And that's not even counting the crap that's going on in Michigan and Wisconsin...
So. One thing at a time. Top to bottom...
The Vicar Is Installed...
It's done and she's ours... Our vicar has finally been installed. I got the banner done (no picture - I'll grab one this week, I promise), and it turned out ok. The cake? The cake was, in my opinion, FANTASTIC. And no, I didn't taste it - I'm not all that fond of cake, actually. I do love this frosting, though. Now to remember what I did to it...This is the cake; a spice cake for 70 people, which was, once again, far too much. The Hospitality Ladies told me it was all going to be "finger food" - and I believed them. Silly me. It was a literal banquet. Way tons of food, enough for several Coffee Hours.
The music was great, the service was beautiful. Her wife preached an amazing sermon. And now we start to do the work she was hired to do: rebuild the church. Shades of St. Francis of Assisi, right?
Pickle Soup for a Toothache...
About a week ago, I started to have a toothache. At times, my teeth will get a bit more sensitive, usually when the weather changes. Didn't think too much about it, except this wasn't fading. It was actually getting more painful.
It was a tooth I'd had crowned about 10 years ago, and frankly, I'd forgotten that that crown was that old! I was finally reduced to eating liquid food - and at that, only at room temperature, because it was starting to hurt up into my ear.
I went, one day, to the Polish Deli, down the way from the office, and thankfully - PICKLE SOUP!! There are a couple of recipes out there, and this one is a blessed marvel! Zupa Ogorkowa - the stuff of the gods. The link here is just about the closest I can get to what this deli does.
The pickles in this soup here are shredded. The celery and carrots are chunked, and it uses a chicken broth. You could go veggie stock, and have it all vegetarian. But it's a sweet + sour sort of creamy soup that just hits the spot.
Hubby thought I was nuts, but it felt good. On this day, however, I bit into a cracker, touched the bum tooth and wanted to barf.
I finally "bit the bullet" (go ahead - groan) and called my dentist. Got an appointment that night - and it was bad enough that I got a sub for my yoga class. The nausea came in waves all afternoon, and no - not because of the soup (I'm telling you - try this. It's amazing.) - but because of the tooth. It felt like I'd been punched in the jaw.
Long story short: It was determined that I had to have a root canal.
There's a special kind of terror to me on the very thought of "root canal." And of course, everyone has a "nasty root canal" story. I had the first appointment Thursday, got steroids and antibiotics - mainly to "calm down the hot tooth." And the RC was scheduled for this past Monday.
As an aside, because I have to work late this Thursday and next Monday, that will be a cumulative TWO WEEKS of not teaching yoga... I'm not happy with my dental dealings...
Come Monday, the tooth is still insanely painful. Root canal it is. Back story: I give my dentist (who's also a dear friend) a huge - I'm talking VERY LARGE - cookie tray for him and his staff. I told him last Thursday that I wasn't happy about the RC and he promised it would be "the best root canal you'll ever have." I told him, "Your 2018 Cookie Tray is resting on the success of this treatment. No pressure."
I have a "nasty root canal story." Well, sort of. I had 4 shots to numb me. And one of them gave me a pretty rotten reaction - my heart went all tachy on me and I was shaking like, well, like a huge whack of epinephrine entered my system. Which it did. And it still wasn't numb. I'm not sure what exactly was done on Shot #4, but finally, I was numb. They were saying that if they couldn't do the whole procedure, they'd just "pack the tooth and have me come back." Nope. Do it now or don't do it.
They did it. Honestly? That 4-shots-and-awful-reaction thing was the worst thing that happened. I did feel some slight tugging. But I got a bad verdict.
I need an implant. See, here's the thing. The tooth is dead, and cracked all the way through. It was a big filling and the crown was supposed to hold it together. It did its job till the tooth started to die. I've got a referral to have the tooth extracted (there goes about $3,000) and then 6 months later, the final "pretty tooth" gets put on (there goes another $3,000 or so).
