Which to write about? The awesomeness that was the NaNoWriMo kick-off last night at All Saints or the whole lotta normal that was my test results? Hmmm….

Well, let’s just cover both, shall we?

First off: Test results (because they happened first). Picked them up from Dr.Z’s office yesterday and, mind you I didn’t talk to the doctor yet (my appointment isn’t until the 13th), but the lab lists the allowable limits for each test next to my level and, basically, there was a whole lotta normal going on. Meh. I was really hoping that somewhere in those 24 vials of blood (23 on Monday, 1 on Tuesday) that something would show up. Thyroid checks out and totally normal, so the Hashimoto’s Thyroidism doesn’t seem likely. My Cortisol went from high-normal to the basement after the corticosteroid treatment, which is what a functioning set of adrenal glands do, so Cushing’s Syndrome doesn’t seem very likely either. I looked up the factors for the Metabolic Disease in the NET ‘bible’ and we’d really be skating a thin line to call it that.

The one thing that was elevated beyond the allowable limits was my Serotonin. But not very much (sigh…). when you’ve got a spread of 197 points and your only 14 points over, is that enough to convince them to keep looking? I realize that in order to play by the rules you have to have biochemical findings to support further exploration both to keep from wasting time and money and to reduce the amount of wear and tear on the patient (for instance they don’t want to irradiate me too often if it’s going to keep coming back normal). I get that. But also, on the converse, having a strong theory of what is wrong and yet having to wait until it gets bad enough to show up on the tests doesn’t seem right either. It’s like finding out the foundation of your home is starting to crack… do you go ahead and fix it now or wait until the house caves in and you can undeniably confirm it?

Anyway… I got down to Shand’s on Thursday and, hopefully, they will come up with something. Since I have the test results maybe one of their gurus can look at everything together and pick it out. Maybe it’s like one of my friend’s has said and it’s several small things working against each other, but heaven only knows how we’d figure it out. Plus, on the 9th I go for a consult with the GI, and if nothing else will get the endoscopies done and maybe their cameras will find something to lead us in the right direction. Mom, bless her heart, is really hoping that they never find anything. I know she means well but, really, if they don’t find it they cannot treat it and that’s not exactly helping when we know *something* is wrong!

NEXT!!!

The Kick-Off last night was absolutely stupendous! I knew the RSVPs were rolling in but still I thought it would be manageable until I did a tally yesterday and counted almost 30 positives!!! I hastily sent out an email and updated the post on the forum to show that we would meet on the back porch of All Saint’s Cafe. After getting stalled by a train that just decided to STOP on the tracks (after already being the longest train in creation) when I was but a block away I still managed to get there at 5:30 and some people had already showed (? shown?)–people were already there! But at 6pm we were looking at maybe a dozen. Okay, I’m cool with that. Things came up, no problem. I was feeling a tad better about not being overwhelmed. So I started my talk, introduced myself, and asked for a show of hands of how many newbies we had. All of them (well, except Palmetto, but she was sitting to my side so I wasn’t looking out at her so much). So I start to go over the basics and I hear something behind me:

Apparently, despite the emails and forum posts and the sign I put on the front door of the coffee shop there were several people sitting inside waiting to spot the day-glo yellow shirt I’d said I’d be wearing. (Seriously, y’all, this shirt will burn the retinas!!!) So then, after the word spreads, in comes another dozen plus people: We ended up with 28 WriMo’s OMFG!!!!

Once everyone was signed in and back settled I just had to stop and look around and say ‘wow’. Everyone laughed. In fact, for the most part, I had them all laughing pretty much throughout. (pardon the moment of ‘they like me, they really like me’) The puppets, though, were a very big hit. Of course they were dorky and the Henson family of puppeteers will not be calling upon me any time soon but, no, really, they came off rather well. My attemps at audience participation didn’t quite go over great but, you know, you can’t have everything. Then, per HQ’s request, I plugged the photo links and Flickr site and got everyone (but Palmetto) to pose for a group picture. Will have to get that off the camera tonight after the Halloween party at Julie’s.

Wonderful, wonderful weekend.

Okay, so there were some unpleasant parts, but they were completely overshadowed by the good parts.

Mainly, the Pumpkin Party was a rousing success. I think an even dozen is the perfect number for this sort of party–at least with my current space constraints–as we were short a couple of expecteds and we ended up with at least a half hour between everyone finishing their pumpkins and the allotted judging time which could have accommodated the two MIAs. The pumpkins themselves were fantastic, my pumpkin lights made another appearance (though lacking an extension cord I couldn’t show them off lit), the food was a hit and I even managed to have almost everything finished before guests arrived! The only thing I was still working on was chopping the mango and tomato for the salad (I also needed to set out the drinks) so I consider my timing to be vastly improving.

Once the early pumpkins were carved some moved indoors and a movie was started that pretty much took us to dinner time. Various conversations ensued and then it was time for the judging. Now, for those that have not had the chance to attend one of my Pumpkin Parties, the way this works is I designate 4 categories, create the prizes for them, and whomever does not carve or decorate a pumpkin gets to judge. So far we’ve never had to fall back on Plan B which is having everyone cast their ballots in the four categories. The winners this year were:

• Tracy, Most Original, for her Glow-in-the-Dark Painted Spider Squash
• Me, Funniest, for my Monkey Pumpkin
• Kim, Scariest, for the Puking Pumpkin (figured to be the nightmare of partying pumpkins everywhere)
  and
• Mom, Wildest (aka Best in Show) for her Kitty Cat pumpkin.

