting far more snippets of my daily life to Facebook instead of Livejournal, since it's a bit easier to do. I think I'm going to start trying to post to both places, since I have a whole lot of friends over here who aren't on my Facebook (though if you'd like to add me, go right ahead, or leave your real name in the comments and I'll add you!)

I'm really struggling with my resolve to not buy lunch at work today. I just couldn't come up with anything to pack this morning (though I made extremely yummy pumpkin oatmeal for breakfast) and said to heck with it, I'll have the noodle bowl that I have stashed in my desk at work, but now the thought of that is really unappealing. Plus, it's freezing in here and I want something hot to eat! We have no microwave so I'd be heating the noodles with the hot water that our cooler dispenses, which isn't all that hot, and cools down fast. Hmm, what to do.

Handwriting meme, stolen from supervillainess:

The guidelines - write the following in your own handwriting:

1. Name/Blog URL
2. Lefty/Righty/Ambidextrous
3. Letters you enjoy writing
4. Letters you dislike writing
5. Write "The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog."
6. Write CRAB, HUMOR, KALEIDOSCOPE, PAJAMAS, and GAZILLION in caps.
7. Write one of your favorite song lyrics.
8. Write who should do this.

( here's my answers... )

Aaaaaaaahhhhhh!!! Things have been so freaking busy lately that there just hasn't been any time to post.

Tomorrow is the day I've been practicing for the past 6 months or so for! Tir Righ Arts & Sciences/Bardic Championships out in the Shire of Lionsdale, and I'm doing a single entry in bardic. Single entry means I'm not entering the actual championship part of things, but doing a single performance for the experience, practice and feedback.

The piece I'm doing is called Frog Galliard, and was composed by John Dowland. If you like, you can read my documentation here. I got the music from Lady Isolde de Lengadoc's weblog. Big thanks go to melspeth for proofreading my documentation and making some great suggestions for changes.

I also have her "Beer is for Girls" piece practiced up for performance later in the day, if I get the chance. :)

The 100 blue and white beads are ready for site tokens (that reminds me... need to take a picture tonight!) and my new bright red apron dress is all ready for me to wear. Tonight I just need to string my own second strand of beads and pack the car, and I'm all ready for the weekend.

Wish me luck! It's been ages since I've performed in front of a big group of people, and the harp is a brand new instrument for me. But I'm sure I'll do fine - I grew up playing in front of people.

I forgot to post this on DW and cross-post to LJ when I posted this yesterday, so I'm posting it on its own now.

Apparently it was National Invisible Illness week a few weeks ago. I missed it, but I'm doing this anyways, because I think it's important.

30 Things About My Invisible Illness You May Not Know

1. The illness I live with is: chronic major depression, anxiety, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome (PCOS), asthma, high blood pressure, and sleep apnea.

2. I was diagnosed with it in the year:
Depression - about 2001 or 2002
Anxiety - a few years after the depression
PTSD - officially, last month. But I knew I had it before that
PCOS - about 2000 or 2001, but I don't have an official diagnosis
Asthma - I don't remember
Sleep Apnea - 5 or 6 years ago

3. But I had symptoms since:
Depression - since about 1988 or so (about when puberty hit)
Anxiety - a few years ago
PTSD - since I lost my job last December
PCOS - since I was 16 or so
Asthma - all my life, though I've only had a couple of attacks ever.
Sleep apnea - since my late teens.

4. The biggest adjustment I’ve had to make is: learning to sleep with a CPAP is really the biggest thing.

5. Most people assume: That because I'm overweight, it's all because of that. That because I'm overweight, I'm dumb, lazy and can't do anything. And that if I lost weight all my problems would go away. And that I can just decide not to be depressed anymore and turn it off like a tap or something.

6. The hardest part about mornings are: just getting myself out of bed. Despite using the CPAP, I still rarely feel like I've gotten enough sleep.

7. My favorite medical TV show is: House and Grey's Anatomy.

8. A gadget I couldn’t live without is: my iPhone. That thing is seriously my second brain. I program things into it and then it beeps at me and tells me to do stuff. I would lose my headif it wasn't attached, but this thing keeps me together. Somehow, I rarely forget my iPhone. LOL.

