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!

Next Book Review: Essential Stretch

I went to the gym tonight, which was the third time this week, something I haven't done for a while. Now my left knee is hurting and something happened in my lower right back at the very end. I'm not panicking about it yet, it's not so bad and it's definitely muscular and I hope it's just minor. The real test will be getting out of bed tomorrow morning--then I'll know where I'm at. I think that 3x in one week is a bit hard on my body right now. 2x a week seems pretty good. Plus I didn't have acupuncture or chiropractic this week, though I did yoga 2x. Quite frankly, I had forgotten about the lower right pain til I turned over in bed just now. Could it actually disappear by morning? Now that would be something!

Since reading the Mind Over Back Pain book, my pain has been a lot less. Today at work my back pain was practically non-existent and my knee pain was limited to certain scenarios for many weeks now and was much improved! And then came the gym after work. So now you're caught up on that.

So my next book review is Essential Stretch by Michelle LeMay. While this one is not a back pain book, I wanted to read it because it's about stretching. I had "read" two of Brad Walker's stretching books previously, and wanted a different perspective. Brad's books were more "how to" with either pictures or diagrams, with brief descriptions of the stretch, what to watch out for, etc, so that's why "read" is in quotes. It's more of a reference book.

Michelle's book is much different. It emphasizes the mind-body connection in the first half of the book, then has annotated pictures of the stretches in the second half. Brad's book is "here's what you have to do, go do it". Michelle's book talks about breathing, centering and meditation before stretching, not judging yourself, letting go of "mind-chatter." While many of her stretches are derived in yoga or pilates, she doesn't emphasize form or holding. "You can't let go if you're still holding on to something". So she's not very concerned with form so much as letting go of the stress. Many of the stretches are unsupported so I don't think I can do them now, some are variations on stretching I do now, and some are brand new to me. She wants you to be in the moment during the stretch, not worrying about the past or future, but living in the present. Scattered throughout the text and pictures are statements to be said before, during or after the stretch. Some of it is hokey, some of it is powerful, all of it is helpful. One of the hokier things to do is to "send a smile" to the painful area when it hurts. It's definitely hokey, but I've been doing that this week too. It's definitely better than giving my back the proverbial finger.

While Mind Over Back Pain repeatedly emphasizes the "unresolved emotional issues will manifest itself in your physical back pain," Michelle's book gently refers to it, mostly as "your stress will appear as muscle knots".

Most frequently used word in each book:
MOBP: tension
Essential Stretch: stress

Oh, and I also like how Michelle's book refers to how cats stretch all the time--we should too!

Good night!

A bouquet and other stuff

25 stems of spray roses from the local Stop and Shop before I unwrapped them...and my funky red and white striped shirt from the consignment shop. I wear it as one of my layers under the many flannel sleep shirts I make. Don't they both make you smile?

Twin needle update: Jo-Ann's had stretch needles, ballpoint needles, universal needles and twin needles....but no stretch twin needles or ballpoint twin needles. But lucysfabrics.com came through! If you like knit fabrics and their accessories, Lucy's is fantastic. Check out their notions and trims and stretch lace. Lots of drool-worthy stuff there. I used a coupon code from Sewing Pattern Review's Merchants Page for 10% off, which helped.

Back pain update: Tmw will be the one year anniversary for my lower left back pain. So my back pain is a lot better and very tolerable, but it's not going away, either. It's plateaued in the last few weeks. I also noticed that in my gym class, when we do stretching on our backs, and the instructor says to pull our toes or grab our ankles or whatnot, I'm the only person who can't do it. I mean, even the 90 year old in our class can do it, and my hand is still inches away from my foot. So it got me thinking that the residual back pain might be related to my tight muscles. I stretch quite a lot, I feel, but I could always do more.

Yoga: This lead me back to yoga. I haven't done yoga for years. And the yoga classes at my gym aren't really convenient. So I rented two yoga DVDs from the library, specifically for back pain. While the one was relatively a dud, the other was great. Lots of hamstring stretches--I can feel the difference after doing the DVD. I also realized just how tight my hips are as well, through that and exercises from yet another back pain book (I have read sooo many books on back pain). And I forgot how great the restorative poses are too--there is one lying on the back my calves resting on a chair. It takes all the pressure off the lower back. Just lie there and breathe deeply. Feels amazing. So far I think it is making a difference in my pain, especially immediately following the yoga session.

