This morning, it was a lovely November temperature in the mid-70s. Now a cold front has passed through - and it is 45 degrees outside! Yeah! Cold weather just in time for December!

Of course, I doubt that Jason took a coat to school in his backpack, so it is going to be a brisk walk home from the bus stop for him. I’m glad I didn’t leave for class yet - I have to completely change what I was going to wear. My Fetchings might finally get their time out!

Hand update: for the most part, it is fine. I guess the Band-aid really did the trick. It was feeling a bit strained late last night, so I have the ace wrap on again. The weird rash still hasn’t gone away, which is really odd.

Jason brought home his progress report today for the six weeks grading period. I know have proof that all of our hard work, sweat, tears (both his and mine) and everything else has paid off. Because Jason has an A in Geography. A class that he had a grade much lower than an A in for the first two grading periods. Maybe the fact that I pointed out that summer school was the only option if he failed the class helped? Or the fact that I study with him for every quiz - which isn’t going to work in a few years. Whatever it was, his entire progress report was better. I am tickled pink about the A in Geography though. Seriously giddy.

When I called Mike to tell him, he was honestly speechless for a second.

Now I can only hope that he keeps it up for the next two weeks and does as well at the end of the grading period. I know he can do it, but whether or not he will is a completely different question.

I drank my first caffienated cola last night in almost two weeks.

I always used to say that caffiene had NO effect on me, and that I could drink a cola and then go to bed. No effect at all.

I learned last night that if I drink cola at 10pm at night, I will still be WIDE AWAKE at 3am. Wide awake.

This is not a good thing.

However, it does mean that the Fresh Photography website is now LIVE. I even edited CSS code, which is a major feat for me. Try not to faint from the shock. Online ordering isn’t all the way there yet. It will happen, soon.

I am not drinking more cola to make it happen though. I am back to the Diet Sprite and I promise to avoid the sweet brown nectar and get some sleep instead.

(Please let me know what you think of the layout - if the colors are wonky on your monitor, if anything is breaking, etc. I really appreciate your help.)

UPDATE: Thanks to nubiancrafter’s suggestion, I put photos along the top of the site. I managed CSS *and* PHP this time! *gasp.* One problem. There is a mystery dot up there. I have no CLUE what is causing it or how to get rid of it. Anyone have any suggestions? I suspect it is an issue with a ul or li somewhere, but I can’t seem to make it go away.

Another update: Geeky gave me the code in the comments, but it needed a slight tweaking. An e-mail to Jenn, who will forever be the ScriptyGoddess, and she sent me code for the CSS to tweak the header, and now? NO DOT! SWEET!

Considering buying an iPod for someone you love this holiday season? You might want to consider what they are going to have to go through if you do.

The Seven Phases of Owning an iPod (with illustrations!)

Maybe you should just do something nice instead. Like knit them a scarf or something.

I went back to the doctor today since I still have an odd rash on my wrist. Taking off the tape didn’t help, and Benadryl hasn’t helped, so I thought they should see it in person if only to stop my worries about what could be causing it.

As a perk, they changed out the steri-strips, cleaned everything up, put on fresh steri-strips and then just a Band-Aid! No more Ace wrap or anything. I pointed out to the assistant that I could not walk into class today after telling people I had surgery last week with just a Band-aid on my hand. There are no sympathy points there. She agreed, plus said it would be best to wear the wrap when I am out just to give it some added protection - but when I am home, it is Band-Aid only so that the inflamed skin can breath.

I actually looked at my scar, and I have to say it doesn’t look bad at all. All in all, I would definitely say this surgery has been a huge success. If you have problems with Carpal Tunnel, do not fear the release surgery. And if you live in Houston and want the name of my doctor, let me know.

UPDATE: Jason just informed me that Band-aids fix everything. Just like duct tape. He said the doctor should have just put on a Band-aid to begin with.

