February's Links to Love

Artsy:

This blog just brings out one of those sighs of loveliness admitted.

Cute garbage bags!?!

I think this is the most beautiful homepage I have ever seen. I want to frame it and put it on my wall (it's already set to be my computer background):



















Book-displaying ideas. (I like the side table idea. And the backwards books.)

I wonder if I asked people to draw pictures of my dad what they would come up with.

I am completely anti-styrofoam, but I like this styrofoam cup art.

What do famous artists "own" history poster.

Beautiful paper folding projects.

The Paper Place.

I want a grey striped wall in my living room some day.

Rachael Smith interiors.

Some people can pull off lots of white in their homes. Somehow I've never been able to do that.

Would you dare sand your counters and spray paint them? Yikes. But it looks great!

Justin Hackworth's "First Year of Marriage" project makes me wish I were getting married . . . hee.

Holy bajoly. The clothing at eShakti is beautiful and not too expensive, and guess what? You can have them change things! Like longer sleeves! Or not-so-scarily-deep neck lines.

And Makie clothing is even more beautiful, but 500 billion times more expensive ($625 for a dress? Ouch!).

Would you take pictures of everything you have? I swear there's gotta be more.

A curtain made of negatives.

One of my peers in my master's program came to school one day with the most beautiful tea canister I had ever seen. I and all the other girls remarked on it, upon which he said his girlfriend had gotten it somewhere. I randomly found it in a magazine that my health insurance sounds now and then and here it is online. Dude, if it weren't 23 honking Euros I'd buy it now just so I could look at it.

I love these sleek book shelves, but I'm all about red, black, white, and simplicity in interior design.

Literature:

I wish I had the time and funds to read the books on the POC's reading challenge list.

Great writers--did they write standing up or laying down or sitting?

I can't wait til I'm a published author so I can totally blow off interviewers and do whatever I want. (Or do I do that already? I guess I don't have to wait until then . . . )

Library wordles (oh no, more books for my reading list! Actually, endless joy!).

Mesmerizing Sappho poem tidbits.

Weird book room. This made me think of a book my dad found at the library's used book sale when I was 13 or so. It was so funny. I leant it to a friend and never saw it again. Now I can't remember exactly what it was called, but I remember learning it was out of print. Something about a Chinese laundry?

75 vampire novels and vampire morality.

Techy:

U.S. Facebook regions (and the Mormonia area especially interests me--I've often thought that Mormons are huge advocates of Facebook because of all that "Mormon connection" that is built through missionarywork. Do you think a similar map of Europe would have a Catholica?).

Google Buzz. What do you think? 5 Tips. 5 more tips. (Gmail mittens. Awesome!)

Creative 404 Error Pages.

GMail labs graduation and retirement.

Random:

Cupcakes are out, macaroons are in. Yum! (The only cupcakes I ever liked anyway were my mom's cream-filled chocolate cupcakes.) And there's a recipe in the article, too. Sica, I dare you!

Would you pay 25% of a third normal ticket to cuddle with your sweety in an airplane?

One hundred free classic online movies you should see (I've already watched The Count of Monte Cristo and Nineteen Eighty-Four). Very important note: Nosferatu is included!

Dangerous roads. I particularly like the road that doesn't permit any mistakes.

Thirty dumb inventions listed by LIFE.

Vancouver Olympic Village aerial image.

A great things-that-make-me-smile list (I especially laughed at the big dog one).

Feisty daughters of presidents.

Did you watch the Olympics? Pretty sure I watched a healthy four-minute dose of ski jumping at a friend's house. But I saw someone post this commercial and liked it:



Hilarious re-dos of pictures when younger.

Be Dearly Greeted

There is so much I want to share with you. So much. But I don't have a lot of time and I should be enjoying my birthday, so happy my birthday to you! Enjoy this (German birthday wishes are the best because birthdays here are big time!):

Hallo Michelle,

Zuerst einmal möchte ich dir ganz herzlich zu deinem Geburtstag gratulieren! Das ich doch das wichtigste heute! J

Ich wünsche dir vor allem Gesundheit, dass es dir gut geht und du dich so fern von deiner Familie und Heimat wohl fühlst. Dass der Vater im Himmel dich immer beschützt und du das auch spüren kannst.

