Give Away!!!

I have a BIG birthday coming up on the 10th. Rocketman says that they are all big but I'm digressing. In honor of my BIG birthday, I'm going to give away this necklace I made. It is made using lilac and light chartreuse cording with a Chinese coin replica.


Here is a shot of the entire necklace. The only thing you need to do is leave a comment on this post. Also, leave an email or some way for me to contact you. I will randomly draw a winner on my birthday at 10:00am CST. Good luck everyone!!!

On my IPod I have some of my favorite Christmas songs. This one came on while I was working on this post. It is by The Blenders who just happen to be from the Twin Cities also. It's called "When It Snows." It seemed funny to be listening to it as my feet are freezing trying to finish this post. It's all of 7 degrees out.

Good Friends!

CHA has always been a place for me to see my good friends in the craft industry. Of all the people in my life, these people get me. They understand what drives me and my crafting passion. One of my very best friend's is Linda Wyszynski. Her needlework can be found in magazines such as "Create and Decorate" and "Craft N Things." Her needlework talent blows me away. She is also great for giving me sound advice and I always listen to what she has to say. Note to self: I need to do this more with Rocketman. While we were in South Korea, she moved out of state so we don't have our Chili's get togethers quite as often although we did manage to do it during CHA.


I had breakfast with "The Queen of Crafts" Carol Duvall, Kelly Ehrlich the executive producer of "The Carol Duvall Show" and Mary O'Neill. Carol is back and it's going to be with a presence on the web. Finally you will be able to see old episodes of "The Carol Duvall Show." There are also plans for new ones too! It will be the place to go for everything crafts.

If you want to be kept in the loop, email icraftwithcarol@yahoo.com to keep up with the latest news.


Of course, I had to get a picture with Carol. She looks fantastic and we caught up on so much.


I wanted a picture of Kelly so she took my camera and snapped this herself. I think she may have a future in photography. I don't know how she did it so quickly.

I got to walk the show with Holly who was my first producer on "The Carol Duvall Show." She is making a career as a fabulous beadmaker. She even teaches classes. We walked the CHA show and Rocketman was only too happy to take a break. We topped the night off with dinner at The Cheesecake Factory.

Due to Rocketman's flying, we were upgraded to First Class on the return trip. I was surprised to see how little leg room there was. But Rocketman reminded me that this was not an international flight like I was used to. Unfortunately, we didn't sit together and Rocketman was sitting directly behind me also in a window seat. The gentleman who was to sit next to me came on board and saw that we were together and gave up his aisle seat so we could sit together. Chivalry is not dead I'm happy to report.

We came back to negative temperatures and sore legs. I still need to organize all the stuff I came home with. Right now it's all over my craft table.

Busy Day at CHA

The first full day of CHA was jam packed with activities for me. We got a good nights sleep and ate breakfast at a local "Denny's." The first thing I had to do at the show was set up my display at the "Designer Showcase." It ran from 12-5 and was open only to editors, manufacturers and publishers.


The next stop for me was a book signing at the F + W booth. I met some really interesting people. One lady who was Asian asked me if she looked Korean. I gave her my honest opinion and told her no. She said, "Good, because people keep asking me if I'm Korean when in fact, I am Chinese." I also had someone question whether I did indeed ever live in South Korea and to prove it she wanted me to speak in Korean. I said a little Korean which apparently satisfied her.

I also demoed a few of the maedeup knots in between signings.



I also brought my dojong (Korean name stamp) and after I signed each book, I stamped it with my name in Korean.

It had been a long time since I've met with people at a show and it brought back memories of all those craft shows I did years ago. I loved hearing what people had to say about maedeup.

The second book signing was at R & M West Coast Enterprise. I showed up five minutes early and was surprised to find a line waiting for me. I also wore maedeup which is a great way of advertising.

From 5-7 I returned to the Designer Showcase and greeted manufacturers, editors and publishers. I had a lot of great feedback and inquiries on my showcase. We will see what develops from these contacts.

Rocketman showed up promptly at 7 which happened to be when the Minnesota Vikings were in overtime. He had his dad calling to keep him updated. We packed up my showcase and returned to our room. Dinner was with my friend Linda and her husband. We went to Chili's but had trouble finding it. We decided to stop at a 7-11 to ask. There was a homeless man sitting outside against the building and that's where Linda's husband went to ask for directions. The man gave us great directions and received a tip from Linda's husband in return.

