Atropa Belladonna~ Raven (a.k.a. Nightshade)'s Weblog ~
These are the ARCHIVES of December 1006. For more archives, visit the Archives page. For the current Weblog entries, check the Main page.
Atropa Belladonna| Sat, Dec 2, 2006 (10:00pm) Bah. Stoopid Internet. Eating my stoopid weblog. Wednesday's entry somehow wouldn't upload properly. Kept breaking my internet connection. Then we had a a mini-power failure which made my local Ethernet Hub stop working. Just my local one - not the one for entire house's connections - so my computer couldn't get email. Shades had to tell me things were broken (which I'd kinda guessed. No Spam for more than 24 hours is very suspicious.) Power cycled everything. Re-uploaded weblog. Better now? |
| Tues, Dec 5, 2006 (2:00pm) with edits for spelling, later. I can tell I've been under stress lately in several ways, but one of the most telling is that my Asthma is no longer under control. Generally speaking, I only ever need to take my Ventolin inhaler if I'm around allergens (i.e., at my parent's place for coffee, standing next to a smoker, etc.) But lately I've been taking it on a daily basis. Several times a day. More than I should, really. I can chalk that up in part to this bloody cold I've got - I haven't been able to shake it for 3 weeks - but that in itself is another symptom of poor health. It shouldn't take 3 weeks to get over a cold. So, I went to the doctor today. He acknowledged that my asthma seems to be acting up, and we discussed possible alternative controls, including Singulair and Prednisone, and even just increasing the dosage on my Advair. Of course, the best thing to do would be to decrease the stress which is making me susceptible to these frakkin' infections, but that's not likely to happen in the near future (at least until we can get another therapist for Connor - he's been without a steady therapist for the past 2 months). Although, perhaps, going to bed before 1am on a regular basis might help. The doctor had another idea, too, which was that I might be suffering from a mild case of sinusitis, which keeps re-infecting my lungs whenever I'm almost over the cold. So, although antibiotics aren't generally used to control asthma, in this case, they may treat one of the underlying problems. So we're going to try antibiotics. And increasing my daily dosage of Advair for the next few weeks. And as much de-stressing as possible. Earlier bedtimes would also be a bonus. Oh, and the doctor also took a look at Jasen and confirmed what we've known for some time: He's also suffering from asthma symptoms. Given our family history, the doctor was pretty comfortable giving Jasen a diagnosis of Asthma. It's not going to change what we already do (giving him ventolin & pulmicort by nebulizer) but now he has a prescription under his own name, instead of having us use his sister's meds on him. |
| Wed, Dec 6, 2006 (2:20pm) Things that are good in life:
|
| Thurs, Dec 7, 2006 (1:10pm) Happy Birthday to the Con-Man! My eldest son turned 5 today. It's been a very busy 5 years (aren't they always?) and there's many challenges still on the horizon, but I am proud to be able to say this one thing: he is a happy child, most of the time. So, whatever we're doing, we seem to be getting the important parts right. |
| Thurs, Dec 7, 2006 (12:10am) Borrowed the photographic skillz of a friend to shoot a couple pics of me with my short haircut, and blue streaks. And look! A new icon of me, for my weblog, which is not a decade old! Several other pics taken at the same time. They're in the hidden directory, for those who care to look. Some are even kinda pretty. Some involve Cat-5 cable. Mmmm.... Cat-5. |
| Sun, Dec 10, 2006 (7:10pm) No Bullies for Me. Drat. I've been kinda wanting to play Bully since Rylock meantioned it in his Blog, early in November. Since we don't have a PS2, Shades and I talked about picking it up when it came out for XBox. And guess what? They went and cancelled the XBox version. No reason given why (at least not anywhere I looked) just No More XBox Version. Grrrr. I still want to play it. But we really don't need to buy a second gaming console for our house, especially not for just 1 game. So... I was kinda wondering if anyone out there has a PS2 they'd be willing to lend us for a few weeks. If you happen to have a copy of Bully to lend us, too, that'd be cool. If not, we will pay for the use of your console buy returning it to you with a free copy of Bully. |
