Fall Equinox

Twenty-five years ago I was diagnosed with orthostatic intolerance, and hypermobility, although that didn't mean the same thing back then as it does now.  Back then it just meant 'fragile and accident prone'.  I had a lot of issues with allergic reactions (suspect MCAS now, but not confirmed) and learned by trial and error what I could eat, and what I should stay away from, and how to survive the constant bruises and cuts, rolled ankles, strained tendons and shoulder and knee and hip dislocations and everything else that comes with that.  So, for me, that was just life.  And about six years ago something changed and my healing process slowed down - stress, aging, it was all getting a lot worse and harder to come back every time I injured myself.

About that time as well, my first cousin told me she had EDS, had been genetically tested for it at a big clinic and was now being treated.  She thought a lot of what I was going through could benefit from the dietary changes she had made - since none of the clinics anywhere near me had any clue about this.  One told me they only check for that in children, and if I was still alive after all this time, chances were low that I had any problems with it.  Times have changed since then - there is big news coming out in a few months about that.  

Anyway, I had international friends in UK and Canada and they told me more about what they knew about it.  I studied into that and found a lot of similarities.  I learned a lot, especially about vitamins and how the body processes them.  Even that helped myself some towards getting a little better than I was.   I was just trying the anti-inflammation diet, lots more protein, vitamin C and being as careful as I could with myself, and that did help a lot.  

 About two years ago I read another article and it put a big lightbulb on.  It was talking about folate processing and not being able to process folic acid into the correct body usable form.  The article was connecting this with EDS like symptoms and suggesting that those that didn't test genetically for EDS might actually have this problem going on mimicking the symptoms.  At that time, I started taking the first supplement daily and saw good results, it was L-methylfolate, the form the body can use and normal people can process down from a variety of foods, including the folic acid that is supplemented into many foods.  It is necessary to a lot of the tissue healing and energy systems of the body.   

My sister confirmed a few months ago, through her health insurance, that she does have that genetic condition, MTHFR variation, and so do her daughters.  I went and read though that article again and looked up more of the things that have been talked about since that initial information was released.   I saw there was another supplement that was simple and food-based, but that could help a little more, especially when taken in combinations.  

 

I started the second half of the equation today - two versions of the cysteine complex, taken in staggered days - one is an extra dose of the food version with Vitamin C to help it process, and the other is the actually half-digested version by itself.  It might just pass through but it might help.

 

What I hope to see improve is better wound healing and hair and nail growth. I'll hold my breath on the 'increased energy/decreased fatigue'. The first supplement, I believe, really helped to get beyond the 'what am I falling apart?' stage and strengthen the tissues from breaking as often (like bloody noses when I would sneeze, fewer of those now) and I don't dislocate quite as often just doing normal things like walking down the stairs but I still have really slow healing like bruises and cuts that take weeks to heal.

September Sunday

Coda is 10 weeks old now

She is almost eating just regular puppy kibble and our other dog's food mixed together now, compared to giving her some canned puppy food the past few weeks with that.

 I had the day off and spent much of it playing Minetest Asuna

Used up leftovers in the fridge, bacon from a few days ago, hamburger from making pizza last night, and canned tomatoes along with some frozen vegetables and a box of Rice a Roni Stir Fried rice flavor which was made in the rice cooker.  It was a really good flavor. 

Work every other day this week now again.

I have been doing French again, almost exclusively, with very little of anything else. 

The bruise on my arm took three weeks to heal, but I can finally say that yes it has healed up and stopped reopening underneath the surface.  The one on my leg has taken two but it was nowhere near as worrisome as the popped vein in the arm.  I'm sleeping okay but have a lot of sinus issues so up during the night for hours before I can sleep again.  I'm not eating quite as much as I had been when I was doing the walking postal route for two and a half months straight - I've been driving a route for the past week and will through Tuesday - then restaurant again, and we'll see how the next week pans out. 

