Cyn Update

Posted on March 4, 2013 by Cynthia

2 months since surgery. Range of motion much improved but I could be more diligent. I can get clothes on over my head so I’m happy with progress rate. Adjusting to a flat chest. Sure I miss some aspects but I’m finding peace with it little by little. There will probably always be a faint lingering ache the rest of my life but I’m moving on.

Best day since infusion, the nausea has finally backed off 90% and I have a couple days before the next one.

Tried on all questionnable clothing and most of them look pretty darned good considering. I was surprised, thought I’d have more alterations. Less work, whew.

What a dork, didn’t realize I could get Pandora through my Roku box. Got it now. How frikking cool is that!!!! Less tv, more music…

Life is good. One day at a time. Today I really was able to visualize my future. Big step there actually. Visualization changes everything.

7 months to go… so glad to see spring arriving, I need that clean air everything is new and full of hope feeling… spring *sigh*

I have a couple projects that are keeping me interested when I’m not tired out and sitting like a bump on a log. I try to get out of the house every day but it doesn’t take much to wear me out. I plod through my days trying to do some decluttering, cleaning, airing out my life, hearth, and home. Sleep. And eat! Not losing any weight so far. Good and yet…

The best way to see the newest photos and short updates is for you to bite the bullet and “like” the blog on Facebook (see button in the right column of blog) as I’m rarely on the laptop and all updates and photos are mostly happening on my “phone.”

My new pretty from Red Moon Designs. Made by a very cool healer up in B.C. She used hand dyed elk skin and a maple frame, this one also red, with a black suede beater. I don’t exactly know what to do with her yet but soon. I’m working on a flute bag for the maker of the drum and it’s coming along. Healing blessings!

Slipping

Posted on December 1, 2012 by Cynthia

I have a list. A list of things to do. Some of these things are daily or weekly chores like garbage, kitty litter, dishes, laundry. Some things on the list are seasonal like updating the altar decor and tools, decorating for either a holiday or autumn, that kind of thing. Some list items are creative in nature like getting the pouches ready for the etsy store. All of these I do manage to find time for. I don’t have a cluttered home, I tidy up every evening before bed most nights, the fridge could stand a sponge down, vacumming and bathroom I do stay on top of.

But what about the list that has those extra projects that do require a block of time and budgeting for the time spent and materials needed? It can be challenging. I’ve had the fabric for covering my sofa for about 9 months (thank goodness for Joanne’s coupons!) but for one reason or another I just didn’t find time to get that slipcover started not to mention finished.

My very first piece of brand new from the store furniture was my sofa. I’ve had this sofa for over 20 years and it’s still in darn fine shape. It was a good investment and will last me many more years to come. You know there’s a catch right?

The fabric is terribly dated. A Pacific Northwest Girl, I grew up going to a lovely little cabin in the woods until about 3 years ago when the property was sold and the ceiling caved in on the living room thanks to carpenter ants. You would think carpenter means they build things and perhaps they do else where but these big buggers should be called demolition ants. Anyway… I have a great love of the cabin and camping. I love the smell of wood smoke in my clothes and hair. I love the cozy toasty fire in the fireplace. And in the late 80’s Lodge Decor was everywhere. Including my couch. I loved it. Not so much now…

The second thing is that my dearly departed Miniature Schnauzer Isis had an affinity for making nests. She would dig and dig and dig in little tiny foot pawings and she turned in a circle until it was juuuuust right. It could take her 10 minutes to get it just right. And, well, she wore out the fabric on the sofa cushions in record time. The black warp is still there (tough as nails man made fiber) but the cotton weft was obliterated. Black spots smack in the center of both cushions, both sides, top and bottom.

Combine the two and I had a sofa that I didn’t care for much any more even though it is a very cozy napping couch and quite supportive. For several years now I’ve had store bought slipcovers on it. They are nice enough in their way, the colors are okay but the love wasn’t really flowing. Store bought, one piece slip covers, slip. All over the place. I was constantly tucking things in and adjusting and fluffing and tugging and and and gah!!!! Drove me crazy.

