I'm Seeing Light at the End of the Tunnel

I'm getting down to the end of my radiation therapy. Tuesday is my final treatment, and on Wednesday I meet with Doc for a final exam. I'm thinking that I'm going to miss my team of people - from the receptionists to the technicians and Doc, I'm going to miss them all. I'll also miss the various other patients with whom I share the reception/waiting area. We don't really interact, but we do see who is there and who is missing. But I'm down to four days of radiation remaining in my original 15, and I'm seeing the end of that road ahead of me. 

The road ahead is always uncertain. You can plan and plan, but 
life has a way of throwing challenges and events - both good 
and bad - at you just to throw you off your balance. It doesn't 
do to become too complacent. 

Today, after radiation, I get to walk a block East to a building they call the "Physician's Building" or the "Doctor's Professional Building". Yeah - that's the official name of it. Rather silly, but I suppose it's descriptive. I have an "Initial PT Lymphedema Edema Visit" with a doctor Thomas G. I've never met the guy. I'm supposed to wear comfortable clothing and athletic/tennis shoes. Well, I only wear my athletic shoes on the treadmill, not to walk outdoor sidewalks, so I'll carry them along in a bag. This is for an "initial assessment" and the doctor "may not be able to begin treatment on this visit". Considering that my lymphedema issues are pretty much taken care of by now, this appointment may be moot, but I'll keep it anyway. It may be a simple in and out, but I might also learn something valuable. 

The "Doctor's Professional Building" is directly across 
the street from the hospital, a block East from radiology, 
and a block West from my Breast Cancer Clinic. I'm hoping 
to just keep Minion parked in the radiology parking lot 
instead of moving her to the parking ramp and paying 
$3 for parking. It's an easy walk back and forth, the 
weather's just fine today. 

The dual appointments of Radiology and Lymphedema assessment will keep me out of the shop until noon or shortly afterward. It is what it is, however - I have no real choice. Tomorrow I'll be back to my normal schedule of an early morning radiation and a regular "day off". I'm already looking forward to it. 

I have three containers of my roasted/blended tomato 
soup in the refrigerator waiting for me to heat it up. 
So yummy! It's one of my favorite recipes, it's very easy 
to cook up, and tastes absolutely lovely. 

I did make my roasted tomato and red pepper soup yesterday. I'm very much looking forward to my dinners for the next few days - LOL. It requires a high powered blender and my Wolf is more than up to the task. I also received a new tablet computer I had ordered on sale from Amazon. I'm looking forward to getting to know it in more depth today, if I have any time to play. I've been wanting a tablet for quite a while, and it was on an excellent sale - more than $100 off - making it a very affordable treat. I hope all of you have a wonderful Thursday and I'll be back tomorrow morning to greet the sun and all of you. Slava Ukraini. 

After Almost a Year, I'm Almost Back to Normal

Tonight is Project Runway, and if things run the way they have been, I'll be posting the photos and results on Saturday. But I'll be watching and making notes tonight. We're down to six designers now, so it's much more cutthroat. 

Yesterday's "day off" was productive, but I didn't get any beading done. I did, however, spend a lot of time thinking about the next step for my Owl Project and I've pretty much figured out the direction I need to take this for the wrap-up. There's still a lot to do on it, but I was at a point in the project where a serious shift in design had to be added, and I wasn't sure how I wanted to approach that. I think I've figured it out now, so I'll try to begin implementing this on Sunday. 

It's time to add some cascading fringe ala Givenchy's
offset fringe on this slip dress. Of course, I'll be doing
it in beads, and the appearance will be quite
different, but the concept will be similar. 

My visit to my Physical Therapist yesterday morning went very well. I went in with a printout of the exercises I've been doing and told Joseph that I needed these consolidated. the schedule I had was based on five days of gym work, but I'm now able to swim two days a week, so my gym days have been cut back from five to three. We went through each exercise and tossed ones that were duplicated in other ways, fine tuning things dramatically. He thinks I'll be able to go through the exercises in twenty minutes now, I think it will take me longer, but either way, I think it was the thing to do. 

When I first started seeing Joseph for my shoulder injury, I
couldn't lift my arm much higher than the 59 degree mark.
Now I'm closer to 100 degrees, and we're pushing for the
full 110 degrees that swimmers usually need. 

