Friday dump

Wow. The work week flies by when you don’t post (or don’t really have any time to read other people’s posts)! My life these days:

• Work has been crazy. Trying to attend meetings and get caught up on reading background for projects that were just explained to me the day before is stressful. Not only do I have projects from the person that is leaving, but new projects are getting announced that I am a part of so most of my day is sitting through trainings or conferences.

• I met with my oral surgeon for my jaw surgery. Because my teeth started to move right after my wedding (when I started to wear a night guard for grinding), he thinks that the guard could possibly be moving my teeth. He had me not wear the guard while sleeping for a month and already my bite has closed 1 millimeter! We are going to wait another three months to see if my bite moves back to normal even more and then depending on where the teeth sit, I MAY NOT HAVE TO GET MY JAW BROKEN!!! I might still need braces, but frankly if my teeth are not perfect and I can at least chew on both sides of my mouth, I could put braces off for a little bit.

• Last weekend CP and I had our cookout. We had perfect weather and a good turnout. Buster was a little scared with all of the new people- he would bark at them- but he got better as the day wore on. The kids weren’t huge fans of the barking, but everyone made friends with the dogs at some point. Both dogs were very excited to get all of the dropped food. I didn’t end up having enough time to run out and get any of your suggested toys for the kids but it turns out that we didn’t need any! The kids spent an entire hour giggling and having a blast while going in and out of the doggie door. Kids can make anything fun.

• After the kids left we played Beirut in our basement. I was originally against the idea because who wants their finished basement to smell like a frat house after a party? But we kept a mop out just in case a cup fell over (only two) and the tiles are just fine. It was definitely much more comfortable in the basement without the cold and the bugs.

• The next day we were hungover from drinking for 12 hours, but knew that we had to at least plant the rest of the seeds and get the garden cloth covers over the rest of the raised beds. Good thing we did because CP was out of town for work all week and it SNOWED last night! After work today and during the day tomorrow we are going to have to work quickly to get the greenhouse plastic on the beds because we are forecasted to get 6-10 inches of snow tomorrow!!!! TOO EARLY.

• My friend and I went to a hip hop class last week. I REALLY REALLY REALLY wanted to like it and start taking the classes. Unfortunately the woman who runs the dance studio is disorganized. She likes to talk too much at the beginning and doesn’t have music or the steps ready before class starts. I have never taken a step class or a power class where the instructor has to sit and think about what they want to do next. It was extremely frustrating because she would put together moves that required too much movement within the beats of the too-fast music. Thank goodness the class was free!

• A bunch of friends and I went on a haunted hayride on Friday. There were some things that jumped out at you, but for the most part I was tense and looking for the things that were trying to scare us. Other people sat back and had fun, whereas I intentionally ruined the experience for myself because I didn’t want to look foolish jumping at something that came out of the woods. *sigh* I suck.

• Yesterday we got our house insulated. It had some insulation, but it was most likely original to the house (1948) and seriously needed an update. I’m hoping we see a difference in our gas bill this winter!!

Phew. It’s been a busy week and the beginning of next week is going to be just as bad with trying to cram things in before my surgery. Thank goodness for the weekend!

Uncomfortable

One of my coworkers is….odd (we’ll call him Mike). He is very smart, but doesn’t have people skills. I would say that it is highly possible that he has some form of autism. He will ask nonsensical questions in meetings, go off on tangents and pull facts and figures from who knows where. He openly takes magazines from the break room into the bathroom (ewwww) and regularly eats only three oranges for lunch (I mistakenly asked him about it one day and got a 30 minute lecture on why. I can’t tell you what he was talking about, just that most of my thoughts when listening to him were about how to get out of the conversation). I am never rude to him and say hi in the hallways, but generally don’t engage him in conversation because I simply don’t want to have 30-60 minute conversations with him (I use this tactic on other people in the office too because some people are TALKERS).

