It just keeps coming

I'm still trying to figure out the perks of being old..... besides retirement and grandchildren.

This past week I have been very productive.   In fact I think I've gotten more done this week than I did all summer.   I've been trying to get as many pieces done for my Transit Series as I can.  The four designs turned into eighteen pieces of jewelry.

I've been working my fingers to the bone every day.  Well, actually I've been working my fingers until they cramp (and I mean cramp!)  Yesterday I was doing some wire wrapping to finish off rubber cording.  That means holding on tightly and making small tight motions.  Last night I could hardly sleep as my right hand hurt so much and this morning I wasn't able to make a fist or hold a pencil.   It wasn't bad enough that my hand hurt but my inner thigh cramped up too last night at 4 AM.  (If you've never experienced that one..... you don't want too.  It's a killer pain like nothing I've ever experienced.)   Even though my hand hurt like hell today , I knew I had to keep trying to use it.  (Thank goodness for Aleve.)

Today I went to the studio again to finish up twelve silver pieces.   I wasn't sure how things were going to go (it even hurt to push the gear shift in the car) but eventually my hand loosened up and I was able to get all twelve pieces finished.

As I was polishing the liver of sulfur off the pieces I realized that I was using small tight  motions again.  (If I don't sleep again tonight....... I'll cry.  Oh wait.... I cried last night when my thigh cramped; so I'll cry again.)  Damn this never happened when I was young.  I'm afraid to find out what is going to cramp up next.  It just keeps coming.


Anyway,  here is a not so good picture of one of the finished silver pieces.  (For some reason photographing this one is giving me fits.)  It's a dainty necklace based on the architecture of the National Transit Building.  (Not going to tell you where the design inspiration is located until next week.)  At least my mind is still sharp enough (for the moment) to not slip up and give out the location.   The piece hangs from an  eighteen inch curb chain and sports a Swarovski crystal.  I made six of these pieces (each with different colors of crystals) as I think they will be well received.

Tomorrow night I'll post more pictures of some of the other jewelry.  (If I'm able to type after polishing today.)  

Why do I let him stay?

My husband is helping our oldest grandson with his science fair project, a potato gun.  (Which I don't think is appropriate for a third grader to make........ but he and I will discuss that when he gets home.)  Anyway, my husband wanted to print out the directions.  As usual, instead of asking for help with the printer he tried it himself.   First he yanked out the external hard drive device without ejecting it first.  Then he set up the printer (and I'm not sure what he did, but it did not work....... except to make loud clacking noises.)  In his defense the printer has done this before and I've never really figured out what it was.  Eventually, after about 20 minutes worth of flipping the printer over and pushing buttons it finally began to work.

So, I went to print out his article and discovered it was seventy pages worth.  (I am not using seventy pieces of paper for something I don't approve of.)  I didn't discover this until after five pages had already printed so I now have more pieces of scrap.  I then found a site that had a mini-potato gun.  Tried to print a PDF version of that and found out that I had to join the web site for $2.00 a month.  Heck with that.

Now you might think this post is about letting my husband stay.  Well it's not.  Instead, I'm questioning why I let my grandson stay overnight so much.  He was trying to help me figure out why the printer wasn't working.  "Grandma, do you have paper in the printer?  Sometimes old people forget to put paper in the printer!"

The operative word was "old people."  He's lucky I love him so much!

They just keep coming!

In an earlier post I discussed the signs of getting old, being called sweetie by young people, not being able to see the fine print (and the medium print,) dying the hair blonde to cover the white and thinking that pro football players all look like babies.  Well now I can add another sign that I am getting old; having to keep my medications in a weekly medicine container.  Damn, they just keep coming!

Now I'm sure

For the past four months I've been dealing with knee and shoulder pain.  I always thought I had a pretty high tolerance for pain but this chronic stuff is for the birds.

We suspect that the knee pain is a torn meniscus (in both knees.)  I was looking up information about the meniscus on the internet (because of course that's what we all do when we can't sleep at 3 AM) and discovered that meniscus injuries are common in athletes and old people.  Now we all know I'm not an athlete so where does that leave me?

I've suspected lately that I'm getting old.  Now I'm sure of it.  Damn!