He checked my range of motion and mobility and I'm almost back to where I need to be on my shoulder. Rotator cuff injuries are so common for swimmers that it's often nicknamed the "Swimmer's Shoulder". I've recovered almost full rotation, only ten degrees yet to achieve. He said that would be fine for most people, but those in sports that require wide, full swings like swimming and tennis need that extra flexibility. Makes sense to me. 

I don't enjoy having a very messy desk. It does tend to get that way quickly
because I'm dealing with so many things on a daily basis. But I'm
trying to keep it under control. Time for a quick clean again to tame it a bit. 

So, as I wrap this up and begin to get into an exercise mind set, I'm looking at my desk and realizing I need to clean it up once again. It's actually still in pretty good condition from the "major" clean-up I did a few weeks ago, but it's a flat surface and things accumulate. Time to dig back down to a true desktop once again - LOL. Have a wonderful Thursday and I'll be back tomorrow. 

Snow, Cold and Storming a Castle

Short and sweet before I go outside to freeze. Today will be snow-less (is there such a word?) and I'm grateful, but tomorrow begins the dump. That means that tomorrow Mother Nature will grab the powdered sugar shaker and start sweetening us up. The predicted final amount by the end of Saturday will be anywhere from 8" to 13" of the white stuff. As far as I'm concerned, Mother Nature can take her shaker elsewhere, but it's not looking good. 

It's not snowing yet. Today we get the cold, tomorrow we get the
snow. But it's supposed to be a heavy one. My outdoors may well
look similar to this tomorrow. 

So today I'll bundle up (because even without the wind chill, it's still -5 F outside (that's -20.5 C for my Celsius friends). I'm not sure if there's any wind, but if there is, the air temp will be even worse. "Ick!", I say firmly. "Just Ick!" 

I really enjoy Karlie Kloss as the host and Christian Seriano as
the mentor. Both of them have extensive experience with the
fashion industry and with Project Runway, and I'm getting
to the opinion that Christian Seriano is the best mentor I've
seen. He was a contestant on the show, and is a successful
designer, so he comes to the mentor position with a lot of
practical knowledge and experience. 

Tonight is Project Runway night and I'm looking forward to what the challenge is. I know there was a small preview, but my brain didn't seem to find a hook to grab from it, so I'm going in blind. As usual, my intention is to post tomorrow with the summary and the Runway clothing, so we can all have some fun with fashion. 

We're going to start adding a few pieces of exercise and resistance
equipment to my workout now. I think we're starting to wean me
off the Physical Therapy and into a good exercise regime that will
hit all of the various muscle groups. 

I saw my Physical Therapist yesterday, and I'm doing well. He added some new exercises, shifted my schedule a bit, and added weight to some of my other routines. I'll see him again after Valentine's Day, so I'll have a few weeks to learn this new routine. Guess I'll start that out with a fast walk/run for a couple of miles today, along with my floor exercises. I'm just hoping my Gate Gargoyle will open the doors for us so that we can huddle in the entryway instead of outside in the cold. He'll do that sometimes, even if it's against policy, because we're mostly elderly people and we've assured him that we won't storm the castle. 

I'm not sure why we can't wait in the entryway for the gym
to officially open, but on really bad days, Ed will sometimes
break policy and allow us inside. It's very kind of him. 

On that note, time to plug in photos and hit the road. Have an excellent Thursday and stay warm (and BTW - although I brought the amber necklace home to work on, I spent most of my "free" time on the phone with the Business part of Social Security and never was able to work on the necklace at all. Guess what comes back to the shop with me today - *sigh*). I'll be back tomorrow unless I freeze into an immobile statue of ice. 

A Cold and Busy Day Off Is On My Schedule Today

I'm cold, but it's actually 16 F, so not bad for this time of the year. Still, I'm chilled right now. Nothing to be done about it short of grabbing the blanket I keep nearby, but since I'll be leaving soon, I'll just shiver for a bit longer.

. I'm starting my day off quickly. The first load of laundry is almost finished and ready to be put into the dryer. I have a PT appointment at 7 am, so I'll leave the house in 45 minutes or so, get the store computers turned on, and head over to the clinic. Afterward it'll be visits to the office supply store (an expensive trip since I need ink for both of my printers), the grocery store, and maybe Target. I'm hoping to get my errands out of the way early so that I can deal with business and computer and year-end stuff for the remainder of the day.

My customer wanted two strands of amber combined into
a single strand, and she wanted each bead knotted. Because
the holes in the beads are HUGE (it's very old hand-shaped
amber), I've had to use a thick cording for the threading.
It's been a challenge, but I'm almost finished with it. 

