Simplicity 3628 view B in progress and signs of fall

My birthday is this week. I know some of y'all make birthday dresses. I'm making a birthday jacket. Oh, it has its issues but here's where it's at right now, without a lining, buttons, buttonholes, cuffs, running stitches:

The fabric is 100% cotton thin wale corduroy which goes against my "no wrinkle" rule but I just LOVE this color and decided when I started that I would live with the consequences. One of the problems is the thin fabric and that it's showing every seaming flaw. Ironing the seams seems to help a bit.

I think the main issue right now is that it may be too big but I'm not going to tweak it too much. Also the sleeves are the perfect length now. I guess I can do a small small small hem with the sleeves. But the larger problem is the chest. I think if I had cut the 12 instead of 14, it probably would have been perfect. I might shave off some of the bust from the princess seams like to do a small bust adjustment. But I don't want to tweak it too much and then it turns out to be too small. It feels perfect across the back.

Here it is on Emma, but Emma is much smaller than I am.


Now time for the other stuff and some signs of fall.

My new dishwasher, in bisque, was installed today. Doesn't it look like it's winking?


Halloween goodies that I have collected over the years:


My mom likes to decorate gourds for Halloween. Orange gourds are pumpkins, white gourds are ghosts. She gives them to everyone she meets, and even people she doesn't meet (like ALL of my coworkers. I wish I had taken a picture of that group of gourds!)


Apple cider donut with cinnamon and sugar from Terhune Orchards. They sell them 6 at a time; I have eaten one a day for the past three days and gave away the other 3 when I bought them:


Last batch of flowers from my favorite flower farmer at the Princeton Farmers Market:


The flower farmer was a recipient of one of the donuts; he gave me these ornamental peppers for free and thanked me for buying from him all season long:


I haven't talked about pain for a long time. My knees are doing great, better than they have for years. My back still flares about once a week, but it's mainly under control and I still look forward to my first back pain free day sometime in my near future. I haven't seen Len for 5 weeks and I don't have any appts booked with him. He had told me if I could get to 6 weeks, then I'd only have to go back when I need him, no more scheduling! So just one more week to go for that. I still see my acupuncturist every 3 weeks but that's more for stress relief now than pain relief. I still do the guided imagery CD at bedtime at least once a week and sometimes more frequently than that. I haven't gone back to the meditation class but I might. I think I feel better when I don't take all my supplements and so I'm going to try to figure out which ones I don't need to take anymore. I am able to go to the gym 3x a week. I think the toning class especially helps with my pain. I still stretch every night and most mornings.

Oh, I have finally gotten to the point where I can touch my toes again--it took 6 months of stretching with the yoga strap to get there! And 90 year old Judy at the gym doesn't even know she was my inspiration. One day I realized that, when we all lie on our backs and the instructor tells us to put one leg up into the air and pull it towards us, I was the only one who couldn't touch her toes. I was inches away. I realized that the oldest member of the class could do it too, and felt if she could do it, I should be able to do it too. Now I finally can!

Well, that's enough about that! Good night!

More random stuff

Roses I bought for myself

• Who am I kidding? My green dress needs a swayback adjustment.
• Look at this new blog I found; she made my green dress in purple and she lives in HAWAII!!!!
• Have you seen this blog?
  
• Tonight I wrote SPRs for the last three dresses I made recently. I'm all caught up on my SPRs.
  
• My lumbar back pain is now intermittent instead of constant! My knee pain is now occasional instead of intermittent. I love these downgrades!
  
• I now have rib pain though? Maybe I'll see Len for that.
• I went 4 weeks without seeing Len. It felt like a triumph. Len said "is this your graduation day?" I'm trying for 6 weeks without seeing him, but I might need him to work on the rib.
  
• I went to the eye dr and a little kid threw up in the waiting room. The eye doc said "Oh no, I gave him too many snacks"
• I went to the dentist and I have no cavities. See you in 6 months. YES!
  
• I have acupuncture tmw night. And then I'm seeing the Heidi Chronicles with a coworker. It's going to be a big night.
• Tmw is my last full day in my office. Sob. Then I'm in a cube for 6 weeks, then I share an office with someone else. My personal office, I will miss thee!
  
• I started listening to a meditation CD and it felt like I was having acupuncture. Wild, right?
• I started reading Why People Don't Heal and How They Can by Caroline Myss. Quite a revelation there.
• I finished Eat, Pray, Love. I'm ready for the movie.
  