| Mon, Dec 11, 2006 (2:10pm) Bonde. James, Bonde. James, we have Bonde! I picked up the last element of our entertainment center at IKEA this morning, and by the end of this week, we should have all our electronic entertainment up high, behind glass shelves where the kids can't reach them, but the remote signals can. Yay! I would also like to announce to the world at large that my baby spoke a two-word sentence this morning! He said, "Bye Bye, Kay-Kay!" to his sister, as he went out the door to catch his morning bus to school. Wow. That is totally cool. Pretty soon he should be using complex clauses, and then we'll never get him to shut up, ever again. Kinda like his sister. Or his Mom. Maybe. |
| Tues, Dec 12, 2006 (11:45am) Biological Warfare News Flash: Local Super Heros wake to discover their house under attack. The Intrepid Shapiro was the first to find herself a victim of the dastardly Sore Throat Fiend. She bravely struggled free of her bed and performed the obligatory morning ablutions while trying to avoid the Hacking Cough Attack which the Fiend is known to employ. Moderately successful in her efforts, she turned her attention to the rest of the SuperHero Pack. Using her ThermoScan 2000, our Hero quickly discovered that Banshee Babe was running a slight fever - the first sign of a possible intruder in his throat. She quickly administered Tylenol (TM) - that marvelous weapon in the ongoing fight against febrile symptoms everywhere in the civilized world - and encouraged him to eat a nutritious breakfast. He did so, and was therefore cleared to be escorted off to School by Bus Driver Lady. Autistic Lad fared less well. The Thermoscan 2000 showed him to be suffering from a high fever. He refused food and most of his juice, and it took serious coaxing for him to admit a single Tylenol tablet to the confines of his mouth. Luckily, the Tylenol was of the Meltaway variety, and before he could effectively spit it out, it had melted into purple goo, which he had little choice but to swallow. Kid Attitude woke up displaying her usual patented Attitude Powers. "I'm Sick. I don't wanna go to School!" The Thermoscan 2000 confirmed her compromised state, but since her super-powers were functioning normally, the attack was not considered to be a mortal threat - at least, not at this time. However, a visit to the Institution of Medical Marvels was arranged. Our SuperHero pack descended en mass upon the Institution. Summoning up her little-used powers of Staff Favoritism, the Intrepid Shapiro secured Preferential Treatment for her team. They were seen by trained professionals in just under 30 minutes and the Doctor quickly revealed the MasterMind behind this vile attack: Streptococcus pyogenes, A.K.A: Strep Throat. His Secret Identity unmasked, the villian could now be attacked with carefully crafted Biological Weapons! The Doctor presented our Hero with the Rx which would be the key to winning this struggle. The innocuous looking slip of paper was dropped off at the appropriate facility, where a team of trained professionals will painstakingly assemble the required weapons (complete with child-proof containers) and have them ready for pick-up by noon. In the meantime, our faithful band of Heros will do their best to hold the Villian at bay with Tylenol and Chicken soup. |
| Wed, Dec 13, 2006 (9:55am) Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaauuuuuuuuuuuuuuugggggh! Help me! I'm trapped in a bacterial pathogen factory. Help me? Please? |
| Comment added Fri, Dec 15, 2006 (10:10pm) Shani has this Public comment: Comments : Greetings and Salutations! |
| Comment added Mon, Dec 18, 2006 (9:15am) Dr. Ursa has this Public comment: Comments : Are you still alive? Did you find the necessary $69.99US in time? Be careful when you start up that Cure All Anti-Evil-Pathogen maker. One of my friends bought one, and inadvertently touched off a flu epidemic. Unless you run the machine backwards, it will spew more pathogens. Read the instructions carefully in the language of your choice, and then do the opposite, or call the 900 hotline for further instructions. |
| Thurs, Dec 14, 2006 (3:05pm) Nothing like being stuck at home sick to make you update your weblog, eh? Our friendly neighbourhood Walrus dropped by last night, and helped me assemble the Bonde shelving unit for above our TV. It looks really fabulous. Fabulous enough to turn a miserable day with sick kids into a day of success and accomplishment. Alas, due to unforseen circumstances, we didn't have the time to put the various electronic components into it and speaking to eachother via all the necessary wires and strangly bits. The Walrus might come back tonight to help me get that done. That would be cool. If I'm really lucky, I may even get out tonight, to BP's and J&H. I've been meaning to do that for the past couple weeks, but it just hasn't been feasible. Ya see, I have to hand out