Older than the Ganges

Intradermal injections are a tricky thing; in the past I've had RNs who have refused to give them due to the degree of difficulty. You could imagine my concern when I saw the walk-in doctor looked like the walking dead.

As I waited for my name to be called, I wondered if it would be rude to ask for another doctor. I grew more worried as he called for each patient with a small, weak voice (not even leaving his desk to do so). He finally called my name. I took a deep breath, walked into his office and prepared for the worst.

He seemed to come to life as he greeted me at the door. He even clapped with joy upon discovering that I was done my build-up shots. He tried to stay very organized as to not confuse the bottles. Very sloooooooowly he set the bottles, needles and papers in place. I tried not to giggle as he farted loudly with every shuffle.

Just before the first needle, the phone rang. "Always ringing!" he shouted. He picked up, exclaimed "I have no time for that! I'm busy shooting!" and I tried not to giggle.

Fiiiiinaly after the first needle, he pointed, clapped and shouted "There look, perfect!"

As I was leaving, he noticed my name on his papers. He told me his cousin has the same last name and asked if my family was from England. I explained they were actually from the Ukraine but the spelling of our name was changed when my great-grandparents moved to the US. "If anyone asks, you have relations in South Asia. Goodbye, cousin!"

Most adorable doctor, ever!

Dream Home: Art Deco - Guest Room

Click to embiggen

Full disclosure:

• The fairy poster is Art Nouveau
• I changed the colouring in several of the pieces so they match better

but it is my dream home so I can do what I want.

Dream Home: Art Deco - Dining Room

Hmmm, I'm not entirely happy with this one. I don't know if I'm just annoyed by how difficult it was to colour correct the silver objects* but I might have to redo it.

Click to embiggen

*Silver objects reflect their surroundings so the lamp was purple, the candle sticks were brown and the tea set was yellow. I did the best I could.

Dream Home: Art Deco - Living Room

This is actually the 3rd inspiration board I made for my dream home in Art Deco. My second inspiration board was made using my favourite pieces so it would seem anti-climatic to show anything after it. Saving the best for last...

Click to embiggen

Dream Home: Art Deco - Front Entrance

I've been in a creative funk as of late. I've taken a cue from Dooce's inspiration boards and decided to create some of my own. For several years I've been collecting pictures of art deco furniture as inspiration for decorating my future home. BBC Home describes the style of Art Deco as

• Geometric and angular shapes


• Chrome, glass, shiny fabrics, mirrors and mirror tiles


• Stylised images of aeroplanes, cars, cruise liners, skyscrapers


• Nature motifs - shells, sunrises, flowers


• Theatrical contrasts - highly polished wood and glossy black lacquer mixed with satin and furs

Here is my first attempt at an inspiration board:

Click to embiggen

I'd appreciate your feed back and let me know if you've created your own inspiration board.

Cleverness Found

Eights years ago, I lead a professional development workshop at another high school. I took less time than expected to prepare so I started thumbing through magazines left on the teacher's desk. I found on a scrap piece of paper stuck stuck between the pages. It read:

Politics is the second oldest profession. I have come to realize that it bears a close resemblance to the first.

Take a lesson from the weather: it pays no attention to criticism

Health nuts will feel stupid someday, lying in hospitals, dying of nothing.

Whenever I feel blue, I start breathing again. :)

#1 Thing I Have Learned: Never take life seriously, nobody comes out alive anyways!

The nice thing about Facebook

is I can hide all the posts of the idiots that I'm too polite to unfriend. Seriously, once upon a time if you found someone annoying you could avoid them. With social networking it seems like you can never get rid of anyone.

30 Days of Living Strong

Over 6 weeks ago, I began a post about my frustrations with food allergies and meal planning. I was tired and frustrated. Before I finished it, my sister suggested that I need to keep track of what I eat and then decide what to do.

A month ago, I set out to find a computer program that could help keep track when I came across Live Strong's Daily Plate. Not only can it let me keep track of what I eat but also my daily fitness (as required by my physiotherapist and chiropractor). I enter in foods I eat and the activities I complete everyday. I can then view my "Food Diary" and see all my entries for the month. Here is the entry from today:


A by-product of tracking my foods, I've been learning a lot about portion sizes, calories and daily recommended intake. For one thing, I don't consider myself to be a big meat eater but I still consume more protein than needed


I'm not content with simply filling my stomach. I want to give my body what it needs to function properly. I'm considering getting a paid account so I can track nutrients as well as calories, fat, cholesterol, sodium, carbs, sugars, fiber and protein.

In short, YAY me for keeping with it for a month!

My food goals for myself

• reduce my intake of refined sugars


• eat more fruit and vegetables


• eat more food made from scratch


• return to a more carefully planned rotation diet

My fitness goals for myself

• reduce my resting heart rate


• strengthen the muscles of my left hip


• strengthen the muscles of my left shoulder girdle


• be "at level" in my Pilates classes (Reason: see previous 2 points)


• reduce the need for chiropractic and massage therapy appointments

Let's hope that I can keep with it and meet my goals.

How many points are fractional Scrabble tiles?

For WEEKS, I've been having problems with the Facebook Scrabble app:


The bottom part of the board is from a game my mom and I are playing. On top of that, when I put Scrabble tiles on the board they disappear.