Still a 20-something

One thing every disabled person I know struggles with on some level is socialization. Let's face it: simply getting around and performing ADLs (Activities of Daily Living) is more exhaustion when you're struggling with a portion of your body not working. The more exhaustion and pain a person faces, the harder it gets to get out there and have a normal social life. 

From the get go, I've refused to let my health issues stop me from getting out there and having fun on occasion. I know this isn't possible for every person who struggles with disability, but so far, it's been possible for me. I make sure I make it to library Knitting Group days and I occasionally hit up the local spinning group for some fun spinning wheel and drop spindle chatter. But some of my favorite memories? Having a night on the town with my girl friends. 

Our usual bar of choice is a local dueling piano bar. I can't drink, but watching drunk people try to sing is flat out hysterical, especially when you add in the antics of the piano players. Last night, however, we tried something different- we went to a drag show. Now, despite the fact it was a lesbian bar, I assumed (and I know my girlfriends assumed the same) that it would men dressed as women performing. Turns out, it was women dressed as men, mostly, with only a single guy dressed as a woman. It was still fun, just very different music than I expected. All of the performers did a great job, especially the woman who danced last, despite it being her very first night on stage. My girlfriends and I sang along, slipped the performers singles (it's apparently tradition when watching a drag show to give the performers a single dollar bill when they dance by), chugged pop to wash the smoke out of our throats, and gabbed.

Jessie and I at the show. (Jessie is on the right, I'm on the left.)

I did learn something new about my body, though. I'm not normally around cigarette smoke. In fact, I'm allergic, but thanks to spring time allergy meds, I didn't react beyond the burning throat and lungs. The big surprise of it, though? Apparently, the exposure to 7 chain smokers in one tiny bar for 2+ hours will set off my CRPS and trigger a flare in pain levels. I'm hoping this is temporary and I've spent the day resting to see if it will help. Fingers crossed. 

Sheep!

The KY Sheep and Fiber Festival was this weekend, and I managed to snag a ride with friends from my knitting group. As always, it was a blast! I got to shop, enjoy the colors and textures everywhere, see sheep, pet llamas and alpacas, and meet some online friends in person finally. One of my favorite parts of fiber festivals is the amount of non-wool options out there. I'm mildly allergic to wool, so I can't work with it (brief contact is okay, but no wearing it or knitting with it). But at places like the KYSFF? Racks of alpaca and silk roving for spinning! 

I wound up choosing to buy some dyed, unprepped alpaca locks, instead. I've never spun straight from the lock, so this will be an experiment for me. I want to eventually turn the brown/dark/red batch into fingerless gloves. No plans yet for the pinks/blues/purples. 

I also managed to snag 2 skeins of Wolle's Color Changing Cotton. This stuff is very popular in the world of knitters and as it's all handmade by a very nice woman, there are limited quantities each month. Getting it online can be tricky, especially the big skeins made for making shawls from, so I was thrilled to snag a Shawl Skein (185g) and a regular size skein (100g) at the fair. 

Ms. "Wolle" herself posed for a quick shot of her sweater, knit from her fabulous yarn.

Oh, and I got to try weaving! Decidedly fun. 

The day wound down with some Bunny Therapy (it was soooo hard to not give this fluffy little guy a new home, as he was up for adoption)...

... and some fluffy, and not-so-fluffy, sheep. The naked sheep always look so fed up with us silly humans. 

Spring is in the air

I've never been a big fan of winter. Far too cold for my tastes. Spring has always been my favorite time of year- not too hot, not too cold, not yet sticky with humidity. This year has been especially nice, since I have my own yard in which to plant flowers and start a garden (I bought my house late enough into the spring last year to make it tough to do any of this). 

My front flower beds have been in need of an overhaul, for several reasons. First off, the houses prior owner was a bachelor who did not enjoy gardening, and the landscaping made that obvious. Every since thing out front was a shrub. No flowers, aside from a few bulbs and a phlox leftover from the owner before him, and those the prior owner moved around haphazardly while doing yardwork. Add to that one bush dead from an attack of the Mold Spores of Doom and the phlox taking a heavy hit when we tore out and repoured the front walk, and you had some very sad flower beds indeed. 