More tomorrow!

Slippery Start to CHA

We flew out to Anaheim, CA on Saturday morning. Rocketman being the thoughtful husband loaded the car while I got ready and pulled the car into the driveway to make it easier for me to get into the car. I came out the garage door to find the car at the end of the driveway with the tires spilling.

Apparently while we slept the night before it rained which turned our driveway into a sheet of ice. I started to walk carefully to the car and fell immediately on to my bottom. As soon as I hit the ground I began to slide down our driveway which has a slight incline. I finally came to a stop halfway down the driveway. I tried to stand to no avail and cried to Rocketman that I wanted to go home. He also tried to get out of the car to help me only to fall on his behind.

He watched helplessly as I crawled on my stomach back up the driveway to retrieve my purse. I sat up and to the car. I could not even get to the passenger side so I crawled over the driver's seat to the passenger's seat. Rocketman got in and we wondered what the rest of the drive would be like.

Luckily, the side streets were not bad and the highways were clear. We parked in a remote parking lot and took a shuttle to the airport. I anticipated that we would run into delays at the airport with the new security but we were pleasantly surprised to get through everything pretty quickly.

I had used Mapquest to print out directions from the Orange County Airport to our hotel. The directions were really easy and said that our hotel was only 3 miles from the airport. How was I to know that Mapquest is unreliable. Rocketman reminded me of this as we helpless tried to navigate from the inaccurate map from Mapquest.

But we did find (on accident) an In N Out Burger. Something we both have been craving since our last visit which was three years ago. Frustration gave way to pure joy! We found a parking space and hurried to the order counter.

You can see Rocketman on the left side of the picture ordering. Their drive-thru is just as busy as the inside.

Here is a picture of their menu. Simple but satisfying. I've heard there is a secret menu you can also order from if you are in the know. I just love their cheeseburgers.

I asked for a cheeseburger with no tomato but it came with tomato. It was easy enough to remove. I don't know what they put into their meat but it is the most delicious hamburger I have ever eaten.

Feeling full and satisfied we returned to the rental car ready to tackle (and ask for directions) to the hotel.

Reminiscent of my Korean days, I took out my trusty camera to take a picture of In N Out. I pulled out my camera from my purse and proceeded to drop it. I let out a huge gasp. I picked it up and turned it on. No picture on the screen. I walked to the car turning it off and on, fiddling with the buttons. Nothing.

This was a picture I took with my broken camera. I looked out the tiny view finder. I burst out in tears. Rocketman said that it was ok and we would get a new one but I didn't want a new one I wanted this one. This camera had been with me through all my Korean adventures. This camera helped document our stay in South Korea. This camera that was my constant friend was gone.

Rocketman had to stop twice to ask for directions and we did finally find our hotel. I went to the front desk with Rocketman wearing my sunglasses due to my redden, swollen eyes. Once in the hotel room, Rocketman tried to see if he could make it work but it wasn't to be. He connected to the Internet and priced out my exact camera and came up with a price of around $200.00.

I met up with my friend Linda shortly after I got to our room and we did the CHA Super Show. I was surprised at how many people were there. It was packed. We saw a lot of rubber stamps for sale among other things. I love rubber stamps. We then met our husband's for the CHA reception and ate cheese, crackers and nachos. We went back to our room done for the night and exhausted from everything.

Tomorrow, my first day at CHA!

Cheap Trick!

Growing up as a teenager in the 70's in Rockford, Illnois you had to know about Cheap Trick. Hometown boys making it big!

The drummer of Cheap Trick, Bun E. Carlos (Brad Carlson) came from a large family and they went to my church. He came to church once that I remember and I did get an autograph while acting like a giddy fan. I spent my teen years at church, friends with two of his siblings.

His mom, Vi, was a riot and a real character. She even called him Bun. When I got married in 1980, it was Vi who we wanted to play the piano at our wedding. I was over at her house deciding what music to play when Bun E. walked in. He came over and I was introduced and his mom pointed to a stack of pictures and albums for him to autograph. He just signed and left the room. I'll never forget it. She also played and sang "Dream Police" for me while they were still recording it.

I also knew Rick Nielson's dad. He was a big supporter of The Salvation Army which was my church. He owned a music store and when my trombone would get dinged up (yes, I played trombone in The Salvation Army Band), I would bring it over to his store and he would fix it for free. I still have that trombone.

