Sunday Morning and pollen in the air

Posted on May 19, 2013 by

Good Morning and Happy Sunday to you!

I have had a case of “drag ass” the last few days, but at least this time I know the reason:  Seasonal Allergies.  The weather here in SW Wisconsin has turned warm and humid, the mosquitoes are out and attacking in squadrons and the tree pollen is floating through the air. My sinuses are stuffed, I’m itching red welts and the warm and humid weather slows me down considerably.  All that aside, it has been a good week.

The peas have sprouted as have my cucumbers and some squash.  The black and yellow raspberry canes appear to be very happy.  My “Woodland” flower bed behind the Master Bedroom is awash in blues and whites and the Ruby-Throated Hummingbirds have been making repeated rounds to every flower.

I’ve been reading and quilting this week, worked a couple days and revisited the meal planning which I’d slacked on completing.  Of course, my meal planning is almost for naught with the warm weather because all I crave and want to eat are cool items like fresh fruits and veggies.  There are worse things to crave.

Early Meadow Rue, Thalictrum dioicum

Early Meadow Rue, Thalictrum dioicum

Mr. Muse and I also did our “Go Take a Hike” weekend, and yesterday we visited Blue Mound State Park, hiking just over two miles around the West Observation Tower.  I am very lucky to live in an area where I have some wonderful state parks just a short drive away.  Get out there and hike!  The wildflowers are blooming and thankfully with yesterdays breeze, the mosquitos were kept at bay during our hike.

We finished up with a turtle sundae at Culver’s.  If you’re not familiar with Culver’s restaurants, they are a chain that started in Wisconsin, famous for their “Butterburger” and frozen custard.  For all of you who need to check for food allergens – they have everything listed online AND in a handy-dandy brochure, one of which I snagged and put in the car.  There is a lot available for the gluten-free crowd, including the beloved turtle sundaes.

Today, Mr. Muse and I beat the heat and got in seven miles on the bicycle.  There was a storm making its way into Wisconsin over the Mississippi River and we didn’t want to get caught in the rain.  Wouldn’t you know that as soon as we got home and checked to see where the rain was… it had broken up and moved south.  There are worse things to have to deal with.

Tomorrow, I have a job interview.  We’ll see how things go.  I’ll be heading in, armed with a bunch of questions as this interview was arranged through an employment agency and may be temporary, or it may be temporary-permanent.  I don’t want to be stuck somewhere on a permanent basis if I don’t particularly care for the people.

On that note!  It’s time for me to get a move on!  Enjoy this silly video!

Posted in Blogging, Hiking, Musings, Outdoors, Personal, Random Thoughts | Tagged , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

You’re fine just the way you are

Posted on May 18, 2013 by

I’m typing this up shortly after being on the phone with someone who was having a difficult time emotionally after receiving an email from someone they dated listing “everything that was wrong” with them.

I wanted to go slap this person who sent that email.

And then I caught myself.  I had placed blame on another person last week for my perceptions of how they were screwed up because of how I was feeling over their lack of action/response.

The thing is, for both of these cases, it wasn’t the fault of the person I was talking to on the phone and it wasn’t the fault of the person I was dealing with via messages… it was the fault of the person sending the email and my fault.  Our need to place the blame for how we were feeling on the other person.

Indirectly, this all points to a bigger issue of people not being able to be honest with each other and to a greater point:  Women are Bitches.  (Yeah… don’t twist your undies yet – go read the article.)

We women need to be on the same page.  When we feel we aren’t on the same page – we ask questions.  A lot of questions.  But ultimately it comes down to an inability to communicate to people in ways that are understandable, both for men and women.

So, as I said to the person on the phone about this email pointing out all the things that were “wrong” with them.  ”Fuck ‘em.  That’s your personality and if they can’t handle that – that is NOT your problem.”

Lightbulb moment.

I attempted mea culpa.

I think I just bitch-slapped myself.