Ich staune oft, wie du das alles so meisterst. Ich denke, dass es mir schwer fiele, von hier fort zu gehen. Und du hast dein Studium hier gemacht, bist in der Kirche aktiv, arbeitest nun. Du hast eigentlich nie am Rand gesessen, du machst Besuche, gehst mit den Missionaren mit, scheinst im RIZ mittendrin zu sein. Vielleicht sieht man nicht immer alles. Aber das ist in meinen Augen schon eine ganz schöne Leistung, auf die du stolz sein kannst.

Ich hoffe, du hast heute einen schönen Tag. Feierst du mit jemandem?

Sei für heute also lieb gegrüßt

Or, in other, English words:

First of all I would like to sincerely congratulate you on your birthday! That is the most important today!

I wish you health above all, and that you are doing well and feel comfortable so far away from your family and home. I also wish that Father in Heaven always protects you and that you can feel it.

I am often amazed how you master so much. I think it would be hard for me to walk away from here. And you have done your studies done, are active in the church, and are now working. You've never watched from the sidelines, you do your visiting teaching, go with the missionaries, seem to be centrally involved in the RIZ (institute). Perhaps one does not always see everything. But in my eyes all that is already a very nice accomplishment that you can be proud of.

I hope you have a nice day. Are you celebrating with someone?

So for today, be dearly greeted.

Would You Want Me When I'm Not Myself?

John Mayer's "Not Myself":

Suppose I said
I am on my best behavior
there are times
I lose my worried mind

Would you want me when I'm not myself?
Wait it out while I am someone else?

Suppose I said
Colors change for no good reason
words will go
From poetry to prose

Would you want me when I'm not myself?
Wait it out while I am someone else?

And I, in time, will come around, come around
I always do for you

Suppose I said
You're my saving grace?

My grace
My self
Not myself, my myself and I
When I'm someone else
When I'm someone else
When I'm someone else
When I'm not myself
Myself
Myself

Thanks, John Mayer. I couldn't have said it better myself.

My Life Since Monday

I had to lay out all my pills so I wouldn't forget what I'd already taken and when to take it. That makes me feel old. I've been to the pharmacy four times this week and wished I hadn't missed today's hours because I'm almost out of cough drops (unimaginable, I know).





At least it's not allergy season yet.

Dreh Die Heizung An

Why did I show you a part of my e-ticket from 2 years ago? Because the night before February 19, 2008, I got home very late (I'd forgotten an important book at a friend's house and had to go back in the muddy night), turned off the heater, climbed into my bed, and slept for a couple of hours before heading off for an adventure in New York and then in Salt Lake--my first time back in the States since moving to Germany.

While I was in the U.S., I got an email from my roommate, saying we'd gotten a bill for a Nachzahlung, meaning what we had paid each month for heating hadn't been enough and we had to pay a whole bunch after-the-fact. The whole bunch was so much, in fact, that in the time since February 18th, 2008, I haven't ever turned my heat on again. Yesterday evening was two years since I've heated my apartment, and every friend of mine knows that we have had two freaking cold winters (I'm pretty sure I've pulled off below freezing temperatures in this room of mine) and I was always freezing even before I went anti-heat.

Well. You know I do weird things like that. I've learned not to complain as much about the cold and to put up with friends saying, "Dreh die Heizung an!" I've learned to put on several sweaters and use a rice bag on my feet and to hold glasses of hot tea. I've learned that I definitely want heated floors in my house some day.

You know I like to reach goals. And I think two years is a pretty darn good accomplished goal. And now I'm going to turn it back on.

No More Tonsils!

Did you know the word for "tonsils" in German is the same word they use for "almonds"? (Mandeln.) Ha ha.

After my nose surgery last fall, I was freaked out about nausea after a tonsillectomy (yeah, just imagine the stinging), but this time I told every medical staff member in Borna I talked to that I'd had problems last time, and they promised I'd get something to prevent nausea.

So imagine, to my pleasant surprise, when I woke up and felt less pain than every single time I'd had infected tonsils. As I lay there, I pondered, because I couldn't remember the post-op. Had I asked the doctor if I could keep my tonsils? I had wanted to. I didn't remember. Should I ask now?

