Catching up and Staying put.

 

You may recall our rented home was up for sale. Well, it finally got settled last Thursday and we are allowed to stay on as tenants.

This was so good as we have now acquired another cat to join Xena and Milo. He started out as a skinny manky stray but his quiet ways and lovely face won our heart. And being a cat lover, I fed and befriended him.

Eventually he invited himself inside and captured Chris's heart as well. We didn't know what gender he was, so we named him Ginger. We thought he was a feral cat but I looked into our local FB groups and lo and behold, in the lost pets section, who should be staring at me on the page than our little Ginger.

So I messaged the owner and she confirmed it was him. He has blossomed and she loved the video we posted of him. She said he looked happy and told us he was an almost 3 years old neutered male, was called Joey and had run away when moving house last January. 

She also told us that as circumstances had changed she could no longer keep him, so we could keep him! We did! He has the sweetest nature ever! 

I have finally weaned off the Prednisolone. I have gained weight while I have been on it, but the pain relief it gave almost made it worth it. I still have polymyalgia rheumatica and also fibromyalgia, which isn't helped by Prednisolone. It seems that pain will always find me.

My lymphodema is still bad with my right arm swelling a lot. My sugars are coming down too since I started on insulin injections.

On the bright side, we have a great-grandson due any minute, a great-granddaughter due in July and another great-granddaughter due in October. I have already given each mother a crocheted shawl and a knitted jacket and am glad that I managed to finish them all before the latest health challenge.

We had a small baby shower for the girls and I am so glad it was done before these last few challenging months. I made a gender neutral hamper for the baby due in October as it was too early to know the gender. It was a happy day.. 

Apart from crocheting these bibs for each baby, the girls's gifts are done... and so we are caught up and staying put! 

 

She was right!

You may remember that I had to give up knitting and crocheting as it hurt my hands too much. It was so disappointing!

I was visiting my twin sister one day and I found her crocheting a beautiful baby shawl. Now her hands are sore with her lupus and arthritis, and when I asked her how she managed and  told her I could not longer knit or crochet, she encouraged me to take it up again. 

She assured me that her hands had improved since she took up her handcrafts again, and I resolved to give it a try. My hands improved and I had better flexibility in my hands and wrists. I was rapt! I needed to do something creative and those last few months.

With fibromyalgia it is important to find something to take my mind off pain, and I find knitting or crocheting does that to some degree. I also believe it is healthy and very satisfying to be creative and I have knitted, crocheted or sewn many gifts for family and friends over a lifetime.

I also enjoy blogging and so I thought to create a new one, highlighting a lot of those creations, mainly to remind myself of happy hours making and giving each one.

Currently I am working on making baby shawls and jackets for my grandchildren to use for their own children when the time is right... an heirloom gift or legacy if you will.

With being 71 years of age, I obviously don't know how long I will be able to continue doing this, so I am working on them now, either giving them directly to those old enough to keep them themselves, or to their mothers to keep until the time is right.

I hope you enjoy looking at my creations...

Keep clicking and stitching,

 

Glenys                    

 https://nanasclicksandstitches.blogspot.com/

It still is that for me!

 

Yep, it's still Safeway for me!  With fibromyalgia brain fog and old age, tell me the new name of a place or person I knew, and it is lost forever... they will forever be the name I first called them!

So I had a phone consult today and the doctor wants to wean me off prednisolone after only four days.. it hasnt really done it's job quite yet, so I am going to spin it out for a few more days ...

Today I have washed some minkie blankets off our beds, ran and then emptied the Roombas, cleaned the toilets and ordered online medicines and groceries.I  did some rounds of crochet in between tasks..

Chris loves bangers and mash so that's what I will be doing for tea tonight..

The Prednisolone fills me with fake energy, but I don't care... I will milk this Polymyalgia rheumatica situation for all it's worth!  I know I won't be long on the meds so I may as well turn the antsy feelings for my good...and get the benefit of some pseudo spoons!  

For those who don't know... in Australia Safeway Supermarkets took on the name Woolworths many moons ago: but as I said, it still is that for me!

The last stitch

So I decided to do some knitting recently. As a knitter all my life, I have a considerable stash of yarn and knitting needles. 

Vying for my attention are a large assortment of crochet hooks, needles, cottons of a myriad of colours, embroidery cottons and buttons. 

Dragging my knitting bag out of storage, it was like a greeting of old friends. I have been knitting since the age of 6 when my grandmother taught me both to knit and crochet.

We have 15 grandchildren and 2 great-granddaughters and I made my customary jacket, booties and bonnet set in blackberry stitch for all of them- except the little great-granddaughter. Goodness knows, I tried to make her a mint green shawl that her mother had requested, but halfway through, it got too heavy and I had to abandon it.

I refused to be beaten and decided to do it in squares, but alas, my deformed arthritic fingers could not manage to crochet. We moved out of the RV and with plenty of time at home, I decided to give knitting a go again.

As I cast on for a little jacket, I suddenly was overcome with tearing pain and searing muscles, and my fibromyalgia screamed, "Enough! How dare you think you can enjoy yourself by being creative!?"  Tearfully, I put the wool and needles down, went to the kitchen and took some paracetamol.

I rummaged through my knitting bag, the memories overwheming me. Leftover wools from all the previous baby clothes I had ever made, a remnant of the shawl I commenced but couldn't finish and buttons- every colour and all the same little pearlised look. 

A haunting memory of the endless baby jackets over the last 54 years of expecting children then grandchildren assaulted my brain, leaving me with a certain sadness for happier years and then years gone by so quickly.

Fibromyalgia and chronic pain have taken away so much from me, and it was hard to put that bag away again. But I will keep it to remind me of happier times when my muscles didn't hurt just keeping my arms up to knit or my neck didn't feel like it was breaking as my arms moved in quick rhythm to the casting on. 

I know this probably isn't blogging material, but I think we Sacrificial Home Keepers need encouragement. So, enjoy what you can still do, because with fibromyalgia and other chronic illness, we never know when it will be the last button we sew, letter we will handwrite,  or like me, what will finally be the last stitch.