Just because people around me act as if they are still teenagers is no reason for me to react as if I were still a teenager.


Since leaving East Lansing I've realized that a large part of why I was so miserable in high school wasn't the way people treated me, it was the way I reacted to that treatment. I let the horrible behavior of a few people make me so paranoid and over-sensitive that I assumed everyone wanted to be just as evil to me. If they weren't being actively evil at that moment, it was because they were setting me up, or because they didn't want to look bad in front of a grown-up, or they had some other reason to lie. If I heard laughter but not the joke, I assumed I was being laughed at. Beyond the paranoia and sensitivity, the other part of my reaction was the classic "hurt them before they hurt you." Not healthy then, and not healthy now.

Live by the Golden Rule, even if no one else seems to.

I've edited this a couple of times to improve phrasings. I'll probably make further changes. The most recent change was to add the many cultures Golden Rule picture.

They let me out at about 11:00 this morning.

My gut feels like somebody used it for a punching bag, and I'm pretty tired, and sometimes dizzy (I think that's the pain pills), but overall I think I'm doing as well as can be expected.

I'll be taking it really easy the next few days.

This is Tom, writing for Jenny. She's doing well. Chilling out at the hospital overnight. Looks like she'll have only a very small scar but right now she's got a large bruise. She does have some pain but they are handling it with meds. We expect her home tomorrow, hopefully nice and early.

I'm going in to the hospital today to have my gallbladder removed. They probably won't let me out until tomorrow, so I'll see you all then.

Wish me luck!

Body: I'm feeling oddly and erratically light-headed. I think it's mostly nerves about tomorrow.

Reading: Same as yesterday.

Hearing: The Overthinking It Podcast

Etsy find: Indigo Ikat Scarf Another very pretty scarf.

Tonight's Project: Rest and try to relax.

Project Follow-up: I got nothing done last night, again.

Randomness: Happy anniversary, Love! 3 years and counting. :-)

Body: A few general aches and pains.

Reading: Same as yesterday.

Hearing: Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me

Etsy find: Two Trees Shirt

Tonight's Project: I don't have anything specific in mind.

Project Follow-up: I got nothing done last night.

Randomness: Congratulations to my Dad, Kevin Beard, who won re-election to the East Lansing Michigan city council last night.

Body: I seem OK this morning. Headachey, but only a little one.

Reading: Same as yesterday.

Hearing: NPR's Fresh Air as a podcast.

Etsy find: Towards beyond - Moonstone pendant Moonstone is one of my favorite gemstones. This is a lovely pendant.

Tonight's Project: I think maybe some decoupage or collage.

Randomness: Vote!

If you're a registered voter in the United States, please remember to vote today. If you aren't already registered today would be a good day to fix that. There are lots of local offices and important issues on the ballot all over the country. And if you live in East Lansing, Michigan vote for Kevin Beard for city council.

Body: My right shoulder is pretty sore, but that seems to be the only problem.

Reading: Same as last time

Hearing: Nancy Pearl's podcast on KUOW radio

Wearing: Pomona from BPAL

Etsy find: Havana Lace - Merino wool knitting yarn Beautiful blue and green hand dyed yarn.

Tonight's Project: I don't have anything particular planned, so I'll see how the spirit moves me.

Project Follow-up: I got the ATC done, and got it into the mail, but forgot to take any pictures. This is disappointing, because it was one I was particularly proud of.

+ Dentist appointment is finally rescheduled. They wanted me to come in tomorrow, but given how much time I've already taken off/will be taking off recently, it didn't seem like the best idea. It's been delayed until December.

- When I called the hospital to ask my questions about when I should stop eating pre-surgery, it rang and rang and rang without ever being answered or going to voice mail. I'll try again on my lunch break.

- Right now I can't take Advil for headaches because it's a blood thinner, and it's the only pain killer I keep in my desk at work.

+ The building manager keeps Tylenol in his office for anybody who needs it.