With money being tight, I didn't want to buy many plants. I did cave and buy 3 of a purple perennial that grows to about 12" tall and has a single little purple flower on the tip of each stem. Thank to brain fog, I can't recall the name of the plant tonight, but they are very pretty and do well in the weather around here with minimal watering needed. My aunt gave me a few flowers from her own yard that needed thinning out, plus some snapdragons she bought for me, and my neighbor gave me a decent sized hosta when she thinned her own plants. All in all, I'm quite happy with how my front flower beds have come out.

Next up was starting the veggie patch out back. I wanted to do some potatoes, more carrots, garlic, and onions this year, so I got my hands on various pots and huge plastic containers to use as deep pots. These large totes are fantastic planters- just drill some holes in the bottom, prop up on some scraps of lumber to allow them to drain, and fill with dirt. 

Prepping the totes:

All planted and ready to grow!

The other big adventure going on right now? I've re-started Physical Therapy. PT is always a LOT of work, but very much worth it. It helps me maintain muscle mass (which has a tendency to vanish on me, between the CRPS and the scar tissue from all the surgeries), it helps keep my pain under control, it keeps me flexible, and more. This time around, in addition to the normal strengthening goals, we're working on improving my walking, including trying to get me down to using 1 crutch for real distances. Yesterday was my first appointment for this round and while I didn't hurt any extra last night, I'm paying the price today with overly tight muscles across the front of my thighs. I know from experience that that will lessen in the next few weeks, but right now my shuffle looks more like a drunk zombie lurch than a graceful shuffle. Now to just hope no one thinks I'm trying to eat their brains... 

And the Games are over...

The Olympic Games, that is.

The Olympics are always an exciting time for me, for several reasons. First off, I enjoy a lot of the Olympic sports and they aren't ones you normally see on TV, like arial, bobsled, skeleton, ice dancing, etc. I have a blast getting sucked into the emotions of the athletes.

But the biggest reason the Olympics are one of my favorite biennial events? The Ravellenic Games.

First off, for those of you not familiar with Ravelry, it is one of the largest social media websites out there. And it's exclusively for fiber artists, including knitters, crocheters, spinners, and weavers. During the Olympics, a group of intrepid and very hardworking volunteers run the Ravellenic Games. The Ravellenic Games start when the Opening Ceremony of the Olympics starts and end when the torch goes out at the end of the Closing Ceremonies. The point of the Ravellenic Games is to challenge yourself as a fiber artist, just as the athletes are doing in their sports. We even have events, like the Shawl Short Track, the Lace Luge, and the Hat Halfpipe.

This year, the team I compete on, Team No Spoons (in reference to the Spoon Theory by Christine Miserandino), elected me their Fearless Leader. Okay, so the real title is "Team Captain", but "Fearless Leader" is just more fun. Team No Spoons is team for the group* the Chronic Bitches. The Chronic Bitches, or CBs, as we call ourselves, are a support group for chronically ill/disabled fiber artists who are a touch irreverent, fond of naughty words, able to laugh at themselves, willing to talk about anything, and, most importantly, incredibly supportive. I can turn to my CBs about anything and everything, and have for 4.5 years now. They are my rock. We share knowledge, tips of dealing with difficult doctors, discuss the frustrations of being ignored by yet another doctor with a god-complex. It's been a privilege getting to return some of that awesome support by leading the team.

I'm a rather slow knitter, and crochet is out as my autoimmune arthritis has my hands, wrists, and elbows extra swollen lately, so I picked small. I opted to knit Petunia the Patio Monster from the Big Book of Knitted Monsters by Rebecca Danger. She made out of a self-striping rainbow yarn called Serenity Garden, sold by Jo-Anne's Fabrics. 