I also have this theory that the side my back pain is on is related to the side I slept on the night before. I've been trying to sleep on my back to see if it makes a difference, but I wake up and really want to roll on my side.

Acupuncture: At acupuncture tonight, I described this all to Karen. So she did my first-ever treatment on my stomach. She put the needles directly into my back (which she had only done once before, when I pulled my rib). There were needles that went into my feet, the backs of my knees, my hamstrings, piriformis, the area of my SI joint (and now I know where the SI joint really is!), and into my shoulders. I could feel fluttering/twitching in my calves. She put heat on my knees and lower back. It felt like lying on a beach in the warm sun (not that I really ever did that). My back doesn't feel much different, but my knees feel amazing. No pain at all walking up the stairs tonight. And I also have that sort-of loopy post-acupuncture feeling that I haven't felt for a while. I think I will sleep well tonight!

Have a grrreat night everyone!!

Deer in Princeton

Here's a deer in Palmer Square. I thought it was cute.


It's hard to tell it's a deer from the front, though.

It's in front of a store called Spruce. Ha! On Monday Nov 30, I came home from work instead of going to the gym because my cold was in full force. On Rt 27 a deer was standing in the oncoming lane. I hit the brakes because I didn't know if it was going to run into my lane. Thankfully it stayed put as I sort of slid past it in the rain. That's the closest I've ever been to an alive deer on the road.

So I want to go on the record as saying that when I told my acupuncturist about my jaw issues, she put a bunch of needles in me in some new places, including one on each side of my jaw. Then when I was lying on the table, I realized that I was salivating as if warm, cooked food was in the room. That continued during the entire treatment. Wild.

I made an appt to see my acupuncturist's primary care physician for Jan 12. I'm excited to have a physical and find out if I am overdosing or deficient in any vitamins, and just what the general state of my blood chemistry is. He's a DO so I take that to be a plus. A friend of mine has also been to this same doc, and said he is great.

Last night I went to the freebie spine class. It was a bit too long and I already knew most of it, but my coworker volunteered me to serve as the "model" for the exercises. That was great because my back was flaring and it felt good to lie down. The therapist had me do a pelvic tilt and a bridge for the demo, and then she showed me how to do a pelvic tilt where you start to go into the bridge vertebra by vertebra, and that felt really really good. I have incorporated that into my routine. She also showed me how to do a standing pelvic tilt. Oh, and I when I got onto the table, she said I did a perfect "log roll". I had no idea that the way I get into bed is called a log roll--I use my arms to get down onto my side while getting my legs up onto the bed, then roll onto my back, and the reverse to get out of bed.

Oh, and I abandoned thecarrot.com and have been keeping a spreadsheet of 55 different items for about 6 weeks now to see if I can find any patterns for my pain. I really don't see patterns. My back is not flaring like it had been. It flared yesterday because I walked with my marathon-runner coworker to Nassau St. I should have asked her to slow down. I went to the gym tonight and it's feeling better. Keeping it moving is a good thing. My knees didn't hurt at all during gym class, not once. But when I came home, the right knee hurt for the first time in ages walking down stairs. I'm icing both of them now.

Update on LED solar lights: They stay lit til at least 10:30pm and who knows how much longer than that, if there was full sun that day. On rainy days, they don't last as long (definitely out by 9pm, and who knows when they actually went out...) Anyway, they make me smile when I come home! Mom bought me more LED solar lights which arrived today, so in a few days both trees in front of my house will be dually covered. :)
Good night!

Need more room? Hobble, hobble.

Wotcha! Pete says that's an English way of saying hello. Hello from Warrington, UK!

Here's a sign near Pete's house:



He bought me a lottery ticket and it won 2 pounds. Yes!


Pete's airport sign:


Flowers Pete bought for me; his bike is hanging out in the background.


Mom has wanted an all access pass (well, photo tour) of Pete's house for years. So here's the first in a week-long series. Here's his kitchen--he made dinner. Yes, that is his entire kitchen (galley style).


Here's one nemesis in Pete's house: His stairs are incredibly steep and there's no handrail so best of luck, knees and ankle! I'll blog about the other nemesis some other time.