Chicken and Dumplings

1 chicken
2 cups diced potatoes
1.5 cups carrots
2 teaspoons salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1 cup onions
cornstarch

1 batch of biscuits, made with parsley

Cook everything in a soup pot until tender. Thicken broth with cornstarch. Make biscuits and drop by spoonfuls into slightly bubbling gravy. Cook 10 minutes with cover on pot and 10 minutes with cover removed.

This is my version of Mom's version of my paternal Grandmother's Chicken & Dumpling recipe. Mom & Gramma are both good cooks, and I have a feeling a step or two might have been left out in the process of passing the recipe on. For example, the recipe doesn't say how much liquid to use. Amounts are also missing for the cornstarch and parsley

Body: I'm doing OK today. A little head achy, but not too bad.

Reading: Peter Hamilton's Night's Dawn Trilogy on my Kindle, The Shadow of the Lion in dead tree format, and the Wheel of Time essays at Thirteenth Depository

Hearing: AyePodcast Scottish music from footstompin.com

Etsy find: Pinot Noir Smoked Cherry Jelly Doesn't that sound good?

Tonight's Project: I have a ATC that I must finish tonight.

Project Follow-up: I found a couple of nightgowns at Sears. I still need one or two more loose dresses though, so that might be tomorrow's project.

Randomness: Tom got me Beatles Rock Band for my birthday! It arrived last night. I've been lusting after it since I heard it was coming out, so this was a very cool gift.

Body: I had a medium-bad gallbladder attack last night. I ended up spending several hours laying flat on my back on the floor, because it seemed to be the only position that didn't make anything worse. It didnt' really help anything, but it didn't make anything worse.

Reading: Still The Shadow of the Lion and the Wheel of Time essays. I started a new book on my Kindle last night, but I don't remember what it was.

Book Review: I finished the free sample chapters of The Kindly Ones. Something about it bothered me, so I didn't get the entire book.

Hearing: Common Sense with Dan Carlin

Etsy find: Art Deco Inspired Silver Butterfly Pin with Opals and Peridot

Tonight's Project: Clothes shopping

Project Follow-up: Dinner with Mom went well. I didn't get any crafting done afterward.

Body: The back pain got a lot worse yesterday afternoon/evening. It's still pretty bad, but all focused in one fairly small area.

Reading: At home, last night I started The Kindly Ones on my Kindle, and still reading The Shadow of the Lion in dead tree format. At work, still the Wheel of Time essay collection.

Hearing: The BBC History Magazine podcast

Wearing: Today's perfume is BPAL's Snake Oil. Wonderful, spicy-sweet vanilla.

Etsy find: Blue Swirls, Leather Journal or Notebook, Suede

Tonight's Project: Late birthday dinner with Mom, maybe some crafting after we get home.

Project Follow-up: I got the buttons sorted successfully, and then had to give up on getting anything else done.

Randomness: For the last week I've been tracking my food and exercise on Fit Day. I have a short term weight loss goal of 20 pounds, and a long term goal of 60 pounds. I won't be inflicting my day-to-day progress on you guys because I'm sure you're no more interested in hearing it from me than I am in hearing it from other people. I may post when I hit my short term goal.

Body: I had another gallbladder attack last night. I think dinner had too much fat in it. I'm feeling OK at this point though, other than a little lingering ache in my back.

Reading: At home I'm reading Assassin's Apprentice and The Shadow of the Lion. At work, I'm still reading the essays about The Wheel of Time.

Book Review: Over the weekend I read Stargirl. While it wasn't the best young adult novel I've ever read, or even the best of Jerry Spinelli's books, I did enjoy it. Spinelli's message seemed to be less about either the dangers or advantages of individuality or conformity, and more about the importance of finding a good balance between the two. I also saw elements about the advantages of choosing your lifestyle deliberately, not falling into either extreme out of ignorance or force of habit.

Wearing: Today's perfume is Akuma from BPAL. The lab describes it as "Devilish temptation, as sweet as sin: blood orange, neroli, and raspberry." Honestly, I think it smells more like SweetTarts candy than anything else.

