Frustrated with lack of accomplishments

With school being back in full swing, I'm feeling frustrated that I have nothing to show for my 'free time'.  Maybe because I'm not finding much free time, or maybe because I'm trying to figure out what to work on next.  I have a lot of projects that need attention: a memory quilt for a friend who lost her mother last year, another memory quilt for my sister in law, a quilt for my daughter, a baby quilt for a friend at work whose wife had a baby last week, and a whole bunch of quilt tops that need attention.

So, when I do go in the sewing room to work on something, I just don't know where to start.  I look around and feel overwhelmed and then go sit on the couch and crochet another baby hat.  Baby hats don't take any thinking.  I just grab the next color of yarn and crochet away.  It takes me about 30 minutes or less to make one and so I feel like I have accomplished at least a little bit before the day is over.  I'm collecting them all and hope to deliver them to the Nurse Family Partnership soon.

I've recently started making burp cloths out of the scrap flannel pieces I have laying around.  Those are even quicker than the baby hats.  This morning in about 15 minutes before having to go to work, I made about a dozen of them.  Just lay two pieces of flannel wrong sides together and serge around the outside.  They are all coming out different sizes and I figure I can drop them off with the baby hats and they will find good homes.

I'm also making flannel blankets the same way.  Two pieces of flannel, wrong sides together and serged.  I have a TON of flannel and little by little am working through the buckets.

I also have another idea for using up the flannel, by sewing it as a backing to some of the quilt tops.  Carla just gave me 150 quilt tops that the middle school kids made last semester.  There's no way I can keep up with the rate those kids are making the quilts, so I'm thinking of just sewing right sides together, the top and a piece of flannel, turning and then top stitching.  I want to put an embroidered something in the middle, to hold it together, and then be done.  The idea in my head seems to make sense, but I won't know for sure until I try it out.  I'm hoping this weekend to get a bunch done.  They shouldn't take very long and will make nice lightweight blankets for the spring and summer babies.

Lately it has been SOOOO cold here.  I know, those of you who have real winters are laughing at us in California, but it gets down into the upper 20's some nights and only into the lower 50's during the day.  Today was so warm, it got into the low 60's and I actually walked without my coat for a little bit, after I had warmed up.

Hubby and I are still walking and have done just over 50 miles so far this year.  That's 1/20th of the way to goal of 1,000 miles.  I've had a migraine almost every day this week and today's was the worst.  I also missed two days of walking this week and wonder if the two are connected.  I walked today with a terrible migraine and while the walking didn't make the headache better, my head was pretty numb while I walked.  Hopefully it will help in the long run.

 Three quilts I've finished but blogger wouldn't let me upload.  Now it seems to be working again :)

The weight isn't coming off, but I'm not gaining either.  I'm eating more vegetables and have almost completely cut out sugary snacks.  I can't remember the last time I had a cookie and I've resisted donuts twice when they were 'right there calling my name!'

my old friend is back

Mr. Migraine came to visit today and is really sucking the life out of me :(  I guess it is good I haven't had one in almost 4 weeks since my husband and I have started walking.  I will take that as a victory.  My weight hasn't changed in a month of walking an hour a day, but I do believe cutting out sweets like cookies and cake (I only had two bites of chocolate cake on my birthday!) have really helped with the migraines.

I'm also hoping that with all of this walking some of the fat on my butt has dissolved and new muscle is growing.  I'm hoping that my pants will fit differently on Jan 7 when I have to go back to school.  I am NOT defined by the number on the scale.  I keep telling myself that and I think it is finally starting to sink in.

Yesterday my husband ,daughter and I went walking/hiking at a nearby walking trail.  There is a very steep uphill/downhill section and I am happy to say I made it up the hill without any help!  I was breathing really hard and thought I was going to die, but didn't.  I actually enjoy pushing myself to do harder things :)

I was doing so well

I thought I had my migraines under control.  I haven't had a major one in about 3 weeks.  But then, today happened.

