Thursday, April 22, 2010

Happy Earth Day

Haven't heard this song in a long time.

Saturday, April 10, 2010

Stupid Thing

I did absolutely nothing yesterday.  While making my second cup of coffee, I stupidly put the empty, HOT, teapot under the running water and burned myself with the steam.  I immediately put a bag of frozen corn over my fingers, but I knew it was a bad burn.  I put some Doctor Burt's Res-Q Ointment on and put the frozen corn over my fingers.  I couldn't find any of the 500+ bottles of aloe that I've purchased over the years.  (I'm REALLY sick of not being able to find anything in this house, but that's another blog.)

The burn hurt so bad, it was one of the worst pains I've ever felt.  I couldn't sit; I couldn't stand.  I didn't know if I should hold my hands still or wave them around.  The frozen corn provided some relief, but as soon as I removed it, my fingers would burn worse then before.  I equate it to eating lots of habaneroes and  drinking water.  As soon as you stop drinking, your mouth burns, and hotter than ever.  The only difference is, hot pepper burns ultimately go away, after a little while.  My fingers were on fire for half the day.

I eventually found some aloe gel and the coolness of the gel helped.  I put some white flower oil on my fingers, thinking it might help.  WORST MISTAKE!  White flower oil is like Tiger Balm.  You don't want to get the stuff on your furniture, because it'll eat right through the varnish.  The tingliness from the oil made the burn even more sensitive.  It was sheer torture.

I eventually fell asleep and took a nap for a couple of hours, and when I woke up, the pain was pretty much gone.  There was no blistering, except for a hard lump by my middle knuckle on my middle finger.  The burned area looked blueish-grey.  The skin's intact, but the color, along with the swelling, GROSS!

I was really scared, because it was my right hand.  The fingers worst affected were my index and middle fingers.  I can't afford to lose my right hand!  How would I crochet or bead or write?!

My fingers are doing ok today.  Obviously, I'm able to type.  A few blisters appeared overnight.  There is edema in my fingers and it's a little hard to bend them, but they seem to be ok.  I'm not going to be able to work in the garden or have my hands in water a lot, but at least I can use them.

Tuesday, April 6, 2010

Crocheted Rings

I've been thinking about making crocheted rings.  I have one of those really big cocktail rings and I thought I could make one out of yarn.

My idea is to make rosettes out of scraps of yarn and then attach them to rings made out of stretchable string.  I'm making a bunch of rosettes first, using Lion Brand's Crocheted Rosettes/Flowers pattern.  I'm pretty sure I have stretchy string around somewhere and really hope I don't have to buy more.

Monday, April 5, 2010

Austen's Birthday

Yesterday was Austen's 15th birthday.  I let him sleep in, without waking him to walk the dogs.  When he finally got up, I made him scrambled eggs and English muffins.   He waited patiently as I blew the eggs out of the shells.  I thought I would have time to decorate some eggs, but never got around to it.  He made sure to thank me for making him scrambled eggs in a pan, instead of in the microwave.  He hates microwaved eggs.

After breakfast, we went and got his fish.  He picked out four different goldfishes and named them Attila, Octavius, Alexander, and Hannibal.


He also picked out a water plant and a bridge.

Before we got the fish, Austen asked me if I wanted to shop somewhere else first.   What he meant to say was, he wanted to go to Gamestop first.  We went to Gamestop and I got him three games, all involving fighting or violence.  When I asked why all violent games, he said, they only come in violent.

We started shopping for Austen's birthday, days ago.  We had each gotten really nice journals.  I got Austen a calligraphy set.

He writes in the journal with his new pen, everyday.  He said the pen set was his best gift.  I haven't started writing in my journal yet.  I'm still looking for the perfect pen.

We had picked out a bunch of flowers at Agway and Montgomery Nursery.  Austen picked out most of them.  He got a venus fly trap (that lives in my room now, because his room is too dark),

a really pretty pink frilly petaled begonia,

a strawberry plant,

and bright red dinner plate dahlia tubers.  

I picked out a pale pink 

and a orange and yellow begonia, 

ranunculus,

and some veggies.  

Austen helped me pick out some violas and pansies.

For dinner, originally, we were supposed to go to Mitsuwa for ramen, but Austen changed his mind and wanted all-you-can-eat-sushi.  He really doesn't like long car rides.  I think he also saw how tired I was and may have suggested sushi, for my sake.  He's such a good kid!

Potting Continues

I don't know why I put those pots out in the middle of the yard.  They're going to turn into deer bait.
The deck is looking better.
Yangy has to get in every picture.

Back to the Garden

It has been many years since I've been conscious of my garden.  The thought of gardening rarely entered my mind.  I was so busy being a workaholic, I had no time, no attention for something like gardening, something that I thought I could never live without, while growing up.  Home became a bed that I slept in, for less than half of the year.  Even after not working for a couple of years, it wasn't until when we went shopping for Austen's birthday presents, that my interest in gardening was piqued.

Austen and I went to Walmart to get this fish tank that he wanted.  We wandered into the plants section and  we each picked out a few plants.  We took them home and decided that the existing garden was too weedy and not adequate for the plants that we bought.  We went to Agway and bought pots (not knowing that we already had tons of pots in the shed out back) and soil, and more plants.

The deck is beginning to look like what the decks from all my previous homes looked like.  I'm inspired to clear out the courtyard and the flower beds; areas neglected for too long.