Monthly Archives: February 2013

The soft colors in this flannel fabric. I can’t wait to figure out what these half yards are going to be.

The Rancher Sue action figure my friend Jenna sent me. She is an awesome reminder that I am exactly who I wanted to be when I grew up. (I’m hoping that the bottle baby in her arms is the only one we have this lambing season!)

The blueberry and cream cheese sandwich Amy’s daughter Neve made for her lunch yesterday. Who says you can’t invent your own sandwich

This gorgeous picture of one of our new yarns for Spring, Moonshine, by Downtown Knits. Aren’t the colors lovely?

What is inspiring you this week?

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Just a reminder- Thursday is the last day to join the JMF Blanket CSA.

On Friday, we’ll start taking pre-orders for the Spring issue of BY HAND Magazine. It’s going to be a humdinger!

Speaking of BY HAND, Marisa of Food in Jars is doing a BY HAND Giveaway now through March 1st on her blog. Enter here to win a copy of the Fall/Winter issue and a BY HAND tote bag.

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March 1st is also the day the voting closes on this year’s lamb naming conventions. Nearly 1200 people have already voted, which is a new record for us!

I feel like I need to give all you lovely friends an update on what’s going on with me but every time I think I know what I’m going to write, things change. It’s sort of hard to write around a moving target, but Maureen’s comment on my latest lambing update made me realize that I needed to allay some of your concerns.

Even though I spent the better part of 2012 feeling not-so-great, I am still very new to this whole auto-immune disease thing. At first, I was surprised that I could feel so bad for so long. Then- when I got a diagnosis and started treatment- I was surprised that the treatment could actually make me feel worse than the disease did.

And then, wonder of wonders, about a month ago, I started feeling better. Like a quick-to-tired version of my old self again. As you can imagine, I was elated! My doctors have said that once the drug treatments start to work, I will be able to live my life just as I did before, and I felt incredibly lucky to have reached that threshold so quickly.

But, in the last week, my worst symptoms have returned. First it was the eye pain, which indicated that my immune system is once again attacking my eyes. Next my joint pain return, an indication that my body still isn’t absorbing Vitamin D. Finally, for the last two days, I’ve had intense GI distress.

What does all this mean? Well, it means that I am still working on it. It means that the doctors may have to re-evaluate my current treatment and do some more tests. You might think that this is dispiriting to me, but it’s not. Because now that I remember what it’s like to feel good, I’m not going to let anything stop me from getting back there. This is a temporary set back, that’s all.

In the meantime, I am able to get most of my work done, albeit more slowly than I used to. My days tend to be a bit shorter because I’m trying not to run flat-out and then feel terrible the next day. I am learning moderation, and that is a good thing.

In response to Maureen’s hope that I am going to have more help during lambing- no fear! I have a few friends who have volunteered to come to the farm and help out, and you all will be seeing a fair amount of my friend Amy and her tribe of girl children here in the coming weeks. My Aunt Ann lives in Richmond and she is always happy to come help. And I would love to get my Mama and sister here for a weekend, cause they have never experienced the pure magic that is watching a newborn lamb find it’s feet.

About the title of this post… It may be that, right now, I’m taking two steps forward and one step back, but the important thing is that I’m gaining ground. And you know what comes after that step back? You guessed it: two more steps forward.

Note to Maureen: Thank you for worrying about me. It was a nice reminder that there are many people who are in my corner.