My journey was pretty uneventful overall. I'm well enough to sit in the exit row again, aisle seat, and no one was between me and the person in the window seat. Nice!

I watched 500 Days of Summer (generally, ugh) and some other tv. I didn't sleep very much during the overnight flight. My back did really, really well. No patches (cold or hot), no Aleeve, and it was really good. Very light pain that switched sides frequently. Really, not a problem. I lifted all my own luggage within the airport and it was overall relatively easy.

At the Manchester airport, the flight arrived super early and I waited for Pete to arrive (he took the bus to meet me). This was after an entertaining conversation with the customs official who asked why Pete is coming to the US instead of me going there, and I sort of blinked and he said, "You won that battle?" and I said, "you could put it that way." and he said, "that's fine."

On our way to the bus depot to take the bus back to Pete's house, my right ankle started hurting. Really, I don't know why my body parts have decided that 2009 is the year they're all going to wear out, and my left tendon in my ankle/heal was the issue in the past few weeks; the right one was totally fine. I didn't twist my right ankle, I think it may just be strained, but I really don't know how. I brought my knee ice packs with me and used them tonight on the ankle. It's not swollen, it doesn't hurt if I'm not walking on it. I am hobbling around.

We'll see how it is tomorrow--that is when we are heading to Manchester for 2 nights to stay at a swanky place that we could never afford in-season. I have taken some Aleeve tonight in case it is swollen internally, and we'll see how it goes. I have sprained my ankle in the past where it swells and turns colors and hurts all the time--this is definitely not that. Knees are hurting a bit to get up the stairs.

Pete's cold is in full swing and he is coughing quite a lot.

Tonight we watched some tv Pete had DVR'd, including a show called "Stephen Fry's America". Stephen is a comedian here and is host of a show called QI that Pete and I watch a lot. As Stephen said, he was almost born in America. His father was offered a job at Princeton but he turned it down. So Stephen decided to visit every state in the US to check out the place. In this first episode, he visited every state in New England, plus New Jersey, Delaware and Maryland. And Pennsylvania. For NJ he didn't visit Princeton but instead went to Atlantic City. In Maine he hung out with some deer hunters (but asked them to not shoot the deer). I learned that deer hunters (or maybe just these fellows) find deer poo and rub it on their shirts so the deer think they are deer? Maybe these guys were just putting that on for the Brit, I don't know. In Pennsylvania, he met with a Abraham Lincoln impersonator. And gosh, there was a lot of American Revolution/Civil War background music. I enjoyed Stephen's observations of Americans and American living.

Good night!

Oh so much to say

Leaves and needles

I had acupuncture tonight. I told Karen how my acne has come back with a vengeance this past week. She ran down a list of possible causes, and one was "eating more chocolate than usual". I guess I have eaten a lot of chocolate lately, plus Sunday night I had Starbucks hot chocolate, then couldn't get to sleep!! She said Starbucks HC is made with dark choc, which has more caffeine than regular choc. I also told her about my night headaches, which she thinks are hormone related. So she put in needles for my hip/back, knees, kidneys and hormones. The needle that hurt the most was near my right ankle--and continued to hurt for the entire treatment! She said that one is related to kidney function, which she thinks is connected to my acne. She said the good thing about having acne is that you don't really wrinkle because of all the "activity". Interesting. Anyway, I could feel the fluttering even at the top of my head tonight, and some in my right knee. I haven't felt the fluttering in my back in a long time.

So. I don't want to jinx myself but my knees have been doing really really great since Friday, and that was even with it raining all weekend. I'm so proud of them! Except for Sunday my back is doing pretty well too. Originally my goal was to be rid of daily back pain by June 30, then by Labor Day, then my birthday. Well, I'm sneaking up on my birthday and I don't know if the pain will be completely gone by then. Maybe Thanksgiving???

I really want to start up my pain journal again (to find the trends for when my knees hurt or my back flares), but it's so boring. I was thinking, if there was a form I could fill out online each night, that might make it more interesting for me.
I googled but didn't find anything. Maybe that's my money making idea!! Or maybe I should just create my own Survey Monkey survey and take it myself each night? Hmmm. I really don't want to do an Excel spreadsheet, but maybe I have to.