• I'm thinking of making Simplicity 3742 this weekend.
  

Good night!

Not a good weekend to be an evergreen

I'm standing in between two huge fallen evergreens for taking this picture

There was another nor'easter this weekend. I took a walk yesterday afternoon. The sheer number of fallen trees is beyond my scope of comprehension. They are everywhere. On my way to the chiropractor tonight, I saw one house with three trees on it. Three. There is also flooding and wind damage. There are downed wires and tree debris. I saw storm doors were completely ripped off their hinges. The fake shutters are everywhere, some of them shattered.

My normal 30 or 40 min trip to work was 60. My normal 15 or 20 min drive to the chiropractor was 75 min. So many roads are closed. I have a 13 year old map of Mercer County in my car. My chiropractor's office wasn't even on it. The map says "don't drive with yesterday's map". I was driving with yesterdecade's map.

My coworkers talked about power outages, no heat, no hot water, water in their basements, a tree in their brand new bathroom. Amazing.

I was so lucky. I had electricity the whole time, even when it flickered. No trees are on my house. I think the chimney might be leaking, but that's all. I do have a really flared up back. Like Jan 2009 pain, when it was just starting out. Len thinks my back is strained from putting the table together on Saturday night. He did his active release technique. We actually got to talk for a while since there were no-shows around my visit. It was a really good discussion about pain, life, control. Look at how far I've come...look at how much I've done in the last three weeks. He thinks what I have right now is temporary.

I took pix of some damage from the storm in my neighborhood, if you want to check out the whole album. Otherwise a few selected images are below.

I like the shadows here




Below is one of my neighbors trees. She has that obsessive cleaning disorder which I don't have. This must be driving her crazy. I'm surprised she hasn't purchased a chainsaw yet. When it snows, she removes every flake of snow from her parking spaces. Her car looks freshly waxed after new fallen snow. She has removed every plant in her side yard that the previous owner lovingly tended and nurtured. When a plant dares to come back, she rips out or cuts it down.


Those shutters are plastic!


Oh, and here's a pj top I'm in the middle of making, another one for the SPR stash contest. It has a kangaroo pocket.

I swear, my next blog posting will be Q&A. Because y'all have asked some questions lately, and you deserve answers.

Vandalized fruit

I eat a good amount of fruit. I tend to bring in a good chunk of it at the start of the week, and leave it on my desk at work so it's readily available when I want to eat it. So this morning I came in and found 2 pieces of my fruit, vandalized as shown above, by one of my coworkers. Hmmm.

Yesterday I was feeling pretty good and coherent, but now my cold has reinvigorated itself. I just want to stop the mucus factory that is my nose and lungs. I think I would have gone home after lunch, but I wanted to keep my appointment with Len.

Len fixed my left knee again. He pressed on the back of my knee which he has not done for quite some time. It is very painful when he does that, but it seems like it's good as new now.

He thinks my right ankle is just strained tendons and ligaments and we should see if it happens again.

He spent a lot of time on my jaw (have I mentioned, my latest problem? That my lower right jaw hurts sometimes while chewing food--it started while I was eating almonds earlier in the week?) He said, "does it hurt here, or here?" and my goodness, the second "here" was definitely the spot. He spent a long time on that, pressing into my oily face where the jaw hinges. I see my dentist on Tuesday so we'll see what he thinks, is it the wisdom tooth or the jaw itself. Len thinks it's probably a muscular issue there but my dentist would know if it's a tooth issue.

Which leads me to, what is causing all of these problems? My coworker suggested getting a lyme disease test--that would be for joints. Some of my problems are joints, others are muscular.

So for Christmas, I'm going to get myself a physical and a blood test to find out if I have lymes, or if I'm deficient in something, or overdosed in something else. I want a good primary care doctor, no, a great one, and I want to be heard (basically, I wish my acupuncturist was a primary care physician). I've taken recommendations from coworkers and my acupuncturists, so I'll choose one and give myself the gift of a physical.

That and real boots and real grippy things for my boots. Because I am NOT falling again this winter on ice.

*p.s. my back is holding up pretty well all things considered, and I feel like it's more "loose" and "free" than it has been in a long time, and that maybe the back pain will be completely gone by Christmas. I told Len this, and he said "shhhhhh" as if to say "don't say it out loud and jinx yourself."