The alternative is a bridge. Which would affect THREE teeth: the dead one, and the teeth on either side. I've just got done paying for braces to fix my teeth. I don't want to whack up the alignment now.
The referral is in January. Lucky me - I'll make my deductible, for sure.
The Generosity of People...
This is a story about how good people are. I wanted to tell you about the patients at the clinic where I work (backstory: I have 3 part-time jobs; I don't talk about 2 of them, having learned the hard way that you really shouldn't talk about your jobs, especially if you're not having a great day). We did a month-long food drive. And people really got into it. We filled the doctor's SUV. Almost to where he couldn't fit anything more in it. I was very proud of our patients. They gave so that people could have food and other necessities. And today, they were asking if we were going to do something for Christmas... I've got to talk to him about perhaps doing a sock drive for the local homeless shelter. They get hats, gloves & scarves, but socks... Socks could be gold.
I decorated the office for Christmas; keeping it from looking like the elves barfed in the place. Kept it a little classy, with nice touches. People seem to like it. The Charlie Brown tree, complete with blue fleece for Linus's blanket, sits next to our Premium Starter Kit, just in case someone wants to buy a kit for Christmas. Ask me - they make great gifts!
Last year, I'd purchased about 50 snowflakes of different sizes, glittered on one side. I had them all over the office. This year, I did it a little differently. There are small Christmas stockings on each treatment room doorway, and a snowflake in each room. And then over the PT tables, and down the hall, are the other snowflakes. We have a small tree, to which the doctor added about 200 more lights, and I wrapped the pictures in the front waiting area. Those seem to be getting the most comments. People like them. It's the closest I'm coming to wrapping packages, that's for sure! Oh, and see the ribbon on the tree? One of our patients did that as my tutorial in How to Make a Pretty Bow. Of course, not much is done at home. I'll be lucky if we get our tree up this weekend.
Hand-Dyed Holiday and Finished Objects...
OK, I finished the Precious Metals scarf. That's getting blocked tomorrow night. I'll run it in a bath, pin it out and see if I have to steam it. I think I will have to. I've ordered a new ironing board pad - ours got toasted with the church banner... 
I was really close to the end of the yarn. The Grapevine Lace pattern was supposed to end on the 12th row, but this ended up at Row 7 - close enough. I had to have enough yarn for the 5-row Rice Stitch finish + the bind off. This is a worsted weight yarn, and the pattern was written for a more lightweight yarn. Perhaps it wouldn't have "sausaged" if I'd used the lighter weight yarn. But maybe it would have. It's a bit shorter than I thought it'd be, but then this seriously needs a blocking to pop that lace. Anyway, this pic is all the yarn I had left. Yarn Chicken, anyone??
I picked up the Terribly Simple shawl, hoping to get cracking on that one. It's kind of a boring knit, but it's something I'd like to use soon, so off I go. Great lunchtime knitting, for sure. I can watch a movie and knit at the same time. The Terribly Simple is on Ravelry - every link I've seen sends you there. If you haven't joined Ravelry? Well. You're missing out on a ton of patterns and wealth upon wealth of knitting/crocheting knowledge. Again, this pattern is for fingering weight, but the designer says, basically, "go for it" with any yarn you want. This is Indulgence, it's a DK weight. It's going to be interesting. That's all I can say right now.
It's not laying out quite like I'd like the colors to lay out. But it's mostly shades I wear (minus the green; I don't wear a lot of green, so I'm still not sure why I purchased this colorway...). I figure that it's got enough grey and black in it to go with the many things I wear that are -- grey. Or black.
I was supposed to go to the Hand-Dyed Holiday with my friend R. We'd planned it for at least a month, if not more. But life gets in the way and she couldn't go. I went anyway. I'd been looking forward to spending the time with her, yes. But I was also looking forward to seeing Kelly at Le Mouton Rouge, and honestly, disconnecting from my routine for a while. It was wild. This is me in the line to check out. It was so tight in there that I was actually glad that R couldn't go. She's got some mobility issues and the tight quarters would've been problematic.
