Happy New Year...

So...  are you a resolution maker?  I used to make resolutions, but I really don't anymore.  I do sometimes feel inspired with the start of a new year to challenge myself with some new things, though.  I think I'm also feeling motivated because my hand has significantly improved in recent weeks.  I'm really happy to report that the nerve pain I was having when I wrote the post before last is basically gone.  There's still some discomfort, still a little swelling from time to time, and a bit of stiffness, but with that nerve pain gone I feel so much more hopeful that my hand will continue to feel better over the upcoming months.

Ready to challenge myself and my hand, I easily came up with a some things I'm planning on stretching myself to do as this new year takes off.  These are just a few ideas I have in mind to do:

1)  Learn to knit socks.  I don't know why it's taken me so long to even consider the possibility that I could do this.   I've told myself for years that it looks too hard, but recently I came across some tutorials and I'm now thinking I'm up for giving it a try.  So I ordered the appropriate sized needles and yarn.

I've never handled such tiny knitting needles before.  These are size 1 (with a diameter of 2.25 mm).   If I am correct, there are five sizes smaller than these!  I can't quite imagine what kind of fairy fingers it takes to handle them.  I'm just waiting for sock yarn to arrive so I can give these a go.

I bought a 47" long circular knitting needle, hoping I'll find magic loop knitting easy to do, and will want to knit two socks at a time - because I'm so afraid of "second sock syndrome".  And I ordered the 9" needle thinking I might prefer zipping through the hundreds and hundreds of stockinette stitches - enjoying all that mindless in-the-round knitting - which could also diminish the likelihood of not finishing the second sock.   I like having options.

I'll be sure to report back on how sock knitting goes.

2)  I plan to try getting back to cross stitching.  In addition to smaller projects I'd like to stitch, I'm wondering to myself if I could manage to finish this sampler project I started in 2020:

Part of it is rolled up on this scroll frame.  

I'm probably close to half finished with the whole thing.

3)  Inspired by YouTuber, Ardent Michelle, I am interesting in cooking with some things that I'm not all that familiar with, some simple things, actually.  I'm also fascinated with her low-spend challenges.  This makes me consider that I can cook extremely inexpensively if I just challenge myself to cook from the pantry (and fridge and freezer) in the upcoming month or two - shopping mostly for fresh produce and other perishable things.

4)  And I really enjoyed last year making note of the "new things" that happened in my world.  At some point, though, my "new things" started being mostly hard and unpleasant things and it wasn't nearly as enjoyable to count them, but I'd like to get back to noticing new things.  Especially good new things.  I loved how the effect of counting "new things" created a spirit of appreciation in me.  That alone is reason to start back up my personal "One New Thing" challenge.  The challenge (in and of itself) isn't to do new things, or make new things, or experience new things - necessarily.  The challenge is to notice these things when they happen.  Whether I make them happen or they simply present themselves to me doesn't seem terribly important (not at the outset, anyway).  It's noticing new things and pointing them out to myself that changes me.   Hopefully some new things will find their way into posts here.

That's enough to start with.  That I care to share here, anyway.  

What inspires you as you begin a new year?  Do you have any new things on the  horizon?

Wrapping it up...

Wrapping Christmas presents on Sunday afternoon while being entertained by old episodes of Dog The Bounty Hunter on DEFY TV,  pulled in with a cheap indoor antenna attached to a tiny TV in the bedroom.  I don't know how much of that is more than you wanted to know.

Christmas is coming...

Not having decorated for Christmas for several years, I was determined to do so in our new home (new to us as of November 2021).   So I asked Hub and a young friend he had hired to help do some outdoor work to pull the plastic storage boxes down from their shelf in the outside garage.  In the past we'd stored these boxes in our attic, but last fall when we moved into this house Hub wanted to store them in the detached garage - that sits about 30 feet from our house.  Now...  when moving in we could see evidence of mice in that garage and to say I was not happy about storing anything out there that would ever come into the house is a huge understatement.  In the end, though, we were too tired once the boxes had been placed there, and I was dealing with an injured knee from the move so I gave in and let the boxes stay out there.  For over a year.  And I tried not to think about it...

Even though everything was in plastic containers, I was nervous about bringing the boxes into the house, so I had the guys put them in our sunroom and I decided I'd go through them out there.  To my great relief, there was not even the tiniest evidence of mice having gotten into any of it, so evidently those plastic boxes were sealed up really well.