Ok! So for this weekend, lots of rest, some laundry, some chores, some finances, some doctor decisions, and maybe sew up a simple shirt I cut out like 3 weeks ago. And maybe SPR Pete's lemon pjs.

Good night!

Welcome back to your life

Oh, the gray hair. Last year one of my coworkers said, "you must be wise." I fell for it and asked why, and he said "Because of all your gray hair!!"
Here's March 2008:


Last night:


Yup. It's a rare picture without my pink hat!!

Saw Len tonight. Told him about my knee. He thinks I probably twisted it, doesn't think it's a big deal--and it was feeling much better today than it did on Wednesday. He thinks my rib is still strained and that's why I feel it sometimes, and that it needs to be strengthened. I don't think we ever got around to my tendon in my ankle/foot. Someone else showed up and said they had the same appt time as me. So there was some discussion about that, but I was already on the table and I knew I was right. I still think he spent the full 15 minutes with me. I told him about how I've been going to the gym 3x a week now for the past 3 weeks and he said, "welcome back to your life". Ah, yes, welcome back. Honestly, it felt a bit like when I was back in college in freshman English, and my prof said, sometime in the second semester, "I don't have to worry about you anymore." Maybe I'm out of the woods with the worst of the pain.

I SPR'd my red nightgown tonight

As for Project Runway, it was funny to see Tim lose his cool (not that he really did, it seemed like fake drama as other sites have reported). Now I can't remember the Tim quote I wanted to post here, it was from near the beginning of the epi, when he was consulting with Althea. Something about "you're fragile now, but you have a trajectory." I like that.

I fly to England tmw night. I'll pack first thing in the morning. The flight is an overnight flight. I checked into upgrading to first class with miles. It's 20k miles and a $500 "copay" for the fare class. um, since when did upgrading to first class sound like going to the doctor's office? I'll save my bucks and my miles for another time, thanks.

Friday evening

Thanks everyone--my rib is getting better (again) and it didn't hurt to breathe today. woo!

I had such a bizarre dream this morning. I went to urgent care and signed in. The receptionist asked, "would you like an MRI today?" and I said, "excuse me?" and she replied, "Would you like an MRI today? We have the MRI machine now so you can have an MRI today" and I was kind of incensed and said, "I wish you had this back in the spring!!!" And then I woke up thinking I would like an MRI of my knees.

Len and I had a good conversation tonight. I admitted that I went back to the gym, and he wasn't upset at all. He just told me to take it easy. (He seemed to already know that I went back to the gym, but I'm not sure how he knew...) He is still really enamored by my coat and asked me a lot about it. He had seen it last week already, but I told him how I added pockets last weekend and he seemed really amazed by that and was asking how I did it, like he was really interested in knowing how it all it put together. I'm not sure I've ever had a non-sewist ask in such detail about a garment I made. We also talked more about when he was hit by a car, how it changed his life, etc. It was really great little conversation. I then hit the gym and went to groove class. I took it really easy. We'll see how I feel in the morning.

Tomorrow I take my car in for service and they're letting me have a loaner car for the day. I'm guessing it's going to be $$ if I get a loaner car. I think it needs a brake job. I'll just be glad not to wait in that waiting room with CNN blaring on.

Are we all excited for the Tim-visits-everyone-at-home episode next week? It's my favorite epi of the season!! And just how many times did Tim use the word "staggering" last night??

Pulled pork

So when you google for "pulled rib", a lot of recipes for pulled pork ribs come up near the end of the first page of search results. Not that I'm a big rib eater, but I'm not eating ribs for a long, long time.

Last night was painful. Rolling over was painful. Getting out of bed this morning was painful. Pain pain pain. But somehow, by the middle of the day, I realized I was breathing without pain. Eating isn't too difficult. Transitioning from sitting to standing and vice versa, not so bad. Driving is a bit tiring by the end of my commute. I'm afraid of lying down, though. My goal for tonight is that when I lie down, that will be it for the night. No getting in and out of bed. No trying to roll over a lot. The heat is cranked up so I don't get a chill and tense up.

The pain is feeling like it's travelling the same sort of path like my lumbar pain back in January--only it's an accelerated path. Maybe Len and Karen are right and I'll be mostly out of the woods tmw.