Hubby and I went for a long walk after I went grocery shopping.  Then, came home and had some lunch and the migraine just got worse and worse.  Took a little nap and woke up feeling worse.

Oh, well, at least  had a few weeks of feeling better.  I hope that my vacation time isn't spent dealing with migraines.  I do seem to do better when I'm working.  I have no idea why that it.

But when I feel terrible, I do like to quilt.  Got two more done today.  Two more closer to goal.

I've been busy

sitting on the couch and crocheting baby hats.  Lots of my friends say they want one or two for baby gifts or have a baby coming.  The owl hats take me about an hour and the other ones take about 30 minutes.  The repetitive nature of crocheting helps my migraines.  I've had a doozy of one this week.  Thursday and today I thought I was going to die from the pain.  Usually I can handle it, but this time it made me nauseous and I had to stop what I was doing (writing questions at school from the book on Thursday and come home from shopping today) because i was afraid I wouldn't make it.

I was really hopeful that the new medicine (Depakote) was going to be the wonder drug, but it isn't looking like that anymore. :(

why does it take so long?

I'm home from work today with a migraine and cold.  I'm feeling much better than the last two days where I did go to school.  I finally finished the binding on the quilt for Matt McQuinn's family in the Aurora Colorado shooting.  I'm hoping to get it in the mail today along with two boxes of quilts for New York and Superstorm Sandy.  I have 20 quilts boxed up and lots more to send, but need to get some more boxes.

We have a nice three day weekend and adding in the sick day was a great idea.  Maybe a little nap is in order soon.

patriotic

I'm looking for a sledgehammer today as my migraine is just getting worse.  :(

Quilting (and crocheting) distracts me from the pain.

so much more productive

Why is it that I am so much more productive when I have a migraine?  Sitting on the couch feeling sorry for myself just isn't an option, so I choose to quilt!  On days when I do feel well, I come up with all sorts of other things to do.

Making a list

 So for the last two days, I have made a list of quilting things I wanted to accomplish before the day was over.  It seems to be helping keep me on track.  When I get into the sewing room, I get so distracted by all of the projects I'm working on.  Yesterday I got everything done except pinning the 2nd Charger's quilt I'm making, so of course that went on today's list and got done first thing.  I'm almost done with today's list and BAM my migraine is back.  I've had a couple of good mornings.  My doctor gave me the injectible imitrex and I had the hardest time giving myself a shot.  I finally had to get my husband to do it for me.  It didn't hurt as much as I feared so I think the next time I could maybe do it myself???  So far, it isn't working and I think because I worked myself up so much being afraid of the shot and waited too long.  Ugh.

On a funny note, we got a new fridge a few weeks ago.  It has been a comedy of errors to say the least.  The repair guy has been back 5 times to fix the ice maker.  It makes ice, just wouldn't dump it.  The repair company working for Samsung has come to fix it without any parts.  They write things down and then go away.  Today finally the guy came and said he didn't have the part.  I told him I was pretty frustrated that they kept coming back to fix it, but didn't seem to know what they were doing.  He left and called me back about 15 minutes later saying he actually did have the part in his truck and would be right back.  As I was writing this blog post, I finally heard the ice maker dump the ice all by itself.  Maybe it is fixed?

Now, if only I could get my new dishwasher, stove and microwave delivered.  That has been another nightmare of phone calls and people not knowing what was going on.  One day I will look back and laugh at the comedy in the situation.  I wonder how these people stay in business!

Trying to be productive

As the summer winds to an end, I'm finding it harder and harder to be productive every day.  The past two days I've felt like I was going to die, most likely from doing yoga and walking every day.  So, I mostly just laid around on the couch watching the Olympics.  Good excuse to sit still, but so unlike me.

