Oh, My Aching...

...back. 

Yep. Back. In the past 30-ish hours, I would rather have given birth to a set of 10-lb. (each) triplets. 

My back has been bothering me for about 2 weeks now, and until a few days ago, I had been managing using yoga and stretching. Though it had begun to spasm more and more often - so I asked my friend if she knew a good chiropractor, since the one I used to use was arrested for child porn. 

That's true, by the way... 

Anyway, my appointment was for yesterday, and up till then, I thought things were healing nicely. Till I woke up. And it was in full "someone is using a jackhammer on my spine" spasm. So bad that when I got into my car to go to the doctor, I had to lift my left leg in. 

Yeah. Fun. He went through the usual new patient rigamarole, and did give me an adjustment - which he says he normally doesn't do, but for those of you of a certain age, I can tell you that I was doing a pretty good imitation of Tim Conway's "little old man shuffle." For those of you who don't have a clue, here's the You Tube... classic comedy. (Fair warning: it's funny, so don't blame me if you're drinking something and it comes out your nose...)

But not funny when it's you!

Today, I feel a bit better. I'm thinking this guy will be ok - he called me at 8:30 p.m. and asked how I was doing. 

I'm actually baking some cookies. My back still hurts, and where he adjusted me is feeling a little tender, but I believe this is the best road for now. I don't want to go the "muscle relaxer" route, because I think this is structural. 

I'm pretty sure that it happened when I fell asleep in a twist - knees and hips pointing east and shoulders pointing west. It happens, and I like twists... but not for 5 or 6 hours at a time!

I didn't teach last night; yep - it was that bad! Nothing was helping for the pain, unless I wanted to try to function going from a squat to a child's pose. And that's not necessarily useful to your daily life. 

After heat & cold, I then iced for 20 minutes every couple of hours. I have to do more of that today. He also said, "no squishy couches; firm chairs, firm mattress or floor." So since we have a Sleep Number bed, I cranked it up to 90 last night. It did make a difference. Hubby says I like sleeping on a "concrete slab" anyway; but it did change how I felt. 

I've been thinking that I had to replace my chiropractor, but the only thing I wish is that this new guy had an acupuncturist on-site. He doesn't, but I'll find one. 


Cookies...

So I've had a hankering for chocolate chip cookies. This is the Baker's Square recipe off the box - double chocolate. I'll let you know how they turn out. They're a little more moist than my usual recipe, and I should have melted the butter with the chocolate, but we'll see how they turn out. **They're delicious!!!**

NOTE TO SELF: Because you gave away all your glass bowls, you had to melt the chocolate in a Pyrex measuring cup. THEY GET HOT!!! Do NOT grab the handle. 

I guess it's true that one pain cancels out the other, because after I grabbed the hot glass handle of the measuring cup, for a brief moment, my back didn't hurt at all! 

Bigger needles, thinner yarn!

They're kind of going to be "monster cookies" - rather large. But that's ok. 

Knitting...

I'm still working on the Before & After scarf, and I think I'll just do that the rest of this week. Sock #2 of Bowties are Cool will be fine; and I need to see a little movement on that B & A project. 

It's nice to feel the alpaca lace-weight; it's very squishy and will be nice next to the skin. 

I've also been cruising some of the sock patterns, anticipating my next bag of stashed yarn. Haven't found anything that sings, but then I am also fond of letting the yarn tell me what it wants to be. 

Heck, I may grab a non-stashed hank of some Opal and do a plain vanilla just for the heck of it. A nice 1" cuff and then off we go. Done and done. 

I have a stash-baby-hat staring at me. That might be next on the WIP list. Just - again - to give my hands a break from size 1 needles. 

Garden...

So we finally (well, hubby did) got the garden weeded in between rain storms. Who knew? The weather guy finally said June will be "the wettest in some time." Ya think??

Here are a few pictures. And of course, it's going to thunderstorm tonight. 

So, quick tour. We have daylily plants around the front yard. We did have some "hedge roses" but several bad winters dealt the death blow to them. Nothing, it seems, will kill these. 

