Taking time off from kung fu classes. Will still practice as I'm able, on my own and at a slower pace. Therapy is having an effect, most of which is positive, but stability at speed is not at all what it should be, and the weirdness of uneven limbering up is being annoying.

More chigong and tai chi, and/or kung fu forms at tai chi-speed. Lots of soaking in the tub.

Less gardening this year, as that does a smashing job of wrecking me even more than kung fu.

Need new chair for computer station -- sitting too long in current chair is also worse than kung fu, doing a real job on the right hip and knee, down to the foot if I'm not careful.

***
Signed up for once a week class at Goldthread Apothecary and Farm -- 7 month program learning about growing, preserving, and using medicinal herbs. I got one of the scholarships too, which adds in writing up some blog posts and volunteering one day per month. This will tie in with the Ashfield New Futures group, as Goldthread will be bringing some herbs up for the community garden and I'll be one of the students helping with planting them.

***
House-hunting continues. Too bad we don't qual for more than we do, but hopefully we'll find a fixer-upper that is within our means at some point. Or land we can afford to build on.

***
A tiny bit of weaving happened this month, also a little spinning, mostly I've been sewing for craftiness.

***
Did do a little weeding and planted a few onions.

***
Need to box more stuff and get it out of the apartment!

Last night when Fitzw went down to the basement to do one last check and feed on the wood furnace, he cut his right palm open when the lever he was turning to close the door broke. We got it cleaned and bandaged, I drove him to CDH's emergency, and he got 5 stitches along the deepest part of it. No tendon or nerve damage thankfully, but I and other family members will be helping out with some of the chores he normally does as gripping anything strongly is... a bad idea. He has the day off from work, which is good since his mousing ability is limited as well right now.

Tomorrow his regular doc checks it out, and then stitches should come out next week.

The one convenient thing about this is we no longer have a conflict of kung fu class this Friday, when Elmer's Store will be having a lovely dinner followed by a feast of chocolates made by a local professional chocolatier :)

History of the term "Black Friday", for those interested... http://motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2011/11/real-story-behind-black-friday

So far my Black Friday shopping has been to go to breakfast with L, up at Elmer's.

****

I'm on FB because the kung fu school posts updates there, and then let myself get sucked into a couple of online games... fortunately I can generally do other online things at the same time, but really, need to re-think that gaming thing... altho' I'm having fun using the small base I've acquired to subject people to different ideas and thoughts than some of them are used to -- Farmville has, of course, a winter-themed storyline starting up, which they're calling, ever-so-creatively, Winter Wonderland. So I've started posting my own "quests" on my wall, which has sparked some funny conversations but also some good thoughts. If I have time later, I'll re-post the "quests" here, but essentially they're quests for real things one might actually want to have (food, drink, light, etc.).

****

So much more to do, but the bits of sorting and packing I've been doing are finally starting to make a visual difference here and there in the apartment!

****

Diet changes haven't been going smoothly during this holiday season, but could be worse. Staying gluten-free is pretty easy for me, but I'm trying to restrict fast-carb intake as well and that isn't going as well; need to have a little more will power there, but I have to say, the high quality hot cocoa at Elmer's is hard to pass up; at least I don't get the large... increasing dietary fat and overall calorie-intake helps, thank goodness! I've had problems with remembering to eat enough for years -- yes, I'm overweight, and no, restricting calories DOES NOT WORK -- that just puts the body into starvation mode. Left to my own devices, my typical caloric-intake is 900-1000/day. Yes, even during the first year+ of taking kung fu three times a week, plus farm activities... I'm trying hard to eat more, and when I succeed I definitely have more productive days.... otherwise I get the bare minimum done, if that.

