I really am a bit ashamed of it

My fondness for HBO's True Blood series. Some of those characters are as naughty as they can possibly be, really. If you're my mom or grandmother or auntie, please do NOT watch this show, ok? Promise me? And even if you're not related to me, but you have children under the age of twenty-one living in your house -- forbid them from watching this. I mean it. Don't allow them anywhere near it. It's shocking and it crosses a LOT of lines I'm just not accustomed to seeing be crossed on a television screen. It's unwholesome.

And more than a little addictive and funny. The acting is simply superb. It really is.

I think my favorite characters just may be Tara and Lafayette, two black characters in the Louisiana town of Bon Temps. In this exchange, they are protecting the main character, Sookie, from all the townspeople who are gathering with food after Sookie's grandmother died. Remember, this is on HBO, so the language is pretty rough:
----------------------

Lafayette Reynolds: [looking at all of the food brought by the town] What the f*** is it with white people and jello? I don't understand.
Tara Thornton: [annoyed] What the h*ll we gonna do with all this?
Lafayette Reynolds: Toss it. Sookie don't need no bad juju cooking.
Tara Thornton: Bad juju?
Lafayette Reynolds: Way to a man's heart is through his stomach. That sh*t true as gold. You put some love in your food and folk can taste it. [picks up the cornbread] Smell this. You can smell the fear and nastiness comin' off that cornbread.
Tara Thornton: [takes a bite] Tastes just fine to me.
Lafayette Reynolds: See b*tch. You gonna wish you ain't did that. Watch.

-----------------------

I think I've HAD food at church socials that fit that description... fear and nastiness (not recently, mind you)... heh... and the jello thing? I've wondered that, too, particularly after having lived in Des Moines, which is reported to be the city in the United States which can boast the highest per capita consumption of Jello.

Anyway, these two characters -- while they are riddled with flaws -- are strangely likeable and are amazingly acted (Nelsan Ellis and Rutina Wesley).

I. Love. Hummus.

Instead of buying pre-made hummus and taking a chance, I decided it was ridiculous not to make my own. So here's what I did:

2 cans of garbanzo beans, mostly (but not completely) drained
Several generous tablespoons of tahini paste (yes, Wal-Mart grocery DID have tahini!)
The juice of several Key limes (because I didn't have any lemons and I love Key limes anyway)
Four fat cloves of garlic
Minced parsley
Kosher salt

I dumped all these into the KitchenAid blender, turned it on high, and drizzled EVOO into it until it became smooth and creamy.

Bill Compton probably would not approve of this hummus, since it's very garlicky, but I like it. I like it a LOT. I'd like to have its babies. I'm not sure Bill could keep me away from it -- although Bill's very, very nice to look at, for a dead guy and all.

Yes, this made a pretty hefty batch of hummus, but it keeps in the fridge, and at the rate I consume it, it's probably a good idea to have plenty on hand anyway.

Get ready! Get set!

Our barn swallow fledglings on the side porch are juuuuuuust about ready to take off and try their wings! Dude likes to torment them by lounging down on the porch floor a few feet away... perhaps hoping one of them will panic and try too early. Hey, it could happen.

Engage.

The Great Geek Debates: Kirk vs. Picard

Advantage: Picard
I would have to agree with this one, but that's probably only because I have had a crush on Patrick Stewart for probably twenty years now.

A little local color

A nightclub on the east side of Denton, Texas. No, I've not been inside it. I just thought the name was humorous enough to merit a blog post.

Stormy Monday

Lovely rain this morning... it's soooooo pleasant to wake up in a house that has all the windows open and that bewitching smell of rain wafting through. The sound of rumbling thunder is a nice lullaby when you know it's not packing tornadoes or hail.





Another shot of that cute little snail I saw at Mom's the other day.

Yum

For supper tonight, I had bought a loaf of ciabatta bread from Wal-Mart's bakery, and I sliced it up and everyone dipped the slices in olive oil, kosher salt, cracked black pepper and garlic. It was a huge hit, and it's a nice light thing to enjoy when it's hot. I also made some Hamburger Helper and stirred some frozen spinach into it for a little vitamin boost.