Then we came back inside, cut the cake, and forced ourselves to eat a smidge more food. The cake was a 3-layer spice cake with cream cheese icing, pecans coating the sides, and a caramel spider web on top (very similar to one you’d find at Williams-Sonoma online but without the $65 price tag!). This brought forth a discussion of Mom’s discovery of a carrot cake mix in her pantry that expired back in 2004. ( !! ) She said she also had a can of frosting and wondered if it ever expired… it didn’t have a date after all. So, theories flew about saying that if it was green when she opened it she might want to check the label again.

Mom: (giggling) Well, if I peel back the lid and something waves at me I might need to put the lid back on.

Various people: (waving and looking up) Hi!

Bob: (with hands on hips, he’s seated by the way) It’s about damn time!

See, it’s almost like you were there, right? I assure  you, nothing waved or spoke when I opened the icing container. I promise!

Wild partyers that we are, most people had left by 7:30 (hey, it’s a Sunday night, I *intend* for it to break up early!) and those remaining were talking about various and sundry things including such things as the Bible condemning one to hell for calling their brother a fool, and how Julie’s brother was quite enamoured of the stories they left out of Sunday School as a child–namely David and Bathsheba to which I was then directed to look up and read a passage of scripture about diseased loins. Yes, we’re all going to hell. It’s not news.

I should have known, really, that subtitling a party ‘Gourds Gone Wild’ after the chest-baring line of videos would lead to only one thing: a field trip to the 24-hour X-Mart. A garter belt was needed before Tuesday but while we found one (a very pink one… and the shopped was not fond of pink) the payment machine was down.

Julie: There is a slight problem with the machine. They can’t get it up.

Jen & Jenn: (blink blink) 

So, after wandering the store a bit, it was decided that the seeker could come back the following night, now that she knew where it was, and hope that the machine was back up. The reason we went to the X-Mart over any of the other adult stores in town was the preponderance of creedy old guys with comb-overs and stained shirts sitting behind the counter at the majority of the stores. X-Mart, on the other hand, seems to be continually staffed by non-threatening college-agers and is therefore much more hospitable for female shoppers. Add to the fact that it is opened 24-7 and not all that far away, and you’ve got an optimal shopping experience. Of course, if you are sensitive to incense or perfumes you may want to wear noseplugs or a mask, it was quick thick in there last night.

# # #

After the field trip everyone dispersed and I finshed the little bit of cleaning up left to do and watched another episode of House while hooking the laptop back up on its table next to the sofa. I was debating on whether to tackle the Kick-Off Meeting project I had in mind or to scrap it for later as I checked my mail for urgent issues and caught up on the few forums I watch. Then, when Angela’s Eyes was pre-empted for the second half of a movie, I saw that Hairspray was on TCM and that The Village was starting on FX about an hour later. Having wanted to watch that for a while and figuring this was a bit of a sign, I went ahead and got out the super-secret project to be revealed to my WriMo’s tonight and stayed up way too late finishing the super-secret project to be revealed tonight but actually went to bed right when The Village started to get spooky. I knew if I kept watching (it was 1am already) I would never get to sleep.

Yes, I’m a wuss. Deal with it.

I am feared
I cut men down to size,
Burst their bubbles,
Show them the error of their ways.

I am righteous indignation
Not for myself but for those close to me
I blast asses
I correct assumptions
I make men quiver in fear

I am a woman scorned
Her rights denied
The sword of justice
Kept in its scabbard only by sheer force of will
I am wrath.

Yay! We have tickets! We thought we’d found a deal through Orbitz but, by the time we could get my aunt on the phone to make the reservations they had been sold out from under us. Such is the travel game, no?

She tinkered a bit, had sessions time out and all manner of increases after 2 seconds but finally found flights on Delta that DON’T go through the dreaded Charlotte and get us there and back at reasonable hours. Granted, we’re flying into Newark (which I cannot say without over-pronouncing the final ‘k’ in a separate syllable) but hey, this means we get a 90 minute tour of the New Jersey countryside coming and going. Hah. But hey, I get the window seats! Woot!

In other aggravation, I decided to call and check on my referrals since I had yet to hear from the gastroenterologist about setting up an appoint and while I’m not exactly looking *forward* to getting tubed, it does need to be done. Well, imagine my surprise when not a single referral showed up under my policy number. Not even referrals to the current specialist or to Shands! Oops!

Thankfully I soon found a human being to ask about it (instead of just the automated system) and there IS the gastro referral but none of the others. So…. after a few calls to my doctor’s office and being assured that the nurse has ‘got my back’ (which made me smile more than cringe I’m happy to say) those referrals should be taken care of shortly. Which is good, because I certainly wasn’t interested in driving 2+ hours to an appointment only to be stuck with more than just a co-pay! Also, I now have an appointment with the DDC (digestive disease clinic, how appetizing!) for an evaluation. Sheesh, that’s three appointments with three different doctors the first three weeks of November. This is going to be such a fun month…

There is, apparently, a special level of hell reserved for people trying to book a flight around Christmas. Whoo-boy!

First, being the web-savvy person I am, I checked out travelocity, expedia and yahootravel only to be completely confused by the who’s and when’s of the convoluted mixed flights. I though I’d scored big with yahoo only to have it double in the time it took to look into more details. Ouch!

After pausing for a few hours I decided to take the less evil path and go directly to the websites for the airlines that flew out of our airport. Soooo much simpler, but definitely not less expensive. The lowest total (and this is for four people leaving at the beginning of peak Christmas travel… yes, we’re brilliant, okay?) was $2100 flying through the dreaded Charlotte airport. The next airline up (which at least went through Atlanta, not CLT) was $1K more!

The question is quickly becoming… does my Aunt really want to see us THIS badly???