Also during this years Games, I decided to do a bit of spinning on my trusty Lendrum DT spinning wheel. A friend bought me a batt (fiber prepared in a sheet) that is black alpaca overlaid in rainbow dyed silk. I decided to separate the silk from the black alpaca and spin the two separately, into different plies (the individual strands that are then together to make yarn). Then, once I ply the black and the rainbow plies together, and knit up the yarn, you'll get peeks through the black of a very vibrant rainbow. I'm happy with how it came out in the end- I have about 86 yds of a dk-to-worsted weight yarn from this. Though, I am quite glad to be done trying to spin silk in very dry air- it was Attack of the Static Monsters around here. The one night, my mom started laughing at me, and I looked down to find my ass being attacked by a glob of green silk- which had launched itself more than 3 feet across the room to attack me. 

The batt, as it came in the mail:

The batt, once I had separated the silk and the alpaca:

And finally, the final yarn:

I'm very happy with how my projects came out, and I'm very proud of my team. They are truly some of the greatest women I've ever had the pleasure of knowing, and it was a pleasure working with them during the Games. Can you really ask for more? 


* Groups are basically sub-forums within Ravelry- you have to go looking for the group you're interested in to read anything posted there. You can join groups to get them to show up on your main page when you log in, which is very useful. The groups represent a wide variety of interests, from the fiber arts related like lace knitting and Sock Knitters Anonymous to non-fiber arts topics, like politics, TV/movie/music fan groups, and even health/wellness groups.

Temporary Pets and Shiny Objects

Obviously, I haven't been around much since the SCS stuff all got into full swing. At first it was basic exhaustion, then, well, honestly? I got out of the habit of posting. Anyways, I figured I'd share some of the crazy fun I've been having while hiding from The Cold. (Seriously, we spent multiple days this month colder than the friendly state of Alaska.... I live below the Mason-Dixon line. That sort of cold ought to be illegal.)

First off, a friend wound up living here for a few weeks, along with her hysterical cat, Annabelle. Belle appears to have forgotten How to Cat somewhere along the way. Why, we don't know- she grew up with a litter then was adopted with her sister, so the silly dog behaviors are just fun. She plays fetch. She also loves to sit on peoples heads and watch TV. Like I said, silly cat. A standard day in the life with Ms Annabelle around went a bit like this:

"This is my toy. No, I will not share right now, but I will stare you down."

"I have brought you my kill. Now I must stare at it to make sure it's dead."

"It's been 2 seconds- why haven't you thrown the octopus yet?!"

In between being owned temporarily by a cat, I made an awesome discovery- I can spin again!! On my wheel!!!!!! Yes, that requires that many exclamation marks. My fabulous Lendrum DT spinning wheel has been languishing for the last 2 years, since my RSD/CRPS flared completely out of control. The foot and leg motions needed to use it were horribly painful. In  the 2 years before the SCS surgery, I managed to turn a mere 1oz of fiber into yarn. That's about 20 yards, for what it's worth. You can't even knit half a fingerless glove with that amount. Since the SCS was implanted? I can crank it up, drown out the pain, and treadle for hours. In 3 days I managed to spin 4oz of alpaca roving and 1oz of a baby camel/mulberry silk blend. (And yes, fiber counts as "shiny", as shiny applies to all things good and awesome.)

The alpaca:

Part of the camel/silk (I'm now up to 1.5 spun of this):

Ms Annabelle disapproved of the spinning, and instead felt I should stop moving my legs so she could rest there while I adored her.

This is so much FUN. I'd almost forgotten how easy it is to loose yourself in a bag of fiber for hours on end. I feel like this surgery has given me a part of myself back. Still no way of knowing how much mobility I'll really regain, but if I get back just this one thing? The entire surgery was worth it. 

Happy Thanksgiving!