Posted in Blogging, Musings, Personal, Random Thoughts | Tagged , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Hey! What about the fat slob on the couch?

Posted on May 17, 2013 by

So, last night as I was washing the day off of my face and brushing my teeth before bed, I looked in the mirror and had this thought pop into my head, “Why do all of the articles with advice to spice up marriages always say that the women should pay a lot of attention to their grooming and how they dress?”

What is UP with that?!

Perhaps it was that I was standing there in my dressy t-shirt (it’s a thing… I have a bunch of them) and skinny jeans with my hair pulled up and awry and a toothbrush clenched in my fist as I attempted to remove the remaining traces of a black bean brownie from my maw, but… why is the primping left up to the women in the relationship?  I have yet to read an article that gives a tip telling the men that they should maybe think about dressing in something other than a ratty-ass t-shirt with pizza grease stains and jeans slung down past their drawers.

Want to know what is sexy?  Using a tissue, or gods forbid a handkerchief, and NOT “snorking” that wad of snot up your nose.

Want to know what else is sexy?  Putting some thought into what you wear in public.  That wife-beater that shows off your back hair?  Not sexy.  Why not try a nice pair of jeans, some dressy shoes and a nice shirt; I’m not talking tuxedos here.

I finished my what-had-become-aggressive scrubbing of my teeth and went to bed.

When I woke up, I still essentially had this same “bug up my ass” about why the onus to look like we’re “trying” is always put upon the shoulders of women.

Fuck that.  I put on my jeans, tank top, flips flops and do-rag (not ratty, not stained and I coordinated).  My face was scrubbed, moisturized, sunscreened and BB-creamed and a little dab of mascara applied along with my favorite Chicken Poop lip balm (seriously… I love this stuff).  My hair combed and braided.  That was my effort for the day.  It wasn’t over the top, but it wasn’t bare minimum either.

You don’t like it?  TOO BAD!  I dress how I want for myself and nobody else.  Hmm, I felt a little bit of Eric Cartman coming on for a moment and was about to shout out, “Whatevah!  I can do what I want!”

Yeah! What Cartman says!

Yeah! What Cartman says!

I posed my observation and questions to Mr. Muse this morning on the commute into work and he suggested that perhaps it was a throw-back to when women were expected to be dressed nicely all the time and dote on their men (or catch a man) and the men could gallivant about the town whenever they wanted.

So, what say you?  Have you read articles on relationships where they suggest “keeping up appearances” for both men and women or just the women?

Why do you think that the obligation is put upon women more than men?

Ladies, do you feel it’s your responsibility to be dressed to the nine’s at all times, or is it more of a responsibility to dress how you choose and be comfortable?

Posted in Blogging, Life, marriage, Musings, Personal, Random Thoughts, Rants | Tagged , , , , , , , | 10 Comments

Sarah to Ground Control

Posted on May 16, 2013 by

Perhaps it is only my mind that works this way, then again – perhaps not, but having “seen the light” a couple/few times and given the middle finger to Mr. Reaper, I may have a bit of a twisted sense of humor.  Tuesday, while I was waiting for my second Cardiac MRI, I joked with the medical students and Radiology Techs who were getting me prepped for “tube time”.  The student who retrieved me asked if I’d done this before to which I responded, “I have… Let’s DO THIS THING!”  We chatted, I told him that no one warned me the first time that I’d feel like I pissed my pants while in the tube.  He told me that that was for CT scans, not MRIs, and I told him that it happened with the MRIs, too.  He was surprised, and quickly recovered with “Well, everyone gets a slightly different reaction.”

Nice cover and… fair enough.  He was a friendly guy and learning.  I didn’t want to lay into him too hard.  Because I was going into the 3 Tesla and not the 1.5 Tesla, they made me take out my titanium studs in my ears.  I needed help… which happens when you’re wearing awesome fake nails for a social event.  They pried and tugged and asked if they were hurting me, but they were not and eventually the earrings came out and were put into a specimen jar.