I always make two boxes of HH for this bunch, but I still only use one pound of ground beef just to save a little $$ and stretch the budget. Nobody seems to be bothered by it. And they love the spinach add-in.

The kids are earning extra $$ by helping clean out my classroom at school. It looks like the maintenance personnel at school really ARE going to rip out the vile carpet in that room, but they can't do it until I get my crap out of the way. I am praying -- fervently -- that they don't replace the carpet with MORE disgusting carpet. An art room should NOT be carpeted. Heck, rip out the carpet and leave the bare cement floor, and I'd be much happier. Put in a sink and some countertops and cabinets and I will think I died and am now in heaven. THAT won't happen.

What I'd really like would be if they'd put a double portable building behind the school where I could have the art studio self-contained. That won't happen, either.

Double Daylily

My daylilies are just about finished. After the "common" ones bloomed, I got a flush of these weird and cool double-petalled ones:





I'm waiting patiently for my crape myrtle to start up. It must be a later-blooming variety, because pretty much everyone else's crape myrtles are up and running already.

I am going to put in a call to the ear, nose & throat doc that did Isaac's tonsils last summer. My hearing is just getting worse and worse and it's driving me nuts. Nothing sounds normal; everything is enveloped in a loud roar and put through that metallic synthesizer sound I keep coming back to. It's extremely difficult to make it through a Sunday morning service and play the piano when what I am playing and what is being sung is being distorted this badly. GRRRRR!!

Pachystachys lutea

Golden shrimp plant. My mom planted a few of these in one of the front flowerbeds; I've always thought they were funky and fun.

I promise, I am NOT a squeamish person

But apparently I really am prone to what's called a vasovagal episode as a response to some stressors. It's happened too many times now just to be coincidental.

This morning, they were having one of those low-cost vaccination clinics for pets at the Tractor Supply Company store in Gainesville (TX). We needed to have Bijou tested for heartworm so we could give her the heartworm preventative medication, so I toted her up there to have it done.

It was already in the 90s, of course, so we were kinda hot. They had set up tables outside on the parking lot, under a tent thingy, so we stood in line and waited. When we got to the table, they put the little rubber-band thingy on Bijou's little arm and wiped her down with some alcohol. I stood and held her; she was not pleased, but she's not very big so she's not difficult to hold down. They drew the little blood sample. And I blacked out right then and there.

Thankfully there was a chair right behind me and a table in front of me, so I didn't go far and I didn't crack my skull open on the concrete parking lot. I immediately came back to, but I was dizzy. The vet took Bijou and held her, and several others grabbed some ice out of a cooler and put it on my neck and gave me a Gatorade to sip. When I could, I went back to the van and sat in the air-conditioning for a little while.

I've done this quite a few times now. It isn't always needle-related or blood-related, but that does seem to be one of the things that sets me off -- particularly when it's my child or, in this case, my dog. I passed out in the ER once when Alice broke her finger and was having it set. I got dizzy sitting by my BFF when the nurses were starting an IV. I even keeled over once after the hand specialist gave me a steroid injection in my wrist for carpal tunnel syndrome. I've done it lots of other times, and even once lost bladder control in the process, to my great consternation and humiliation.

I feel rather silly, really. I'm not a squeamish person and I don't know why I do this. I just do.

And the weird humor in the situation is not lost on me... I texted my BFF a little later and told her I'd just fainted at Tractor Supply. Who faints at Tractor Supply? Maybe someone overcome by the beauty of the latest John Deere baling attachment, or overexcited by the abundance of creep feed, or even perhaps bowled over by round pen panels... I dunno.

A new family member!

Mom and Dad got a new poodle puppy. Isn't she adorable?!? She loves to harass poor Tess, who's blind and retarded and old. I don't mean those things in the pejorative sense; she really is blind and she really is brain-damaged thanks to an illness that nearly killed her several years ago. Tess is a good sport, though, and isn't mean at all.



Mom was watering the flowers and squirted her with the hose, so she's a little wet in this picture. But oh-so-cute!!!

Dad named her Zoe. He didn't ask us, of course -- why should he? it's their dog -- but we might've tried to talk him out of it since we have a close friend named Zoe. But it's okay; he didn't know, and it's unlikely the two will ever meet anyway.

