Smoke Gets in Your Eye

We went from having the most amazing weather on sunday for the final FIFA World Cup Ladies Soccer/Football championship (Congratulations USA) to hazy, dark, smoke filled skies.

The Vancouver area is currently clouded with smoke from wildfires coming from Whistler and many other areas. There are plenty of warnings for people with respiratory issues, the young and the old to not be outside.

Following our current heat wave, the cooler weather is welcome but I certainly don't want to open my windows to cool off the house if it means it will fill up with a smokey smell.

I think it has affected me because my eyes hurt and my nose keeps running.

We went from this: 

To this - the streets of Vancouver look like, from CTV news: 

Ground to a ?

I know I have neglected my blog for a while, but I must admit that I was shocked to see it was so long since my last post. By now I assume that nobody still reads my blog.

I had poured all that I had into work for the past three months, watching my inbox climb from a little over 100 emails to over 700 emails. And all can't just be dumped somewhere, they all must be dealt with somehow. I put in a lot of overtime and I busted my tail to invoice as much work as I could because it was our 2nd quarter end and the 1/2 year number was really important to the big bosses in the USA. In the last week I invoiced over $220K which is a lot of my department.

The following week we had a Western Canada Regional Meeting. I asked the manager of the region how we did and he told me it wasn't too good. What a let down, I busted my tail at great personal expense for nothing! A couple days after that, my manager sent a message to congratulate us and said we did really good. Typical large corporation, the numbers don't mean anything because the stats can be manipulated any way you want them too.

But hey, I busted my tail for a 'thanks for all the hard work" email. Grr. I know I've been doing this long enough, and I know I should've have expected anything more based on past experience, but I really truly believed I'd have a little more feedback than that.

And to make matters worse, I've gained back all the weight I lost last spring so I'm coming up to Christmas having to figure out how to not feel so heavy and bloated. I had wanted to take some time off in December, but the work keeps pouring in. I'm at the point where it's just going to have to be that way since I can't work any smarter/harder than I do. Let the chips fall where they may.

I need to look after myself first. Do you ever get like that? Allow the world around you to take over ?

I really need to be careful this month.

On the plus side, I have lots of orders for knitting, and so I must now pick up my needles and speed knit for the next two weeks. I'm so happy that people want my items!

Needles aren't just for Sewing

Yesterday was a beautiful and warm (22 degrees Celsius!) autumn day. And I spent most of it outside prepping the garden for winter. Putting ornaments away, covering furniture, repotting plants to take inside and reroofing the shed (I thought). Bad news was, when I pulled the roll of roofing from the shed and tried to put it on the shed it tore apart. Crap. Well I ended up nailing it up there and then covering it with a tarp - with the help of Jp and the kid.

Good thing too because today it is pouring rain. Pouring I say!!! LOL. Overly dramatic, that's me.

Welcome to winter now.

I'm itching to hang up my Halloween decorations but I have a note from last year telling myself not to do it too early as there are always some windy days that end up blowing everything all around or cause the ornaments to bang against the house. Maybe by the end of the week? One week should be fine I suppose. And yes, I could do some inside, except they are all in the same container so if I'm going to pull them out of storage, I'll do it all at once.

I've also been dealing with neck and back pain for the past little while. The good news is, it seems to be muscles and not bones. I'm just really tight. A little voice in my head keeps telling me to get back to yoga and as of this morning, I could no longer ignore her. So after I got up and fed Eco, this morning I did a bunch of poses. Then this afternoon I went for some acupuncture. I feel better at the moment and tonight is dance class so that should loosen me up a bit as well. We'll see how that goes.

Do you have any experience with acupuncture?

I'm so relieved

On Sunday afternoon I noticed that Eco had put herself in her crate, which is unusual as she usually likes to be with us. I kept an eye on her while I cooked dinner but noticed she was lethargic. When Jp tried to give her some after dinner snacks, she didn't want to do anything for them and would rather walk away. Since it was Sunday evening and she had no other symptoms other than being cold (which is also odd for a big old labrador) I put her bed near the fire and slept on the floor beside her so I could be there if anything changed.

In the morning she was still withdrawn but she went to the bathroom as normal and ate her breakfast as normal. I decided without other symptoms the vet probably would tell me to monitor her - maybe send her home with an antibiotic. So I just kept a close eye on her. By about 3pm my usual Eco returned. Wagging her tail, giving us kisses, wanting to run and play. She was back. Down for 22 hours with some sort of bug, but now she has returned.

