iMel

OMG! I won an iPhone 3G!!!

There’s even a WordPress application for it, so I can update my blog in native WordPress directly from my iPhone. Damn, I love technology!!

Just as I Suspected …

Shoulder Update

Well, it’s 95% likely there will be no tri for me in October. I’m home from the ortho (who is a triathlete and sports medicine specialist) and have learned that the arthrosis in my shoulder is, in his words, “pretty severe”. In fact, he said that if I were a professional athlete, he would schedule me for immediate surgery. Since I’m not, he is putting in a request for physical therapy instead.

He did clear me to bike and run again, but to listen to my body and back off of those if my shoulder starts bothering me. I’m not to attempt any swimming until after at least a couple of sessions of the PT, and even then I can only do the breast stroke. I’ve been told absolutely NO crawl, backstroke, or fly for now. He said there is a slim chance that I might be able to do the breast stroke without pain and, if so, I could use that to still go ahead and do the tri. The only problem with that scenario is 1) since I have to wait until after I’ve started PT, I can’t get back in the pool until probably 4 weeks out from the tri which doesn’t leave much time for swim training, and 2) I don’t know how to breast stroke. *sigh*

He said in all likelihood, I won’t be able to do the tri in October, but said he absolutely could get me in a position to do one next year if I’m interested. He did say that if I were interested in continuing in the sport long-term that I would probably want to consider having the surgery. He intimated that it’s something I’ll mostly likely have to do eventually anyway, but understood that I probably wasn’t interested in having another major surgery right now since I just had the spinal fusion 16 months ago.

So, that’s where things stand for now.

Vote No on Prop 8

Fish Out of Water/Stitching Olympics

Well, I’m not actually anywhere near being a fish yet, but I’m out of the water. I’ve been having some nagging shoulder pain all summer. It’s gotten increasingly worse as the summer has progressed, so I finally broke down and made myself go to the doctor to get it checked out.

After being poked, prodded, and x-rayed, my GP seems to think I have Acromioclavicular Arthrosis. In layman’s terms, that’s osteoarthritis of the AC joint. So, I’m on hiatus from any form of exercise that requires rotating the shoulder or puts undue stress/weight on it. That pretty much leaves me with walking (not of the power variety) and recumbent cycling. I have to rest it the shoulder as much as possible, use Aleve for pain management, and ice it for 20 minutes 2-3 times per day. I’m being referred to an orthopedist for confirmation of the diagnosis and for a course of treatment which will most likely start with physical therapy.

Right now, I’m just trying to keep a positive outlook about this all, but it’s not easy. I’m just finally starting to feel “normal” again after my spinal fusion surgery last year. I hate that something else has come up to slow me down again. I’m just hoping that things get resolved quickly enough that I can still do my tri in October.

In stitching news, I’ve signed up for the Stitching Olympics on The Wagon — one of the stitching bulletin boards I visit. The goal is to see how much we can all get accomplished on our stitching goals during the Olympic games. I’m not sure how many of these I’ll actually get to since I’m late to the party, but here are my before photos:

Sprint: (these are for projects that literally are ALMOST done - they lack maybe a few hours stitching, a few beads, etc.)

Coffin Buzz (Plum Street Samplers) and a hardanger ornament (don’t remember the designer off the top of my head).

Rotation Relay: (for those of us with more projects in rotation than stars in the sky. Work for at least two hour on each project.)

Rosemarkie (Long Dog Samplers - I know it looks like it should be in the Sprint category, but there’s a LOT of backstitching on this piece. ), Halloween Fairy (Nora Corbett - starting this piece tonight), Taj Mahal (Chatelaine), Acorn Hill (Little House Needleworks), and Hannah Beeby.

Long Jump: (giant projects with lots and lots of thick stitching. Stitch as many 10×10 sections of solid stitching as possible.)

Nova (Genny Morrow Designs)

Finish Line: (for projects just sitting around waiting to be “finished” finished - made into ornaments, boxes, framed, etc.)

Sampler Noel (Fancy Work), A Christmas Wish (Blue Ribbon Designs), Gingerbread Cottage (Country Cottage Needleworks), a misc. motif (Unknown designer), and Stitcher’s Retreat Keepsake.

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

Overwhelmed

Life can be so overwhelming sometimes. That’s where I’m at right now. I’m just really struggling mentally right now and battling my depression demons. I’ve still managed to hold on to my eating plan and not give in to emotional eating, so that’s been a positive for me.

Since I was feeling blue, I just kind of hunkered in and stitched most of the weekend. I spent Saturday working on Acorn Hill by Little House Needleworks. Yesterday I switched things up and worked on Gingerbread Cottage from Country Cottage Needleworks. Here are my progress pics as of last night:

Acorn Hill:

Gingerbread Cottage:

Seven Years

WOW! It’s really hard to believe that I’ve been blogging for 7 years now. Where DOES the time go?

In some respects, I’m kind of sad now that my archives only go back to 2004, but it was of my own choosing. I ended up dumping my earlier content when I separated from my ex-husband because a lot of it mentioned him. I just didn’t want that reminder in my blog. Oh well, nothing I can do about that now.