Karen told me last night to call her today, so I called this morning and we chatted. At that point I was still in heaps of pain, but she still seemed adamant that I was going to feel better. She said that by seeing Len and her both yesterday, that now a lot of energy was flowing to that spot and it could be overactive. Don't I have such a nice acupuncturist???

My boss said I could go home if I wanted, but since I could still think, I wanted to be at work doing things, instead of home thinking about my pain. I have a little presentation I'm giving tmw morning. I leave a little early to see Len.

Definitely going to bed early tonight!!! Feeling sleepy. It's only 7:12pm. Jeesh.

Pulled rib

Now I have something new to obsessively google about.

My mid back pain was pretty bad this morning. Getting out of bed was painful, changing the heating settings in my car hurt, just plain breathing hurt. Getting food and water up to my mouth hurt until I figured out that I had to prop my elbows up on the desk!!

Fortunately Len was able to see me this morning at 10:30. He thinks I pulled my rib--from sewing on Saturday! Jeesh. After several painful moves and presses, he was optimistic for my recovery. He thinks I will feel a lot better in 48 hours. He says it's a totally separate injury compared to my lumbar pain. It's not my back, it's my rib! It's a different injury and that is great!! I said, but this pain feels a lot like my lumbar pain felt back in January, especially the "getting worse with time" aspect of it. He said this is acute, not chronic, at least not yet. At one point he told me I will get better and somehow that sent me over the edge and I cried. Len, his wife, and the next patient could hear it, but I couldn't stop myself.

Karen worked me in her schedule for some acupuncture tonight at 5. She had me get into a position, on my side, involving a lot of pillows, which was actually really comfortable once I was in the position. I didn't feel any pain at all in that position, not even lumbar pain. Really wild. But the pillow is stuffed with buckwheat, so my left ear really hurt and my left shoulder was hurting after lying for about 30 minutes on my left side, just from the pressure. Karen said it should be easier for me tonight to be in that position in my own bed since the pillow and bed are softer than the table and buckwheat pillow at the acu office. She also put some needles in my back for the first time ever, and she only put needles in my right foot. She felt all around my back and said she can see the damaged area. I asked, "What does it look like?" and she said when she presses on it, that area turns red and the other areas don't. Anyway, after it was over, I was freezing, and started shivering, and my back tensed up and the rib area started hurting. Gah!! The pain! But once I was in the car I blasted the heat.

Len recommended ice and ibuprofen. At work I took my knee ice pack, covered it with a kitchen towel I keep at work for my ice packs, and then thought about how I was going to hold this ice pack to my back in the right spot. So I shoved it under my bra strap and it did the trick!!!

Pete's handmade birthday card arrived today--I'll post it on my birthday. It's really awesome!

Am I getting a cold??

So late afternoon yesterday I went to the optometrists to have my eyes dilated with drops, blah blah blah, basically there is an "area of concern" with my right eye but if my glucose numbers are ok and my blood pressure is ok, then the optometrist thinks my eyes are ok too.

Today I saw Len. The good news is my right knee has not hurt for an entire week! The left knee has had minimal pain for an entire week. The bad news is my left lower back flared today, I woke up this morning with one funky feeling throat, the area around my neck is very sore, and I'm having nightly headaches for approx 10 days now. Len spent probably 25 minutes instead of his usual 15 doing all sorts of neck and shoulder things, plus some back things, but no knee things. He also gave me some new exercises to do. He thinks I'm still progressing even though I feel like my back is regressing because it's been flaring more frequently than usual. I just want to get better!!!!

So I'm preparing to take some Airborne and get to bed early. It's been dark and rainy today and is supposed to be dark and rainy tmw. If I feel up to it, I'll sew tmw. Otherwise I will stay in bed and rest for a long time!!

Yesterday was just gorgeous and warm. I miss it already!!

Soaring

Today Pete got 2 of the 3 vaccinations he needs for immigration. (One of those two is a 2-parter, so he goes back in a month to get the second part. The third is not available in the UK.) He didn't have to get them now, but by getting them now they are free as part of their health care system! The tetanus one hurts he says. I will feel his pain when I go for a physical by the end of the year. It's time for me to get another tetanus shot, so I'll get it at the physical.

