Sewing + Yoga + Poetry = ?

Back in the spring I started going to yoga classes at my gym fairly diligently. You know, because I needed an activity that WASN'T sitting down / stationary, like my job is and like sewing is and like pretty much everything else I do is!

Anyway, occasionally the gal who teaches the class will read us a poem from her little book of yoga poetry. Generally the reading will have something to do with one of the poses we did that today. While we didn't do this posture today, the poem really struck home.

Sutra Hasta Majariasana
"Threading the Needle"

Untangling a knot
that is my life
the knot becomes my teacher.
Gathering the threads into one,
unraveling the closed-up space
a glimmer of light
surfaces between strands.
The needle that is sharp
at dawn
might be broken by dusk.
The thread that is straight today
doesn't know
it will be knotted tomorrow.
The knot
that is tangled today
could be woven into gold
ten years from now.
That is why
I thread the needle,
honoring the odds
steadying my arms
softening my breath
working the knot,
trusting.

If you're interested, this is a video showing you how to do the posture that the poem is referring to. :)

Namaste!

All sorts of happenings

I've been sewing, don't worry! As I mentioned a few posts ago, lately I've been in love with all kinds of squares, which I'd been turning into four patches. Well, the day before yesterday, when browsing through one of my books of blocks...I realised granny squares are made of blocks....!

I've been in love with the pattern since it first hit the blogosphere, so I figured it was time to dive in! I've got six done so far. Here are five of them. (Sorry for the Instagram-quality photos, I've been lazy on that front lately!)

 Along the way, I've of course gotten some more shopping done...because I need to expand my stash like I need a hole in the head! Anyway, the FQ bundles from Pink Castle Fabrics are addictive like crazy, because they're so awesome! My favorite two from this bundle - some Hello Pilgrim and my favorite of the Flea Market Fancy prints. How do they know!?!?!? Amazing.

 Anyway, there have been some other events. Unfortunately, I've got a bit of a problem:

I seem to have, at least possibly, chipped a teensy sliver off of my cuboid bone in my right foot. It hurts to walk, though the foot itself doesn't look bad. I'm stuck in this walking boot thing until at least Saturday, at which point I have to go back to the clinic to see what happens next. The physician's assistant said the radiologist will look at it and decide if it is an actual break or just a Little bit of extra bone that's always been there. We will see. All I know is that while it hurts like crazy, I'm perfectly capable of using my sewing machine pedal with my left foot, haha!

This didn't stop me from going to the Eve 6 concert in Sacramento on Sunday night, though, believe me! I saw them in '03 and was SUPER excited to see they were gonna be so close to us so close to my birthday. This is a photo the band took of the crowd at the end of the show - I'm the person behind and to the left of the girl in the black-and-white-striped shirt in the front row. That's right - second row, dead center, for the whole show!! Rock onnnnnn!!!! ;) 

sorry

I've been absent for a while, sorry about that. I never, ever get sick - hubby got swine flu while that was going around and I didn't even get the sniffles. I haven't been notably sick since sometime in high school.

Until this week.

I took my first sick day off of work last Friday after only making it in for a half-day on Thursday. I left early yesterday. Some crazy sinus infection that's now turned into a barking cough.

Bleck.

The lamest part is that I had all that free time and didn't get ANY sewing done. My brain's been foggy from not sleeping well. I did, however, watch two and a half seasons of Mad Men. Mmmm.

Anyway, hopefully your regularly scheduled programming will return shortly.

Bread

It's probably best not to consider the long-term effects of the amount of bread (fresh, warm, mmm) that I have just consumed/am in the process of consuming.

Jeff and I do not own a scale. His grandparents, however, do, and thus when we visit, I inevitably weigh myself while there. Of course, this inevitability usually occurs right after a large meal - in this case, Christmas dinner.

I wasn't exactly thrilled to see that I've really gained 20 pounds since meeting my husband.

He says it's a good thing; lots of it is muscle, in my legs, from a summer spent cycling (up to 25 miles at a time). It makes me look more "womanly," and then he said some other things that shouldn't be repeated.

It doesn't help that his sister recently lost probably 45 pounds and now has the "perfect" supermodel (read: tall and stick-thin) figure.

