So, here we are starting a new year, all of us together on January 1st, and me personally on January 11th. Bobby and I went out for lunch at our favorite Chinese restaurant, and only because the weather was sunny , and not as wet and cold as it has been “all year”. Today it was back to rainstorms and howling wind and next comes the arctic front that is going to hit most of this country. We keep saying, every day, that this is another day closer to Spring and warmer weather again. Longer days, that will be nice again, too. No gardening this year, and I am going to give most of my gardening stuff to my daughter-in-law. My balance is just getting worse, and the back yard is a minefield for someone who walks like me and can’t lift up my feet properly. So, because I am scared of falling and breaking something (me!), I am going to do any gardening in the front yard where I can get to things easier, and focus on growing plants that are perennials. We can make trips to the farmers market for our fresh tomatoes and cucumbers ! Anyway, to help avoid cabin fever, I have found an app that is somewhere between painting and coloring, and it works on my ipad. It has a one week free trial, so I just have been working on my first picture today, until my ipad got too heavy to hold in my hand while I was painting/coloring the picture. I have written more about it in the Hobbies section of the forum, in case anyone else is looking for something interesting to do over the winter; but I wanted to share my picture again here, just to show any other artistically minded folks how this app works. It should work with any kind of tablet, just look for the Pigment app.
It is almost March…….SPRING is coming ! ! I can see everything starting to look a bit greener outside already, and I am looking forward to the temperature hitting 70, or reasonably close to that, and being delighted to go outside again. Wintertime is just so cold and dreary, and each year, cold and dreary seems longer and longer to get through. Maybe, I will have to get out the seed packets and think about starting a small container garden again this year, after all. I already caught myself wanting to brave the unevenness and dangers of the back yard to see if any of the blackberries and strawberries are showing signs of life yet this year. I miss having a horse, and I am watching more horse videos on youtube, and it just seems like my body is trying hard to get out from the winter blahs. I am sure there will still be more knitting days, and painting days as winter slowly gives way to spring. I have been working on the Day One Journal of old family stories for my kids and grandkids; so along with reading about giants, Flat Earth, and the Nephilim, I have been keeping my mind occupied. Now, it is time to get my poor winter body outside and start to enjoy spring again…..
Spring is definitely coming here, and we have had a couple days of 70, and I have been outside a little bit. I went all around the front yard and the back yard, and I can see both raspberries and blackberries leafing out, so next month should be blossoms on them. The blackberries that we planted out along the back fence are coming up, but I doubt we will get any berries from those this year. I ordered another kombucha SCOBY, and when it comes tomorrow, I am going to start making kombucha again. I really feel better when I drink it, and it has all sorts of good probiotics and an easy way to get them by drinking it. I will be able to use some of my fresh berries in the kombucha, assuming I can get them before the birds and squirrels find them. Edit to add: My SCOBY is out for delivery ! I better get busy and get the tea ready so it can be all cooled down and ready for when the SCOBY arrives . I have really been enjoying the Pigment coloring app on my iPad, and after the trial, I decided to go ahead and get the year’s subscription for it. You can actually use the app for free, but the premium version has a lot more color palettes, and styles for painting (oil, water color, etc) and the extra things, like textures and backgrounds, and lots more pictures to color. It is helping me to get back into drawing and painting mode again, and I enjoy it. I am finding the Steampunk pictures, and I really like that, it just fits with my personality, too.
Tulips are blooming, irises are starting to bloom, my hops plants are coming up. We are going to move them to a better location by the tall fence so that they have something substantial to climb this year. Last year, @Bobby Cole made a makeshift trellis from twins, but once these hops get to growing good, they will need a sturdy chain link fence. Next week is warmer weather, so transplanting them when that happens. My new SCOBY arrived, and I have the jar of kombucha culturing in the back of the counter; so in a few weeks I will have fresh , homemade kombucha to drink for my probiotics. And….TA-DUMM…… I ordered another iPad from Amazon. It is an older model, and a midsize ipad. I have been using my large 12.9 iPad Pro for my drawing, and it is heavy holding it for very long, and the iPad Mini is just too small for me to see the fine detail when I am painting pictures with the Pigment coloring app. This will be a nice size for artwork, about half the weight of my large iPad, and only about 2 inches smaller in size. It should be here next week. I am back doing the Starch Solution way of eating, because I have gained back some of the weight I lost last time, and I need to be able to fit back into my swimming suit and my jeans. For now, I am starting out with the Potato Hack, which is 3 days of nothing except potatoes, and 2 days of SS foods. Once I can fit my swimming suit again, then I may switch over to the regular SS diet. So far, I am doing fine, and it is definitely helping with the anti-inflammation as well. Hoping that my labs will look even better when we have them done again in May.
Last Friday, I woke up and my whole left foot hurt too much to even walk on it, and the pain seemed to be worst in the center bottom of my foot. I was hoping it was not another gout attack, and spent the weekend not moving much. On Tuesday, it was still not walkable, and we had a chiropractor appointment, which meant that I was going to HAVE to walk out to the truck, and then at the doctor office; so I took one of Bobby’s Alleves. I told the chiropractor about my foot, and he said he didn’t know if it would help, but he worked on my foot as well as the usual adjustments for my back and neck. By the time we were leaving, I was actually not hurting nearly as much, but I was not sure if it was the adjustment or the Alleve. After we got home, I was walking much better, and since it was supposed to rain and storm on Wednesday, I wanted to take pictures of my peony and the roses that were blooming before the rain ruined the blossoms. I was fine walking all around the yard with my camera, and taking pictures of all the flowers ! The next day, my whole foot was back to normal. I have no idea what was wrong with the foot, but the chiropractic adjustment certainly helped it.
I was thinking plantar fasciitis. I fixed mine with a phase 4 orthotic. Painful while the bones were repositioned, stretching the tendon, but then the pain was gone. Had to crawl to the bathroom in the morning before.
I had the exact same experience @Yvonne Smith! Even the same foot. I took one naproxen (Alleve generic) and the pain went away and hasn't returned. I guess we are on the same frequency. @Mary Stetler posted about plantar fasciitis. It is common among people who stand a lot, especially hard surfaces. I have had the plantar woe and it wasn't fun, but I no longer stand for long periods, I think it must have been something about my chore boots or something I did outside. I know the orthotics Mary mentioned can help and they helped me when I had the problem. Stretching exercises seem to help me as well.
Wow, this is strange... yesterday I had the exact same experience, but without the chiropractor. I woke up with pain in my foot and was afraid it was a gout attack coming on so I took a naproxen. Within a couple of hours the pain was gone.
I woke up and my foot hurt. I ate some oats for breakfast, browsed the internet for awhile, exercised for an hour, then chopped weeds and moved things around in the back yard for an hour and twenty minutes. Then I got my shower, got dressed and ate lunch. My foot is fine. It's a miracle!
One thing's for sure....... I'm going to stop hanging around with y'all. That stuff must be contagious.
Fascia is like the silver skin in a beef roast. Very tough fibers that hold things together. In your feet, when your bones fall (like your arch collapses a little) the fascia stretches and sometimes to the point of pain. Your arch is meant to be flexible. But if it falls too much and stays there it can be very painful. People who wake up with excrutiating pain find the fascia tightened up over nite and won't stretch out starting the day. The orthotic re-arranges the bones to where they should be (sometimes this process is painful too so follow directions) and eventually they will hold their position.