Here are some of my favorite Cheap Trick songs:

The Constant Chef?

Many years ago when the Internet was still new, I followed and participated in several news groups. One was called rec.food.cooking. The subject came up about a restaurant in California that served a dish called Jack's Killer Shrimp. I was going through old files and found the recipe that was posted on that news group back in 1995. I had never made it before and with Rocketman home for a while I am cooking more.



Jack's Killer Shrimp

2 quarts chicken broth
2 tablespoons dried rosemary
2 teaspoons thyme
1 teaspoon ground black pepper
1 small head of garlic, cloves peeled and chopped
2 teaspoons fennel seed
A couple of dashes of Tabasco sauce
1/2 of a 6 ounce can tomato paste
Shrimp (I used about 1 pound)
French bread

Using a mortar and pestle, grind the rosemary, thyme and fennel seed. I didn't have one so I used a Ziplock bag and just pounded the heck out of it using a meat tenderizer.

Mix the ingredients in a pot. Simmer for about an hour or two. Just before serving, add the raw shrimp. Serve in bowls with French bread. Soak up the broth with the bread.

It was delicious and Rocketman had only one complaint. He wanted me to make it with rice as an accompaniment next time. He thought there just wasn't enough different things to eat. It was the shrimp with broth and bread. I think he has been in Korea too long and may have expected me to serve 6-10 side dishes. But I will make it again with rice.

Korean Commercials

Korean commercials rarely bored me. I never looked away when it was commercial time. Most of my favorite television shows(Korean dramas) ran for 45 minutes straight with the commercials saved for the last fifteen minutes. I found a bunch of my favorites on YouTube.

CHA CHA CHA

No, I'm not taking dance lessons. This weekend is the big CHA (Craft and Hobby Association) Tradeshow in Anaheim, California. I'll be flying out to do a couple of book signings and to check out the newest products in the world of crafts. I haven't attended for about three years so I'm so excited by crafting friends.

During the book signings I will also be demoing maedeup. I made the board above to show each of the maedeup knots from "Elegant Knotted Jewelry." If you are attending the show I'd love to see you. Here is my schedule:

Sunday January 24th -

12:30-1:30pm #4228 F+W Media

2-3pm #4212 R & M

Now for the song that keeps playing in my head. It's the Korean KPop group Jewelry and the song is "Baby, One More Time."

PIck-Me-Up

While shopping the other day with my sister, I found these sitting on a shelf in the dressing room area of the store. I just had to shake my head and laugh. I wish that was all that it took!

I was updating my IPod and I occasionally search for old songs that I want to add. This one had been on my list for years and it has finally become available on ITunes. WooHoo!!!

We Don't Have to Take Our Clothes Off by Jermaine Stewart:

Crafting with Noah

There is nothing better than crafting with my grandson, Noah. He will be four in April and it looks like he has inherited his love of crafting from his grandma. He also has a very talented poppa who loves to work in ceramics.


He was staying overnight at our house so we had plenty of time to create. First, he wanted to make his mama a necklace so I he went through my extensive bead stash and designed this necklace. I was really impressed with how picky he was with the beads he used. We used a beading tray to lay out the beads before he strung them.


He really wanted to paint and I don't have much in the way of paints in my craft room but he managed to find my stash of "Scribbles." I really didn't want to use them since they are for decorating clothing and if he would get any into his clothing, it would be there forever. But how can grandma say no when looking at a face like that. I decided to have him decorate washers with the "Scribble" paints.

He was very careful and picky about the colors he used.

We decided to take a toothpick to the paint to glam it up a little bit.

This is Noah working his magic with a toothpick. It was amazing how beautiful it looked.

He was so careful as he worked.

He ended up making three pendants: one for mama, one for papa and one for himself. Even Rocketman was impressed with how they turned out. It took most of the day to dry so we left them at my house for now.

Mandy

It was 1975, the year I fell in love with Barry Manilow. Don't worry, Rocketman has always known. "Mandy" was the song that introduced me to Barry's incredible voice and he still gives me shivers today.

I know that cats don't come when they are called like dogs. But recently I found out that if I sing a song and it's usually "Mandy" Louie will come running and jump on me and mew a really annoying mew like he's mad. I don't know if my singing sounds like a cat which very well could be the reason or if it is just the most annoying sound to a cat. Who knows.

