Breathing Room

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Before I go on, I just want to say that you have through the end of the day tomorrow to link up for the 2014 NewFO Challenge Kick-off party and giveaway. There's an opportunity to win some pretty fabric, so don't miss out! And don't forget that there is still one more party left in the 2013 Challenge with one last needle nanny up for grabs. That linky party will go live on New Year's Eve.

Okay, with that said, here's what's been going on. And may I just say, Phew! The last two days have been kind of hectic and crazy (emphasis on the crazy). I'm really kind of a homebody, as a general rule, and I need a lot of alone time in which to charge my batteries. The last two days I've been on the go for most of the day, and by the end of the day yesterday, I was really needing to get out of the rat race. And have you noticed the expression on the face of the general public?

Or the number of folks who are out and about?

Without getting into too much detail about my many neuroses...I'll just say that being out this close to Christmas gives me the heebie jeebies. It makes me very glad to live in a small town, a quiet town, an old town, with lots of old people. Just look how festive and calm McMinnville, Oregon, looked yesterday.

Ahhhhhhhhhhh. As opposed to downtown Portland where I was on Wednesday, where there was absolutely, positively no place to park. And the parking patrol was out in force.

Yeah, I didn't take that picture. The sun was not shining yesterday. It was cold and drizzly and I had to walk a long way on my sore knee. (Cry me a river, please.) It was late in the day by the time I finished up there and I still needed to go to the grocery store. I considered going on Thursday, but I am soooooo glad I bit the bullet and went Wednesday because the day got even later on Thursday.

As for Thursday, I checked in with my orthopedist. I must say that with all the trouble I had back in August finding a doctor who would even physically lay hands on my knee, I've found a really great one now down in McMinnville. I've been very happy with him. When I went in yesterday, it was more of a check-in appointment. I wanted to ask him how much I should expect of physical therapy, and how long I should expect it to take to see more improvement. My knee is quite a bit better, and physical therapy has been very helpful. Still, I feel as if I've sort of plateaued on the amount of improvement I can expect and so I was secretly hoping he would bring out a bigger gun in the form of a cortisone injection. I didn't say that right up front, but when he offered it up, I nearly kissed him. (And he is sort of cute...just sayin'.) I held back on the kissing, however, and just started blabbing while I waited for what seemed like three years as he loaded up the syringe. 

I avoided looking at it and just kept babbling with anxiety. As much as I wanted the shot, I didn't want the poke, if that makes sense. Anyway...he did a good job. It really didn't hurt. He also prescribed another round of anti-inflammatories. My knee started to ache deep inside as I was leaving his office. I still had physical therapy that afternoon, so I headed off to lunch so that I could take some medicine. Then, after lunch, I had some time to kill.

Of course, any good quilter knows how to kill time. Am I right about that? I just headed off to my favorite fabric store, which is where I took that image of downtown McMinnville above. I've written about this quilt shop in the past: Boersma's. It's amazing, really, that such a small town is blessed with such a great quilt shop, but there you go. It speaks to the quilting population in this area. I actually had an objective beyond killing time. I wanted to get some more fat quarters for the quilt I started this month, "Raining Cats and Dogs".

When I made the first block last week, I came to the startling conclusion (given the size of my stash) that I was short on the pastels I needed. To make the block, I ended up turning many of the fabrics to the wrong side in order to get the lighter value. 

So that was my (ahem) excuse for going into the store...aside from my need to kill time...and I walked out with these lovelies. 

Boersma's also has a "skinny bolt" rack where they mark down the remains of a bolt to about half price. I grabbed these turquoise polka dots. One can never have too many cats, quilts, or polka dots, in my humble opinion.

They also have a drastically reduced supply of fabric in their basement. I was glad to come across this one. About a year ago, I purchased a yard of this to use for the back of a baby quilt. When it was all used up, I wished I had bought more because it is so cute in a quilt. So when I found it marked half price yesterday, I snapped up three yards.

