For the 'Love' of Yoga

and the hate of all things rubber.

I'm taking a Yoga class at the local Junior College.

It's supposed to be stress relief.

All the yoga mats I can find locally, including two I already own, are made out of rubber or some variation thereof. FYI TPE is plastic and rubber and Nike uses it in their super cute hot pink mat that I cannot use. WAH!

I don't give a flying flip if it's Natural Rubber from a tapped tree. It still has to be processed to be stabilized and it's the chemicals used in that processing that I'm allergic to.

So I'm mostly liking yoga. I'm totally hating that the only cotton yoga mats I can find online at all at least $80 and there is NO way in snow's chance at my house this past Saturday am I spending that much on a freaking mat.

This of course means I'm having a huge skin flare again. To the drawing blood point, AGAIN. Don't tell me not to scratch. If your skin felt like mine does right now, you'd be clawing it too.

So I'm probably making my own mat tonight out of flannel and a ton of cotton batting and I see a new dermatologist on Wednesday.

And yeah, I'm cutting the nails off again. The kitty cats will be most disappointed.

Identity Crisis

The blog is going through a transition.

I have stuff I want to write about but don't know if I should.

I run the risk of hurting some people close to me if I write about everything I want.

I'm trying to decide if I care about that anymore since this is my blog and I'm done trying to please everyone all the time.

Slugbo and I are in therapy to try to get State Adoptions to change their mind about passing us off to another agency. I am in individual therapy to deal with the fact that I cannot have kids of my own, so if I seem a little grumpy, deal with it because I hate therapy.

I've started a Yoga class at the local junior college. Tried to talk Slug into a ballroom dance class to no avail. Sigh.

My skin still hates me but not as much as before. I get to see a new dermatologist next month.

We do not have a new placement yet, but we did get our capacity increased to two, so we might get a sibling set.

I'm still knitting and make it out to knit group on Saturday about once a month right now.

We are turning the front yard into a giant kiddy habittrail. I really should post pictures of that. It looks like a play structure factory exploded on my property. And tell my dad to get his butt out here to visit and help Slugbo put all this stuff together. Come on Dad, you cannot b* about gas prices this year.

Belated Birthdays

Yeah I still suck.

I spend so much of Cliff the Mutt's own birthday telling him how amazing it is that I've had him since he was 4 months old that I forget to tell of you about it.

Cliff the Mutt's birthday was this past Monday. He's 11. I was home sick so I got to spend the day with my boy.

He's a therapy dog.

He's about to become a reading program dog.

He's the best four legged thing that ever came into my life and I love him dearly.

I passed another birthday this week.

Little N turned 4 Wednesday.

We haven't heard anything from her new home. I sent a card. We got her a present, but we are trying to find out how to get it to her without annoying anybody.

We still miss her.

Life goes on.

Been Travelling

Granted my ride has been better than this.

I'll be home late tomorrow.

Wordless Wednesday

Let the record show I'm in a good mood as long as I ignore the people logging cases with my employer.

Need New Socks

and I don't knit nearly fast enough.

Imagine this.

1. Go in and get the T.R.U.E. Test Allergan patch test done.

2. Get results.

3. Realize you need to replace most of your wardrobe.

4. Have an absolute hissy fit because you HATE shopping for jeans and socks and pretty much everything!

That's right I got the results back. Biggest one is Carba Mix. That's rubber people. That's stuff in ten gazillion things you use every day from your shoes, to the handles on your workout equipment, to the spandex in your favorite stretch jeans. Generic Spandex that is.

So first I have to throw out all my socks. I don't knit fast enough for this.

I need new jeans - so far online I've only been able to find one brand that has either the registered Lycra spandex content, or polyester elastane. And of course they are not cheap.

Most of my t-shirts are toast.

I should probably just switch to linen or 100% cotton for pants but I'm not having a lot of luck there and gosh knows I'm not buying anything that hs to be dry cleaned if I don't have to.

Second worst reaction was to a formaldehyde complex used in insulation, fiberglass and the glues used to make plywood. This one wasn't too much of a shocker. We knot fiberglass and insulation hate me.

Last one is to Budesonide - this is a corticosteroid used commonly to treat skin disease. It's in a ton of OTC anti itch creams as well as prescription creams (including the one I've been using for the past two months) and many nasal sprays. Ask me what I've been using on my skin to make the itchies go away.

And the one they prescribed to me today after checking the list of ones to avoid.... made my hand burn mildly after I applied it to my legs. Same EXACT CHEMICAL COMPOSITION of one of the things on the list that it states I will probably react to as well!!!!

I am sick of being a freak of nature.

PS if you care to take pity on me and/or want to knit me socks. I wear a 7.5. I like shorties. I'll take any color except solid black, grey or brown. The brighter the better. Now I have to go finish my neon orange Fawkes sock of which I made the first one last summer.

Knitters Do

We were watching 'De-Lovely' last night and there is a scene where Cole and Mr Murphy are on horseback and talking about Murphy's son's TB prognosis and how their wives are there to help them through the tough times.

Mr Murphy said at the end of it, "who catches them when they fall? " meaning the wives.

My answer for me is that Knitters Do.

I went to my Saturday knit group for the first time in about 6 weeks this past weekend. They've been following on my blog and my FB account everything Slugbo and I have been going through with the adoption stuff and Little N. They've seen the mood swings caused by the IVF drugs and the heartbreak when neither of them worked.

They know how hard it is for us to be going through this.

So I got to knit group Saturday and when I walked in some of the ladies were off to the side working on the crocheted border of a blanket. I said it looked nice without really looking at it (though I did wonder but not out loud if they needed help with the crochet) and started talking to Ba, thinking the blanket was for Angelita's new grandson, since her daughter is also part of our knit group.

A little while later I'm fighting with my lace and Carol has to leave and is saying goodbye to everyone and the next thing I know the blanket gets plopped down in my lap with them saying it's for me. Of course I promptly burst into tears.

Lynne, Anne, Sheri, Carol, Jan, Lois, Mary Sue, Liz, Angelita, Rosemary, Bridget, Kristen, Ba, June, and Taunya all contributed a square or two.

Ba, Carol, Jan, Angelita, Anne, Laura, Lynne, Sheri and Rachel all contributed to the putting together and the border.

Now most of these ladies I know. A couple I might be able to pick out in the group by process of elimination and there are at least 2 I haven't officially met. Quite a few of these ladies are super busy in their home and professional life. The fact that any of them took time out of their regularly scheduled knitting to make something like this for me, let's me know that even if I'm not a regular at the group, they have my back. They are my support group no matter how long it's been since the last visit.

Thanks so much my Knotty Knitters.

It's beautiful and I'll treasure it always.