Frustration

Week Two of the Saga of the Pinched Nerve has ended.

The pinched nerve is still there. I now have stronger painkillers and a stronger muscle relaxer. I have had my first appointment for torture at the hands of a lovely young woman who is a physical therapist. She believes that hunching over the work laptop for eleven weeks probably precipitated the problem.  She is probably correct in her belief.

We are supposed to go back to the office on Monday. We are scheduled to have half of us there on any given day so that social distancing can occur. I am going to ask for a dispensation so I can use my lovely big, double monitors and my ergonomic desk chair. After all, I live in a corner with only one other person in my cube quarter--and she is 6 feet away. Besides, if this nerve stays pinched for much longer, I will not be responsible for my actions.

Especially since the most frustrating thing about this whole experience is simply this: Stitching makes my right shoulder and arm and hand hurt. Ergo, I should stop stitching until the nerve unpinches.

That is more torturous than the exercises the PT put me though.

Especially since the mail carrier has been dropping off so many lovely things . . .

The fourth installment of Barbara Jackson's Springtime Pleasures--this makes a dozen eggs she's offered over the last few years. Those lovely spring colors--even more enticing since I didn't get to see many spring flowers this year. And such sweet designs . . . they make me happy. Barbara's color choices always do.

Cynthia Jackson offered this lovely needle case on her website,  Gutter Lane Embroidery. It was going to be a class for EAC's Seminar this year.  It was cancelled like so many other events. The design has lovely ribbons and lace and gold threads. It's pink and we all know how much I love pink and how much I love delicate designs.

And then we have this. Several years ago, Alison Cole was going to offer an online class for this project, but some of the accessories she wanted to offer were no longer available. So it sat on a shelf somewhere until she decided to offer it as a limited edition kit. It arrived in a humongous box, chock full of lovely threads and beads and golden scissors. And if you don't like blood red, you had a choice of colors. This is a deep, rich red, and I like it, so I got it. (And, to keep up my reputation for enabling, I understand there are still some kits available.)

And I will have the class kits for the Betsy Morgan classes that were cancelled.  If there had been no pandemic, Baby Girl and I would be sitting in class together at Salty Yarns, having one last class with Betsy. I miss going to my happy place, but better to be safe now with the potential to go to Ocean City in the future. The alternative is not pleasant to imagine.

I guess these are going into the retirement stash, but since that date is getting closer, I don't feel totally guilty about adding to it.

As long as the nerve unpinches by then, I'll be fine.