What's new in your life, Karen?

I'm still catching up on all my stitching pictures, so those will come in another post. I thought, however, that you might want to know what has changed in my life since July of 2013.

Where to start? Hmmm. One of the biggest things to hit me and my family is that I was diagnosed with a form of Rheumatoid Arthritis. It is an auto-immune disorder called, get this, sero-negative inflammatory polyarthropathy. Say that three times fast. It has definitely changed my life. There is so much now that I can't do. I simply can't. I can't bellydance anymore. The smallest everyday activities are huge tasks for me. Cooking, cleaning, laundry are all taxing and/or painful. Grocery shopping is a tremendous undertaking, and I need at least a day to recover from it.

Yes, I am on medication, and it has helped somewhat. But if I get any kind of infection or need to take antibiotics for any reason, such as oral surgery, I need to stay off of the arthritis meds. Even if I'm only off of them for a week, it takes me several weeks after restarting the meds before I start feeling better.

I do not mean to make you feel sorry for me. It is what it is. I am still learning my limitations and how to live with this. But, I have been lucky with a very supportive husband, family, and group of loving friends.

Enough about that.

You may remember all those cute fur babies of mine that would pose for TUSAL pix with my ort jar. Since you last heard from me, we lost Bubba the cat in Feb. 2014. Sweetest kitty-boy ever. We also lost Teddy, our beloved Wheaten terrier. That was in July of 2014. I still miss them both so terribly.

About six months after the loss of Teddybear, around Valentine's Day of this year, we brought a new puppy into our lives. Her name is Slipper. She is a pit bull mix. She is so pretty and adorable and funny. And, she is a holy terror. The cats do not like her. Not yet, anyway. She likes to chew and destroy the kids' toys, and they have not caught on to the idea of putting them in safe places. Not yet, anyway.

Did I mention she's a digger?

And a bit of a goofball?

Last year I began sewing for some stash cash. It started with q-snap covers, and project envelopes, and quickly snowballed into hundreds of orders and lots of other bags and things. In December, though, I began feeling more pain, and other conditions kept piling on top of my arthritis. I haven't been back to the sewing machine yet. That was never my intention, but I'm still working out how to deal with constant, daily pain. I truly hope to start back soon, and catch up on all my outstanding orders.

I am still stitching when I feel up to it. I have been doing fewer and fewer round robins, though I have two starting soon. I participated in a crazy January "15 in '15" SAL, in which I started a new project every day of the first 15 days of the new year. It was fun, but now my WIP count is at a depressing and embarrasingly high count. I will share pix and plans with you all soon.

What else? What else? Let's see...the Girl-Child is 5, nearly 6. She is in regular Kindergarten. The autism has presented some challenges, but I'm still very proud of her progress, and head-over-heels in love with her cuteness and affection. The Boy-Child will be 13 soon. Gulp! With all that age entails. Puberty is kicking off with a bang. Ugh! He has acne, body hair, and, OMG, he's growing a mustache! And, he seems to be under the impression that he is quite grown up and knows everything. Bless that boy. He may not survive to his 14th birthday.

That's all I can think of for now. Next time, stitchy pictures, I promise!

Hugs and Stitches,
Karen