I have a repair I've been working on - an amber necklace restring. I'll probably bring that back home with me. I can finish it today and get it cleaned up. I'll need warm water for the clean, and I don't have hot water at the shop unless I boil some, so it would be easier to finish at home. Then I can continue with the next two repairs pending on my docket. All of the repairs are promised by the end of the month, and each one has its' own little twists - I tend to not get the straightforward repairs - LOL.

Why 10,000 steps? It was started in Japan as a marketing campaign
for a pedometer way back in 1965. There was a really nice article about
the 10,000 step goal. You can read it by following this link. 

A few more loads of laundry, and a nice late afternoon chat with Aearwen, and that'll wrap my day. Taking a quick look at the weather app, it looks like we're going to get snow showers this morning, so I'll be adding shoveling to my agenda. Without the gym today I won't come close to my 10,000 steps, no matter how many errands and tasks I have to do. I came pretty close yesterday (9855 when I went to bed last night), not too shabby. I rarely actually manage to hit the 10,000 level, but I'm always thrilled when I do. I'll be curious to see how Sharon and I do when we walk the State Fair later this year. I've always thought we get some serious steps in, but I've never tracked it before.

In February 2019, the Super Bowl was held here in the Twin Cities
at US Bank Stadium. A marketing campaign was started to teach
people how to dress for the cold if they were going to be outdoors for
any amount of time. This graphic was the center panel - milder temps
were on the left and serious wind-chill on the right. We're right in
that 0-20 degree range today, so I'll be dressing warmly, but not overly
bundled. 

On that note, I'm going to try and get a bit warmer before I leave and step foot into the great, cold, outdoors. Our temperatures are harsh, but I still love living up here in the Frozen Northlands. I have a warm coat, warm gloves, and a car with gas and good heat. It's all good! Stay warm, be safe, and I'll return tomorrow.

It's Wednesday and It's Going To Be A Busy Day

It's my last "day off" before Christmas and my list is long and busy. I'll be starting it out by seeing Joseph, my Physical Therapist, for our last meeting of the year. It's been a month since our last meeting, and I'm curious about how I'll test this time around. The shoulder is almost at 100% again, and I haven't had a problem with my knee for three weeks, so I'm calling his therapy a total win/win. I'm hoping I still have one or two sessions left because I gain so much by his feedback. 

My time with physical therapy and the many exercises that he has
assigned me have worked really well. Of course, I work at it. I am
absolutely religious about doing those exercises when he tells me
and in the quantity he recommends. They add 45 minutes onto my
daily workouts and have changed my gym schedule. But they work. 

DH has promised me a new chair for my computer corner. My old chair, a holiday gift from many years ago, won't keep it's height any more. I'm constantly having to adjust the pneumatics on it again and again as it slowly loses height. While I was having my shoulder pain, I discovered that I needed the chair in maximum height to get an angle to my keyboard that wasn't painful. I really want a new chair. I think I'll ask my PT about what I should look for in a good chair. I'm sure he'll have some tips and things to check out. 

I can pretty much guarantee I won't be choosing
this ergonomic chair. It's interesting, but it's
too "out there" and it's too expensive. I want
a middle-of-the-road sensible and functional
new pneumatic ergonomic chair for my desk.
One I can sit on for several hours without
developing pain in my legs or shoulder. 

I also need to take a look at chair mats while I'm at the office supply store today. Both DH and I need new ones, our old ones are cracking and not really protecting the carpeting underneath any more. A new mat is one of the things I'm gong to get for DH's holiday gift, and I know I have it on my own holiday gift list too. 

A chair mat is a basic thing, but we have medium/high
pile in our computer room and most chair mats are
not made for that. Prices are all over the place, from
less than $100 to more than $500. I'm certainly
NOT paying a ridiculous amount for a chair mat,
but both of our old ones are cracking and have
holes in them. 

I'm wrapping Sharon's gift today and shipping it out tomorrow. I'm mailing the last few cards within the next day or two also. They might arrive late, but that's OK. They'll be going to great homes. I'll put one aside for my archives, and it will be a relief to put my holiday card supplies away until next year. DH recommends a February start to next year's cards - LOL. Maybe it's not a horrible idea and might cut down on the crunch I always seem to get if I wait until Autumn to begin the process. 

