Cyst...

Ok, I have a cyst, and it hurts, it happens to be in one of those places that clothes rub and makes it even worse.

Along those lines here is some fun reading from one of the internets' greatest bloggers... Dooce. I remeber reading about Lance Armstrong (the cyst...not the cyclist) and Lance Armstrong the Conclusionreader alert graphic written images are in the above links (in otherwords...eew gross.

So, I am about to run off on a short overnight trip to Shenzhen China and when I come back I am going to ask the Doc if there is anything he can do to "cyst my lance".

In the meantime, lots of internet sites basically state there is nothing you can do, other than wait, have it removed, and take antibiotics. YUK. It is funny, I had the same type of a bump on my hip, it appeared when I was preggers with Declan and it was there for about 2 years, it never bothered me, but it is still sort of there in sort of a scar tissue sort of a way. The only other thing that I can see is that I should take more EFA (cause I guess that helps prevent them) and to use a warm compress. In the meantime, it is bandaid city for me.

More information than you ever wanted to know huh?

A meme-renewal

I am working on an art journal challenge over at Written Down The first theme was starting, beginning, renewal. This weeks theme is Risk. Interesting, as I read on a bunch of scrapbooking blogs like Ali or Donna where these women are also starting fresh, changing. Ali is on a personal challenge to simplify her life and I really appriciate that. Donna is trying to renew her scrap area. But... for me... it is so much more.

First, I got an unexpected raise. A nice one too. About 25%. While I am still underpaid, this goes a long way. The hard part is that we need to save some money, in the event Jeff loses his job, but it is very difficult not to want to get a few things. Things that I don't really NEED, but that would make my life much more full. A car. American Club Membership. But first, we are going to put the extra 25% in savings until September, and then, we will discuss other expenses.

Onto renewal, I really want to live more sustainably here in Singapore. I dream of a deck side garden, I really dream of a small home with a garden, but that may not be possible. I want to cut back on my overall food purchases, I want to live more in tune with nature.

Problems that need to be overcome. My deck is really quite small, but in order to stay in a less expensive apartment, in a place with a great pool, a great day school for Declan, we need to stay here. Is it possible to use the bedroom deck as a Garden? What will this require and can we scrounge up supplies rather than purchase them? If so, do we need to build shelfs or other items to maximize space and light?

I need to learn about tropical gardening? Where to find books on this? I guess I will start with the library and online sources?

I want to find out more about storage of foods in tropical enviroments. We could I guess, find a big freezer, which everyone seems to say is the way to keep things dry and the humidity out... but freezers use LOTS of energy, are big areas and are not really cost efficent for a small apartment, I guess one of the only solutions is to vacuum pack, so where do I find a vacuum packing machine?

Well, those are my memes on renewal....

Simply

K

Going Home For Vacation?

So, we have committed, we are going back to the States for 2 weeks this summer. One of the big plans is to go through our storage shed, get rid of stuff that has been sitting there for 6 years now, and determine what to keep, toss and what to ship back to Singapore.

Some things I want to bring back are some of my books on Simple Living, Money and Earth Stewardship. I also want to bring back my plates, my china and my silver.

We also have a rug, that is currently on the floor at my mom's house, that needs to find its way to our living room and to cushion our toes.

I also want our pots and pans, that way we can start cooking on good stuff, rather than on plastic coated teflon pans.

Well, we also can take some time and throw out lots of stuff as well. An adventure for sure!

Not Feeling Simple

Worked a 14 hour day yesterday. Not the kind of simple life I envision. Work, for the sake of work is ok and all, if you are making valuable contributions to society.

Well, arguing over the liability cap for third party infringement... not what I deem to be contributing to society's betterment.

Ok, so my little plants that the kids planted on Earth day are sprouting away. The lettuce seems to be a no-show, but the cat nip and egg plant are going gang busters. Time to do some pruning... selective kill I guess -and who said that vegetarians are no-harm! :-)

More soon from the land of oz.

doubts and fears

A personal post today. A bit confused, full of stress, our life seems to change in directions we are not always prepared for. I am starting an online class for art journaling. Written Down. I have always journalled through out various times in my life, and I have not done it recently, although these blogs are the online version of journaling. Anyway, many of the fellow classmates are bigtime full on published artists and scrapbookers. This is pretty intimidating to a art newby. (see my post on those issues over on the Far Flung blog).

I guess my insecurities above are sort of being fed by a whole host of issues. Jeff's job transition. My impending travel schedule of 3 weeks next month. Plans to go home in June to see family and friends.

A day filled with doubts and fears about my future, my dreams, my life.

We will return to your regularly scheduled programming tomorrow.

Thanks for reading.

K