Review of Little Bodice Ripper on the Prairie

I finished it late last night.  Blah.
There wasn't a great deal of information that isn't already available (obviously that probably wasn't the case in the late 1970s).  Pretty much re-summarizes the events of the books while adding in a few tidbits of outside information from contemporary newspapers or diaries.  Still not as interesting as one might hope.
Zochert seems to take for granted how Laura must have felt in certain circumstances, which I found annoying.  And my lord did he hammer home the "holy crap their lives were harsh!" in the first years after Laura and Almanzo were married.  But not by actual description or relation of events, just by saying "OMG it was soooo hard" over and over again.
There is very little at all about Rose.  Next to nothing about life after the books in general, really. 

Definitely no bodice ripping.

Research

Despite a migraine, I've been fiddling with two pieces of reference management software as I pull together stuff I'd like to look at regarding spinning and history of textiles.
The first is Mendeley.  I like the web-based nature and I especially like the bookmarklet that allows for importing of references from webpages like Amazon or Web of Science or any number of other common research databases.  I also like the social-networking potential for sharing resources, citation lists, etc.  Unfortunately, it is very slow (at least for me) at the moment.  The bookmarklet can take ages to load.  I haven't imported old citation libraries yet (when I was more active in research as a graduate student and research assistant I typically used EndNote and haven't yet exported those old libraries).
Mendeley also interfaces with OpenOffice.  I haven't tried it yet, but I'm hoping it will be similar to the CiteWhileYouWrite function in EndNote which was a huge blessing for me as a graduate student.

I've also started playing with BibDesk.  After a few false-starts, I think I'm getting the hang of it.  I like it a bit better than Mendeley in some ways - it's faster and a bit easier to use.  I'm not sure I'm a huge fan of the internal browser for finding references, especially since GoogleScholar freaks out a bit and thinks I'm a bot if I do too many searches and imports.  I'm slowly getting the hang of creating new references and was very excited when I finally figured out the importing from clipboard feature which allows for highlighting, say, a bibliographic entry from a document or web-page works cited, going to BibDesk, highlighting the author name, title, etc., one at a time and telling BibDesk which is which.  Very, very cool.
I'm not sure if BibDesk integrates as well with a word processor, but I'm using both applications for the time being, so while it might be mildly awkward to keep them both updated with each other, it should be possible to generate bibliographic lists for printing or in articles.

Unfit

So, in an effort to reduce anxiety and get in some stretching and light exercise, I decided to check out what Netflix instant play and/or video podcasts had to offer in the realms of yoga and Tai Chi    I need very low-impact things.  I was trying to avoid yoga just because it can be so challenging for me to get on and off the floor, but I think I may not have a choice.  I'm also tending to prefer videos to classes because a)  I'm cheap; b)  I want something to do even when I don't feel up to leaving the apartment.

So, I found a cool-looking video podcast (Tai Chi for Well-Being) of the 24 basic Tai Chi poses.  Unfortunately, it was waaaaay too complicated for my fragile brain and crippled body to follow.  Even with Tom trying to help me that was a big "hell, no, not happening."  I either need a real, live, very patient good-humored instructor or a video that breaks things down into very small, very slow steps.

So, I instead tried  Healing Yoga:  For Common Conditions  which is aimed toward people who have issues with weight, diabetes, and/or high cholesterol.  Not really me, but whatever.  It's broken into three sections.  You can do just one or add on.  I got through the first 12 minute session only barely.  Srsly.  I'm still super wobbly/shaky all over.  And I'm having more involuntary movements, but at this point I've almost given up trying to control them.

It's just basic breathing and some stretches but was still super hard and seemed really fast and hard to follow to me.  Tom was watching, though, and said I did pretty well, so maybe it was just me.  It's sort of hard to tell if it's partially my cognitive junk or if it's that I can't move quickly, or what.  Anyway, I'm tired out.  If I don't find anything better, I'll probably try to stay with the first session on a semi-regular basis until it gets easier and then move up.  I have to be careful not to over-do it or it will be counterproductive and wind up with me in bed for a day or more recovering, which sort of defeats the whole purpose.

Oreo is also tired out.  He "helped" by occupying the very center of my yoga mat, barking at the TV when the woman first went into a downward kneeling pose, and refusing to get off my mat when I needed to put my hands where his butt was.  So, we both got a workout.  He's sleeping it off curled up on my lap right now.

So, I have a few other things in my Instant Play queue to try (I love my Roku).  It will play video podcasts now via Mediafly, too, which is also awesome.  If anyone has any workout recommendations, I'd love to hear them.

I've given some thought to a Wii Fit set-up, but I'm a little worried about the balance board - mostly I'm worried about falling off the balance board.  My balance is dreadful.  If you give me a field sobriety test I fail.  So, I'd hate to spend $100 only to have a bunch of stuff I can't use for fear of breaking myself.

Renegade Craft Fair

So, as I had hoped and planned for months, we made it out to the Renegade Craft Fair today.  At the risk of pissing people off I will give it a resounding "meh."  To be fair I was really tired and I don't like crowds and I really don't like pretentious hipsters, so those parts may have played a role in my underwhelment.  There was some cool stuff, but nothing that really grabbed me and made me exclaim "oh, awesome!!!!" with the exception of some dinner ware printed with skulls and skeletons.

The fair itself is 5 blocks long with booths back to back, so roughly a mile long loop.  Traffic flow was a little awkward as people liked standing in large groups directly in the way.  I only had one or two irritating cane incidents with people staring or being exceptionally rude, so that was a plus.
It may be that everything started to flow together near the end, but it seemed like I saw the same or nearly the same thing ever 5 booths or so.  Screen prints on clothing, mostly t-shirts, were probably the most represented item, some clever, some pretty.  I'd say that jewelry of various types came in second.  Prints and/or letterpress on paper probably third.  There were a few booths with yarn, but nothing that I reached out and grabbed me.  A few places with hand knitted or crocheted goods that were cute but I'm still in the "I'll make it myself, dammit!" phase, so while I admired, I wasn't that interested.  Some cute plush toys, but, again, nothing that really grabbed me.  A couple places with fascinators or hair baubles or whatever you want to call them.