Anyway, Mike is known for his overeating. He is not overweight but if given free food at a meeting, conference, company function, etc. he eats EVERYTHING possible. At our last employee meeting he took an entire bowlful of fruit (along with a muffin, bagel, yogurt, etc) then hovered while the rest of us got food. Meanwhile he is shoving food into his mouth the entire time so that he can make room for more food on his plate once the line died down.

Taking him to conferences and meetings can be embarrassing because of his eating habits. Yesterday I attended a conference with a number of my colleagues, including Mike. We sat down for lunch and he quickly shoveled down his salad and dessert because it was in front of him. Our entrees came and he quickly ate all of his chicken piccata, vegetables and rice. The woman sitting next to me recently had lap-band surgery and can’t eat much so she offered up her extra piece of chicken to him. He took it and ate it. Another woman at the table is pregnant and also can’t eat much anymore so she offered up her extra piece of chicken. He ate that too. Another woman didn’t want her dessert so she offered it up to him. He said that he was too full, but said she could put it in front of him. Two minutes later he ate that too. He turned to me afterwards and said, “I don’t normally eat like this. This is a special occasion.”

After lunch he left the table and a couple of coworkers were joking that he probably went to look for more food. I felt disgusted not only with how much he ate but the fact that it almost seemed like my coworkers were pushing their food on him. If they know that he overeats in these situations and they themselves get embarrassed, why push their extra food towards him? Did it make them feel better? Are they doing it because they are overweight themselves? Does it make them feel better because then they didn’t eat as much as him?

I don’t know what the answer is but the whole thing made me uncomfortable. There was no chance for Mike to get any extra food after the meal was over. If the three women hadn’t pushed their extras to him, I don’t think that he would have asked for it. It’s almost unfair that they push their food onto him and then when he leaves the table, then make fun of him.

Kids help

This weekend CP and I are having a cookout. I’m excited to get friends together from different stages of both of our lives (that was one of the best parts of our wedding), including new friends in our current town.

This is our problem: most of our friends have kids. Our house is not set up for kids/childproofed so we are going to have to be careful about that. But we also don’t have any games or things for kids to do at our house. Obviously if there were no kids coming we would break out the stump and the Beirut table for some over-21 fun. But with kids that makes it more difficult.

We will have a mix of kids ranging from 18 months to 8 years old. We have the entire backyard to use- we were thinking of playing Bocce Ball (as long as the dogs don’t think the balls are their toys) because that is something that most of the kids and the adults could play. We also have a Frisbee and dog toys that squeak (ha ha). But other than that? No idea.

We don’t particularly want to spend money on things that will just sit at our house unused after this party. And with such a large age range, how are we going to keep all of them occupied? We were thinking that keeping the kids outside as much as possible would limit the damage they would do to our furniture/house inside. Thankfully it is scheduled to be a nice day out on Saturday.

HELP US. Do you have any ideas?

Time to stress

BOOM. Right before I was scheduled to leave work today my division had a quick meeting. The passive-aggressive woman that I thought was getting transferred down to Philly? Well she is now heading down to DC instead…but it may only be for 90-120 days. Not the permanent basis that I was hoping for, but this may mean more work for at least the next three months….

However, this comes at the worst possible time. She literally leaves Monday so I have two days to figure out what is going on with her projects. Not that she won’t be available while she is down in DC, but she will be busy working on other things and won’t have a ton of time to answer questions. In addition I have a week and a half of work before I am then out for two weeks with my fibroid surgery. I will have just gotten introduced to everyone…..then they will get the dreaded out of office notification.

This is exactly what I thought would happen. No time for a transition and right before my surgery. That’s just how my company rolls. Nice. Not only that, but we are getting into the holiday season which means the two other people in my division are going to be away a lot with their families. I might start to be a major stress ball. Already next Thursday I have three conflicting events. One in Boston, one at my office and one in southern CT. Ridonkulous.

In addition, although I can handle speaking in public just fine, a speaking engagement just fell onto my plate for next Tuesday. There will be cameras. Elected officials. Press. And I will probably be crapping my pants. I didn’t set out to be a prosecutor in law school because I am not a big fan of public speaking. If I am comfortable with the topic I should be fine….but this project is one of the ones that I know the least about. YIKES. Guess I have some reading up to do!!

