A day off

Over the weekend I was privileged to be puppy sitting for the cutest corgi ever. If any dear readers are coming over from Facebook, you've already seen the plethora of pictures I took. I couldn't get enough of his little face and fluffy butt.  Here we're my faves:

See! He's the cutest little guy!  He could be a little annoying...I would say that anything that nips at your muffin tops while you're trying to chill on the sofa could easily qualify as "annoying".  But it was a great experience, and I think my husband is much more inclined toward getting a puppy than he was before.

In other news, we had a few days straight here in central VA without rain. It was sunny and hot for the last few days, so I went out to give the veggies a good soaking with the hose.  While I was spraying, a darkish cloud moved overhead and I experienced a really beautiful sun shower.  I could see the line where the rain stopped. Extremely cool and a little zen. I watched the sky for a bit, enjoyed the sun filtering through the crepe myrtles, and took note of all the bug and butterfly activity that was going on around me. It's soothing for me to take a moment to just observe, passively. Listen and look.  Notice the feel of the huge drops of rain.  Then back to watering and pulling weeds!  

I have a pumpkin that is steadily getting bigger. The issue is the fact that my pumpkin plant decided to grow up and over the bunny fence.  I've heard of ways to make a little hammock for trellised acorn squash, so I will have to hunt down some old or cheap hosiery. He's still palm sized and I hope he doesn't fall off before I make a hammock!  

I've also been thinking up ideas for the next round of craft projects. I'm trying to take advantage of extra free time while work is still slow.  Tonight I plotted out the squares for my mother's blanket, since I decided to add in a variation with the colors for a little more interest. Here's my crazy sketch: 

I don't know if any of you other crochet people plan out your blankets like this, but drawing it was annoying. I'd love to hear any tips or tricks if you guys have them!  I need an app for the iPad...

I'm going to try to get some paperwork done tonight too. Taking advantage of that productive feeling while it lasts!

Trying to be healthy is a real pain.

In the last few weeks, I've started working again.  It's been great, even though paychecks are on a month delay...yay....more waiting!  I still have some craft projects to work on though, and since I'm still part time, I will have some time to work on them.

This weekend I get a bit of excitement!  I'm puppy sitting for my sister and her boyfriend.  They have the cutest little corgi puppy and I'm going to convince my husband we need a dog!  (Good luck with that!)

How could you not fall in love with this cuteness?!

The biggest bummer over the last two weeks has been an almost constant headache.  It might go away for a day or two, but I've had a headache for 12 out of the last 19 days.  It was so noticeable, I decided to start tracking my health stuff using this app on my iPad:  Track & Share

So far, the app has been well worth the $5.00.  You can pretty much track whatever you want.  It comes with items (like happiness, stress, sleep) ready to track, that are already set up into different categories (Mood items, Health items, Gratitude Diary, etc), but it's fully customizable and super easy to use.  It even produces a graph for you.  For those of us who like to work with data, it's convenient because I was about to make my own spreadsheet in Excel to track this stuff.

In light of the headaches, and the fact that I don't have health insurance, I've been trying to research what it could be that triggered it.  There are a number of variables at the moment, and it's hard to pinpoint a cause/effect situation.

Issue 1:  I have allergies.  There could be a mold problem in my house, and there is definitely mold at my client's house.  And it's been a surprisingly wet spring/summer.

Issue 2:  I'm back to work after having a few months off.  Stress levels jumped significantly in the first few weeks back, particularly paperwork as I never had a training at the new company.

Issue 3:  I have celiac disease and at least one other autoimmune disorder. It could be any number of things related to that.  I'm pretty positive I haven't been glutened, since we haven't been eating out.  Everything in the house except a single loaf of bread and some frozen biscuits for my husband is gluten free, and the hubs is good at avoiding cross contamination for me.

Issue 4:  I have mild scoliosis.  My mattress isn't good for me, and we were using the guest room mattress until we realized switching it wasn't comfortable for guests either.

Something has to change.  It's hard to get anything done with a headache, nevermind trying to work with kids with autism where you need to be alert.  Soooo....I came up with a plan of action.  Start taking my claritin daily again (I was feeling excessively dry so I stopped).  Stay on top of my paperwork so it doesn't overwhelm me.  Change supplements so that I'm targeting my inflammatory response to different things.  Use a heating pad to help relax my back at night, paired with a cup of hot green tea and some aromatherapy.  Start back with daily yoga.  Switch out the mattress for a better one that my mother left in our attic.

Hopefully that will help get my body back on track!

Hooray for corgi puppies over the weekend!!!

Fun fact:  Welsh folklore says that Corgis are the preferred mounts of fairy warriors!