invitations for The Wake. Most of the regulars will remember that it's on and show up (or call) but others could use a reminder, and every year there's new cool people to invite. I don't know how many people will be hanging out at the restaurant(s) this close to Christmas, though. Still, if I get a few invites out, people will pass on the word. So, to the people reading my weblog, be aware that you are invited. If you know of anyone who won't be around to receive an invitation - please remind them that The Wake is on, as always. Jan 1st (not Dec 31st!) from 7pm - dawn, or whenever people decide to go home. Bring pizza toppings. Bring munchies if you wish, but we'll have a lot to go around. Ditto for Pop - the "Walk In Pop Fridge" will be fully operational. Alcohol is optional, but this is not a drunken New Year's Eve party - it's a night of gaming (Oh, yeah! Bring games!) and hanging out, and being with friends. I hope to see you there! |
| Mon, Dec 18, 2006 (12:30am) with spelling edits at 9:15am I think I may be getting over this whole 'sick' thing! (due in no small part to the email & comments from people who did their best to make me smile. Thank you for your kind thoughts, and wicked sense of humor). Now, if only the rest of the family would start feeling better, we'd really be getting somewhere. Apologies are due to those many friends of mine (/ours) that Shades and I won't be able to do justice to in our Christmas shopping. The plagues which have been ravaging our house have put a very serious dent into our shopping hours, and I find I am faced with a Choice: Either stress out about getting everyone that perfect something and then spend hours hunting it down, rather than taking care of my health & that of my family.. or I can say "My friends will understand if I get some of them Gift Certificates this year." Shades and I will be making Charitable Donations in the name of extended family again this year, so that will also ease the pressures of the Season. This is not meant to make anyone feel more valued than anyone else... it's just... Life. And if anyone else wants to put their own family & time & enjoyment of the season ahead of buying presents for us, that's totally okay too. Enjoy. Don't stress. S'all for now, I guess. I have stayed up long enough to be able to give my son some more Ventolin and Tylenol, so I'm gonna go do that. Maybe more posts in the morning. Maybe not. (BTW - more comments added on the Dec 13 entry) |
| Tues, Dec 19, 2006 (8:20am) Pneumonia. Why did it have to be pneumonia? Couldn't it have been a cold, or rats, or maybe snakes? (er, okay - snakes and rats might have been a problem, too. I guess.) But no - it's pneumonia. Connor has gotten more & more sick over the past few days - we took him to ER on Wednesday and again on Saturday. Yesterday I took him to his family Doctor, who ordered an X-ray, and it looks like while his body was trying to fight off one thing and then the other, he came down with pneumonia. I don't know if he'll be going back to school before Christmas vacation starts. |
| Wed, Dec 20, 2006 (1:20pm) Recovering The pathogens are slowly loosening their grip on our household. Kale and Jase are well enough to go to school again. Shades is well enough to go to work (though he looks pretty wiped when he gets home). I'm back on my feet, too (though I feel pretty wiped by the time Shades gets home). Even the Con-man is a tiny bit better - he's keeping down fluids, and hasn't been running a fever in the past 24 hours. This morning (after I'd gotten the other 2 kids off to school) I crawled back into my bed for a little nap, and Connor actually came upstairs to join me. He snuggled in on Shades' side of the bed, and then played with my hair until Starlin' phoned. Then he decided he wanted juice. So, I cut the phone call short and went to get him more fluids. After that, he put his boots on (over bare feet and PJs) and told me he wanted to go outside to play. I don't think he's quite ready to be playing in the snow, yet, but it's good that he feels like he's up to it. Maybe he'll be allowed to go out and play after he's able to keep down solid food again. Of course, the season proceeds apace, regardless of our infirmities. So despite fatigue and illness, Shades and I have been working around the house, trying to get some of our traditional pre-Christmas baking and cleaning done. Shades made chocolate dipped pizelle cookies last night! I transferred our favourite Christmas CD's to iTunes on my Mac, and Wally came over to help us run wires for our stereo system, so iTunes could play over the livingroom sound system. Of course, he didn't know at the time that we would be using his l337 wiring skillz to bring Christmas Music into our lives, but he did his best not to cringe too visibly (grin). Thanks, Wally! My big accomplishment of the day, however, was re-covering chairs! Mom came by and helped me put new seat covers on the chairs which I'd stripped earlier this week. The old seats were getting pretty torn up and skungey-looking. The new ones look pretty spiffy, in my opinion. They even match what passes for 'decor' in our house.  AFTER:  Four chairs are done, four more to go. I hope to have them all done by Christmas Day. |
