imjustarogue

HI!!

Thanks guys. <3 That's an awesome WW gif, @Jonesy I did talk with my doctor today. It was a good talk and we're going to address things, so I think things will be swinging upward soon. Plus, she had me get an xray of my hands and my knee to make sure I'm not dealing with bone issues in my joints and that it's just connective/soft tissue stuff, so there's that too. In other news, I put our old house up for sale last Wednesday and got an offer on Saturday for more than we were asking, so that's happening! For the challenge: PT gets a solid C. Did some, could have and should have done more, but did some, so that's better than none. I definitely A+ drank enough water the week I was sick, but C- the rest of the time. >.> Walking is a B-. I didn't do any real walking at the parks in town, but I did a buttload in my old town the one day my car was in the shop (the day I put the house up for sale) and I've gone out of town to the mall which had lots of walking going on. There were other smaller walks, but nothing spectacular enough to mention. I don't have anything to show off for creativity, but I think I get a B for this one too - but only thanks to @tourennatrix because she's been creating all over the place and we've been collaborating on some stuff that's pretty awesome. So, not too bad, I guess, especially given the emotional everything. Imma give me a hug because I deserve it. *hugme*

Hope you're over your pre-con-crud well enough to not get the after-con-crud!! Have fun and know that I'm jealous and wish I could go!

Hey, me too! I've got the "upper-respiratory-so-I-sound-like-Stevie-Nicks" cold going on! Whoop, whoop! Love that kitty is draped over cat and neither one cares. <3

I haven't been doing a great job using my bujo to track my challenge. I'm having desk issues related to a bad resin job and a baby that likes to get into every thing, so every thing ends up on top of my desk. Those are the main reasons. Other reasons are more emotional. I've been having a lot of emotions. Not sure how much are hormonal because, hello shark week. *sigh* Emotional crap: Good things, because I always try to remind myself about the good things when I feel like crap: Yesterday, I fit into another, smaller pair of jeans I couldn't fit into last May, so that's a thing. This is making me feel a little better for this upcoming fall/winter time period because I may not need to buy new pants to wear in order to leave the house. My sister and I have been collaborating on art stuff and that makes me feel good This guy: Challenge stuff: I *have* been on a few walks. I am drinking *some/more* water each day, but I am not meeting the goals I would like to. I have been doing my PT, just need to keep up on it. I think the only thing I have going for me is the creativity one, which given the emotional bullcrap is actually surprising - it's good this one dovetails into the project I'm working on with my sister.

Yeah... I don't know if you used to be able to do this in Illustrator a long time ago or not, but because it works in shapes and fills, the colors are tied directly to the shapes created and the only way to put them on separate layers is to duplicate the linework onto new layers with one layer containing the lines and the other the colors (using the same shape containers) and then you just end up with a bunch of extra layers you don't really need, a big mess, and a large file. Not saying there *isn't* a way to do it, just that I'm not familiar with one. :/ Photoshop is infinitely easier when it comes to that particular aspect.

Duh! Yesterday, I took peanut to the library and he had So. Much. Fun. This was his first real outing being around other kids and it was a lot of fun watching him around other kids. Then when we got home, he fell asleep while eating his lunch. It was so adorbs. While he was napping, the plumbers came by unexpectedly to work on the repair which was fine and he slept through most of it, so that was also good. Today, I took him to the park (two actually... kind of disappointed in toddler sized playground equipment here in new-town...) but he got to swing and play in wood chips, so he had some fun, then I went on a 1/2 mile walk, so I got that in today too. Still fighting with my knee. Strangely, it felt ok walking, but it hurts like a bitch after I've been sitting for a while, or when I sleep, and doesn't seem to matter the position (or rather, it will hurt *more* in certain positions, but always hurts regardless). Doing my PT and hoping it'll help the more I do it. It's gonna have to do for a while since I can't go back to PT for a while what with the unexpected plumbing costs. Anywho. The past couple of days, knee notwithstanding, have been pretty good. Need to keep it up.

And here's the bujo page! Just occurred to me that this is just one week... Imma gonna have to come up with equally awesome things to draw for the next 3. o.o I guess that's part of why I have "create" on there, huh?

I shall do this once I've had the chance to wash my hair (which didn't happen after the bath last night because of aforementioned plumbing issues). Probably not in costume, though.

Where's the bonuses for cat pictures posted? This actually looks like a neat format. I may steal sometime.

