Celticangel.org

I thought that you might be interested in a little bit of history before I make with the pictures. I was born with Strawberry Blond hair, and it stayed that way until I was about two years old. By that point I was sort of blond. By which I mean, several different colors that conspired to look blond together. When streaking your hair was really in back in the 80s, I didn’t have to do anything apart from hang out in the sun a bit. When I went away to college, I decided to dye my hair red for Halloween and I loved the effect. I have red hair skin, you see, and my eyebrows are sort of brown. Every year after that I used Halloween as my excuse to dye my hair red each year. After a while, I would dye my hair when it got boring. For a couple of years I even had Rogue’s hair, red with a blond streak. I’ve had highlights, lowlights, you name it. This last spring I had an attack of the “OMG, my hair is boring” and went out to get it cut and colored. (Layered it and added three colors.)

My hair grows really fast, and it tends to shed color over time. So, when I went in to get a trim this weekend, all of the layers had pretty much grown out. Seeing as I will be working on Halloween this year, and my current job had yet to encounter my love of playing with my hair, I thought it was time to bring back a tradition.

My hair before:

The color is a bit off in this photo, but really, it’s close enough. Like my shower curtain?

My hair after:

Look! Bright red that looks strangely good with my skin tone and greenish eyes. Also…my camera balancing trick. My husband was kind enough to spend the time to do the actual dye application. He’s quite meticulous. It’ll fade to just a normal red in a week or two, but that’ll be fun too. It’s certainly one way to brighten up things around here. *grin*

I need to come up with a pic for this sort of post. It’d have to be one that doesn’t randomly make me depressed, though. Hmmm…

Anyway, today I finally managed to drop off the “Sample” from my Husband at the hospital’s Lab. (Yes, I went to Kaiser twice today.) The poor guy was very worried about the whole situation. I wonder why they have to use such a freakin’ large cup for everything? It’s gotta give guys a complex. Especially since I’m informed that most guys don’t even manage to cover the bottom of the thing. Sorry…bit of a tangent there.

First 3 tests down. Now I need to look into filling out whatever forms I need to and get the evil dye test scheduled. I’d rather not have to wait another month for the next step.

Consider yourselves informed.

I have quite a bit to talk about today, so to save you from too much confusion I’m trying to break up my rambling by topic. We’ll see if it actually helps.

This morning, I got up early on my day off to go to my Doctor’s appointment for my sinus thingy. I have had this doctor since my medical benefits kicked in a few months ago, but I hadn’t been to see her yet for various reasons.

Mostly laziness on my part I shouldn’t wonder. That and going to the Doctor stresses me out. Doctors aren’t unique, though. Lots of things stress me out. I’m just high strung that way.

Anyway, I managed to find a parking space, managed to find the building I was supposed to go to, figured out the proper protocol for the doctor visit, and took a seat. It was about at this point that I realized that I had neglected to bring something to read. (Growl.) So, I entertained myself by reading the biographies of the Doctors posted on the wall of the waiting room, and eavesdropping on the French conversation going on across the room from me. I was practicing my language skills. Honestly.

After a while I was called in and they took my temp/blood pressure/weight (I refused to have them weigh me with my coat on. Adding the keys and cell phone to my total just depresses me.) In the exam room I had a quick interview with a nurse and then I sat.

And sat. Eventually, my knees began to hurt from sitting on the exam table with my legs dangling in space. (I’m five feet tall. Regulation height for badminton nets, you know.) So, I moved to the chair. And sat some more. By the time I had read everything on the walls, and had begun to debate the color choices on their flyers (Shouldn’t they have put the orange one between the green and blue ones for balance? How do they choose images for these things?) the Doctor came in apologizing profusely. It turned out that a fellow had come for his appointment with his wife in tow, and it had turned into a double appointment. My Doctor eventually had to plead a waiting patient and flee.

We had a nice chat. She checked my ears (clean), my breathing (fine), my heart (strong)…my nose (inflamed), and my throat (showing signs of chronic post-nasal drip. ew.)

