The Breadth and Depth of Depp

Hi all! I’m currently taking the time out of my day to show the Maternal Parental the versatility of Johnny Depp’s acting talents. As we all know, they are quite prodigious.

 

So far today, we have watched Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl and Benny & Joon. The Maternal Parental was pleasantly surprised by the latter, having panned it as a movie she would not like based solely on how the cover art looked on the DVD. The former movie was actually requested by her to look at today. She’s done a full 180 from being completely frightened of it to really enjoying the story, including Captain Jack Sparrow.

 

She’s presently taking a break between movies. Right now, it’s a toss up between Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and The Corpse Bride for the next film to watch. I have others but, somehow, I know she’ll gravitate towards the ones with Johnny Depp.

 

Today also happens to be my friend’s birthday. Happy Birthday, Sistercrow! Your gift will be in the mail within seven days.

 

I’m not doing much else tonight. Just up to the usual of knitting and crocheting. I’m also still in the midst of replying to all those people who’ve sent me messages. I’m a little over halfway through them all even as new replies come in.

 

Having a fancy for The Kurgan, I decided to get The Highlander as well as a few other films. As soon as I can get more money for my labor, I’m going to be buying series one and two of the now defunct Carnivàle. As you can probably tell from my choices of film and television, I’m a Clancy Brown fan and I have been for a very long time. Fantastic actor. I’m even going to see if I can chase down that episode of The Outer Limits he was in called Afterlife.

 

Well, that’s my Saturday night. Good night, all!

Safe Journey Back To Stardust, Leonard Nimoy

 

Leonard Simon Nimoy – March 26, 1931 – February 27, 2015

Progress on Rainstorm II

Admittedly, I haven’t been knitting as much as I could have. Even so, I think I’ve made good progress.

 

I am hoping to have a pair of socks by the end of the week. Which, I can assure you, at my present rate is quite hilarious. I’ll manage somehow.

 

However, tonight I am taking a break from knitting to rest my index finger and read Girl With The Dragon Tattoo. It’s such a short book, I feel obligated to finish it in one night’s reading. I’m on page 100 right now, which leaves me 465 pages to go. I like it so far. I’m a Horticulture nerd, so the beginning didn’t bore me like I’ve heard it bored others. That’s all I’ll allude to without giving you spoilers.

 

Today was unusual in that I fertilized my plants today. It’s the first feeding of the year. I figured, the Sun is shining on them for longer periods of time, they’re going to need something to draw on if they’re going to grow to their full potentials. I fertilized everything except for the plants downstairs, the plants in the bathroom and the pineapple/Minneola tangelo seed potential. Yes, it’s much earlier than I’d intended on fertilizing but, with the way they’re all shooting up, I figured they were all early growers/bloomers.

 

The Saintpaulia leaves I propagated a few days ago are holding up well in the makeshift greenhouse I’ve created for them. Well done me. I’m hoping that, within two month’s time, I’ll have some new babies to separate. By then, I should have several more. I’m quite addicted to African Violets now. Even the pink ones have their appeal and I find the color pink to be hideous in most other circumstances. You’d certainly never catch me wearing it but you might catch me buying a ruffled pink Saintpaulia plant.

 

That’s enough rambling. Now, for some book reading!

Taking Classes

Sort of…

 

Thank you, MIT for starting OpenCourseWare as a thing. Due to your generosity, I am able to take classes I wouldn’t normally be able to take due to the Agoraphobia. Specifically, I am taking:

 

Fundamentals of Biology
Introduction to Biology
Introductory Biology
Introduction to Psychology
Atomic and Optical Physics
Quantum Physics I and II
The Early Universe
Exploring Black Holes: General Relativity and Astrophysics
Engineering Mathematics: Linear Algebra and ODEs
Geometric Folding Algorithms
STEM Concept Videos
Engineering Dynamics
Chemistry Behind the Magic
Introduction to Algorithms
Probabilistic Systems Analysis and Applied Probability
Linear Algebra Recitations
Discrete Stochastic Processes
Differential Equations
Introduction to Computer Science and Programming
Introductory Quantum Mechanics II

 

I’m going to be very contentedly busy over the next few weeks. My computer choked several times getting the videos for the classes, but I managed it in the end.

 

In addition to this, I’ve started a pair of socks. Called Rainstorm II, these are the first non-Lion Brand wool socks I’ve made. I got the yarn from Knit Picks. It’s Stroll Hand-painted in the colorway Crystal Hand-painted.

 

 

I am doing them two at a time, so that I can have a pair of socks by the end of the labor. I’m working primarily at night, though, I may make this my carrying project for when I leave the house to go on appointments. They are so soft…

 

I’m also working on Kathleen’s Other Doily. Her Coffee Table Topper is coming along quite well.