Since going gluten-free I've lost about 30 lbs. If I can restrict fast carbs and consistently up my caloric intake, even for a few months, I should be able to kick my metabolism back into gear and lose the rest of the excess (I hope!). Immediate benefits are that I feel a heckuva lot better these days, and get more done than I used to, so the effort is definitely worth it. I don't much care if I get back to my college-days-weight, but since my particular physical structure doesn't hold up well under current conditions, another 20 would be good; my knees and back will thank me :D

So, didn't go to the Bartitsu workshop this past weekend because we were scheduled to test at school. Since L and I both missed a lot of classes this year because of illness or work, we took a couple of personal classes with one of the instructors (Sihing Ras), to work on defense techniques.

We got to the school a little ahead of time so we could freshen up on a few last things, and to warm up some. That ended up being nearly an hour because the juniors' exam ran late. We went in for the last 10-15 minutes of their exam and got to see them get their sashes, and then we started our exam. Originally there were four adults testing, but one bowed out as he realized he just wasn't up to the endurance part of it, plus it'd been a rough few weeks for him beforehand. Hope he tests next month - really nice guy, and good at kung fu too.

So, our test ran for about 4 hours, and we didn't even cover everything. Of course, the instructors get to see how we're doing in class as well, so I expect that gets rolled into it. L and I got our stripes to go on our blue sashes, and Melissa jumped from red to brown. She was a red sash for a little while, actually -- had an injury and has been working her way back up to par. Nice that she was able to test before moving...

Sifu says we are moving better every time he sees us :)

We wisely had a bit to eat and then hit East Heaven -- got a tub on the roof, even, which was heavenly.

And despite that, yesterday and today I am still rather sore. *sigh* Need to keep working on getting into better shape.

****
I was wondering the other day if my dad had flat feet, because I know my feet are wide like his.... but then he couldn't have been in the army, I think. But my mom doesn't either. Hm.... I know my back is like hers, prone to curving, which is one of the reasons I'm always working on maintaining at least a minimum level of fitness. I'm short enough, thanks :D

Also apparently I shouldn't do much in the way of static stretches, or if I do I should avoid stretching as far as possible. My muscles respond by pulling tight enough hours later into rocks/steel bands, and it's quite painful -- bad enough to wake me up.

So then I was wondering if chronic pain can be genetic or not... well, I suppose really it's a by-product of bad design in my case, LOL Ah well. Perhaps I should be happy about the excuse it gives me to go soak in a hot tub, which I really do love to do ;)

I do hope I can use my arms more or less normally tomorrow. Today, I think I might try to (gently and carefully) go through some of the hand forms, just so I don't lock up.

It's snowing up here. Down in the valley it's raining, but up here the ground is covered in white.

This morning we're going down to the school to help out with spring cleaning. Might stop in at the Amherst Sustainability Festival. Hope to be back home sometime in the late afternoon.

I meant to post that yesterday, really! But... well, things got off to a busy start yesterday. L's caught the local cold that's going around and didn't sleep well, so I did some of the chicken care (all but water, which he did before we left), put a couple of bags of feed down the chute and offloaded the grain from the minivan into the barn. Also boiled eggs for the grove's gathering and loaded clothing into the car for the celebration. Oh, and I even remembered to water the plants :D

Equinox/Alban Eiler went well enough -- good weather, our regular the blackbird was in attendance, and then there were the raptors overhead.

Spent a few hours at the grove gathering and then off to the FL meeting at the kung fu school. Then a few shopping errands and then off to choir practice. Ellid reviewed some things with me and I'll be working on that today. All in all, a busy day.

Mid-spring already, but likely won't be working on gardening stuff in earnest until we get back from Florida. I'd thought about starting my onions this month but decided it would be just one thing too many. And this way I only have to have my MIL take care of the rosemary and maybe the aloe. The ginger plants will be well watered this week and can make do without watering for several days -- too many and too heavy to move downstairs for just a week. Although..... well, I might ask niece S to come up and water them once when she's here cleaning downstairs... we'll see how the week goes.

Didn't have time to try out the skis this past weekend, but at least I'll have them for next year, and it was very nice getting them at 40% off!

Training at The Body Tailor is going well. Learning about posture and the corrections I need to make in mine has been good. I have a long way to go, but improved posture and particular exercises is leading to having a stronger core, which I just wasn't getting on my own, no matter how hard I tried.

