hand eye crafts

 The ankle is still tender and feels fever-y, but the redness is still within the line, which is what we're hoping for.  It's even kind of itchy, which it hasn't been before. I know what I look like right now.  The white-haired old woman hobbling around on her bloated ankle and wearing comfy shoes.  But what can I do? There's no trick-or-treating here, but I do have some Halloween stitch markers from  Kollage : The ghost is too cute.

Well, guess what.  It isn't a sprain, it isn't a bug bite, it's cellulitis . Yesterday, I had an appointment with my psychiatrist.  When he asked how I was, talk turned to my ankle.  He took a look and said, "I think that's cellulitis."   Last night, I decided to give an urgent care center a try.  I got a call from them at 7:30 AM: "Come on in!" The doctor came in, looked at my ankle, said, "I think that's cellulitis."  We had nice conversations about cellulitis and lots of other things.  (There weren't any other patients waiting for him.)  He prescribed an antibiotic and drew a line around the area. (Let me just say that taking a picture of that side of my ankle is difficult.  Trying to fully see that side of my ankle is difficult.  I've been using my phone and a mirror to get a look at it all along.) The doctor said that if the redness spreads beyond the line in the next two days, give him a call back.  The antibiotic should ...

 Showing off my fancy new brace and my somewhat wonky toes.  I'm not a fan of my toes, never have been.  But they're going to be on display for a while as I can't wear shoes over the swelling.  Sandals and one pair of kind of low-cut Crocs only.  Boots will have to wait. This new brace is about 85% velcro straps.  I've wrapped many a body part with Ace bandages, and put them in place with those little metal hooks.  Does anyone remember those?  They'd eventually tear holes in the bandages.  Practically every one we had smelled of various liniments and balms from Daddy and me using them.  Daddy swore by Bigeloil, which had a really weird aftereffect: a couple of minutes after you rubbed it on, you'd start to taste garlic.  Freaky.

 My son has taken himself to Cincinnati, and here is what he sent me this afternoon: He said he was tearing up.  I teared up, too.

Man, if you've got to stay sort of in one place with a body part elevated and iced, there's no better time than a Saturday in the Fall.  Well, if you're me and love football... Not the greatest wrap job, but fine, whatever.  The swelling has gone down a lot, but it's still painful to walk.  If I need to, I can always use one of Daddy's canes. You know, if I want to be dramatic and attention-seeking.  Which, as an only child, are things utterly foreign to me.

One more word about The Big Chicken: it has its own Wikipedia page.  There won't be a pop quiz or anything, but it is interesting, and you might enjoy reading it.  (And, no, I've never been there.  But when we were traveling, the children knew we were closing in on home when they saw it from the car.) I finally gave up/wised up and got a brace for my ankle.  It's making a difference with my being able to walk.  I was on my feet a good deal yesterday, and the ankle was supremely swollen and red last night.  I kept ice on it all last night, and learned mostly that an ankle is a difficult body part to ice.  You have to constantly adjust around the ankle bone.   Having to stay in one place for long periods has given me the opportunity to just about finish my voter postcards.  No writer's cramp, and I've got less than twenty to go.

Outside of my early polling place is this: This is very Athens, and makes the place easy to find. Now, it isn't as famous as another Georgia chicken: This is in Marietta, juuuusssst on the edge of Atlanta.  You can see it from the interstate, and it is known simply as The Big Chicken.  It's a landmark, as in, "Take the second exit past the Big Chicken."  Thank you for listening to today's lesson on Georgia lore.

I'm sharing as little as I can of my current cross-stitch project, because it seems talking about them here dooms them to failure. I finished that oversized Sierra Yarns turtleneck.  An attempt at photographing myself in it was an awful failure, so use your best imagination.  It will be soft and cozy for any Winter we might have here.  Next on the needles a double rib cowl made from yarn than wouldn't form itself into what I bought it for. Not much else.  Briton's taking himself to Cincinnati for a few days, and is borrowing my car.  I've had it for a year and a half, and it hasn't even cracked 3000 miles.  I really don't go much of anywhere, as quick math will prove. A postcard arrived today with one of the messages I've been putting on mine.  The work is being done all over!

One injury leads to another.   Since I've had to "alter" my gait with my bum right ankle, my left hip has a catch in it.

Probably not.  It feels like a bad sprain. Swollen and all, despite the cute Gudetema socks, and very, very painful.  I have no idea whatsoever what happened.  I never do  anything!

It's sort of shameful that I only recently realized that crescent rolls (Hi, Pillsbury dough boy) are the same as croissants.  And that "croissant" is French for "crescent" Hey --- I took Spanish, okay? This helped me recover a bit.  Y'all know I love square knitting needles.  I'd never thought about it,  but they would have their own special gauge.  Cute or what?

I made some banana bread last night.  Well banana/ blueberry bread, as that's the baby food I had.  Also, shout out to my fellow banana baby food lovers.  (You know who you are!)  I went to bed before it was finished baking, so there was a nice morning "surprise" today. Just dropping in to brag on myself.

 I swear, after you're sick, you need another day to recover from recovering.  Today I am completely drained, but able to keep food down. These got finished yesterday.  There was only seaming up to do, so it wasn't stressful.  And look what I found! Look at my little guy!  So cute and small.  He had a full brother in the shelter, whose kennel name was Fred Astaire.  I will always, always regret not adopting him, too.

