Where am I going?

Short version:  While I was setting up for the Austin Flea on Saturday morning, one of my tent weights fell on my foot.

Long version: I have these weights to stabilize my tent in case of wind. They are made of PVC pipe roughly 2.5 feet high and 3 inches across, and they are filled with cement with a large eyebolt sticking out of one end. One of them tipped over from where I had it leaning, bounced off the asphalt, and landed on the big toe/ball of my foot.

Cue swearing. It HURT, but I quickly realized nothing was broken and I had to get the booth set up, so. It hurt all day, kind of a dull throbbing. When I got home and finally took my shoe and sock off, man, the bruising was SPECTACULAR. Bright red/purple, with some stylish almost-black accents. I iced it all evening, and iced it on and off all day on Sunday. The bruising has now spread to my second toe and across the top of my foot, but I can bend the toe, there's no numbness, so I figured I dodged a bullet on bone breakage.

The really annoying part is I'm still trying to get ready for the 10k in April and because of terrible weather I haven't been getting out and walking, and Sunday was absolutely gorgeous. (I did get a lot of base enameling and laundry done though, so yay?)

I'll be applying my heat pack to it all day in the hopes of making it better sooner. sigh.

But, the show was a rousing success mainly due to a couple of women just walking in and buying without even looking at the prices. Made up for a little hipster chick trying to talk me down on a pair of earrings she was buying as a present.

...I appear to have broken a toe on my left foot; the one next to my pinkie toe to be precise.

I thought I had just slammed it a little hard into a brick this morning--it was one of those "OW, damnit!!" moments, but it didn't really hurt afterward. There were the beginnings of a bruise on the joint, but I put on my shoes and socks and went off to the coin show* and then the grocery store and then I found OMG PIE and I came home to update my character sheet and do other things. It was giving me twinges but I didn't think much about it.

When I took off my socks it was solid purple from just below the nail to below the joint. It wiggled funny when I poked at it (of course I poked at it!) but no real pain. Kind of numb, actually. Texted my-brother-the-doctor and he said there wasn't much to be done.

So now I have a semi-bum knee on my right leg and a broken toe on my left foot. FML. We'll see how it feels tomorrow, as I'm planning on getting up kinda early to go into the workshop.


* Though I did restrain myself at the coin show and only got the really cool stuff. The dealer I'm used to buying literally a pound of international coins from is no longer doing shows, so I'll probably have to go to Houston at some point to restock. The local vendors just don't have the selection for the price--at least the ones I've been dealing with. Also, if you ever want to hear wacky right-wing rants, there is no need to go to a gun show. Just listen to the old farts at a coin show.

All I have to do is patina the bowl and it's done! (If you click through to flickr there's some more shots.)

Going to see the doctor tomorrow and hopefully he'll take the stitches out of my knee. It's still achy but my workout this morning felt good. I think most of my aches are due to loss of muscle tone in that leg and knee--at least I hope so!

Going back into the workshop this weekend to get things done for World Horror and hopefully the etsy page. I have some great new steampunk stamps and some ideas that I hope will pan out. It looks like we'll be moving the lab late in the month after we get the electricity up to our (admittedly high) standards, install a vent fan, and fix the A/C(!!).

I just heard that Diana Wynne Jones has passed away. I've been reading her books most of my life, and it feels like I've lost a friend, though I never got a chance to meet her in person.

*sigh*

I took the dressing off my knee and I now have 3 new teeny scars to go with the previous two. I also have to wear something called an Anti-Embolism Elastic Stocking for 6 days. It's white. It goes from my toes to the top of my thigh. It's too warm to wear long pants. yay?

My brother came over with dinner last night and we had a nice talk (since we avoided politics and religion).  My ortho doc had called him--if I don't reduce the stress on my knee --aka, LOSE WEIGHT--I'll be in a wheelchair in 10 years. Not acceptable.

Time to get fucking serious about this. Does anyone have any tips about working out?

I'm really working hard to eat better, though it's going to take a while to break the bad habits of almost 50 years. I have been feeding myself since I can remember. My mama wasn't big on cooking and was more than happy to have me take as much responsilbility for myself as I could as soon as I could. (I'm pretty sure I freaked out my sister-in-law when I asked her why the kids weren't cooking dinner...when they were 9.) So I never really learned how to eat correctly.