So, on that note, with my first load of laundry already in the washer, I'm wishing all of you a fabulous Wednesday. I'll be back tomorrow, back on track, a bit poorer, with a closet of holiday gifts to distribute to DH in a week. ACK!!! A WEEK!!! LOL Have a great day. 

Life, Sports and Schedules

I'm finally progressing to addressing. I apologize to all of you for how late my cards are this year. Circumstances beyond my control blasted my schedule to smithereens. I'm really happy with the cards, though, and hope that you enjoy them, although some of them may arrive after Christmas. Of course, since I do them as a celebration of Winter and the Solstice, Christmas doesn't really play a part, but it's seasonal and it would be nice to have had them where they needed to go before the New Year. We'll see. I'll let you know when they actually hit the mail so that you can keep your eyes out for your envelopes. 

It's been a crazy year and I've been pulled in a lot of
different directions. I'm very close to getting my cards
mailed, but not quite there yet. Hopefully within the
next three days. That's the goal. 

DH goes to the same physical therapist that I see, and his latest appointment was yesterday. He came by the shop on his way home from the clinic to tell me that he's supposed to start ice skating again. He was going to check if any of the neighborhood outdoor rinks were open and operational yet. It's been an early winter and a cold one so far, so that's actually possible, although they're usually open from January until March. The local chilled outdoor rink that operates most of the year, as well as a couple of indoor rinks that have noon skating are open for sure, so maybe he'll try one of those if he can't find an outdoor one to use. 

We're cold up here in the Frozen Northlands, so there are a variety
of outdoor rinks available in the city parks. They can be used
for regular recreational skating as well as for hockey pick-up games. 

DH used to play hockey every week in a pick-up game that moved around the metro area from arena to arena, depending on open schedules. Most of the neighborhood ice arenas are filled with school and league play from early morning until late at night. I not only live in the Frozen Northlands, I live in the "Land of Hockey", so ice and use of it are a part of every school program and most neighborhoods. Hockey is a rich kid's sport, though. There's a lot of equipment, a lot of protective clothing, and the ice arena rental fees are up there too. You don't find a lot of hockey players from families that are saving every dime to put food on the table. 

Soccer doesn't require a lot of expensive equipment, so it has a
broader appeal. It also doesn't require a sheet of ice, although
sheets of ice aren't really a problem here in the Frozen
Northlands. 

When you think about sports and their popularity, it's no wonder soccer is as popular as it is. It's one sport that has minimal equipment - a ball. It helps to have an actual round ball, but it can be played with pretty much anything that can be kicked, no special clothing required. Basketball is similar to soccer, pretty easy to play with minimal equipment. But for basketball, you add a hoop. Baseball is also pretty inexpensive - anything can be assigned as a base. But while you can play soccer and basketball with two people, you really need more for baseball. 

There are rules and courtesies in sports, even in pick-up games like
this. The light is leaving this game, obviously being played in
a much warmer place. 

What are the popular sports for kids in your area? Are there programs and outlets available to help those who want to play a more expensive sport with equipment and rental fees? Maybe look into helping to sponsor a program in your neighborhood so that more kids can get involved in sports. There's a lot of good in team sports and lack of funding shouldn't be a closed door to dreams. 

Have an excellent weekend. I'll be working because that's what I do at this time of the year. I'll let you know when my cards have hit the mail. In the meanwhile, I plan on being back here on Monday. 

My Physical Therapist - The Man I Love To Hate

So I'm going on record that I hate (love) my physical therapist. The total workout he's now got plotted for me is a BEAST and I couldn't even do the second reps of some of the exercises. That's really rare for me, so I'm actually pretty happy. It's doing what we've got as our goals - moving for tired muscles which are then pushed to produce even more, without any pain involved. I can definitely see where doing these will result in stronger muscles and I'm totally on the "Man I Love To Hate" train. "Go Team Joseph!" 

I've found my PT to be excellent. My therapist has me doing something
quite similar to this five days a week, using light weights - one-pound
in each hand. 

DH got the results from his MRI yesterday when his orthopedist phoned him. Apparently he does have several small tears in his miniscus (that's at the knee joint). He discussed surgery down the line if it gets bad again, but when DH asked about physical therapy, he said he would put a referral in place for PT. Now DH wants to set up an appointment with my PT guy since "I seem to like him a lot". Well, yeah. I do like Joseph a lot. I also put the work into what he tells me to do. I'm not sure DH will be as diligent, but I guess we'll find out. I passed on the contact information and we'll see. 

