Jilli,

do you think this is something external to you? might you have a wool or detergent sensitivity (for example)?

Good. Your left fingertips should hurt. The very tips, not the pads. And they will continue to hurt. But you want that soreness, not wrist pain, and if you are achy there you should stop. But the fingertips will be sore. Practice a little every day, rather than a whole lot once in a while, because your regular practice will help you build up your calluses. I put some exercises on your fb page.

Since everyone posted how productive they were yesterday, I feel the need to add to the tally. I wasn't as productive as I could have been, but I got done what I wanted to do, plus got to visit with people and do fun things, so I felt like it was the perfect Saturday.

Around the house I did the dishes and vacuumed both upstairs and downstairs. Put a load of laundry together to do if I had time, but ended up just a little too busy to get to it. Ran out and got my grocery shopping done before meeting a friend to see This Means War.

After the movie we went to one of our favorite restaurants, Singapore Noodle, where I got the Vermicelli Noodle Bowl with Lemongrass Beef and Eggroll. I could eat that every day for dinner, yum. After dinner I swung by Target to pick up a yoga mat (I've been working very hard on losing weight--8 pounds so far--and I've found yoga very helpful with my back problems) and a measuring tape for those weeks when you don't lose any weight, but often find you've lost inches. I find that extra encouraging. (Did a fist pump for getting out of Target for less than $25.)

I got home to find a message from my daughter and she ended up coming over to watch a movie with me. We ended up watching The Libertine with Johnny Depp. Boy, that Second Earl of Rochester was one messed up dude.

So, busy day, productive, had fun, and now I have Sunday to do laundry and sweep the kitchen floor and I'm done. I may or may not do some yoga later, but I like to take at least one day off from formal exercise. If you put enough effort into your housecleaning, it really does count as burning a decent amount of calories. Just vacuuming 20 minutes yesterday had me sweating. You're pushing around a 12 pound weight, back and forth, over and over; it's exercise, plain and simple. I even log it in my online exercise diary. Every little bit helps.

Oh, and I meant to say, congratulations, sj! That's great news about the house. I'm so happy you're getting out of the nightmare of apartment living. And that you got great sellers this time. Whoohooters!

Wicked Witch of the East cupcakes.

That's awesome, Sail!

Ha! That link was just posted in Natter, too. Great minds post alike, or something.

Sail, sounds like a great Saturday. And good on ya for the exercise.

I love that Liese went instantly into teacher mode.

I didn't get to sleep until after 5 a.m., and have woken with a headache. I only had three beers, and that was 12 hrs ago. And I've had water since.

Still in bed, but I reckon I'll get up. Thank heavens I have yummy leftovers from yesterday's brunch to improve the morning.

the moving sale was more tiring and less popular than I expected but just as D said, "All we really need is for one big geek to show up," Omnis arrived!

The sale continues today and we're planning to open earlier but I have got as far as coffee at this point.

Good for you, Sail. I gained weight yesterday, but suspect that it may be related to the large piece of cheesecake I had for breakfast. In the name of research, I swears! I had oatmeal today.

I love that Liese went instantly into teacher mode.

Oops! It's a reflex.

It's just funny, my girls complain about the pain all the time and are always startled when I'm all, uh-huh, tough it out, the pain gets you something.

I, too, am a total fail at juice type fasts. My headache was so intense the last time I tried that I couldn't really do anything but sleep.

sj, I am just catching up and saw your excellent news. Hurray! I just had a feeling that was meant to be your house. I'm so excited for you.

And anyone who would turn down a smonster booty call? Is...well, yeah. I don't even know. Missing out, to say the least. Smonster, your relationship with StW reminds me so much of a guy I "dated" (same sort of thing) in college. We ended up being really good friends, but he broke my heart so many times I can't even tell you. If you ever want to talk about it, I'm here.

Oh Jilli, I'm so sorry. ETA: about the welts. Happy about the evil brain fog lifting!

Also:

I've been doing a bit of stress eating since Christmas and have gained weight. Dont know how much, but my clothes don't fit right. I'm going back to healthier eating

This is me. Stress eating combined with a torn ligament before Christmas = body image demons.

Omnis, you were in my dream last night. You told me I was ruining the sound design programs because I was talking up sound design too much at school and too many applicants were flooding the school and they sucked. Wow. What it wrong with my brain??