The Freedom Song of the Jigsaw Girl

So I decided that there were definitely two things that will be vital for surgery recovery: a wedge pillow and a laptop tray for the bed. I remember needing to be propped up after my gallbladder surgery and I wedge pillow will help make that not only possible but comfortable. Since I don't own a tv, let alone have one in the bedroom, a laptop tray is vital for post surgery vegging.

I'll work with family members to figure out some easy meals that are low-yeast/low carb friendly for the first two weeks. And I have some comfy shorts, tanks and t-shirts that I can wear over those weeks.

So can folks think of other things that might be helpful or necessary to put in place before surgery?

New PCP was amazing. I think I spent a bit more than an hour with her. She was amazingly easy to talk with, listened to my complaints and issues, listened when I noted why a solution would not work for me, was willing to discuss multiple options of things. Plus she is Lyme literate and understands the protocol that I am on. She was able to explain why I've been having such issues with my cycle lately and offer a couple of solutions, including the name of a trans friendly gyno who can evaluate my candidacy for uterine ablation. She also had a great suggestion for a trans friendly counselor who deals with many of the issues I juggle on a regular basis. So I will be making calls tomorrow to see if I can set up appointments. She had some excellent suggestions on how to manage current hormonal and menstruation problems while we work on more permanent solutions. We set a follow up appointment for October (though I can go in sooner if something else arises).

I'm absolutely ecstatic and thanking my gods for such a good fit.

I know I've been missing in action lately. Mostly been just recovering from the last few years and low on words and spoons. Will hopefully start feeling up to posting more frequently again soon. In the meantime, I wanted to share this fun meme that I discovered via the lovely sulien.

There is a quiz that will tell you what your D&D character would be, complete with stats and alignment. I wasn't terribly surprised by the results. Although I did think I would be more neutral good than chaotic good, but then I remembered that my patron god is a trickster god who governs travelers and misfits and my patron goddess is one governing death and transition. So chaos is kind of a large part of my life. I was completely unsurprised by the classes I got. Not only were these two of the classes I always played when I did game, but they also fit my nature. I'm very much a back to earth, practical, environmentalist pagan which is modern day Druid in a nutshell. And with as arcane and incomprehensible as the legal system is, lawyers may as well be wizards. Not to mention that wordsmithing is a magic of its own.

I Am A: Chaotic Good Human Druid/Wizard (3rd/2nd Level)


Ability Scores:

Strength-8

Dexterity-10

Constitution-10

Intelligence-14

Wisdom-15

Charisma-13


Alignment:
Chaotic Good A chaotic good character acts as his conscience directs him with little regard for what others expect of him. He makes his own way, but he's kind and benevolent. He believes in goodness and right but has little use for laws and regulations. He hates it when people try to intimidate others and tell them what to do. He follows his own moral compass, which, although good, may not agree with that of society. Chaotic good is the best alignment you can be because it combines a good heart with a free spirit. However, chaotic good can be a dangerous alignment when it disrupts the order of society and punishes those who do well for themselves.


Race:
Humans are the most adaptable of the common races. Short generations and a penchant for migration and conquest have made them physically diverse as well. Humans are often unorthodox in their dress, sporting unusual hairstyles, fanciful clothes, tattoos, and the like.


Primary Class:
Druids gain power not by ruling nature but by being at one with it. They hate the unnatural, including aberrations or undead, and destroy them where possible. Druids receive divine spells from nature, not the gods, and can gain an array of powers as they gain experience, including the ability to take the shapes of animals. The weapons and armor of a druid are restricted by their traditional oaths, not simply training. A druid's Wisdom score should be high, as this determines the maximum spell level that they can cast.


Secondary Class:
Wizards are arcane spellcasters who depend on intensive study to create their magic. To wizards, magic is not a talent but a difficult, rewarding art. When they are prepared for battle, wizards can use their spells to devastating effect. When caught by surprise, they are vulnerable. The wizard's strength is her spells, everything else is secondary. She learns new spells as she experiments and grows in experience, and she can also learn them from other wizards. In addition, over time a wizard learns to manipulate her spells so they go farther, work better, or are improved in some other way. A wizard can call a familiar- a small, magical, animal companion that serves her. With a high Intelligence, wizards are capable of casting very high levels of spells.


Find out What Kind of Dungeons and Dragons Character Would You Be?, courtesy of Easydamus (e-mail)

My sister and nephew came up yesterday afternoon and helped me go pick up my new-to-me furniture and move it into my apartment. I then treated them to dinner because if someone helps you move stuff then you ought to at least feed them. :) Plus dinner gave me more time to visit, which is always fun. Lots of lively discussion happened, and I managed to make plans to go see the new Avengers movie on Sunday with nephew and maybe sister and brother-in-law (nephew is 16 and a lot of fun to hang out with).

I will note that it's been a long time since I've driven anything larger than a small SUV, so driving the U-haul cargo van was both terrifying and fun.

Anyway, I promised some photos when I got the chance. I haven't decorated much yet, so the walls are a bit bare. Both couch and chair will be getting slip covers. A dark red cover for the chair to make it look a little less retro, and a dark tan cover for the sofa to try to protect the pretty cream sofa from inevitable stains. I also got three small wooden bar stools as they make the best portable coffee tables/laptop stands (and are the perfect height for most chairs and couches).

( pictures below the cut )

For those who haven't read Matt Fraction and David Aja's Hawkeye series, you just need to know that in it Clint Barton generally has shitty luck and makes some really awful decisions but all in all is just trying to make do. He also has this adorable habit that I tend to share, which is talking to the world around me including inanimate objects. In one scene he goes to pour his coffee and spills it, and then says "Aw, coffee, now" as if the coffee had betrayed him or something. It's always made me smile because it is just the sort of thing I would do.