A quick post to say Happy Thanksgiving to my American readers. We had a blast today with the entire family and no one jarred my SCS wires/unit. It was a bit weird because I spent very little time with the kiddos, and normally the kids talk me into a board game. This year, their parents all told them to please leave me alone because of the trial, which was likely for the best, even if it did feel odd. I managed to get a hug from L, my favorite little cousin, who is 3 years old and cute as a button. Of course, being a stinker, he  first had to hide and "refuse" to hug me, but he kept laughing so hard he almost fell over so the hiding didn't work so well. He's at such a fun age, when they start using whole sentences. Today he thanked my mom "for making yummy pies". (He's a true member of the family- he's a pumpkin pie fiend.) 

Some family fun:

Dad in a pink plaid apron.

Grandpa snoring away in his chair after dinner. 

Ode to Ikea Bathrooms

I was at Ikea with a good friend this weekend, looking for things for both of our new homes, and was struck once again with how accessible my local Ikea is. I honestly don't know if that's a nationwide trend, but I can say for certain the West Chester, OH Ikea is a good one. The handicap spots can be a bit further out than you're used to, but the lot is extremely level, so getting in isn't tough at all.

Once in, you're greeted by concrete floors that are all but polished to a shine. A wheelchair nearly flies over them, even years after the store opened. The elevator is only 10 feet or so from the escalator, and it's massive. Seriously, I've been in that elevator with over 20 people and it didn't feel crowded. No waiting for the next load here!! Once upstairs, a few of the demo home layouts are tricky in a narrow manual chair and would be very tough in an electric chair, but they've managed to lay things out so the vast majority of the demo layouts are visible from the main walkway. I was able to navigate a path to every couch I wanted to try out (the friend needs a couch, I felt the need to weigh in on the Comfort Factor- I am, after all, a Comfort Factor Expert). The downstairs shopping area was the same way- I could get to pretty much everything I wanted to see. There were a few tight-ish corners, but I could get around them fine, and I expect most electric chairs would be able to turn around and get back out if the chair is too big for a corner. The tight corners were pretty dang rare. Now, if I could just get the good people of JC Penny's, Sears, etc, to follow suit.

But the star of the day? The bathrooms. There were 2 handicap stalls, both of which I could fit my chair in. A big chair would only fit in the larger one of the two stalls, but it's great that there's a second option for those who can stand to transfer like myself or are ambulatory but need the bars and higher seat, which is normally me with my crutches. The baby changing table was not in either handicap stall- instead, it was in the main area. Which is exactly where it should be. There's a sink that's set low enough a toddler standing could wash their hands unassisted, which is excellent for small children in small, low to the ground chairs. Added benefit I'm betting the installers didn't foresee: it's also a good height for many Little People.

Only improvement I could possibly suggest would be push button openers on the doors. Actually, I think I'll message Ikea and ask about them. :) Never hurts to ask and goodness knows I shop there enough!

Finally, puking has a purpose

"24 hour bug". It's a phrase guaranteed to make you quake in fear. They cause issues with existing health problems, generally leave you miserable, and the vast majority seem to involve spending days in way to close of proximity with the porcelain throne.

Since taking immune suppressing meds means, well, I have not much of an immune system left to attack invaders, I tend to catch All the Things. Which in turn means that while I love kiddos, I generally avoid large gatherings of the. Dumb me not only handed out Halloween candy this year, but I then reached into the same germy bowl, pulled out a piece, and ate it. Without washing my hands and the wrapper first. Lesson learned.

After spending 2 days nauseous and generally feeling blah due to puking up all my meds yesterday, I looked A Site today. Hair oily and sticking out. Teeth still unbrushed for the morning. PJs that I've been wearing 24/7 for 2 days.

Then it happens. My doorbell rings. I glance through my window next to the door and can tell it's 2 people but can't see more than that. So I open my door, leaving the glass storm door firmly shut, and see two women I do not recognize. A pamphlet is promptly shoved in my face as they start babbling about being saved. Now, I have nothing wrong with religion of pretty much any color, so long as it doesn't hurt anyone. I'm very much live and let live on religion. I don't shove my faith in your face. Please don't do so to me.