The goodies... Oh my. Must say at the outset that I didn't like Kelly's "Christmas colors" this year. It's me. Not her. They were based on vintage Christmas cards, but it just didn't flutter my wings. Beer and yarn? Hmmmmmmm. I didn't buy this, but it did look intriguing. A Harry Potter based project, including a "letter of acceptance" to Hogwarts. I don't know what it was supposed to make, but I did love those colors.
Didn't love 'em enough to buy it, though. I had other plans. I got some new DPNs. I'm going to try these. Got a new crochet hook, and got 2 different 9" circulars to try socks on those. I'd still switch to DPNs for the heel flap anyway.
I got my new stash of Eucalan, my preferred wool wash/rinse product. I got the unscented - not that the "scented" smells like much, at least to me. But I was running low, so I got a couple bottles. And then I got a bag that says, "My house is wool insulated." Pretty much.
Found a "sheepish" infinity cowl that's light, but remarkably warm. I've already worn it. It came with me to the root canal party... Ten bucks - not a ton of money. Kelly had red ones, too, but again: grey is my basic color. 
Of course, I got sock yarn. The Opal is just a fun colorway. The other one in the middle is kind of interesting - I've never used it. And the one on the right there? Sweet Georgia again, and yes, it'll be socks, not a shawl. I need to have some brown/beige socks. Probably a Vanilla Latte or maybe I'll try Jaywalker, though I've heard those can be a bit tight for someone with "biker calves" like me.
And finally, a shawl with a new kind of blend: merino + linen. It's a wide shawl, like a drape, which is cool. Could be a scarf, sort of.
A little bit of lace in it, and it should be interesting to knit. I'm a bit disappointed in the colorways of the yarn, though. This is a steel blue, which is fine; I was looking for stronger colors, but I liked the feel of the yarn, so I'm going with that.
I also got a few stitch markers and a little alpaca pin. Just for fun. And a "purple Tribble" (a/k/a a pom pom) for my hat. I'll get a shot of that soon. It's adorable. Oh, and coupons, so R and I are going back there later this month.
Not that I need yarn, and not that I'm going to drive 200 miles - well, 180 at least - for yarn. But I like Kelly; she's a friend, and since she's moved to Bloomington, I don't get to talk to her often.
And it will be nice to get together for lunch with R. We may go to Rosie's Pub... It's kind of a cool place I found when I was on the way home. Good Reuben sandwich.
What's with Michigan & Wisconsin...
Ok, so we know that we recently had midterm elections. Seems that some of the Republicans are sore losers. In both states, outgoing Republican administrations are doing things like stripping early voting hours/locations, gutting legislation trying to fix gerrymandering and otherwise basically uttering a strong "screw you" to the Democrats who were duly elected.
As a friend, a woman who lives in Michigan, says, "This is chicanery at an extreme level." And it does fly in the face of what the voters want. And it should be illegal. News stories are telling the tale. One proposal on the floor in Michigan will basically repeal a constitutional issue - which, by Michigan law, CANNOT be done in the Legislature. But they're going to do it. Because they can.
Is there no level to which they won't stoop?
Apparently not. Votes don't count. Power is the ultimate. The be-all and end-all. And they're determined to keep that power at all costs.
What they're doing should be illegal. They're emboldened by the Orange Idiot.
It's got to stop. Before we're all screwed.
Random Picture...
Tippi had a problem recently...She had an infected anal gland. Ugly and smelly, honestly. So she got antibiotics and a shot in the butt. As well as having her glands expressed, which she dislikes intensely.
I was able to take her to the college for her visit. And when I got there, I found that they'd closed the campus because of an outbreak of mumps! Thanks for telling me. At least I've had them and Tippi can't get them! So here's my girl next to the "fireplace" in the library, where we visit. She's got the Christmas scarf on that the vet gave her. Small recompense, in her opinion, for the indignity of having her butt probed and poked. But she liked the visit and we had a good time. We're done for the semester, so we've got a month of rest for her. And Tuesdays off for me for the next 4-ish weeks.
What's on your needles? What are you reading? Let's chat!
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