Speaking of needles, at acupuncture tonight, Karen tried to put a needle between my eyebrows for "mental clarity" but it apparently wouldn't stay in. She said for some people the needle slides right in and for others it won't stay. It did feel like there was a needle in my right calf in the back, but there wasn't! I'm still amazed at acu. Since I'm getting better, now I'm going every other week to acu and every third week to chiro.

Pete told me he wants to have pix of us jumping in our wedding attire. I've seen those shots before. Then I saw the front page of the paper yesterday and it made me laugh. Like this, love??



I think an animal damaged my lawn chairs, because if a person were to vandalize them, I think they would have been vandalized across the seat too:



I am sad since I just bought these chairs this summer to replace my other chairs that were falling apart. But I'm grateful the damage wasn't worse.

Reboot & Simplicity 2724

I am feeling calm. It's been a while since I've felt that way. Things feel under control. House doesn't look like a disaster. My personal to-do list isn't huge. Maybe my general outlook has something to do with the giant reboot I had on Friday evening.

Well, first, let's talk about the chiro. He is now away for 10 days. The day he comes back he's already fully booked. That means...I will not see him for 2 full weeks. Cue "How Am I Supposed to Live Without You?" You know, Michael Bolton? He probably remade it. Was it Diane Warren? Too lazy to Google that now.

We talked about the best way to stand (which, in his opinion, is to put one foot up on something. Doing dishes? Put one foot on a phone book. Teaching class? Put one foot on a chair and lean forward, resting on your leg (very professorial pose). Keep switching legs.

Best way to pick something up off the floor? He said, to let someone else do it. Basically, lunge for it, rest one knee on the ground, pick thing up, use strength in both legs to stand back up. I tried it; it was really really difficult for me to do that--I have lost so much strength in my legs. It was pretty shocking, especially when I think about what I used to do in toning class 6.5 months ago. Alternatively, I can squat with each knee out to side, not together.

He told me a story--said it was time for a lecture. When he was 37 or 38, he was sideswiped by a car while he was riding his bicycle. He said it took 3 or 4 years for him to recover to the point where he was back to the fitness level he was at when he was hit (he's a triathlete). He said it's going to take a lot of time for me to first just get back to the point where I can do the things required of everyday living, the things I have trouble with now--like squatting to get clothes out of the dryer. He said as I gain mobility, I will do more, but my body will let me know when I've gone too far (like the flare-up I had with the dishwasher). When I do go too far, he thinks my body will pull itself out of the pain in 2 days or less.

I came home and then talked to Pete. I think it was around 7:30pm when I decided to take a nap. I woke up at 3am! Windows wide open, still dressed in my work outfit, teeth unbrushed, unshowered, supplements not taken. It is surprisingly quiet outside at 3am. It was 60F, nice temperature for sleeping. I fell back to sleep by 4am and woke again at 7:30am and got on with the day. Crazy! Usually that kind of thing happens when I'm jetlagged. I hadn't taken any naps all week, maybe that's why it happened.

I decided to start taking glucosamine supplements to see if it helps with my knees.

I stopped sewing on Sundays because I usually had a lot of chores to do. Well, today the list wasn't so long and I have time to sew.

Today I finished Simplicity 2724 from yesterday. It's a Project Runway mix-n-match pattern. I didn't use a collar; I used bias tape and treated it like a facing. I didn't make the sash as long because I prefer knots to bows; I love the way the ruffle is sewn on and may replicate that in the future on a shirt. It's a really nice shade of turquoise. Not too crazy about the pleats on the butt. I played around with the side zip to get it to an ok point. I cut 4.5 inches off the bottom and made a 1.25 inch hem. I sewed the 14 and then trimmed the bodice down to a 12 during sewing. It is done!





Time for a haircut, eh?

Chronically challenged?

This was quite a week, with a medical appt every day.
I saw the orthopedic doc on Thurs.

• He said that he could "make up a story that would sound really good," but honestly, he doesn't know the source of my pain.
  
• Now that it's been more than 6 months of daily pain, he said it's chronic back pain and that I need to learn what triggers the flare-ups and avoid doing those things.
  
• Keep going to the chiro until the chiro discharges me (um, I don't think they do that?) and the acu.
  
• Keep doing the back exercises from the therapist.
  
