too much!

It's been a long week. I went and visited with a good friend over the weekend. It was good and bad. Good that I got to see him. Bad that I had to leave him.
I came back to work, busy busy work. Lots and lots of sql work and I'm now a little more comfortable with databases. I still can't completely wrap my head around mashing different database tables together using different combinations to extract the info you want.
And advising a friend who was feeling internal turmoil. It just enforces my view that life is that much easier if we can all learn to be honest with ourselves and our loved ones and if we can accept that life isn't quite what you would like it to be.

Carnations

I keep making carnations. That's what happens when it's time for spring, and this year, spring has come early! Really! It's mid February and it was 60 degrees out! At least these carnations go pretty quickly. Melissa and Reshma got theirs over the weekend. Dorrie should have hers mailed out this weekend.

Happy Spring!

Spring is coming a little early this year. Every year, close friends receive a flower and this year, it's the carnation. Beads are light ruby luster from shipwreck and dyed olive sol/gel from york.

Beaded forsythia and the purple wall

Last picture for now. When I had painted the room, I realized the forsythia would look amazing against the walls, and I was right. Was originally going to use this vase for Oriental Poppies...but hey, I haven't planted them yet and so I had an empty vase. Doesn't look too bad with the yellow. Very striking colors in here. So...I guess after I make my 2 dozen forsythia for the living room, I may have to make another half dozen for this room...or maybe I"ll just make a dozen and have them in here, but what will I do with the two containers I was going to pot my forsythia in?

Painting the room - After

And here is my room after the paint job and some furniture movement. Pretty clean lines...well mostly. The orchid on the right hand side is real. The branches of forsythia on the dresser are beaded. That side of the room feels very zen, I just can't quite capture it in the picture.

Painting the room - Before

That was my room before I started painting. The walls were a light peach color. I could finally get rid of the curtains that I hated. They were a sheer white eyelet pattern and I really didn't like the eyelet pattern.

Time to paint...

I went to Home Depot and bought a gallon of paint. Behr in Freesia Purple. I'll be doing some painting on Saturday...should be an interesting experience. It's supposed to be warm. I need to keep busy and keep occupied.
Feeling slightly better than yesterday. Stupid friend apologized.

And all the rest...

The reaction broke out again...as you can see by my food log below. I wish I knew what caused it but I'm suspecting maybe MSG (as in the food additive, not Madison Square Garden). I have some possible symptoms and it'd explain why I had reactions this last week only after I'd eaten meals where I didn't actually prepare the food. But from what I've read so far, different people have different effects and they can range, even within one person depending on various conditions. These include quantity and physical condition...so I guess even from if you're healthy or sick or even what time of the cycle you're in if you're a woman. Great. It should be fun trying to figure out what it is. At least the doctor prescribed some steroids and gave me some prescription allergy medicine and some antibiotics in case the area around my lips started getting infected.

Forsythia!

Beaded forsythia. The left branch I just finished. Now I have 2 branches...22 to go...sigh. Donna has an urn with 60 something branches, I'm not making that many but I do want a couple of dozen for the fireplace...and then maybe another half dozen once I get my room painted.

The first finished sweater

So this was the first sweater I made and put together. I had Dorrie and Melissa take a picture of this while I was up in Ithaca. Yes, you can see my bra through it as I'm modeling it. As you can see, the sleeves are a bit long. The rest actually doesn't look too bad, it could just be the artist being overly critical. Anyways, it teaches me to measure before I do anything. And I think with a little bit of stretching, the hole for my head gets bigger. Ithaca was a fun trip. Cornell beat SLU(T) 1-0 with a goal late in the third. My allergy which was getting better got worse that day. I did eat a lot of chocolate and got a chocolate milkshake from Hershey though.