The verdict? I have [tag]allergies[/tag]. Yep. You read that right. She wanted to know if I have had allergies before. I told her that I am from the allergy capital of the world (Sacramento), so yes, I have. I generally associate allergies of the hay fever variety with a constantly running nose and watery eyes. Surprise! My new allergies are sneaky. Also, apparently I’ve been feeling better during the day than in the morning or evening, because…wait for it…I drink [tag]tea[/tag]. I always said that tea is good for you! The nice hot tea washes away the throat ick and makes my head feel a bit better. Better yet, I’m supposed to keep up the tea drinking. Muahahahaha. Oh, twist my arm. Make me drink tea. Ow! I give in. (And now you know why the tea image appears at the top of this post.)

I have been informed that I’m supposed to take Benedryl before bed, and use a nasal spray (Flonase) at the same time each day (sometime in the morning.) Have you seen the amount of instructions that go with those nasal sprays? Dear gussy! There’s this whole instruction manual you need to read before you use it. Shake the bottle gently before removing the dust cover, then prime the pump by spraying it into the air six times by pressing down quickly with your forefinger and middle finger… Egad.

To Sum Up: No idea what I’m allergic to, but from the evidence it is several things. I need to find myself some local honey, stat. I have met my doctor, who is a very nice lady. I now have a daily nasal spray to use (just like both of my parents) and I am supposed to keep up that tea drinking habit of mine. I should start feeling better soon. Actually, I’ve only used the nasal spray once, and I have already felt some of the sinus passages opening up. (My Mum says that’s normal for our family. We’re weird that way.) The [tag]Sinus[/tag] Situation? Handled.

So, even though I have a fear that I will get there and the Doctor will tell me that it’s nothing, I’ve made an appointment for tomorrow morning at 9:30am. I hope that even if it just proves to be a persistent sinus problem, they can MAKE IT GO AWAY. That and the intermittent cough, the constant popping of my ears, and the general feeling of being ill.

Yeah. All of that.

Now, if only I didn’t have to get up early on my day off to go. At least I know that Hell hasn’t frozen over or anything.

My sinuses will never stop hurting, I swear. But, on the bright side, I’ve finally finished with the 500s at work. So, huzzah for that.

When the sinus pressure becomes unbearable I go for the nuclear option. Yes. Nyquil Sinus. I expect to need liberal amounts of caffeine tomorrow. Strangely, I still need to pop my ears constantly, but the “falling over dead asleep” part of taking this medicine seems to be setting in. I’d better go finish blogging on my other blogs before I pass out on my keyboard. I’ll post something a bit more coherent tomorrow.

Sleep well, world.

Oops.
Sorry that I haven’t posted in a couple of days. Between my birthday (which deserves its own long rambling post) and a few things I’ve been working on, I’ve been quite busy. Don’t worry, though. I’ve got some nice before and after pictures to show you. Yep. I may have a tendency to ramble, but at least my rambles are illustrated.

I’ve spend the last couple of days working in my back garden with some friends (one of which was my little sister, Dani.) It was sort of like Ground Force, actually. Except for the fact that I was there and participating. I’ve been living in the same place for about a year and half, now. In all of that time, I have pruned the roses and weeded the back dirt a couple of times. And that’s about it.

In my defense, I was barely here for the first seven months that my stuff and KoshVader lived here. I worked really far away, and I spent a lot of time at my parents’ place. Since the end of February…I have had no good excuse. Excuses, yes. Good excuses, no. So, my back garden looked like this on Friday:

Before (the dirt):

And if you stood in the dirt and looked the other way you would see…

Before (the patio):

No. My back garden is not large, but it is larger than most of the others in the huge apartment complex in which I dwell. It’s about 30 feet long and varies between 10 feet to 13 feet across. That includes the patio, by the way.

Saturday dawned nice and clear (unlike the very rainy Friday.) And then, the crew arrived.

We weeded and tried to even out the dirt area. My sister had brought with her some wood that her Husband had pre-cut and drilled to make some raised beds. My dirt is right next to the stump of a very large tree…which, instead of removing, the builders…built on it. Yes. At some point it will rot through, and my parking overhang will fall down. That and the fence. So, I have all of these huge roots going through the dirt. As you might imagine, this makes it very entertaining to dig any sort of hole in the garden. All hail my Brother-in-law for all of the work he did to get the logs ready! We surveyed the area, decided what we wanted to do, and headed off for the Home Depot. We returned very laden down with stuff.