Asclepias latifolia

Poofy clouds of white fuzz floats all over North Texas pastures... the broad-leaf milkweed has gone to seed. Flurf!!

A bit of a culinary splurge

I don't often splurge, but I was craving some good sushi.



Can I just say that it was quite nice? Particularly the pale-colored sushi next to the bright red tuna. That was yellowtail, if I remember correctly.

The sushi roll was made with salmon skin. It was divinest splendor. And the little red globules are salmon roe. It was spectacular.

Not cheap, mind you. But spectacular.

I want some more of that yellowtail. Like, NOW. I'll never go back to plain tuna again after that. Well, I probably will, but I'll always be thinking of the yellowtail, and the tuna will probably be all like jealous and stuff.

And now, to punish myself for spending nearly thirty dollars on a meal for myself, I should probably fast for like three days or something. But it was SO worth it. As the old "Frusen Gladje" ice cream commercial back in the mid 1980s went, "I ate all the Frusen Gladje. And I'd do it again."

Escargot?

A little Helicina orbiculata snail that was on my mom's back patio this morning. I know snails are destructive, but they're funky cute nonetheless.

Little Twin Stars

Blackeyed Susans, or Rudbeckia hirta for those into the Latin. I like Latin, personally... somehow the Latin name for something makes it sound more important. That, and I grew up watching Roadrunner cartoons every Saturday morning. Carnivorous vulgaris, anyone? How about Roadrunnerus digestus? hehe

Oh! Leander

Nerium oleander, a semi-tropical shrub that a lot of folks take a chance on growing up this far north. My mom's yard has a number of them, in various shades of pink and white. They're much more common down where she and my dad have taken Isaac, along the gulf near Corpus Christi, but when they're put in a fairly protected sunny spot and given the right conditions, oleanders do okay up here.

And they really lend a lush, tropical, exotic feel to a landscape. I like 'em.

The resident Texas garden-guy, Neil Sperry, doesn't like them so much, but I think that's because too many people just willy-nilly plant them up this far north when they're really not adapted to this zone. I figure, though, if you want to take the risk and you're aware of the possible consequences of a complete freeze at some point in the future, you might as well go for it. It certainly won't happen every year, or even every other year. We just don't get that cold here, at least not for long enough to do real damage. My mom's an expert gardener, anyway, and has a real knack for green growing things.

I love Neil Sperry, by the way. He has had a radio call-in program in the DFW metroplex area since 1980 and the man just knows what he's talking about... a reasonable, mature, smart guy with a lot of gravitas and integrity who's worth listening to. When we lived in Iowa for eleven years, I lamented that there just didn't seem to be any resources available that were geared specifically for Iowa landscapes -- I had been accustomed to Neil Sperry and his devotion to Texas-specific gardening, and even though I didn't expect there to be a radio host, I did sort-of hope there was at least a BOOK or a magazine or something that I could refer to. No such critter existed, though, that I could find. And that's a shame. Every state should have its own Neil Sperry. We're really lucky in Texas to have him.

Problem solved

Because I've lost 90 pounds, I want to go swimming again. But because I've lost 90 pounds, my arms and legs look like deflated balloons. Or, as someone I still love very much has joked, I now sport a great set of bingo wings. [snort] LMAO!!! I wonder what they're called when they're not arms but legs? I'm not sure I want to know.

Any-who...

So I bought a wetsuit instead. And I'm going swimming this afternoon. Yes, I am.

I've always been apple-shaped, which means that when I buy all-in-one things like this, the part below fits much looser than the part above. Oh well.

I had Rick take the picture for me, and he said he hoped that my legs didn't throw off the picture's white balance. [growl] Like I can help that. And like he has any room to talk, for that matter! haha

UPDATE: I went swimming!! And I didn't feel like a freak, either. I can definitely pronounce the wetsuit idea a success.

Speaking of Bee-Eff-Effs

Here's Miss Alice, on Saturday morning when we picked her up from camp, with her best friend Josie. Josie and Alice have been talking on the phone together since LAST SUMMER at camp; Josie lives in the Houston area, so it's impossible to spend time together. But we requested that they be in the same cabin again when it was time to sign up for Camp Spike 'n Wave again this year.