Let me tell you, I am so very grateful to have my happy, energetic dog back. It's one thing when she's like that from old age, but in the middle of her youth - I didn't like it!

Salt Pills

I remember going to school in May and/or June (depending on the weather) with a little white pill wrapped in wax paper inside my lunch box - it sat next to my sandwich, snack and piece of fruit (usually an apple). My mom told us that we needed to take them in the summertime to replenish our salts from sweating.

I don't remember being a particular sweaty kid, nor were my brothers but we did as mother told us to. I never hear about salt pills now and don't even know if you can still buy them. Our food has changed an awful lot (and I mean awful) since I was a kid and now it seems 1/4 of the products being sold are "sodium reduced"  - perhaps that's another reason why these pills slowly faded away.

I've asked around and it seems people of my mom's generation remember them (and some of their kids of course) but not many others - in fact many gave me the strangest looks like I asked them if they'd met an alien or something (which they probably have but just didn't know it).

I think we've also just rebranded this concept - by replenishing salts and electrolytes with drinks like Gatorade and such. Here's on article on salt pills.

Do you remember taking them?

PSA - How to Give CPR

This should help anyone remember how to do CPR:

Getting better with age?

When I was in my late teens, I was in pretty good shape. I was on the high school track team, tennis team and grass hockey team. I also did some bodybuilding and even worked at Gold's Gym for several years. In my 20's I worked in offices and believed I could climb the corporate ladder. I gave up fitness and spent my days working overtime and on weekends and traveling for work for extended periods of time. I lost all that muscle definition I had in my teens and even went to doctors for sore knees and back. I couldn't wash my face without holding onto the counter, and bending over to brush my teeth also hurt. I was quite thin because I never had time to eat. I lived on several cups of coffee and some cigarettes.

In my early 30's I experienced three significant life changing situations and lost who I was. I gained weight and had trouble going up and down stairs - we'd take the elevator at the shopping mall because my knees hurt so much.

But by the end of my 30's things changed - I got myself together. I regularly did pilates and then yoga, and then I started dancing. And once I got a labrador puppy I committed to walking every day  - every day except if one of us is hurt or injured.

Now I feel like I am in really good shape. I'm not skinny but I'm healthy. I have energy. I feel strong. I can run up and down stairs without knee pain, my back rarely hurts (usually only following something silly in the garden).

And minor issues seem to have subsided as well - I was diagnosed with a heel spur and was told it would never go away. I bought orthotics and wore them daily for a year. Now I only wear them during my dog walks and don't feel that pain.  And, for years I suffered with sore throats and mouth ulcers. A diagnosis told me that they were caused by a reaction to things I've eaten - not an allergy, so not to bother with allergy pills for this symptom. I decided I'd notice the pain but I would also ignore it. And also not bacterial. I haven't gone to the doctor or antibiotics for my throat in several years.

I thought the best health in our lives was our twenties, but for me it seems like now is pretty good. Is that what they mean by middle age? Am I at my peak now and will I decline from here on out?

There are lots of inspirational stories on the internet about people that are in fantastic shape and going strong in their 70s and 80s and even nineties. Can we get better with age? If we put our minds to it, how much control do we really  have? If we don't go 'overboard' and wear ourselves out how much illness can we prevent?  What do you think?

Friends be careful

Sheesh, first there was Monday's incident, and then yesterday my mom fell on some ice and broke her arm! And the other arm she cracked her wrist. Two big thing in two days, I was scared for all my friends and family, afraid something would happen today - so far the phone's been quiet so maybe we're all good.

My mom lives alone and will have trouble getting through her day without the use of both hands. She's a stubborn bird who's not used to asking for help, but she's going to have to start asking especially when she can barely feed herself. Luckily my brother lives near and I'm counting on him to bring her food and stuff (he's a fabulous cook so my mom should enjoy that) but I'm too far away and don't think I can get the time off work to fly out there right now. I do wish she lived closer but it's just not possible for now.

Get well soon mom, and friends I'll be checking your blogs and stuff to make sure you'll all doing okay!

I'm a little tired

Yesterday I took part in a dance intensive - it was about 6 hours of training with Sharon Kihara - an instructor who came up from San Franscisco. Wow, it was amazing. She was amazing- love her personality and humour and teaching style and immensely admire her talent. She made a good point, that for the audience they may view slow, graceful moves that look easy but really there are so many muscles that the dancer is required to engage that it's fascinating just how hard the body is really working. Not only did I learn technique and moves from her, I was also reminded how out of shape I am. I must get back to yoga!