So...meh.  Some of the proprietors/crafters/whathaveyou were very professional without being stuffy, available for questions but not pushy.   Others were camped in the back of their alloted tent with their buddies cackling, or with eyes firmly on the ground, and probably not helping their bottom line much.  :/  The usual for craft fairs, I guess.

I just expected a bit more.  I thought there would be more yarn.  I expected more hand-thrown pottery.  I didn't expect nearly so many screen-print shops.  I thought there would be more variety in terms of media and designs and motifs.  Like I said, a lot of the screen-print stuff flowed together for me and screen-printing is something I'm really interested in, so it's not like I just wasn't interested.  There seemed to be a lot of pastel on pastel stylized floral or vegetal motifs; a whole lot of basic line-art or nearly clip-art type designs like bicycles or cameras.  Most cool and well done technically but not a lot of reach out and grab you oh that's cool I must have it type stuff.  At least to me.

Anyway, it's possible it was just me.  Or maybe it was an off year given the economy and other issues.  Or maybe my expectations were all wrong.  Who knows.  It did give me ideas, though, mostly about setting up booths and what I though worked and didn't work so far as organization of space and stock goes.  And I certainly wish all the crafters who were there with their stuff well and hope they do well this weekend.

Slow Day 2

So, resetting the sleep schedule was a big fat fail.  I set an alarm, I woke up, I got up to take meds.  Then, like an idiot, I got back in bed to read for a while and promptly fell back asleep.  For the rest of the day.  And woke up feeling awful.  Thanks weather.

I also realized that Mother's Day is way closer than I thought, so I've been crocheting a gift for my mommy while watching the US version of The Office on the Roku. (Some really frightening parallels to people I know in that show.  Plus, watching the Pam/Jim romance unfold from the beginning makes me all girly-happy.) I took a break when my hand started to ache to look into different types of therapeutic gloves.  I have some, but they don't really support my fingers and my pinky and ring finger are not happy.  I also have to wear them inside out to keep the seams from rubbing funny.  And my hands get fairly sweaty in them.  Also, they're ugly, which isn't a huge deal, but it would be cool to remedy that.

So, I'm looking into the following:

IMAK  - these have the advantage of being cotton-blend for breathability and they have good finger coverage.  They are a bit pricey, but they seem to get good reviews

"Miracle Gloves"  - Inexpensive, recommended in a Ravelry thread I checked out (still looking in to other suggestions there), adjustable wrists.  They do look a bit thick though, which could be a problem for summer-time.

Handeze - Also a bit pricey, seams might be a problem...

Wii Boxing Gloves - What?  How are these not appropriate?

Isotoner Arthritis Gloves - Seams are on the outside, flesh toned...

Thermoskin - Adjustable wrists, good reviews, grippy exterior fabric, plus they're all space-age looking.  A bit pricey.

Anyone have experience with these?  Other suggestions?  

I hope to make my own eventually, at least for fun fashion accessories.  I especially want to try some cotton fingerless gloves for longer walks in the summer because sweaty hand + cane = suck.

Looking for options here has also reminded me how hard it is to find this sort of thing for some people.  If you think of who most people regard as "typical" arthritis sufferers you probably think of older/elderly people.  While there are notable exceptions, these are also people who may not have computer access and/or who may not be comfortable with finding or ordering products online.  It's horrible that it can be hard (at least in my experience) to find these sorts of products in stores or at least find a selection to choose from.  I got lucky finding mine in a Hobby Lobby.  I've looked elsewhere - in other craft stores, in drugstores, in Target and Walmart and have rarely, if ever, seen similar products.  I can't help but wonder how many people have given up on hobbies that they love because of hand pain who might have found relief using these sorts of gloves but who have no idea that they exist or who simply cannot find them.  If you or friends or relatives have this problem PLEASE consider getting them a pair as a gift, just to try out.  This isn't limited to hands either - there are similar items for other major joints.  

Mmmm, pain relief (aka NSB from theferriswheels review)

Mmmm, pain relief
Originally uploaded by shoveling_ferret

So, I promised a review of this wonder product once it arrived.
Sally from theferriswheels was wonderful to work with - if she was weirded out by my gushing in happiness over finding this thing, she hid it very well. :) She was wonderful about communication and let me know as soon as she got it in the mail. It arrived on Saturday, but I didn't get around to picking it up until Sunday. That's super fast!
No mess of packaging to waste or have to dispose of - very good! Very nice directions included!
So, I popped it in the microwave and...ahhhhhhhh! Yay! It fits as far up my neck as I want it to, drapes my shoulders nicely, and hits the tense parts very well too! It doesn't stay heated quite as long as I would like, but I suspect that's more to do with our craptastic tiny microwave than with the actual pack. (Also, if you're like me and never clean your microwave, put it on a plate or something when you heat it - you don't want popcorn-butter residue on your happy.)  I love that it stays in place really well too - I can get up and putter around a bit without having to untangle myself from cords or make sure things are unplugged AND I still get my warm relief while I do it.

Overall, I'm very pleased, as I hope you can tell from the photo (I'm also rocking some great camo jammies my Nana bought me last Xmas and having a particularly achy/icky day, so I probably look a bit more sickly than usual). I will definitely be recommending these to friends and family!

(I also love that there's yarn, an amigurumi book, and the upper part of my old-fashioned electric heating pad visible in the photo...)