Wednesday, February 06, 2008
Success!
sadly, this isn't success in the area of treating my headaches (yet).first, a bit of history.
i've been having difficulty making bread that rises. you'd think this would be fairly straightforward, but for some reason my bread has been.....brick-like. my husband has been very nice about it, still appreciating (and eating) it.
but i've been frustrated. why wasn't this working? i love baking, and baking bread seems like something i'd be good at. but i'd been having a rather bad run lately.
so i was over at my sister's house the other day, visiting. she started making some pizza dough for dinner later on. so then i remembered my problems and told her all about it. because her bread is always good.
she gave me a few tips. 1st was to use a plastic or glass bowl (instead of metal). she wasn't sure if this was important for all bread or just sourdough bread, but i figured i'd just go ahead and make the switch.
2nd was to measure the temperature of the water (that i added to the yeast) to make sure it was warm enough but not too warm. i bought a little meat thermometer today for this purpose.
and 3rd was to take the yeast out of the fridge for an hour or two before i make bread, so the temperature difference wasn't so great.
so i did these 3 things, and voila! bread success. it rose, it was light and delicious! hooray!
thanks, Edge. :-)
Labels: cooking, happiness, randomness
link | posted by Emily at 11:03 PM
Monday, January 28, 2008
news of both kinds
i have exciting news, and i have sad news.the president and prophet of the LDS church, Gordon B Hinckley, died yesterday. i don't have the eloquent words many others do -- i will just say that i loved him, and he will be missed.
on the complete other side of things --
i got an appointment at the diamond headache clinic in chicago! i'm very excited, and pleased that i'm able to be seen at the end of february!! feb. 28th is my appointment. there is much planning to be done, but i'm looking forward to it.
i have a 3 1/2 hour evaluation with the associate director. after that they will probably put me inpatient at the hospital. they have classes for me to take while i'm there, to learn more about headaches and migraines.
i just HOPE that this is the beginning of the end for me. i hope and pray we'll be able to find a way to make these headaches either less or frequent, or less painful. hey, both would be great! i would definitely love both!
Labels: happiness, headaches, life, pain issues, sadness
link | posted by Emily at 12:30 PM
Friday, October 12, 2007
Another friday, another Footwear Friday! the blogging around here has been sparse, but i'll be back soon to update you about my real life activities. (with pictures, of course).
for today, let's focus on what's really important - shoes. (just kidding) -- these are my standby black heels. i love them, they're comfortable, even though the don't look it, and i love them. heh.
i love the pointy toe, i love the little buckle, and i love the thin straps. probably my favorite thing about these shoes is the stitching. you can see it well on the straps here :
i bought these shoes at the BYU bookstore, for about 30 bucks -- they are classified brand, which i've never heard of, and i have no idea what size they are.
happy friday to you all, and let me know if you're posting anyting about YOUR shoes today. :)Labels: Footwear Friday, happiness, shoes
link | posted by Emily at 1:30 PM
Monday, September 10, 2007
Spencer's big day at the State Fair
a few weeks ago, my dad was over at our house visiting, and mentioned that the utah state fair was coming up. he told spencer he should think about entering some photos. my husband is an avid (hobbyist) photographer. he loves it. i love that about him - and i think his photographs are beautiful.since this is the internet age, we pulled out the laptop then and there to see what the deadlines and rules were for entering photos in the state fair. spencer hasn't entered a contest before with his photos, and although he's very talented, he's always told so by his family and friends. i think he somewhat maybe didn't believe what we were saying, or that we were just being nice; after all, we don't know anything per se about photography. we just know what we like. :)
he did very well: he was categorized with the advanced amateurs, because he has made money from photography, but doesn't make half or more of his income from it. being there and seeing people walk by his photos, talking about what they liked about the, how beautiful this or that aspect was, just made me SO proud of him. it was fabulous for him to get a bit of recognition for his talent.
here are the photos he decided to enter (after much thought):
this first one is of a shack just outside of town -
and this second one is on temple square; the building in the foreground is the tabernacle, and in the background is the salt lake city temple.