In our first 3 hour session, the first hour was yoga. Intense yoga. Moves that I should've been able to do better, moves that I used to be able to do better but no longer can since I quit yoga about a year ago.  She also mentioned that we should all be doing Pilates as it's extremely beneficial for our style of dancing as well. Looks like I got me some homework! (Well I always had homework but now I've been reminded that I'd better make this a regular part of life!) 

I'm glad that 1 only took the one day workshop as I'm pretty sure I wouldn't be able to make it through  the 8 hours today, but I made a promise to myself that I will get back to yoga/pilates and the next time one of the famous instructors comes to town, I'm signing up for the whole weekend. So far the next BIG BIG one is in 2014 so I have about a year to prepare - it's almost like training for a marathon.

Eco and I already went for a big walk this morning and I'm just going to take it a little easy today, I definitely have a FULL BODY ache happening - but each move I make, each time my muscles yelp, I'm reminded of what I need to do for my body. Especially now that I'm "middle aged", I feel it's important to keep my body moving well - I don't like the proclamation that says "that the average person spends the last 10 years of their life in pain. " I don't want to go through that - even if that phrase is just some advertiser's mumbo jumbo, I don't want to prove them right if I can help it.

How tired was I? I slept 10 hours straight! I can't even remember the last time I did that!

What if Animals Ate Fast Food?

I love how well done this is:

Cute Video about a Serious Topic

This is a very good message, and a very good video - please watch it and share:

Good News !

So Eco was diagnosed with Trigemial Neuritis  - here's part of the description:

Idiopathic trigeminal neuritis is the most common neurologic cause of acute, flaccid mandibular paralysis, or “dropped jaw.” The pathology affects primarily the mandibular branch (i.e., motor efferent to the muscles of mastication) of the trigeminal nerve; however, the sensory afferents can also be affected. Microscopically, idiopathic trigeminal neuritis is described as a bilateral nonsuppurative neuritis mainly associated with demyelination and, less commonly, axonal loss. It occurs most often in middle-aged or older dogs and occasionally in cats. (Because the condition is rare in cats, this article discusses dogs only.) The condition is self-limiting and completely resolves in 2 to 6 weeks with supportive care alone.

We ran blood tests and urine tests and no other issues came up, the vet felt an x-ray wouldn't show us anything helpful, so we didn't proceed. We were told, among other things,  to take her home and feed her pre-moistened food and watch for signs of dehydration etc. And to expect it to just disappear in 1-9 weeks (which, yes, is different from the description above - I guess she wanted to prepare me just in case).

But I have to say that I think Eco's pretty much better already after 8 days. Today she crunched her kibble again, and she played with her toys and even tried a little bit of tug  - which he hadn't done for the past week. Although at times she still has her mouth open, it's not as severe as it was last week and I'm so grateful that she's well on her way to healing. She doesn't look so silly slack jawed with her teeth showing like she's about to say something silly.

I asked the vet if dogs continue to have this affliction and she said that everything she's seen indicates it only happens once in their lifetime. Good. Now that we have that over with we can carry on with normally healthy Labrador life! Why it happened to a 3 year old dog I'm not sure, but I'm just glad she's on the mend. Thank you for your support and well wishes, much appreciated!

Happy Canada Day !

It's a lovely long weekend, Canadians all across the country are off to celebrate OUR day.

Unfortunately for those of us in the Vancouver area, we're still experiencing grey days and so many of the outdoor performances may be slightly changed - but hey, we're Canadian and if we let the weather get to us then we'd be inside and grump most of the time!! And the show must go on!

I would have liked to make something like this - but gee our strawberries won't ripen without some sunshine!!!

Speaking of being inside, I'm hiding out - not because of the weather - but because I've been up since 5ish with a migraine! Bah! Stupid head! Well, so far I've watched Vertigo, I am Sam, The Ides of March and Mildred Pierce. Movies help me forget about my aching head.

Anyway, Happy Canada Day - to all my friends no matter what country or continent you are on!

Photo credit: http://www.theminibaker.com/easy-canada-day-cake

We've had a rough couple of weeks around here topped off with a cold for both of us. For me it was strange - the first 4 days it was without the sinus-y stuff. Then I felt better for two days, then WHAM-O head cold! Yuck! I won't go into all the details but it was definitely energy draining. In fact on Tuesday I was so very tired that I wanted to just go to bed but I had to go to dance class as it was our last group rehearsal before our show on the weekend.