After acu I went to Greene St Consignment shop and bought 2 jackets for work. and a pair of shoes. That store is amazing. It doesn't smell nor look like a consignment shop; instead, it looks like a boutique. I was looking at my receipt later, and it turns out that the 2 jackets were consigned by the same person. Obviously we have the same taste! And it made me wonder who that other person is and what else do they wear...

Have you seen Adrienne's sleeveless jacket? I was thinking about making it this past weekend! I definitely want to make it after seeing her version!!! I want to make mine in pink like hers, hmmm.

For my birthday I'm thinking of having PF Chang's for dinner, then going to see M. Moore's Capitalism: A Love Story. And having Thomas Sweet ice cream for dessert. Or something.

Turn, turn, turn

I ironed my aqua Simplicity 3835 shirt tonight, and it looks a lot better.

Triangle hair is back, ugh. The neckline looks a million times better.
It went from this:

to this:


Anyway, I'm wearing the shirt to work tomorrow!

Ok, so even though I don't really have room for it, I want a dressform. I'm sure there's a forum on SPR for dress forms, but it's so much easier to just ask about good dress forms. Please comment on what makes a good dress form/what's a good brand of dress forms/generally how much they cost.

I also saw a knit shirt someone made this summer on SPR and unfortunately I didn't favorite it and now I'm having trouble finding it. So if you know this pattern, please let me know the number. I think it:

• is Simplicity
• is knit
• has a very nice pleated neckline
• is rather fitted and not overly baggy
• does not have any seams in the front
  

I visited the new Simplicity site (and agree with everyone else--it's really awful). I don't see any Simplicity pattern meeting that criteria, not even in their "out of print" section. I looked on Butterick and McCall's, but didn't see anything. There is a Butterick pattern that is close, but it has horrible reviews, and even though I own it (bought it at the dollar sale before reading the reviews) I'm not going to try it.

It's my 7 month anniversary today for the left side back pain--and almost 9 months for the right side back pain. But it is getting better and I have more mobility now--probably from all the daily stretches I do, the acu and the chiro. My knees have good and bad days but generally they are SO MUCH BETTER. I generally don't have any pain walking down stairs anymore. (walking up stairs, sitting down and standing up still causes pain, but not too bad. And I just don't squat.) I can sit and cross my legs again. And it's easier than ever to get things up off the floor, even if I can't do that the proper way just yet.

I had chiro on Friday. Len actually started singing to me about my fewer-and-farther-between visits: "To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under heaven." He was also wearing a yellow tie with denim shirt. I can't seem to get that song out of my head now.

Acu tomorrow!

The answer's in you, somewhere

Look at what Pete did: he drew all the Hawaiian islands in Gimp, and then made our mock table name cards. He included each island's nickname.


Here's a close up of Maui (The Valley Isle):

They will undergo further refinement.

I had more parts of our invitation printed at the drug store just to see what they look like. They are pretty amazing!!

We're going back to the Waterview/Riverview on Saturday to figure out which room we want to have the reception in. They have a choice of three rooms and the one we like the best (has a great view of the Marina, is on the second floor, has an outdoor balcony for our guests to hang out on, has a real 70's style bar (even though I don't drink, I think it looks cool)) is actually the smallest room and holds 120 max. My second favorite room has a view of the marina, but is on the first floor so it's not as good, there's no balcony, it doesn't have a real bar (they just set up a makeshift one in the corner) and it holds 150. The third room has no view, no cool bar, but it does have a lot of windows, is relatively light, has an indoor balcony, and holds 250 people, so there would be plenty of room for everyone and everything (including our table of pix that we paid for on trips, a table for pix of people we wish could have been there (hello Pop Pop in his Hawaiian print shirt--would've fit right in!)), and of course a gift table, table with the place cards, and an area for photo ops with cardboard Elvis.

Unrelated:
I love this quote from Tim Gunn:
"Part of what was so unshackling was the whole aspect that when you're studying art or design, the answer isn't in the back of the book. The answer's in you, somewhere."
LOVE that.

Oh, and my horoscope today was about how I need to rest and relax. Woo! I have NO doctor's appts next week at all! Tmw I go to the physiatrist to talk about my knees. I will ask for the MRI but I'm pretty sure access will be denied.