Earlier this past week, still feeling puny from having been sick recently, I decided to take it slow and just stop when I was tired of it.   I got a small tree put up (a tree that belonged to Hub's mother), and got it decorated.  

While I've grown to love our home, we have a very strange configuration for our living room (it's two spaces in one and it's all in a squarish "L" shape.  With the way we have our furniture, there just didn't seem to be any good place to put the tree.  After talking about it, we decided to just put it in what amounts to basically almost, not really, but sort of the middle of the whole space, but behind the sofa, and we were really surprised at how nicely it works there.    

One of the reasons it works well is because our front door is half decorative glass, so placing the tree in this spot allows the pretty lights to sparkle through the window of the front door.   Some of the panes in the door windows are frosted, and all of the panes have beveled edges so the lights on this small tree are magnified in all the angles and edges of the windows.   Also, because the tree is fairly small and narrow, it tucks in behind the couch perfectly and isn't in the way at all.  And...  to top it off, the tree can be seen from several other rooms - the dining room, the den, even our bedroom.  Yes, indeed - I think we've found the perfect spot for a tree here.

And that has ended up being pretty much all the decorating I'm doing for Christmas.  We have a nice fireplace and mantel and I'd love to decorate it, but it needs some kind of statement piece - like a large mirror, or some architectural piece, or even a really large wreath.  If I figure this out, I'll take a picture, but at this rate, I'm thinking that may just have to wait another year 'till I have time and ability and the motivation for it.  I don't want to spend my energies right now looking for something I may not find.  I'd rather wait for it to show up - with minimal effort on my part.  That tends to be how I roll anymore...  

For now, I'll share pictures of some of the special ornaments on our tree.  Most of them old - some from when our boys were young, some from when we were young marrieds, and a few from our childhoods.   Some are hand made while others are factory made.  They are all special for different reasons.

I was tickled when middle son was visiting this week and the first ornament he looked for was this bird in a nest (above) and he reminisced a bit how that was always a special ornament to get to place in the tree, or look for if someone else hid it in the branches.

  

And, finally, I want to share a YouTuber I just can't get enough of lately.  The YouTube channel is called Celebrating Appalachia, and the presenter is Tipper Pressley. 

This video inspired me to share her with you today, but her videos are so varied and interesting.  She's a natural story teller with a soothing southern drawl and a heart  to share what is special about Appalachia - particularly her corner of it in North Carolina.  I encourage you to check her out.

I hope you are enjoying this Christmas season!

I've gotta stop doing this...

Disappearing that is...

You wouldn't know it, but I have started a number of posts in the last two months (in fact, this post was begun a couple of weeks ago), but I just couldn't bring myself to finish typing and hit publish.

Today I decided I just need to DO IT! and hope this post gets me over a what's been feeling like a very challenging autumn.

In the early weeks after my hand surgery, there didn't seem to be much to write about - except for the after-surgery pain, and I had no interest in writing about that.  Especially then.  And when occupational therapy started (about 3 1/2 weeks post surgery) suddenly I found myself both deliriously happy to be moving my painful stiff hand, and at the same time worried that therapy was starting late and going slowly.  From the start, though, my OTist has told me I'm doing great, and I can say that now that I'm 2 1/2 months post surgery, I do see the progress.   

Even so, I am daily tempted to worry because the progress is soooo slow. 

It just is.  It's not just me feeling that it is.  I'm assured every week that healing from this surgery is a long road, so I keep telling myself to not worry; all will fine in another 3 months or so.  That's what they keep telling me.

One YouTuber who's had CMC Arthroplasty surgery calls it brutal. Before my surgery I thought she was surely exaggerating, but now I get it.  The pain is tough in the early days after surgery - mostly due to doctors being fearful of giving out too much narcotic pain medicine, which just makes me angry if I can be completely honest.  And then in the early weeks after surgery the slow slog through therapy begins (mostly done at home, alone) and it becomes its own kind of brutal. Every new stretch, or squeeze, or push promises new pain - for a week or so until the hand gets used to that movement and sore muscles and tendons heal over and over again, it seems. 

