Long Overdue Update

Where to begin?

I think I’ll start with the fires. If you have seen any news about WA state lately, you will know that there are numerous wildfires right now. We are in that middle zone of not being close enough to be in danger, but still close enough to be very bothered by the smoke. Both Ted and I have been suffering from it. He is asthmatic and has been having some trouble breathing. For me, the smoke has been affecting my sinuses. Those in turn have been affecting my migraines. Add to that, the wind has picked up. While it drives away the smoke, the wind itself also affects my migraines. It has not been pleasant.

Sleep has always played a factor in my migraines. One of the medications I take is specially for that issue. This past week, I haven’t been sleeping well. I’m not sure why. Going to sleep is taking longer, staying asleep isn’t happening. I’m not staying awake for any length of time when I do wake up, but it’s enough to make my head throb.

School starts in a week. This week, I am getting my girls up at the normal school time to get them started getting used to it. This also means that I can’t at least try to sleep in. I might try going back to bed after I get them up, showered, and dressed, but I don’t feel that is fair to them.

I have also started coloring again. This I am enjoying immensely. It is as calming as Zentangle but easier to put down and take a break if I need to. You can see some of the things I have colored here.

That’s all for now. I’ll try to be better about keeping everyone up to date.

Cheers!

Very Bad, No Good Day

Yesterday was easily the worst migraine I’ve had in a very long time. Yes, I have them daily. Yes, I’ve had worse pain, recently even. But I don’t know that I have ever felt so terrible during a migraine.

I started noticing symptoms as soon as my children got up. That should have clued me in. Normally, it takes a big longer before their antics start to bug me. Not only was it immediate, but they were more than just bugging me. I was outright annoyed. I can usually put up with them a bit, even when they bother me. Not this time.

Then the nausea hit.  That doesn’t usually hit until the afternoon and it usually isn’t so bad.

I managed to make it until after lunch before the worst hit: anxiety. Normally, it’s minor and short lived.  Not this time. It was like a constant panic attack, without the chest pain that I get. I couldn’t be around anyone, so I hid in my room. Every time I tried to leave it, I would get fidgety and cranky. Everything annoyed me: the dog, the cat, the kids, the feel of the blanket on my legs. It was easily the most uncomfortable I have ever been without being in immense pain.

I still feel bad for my family for having to put up with me yesterday. I was not even close to being at my best. Ted especially bore the brunt of it. He actually snapped at me yesterday, which is not normal. That started a crying jag, which didn’t help any.

I’m still not feeling well this morning. I hope it doesn’t turn out like yesterday. I’m not sure I can take another day like yesterday.

Pepper sticking very close to Mama. He knows I don't feel good.

Pepper sticking very close to Mama. He knows I don’t feel good.

Normal?

We have been inundated by thunderstorms here the last few days. That makes for a very unhappy me. Day after day of nasty migraines makes me crankier than just one migraine.  I feel bad for everyone who has to deal with me right now.

Today, I felt well enough to continue my Zentangle book lessons. The object of today’s lesson was sparkle.  I’m not sure I did it justice, but here are the two patterns I was given.

   
 
I’m particularly happy with the assignment. It turned out lovely.

  
I also have aquired a few new tools that I’m enjoying: a new sketch book specifically for learning new patterns a small moleskin notebook for storing my patterns, and a scrapbook binder for storing completed tiles.

Here are a couple of things that I drew recently.

  
 

I also think I have a new pattern. It was inspired by the carpet at the clinic I went to on Tuesday to try breaking this migraine chain. Any ideas for a name?

  

And, of course, Pandora was her usually pesky self.

  

Much Better

Yesterday was a much better day. Light migraine that I was able to work around. I actually feel like I accomplished a few things. Between loads of laundry, I did my lesson, assignment, and learned quite a few new designs.

Zentangle: Day 4 

Shattuck

  

Nipa

  

Jonqual

  

Zentangle: Day 4 Assignment


All the new patterns I learned:

 

Zedbra

  

Gottago

  

Man-O-Man

  

Leau

  

Lupe

  

Sindoo

  

Arrow

  

Bateek

  

Zentangle: Day 3 & New Migraine Symptom

Today’s Zentangle is brought to you a couple of days after I did them. Tuesday was an uncomfortable day, to say the least. We’ve had 2 days of rain here. Weather being my biggest trigger, I knew it could be rough. What I didn’t expect was a new migraine symptom. Looks like I now get to deal with allydonia in the form of itching. Let me tell you, that is NOT fun. Taking 2 Benedryl just managed to make it bearable. When adding it to the already fun migraine symptoms, I was not a happy person. I did manage to at least do the lesson and assignment on Tuesday, but I skipped yesterday. I just couldn’t do it.

Here are the fruits of Tuesday’s labor.

 

Poke Root

  

Festune

     

Zentangle: Day 2

Day 2 of Zentangle lessons was even better than Day 1.  I learned some cool new designs.

 

Kings Bridge

  

Nekton

  

Fescu

 

Day 2 even came with an assignment: Create a Zentangle tile with the three new patterns and any pattern previously learned.  I may have broadened the “previously learned” a bit as I used one that I learned before I got the book, but I’m VERY satisfied with the result.

  
After I finished my assignment, I drew out 6 new patterns.  

  

  

Chainging

  

 

Basketweave

  

Planateen


 I think I will make this a thing.  I like learning new ones. I’m really enjoying this Zentangle thing.  The only thing I’m frustrated with at the moment is finding a way to store my blank tiles.  I have them in a sandwich baggie right now, but that is not a permanent solution.  I’ve seen numerous ways of storing designs and patterns, but not blank tiles.

I think having something to do is helping to distract me from some of my migraine pain.  As long as it’s not too bad, at least.  It’s nice to have something to occupy my brain with.

Mother’s Day Zentangles

Yesterday was a pretty good day. My girls made wind chimes out of tiny clay pots and beads. They are really quite cute. I also received this wonderful book.  I’ve only done one lesson so far, and I’m already feeling better about my tangles. My previous attempts didn’t have any shading. It wasn’t something I could figure out. The first lesson showed me some good tips for it. Here are a few of the tangles I’ve done.

These first two were done last week, before I got my book.  

Y-Ful Power

  

Cadent

This one is the first from the book that I did. It’s the only one I’m not happy with. It’s called Static.

Static

 

 These next two turned out much better. They are called Tipple and Crescent Moon.

Tipple

  

Crescent Moon

 

After my “lesson”, I worked on a few other designs that I’ve done before, but I wanted to see if I could do better. Here are Bricks and Braids. 

Bricks

  

Braids


 After that, I worked on one I’ve been wanting to do: Union Jack. 

Union Jack

 I wanted to do a basket weave after that, but it didn’t turn out the way I wanted. I’m not disappointed, however. I think I’ve created my first Zentangle design. I call it Argyle because that was the first thing I thought of when I finished it.

Argyle

 
Now, on to today’s lesson.