Myrtle Beach Friday

It's Labor Day weekend!!
and today is our bonus day of Myrtle Beachness. We usually fly home on Saturday but because of the long holiday weekend, we're flying home tmw. Thus, we have an extra day of fun!

Yesterday we went to two different mini-golf courses: Dragon's Lair (which we last played on my birthday in 2007) and "Hawaiian Village Golf" which is the sister course to "Hawaiian Rumble". We played Hawaiian Rumble in 2007 and I played it with my dad in the early 90's. Hawaiian Village was new to us. It used to be "Sutter's Mill" mini-golf, which is evident in the props for the course (such as the steam locomotive engine and railroad ties) and occasional signs that still refer to Sutter's Mill. We enjoyed the courses until the second half of the second round where we were stuck behind 3 parties of 3, a party of 9, and 2 parties of 2. Time slowed waaay down. We would have enjoyed it more if we could have played all the way through. So in total we played 4 rounds of golf yesterday, 2 at each course (each course had two distinct courses). I think I played my personal best on the Pineapple course at 2 under par.

Oh, and what's up with courses having music? Dragon's Lair played the same 3 songs over and over, while Hawaiian Village started off ok with Elvis and Don Ho, but ended up with Jimmy Buffet. It reconfirmed how much I dislike Jimmy Buffet music.



We went swimming yesterday morning. The ocean is pretty tough on my knees, so we didn't stay in there for very long. We went swimming in the outdoor pool because the indoor one had loads of kids led by an army sargent telling them what to do and it was too loud.

We went to the aquarium too. Lunch was Johnny Rockets, dinner was K&W: collard greens, soft roll, and chicken ranch casserole, which I had never had before but was yummy. Snack was Krispy Kreme. Oh, and fudge that I regret buying at the Fudgery.
Here's the food porn for my parents. Ok, maybe they didn't phrase it that way.

x-ray report

Tonight's inspirational reading is from my x-ray report. I'm going to ask for an MRI when I see the physiatrist on Sept 11. I called their office and said I don't want to get the back injection, but I'd like to talk more about my knees then. My acupuncturist looked at the x-ray images last night and said she thinks there's plenty of joint space and that my knee issues are soft tissue related. An MRI would confirm that.

Imaging Study: XR Knee Right 4VW
Clinical Statement: Right Knee Pain
Impression: Mild Degenerative Change
Comment: Four views of right knee were performed. There is mild joint space narrowing. There is some sharpening of the tibial spines. This is consistent with mild degenerative change. There is no evidence of fracture or dislocation. No other osseous abnormalities are noted.

Imaging Study: XR Left Knee 4VW
Clinical Statement: Left Knee Pain
Impression: Normal examination.
Comment: Multiple views of the left knee demonstrate no evidence of joint effusion. The distal femur, patella, proximal tibia and fibula are within normal limits. The joint space is well maintained. There is no loose intra-articular body.

I'm thrilled that at least one joint is normal from a structural standpoint! But for now my knees are still hurting. and my back. as you know.

New doctor, new theory

There's a thunderstorm going on now--love it!!

This morning I went to a physiatrist--a doc who specializes in non-surgical treatment of spine and joint issues. He thinks my back pain is related to the disc--disc is bulging, there's inflammation, that makes the muscles all tight. When Len does his active release technique, it loosens the tight muscles. But then the pain returns because the underlying inflammation is still there. He said since I am seeing improvement, he thinks the disc is healing and the inflammation is reducing and the muscles are relaxing. He is encouraging me to get the disc injection--he thinks it will cure my pain, it will be one shot, by the time the injection wears off, the issue will have resolved itself. 2 shots, max. He said while he respects the ortho, he disagrees with his analysis, unless I presented differently to the ortho than I presented to him. He scheduled the injection for Sept 11. He said I can always cancel it and we can talk about my knees more then if I don't have the back injection. He said he does 12 injections a day. He said for 24 hours after the injection, there could be a very bad flareup, but that happens to 1 in 500 patients, and is followed by the relief.

As for my knees, he thinks it's a meniscus tear, and he ordered x-rays. He also said my right knee pushes out to the right and that could cause some pain and that it's common in women (my acu then later explained it's because women's hips are wider than their knees, which puts stress on the knee in a whole different way than in men). He said PT and the injection combined will help. He doesn't think the knees will ever heal on their own, and after 5 years of right knee pain, and a year plus of left knee pain, I agree. So I get my x-rays tmw morning bright and early at 8am and we'll go from there.

