Twisted thoughts and tangled threads

I don't know why the 4th is such a special holiday for me. ( in which I wax poetic )

Happy birthday, America.

I've always wanted to make 'real' bread, but don't have the patience for the process. I know... some of you are gasping in horror at the idea of that. And recently, my neighbor shared an Amish Friendship Bread with me that was divine (I will be getting the starter for that on friday! YAY!), so I thought about doing some sourdough bread. THAT looks involved, as well.

Well, I came across this, and it looks just simple and quick enough that I might actually manage to do something with it...

So I need to run to the store to get some yeast, since I don't hold onto that for very long, and then I'll whip up a batch for this evening. Might not bake anything until tomorrow, but there are several incredible-looking recipes on the artisan bread in five minutes a day website that I think just might have to get tried, at least once. :P They say this master recipe makes up to 4 loaves, but the recipe in the book is actually double that, from what I've seen, so you can make dessert breads and pizza crusts, as well.

Anyhow... thought I'd share. I'm going to see how it works out, and i have the perfect crock for it to live in the fridge. :) 

Edited to add: I have no idea why 'Total Eclipse of the Heart' video is showing up, or if it's just showing up on mine becasue another friend posted it... but the correct video seems to be in place on my actual LJ page. Go figure.

PS the bread turned out really nummy! Can't wait to experiment more!

I found this profound and wanted to save it somewhere. Seems to fit my life right now, with all we're trying to do. :) 

“Three Rules of Work: Out of clutter find simplicity; From discord find harmony; In the middle of difficulty lies opportunity.” - Albert Einstein

WOOHOO!!!!!!!

I checked my financial aid status a bit ago, and WE'RE GOING TO COLLEGE!!!!!!

YAY!!!!!!

Sal and both were able to get more than we need, which will give us some spending/living money, travel money, etc. That will be nice. :) 

man... I want to go buy something for the dorm now! LOLOL That's me... get excited, wanna go shopping! LOL

Ah well... just thought I'd share. :)

We'll be Catamounts!!!!!!!Woohoo!!!!!!!

Ya know, back when I came up with the PVC spinning wheel using a bicycle wheel, I thought I was pretty darn clever. I thought there for a bit that I was Da Shit. :P (then my natural low self-esteem kicked in and I was back to thinking otherwise but for just a day or two, I really thought I was something! LOL)

Anyhow... I will never again feel that way. I have seen it all. My hat's off to this lady.

Enjoy!

Can Tabistry


In other news, I'm through with two finals, and the hard one is done! Yay!!!! Two more to go, and only one of them will be hard-ish, so I'm jazzed.

And of course, since I SHOULD be studying, I'm cleaning the living room instead. My husband is proving what a smart guy he is by not pointing out that I should be studying. He wants a clean living room! LOL 

Hollie Steel

Wow. What a voice! Don't let the dancing part turn you away... keep watching. :) 

I've started a new blog for the weight loss thing, since I want to find other folks who are dieting and exercising on a low-carb diet. So I won't be using the filter here as much, but will post most of the weight loss stuff over there. For anyone interested, it's carbwarrior . Come join me if ya want. :)

Ah well... my husband is taunting me with freshly popped popcorn. The rat. :P 

I found some nifty diet-counter bracelets online and thought I'd make one for myself. :) 

Here it is... fun! :) The pics aren't that detailed, but there are lovely blue roses inside the larger glass beads. This bracelet will count 40 carbs, which is great for Ongoing Weight Loss, the phase I'm in. :)



The charm on the bracelet (attached with a lobster-claw) matches the earrings, but more importantly, it moves as you eat the carbs. :) This one is set on 12 carbs. I think I need to eat a few more before the night is over! :) 

Feedback appreciated.

I just got my Etsy shop up and running again today. Whoot!

I also made a new set of jewelry today during practice. I really enjoy this! Projects small enough to finish before i get bored with them. Woohoo! :)

Dragonfly Dreams, Aqua

Red and White with rosebuds


Tell me what you think... and be honest! I'm trying to hone my designing skills here. :P I'm going for not too fancy so that they can be worn with casual stuff, but just fancy enough for special occasions. :P

http://www.gnn.com/article/viral-video-that-makes-us-smile/413323

Awesome! I'd love to be part of something like that. Or I would have, back in the day. :) 

Apparently, her favorite patient calling to say she's coughing up green stuff, getting horrible headaches from the coughing, and falling asleep alot. My doc didn't have any openings this afternoon and apparently wanted to make sure to see me, so she's coming back from lunch early, just for me.

I don't know whether to feel special, that she'd do that, or pathetic that I'm such a good customer she wants my money! LOL I'll take it as special. :P

Yes, really!

