More on Simplicity 3835, view B

I spent some time in the backyard today. I think this cloud looks like Oahu.


And I think this one looks like Hello Kitty as a mermaid


So I made Simplicity 3835 view B Sept 2008, but I never blogged about it. You can see in this picture that the sleeves are way too tight, especially around my elbow. (Side note, I wrote the wrong pattern number in yesterday's post.)


But those sleeve ties are so cute!


I remember having huge issues with the collar being too high, so I cut it down by at least an inch. Here's what it looked like when it was too high (and I also thought it looked a bit Holly Hobbie).



So I made it again this weekend. I used the sleeves for size 20 with the bodice for 14. But I had issues with the collar again. I couldn't get it to be even all the way around and it just looked weird and I just didn't feel good about it.


So I ripped it out and put the elastic in the collar and it looks pretty good. I was going to pleat it and attach it back to the collar, but I took the easy way out and elasticized it.


I also love the sleeve ties, and they seem to fit well this time.

You can also see I'm wearing a brand new pink hat I made today too. It's my hat for this winter. Maybe I'll cut a matching scarf..

I made another pea green hat for Pete.


And I made a pillowcase with this fabric that I think I got in the Joann's remnant bin (even though it's a little over a yard). It could have been from Rag Shop. It's definitely from 2007.



I played a bit with stitches on my machine. On the left is the link stitch. On the right is a feather stitch that I like A LOT. I'll definitely be using that stitch for many many hems in the future.



I haven't finished the vest from last week, yet...still need to tack.
Good night!

Acupuncture part deux; rare NJ rainbow!

I'm still feeling pretty good. Had another meeting today on a different unsupportive chair; back was not screaming. Things are definitely looking up. Pain was like a 1/2. Knee pain has returned a little. Of course, this morning I did not help it by accidentally whacking my right knee on the corner of the bathroom vanity countertop. I mean, I actually saw the vanity countertop LIFT UP--that is how much force my knee apparently has in upward motion (or how poorly the vanity is held together--you choose). My "boo boo" (as my acupucturist called it) has turned blue/red, is raised and is the size of a quarter. And it sort of hurts. Of course I used my ice packs.

Had my second acu session. Note to self: don't move my leg once acupuncturist has inserted all needles!!! I wanted to show her where the tick bite was--after she inserted the needles--oh, that was painful! She said the muscle grips on to the needle when the leg is moved. I got the message. It was a dumb move (heh) on my part.

Anyway, I think she had about 10-15 needles per side inserted in my feet, calves, knees, hips, arms and one in each ear. This time she played music accompanied by bells ringing instead of birds chirping. It was great. I could feel various muscles fluttering or twitching, which she said is the energy moving through my body. This time I had a warm spot on my forearm, away from any needle. I was able to do my deep yoga breathing without any pain. She then rubbed the lotion on my legs afterwards. I paid up for both visits and made another appt for next Wednesday. I told her that I like her approach and how I didn't have to fill out forms and how she treated me like a human. She said her approach is to be treated as she would like to be treated. She said she started treatments 8 years ago and for her first 5 patients she had them fill out forms, then she abandoned that. She said she gets a clearer picture of what is going on when she asks questions and listens.

I wanted to go walking in Princeton afterward but it started raining! It seems to rain for at least part opf every day, but I don't mind. So I went for a walk around my neighborhood when it started to clear.

A rare NJ rainbow:


As the sun sets on another day:


Best cloud pic for today:


Blurry stream photo:


I have been doing the stretch Len told me to do. I like it a lot because I'm not crawling around on the floor like for the therapist stretches. It involves a staircase, so I can do them here or at work. Turns out a lot of people use the staircase at work...

Oh, and my dad bought a book called "Hacking Your Roomba". Sounds like fun for programmer types!!

Good night!!!

I love my Roomba!

Today's cloud picture

I really don't know what I did today, seeing as Hal, my Roomba, did all the work. I was wondering if it would make vacuum marks on the carpet. I always made the vacuum marks in a fan pattern. Hal does make marks, albeit of a random variety:

This morning I decided to cut the flowers on the rose bushes. I was right next to the white rose bush when I heard an animal rapidly approaching. Usually that sound indicates a dog that made a break for it, but today it was a deer! It came around the corner of my house and kept on running, then turned and ran into the park behind my house. It was really beautiful.

My week in medical review:

Pain level was at a 2 or 3 at the start of the week. I had a head cold so my nose was a mucus producing machine Mon afternoon at work (nice image, huh?) but at least by that point my gums had healed (another great image).

Tuesday night I went to PT. During deep tissue massage she said it felt like "nothing much" on the right side--that was an improvement over previous sessions, specifically the one where she said it felt like the tissue was immobilized. She held the manual traction for longer than usual on the left side. I felt something happen...then later that night and on Wednesday the pain level shot up to a 5. Plus it was dark and rainy and I was miserable.