Oh, and the office building he's in is like being in a greenhouse--it's amazing! And he asked if I want coffee or tea. and he typed my history into a computer. And he said I have been bounced around a lot, and that my story is pretty unusual. and he encouraged me to get a primary care physician. All of the books he's authored or co-authored were in his waiting room.

I saw the acupuncutrist tonight and Pete came into the room with me for the needle insertion. He didn't get squeamish or anything about the needles. Karen said maybe it is time for me to get the injection.

Sigh!!

Sleepy post

I will use this stash fabric with Simplicity 3833 to make a very retro 60's dress. I thought the fabric was a little like a little girl, but now I think I can wear it too.


i love this fabric. this is blurry but it's truer to the colors:


here's a non-blurry picture of the fabric:


Maybe the hearts are too cutesy, but I'll go for it.

It's only a yard remnant. I'm thinking of making my own sleeveless cowl shirt...maybe. Or I'll just make a sleeveless version of the Vogue cowlneck from a few months back.

I had to leave my scissors because there was a 2 hour wait! I guess I'll go pick them up tomorrow.

My knees are not happy. I made the appt with the physiatrist for the 18th, his first available appt, and that was only because someone recently cancelled the appt. Back is ok-ish.

Oh, and when I went to drop off the scissors, I approached the circle and someone ahead of me actually went the wrong way around the circle!! But there were already cars going the right way around the circle! So wrong way guy drove on the cobblestones to make the left. When I left work tonight, the traffic was all backed up leaving campus, so I could turn around in my seat and take a picture of what the circle looks like when the person 3 weeks ago approached it (the person today approached it from a different direction). Are the dueling arrows what is confusing?

Prepping for weekend sewing

Actually, the fabric on the left is plum colored, though it's hard to tell from the picture. The fabric on the right is a puckered gingham print. So cute!

I just cut out two shirts for Simplicity 2892 for my weekend sewing. View A without the sleeves and view D. We'll see how it goes. SPR folks say view A is apparently easy-peasy, but view D requires patience with all the ruffling. I predict I'll make both shirts tmw. Want to guess which fabric is for view A and which for view D?

Suddenly I have quite a lot to do at work again. But I knew that was going to happen in July.

I slept a lot yesterday. My sense of humor returned at work today. Related?

One of my teeth is bothering me. So on Mon I see the chiro, Tues the dentist, Thurs the ortho, Fri the acu. I'll see the chiro again either Wed or Fri. Knee pain is non-existent today!! Back pain is predominantly left side and is a 2/3.

It has been a gorgeous week here!! Tonight I walked around Princeton and discovered a new paper shop which has lots of things I want and nothing I need. Princeton is pretty lively on a Friday night. There were three couples tango-ing in front of the library. Lines outside ice cream shops. Old men in suit coats. Teenagers everywhere.

I am healing. Good night!!

Part Deux: Can this shirt be saved?

I'm feeling so much better, I can't even begin to describe it. When I feel new pain (like it switches from left to right, or my knee hurts) I think "There's nothing wrong with me." It's something I came up with on the drive back to work post-Len on Monday. It seems to be helping. We had a one hour meeting this afternoon in these really awful conference room chairs and my back was NOT screaming like it was as little as a month ago. Pain level is a 1/2/3.

I have acupuncture tmw night, 5pm, be there or be square!!

Ok, so last night I posted more ebay stuff.
Tonight I worked on the shirt.
I snuggled up to my seam ripper and ripped out the shoulders, then redid the pleats and sewed the seam from the inside and that combo seemed to resolve bumpiness issues. I am not going to topstitch it. It's not really necessary and may create lumpiness.



Then I sewed down the sides but it was too tight around the hips, so I did a minimal seam allowance starting after the waist downward, which makes it look better in the front, but the back has weird fabric pooling above my derriere when it's supposed to be all loose and flow-y.

Then I remembered that I cut the tunic length instead of the shirt length so I will either:
A. make side slits
B. if that looks weird, then I will cut the tunic down to shirt length, which should eliminate that problem.