This morning I woke up feeling a little better, but with a massive headache.  Not the typical migraine, but all across the top of my head.  I can't win for losing :(

So, I made a list of everything I wanted to accomplish today and so far have about half of the things done. Two more quilts just need binding for the Aurora Colorado Emergency Responders.

another one for Colorado

I gotta get my binding buddies busy because if I take the time to bind these, I have less time to make and quilt.  Today was the last day of my teacher training and I'm beat!  I've had a headache all three days and today was the worst by far.  Tomorrow I take my oldest to the airport so she can begin her next adventure.  I'll have some more time for quilting and with only 18 days left before I have to go back full time, I'm going to need all of the quilting time I can get :)

I have another neurology appointment Friday afternoon but don't have much hope that anything will happen.  I have to say I am learning patience and compassion for anyone who has pain on a daily basis.

quilt number 60

My goal of 60 quilts in 60 days is complete and I still have 26 days left to go.  I wonder if I can get 100 quilts done by the time I go back to school.  My headache was really, really bad today, but rather than sit and feel sorry for myself, I had a friend over and helped her quilt up a quilt she is making for a friend and then quilted up the stretched stars quilt for Colorado.  I did have a couple of pity parties for myself and emailed the doctor to get my medicine switched again.  Here's hoping this new one does something different. It's another anti seizure medicine (like the Topamax that worked really well for several years) so fingers are crossed.

I also tried yoga with my TV and found out that my carpet smells really bad. :)  It's good to keep your sense of humor.  They do say laughter is the best medicine.  That and quilting I think.

New migraine medicine and Yoga?

So the indomethacine isn't working and now my neurologist is switching me to Depakote and suggests I start yoga.  I think he thinks I need to laugh more.  He hasn't seen me to yoga before, but every time I've tried it, I just can't get past the silly names they have for each of the poses.  It is not relaxing, it just hurts and makes me giggle.  But, I did say I would try anything to get rid of the headaches so here goes nothing.  My daughter loves yoga and we have a wii fit program that has yoga on it.  I'm going to have to program the DVR to tape a few yoga programs and give it a try.  What's the worst thing that could happen?  Other than laugh myself to death :)

Number 55

Wow, almost reached my goal of 60 quilts and I still have a month left before I go back to work :)  Do you know how happy that makes me?  But, there are still a lot of quilt tops here and I'd love to get them all done before I go back to work.  I'm sure by then I will have lots more quilt tops to quilt at the rate my gang of quilters gets these guys sewn together, but I'm ok with that.  I love always having something to work on.

This morning I was up early and got the sewing room cleaned up, went for pizza with my son's friend (who showed up 1 1/2 hours late) and am home waiting for the party to start.  I'll be hiding in the other room, with a super bad headache :(  I took some medicine and hope it kicks in soon.  There's cake to eat and dinner to go to!  Can't spoil the party!

discouraged but not defeated

My migraine is really bad today and I emailed my neurologist saying I'm discouraged that the new medicine isn't working.  I started taking the increased, maximum dosage yesterday and was hopeful because I had a good day yesteray.  Today, the pain is back and nothing I take or do help much.  He says that since I have had migraines for so long, there is no quick fix.  Maybe a good cry would help
 :(

I've started cleaning up the fabric in the front living room and although it doesn't make my head feel better, it sure does make that room look better.  It only took about 2 hours and wow what a difference.  I've been able to bring in 2 more boxes of fabric from the garage as well.

I have this HUGE roll of really thick batting that was given to me.  It think it is the 6 oz weight and I was using it when I did the tied quilts, but have decided I can split it for the quilted ones.  I'm trying to clean it up by using it up.  Same goes for the piles of quilt tops.  I have them sort of organized, but rather than put them away, I'm hoping to get them all quilted up by the end of the summer.  I counted 44 hanging on the rack in the kitchen, there are more in the bucket an more on the rack in the sewing room.  I have a bucket in the garage labeled quilt tops and I think another bucket in the sewing room.  I know when I run out, Carla has about 5 million more waiting for me, so there is no end in sight and just like the fabric, once these are gone, more will show up :)  I love it!

