i got chomped on at work last week - hazards of the trade, i suppose. it hasn't happened for a long time, so i was a little embarrassed. happily, i was already on antibiotics, and have healed nicely since...

trying to get an appointment with a specialist to figure out what's wrong with me. going to have to drive out to long island, i think - this doctor who practices out there is an infectious disease specialist, but she seems to know a lot about MS, lupus, rheumatoid arthritis, and lyme disease. my doctors here put me on a three-week couse of doxycycline after i ran a fever for 6 straight days - they figured with the fever and the sore joints i had a few months ago, lyme seems a likely cause, even though all tests have come back negative. i'm not opposed to taking the antibiotic - it can't hurt - but they seem content to just leave it at that, no definitive diagnosis. i want an answer.

despite all of this, chad and i are still trying to have a baby - from everything i have read, most autoimmune diseases go into remission when you're pregnant, and there doesn't seem to be any effect on the baby's health. it's funny how i spent the majority of my 20s doing everything in my power NOT to get pregnant. now that i want to, nothing's happening. it's been 6 months now, and i'm getting concerned that something could be wrong with me. all you moms out there, any advice would be appreciated!

every night after work last week, i bitched and moaned to chad about how sore i was at the end of the day, and that i was waking up still sore. i attributed it to being out of shape and lifting large animals all day - i have gotten used to aching knees, although lately my elbows had been hurting as well. last sunday, i noticed while showering that i had hives on my legs. they weren't overly itchy, as long as i didn't mess around too much with them, so i didn't worry about that, either. by thursday evening, when they hadn't gone away, i thought a trip to the doctor might be in order. turns out, they're auto-immune related, as are the sore joints, as is the optic neuritis i had last year, and the raynaud's years ago...now i am awaiting test results for lupus and rheumatoid arthritis, and making appointments to see an auto-immune specialist in manhattan...things are never easy.

red wine is my favorite drink in the world tonight. ask me again tomorrow morning, and i might have another answer...

onsies i made, just to see if i could.

 i made some pretty fantastic fish tacos for dinner tonight, and am feeling quite pleased with myself. nothing like having absolutely no food in the house to stir up one’s creativity. my fridge is an ocean of condiments.

tomorrow i have an appointment with my neurologist. i expect her to say all the reassuring, happy things she’s been telling me all along. it’s nice to hear, and i have certainly tried to maintain a very positive attitude about the whole MS thing. there are days when i’d rather stay in bed and not deal with the world, but doesn’t everyone get like that every now and then?

yesterday, i drove up to saugerties to see my old friend, elena. we have not seen each other since christmas-time, and it was nice to do a little face-to-face catching up. we walked around saugerties a bit, did a little window-shopping, worked on some knitting (my first student, i’m so proud!), and i headed back home. got to the grocery store, where i had intended on doing the weekly food shopping, and realized i had left my purse up in saugerties. so, had to make the 90 mile journey all over again. hence, no food in the house.

i suppose i could have gone to the grocery store today, but last night i got it into my head that i wanted to lean to tie-dye. a month or so back, i had been shown some very cute tie-dyed onsies in a store in new paltz. onsies are $8 for a pack of 5, and i thought, "hell, i can do that". so i did.  as an added bonus, and because i had some extra dye, i picked up some plain white underpants as well, and my sister will be getting herself a lovely set of tie-dyed underpants for her birthday next sunday. all  my tie-dye is percolating right now - photos to come.

speaking of photos, here’s one of the table chad is building:

this would. of course, be the top of it.

behold, the product of the weekend...

otter likes it.

we've been on the every-other-year tree plan - i grew up with a fake tree, pretty much for all of my life, and now i don't ever want to go back to artificial again! chad bitched a little about the price of trees - took quite a bit out of the funness of getting a tree. but, he also carried it in and helped decorate it, so he won some points back. my christmas is pretty much ruined, as i will be working from 8pm on christmas eve to 8am on christmas day, but at least our tree looks nice. there's even a christmas pickle hiding out in the branches.

