Here's the thing. Saw the hematologist. Who looks about 12 years old, but is a very nice, intelligent man. I was, however, a little creeped out because he's in a cancer center, and I was surrounded with folks in various stages of treatment. I felt like I was bringing germs into their space...
So the doc says that my case is "easy to fix." The anemia is likely something I was born with, called Thalassemia - an inherited condition from somewhere in the gene pool. It's common, apparently, in both Middle-European and Mediterranean heritages. Often called Mediterranean Anemia.
Strangely enough, he says that iron infusions are one method that he would use. But according to the Mayo Clinic - one should avoid iron supplements.
In the meantime (and I didn't know this before I saw him, so now I'm confused) - he says "Take your iron and B-complex; come to see me in a month, because it won't help, and then I can do the iron infusion. That's good for at least a year.
"And it would help if you weren't menstruating."
Yeah. I know that. Trust me.
I did The Google and saw that on one website, it states that women "in their 60s" can still be menstruating.
Shoot me now. I'm 56. I don't want another four years of playing footsie with my hormones.
The only GOOD thing is that the hematologist says "You will likely never have osteoporosis, since you've still got enough estrogen running through your system to keep your bones healthy."
But the periods. They're getting old. As am I, I suppose. Hubby will be delirious at the prospect of me having periods for another 4 years. Delirious, I tell you.
Reading...
So, working my way through P.D. James' autobiography - which is a diary she kept for one year. I want to write like her! It's both mundane and soaring in some spots, when she gets her descriptions on. I have to go back and see if I've got her works. They're marvelous mysteries. And while I'm at it, a little church-reading... I went to the Episcopal Book Store (online) and found a couple of books to read up on. This one is very nicely done - not overly deep, and with enough information that you end up knowing more than you thought you would. It's nice to have answers to some of the questions.
And it's nice to see that some of the answers, I already had.
Also catching up on a bunch of Mother Jones magazines. Wondering, if I really do have to reinvent myself yet again, how hard it would be for me to learn to code. As in, learn computer code? Apparently, the US lags far, far behind in educating kids in Code - which may well be the next "second language" we all need to know.
Hubby, who I thought knew how to do this, says he has no clue, other than some simple HTML stuff he figured out himself. I'm just curious. I mean, I'm not an idiot. What I actually AM, though, is tired of reinvention.
Maybe that's the secret to Eternal Youth or somesuch concept - but I've already got a resume that most people don't believe, so why add more to it??
I have a couple other books in the queue, so we'll catch up soon enough.
Knitting...
We have BABY SOCKS! And yeah, my hands are hurting a bit. Wee little socks; 3" cuff and 3" foot, and they're adorable. I still have to work up the courage to start the hat. Then the cardigan.And I had a brainstorm! Since we have 2 different shades of blue, I want to use both of them. See, the hat and cardigan have snowflakes embroidered on them. And in the picture, it's the same color yarn - they did the entire layette in a color called Bleach. It's a cream-ish white.
I'm doing these clothing items in Atlantic and the afghan in Ice. So I propose to use Ice to embroider the snowflakes. "Ice." Snowflakes. Whaddaya think?? I kind of like the idea and we'll see how it goes.
In the meantime, I set aside my striped socks for this yarn, which was calling my name... It's Lorna's Laces, and the colorway is St. Charles. There's a hook here, too.
Anyway, the pattern I'm using is Vanilla Latte, available on Ravelry, and I can't link to it - join Ravelry if you would like the pattern.
The KAL I'm sort of working on is a "stripes" theme. And I wasn't sure how this would work out, but (a) I'm enamored of the color; and (b) there's a cosmic thing to all of this.
And (c) -- it's freakin' awesome! I love the bold purple stripe. I love the autumnal colors. I love the feel of this yarn. And I think it'll work for the KAL by virtue of this wide purple swirl. The orange bracketing it could also qualify as a "stripe" - and if it doesn't, then I don't care. I really like these.