• I asked about supplements. He said studies show glucosamine is effective for osteoarthritis in knees. He said I could try it for 3 months and see if I feel any differently.
• I asked about vitamin D--he said unless I'm deficient, I don't need to take it. Said I should have a blood test at my primary care to determine that.
• I asked about Magnesium. He said he didn't know what that was for. According to the bottle, it helps nerve and muscle function. Acu recommended it. He just said "ok".
• He said because the pain oscillates from side to side, he doesn't think it's the SI joint.
• He said again that my spine is healthy.
• He said walking is the best exercise, and that he thinks I can use free weights again for my arms, as long as I watch my stance.
• He asked if I feel like I'm improving, and I said I am, with pain at a 1, 2 or 3 most days. He said that I seem more upbeat than my last visit.
  
• Then he said, "Be in good health", shook my hand and said good bye.
  

Tonight I saw the acu. It is really neat to feel all the fluttering/twitching/warm spots/pain spots. Tonight most twitching was in my right leg. I told her what happened this week. She said it's a good sign that I recovered so quickly from my back spasm. Oh, and there was one needle she put in my foot that made me say "OW" out loud--totally involuntary!! She said some of her patients yell with every needle. During the 35 minutes I was on the table, I started to fall asleep. When I came home, I slept for about an hour or so. The lotion that smells so good is Alba--I might buy some this weekend.

On Wed the chiro said if I hadn't had my flare-up, he would have reduced my visits to 1x a week. This coming week I will see him 2x, then I will start to see him 1x a week, unless I have another flare-up.

Tonight I cut out a very simple dress. It's basically to practice making the next dress I want to make, the one to wear to Christine's wedding. I'm worried that this practice dress is too small and will wrinkle too easily. But I am going to make it cute!!

Be in good health. I'm healing. My body knows how to heal itself. There's nothing wrong with me.

Good night!

Antoinette's Alterations-ish and other things

Ok, I just realized, this sign says "Antoniette's Alterations" and not "Antoinette's Alterations"...

Tailoring
When I visited the dentist on May 19, I saw this shop and made a mental note to bring my camera with me to the dentist next time so I could get a snapshot for Antoinette. Today was that day!! But now I realize there is a reversal of letters!!

Anyway, a few months back a coworker of mine asked if I wanted to accompany her on a visit to her tailor in Princeton (not Antoniette's, that's in Matawan) to pick up some shirts. It was like looking into a life I could have as a tailor. The seamstress has a little tiny shop, not much bigger than my bedroom, where one of the closets serves as the dressing room! One wall was lined with garments to be altered or picked up. Pictures of the seamstress with brides hung on the wall. The sewing machine was on a desk, and her chair was a stiff wooden chair without any lumbar support! The seamstress was wearing black pants, and all these different colored threads were clinging on to her just like me when I sew!

Anyway, my coworker had purchased some shirts that were too big, and asked the tailor to, well, tailor them. She charged $30 for one shirt and $25 for the other, to bring the shirt in on the sides and add or take the back darts in further. My coworker said that was actually more than what she paid for the shirts!! But I'm sure it's hard to make a living as a tailor in Princeton, especially paying Princeton rates, even for a shop as small as hers. I recently started tailoring purchased clothing for myself (beyond hemming long pants, but actually bringing in the sides too), and have a small pile of it to attend to! But the whole experience got me thinking about what it would be like to be a seamstress for a living.

Mistaken Identity
Twice within one week, a stranger has said that they thought they knew me from somewhere. First was at Lucy's Kitchen last week, where a woman asked if I work at Tyco. Second was today. I stopped at a consignment shop on the way back from the dentist. I've always thought about stopping there but never did. I bought a jacket. The store owner asked for my name for her mailing list. I wasn't on her list, which wasn't suprising to me but she said, "you've been here before, haven't you?" and I said no...and she said she could have sworn I had been there before.

So just who is this mystery Tyco employee who shops consignment and looks like fabulous me??

Dentist
Yeah, so he thinks my sensitive tooth is an infected gum or maybe mild gingivitis but not gum recession (yippee!). Now I get to use a special prescription mouthwash for the next 16 days. I can't eat or drink for 2 hours after using the mouthwash, which is annoying. I know from past experience that it will stain my teeth a lovely shade of brown...but at least that comes off with the next hygenist cleaning.