Where my problem is with the Patella shifting unexpectedly, DH
actually has tears in his Meniscus.

Chickie has the day off today, one of the last two days off she'll get this year. It's always super inconvenient when she has a day off because I'm on the sales floor non-stop. Still, she deserves her vacation days and I can't fault her for wanting to take them. She mentioned something about replacing the hardware in one or more of her doors at her home. I'll get the report on Saturday. 

We're not quite there yet - we haven't had any snow (yet) and
we're just in the upper 20's (currently -1.66 C), but it's below
the freezing point, so it's a sign that Winter Is Coming! 

We've had our first sub-freezing overnight of the season and it's looking like I'll be leaving for the gym in cold temps. *Sigh* SO not happy about that. Still, I live in the Frozen Northlands and sub-freezing temps in late October are not unusual. I wonder what the temps will be for Halloween next week? 

Stay safe, be happy, and enjoy your Friday. I plan on being back here tomorrow - "Same Bat Time, Same Bat Channel". *Hugs* to all. 

Monster Walks - Appropriate for the Halloween Season

As I had thought, yesterday was busy, busy and busy. But I actually buckled down and got a lot done - meetings and more meetings and laundry and more laundry and groceries. Oh, and my phone call with Aearwen - a foundational "good mental health" thing for me. All in all, it was a rather successful day of cleaning, organizing, talking and listening. I could use a few more of these, but today it's back to the "grind". 

Monster Walk has me standing on the band with it criss-crossing
at my abdomen so that I'm holding opposite feet. Then I walk
sideways ten steps to the left, then reverse to the right. I repeat this
procedure two times. It's a bit tricky and I suspect it will take me
a couple of days to get used to the new motion. 

My Physical Therapist has added another exercise to my crowded list of therapy, but the name of it had me laughing. "Monster Walks" uses a green Theraband and through a criss-cross hold, exercises the exterior of the upper leg through the knee muscles. I've been having problems with my kneecap shifting in my right leg, and this is one of several exercises we're doing to help strengthen my hip and thigh muscles, which will eliminate the problem. 

The ligament at the front holds the Patella
(kneecap) in place. My kneecap has been
shifting, so we're working on strengthening
the muscles and ligaments to stop that movement
from happening. Of course, all of the muscles
come from the hips, so that's the focal. 

One thing my PT said that I found of interest - most people, unless they are skiers or skaters, will have weak hips which leads to all kinds of knee and mobility issues. He said he could choose a random ten people off the street, test them for hip strength, and most of them would fall into the "weak" category. It doesn't surprise me, we walk all the time, but walking really doesn't strengthen that specific group of muscles. I was rather appalled by how weak my muscles were. Time to get it into gear and really work hard at getting strength back so that I can keep my mobility as long as possible. 

DH and I have been Blue Cross Blue Shield members
for years for our health insurance. We've switched now
and again, but always seem to come back to them. 

On the insurance front, I'm set for another year of health insurance, and some things have actually decreased in cost!?!?! It's a shock, but I'll absolutely take it. The premium is going up $8 a month beginning in January, but I can live with that. 

So today, I'll start my new routine at the gym which will actually take a bit longer. That's probably going to require as much as an additional ten minutes in the gym, so I'll miss the after-workout conversations with Rosemary, Lynn and Laurie, but that can't be helped. I'll manage, and I can usually at least say "Hi" to everyone before we separate for our respective workouts. 

Have an excellent Thursday. I'll be back tomorrow, at least that's the plan. Be good, be kind, and stay cozy. 

A Day of Pinterest - Down The Rabbit Hole

A friend was kind enough to look up freestanding barre bars for the home and inform me that such things are available. Who knew? However, the last thing I need in my life is another piece of clutter. I can find stair railings at home and at the gym that will work great (and in fact, used one at the gym yesterday). The small disadvantage is no mirror, but I'll manage - I'm adaptable. 

The railings in the gym are standard industrial style. I was
looking up decorative railings and came across this one.
Wouldn't this fit wonderfully in Rivendell? 

I spent a pleasant hour or two yesterday surfing Pinterest (scattered between short timeframes - I didn't go totally down the rabbit hole). As on-line rabbit holes go, it's a pretty addictive one. I don't allow myself to surf through the daily "We have Pins of interest for you" emails that I get on my phone, but I wanted to check out scalp tattoos. There are a lot of great, amazing and awesome tattoos out there, and I was pleased to see that in the hundreds I looked at, nobody had anything close to what I'm looking to get. That makes me very happy - unique is so much more fun! 

