what I did on my vacation...
Long time, no post! Sorry about that.
My twins started winter break after school on December 16th. Things got very busy. In the meanwhile, late at night and during naptime, I managed to accomplish a few things I am very happy about.
Big Things:
From the Outside In is now available in paperback. It's available as a Kindle download and it's available from a whole pile of other places if you use another kind of digital device.
Also, after six months of running low fevers, having lots of unpleasant symptoms, and feeling generally crummy--I have been diagnosed with Lyme disease...and the lab test was positive according to CDC guidelines, so there is that.
This was a relief! Instead of being seen as potentially hysterical or ill with something vague and undefinable, I've been handed a pile of antibiotics. I sure hope it works and I begin to feel better soon.
Small Things: Grown ups in our household did not get anything really glamorous for Hanukah. We do not do really big presents, but even so, a few things really made winter break better.
1) A new microwave: When your microwave has hot spots, it can make you run like a crazy person to get your (smokin') bag of popcorn and rush outside to dump it into the snow. Then, when even the dogs won't approach it, I was forced to bring it back inside, run it under cold water, and then rush out to the compost to get rid of it. Note: the temperatures here are really low, and I put the bag in the snow, and it was all still smoking.
You can bet the house smelled bad. Time for a new appliance!?
2) A Gleener
This thing removes pills from sweaters. It is amazing. We wear our woollies very hard, and a lot of handknit things in our house were looking mighty worn. I set up a little schedule with one of my twins and we "gleened" two sweaters a day for a while and removed a lot of pills. My kid still says "pins" when he means pills but he is very keen to take all the fuzzy bits and throw them away once the sweater is tidy again. It has been a super investment. Not romantic, mind you, but I am very glad the Professor bought it for me from Canadian Tire.
3) A gift from my parents: A traditional gift on Hanukah is "gelt" which just means--money. You may have noticed that Canadian currency has dropped a lot when compared to the US. My parents sent us some money to spend on going out to eat/take out to make the break easier. We had a lot of fun, and those American dollars went farther than one might think. Thanks, folks!
That about sums up our break, aside from sledding, playing outside in snow suits, cooking a lot, playing inside a lot, three play dates (I baked challah with three five year olds. I still can't believe I attempted this.) and a lot more...
School started again January 3rd. I love kindergarten. :)
That's the news from here. How are you? Drop me a line?
My twins started winter break after school on December 16th. Things got very busy. In the meanwhile, late at night and during naptime, I managed to accomplish a few things I am very happy about.
Big Things:
From the Outside In is now available in paperback. It's available as a Kindle download and it's available from a whole pile of other places if you use another kind of digital device.Also, after six months of running low fevers, having lots of unpleasant symptoms, and feeling generally crummy--I have been diagnosed with Lyme disease...and the lab test was positive according to CDC guidelines, so there is that.
This was a relief! Instead of being seen as potentially hysterical or ill with something vague and undefinable, I've been handed a pile of antibiotics. I sure hope it works and I begin to feel better soon.
Small Things: Grown ups in our household did not get anything really glamorous for Hanukah. We do not do really big presents, but even so, a few things really made winter break better.
1) A new microwave: When your microwave has hot spots, it can make you run like a crazy person to get your (smokin') bag of popcorn and rush outside to dump it into the snow. Then, when even the dogs won't approach it, I was forced to bring it back inside, run it under cold water, and then rush out to the compost to get rid of it. Note: the temperatures here are really low, and I put the bag in the snow, and it was all still smoking.
You can bet the house smelled bad. Time for a new appliance!?
2) A Gleener
This thing removes pills from sweaters. It is amazing. We wear our woollies very hard, and a lot of handknit things in our house were looking mighty worn. I set up a little schedule with one of my twins and we "gleened" two sweaters a day for a while and removed a lot of pills. My kid still says "pins" when he means pills but he is very keen to take all the fuzzy bits and throw them away once the sweater is tidy again. It has been a super investment. Not romantic, mind you, but I am very glad the Professor bought it for me from Canadian Tire.
3) A gift from my parents: A traditional gift on Hanukah is "gelt" which just means--money. You may have noticed that Canadian currency has dropped a lot when compared to the US. My parents sent us some money to spend on going out to eat/take out to make the break easier. We had a lot of fun, and those American dollars went farther than one might think. Thanks, folks!
That about sums up our break, aside from sledding, playing outside in snow suits, cooking a lot, playing inside a lot, three play dates (I baked challah with three five year olds. I still can't believe I attempted this.) and a lot more...
School started again January 3rd. I love kindergarten. :)
That's the news from here. How are you? Drop me a line?
Labels: ebook, fire, From the Outside In, knitting, Lyme disease, medical issues, pills, ticks, twins, wool, writer's life
posted by Joanne at 3:11 PM
6 Comments:
I'm glad you know what it is. Too many doctors are happy to call it IBS and leave it at that. I wish you a speedy recovery!!
Thanks, Dale! There were long lists of what this could be...but in the end, treating for Lyme is easy and inexpensive. I hope it works and I can just work on getting well now! I miss seeing you in class. I hope you are well!
Howdy!
Of all the creatures in our house (two humans, one dog, one cat), I'm the only one who has NOT had Lymes. The antibiotics work wonders, the earlier the better.
Diane
Hi Diane--Thanks for your note! I wonder if you could tell me where you live? I ask because I know that Lyme is in the ticks in Manitoba (yes, I fed the tick entomologist dinner a couple of times! We are friendly) but getting doctors to adequately test for it here as been very difficult. I'm wondering if you are local to me in Manitoba and found someone who tested for it adequately or live someplace else that is a bit more enlightened about Lyme...
Howdy!
I'm in Maine. Lyme is pretty much endemic here, a much greater concern for dogs than heartworm.
The doctors here have seen it so much that if you show up with the symptoms they don't even wait for the test results to come back, here's your prescription.
Sometimes the tests come back with false negatives but most doctors just give you the antibiotic because they know this.
Diane
Thanks, Diane. This is a pretty common response in the Southern US, too. I have been pretty surprised by my experience in Manitoba with this--we are friendly with a professor who studies ticks here and we know Lyme is all over the place. Just seems to be a disconnect between the researchers and the medical profession...weird.
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