I did something funky on the cuff; started off at K3, P1, and then went to K2, P2. Then the pattern, which is pretty simple, K6, P2. It's shaping up really nice, except I have to remember to knit the alternate rows! I'm using my row counter, thanks.
Anyway the "cosmic" angle is that my assistant and I are hoping that, since our campus is being closed, we'll be moved with "the operations" to the new place: the St. Charles Center. See? The YARN is called St. Charles. I found this while I was searching for some TARDIS-colored yarn on the Jimmy Beans website.
Must be fate. At least that's what I'm telling myself. We should know soon. I hope they don't string us along till December, because that would be cruel.
Would I like to not have to work? Yeah. Am I going to retire? Nope. It's just the facts. I need to work. At least to keep myself in yarn!
Still Pickled...
Yes, we think we MAY have finished pickling. At least we hope so. The tomatoes are coming in now, so we hope to switch to tomato sauce. This weekend, 17 more jars; these are dill (with sugar) and about half are spears, and half are chips. I added some garlic cloves to a few jars, and then 1/4 teaspoon of pre-packaged roasted garlic to some of the chips. We shall see.
We're pickled out.
In today's Chicago Tribune FOOD section, there are recipes to freeze your "garden excess" and except for the pesto starters (which have olive oil in them), I think I can do the water bath for the roasted tomato puree. I wouldn't mind doing the pesto starters, if we can find enough basil left in the garden.
Harvest Moon/Super Moon...On the way home from yoga on Monday, I was FINALLY able to get the Harvest (or Super) moon. The last few times, we had clouds.
This is from my phone, so it's not perfect, but it's an amazing image all the same.
Love the way the moon floats above the clouds and colors them with a light that's both mesmerizing and beautiful. I stopped several times on the 7-minute drive home to catch different angles with the phone. I wish we would have had time to get the telescope out or the nice camera.
But it being Monday and Hubby having to work on Tuesday - that's not conducive to getting out into the country to take a really good shot of this moon.
It's in my head, though, so I'll remember it.
Our weather has been slightly nuts. As I type, the clouds are rolling in again. We've had tons of rain and I know that if folks are reading this in certain parts of the world, they may well say, "send it our way." I would if I could!
I'm supposed to go to a United Way dinner for our Free Clinic. And the Google maps optimistically says "It'll take you 11 minutes to get there." Ha.
If I take Rt. 80, at anytime after 4 p.m., it's likely it'll be a parking lot. Same with Rt. 55. So I'm taking River Road, which Google says takes "17 minutes." I'm not sure how they figure that, but I'm sure it's with no other cars on the road.
My phone has Cortana on it, and in spite of the TV commercials, I haven't figured out how to get traffic updates. It translated "Minooka" into "Tim Ocka." So we may have a failure to communicate. I'll check both the weather and the maps again before I leave.
Random Picture...
Ok, one thing the phone does really well is manipulate pictures. So here's a close-up, cropped of Quinn resting. She twists and hangs her head off the couch and I swear she's going to fall off. But she never does.
And in a dog update, we had a 3-dog fight yesterday. Which I did not need. No blood, thank goodness, but man - they were hard to separate. They confirm what happens in humans: females fight more fiercely and are buggers to stop.
It started with antlers. They'd been playing with trading of antlers till Raisa decided she wanted the one Tippi had. The one Tippi had and had walked away from.
Before I could get the 2 steps to them, there was a growl and then a pile-up. Quinn had no dog in the fight, so to speak, but she's never one to let a confrontation escape her. My clipboard was a tool used to avoid getting bitten. My knitting went flying, my notebook went in the other direction.
I used my COMMAND voice, and finally got Quinn to back off, but Tippi wouldn't do that. Finally threw everyone in their crates for a huge time-out. Luckily, no blood from either the dogs or me! Removed the antlers and then this happened...
This morning, as every morning, the girls get their cow ears. Tippi is usually the last one to finish.
And I see Raisa eyeballing her. After a shout of "How STUPID are you??" I got her distracted. I know - she's only 1 year old. She's feeling her oats.
But you don't mess with the big dog. And at this point, I don't mean Tippi. I mean ME.
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