For those of you who think that I only wear rocks:

 This is my Aquitaine Ring. It's a sundial, really, disguised as jewellery. I'd be happy to give you the story behind it, but even happier to note that you can find it right here so I don't have to bother typing it out again.

There may be a new rock or two today, though, if I can't bypass temptation on my way home.

My favourite rock shop holds a gigantic sale twice a year (well, more, really, but twice a year from their home base). The one in the fall is Rocktober, naturally, but the one just before spring is Rocktopia.

It's on now.

I'll drive right past it on the way back to my place.

Gah.

You see, I'm supposed to go with a fellow rock-loving coworker, but through busyness and forgetfulness we've missed the last couple. Together, I mean. I'm not saying that I didn't go alone or anything. Still, should I give it a chance that we get our collective sh selves together this time, or do I stop for a "preview"?

I dunno.





But you probably do by now, don't you? Watch for pointless photos of new rocks soon...

What the cats were up to this morning

Jus' chillin'. Each in their own ways.

These pictures are also on my instagram account if anyone's into that sort of thing. Find me at deelworld, as usual, because I'm that creative.

The account's pretty new, as in I have a whole four followers. I should add a link badge here, really. In fact, I'll do that after I'm done this.

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A quick word on the operation front: all my pre-op appointments are made, and I have my first blood work and an EKG on Monday. They will tell me that my heart rate's pretty high, because it always is in hospital situations. I get white coat syndrome, as they call it. Many people do. It's screws up measurements, though, and that's a pain in the butt that I could do without. Ah well, it's not like I'm the first or the last person that they'll see whose body's in a panic even while her brain's trying to tell it to stop being so effing stupid.

All of this, of course, is going to make the whole thing more real in a big hurry. I'll spend a lot of time worrying because that's how I'm hooked up. It's making me hope that I don't get bumped, ironically, because I don't see the point in wasting a month's anxiety only to be told that it'll be NEXT month...



I'll keep you posted.

Pointless abstract whatever of the day:

Well, I did say pointless.



That's all for today. This took forever to upload, for some weird reason.

Pointless whatever happens to come out...

The last couple of days I've spent at a teachers convention. It was good -- a lot of new contacts, a lot of updating old ones... and a lot of telling my regulars that I'll be on medical leave.

That makes things real, right?

Yeah, the surgery's approaching. I can't deny it.



I'm not denying it in fact, since I've been letting my teachers know.





It's still weird though. Weird actually wanting someone to cut you open. And for those new to the program, that last statement was literal.

Ah well, it'll happen. And teachers? I'll be back in  the fall. In reality, before then.



I hope.

Pointless photo of the... week, I guess

Yeah, sorry. It's been busy.



So have some dead roses, then. That fixes things, right?









See you when I post again. Um, eventually, at this rate.

I have a few things

I'm at home today and, as you know, blogging by phone for me tends to the disastrous. So to keep things safe, here's some (yes, some. If you only saw the rest...) of my art pencils. Sewing felt holders made by me from some of Grandma's (maternal grandmother, if anyone cares) stock.

Everyone else can stop here. Art nerds:

1. Koh-I-Noor Magic
2. FineTech blender
3. Bienfang water brush
4. Staedtler Karat Watercolour
5. Derwent Watercolour
6. Derwent Metallic
7. Koh-I-Noor Tri-tone
8. Derwent Inktense
9. Wolff's Carbon
10. Derwent Tinted Charcoal
11. Derwent Drawing Pencils
12. Conte Crayons
13. Derwent Graphitint

Do I win at nerd yet? That's only what fits in the pretend make-up case, mind. There's more in my non-travelling storage.

I like art pencils. And apparently I like Derwent. Didn't realise how much.

I have regular graphite, of course. Staedtler at Dad's; Koh-I-Noor woodless otherwise.

And we haven't even got to crayons. Or pens. Or the paint stuff.

Geez. Maybe I actually do have a problem. Excuse me while I enjoy having a problem.

Pointless photos of the day:

No, the Turkey Brothers aren't supposed to be on top of the stored mattress. My fault for leaving the door of the downstairs bedroom open as I was folding clothes.

It's been an interesting urinary morning here. And yes, I meant to use that word. The cat who's been fighting a urinary infection and just finished his course of antibiotics decided yesterday and today to pee on the floor instead of the box again. For anyone who has a litter-trained cat that suddenly decides the floor is a better place, by the way, it's often a sign of infection or urinary crystals (or in this case, both). Either means get to the vet. This particular cat will be going back this week.

In other news, Dad is pretty sure that he has a kidney stone. Told you that it was a urinary day. And my sympathy and empathy to him, because I get them too.

In other other news, it was a pretty windy day yesterday so I didn't get a chance to get too many new pictures. Ah well, you'll no doubt be seeing the poor lot that I did get.

