During the whole Michigan road trip extravaganza, one of the stops we made was in Holland, MI. There was a little fair trade store there called The Bridge that had the cutest stuff. As soon as I saw this little set of whitewashed terra cotta bunnies, I knew I had to have them. Aren’t they just adorable?!!

They are made in Bangladesh and are distributed by Ten Thousand Villages. They came in a little jute bag which I plan to put to use in the future in an exchange or as perhaps a little gift bag. I know it’s difficult to tell what size they are from the photo, so I took another photo which included a US quarter for scale. You can see that photo here if you are interested.

If any of the other bunny lovers out there are interested, the set is available via the TTV website. Here is the direct link to the bunny set.

I also picked up this Inspirational Paperweight they had in the store. These are made in India and are also distributed by Ten Thousand Villages. I got the word Strength as a reminder to myself that I AM a strong woman and can do anything to which I set my mind.

They sold them individually at the store, but they are available as a set via the TTV website at this direct link. The set includes stones with the following six words: joy, strength, hope, wisdom, love and peace.

In stitching news, I do have a finish but can’t share the photo yet. It’s for the summer round of the Fair & Square exchange. I still need to stitch the second square with my name before I can mail it off to April. Once that’s done and she receives it, I’ll post a pic.

Lastly, I’m doing pretty well getting myself back on track at Weight Watchers following my vacation. I went several weeks without going to a meeting and it definitely showed when I got back home. I picked myself up, dusted myself off, and got myself back on track though. At my weigh in on Sunday, I was down 4 pounds.

Lastly, as I know many of you are aware based on the emails I’ve received, I’m still having issues with my online photo albums. I did manage to get about 90+% of the photos restored, but there is still clearly some sort of corruption going on with the database. Rather than continuing to try and troubleshoot the problem, I decided this is definitely the time to take advantage of moving everything over to my thedailymel.com domain as I’d been planning to do anyway. It’s definitely going to take some time, so the old albums won’t be going anywhere anytime soon. From this point forward though, all the photos I upload in the future will be going into the new albums. Here is the link for that:

http://www.thedailymel.com/pics

Oh, and this would be the perfect time to remind others to do as I say and not as I do. Back up your files … OFTEN! My last backup of my photo albums was late February of this year. Accordingly, all of the photos I had uploaded since that time had to be recreated. Please don’t make my same mistake. kthx!

I guess that’s it for now. Until next time …

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I was very fortunate and was able to get a work-in appointment for Friday morning. The ortho checked it out and said that it was just a flare-up and that those are very common when dealing with a torn meniscus. He said the best thing I could do was stay off of it for a few days, take pain medication as needed, and keep it iced to reduce the swelling. So, my weekend was definitely uneventful.

Between bouts of loopiness from the pain medication, I got in some good stitching time. I finished up Part 1 of the Mini Mandala Mystery IV from Chatelaine Designs that came out earlier this year.

Mini Mandala Mystery IV
Designer: Chatelaine Designs
Fabric: Silkweaver 32-count Peaceful Waters Lugana
Fibers: NPI, Silk ‘n Colors, Waterlilies, Petite Treasure Braid
Progress as of May 31, 2009

This photo doesn’t show off the fabric very well. I took it last night right before I headed off to bed. It’s not long available in their Lugana line, but they do still offer it in their Classic Linen line. Here is a more accurate color sample from their website.

Finally, as if I don’t have enough stitching projects going on already, I’m really hoping to start another one very soon. Jacqueline Holdsworth of Needleprint is going to be offering the Mary Wigham 1790 sampler as a free download on the Needleprint blog as part of an international SAL (stitch-a-long). Here is a photo of this lovely reproduction sampler:

On one hand, I’m very happy that she is offering the chart for this SAL for free. Yet, on the other hand, I’m saddened it’s having to be done this way due to the fact that the sampler was charted and sold commercially by someone else without license or permission.

The chart will be released in sections beginning today. The sections will be released weekly until the entire design has been made available. While donations are not required to download the chart, participants are encouraged to make a donation to the Ackworth School if you download the chart. This money will be used to help with the costs of conservation and possible purchase of more of these beautiful old samplers.

