the syndrome

For the last few years I have been plagued with I thought was hip pain. Seriously. Bad stuff for
someone so young. Massage, acupuncture, PT, xrays, brain examination has come back with various and sundry types of explanations, but still, this nagging pain and discomfort. Oddly activity helps, being sedentary makes it worse.

The last few months it has really gotten to be a drag. I finally dragged my arse into the orthopedist who poked and prodded me and declared me to be a healthy person without any sort of spine, hip, lumbar issues and was flummoxed as to what was wrong with me, because it wasn't something she could fix. I guess this is good in that all fingers, toes, symmetry kind of way. I mentioned something my massage therapist had said and she check that out. Voila -- he was right - I had the syndrome -- piriformis syndrome. Basically, I have irritation of my sciatic nerve and it runs near my piriformis muscle group and this causes "deep glutteal pain." I cannot write this without cringing.

My ass hurts and it affects my leg and it makes me cranky.

The last few weeks I have been dealing with a godsend of a PT (thanks J!) who is working to help me get over this and been fitted with orthotics in my running shoes. I can't say that I'm excited, "the syndrome" may be with me for a long time, better I suppose than a ACL tear, definitely not as sexy. I don't get crutches and I still spend time in meetings getting really antsy because its just not fun to sit down and feel your leg throb after about 15 minutes.

I'm still on track for my half in a few, my 3 day (pimping here) and to keep things active.

Just next time you see me, don't ask how my ass has been. K?

nm

Is it okay to have a ham and challah sandwich?

hump! day!

Today was really no better work wise than yesterday, but I digress.

I spent part of my alloted luncheon time that I would have spent with Ernest with my parents in their new garden. My father pruned back some perennials and my mom planted some onion starts and chives. We decided that they needed some persian leeks and some sprouting broccoli. These are needs that are easily tended to. I like those the best.

My mom pronounced that they have a new policy chez M, the new PQE rules. For my mom that is no pressure, no questioning and no explanations. My mom figures that the less micromanaging and questioning that people do of her actions, the sooner she'll get back to normal and life will too.

I think as we get older and set in our ways and realize that the love/lust of our lives has just as many ways that are set in stone that much energy is expended on pronouncing our irritation at the unbending of wills or second guessing each other's motives. Maybe I need realize that sometimes things need to be done without this level of analysis and that TH, my colleagues and even my parents may have reasons for their decisions.

An aside, TH could be superTH today. We returned from dinner tonight to hear a bleeping of an alarm in the 'hood. Turns out our neighbor M across the way left a pot on the burner and left the house. We managed to secure a key and turned things off. TH and our other neighbor aired out the house with box fans and are hoping she returns home soon. Another disaster averted because TH decided to check it out instead of shrugging her shoulders and saying that someone else can deal with it.

nm bending to only ernest's will

falling down on the job

Today I attempted to battle linux, software installation and attempting to find a license file for a software product that apparently bundles the software authorizations with the dvds they send users who are evaluating the products.

Two of us banged our heads on the wall trying to figure out why we could not find out where to request licensing information, the answer was buried three levels down in the documentation.

Kiss my grits.

Tomorrow, stay tuned while I kill our data management system due to my inability to read the documentation.

kill -9 nm

tangled webs and whatnot....

Today I reopened an evite for party my neighbor and friend is having to reconfirm the time. Evites are strange, in a way they are nice because you don't have to spend four hours of time at Kinkos trying to get something printed and they can be done fast, but at the same time, they can be awfully impersonal.

Having said that, I opened it, acted on it (rsvped) and then closed it. Today I reopened it because I am an idiot and did not write down the date.

I also then looked at who was coming and who was not coming, as if that should dictate if you are going to a party. It does for many. Low and behold, a decliner was someone who I hung out with in the freaking 4th grade. Is that not weird? What is weirder is that I was talking to TH yesterday about the first real time I had ham, which was at her house for a rare sleepover event. Adding to the mix was that moments earlier I was confirming with another recently reconnected with childhood friend a plan for dinner. All these people are quite intertwined in my life and they are all coming back into my life.

Ham chunks, broiled pineapples, the Osmond family, staying up all night giggling and canopy beds are all past us now, but such memories to have.

Six days until the next plant sale and every plant purchased in 2007 is in the ground.

I know some of you reading this have sprayed coffee on your monitors.

Nm

Lost

Butterfinger eggs are missing from my Easter mix.