Last year, Josie refused to speak to anyone at camp. Except for Alice. She would speak to Alice.

Alice said that this year, Josie talked to everyone.

This is progress!

Thorny Wednesday

One thing we have in great abundance here is the lowly, weedy mesquite tree. You almost can't even call it a tree; it's shrubby and thin and scraggly and has lovely huge shoe-leather-piercing thorns all over. And once it takes hold in a pasture, good luck ever getting rid of it again. Mesquite can regenerate from less than a CENTIMETER of root left in the soil. It's just that pervasive.

Interestingly, though, it's a legume... which means it's actually GOOD for the soil. Legumes tend to have an effect called nitrogen-fixing. They also tolerate arid climates very well, needing little water to survive, so they don't suck up a water supply. And once a tree is established, the thorns drop off (only coming on the new growth).

Plus, I am very fond of beef that's been smoked using mesquite wood. I prefer its harsher taste to the sweetness of hickory, personally.

Whatever your opinion of the humble mesquite tree -- noxious weed or Texas treasure -- it probably is here to stay.

It's always a good day when...

...when I get to hang out with my BFF.



She's down in this neck o' the woods visiting family, and we took the opportunity to meet in the middle at a McD's for some face time. We're already plotting another girl-vacation since I absolutely HAVE to use up the rest of my airline miles by the end of the summer. We'll probably go back to see stuff we didn't get to do the first time around in the Great Sweltering Swamp-Confluence on the Potomac. I'm hoping to catch a little more local history type stuff.

It's HOT today. Even for me. The girls and I are going to head down to my mom's, since they're off on a gulf fishing trip with my son. It seems a pity to waste that lovely air-conditioned environment down there, as well as the free wi-fi. tee hee

Cirsium texana onna Tuesday

Thistle get you going! heh

Oh, this is rich...

NYT Editor: We had to keep mum on Afghan abduction

NEW YORK (AP) - Deciding not to report initially on reporter David Rohde's capture by the Taliban for seven months was "an agonizing position that we revisited over and over again," New York Times executive editor Bill Keller said Sunday.

"All along, we were told by people that probably the wisest course for David's safety was to keep it quiet," Keller said in an interview on CNN.

The Times reported Saturday that Rohde escaped from seven months in captivity in Afghanistan and Pakistan by climbing over a wall on Friday.

Rohde was abducted Nov. 10 along with an Afghan reporter and a driver south of the Afghan capital of Kabul. The Times kept the kidnapping quiet out of concern for the men's safety, and other media outlets, including The Associated Press, followed suit at the Times' request.

"It was an agonizing position that we revisited over and over again," Keller said in the CNN interview with Washington Post media critic Howard Kurtz. "But I also have a responsibility for the people who work for me. I send a lot of people out into dangerous places and their security is also part of my job."

I love how the NYT revisits the agonizing position and decides to keep quiet about the abduction of one of his reporters, but doesn't think twice about revealing information that denigrates our military in any way possible or even could put US troops in harm's way unnecessarily. Spare me the sob story. What country do you people live in, anyway?

Potato-free

That's me. Potato-free AND corn-free. Or more specifically, potato STARCH free and corn STARCH free.

Looks like starch just might be the culprit behind my misery. I had improved dramatically after eschewing potatoes, and last night I made myself some pistachio pudding. I was up half the night, in abject misery. I went to the garbage can, dug out the pudding mix box, and the second ingredient after sugar was "Modified food starch."

Which I'm betting is taken from corn and/or potatoes mostly.

The research I did said that wheat and rice usually didn't have the same negative impact that potatoes and corn did, and so far that seems to be accurate for me.

So it's not a gluten issue and I don't need to go gluten-free... I just need to stay away from the really potatoey and corny starches.

Which is kind-of a bummer because that stuff is in EVERYTHING.

I can have fresh veggies and meats and stuff like that. I can have cheese -- but not processed cheese food fakey-stuff because a lot of that stuff is thickened and stabilized with starch. Mac & cheese? FULL of starchy stabilizers. It's not the pasta that kills me, it's the cheese sauce. The good part. [sigh]

I love potatoes. I think I'll miss them most. But I won't miss the pain and agony and misery. To avoid that, I'll never knowingly allow another granule of potato to cross my lips.