Time to make a fitted slip cover as a new sofa is currently of the question. I wanted a color that was neutral. I wanted to able to put new covers on the throw pillows et voila! a new seasonal look with little effort or money. I chose a denim in un-dyed cotton. It’s not white but it’s not tan or beige either. Tough, sturdy, washable, and bright. And easily found if I need to re-do the seat cushions.

So I made a plan. Four days off at Thanksgiving, which was very nice and low key, would be enough time. And it was. A few hours each day and I have something that makes me very happy. Zippers in the cushions even! I just love it. What a DIFFERENCE.

Yes there are a few wrinkles but you must have “ease” or you won’t be able to get it on or off. I’m so proud of myself.

The green chair to the right has a corduroy slipcover I made well over 12 years ago and the cats have had their way with it. It is next. For now though, I can breath, knit all the things I must knit for Yule, and try to relax.

Darn that cat!

Posted on June 29, 2012 by Cynthia

What do I do on the bus to and from work? Catch up on my social media so that I don’t have to turn my computer on when I get home. Here it is, the last work day in June, and I’ve made my numbers, I’m getting the biggest bonus I ever had, and boy am I tired. April, May, and June have been massively busy at work and I’m just overextended. When you have fibromyalgia it can be exacerbated by this much stress and kickassedness. I come home and crash. And that’s what happened recently. I crashed. My attention has been a bit compromised and some details have fallen through the cracks. My clumsy also became more evident. I have no one to really blame but me for what happened next but these things happen and no blame.

I might have mentioned that two weeks ago I fell. Twice. Here’s what happened. Long story long. My left elbow is as bad as it can be without actually being swollen or broken. The pain is incredible when I try to grip anything like a cup of tea or a door knob. If I raise my arm to scratch my face (it appears to be part of the angle as well as the movement) it shrieks. And typing? My shoulder appears to be affected as well as my wrist and forearm but the elbow is the worst.

How can you stay upset with this face? this itty bitty kitty mitty? you can’t.
but damn, some days…

My dear Miss Mitty has been missing her aim on the litter box. I bought some of those pads for potty training puppies so that if she missed the litter box it would go on the pad and be easier to clean up than puddles. One day she didn’t actually miss, she peed 2 feet away from her box and soaked my bathroom area rug. So I washed it with vinegar and some enzymatic stuff. She started peeing there regularly. I bought a new rug and cleaned the concrete floor. She peed on that rug. We are currently just washing the three area rugs each week because she shows no sign of stopping this. She is getting old, hey, at least it’s in the bathroom. Right? I can be understanding, she’s been a very good, very sweet mitty and is doing her best and I wouldn’t want to put her down over a smelly rug that I will totally toss when she does leave this world. Seemed like a worthy sacrifice. She came to me so damaged (rescue) in body and soul that I do everything I can to keep her comfortable and help her heal.

One day I was working at home and kept smelling urine. Right by my computer chair two rooms away from the bathroom. (god, typing HURTS) I got down on my knees and sniffed and sure enough, massive stench. Oh man. What the fuck? I saturated the spot with pet odor remover and it is better. I think she smelled the discarded potty mat and thought that room was good to pee in. But I had to make sure THAT never happened again so how to keep mitty out of my studio??? There is no door, the room is too small and the door is in the garage, so simply closing a door isn’t an option. To stop her that day until I had a better plan, I used a shelf from my oak bookcase (I have a little corner with a couple staffs and shelves and an ironing board and curtain rods and my witch broom (I knnnnoooowwwww)) and well, it was handy. So I put the shelf across the door.

I puttered in my studio a bit and then turned to walk out and promptly nailed myself in the shins and did a full body face plant on the other side. Mr. Furnace was there and he came over to help me up and I said, no, just let me lay here a minute. I was really gobsmacked and boy when you fall at 52 and you aren’t athletic any more it’s no picnic. I used to run hurdles in high school and I fell jumping one of those. I was in amazing physical shape and it was all I could do to get up and leap again right then and there. Falling like this is no fun at any age in any shape. I felt bruised all over and had a ding on my shin and the top of one foot. And thought to myself, “duh!!!!!! you need to get something higher so you will see it.” Since I had nothing to hand that was really big, I put my watercolor board there in addition to the shelf.