Etsy find: Charcoal Gray Mp3 player cozy

Tonight's Project: Sorting the button collection I inherited from Gramma B. into it's new home. I think the new container I found will solve the problems I had with the old one, while still keeping the "a child can use this for a sorting game" elements that I liked about the old one. If I have time, I'll finish the Treasure Map ATC.

Project Follow-up:. I started my Treasure Map ATC, but haven't quite figured out what I'm going to do next.

Thanks to everyone who wished me a happy birthday yesterday!

Body: OK, but not great. The soles of both feet feel like one giant bruise, for no apparent reason.

Reading: Same as yesterday at home, at work I'm reading through The Thirteenth Depository, a collection of essays and speculation about Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time series.

Hearing: BBC World Book Club

Etsy find: T-Shirt Catnip Knot Cat toys made from recycled t-shirts.

Tonight's Project: I think I'll make my Treasure Map ATC for an upcoming swap over at Swap-bot.

Project Follow-up: Tom and I went out to Koto for dinner last night. Very yummy.

Randomness: I don't know Dave, but he might lose his house soon, and from what people who know him say, he's a good guy who could use our help. Quoted from this post:
I have this friend; his name is Dave.

Dave is one of the best people that I know.

Dave is going to lose his house this winter, because of a story that's probably so familiar to you by now that you can sing the words.

Dave bought the business he worked for, which was thriving, before the events of last year crashed the economy like a bumper car. (He runs a courier service, the kind that mostly big corporate clients need...and a lot of those were gone, last year, and a lot more were cutting expenses until they figured out what was going to happen.)


Dave - like someone I am sure nearly every American knows at this point - is one of those people who was driving along doing the speed limit when the people driving the economy started turning up the radio and getting drunk at the wheel. It took a year of working himself nearly to death, but the business is back on track. It's doing well enough that Dave can again afford to hire another person coming up soon.

But in the process of keeping the business afloat, Dave has gotten behind on the mortgage. The house and the land are not in foreclosure yet, but it's coming.

Let me tell you about Dave's house.

Dave has a house on top of a bluff with seven-plus acres down below. Over the past 10+ years, Dave and his ex-wife and me and a whole host of our friends have turned the field into one of my favorite places on earth. Dave's field has a bar. Dave's field has a stage. Dave's field has twelve campsites cut into the perimeter, so people can camp down by the creek.

Abe the blind dog lives at Dave's house. In the field he can run around like he can see; there's nothing there to hurt him.

Used to be, the last Saturday of every month we had a party out at Dave's. The recession didn't kill that, but it put it into recess. We were all hopeful. And then we get the word from Dave. The house isn't foreclosed upon yet, but it's coming; the last Last Saturday Party on Dave's land is set for Halloween.

***

Dave would never ask you, the Internet, or us, his friends on and off the web, for help. It took his ex-wife and other friends of the party to tell us what we lacked to save the house and the land.
Seven thousand dollars.

***

Dave is not a traveling bard. Dave is not a master wordsmith. But Dave is one of the good people. One who held on and tried to keep making it work in circumstances beyond his control. Dave's the kind of guy who will give and give and give and give and never ask, ever.

So we, his friends, are asking for him. Not just for Dave, but for all of us. Dave's land is a sacred place, in the usage that means "set apart." We have all made it that way. The thought that this might all get buried and sold off at auction for want of so little - for want of seven hundred good-hearted people with ten dollars to spare - makes me sick.

But Internet, I have faith in you.

***

Can you help us?

save_dave is open. There will be auctions; local friends as well as friends online are getting items together.

For now: boost signal. And if you can, donate.

A CPA friend of Dave's is taking the donations, which should go via paypal to sabrina.k.swafford in the direction of gmail dot com. Use the header "Save Dave's House", & send it as a gift donation. Sabrina will be keeping us posted on our progress.

