It's Almost CO Time

I leave tomorrow after work to start the trek that begins my 1 week vacation in Colorado! I'm excited. We had so much fun last year, that I can't wait to do it again.

I haven't blogged in a bit, but I have uploaded some pics to the Flickr, so this post shall be about my last trip to Dallas. We got together to celebrate Bree and Iza's birthday.


Aren't they darling? Bree (my sis) is on the left and Iza (my step-mom) is on the right. After they went through all this effort to get dressed, my dad and sister Traci made them put on a couple of silly outfits. They each got a hat, a boa, a new pair of shoes, and a purse. Please forgive me if I'm leaving anything out.

Traci put on the flame hat, but then my dad got into the action. I can't believe I caught this picture of him. (And I can't believe that I'm still living since he knows I have this picture.) It's one of those pictures that happen so innocently, and you just have to have luck on your side. I believe that he had just eaten a chip, but I'm not certain. All I know is that I have a picture of my dad that... well we'll just let the picture do the talking, eh?

I mean, seriously, that's my dad!

I also have a few knitting pictures that I added. I didn't manage to get a picture of the ladies with their new knit wear, but they did seem to like them. I think I did well with the color choices.

This is a pattern called the Dream Swatch Head Scarf. It's also attractive when used as an actual scarf, and even as a belt. The pattern was written by Wendy Bernard, and she has a pdf of it freely available on the net. These were both made with Alcehemy Bamboo, but I failed to write down the colors.

Well, I better get cracking over here. I still have some laundry to do, and I need to get all packed up (including deciding on some travel knitting). I plan to drive home after work, grab my gear, grab the dog, snuggle the kittehs a bit, and then head out to Houston. I'll spend the night with my dad and step-mom, and Saturday afternoon I catch a flight for Colorado.

I may not speak with you for a bit, but know that you're in my thoughts, and that I'm probably having an awesome time. :)

Inner Whatever....

I got this from Julie, and I think I'm just about as impressed. Ah well, you get what you pay for with these things, right?

You Are Gwen Stefani!

All guys dream about you And all the girls want to be you "Sappy pathetic little me That was the girl I used to be"

Who's" Your Inner Rock Chick?

Busy as a bee at work. This brief moment of blogging is brought to you by: My Trainee is Eating Lunch, and I Don't Do That.

I have a fan going out on my laptop at home, so I'm trying to use it as little as possible. Hopefully we'll get to order a replacement part soon, and all will be well. I can use my desktop, but since Jeff and I share that computer and it's all the way in the office.... Also I have all my picture software on the laptop, so I just prefer blogging from there. (Well, when I can't blog from work that is.)

Anyway, time to check in on a few more blogs. Oh, Tim... I forgot about the RSS thing that you mentioned to me at Anna and Sean's house, so if you could tell me again I'd appreciate it. Let this be a lesson to me, I must at all times bring my purse of infinite holding, or else I will not have pen and paper and I will not remember websites that people mention to me.

My Aching Bones

We helped Miss Erin move yesterday, and although we were sore yesterday, today it is really showing. I think my hands and my feet are the only things that don't hurt today.

Still, all in all, it was a pretty fun, as far as moving days go. We got most of everything shifted over to the new apartment, and then hung out to eat pizza and drink beer. Remind me in the future though, it's not a good idea to wear flip flops on moving day.

In Fact, I See Very Well

My optometrist gave me a gold star today. She said that I have the best day after Lasik vision that she's seen yet. I read the 20/20 chart and almost entirely got the 20/15 line. The halos were the largest obstacle, since it's a white light projecting black letters. Dr Shepard saw that my left eye was a little drier looking than the right, and I told her about the minor discomfort that I've been having. She gave me some eye drops that are a gel that I'm supposed to use when I go to sleep each night. I'll see her again next Thursday and we'll see how everything is progressing.