Bath was great! But the stupidness continued. As I drained the tub, the sewer drain in the basement said "nope! don't want it, you can have it back!" /sigh But, but. Called the plumber this morning, they were available fairly quickly and it was just tree roots (which won't be an uncommon issue since we have two fairly massive oaks between the house and the street), and it wasn't super expensive. But, but, but, our stack pipe from the main floor toilet also has a small leak, which is not good. We have a tentative quote which is more expensive, but this isn't something husband can fix himself and it is something that needs fixed. So. There's that. /sigh Today, so far, I've left the house, which was good and, I think helped bebe finally take a good nap (yay!), supported daughter while she talked to the school about financial aid and books and start of classes and stuff, bought groceries, and just about everything *not* on my challenge. I also put a couple of reminders of some recurring activities that go on at the local library for children bebe's age (or thereabouts) to take him to. He needs kid exposure and, since I can't yet sign up for the Y, this will be a good way to do that that doesn't also cost money. (kinda triggers a bit of anxiety about being around stranger peoples and kids and strange situations and stuff, but nothing I won't be able to deal with once the "anticipation" part is past and the "doing" is happening) Going to spend a bit of time finishing up my bujo so I can actually, ya know, use it this week... and go from there for the rest of the day. (Also, I love how the weather's cooperating with my plan to add in walking since it's so freaking humid out right now. THANKS FOR THAT, WEATHER!)

Well, today was kind of a shite day. I did some PT, but not for my knee. For my back/shoulders instead, so I'm counting it. I'm drinking my water. And I sketched out my bujo and then drew a goofy sketch that wasn't all that great of a red panda. I mean, it was ok, but I wasn't really feeling createy... I was just trying to find something to do while rocking my son so he would hopefully fall asleep for his nap (which *never happened ever today...*). Didn't get a walk in. It was rainy this morning and in the afternoon when husband wanted to go out with the bebe, I just wanted a break from the bebe, so they went out together and I had some quiet and time to sweep. Then, after husband got off work, I had planned to go for a walk or run or something to get out and get another break (it was a *really* rough day) but husband hasn't been feeling well, bebe had been onery all day, and husband ended up spending the time replacing an outlet for me and my office space which meant I needed to observe and contain bebe. Long, long, day. But, I think bebe is finally going to sleep so in a few minutes, he will be in his bed and I am going to take a fizzy bath bomb bath and just forget about today and it's stupidness.

hi you! I giggled at"it's august! it's hectic!" because I have yet to see one of your challenges where it's *not* hectic. Good luck with all the things while traveling!

I still have to do a Zombies, Run! race... https://zombiesvirtualrace.com/

Time for a new challenge!

So, after taking a month off of NF to get moved into our new house, I think we're settled in and I'm ready to get moving again - just with less packing boxes! Do the PT exercises. My knee's been acting dumb, so I have to do my PT exercises so I can avoid paying a lot of money going to physical therapy (even though I love my physical therapists). Drink the water. This is not to eliminate other beverages, but to bring my water consumption back up (from almost zero because I'm horrible at drinking it even though I actually *like* water…) Go for walks. The temps are getting more moderate and enjoyable during the day, and though the neighborhood we live in now is "smaller" (we're sided by two fairly busy streets and don't have sidewalks, so it's kind of a super bummer for just up and leaving the house for a walk…), I *DO* have a car and I *DO* have a stroller and there *IS* a good park with paved walking trails and playground equipment that I have been wanting to go explore. I have been making excuses though: I want to go with husband (valid, but difficult since his work schedule is more strict and he works later in the evening); temperatures have been high, but now they're falling; my knee is dumb, but walking will help. NO MORE EXCUSES. Plus bebe can use play time outside and fresh air. Be creative. The past week or so, I have been doing so many things with my sister and it has been sparking creative sparks that have been lying dormant for too long, so I need to tend to that. Sketching things, digital arting things, pulling out my bujo for the challenge and making bujo pages - those all count. Each of these should be done daily, though, for the walks, my minimum is 4 in per week. LET'S DO THIS THING! ^5

Following!

This Rogue:

I might do that. I'm having a day where I kind of want to do this to everyone/thing: So, cookies might be a good thing... >.>

IS THAT THE COVER?!?!