Miserable. Three Aleeve miserable. Thinking about how much longer I have to live miserable.

Thursday I felt better (3/4) so I went back to PT. She took it easy on me that night, though she did her elbow-in-the-piriformis and deep tissue massage.

Friday I cancelled my Tues PT appointment.

Saturday night I went shopping and bought the Roomba and two new outdoor lawn chairs.

Today I woke up and the right side was hurting. I haven't felt the right side pain for at least 2 weeks now. Interesting. Pain sort of oscillated throughout the day, right side/left side. Remnants of head cold curiously remain.

Thursday I see the orthopedic!! I have about 100 questions for him. I'm going to type them up soon and leave spaces for answers like when I'm interviewing someone for a job. Plus my boss will buy me a good orthopedic chair if I get a doctor's note. Must get doctor's note!!

And how was your weekend?

MRI is done!

Amy Butler pillow on my cheapy Ikea chair.
Doesn't it look great??


New cloud pix! Is this a cat??


Winky face?

Er, another profile?

A big thank you to everyone who provided their MRI stories--it really helped me in understanding what the process would be like!

I had the MRI this morning. The whole process was extremely easy--I was at the center for about an hour total, and in the machine for 20 minutes or so. I had heard that the machine would be loud, but it was louder than I thought it would be! When the new scan starts, it sounds a lot like the buzzer at the baggage carousel at the airport--if I actually put my head against the buzzer! They asked if I wanted to hear music, but I could only hear it between scans (Girls Just Want to Have Fun" was the initial song played). Pretty much the entire time, the machine is making this loud noise. They had put headphones on me, but they were on my cheeks instead of my ears, and I wish I had adjusted them to the proper position after she put them on me.

When I was first positioned in the tube, I kept my eyes closed--but eventually I opened them. While the tube was close to my face, it wasn't as close to my face as I thought it could be. Also, my head was propped in such a way as that I could see down my body to the "light at the end of the tunnel" and I could see the technician's booth, with the tech sitting behind smoky glass. Looks like I had a boring scan since she was yawning a lot and playing with her hair, poofing it, etc. The "tunnel" itself had this strip of lighting on each side, and I thought it looked rather Star Trekkian. While I don't consider myself to be claustrophobic, it was a lot easier being able to see the end of the tube. Also, I wasn't entirely in the tube--my knees downward were sticking out the end.

They checked in with me twice through the intercom thing (just like on Grey's Anatomy!), and they had given me a ball that I could squeeze in case I needed to talk with them.

Near the end my hands felt like they were getting kind of numb. I clenched the one hand not holding the ball-thing and that seemed to help.

I left with a CD of my images! And they said in 2-3 business days, a radiologist will send the report to the doctor's office. So I think I'll know pretty soon what the results are.

When I got to the center, there were maybe 10 people in the waiting room, including a set of parents with their little boy. The boy was crying and it kind of made me want to cry. His parents were saying "why are you scared?", "it's ok, they're just going to take pictures, it's only pictures", and "you were scared before that last test, and it wasn't so bad, was it?" They were called in while I did my paperwork, and before I was finished with the paperwork they were already leaving. He must have just had x-rays. His expression was a little shell-shocked; I thought he was going to look really happy afterwards. I was thinking if there was something I could have said that would have calmed him down--or distracted him. Like, it's the easiest test you'll ever have to take, or you don't have to study for this test. It's not going to hurt. (Things I had told myself, quite frankly). But I didn't know what his test was beforehand anyway. I guess I could have tried, "How old are you? What's your favorite color?" as a distraction?

When I was done with my test, the next MRI patient was waiting in the hot seat. I smiled at her and she smiled back. She watched me take my purse and glasses out of the locker and I looked back at her, all the while with my left hand on the side of the locker for stability since I had chose a locker near the floor because I had mistakenly thought the lockers at the top were taken. She said, "I was just looking at your nails--they are so long and mine are so brittle and peeling..."

I guess we all have something that someone else wants, without always knowing.

I've been feeling pretty good the last two days. I hate writing that, because usually that means the next day I feel really awful. I have the head cold, and I took Contact Cold & Flu medication this morning so that I wouldn't need to blow my nose while in the MRI machine (b/c you aren't allowed to move once you're in the MRI--maybe I took a chance with my clenched hand). But overall the gum infection is subsiding, I think I'm on the downward slope with my cold because the sore throat is mostly gone and I'm left with clogged ears and the runny nose, my knees are hurting only a little bit. And the back pain today has been at a 2-3. Of course, this afternoon I took a huge 2 hour nap, and I rested a lot outside on my lounge chair, as evidenced by my cloud pix!!!