I know... you're so proud of me. :P 
( house stuff... )
Ah well... I've 'rested' enough. Guess I should get up and see what's next. :P

here's the cake I did tonight. It was supposed to be for a classmate, but since we ended up not making it to class tonight, we'll just have to eat it ourselves. Darn it all! Ah well... we must sacrifice for our art, yes?

Anyhow... chocolate sour cream cake with chocolate frosting and basketweave, buttercream decorations. This is just a 6" cake. :) there will be cupcakes to match, but not tonight. :P

They're admitting Sam to the hospital for tonight. They're pretty sure that she has a blood clot in her lung. They're keeping her for more testing, though she's fighting them  I swear, this week just keeps getting better... I'd ask what's next, but I really hope this is the end of it and things turn around for the better really soon. :( Diane's beside herself, and Sal and I are out of sick days for school or we'd just stay home ... well, I'd stay home, sickie that I am, and let Sal go to the hospital to be with his mom and sister. Instead, neither of us can miss another day. Sigh. I just wanna go back to bed. Can I do that, pweeze???

I have discovered that I can make a 3-tier wedding cake for 50 in less than 5 hours. I hope I never have the need to do so again. :P

The cake is done. now we're off to the populace gathering. sigh. i'm so tired and feel like crap. Ah well...

I'll post pics when I get some. I was in such a rush to get the cake there that I didn't have time to snap some shots or even to find my camera. that's okay...  I think there might have been more cameras there than people! LOL 

But the bride cried, she loved it so much, and the parents of the bride hugged me REALLY hard. tha'ts good enough for me. :) 

Someone forward this to Master Miguel for me? I'm not sure he's on my friends list... He's probably already seen it, but just in case...

I found this while looking for something else today. Looks like a might fine box weaving loom to me, from the 1500's. :) 


La Noble Pastorale (tapestry) Loire region about 1500 Paris, Musee du Louvre Scan from Medievil Tapestry Dora Heinz Crown 1965 plate 14

Is it just me, or does it seem that if you go to a doc and say, "Hey, doc, I have this new pain. It's just like the other pain you've been treating me for, but now it's in the other arm. Oh, and my neck has been doing some really strange, painful stuff, too"... shouldn't that doc then show at least a little bit of concern that you now have new pain that's just like the old pain, but in a new area? 

Maybe I don't know enough about medicine or whatever, but I do know that if a patient shows up with new pain, the answer should not be "I think you're getting better!". At least, that shouldn't be the answer without some kind of rational explanation!

Or is it just me?

I took the changed PT order to my PT place after the doc visit, and my therapist happened to be there. She looked at it and asked what in the world was going on (funny... my PT will do that, but my doc won't???) She thinks it's very odd and a bit irresponsible of him to dismiss this new pain, especially since Biceps tendinitis doesn't tend to 'spread', and since the pain is exactly the same but now in my dominant arm, she's concerned, as well.

So tomorrow, I'll call my family doc and see what she thinks about all of this. I personally think that just because you've ruled out one thing doesn't mean that it's not something else, and if the pain escalates and moves to new areas, that would be a red flag. Maybe I'm just stupid and don't understand the way the body works... but wait. I got an A in anatomy. No, I don't think I'm as smart as a doctor... far from it! But logic suggests that if it's not one thing and the situation is getting worse or more widespread, then we need to be looking for what it actually is.

Sigh. We'll see what happens. I'm just really frustrated right now.

You know, sometimes I sit here and wonder or marvel about strange things...

Like today... It kinda just hit me tonight that the computer I now carry with me almost everywhere is thinner and exponentially more powerful than the Commodore 64 we had when I was a kid. Amazing. :)

It's just weird to think of all the things that have come about just in the last 30 years. hell, in the last 20! I never thought that anything would replace vinyl records, but CD's did. Then it was hard to contemplate anything being more efficient than CD's, but here come MP3's. The fact that the old 10" floppy disks used to be state of the art and now we carry around these tiny flash drives that hold more than my first computer ever thought of storing... it's just nifty.

And it's funny that I can marvel over these things, and at the same time be enamored of things like spinning, weaving, sprang, and all those other esoteric crafts that used to be necessary for living and are now just hobbies for so many people.

I'm just sayin'...

YMIR! YMIR! YMIR! YMIR! YMIR! YMIR!
YMIR! YMIR! YMIR! YMIR! YMIR! YMIR!
YMIR! YMIR! YMIR! YMIR! YMIR! YMIR!
YMIR! YMIR! YMIR! YMIR! YMIR! YMIR!
YMIR! YMIR! YMIR! YMIR! YMIR! YMIR!

I'm a wee bit excited. I know it's hard to tell....

greeting cards for the real world...

I'm just sayin'...