Another "Breakthrough..."

...of the cardiac kind. (sigh) I did fine at work Monday, and even taught my Monday night Basic Yoga class - not that the sequence was all that basic; my poor students got a good workout! I teach at Just Breathe Yoga near my home. It's a great studio, and I enjoy teaching. 

I truly felt grateful for the "breakthrough" to have happened AFTER class, though - when I was safe at home. 

This one was a little more mild than the last one. Still racing pulse, relatively high BP and breathlessness, but apparently not to the criteria of taking the Cardizem pill. So another "mostly on the couch" night. I came back to the bedroom about 1 a.m., promptly tripped over Tippi, who grunted and then snorted her disgust, and managed to get in about 5 hours of sleep. (Jeeze, Tippi --- grey dogs ought to sleep near a night-light!!)

Nothing else so far; apparently, I slept like a rock last night (exhaustion will do that to you) and I'm feeling ok. Still a little freaked out about this and apprehensive, should it become more frequent. But you get nowhere by worrying. 

Meditation Timer...

I have been setting my timer at work. About every 30 minutes, I get up and either stretch, or go do something. The first segment, I spent putting tissue boxes in the classrooms. Some campuses put coffee out for the students (we have adults who come to class after a full day's work). Me? I put out tissues because it seems that everyone has allergies or a cold or something snotty. 

The timer is about to go off in a little over a minute; I spent the last 1/2 hour looking at the blogs *I* follow (where've you been, Franklin???) and figured I'd better get this one cracking on. 

We shall see how this all works out. I do appreciate the nudge to move my rear end off the chair, that's for sure!

Weather...

Another cold spell. Joy. (See - the timer went off, so I took 10 minutes to do my lunch dishes...at least I'm sticking to it so far.)

Anyway, it's all the way up to 12* outside, but "feels like" -5* -- this is F not C. And we have a couple of weather warnings: the river flood warning, that really doesn't apply to me because we're not that close to that particular river, and the Wind Chill Advisory that's supposed to be through noon-ish tomorrow. It's supposed to START at midnight, tonight, but going out to the car this a.m.? You could've fooled me!! The temps are set to feel like somewhere between -20 and -30*F. My assistant was right: the warm up was a malicious tease. 

Sock Heel

I am, however, still in my Danskos. They feel good after enclosing my feet in ankle-high hiking boots. The search for a "casual but warm" boot continues and since now all I'm seeing is sandals, I think it'll resume in the fall.

All I know is that my skin is lizard-like. I can't find a moisturizer that's not too greasy. I just used some of the Neutrogena Norwegian Formula on my hands and I felt like they actually sucked the lotion in. "Only a dab" -- well, I think I need a few dabs more. At least now the skin on my hands doesn't feel like it's going to crack off.

Knitting...

Working on the Teal Sock, but I did pick up the Pink Sock to see where I was. To my dismay, I have lost the directions!! It's a simple sock, so it's not a total loss. And I have Sock #1 to measure against, but I'm bummed. I should stick to ONE knitting notebook, but that - by my definition, at least - means just having ONE project in the works. 

And that ain't happening. 

Anyway, the fatigue from lack of sleep due to the a-fib stuff made it such that I just wanted to do the simpler sock. Even the k3, p1 ribbing in Teal was something I deemed much too much for my foggy brain. Of course, I found that Sock #2 had just about 1/4" of ribbing done: k1,p1 -- so I did fiddle with that a little bit. But otherwise, the leg (as you can see by Sock #1) is just round and round knit. Mindless, which is good some days. 

Project bag

Here's one of my favorite project bags, from Kelly at Le Mouton Rouge Knittery -- she makes them herself, and sells them for a phenomenally reasonable price. I want the one that says, "I Learned to Knit in Prison." 

And some refreshers of the Pink Sock. I just have to remember which heel that is. Any input - helpful!! Or I could just find the %^$# directions!!! 

This is the pair on the 1.75 wooden needles. I will admit to one gripe on the wooden needles: the marking wears off. It's almost invisible now. At least on my steel needles, it's etched in. I will have to figure out how to mark these; unless, of course, I can find the packet they came in.

That's probably with the directions...

Pink Sock #2

Anyway, I'm due a trip out to see Kelly, because of course, while I don't need any yarn, I would like to snag a project bag or two. And ok -- y'all know that I'll walk out with at least a ball of sock yarn.

Sock yarn has no calories. It doesn't even count as "stash" since I usually buy Opel or the like - where one ball = 1 pair. See?  Economy.

If I'm buying sock yarn for a shawl, then I'll buy more and THAT is stash. 

It is NOT a nit-picky difference, thanks. 

Oh, and I did accomplish (sort of) one thing. I went through all of my knitting bags. The reason I did that is because I've lost some keys. I went through all my purses, and so did Hubby. So he wasn't about to touch my yarn bags... I did that. Still no keys. I'm not a happy camper. 

Anyway, the yarn bags have all been gone through. The jackets as well. Kid #2 doesn't have it (he had to use it when I was carted off to the hospital once). Maybe it's either with a person who temps for me or in a sweater or blazer pocket. Rats.

But now I have a decent handle on what's in which bag. And I have a whole lot of organizing to do (still). It's a never-ending issue. 

Politics (or The Gay)...

I don't ever want to go back to Arizona. I was there, briefly, in the way-back times. Didn't even see the Grand Canyon, which I wish I would have. But it's all in the past, and I'm not pining. 

But with this latest debacle? Good Lord - I'd be shot. Apparently, some brainless cretin(s) in that state chose to bring a bill wherein any business can refuse service to someone all in the name of the business' "religious beliefs." So. They can deny service (specifically) to the gays. 

Did y'all know that The Gays are a Threat to My Marriage? Well. According to many "Christian Conservatives" -- apparently, I'm threatened by The Gays. They are out to destroy my marriage. And my family. 

So, I as a business owner in AZ (which will happen when the 10th Circle of Dante's Inferno melts) can say, "I refuse to serve you, The Gay. Because you're an affront to my religious beliefs."

Which wouldn't happen for 3 reasons: (1) I'm Episcopalian. My church is Ok with The Gays. and (2) even when I was Catholic, I wasn't stupid. The Gay isn't catchy; and finally (3) I'm not an idiot either - if I'm in business, I want to MAKE MONEY. If you want to spend your money in my business, I would be a total moron to deny you that privilege -- and deny ME the profit. 

This bill is the very definition of "slippery slope." 

The story - which you can find just about anywhere, is encapsulated here in a post by Dean Obeidallah, a columnist for The Daily Beast. 

So where does this leave us? Well, it leaves us wondering when they'll discriminate because my kid is "brown" in the summer, whereas I'm a pale Polish ghost. Taking it to the extreme, perhaps someone might think my kid is hassling me - which they both do, but Kid #1 looks the least like me, so he'd more likely be the target here - and want to lash out at the Kid because he's giving some white-haired white lady a rough time. Notwithstanding that he's MY kid and I know EXACTLY which buttons he'd push! In gun-crazed AZ, my kid could get shot by someone who thinks he's a threat. And Kid #1 is the most mild-mannered kid you'd ever see. He's just a little physically intimidating if he feels *I* am being threatened. In a very quiet, "You don't want to go there" kind of way. 

Anyway, that aside, I'm just wondering, because these are the same kinds of people who scream that "Sharia Law is not OUR law." No, it's not.

But neither is the Bible our law. We are not now, and have NEVER been, a nation founded upon Christian principles. No matter how much you say we ARE, you only have to look at The Founding Fathers - Thomas Jefferson said it. 

Way back in 1802, while he was President, Jefferson first articulated the "separation of church and state" and said that religion was "...a matter which lies solely between Man and his God..." -- that's about as clear as you can be. 

What's to stop those business folks in AZ from refusing to serve Muslims, because being Muslim offends "their religious belief"? What's to stop them from refusing to serve mixed-race couples because THAT offends their "religious belief"? 

And how do you reconcile Jesus' teachings of brotherhood with the particular viewpoint of Christianity as a "whites-only" religion? Which is just about what they're saying. Oh, sorry: STRAIGHT WHITES ONLY. 

Back in the days of the Gold Rush in California, our country, much to our own humiliation, passed Chinese Exclusion Laws - see the link here for specifics, but I'll summarize: "No Chinese Allowed." 

Seriously: they couldn't marry Americans; couldn't own property; were strictly curtailed as to who came over - we preferred teachers and merchants. 

This AZ law is the equivalent to that Exclusion Law. Only it's more broadly painted and it's entirely stupid. Why, in this economy, would you refuse to serve someone? Take the money, honey. If you feel that it's burning your hand, donate it to your church. They probably won't ask where it came from. 

The only good that can come of this is if Gov. Brewer does something sensible: vetoes it. And she could - because there are already some laws on the books about being able to restrict service. And they're kind of knot-headed too. 

Random Picture...

Silver teapot

Of a teapot. This was on the England table at our recent fundraiser and I thought it was beautiful. The decorations on the table consisted mainly of tea pots, tea cups and tea bags. A little "derivative" if you will, but it was lovely anyway. 

I'm sure someone in England is agog at the tea bags -- do they use loose tea? I've purchased PG Tips tea in bags (and let me tell you - it makes Lipton taste like sock-water). Hmmmmmm. Maybe I've watched a little too much Sherlock or Downton Abbey, though I do love my own loose tea. 

I'm a big tea drinker anyway. While I have the Keurig in my office and I do buy flavored coffee, I can't drink it. I haven't been able to since I've had GERD - the acid apparently kicks up in my stomach. 

But anyway, I prefer tea. I drink 2 cups of "caff" in the morning, and then I'm switching over to decaf or herbal. It's hydration and I can drink it "black" with nothing in it. 

And it's especially good in a cold snap when you're in an office where your one wall is a window and there's a good stiff East wind... Brrrrrrr!

As always, comments appreciated.