Lots of Purchases and General Catch-Up

I totally can’t seem to keep up with blogging. I spend WAY too much time on Facebook. I can’t help but get sucked into the games. It’s my competitive nature; I just have to get in there and see who I can level up past. Yeah, I really need to start cutting back.

I’ve also started exercising. Right now I’m doing 25 minutes at a time (once a day). I was originally doing 30 minutes when I was exercising before, but I have been working myself pretty hard, so I go until I can’t easily go any longer and that’s at the 25 minute mark for me right now. I’ve exercised 5 out of the last 7 days and I actually feel guilty about not having done it today, so I think that’s a great improvement. In fact, I actually really enjoyed it yesterday. I must be feeling ill. 😉 I really need to do this, though, for multiple reasons. One, I’m starting to get serious about my health. Two, I’m hoping that it will help with my headaches. Three, the migraine preventative that I’ve started has weight gain as one of its most common side effects and I really don’t want to go there if I can possibly avoid it.

Speaking of the migraines, I’ve been doing okay lately. We changed my anti-depressant medication over a month ago to something that should also help with the pain and I’ve seen a positive increase in my mood as a result, which is lovely, as I thought I was already doing well to begin with and didn’t even realize that I had further that I can go. In addition, I saw a neurologist two weeks ago and have started a preventative medication. We tried this one 6 years ago or so and I didn’t find that it helped any, but I feel like the migraines have shifted in nature, so I’m trying to be positive. There are actually multiple directions in which we can proceed, if this one doesn’t work. I’m on a really low dose of the anti-depressant; the neurologist said that it’s common for people to be on 3 times the amount I’m taking, so we have a lot of wiggle room there. We can also increase the preventative medication a good bit. I haven’t even finished ramping up on the full dosage of it, as currently prescribed, so it’s hard to tell what’s having a positive effect right now. It could be the anti-depressant switch, it could be the addition of the preventative, or it could be some combination of the two. Regardless, while the frequency of my headaches hasn’t decreased (I’m still getting several a week), I haven’t needed the heavy-duty migraine abortant medication in a couple of weeks and I’ve actually only taken two doses of Excedrin Migraine in the span of a week. Now, if I could stop the muscle spasms in my trapezius muscles that have been nearly constant over the past week or so, I could probably get an even better handle on the headaches. I have a muscle relaxer to take, but I’m nervous about developing any sort of dependency, so I’m trying not to take it. I might have to check with my doctor and see if I’m just being silly.

And now to the good stuff. Purchases and their associated photos! Hooray!

First up, we have the designs I bought from Jennifer of Always Time to Stitch. She saw that I purchased one of her punch needle designs from Stitching Bits & Bobs a couple of weeks ago and offered to sell me another one, along with her copy of Just Nan’s Summer in the Square, which she saw on my wishlist. Now I only have Autumn in the Square left to finish that set (*hint-hint*). 😆 For the punch needle design, I chose Jennifer’s lovely Beach Cottage. She said that she was inspired by the scenery she took in during a trip to the Caribbean a few years ago. I absolutely love the colors, plus the sailboat on the water.

Next, we have the materials I bought from WalMart to sew up a project bag for my first canvas work design. None of my plastic mesh bags are large enough and the larger ones aren’t the proper dimensions anyway. I want something square to be slightly larger than the stretcher bars and the associated supplies. Walmart didn’t have a whole lot to work with, but I was feeling desperate to kit this sewing project up and too lazy to plan a trip out to the nearest JoAnn fabric, so I took what I could get. The white flower patterned fabric is actually a canvas fabric that should wipe clean. The black with white polka dots is for the lining.

The same day I went to WalMart, I stopped by my LNS (Strawberry Sampler) to drop off Brush Em with Molly (she’s building me a custom frame) and pick up a couple of things. Molly had set aside Quaker Pendants I by Milady’s Needle at my request, so I grabbed that and a couple of threads that I needed to kit up a couple of projects. Of course, I didn’t like the color of fabric that came with Quaker Pendants I (it comes with a dark ivory, even though the models look like they were stitched on antique white), plus I wanted to do the one design in purples (of course), so I bought some 36 ct. antique white linen and two colors of overdyed purple floss, only to get home and find out that I already had a cut of 36 ct. antique white linen. *sigh* I bought the 32 ct. dusk linen for a project that I then ended up kitting up with a different fabric. But hey, it’s purple and I’m sure I’ll use it elsewhere. Or just pull it out and admire it every once in a while like I do everything else in my extensive stash. Florin and Guilder are the latest releases from Tracy at Ink Circles. I just happened to find them in the window and had forgotten that I wanted to buy them, plus I was pleasantly surprised at the price, so I added them to the pile. Finally, you can’t really see the scissors, but they are a cute little pair of purple scissors with a matching plastic sheath that they snap into. I just thought they were sweet, which is why they jumped onto the pile, but then I got them home and realized that they actually cut really well and have tiny tips. Bonus!

And now the last acquisition for this post. I actually have a mail order coming soon that’s been in the works for a couple of months, which is why I say “for this post.” 😀 I’ve been reading about people buying flower frogs to hold and display their scissors for a while. I don’t really visit antique or thrift shops, so I just decided to break down and troll the internet. I ended up making some finds on eBay and buying one. This one has a milk glass vase that was made to go with the clear flower frog insert. It’s really sweet.

Turns out, much to my chagrin, that my collection of scissors is larger than I had thought. Eep! So, now I need to find another one. Hahahaha!

Okay, that’s more than enough from me for now. I finished a small stitched piece today, but it’s a surprise gift, so I can’t show it off yet. Besides, I’m way late for bed and have to get up early to drop my car off for a software update in the morning. TTFN.