9. The hardest part about nights are: Nights aren't difficult for me, generally.

10. Each day I take __ pills & vitamins. 2 meds, in the form of 4 pills. My fluoxetine (generic prozac) doesn't come in a 50mg pill, so I have to take 2 20s and a 10. I also take triazide for my high blood pressure.

11. Regarding alternative treatments I: I respect most of them, but I don't think they would work for the issues I take meds for. I use alternative stuff for things I choose not to use meds for, like the anxiety (I deal with it with deep breathing, etc. instead).

12. If I had to choose between an invisible illness or visible I would choose: Sometimes I thinkit would probably be easier to have something that was visible, so that people wouldn't automatically expect me to be totally "normal".

13. Regarding working and career: I work full time, mostly because I have no choice. If I could, I would probably do much better not working full time.

14. People would be surprised to know: How hard it really is dealing with the depression on a daily basis.

15. The hardest thing to accept about my new reality has been: That I can't do everything I want, all the time, no matter how hard I try, I do have limits.

16. Something I never thought I could do with my illness that I did was: be happy most of the time. But I am. :)

17. The commercials about my illness: I don't watch much TV, and haven't seen any commercials related to any of my issues.

18. Something I really miss doing since I was diagnosed is: Curling up anywhere and taking a nap, without having to worry about my CPAP.

19. It was really hard to have to give up: See 18.

20. A new hobby I have taken up since my diagnosis is: I don't think there are any major new hobbies. I've probably picked up new crafts and such, but I'm not all that different since my diagnosis.

21. If I could have one day of feeling normal again I would: not applicable. This IS my new normal.

22. My illness has taught me: I am very resilient. I can get through just about anything.

23. Want to know a secret? One thing people say that gets under my skin is: "Buck up". "Get over it". "It's all in your head." "If you just lost weight, all your problems would go away".

24. But I love it when people: Ask how I'm doing, pay attention to how I answer, and truly care about me.

25. My favorite motto, scripture, quote that gets me through tough times is: It's my own words, but "it's only temporary" is my motto these days.

26. When someone is diagnosed I’d like to tell them: It gets better. You don't have to put up with this. Ask for help, because there is help available.

27. Something that has surprised me about living with an illness is: How ignorant and dumb some people can be.

28. The nicest thing someone did for me when I wasn’t feeling well was: This goes beyond just "wasn't feeling well", but probably when melspeth and wulfstan invited me to stay with them for the weekend after I lost my job last December. If it wasn't for them, I probably wouldn't be around now. Yes, it was that bad.

29. I’m involved with Invisible Illness Week because: to quote <"lj user="nonnycat">Uh, well, I missed it but I'm filling this out just for the hell of it. Because I think that this sorta thing shouldn't be limited to one week. And cause I'm bored.". And because I think this sort of thing should be known.

30. The fact that you read this list makes me feel: If you read all of this, you're awesome and I love you. :)

So, I had a vacation! First time in aaaaages. It was wonderful.

On Thursday we got up early and picked Ian's mom up, and then headed up to Penticton. We stopped in Abbotsford for breakfast and gas (because Abby is just beyond the border where gas goes from OMGExpensive to SlightlyLessExpensive), and then headed up Highway 3 to Penticton. We made a brief stop in Keremeos for produce to eat while we were up there, but made it into Penticton by late afternoon. We stopped at the visitor's centre to pick up maps and a winery guide, and then made a quick stop at Tinwhistle Brewery where we picked up some interesting tasting beers.

After a quick stop for some groceries and other supplies, we headed up the mountain to the cabin, where we just got settled in and got to bed relatively early. On Friday, we were upearly, Ian's mom made french toast for breakfast, Ian and I collaborated and started a pot ofchili in the crockpot, and then we headed out towards Oliver for a tour of some wineries. We stopped at Tinhorn Creek, which we felt was a little overblown and fancypants for us, though they did have a self-guided tour of parts of the winery, and a mini vineyard just outside the shop/tasting room that you could walk through and taste the actual grapes, which was really quite neat. I took pictures with Ian's iPhone, because the battery in my Nikon was dead (despite my having charged it recently), and I'll post some once I get them off his phone.