In other other other sadder news, a group of teenage boys decided that it might be fun to go into Calgary's Canada Olympic Park two nights ago and try out the bobsled run with a toboggan. What they didn't know is that the starts of the bobsled run and the luge run are separated by a heavy gate, which they ran into at speed. Two dead, six injured. Sad, but to add to it, these weren't stupid kids. The two killed were honours-student twin brothers. It was just teenage boys being teenage boys and getting into what they probably thought would be minor trouble. I can't imagine that poor family right now. Not to make excuses because (as if we needed more proof) stupidity can kill you and that was pretty stupid, but it's an awfully harsh lesson for all of those involved.



I don't want to end on that note, so... um... how about rocks?

Let's see.

How about my favourite rocks, in absolutely no order:

• Amethyst
• Lapis Lazuli
• Any number of Jaspers
• A fair number of Agates
• Certain Garnets
• Amber
• A bit of Jade is nice, too

I should add in Topaz and Aquamarine too, I suppose, but to be honest those have more to do with a couple of pieces of jewellery that I own and the people that I inherited them from.

Notice that diamonds aren't this girl's best friend? I think that they're important for their hardness, but as gemstones the only reason they're so overly desired is that De Beers and company made up a market for them. You can look that one up for yourselves, by the way. I'm tired of linking. Oh, and my lack of enthusiasm for diamonds doesn't mean that I don't appreciate my uncle's gift of his, of course. I sincerely do. Again, though, it's more the person than the stone.

That's enough for today, and yes, it is lunch time. See you whenever I have time in the week.

What do I title yet another jewellery post that may or may not be about jewellery?

First, I should say in regards to the surgery (the end of March for anyone keeping a calendar. For my sister-in-law, my mother's birthday. See if my brother can remember that date...), at the moment I'm fine. When I got the call, the feeling was at last. I've been waiting for so long. Then the feeling became holy crap this is going to happen. That's where that incoherent deleted post came from. Now? I really am fine. I imagine that anxiety will set in in a big way once the date is closer and that I'll start thinking more about what recovery was like the last time, but for now I'm concentrating more on being prepared. Emotionally, physically.... and, let's face it, making sure that my bills are paid and my apartment is clean before the date. Last time was an emergency, for those new to the program, so I had the embarrassment of a mess on top of everything else.

Ok, now on to more frivolous things.

I was on Amazon a while ago because I had the remnants of some gift cards to use up. There was a book that I knew I wanted, but to use up the rest of the amount I was just going to browse. And that, boys and girls, is how Dee habitually ends up overspending with gift cards.

Usually.

This time I instead ended up going to the Deals Store page, which I hadn't ever thought to do before. I know, right? They're going to take away my Cheap and Proud of It card. Anyway, because I'd never been there before I hadn't realised that there was such a thing as Lightning Deals.

Silly, silly girl.

I had a look, and they had me at amber. Well, at silver too, because I'm very much a silver person. Better for my skin tone, and conveniently much better for my wallet. I got the pendant you see here (there's matching earrings as well, but I suck at ear-selfies) for a stupidly reduced price, which lets you know what the original mark-up was. The amber's heat treated (that's how they get the different colours) which isn't my ideal, but the thing seems well put together and, more importantly, looks nice.

Yet more jewellery for my jewellery resurgence, I guess.

I was big on all the stupid but fun eighties jewellery when I was a teenager, but scaled back a lot when I was in university (anyone wearing rings, for example, in a lab with formalin is a bit stupid. Yes, even though you wear gloves). When I started the naturalist thing I wore a bunch of themed earrings because the students liked them. Then that sort of fell by the wayside. And why? Laziness, I suppose.

So why the return?

A rock show. The one where I met the owner of the rock shop that you hear about so frequently. My coworker already knew him, and between the three of us we decided to make a swap of some of our unused specimens for some good pieces of pyrite for our rock programming. And, naturally, I also looked at his jewellery pieces. They were neat so I bought a couple.

I wore them occasionally until one year when we had a week with the same students (we call it nature school) I found out that the kids -- and not just the girls -- were checking to see which rock I was wearing each day. It sparked more learning, and yep, you guessed it. That's when the rock pendants became part of my everyday work wear. They don't get noticed everyday, of course, but they get noticed enough that I've increased my collection.

As you've noticed.





This is the part where I say that it's time for lunch, as my two fans know. It is, and I've typed enough now. I promise no more surgery weirdness until at least mid-March, ok?



There will be more rocks, though. I can guarantee it. Probably tomorrow...

Geez, Dee

No time really for a post, but if you happened to see the one from earlier this week that I deleted today, I should explain that I wasn't at that moment having surgery. I have a surgery date, which a) finally, I've been waiting for months, and b) reality sets in. And then you make stupid, misleading blog posts because you're at a bit of a loss.

Gah.

I'll get into this more on the weekend, probably. Or maybe I'll just keep it to myself. We'll see.

I should at least give you a photo. Hang on a sec...

There. The butt of an uncooperative nuthatch seems appropriate somehow.





Blather at you in a day or two.