This has been going on for the better part of a month when Rocketman sent me an email with the lyrics to "Mandy." He had been telling me that I was singing them wrong but I'm the Barry Manilow expert so I refused to listen to him.

Come to find out.............he was right. For 35 years I've been singing:
I remember all my life
Rain in Dallas, cold as ice

which really is
Raining down as cold as ice

Now that I thought about it and I never had, rain in Dallas, cold as ice doesn't make sense. But then when I look at any Stevie Nicks lyrics they don't make any sense to me either.

I still can't seem to sing it right but I'm trying. Maybe someday Barry will sing it to me but until then there is always YouTube:

Happy BIrthday Laura!!

Happy 25th Birthday Baby Girl!! We are so proud of you!

And When I Cook Badly This Can Happen

Rocketman bought me a Cuisinart food processor for Christmas. You may wonder where he would get an idea like that from but the heavy hint came from me. I've been making homemade soups and freezing single portions for him to take to work for lunch. It has been a much healthier lunch for him instead of the usual fast food he had been eating. The company cafeteria also leaves a lot to be desired and can be expensive.

The food processor would save me from chopping all those veggies with my increasing number of dulling knives. I still haven't figured out the right way to sharpen them so I haven't. Yesterday I was making a broccoli cheese soup and a minestrone. I had a lot of veggies to cut and also cheese to shred which was perfect for my new food processor.

I'm not one to look at the instructions so I started by using the metal blade attachment to cut some onions. I like my onions diced very small so I don't know they are there. A few pulses reduced the onion to mush but I put it into the soup because who would really notice that anyway. So when it came to the carrots, I knew I needed to put in the slicing blade which was round and fit on the top of the processor with an attachment.

I could not figure out how the attachment attached to the metal blade. It gets bad when I have to resort to looking at the instruction book. That was no help since it's wording was to attach one to the other and no pictures. Great, also the instruction book was about 1/4 instruction and 3/4 recipes. They also included a DVD so I put that in and watched. Again, the demonstrator said to attach one to the other and she should doing it on the DVD. Could I do it? NO! I tried off and on for hours and finally gave up and chopped everything by hand as usual.


The next disaster came after I made the broccoli soup and needed to blend it in the food processor. I took the soup and poured it carefully into the food processor. Before I even had a chance to turn it on, it started leaking soup all over the counter.


It was about then I notice that the the processor had a "Do Not Fill Above This Line" which happened to be about 1/4 from the bottom and I had filled it to the top. I quickly had to dump everything back in the pot.

I cleaned up the mess and then add the soup to the line to pulse it in shifts. Nada, nothing. I had it all lined up, the blade in the bottom and it wouldn't go. I dumped the soup back into the pot and lined everything up again to see if I could get it to work without the soup. Nope. The red light came up but it wouldn't pulse.

I gave up and waited for Rocketman to come home. He had a doctor's appointment with Dr. NBM (No Bedside Manner) and I was already is a foul mood but off we went. Poor guy, the entire trip which was about 15-20 minutes he heard all the details of my day with my new food processor. He felt so bad. The doctor's appointment went great and again Dr. NBM was cordial. Again, I wondered if he had been reading my blog.

On the way home we decided to eat dinner at a restaurant we hadn't been to in at least 10 years. I had gone recently with a girlfriend and the food was great. Who knew Happy Hour started at 4:00pm. The sign said to seat yourself and we found a booth. Poor Rocketman slammed his knee into the center post of the table as he climbed into the booth (it wasn't made for someone 6'5"). He was in pain and hungry. A waitress brought us menus and took our drink order. She came back right away with the Cokes and then disappeared.

Finally, another waitress cames and starts to wait on the booth in front of us that just came in (we had been waiting 10 minutes by now) and when she came by our booth, I said, "Excuse me, can you take our order." She just shooed me away. Rocketman and I were both really annoyed by then. She came back to the other booth and I told Rocketman to get ready with our coats because if she didn't come over to our booth next we would leave. She did come then and take our order but didn't seem happy to do so in the least.

With our order in, I then looked around the crowded bar area and restaurant and noticed that she seemed to be the only waitress in the whole place. The girl that had gave us menus and took our drink order had disappeared. So there was this one girl having to serve the Happy Hour guests and people like us who wanted to eat. I felt bad for her and now understood why she was so short with us.