I like rice. I'll stick with rice when I need that sort of thing. I don't mind pasta, although it usually isn't my favorite thing.

SUSHI! I can have all the sushi I want. Yay!!

Sorry about the stream-of-consciousness... it's really late and I just stayed up watching the first two episodes of HBO's True Blood series that Rick rented for me. Dang... don't let your kids NEAR that show, but it's cool.

Good-night. Exciting stuff is on schedule for tomorrow... I'll post about it when it's done. Wheee!!

Toxicodendron radicans

A little poison ivy, anyone? This was a flush of new growth along a fencerow near Alice's summer camp. We had to wait in a line of cars before they opened the gate and let us in to pick up our kids... I arrived an hour early and was fourth in line, so we had plenty of time to sit and look around at the lovely rural countryside of southern Texas. I wandered around and decided NOT to step off into this patch of itchy-scratchy disaster lurking along the roadside.

Seen on Highway 290 east of Austin, Texas. I was bummed that we wouldn't be around later that evening to enjoy it... it sounded like a lot of fun. And it would probably have been blues music. Dangit.

Austin's still weird

On our way home from Brenham to pick up Alice, we did a little swing over to Austin and saw the state capitol.

That was a LOT of driving for two days, and I am plumb tuckered.

Road trip!

We're headed south today, and tomorrow morning we get to pick up Miss Alice at epilepsy camp! Yay! It's not the same around here without her.

The map is a picture of where we'll be going today. The part south of Waco, when we turn off the interstate, is a really beautiful drive. I'll take the camera and try to document some of the loveliness for you when I get back.

My celebration of the disappearance of my discomfort was premature and short-lived. I have another appointment with the doctor, but it won't be until next Thursday. Pray I don't go completely insane having to sit in the car and drive for two days straight. I love this trip, but I am not looking forward to the pain.

I am going to try to remove potatoes from my diet and see if that makes things calm down for me. I've been doing research to try to figure out what sets off my digestive system and then in turn aggravates my arse, and it just may be potatoes. I don't eat them that often, but I had some recently, and it might have coincided with the reappearance of misery. It's worth a try, anyway.

We LOL'd

Martha, Isaac and I made a trip over to Sam's Club in Sherman, TX this afternoon after swimming lessons were finished, since I needed to stock up on baby wipes and other bulk necessities. We were hunting for potato flakes, not knowing which aisle we'd find them in, when we all three saw this display and guffawed in unison:



You just KNOW that some stocker in some plant somewhere did that on purpose, just to make his job a little more fun and entertaining. Well, whoever you are, you made OUR day a little funnier too. Thanks, dude!

Ladybug

Ladybug, originally uploaded by gradualdazzle.

Dunno if it was a LADY ladybug or a MAN ladybug, but it was sitting on the bud of a Queen Anne's Lace flower. I'll let you draw your own conclusions. I just thought it was purty, that's all.

Purple Wednesday

Echinacea purpurea, originally uploaded by gradualdazzle.

A little echinacea, or purple coneflower, for your Wednesday evening. This one's from my mom's garden.

Life's rough when you're a kittycat

I wanna be a pampered, well-fed, petted, lazy kittycat like Dude. Where do I sign up?

Sister-y history

This is my cousin Heather and me. She and I were the first grandchildren of the family, and we grew up together (our families are VERY close). In many ways, we have been more like sisters than just mere cousins... there's a LOT of history between us. I don't often get to see her anymore, since she's a mom of four and I'm a mom of three and she lives in Tennessee while I live in Texas, but occasionally we do get to hang together again. We have the kind of relationship that just always picks right back up where we left off, as if we had just been together yesterday.

She was always the beautiful one -- she was Homecoming Queen of her senior class at a very large Ohio high school. If I didn't love her so stinkin' much, I'd probably have hated her, but it's just not possible to hate Heather.

It's always a major treat to get to spend even a teeny bit of time with her... I treasure every moment.

It's not a Sunday Rose (I kid, man), it's a Tuesday Rose

Wild rose, originally uploaded by gradualdazzle.