The New Year is a-comin', and with it its pledges and resolutions toward self-improvement.

This year's question ends up being: To join a gym, or not? Chico's weather is great a few months of the year; unbearably hot for maybe a month in the summer, and unpredictable and rainy during the winter. Theoretically, it would be good for me, but I fear that it would end up being a money-sink.

Thoughts, experiences?

Calm yourself

Much relief came today upon finding out that Jeff won't need any kind of oral surgery after all. His home-remedy of taking a scalpel to his own jaw seems to have cleared up the problem he was having, so now he's back on track to get as many cavities filled as our insurance will pay for this year.

I was supposed to take a test tomorrow for a position as a public safety dispatcher for the local police department. As much as I'd love a new job (and the slight pay raise that goes with this position), I've decided to forgo this particular opportunity. Given my history with anxiety and general panic-y-ness, I didn't think a stress-filled position like this one would be a particularly good environment.

On a side note... sometimes family creates much more stress than it's worth. I'm so fortunate to have great in-laws like my mother-in-law, Cindy; my sister-in-law, Janet; and both of Jeff's grandparents (alright, alright, and his dad, too. LOL). That's all I'll say on that topic for the time being.

Curtains

Tonight I picked Dianna up from work, we grabbed some pizza, and came back to my house where she and I entertained the kittens while Lynn started working (so graciously, oh my gosh, seriously, I can't thank her enough) on the curtains for my office! I'm so excited - there will be enough left over for matching pillows. I wish I had a sewing machine. Maybe someday, as it isn't in the money-cards right now.

Because we had company over, my cats are completely cracked-out hyper. Running all around, nibbling, clawing, who knows. Lunatics. Good news, though - I spent three and a half hours around them and hardly got kitty-sick at all. I've got a wee bit of a sniffly nose, and my right eye itched (it's always the right one!) for a little while, but other than that I've been really good. That's such a great sign!

Work was not so great today. Yesterday I did a whole heap of work to help another employee - not really to help her out, but mostly to help her out the door, ifyouknowwhatImean. She had a heap of filing to do, and I got it all in order for her, so all she had to do was go take it to the filing cabinets, and get 'er done. Does she do that? No. I don't know why I actually expected her to suddenly turn into a competent employee. Instead, she filed maybe 1/5 of the paperwork, then spent the remaining FOUR HOURS of her day making new folders, which shouldn't have taken her more than half an hour, tops.

I guess sometimes I just need to set the bar lower.

Did I mention that I have a job interview in a few weeks? Sigh.

Caught!

I got my husband to admit that the bone chip that was plaguing his gums did not just fall out on its own.

He used the scalpel from his dissection kit to score the bone chip, then tweezers to pull it off. He said it hurt immensely, and then nothing.

Sigh. I love him, but he makes me so angry! (Insert Desi-Arnaz-type "LUCY!" here!).

Monday opened with a trip to the DMV - yuck! An extra $31 for my registration because they didn't cash the check soon enough - I swear (no, really!) that it was post-marked in time. Next year, check goes straight to the DMV.

The meme I'm supposed to be doing asks for a song that fits my mood lately. I haven't been able to get Miranda Lambert's "The House that Built Me" outta my head for ages now. Since I'm in the process of remodeling a house with my husband, and haven't always had the best relationship with my folks... yeah. Here's a link to it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=96-P6eUjHXE

Have a great Monday. :)

Day 6: Pet?

My husband and I got married here in Chico, CA; since I'm from Pennsylvania, this meant that not all of my family could come out for the wedding. We decided to honeymoon on the east coast so that everyone could meet him.

Because we love going to zoos and aquariums and stuff, we went to both the Philadelphia Zoo and the National Zoo in Washington, DC. The National Zoo still had a bunch of pandas from China. While we were at the exhibit, we ran into a British family. The daughter kept saying, in an adorable little-British-girl voice, "Mummy, I want a panda!"

Thus the panda is my choice for "Animal I'd like to keep as a pet." Because that girl was adorable, and we still use her voice around the house occasionally.