Kidding.   I've made so much toast since last night...  I haven't eaten it all, and it hasn't all stayed down, but that's about the extent of my dietary adventures. Fortunately, there's always banana baby food here.  Long story.  Maybe I'll move to the "B" of the BRAT diet before long.

 When Maddie woke me up this morning for breakfast and insulin (well, certainly the first;  the second less so), I felt a little off, but thought maybe it was the suddenness of the little paw on my nose.  But then I woke up a little bit later and my stomach was churning.   Within the hour, I was throwing up so much that I was carrying one trash can down the hall to my bedroom and switching to one in there.  I needed the fan to blow on me for a few minutes so I could gather energy to sprint to the bathroom when needed. Tap, bless him, kept trying to sit down with me, but it was a good while before I stayed in one place for long.  He had never seen me sick like that and his face was, "What is all that/Something is definitely wrong here/Can I help, but don't really count on me because ALL of this is very new."  This isn't Tap, but this is very much the look I was getting: "I care, but I'm kinda freaked out." I've no idea why what's going on is going...

There's still one Knitting Across America purchase to share.  Arizona: Yeah, there are a lot of shawls in my future. As far as my state choices go, well, I'm a Tennessean, so there's that.  Oregon is in honor of  my twin (thank goodness I liked the patterns, huh?)  New Mexico and Arizona have long interested me, though I'm not exactly sure why.  I think a lot about taking a day trip to one or the other --- flying in, maybe just walking around in the airport until the return flight, so I can say I've been to Phoenix and/or Albuquerque.  Maybe sometime.

 My knee?  Hard to say.  It's sore and a little stiff, but that's probably because of favoring it yesterday, and having to rub/massage it so much. Cold Domino's pizza?  I think maybe so.  I remember my roommate and I usually ordering extra because it was so good for breakfast the next morning.  Also, not having to get up and go to the cafeteria meant some extra sleep. (My dinner tonight was very dorm room: a piece of that cold pizza and a bowl of cereal.) My sleep situation?  Yes, yes, yes.  I cannot get to sleep without chemical assistance.  Since there is nothing whatsoever on my calendar for the next two weeks, I'm just going to go to bed when I get sleepy and wake up when I wake up.  Hopefully, my body will self-regulate.

My left knee has been a pain all day.  It keeps locking up on me, the kneecap sort of going where it wants to go, which means I have to sort of freeze wherever/however I am and try to work it back into place.  There's no pattern to the pain: sitting, going down stairs, going up stairs, just kind of standing around.  It's weird.  And painful.  Thankfully, my lunch ameliorated some of that.  I present to you an example --- a perfect example, even --- of what I wrote about on August 14th. A folded-like-a-taco potato chip.  Shaggy Tap in the back there looks interested, but he isn't a chips eater.  All the more for me.

'Cause the yarn is orange, and orange is the color of The University of Tennessee. Yes,  Twinnie , I see you. The yarn I showed you: is for this shawl.  I like the "break" in the middle of the back. Next: a single-skein shawl, and   a state hat.  All of the kits had hats with the shape of the state on it.  (There's a Texas Longhorn one that is super cool.)  Now, to be honest, I may not use the orange for this.  Who am I kidding;  I won't  use it. Lastly, the tote bag: It's unnerving that the design isn't straight.  It tilts up to the right.  But it is nice, and right there in the middle (where Nashville is) is the BatBuilding.   It has become a symbol of the city.  And, obviously it isn't named The BatBuilding: it's the AT&T Tower.  Here's a moody, artsy photo of it. There is only one state left.  There's orange involved there, too.  I remain impressed with  Stunning String , and glad that I go...

Still revelling in Vandy's win last night.  If you don't follow the NCAA, you might not know that Vanderbilt is not a football powerhouse.  At all.  Ever.  To beat Alabama is remarkable.  To beat Alabama when it is #1 is phenomenal. Now, I was bred and born a Vandy fan, and my dedication had never waivered.  Most years are lean, but I am there.  I didn't go to Vandy (too expensive), and I got my Master's at Alabama.  I taught a lot of football players (other athletes, too, but it's Alabama and only football really matters) while I was on staff there.  Still, it's always the Commodores.   If it were cooler, and I were going somewhere tomorrow, you can bet I'd wear my Vanderbilt boots.

 My head is pounding.  There are things to show, but I can't do the whole photo shoot thing.   More things from Knitting Across America.  The clue to the state might be in the color.

Hey, hey, hey ---  have you gotten a musical lollipop yet? Mine is red, and it plays "Jingle Bells."  Very festive.

 You know those close-up photos of spiders and their eyes? This is my chocolate chip banana bread in the refrigerator: I received this postcard from a much-loved friend who is touring Europe.  The stamp caught my eye.  I suspect the engraver was given direct orders to "bloody well get the ears right." Look what arrived today! I still love, love looking through toy catalogs.  This one has a little something for Mama. It's a yoga goat, sure, wearing a headband, yes, but look!  She has a water bottle!  A WATER BOTTLE.

 The tenth month already?  Really?  So many parts of my body and my life go so slowly, why is Time doing laps?  Anyway, I do love October because it brought me my son. Also football and beautifully cool weather, but mostly my son.  And football.  And great weather.  But, my son.