Okay, lets try this again (yop update)

I have been making some progress.  A while back I started a new medication and I feel like it is helping some but I also have to really work at dealing with difficult stuff that it hasn't helped with.  I've started getting out of the house.  I got a used car so I can go places on my own during the day.  I had a lot of anxiety at first, especially since it has been so long since I've driven on my own.  My husband put me to the test though and he said to get in the car and drive to this place about 30 minutes away.  He rode shotgun and played navigator.  I felt more comfortable with him there.  The highway and intersections have been redone now and everything's so different.  In town there are new intersections that are really weird now and roads have been repaved and some widened and just changed.  I'm getting used to so many different changes.  I had depression with agoraphobia so I started going to places close to my house first until I was more comfortable and then gradually push out the boundaries.  

I started going to this place in the mall to get some exercise.  I like that it is only women, it's close to my house, Michaels is at one end of the mall and there's a grocery store at the other end.  It's not much of a mall so that's not far to walk.  I have been going to exercise on Tuesdays and Thursdays and then sometimes I stop by and grab a few groceries for the week.  It feels good to start feeling closer to my normal self again.  I still have a lot of chronic pain and often when I exercise I trigger a pain flare and then can't get out of bed for a while. I'm learning to only give 50% effort to avoid triggering a Fibromyalgia flare and I have to protect my joints so I can hopefully avoid a psoriatic arthritis flare.  It's tricky.  This is a picture of my new to me car in my driveway above.  It was a few minutes to midnight there and the sky was still blue.  We are slowly losing daylight and getting a little darker at night.  I got some seat covers on amazon for my car to to make the insides more my taste.  The interior is beige, which I'm not a fan of, and it was a little stained.  My seat covers add some navy with smaller sections of the beige so they match still and it looks good.  

So I have crocheted a baby blanket.  It was quick and easy.  It's the Baby Blue Cotton Blanket by Kris Moore.  I called this one The Mermaid Blanket.  This is for a mom who loves green.  This yarn is beautiful and it looks a lot prettier in person.  I used Caron Blossom Cakes.  I left off a few rounds of the border because it was getting so big.  It is about 33 to 34" square.  I actually wanted it to be a rectangle but I adjusted the size of the rectangle (width and length) to make it smaller so the whole thing wouldn't be so big and when I added the border it ended up being a square.  It is what it is.  It is going to the new mom right now.  

Okay, I'm going to do my best to keep going and improving.  I hope everyone is having a great summer and hopefully, not too hot.  

DJ

Meet Ms. Frizzle

Tradescantia Callisia repens 'Pink Panther'

This is a newish plant for me but it really makes me happy to see above my sink each day.  I think I got it in April and it has really filled in that container.  I really need to divide it and put it in a pot with better  drainage.  This is just an old canister that I removed the hardware that holds the lid.  I used the lid to put underneath a different plant.  I love that shade of green.  It is very close to the color of my kitchenaid mixer and tea kettle in pistachio. The lighting isn't very good so the colors are off.  There's more pink and the pot is lighter.  I tweaked the color a little but I can't lighten the color of the pot or get the pink to show like it really is without washing out the plant too much.

I had such a good Saturday.  I had looked through the Costco flyer and checked prices to see what items would be good to get and save us money.  I check the prices on the grocery store websites and compare.  I noticed there was a Ninja Deluxe Kitchen System (blender/food processor with 2 nutri ninja cups) for $40 off.  I got it for $139.  I added a link to it on Amazon but there's not a price for it there.  I really needed a new blender since mine old one was leaking. It was such perfect timing.  I was looking at another small blender on amazon and this thing with all the extras is somehow cheaper.  I've been making a lot of fruit/veggie smoothies and it's helping me lose weight.  It's also really good for when it's really hot outside too.  This thing can also shred cheese, grate/slice etc.  It shreds cheese better than the cumbersome attachment for my kitchenaid mixer.  I made a Frappuccino this morning for breakfast and added protein powder.  I'm super happy.  I think the sale runs through July 20 so if you have a Costco membership you might be able to still get the deal on this.  

Isn't it weird how we can get all excited about mundane things sometimes?  I'm mean, it's a blender.  I do remember my mom being super excited about getting a Kirby vacuum cleaner.  I thought she was crazy but I was a kid.  Now I get it.  I have so many plans for things to try out with this.  My main goal for today was to find it and all its parts new living quarters.  That's easier said than done.

I also went out for dinner with my husband and some friends Saturday.  We went to a sushi place and it was my first time trying it.  I had a california roll and it was good.  I really suck at using chopsticks but I kept trying.  Eventually I will get the hang of it.  

I need to go dig around in my yarn and find something I can make for next week for YOP week 1.  

~D