Friday 25 July 2014

Friday!

C'mon, everyone likes Fridays, right? Unless you have to work on the weekends, then I guess Fridays can be a bit of a bummer. I feel for you, I've done my time in retail hell and can appreciate the drudgeries. Actually there's a comic strip that does rather well in retail hell's depiction, at almost all levels:

Retail

Hilarious, but it also brings back far too many memories *lol*

Ok, down to the good stuff (but I'm not ego-centric, really *lol*):

Dad's doing better now that he's back on steriods (the oral version of Prednisone, in case you were wondering. The inhaler version is commonly used in Asthma patients). Actually, he's reached his 2-week mark already and has started cutting back on the steriods. The trick is to wean yourself off of them so you don't go into withdrawl-like symptoms. Doing good so far. Doc decided to increase the Methotrexate as Dad's doing so well, but it really knocks the stuffin's out of you (the drug, I mean...well, so does the R.A., but that's a different story - or a different part of the same story...ugh! Whatever! I'm rambling now).

Things are busy on the work-front. Didn't get the job I applied for, but now there's 2 more I'm considering. Someone here at H.Q. was also nice enough to supply me with a contact in a different area than where I am now, so good things will possibly come of that too - as in a possible future chance for a position in said different department. In other words, things are actually looking up for a change - the light at the end of the tunnel is not a train heading right for me! *lol*

This really nice and very talented lady will soon be hosting a "mini sew-along" (her term). Knowing my love of vintage fashion, I'll be seriously considering joining in on this one (FINALLY, says Oona, some actual SEWING being considered?? *LOL*). If I do, I'll try and remember to take pics (and post them) as I stumble my way along. A Few Threads Loose is just a terrific blog in general, and Anna's etsy shop has far too many goodies to list here.

If you're a book-lover like me, surf on over and check out Jessica's little question and answer "interview" with herself this past Thursday (July 24th...wow, the 24th already?!). We share too much in common... ;)

Well, time to get back to work! And as Rick Mercer likes to do on his program "The Mercer Report" ... "If you happen to be in St. Jacob's this weekend, why not check out the St. Jacob's & Aberfoyle Model Railway? There you'll see such sights as 'Bode's Well', or a perfect replica of 'Sam and Ella's Restaurant', and maybe you'll even spot the friendly lawyers at 'Dewey, Cheatham & Howe Law Offices'. Goodnight, folks!" Really terrific show and a very terrific Canadian, is Rick Mercer. And I'm not kidding about the model railroad, my friend here at the office saw it and it's amazing! Oh, and the sights I mentioned in the model railway setup? They're real, I've seen the pics my friend took - what an incredible sense of humour the builder had, am I right??


TTFN

Friday 4 July 2014

Need I say more?

All hail the great and mighty Oonaballoona!

Aaaarrrgh! Stupid firewall at work!! Can't post the picture of the sewing challenge button!

Perhaps you can see it here if not on her blog...with my apologies for being so rude as to directly link to an image hosted on Flickr (bad Mugsy, bad, bad!!)

Anywho, check out her blog, she's a really great gal with mad fashion sense & sewing skills - hence, "Oonapallooza!" *lol* Check out the button on the left hand side of her blog, and get crackin' on those amazing sewing projects of many gorgeous colours! :)

TTFN

P.S. Many hugs to my first "official" follower, Diamondback! Yay!

Mugsy

Thursday 3 July 2014

Enough about me...

I'm a fairly boring subject, as you've started figuring out by now *lol*

Papa Mugsy is doing better, according to his RA specialist (that's Rheumatoid Arthritis, BTW). His inflammitory numbers are down by almost half (47 down to 26), and in general things are improving. He's still in a fair amount of pain, complete with "reminder jabs" in one hand, but we've been noticing in the past three weeks that we can see knuckles again, so no more "sausage fingers" (for the most part). The Doc decided to increase the dose of the meds he's on (Methotrexate and Hydroxychloroquine - can't remember the dosage, sorry - and Folic Acid for funzies as the Methotrexate can really suck the folic acid out of you), I'm guessing to aggressively kick this things ass. This time. The Doc did agree to put Dad back on steroids for a bit to get him over the hump, as they really seemed to help last time he was on them - it was almost a 180, he was so much better even in attitude. Can't be on them for very long due to the long-term effects, unfortunately. However, it should be long enough to allow the meds to really kick in and do their work - he's only been on them (not the steroids, the other two mentioned previously) for about 5 weeks, and they can take 6 - 8 weeks to really take effect. There are many websites you can Googe to learn more about R.A., but not very many sites for men - this is a disease that affects more women than men, and it seems that women get it worse than men as well (generally speaking). One website / blog that is good is Rheumatoid Arthritis Guy as well as another website / blog called Living With RA for a male persprective of this disease. As far as technical information, I'd suggest a site like WebMD or perhaps the Arthritis Foundation in your area.

As you've noticed, my focus has changed a little. I still plan on posting sewing stuff (vintage and modern, but more of a focus on vintage), a little nail art (there's so much out there already by some very talented people), as well as my life in general. But I'm adding updates on Papa Mugsy as well, as there seems to be very little information on how R.A. from a male perspective. Once I can talk with Papa Mugsy about my idea, perhaps I can convince him to add the occasional update of his own, or at least allow me to give more information about him as related to his R.A. (no guarantees, though - as you can tell, I'm shy so I must have gotten it from somewhere *lol*)

Anywho, that's all for today. have a good one!

TTFN