Coda

 

Coda is a Great Dane Mix puppy.  She has been here for over a week now, two weeks soon - and our other dogs Charlotte and Minerva have finally begun to warm up to her.  She is eating more dry food, has come to an agreement with all the cats and Melody, the blind goat and is learning much more about outside and so forth.  She has velociraptor 'bite the world' moments as well as very sweet 'could you please play toy with me' and lots of floppy my paws are too big and I have no idea where I'm going until I get there moments.

miles per hour

 life has been moving by fast, juggling two jobs and taking little girl back and forth to college - trying to keep up with all of that, clean the house a little, and keep the fridge and animal feeds stocked etc etc.

I've been sewing a few things, as well, often late at night when I wake up (sometimes by act of cat - Kiki has appointed herself my personal shadow most of the time, even as I type this she is sleeping half draped across the keyboard and I often have to 'fight' her for use of my hand on the mouse)

 

 will try to come up for air again sooner than last time

also had to change my phone over, because I broke the edge of my old one and it was getting critical (starting to swell) and that was a huge mental task there right up until it was done  - that also means my duolingo is now back to only the 'old one' that I have had for nine years - and I'm mostly doing French on it, with a little Japanese  

Twenty years, now and then, KnitOwl Toys

 

  

 

Someone whose mom bought a KnitOwl handsewn toy twenty years ago contacted me today with a picture of the much-loved kangaroo and it's tiny joey, intact after many washings and adventures.  It was heartwarming - and I remember many times when our own daughter E lost her own kangaroo's baby joey and we had to go looking for it among all the toys before she could sleep at night.   The fabric had originally come from a men's cotton shirt - and I had chosen it at a thrift store to make some quilts with.  The entire toy except for one seam was made with tiny stitches with a hand sewing needle and hand quilting thread, from my original hand drafted pattern.  The joey stood only 2.5 inches tall.

 

I think sometimes about making some more toys - and putting them up, but as I told her, life gets in the way and I am always off to do something else.  Even last week, I was wondering about making another one of the dinosaur world type toys I had sent to another friend's daughter - or the forest rabbit log toy that E had (and we spent some time with that bunny getting lost, as well, as it was supposed to live in the log *ha* and it had some leaves for food etc.)

 

 

Most of all, it was nice to hear that it had been loved, and brought joy to a child - which was the entire point of making them in the first place.  I tried to - through some sort of Velveteen Rabbit magic - put some sort of personality and happy feeling into every one hoping it would carry through in some way.

 

Thank you for sharing your memories with me, and letting me see that the craftsmanship really did hold up very well over the years.

 

Marie at KnitOwl Toys (formerly MarieMeyer.etsy.com) 

  

Minetest Mineclonia house with kelp garden

 

 In the Mineclonia version of Minetest, kelp can be grown on sand or gravel in water - not dirt - and the deeper you make the pool the taller it can grow.  When harvested, you must pull the entire strand and collect the extra, then replant.  Here are some kelp gardens built beside houses by the sea - each of them able to produce kelp, which can be dried in a furnace and used as a food source.  Once you find the other type of soybeans in the game (the brown ones, not the green ones) you can make baked tofu, and use the kelp with that to make other food.  This is part of the vegetarian plant based foods mod.

 

You can also find, as part of the Italian foods mod, these little Italian village gardens in some places in the world - it took me a long time to find one - but they have basil and the 'other' type of tomatoes that can be made into tomato sauce and is used to make pizza and lasagna foods.

 This shows what the basil and the other type of tomatoes looks like in your inventory.

Also, really weird thing - the blueberries, not in those gardens but just growing out in the world, can be made into lapis lazuli.  No explanation why.  Put a blueberry on your crafting board and it turns into a shard of lapis lazuli.  Put nine shards together and they become a block.  I haven't found it anywhere in the mining, and only found this by complete accident.  The lapis lazuli shards can also be used for making blue dye.