Secretly, I am relieved because that means I don't have to eat all of them on Monday.

Seriously.

Other than that all but one plant is in the ground and that is progress.

I'll be so glad when NaPoBloMo is over, I can do with out my own pithy blog entries.

nm hopping down the bunny trail

Nothing is sadder than realizing that father drives like a man wearing a hat

My tax refund this year will not cover a pedicure.

My tax bill last year was larger than my salary.

I guess I'll take what I got.

nm down to the penny and spot on

toodling through provence

They are not all there, but here you go.

the new year

Starts tomorrow, one day after the last Tuesday of the old year without a candle to jump over, an alter that graces the front hall table because I thought I had another day.

I will be attending to this shortly.

I love Nowruz, I love the idea of a spring celebration, I love a new start, especially the house cleaning and removal of last years problems.

For those of you who know what we've been going through, hearing good news last week was the best new years joy anyone could imagine.

Thank you for your prayers and good vibes.

Paris finally

Sadly my trip is ending. Th and I spent the morning in Versailles with Marie Antoinette's sheep and the afternoon with macarons.

Life is good even if the dollar is in the toilet and every one seems to on edge.

Sheep, laduree and a view of the eiffel tower can solve a lot of problems.

Nm
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Sunday all day driving with a stop for nougat and a visit with marie antoinettes sheep!

I wish ernest was with us

Nm letting them eat cake
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Its saturday still, right?

Happy Saturday! Ours took us to les bauxs (overrated)n la camargue (we kind of picked the wrong side to visit)n found an errant aquaduct, the pont du gard, aigues mort, uzes and a nice dinner in st remy. Tomorrow is a long drive to versailles. After hitting one hypermarche for waffles (done) and the haribo store, I am done shopping.

Nm
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The Var and Haute Provence underrated if you ask me

Um sitting here at bastides de moutiers eating breakfast and plotting our drive through the luberon toward the alpillies

Xo

Nm
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Yellow roads

Lots of them today and gorges!
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Really it doesn't matter

Nonstop or connecting -- flying takes it out of you. Chatty seat opponents, lack of comfortable sleeping positions and lack of earplugs do not help.

As much as I have ragged on american airlines, I will miss their lie flat seats and billions of episodes of ugly betty.

Nm hoping that her gate hasn't changed to. Marseilles
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Really, I must be going

see you next week, okay, maybe before.

flickr me people.

the lure of technology

I think my next trip will be techno free. Every little gadget looks so adorable by itself, but together they are forces to be reckoned with, weight wise that is. My D50 is not that heavy, but when you bring the battery charger, which weighs less than a battery, it adds up. We're borrowing J's GPS on C's recommendation. The GPS is lightweight, the hook up isn't.

Add a cell phone to the mix and we're taking up more and more precious bucket bag space.

I'm not sure I can do without the camera, I love to take pictures and some love to see them.

I'll be photoblogging on the road in support of NaPoBloMo (sounds dirty doesn't it?), so keep in touch.

ou est la fromagerie? dit nm

moderate sunday

I love daylight savings time. I don't even mind the dark mornings for the first few weeks. As a gardener and dog walker, the ability to be outside in the light until 7, 8 and even 10 pm is worth it. This week we leave our light until 7:25 evenings to go to France where they have not adopted our fantastic desire to give me more gardening opportunities. However, the cheese is better and they have better haircuts.

Today I dragged TH out of bed at a very early hour of eight to go look for a red plum tree. For your information, the tree just does not exist and we settled for a pie cherry and hopefully one day the magical tree will appear.

We wandered around a nearly empty nursery with our favorite presidential candidate and picked out some herbs for my parents and a few more bare root loganberries for ourselves, it felt like we had really turned the corner.

Yesterday I spent just one hour moving some stuff around the year round p-patch and another hour today and things are ready to go. I am excited for the gardening season, mostly because I think we have finally gotten into spring and I'm happy. I know the last frost for my area is a scant few weeks away, but for some reason, I am throwing all doubt to the wind and have planted lettuce, arugula and radishes in the faint hope that they will be up in the next three weeks.

The two pictures above are of the p-patch, south and north beds, its not much to look at right now, but come June's gooseberries, lilies, roses, raspberries, lettuce, strawberries and the last of the asparagus, we'll be quite happy and full from our own bounty.

nm who pulled out rhubarb with her bare hands