Whoosh Week

Fastest week ever...

Things at work are still insane, but should be leveling out soon. I worked yesterday (Saturday) for a few hours. We have a rotating schedule for Saturdays and yesterday was my turn...so 8-12 and I woke up in the night last night not knowing whether it was Saturday, Sunday or Monday!

I've been sewing like mad...Houdini now has a couple new harnesses to choose from and I'm pretty proud of them all. I've made two denim ones and one St. Patrick's Day one. All that's missing is the velcro so I'm gonna have to make it to a real fabric store (our Michael's doesn't have many notions...just basics for embroidery) to stock up. The velcro is the hardest part...it's thick - I'm using industrial strength so that Houdini is secure - and very hard to put a needle through over and over. Mom said, "Use the sewing machine!!!" but I just can't. I like doing everything by hand.

But it's costing me. My right hand, especially, has been going bad over the last year, and recently, my middle finger and ring finger have become especially close. Literally. I can move them apart, but when my hands are relaxed, those two fingers are buddies. I have pain - it's not excruciating - and after all the reading this week, I really believe it's "just" tendonitis of some sort and not the dreaded carpal tunnel, which is what everyone around me says I have. But I am certain I don't...I don't have tingling or numbness. The pain is raditating differently than what every website says. I will go to a doctor, but I honestly think that 11 years of retail keying (before UPC scanners were popular), 13 years of editing at a keyboard, and a lifetime of crafty crafting are the cause, and this is just how it's gonna be.

I am still on it on it on it with the bike and the 1200 cal experiment. And while I don't think anyone else sees a difference, I'm looking for it and I'm seeing it in my face and how I feel (still less jiggly). And yesterday, the big victory...the jeans I bought in December that were snug? I pulled them off without unbuttoning or unzipping them! So, I still haven't weighed, but I think it's working. I would like to see how I'm doing at the end of next month, when we take our family trip...I hope that this will alllllllllll be worth it. Because I'll be honest...it's 95% vanity for me...