Anyway, happy blogoversary to me. Here’s to the next seven years!

Before closing this post, I thought I would give the follow-up to my 5 Things Meme from last month. I realized yesterday that I posted the results in a comment on TB’s blog, but never provided them here. So, here ya’ go:

1. I’ve lost over 75 pounds on Weight Watchers.

Yep, that one is true. In fact, as of this week, I’m down over 82 pounds.

2. I drive a BMW.

This is actually the fake one. I am a commuter who drives ~32 miles each way to and from Los Angeles every day. Accordingly, I drive a Toyota Corolla for it’s fuel economy.

3. I once appeared in a TV commercial with Johnny Cash and Richard Petty.

This one is also true. I was about 12-13 at the time. A commercial film crew came to my same town of Lynchburg, TN (home of Jack Daniels Distillery) to film a commercial for STP in which Richard Petty and Johnny Cash were starring. They decided they wanted to have some chickens in the commercial, so they contacted the County Agricultural Extension office to find out where they could get some. The agent recommended they contact me since I had just won the blue ribbon for the chickens I raised for my 4-H project. So, not only did they end up using my chickens, they also used my grandmother and I as extras in the commercials and used my grandfather’s old beat up pickup truck as well. It was the most excitement I’d ever had in my life up to that point as I had never met anyone famous before.

4. I have visited nearly 30 major league baseball parks.

Also true as I really enjoy baseball. Of course, some of the parks have been duplicate parks for the same team. For example, I’ve been to both the old Fulton County Stadium as well as Turner Field for the Atlanta Braves.

5. I once sang on the stage of the Ryman Auditorium (original home of the Grand Old Opry) in Nashville, TN.

Amazingly enough, this one is also true. When I was in high school, I sang in our school chorus. During my senior year, we were invited to perform at a stats chorale competition which was taking place at the Ryman. It was pretty amazing getting to sing there given the very rich history of music associated with that building, but also kind of sad to see the state of disrepair the building was starting to be in due to infrequent use after the Opry moved to their new location in the mid 1970’s. Thankfully, the building was restored in the early ’90s and is being used regularly again as an event venue.

Well, that’s it for now. I hope you all have a great weekend!

The Same

Regardless of our differences, when it comes down to it, deep down inside we’re all the same and language barriers just don’t matter.

Where the Hell is Matt? [2008] from Matthew Harding on Vimeo.

If you have a fast connection and prefer to see the HD version, you can find it here.

Frozen Food Recall

I saw this in today’s Hungry Girl newsletter and thought I would pass along the word.

Lean Pockets Recall! - The folks at Nestlé, makers of Lean Pockets, are recalling about 350,000 packages of their Spinach Artichoke Chicken Lean Pockets. These all have a “Best Before” date of Nov. 2009 and package codes beginning with 8144 544616. These products may contain pieces of plastic! DO NOT EAT THEM! If you have purchased recalled packages and/or have questions, you can reach Nestlé’s consumer hotline at 1-800-350-5016.

Tomato Update! - Hooray… apparently all tomatoes are safe to eat again! The FDA announced last Thursday that it is withdrawing its warning against eating certain types of tomatoes, as it’s recently been determined that tomatoes are not associated with the salmonella outbreak. The FDA is warning those considered high risk for illnesses (elderly people, infants, and those with weak immune systems) to avoid raw jalapeño and raw serrano peppers, though, as they may be linked to the outbreak.

Rest in Peace, Christine

How does one miss a person they’ve never met? Even though I never had the honor of meeting Christine in person, I feel a sense of loss today at her passing. Christine was an active and vibrant part of the forums at Beginner Triathlete. Her logs there were titled “Pocket full of sunshine” because that’s how she viewed life.

She was a wife and a mother of two teenage sons. She finished the Ironman 70.3 Florida race on May 18 and walked a 5k race as recently as July 4th. She was even posting on the BT forums as recently as Saturday, but now she’s gone.

Here are some photos of her from the Florida Half Ironman race:

Christine began noticing numbness and tingling in her left arm about a month ago. It then began progressing up to her face, and then down into her left leg. About a week later, she began having vision and balance/coordination issues as well. After seeing various medical professionals, last week the neurologist discovered a mass on her brain and scheduled further tests to determine the exact cause/nature of the mass.

She took a turn for the worse on Sunday and was rushed to the hospital for emergency surgery. The neurosurgeon reviewed all of the CTs with the family and felt that this most likely was a hemangioma that had been sitting there, perhaps her whole life, like a time bomb, just waiting to go off. There really was not anything that could have been done at any point in time. Christine passed away yesterday, and as was her nature of being such a giving person, her organs were harvested and will be provided to those who need them.

Christine’s coach at the Hit The Trails store was already hosting a 5K race this Friday near Tampa. After hearing of her death, he has now stated that all proceeds from the race will go to her family. Many of us from the BT boards who knew Christine have registered for the race and will simultaneously do it virtually in our own cities. So, this Friday at 4pm PT, I will be participating in the Hit the Trails XC 5K race in honor & memory of Christine. Even though we never had the pleasure of running a race together in person, in my mind, she will be with me each step of the way on Friday.