Over the weekend I asked R to convert our workstation at home into a standing workstation so that I can actually get some work done on the computer at home before my back heals, because it looks like it’s going to be a few more months before that happens. It’s working out great so far, except we also got a Wii on Sunday, so a great deal of my time was spent having fun with that on Sunday, until I woke up Monday barely able to lift my arm. Too much tennis with R and too much bowling (I’m WAY better at Wii bowling than real-life bowling, I think because I don’t have to lift a heavy ball…). I’m still able to exercise using the Wii Fit, which I think is going to be a really good thing for me, since I need to do really (apparently REALLY) low-impact exercise. My doctors recommend at least 30 minutes of low-impact exercise a day, either walking or swimming or something like that, and I had been walking until my back started hurting so much that I can’t really even walk that much right now. The Wii Fit is great because it has Yoga and balancing exercises as well as some aerobic exercises (hula hooping! and step aerobics, although the step is really low, but that’s good for me right now, boxing, and other stuff). The balancing exercises are really fun and strengthen the core, which is what I really need to work on to get my back healthy, I think, so I think this is a good thing for me. I’m going to see a back specialist on Friday. Wish me luck…
My back has really been bothering me ever since I lifted those suitcases to see if they weighed more than 50 lbs. two months ago. In fact, I’m cringing and reaching for a muscle relaxer as I’m writing this. Sadly, I’ve run out of sick time at work and I’m really struggling to get in my 20 hours a week because it hurts to sit in any chair besides my IKEA Poang wood frame reclinerish chair. It’s the best chair in the world. If you have a bad back and you don’t have one, get one. My uncle also has back problems and swears by his. He lives in Sweden and has had his chair for like 30 years. So, anyway, I usually don’t spend more than 5 minutes at a time on the computer at home these days. That’s why I haven’t up-sized Corsica or written any new patterns in the past two months. And back pain is also why I haven’t dyed any yarn or updated my website or really been able to spend any time on my business at all. I have been knitting a little bit, but I don’t have much time to spend blogging, so I will try to update with photos soon, but if you have Ravelry, I will try to update there first, if you’re curious. I’ve been working on my sister’s $1.50 cardigan. I finished my nephew’s birthday warthog. I knit two rainbow scarves for social justice (I’ll explain more when I post the pics). And I knit a shrug for my sister-in-law. I also spun a skein of super-bulky Superwash Corriedale, if anyone’s interested. You can see photos of all of these things on flickr (if you scroll all the way down).
However, the real reason I felt spurred to blog is that a few weeks ago, I lost someone very special to me. Someone who had been with me since I was 10 years old. I didn’t blog about her much, because she mostly slept as she got older, but she still sat by me on the couch sometimes, and I knit her a sweater… I have photo album after photo album filled with pictures of her and her giant Irish Wolfhound and Bouviers and Kuvasz companions. She outlived them all. She meant everything to me in 1991.
The reason I got her is because my parents told me they were bringing home a puppy and they brought home a 60 lb. Irish Wolfhound puppy. I don’t think I weighed toooo much more than that in 1989 when that happened. It took a lot of begging on my part, but finally they caved and let me get a small dog, after much research and attending dog shows to choose a small dog that would not yap.
In 1992, I successfully hid her from my parents in amongst my stuffed animals at bedtime…
And while she may have lived with my parents from September of 1999 through June of 2005 (until I could buy a house after college where I could have my dogs), she was always MY dog. No one else could brush her without her biting them, and she ran away from anyone else who tried to pick her up.
I just have to include this last picture, because I won a ribbon for it in 5th grade. I just happened to catch her jumping up while our Irish Wolfhound Duke was yawning…
R and I had talked about what we would do after her passing a while back, and we jumped right in. We got a Labradoodle puppy, and named him Helix! He’ll be 12 weeks old tomorrow, and you can see pictures of him here. I seem to add photos to this set every few days, so check back often if you’re curious. We also decided, since Siena is a very independent dog and would prefer to be an only dog (she mostly hides under the table from Mojo these days), and since my allergies to her have gotten significantly worse over the past year, to trial adopt her to one of our really good friends who has been wanting to adopt a Husky for a few years now. He’s our friend who almost always dog-sits for us, so they already have a very good relationship and we’ll still see her all the time and now we’ll mutually dog-sit! I think it will work out for the best for all involved.
