Hello, friends. What’s been going on with you? It’s finally Spring!! Tell me I’m not the only one running around with soccer games, t-ball games and trying to do stuff outside the house.

In some few spare moments, I made progress on sewing projects until my iron blew up on me. Oops. But, thankfully, before that happened I taught my big kid how to use the sewing machine for a class project. (She can sew!) We didn’t get snippy with each other – I’m grateful for that. Because you know, it’s so easy to get frustrated teaching your own kid.

Took a break from sewing and worked in the garden beds and in the wasteland of our very clayey backyard. (Clayey, it’s a legit soils engineering word.)

Then – ouch. Not in my back, but my hands. It took a few weeks to shake off. (I’m sad about that. Means I’m getting old.)

Working the soil on your own was pretty satisfying, and I thought I did pretty well all things considered.  But basically, I was using muscles in my hands that haven’t been stressed for a while, and it didn’t occur to me that they would hurt so much. It was pretty unpleasant for someone with a high threshold for discomfort.  So I started to wonder if this was it… arthritis. It’s prevalent in my family. Are my genes catching up to me? (Did I ever write about being tested for rheumatoid arthritis? I’m good. No signs.)

I even made sure I wore my wrist braces to sleep (yes, both wrists) to make sure I didn’t wake up with numb hands. (Yeah, carpal tunnel too.) So when I woke up the next morning with awfully sore hands, I thought, okay, let’s take some Advil and all will be well. Right hand, good. Left hand, not so good. So, there’s been a slowdown of sewing/work around the house. But, I’m glad to say, my hands have returned to mostly-normal.

We were gone for a few days… visited friends, worked on bicycles. So. Much. Fun.