I really liked this Celtic-style tattoo. It's not the image
I'm looking for at all, but it's really nicely done and
suits her beautifully. 

DH and I are gearing up for Renaissance Festival tomorrow. It's the next-to-last weekend, and we should have excellent, although cooler, weather. It's Irish Weekend this weekend (this time it's real - I double-checked the schedule). DH might wear his kilt, but he's just as comfortable being a peasant. I'm hoping we'll have a nice dinner out after we get back home and celebrate our anniversary a little bit late. That's my plan, at any rate. 

The guy I'm thinking about hiring did this scalp tattoo. I think
it's gorgeous and bold and really well balanced. That's what I'm
looking for - crisp and clean and strong. 

I'm not really chatty today, I'm a bit tired and I can't seem to push anything of spectacular interest through my brain cells this morning. I'll see if I can find some wonderful photos to share with all of you and call it a day. Have a great weekend and I'll be back on Monday. 

Dancing Through Life - I Want A Barre

As you may know, I've been having some problems with my right knee moving in directions it shouldn't go into (and yes, it hurts when it does that). Last time I saw my Physical Therapist, I asked about what exercises I should do to help strengthen my leg/knee muscles and keep that movement from happening. He, in turn, contacted my doctor for a medical referral so that he would be able to add treatment to my regime. Approval came so yesterday, after establishing that my shoulder continues to improve, we shifted gears. 

 It's often easier to see leg placement when standing at a barre
than just at a railing. Unfortunately, there is no mirrored barre in
the YMCA gym. 

When I was young, like Elementary School, Middle School and High School young, I attended dance classes taught by my Godmother/Aunt every week. She was a renowned teacher of modern dance and I would put on my leotard and tights and join other students at the designated location. We would line up in lines or cross the floor diagonally in directed exercises. I did this for many long years and never thought much about how Tante Vera was teaching us to move.  

Why bring these classes up? Yesterday, Joseph (my PT) tested my resistance and movement range for my hips and knees and pronounced that my front and back movements were good - strong muscles - but my side resistance strength was minimal. Exercises were then assigned and here I am, back to some rather familiar legwork that brings my thoughts back to those dance classes of years ago. 

A barre class doesn't have to have the barre in front of a
mirror (although I find that helpful), it just needs the
barre itself as an anchor - a reminder. You're not putting
weight onto it, it just stabilizes you. 

What I want is a barre - that railing positioned in front of a mirrored wall in most dance studios. I want to hold on to a rail while I move my leg in a controlled motion to the side and back. When I'm doing this movement, it reminds me of standing in front of the mirrors of my youth, holding onto the barre and watching my form in the mirror. Unfortunately, I don't think the stair railings at the YMCA intersect in any way with the mirrored exercise wall. I might want a barre, but I won't get one. 

But, I have exercises to do and I know that if I do them properly and with attention, they will work. My muscles will strengthen, and my knee problems will begin to be resolved. It won't be fast, but it will happen. Physical Therapy works like setting up a new habit - several weeks to establish the pattern before it becomes second nature and settles into the muscles themselves. So I'm sending out mental "Thanks" to my Godmother/Aunt today, and reminding myself that if I had just stayed dancing over the years, I might not have the physical issues I'm dealing with now. Maybe that idea of dancing through life was correct, after all! 

Maybe we all need to dance through our lives. 

Happy Friday to all, I'm looking forward to getting to the gym and trying the two new movements my PT has assigned to me. Have a wonderful day and I'll be back tomorrow. 

Yesterday Was An Organizational Tornado

Yesterday was crazy-busy, not just the standard laundry and grocery and making dinner chores, but also working on the craft room. DH had finished the lower craft room storage nooks and replaced my craft bins into them rather willy-nilly. (I do love that term - willy-nilly. Always makes me smile.) I, however, needed to get the bins organized, get stamps with stamps, beads with beads, and art supplies with art supplies. So, yesterday I pulled out every one of the large bins (I have a dozen of them) and started organizing, labeling and consolidating. 

I was just finishing up the trash collection when DH arrived home from work, so it took all afternoon, with an hour off for my weekly, delightful convo with Aearwen. By the end of the day, the twelve bins were back in their cubbies, labeled appropriately. At least two of the bins are a bit of throw-together, not the way I want them to stay, but I need to think about where I need to put things. My conclusions? 