We've got a bunch of different colors, and the little buttery-yellow ones are Stella d'Oro - which you see in a lot of public spaces here, as they'll bloom all summer. 

I believe the dark maroon lily here is "Cranberry Cove" or something. I used to have labels on all of them, but we had divided them over the years and had given a lot of them away. 

Next up is a full view of the "triangle garden" - which is actually more "home plate" shaped, but for our purposes, when we mention the triangle, know which bed we're talking about. 

This area, last year, was overwhelmed with marigolds, due to Hubby's desire to have a "full" garden. It was too full. It looked over-blown and I didn't like it. That being said, those marigolds certainly kept the mosquitoes away! This garden now contains a number of different, lighter plants. 

Pink cosmos

Next to the flag pole are Columbaria; there are petunias of various colors, snapdragons, gallardia at the front bottom left, and the huge poppy there toward the point. Also, up near that bird feeder pole (upon which there's no bird feeder) is the coneflower - a purple one. And in the front, at the right, is the dill. And another plant that I truly don't remember planting, so once it blooms, maybe I can figure it out then. 

Also in this bed are lavender and butterfly bush. They're closer to the poppy and the "bubble" looking gazing ball. We gave up on shading the bird baths; the solar panel bubblers wouldn't work, so they're both in the triangle bed. We haven't hooked up the bubblers yet - that's on the to-do list. 

At the very front, toward the street, are the lilacs. They didn't bloom this year; I'm told it's because they're still immature. 

Bee balm

The bee balm, however, did nicely on one side. Not so much on the other, and I can't figure that out. 

I'm trying to find a decent source for monarch-friendly milkweed, but I'm afraid we may be too late to plant it this season. 

I have seeds for hyssop and a few other hummingbird- and butterfly-friendly plants, and those will happen next year, likely. I just wanted instant color, so we got what we could get that was blooming. 

Speaking of blooming... remember that we had dill from last year? Well, of course it came back. Dill is friendly to swallowtail butterflies. And we had more than a few last year, which made me happy. 

But what I want you to look at is the head of dill which is resting on my palm. That's my palm. The head of dill reaches past my palm by a good 2" or more. And the plants themselves are about 4' high. 

Of course, this year we're not doing pickles. But my mom said that if I can get it bundled, she'd hang it in her basement to dry it. 

That's one for The Google, because I haven't ever dried dill before. I can say, though, that it's striking in the garden. And when we planned it this year, we took out about 2 or 3 feet of dill plants. It can - and will - easily overwhelm your space, so if you plant it, be vigilant about where.

Women on the Money...

Ok, so there was that campaign about getting a woman on the $20 bill. But Jack Lew has other ideas. He wants a woman to share a spot on the $10. 

Why in the world do we have to share?? Can't we be there by ourselves? Here's an excellent Op/Ed from yesterday's Chicago Tribune. And the Trib has a good suggestion - Jack Lew, our Treasury Secretary, wants opinions. So tell him: Women need to be on the $20!! Now, please... Here's another one. If you tweet, please let Mr. Lew know that we're done. We want to be seen on the money - the paper stuff. Go to #TheNew10 and let him know. 

Enough that we've been relegated to a $1 coin that's often mistaken for a quarter. Hmmmmmmm. Much like women's wages; diminished... Even the cartoonists are having a field day. 

The thing is, it's about time. I know - it's only money. But we can't even get past the still-looming "78-cents on the dollar" wage gap. Why can't we just have a picture of a woman on the $10 that it takes us a couple more hours to earn? Is that asking too much? 

Random Picture...

We have doggie detente. For now at least. It's not likely we'll get all 3 on the couch... Tippi likes to take her half out of everyone else's. 

But for now, peace reigns in the house. 

Tippi is shedding up a storm. (No pun intended) She's the last of the 3 to give way and of course, tufts are in everything. I've taken to putting a napkin over my tea mug just because I don't really need the extra fiber. 

And if I'm not at least partially covered in dog hair, it must be that I haven't been home lately!