I really want to go to the Zilker Garden Festival tomorrow, Hm, I'll even fork out for the $3 parking, since they have golf carts to ferry you to and from the parking lot. I need to replace some plants that died in the Great Freeze this winter (um...that would be most of them, lol).

OK, feeling a bit better. :-)

The man who commissioned the crystal was very pleased. \o/

I had very spicy beef from the great Szechuan place down the street.

I moved the FrameMaker training to next week, since I wouldn't be very good at it. (I'm a tad nervous.)

I canceled my 7am workout tomorrow. I think I need the sleep more than anything.

The house is relatively clean so I can get around on one leg if needed.

The giant Italian Word Doc of Doom is coming on slowly.

OK, surgery is scheduled for 8am on Friday. Now I need to organize rides to and from the surgery center. I'm so glad they're working with the center out in Cedar Park since the drive out to Oak Hill can be a real pain. Should only take about an hour and I can probably go home early in the afternoon.

I was at All-Con in Dallas this weekend, running the booth for Mr. Pegasus. It was a last-minute thing, and it was a nice little show. Lots and lots of costumes, including whole families dressed up. I was planning on getting enameling done, but I at least got a commission finished that had been hanging fire since *cough*August*cough*. alycorn was amazing and set everything up on Friday and loaded the truck on Sunday, saving my knee a lot of pain.

Of course, on the drive back last night there was a wreck in Belton so I had an hour added to my trip. Joy.

We will be moving the Lab soon, so I need to get out there and get some work done. I'm selling at the World Horror Convention here in Austin at the end of April and of course I've left everything until the last minute. Getting that commission out of the way has really cleared the decks creatively--I have a lot of great ideas bubbling around.

Here's one shot of that commission piece. It's a great big crystal, almost 3 inches long and over 3/4 of an inch wide at the widest point. The owner wanted to be able to wear it from either end and gave me carte blanche on metals. I think it turned out pretty nice. I sure hope he likes it!


Off to do laundry and watch Hawaii 5-0!

I go in tomorrow morning to hear the results from my MRI on the Evil Knee.

Distractions. I needs them.


(You see, I'm pretty damn scared that he's just going to say "Sorry" and prescribe me pain pills. I really don't want to live with chronic pain.)

Last Wednesday, I went to my podiatrist, since  I felt that my orthotics weren't fitting as well as they had been. He looked them over, took new x-rays of my feet, and made me little cork inserts to go under the heels of my orthotics. (They are less than 1/4 inch thick in the back.) He also tells me that I have arthritis in the tops of my feet, which, combined with my information that I now have diagnosed arthritis in my hands, made him a bit worried. OK, I'm seeing my doctor/brother in a couple of weeks, I'll bring it up with him then. I walk out with the inserts in and thing nothing more of them. By the end of Thursday (loading in for IkkiCon, lots of heavy boxes to move), my right knee was starting to be unhappy with me.

( (Cut for knee complaints) )

I did make it to the farmers market today and got more Wonderful Bacon, some local olive oil, still more pecans, and some green garlic and carrots to make soup with tomorrow. I had a good afternoon with my friend L. We are now trying to find a gym that we can both get to easily that we can afford so we can work out together! I took down my Christmas lights and took out a lot of trash and cleaned the porch. Now I need to put up all my foreign coinage I've accumulated for jewelry. Y'all stay warm now!

Wow, I've been in a fog of tiredness today. I had my CPAP study last night, and even though the rig took some getting used to (I'm a side sleeper, annoying with something that goes over your nose), my sleep quality was much higher than I've gotten used to getting. I need to get one of these.

However, they booted me out at 6-bloody-a-m, and after the mandatory shower to get the electrode gel out of my hair, I was just awake enough to make going back to bed problematic. So I took myself out to Kerbey Lane for breakfast, and then read the paper, read a book, vacuumed, cleaned the ceiling fans, have done 2 loads of laundry taken out lots of trash, hung a curtain, and aired out the apartment. It's 73F right now, and I'm taking advantage of it while I can. (Tomorrow it will be 55F.)

I still need to take one of my BFFs out to his early birthday dinner tonight, with his wife and mom. One of his presents still hasn't shown up, but his main one has, so I'll call it a win.

Stonesetting is still kicking my butt, but I have plotted out a pendant using a really nice stone I have. Once I order the fine silver wire for it (it's going to be partially enameled), I should be able to make it in relatively short order. Or so I hope.