Our food came and was delicious. Getting refills on our drinks was out of the question and getting the check was a wait. We ended up at the restaurant a lot longer than we had expected but that was fine. Time spent with Rocketman is always time well spent.

As soon as Rocketman came into the house, he went right to the food processor. In a split second he had the two pieces attached and had me do it myself so I would remember. You had to push a button to get them to lock together. He also figured out how to align the food processor and showed me what I had to do to make it work. What a guy! Some days I feel like a nut.

When I Cook Great...

When I cook something new and it turns out, I am surprised and thrilled. While cruising the Internet, I found Steamy Kitchen and this recipe for Korean Style Tacos. My friend Holly would lives out in the Los Angeles area has been telling me about the Kogi BBQ truck that Twitters where he is going to be and people line up for hours to get Korean BBQ on the go.

Steamy Kitchen had a recipe for Korean Style Tacos and when I saw that the ingredients were pretty basic. The only thing you would have to go to a Asian market for is the gochujang (red pepper paste) but I already has some.

I used the ingredients above which included a 1 pound pork roast that I had already slow cooked and pulled apart.


Wisked all the ingredients together.


Then added it to the pulled pork.

The recipe called for some cucumber pickles and I couldn't find any English or Japanese cucumbers so I just used some Romaine lettuce I had. I served them on a corn tortilla. Rocketman was SHOCKED by the taste. He couldn't believe I made them and they were so good. Remember, Rocketman has lived with my cooking for 30 years and it's not uncommon for a new recipe to spell disaster or a quick trip to Subway.

Wait until tomorrow's post to see the other side of my cooking.

New Craft Room

I moved my craft room from the basement to our son's old room. Rocketman painted it a lovely lavender and I'm over the moon about it. This is what it looks like from the doorway.


This is one of my work areas. I had to put up my posters from the South Korean drama "Boys Over Flowers."


I bought these garment racks over in South Korea and they are fantastic for holding my maedeup cording.

This is my other work area and you may recognize this table from my Korean blog. It is the one I garbage picked from my apartment building. It's in the tradition of Korean tables so it is low to the ground but I like to sit on the floor to work sometimes. It's good for the old knees and brings back many memories.

This is a shot of the closet which is filled with supplies.

Louie has already made himself at home. It was tough carrying everything up from the basement. My sister, nephew and niece came over to help move the heavy stuff. Rocketman can't lift for 6 weeks since his eye surgery.

I was in a Cult?

I wanted to take yoga when I lived in South Korea and my Korean girlfriend found a yoga place not too far from my apartment. It was called Dahn Yoga and it's discipline was based on brain movement or basically a whole lotta shaking along with with killer yoga moves. My class lasted 1 1/2 every day. It is nothing like U.S. yoga and sometimes I had to limp the entire one mile walk home.




This is a picture of Grace, one of my yoga teachers with myself. Dahn Yoga also has locations here in the States and recently was sued by former members. Here is the article. There is also a CNN report on Dahn Yoga found here. I was shocked to read and hear the allegations. I had been attending Dahn Yoga in Korea for over a year and never had any problems. I paid 90,000 won ($90US) a month and paid in three month installments. Occasionally they pressed for me to take special training which occurred over a weekend and was 300,000 won ($300US). I never attended since it would be entirely in Korean and besides I wasn't THAT into yoga.

Classes would be a little different every day so we weren't doing exactly the same thing. But every day we spent 20-30 minutes lying on our backs with our feet and hands up in the air shaking. It was an incredible workout. I was never healthier than when I lived in South Korea. I think it was the food I was eating (rich in vegetables and no red meat) and Dahn Yoga. It's been hard for me to keep up this lifestyle since we returned to the States.

My instructors even gave me additional massages to help my soreness. Most of the people in my class were in their 70's and I tried to keep up with them but failed miserably. I will be watching this story to see how it plays out.

Asian Pranks with a Favorite U.S. One Thrown In

When you wake up in the morning to a temperature of -14 without windchill, you can use a laugh. These are some of my favorite and I can watch them over and over and still laugh. Enjoy!

Mr. Choi

I have a lot of amusing stories of Mr. Choi on my Korean blog. I met him at my yoga class. He was the only one in the entire place that could speak English. What was most amazing to me was that until he had met me, he hadn't spoken English in 50 years. His English was excellent! He had spent time in the U.S. being trained by our army during his military service. He couldn't believe how advanced we were compared to South Korea at the time which was 1970.