PT appt scheduled for Wed. Sometimes husband frustrates me. I tell him that I want to check in with my physical therapist about my knee before I get back to any serious exercising because the aches and pains I was feeling, especially with the squats I'd been doing, did not feel like my "normal" aches and pains and he says "well you probably just need to do your PT exercises because your muscles are weak." Well, yes. I do need to do those because I'm sure those muscles are weak. But the pain is not the same because it's not from the muscles around my knee and it feels like it's coming from inside the joint. So before I go and do any Zumba or BodyCombat or BodyPump or workout with weights or whatever, I want to make sure I know what's going on with my knee so I don't reinjure it. >.< Details on the my knee surgery. In the summer of 2012, I tore my meniscus, but I didn't realize it right away. A few weeks later, my knee was pretty swollen and hurt a lot, went through the routine with my GP of trying anti-inflammatories and such to try to bring down swelling - first over the counter, then later prescription. Eventually, realized that wasn't doing anything and scheduled an MRI. By now it's fall and my mobility is slowly decreasing because the swelling is so bad. I can't bend my leg, definitely can't kneel or squat. During the MRI, my leg muscles started twitching during the last pass because my knee hurt so bad from being held in a straight position, so when the orthopedist was reviewing the scans, he couldn't see the tear in the meniscus right away. Being a good doctor, he didn't want to rush into surgery to fix something that may or may not be there, so we tried some more, different, anti-inflammatories, until Dec when I finally said, "Just go in and look and fix it if there's something wrong because I, literally, can't do this any more." 'Lo and behold, there was a tear. There was also "crab meat cartilidge" behind my kneecap which he cleaned up. But the one thing he didn't do was send me to PT afterwards. He had said that after a simple surgery like this, most people get up and walk away fine and dandy a week later, but I'm guessing most people don't spend 6 months prior losing the mobility in their joint. When he took the wrap off my knee the week after surgery and had me try to straighten my leg to walk out of the room, I couldn't do it. Literally could not. I had to take the crutches with me for another couple of weeks until my leg relaxed enough to straighten back out. And he still didn't send me to PT and I didn't think to ask because, wasn't he the doctor? It took me a full three years before I could do a full squat again, but even then, to stand back up, I would still put most of my weight on my left leg because my right knee felt off. And so, here we are. I have PT exercises to do to strengthen muscles around my joint, which I know I need to do and can help, but when I am feeling aches and pains that are different than my "normal" I don't want my husband to be all "aches are normal and you just need to do what you're supposed to do and deal with it" when what I'm trying to do is avoid re-injuring myself. *sigh*

Darn renovation.

I can verify - which is why husband and I drove 2 hours last night for a date to see Guardians of the Galaxy 2 (and have dinner - an actual dinner and a movie date!).... a date that took 8 hours because of travel time... because of Iowa.

Two weeks down. Right? Two weeks? Geez. We're moved in minus a few items that we need to borrow my daughter's vehicle for when it's not quite so blazing hot outside. I *finally* have most of the living room/my office unpacked and figured out. It took a while because I only had one of my two desks for about a week so I couldn't do much unpacking until I got the other one in the house and then there was the whole "now what?!" with what to do with all the stuff. Since I'm sharing my office space with the living room which is being shared with a toddler, I have to be very toddler conscious which means a lot of the stuff that I used to have in my office will end up stored somewhere else. That's ok, but it does make for some decision-makery. One of the fun things to come out of this is that because it's a new space, my office theme has changed completely. Previously, it was a steampunk-vintage-scrollwork-writerly and I loved my space. Everything was perfect and it all fit together perfectly. But now, I have this awesome built-in shelf along one wall that sits over one of my desks and I've decided that I'm going comic book geekout. I've got my comic compilations, Dresden Files collection, Richard Castle hardcovers, and several anthology books along one side of the shelves with my geeky Funko Pops and other figures and some other decor on the other side of the shelves. My walls are decorated with an awesome poster of Deadpool my daughter gave me last year for Christmas that I got a (cheap) frame for, a die-cut wood classic Wonder Woman (and soon to be joined by a matching classic Batman), and a wood X-Men comic book cover (The Uncanny X-Men, in case you were wondering). Above the built-in will be this awesome canvas Marvel character vintage wall decor thing, and opposite the wall with all the other posters is my minimalist Captain Tightpants poster. I equally love my new space. <3 The bonus is that our living room is sooooo much more spacious than our old house - even with my "office" taking up a corner of it. I have been dancing like crazy - especially now that most of the boxes are out of the way. Our TV still isn't hooked up - we have to figure out some electrics - so no Just Dance parties happening yet, but I'm cranking music on my computer and dancing as I empty boxes and organize things. Clothes are fitting looser and my mom even noticed that I "looked skinnier, though maybe my pants were just baggy or something." I told her that it was actually both and that they usually go hand in hand and, yes, I am losing weight, thanks for noticing. Oh, mom. My shoulder has been throwing fits thanks to having to carry around a heavier bebe. I can only reliably carry him with my right arm/hip combo. I am super uncoordinated with my left arm/hip, but I am messing my shoulder up something fierce as a result. And there has been a lot of carrying bebe - out to the car, from the car to the store, store to the car, car to the house with bags of stuff from the store, etc. repeat ad nauseum for the past two weeks. In addition to my shoulder, my knee, the one I had surgery on a few years ago, has been grumpy as well. I don't know what's going on with it except it does not like it when I sit in the bottom of a squat position for any length of time - and sometimes I have to on account of bebe being tiny. Finally decided to call my physical therapist today and they were closed this afternoon. v.v So... that's my huge two week update!