lastly is this picture; i love the curvy lines of this one; these are unopened tulips. 
so the tabernacle photo got first prize (each category had different ribbons, so this was first prize in the architecture category) --here he is w/his photo and our niece H - don't like like her look of shock? she's like vanna white, except, 'i can't believe he won!'
and then his tulip photo received third place - here he is again -- you can tell i took these photos b/c they're frankly not very good.
and then his shack picture received an honorable mention. i'm afraid i don't remember what category this ended up fitting into. landscapes? maybe. you can see H's hands, but unfortunately the rest of her didn't make it into the shot.
hooray! congratulations spencer! a great job, we're so very proud of you. :) if you're interested in looking at more of spencer's photos, you can visit him at www.spencerkellis.net. he updates with new photos rather often.Labels: happiness, husband, photography
link | posted by Emily at 8:40 PM
Tuesday, May 01, 2007
this is a long one....
friends, it's the day i've been waiting for.at last i have some GOOD NEWS on the headache front.
i had some pain relief (on and off) today!!! that's right! there were times today when my headache was so small, i could IGNORE IT. seriously.
let me start from the beginning.
i went to the pain clinic (House of Pain) yesterday. my pain doc decided that i wasn't taking enough of my painkiller -- that i needed to try it out when the pain WASN'T at its worse. to me, that's kind of counter-intuitive. mostly b/c i try to only take something when i need it; and these past years, that means when the pain is at its very worst, and i can't take it anymore. he wants me to get on a schedule of taking painkillers every 4-6 hours, and hopes that this will help me to get ahead of the pain, instead of chasing it.
(just a quick interjection here: i understand the risks associated with opiate meds, and am by no means taking this lightly; i've looked into this for a while, and have decided that it's best for me. that's not to say it's the best decision for everyone. i just don't want my faithful readers to think i'm jumping into something without understanding the problems that come with it)
onward and upward; so i took one of my painkillers (lortab) yesterday after leaving the doctor's office. my head hurt (of course), but not nearly enough to have normally taken a pill. but i took one. and the next 2 1/2 hours were blissful! i had dinner w/my hubby and we shopped, and i was able to enjoy everything so much more. of course, the pain relief only lasts 2 1/2 hours, but seriously, i'll take it for now. the plan is to see how i do with this schedule, and then i go back to the House of Pain in early June; we'll talk and decide if i should go onto a long-acting opiate.
TODAY i woke up w/the usual headachey nonsense going on. i took a painkiller w/my breakfast, and the next few hours were the most productive i've had in YEARS (seriously, years). i did the dishes, 2 loads of wash, went shopping, had lunch. wow. that's like 5x as much as i could normally do. the pain levels are up and down, but knowing i've got 2/3 good hours after i take a painkiller is SO BEAUTIFUL. i could hardly stop smiling all day.
then my dinnertime pill didn't really work -- turns out a major storm is coming in tomorrow night. so i may not be that productive tomorrow, but at least i won't be suffering as badly as normal (fingers crossed). thanks to all who have prayed for me and worked to help me through these difficult times. i'm hoping this is the beginning of a new era for me. :-)
Labels: happiness, headaches pain clinic, pain relief
link | posted by Emily at 8:24 PM
Thursday, January 25, 2007
Celebrate, Celebrate!
Two big reasons to CELEBRATE:
#1 -- 300 posts at the sassy lime!!! HOORAY!!
you guys are great readers. i write about a popcorn kernel stuck in my teeth, and you sympathize with me. you keep coming back even though i complain about my headaches, meds, doctors, etc. all the time. i love you guys. thanks for making blogging so much fun!
#2 -- my brother is coming home this weekend!!! HOORAY!!!
he's been serving a full-time LDS mission in Texas for the past 2 years. i haven't seen him for 2 years, and have been writing him snail-mail. we're picking him up from the airport on sunday!
Labels: family, happiness, sing with me
link | posted by Emily at 3:02 PM
