CFGriffith.com

As I mentioned in my last entry, the year ended on a very sad note for me.

I adore the holidays, and while I’m determined to look forward to them every year and continue my festive ways, there will still be some heartbreaking moments that will hit me.

Fortunately, there were some great memories from this past December for me to look back on as well.

The Sew 18th Century blog had a fun giveaway, and I won!  It’s taken me a little while to post about it, but I wanted to work on a proper post to mark the occasion.

The prize was a Delft cup and saucer — a small and adorable set — and my favorite color is blue!

It arrived very quickly, which surprised me, but it wasn’t just that — the care that was taken to pack the set was what knocked me off my feet.

First, the box had a cute holiday stationery paper taped on the top, with both our addresses written in fun handwriting.  Obviously I can’t post a photo of that since most of it would be blurred out, but it immediately put a smile on my face.

Inside, the cup and saucer were each carefully packed in bubble wrap, and then wrapped in pretty silver paper tied with beautiful green and red ribbons.

How everything was wrapped up -- note the lovely card, and pretty ribbons!

I knew from reading the giveaway blog entry and comments, that the cup would be small, but I didn’t realize how small and cute the set would be!  I thought I might actually use the set, because my husband and I both use our glassware and china on a daily basis.  After holding the set in my hands however, I’ve decided not to risk it.  I also adore the crackling patterns in the glaze.

Look how tiny the cup is compared to my husband's hand!

The markings on the botton of the cup and saucer.

Also included was a lovely holiday card featuring the perfect subject matter!

Needless to say, I was moved by the whole package, and now when I look at my antique cabinet and see the little teacup and saucer, I have a very good memory to remind me that it was still a good Christmas in 2011.

The Delftware cup and saucer in their new home. We call our antique cabinet "Rose." Sorry for the poor photo quality -- the lighting was terrible, and I took the photo with my phone. In the foreground is part of my snow village.

The Delftware looks pretty in the cabinet, and I can see it every time I walk by that room.

I appreciate the kindness and fun of this wonderful prize. I always have a blast meeting people on the Internet, and participating in surveys and giveaways.  This was a wonderful distraction and brought me great joy.  Please visit the Sew 18th Century blog!

It’s been an interesting 2011. I can’t say that it was a bad year — it was mostly good things. Unfortunately, it ended on a sad note.

My father passed away early Christmas morning.

This wasn’t sudden. He had been in poor health for some time, but the realizations and memories still hit hard. You can never really prepare yourself enough.

I still had a good holiday, but there are parts that will be hard for me to handle for a while. Like Christmas music… my father had a beautiful voice and loved to sing. It is hard for me to hear some of those songs now.

My hopes for 2012 are to continue to improve my life, my skills, and achieve goals. There are projects I hope to finish and start, and new things I hope to learn. Some will be scheduled to match what friends are planning, many are simply because I want to do them.

I am sorry I’ve been quiet here for a while. I’ve been trying to keep busy, and I had plenty on my mind as well.

I wasn’t sure I would post about this, but I thought at least a brief entry and photo would help me. I hope to post more upbeat things soon, but I don’t know how often I will update regularly.

It will be a long process to heal, but I have good friends and family, and an amazingly wonderful husband who understands what I’m going through.

Thank you for reading. I hope there are many good things in store for all of you in the future.

Best wishes.

Juggling this past weekend -- for another photo and some videos, see the bottom of this entry.

I mentioned autumn was here and I’ve been enjoying it.  Since it’s been cooler, my husband Christopher and I made time for juggling this past weekend.

I didn’t know what to expect

Since I have fibromyalgia now, I honestly wasn’t sure I would be able to juggle for very long.  Clubs always smacked me in the hands and fingers pretty hard, and left a sting even before my sensitivity to pain.  Sure enough, I couldn’t juggle for too long.  I would end up shaking a bit if I kept  juggling without a little break.

It’s a shame, and a little frustrating, but I’ll just have to figure out my limits and really focus on what I want to work on so I can enjoy juggling for long enough amounts of time.

It’s been a while

We keep meaning to get back to juggling regularly, but you know how it goes.  There are only so many hours in the day, and we have so many hobbies and things we work on — sometimes things we love get put on hold.