| Fri, Dec 22, 2006 (1:50pm) Things I would love for Christmas, in case anyone who reads my weblog is (a) planning on getting me something but (b) has no clue what that should be: - Ramikens, from IKEA (I think they're called 'Forma' serving dishes. $6 each) so I can make more Creme Brulee. - Hair Dye (Bizarre Directions, Manic Panic, or similar temporary hair dye pots) in Alpine Green and/or Midnight Blue, (or other colors which you think might look good in my hair, I guess) from Sanctuary. - A copy of SwordPoint, by Ellen Kushner (doesn't have to be new). - Third-world gifts (ie, buying blankets for kids in Romania, or chickens for families in Africa) - Tokens. Of course, the new batch won't go on sale until sometime in March, but one should always look to the future! (Mmm, GenCon.) |
| Sun, Dec 24, 2006 (5:10pm) T'was the night before Christmas, and all through the house, were giggles, and laughter, and the sound of happy kids, and of a young boy who doesn't seem to be suffering from pneumonia anymore, and children doing puzzles on the livingroom floor, and a husband making SysAdmin buns, and other things so wonderful that they don't even have to rhyme in order to be worthy of print. So, yeah - basically, I wish you a Christmas (or generic Holiday of your choice) as happy as ours. May all your pathogens vanish, and may laughter fill your halls. |
| Tues, Dec 26, 2006 (11:20pm) We really know how to make an impression... My side of the family has a really fun Boxing Day tradition: The Boxing Day Fondue. There's a hot oil fondue (with meatballs, beef, pork, chicken & whatever else to deep fry) and a cheese fondue (bread, apple slices, fresh veggies for dipping) and the ever-popular chocolate fondue for dessert (great for dipping grapes, pineapple, melon, angel food cake, pizelle wedges, and, knowing my family, sometimes just fingers). Everyone comes, and gets to show off the most recent additions to their family, and talk about who's getting married, or which program they're in at Uni/NAIT/college, or what promotion they got at work.... all the usual. It's a lot of fun, generally. Well, if you're not trying to police 3 smal children around open flame and pots of hot oil. I really enjoy the family fondue party, but I was thinking this year that maybe one of us (meaning: not me) could stay at home and watch the kids while a family representative went to the party and engaged in the obligatory kbitzing. My mother nixed this. "You can't leave the kids at home! So&so is bringing their kids, and What'sHerName has never seen your youngest, and YouKnowThatGuy will be marrying into the family next year so they've got to have a chance to meet everyone first! Besides, how can I show off my Grandkids if you don't bring them to any family functions?" So... we brought the kids. All three of them, all bundled into the van, and unleashed upon the unsuspecting house. Within minutes, Connor had managed to spill fondue fuel on the table (luckily, nothing had been lit on fire, yet). Jasen proceeded to fling himself dramatically on the floor several times, in the path of several relatives, some of whom quirked their eyebrows at us as if to say "What is wrong with your kid?" before shrugging it off as, well, just one of our kids. Kalen quickly discovered the location of the chocolate fondue and started to help herself to a pre-dinner dessert of cake dipped in chocolate. (Seeing as Shades was dealing with Jasen's dramatic flinging, and my Mom had the spilled-fondue-fuel incident under control, I decided to join Kalen in her illicit dippings.) As soon as the fondue pots were lit, I stationed myself next to Connor (conveniently within arm's reach of the chocolate fondue, still) and proceeded to stick several forks with meat into the boiling oil, without even waiting for any announcement to be made that the dinner was on. 