this little life of mine

Last night I made a vegetarian meal from recipe I got out of the September issue of Greens magazine (apparently it was really the Vegetarian Times, but they were playing aorund wth a new name). No, I'm not going vegetarian - I loves me a nice medium rare steak wwaaaaayyyyy too much to give it up! - but I am trying to eat healthier and like to try new recipes to keep from getting bored. So, I fixed the Savory Tofu and Vegetables Over Tomato Couscous. Initially my mother was not thrilled with the idea of having tofu, but the dish turned out really well, and it was delicious! We're going to try to have a vegetarian or vegan meal three or four times a month, just for a change of pace.

It's the end of another week in December, bringing us ever closer to Christmas. I have decorated the house (inside; we never decorate the outside, except sometimes we'll put up the Christmas wreath on the door if we remember. this year we forgot.), purchased a gift for the Toys for Tots party at work (which is this evening after we close), and have in mind the gift to give to my Secret Santa person. Since we're not doing gifts for the family any more, I'm basically done.

Well, almost. I still haven't finished my Christmas cards or Christmas letter. I have ten cards stamped; they just need to be coloured in. Then I have to do the cards for Weetabix's Holiday Card Exchange which I participate in every year. I won't be stamping cards this year, I don't think (running out of TIME!), and though I found some awesome SLO-themed Christmas cards at Full Circle, they were WAY too expensive to buy so many (there were only 8 in a pack!). Every year I say I'm going to burn Christmas CDs for everyone, but do I ever get it done? No. Never. And just thinking about adding that to the mix is raising my blood pressure to an unhealthy level I'm sure!

SO. On to Plan B: colour in the already-stamped cards for family members, then use the photo I manipulated in picnik.com, print them out and stick them on cards, and get them mailed out to the Holiday Card Exchange. It almost seems like a cop out, but they're still handmade cards, right? They're still unique and nice and most importantly good enough to send to my friends? Yes?

Why do I do this to myself every year? Stress myself out by trying to come up with a fabulous Christmas card and an awesome letter and blah, blah, blah? Why? When it only comes to tears? Bitter, bitter tears! And, maybe, people don't really care that much and are just thrilled to get mail. I don't know.

Gah! I need to relax. Chill. Kick back and have a glass of Chardonnay and watch Project Runway, which I taped earlier this week. That's exactly what I need to do.

And also? For next year? Plan earlier. Like in August!

No the bus didn't break down again, there's an accident. Five or six cars by the looks of it. We've passed it now. Sure glad I take the bus!

So here I sit again in the eye doctor's office. I just had my initial check up where the assistsant checks my vision. This time, instead of using the spoon-like thing to cover first one eye then the other and attempt to read the letters on the chart, she used the ... well I don't know what it's called but it's the thing that looks like huge bizzare glasses, and you can fiddle with the dials to either make things blurry or clear. She made it where I could actually SEE very clearly the chart on the wall. I haven't seen distance that clearly since November 1st! I nearly wept with joy!

Later:

Doctor B. just told me my right eye is almost totally better and my left eye is just a little behind it. He said the inflammation should be completely gone in a couple weeks, and my vision should clear up within a month. Yay! Thank God!

Also my blood tests came back normal - the ones he had that is. Some tests had to be sent somewhere else to be run so I'lll get them next time. That will be in TWO weeks instead of one. That's good news, too!

At this point Doctor B. thinks this was just a fluke thing. He said he had a couple other patients recently who had iritis (their's were only in ONE eye and resolved within a DAY, lucky bastards!) both of whom had just come off a nasty upper respiratory illness. He asked if I'd been sick before all this and I said yes, that I had been fighting what I thought was a cold for two or three weeks in October before the stomach thing got me the end of that month. The doctor thinks perhaps there's a virus going around this year that can cause the iritis, and I will likely never get it again.

So good news all around today!

Monday morning one of my co-workers brought in this totally awesome crystal Christmas tree and put it up at her desk. All day long we were fascinated with the dang thing! Everytime someone walked by it, they would gasp and exclaim "IT HAS GROWN MORE!" Then we would all have to go over and check it out. We all wanted to touch it, but if you touched it, the stuff would fall off. We all decided it looked like broccoli, which it does. Someone decided it needed to be more festive and added glitter, because glitter makes everything more awesome.

The one at work didn't grow as fast as the one seen the video below, but it was just as cool.

This is a picture of one of my ceramic angel Christmas Ornaments that I played around with at picnik.com. I switched it from colour to black and white infrared then added some blurring, a soft frame and the greeting. Very fun!

I had another eye doctor appointment this morning, and since it was in SLO, I walked to and from the appointment. I've done it before; it's no big. Twenty minutes there and twenty minutes back, and it's a pretty nice walk. On the way back, that is. On the way back it's downhill. On the way there, it's uphill. Gah! Anyway, today I pulled out my camera and took a few shots of stuff I saw along the way. Enjoy!

Matt loves someone, but I can't tell who it is. I thought it was Holly, but now it looks more like Holii. I dunno. He loves someone though.

We're finally getting some autumn colours around here just in time for Christmas.

I have no clue.

Oops! Someone lost an air mattress! And a bikini top!

And, apparently, a sock as well.

So what is this? A band? A magazine? Just a random weird sticker?

The eye doctor appointment didn't go as well as I'd hoped, but I didn't really expect it to. I know my distance vision is no better. Unfortunetly, there seems to still be some inflammation inside my eye. The doctor seemed disappointed that it wasn't completely cleared. He's concerned that whatever caused the iritis in the first place might still be inside me, and ordered a bunch more blood tests for various things. Like rheumatoid arthritis, which I know I don't have, but which keeps coming up in medical conversations anyway.

On the way back to work, I noticed several intereting plants that I don't know the name of, but I took pictures of them anyway:

Wow! I don't think my brows have ever looked so good! This might become a habit.

I'm finally getting a pedicure and it feels wonderful! I was too sick to go at all in November. (My toenails are like talons because I hadn't cut them at all either.) I'm at the Sky Nail and Spa in the Target center, mom is waiting for me in Target and when I'm done we're going shopping. We haven't been out shopping for fun in eons, so we're really looking forward to today!
Oh my Lord but this massaging chair feels good! And the leg and foot massage is awesome,too! Hot wax treatment ... Sigh! How I've missed this! The colour is O.P.I.'s "Got the Blues for Red" which is one of my favourites.
I've decided to get my eyebrows waxed while I' here, too.I've never had it done professionally, but I figured what the heck! I've been too blind to pluck my brows so I know they are a bit bushy. This should be interesting.