Aims, I swear, your ass better be parked in a hospital bed right now or no Cabana Boys for you!

vw, I'm glad you came to a peaceful emotional resolution regarding the gifts.

I have a sniffly, scratchy-voiced girl home with me today. Poor noodle-- she's usually never this limp. It's an odd thing to see.

vw, I have a question for you. I saw two cheap sewing machines (a Brother for $70 and a Singer for $99). I'm considering learning to sew for some simple crafts. Which one of these machines do you think would be good to learn on?

Cashmere, are these new or used machines? If they are new machines (or on Craigslist), could you link to something similar? That way I can see what they include and decide which would make a better starter machine.

Here's my initial thought. Brother and Singer are usually similar in quality. They're not usually fancy, schmancy, but they are certainly great starter machines. Honestly, I think either of them would be fine...as long as you're not going to be doing daily work on thick fabrics. Down the road, if you like it, you may want to invest in a more expensive machine, but I think either of those would be a great way to test whether or not sewing is for you.

Another thought...

There are also shops that allow you to come into their space and rent their machines for an hourly charge. Often there's even someone there to help you figure things out. That's another way you could test and see if sewing is for you, without investing in a machine. Then you might actually use a machine you really like, and decide to go with that.

He also asked what my family's Chanukah traditions were, and seemed very disappointed that we didn't have anything other than the usual stuff.

"Roasting annoying Christians/atheists/non-Jews over an open fire."

ION, my back/leg pain is okay but by no means gone, and I'm trying to get ahold of my doctor to see what I should do next -- MRI? More drugs? Wait it out? But their darn line is busy (no doubt due to people like me who had medical problems over the weekend).

I'd think an MRI would be in order, Teppy, in order to see what the hell's going on back there. I hope you can find out soon. Glad the pains a little better.

vw, these are the ones I'm talking about: Brother and Singer. We have a fabric store and a quilting store where I could probably get introduced to a machine. I wouldn't be doing anything heavy duty untiil I knew for sure I could.

I'd think an MRI would be in order, Teppy, in order to see what the hell's going on back there. I hope you can find out soon. Glad the pains a little better.

I guess. It's just that the pain is better today, and everything I read on the Interpipes (because you can always trust everything you read on the Internet) said that, for the vast majority of patients with piriformis syndrome/sciatica, it's going to get better with time. The catch is that sometimes "with time" means "with A LOT of time."

So, since the pain is better today, now I'm second-guessing myself, wondering if an MRI would be premature, if maybe I'm on the front edge of recovery.

And I know there's no way to know if I'm on the front edge of recovery or if this is just a momentary break in the pain.

And mostly I don't want to jump through the hoops required to get ahold of a doctor to obtain pre-authorization for an MRI, then get the MRI scheduled/performed, then get a doctor's appointment to have them read the MRI, etc., etc.

So I'm trying to get ahold of my doctor to see what he thinks I should do.

Oh Aimee, I hope you are upright and okay today. Falling bad. Aimee pretty.

Steph, getting an MRI sounds like a giant pain (no pun intended) but when it's done, you'll know...ya know? Sometimes the best thing for speeding healing is info.

Teppy, I hate to be negative, but it could just be that the meds are really kicking in today. So, I really think it would be better for you to find out what is wrong. Although, I really do hope that it is something minor and it will go away on its own.

Cashmere, I'd go for the Brother, actually. Their quality is going to be similar, and the Brother actually has a few more toys--including the twin needle, which is actually wicked cool.