That’s right – SPECIMEN JAR.  Hey!  You use what you have available.  McGyver it!

Because they were “racking” me, putting on the leads and placing a big rack “thingy” (that’s the official term… at least to me), I had to strip from the waist up and put on a hospital gown. Which I rocked.  I joked.  I laughed.  I commented that I wished they had monitors in the tube so I could see what they were seeing because I’d find it FASCINATING (no really).  They said nobody had every commented on that before, but yeah, it might be a great idea.

So, that brings me to things that went through my head as I spent some time in the tube.  Think of this as a clip show…

and thanks to my Mom…

And… it all ended uneventfully.  The 2nd shift Radiology Technicians came in and one was a man who was shaking as he had to remove my IV, apologizing for removing skin in the process. I told him not to worry, but MAN was he shaking.  He said he’d leave the room for the other tech to remove the lead pads, because my breasts would be exposed, and I teased, ‘You can go if it makes you uncomfortable!!”  Seriously… are people REALLY that modest when it comes to this shit, patient or technician?  The female tech laughed.  I laughed.

Okay, maybe that was a little mean.

Posted in Musings, Personal, Random Thoughts | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

MLiP: Taking a Tesla for a Test Drive

Posted on May 15, 2013 by

When I came home yesterday, and told Mr. Muse I took a “Tesla 3″ for a test drive, I received a look of incredulous shock.  Then I got a look of “Heyyyy…. why didn’t you invite me?”  Then I got a look of “Ohhh.  Not a Tesla 3, but a 3 Tesla.  Totally different.”  (He works as an Electrical Engineer for a Design/Build firm specializing in medical facilities… he knows medical equipment.)

Indeed.

For those who have been playing along at home, I started to complain of heart issues when I was fourteen years old.  I was diagnosed 10 years later with AV Node Reentry, a variety of arrhythmia   I had a cardiac ablation which fixed the issue and I was good for a few years.  Then, I got hit again with a new issue, Ventricular Tachycardia, another arrhythmia   Having two separate, yet similar, arrhythmias isn’t common at all.  My cardiologist, Dr. Awesome, would really like to “fix” me, but we’re waiting for technology to get to the stage that they can actually fix everything that needs fixing.  I went through a second cardiac ablation but they couldn’t take care of everything when they were in there.  So, I went through my second Cardiac MRI yesterday in a 3 Tesla MRI scanner.  More power!!

Last time I spent some “tube time”, it was in a 1.5 Tesla MRI and I didn’t have to take out my titanium studs, etc.  This time even the titanium had to come out along with the wedding rings, the glasses and then… I had to wait for them to make sure I could go in with the IUD I have in place.  Yeah, TMI, but if you have one and have to go into an MRI, you’ll be happy to know that the Paraguard is safe for both the 1.5 and 3 Tesla MRI scanners.  Your IUD won’t come ripping out through your soft tissues… which I suggested might be the Radiologist’s concern to the Radiology Technician… which caused her to pause as I laughed about it.  She said that that probably wouldn’t happen, to which I replied, “But if it did…. THINK of the story I could tell people!”

Going through the MRI isn’t too bad.  It’s tiny.  If you’re claustrophobic  you’re probably REALLY going to hate it and I bet you’ll be sedated.  You get to wear HUGE head phones and they play whatever music you want to listen to.  There is a blue light.  The contrast dye is cold and it tastes weird… and you can feel it as it moves through your body.  It might make you feel like you peed your pants.  It’s breezy and chilly in the tube, so ask for a blanket.  There isn’t much in the way of padding – you will probably get sore.  If you have to do breath holds like I did – there will be a lot of them.  All in all, between napping in the prep area while they made sure I wouldn’t have my IUD come ripping out and then an hour in the tube, my afternoon was spent doing a lot of waiting.  And driving, but mostly waiting.