This picture he had taken of us the first week we met. After yoga we went out to lunch at a dumpling restaurant. He had the waitress take a picture so he could prove to his friends that he really did know an American. Here is one of the funny stories I have with Choi.


I received this from Choi for a Christmas present. He knows how much I love Korean culture and I loved this business card holder. He loves American jazz which I know nothing about but I've sent him some CDs. I recently sent him a Michael Buble and he really like it.

I had his cell phone with me and if I ever had a problem, he was happy to help me. I wish I had him here sometimes. We will be visiting South Korea in a few months and I'm sure I'll be hanging out with him and his lovely wife. She is one fantastic cook!

In case you wanted to know his age, he just went to his 50th high school reunion and yes, he really wanted to be my boyfriend!

Speaking of Korean men, I discovered another singer I love, Lee Ji Hoon. Poor Rocketman, next business trip to Korea will have him hunting for Lee Ji Hoon CDs. This is my favorite song at the moment:

Long Time, No See!

This picture is of Rocketman right after surgery. He had to keep his face down until we left the surgical center. He's been a trooper. We went in the following day for a post-surgical appointment with Dr. NBM(no beside manner). First a technician wanted him to read the eye chart which he responded something like, "what eye chart." That progressed to a huge letter "E" put in front of that eye which he also couldn't see. She tried holding up fingers, nada. Finally, she just waved her arm up and down. Yes, he could see something moving up and down. This is a normal response to the surgery but we didn't find that out until later in the exam and I was a little freaked. As the doctor came into the room Rocketman said, "Long time, no see." That got a laugh out of all of us because it has been since June 2009 that he has been able to see out of his right eye. If I had thought much more on it I would have cried.

A wonderful surprise was that Dr. NBM was kind and compassionate. He told us that his vision should settle down in the next month but it will take 5-6 months to gauge his final outcome. I wonder if Dr. NBM had read my blog.


This is a pile of Rocketman's books. He manages to read five or so simultaneously. It's a good reflection of his personality. His books seem to end up on the floor by our bed or in the family room. He's not sure how it happens either. I piled them up to take this picture but I'm sure they will be scattered on the floor by tonight.


I can only handle reading one book at a time and I keep the books that I haven't read yet in my night stand or on the shelf in my closet. I love books! I love the feel of holding a good book and the smell. I'll never be a "Kindle girl". I'm presently reading "Hotel On The Corner of Bitter and Sweet." It's really good and one that I picked up at Target. I can't seem to leave Target without picking up a book. My guilty pleasures are romance novels. I love them. I can just loose myself in the characters and be swept away.

My Every tine! Love For You!

This is sung by one of the stars of "Boys Over Flowers," Lee Min Ho. It was the hottest Korean drama at the time we left South Korea last April. It had two original soundtrack CDs and a third by the F4 guys from the show. Lee Min Ho was my favorite with his permed hair and cute smile. I didn't know he could sing and he sings a song called "My Everything."

But in Korea there isn't a "th" sound so he sings a "t". Every time I play it, I smile and Rocketman who has heard it countless times loves it when I say to him, "You're my every tine, love for you" just like in the song.

I remember when I was getting tutored in Korean. I lasted a month and it was grueling. My teacher would get frustrated with my Korean pronounciation so I know it would be hard to go from Korean to English. Hangul (Korean language) doesn't have an "f" so coffee is coppee.

This song right now reminds me of my Rocketman as he goes under the knife again under the diligent (being sarcastic) knife of Dr. NBM (no bedside manner). I'm sure I won't see the doctor before this surgery either because when he was having his detached retina surgery I was surprised that they were going to operate without the doctor talking to me beforehand for a little reassurance. I told the nurse I wanted to see the doctor before he lifted a scapel to Rocketman and Dr. NBM was none to pleased to have to come out and talk to me beforehand. He does seem to have a hard time hiding his true feelings.

Enjoy!



This is another song called "Sometimes" from the F4 album which shows highlights from "Boys Over Flowers."

Third Times The Charm

Rocketman's exact words. He had a follow-up visit with the doctor that performed the cataract surgery on December 30th. His sight in the detached eye (for lack of a better description) was still horrible even after cataract surgery. She was very concerned with swelling she saw in the back of his eye and told him he needed to see his retinologist ASAP. It wasn't an emergency like right this minute but it was advised to get in the next day. He came home really dazed and confused by it all.