Back
I suffered what I thought was a huge setback with my back on Sunday afternoon, when I decided to finally clean the gunk out of the bottom of my dishwasher. That was the first time since Mar 5 that something I did clearly hurt my back as it immediately went into spasm and pain was at a 6. Other setbacks didn't have an apparent cause (like the 3am screaming back issue almost 3 weeks ago). I wound up taking a lot of Aleeve Sun and Mon. Saw Len last night and he seems to have restored my back to where it was last week. That man is a magician and I wish I had visited him back in January. The Active Release Technique for overused muscles is amazing. I didn't take Aleeve at all today. Pain is back to a 3 I'd say. Sometimes a 2 and even a 1.

Tech support
It was funny that I became techsupport for my own blog! It was asking for a username/password for one of the blogs on my blog roll! Workaround was to click cancel to view my blog. But I decided tonight to remove that person's blog from my blog roll, problem solved. The author of that blog is on vacay, and I don't have any way to report to her what her blog is doing since I can't access it and I don't have her email.

Good night!!

Good news

It's getting late, so here's a list:

1. My part of the visa application has been approved! So in 2-3 months, Pete will receive the paperwork to do his part of the app.

2. I told Len (chiro) this morning that "I'm seeing the ortho on the 16th to discuss..." Len cut me off and said "to discuss how great you're doing!" (I was going to say, "to discuss the possibility of the cortisone injection".) I think I should stick with the chiro and the acu for another month and reassess then. The injection would have to go through the muscle to get to my SI joint and I'm figuring, that's gonna be painful. Things are starting to look up with my back. Pain is sometimes a 1, usually a 3, or a 2.

3. Saw Karen (acu) tonight.

• She loooved the fact that I brought my summer bathrobe with me (no, it's not one that I made, but is rather one I've owned for a while with short sleeves and knee-length, great for acu!). I loooved the fact that I wasn't wearing a scratchy non-environmentally friendly paper gown.
• She stuck a needle in my right knee that was incredibly painful, and one in my left ankle that was somewhat painful.
  
• I think there's some slight bruising on my foot from one of her needles.
• I had the needles for half an hour!
• I felt a LOT of fluttering in my right calf & my abdomen.
• I felt some very pointed pain at one needle in my right calf and sometimes in the right knee.
• I felt warm spots all along my forearms.
• I was in a different room this time that had no windows. It was pretty wonderful with the lights out.
  
• For a few minutes here and there, I didn't feel any back pain at all!!
• It felt like pain was lifting out of my right knee cap.
• Karen revealed that she goes to the same ortho I go to!
• I felt really groggy afterwards and ready for sleep!
• I told Karen how I say "There's nothing wrong with me". She said that's great, and also offered these suggestions: "I'm healing." "My body knows how to heal itself."
• She said I'm really in tune with my body which is great for acu but bad for pain because when I'm in pain, I really really feel it.
• The lotion she put on my legs tonight smells like plumeria! Oh Hawaii, how I miss thy state!!
  

4. I've been waking up before my alarm every morning this week!

5. I've been taking my dietary supplements. So far, so good.

6. Answers to quizzes:

• Yes! It's a wooden cow on the wall!
  
• Love: brown! Like: gray! Hate: pink!! but that's mostly for the way they were constructed or problems I had during construction. I'll write a post about that later. One day I may love the pink one. Despite construction issues.

Good night!

Coming soon: jabot madness

I failed to get pix, but I saw my friends Wolfgang and Michele during their 6 hour layover in Newark. Never has an airport been so much fun! Plus they brought me chocolate and 3 cow buttons, and we discussed wedding photography. I also saw the chiropractor again (knee pain: 0/1, back pain, 2/3), went grocery shopping and took yet another nap (really, I'm becoming the queen of naps) and chatted with not one but two neighbors. Whee!

As Antoinette would say, ready to get your jabot on??

The basic tank bit is sewn up (it took an hour and a half to reach this point. Next time I will not do armhole facings. Double knit is so dreamy, armhole facings are really not necessary--fold over and sew down will be my quick method.)


I've drawn the lines on:

It was difficult to stop myself here, but I think sewing the jabot on, and hemming, is a project best left til morning.

I reduced the size of the carriers on my bathrobe. So the bathrobe is officially done. And this is officially the weirdest angle I've ever taken a picture of on myself:



Sewing to do list:

• fix the brown ruffle shirt
• finish the gray jabot shirt
• make the other ruffle/jabot shirt--in pink!
• hem gray pants again

Yeah, I probably won't get all that done this weekend. But I definitely can't wait to finish the jabot in the morning!!