At least this change allowed me to weasel out of a project I had been putting off because it requires zero thought....

DIY Winter Greenhouse

With our summer garden almost finished (the only plants left- eggplant, leeks, brussel sprouts, swiss chard and hot peppers), a few weeks ago CP and I planted seeds for our fall/winter garden. With some plants still left in our raised beds, we had to work around them. No biggie (especially for things like carrots and beets) because with staggered planting, we then won’t have to pull the whole crop out at once.

So most of the seeds have come up and are starting to grow. We took down the Buster-proof fences in order to turn over the soil after taking out plants and I wish that we had kept them up because we have a bunny (bunnies?) that is eating some of the seedlings. Oh well.

Anyway, this weekend we started to erect our homemade winter greenhouses over our raised beds. For anyone interested, here are the basic DIY steps to do it on your own.

Supplies needed:
Winter seeds
Metal wire
Garden cloth
Plastic greenhouse film
Heavy duty wide tape
PVC piping
Garden staples
Scissors

Our experimental guide to a winter garden:

1. Buy The Winter Harvest Handbook by Eliot Coleman and read it. Coleman is an organic farmer in Maine whose farm produces four seasons of veggies. If he can do it in Maine, why couldn't we do in CT?
2. Buy winter seeds- there are a few seed companies recommended by Coleman (We used Johnny’s Selected Seeds).
3. Plant winter seeds before first frost.
4. Use metal wire from the Home Depot and shape it into a wicket (or really any shape you want). Push the metal wire into the ground as much as you can, but you want to leave 2-3 feet above the ground for the plants to grow.

Metal wire

Metal wire shaped like wicket

5. Drape wickets with garden cloth. Garden cloth (which we also used this spring to keep out pests/protect against the cold nights) can be found at a bunch of places, we get ours from Gardeners Supply. Rain is able to pass through the fabric while it also allows 85% of light to shine through (according to the website).

6. We then used garden staples to hold down the garden cloth. (See picture above.) Use them all around the structure to keep the cloth from lifting up and off the ground.

7. Next we took PVC piping and made hoops. In the spring we put 1 1/2 “ pipe into the ground at all four corners and depending on the size of the bed either one or two more down the sides. We then took 1” pipe and bent it to make the hoop.

PVC piping

8. Then, using the plastic greenhouse film (see picture, CP found it on Amazon) put up a sheet on the hoops at both ends of the bed. Using the big roll of tape (also found on Amazon), tape the film to the hoop with the tape located on what will be the inside of the greenhouse. Tape up most of the hoop, but leave about two feet at the bottom on both sides so that you can access the plants inside.

Roll of plastic and tape

9. Then take another sheet of the plastic film and drape it from end hoop to the other end hoop (make sure there is a little bit of overhang as you are going to tape the ends down to the plastic film already on the end hoops). Use tape to place about five pieces (per hoop) on the inside of the greenhouse to affix the plastic film to the inside hoops.
10. Make sure that the garden cloth does not touch the plastic anywhere around the structure.
11. Tape or somehow affix the plastic film to the wood all around the raised bed. You don’t want any wind to get in there.

Our first bed looks like this:

Not the prettiest thing, but hopefully it works!

We used a bungee cord to keep the plastic down on the left side. Because the top of the raised bed on the right side is flush with the ground (stupid sloping backyard), we currently have bricks holding down the plastic. We will probably have to do a little more once there is danger of freezing temperatures at night.

Coleman claims that we won’t have to water the entire winter. The plastic will keep the freezing temperatures out and as long as the cloth and plastic film don’t touch, the temperatures in the bed will stay right above freezing. Condensation from the cold outdoor temps and the hotter temps inside the plastic will help water the plants. Crazy huh?