Fortunately, most of that pain is behind me.   At this point, the main discomfort I feel is some residual stiffness due to there still being a bit of swelling, and there remains nerve pain from the surgery.  The nerve pain can take me by surprise and it's rough when it strikes, but I am told this is normal, and should heal over time.

So... I will not sugar coat it.  While I don't want to discourage anyone from considering this surgery, it should not be entered into lightly.  I hope, some months from now I can tell you it was worth it, but I only know right now that it's been a slog.  That said, I hang onto daydreams of holding needlework in this hand, and stitching with the other.  I imagine playing the piano, and even picking up a guitar (though I can't quite fathom my left thumb ever being strong enough to brace against the back of a guitar neck again).  I promise, though, if it does get strong enough I'll shout it from the roof top - of this blog, anyway.  

I can fix my hair finally.  Remember I mentioned early on I got a perm a couple weeks before surgery?  I thought it would be a great wash and wear hair style.  It was not.  For two months, I had to labor one-handed, applying product, and slowly diffusing my hair to partial dryness so I could look like a curly poodle instead of a frizzy bichon.  I think it was two weeks ago I found my hand was strong enough to grasp my hot rollers.  I now have my smooth hair back - and the perm provides some nice body.  The perm is finally, paying off for me.  

Let me be clear...  I love curly hair.  Especially others' curly hair.  Hub and sons have curly hair and it's amazing.  I might have enjoyed learning how to work with mine if I hadn't given myself curly hair two weeks before becoming one-handed. It was a silly lesson to have to learn, but I've learned it's better to work with what is familiar in such a situation rather than think two weeks before a major challenge is a good time to introduce something new. 

Okay... enough about my hand.   And my hair.   Even though my hair has been a thing...

If anyone is actually reading this, I really don't deserve you.  But thank you, if you're here. Not only did I not have it in me to be active on my own blog, I found I had little to give when visiting others' blogs. I tried for a week or two, and then fizzled.  Soon it became impossible to keep up, let alone catch up.  Who knew having two surgeries in 3 1/2 months' time could suck so much inner drive out of a person.  I sure didn't.

And then there was Covid.  Yep...  the year just wouldn't have been complete if I didn't catch Covid.  And boy - has it kicked my keister!  I caught it a little over a week ago when helping a single girlfriend who was so sick she had to go the ER.  She was severely dehydrated and thought maybe she had the flu.  It didn't matter to me what she had, she needed help, and I was glad to be there for her.  I know it probably sounds ridiculous, but when the doctor came into her little room where we had been sharing air space for a couple of hours to tell her the results of her test, I was not expecting to hear she had Covid.  I know...  What rock have I been living under?!?

Ah well...  I've been saying for the last year, we all just need to suck it up and expect to take our turn with it, so it appeared my turn had finally come.  

A little segue...  After consulting with my doctor last spring I told her I was inclined to take a pass on the Covid boosters.  Things had gotten better, I didn't have any serious health concerns, and the number of infections were way down back then.  The word was Omicron wasn't as bad as previous variants.  Really hadn't Covid stopped being something we needed to worry so much about?  Well, somehow it was suddenly November (the week of Thanksgiving, no less) and I evidently didn't notice that people were getting sick again.  

That is, until hubs went to every pharmacy in town (I can't remember when - maybe Monday?) to buy me some cough medicine with alcohol in it and the shelves were bare.  It seems EVERYone is getting sick again.  He brought home a number of offerings, but none promised to put me to sleep and out of my miserable congested, coughing state.

After three nights of struggling to sleep, I searched the house and discovered a several year's old (expired by over a year) bottle of overnight cold and flu medicine laced with 10% alcohol.  I swigged a shot down and smiled as my innards warmed, imagining the sleep I'd soon be enjoying.  It's becoming my nightly ritual.  I'm smiling just thinking about it now.

It's been a slow climb out of the congestion and coughing.  And the fatigue renders me pretty useless still - now 5 days in.  On Monday I had a virtual appointment with my doctor and while she prescribed Paxlovid (at my request) she did tell me for as many days as I'd been sick already, the unpleasant side effects of the Pax might not be worth it since I'd likely be better before I was finished with the 5-day regimen.  I thought on it, and I decided to forgo it, and have continued to slog through with my cough medicine and maximum strength generic Mucinex, and figure sooner or later I'll emerge - singing the high notes again.  Well, the alto notes, anyway...