Then, I was off to PT. The therapist couldn't do some of the things we usually do because of my injection, but that didn't stop him from working me pretty hard on the exercises. By the time I left, my knee was starting to swell and to get stiff. I still needed to pick up some medicine at the pharmacy and I needed to pick up a roast I'd ordered specially cut at the grocery store. Oy. (See expressions of the general public above.) And I was exceedingly glad that I didn't still have a whole week's worth of items on my grocery list. 

I breezed in to get the roast, then unwisely decided to get some white chocolate and candy canes for my peppermint bark....so tasty. But when I looked all over the candy and baking section and couldn't find a single effing candy cane, I started getting weird, nervous, and thirsty. And my knee was hurting pretty badly by this time. I was in no mood for any stupidness. Nearly ready to give up, I grabbed an employee by the scruff of the neck (only in my mind, you understand) and asked where they kept their candy canes. She turned away pointing approximately three miles away at the other end of the store, indicating I could find them in the "garden section". WTF? Are you effing kidding me? In the garden section? (I told you I was getting to my last nerve, didn't I?) She turned back and saw the lightning bolts forming in my eyes and wisely offered to go and get them for me. "Thank you." I graciously accepted her generous and life-saving offer...that would be her life, not mine. When she returned, I paid for my stuff and then fled the store and the madness.

So by the time I got home, my knee was absolutely killing me. I wasn't worried about this because I've had cortisone injections in the past and found them to be very helpful. I expected it to feel better within a few days, but that didn't help for the pain I was experiencing right in the moment. But then, I was blown off my feet to find the most delightful surprise from my blogging friend, Sher. Sher has been a valued member of the Doll Quilt Swap since the beginning, if I'm not mistaken. She surprised me with this package that included the cutest stuff. Look at these socks! Cats!

And since I'm a person who loves crazy socks, these are absolutely perfect for me! But that's not all...she also included these two fat quarters of Sock Monkey Santas! And you know I'm a sucker for anything sock monkey. (Note to self: If you ever rename your blog, call it "Sock Monkey Sucker".) Take a look at these:

But look very closely. The Sock Monkey Santa is holding a "Naughty" list. And look whose name is on it!

What a total hoot! Sher, your gift is just delightful, and you could not have chosen more perfectly. Thank you, thank you, thank you, dear friend, and a very Merry Christmas to you too!

So I was supposed to walk with my friend Sue this morning, and my knee is feeling ever so much better. I think it feels better even than it did before the injection, which is very encouraging. I'm hoping the injection will get me off the plateau (if only weight-loss plateaus were so easy to end). But then Mike pointed out that it was 28°F. and raining. In other words, freezing rain. And just to test out his theory, he stepped out into our breezeway to find about half an inch of ice. So that meant my walk with Sue was out. We rescheduled for Monday morning. Hopefully, the weather will improve by then.

And with all of that said, I have some breathing room now until after Christmas. The kids will be up for our annual Christmas dinner on Christmas Eve, and so I'll be doing some cooking that day. Christmas dinner is so much easier than Thanksgiving, however, and so it shouldn't take too much of my time. Besides, I'm looking forward to seeing the kids.

Before writing this post, I took some images off my phone, and I wanted to share this one with you. Christmas came early for Smitty last week with this fantastic box.

It momentarily turned him into an electric cat. When he came out for a bit, we stuffed the packing paper back in just to see what he would do. Well. That made it ever so much fun to be stealth cat.

Do you see him? If there's anything a cat likes better than a box, I don't know what it is.

So today I have some housework to do. I assign myself chores to do on my calendar and I've missed the last few days since I've been running all over Hell's Half Acre. (Did you know that is an actual place? I first learned about the one near Casper, Wyoming, but there are several around the country.) Anyway, housework, then sewing. I'm also hoping to make some fudge this weekend and some peppermint bark. There are only a few days left until Christmas when all Christmas baking must cease, for obvious reasons.

So that catches you up....in case you were feeling behind....and honestly, isn't everybody feeling that way right about now? Enjoy your Friday.