The next morning I was in the studio, I had seen the boards and made it safely over the threshold, and I puttered around some more. And turned and tripped and face planted big time. I was on the phone with Mr. F and he heard it happen. This time I put a big dent in my other shin, bruised the other foot. The thing is the board was on my side of the doorway so it didn’t budge. If it had been on the other side, it would have fallen with me and that is part of why there was so much damage and no recovery.

I’m mending just fine except for my left arm from shoulder to wrist. The worst of the pain is in the elbow but it’s very clear that, being left handed, this is the hand that went out to stop my fall and it took the bulk of the weight and momentum. At the time all I could feel was the damage to my shins and feet because it was so sharply immediate but boy, this arm thing is lingering. I am looking forward to massive amounts of ice this weekend.

I had a tri-fold presentation board in the car and it is now in place. It’s 3 feet high so I see it and it has these handy folds so it works very much like a dutch door. A perfect and cheap solution that doesn’t block the space and light like a solid door would and will completely buckle if I somehow manage to not see it. Hindsight is 20/20.

There is one other reason my elbow hurts and it is crafty and textile embroider-y. The most fabulous Sarah from Witch of Forest Grove posted a photo of her tarot deck and in the photo was one of the bags I made. A very simple bag. That photo generated 4 custom tarot bags in as many days! So I’ve been typing and working hard and coming home and stitching every night. Here is a taste. This is a crappy phone photo so it’s blurry and it doesn’t come close to how yummy I think this looks but someone will be happy to see this progress.

A middle earth rune bag with tassels that are “butched up” Love that.

Imbolc ~ House Cleaning Time

Posted on February 1, 2012 by Cynthia

On Sunday the songbirds came back. There is a gigantic rhododendron outside my bedroom window. In the summer, while laying in bed, I can look up and out the window and see the sun shining through the leaves, all golden sun and leaf green and sky blue. The birds love this big old bushy tree but when winter comes they leave it behind for warmer climates. Along with little plant shoots poking shyly out of the mulch and my mom forcing forsythia (which I used to think was called For Cynthia and so it has always been my first plant connection) in the house, their twittering in the rhody is one of first signs of spring.

My grandmother had a love of figurines and it passed to me. We don’t have the same tastes but I have a few of hers. One is the little black/tan/rust bunny below.

Those sheep? I agonized over the purchase of those sheep. I thought I was losing my mind wanting to buy expensive tea light holders that are SHEEP. I mean that is just too twee for me but buy them I did. I’m attached to them. While I haven’t run into more sheep I have found many bunnies. And they are calling to come out to help change the place over to spring. The big guy was my first bunny, I just couldn’t leave him. He came with a big carrot candle. I stick with white.

I’ve had this overwhelming drive to cleanse my home. Compared to lots of folks I don’t have that many belongings but I feel the need to purge stuff. I’m trying to make sure I don’t get reckless and toss something I’m going to seriously regret but the more I let go of things, the lighter I feel. The tarot decks were the first stage. I spent all day Sunday clearing out the east side of the studio. Getting rid of massive amounts of photocopies from my early SCA research that I seriously don’t need any more. Now I have room for the blank wood boxes instead of piling them up on the floor. Whew.

Only 2 small bookshelves but it took me all afternoon. I ran into a lot of dust and unfortunately some mold. I definitely have a mold allergy because I’ve had vertigo for two days. Blurg. It’s hard to have this overwhelming desire to clean and work and not being able to actually do so. The post Yule altar is still up but I’m getting there, the bunnies are out, it’s a start.

I can at least take some photos and sit on the couch for a minute or three… The african violets agree and are blooming along with the Halloween cactus. Mine bloom at Halloween, not Christmas, go figure. *cackle* Boy do those windows need a cleaning.