Then I sewed the right side arm hole (fold and fold under again and sew) and it's all wavy. To fix that, I will rip it out and use single fold bias tape instead, clipping it as I go.



Also, I didn't like how the cowl was draping. I tried sewing that down and that looks ugly, so I will rip that out.

Time spent tonight: 1.5 hours, plus 2 on Sun night = 3.5 hours thus far. Maybe I will work on it more tmw night. I'm feeling hopeful for it!!

Tmw is July 1. Holy cow. Time is just speeding by. Crazy!

Acupuncture ahoy! and a surprise on my leg.

Last night, George Michael songs were stuck in my head. And then I found out, today is his birthday. He's 46.

I had acupuncture today for the first time! Very interesting experience. I went with a co-worker's recommendation to visit Karen. From the moment I saw her, I knew I would like her: tall, thin, cute haircut, graying hair, leaf necklace, cute shirt. She saw me right away--no waiting in a waiting room. She took my medical history in a way no one else has: she asked questions and I talked. No forms where I check off where I'm hurting on a crude drawing of a human, no pain meters, no insurance info, no checking off family history. Unlike all other doctors, she was actually empathetic and acknowledged the pain I'm in. She said all the right things. I only had to sign one form.

She knows my orthopedist Jeff. She knows my chiropractor Len. She said Len is not a traditional chiropractor. She said he's more like a physical therapist because he does soft tissue work (officially called Active Release Technique) and less back cracking (her words). She said she likes the ortho and the chiro. And she said that acupuncture and chiropracty go hand in hand.

She showed me the acupuncture needles (they are really really thin, reminding me of beading needles because of their flexibility) and told me what she would do, and she agreed she could treat both knees and the back all at once. Then I put on a gown. She did this neat trick where she had me take a deep breath and then asked me forcefully blow out the air---so as I was pushing the air out, she stuck me. Loved that as it was a great distraction and reminded me of yoga breathing. The feet are the most sensitive body part, she said, but for me the worst one was a needle she put in my left calf that really really hurt--I yelped out loud. She said that was a great sign--that was for my lower back and the fact that I reacted means this will work--she said that area is blocked and this will release it. She put some needles around my knees and some in my thighs near my hips, and some in my arms and one in each ear. While she was doing that, one knuckle on my hand (not near any needle) started feeling really warm. She said that was also for my lower back--another great sign.
She didn't actually put any needles in my lower back. She said it's already irritated, why irritate it further (a-ha!). Instead, she said something about releasing the blockages through my body first. Then she put a crinkly mylar-type blanket on me for warmth, turned out the lights, turned on the soothing music with bird sounds, and let me lie there for 20 minutes. It was kind of wild. I could feel my lower left back tingling. Sometimes it does that at night on its own. Then I was trying to take deep breaths but it was hurting to breathe too deeply (that also used to happen a while ago). The knuckle started to feel increasingly warm.

Then she came back in and took all the needles out, and massaged my legs with lotion and gave me some water. She told me what supplements to take (sometime else I will write them out, but it was glucosamine for joints, magnesium for muscle spasms, and something else...it's all on a paper downstairs.) She talked about the energy flowing through my body, blocked areas, and other things I didn't understand, but hey, I'll roll with it.

She said tonight I should have a long hot shower. She said I could feel sore because the muscles will release lactic acid, so I should drink a lot of water. and I should massage my legs. She did not assume I wanted to come back! I said I want to come back on Wednesday. She only takes cash or checks (she rents this room in some other acupuncturist's office) and said I could pay next time since I didn't have enough cash nor a checkbook on me. Wow, alternative medicine is wild. (With Len too, they didn't want me to pay my copay the first visit--just wait for a few visits and then pay the co-pay.) She also asked about my coworker and said I should say hello.

Then it was a fantastic warm summer evening in Princeton. I walked around. I entered shops with stairs and my knees didn't hurt again!

I came home and ate dinner outside. I had changed into a dress. I started looking at my legs--could I see where the needles had been? I saw this area that looked like it could be blood?

No.

It was a tick. A tiny little tick. The kind that carries Lyme's disease. Stuck onto my leg!!!

I googled "how to remove a tick". Followed the directions. Seems like it's already dead. I washed down the area with soap and water.

It's always something. But at least I'm not in bad pain unlike yesterday. I'm in good spirits.