Well, that’s it for now. Until next time …

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I stepped outside my office and was almost knocked over by the fragrance of the blooms. Of course, part of that could be due to the fact that I can finally breathe/smell again after nearly 10 days of the cold/sinus infection.

Since I’m finally on the mend from the aforementioned cold, I actually got out for a wog (walk/jog combo) last night after work. It felt really good to actually be able to get in a workout again. I missed most of January between all my various illness/injury problems. As a result, I’m going to have to revisit my training schedule for my upcoming half marathon to see if I need to adjust things. It’s still a few months away, so I may be OK and not have to adjust things too much.

As a follow-up to my post yesterday, sadly, the Lady Vols didn’t get the win last night. They played a good game, but were playing on the road against Oklahoma who is the #2 team in the country right now (the Lady Vols are #15). On the upside, our next game against Georgia is back in Knoxville which would be pretty nice for Coach Summitt to reach that milestone at home on the court named after her.

Of course, the downside to this is that last night’s game was on ESPN, but the Georgia game is on Fox Sports South which I can’t get here in California. So, I guess I’ll have to try and find an audio feed for the game online somewhere so I can at least hear it since I won’t be able to watch it.

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He advised me that since I ultimately have larger goals on the horizon (my upcoming half marathon specifically) that sitting this one out made sense. He reminded me that there will be plenty of other 5k/10k races. He said it really wasn’t worth risking my upcoming training time for the half marathon to do a 5k now since I’ve been sick/injured the past couple of weeks. He basically gave a voice to what I already knew in my head was the right thing to do, even though my heart was screaming at me otherwise. This is exactly why I called him. It’s always good to have an impartial voice of reason.

Instead of racing this morning, I’ll head out a bit later and take a nice easy shorter walk. Since I haven’t been able to do any training in nearly 3 weeks, this will help me ease back into working out without taxing my recovering body too much. It will also give me a chance to try out my new custom mix of workout music my aforementioned friend created me a couple of weeks ago, too.

I’m still struggling with wanting to walk out the door and head over to the race. I still would have time to make it if I left right now. I decided I would take some time to blog instead to keep me from doing just that. Hopefully by the time I finish this entry, it will be too late for me to make it there in time. Hey, whatever works, right?

Since I won’t be doing the race after all this morning, I might actually start on a new stitching project. I went by my LNS yesterday to pay for my class project for the stitching cruise we’ll be going on next week. While I was there, I picked up the first of the charts & the fibers for the Lizzie Kate Boo Club double flip series.

The shop had actually kitted up the necessary fibers and a piece of the 32-count Dirty Belfast linen called for in the Boo Club instructions. It looked so amazing together that I was very tempted. I ended up deciding that the smart thing to do economically though was to use some fabric from my stash instead. The chart said any 32-count neutral fabric could be used, so I figured I probably already had something that would work.

My initial thought was to use one of the Lakeside Linens I’ve been collecting over the past couple of years through the Fabric of the Month club from Shakespeare’s Peddler. Once I started looking through them though, all of the colors I thought looked best were all 40-count. Given the charts in this series uses little buttons for things like eyes and such, I was afraid shifting from 32-count up to 40-count might throw off the proportions. Instead, I ended up deciding on a piece of 32-count hand-dyed Sand Castle Jobelan. Here is a photo of my floss toss on the fabric (click for larger version):

Ok, the window of opportunity for making the race is definitely over now. I’m going to head back to bed and try to get another couple of hours of sleep. I’ve only had about 6 hours’ worth so far since I got up at 5:15am to get ready for the race. I could definitely use a little more.

I hope everyone has a great day. For those watching and/or going to parties, have a great Super Bowl Sunday.

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1. I’ve not done a race in a few months.
2. Several of my friends are also registered for it.
3. I’ve already paid for it anyway.
4. They have a cutest little surfboard finisher medals. ;)

Ok, so maybe reason #4 is the one I’m thinking about the most right now. I already have the one from last year’s race. I think it would be a shame not to get this little matching friend for it, don’t you?

Aren’t they adorable? Yes, in case you are wondering, they are made of real wood.

Right now my plan is to go on Friday afternoon and pick up my bib/race packet at the Expo. I’ll likely make my final decision on whether I’m up to actually doing the race on Saturday night. If I am feeling up to it, I’ll be sticking to all walking and won’t be doing any run intervals. I figure there’s no need to tempt fate when I’m just getting back on my feet (pardon the pun).

