Today's guest bloggers are....

...Hi everyone, today we have guest bloggers...Cow and Honey...Ms Cow and I are recovering from our afternoon at the SF Bead & Design Show yesterday (no photos). Lots of ideas swirling round in our brains. I think my crafting Mojo is actually coming back. Yay!!!

Anyway, on to Cow and Honey...

Helo evribody. Martin has been nagging me to rite a blogpost so I am gowing to rite about howe to get to sea Ms Cow.

Mi firts plan was to desine and bild a bote with sales, and sale acros the see to Ms Cow. Martin was desining the outside of the bote, and i was desining the inside, with places for us to slepe, and hav cow parteys, and a baffrum, but no baff, cos cows dont do baffs. But martins screen broke, and he dusent hav a bote desining program on the old puter. He sed that we can use pensil and paper, but he makes to meny mistaiks and we wud need lots and lots of paper.

Then wen he was cleening owt the kichen he left the model plane a frend had maid on the cher with me and I cud hav a gud luk at it. It is a very fast plane with lots of supersonix so I thort i cud lern to fly and then i cud sea Ms Cow very very cwikly. But Donna sed plane luks just like a target drone and the er forse wud shute it down! Thats not fare!!! I cud paent it blak and wite so theyd nowe it was me but Martin sed they use radar and that dusent sea colors.

But now i hav a new plan! We saw a syense program on the tely, and they torked abowt cwontums. cwontums is wen a partykul is in 2 places at wons, but there very clos together. And they had a pussy cat that was alive and ded at the sam time, but i didnt undestand that bit. Cows ar much cleverer than partykuls, so I cud be here with Martin, and with Ms Cow and Donna at the sam time!! I just need grat big laser and a wite cote, so peepl nowe im a syentist.

Ok, this post now has two authors... Don't you just love these science shows that over-simplify everything? I've tried explaining that the distance between the places a particle might be is governed by its mass, not how clever it is; and that a particle doesn't get to choose where it might be, so there's no guarantee that all Cow's particles would end up in the same two places; and the pussy cat idea shows that one of the two Cows might be alive, and the other one dead! I'm making some headway with that one, because the thought of a dead Cow as well as an alive one would definitely upset Ms Cow. I'll concede on the white coat though, Ms Cow will indeed think he looks clever as well as handsome in a white coat...

Cow is currently conferring with Sidney the woolly dalek, which really concerns me, because with Sidney anything including lasers will involve exterminating things, since that's what daleks do, even cuddly woolly ones. If you hear in the news that the north of England has been reduced to a smoking ruin, you'll know that Cow's career as a quantum physicist has been less than totally successful. And I only made one mistake when we were designing his boat; serves him right for constantly demanding we make it bigger!

NOTE: Cow refuses to use spell check. Honey says that Cow complains that the red squiggly lines are very annoying. D'oh. Maybe we can get Ms Cow to convince him that he really needs to use spell check...

Wrist Update

...and here I sit still not knowing what's up.

Get to follow up appointment. Wait.

Get called back. Wait.

Doc comes in and we start. Takes one look at MRI and radiologist's report. Starts mumbling and swearing under his breath.

Things not going very well at this point.

Seems like the MRI tech was having an "off day". He did not put a marker on the spot they needed to look at and on top of that, did not take pictures far enough up my arm to show the whole area they really needed to see.

Sigh.

Bottom line, Doc rips MRI supervisor a new one, which I'm sure was passed down to the tech. I was sent back to the MRI dept where I made an appointment for a partial MRI Tuesday morning.

Why wait? Well after the doc came back and explained a few things and apologized profusely, he said he wasn't going to be in for a few weeks, so I could take my time with the MRI re-do. And they weren't scheduling any non-urgent procedures that close to the holiday anyway.

Gee thanks. Just what I wanted to do...wait some more.

I did get some sorta good news out of it all...doc said that from what little he could actually see of my little bump, that it didn't seem to be attached to the nerve. And then threw a whole bunch of big fancy medical terms at me which he thought it was...and when he translated to English, it was basically a flap of some sort that needed to be removed...yada yada yada...no more pain.

All I really heard was MRI re-do, most likely not attached to nerve, no more pain. He says we really won't know until he gets hold of a good MRI - of course - but he seemed pretty sure it wasn't on the nerve.

Blah blah blah...yada yada yada...still hurts...still gotta wait.

In the meantime, I've got lots to do, don't feel like doing it and am going to do it anyway, attitude and pain be damned.

NYAH

The Wrist Thing

Hello All,
Can't remember if I've ever said what was actually wrong with the wrist, so here is the story.

It's not Carpal Tunnel. There I said it. Very tired of people telling me "it's just CT - you need to stop this, this and this". Well, it's not.

It all started 16 years ago. I found a lump on my inner wrist. A ganglion cyst was removed. That was 1993.

In 1995, a smaller cyst returned - in the same area. It never bothered and I forget all about it until about a year ago. It was just a bit of weakness and or pain, every so often until about 2 months ago.