'Cuz ya know what? Connor wasn't going to wait for any announcements before starting to play with the hot oil, so I figured it was best to get some food on his plate, fast. We ate as much as we could, as quickly as we could. Connor was remarkably well behaved. Once food began appearing on his plate, he pretty much concentrated on eating (and licking dipping sauces off his fingers) and didn't play with the pot of oil, any more. Shades sat Jasen at the table and tried to feed him, but Jasen wasn't really interested - he spent his time trying to blow out the flames under the pots (Ooooh - they're like candles on birthday cakes! Only... under the food, instead of on top!) Luckily, Jasen was pretty unsuccessful in his endeavors. Kalen, wherever she was, seemed to be quite successful in her endeavors. She ate extremely well, and not once did I see her near the actual "food" table. I believe she gorged on nibblies, chips, chocolate, munchies, and fruit. Then she ran off to the basement to play with her cousins (of which she was the oldest, at 6yrs). While I was feeding Connor, one of my Uncles asked, "Rogues do it from behind. Huh. What does that mean?" Er... It means I forgot to change my shirt before coming to the family party. (I'd meant to get changed before hanging out with my good, old-fashioned, Christian Reformed relatives. Really I did. But I was kinda distracted by getting all the kids into the van, and thinking of whther I should bring the epi-pens, and whether we ought to go in two vehicles so one of us could take the kids home early if things got out of control. Yeah. And besides, my "What Would Jesus Do" shirt was... um.. missing. Yeah. Missing.) So while I tried to explain that the phrase on my shirt was a Gaming Reference about backstabbing, one of my cousins perked up with, "Rogues Rock! I've got a 30th level Rogue on WoW!" and I quickly turned the conversation to the Wonderful World of Online Gaming, because it seemed more interesting than discussing appropriate attire for a family gathering. Oh - did I mention Jasen was wearing his Black T-shirt with the Pirate Skull & Crossbones on it? Well, honestly, I don't think too many people noticed, since he was mostly lying on the floor playing speedbump at the time. And then he went into lightening-speed mode, in order to steal grapes from the chocolate fondue platter while simutaneously playing games with the kid in the basement. (This is a super-power he is trying to perfect: being in two places at once. He hasn't quite got it down yet, but he's pretty close.) Since Connor was mostly behaving, I left Shades to tend to him, and wandered downstairs to see what kind of mischief Jasen and Kalen were getting up to. K (of Team DK) was in the basement, keeping an eye on the handful of kids running around down there. For that, I have to thank her (Thank you!!!) as I have never been so great at the whole responsible parenthood thing. I figure, the kids aren't burning down the house, and there's no screaming or blood, so basically everything is okay, right? But she was actually entertaining them, and offering them rides on the hair-dresser chair which is in the basement (cool - why don't I have a salon style chair in my basement?) and making sure no one got out of line. She seemed to be doing a pretty good job, too. Kalen was in her element. She had conscripted 2 young boys (ages 2 and 5?) to be her improvisational drama troupe. "I am the very beautiful Princess, okay guys? Only, my evil stepmother turned me into a detective. So now, you guys have to help me search for clues, and defeat the evil monsters lurking in the basement, so we can find the Potion of Power and return to my castle. Look! Giant Fanged Snakes! Quickly, do you have your weapons? You attack the one on the left. You get the other one over there (gesturing right). I'll use my flaming palm technique to destroy the giant one in the center. Go!" (She's such a gamer.) Eventually, though, the kids ran out of steam, and/or we ran out of energy to chase them around and prevent housefires/chocolate overdose/giant reptile invasions, and Shades kindly took them home. (Yeah, we went with the 2 vehicles plan.) I stayed a little longer, to hang out with Jodi & Damon, and to talk tech with some of my cooler cousins (I do actually have a lot of cool cousins, or I wouldn't bow to family pressure to go to these events. Well, maybe I would, because the food is pretty good. But, ya know.) and once I figured that I had confirmed our Place of Weirdness in the Great Family Hierarchy, I packed up and went home. So. Another year's Boxing Day Fondue down, with no permanent damage done. I hope. |