i really suck at the whole blogging thing. well, for those of you who have been following my blog at all, i had a re-check appointment with my neurologist. right now, there is no reason to suspect multiple sclerosis - i will continue to have to get MRIs every six months for a few years, but my neurologic exam was normal, and she is confident that things will turn out okay. my vision has only partly improved - i am colorblind in my left eye, and can't much see past the big "E" on the eye chart with corrective lenses. but, if that's the worst to com out of this whole ordeal, i guess i should consider myself lucky.

we sold our honda element to my sister - chad bought a beat-up chevy pick-up to take its place - i do not forsee myself every desiring to borrow his car, but, even though he'll never admit it, i think he secretly enjoys the truck.

a dog park opened a few miles from our house, and it has been a source of great joy to our dogs. a good thing for us, too, as it makes for happier (and more worn out) puppy dogs.

dogs kicked my ass on a big walk today. sid will try to chase down a little kid on a motorized scooter, yet he is scared of trash cans. i don't get it.
 i have been busy knitting for an upcoming baby shower.






now that i am finished with those, i am back to knitting the endless cabled cardigan i have been working on - it's the most mind-numbing project ever, but i really want to get it done.

chad worked from home today - i think i like it better when he goes to the office - he gets so cranky with his job, and he is incapable of being a normal human being when he's cranky.

i may have had one (or three) too many soco and lime shots at my neighbor's party last night. these are new neighbors, to me, at least - chad has met the guy, jesse, once or twice in passing. we headed over there last night, at his request, to meet up with a dozen or so or his family's friends. not the most intellectual bunch, i am afraid, and a little too fond of cars with very loud motors, and of getting behind their wheels after ingesting aforementioned soco and lime shots. the house was teeming with kids, and it struck me as a very inappropriate place for a bunch of toddlers to be. not my life to judge, however, so i downed a few shots myself, managed to remain upright at all times, and even had what i recall was a very pleasant conversation with jesse's wife, jody, who is also a new jersey transplant. aside from an urgent need to wake at 4 in the morning and drink about a liter of water, no ill effects remained to haunt me.

today chad and i went to the local craft fair, where i was very tempted to buy all things sheepy, but managed to restrain myself. came home, made some potato salad, and now i am having some gin and OJ, in honor of not having to work again until friday. to those of you who live somewhat locally, chad and i are having a party at our place on september 16th - we would love to see everyone there - if you need directions to the house, just let me know!

today at work, one of the receptionists came in the back after everyone but me had gone to lunch and said to me, "fedex is here to pick up a package, soooo......what does that mean?". i was forced to reply, "it means fedex is here to pick up a package". really. it says wonders about the local school system.

our trash collection agency sent out a flyer stating they will be picking up on labor day. good thing, too - chad threw a squished squirrel in the bin, thinking it would be nicer than throwing it in the ditch across the street, and it has been festering in there for a week. i have refused to go anywhere near the trash can, although to be honest, if anyone's going to be dealing with dead, rotting carcasses, it should probably be me - given my profession, i guess i have more experience with it than chad, who sits at a computer all day. i fondly recall one of our first weekends spent together - he came out to new jersey to spend the weekend at my place, as i ran quite a bustling pet-sitting gig, and was working for several clients that weekend. one lived on a cul-de-sac in a ritzy neighborhood, and i was caring for her shepherd and her indoor/outdoor cat. my one big request was that she leave the cat in the house before she left - i figure if the cat is going to get hit by a car, it's not going to be on my watch - at any rate, as we turned the corner into the cul-de-sac, there was a run-over kitty in the road, and for a horrifying minute, i thought it was MY kitty. we pulled over to confirm that it wasn't, and the cat's tail started moving - although it's little head was crushed, it was still alive - i thought chad was seriously going to be ill. he had to go back and sit in the car for a while. what a baby.