At this point in the sort, more than half of the bins have
already been loaded, relabeled, and returned to my
shelving. In the distance are five bins that I'm still
working on. What a mess! 

I have too many beads. WAY too many beads. Of course, that walks alongside me since I own and operate a store that sells beads, but really! I have racks of beads to choose from, and I ended up with another very full bin of seed beads. My pressed glass beads are overflowing, and my art glass beads (which have now been separated into individual compartments in a different type of storage bin) are drop-dead gorgeous. Oops! Yeah ... maybe that "drop dead gorgeous" theme is the major root of my "too many beads" problem. 

I have a LOT of stamps. I actually rarely use stamps, but I use them for my holiday cards each year, and I have collected stamps for those cards for more than a decade now. The stamps have now been collected in a bin of their own, but they need to be organized because finding anything in that bin will be a nightmare. I'll have to figure something out that won't take a ton of space. *sigh* 

Once the bins are on the shelves, things are wonderful.
Here, five of them are shelved and labeled. The labels
are things like "Bookbinding and Leatherwork" or
"Yarns, Ribbons and Shoes to Paint". Thank goodness
for my label-maker. It makes my life so much easier. 

I have a lot of varied art supplies. I have book binding supplies along with specialized brushes. I have silk painting supplies along with specialized brushes. I have sketchbooks and watercolor paper enough to pave a road from here to Des Moines. Oh, and I have brushes. Did I mention that I have brushes. *sigh* Of course, this doesn't even count my specialized paints which are on their paint stands in a totally different place in my craft area, along with more brushes. I might be addicted to brushes. 

So, I shared two photos with you above - an in-progress, and a "putting bins into their home" shot. Each bin is now labeled, and at least I know what's in each one. My conundrum for the day? I still haven't located my paper dies. I have dies that marry with many of my stamps so that I can do cut-paper work similar to the fox from two or three years ago. Almost all of my dies are missing. A serious hunt is looming on my agenda for next week. I need two specific dies that I know I own. Time to excavate. 

Have a wonderful and productive Thursday. I'm off to grab a quick breakfast, then drop my laptop at the shop and head over for Physical Therapy. It's all good, if he's receive the go-ahead to work on my knee. It keeps getting worse, and I'm not happy about it. I'll be back tomorrow. 

Today I'm Living A "Normal Revised Schedule" Change - ARGH

In my "normal revised" schedule since starting Physical Therapy, Wednesday is my day off from the gym and every few weeks I have a PT appointment early (7:00 am) in the morning. Of course, my "normal revised" schedule had to be revised this week, since my PT has a scheduling conflict. I'm going to the gym today, but the rest of the day is still my day off. Tomorrow, I'm seeing my PT at 7:00, but then continuing on to work for the rest of the day. 

Switching schedules is rather like switching lanes in rush hour - difficult,
and fraught with danger while trusting that the others around you won't
mess things up even more. 

Although it might not seem like a horrible mess to all of you, my dear readers, it's a total MESS for me - sandwiching in breakfast before therapy and still getting there on time, and skipping the gym on Thursday. It's already driving me crazy - LOL. So, can you hear that semi-hysterical laughter coming through your monitor? Yeah. That's me trying to deal with this rather silly schedule shift. 

I want to do holiday ornaments for you this year, and found half
of what I need last night. I'm going to hunt for the other half today
while cleaning and reorganizing (and labeling) my art supplies bins. 

Today is my "day off" - grocery shopping, housecleaning, several loads of laundry, and continued work on my space in the craft room. DH wanted one of my bins removed from its' temporary location since that is designated for a different type of storage. I got that done last night, but I'm looking for the materials for this year's Holiday Card. 

I love sending my cards to friends all over the world. My life is a
little crazy right now, but that shouldn't change friendships. 

I still want to send cards out to my friends all over the world, but they're going to be less labor intensive this year by necessity. They're still going to be hand-made, but a bit less hand in the making this year because we've been so busy. Next year's card might also be more minimal, but afterward I should be more on-track for success and be able to return the cool factor. I hope so. I'll be making a "Call Out For Cards" in October, so keep your eyes open for it. 

That's a wrap for today or I'll be late. It's always so difficult to get into a schedule and then have something gum up the works. I'll be fighting this small revision in my schedule for the next 48 hours! Have a totally wonderful day and I'll be back on Thursday.