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I’ll really be glad when January is over. This has been a very rough month for me health-wise. I started out with the flu the first week, developed a case of gout in my ankle mid-month, and now this nasty cold/sinus infection that started on Saturday. This is NOT a good way to start the new year. I’ve already had more sick days in January than I did in all of 2008 combined.

Here’s to hoping the rest of the year will be healthy!

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I started noticing over the weekend that the ankle on that foot was looking a little swollen. By Monday, it was pretty bad so I made a trip to the doctor. Several x-rays, some blood work, and a couple of days later, I found out I have a case of gout and a bone spur on my heel. Leave it to me to come down with something that rarely affects women (Men are 9 times more likely to have gout than women). Grrrrr!

The bone spur actually didn’t surprise me. Dr. Bennett (my podiatrist) told me a couple of years ago when I was first diagnosed with PF that I had early signs of a bone spur which he said wasn’t that uncommon for people with PF. I’ve already got an appointment scheduled with him on Feb. 3, so I’ll pick up a copy of my current x-rays to take with me to find out just how bad the bone spur is and if anything needs to be done about it.

Honestly, I’m really starting to wonder if I’m cut out for athletic endeavors. In the past 2.5 years, I’ve had to deal with arthritis in my left knee, herniated disks in my neck which resulted in a multi-level spinal fusion, a compressed ulner nerve in my right arm which resulted in a surgery, three rounds of plantar fasciitis in my right foot, arthrosis in my left shoulder which could eventually lead to surgery, and now gout in my right ankle. Part of me is beginning to feel like I should just accept the fact that I’m an overweight 40-something woman and give up my dream of running again and, eventually, doing a triathlon.

I’m not writing this looking for sympathy. I just needed to vent some of the frustration I’m feeling right now. Thanks!

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I seem to have come down with the flu.

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Speaking of the night splint, I could not have imagined that what I would end up getting would be worse than the initial photo the podiatrist showed me during my consultation. This thing is so bulky that it practically feels like I’m sleeping in a ski boot! I even had small bruises on my opposite leg the first couple of days until I got used to it.

In closing, for today’s photo du jour, I’ll leave you with a pic of my night splint. Isn’t it sexy?! I just know you all want one as well, right?

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Yep, that’s right. I’m going for round 2 with my Plantar Fasciitis (PF). As some of you who have been reading my blog for a while may remember, I battled it about three years ago as well. At that time, I was able to ward it off with a set of custom orthodics for my shoes and a lot of stretching exercises.

Well, around the time of my vacation to Hawaii, it started rearing it’s ugly head once again. I went back to performing the stretches, but it just wasn’t getting any better. I finally broke down and went to the podiatrist. The course of treatment this time is more of the stretching, another set of the custom orthodics, the night splint, and a prescription-strength anti-inflammatory medication. If all of that doesn’t clear it up, the next step would be cortisone shots. He said if that still didn’t clear it up, then we would look into “other options”, but he never specified what that might entail.

I’m actually signed up for a 5k race with my friend Darla on Sunday. I’ll have to play things by ear to see whether or not I’ll actually do it. It will depend upon 1) the weather and 2) how my foot is feeling. The weather is definitely a big factor. The forecast is calling for a chance of showers and temps in the low 50′s at race time. Now I’m sure that might sound wonderful to many of you, but for those of us in southern California, that might as well be a Nor’easter. My biggest concern is that a damp cold could aggravate my PF even more, and I don’t want that.

I’ll be heading back to my Weight Watchers meeting on Sunday for my first weigh in since starting the new Momentum program. Given that I’m doing the 5k race right before my meeting, who knows what number I’ll see on the scale. I don’t usually go out for a 3 mile walk/jog before stepping on the scale at WW, so I’ll likely either be really happy or really disappointed.

In training news, I’ve actually revamped my training schedule for the Rock ‘n Roll Seattle half marathon as well. The new plan will kick off on Monday, Dec. 29. Until then, I’m just going to focus on trying to get out several times per week to walk. I’ll post more about my updated plan sometime this week.

Hope everyone has a GREAT weekend!

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