In Stitches

Why oh why? I just had to lie down on the floor by a bookcase and pick up one of my knitting books. Damn, so here I am, taking a break from knitting a scarf. I’ve got the yarn to start another scarf once I get this one done. Yeah, I’m knitting again.

I think that knowing tomorrow is the first day of September, and that means Fall and Winter will be here soon, helps to motivate me to knit. I do wear knitted scarves when it’s cold and snowy.

Anyway, it is relaxing and fun to do. I just wish I could knit faster.

I Feel Pretty….Pretty Tired

I survived the first week of the semester, one of the busiest times of the year for me, plus I had to watch all the Democratic Convention speeches at night (damn, Obama gave a great speech, didn’t he?). So, let’s just say that I’m tired.

This three-day weekend is a wonderful chance to lounge about, and even though I’m on call today, it’s really quiet at work and I had a chance to catch up on some snapshotting in Second Life. Now in Second Life, I don’t feel pretty tired, I just feel pretty.

Last week I saw a blog post on Fashion Planet showing off some clothes from Zaara, plus a cute, curly hairstyle from Fetish. I ran out and bought both. I certainly am not doing anything social in Second Life, but that doesn’t stop me from wanting new hair, skin, and clothes.

Here I am in Zaara’s Anjuna in green and Fetish’s Adora hair in black. The glasses are from Solar.

I would dress like that if I could. Casual, fun, and showing my belly button. Of course, in Real Life, no one wants to see my belly button. Trust me on that.

I bought the skin I’m wearing in the above photo from Nora. She had a great going-out-of-business sale a few weeks ago and I picked up this Samantha skin in the Ginger tone in Green Apple makeup at great prices. I’ve picked up a few more skins, because I can’t help myself. The following skins are the Nora skin (I’m showing off that green eyeshadow), KA skin in Drama in the Pale tone, KA freebie Special Edition skin in Dark Tan, and Tres Very’s Fuchsia Fit in the Tan tone:

I purchased the new hairdo from Find Ash. It’s the Clever Trickster in Neo Black. I keep thinking of hitting the big Hair Fair in Second Life, but I know I’ll go crazy and buy everything.

I put together an outfit with a shirt I bought at Zaara’s called Indian Summer. It’s in green and plum. I didn’t buy a pair of pants or a skirt to go with the top, and discovered that the bold colors don’t look right with jeans. Luckily, I’m a crazed shopper. I stumbled across these green capris from Aoharu in my inventory. Never worn, they now have a blouse I want to wear with them. The jewelry is from Zaara’s and is part of the Melange set. The shoes are Armidi’s Viniani Heel in Eggplant. The makeup is the Tres Very Fuchsia Fit in Tan.

It’s not often that one can wear such a symphony of lime and plum. It certainly looks more vibrant than I feel, sitting here on the couch. Ah heck. I feel better after putting together these snapshots. Let’s just say that I feel pretty!

More Conventional Me — I’m Jazzed

Man, what a great set of speeches tonight at the Democratic Convention. Jeez, Bill Clinton is amazing. The speech started slow, but when he warmed up I did not want the man to stop. His ability to lay out what the Republican rule did to us just got to me:

“…he (McCain) still embraces the extreme philosophy which has defined his party for more than 25 years, a philosophy we never had a real chance to see in action until 2001, when the Republicans finally gained control of both the White House and Congress. Then we saw what would happen to America if the policies they had talked about for decades were implemented.

They took us from record surpluses to an exploding national debt; from over 22 million new jobs down to 5 million; from an increase in working family incomes of $7,500 to a decline of more than $2,000; from almost 8 million Americans moving out of poverty to more than 5 and a half million falling into poverty – and millions more losing their health insurance.

Now, in spite of all the evidence, their candidate is promising more of the same: More tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans that will swell the deficit, increase inequality, and weaken the economy. More band-aids for health care that will enrich insurance companies, impoverish families and increase the number of uninsured. More going it alone in the world, instead of building the shared responsibilities and shared opportunities necessary to advance our security and restore our influence.”

Update: Video of Bill Clinton

And I bet most people missed John Kerry (I gather the TV networks have to have network talking heads pontificating about the speeches and not actually showing the speeches), but Kerry was awesome.

Update: Video John Kerry’s speech

The Bidens finished things off with verve and then Obama showed up. It was a great night.

I am so excited about tomorrow night and Obama’s speech.

Tim Burton and Johnny Depp and Dianne Wiest to the Rescue

I am so goddawful tired. It’s the crazy start of the semester and I’ve worked way many hours. Last night after Michelle Obama’s speech I headed for bed to read for a while (it was 8:15). I fell asleep within ten minutes and still felt tired this morning. Tonight I need something to keep me awake for a while, plus make me smile.

Why look! It’s Edward Scissorhands in the DVD player. Now that movie makes me smile. From Dianne Wiest’s nurturing mom + Avon lady to Johnny Depp’s mournful Edward along with Tim Burton’s lovely direction, it’s such a great movie.

Conventional Me

I’m sitting here listening/watching the convention. I’m listening to NPR while keeping the video streaming from MSNBC.com. I’m looking forward to Michelle Obama’s speech. I also thought it was great to see Teddy Kennedy on stage.

It’s rather nice to sit back and relax and listen to this. No commercials, lots of options for seeing what’s going on — NPR cuts out lots of speeches, but I can catch them on the streaming video, yet if NPR has something fun to talk about, I can mute the video.

I hope Michelle does a great job. I love listening to her talk. She’s not going to be a bland First Lady, that’s for sure.

Update: she delivered a wonderful speech…and her daughters are too cute.

Blahs for The Rocker

Went to see The Rocker. Eh. Predictable and derivative of better movies. Not totally bad, and Rainn Wilson does have his moments, but all together, it’s just another late summer entry that doesn’t offer anything new to the moviegoer.

