Sunday, January 26, 2014

Dry, dry, dry, dry, dry...

Ok, this is not actually me. But that is pretty much what my hair looks like these days.

It's not far off of that normally, but our weather has been really dry of late (yup, no rain in Portland), so it's even worse. If I leave it completely alone after washing ti- no combing, just towel dry and fluff it- it has ringlets for about half of the day. And then it gets fuzzy. If I use the hairbrush on it, it is even worse. I look like Roseanne Roseannadanna. .(Yes, I know I'f dating myself there.) Or worse, Cousin it.

Leaving the conditioner on longer than usual makes it floppy, but still frizzy. (and I don't get the ringlets at all.) Product makes it crunchy and frizzy.

So mostly I wear it pulled up with a big clip, or wind it into a chignon, or braid it. Bah.

There are days I'm tempted to shave it off.

Pray for rain.


It's not just my hair. My sinuses and the inside of my nose are really dry, and one side of my nose cracks and bleeds, so I get nosebleeds. Not fun. I keep putting lotion in it (the thick Nivea stuff that comes in a canister), and I got myself a wee crockpot to put a little moisture into the air, but it seems that it is not enough. And my throat is sore, same reason.

Pray for rain.


Oddly enough. our hyacinths are coming up already. In January. The greens are already about a foot tall. I worry a bit about them, as it's been really cold (26F at the moment- cold for Portland) but they seem to be ok.


In other news though, I'm not doing so good. I was in to see the rheumatologist on Friday, and she was not happy. My last labs came in with elevated creatinine, which means I have a problem with my kidneys, most likely due to the ibuprofen and naproxen I've been taking. Well, as I told her, I'm taking scads of it because I'm fucking desperate. My pain levels have been way up, and unmanaged pain just feeds the inflammatory process, which snowballs. So we took more labs, and some xrays of my hands and knees, which are inflamed at the moment. I'm actually hoping to get neck and back done too- I know there's problems there, and I want to see what we can do, if anything.

So we've dropped those pain meds completely, which means I'm in a LOT of pain right now. She wants me to take Tylenol, specifi doses and times, to see if that helps. Well, Tylenol has never done anything for me before, and it isn't now. But I'm suppose to give it a couple of weeks. Bah. My hands really hurt, and my feet are flared up- feels like I'm walking on rocks.

I have to admit I'm worried about the kidney issue. That could be really bad.


Church has been good. We're still working on getting stuff together for the search for a new priest. For some reason it's really dragging on. This survey, that survey... though I can understand how we're really really trying to make sure that we get a good fit this time.

We got the renovations finished, so at least we won't have to worry about the dry rot on that corner of the roof. Hopefully we'll be able to maintain the building a bit better than has been for the past 10-15 years. We're also looking to refurbish or replace the stove in the parish hall. It really needs work. But somehow that project is dragging on and on and on... it's becoming a standing joke.

Pray for brain.


Valentine's weekend James and I are going to a couples' conference at Good Samaritan in Corvallis. It's basically once of those enrichment things, but I'm hoping it will help us get through some of the communication problems we've been having. I think it will be good for us.

Pray for sane.