We also visited Road 13, Gehringer, and we stopped by one other that I can't remember the name of, but there was a lineup for the tasting room and the place smelled like bleach and that turned Ian and his mom right off of the idea of tasting. It was also far too fancy and yuppie-ish for our liking, so we left. On our search for a gas station, we stopped at a Cidery and Ian picked up some cider, but when I tasted it later, it was far too dry for my tastes. We also stopped at a place called Tickleberry's in Okanagan Falls, which was a gift shop/candy/ice cream store. Ian and I shared an ice cream cone and I bought the most AMAZING pumpkin pie fudgethere. It's totally made me want to duplicate the fudge at home! Friday evening was spentrelaxing in the cabin, having nommy homemade chili for dinner and cross-stitching in front of the fire.

Saturday it was raining, and we got going later in the day than on Friday. We took a drive up to Naramata and visited Elephant Island Winery, which makes fruit wines. We splurged a bit there, and signed up for their Trunk, which will get us 6 bottles of wine in November for $150. We also visited Maple Leaf Spirits, which is a distillery that makes some absolutely awesome liqueurs. One of the only things I bought this weekend was a bottle of their Maple Liqueur. Saturday night we had dinner at the Barley Mill Pub, which was excellent.

And then Sunday morning, we packed up, cleaned the cabin back up, and then headed home! We madea few brief stops along the way, including stopping in Keremeos for produce to bring back withus. I now have 20 pounds of peaches to do something with, plus a bunch of fresh corn, a coupleof sugar pumpkins, and a few other small things.

Oh, and while we were picking up a few more groceries on Friday night, we ran into yrsa and her wife Nan at Safeway! They pulled up behind my car in the parking lot, and of course recognized the An Tir and Tir Righ bumper stickers, but didn't recognize the car nor the dog inside of it. So Yrsa texted me "are you in Safeway??". My phone was muted so I didn't see the text until after, but she also found me in the store... I was standing there staring at the chip aisle and then I hear this "I thought I recognized that dog!" or something like that. Turned out Nan was outside the store fawning over Cody. So we each got our groceries that we were after, and then went out to the parking lot so Nan could play with Cody and we chatted for a bit.

Pics soon, as soon as I get them off of Ian's phone.

I've just been getting SO much done this week, it's actually kind of frightening. :D

I just got my swap assignment for sihaya09's Autumn Care Package swap yesterday evening, and I've already picked up half the contents of her package, courtesy of the shops across from my work. And I'm dropping a postcard into the mail for her today!

I need to hit the bead store to finish things up though. I need yet more findings. AGAIN. Sheesh! And the price of silver is STILL sucking.

I need some new LJ icons! What are your favorite icon communities?

I just found my moonstone briolette drop earring that has been missing for months now! And the other day, I found my purple/green flower earrings from sihaya09 that had been missing since I moved back in with Ian last December! These two pairs are the earring staples of my jewelry collection at the moment, and I'm so glad to have found them again.

SO THRILLED!

Have you ever seen a dog's reaction to a brass instrument? I did last night, and it was hilarious!

On my way up the elevator after work last night, I went into our storage locker and got out my french horn. I've been meaning to do this for a long time, since I want to get practiced up enough that I can join one of the New Westminster concert bands. Once I finished my piano and harp practice for the evening, I pulled out the horn.

Cody was lying on the living room floor at the time, and obviously wasn't expecting anything. He's totally used to me practicing the harp now, and it doesn't seem to bother him at all. The piano still perplexes him, and he will often come up and try to shove his nose under my hand as I'm practicing, similar to what he does when I'm on the computer.

But the horn... oh, that was funny. Keep in mind I haven't touched it in at LEAST 15 years. I picked it up and blew through the mouthpiece, making the horn let out a loud "BLAT" The dog sat up abruptly like someone had shot something at him. He sat there watching me as I practiced a few scales, acting like he was startled every time I took a break and then started again. I'm still giggling over it.