Bon weekend and bon sewing, everyone! And how's your three day weekend???

Sheer delight!

What does that drawing look like to you??

Week in review

Tuesday: Had massage at the gym. Deep tissue massage for half an hour was a bit too much like physical therapy for me. Next time I want something more superficial--like pampering--and less expensive--like $1 a minute.

Thursday: Had dinner with my friend Ellen from the gym. She caught me up on all gym gossip. I was so happy to talk with someone from that part of my life.

Friday: Saw chiropractor after work. Len is a magician. He worked on my knees and my back. That night, I walked up the stairs for the first time in 5 years without any knee pain at all (the pain has since come back in my right knee but the left one still feels like new!). My back was slightly aggravated from his treatment but I'm definitely willing to give him a shot!! He said his treatments will be 15 minutes each time, twice a week for a month, and that what he does will last progressively longer after each visit. I see him tmw night and then he is off for the rest of the week as the official chiropractor for some track and field event, but thereafter I can definitely see him twice a week for a month. He hopes that I won't have to go back to the orthopedic. His office is conveniently located close to work. 15 minutes a session beats upwards of 2 hours of therapy per visit!

Yesterday: My ebay auctions ended. I somehow entered the wrong amount for postage for one item (much much much much less than it should have been) but it worked out because the buyer wanted to have it mailed Express Mailed to San Diego and asked for a revised invoice--phew! Otherwise my mistake would have wiped out a good portion of what I made on this batch of ebay!!

Today we celebrated my parents 45th wedding anniversary (which was actually last weekend) and Father's Day.


Card I made...much better than Hallmark!


Fridge cake I made...with chocolate chips forming "45"


Fabric for apron I made for mom.


LOVE these numbers on the box of Thomas Sweet chocolate!!

Dad spent a good portion of the afternoon installing my new double traverse rod with new sheers and old curtains):

They are sheer bliss (heh heh)! I am so in love with these curtains! Plus my parents hauled away my un-ebay-able stuff that I was getting rid of so the living room is looking clean and tidy again. And Hal gave a little dance recital too. Hal is really such a joy!! I highly recommend!!


The sun sets on another day....wish I had tomorrow off--good night!

Another diagnosis: SI joint issues

This afternoon I saw the orthopedic doctor. He says my back looks really healthy. Says the disk is bulging on the right side, so it’s not causing my left side pain. If I felt right side pain down the leg that was tingling, numbness or weakness, then the disk would be the cause of that pain. But I don’t feel pain like that down the right side. I've never felt pain down the right side.

He thinks my right side pain is the muscle recovering from the injury in January—esp since that pain is not so frequent now.

He thinks my left side pain is from the SI joint. This was something Janet hypothesized a few visits ago. He thinks the trauma (his words) of my fall on Dec 24 could be the reason.

He thinks I should see a chiropractor next for a month to do joint manipulation, then see him again in a month. If it’s still not better, he’ll inject the SI joint with cortisone.

Now that area is all inflamed from the test he did, I think it’s the FABER one talked about here:
http://orthopedics.about.com/cs/hipsurgery/a/sacroiliacjoint.htm

I also enjoyed the SI info found here:
http://www.umm.edu/spinecenter/education/sacroiliac_joint_syndrome.htm

He says I should walk, take Aleeve when I need to, and keep doing the daily exercises Janet gave me to do. But otherwise keep on taking it easy.

Now I just have to find a chiropractor. I asked how frequently I should see the chiropractor and he said that is something I can work out with the chiropractor.

I asked him if he thinks I will be pain free someday and he said yes.

I asked what I can do to keep the bulging disk from becoming herniated or to keep it from happening to my other disks. He said I do not need to worry about my spine or back, that it looks very healthy from the MRI images. He says the bulging disk is quite small.

Tonight was my last appointment with Janet. She seemed frustrated that she was not able to "fix" me and she voiced her concerns about what a chiropractor might do to me. I don't know. I'm skeptical myself. But I also know a few people who really believe in chiropractors.

Oh, and I wasn't all that impressed with this doc. At one point he told me he was running behind on his appointments. He seemed kind of distant and eager to move on. I'm not sure he really cared. But he did the exam and he tested me in ways other docs and the therapist had not.