Luckily for Rocketman, his sister-in-law (my sister) is a eye doctor so I called her immediately and had him describe exactly what the doctor said. He then gave the phone back to me and she said to call the retinologist immediately. This was serious. He had had a late in the day appointment as it was and now it was after 6 pm.

I phoned the emergency number for the retinologist and left a detailed message including that two eye doctors felt that Rocketman needed to seen the next day which was New Years Eve. He called back and talked to Rocketman and we were to be at his office by 9 the following morning but he really didn't think it was a big deal.

Before I continue the story I want to comment on this particular retinologist. He is a magna cum laude graduate of Harvard and I'm sure a very smart man but from the first visit he has hovered between being condescending to outright insensitive. He may be very skilled at his discipline but it's clear to me that he didn't have any courses on patient treatment or he just doesn't care. He never hide his feelings about patients who are engineers which Rocketman happens to be. He dismissed and didn't care about our concerns from the moment of Rocketman's detached retina until now.

I wasn't happy when I heard we had to go back to see Dr. NBM (no bedside manner) but I went hoping at least he may have a tad of compassion for Rocketman who has not seen out of his left eye since June and his right eye has also decided to get worse for some reason. We were put in a room right away and Rocketman along with myself (I just can't keep my mouth shut when in a doctor's office) repeated everything that he was told by the cataract doctor. His eyes were dilated and we waited for Dr. NBM.

He came in and looked at Rocketman's chart. The first words out of his mouth were, "You know this COULD had waited till next week." I bit my cheeks to keep my mouth shut. He then looked in Rocketman's eye a long time and said he had scar tissue on his macula. He needed surgery to remove it. It is a serious surgery called a vitrectomy. We asked questions and he answered. I asked about travel since Rocketman is going to CHA with me in a few weeks. Dr. NBM asked where we were going and I told him LA. He then asked me why and I said that I had a craft trade show. He said flippantly, "Oh like scrapbooking and beading." I said, "Yeah, right." My blood pressure had to be pretty high by then.

He wanted Rocketman to get an I.V. die x-ray to confirm how bad the scarring was. All told we were there four hours. I did meet a lot of interesting people again. Two older guys were telling their retina stories to each other to see who's was better. Neither of them had had a retinal detachment but I kept my mouth shut. I met another older lady that was telling me how she had to be careful not to send out her bills to soon. Sometimes her social security check came after the bills hit the bank and what a mess that was. She then asked my how our Christmas was and I told her that it stunk. She asked why so I told her about the intestinal bug we had. Rocketman is still mad at me for saying anything. He thought a quick, "We had a great Christmas" would have sufficed. He should know me by now, I wasn't going to lie. He just thought I didn't need to go into the details so much.

You may wonder why we don't switch from Dr. NBM and the answer is another doctor would not want to take over at this point and so you are kinda stuck. I've been really upset about Dr. NBM because he is just a kid really, in his 30's, and I thought NBM was relegated to older doctors. I really thought training now dealt with the the clinical and mental aspects of patient care. Oh well.

So tomorrow is surgery day. I'm bringing some maedeup to do while I wait. It's a wonderful way to take your mind off your problems and time flies. It will be another six months for his eye to heal and we see results. The poor guy has been through so much already.

Messy Crafting

This was my kitchen table in December. Thankfully, Rocketman was in Asia on a business trip so he didn't see this. I have a huge craft table to work on but it is in the basement and in Minnesota that can be a cold endeavor even with a space heater. I'm not showing a picture of that table because it was covered with stuff too. Winters in South Korea were 20-30 degrees warmer than Minnesota and my blood just hasn't adjusted yet I guess. I was in the middle of preparing for my two television appearances so dinners were on the fly and since I was only feeding myself, I ate in the family room when I did eat.

I have been professionally crafting for twenty years now and I still don't understand how my 6 foot table only allows me to a work area of about 6 inches. This happens every time my creative juices go into overdrive. It's a mystery.

Right now, Rocketman is finishing up on my new craft room and I've been moving my supplies from the basement to the first floor. I couldn't believe the stuff I have. Rocketman reminded me that when we moved back home from South Korea that 100 of the 150 boxes were marked "crafts." I don't remember that or I may have blocked it out in my defense. The next step is to move it up another floor but first tables and shelves have to be moved in.