| Fri, Dec 29, 2006 (11:00am) (this note is here to remind Shades to update Blankshield Blog) - - - Reminder to friends: Friday Gamer Night is on as usual tonight. We aren't expecting a terribly large crowd, but there will be lots of food anyways. Come if you wish, or stay at home and recuperate from the Holidays if you wish. S'okay by us. - - - We had our Friends & Fiends Christmas party last night, at Fox & Maskwa's new place. It was nice. There were a lot of cool gifts given out, very suitable to the recipients, and there were many things not given out, which was equally suitable, I think. Overall, our group of friends has been making a shift away from desperately trying to give everyone a gift, and instead buying only if they see just the right thing for someone, or giving homemade gifts which have much more meaning than the average store-bought item, or doing charitable donations in lieu of gifts. All of this is good. Of course, there's also the chance that some people feel they were left out. If you are one of those people and we didn't get you a gift, I wanted to say, not "Sorry" so much as, "I care enough about you not to buy you Crap out of a sense of guilt". Also, there will be a young girl in China who is getting an education, instead of us getting you a present. You are making a difference in the world. Enjoy. - - - Corset Twister Some of the girls in the group have new corsets, apparently, and were talking about showing them off at The Wake. And of course, people suggested that they wear them to play Twister. In answer to complaints that this would be unfair, it was suggested that all the participants be forced to wear corsets while playing Twister. So, there is now an official invitation to all of my female friends (and male too, I guess) who own corsets to bring them to The Wake for a round of Twister in Corsets. And speaking of corsets... (waving to Myke & Jeff), Hey! I hear you guys got a new computer for Christmas, and may even have your internet connection today! Yay! This is a reminder to you that I need pics of your outfits! Please bring them along to the Wake! We'll be doing some sort of photoshoot again, and I have promised pics to someone, kay? (Evil grin). - - - Oooh - guess what? ALL my dining room chairs are reupholstered and they look very nice. They did indeed get done in time for Christmas Dinner, and they will be ready to receive the derrieres of many Wake guests in style, come Janusry 1st. I am happy! - - - A Connor Report Just by the by, did you know that my son can fit into a Center Channel Speaker box which is only 518mm x 297mm x 237mm? And he looks terribly cute doing it, too.  |
| Sat, Dec 30, 2006 (1:35pm) Lock Picking Challenge Our front porch (which I am cleaning today, BTW) has been home to an old steamer trunk since pretty much the day we moved in. The trunk was found in the basement of our previous (town)house, and had originally belonged to a friend who long since moved to the US. I wasn't sure what was in it - some old LARP props, I think he'd said - but the chest was locked, and we had never been given the key. Perhaps he didn't even have the key, which is why he'd left it with me. I can't remember... it was well over a decade ago. When we moved into our new place, I had no idea what to do with the trunk, so I stood it on end, pushed it into a corner of the front porch, and figured I'd deal deal with it later. Someone set a tissue box on it (moving really stirs up the dust, you know) and the trunk did an admirable job of just sitting there and holding the tissue box. So, it has stayed there for nearly a decade, it's sole purpose in life being to hold up a tissue box... and sometimes a pen or pencil. Today, I decided that I would open it. I dragged it upstairs to examine under good light. I poked and prodded the lock with various implements (paperclips, safety pins, bits of random wire). I got Shades to look at it, and then got impatient when I was getting ideas but he was in the way (Note to self: Do not ask husband for help, and then hover and offer advice and finally tell him he's getting in the way. It does not make for the best marital relations. BTW, Shades - v. sorry. Pls forgive.) And finally I decided I needed more industrial strength tools to solve the problem. I got out pencil & paper, and then my tool kit, and applied my corvid curiousity to the task. And I opened the trunk. I have not yet decided what to do with it. The contents were hardly a treasure trove (not that we expected them to be) and consisted mostly of yet more boxes and chests (unlocked, all!). I don't need the trunk for anything. If anyone coming to The Wake would like a steamer trunk, I'll gladly let you have it.... if you can pick the lock. You see, it locks again when closed. The kids demonstrated this the moment I turned my back on it. Gotta love 'em. I will happily supply any would-be Rogues a variety of tools, and challenge them to pick the trunk. It's not that hard - it only took me a decade, after all. |