Argh. My pun skills are pathetic. I apologize.

This lovely pink wild rose isn't really wild, since it's a shrub in my mom's neighbor's yard, but it was just so pretty I had to take a picture.

Swim lessons today. Haven't heard from Alice, but I'm hoping I won't, since she's at epilepsy camp all week. I realized after they left that she only had one pair of shoes with her -- there's always something forgotten, isn't there? They are of the swim-shoe variety, so I think she'll be okay if they don't rub a blister on her feet. I can't shake the guilt. Must be a mom thing; she's probably just fine and doesn't care a whit.

Hey, honey!

Horsemint, originally uploaded by gradualdazzle.

It's horsemint, or Monarda citriodora, and it's having its pollen collected by a honeybee.

Have you ever smelled horsemint? It reminds me of that old liniment stuff that people used to use... and I'm guessing that the honey produced by bees who frequent horsemint will be a strange-tasting substance.

But it made a purty picture, dontcha think?

Dremel's a Dream!

I needed to trim the dog's toenails. It was time. And I absolutely hate trying to guess where, on her black toenails, is the best spot to clamp down. Hence I've avoided the task much longer than I should.

I was going to invest in one of those toenail grinder thingies that they advertise on TV, but a pal pointed out to me that Alton Brown only owns one uni-tasker, a fire extinguisher. Buy a cordless Dremel and you can use it for all the other stuff that you use a Dremel tool for.

[ding ding ding!]

What an idea! I looked at the Dremels, and the cordless Dremel was LESS expensive than the fancy doggy-version. What's not to love here? I bought it and just now used it on Bijou's toenails. It worked famously and she... well, she doesn't LOVE it... but she didn't plant her teeth into my finger or anything, so I know it didn't HURT her.

Dremel FTW, I do believe. ("FTW" is acronym-speak for "For The Win")

Once a science teacher, always a science teacher

Years ago, in a previous life, my mom was a Science Teacher. Even though she had to take a medical retirement thanks to a faulty ticker that got replaced, she is always a Science Teacher... always messing with little critters or plants or rocks and teaching us something in the process.

One afternoon a couple of weeks ago, in her front flowerbed, she interrupted a mama Texas Spiny Lizard before the little mama could completely cover up her nest of freshly-laid eggs. Mom did some research and found out that she could collect the eggs in a jar with some dirt and hatch them. So of course, she did. Because she's a Science Teacher and that's what Science Teachers DO:







According to her research and calculations, the eggs are supposed to hatch this week. We're all quite excited about the prospect of a couple dozen baby lizards! I'll post photos of them when they do finally emerge.

UP!

This afternoon we went to see Up in 3D at the Cinemark in Denton. Are these not the coolest glasses EVAR?!?





What was even cooler was that the 3D effect really worked and it was amazingly awesome. I was substantially impressed. We're way beyond the red lens / blue lens thing. Whatever these things do, they do it WELL. You literally duck to get out of the way of stuff that's flying at you.

As for the movie, well, if you haven't already seen it but you're going to, promise me you'll bring tissues. I sobbed like a child at several parts of the movie. Thumbs up for Up, Pixar! It was quirky and unexpected and strange and wonderful.

Alice Goes to the Neurologist

On Friday, Alice had a visit with our favorite doctor, Susan Arnold M.D. (pediatric neurologist at Children's Medical Center in Dallas, Texas).

Dr. Arnold's office is in the Purple Pavilion. I love that name! It's a building near the hospital where there is a lab and clinics and such. The parking is very user-friendly and the building is easy to navigate.

After we check in, they bring Alice back and check her vitals. First, her blood pressure:




Then her weight (she has gained a little weight -- yay!):




And her height (she's settled in at 4' 6.5" which is probably where she's going to remain):





Then we go into an exam room and wait for Dr. Arnold. We read books and chat while we wait. We're always delighted when Dr. Arnold comes in! She's just the best.




Dr. Arnold checks Alice's reflexes to see how her body is transmitting signals to her brain:




Then she listens to Alice's heart:




She looks into Alice's eyes very carefully to see how her pupils change in the light. Alice's pupils are difficult to see because her eyes are so very dark brown.