BTW, one of the reasons I even brought up the Covid shots, and me not getting boosted is because my dear hubs (after getting his 3rd, 4th & 5th? jabs) had been asking me if I was going to get mine.  "Nah", I said.  I didn't think it was necessary.  

The chances of getting seriously sick are pretty slim I thought.

Even when my friend looked at me sadly and said how sorry she was that I was now exposed to Covid, I smiled and said, "It was going to happen sooner or later.  I've made peace with it."

So cavalier was I.

Okay...  so I'm likely going to make a full recovery, but the real story here is Hubs has been basically symptom free while I've been hacking up a lung for the last 5 days.  He had a bit of a scratchy throat a day or two after I came down sicker than a dog, but now he tells me he feels fine.  I'll be sure to update if he comes down sick, but dang!  If his boosters are what has made his airways like teflon, I'm thinking the credit most likely goes to the shots.

We'll never know for sure.  Maybe he just has some super power resistance to Covid (doubtful), or maybe he just hasn't walked through any virus ladened mists I've left behind (not likely), or maybe it's the N95 mask he wears when he enters a room I'm occupying.  I don't know.  I just wish I'd gotten boosted this fall.  I wish I could have potentially experienced feeling like I have super powers too.  

To be clear (again - because I really like to be clear) I'm not into telling others what they should do.  This isn't meant to be an endorsement of these "vaccines".  I don't care if people get vaccinated or not - against anything, really.  I'm as against mandatory Covid shots as I ever was.  I'm just relating our anecdotal experience.

This post has gone on way too long.  Be thankful I'm not going to bore you with all that's gone on since I was last here.  So much has happened this fall, that I've already forgotten most of it.  It has been a ride, though.  And I'm glad the roller coaster of 2022 is going to be shutting down soon.

I'm so worn out by this year that I think after this post, I may just continue my blogging break until the new year.  I might do a 2022 wrap-up.  Or I may just give 2022 quick good-bye kiss and kick it to the curb.

I have missed visiting with many of you on your blogs.  I'm going to start showing my face again, but I'm going to right here, right now, ask your forgiveness for not even trying to catch up with all I've missed.  I hope you all are having a better final quarter of 2022.  Or if you're struggling, I hope I can glean enough from what you're now sharing to be able to offer encouragement to you.

If you're still reading, you are really too kind.  If you leave me a comment and let me know you were here, I'll mention you in my prayers - giving thanks to my Heavenly Father for you and your encouragement.

Love and peace to you all.  

Early days of autumn...

The Pampas Grass blows regally in the breeze

Asparagus seed balls turn a beautiful shade of red...

And other things start showing themselves in the asparagus bed...

...like thistles - Yikes, these got big!

And I have no idea what these blue berries are.  Any ideas?

These sedum (planted on the east side of the house) started out so tiny in the spring, but have overgrown the area they began in:

Next spring I think I will divide these and plant some on the south side of the house and see if the color changes with full sun, and maybe dryer conditions.  We've never had Sedum (also called Stonecrop) before.  Given they got no attention all summer, I'm calling this a completely effortless plant.

I think I took this picture of the garden a week ago:

The dying tomato and squash plants have all been removed, and all that is standing today are yellow brittle cucumber plants (on the far right, front), the Kentucky Wonder pole beans in the back center, and a Marconi Giant Pepper plant (front and center).

At this point, I'm hoping the remaining Marconi Peppers will at least begin to turn red so I can bring them inside to finish ripening before we get some cold weather this weekend.  Every other day I'm able to harvest enough green beans for a meal (though I clean, cut and freeze them, usually).  I'm ready to just let the remaining seed pods dry out and then see if they are harvestable for planting next spring.

Editing this post just to be clear that I am not doing the work of removing dead plants.  I'm not doing anything I can't do one-handed.  While I give some direction on what is finished up and can be pulled, Hub is doing the actual work of cleaning up the garden.  

 

While autumn is my most favorite time of the year, and I always look forward to putting growing things to rest outside (even in our smaller in-town yard I looked forward to cleaning out the flower beds and pots, and cutting things down), I have to admit having only one reasonable-working hand puts a damper on my enthusiasm for the season this year.  I'm not complain' (much), just explainin'.

I hope you're enjoying your autumn wherever you are!  Or your spring if you're in the southern hemisphere!  The two most wonderful times of the year...  😊