We managed to get the raised beds set up and lined, and we made a French Drain before it was time to leave for my Birthday dinner. (We’d discovered that there is a drain pipe that runs down next to the neighbor’s chimney. To keep the water from flooding the area during some future rainstorm, we dug a trench, lined it with special cloth, filled it with rocks, covered most of the rocks with more fabric, and covered that with dirt. Now, the water should drain out into the other side of the fence. And I’ve learned a new thing. Cool!)

On Saturday, Dani and I arose early and went to [tag]OSH[/tag] (there is a [tag]Starbucks[/tag] and a [tag]Noah’s Bagels[/tag] next door. Guess what we had for breakfast.) At OSH, we purchased three bricks to finish the French Drain and a few pavers for pots (and a theoretical future chair) to sit on. We stopped by home to drop these off, and ran off again. After a trip to [tag]Lowe’s[/tag] and a lovely Nursery, we returned to my place and got to work. (After a little lunch.)

We filled the raised beds. We laid down the pavers and my cool stepping stones. We planted. We tidied. And now, my back garden looks much nicer. (Even though there are a few more things that I have planned for some point when I have a bit of money. Like a fountain and a trellis.) Like my blue pots? They were on sale!

After (the garden):

And looking the other way…

After (the patio):

That’s my sister there is the second pic. She’s following the family tool cleaning protocol. You must clean all tools before putting them away. Or, our Grandpa Leon will haunt you or something. Seriously.

What do you think of the garden now? The white wall will eventually have a trellis to break it up. It just happens that the ones I like are all a wee bit on the expensive side. I’ve got herbs in the raise bed on the left, and Snapdragons and Pansies(?) in the bed on the right. Oh, and mint in the big terracotta pot in front of the bricks.

Luckily, Dani took all of the recycling with her when she left. My apartment doesn’t have recycling, but I can’t bring myself to just throw all of the recyclables away. (My sister is an Environmental Scientist. I blame her.) So, I took the opportunity to re-organize my tool closet (behind the ugly brown door on the patio) which was where most of the bottles and paper had been located.

I’m exhausted. …But at least my [tag]garden[/tag] looks and smells nice. (Yes, I bought four Basil plants, Rosemary, and Catnip.)

This was quite the Birthday present. Thanks, Dani and Co.!

Thursday 13 #5

*ahem* Happy Birthday to me.
Yes. Today is my birthday and I still have to go to work. I feel that this is entirely unfair, so I have decided to make this week’s [tag]Thursday Thirteen[/tag] a list of 13 Things I’d Rather Be Doing on My Birthday. Happy TT!

1. Sleeping (I need to do more of that anyway)
2. Watching TV (I’m sure that there are fun things on the Tivo that I haven’t seen yet.)
3. Seeing “The Seeker: The Dark is Rising” (Actually, I’m doing this tonight anyway. I’d just prefer to do it sooner. Christopher Eccelston *thud*)
4. Reading a good book. (I’m in the middle of reading all sort of things that I never have the time to just sit down and enjoy.)
5. Knitting (I’m almost done with one scarf and I’ve just begun another. Christmas isn’t that far away. I need to get my act together.)
6. Blogging (Well, that one should be obvious right about now.)
7. Getting my finances in order (Yes, for all that my job is interesting, I’d rather be home doing something like this. Even a boring day at home is better than a good day at work and all of that.)
8. Watching a film at the Chabot Space and Science Center (They have all of the best space-related films. I really want to see the one on Mars again.)
9. Going to the Pez Museum (I’ve been trying to get there for ages. Yes. I enjoy Pez….and Museums.)
10. Cleaning my room (Remember number 7? And I’d be happier if the room was tidier.)
11. Working in my garden (Or, as is more accurate at this point, working in the “back dirt.” My sister should be coming out this weekend to help me with this project.)
12. Going to the beach (I have a favorite sandwich shop that is near a beach. Why not get a sandwich and listen to the waves for a while?)
13. Aimlessly surf the internet (So many blogs, so little time. And I should really work on my e-mail inbox now that I come to think of it.)

Lately I’ve been thinking about what I want to do when I grow up.

Yes, I know. Theoretically I am all grown up. Especially on Thursday. But I’m still not sure that I’ve found the “thing I want to do.”

When I was in third grade I wanted to be an Astronaut. At some later point I wanted to be a Botanist. I know that Professor was in there somewhere, too. I didn’t ever think I would be a Librarian like my parents until sometime after I graduated with my French degree (and discovered that I’m not that great of a teacher.) So, I am a Librarian. Well, a Librarian and professional blogger. And here lies the problem. I love writing. I have always loved writing. I’d sort of rather be doing that full time, if I could figure out how.