 

 

In addition to all of that, I’m still working on Bruce’s Gloves. The good news is, I’m out of the ribbing and into the body. The bad news is, I cannot really see the black yarn at night. I mean, I can see its physical form on my table but I cannot determine definition of the yarn thread. I think it might be time to see the eye doctor.

 

 

Glaucoma and Cataracts both run in my family. So, it’s only a matter of time, I suppose, until I’m diagnosed. I’m really hoping for it to be much later in my life.

 

So far, so good on the sleeping front. I have been sleeping a normal amount of hours. I’ve been getting restful sleep and no nightmares of a PTSD nature. Wow, that medication really works!

 

About the only things I really need to do are get back in contact with people I haven’t contacted since this whole thing began and clean my room.

 

The communication is coming people. Prepare yourselves. Later!

Finished Valerie’s Hobbes Doll

This completion time is a new record for me. I started working on it on the 12th of February and completed it on the 15th of February.

 

The result of my efforts may be seen below.

 

 

During this endeavor, I’ve discovered just how quickly I can crochet when motivated. I’ve also rekindled my Kurgan crush. I spent a good portion of the making of this doll watching Highlander fan videos featuring The Original Kurgan. *hides head in shame*

 

Anyway…

 

For my next project, I’m going to be working on Kathleen’s other doily. This particular doily is called the Coffee Table Topper and I’ve done the pattern before. So, it shouldn’t take me so long to do. An example of my past work is posted below.

 

 

The last time I did this doily in a short amount of time, it took me from 11 April 2014 until 15 April 2014 to complete it. I’m hoping to beat that time. No real reason as to why I want to do it quicker beyond wanting to challenge myself.

 

After I complete this project, I’m going to bust out Bruce’s gloves once and for all before doing the black Cosmos Doilies. Then, I’m going to work on socks for myself and the Maternal Parental. This will be the second time I’ve attempted four socks at a time and I’m pretty nervous about trying but if Melissa Morgan-Oakes can do three at a time with no problems, I’m sure I can do four with some considerable effort.

 

 

Lucky for me, the Maternal Parental and I are about the same shoe size give or take half an inch. I can size them for me and, through the magic of the washing machine, they can shrink to her size. The Maternal Parental wants green socks, so I’m making hers using Lion Brand’s Sock-ease in the colorway Green Apple. This will be the first socks I make exclusively for her that are in sock weight yarn. The only socks I made for her thus far have been in worsted/aran weight.

 

For myself, I’m going to restart Sunshine using Knit Picks Stroll Tonal Sock Yarn I saved from my own enthusiastic stupidity. Without thinking, I wound most of my sock yarn into center pull cakes…double stranded…and thought I was okay. Well, I wasn’t okay. As it turns out…this little thing called Static Electricity also applies to me. I’m not as special as I thought I was. I started unwinding the first center pull skein and I watched, horrified, as my reasonably priced, yet still expensive, yarn began sticking and tangling up the more I pulled it out.

 

So yeah. Most of my sock yarn is like this now but there’s a workaround that I think will work. I’m going to use the outer end and let it roll around in a bowl or two while I knit. It should negate the effects somewhat. Incidentally, the colorway I’m using is Springtime, which is one of the yarns I painstakingly untangled before my mind finally grasped that I could just feed the yarn into my projects from the outside of the cake. I thought, with this cold and snowy weather we’re having in the North American East that it was inappropriate enough to warrant a few chuckles. 

 

Now, for the work. I’m going to go get cracking on Kathleen’s doily. It won’t get done unless I do it.

 

Later, Earthlings!

Slouching Towards Completion

Hello, Everyone!

 

First, I would like to say Happy Darwin Day to everyone reading this.

 

 

Now, to the projects I’ve been working on. Project number one mentioned in this post is the Cosmos Doily Madness. I am fifty percent completed with that particular lunacy. As I cannot work with the black thread at night without hurting my eyes and giving myself a migraine, I have decided to do it during daylight hours.

 

In the meantime, and to give my hands a rest, I have decided to make my new friend, Valerie’s, Hobbes doll. In the interest of full disclosure, I am not getting paid to make this doll. I just really like creating them. Valerie sent me the yarn, felt and fiber fill. All I have to do is put it together and ship the completed doll back to her. Easy peasy.

 

 

So far, I’ve got the head complete after a few hours of working on it. I gave myself a week to get the doll done but, if I’m going at this rate, I should have it done in two days. We’ll just have to see. I have the arms, legs, ears, tail, muzzle, features and accessories to make and sew on before I’m completed.

 

So far, on the new medication regimen, I am doing exceptionally well. No PTSD nightmares so far, no mood swings, etc. Hardly any anxiety. I’m happy and I hope it stays this way or improves. I have yet to test the boundaries of the agoraphobia but I’m hopeful that this feeling of calm will stay with me.