After checking Alice's field of vision very carefully, she then asks Alice to walk across the room to observe her gait:



After the exam, we discuss Alice's seizures and medications and she tells us what our options are. Alice's seizure disorder is of the kind that is unlikely to disappear with medication, so we are concentrating on managing the seizures in the best way so that she can function as normally as she possibly can.

We have several options to consider next. There are a couple of new drugs, one that's actually currently in clinical trial there at Children's. We are pretty seriously considering participating in the clinical trial, since Alice seems to be a good candidate for this medication. After the clinical trial, we will probably have a VNS implanted in her chest. This is a pacemaker-like device which sends electrical pulses into the brain instead of into the heart. It sends regular pulses, but is also able to be activated by Alice herself when she knows she's having a seizure. She would wear a magnet bracelet which she could place over the VNS site to cause it to pulse and -hopefully- arrest the seizure in progress. The VNS isn't a cure-all and probably won't prevent all her seizures, but it has a good chance to decrease them a bit AND it will give her a sense of control over them.

The final option is to employ the ketogenic diet. I think we'll reserve this option as a last resort; she likes fat and protein, but would find the restrictions difficult to understand. The potential benefits don't outweigh the negatives at this point. It's still an option, though, that we can use if we need to.

Tomorrow, Alice leaves for Camp Spike n' Wave, the camp for kids with epilepsy that she has been attending for two years already. Dr. Arnold was the one who first suggested Camp Spike n' Wave, and we are so glad she did! Camp is free, which is good because we couldn't possibly afford to pay her way to such a place, and it's the thing she looks forward to all year long.

Sometime after camp, Alice will return to Children's to spend a couple of days in the Epilepsy Monitoring Unit. Dr. Arnold wants to see what kinds of changes she's experiencing with her seizures and see what effect the meds have had. It's not fun to have all those electrodes glued to her scalp, but she's a good sport and tolerates it. I think this time around I'll bring some sort of foldaway cot to sleep on; the chairs in that place are just not conducive to decent sleep. I really really really really wish they'd install wireless internet there, too... but it may be that they can't because it interferes with the equipment on that particular unit. Just the same, if there were a hot-spot somewhere in the hospital where I could tote my laptop and check e-mail and blog, it'd sure help us stay connected to the outside world.

Big day today -- gotta get packed for camp! I think we're also going to go see the new Pixar movie this afternoon. Yay!

Say no to trends

Rick, circa 1975ish. He was in college. He looks like he's about twelve years old, to me anyway. In 1975 I turned nine years old.



I'm twenty-three years old here, in 1990. I think my hair was probably visible from outer space.

UPDATE: Rick says he's pretty sure I just put my hands on a Van de Graaff generator and then hair-sprayed it. Ha!

Beaker for the win!!

Hat tip to my pal Esbee for this little nugget of... wait for it... JOY. hehe

Jailbait Pinup Babe

Me, age twelve, mugging after my jazz & tap dance recital. Circa spring 1979, I'm thinking. I took dance for one year; I could keep up, but I wasn't anything special. This was not a case of "So You Think You Can Dance." I've always had rhythm, hence my piano skilz, but that's just in my hands and head. Not so much my feet.

Love the farmer's tan, too, by the way. [eyes rolling]

How old were YOU in spring of 1979? [evil grin]

I found my prom pictures

I got invited to the prom my freshman year by a good friend (who I'm pretty sure was gay, but that's probably why we got along so well). His name was Steve.



I never found one for my sophomore year, so I guess I didn't get invited that year. I had dated one guy until about Christmas during that school year, so I was probably still in deep mourning over having broken it off.

I went to prom my junior year with a guy whose name, ironically, was Chris Wood (which is now MY name, but at the time my name was Kris YOUNG, so we just thought it was funny that we were "Chris 'n Kris"). He was a really nice, decent, geeky guy back then. I wonder whatever happened to him.


My senior year I had moved to another town about 25 miles south and across the Red River into Texas, but I was still good friends with Chris, so he came to my prom that year too:


Looks like he'd spent that year working on his mullet. He really was a gentleman... very smart, rather odd, but nice nonetheless.