So, feeling snarky, contending with a stomach bug and Aunt Flo, I glance at the woman, make a retching motion, and mutter in my sickest sounding voice, "I'm contagious." I have never seen someone scuttle in the opposite direction  so fast! Finally, puking has a purpose.

I think Prednisone ate my knitting mojo....

As I've spent the last 2 years trying to find the right balance and mix of immunosuppressants to give me ideal symptom relief, I've spent a good bit of time on prednisone. The steroid is a great immune suppressant and it works perfect for temporary situations, but it's dangerous to take it long term. Since I've been on it 6 months or more now, my rhuemy and I decided we needed to get me off of it. I've been having some vascular side effects (it's weakening the capillaries, allowing them to be far too easily penetrable, meaning meds that are injected but not into a vein are getting sucked up and I'm bruising and I'm bleeding too easily, plus blowing veins when dealing with IV's). So I weaned myself off and am now dealing extra symptoms. More arthritis, more pain, more skin issues, all of it.

So imagine my surprise when I suddenly felt the urge to Make Things. Not just the woodworking and sprucing up the house I've been doing, but I've been wanting to sew, make jewelry, knit, and crochet. I honestly don't think I've completed a single project this calendar year since I've spent most of the year with major arthritis issues. Hands and wrists that don't bend don't lend themselves to crafting, especially crocheting (lots of wrist rotation with that craft).

I listened to my Inner Crafter (which is about 10 years old most of the time and tends to insist shiney things are the best) and picked up a skein of Project Linus yarn that was still in a box from moving this spring. It's cheap acrylic boucle in blue and white, but perfect for a super simple crochet project that I can pick up and drop with no warning. So I started doing a Corner-to-Corner Blanket. It's fun. I'd forgotten that crochet and knitting can be fun- they had been mentally feeling like work for months now.

Complete and utter weirdness. I knew prednisone had weird side effects, but eating crafting mojo? New one to me! Been stuck dealing with weird side effects lately, or just a lack of crafting mojo? Working on some Project Linus projects? (All little kids need blankies!) Feel free to share! Also, if you're a Raveler, feel free to look me up there- my Rav name is DaapAteMySoul.

Vacation!

Sorry I haven't posted in a bit- I got to go on my first vacation in over 8 years this week. My whole family went to Ocean Isle, NC. My grandparents celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary with a vow renewal on the beach overlooking the sound that seperates the island from the mainland. It was fantastic to get to be there. They're still so very much in love after 50 years of marriage. I can only hope that someday I can find my true love like they have. Following the vow renewal we had a big family dinner (all 12 of us) curtesy of my older brother, dancing to music that was popular 50 years ago (courtesy of my aunt), and a slide show of pictures from my grandparents dating days and wedding (which I had never seen before, so it was awesome).

The rest of the week was far less dignified. I blame that on my grandparents, though- they declared war by showing up with a minivan full of squirt guns. We spent hours most days in the pool attacking each other, attempting to dunk people, and generally being loud, obnoxious goofballs.  I may have kinda, sorta ending up jumping on my grandmothers back at one point and dunking her in the deep end... She started it! (I should probably point out that Gran looks and acts at least a decade younger than her 69 years and is healthy as a horse.) Thankfully, our neighbors were very laid back people and didn't mind the noise. ;) I even got in the ocean!!!! The RSD makes me extremely sensitive to temperature so I was very worried the cold water would be a Very Bad Thing, but the water was oddly warmer than usual. So warm, in fact, I didn't even need the wetsuit I took with me. I got some very odd looks for walking right into the water with my old wood crutches, but they worked great in the water and were no worse for wear for the  hour I spent in the ocean water. I'm glad I took the wetsuit with, though. It was worth the cost of the rental for the piece of mind. Plus, the guys at the scuba shop reminded me that with how weak my leg is now I shouldn't go very deep in the water as I wouldn't have the strength to resist any undertow. A very good reminder, indeed. 

A picture of my grandparents as they danced after the vow renewal: