needs and knees

today is a good day. i had my three month evaluation at work and along with it came a raise. it was not a typical raise either, it was an extra big one. i was shocked, relieved and ever so happy. i needed that raise more than you can believe.

i'm also determined to heal my knees. what's wrong with your knees dear child of the vale, you might be asking? well this is what's wrong with my knees: i want to scream every time i bend them. they completely fell apart on me after that free yoga class i took two weeks ago. they became stiff and excrutiatingly painful. i have never had knee problems, so this came as quite a shock. i saw my good doctor and he thinks i have weak muscles supporting the ligaments (all of a sudden?). he recommends leg extensions with weights. and then i visited the wise woman forum at the herbalist susun weed's site. this is an excellent forum to find answers to your herbal and nutritional questions. the wise women of the forum reminded me that i should be drinking infusions of nettles, oatstraw and comfrey. that i should be chomping on chickweed. that i should use homemade chicken broth in everything. that i should ride a bike. that i might want to lose some weight. and that taking glucosamine and fish oil is good. so tonight after popping a couple of supplements i pulled out that pound of nettles i ordered a month ago, and finally made an infusion. it is already so green it's almost black. and i sat on my counter and did leg extensions with a lunch box full of canned soup dangling from ankle. i will not let my knees cripple me before i even turn 40. it is unacceptable.

on other fronts, windflower botanicals is rolling along. i delivered a second batch of teas and dream pillows to rebecca's natural foods. i sold a few jars of tea at the waldorf school store. my website sits idle and many gaps need to be filled in. but isn't the artwork by tashi ever so sweet?

our semi-quarantined cat loki is doing just fine. his tail is healing up and he is a sweetheart except for when he beats up his sister luna (typical). we still have to put him in a cage when he goes outside but he is very patient and tolerant and seems grateful to just be able to sniff at the fresh air and twitch his ears at the sound of birdsong. today i let him snuffle around the lawn a little bit and it was as if he was meeting up with an old lover. he nibbled on the grass and turned circles in it and nuzzled his nose against it and seemed very, very pleased. really it broke my heart. that and the cats that roam around the yard taunting him when he's stuck in the cage. i'm sure the neighbors think we're really crazy when they walk by and see our poor cat sitting in a cage in our front yard.

ok, time to go lounge on the couch and continue reading the extremely amusing book about bhutan while dan practices surf bass. did i tell you he and a coworker are starting a surf band? they hope to make it big on virginia beach. could be an interesting summer. . .