More Rain

Yay!  I’m really liking this wet summer of ours.

Zucchini Pics

I wrote about the very large zucchini that my co-worker gave me. Tonight I finally cut into it and grilled some slices up with some salmon. I promised some photos of what it looked like. Here it is:

Let’s see how it measures up to my cat, Lulu:

I just have to figure out what to fix with what I didn’t eat yet. I’m thinking I might try these Doritos-style chips.

Oops

I forgot to post something last night. Um….that’s all I wanted to say.

A Pain in the Foot — Eh, Not So Much

I’ve lived with plantar fasciitis for several years and nothing would make me feel like the problem was being healed. Sure, I’d be real good for awhile, icing my foot nightly, swallowing down ibuprofen, and wearing my shoe inserts daily. Yet the pain never went away. I couldn’t go for long walks or stand for long periods of time without feeling an increase in the pain level. Yet I’m feeling hopeful lately.

I went for three short hikes in the last six days and I’m not hobbling around in pain. I don’t want to jinx the whole thing, but I think my foot might be getting better. I’m not ready to hike the Grand Canyon, but I’m not afraid of taking a walk on campus on a gorgeous afternoon.

I went to see my podiatrist a few weeks ago and got another cortisone shot. I’ve had a few before in my foot, and they do seem to relieve some of the pain. I also got some new shoe inserts that really feel good. Yet I don’t think the pain relief is really coming from the visit to the doctor.  I’m crediting a book.

Last week I was browsing on Amazon and found a book that I could download to my Kindle: 3 Minutes to a Pain-Free Life by Joseph Weisberg and Heidi Shink. I figured, what the heck, it can’t hurt — after all, I’m already hurting. Wow. What a difference those simple stretches have made.

You do six stretches daily and hold them for 30 seconds each. I was already doing variations of three of them with my regular stretching routine and agreed with Dr. Weisberg that they make quite a difference. The other ones weren’t too difficult…well, except for the squat. I can’t seem to get very low and keep my feet flat without rolling backwards and my butt hitting the floor.

Dr. Weisberg also had stretches for various body problems, so I went right for the foot section. The thirty second stretch for helping to relieve foot pain? It’s so easy! Well, except that I feel that stretch in my feet, ankles, and calves. Man, are my calf muscles tight. All you have to do is kneel down, curl your toes under, and try to rest your butt on your heels. I can’t get my butt near my heels without feeling miserable, so I pull up just a bit. Obviously this is all a sign that my calves, ankles, and feet really need the stretching. I’m amazed, because I’d been doing all kinds of stretches, yet this one stretch seems to hit the spot.

Within three days my pain was gone. Gone. No dull ache, no twinges of sharp pain, no limping around trying to protect my right foot. Sure, if I walked too far and too long, the pain would return slightly. Yet the pain would disappear after more stretches and icing. It wasn’t a constant presence.

It may have also helped that I’m also doing the recommended stretch for shin splints. I don’t have shin splints, but I get them so easily, I figured it wouldn’t hurt. I think the two stretches together work together nicely, and they both work my lower leg.

Anyway, I’m too afraid the improvement will go away, but it is fun to think that I just may be able to do some longer hikes in the future. Hope is a good thing, and I now have some. If you’re dealing with pain, do check the book out. It may offer some relief.

Tropic Thunder is a Hoot

Oh god. I haven’t laughed that much at a movie in a long time. Tropic Thunder is hilarious. Put a bunch of egotistical actors in some extreme agony with an over the top plot and I can’t help but laugh.

Everyone is so good in the film, but Tom Cruise had me laughing the most. He makes a wonderful movie-studio head.

Do go see it. Don’t expect depth and emotion. Just go to see it for watching stupid characters dealing with situations out of their control.

The Tender Trap review

The Tender Trap with Frank Sinatra and Debbie Reynolds

God, was this a miserable movie. A good cast, fun sets and clothes, but the heroine is just too sucky to handle. A movie is really doing something wrong when it makes me hate Debbie Reynolds. What an unprofessional, foolish, unsympathetic character poor Debbie has in The Tender Trap.

It might have been cute in the 1950s when sexism was the way things were, but her character is just so irritating. How Frank Sinatra’s character falls for her makes no sense whatsoever. Anyway, here’s my review of The Tender Trap.

Squashed

I’m tired. A long day at work, grocery shopping, and fixing dinner have all done me in. Sad, isn’t it?

What did brighten my day, and I swear I’ll get a picture of this, is the zucchini that a co-worker gave me. Lorraine’s been growing stuff in her garden, and with all the rain we’ve been having let’s just say that things are rather lush. The zucchini she handed me is HUGE. HUMONGOUS. GARGANTUAN. I’d say it’s bigger than a breadbox.

I’ll try and get a picture before I cut into it just so you can see. All I know is that when a recipe calls for one large zucchini, this isn’t exactly what they’re talking about.

Happier Dog

After the lack of any kind of walk yesterday, Spencer got one today. It was quite a pretty walk too. We headed back out on the trail that wends through fields of wildflowers, and even has a branch that ends up in the shade of pine trees.

Spencer found plenty of mud puddles to plop himself into — we did get a downpour yesterday. I enjoyed the flowers and butterflies and the slight breeze. It really is nice to stop and smell those flowers. Spencer sort of agrees too. He took plenty of time to pee and poop on the flowers.

Woebegone Pooch

Poor Spencer. He didn’t get a walk today. We did a longer one yesterday, and he even got to play in a mucky cattle tank (water at just the right height for a Corgi). So today I wait until late to take him out and a heavy downpour with thunder and lightening just don’t seem to allow for a walk.

But hey, he did get a dose of water to romp in today. I gave him a bath.