Video and photos

We took plenty of video and photos, especially of Christopher.  It gave me a chance to warm up gradually, and not over do it too quickly.

I’m not posting any videos of me juggling online (especially since I’m not that great even when I do practice regularly), but I have two photos of me from that day on here.  I’ve also included a video of my husband juggling.

It was a lovely day!

We juggled at a park, and during one break I took some video of a duck that kept watching us, and a turtle I saw in the water nearby.  I put it online for some practice. I’m still learning how to edit video.  Forgive any choppiness — unfortunately my computer has trouble handling the HD quality and does that to the final version.  Also, sorry about the sound being so low or muted.  My husband didn’t know what I was doing and walked up talking.  I didn’t want that in the video, and didn’t want to add music, so I faded the sound out to nothing by the end of the video.

And yes, I was lying on the ground shooting video while Christopher juggled over me.  Got nailed in the shoulder really hard during one drop, but I trust him, and I’m used to getting hit by juggling props. *laughs*

I definitely need to practice more again, I'm so rusty! We also need to repair our poor old juggling props.

Yeah, we're suckers for pumpkin-flavored drinks... beers and coffee. We also love our Keurig coffee brewer.

It’s officially autumn, and I’ve been ready for it for a long time.  It’s my favorite time of the year.  I also love winter, but there’s just something about autumn.  The colors, the smells, the holidays.

I’ve been quiet lately, and haven’t been updating as much.  I have my reasons, though.

Medical Stuff

I’ve been having health issues for a while now.  I noticed my fitness level dropping.  For a while, I had worked up to running 40 minutes straight, and then the next week I could barely run even 3 minutes.  I never did manage to work back up to that.  I can easily walk fast for a long time and walked a strong 3 or 4 miles every day.  Suddenly, I was struggling with even that.

I had various pain, severe exhaustion, and weakness… it was time to find out what was going on.

Some autoimmune issues run in my family, so I mentioned it to my family doctor at my physical this past spring.  They ran blood tests, and they all came back as normal (except I was deficient in Vitamin D).  They put me on a high dosage of Vitamin D, and told me to go see a rheumatologist.

My labs from the rheumatologist have been coming back negative, and my D level is back up again (yay!).

My family doctor and rheumatologist think I have Fibromyalgia.

Not feeling your normal self is no fun

There are times I’m so exhausted and just want to sleep, but can never seem to catch up.  Even tapping on my iPhone’s screen hurts, and sometimes even the gentlest touch on my skin feels like sandpaper or worse.  I have to be careful not to push myself too hard and do things like I’m used to doing, especially exercise.  Chores and sewing can really wipe me out, and if I manage to bang my knee into something (I can be a tad clumsy) or stab a finger with a pin?  I get even worse.

Just taking it easy

So I’ve learned not to set too many goals, or at least not to kick myself too hard if I don’t make it (especially with a complicated sewing project that, really, isn’t the end of the world if I don’t finish in time).

I treat myself to things that soothe me, at least mentally.  I’ve not really found much that helps the physical pain and exhaustion (I have decided for now, not to take any medications).

Lots of “spa” days for me now!

A few months ago, we bought a Keurig and we love it.  We’re hooked on the coffees — it’s fun to try different flavors, and if I’m in the mood for one type and my husband isn’t, we can just make what we want.  I do need to cut back, but sometimes it’s those little things in life that make the difference.

I’ve also been burning lots of incense.  I went through the vanilla and cinnamon scents quickly.  I can’t wait to get more of those.

I also have been going through bath salts like crazy.  Central Market has grapefruit and peppermint bath salts and I love to mix the two.  Light some candles, and turn on the water fountain, and I can trick myself into relaxing for a little while, at least.

I’ll probably never be my normal self again, but at least I can try to focus on those things I really enjoy.  I may be even slower about finishing sewing projects and other things that really aren’t that important compared to others, but I’ll get to them when I can.

Focus on those important things

I wasn’t going to post about this, but it has made me stop and enjoy those little things more often.  I definitely want to push myself to enjoy hobbies and set goals like that, but I also want to treat myself to a little relaxing “me” time a lot more often as well.

And if that means enjoying one more pumpkin-flavored coffee, or burning a few more sticks of incense that make me think of autumn and cozy holidays… well, I can’t think of a better way to relax.