It is like Christmas, just a few weeks early! My large box of prints for the market this weekend arrived. It is so weird to see them all grown up and in print form. Now we just have to wait for the mats to arrive, and then get them all put together in bags… I am so EXCITED!

So, anyone want to buy a picture? (The above, along with many others, will be available at the Yale Street Market and online.)

The hand is getting better by the day; typing today isn’t bad at all. I’m sure it is the knitting that is helping. (Ok, not really, but at least I can knit!) The red socks are done, and I’m moving on to Christmas gifts later today.

Today also marks the start of the countdown to our first show at the Yale Street Market! It is this Saturday, December 2nd, and if you are in Houston I hope you can come out and see our prints. We will have lots of 5×7s, 8×10s, and even some larger and smaller prints. I’m so psyched - I can’t wait!

First note - since I can’t get the photo off of my phone yet, and I can’t hold the heavy camera - the red socks are done! I finished the toe last night, did the Kitchner stitch and finished off all the ends. Yeah! I’m wearing them as I type this. (Post photo, I haven’t managed to get them off yet. It takes effort with just one hand.)

Last night I unwrapped the ace bandage to give the plastic tape underneath some room to air out. It itched along the top of my hand - not anywhere close to the stitches are, but rather where the plastic tape is right on my skin. It was then that I noticed the red, irritated skin on the inside of my wrist. I thought maybe I had just pushed myself a bit too much by finishing the socks, so I put ice on it, took some ibuprofin and went to bed.

This morning, it was still red. So I called the doctor’s office, because it is better to be safe than sorry. The decision was that I should take off the ace wrap, take off the plastic tape and set my hand free. Free! This was a bit scary for me, as I knew in my head that there are stitches and steri-strips and stuff, but I still felt like I was going to fall apart as soon as the bandage came off. But I did it anyways, and all went well. No hand parts falling out of a gaping wound or anything. I am soooooo happy to be rid of the scratchy tape. Now we will wait until this evening to see if this makes the redness on my wrist go away.

I also successfully managed to avoid looking at the stitches. I could never ever be a doctor, because I don’t do things like that well at all. When they did my surgery, they asked for permission to photograph it, and I said only if I could have photos to post here on my blog. I take it all back. It was the “we’re going to give you this drug to help you relax” meds talking, I swear. No hand photos. Ew.

Other than that, all is quite well. Typing with the left hand is still a bit off - my pinkie finger doesn’t want to type much. So I do a hand dance thing across the keyboard when I type - I am sure that will be fine in a day or two. Meanwhile, there is always the knitting. Oh, and Trig homework, since I have a test on Tuesday.

We fought Black Friday and we were victorious! Saving $80 at Wal-mart on things that were not discounted otherwise, and we were about the third people in line. (Mike drove *and* got the good spot in the line.) We also went to CompUSA on Thanksgiving night for their 9pm - midnight sale, and while we were in this loooooong line, they split the line and had some people go to customer service to pay - I had gone out to the car to get my cell phone and I left Mike in the line, and when I came in he was 4 people away from that register. I think he has much better luck than I do with these things, and I will have to make him go out for the good sales more often! I have the major gifts taken care of now, and it is a good feeling. Heck, maybe I’ll even wrap them before December 24th! So? How did everyone else do?

So far, so good with the left hand! Pain is minimal - pain killers help, of course - but only Darvocet for me, as Vicodin and Percodan make me sick. Hunt and peck typing with left hand, so staying offline still. Mike is taking good care of me, and my Mom made us a yummy Thanksgiving dinner today. All is going well!

As a bonus, I was cleared yesterday to knit! However, holding a US 1 needle is still too much, so my socks are just short of the toe from being done. I hope to finish them tomorrow - I can knit about two rows and then have to take a break.

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone! And if you are enduring the “Black Friday” sales tomorrow - GOOD LUCK! If you are in Houston and knit or crochet - Twisted Yarns has ALL yarn 20% off this Friday and Saturday!