Mind you, if I won the lottery I’d go back to school and get a degree in Celtic Studies and/or open a wee SciFi-related shop. I used to want to have my own book shop, but that is more difficult these days, what with Amazon and the other Big Book Stores of Doooom. I figure I’d have to target a niche market. I’ve thought of one, but I can’t tell you…just in case I actually manage to pull it off someday.

Anyway, I’m kind of sad that I’m going to be giving up one of my blogs on Sunday (bringing my total down to three…and one LJ.) But it looks like I’m going to be blogging for my Library in the not too distant future, so that will bring me back up to four again. Better yet, I can work on the fourth during work hours, so I can have four blogs and also try to get more sleep. Speaking of which, I’d better go do some of that. I have a Infopeople class tomorrow morning, and I don’t want to be late. (I have a thing about being late.)

Oh! Before I forget, here are the Good & Bad for today (by which I mean Tuesday.)

Good: KoshVader stopped by my work just in time to join me on my walk.

Bad: Had an argument with said Hubby later in the evening. (All worked out now, thankfully. I hate that sort of thing.)

Image Source: The Hubble Site

My [tag]kitty[/tag]-girl has decided that my belly is a warm place to sleep. She has taken to spending all night there. She’s light enough that I don’t mind, but it also means I’m sleeping on my back all night. …and I don’t have to worry about getting cold. If my hubby can get a pic I’ll post it. I’m officially amused.

I’ve been tagged for a meme! Eeep! So…I guess that makes me “it.” If you want to see what Audrey’s version of the meme looks like go here. She’s the one what tagged me.

Here are the rules for the MeMe:

* 1. After your intro, copy/paste this line and the rules below it: The originator wants to see how far it goes so please keep his link intact: http://rileycentral.net
* 2. Encourage people to post with the incentive of a link by including those who have passed it along here: Audrey
* 3. Visit at least 3 on the list who’ve written and passed this meme. Leave them a comment.

And then you are supposed to, “pick three things that enrapture, consume, fascinate, or otherwise enliven you more than blogging. Then write a few lines about each to explain what the nonblog activity does for you, why and how.”

———-

Well, I really like blogging, so I had to think about this for a while. I hope that this adequately answers the questions.

1. Singing (and music in general) – I have been singing for at least 30 years now. No lie. I was in church choir starting in kindergarten and continuing on through 9th grade. I’ve done solos and musicals. I once sang at Cal Expo with my class in 2nd grade. I’ve even sung at a wedding. Most often I sing in the shower, though, as I have a little problem with stage fright after all of these years. My current favorite song to sing is “Heaven Hop” from Anything Goes. Mind you, I have to sing it like Helen Kane. It’s more fun that way. When I sang more regularly I had a really nice range of about 2.5 to 3 octaves. Now, I’m lucky to manage 2. Sometimes the conditions in the shower are just right and I can hit all of those notes I used to. Those are the days that I don’t want the hot water to stop. I have quite eclectic music tastes in general, and I often find it difficult to work without music playing in the background. Music is life.

2. Disneyland – Oh, I know what you’re thinking. But seriously, I love Disneyland. My husband and I spent our honeymoon there, and have been back nearly every year since. We don’t just go for the rides, we also go for the Grand Californian Hotel and the food. The Napa Rose is a 5 star restaurant that lets you in with children and if you are wearing jeans. You need to make reservations, though. It is my favorite restaurant in the world. The Grand Californian is done in Arts and Crafts style with all sorts of little added details. You can even take an Arts and Crafts style tour. For shopping, there’s Downtown Disney. Inside the Magic Kingdom itself there is the Blue Bayou. My favorite restaurant inside the park. Can’t beat the atmosphere there. My favorite rides are: Pirates, Space Mountain, and Indiana Jones. Once, when we were there for my birthday, we managed to go on the Jungle Cruise at night with only a couple of other people and then rode Pirates with our own boat (and no one in the boats fore and aft.) So yeah. I love Disneyland.

3. Sex – Hey, I’m in my mid-thirties. What did you expect me to say? I don’t really think I need to expound on this topic too much. Let’s just say…I’m keeping my husband, okay?

And now I tag – Spunk.