I made this

The colour, anyway; I didn't spin it. And the liquid? It was a milky white. All the Koolaid went into the yarn! It's drying now. I have to decide what to make with it. Ideas?

The Day the Physiotherapist Cured My Headache

Okay, well, maybe not cured, but sure as heck made a difference.

So this is my first week in the pain clinic program, and yesterday I had a bit of physiotherapy before the end of my scheduled time there. I was still fighting the barometric pressure headache left over from the day before, so that was what she wanted to talk about. She listened a bit to what I had to say about it, asked a few questions, and then said, "We need a lumbar roll." So she got one of those, and had me sit all the way back in a chair and put the lumbar roll behind me. "This is going to feel very exaggerated," she said. Darn skippy it did. "But how's the headache?" Well wouldn't you know, but putting the lumbar roll in my back made my headache less. Then she took my upper neck through a series of small movements. Each movement further reduced the pain, until the barometric pressure headache was pretty much gone, leaving only the normal pain behind.

Wow.

So they loaned me the lumbar roll for the next few days, and I'm working on stretching out those muscles a little bit with the movements she showed me. I don't have much movement, but you know what, it seems to help. She did warn me that my mid-back, shoulders, and lower neck would probably not be happy with me, and they're not, but we have to start somewhere, I guess.

One pain management strategy down. We'll see what else happens.

Hutch and (not so) Useless Closet

Just a quick photo post about this phase of new furniture. :)


Before the hutch. But try and imagine it with a Humphrey Bogart picture on the right, and CDs and DVDs on the shelves.


Delivered! Isn't it pretty?



Now fully set up and packed.


And now with doors closed and dog bed in place.


Not so useless closet anymore!


Stupid hallway; it's impossible to get a good picture without doors and such getting in the way.

Demolition and Archaeology

When the family came up for Family Weekend in late May, Mom and Dad decreed that we'd spend some time tearing out the old rotten deck in the back yard in preparation for doing more fun stuff to the yard in July. So bright and early (okay more like 9:30), out we went to do some demolition.


Or more appropriately, Dad did the demolition, and Mom and I watched and did what he told us to.


The tree had grown so much since the deck was built that it had grown around the deck, making it very difficult to get the deck out. Yet another reason, besides the poor construction and the fact that it was rotting, for us to get rid of it.


Look at all the stuff that was under there!


Raked up and all pretty.


Look! We even have a step!


Temporary arrangement, with bricks on the still in place supports, and six sidewalk blocks at the bottom for something to step out on.


And a rotted deck with various and sundry crap from underneath ready to head to the dump!

The archaeology of the day comes from what we found underneath the deck as we were raking. Here is a list:

• Pine needles
  
• Leaves
  
• 2 bouncy balls
  
• Tennis ball
  
• Hackey sack
  
• Work pencil
  
• Ball point pen
  
• Butter knife
  
• Disposable cups and drink bottles
  
• Plastic bags
  
• Plastic forks
  
• Child's plastic clip-on earring
  
• Plastic beads
  
• Newspaper
  
• Gold hair elastic
  
• Rotten wood
  
• Scrap drywall

So, what can these artifacts tell us about the previous residents of this house? Well, there was obviously a younger child living here once (beads, earring, bouncy balls), and the butter knife indicates some clumsy person like me (I would totally do the same thing). But the telling part is the rotten wood from the replaced boards of the deck and the scrap drywall. These things tell me that the people who replaced the boards and put that extra layer of drywall on most of the house were too lazy to take the scrap to the dump. And I'll admit it, that bothers me a little, especially since scrap drywall that's been sitting under the deck in the elements for at least three, if not more, years is hellishly hard to pick up. This lack of foresight just really bugged me. But the drywall and other nonsense is mostly gone, and soon we'll have a much better backyard to spend some time in.

The errant blogger returns

There's some laundry beside me on the bed (I'm using Mike's laptop, which has found a semi-permanent home in the bedroom), more downstairs in the washer to be hung up, a useless closet to be vacuumed for dust, and dinner to get started soon, but I'm on vacation, so darn it, I'm gonna blog for a bit.

And now I can't think of a thing to say. Or rather, a way to string it together coherently, so you'll just have to take the randomness for what it's worth.

So Mike doesn't have gout. He may have rheumatoid arthritis (waiting on test results). He definitely has an appointment with a specialist who may be able to help him, because this has gone on for far too long. We scared ourselves last night looking up rheumatoid arthritis (the line about joint destruction within 1-2 years wasn't helpful), but really have to wait for some kind of real diagnosis to really get our feet under us again. In the meantime, we'll just keep doing what we're doing, and hopefully regain some sense of normalcy soon.

Priest and I just came back from a restful week in Calgary. Priest was a good houseguest (only one accident, and it was vomit, and therefore excusable), but seems to have developed a great fear of... everything. I think it may be the fact that our schedule has changed since Mike's feet swelled up, and then we had lots of house guests, the kite scared the bejeebez out of him, and then I trucked him down to Calgary. Today he will barely go outside for the wind. But he's still happy. Hopefully he settles down again soon.

While in Calgary, I went for a reiki treatment and a biofeedback treatment. I won't go into the details of the appointments here, because quite frankly you'll all think I'm a raving lunatic if I do. The end result, however, is that I have more energy right now, and I'm feeling like I'm starting to heal.

Today I bought a buffet and hutch. I actually managed to get the one Mike and I had picked out a year ago, which really surprised me! Now, granted, it was on clearance, and has a small crack in it, but the salesman gave me the number for a wood repair/restorer that can apparently work miracles, so I'm happy. I am also on the hunt for new living room furniture. Mike would like something that reclines. It must be good for me to knit in. And comfortable. And the cushions can't move when you sit down in it. I am recreating Sheila's search for the perfect reading chair, except I'm trying to finish it up before I head back to work next week. Wish me luck!

And I simply must post about the backyard, but I need to rescue pictures from various places. Let me just leave you with this teaser: sometimes you can feel a little bit like Indiana Jones in your own backyard. Hee hee...