Whew! It's Been Busy...

I just about can't remember what I wrote last time... 

Anyway, here goes with what's been going on now. 

Heart...

On Monday night, I had another a-fib attack, and this time, I really mean ATTACK because the rhythm was vastly different from the one at the end of February. From 11 p.m. - about 4 a.m. I was not a happy bunny.

Here's the thing: Normally, when I'm in a-fib, I feel like my heart is "making waves" across my chest. Instead of lub-dup, lub-dup, I get "whosh-woosh, wosh-woosh" and it FEELS like ripples.

Monday night, it was THWACK-dup, lub-dup.......(pause) THWACK, THWACK, THWACK and on and on in a really indeterminate pattern. Hubby checked my pulse and BP, so if I needed the pill-in-pocket thing, I could do that. My pulse wasn't where it needed to be to fit the guideline, so it was "butt-on-the-couch" time; I feel better sitting up when this is all going on.

By 4 a.m., I thought I was ok, because THWACK had stopped. Well... now it was thready. I mean, sometimes Hubby can't - for all his experience - find my pulse (he was an EMT). Heck, even I couldn't find my own pulse, which is, let me tell you - rather disconcerting. He took BP and the thready-ness of the rhythm caused us some concern.

Called Sis. Sis got us in to the Cardio Guy. He's not happy, either, since this is the second "significant break through" in a month. Suffice to say, of course, that the EKG didn't show anything because it had already whacked itself back to behaving. But, as my sister said to me, "Wow - you really look like CRAP." There's that, I suppose. 

So Cardio Guy says I have to switch up some meds. One he discontinued. One he added, one he changed. And I had to go buy a new phone. 

What?? 

Well. There's this new device, called AliveCor, which is basically a portable EKG you put on your phone. And of course, it's only on iPhone and Android. I have GOT to holler at those Windows people. I love my Windows phone and I really didn't want to deal with another device.

But there you have it. I am now the proud owner of a Samsung Galaxy 4 (there are only certain Androids it'll work on, too). I thought it might be compatible with Hubby's Android tablet, which would be fine - it's a little one. No dice. Had to be the phone. Mine's red. I've got the app on it already, and I'm waiting on the thingie you put on the back of it. 

Basically, if I have another --- who are we kidding?  WHEN I have another a-fib attack outside of office hours, I can open the app, place my thumbs on the sensors, and it takes my EKG at that moment. I can then e-mail it to the Cardio Guy's office and we can have a history. This is very new technology, because they didn't say anything about it to me last fall when I was in there.

But then again - the meds were working when I was in there last fall...

Anyhow, Cardio Guy said that I have to look at the ablation procedure "sooner rather than later" if this continues...or as he says, "as it gets worse, because it will." 

Not what I wanted, but it's what I got, so I'm rolling with it. Sadly, I had to cancel a Tuesdays with Tippi appearance. I was totally zonked. Between no sleep, the discombobulation of the a-fib on my brain and just not feeling "fit on my feet" -- it was better to stay home.

By the way, Sis says their EMR system doesn't recognize "fuzzy brain" as a symptom. I told her, "find the Notes area and say that I couldn't make words." She said, "Well, THAT is a first." Lovely... It's a good thing she's my favorite (well, only) sister. 

Knitting...

March Snowman

The Schedule is working nicely. Sunday, after Raisa's last make-up of Beginner Obedience (she did very well, more a little farther down), I got a substantial chunk done on March Snowman. His hat is nearly to the brim. The stick is all done. I have to find the shamrock pin. Or I get a button. Either way. I don't care. 

I mean, I care, but it doesn't matter to me in the overall scheme of things. It's coming along. 

And Hubby got clamp handles for my stand, so when I get to the Mom's Angel, I can have it on the stand. The March Snowman is small enough to put on my lap, though I do like it on the stand better. Once it's all put back together (the stand, I mean), I should be able to use it. 

The Pink Sock? Nothing even to report. I got in two rows. Yes, TWO rows. 