For some reason, it did something like shift or whatever and the real pain began. Big pain. After about 2 weeks of denial and just hoping it would magically go away (yeah, I know I should know better), I called the doc.

Primary doc said she could take care of it in the office. I was skeptical because I felt it was somehow different this time. I was right, she sent me to a orthopedist - a hand specialist.

The next week, I was getting poked and prodded and pinched and sent home crying after an x-ray. Yes, it hurt that much. Nothing like an exam to help you feel better, no?

An MRI was ordered. An MRI was done this morning - almost 3 weeks after it was ordered. Almost 8 weeks after it first started hurting like the dickens. The insurance company took their time pre-approving it. Yeah.

There is a follow-up appt with the doc this Thursday afternoon. I can't wait to find out what the heck is going on...I just want to get my wrist back to the way it was and get on with knitting, sewing, biking (more than I am now) and just doing stuff in general. It can get quite difficult sometimes to do the simplest things. UGH.

And the pain just keeps getting worse.

But things are looking up.

And that's the story of the wrist.

Contest! Fabulous Prize!

Not from me tho, I'm just trying to win it. :)

Such being the case (we love free things and prizes here in the chaos), go check it out. AntiM is giving away a few cool things for your home. Technically one is for your furry friend, but still, you win it.

So click on over, enter and don't forget to say Donnaz Chaos sent you (I get extra entries if you do).

Hopefully I'll win the heated leopard print kitty dish and that little witch I call my Precious Little Princess Kitty can stop going medieval on my good wrist - she's pretty much scratching/biting the shit out of it lately. Just giving her extra treaties isn't cutting it...she apparently wants MORE.

Cowmon Sense and Dressing Up

Hello fellow Fashionistas!

Last post we chatted with Ms. Sammie and we came to the conclusion that she looks FABULOUS just as she is...well, she does!!!

Which gives me a pretty good lead into today's post...

We're going to discuss "working what you've got". Basically, we are all individuals with our own styles and "looks" and we should "work it"! Those in the fashion industry really love that phrase. Those younger fashionistas out there use the term "rockin' it". She's really "rockin' that outfit"!

A few weeks ago, I lost one of my nose spots. I was embarrassed and I was afraid to go out or be seen by anyone.




Well, then Donna and I saw on the news about something very exciting happening in San Francisco and it drew us both out last Saturday (I'll explain later) - even with only one nose spot. I didn't care, I had to go!!! While we were out and about, I learned a lot of important things about myself and others.

There were so many people out and about in the City. It was a beautiful day! I did a lot of people watching as I peeked out from Donna's bag. So many wonderful outfits, so many fashion disasters. It was all so wonderful... We stopped for a rest by the waterfront at a little park by the Bay Bridge. There were lots of doggies there playing in the sun. One doggie had a doggie wheelchair!




Lots of people kept stopping and pointing and taking photos, but he didn't care. And neither did the other doggies. They were all running about, chasing balls, sniffing each other and playing all sorts of doggie games! We sat and watched them play for a while. I thought to myself, he's really "working what he's got". He doesn't care what anyone else thinks of his wheelchair. He's doing his doggie thing and no one is gonna stop him!

Sometimes we choose how we look (clothes, hair color, glasses, etc), sometimes we don't (tall, short, round face, etc). As long as you are comfortable with your "look", no one can tell you it's good or bad. We'll definitely wonder whether some of you have mirrors at home or not (you with the pink eyebrows and fried hair, I'm talking about you), or some of you may make us uncomfortable or even jealous.

There were so many "looks" out there. Definitely a "Good, Bad, and Ugly" sort of day. It was fantastic!!!

OK, now it's later, so time to tell you what drew me out of the house with only one nose spot...

The San Francisco Opera had a costume sale!!! They opened their warehouse to the public and put up 25 years worth of costumes for sale. Partly to clear out their inventory, mostly to raise money for the Opera. We saw it on the news Friday night and just HAD to go take a look.

The day started out with going to the bike shop with Spencer where they did the final adjustments on his bikebikebike. He left from there to go riding with his friends, so Donna and I took off to SF for the sale! She was so excited she hardly slept Friday night. She kept mumbling something about it being a bit of a dream come true. So many wonderful, hand made costumes in one place!!!!

When we finally arrived, there was a very long line...it was about 4 blocks long! In the sun. We had no water, no sun screen, and no hats. We were totally unprepared. We knew we were in trouble when we started seeing people with lawn chairs, coolers and sun umbrellas as we walked further down the line. We were so out of our league. As we turned round and headed back towards downtown, we vowed we would try again at the next sale. This time we would go EARLIER and we'd be ready for ANYTHING! All we really wanted was to look at how the costumes were made and then look at the really fancy ones and try on some too! How fun would that be?!? There were some designed by Versace!!! There was even a long beaded dress by Bob Mackie! How exciting, no?

Donna and I just love costumes. We love to look at them, design them, and construct them. I'm studying costume design now...