So today I had gotten my grocery shopping done and put away, grabbed a shower and put on my pjs, made a couple of different types of iced tea for the next few days, done some dishes, and warmed up leftovers for dinner. Was all set to sit down with my dinner and watch this weeks episode of Agents of SHIELD. Go to scoot my chair closer to the table and there is the god awful crack, I feel the chair start to give and I'm up and moving away from the falling chair. The back left leg of the chair has come off and since it was a solid long piece holding part of the back in place the rest of the back rest has come apart too. I look from the chair to the table where my nice warm plate of food is sitting and sigh, muttering some equivalent of "aw, chair, no." I pick up the pieces of the chair. Look again from the chair to my dinner. Sigh over the fact that I have not gotten any other chairs yet. Test the stability of the chair resting on the three remaining legs, note that it is remarkably stable and should remain upright if I turn it backwards so that the empty spot is not bearing any weight and sit on it very, very carefully without leaning at all. I finish my dinner, carefully get up from the broken chair, and then move the remains of the chair out of the way to await a determination on whether the chair is fixable (it came apart in pretty solid pieces).

So I sigh again, go put back on clothes that are not pajamas, and head to first goodwill to see if they have any stray kitchen chairs (they don't), and then to Wal-Mart to purchase a folding chair for temporary seating. I have not yet bought couch or any other furniture so the options would be "eat on bed" or "eat on floor" neither of which were agreeable to me. So I got a folding chair and a camping chair for sitting outside and enjoying the weather now that it's warming up. By this point I'm fairly achy and did not want to go anywhere else, which is why I ended up settling on the folding chair solution. Turns out the camping chair with enough pillows piled on it is a more comfortable solution so that was a happy find. If I have the spoons I will go out in search of additional furniture tomorrow.

So I've mostly been resting, watching movies, and reading fanfic as I recover from moving and the latest antibiotic increase. Since it's also that lovely time of the month that comes with cramps and PMS I did not sleep well last night and was feeling kind of out of sorts this morning. However I knew I needed to go out and pick up a prescription refill. So I got dressed, poked my head out the door to determine if a light sweater was needed (it was) and headed off to the pharmacy, which is thankfully less than 10 minutes away by car.

I hadn't really explored the little shopping space that the pharmacy is in, other than noting a coffee shop that will be opening soon. So I was curiously looking around to see what other shops might be there when I spotted a sign shaped like an artist's palette. My brain immediately went "Art Store!?! Is there an art store so close to my house?!" So I checked my spoon levels and detoured over to take a look.

There is indeed an art store so very close to my house. And the offer classes! I can't afford to take classes all that often, but an occasional one here and there is a definite possibility. I checked out their up coming class list and decided to treat myself to the Journal Jam workshop which focuses on renewing creativity and expressing oneself in words and art. It's not til May 2nd, but I think that will give me a bit of time to settle in more too.

Or in the basement in today's case. I started packing in earnest today, with my focus being on books, dvds, cds and other media. My niece totally earned the $11 she was looking for by hauling said items downstairs to the basement for me (we live in a 3-story townhouse where the first floor is the garage and den, second floor is kitchen and living room, third floor is bedrooms). I figured since it was bitterly cold today I would do the packing in the garage, this way when I go to pack my car next weekend the boxes do not have to be hauled very far.

My preferred packing method is to sort by size and shape, then play packing tetris. I start with the biggest books then work my way down, trying to limit myself to one super heavy book per box of larger tomes/collections. I load them in so the bindings face up, and after a row is filled I fill in empty areas with smaller books, cds/dvds, and other odd ball items (card games, tarot decks, etc). I will pack/re-pack my household goods and decorative items in smaller spurts over the next week. My space saving method for fragile items is to use my clothes and linens rather than packing paper or bubble wrap. Tends to work well and makes it easier to fit everything in your car. I did buy some dish foam as that is really useful for layering between dishes and isn't quite as bulky as clothes.

Having moved repeatedly as an adult, often in situations where I had to fit everything in my car, I've winnowed down my collection of things. I bought ten small heavy-duty boxes and three medium heavy-duty boxes. I only needed six of the small boxes for media, which was nice. I'm beginning to think that I might really be able to fit everything into my car this time. Last move took two trips, but my Subaru should fit more than my Saturn did as the Subaru is a hatchback.

Despite that I always run into the "ah I have too much stuff" when I'm packing. Probably because packing takes up so many spoons. I'm definitely done with packing for the day. I foresee hot shower and an early bed time tonight.

My trip to Vermont went well and I have made some big decisions. I have safely returned to Virginia despite the lingering winter and wanted to post a brief update before I crashed.

The biggest announcement is that I have decided to move back to Vermont. Being closer to my Lyme doctor will make continuing treatment so much easier and much less frustrating, and while I love my heart-sister, niece, and numerous friends in the DC area, I long to be back in Vermont. I wasn't even thrown by the brutally cold temps and tremendous amount of snow, but rather glad to have my little dragon car and delighted that it handled the weather superbly despite having only all-weather tires rather than snow tires. The universe apparently approves of this decision, because not only did I find a good apartment in the Burlington area but I also secured the lease for said apartment. The only drawback is that I will be moving in a month, which is both sad and happy making.

There is a lot to do in the next month, but I will also be making sure I have time to see friends before I go. There are a lot of people I am going to miss like crazy. Thankfully the internet makes staying in touch so much easier. :)

Tonight I'm going to rest, and tomorrow as well. If the roads are good enough I may go to the bank to get a few things done there. Otherwise it will be laundry and resting.