 

I did do some gardening today. Specifically, I am making another attempt at propagating the African Violets in my care. I took a leaf from each one of the two I have and dusted both with some rooting hormone. Then, I let the pot soak in some water for a few minutes before draining it, putting it under a 32oz clear plastic container and inside a DVD+RW spindle case. Both plants have a lovely purple color. The first is a first time home picture of the older of the two. I got it on 24 April 2014 for .27 cents from the supermarket. It was on its last legs when I bought it and now it’s thriving.

 

 

The second is one I just got a few days ago. I paid $3.99 for it and I think, upon looking at the new flowers coming in, that it’s either a color changing variety or there are two different plants in the pot, each with its own color. Some flowers are coming out lavender and others are coming up indigo. I’ll know for sure in a few months when I feel its ready to be repotted.

 

 

Anyway, from these two plants, I’ve taken one leaf each. Using the method shown on YouTube by M3rma1d, I augmented it a bit by using rooting hormone. This is purely an experiment to see if I can get it to grow at all. I thought that Sansevieria plants couldn’t be grown in water but I’ve managed to do it. I also thought that, once an Aloe Vera was decapitated, the top was unusable. Proved myself wrong with that one too. I currently have one growing downstairs in the living room window along with all the other spillover plants and propagation experiments.

 

If I do manage to get it growing, I will, of course, spread the love around to local people I know. I’m trying to convince the Maternal Parental to take one. We’ll see. 

 

Well, it’s long past due for me to take my medication. Later.

Better Living Through Chemicals

Met my new p-doc on Friday. He’s a nice person. He’s also highly effective at mixing the anti-lunacy cocktail of medications I require for what passes for normal in my world. Apparently, someone forgot to put down at That Place the fact that I have Bipolar Disorder. As you can probably tell from this blog, I don’t exactly keep that little factoid hidden from prying eyes. Especially when those prying eyes happen to be medical professionals tasked with the heavy burden of treating my illnesses.

 

For the record, I was diagnosed (at different times) with Bipolar Disorder II, PTSD, and Generalized Anxiety Disorder with Agoraphobia becoming a problem child in recent years. Not a secret in the slightest. So, to have it divulged twice that not only was I not being fully treated for my illnesses but that my records have yet to transfer from the other place is getting me a little hot under the collar.

 

Thankfully, Doc L set me straight upon hearing from my own mouth what was going on with me. He adjusted the two medications I take, Aripriprazole and Escitalopram, as well as adding in a new medication called Prazosin. For the first time in a long time, I haven’t had nightmares, haven’t felt super anxious and haven’t felt majorly depressed. I haven’t had a single flashback since Saturday. For the first time in quite a while, I feel motivated to get stuff done, including writing and crafting. I’ve even been sleeping better since I first took the new regimen of medication on Saturday.

 

It’s early days, but I feel hopeful about this new cocktail.

 

In other related news, due to the hypersomnia, I gained weight despite my exercising like a neurotic freakazoid. Even though I moved around quite a bit, sleeping upwards of 12 –14 hours a day took its toll on my atmospheric displacement. To that end, I’m cutting any and all junk food from my intake of food. I’m also halving my sugar intake. This will doubtless send MyFitnessPal for a tailspin of thinking I’m starving myself but, let me assure you, I’m not. I eat to satiation everyday, without fail. I just tend to eat low calorie foods when I’m not gorging myself on tea.

 

I’ll have to very carefully count what and how much I eat to ensure I don’t set off the alarms of the site.

 

I’d like to take this opportunity to thank each and everyone of you who sent kind words to me during my recovery period. I’m incredibly grateful for your friendship and hold it close to my heart. *giant hugs for you all*

 

In the realm of Knitting and Crocheting, I am on round twelve of the second doily and no further along with the gloves. That changes today. I’m not feeling like my world is spiraling out of control anymore, so back to work. Happily, I’ve also got the Hobbes doll I’m making for a new friend to look forward to crafting. As soon as the stuff my new friend mailed to me gets here, I’ll get started on it. I should have it turned around and ready to leave for its forever home by 1 March.

 

While I was recuperating, I had a chance to watch a few concerts. Specifically, Marilyn Manson’s Guns, God and Government compilation show and Queen’s Live Aid set from the mid-80s. Both concerts really served to lift my spirits and get my mood on the right track. Yay.

 

Today’s agenda is to finish watching LOTR – The Extended Edition, baking two loaves of bread, finishing one doily before starting on the next one, making progress with the gloves and last but certainly not least, exercising after carefully counting my calories. That’s all for now. Thanks for reading. Later!