they have not started it yet, but home today. yipppee.


more to come

I am a foot short but I will figure out the diabetes thing. (problem was not so much really high blood sugars but a decreased sensitivity in my feet. Infection may have been brewing for a bit, then on my feet all weekend at a convention caused an ulcer.)

I am looking at this as life opus 2, chances for improvement, healing and moving forward, one step at a time and one day after another.

Love you all, am sort of overwhelmed by the outpouring of support. But. i cannot get to facebook from here. I am likely to be home next week, and will be more connected again.

Paula Helm Murray

Beware it is very techno. but...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dtKCDlpTEKs&feature=player_embedded

just a linkie.

enjoy

And here is the subset of ICanHazCheezeburger just for Game of Thrones things.


http://scifi.icanhascheezburger.com/category/game-of-thrones/

Were going to take a relative out to dinner (she suggested a major chain), but she made other plans. And the Doc had a horribly grinding down week of preparing a ton of materials for a show that starts on Monday. So we went out, planning on going to a local restaurant.

We went to the Beer Kitchen. Their menu is not huge, but it is all interesting, good sounding food. The offerings we tried were wonderful.

Roh had the 'Make your own Mac and Cheese" with shitake mushrooms and roasted garlic. I (with a frisson of trepidation*) ordered a Reuben, the Doc ordered the Brickhouse burger. We ordered a small order of fries with the bacon aioli to share. Everything was wonderful and really tasty. the sandwiches the right, edible size (thank ghod) and served with a little garnish of onion and, I thin, zucchini that had been pickled like Bread and Butter pickles. The bacon aioli was the perfect accompaniment to the Belgian style frites. Roh didn't eat all her mac and cheese and I only ate half my sandwich so I would not be totally stuffed.

The beer selections were broad, as was the list of other beverages. I had a Boss Tom Bock from Boulevard, which I love. the Doc had a couple of different beers -- He can speak on these with more authority.

Even though it looked crowded, we were seated within 20 minutes of arrival and the service was superb.

* I love my Reuben sandwiches, but I've had a metric buttload of bad, inedible or mushy, nasty sandwiches that call themselves Reuben sandwiches. They are often so large you cannot possibly eat them like a sandwich, which is stupid. The worst, though, was once upon a time in a now defunct (I think the whole damn building was torn down and a new one put back) Irish(ish) restaurant on 9th St. downtown I got served a Reuben where the steer that provided the beef was likely fattened on rubber tires and silicon. The slices were almost not cuttable with a steak knife, and teeth were a poor effort. So I had a sauerkraut/swiss cheese/Reuben dressing/rye sandwich after pulling off the meat.

My boy kitty weighs 15.8 lbs. He feels like he weighs 20 or more.... Two of 'the girls' (Ripley and Yum, about the same size) are about 8 lbs. And Angelina is holding at almost 6 lbs. (She is 22 or 23, and I try to keep her weight at 5-6 lbs. She is still totally active, and when she got low (below 5 lbs) in the middle of the winter, she was not. She felt bad, but it turned out to be a hairball issue.

is fabulous. I just had part of the Shrimp Tempura bento (Shrimp and vege tempura, onion miso soup, green salad spring roll and 'cracker roll" (like a crab rangoon). It wasn't an overwhelming lot of food, but I still have soup, part of the salad and the rice for tomorrow. The takeout box was 'garnished with orange slices and a small square of a cake confection That was odd but tasty.

I am going to call a carry out one day next week for some sashimi or sushi.

The only downside is that I'm not sure where you're supposed to park. The misbegotten restaurant next door (it is just east of the corner of 39th St. and State Line Rd.) that was an original Pizza Hut when I worked at U. Kans. Med Center in the early 80s and then became a couple other restaurants, is now a working construction site with, so far, no building.

The drive up was ... interesting. (It looked like I was driving into Mordor as I approached Topeka, KS, the clouds got blacker and blacker, but the weather map on my phone didn't show violent storms or tornado evidence so I persisted.

It let up somewhat after I made the turn south.

The Flint Hills are breathtakingly beautiful in the half-light of a rainy day, just after dawn. A light mist rising off the greenery, 18-20 shades of green plus brown, purples and golds. One of the surprising thing is there is a grass or something that is probably an annual (so only dead stalks are showing right now) is really purple in shade.

The Teners had too much to do to get ready for a family Easter celebration so Tully and I toured various flea markets and thrift stores. Plus we had a really good pizza for lunch at the brewpub in Old Town. Dinner was at Bella Luna. They had a carbonara presentation that included peas, they used to do that kind of thing at Jenny's down in the old Italian neighborhood, it was my favorite dish, but the family-owned Jenny's is long gone and the building is a Vietnamese restaurant/grocery.

Tully and I stayed up kind of late talking, their sofa bed is really comfortable and I slept well. Yes, his son got up early but I only noticed a bit because I had to get up to go to the bathroom. I fell back to sleep right away and got to sleep LATE (8-am-ish).

The drive home was beautiful. The somewhat early morning, the Flint Hills were just as glorious in the sunlight. I wanted to see my folks' old house south of Wellsville. It is still pretty, someone appears to be living in it and the grounds are cared for. The down side is it made me remember my father and I had to pull over for a little bit to cry and think.

Didn't get to go to Minnicon but had a great weekend. Want the family to do a whole Wichita weekend sometime. But finding an inexpensive hotel so the three of us won't impose on our friends.

and the signal needs to be boosted


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZMn4l07EtvY&feature=player_embedded


I would be bereft if homosexual friends disappeared. and what if it applies to somewhat bis? I'd be gone.

or something


see more Set Phasers To Lol

it is January 22, it as 55 degrees out when I ran out to grab a couple of items from our nearby local Mexican drive-thru, and we are having a full blown thunderstorm right now, including a couple little bits of hail (ice chips, not stones).