...so it was very disappointing for us not to get into the sale. We were a bit upset at the world, and that's when we went wandering about trying not to feel too sorry for ourselves. It was a gorgeous day out, so we didn't want to come and lock ourselves away all day again.





We even had a visitor stop by as we ate our lunch!



Anyway, back to costumes... Costumes are fun! They can transform you into anything you want to be - not to mention they are fun to design and to make! It's fun to be someone or something different every so often, but you don't need to do it all the time - just be your own wonderful selves!!

Today is one of the most favorite days of all in the US to dress up - Hallowe'en!

So remember, be yourself - work your own style - have fun dressing up - and use your Cowmon Sense! Happy Hallowe'en!

Next post we'll take a look at a new book we picked up the other day - talk about FABULOUS!



The Kyoto Costume Institute's: Fashion, a history from 18th century to 20th century...drool!!!!

Oh, and Donna has fixed my nose! Yay!

Spencer's new bikebikebike

Almost forgot...this needs its own post!

Spencer has finished building his "dream bike". Except for a smaller sized wheel on the back, he's got all the bits and pieces he wanted and has them all assembled.

Behold.....




And here he is, Proud Papa with his "baby"....



He says it rides like a DREEEEAMMMMMMM.

So very proud of him and all his hard work. He worked his butt off doing odd jobs to earn the money to buy all this on his own. Along with some gift money, it was all him. And then he used his bike mechanic skills and put it all together - with some final adjustments at the bike shop (for safety reasons).

Still working hard at being unemployed...

Hello everyone,

Things have been tough in the Chaos here. Lately I've been a bit down so NOTHING is getting done around here. Just the basics to get by. Being sick last week, disappointment after disappointment and life in general has just been dragging me deeper and deeper.

No creativity let loose, no making of anything, no sorting, no organizing. Nothing.

I get up late, I chat with Honey for an hour, I sit on the couch with the Kitty and read or sleep the day away. Horror of all horrors, I've actually been watching daytime TV!!!! Talk shows only, no soaps, and the talk shows are of the more "classy" type. No Jerry Springer or that other dude allowed. Sometimes I put on Discovery Channel all day.

I've learned a lot about building cars (Overhaulin') so I guess it's not really time wasted, right? Yeah, right.

My Mom and Sis sent grandma's vintage beads on Saturday. The USPS attempted delivery on Monday (that was QUICK!!). Silly me decided to go out and enjoy the nice weather, so I missed them. I've been trying to get it re-delivered ever since. I finally cornered the carrier today and he promised he'd bring the box tomorrow.

I can't wait to get my hands on them! I have lots of plans in my head and hopefully I can pull myself up and out of my current funk enough to work with them and get going on some really cool stuff!!! Which I hope I can continue and grow into SOMETHING going on around here besides moping and feeling sorry for myself.

Today I decided I need to put myself on a schedule. Time blocks need to happen for daily/weekly chores, deep cleaning, sorting/organizing, creating/making, bike riding, exercising, relaxing, and so on. I need to pull myself up and get my butt in gear or NOTHING is going to keep getting done. And I want this place looking good by Christmas. I want to start the new year with an organized place. I know if I just made myself do something little every day, I could do it. There really isn't that much to do, I only need to apply myself a whole lot more.

I'm even thinking about going back to school. Don't know what I'd study yet, but the thought is there - again. Especially since I'm having such bad luck on the job front.

On the wrist front, I've been dealing with pain from a "cyst" type thing on my wrist. My insurance company is stalling the doc's office. They're not being very timely with responses for pre-auths, etc. I don't know what is worse, the pain or the frustration. Meanwhile, the pain gets worse and worse. Gee thanks insurance company. So glad you care so much for your members. So very glad this isn't life threatening.

On a happier note, Ms Cow will step in and do some more fashion posts. She's really getting into this...she is making notes for a post as I type. We bought a new book about Fashion History and she's had her nose in it since Monday. I can't wait to see what she comes up with!

Part 2 of My Chat with Ms. Sammie

Ms. Cow: Hello again my dear.
Ms. Sammie: Meow...meow.

MC: Remember I said I'd have some things for you to look at?
MS: Merowww...
MC: OK, let's get started then...Here we have humans trying to get with the black and white...



I think it's too geometric.
MS: Meow!
MC: I knew you would agree. Here we have some Ben and Jerry Cows being well, Ben and Jerry Cows. They are very...um...avante garde...



MS: Merow?!?!?!?
MC: OOOH! Look at this Ms Sammie. A kitty really going all out for the black and white Cow look!!



MS: MEOW! Meow meow meowmeowmeow....MEEEEEEOOOOOOOWWWWWWWWW!!!
MC: Yes, my friend, I agree. It's a bit much and really, Kitties should stay Kitties and Cows should stay Cows. It's the way Nature intended.

MS:MEOW!
MC: Exactly and you really do wear that solid white well.
MS: meow (blushing)




Until next time, use your Cowmon Sense!!