Oh didn't I mention I was in a show? Yes, me. I will be on stage. It's freaky scary. Isn't that what you're supposed to do? Look fear in the face and do things that scare you? Well I did just that. I agreed to perform. I have never performed in my whole life. I was always so painfully shy that I was the kid that moved the curtains or looked after the lighting in all the elementary school plays or the one that did the research so someone else could present the information in all the business courses I took. Oh sure I can sit at the boardroom table and talk, but I'm not at the front of the room with a PowerPoint presentation. 

Anyway, I went to that class. I figured I'd have to sit down when I got too tired. I figured I'd be too tired to drive home. But I made it. I gave it my all and I made it through the class. Today, I still have a cold but I'm feeling much better. I'm sure it will be all gone for the show this weekend.

There were a couple days when I was too tired to move my hands but I have been working on several projects - I am doing some hand quilting, I have an embroidery project on the go and I just finished knitting two hats for my Etsy shop - which may be going to the baby photographer soon.

Here's a cute little grape hat for summer: 

And here's one for fall - a pumpkin hat:

In case you're wondering*...

...why I've slowed down on my projects - it has to do with the fact that my arms and hands keep going numb. Sometimes it's my whole arm, from the shoulder all the way to the fingers. Sometimes I try to work through the numbness but it doesn't go away so I must stop and flex my arm and my hand. My doctor sent me for an x-ray and confirmed that no nerves were pinched or compromised in my neck, so next he's sending me for a nerve conductivity test. This is like hitting your funny bone - except someone else has control of when it will happen and they do it multiple times. And, I really wanted to kick the technician in the head (I know! I'm not a violent person - except when someone causes me pain) but the last time I had it done, the ladies were so nice I couldn't do it, but boy I sure wanted to!!!

Two years ago I was told I had mild to moderate carpal tunnel and that my left hand was worse than my right. No one can figure out why the left is worse because I'm so very right handed. All I can think of is that I walk Eco on my left side and maybe all the leash handling is related to it, although I don't recall even getting numb during our daily walks. Holding the embroidery hoop seems to compress something in my thumb and so it goes numb, and both hands can go numb during knitting, somethings I can't even finish the row. I do wear splints at night which definitely seem to help me to sleep through the night and not wake up with numb arms.

When this subject first came up I wanted to do everything possible to avoid the surgery, and changed a bunch of things at my desk. Jp did some research and bought me a computer mouse that uses your thumb to move the curser around instead of your wrist and I think that's helped a lot. Since the initial diagnosis I've talked to several people who had the surgery and said it was a very good thing for them to have done and they were able to resume all the crafts and activities they used to enjoy without the numbness. Today I am more open to the option of surgery for this issue.

So now you know why I don't post as much about what I have been working on. Just in case you were wondering.

** and actually I'm pretty sure you weren't wondering about it since this quote is so very true: 

"You wouldn't worry so much about what others think of you if you realized how seldom they do.” 

― Eleanor Roosevelt


PHOTO CREDIT: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmedhealth/PMH0001469/

The gloves are off: doctors vs veterinarians

I was at the doctor's the other day and I asked the him to take a look at something on my neck. He has no problem with my request and puts on some gloves to take a look - now it was just my neck and I do take daily showers so I was a little surprised that he needed gloves but mentally moved on anyway until the next day when I took Eco to the vet for her annual check-up and shots. A nurse and the vet touched her all over the place, lifted up her big flappy Labrador lips and checked out her teeth, lifted up her big flappy Labrador ears to check inside her ears and check some other places and they did it all without gloves! Hmm, my dog gets washed once a month and is low to the ground and runs through all sorts of grasses and plants and my vet doesn't need gloves? But my doctor does?

Interesting isn't it?

I just read an article (I wish I could remember where so I could provide the source for you), which was about how doctors don't touch people anymore. Vet's don't have much choice with their patients since they have to rely on the observation skills of the animal guardian to provide important detail and from what I've seen so far, most people don't have necessarily have good observation skills when it comes to their pets - don't you agree?

