Projects, Piriformis

James's mom gave me pretty all of her extra fabric, so I've been brainstorming project ideas for all of them. My basic plan is to start with the biggest projects first, such as non-patchwork blankets, then move to smaller and smaller pieces. So far I have everything ready for two baby blankets. I made Katie a cute cloak and a curtain to divide the kitchen and old dining room (which James wants to turn into a small "man cave"). I was thinking about how to challenge myself with these projects, and I remembered the Melodie also gave me doll clothes and Halloween costumes patterns. My goal is to sew one item from a pattern each week until I've done them all. So far, so good. It's definitely been a learning experience. I'm not as bad as sewing as I thought. My mom taught me a lot even though I was never interested in advancing my skills very much. I hope to get to the point where sewing is relaxing. Right now, it's mentally exhausting, but I do like the results. A pattern that says one hour generally takes me four.

After a week on a non-memory foam mattress and a lot of sitting in the car, I'd been having some lower back/leg pain on one side. I had never had problems until my pregnancies. It never lingered after #1 and #2 but it definitely has after #3 and #4. (the joys of pregnancy!) I finally figured out what it's called! Piriformis syndrome. Basically, the muscle behind the glute gets strained and inflamed and causes pain down the sciatic nerve. That muscle likely gets strained in the first place because of all my joints loosening up during pregnancy. And, things just get out of whack during pregnancy anyway. Ouch. The fact that it's been bothering me more over the past few days after only a few days of respite got me into gear, so I've started exercising after a year break. I have never loved exercising (hence, the year break) but I know it's good for me. I hope I get extra credit for doing it every time I don't feel like it (which is pretty much always!)