Binky Patrol Sunday

Woke up this morning with a super bad migraine, but what's a girl supposed to do?  How about quilt?  And then take a picture upside down :)

Headed out to Binky Patrol, not thinking I would return with a van full of quilts, but that's what I ended up with.  There are 5 boxes of quilts that will be shipped to Alycia in Colorado for the fire victims and a couple thrown in for the Quilts of Valor.

And to think I started off the day with my tubs empty.  I called my friend Mary who does deliveries for me and said to come over and take all of my quilts and blankets! They need to get into the hands of the kids and I'm not able to do it now.  We had a great talk and she left my house with her car loaded.  I'd say she had about 75 blankets.  How did I fill up so quickly?  I will probably keep about 10 blankets on hand, just for emergencies, but get the rest out as quickly as possible.  I have a couple of friends who adopted some kids and they love to take blankets to CPS for me.  Their kids love to talk to the kids who are waiting for forever homes and to give the blankets away.

I didn't die :)

I woke up this morning with a super bad migraine.  I would say a 9 out of 10 so after taking my medicine and not getting any relief, I decided to hit the elliptical.  The most time I've ever done on it has been 6 minutes.  This morning I plugged in a Patsy Thompson DVD on quilting feathers and made it a whole 10 minutes!  And you know what?  I didn't die :)  I thought I might after 7 minutes, but with the distraction of trying to pay attention to what she was doing, I was able to push myself those extra 3 minutes.  I'm glad I took the time yesterday to move things around in my second sewing room/exercise room so that I could see the TV.  I don't feel any better, but maybe now I can start to work off these extra 10 pounds I've gained this summer.  Between changing my medication and feeling so terrible, I've been eating more and moving less.  The Topamax I was put on 8 years ago helped me lose 30 pounds.  About 2 months ago, the doctor said it was making my blood too acidic and he has started taking me off of it.  Well, guess what?  The weight is starting to come back on.  That, plus the new medication I'm on (Indomethacin) must be taking with a full meal which means I'm eating more.  Vicious cycle.  I'm just worried I won't have any pants to wear once school starts back again.  I have plenty of t shirts :)

MRI preliminary results

heard back from the doctor and he said the preliminary results of the MRI showed nothing different from 2010.  Good news, no tumor.  Bad news, nothing causing the migraines so no options other than what we are doing, which isn't working.

I'm off to get a shot of narcotics now.  Be out of it for a while.  I had to wait until I got my blog post for tomorrow's blog hop.  How crazy is that?  My life revolves around my quilting :)

monkeys

This quilt called for some swirley quilting.  It is a little cutie!

I gotta tell you I'm mighty frustrated today with my doctor and migraine medicine.  I've been taking it since Friday and it is doing nothing for my headache.  It makes me dizzy, make my face hot throughout the day and there is a weird pressure like someone is twisting my head off.  I described these symptoms to my doctor and he says they are weird but to keep taking the meds.  They are doing nothing to the headache, giving me weird side effects and I'm still supposed to keep taking them?  He didn't say how long I was supposed to take them before they were supposed to start working, so sorry, I'm not really too happy right now :(

I don't like being a Debbie Downer.

Oh, and I lost it at JoAnn's today!  My good friend Judy met me there to exchange quilts.  She is one of my binding beasts.  Rhoda had hand surgery and is out of commission for a while and Judy has been working hard to keep up with me this summer.  We met at JoAnn's to trade my quilts needing binding for hers that were bound.  I needed to get some pink fabric for a quilt for my sister in law and she asked about the fabric I was buying.  Well, of course I had to tell her about my mother in law and started bawling right there at JoAnn's.  I felt bad for the store clerk who was cutting the fabric :( I'm glad I have good friends who let me cry on their shoulder in the middle of a fabric store.  I can't think of a better place to have a good cry ;)

I have too much to do today to sit around and feel sorry for myself for too long.  I hope the doctor gets back to me quickly.  He has arranged for me to have another MRI on my little brain to make sure there ins't a tumor in there and hopefully will give me something to take for the pain until this new medicine starts working.