I'm Not Blind

I went through my Lasik procedure yesterday, and wanted to let you know all is well. For the most part I had a positive experience. Today I'm seeing pretty well. The laptop is a bit hard to see, but that has more to do with the fact that I'm trying to look at a bright white screen, and bright is still a bit hard to deal with. I can read closed captioning on the tv though, and that's an improvement.

The negative aspects:
1. Either my left eye did not get as numb as the right, or the eye opener thing was put on a little wrong. It kept pinching the inside corner of my eyelid, and it hurt. This was only a problem during the Interlase portion of the process, so I suspect the numbness just hadn't taken hold completely yet.
2. The suction cup for the Interlase part ... sucks. It didn't hurt, but it was no fun.
3. The smell after the Lasik part is gross. I never asked, because I really don't care to know for sure that I was smelling what burning cornea smells like.
4. The pre-op valiumy stuff took longer to wear off than I thought it would. I think I sounded really F-d up trying to talk to my dad on the phone, even after a 2 hour nap.

One of the really nice surprises was that my regular Optometrist Donna Shepard came to the clinic. They asked at the front desk if she was coming, and I told them that we hadn't discussed it, so I had no idea. She did come, and it was really nice. When I would tense up in the laser room she would grab my hands and talk me through it. I would never have imagined that having someone I knew (that wasn't a close friend or family) in the room would be such a big comfort, but it was. Jeff wasn't allowed in the laser room, but he watched through some windows, and apparently got quite pale. I couldn't really tell because like the rest of the world he was all hazy, but the female staff was giggling about him. Still, everyone admired him for being a trooper, and not fainting.

Yesterday my vision was really hazy. I suspect that was partly because of healing needed, and partly because you have to put in eye drops every two hours, and one of them is really cloudy. My vision was a lot better this morning, but after I put the steroid drop in it was cloudy again for a few minutes.

Now I use steroid and antibiotic drops 4 times a day for the next five days, and I use sterile eye drops at least every hour I'm awake for the next five days. I'll go see Donna today to get a vision check, and get "cleared to drive". I get to get some sort of note to take to the DMV to show them that I've had corrective eye surgery and get the restriction removed from my license that says I need corrective lenses to drive. The worst part of the healing process has to be the horrid sleeping goggles that I have to wear for a week. They're to keep you from rubbing your eyes in your sleep, but they are uncomfortable, keep me from being able to sleep in my normal positions, and just goofy as all get out.

All in all I'm feeling well. I've been playing Kingdom Hearts 2 all morning, and I haven't had any trouble. I have to rest my eyes every so often, and I'm using my eye drops probably about every 15 minutes. (I have a tendency not to blink enough when I play video games, so that's probably why they feel dry so often.) Still, I'm not in any pain really, and I get to play hooky from work until Monday. *woot*

My left eye feels like there's something in it, like an eyelash or something. It doesn't really hurt, it's just annoying. However, it felt like that yesterday morning before I had the Lasik, so I have no idea if it's related or not. My right eye feels great. Yesterday the medicated drops really burned when I put them in, but today they barely feel any different than the plain old eye wetting drops.

I have to admit that I was starting to get pretty nervous yesterday. I remember looking in the mirror right before we left the house and thinking, "What the hell am I doing? I'm going to have a complete stranger shoot a laser beam at my eye???" Still, I'm glad that I went through with it, and I continue to be fascinated with my ability to see without glasses, and filled with excitement. It really is awesome.

At Least It's Only for 7 Days

I am working on training my replacement. I'm only working until Wednesday this week, cause I am having the lasers, so we are running out of training time. I think I just finished talking for 2 1/2 hours straight.

I mean, I'm a pretty good talker and all, but there comes a point when I have had enough. All the bits that aid sound coming out of my pie hole are getting dry and sticking together all at the same time. Needless to say my goofing off time is very limited at the moment. I can't very well sit here and surf the internet while they watch, and then be upset when they have questions later.

So, I'm going to go grab some water and then spend the next 30 minutes trying not to have to talk to anyone at all. My pipes need a break.

Hope you're all having a good day!

And Now We Know

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