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And I know.
To my brother, I acknowledge " it's not as simple as that and the answer is complex."
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To him I say "SNICKERDOODLE!" (he knows what that means)

PHOTO CREDIT: http://www.glovesmd.com/sc_images/content/iStock_000016633257XSmall.jpg

Rainy rainy weekend

My goodness it rained so hard yesterday I thought I should start building an ARK!!! Almost all of the snow is gone from the ground in my area and it's warmed up a bit which is nice. We had The Kid here for the last couple of days as he was off school for a semester break - the new one starts today. School years always go by so fast. Heck, everything goes by so fast! I can't believe that on Wednesday I'll have been employed at this company for 12 years! 12 YEARS!!!!!  Every year I'm sure I say the same thing (with a different number of course! LOL)

This weekend also went by so fast, I wish I could have 3-day weekends. On Saturday I made a loaf of French Bread which started out in my mini machine but then I took the loaf out and put it in a baguette pan. Everything was good except that I should have shaped it better and probably should have cooked it about 5 minutes more. But I was pretty happy with it since I had winged it and had never baked bread outside of the machine before. The Kid has never had homemade bread - or bread that was no more than 15 minutes old - he was pretty impressed with how good it tasted.

The "submarine"

On Saturday I had a dull headache and pain in my shoulder muscles but I felt I had been taking way too many Advil and Tylenol lately and so I decided to go without drugs and just take it easy on myself (listen to my body and all that) - I don't recommend this for others or for all headaches, but for this situation it seemed to work. My headache did go away by late afternoon and I think because I could feel my shoulder pain, I was more gentle on my upper back and arms and I feel better today.

Other than that I did the domestic-y stuff like laundry and vacuuming, cooking and tidying etc. I did do some knitting and some embroidery but  haven't finished anything yet - see why I'd like another day off?

How was your weekend?  

In Sickness and in Health

Lots and lots of people are sick right now, including a couple people that are quite close to me, so I've had the chance to see and hear what they are going through. Basically all they can do is lay down huddled under some blankets and have someone else bring them what they need - food, drink, medicine, change the channel - you name it. 

And I caught myself, for a very brief moment - wishing I could be sick. Isn't that a horrible thought? No, no, no, I don't really want to get sick but what my irrational brain liked was the fact that their main goal is to look after themselves and to get better. Other people do what they can to help them with this goal and many people, such as employers, co-workers etc - leave them alone because they are sick. They get to just fixate on themselves and they are excused from everything else. 

I must find a way to take time to look after myself - without a horrible flu or nasty cold - because I always have something to do for someone else: plan and cook dinner, feed and walk the dog, get the mail, put out the garbage. Most days by the time I've done all these 'chores' I only have the energy to wash my face, brush my teeth and go to bed. 

Is there anything wrong with taking a 'sick day' from work to look after yourself as IF you were sick without actually having a flu or cold etc? 

Things I Made for Christmas

Well I was going to post a picture of all the things I made for Christmas presents, but when I went to link them to this post I couldn't find them! I guess somehow I deleted them.

There was a reverse painted cake plate for my brother

There was a set of 4 hand embroidered napkins that match my mom's china pattern

And then there was this doggie balaclava for my brother's dog Tonks,  who lives in a very cold climate and my brother was concerned about her thin little ears freezing. I'm not sure if his dog will keep it on, as you can see by Eco's face, she was a very unhappy model and restrained herself from pulling it off long enough for me to take a photo.

This is the only photo I have because I had posted in on Ravelry and I had a copy in flickr. Dang it!

***

I hope you had a lovely Christmas and received all the presents you wanted. I look forward to cruising around Blogland to see what everyone made and received.

Things are quiet at our house today, as the kid has strep throat and a fever and so we had to cancel dinner with the family. I still cooked the things we said we'd bring and Jp drove them out for his family to enjoy. Remember when I posted about being sick at Christmas? It wasn't me who was sick, but still someone in our house - sheesh - do you think I jinxed it?

What follows the vacation...

...is a cold! Yup, I got one.

We had a national company event to go to following our mini vacation and I've since found out that at least 80% of those that attended are sick with either stomach troubles or colds. That's over 60 people that are sick right now. So despite taking all sorts of precautions, it didn't seem to help us avoid getting sick.

And besides being behind at work from being away, I'm getting more behind because I needed time off for being sick.  I'm almost starting to wonder if the vacation was even worth it.


But then I think of that lovely soft sand and the blues and greens of the ocean and the warm sun.... yeah, it was worth it!

Now my next task is getting into the Christmas spirit. I don't feel like doing much of anything at the moment so  I've given myself until next weekend to send out all the cards and mail the presents. I guess I'd better get crackin!

How's your Christmas (or holiday) preparations going?