Kung fu, when we can get there (schedule or weather permitting), is going along. Currently L and I are in limbo on whether or not we're going to the spring seminar in Florida. Looks like it will probably be in the Everglades at a campsite. Campsite has both tent camping and cabins, and would be inexpensive compared to other options looked at. L has to see if he could be spared from the sugaring crew (tentative dates for seminar are late March/early April), and also if nephew C would be willing to take care of the chickens.

Belatedly, we also need to ask him and niece B if they'd be willing to take care of the chickens in May, during Steampunk World Fair....

Started sewing L's dress shirt. Men's shirts are not like regular clothing :P But, I'm managing so far. We went down to Gfld today because I didn't have the right kind of interfacing for the cuffs and collar. We were going to stop at Big Y as well, but it was all kinds of crazy there.

We did stop at Mohawk Trading Post on the way home though, which was neat because neither of us had been there in many years. There is a lot of stuff there, and I forgot to check on what types of herbal teas they have (it's advertised on their store front). They had some crafting supplies, some tourist stuff, jewelry, votives, dreamcatchers, incense, flutes, moccasins (Minnetonka), kid stuff, and also a lot of books. Books range from kid stuff (including Disney's Pochohantas), to historical and cultural books, to how-tos. They had a good-size section on beading techniques, and they have beading supplies.

I picked up a small, super-easy beading book - _Beaded Dream Catchers_, by Mary R. Musgrove. L decided on _Making Native American Hunting, Fighting, and Survival Tools_, by Monte Burch.

The lady working there had a votive tomahawk she was working on beading around the upper part of the shaft; I suspect some of the beadwork in the store is hers. I might try making a dream catcher this week, just as a break from the usual mill of activity -- I have some dance bangles somewhere that could work for the hoop part, and beads and lightweight leather too. Hm, and beading thread, so I guess that's everything -- these are beaded instead of being sinew, for the web part.

Very glad we can drive the Honda Civic now - William's little car. It gets much better mileage than the minivan, which is good considering how much driving we're doing at the moment. I don't expect to be going to The Body Tailor for too long -- maybe a few more months? -- and we'll have to see what other trips we can minimize on. We still need the minivan at this point, mostly has a farm vehicle (picking up feed) and carting stuff around, but definitely using the little car more often.

We'll likely be taking a break from kung fu next fall, which will also cut back on some travel. Tuition is already paid through the end of September.

We've had some discussion on what seeds to order -- yes, I still haven't ordered them :( Really need to do that this week.

Got a hand-cranked corn sheller, which arrived yesterday and L has tried out today. Works pretty well, and will help with our effort to supply at least some of the chickens' feed ourselves. You can shell by hand of course, and there are gloves with little rasp thingies on them but.... well, if you're going to shell a few hundred ears a sheller is handy.

L got the corn/bean auger for the mill working properly (yay for instruction sheets!), so we don't need to get another mill just for the corn.

Fava beans goes on the list for the garden this year. Since some folks have soy sensitivity I want to go for the 2nd best bean for chicken feed (protein source). Soy is preferred both because it has the most protein and because it is a complete protein, but since the beans would be mixed with corn that will take care of completing the protein. Third part of the feed will be oats, which we've grown before, but we're going to need a thresher too (pedal-powered, I'm hoping).

Of course we aren't going to be rulers of all we survey, but I'm happy to say that the valances for the living room are finally done and up! And the topper for the wardrobe in the bedroom too, although that could have come out better... sigh. Nothing some strategically placed weights and some duct tape won't fix :D

The most important rooms to have really nice for CNY eve are the bedroom and kitchen, but I'm aiming higher than that this year.

Even mended a pair of socks today, almost done hemming MIL's pants, and this evening will be washing eggs. Yes, the chickens are laying, and the younger crowd are ramping up in size and number of eggs. Time to wash, size and box them, with some of them going up to Elmer's for sale. No kung fu tonight, as work (and hopefully a nap!) come first.

