Wednesday, January 18, 2012

Challenges

So last time I was talking about the Iron Craft challenge I decided to take on, however as I entered that first challenge late I only had a few days to complete it as opposed to the two weeks that are allotted for each challenge, I didn't get as much done as I had hoped to... My intention was to take on something I've never done or even heard of before, quilling, a neat form of paper art that take thin strips of paper and rolls them into spiraled shapes. Mine was to be a 3-D sculptural scene of water, lilypads and an orange lotus flower, as the lotus flower in Japanese culture symbolizes perseverance in difficult times and overcoming harsh conditions, and orange is the color of the RSD awareness ribbon. I was going to give the finished project away for the Balloon release/orange flower giveaway awareness day in April(Here's a link to the Facebook event page if anyone is interested. Join the group or keep an eye on the Hope Over Pain folks, this is likely to happen again next year if you miss it this year! http://www.facebook.com/events/129168153868432/). I plan to still finish this project on my own, and will of course post pictures as it's finished. <3 However, the IC Challenge continues, so that takes precedence for now.

Challenge #2 is Hearts and Flowers. Hmmm.... Not sure what I'm going to do on that one yet... I know I have my truffle recipes(yes, I bake a LOT when I'm feeling up to it or when my family can help with the heavy lifting, that will be apparent in time ^-^) which include some flowery flavors, like my lavender and rose water ones. I have rose shaped candy molds as well, but I'm not sure what to do about the hearts... I would certainly like to do some kind of chocolate truffle for this, I'll just have to give it some more thought to give it that artistic element. Maybe some piping bags are in order... :)


Another thought on challenges, if anyone has a spinal cord stimulator device do NOT forget to charge that sucker... I've been rather fog-headed lately and hadn't checked how much charge is in my internal battery(I'll have to go into more detail on what that is sometime, in case anyone reads this and isn't aware what that treatment option is about), then Sunday night I felt the stimulation randomly shut off, which it does when the battery is near dead as a safety measure or to preserve energy so it won't get damaged or something. I had to charge the charger itself first, and at this point it was already really late and I had physical therapy the next morning. When I was finally able to start charging the internal battery I was starting to feel the hurt coming through the residual stimulation pretty bad and was sooo tired, I fell asleep during it... oops. :/ I ended up sliding off the paddle that charges the internal battery, the charger ran out of energy and I woke up needing to plug it back in and leave for PT before it was done. I was HURTING, I didn't realize how angry and alive the RSD had become while I'd been having this wonderful stimulation covering it up. PT ended early when I was trying not to cry and holding back screams at each exercise they had me try... Good news is I'm all charged up and even got an adjustment from my amazing St. Jude's Medical guy so that level of pain is covered up for the most part again. :) Still pretty sore, but you can't really compare the two. Classes have also started and with the disability assistance from the school I'm shooting for all A's this semester. Fingerprinting, Victimology and General Biology I, should be good.

Friday, January 13, 2012

New Here....

Ok, a blog.... I finally went ahead with it, after multiple friends telling me I should make one, have an avenue to tell my "story" as someone who got RSD so young. Here's the thing, my thoughts tend to be a little un-focused from the condition and because my arms are affected I can't type a lot all at once, so baby steps are in order... Likely a lot of posts that start at one point in the day and end much later due to multiple breaks. :) But I'm inspired, dang-it! And rather stubborn... Let's call it inspired!

I have no idea what I'm doing....




So, the reason I finally got around to this was a very interesting challenge I saw online. The Iron Crafts Challenge. This looked like a great distraction, especially since I've got many weeks ahead of physical tortu- um, therapy. I'm giving it a shot, I've always liked crafts, and this is some great inspiration to actually get something done. I'm thinking of focusing my projects on an RSD theme since there are quite a few awareness events coming up.