This winter we have planted (the plants need to be ones that are hardier/grow in colder temps. They are going to grow at a slower pace, but according to Coleman, things like carrots are going to be very sweet because they do take a long time to mature):

Bok choy
Pak choi
Golden beets
Carrots
Kale
Spinach
Romaine lettuce
Asian greens
Swiss chard
Broccoli
Cauliflower
Radishes

So now that you have a bit of a primer, will you try winter gardening too?

Debating

I am having an internal debate over exercising. Specifically, exercising prior to my surgery.

As of yesterday I have three weeks until my surgery. Not tons of time to whip myself into shape, but three weeks COULD make a difference. I could continue walking the dogs every day (at least a mile) and do something like the 30 Day Shred or Killer Buns and Thighs. My brain KNOWS that the more exercise I put in before the surgery, the easier it will be to get back into exercising when I am cleared to do so. It will probably aid my recovery from the surgery. Not to mention the fact that only a month after surgery CP and I will be in the Bahamas and I’ll have to be in a bathing suit (who’s grand idea was that???).

But my other LAZY brain keeps telling me that three weeks isn’t going to do anything. That I am going to be a blob by the time I get to exercise again anyway….why not relax before the surgery?

Anyone have any insight into working out before surgery? Can anyone give me any inspirational words to get my a** into gear? I clearly have a bunch of reasons why I should but my lazy brain is currently winning…..

Now it is real

This week I FINALLY got a surgery date- it is now November 3rd….and suddenly it feels real. Suddenly I am nervous. Only three weeks away.

I had two options on the date….Nov 3rd and Nov 23rd. I decided to go with the earlier date for a couple of reasons.

1. Why shouldn’t I get this surgery over with as soon as possible? If I waited until the 23rd that would be the absolute last day I could have the surgery without having to get another Lupron shot. Just in case we get a freak snow storm in late November, I am NOT going to pay another $1000 for a shot.

2. The sooner I have it, the more Lupron I have left in my body (even though I think that it is supposed to be a time release-type shot over the three months). The more medication I have left in my body= less bleeding during the surgery.

3. Thanksgiving will be three weeks after the surgery which means I should have no problems walking around, hanging out with CP’s family, etc.

4. The surgery will now be a full five weeks and a day before CP and I leave for the Bahamas for a quick December vacation. I’m hoping to get cleared for some scuba diving!

5. The earlier in the month I had the surgery, the greater the possibility my mom could fly out and help CP out.

6. Last but certainly not least, the sooner I have the surgery, the sooner my uterus can heal and the sooner CP and I can start the first IUI treatment!

I recently found out my genetic test results. No cystic fibrosis or other genetic problems with me (YAY!). The only thing that I do have is something a bit weird…. Pseudocholinesterase Deficiency (huh?). From the website:

Pseudocholinesterase deficiency is a condition in which a person's body is abnormally slow at breaking down a certain class of drugs used for surgical anesthesia. Known as choline esters, the most commonly used of these drugs is called succinylcholine (suxamethonium). This drug is used by doctors to induce muscle relaxation and temporary paralysis, often for the purpose of inserting a breathing tube. After receiving a normal dose of succinylcholine, people with pseudocholinesterase deficiency will experience a longer than normal period of breathing paralysis. Typically medical teams who administer these drugs would be equipped to handle such an event.

People who are carriers of pseudocholinesterase deficiency - that is, people who have one copy of the gene with a mutation and one normal copy - show a slightly prolonged period of breathing paralysis after receiving choline ester drugs. This period lasts longer than 5 minutes but less than an hour. For people with two mutated copies of the gene, this episode lasts more than an hour and can last as long as three hours.

Less than 1 in 1000 people have pseudocholinesterase deficiency. It is more common among the some Alaskan Eskimos, where it may affect as many as 10%. In the Persian Jewish community, 1 in 10 individuals is a carrier of the mutation. Among white Americans, the mutation is thought to affect 1 in 3,000.

Who knew? I have never heard of this and as far as I know, I am only a carrier. This is only a big deal if CP also has this mutation….so we will have to talk to my doctor to find out if it is worth CP getting tested for this mutation too.