Here is my promise to you: any of you who help here and, in future, are passing through my part of the world on the last Saturday of the month will be my guest...and I will tip your bartender for you. And you will see how it is that we have all created this place of beauty and joy and respite out in rural Tennessee, and you will see that it is good.

Tell your friends, friends of mine. Ask them if they'll help us save Dave's house. I'll have five Snake God's Preferred raspberry cakes in the auction, come time. If you'd like to donate items, tell me. If you know an eccentric millionaire who keeps seven grand in her bathrobe pocket, please advise. Whatever you can do, I ask that you do - for my friend, who to you is an anonymous stranger, who does not deserve to lose it all for such a little thing.

In love, gratitude and never-ending hope,
popelizbet

I've bid on a couple of things. If you can, please donate and/or bid.

Body: Decent

Reading: Same as yesterday

Hearing: This American Life

Wearing: BPAL's Eat Me! perfume. Part of a series inspired by Alice In Wonderland. The lab describes it as "Three white cakes, vanilla, and red and black currants." It smells like a wonderful fruity cake with vanilla frosting.

Etsy find: Ladies Merino Handknit Socks Beautiful wool socks

Tonight's Project: No projects, as I'll be going out for a birthday dinner with Tom.

Project Follow-up: I didn't get any baking done yesterday, but I did get one sample of perfume transferred into a roll-on applicator.

Randomness: I love this essay from This I Believe. To me, this is the key quote: Paradise is not for this world. All men cannot be masters, but none need to be a slave. We cannot cast out pain from the world, but needless suffering we can. Tragedy will be with us in some degree as long as there is life, but misery we can banish. Injustice will raise its head in the best of all possible worlds, but tyranny we can conquer. Evil will invade some men’s hearts, intolerance will twist some men’s minds, but decency is a far more common human attribute, and it can be made to prevail in our daily lives.

Body: Headache seems to be completely gone, finally. For once, no major problems.

Reading: Same as yesterday.

Hearing: The Roadhouse A really great blues podcast.

Wearing: Today's perfume is Les Bijoux from BPAL. They describe it as: Skin musk and honey, blood-red rose, orange blossom, white peach, red apple, frankincense and myrrh.. I like it, but more when it's dry than when it's wet.

Etsy find: Hand painted silk embroidery thread Pretty stuff!

Tonight's Project: Brownies, I think. Maybe re-format a few perfume oils if I have time.

Project Follow-up: I finished two of yesterday's ATC's, and realized that I have a week longer than I thought to do the third.

Randomness: Innoculation Misinformation A very informative article about the facts and the misinformation about the H1N1 vaccine.

Body: A little headache lingering from yesterday's horrible headache (which was probably actually a migraine).

Reading: Red Mars by Kim Stanley Robinson and Ravens in the Library at home, and still Shadow Unit here at work.

Book Review: Over the weekend I finished Double Cross by James Patterson. The plot was decent, but I swear, Patterson's writing gets worse with each book. Shorter chapters, more choppy sentences, more simplistic storytelling. This one gets 6 out of 10 points.

Hearing: Mountain Stage

Etsy find: Chocolate Temptation Seller's description: Chocolate envelopes a ghost of "green" citrus notes, cloves, violets encased in smoked tonka bean, cedarwood, patchouli & vanilla. Normally I don't like patchouli scented stuff, but everything else in this sounds so amazing that I think I can live with it.

Tonight's Project: I have 3 ATC's that I must finish tonight. If possible, I need to get them into the mail tonight.

Body: HEADACHE! Advil isn't touching it, unfortunately.

Reading: Still haven't finished anything.

Hearing: The Mountain Stage

Etsy find: Beautiful Lapis Lazuli pendant

Tonight's Project: Tom and I have tenitive plans, but if they fall through than I'll probably just play Sims for the evening.

Project Follow-up: I successfully found three dresses that should work well. I'll try to hit the other S.A. store this weekend and see if I can find one or two more.

Randomness: Does anybody know if potato and leek soup freezes well? I have more than Tom & I can eat quickly, and I'd rather freeze it for later than try to eat it all now and get sick of it.