Although I don't think that last bit will happen until Sunday, as the Mass Maple Producers Association (MMPA) meeting is tomorrow. It's too bad that it conflicts with EK Rapier Champions, which Bergental is hosting, but one can't have everything. Hm.... the lunch provided should be interesting... I might want to bring a small bag of dried fruits and nuts just in case...

Tired today. Fitzw's tired too, and he has even more reason to be -- he's been outside most of the day, plowing and de-icing. Comes in for a short break and to get a little work done (you know, his real job?), and then back out again. I only worked on building up the snowbank against one wall of the chicken rooms, to keep the wind from blowing in underneath their floor.

So... aside from the neverending tasks, work continues on trying to sort things out, re-organize things, and get rid of stuff. I found out last week that our bank is collecting stuff not only for soldiers but their families as well, which is great because I have a few things kids would like but I wasn't sure where to take them.

***
We managed to get to our personal trainer session yesterday for most of the time we were scheduled for -- it's really funny doing an exercise that's essentially learning to sit and stand up again, but the core and hamstrings development is good. And we got another one that works on realigning the spine to do. My hip still bothers me, but the exercises seem to help alleviate it some.

Then it was race back to the farm, change vehicles, get the dog, and race back down to the vet's.

Multiple things going on here -- we've been getting my FIL William's old car fixed up so it could pass inspection, getting insurance, getting the plates/ownership/insurance switched... It's a Honda Civic, so we'll use a lot less gas by using that car when possible instead of the minivan.

Duke, the farm dog, has been doing poorly, so we've been taking him to the vet, going to pick up meds, etc. Duke has been responding to the pain meds but not as well as the doc would like, so L picked up another one today (after he got the Honda inspected). It's too soon to tell if the antibiotics are working, but at least the meds don't disagree with Duke, so that's good. He tested weakly for Lyme's disease, so assuming he doesn't have an adverse reaction, he'll get the full treatment. Meantime, we'll see if the second pain med helps with reducing the swelling in D's right foreleg. If it isn't reduced by Monday, we'll be taking him down on Tuesday for an x-ray.

***
And soon, probably starting Sunday or Monday, we'll be trying to eat mostly grain-free/fast-carb-free for 30 days, as part of the training program. Yes, both of us. Whee!


***
The shoes from Fugawee look great, but I have to arrange to exchange for slightly different sizes. Next week. Can't deal this week. Nerf. Better make that Monday, since Tuesday could be shot, eh?

Oh, and I need to order seeds! Aaaaaaaa! Okay, next week for that too, I think...

Is something besides choir practice happening on Sunday? I sure hope not...

Lots of work before the snowstorm that only sort of was... (mostly wind here)

L was on vacation this week -- kind of hard to tell, since he still had all his farm stuff to do :D Still, nice that there was one less thing going on, what with trying to prepare for our kung fu exam, etc.

Also, he had an MRI on his shoulder yesterday, a few hours before the exam. Should know more in a few weeks.

Kung Fu exam went.... well, I won't say great because we both forgot things. My memory is extremely visual so I often can't put names and actions together and have to work really hard at it. Still, there were good things too - enough that both L and I got our blue sashes :)

Kinda unreal, in truth. When we first started learning kung fu, my highest aspiration was purple sash, maybe with a stripe. But we're both getting into better shape, and so the current result :)

To be clear, I never aspired to get a particular color of sash, but rather to attain the fitness and ability to do whatever a purple sash person could do. And now that we've progressed beyond that... the goal is essentially unchanged. To keep on keeping on, learning, practicing, getting more fit. And a great group of folks to do all this with is a wonderful bonus.

One of the next things on my list? Getting a tumbling mat. Really, _really_ need to work on the self-defense stuff, and I'm just not keen on throwing or getting thrown onto frozen ground or even the barn floor. Someday, maybe, but not yet.

Today is cleaning, tonight is joint beginner and intermediate class at school, then later tonight is going to Elmer's for food and music and perhaps a random conversation or three.

Happy New Year, everyone!