Right round like a record.

Just a quick update-y post. I'm pretty busy getting ready for the RG and also, I've kinda re-fallen in love with spindle spinning so I've not been doing a lot of typing in my free time in any case.

I have been doing a fair amount of spinning and knitting. I finished a Citron (from knitty) from the handspun Falkland I did for the Tour de Fleece. I really can't decide if I like it or not and I'm seriously considering putting it in the silent auction at the RG... or would, if I thought I'd raise anywhere close to what it's worth in bids.



Still, I'm sort of hoping it will grow on me in time. I might donate it to the Wildlife Center's fall fundraiser, that's another idea, and they tend to get more money for their stuff. Or I'll give it to someone for Christmas. I have a person in mind, just not terribly sure she wears colors like this.



We've got so many apples and it's so sad that they're all wormy.



Dylan does do his best trying to eat them, but he can't eat them all.

I got Anna's pictures from europe in a set here on Flickr-the kid's a good photographer. Must take after her mother.



It sounds like it was not a perfect trip, but still, an experience they enjoyed and will remember forever. They went to Paris, Barcelona, Rome, Assisi, and Florence. We dogsat, and helped with going over to play with the birds while she was gone.

We have some amazing garden spiders hanging out this year.


That's a male and female of the same species hanging out on the web. I don't know if there was romance involved. Possibly. I don't see an egg sac on her web yet but I don't know how long that really takes.

I'm dealing with the hearing loss. I won't lie, it's really bothering me. A friend from work said that he hates how it makes you feel, when you ask people to repeat themselves over and over and eventually you just stop doing that because you get tired of doing it, and then you just miss everything. It's sad and a little scary. I also found out that the type of hearing loss I have (low-frequency) will require the most expensive type of hearing aids if I opt to get them. Which is not good news, let me tell you. I'm not sure how we're going to manage that. We shall see, though.

A new friend is this Turkish spindle, which I got from a person destashing it on Ravelry.

It was an excellent bargain and also spins very well. I'm getting much better at spindle spinning since I've been doing more reading on it, being more mindful in execution, and appreciating it for what it is, a valid and valuable method of producing yarn, just as good, if not better, than spinning wheels depending on what you're looking to produce. Plus, for the price of a spinning wheel, you can get a whole bucket full of high-quality spindles, so, bonus! It's actually a rather frugal pursuit in the long run. (this is the part where my husband shakes his head sadly and says to himself "she's rationalizing again".)

Dylan is still with us-the vet says he is not suffering and he has not actually lost any weight, in fact, he's gained a couple of pounds. He's gotten atrophied in the back end, but apparently is gaining muscle in the front end from pulling himself around. We're to bring him back when he gets bad enough that we feel it's time. So he's hanging in. He has days he doesn't want to walk in the cart, and his incontinence is getting worse gradually, but we can deal with that for now.

I don't think I posted this one earlier-

Another Annis shawl/scarf. I think I need to make four more of them and I'm done.

So, life goes on. I may not get another chance to post until after Labor Day weekend, but I will if I can.

I hear you knocking but you can't come in

So, apparently, I have Meniere's Disease. I'm having an MRI on Monday to rule out a tumor, but according to the ENT specialist, it is classic Meniere's, all the symptoms line up just so and the hearing loss is just the latest thing that goes along with the progression of the disease.

It's not the worst thing ever. Tons of people live out long and fulfilling lives with Meniere's. I'll eventually lose my hearing. Maybe just in one ear. Maybe not completely. It's already at 60% on the left side, with nothing below 71 decibels. I can get a hearing aid. So it's not that really. It's just that this is another thing on top of everything else that is like a giant big huge pile of cosmic poop on my head that is making me sad and angry and taking away everything I value in my life little by little. And making my world smaller and smaller. I hate being the annoying old woman who goes "HUH? WHAT? CAN YOU REPEAT THAT PLEASE". I hate the tinnitus. I hate the vertigo and I hate the effects of the anti-vertigo medicine. I hate this.

I understand it's what Van Gogh had, though, so at least I'm in good company.



In happier news, my Quitmeter just went over $10,000. That's money I have not spent on cigarettes since I quit smoking four and a half years ago. So yay.