The Teal Sock is coming along nicely. I have to stitch on it today, which I haven't done so far, but I don't have yoga tonight (the class is being revamped, so we skipped a week). I'm much farther along the leg of that one. No picture; nothing worth photographing.

The February Lady Sweater progresses, even if this picture doesn't look like much. The yarn has a gorgeous drape to it, and I can agree with the pattern's author, who says "the sweater grows." 


So here's how that worked out yesterday. First of all, Raisa decided when I opened up the blinds on Tuesday that her fuzzy butt would be in MY chair. Upon which I had set the February Lady Sweater. I'm telling you - my 'OFF, NOW' was champion. 

Second, I'm ever-so-close to starting the lace pattern. I'm hoping this all works out with the end result being 255 stitches at the end of the yoke. 

Anyway, it's coming along, even though it looks boring. The yoke is just about done. I don't know if I will get the 3rd button on the yoke. If I had it to do over, I'd bring the first buttonhole down and only use 2 buttons. I'm not sure I want the 3rd one on the lace, since it's not technically a button band. I'll look on Ravelry and see what goes on. 

And I'll have to see what to do with my lovely red "toy box photo studio" -- we had to put some of that no-slip material on it, because our Siberian Husk-Cat is getting bigger and she's having to squeeze her big hairy feet onto this thing. She keeps sliding off.

So I'll continue on with The Schedule and we'll be able to see progress in the WIP pile. 

Tuesday, as I recovered from "a-fib fuzzy brain" I got the idea to clean out the shelf under Arlo's cage. It has become rather piled up with knitting books and magazines. 

What I've been doing is tabbing the stuff I want in magazines and scanning it onto the computer. Then I have to find a spot to get rid of the magazines. I don't want to just pitch them, and I know there are knitters out there who would love to get them. I asked my FB KnitWits and the suggestion was to see if the local Senior Center would like them. I could do that, since there don't appear to be many knitters at church. 

I just did the first magazine in the first quarter of the pile I brought to work, and I'm tossing it all on a thumb drive for now. Saving it to the computer means I have it, and if I am not currently planning to knit it, at least I don't have excess piles of paper hanging around. We used to be able to share them at our yarn store, but the new owner doesn't want us to do that, so I'm happy I polled my KnitWits. 

Oh, and my cozy got fondled. 

Wait. That's not as awful as it sounds!!

I met with a friend at the local Starbucks, so I brought my reusable Starbucks "faux cup" along with its blue cozy (knitted a couple of months ago). The barista fondled it. She said, "Wherrrrrrrre did you GET this????????" and I told her I made it. She was agog at it, which made me smile because really - it's a 3" circle of yarn. But to a non-knitter, it must be pretty spiffy looking. 

Maybe if I'm ever in a position to mindlessly knit forever, I could churn these out for Starbucks!

Politics...

Oh, where do I start? How about with SCOTUS, who's just sold our democratic election process to the highest bidders?  In a "shouldn't be surprised" move, five Supreme Court justices (or should I say "salesmen"???) killed democracy.

You thought Citizens United was bad? Apparently, now, if you've got enough money, you can buy yourself any election in the US. Anywhere, for whatever amount is the going rate. 

I am sick. 

United States of Koch? And as a woman? Well, let's just say it's a good thing I'm past my reproductive years. And it's a good thing that I work for a place where I'm pretty sure I'm being paid a fair wage for my work and I have health insurance and retirement. 

Because otherwise, we've turned into an oligarchy. ("A small group of people having control of a country, organization or institution.)

Can we guess which party these guys are? Because I'm truly not being sexist. Those who voted FOR selling our country's democracy down the river are all (at least biologically) men. 

I say "biologically" because they may HAVE balls. But they've handed them to the corporate types who now own them. And, by extension, us. 

It's a sad, sad day. 

Random Picture...

I'm really not feeling it today. I did have one picked out, but since the SCOTUS decision is NOT an April Fool's joke, I'm just not able to make the whiplash switch from "we're screwed" to "awwwwwwwwwww."