all over the map

I kind of feel like a mess!
And I have two wrist braces to prove it. As if being strapped into one for the night wasn't bad enough, my "almost" carpal tunnel has started acting up in both wrists. So now when I go to sleep I put on two wrist braces, one mouth guard (because they say I grind my teeth) and sometimes a hot bag!
I think the hot bag has a lot to do with the stress in my life. My stomach always acts out when I am under stress.
So that's my life.
Hopefully the next two days off will help with the stress or at least some of the mess.
And now when I speak of mess I am talking about my apartment. Pretty much total chaos right now. I got home from Christmas a little over two weeks ago now, but I have yet to finish unpacking my suitcase or my knitting bag. And there are boxes all over from my boxing day purchases, which I need to keep in case I have a malfunction and I need to take in in for warranty work.
So tomorrow and Tuesday I hope to clean and put somethings into their places.
I also hope that I get to have a phone conversation. I am hoping to hear somethings, good things, about a job that I have applied for.
That part also makes it hard to put things away, when all I really want to do is pack them into boxes and head for southern Alberta. Oh home, it's only been two and half weeks that I have been back in Lloyd after Christmas and I just want to go back.
The one thing that does make it easier to be here though is that the weather has been warm! I hate it when it is just so cold. I also hate that I know it's not spring yet, so this nice weather is probably just teasing me. But I like it. I haven't plugged my car in for the past couple of days.
On yet another random note, I am trying to bring back Skype into my life. My Christmas phone bill, the one where I tried to call everyone I know and catch up, it killed me!
So if you Skype or you want to my username is heidilindskog! I would love to talk to you! And for free, that just makes it so much better!

gluten free adventures

So a little while back I purchased this book which basically told me that I need to become cut caffeine, alcohol, gluten, red meat, dairy and excess sugar from my diet in order to make myself feel better.
If you think anything like me, you instantly thought "that's impossible, way too many things to cut out"
Which is why I decided to try and cut one thing at time.
Coffee was the first thing to go, because I knew that it would be one of the harder adjustments for me. I live on coffee! Or at least I did. I no longer require it to function properly!
Alcohol was easy because I really didn't drink much anyways.
And now I am starting on gluten!
Did you know that there is gluten in everything? And I mean everything. So needless to say, so far I am failing at this one.
The one meal of the day that I have down though is breakfast!
I have found there are a lot of options for gluten free cereals, both hot and cold.
So the other day I bought a new gluten free hot cereal. It is a creamy brown rice farina and it is lovely. But terribly sticky to clean up.
I followed the directions on the package, which failed to mention that if you don't have a bowl the size of earth, the farina is going to bubble up right over the top and make a mess of your microwave. Which it did.
Luckily for me, I learned this on my day off so I had time to clean it up right away.
That has been my biggest "gluten free adventure" so far, but I am sure there will be many more stories where that one came from.

wise words from my landlord

My landlord told me today that winter really brings out the worst in everything.
I totally agree with that statement.
That being said my heat and my breaker have been acting up since the temperature went down to minus 52.
(Thats including the wind chill.)
It's not super fun to have the heat stop working when it's that cold outside. This past week my indoor temperature got down to plus 15. Which may not sound cold, but it is rather chilly.
Today I got a space heater which is helping, but with the breaker situation I can only plug it into one outlet or else the breaker will go out.
What I learned about my old apartment building and my old breaker is that most of my outlets, lights, and fridge are already on the same breaker. So the space heater is just enough to tip the scale.
So needless to say, I don't really enjoy winter. Or the cold weather.
I do on the other hand enjoy the Christmas specials.

kick it out

Every time I think about blogging, it's always on the sad days.
I kind of hate that because it makes me appear super emo. Which I probably am.
But I do have good days too.
Today is not one of the good days.
It was one of those days where you literally kick things because you are so angry, upset, and sad, all at the same time.
It felt really good to kick something. I think I would like to kick things more often.

my first byline

So since I shared my terrible week, I thought I should share my first byline. For the printed word of course!
I consider this to be a major success!
Since being made to write, this was the first thing I have had to write. It wasn't as terrible as I thought it would be and I am still keeping an open mind about things.

the week from hell

Calling this past week the week from hell maybe a rather strong statement. But it was a super bad week.

It all started with the movie couples retreat! Now don't take that wrong it was a pretty good movie! I laughed quite a bit, but after I got to my car and started thinking about it I started sobbing. Hysterically crying!