Other, more relevant news: Jeff may not have to have oral surgery? The bit of bone that was sticking out above his gums is no longer sticking out above them, mostly because it's no longer in his mouth at all. While he claims innocence, I imagine that he was wrenching around in there with pliers or a chisel or something and got it out. Long story short, he says he feels much like the lion after the mouse removes the thorn from its paw: tiny sliver removed = immense relief. Further, his gums now close over bit of jaw bone that was sticking out. He's going to finish his course of antibiotics and then head back to the oral surgeon to (hopefully, fingers crossed) get out of having to have surgery at all.

Sigh of relief

Jeff's "surgery" won't be as dramatic (by that I mean costly) as originally thought. The oral surgeon's office called him back today and said that it shouldn't be more than $350 after our insurance covers their part. Unfortunately, it's likely he won't be able to get any additional work done (he's got a bunch of cavities to be filled) until next year, but I'd much rather have it this way than an enormous amount out-of-pocket.

Of course... on top of this news yesterday, we also find out that he owes an additional $360 in tuition to Chico State because, well, California can't be bothered to pass a budget, and everyone knows college students are made of money, right?

Today's meme assignment was to add my favorite photo of my best friend. So...there's a picture of me and Jeff on our wedding day, June 13, 2009. <3

Sorry...

for not following the meme. It's been a busy 24 hours.

Last night we had our friends Alex and Dianna over to watch House. I had gathered a gift for Dianna - a bunch of leftover/scrap fabric - from some people on The Internet (okay, really it was Freecycle.com - which I recommend you join if there's one in your area) and was excited to present it to her (by present I really mean plop in her lap and say "PRESENT!"). Because I was excited, I didn't spend any time in my office, which is currently acting as a sort of "clean room" for me to go into to avoid being around the kitties for a while.

I ended up a blind, allergic mess for about an hour last night. What I'd have done without Jeff, I don't know (besides not have the kittens and thus not have had the problem in the first place. You know what I meant). I alternated between sobbing "I don't wanna get rid of the kitties" and "I can't be sick anymore" and "I can't abandon them like everyone abandons meeeeeeeeeee." Meltdown of the highest order. Thankfully I was able to shower and be cuddled long enough to (eventually) see again.

Today, Jeff had a dentist appointment to have the sutures removed from when he had a wisdom tooth extracted last week. That didn't go so well. He was told that he likely needs surgery to shave down part of his mandible in order to avoid infection. His bone apparently grew faster than his gums did, leaving the bone exposed and vulnerable (oh the metaphor available here!). He was given antibiotics and an immediate consultation with an oral surgeon.

I haven't spoken to him since, so I'm still operating (harhar) under the assumption that he'll have to have surgery.

We cannot afford this.

There are no oral surgeons who are in our dental insurance's network in this county; the closest is 45 minutes away and isn't a realistic option for his care. He's decided to take the antibiotics, consult with a professor of his who has been an oral/facial reconstructive surgeon for decades regarding the necessity of the procedure and who the professor would recommend, and get at least one additional opinion from another in-network dentist.

It took a lot for me not to start crying at my desk. I guess at least with the cats in the house, I can use them as an excuse. Poor girls.

I'm not as young as I used to be.

My 25th birthday is Friday, and my husband and I are throwing me a birthday party.

I haven't had one of those is nine years; for my 16th, I invited all my friends over and we had a very mundane sleepover in my much-too-small bedroom. I think we were all asleep by 11, thanks to my mom ushering us upstairs so we wouldn't keep my kid sister awake. I remember singing Limp Bizkit's "Faith" very obnoxiously.

Good times.

Today, though, I realized that I'm not as young as I used to be. Unfortunately this realization came with the onset of a massive sinus headache that slammed into my face at 4PM. A 45 minute visit to the post office didn't help. I normally love the post office - I love any kind of predictable bureaucracy. Today, though...multiple people in front of me with multiple heavy packages headed to Mexico; an annoying man with an eBay business; and a maid-of-honor with her friend's wedding invitations arguing over postage (heaven forbid you have TWO stamps on the envelopes!).

I don't know what annoyed me more, though - the people who did nothing wrong other than be in front of me in line, or the headache that was clawing at my skull. Either way, it made me feel old.

I skipped class. I laid around on the couch and enjoyed being with my husband instead.

Maybe being old ain't so bad.