I haven’t talked about “Dr. Hand” here in a long time, but I will be visiting him this morning. It is time to take care of my left hand. The carpal tunnel release will be today at 10am, and I get the joy of having full anesthesia instead of just the block and “twilight” anesthesia because, as usual - I am not usual. The block didn’t work on me last time, and they had to do the full anesthesia instead. It is delightfully nippy outside, and afterwards Mike will bring me home and I will snuggle up in bed to recover.

I really appreciate your prayers, positive thoughts, or whatever mojo you can share.

I’ll have Mike post if there is anything unusual, otherwise I will be back online in a few days! Happy Thanksgiving, everyone! (Even if you’re not in the US, take a moment to be thankful for what you’ve got!)

I am still going through photos for the upcoming Yale Street Market. I want to get my order in tonight, because tomorrow there will be no hands on the computer. I have a rather long list of things I want to get done tonight, and I’m starting to accept that there is no way possible that it can all happen. But anyways, back to the knitter story.

SXSW Interactive, 2005. I went to the conference at the last minute, thanks to Jenn letting me go on the ScriptyGoddess discount ticket. I was still writing posts for Scripty, so I was still an author, and since the site was up for a Bloggie, I went to represent. w00t!

The last day of the conference, I was talking with PhotoMatt between sessions about the WordPress community, where things were going, etc. I had already spoken with Anil Dash about Six Apart and the knitters love of Typepad. I was telling Matt that there is a HUGE community of knitters online, and the crafty bloggers? That is where it is at.

We started to walk to a panel on accessibility, and I spotted it. A Clapotis. In the wild. Right there in front of me. I actually gasped, out loud. I think I even stammered a bit, “That! That is a Clapotis!”

Turns out Julia had just finished it. We immediately started talking (I think I all but ditched Matt - sorry Matt!) and a new knitter friendship was born. Turns out she knew who I was thanks to my geek blogging, but I didn’t know her. I do now though, and I’m quite grateful for that. Oh, and she shared the source for the yarn - it was a really, really beautiful Clapotis - and I ordered mine that very day. I still have to knit it, but I will soon. (Julia’s Clapotis has since ran away from home, and someone in Austin now has a very nice Clapotis, but it isn’t Julia.)

I have met many knitters since then, but this? This was the beginning of many good things. This was the first knitter I met outside of my immediate circle, outside of my LYS - outside of the norm. All thanks to a Clapotis in the wild.

My blog is acting goofy and not showing up in my feed reader. I think it needs a massage, a la Flickr. Or maybe just a poke. Poke, poke.

Hopefully, this will make it show up. Poke.

I still remember talking with Heather Champ years ago while at SxSW in Austin, when JPG magazine was just a dream. It is now almost two years old, and they have launched a new and very fabulous website for it. One of the neat features that they include now is the option to set up an account, upload an image, and submit it for one of their theme contests. The latest theme? Tourist.

Oh yeah, I have tourist photos. TONS of tourist photos. Many of which you have never even seen. Good ones that I will be uploading into Flickr fast and furious in the very near future, as I want to print some of them through Qoop and it is the easiest way to do that. So many tourist photos.

However, I felt that Mile Zero was the best place to start. Every journey begins with the first step.

If you like the photo, please go and vote. I really, really appreciate it.

Photo editing is in full swing here. I’m working on the London & Paris calendar first (as Tara requested it) and I hope to have the “DIY calendar” order form up soon too. However, if you don’t want to wait, leave me a comment. We’ll get your calendar under way!

After the London/Paris calendar is done, I’ll do a London calendar and a Paris calendar next. Those will be easy, since I’ve already narrowed it down to about 20 images for each city. All of this is helping me get the final prints ready for the art show in just under two weeks. Anyone want to help me pick out photographs?

By the way, the above photo is one of those little gems that was lost in the archives of my photographs. I simply adore that butterfly.