As I silently regarded the trees through my window, the doctor came in and said, "It would have been too gross, so I took a picture for you" and handed me this (warning, graphic):



I was sooooooo happy. I think they were ready to come out, don't you? Now I can always have my tonsils with me, in a way.

The first day, I read two books and ate a bowl of soup and watched Nineteen Eighty-Four. The second day, I ate toast with cheese and meat and made valentines and thought I was ready to go home where I could work in my own room (why oh why do I always end up with the people who incessantly watch TV?). The third, I read the Liahona and slept and ate chicken and rice and watched the old school version of The Count of Monte Cristo (which made me laugh because of its cheesy lines and choppy scene changes). The fourth, I was glad to get a new roommate who was only staying one night and who did not once turn on the television and who was quite friendly. I did who knows what (probably some journal-writing) but it involved completely normal food with milk soup or apple sauce on the side, just like the fifth day. Oh wait. And I read the other book I brought. And on the sixth day I got to go home.

I had lots of phone calls and visitors (all of whom got to see the picture).

Once a day, I got to pick up a piece of paper from the nurses and bring it to the cafeteria. There I would exchange it for a popsicle. Which was orange-flavored. Which seems dumb, considering I wasn't supposed to have anything citric. Whatever.

I also got to hold an ice pack against my neck 24/7. Great fun when it's -8 degrees outside. (Celsius.) That's when my scarf came in handy for securing the pack and protecting my hands against the cold. And I put my rice bag on the heater before going to bed. Mmm.

The second and fourth nights I asked for a sleeping pill, but when a nurse comes in four times during the night to give you a new ice pack (and you usually have to put it in the covering yourself), a sleeping pill isn't that helpful.

Eating was the only painful part of the day, and I still rated it at 4 on a 0-10 scale (the rest of the day was 0-2). Once again, I ate better and more than I ever eat at home.

The staff members were all super friendly (especially the nurse Markus gave a jelly-filled donut to), even the guy doing his civil service who was a bit bad mood-ed last time seemed to have cheered up in such a good atmosphere.

I would have loved to have internet, but at least it was nice being in a warm room and looking out at this:



And the doctor says I will be able to do that again in several weeks, when he does one last "simple" nose surgery . . .

The bad part of the whole ordeal came after I got home, when I developed a cold/sinus infection. Yeah, bad timing to have slime lining your throat and to have to breathe through your mouth. Really bad timing. Painfully bad timing. The first day, cough drops helped. The second day, only heavy doses of pain killers were helping for a couple of hours at a time. And now here I am on the third day of being home and I have now twice disregarded the doctor's suggestion yesterday that I not use Chloraseptic for a while longer because otherwise I never wanted to speak again. Oops. I also had to implement a layout of my pills so I remember what I've taken.

If it weren't for my cold, I would be completely fine now. I don't know why all the Americans I've talked to had such bad experiences (almost everyone said, "You will regret living the first three days"). Maybe because they cauterize the wounds here in Germany? Who knows? Another lady who had her tonsils out said she didn't even need the pain killers and did normal stuff all day, too.

Anyway, in short: the tonsillectomy was awesome (just don't get a cold afterwards like I did). Shoulda done it sooner.

Happy Belated Valentine's Day

Sorry this is late. I made it while in the hospital (and totally kifed the idea from this website), but I had no internet to post it. It'll take me a few days to get caught up with the internet world. Until then, know that I survived the surgery.

Going in Under the Knife

I'm leaving in about thirty seconds. Going under the knife to finally get rid of those pesty tonsils. If you have good vibes for me, comment below. :)

Ergonomically Correct

My brother-in-law was right when he said that I can't buy a new pair of wrists in five years. He was generous in word and deed--he explained all the correct ergonomics of computer work to me and sent me back to Germany with a specialized keyboard which had previously been helping his wrists.

So, Paul, here's proof that I'm trying to do what you told me:



The books bring me to a height so that the keyboard is below my elbows. The footrest is made of my old artbox. The other books lift the computer screen so that I'm not looking down anymore. I'm using the special keyboard while wearing wrist braces and I'm only using the mouse (not the touchpad), and on the left-hand side (which is tricky).

And I have downloaded AntiRSI which reminds me to take constant breaks (here's the PC version).

Thanks Paul!