The movie starts with a couple that is thinking of getting a divorce as a result of years and years trying to make a baby. And this reminded me of myself. With the recent surgery and the all the pain that I have been in, I just couldn't help but think that I may find myself in that same situation in a few years.

Then on Wednesday I went into work like I would on any normal Wednesday...but on this Wednesday we (the editorial department) had a meeting with our publisher. And we never go into meetings with the publisher. At this meeting he told us that our paper will no longer have a photographer. At present I believe I am lucky to still have my job, but I was told that I have to start writting. We have yet to hammer out the details of how this is going to work. But from that moment on I spent the rest of the day, yet again hysterically crying.

My biggest concern with this is that I was already having issues with my job. I was already thinking about leaving. And now they are going to make me do something that I don't want to do.

Then I spent my entire Thursday morning in the cold. That doesn't make anyone happy.

And then Thursday afternoon I had a doctors appointment at which I am sure I could have picked H1N1 from one of the snotty kids in the waiting room. The one kid even had a face mask on, but it was too big for his face so it kept slipping down!

Anyways the appointment was to get some test results. Recently, I have started fainting. And I am not a fainter. This is totally new for me. So we did tests to try and figure out what is causing it. Good news is there is absolutely nothing wrong with me. Or at least nothing wrong with the tests they did. Bad news is I am still fainting. So I have an appointment scheduled with a specialist, an internist, to see if they can figure something else out. So that one is at the end of November.

That was my week.

summer has not been the season for blogging

And if you think about it, it really hasn't seemed much like a season at all.
It has been so cold.
But now with the official start of fall I hope to get back to blogging.
So this summer although fairly uneventful I seemed to pack a lot into it. By passing working and all those other boring things, the highlights were having my sister and her husband back in Alberta for the summer, a trip to see some friends in Vancouver, and a family vacation to Idaho and Montana. Although I have decided that I don't think I can do another ten and half hour road trip with my family again. Next year I fly!
I also had my sister and a few other friends out to Lloydminster to visit me!
So basically that was summer. And now fall.
Starting at the beginning of the month I started teaching a photography class through the local art gallery and museum. What was supposed to be one night a week turned into two after the class filled up after a day and half. I have two more classes (one on Tuesday and one on Thursday) and then I am done. Although I have enjoyed it I am excited to have my life back!

(This is the poster for my class)

As for the rest of my fall I having another minor surgery in October, Thanksgiving weekend actually! Don't worry though I will still be able to eat turkey!
And other than that not to many plans. Just keep knitting!

magic bags are not for summer

I am going to blame the lack of my blogging on the weather. Really who wants to sit inside at a computer when they can be outside. And who really wants to sit inside reading someone else's blog when they themselves could be outside. So really my lack of blogging has all been for you.
But now that I am half sunburnt I need to stay inside for a little while. I say half because I got the "car burn" so my left arm is crispy and my right is still white! Oh good! That was exactly what I was hoping for!
I am mostly here to voice a few frustrations.
At present I am hating my body. It causes me so much pain on a regular basis...but not quite enough pain to warrant a surgery yet. So every ten weeks I suffer because the medication just don't last long enough. Usually I can pull off the magic bag to make me feel better. But like I said it's been warm, so the heat isn't tolerated really well.
And it's just frustrating.
I know there are many worse things that could be wrong with me.
Anyways I am done whining. At least for now

oh what a beautiful day

I had such a lovely day today, which was an unsuspected and welcome surprise!
So it started off way to early for a weekend, I couldn't get back to sleep after 7. But I made the most of it and decided to get things done. So I did all of my morning things and then headed out for errands. First stop the mechanic buy some new tires and make an appointment to get them put on. So that will be done on Wednesday. I just didn't want to worry about my tires while I was driving to Provost and area for the wedding I am shooting Saturday.
Then booster to show off my lovely knitted blanket (see previous post) and to drop off a few pictures from last night's folk fest. The blanket was a huge success and I may have even convinced some people to join our (Amy and I) knitting circle.
Then to the gas station for obvious reasons. And I got a car wash too!
Then I went to Zellers where I didn't get what I came for but I found many other things instead.
Next I went to the local outdoor swimming pool and bought a swim pass! Then I swam laps and realized that I am really out of shape. Much to young to be this out of shape! Either way I am excited about it.
Next came a quick shower to get rid of all the chlorine and lunch, which tasted so good!
Then I did the dishes and had a beautiful nap.
All in all, a pretty good day! And it's not even over yet!

handmade by heidi

Just wanted to put up a few pictures of my first knitting project! The sad part is that words or pictures cannot tell you how soft it is! I love it!