I had some great Radiology Techs yesterday who humored me with by taking some photos on my cell.  Thanks Univerity of Wisconsin Hospital – Radiology!!!

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Posted in Musings, Personal, Random Thoughts | Tagged , , , , , , | 12 Comments

Sunday Morning and sitting in the kitchen

Posted on May 12, 2013 by

I am grateful to have a kitchen that actually has space for me to set up Brutus the laptop when I need to read a recipe from the internet.  Pinterest has become a huge time-suck for me, though thankfully I have time for Pinterest to fill, and I find a lot of recipes on there to try and/or remake into gluten free versions.  One cousin has said of Pinterest, “Pinterest is the spawn of the procrastination devil.”

Truth.

But yesterday I found myself making the black bean brownies I love so much and turning them into a “clean out the cupboard” version.  Another cousin, who lives off of bags of red vines and chocolate candy, told me that I ruined them by “adding stuff”, not to mention they were made with black beans.  That stuff was the last of some cacao nibs, the last of some walnuts, the last of the chocolate chips and the last two squares of unsweetened baking chocolate.  The batter was delicious and Mr. Muse came into the kitchen from working outside and said, “I smell chocolate!”  He was more than happy to devour a brownie, stuff and all.

After the brownies, I decided to experiment with making Lemon Poppyseed donuts.  I haven’t tried one yet, as I finished cooling, and then glazing, them at 10:30 last night.  But they are ready for breakfast!  Once I finish my big glass of water that is.

I got my hairs cut yesterday, too.  I love my hair stylist – she’s sassy and spunky and we can talk about a variety of things or just be silent.  She did, however, get two new tattoos for her birthday last week which got me thinking about my commitment issues with ink.  While her tattoos looked great, they aren’t really my style, but I actually started a new board on Pinterest with simple-looking tattoos that I like.  One day, maybe I’ll commit to one (Mr. Muse is not amused with this idea).

Update.  I had a donut.  It was good.

Hmm.  I got sucked into Pinterest.  And my coffee is ready, so sipping that, I’ll ponder what’s happened this week that may be of note.

I rode my bicycle oh… a lot, 30 or 40 miles.  One day I logged 19.9 miles on it.  Then the weather turned colder (again) and I’m a wuss, so I haven’t been out to freeze my butt off on it.  It’ll be warmer this week.

I freaked/stressed out about all of the shows I had to watch on the DVR and thought I would delete some of them.  I accidentally deleted everything that had been recorded across the board.  Oops.  Mr. Muse shrugged and said, “No big deal”.  WHEW!

I’m really digging this book “Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can’t Stop Talking” by Susan Cain.  I’m about 20% through it, but it’s speaking to me.  Well, not actually speaking to me… cause that would be crazy.

The neighborhood orioles showed up again and one of them came and tapped on the window to let us know of their arrival.  And for me to get their nectar feeder out.  I had to buy a new one, but I picked one up yesterday and today it will go out for the birds.

I also started a quilt.  Well, the cutting out of the fabric for the quilt.  First color was cut out yesterday, today I’ll work on color number two.  I will also need to purchase more fabric.  Damn.

Hmm, it’s also Mothers’ Day (or is it “Mother’s Day”?).  I got wished a Happy Mothers’ Day online today… which I’m not a mother and have no intention of ever being one, so… that was weird.  But okay…whatevs.  Thank you.

I think I’ll end with saying, Happy Mothers’ Day Mom :)  You’re the best Mom I’ve ever had in this lifetime!

Have a Fabulous Sunday!

Posted in Blogging, Gluten Free, Musings, Personal, Random Thoughts | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

I mustache you a serious question

Posted on May 10, 2013 by

Should I do a VIDEO blog?  You know a “vlog“?

I won’t even charge a flat fee and by the minute.*

What say you?  What should I vlog about?

*I will not be naked.

Posted in Blogging, Musings, Personal, Random Thoughts, vlog | Tagged , , , , | 12 Comments