Monday I worked on an oil tanned leather messenger bag, based off the pattern I used for Ocean’s bag, but with a liberal amount of changes. I think it’s going to be smaller than what I’m looking for, but it’s a good practice project in any case. It was my first time using magnetic closures, which I added into the pattern, though I didn’t get my spacing quite right. Part of the learning process, and a good use of a side of leather that I had no other use for. I’d bought it, hoping it would work for my buckets and pockets, but the leather is thicker than what I use for them. However, it’s thick enough for my bag to keep its shape, unlike the thinner leather I used on Ocean’s bag.
Tuesday after music lessons we took a last-minute trip to a park with friends since it was actually pretty warm that afternoon. River and I were only able to stay for a few minutes before I took him to the orthodontist, which was only 10 minutes away, which was the only reason I attempted both, despite the overlap. The appointment took longer than I’d hoped, so he and I missed out on most of the outing, unfortunately.
River was referred by our dentist for a cross bite, but the real issue is his lack of overbite, which is only going to get worse if left untreated. His large/long tongue (thanks to his daddy- all the kids have long tongues, and it has been the bane of Sunshine’s existence when combined with her expander) is pushing his teeth outward, but also keeping some of them from the correct positioning. He also needs a frenectomy (a snip of the connective tissue connecting his upper lip to his gums), which is contributing to the problem.
Along with the frenectomy, he needs some tongue re-training, so we have a referral for a specialist. This should also help with some issues he has with pronouncing certain sounds. And the tongue issue could explain why he sleeps in such weird positions, with his back arched and his head thrown back: trying to keep his tongue out of the way so he can breathe.
He’ll need braces in two phases. Phase 1 begins in March and will be braces on his front teeth, to correct the lack of overbite. At night he’ll have to wear a rubber band around those front brackets to help things along. It’s anticipated to take about a year for the braces to work, then he’ll get them off and wear retainers till he’s older and has enough adult teeth to do Phase 2, which will be another round of braces.
It may feel wasteful/counterintuitive/expensive to do braces twice, but addressing certain issues now will greatly reduce the issues later, including potential jaw surgery.
When we got home from the park, we changed and practiced karate before heading to class. It was our first time in sparring gear (last time we did sparring, we didn’t have our gear yet), and I’m not sure I’m going to like sparring. We geared up, then did our warmup, but I had to take my helmet off a couple minutes in because I was starting to hyperventilate. Claustrophobia, anxiety, I don’t know what, but I couldn’t breathe and was starting to panic. Actually rather similar to the issues I had with regular masks a few weeks ago.
Frustrating since there’s no logical reason for it, and the only thing I could do was breathe through it and try to calm down. The experience left me shaky and tired, too. On the positive side, I passed my universal 10 test, and the instructor was impressed with my intensity and the height I got in my kicks (though I have to wonder if that’s really because of my weight?). Anyway, we’ll be going to class at least one extra day this week as Sunshine and I still need to pass our grabs and the boys haven’t passed either grabs or universals yet. All the snow days have really pushed things to the edge.
Wednesday Sunshine had an orthodontist appointment, then I had my accountability call.
Afterwards, I glow forged some leather tags for our karate gear bags, then alcohol inked the tags for easily identified color. Two sets of tags: we have three big gear bags that can hold two peoples’ gear (Jeremy shares with Ocean, I share with River, and Sunshine gets her own as the odd person out) and smaller mesh bags for each of us that we can use for just carrying our sparring gear.
I also made the strap for my oil tanned leather bag, which finished off that project. As I suspected, it’s too small for me to use, but it was a good exercise. I like how it turned out, but I’ll need to make a bigger one one of these days. I cleaned up and put everything away (I tend to make messes when working on projects), then we practiced karate to get ready for testing.
Thursday I updated the design for the hang tags for my products, then started updating the various signage to take to the conventions this spring. I need to order both soon, but need to finish the designs first.
I took a few minutes and dug out the tapping equipment from the garden shed, but I don’t think I found it all. I’m sure we had more buckets and bags, but I can’t find them. We didn’t tap our trees the last two years because I haven’t had time or energy and the weather hasn’t been super cooperative. I don’t really have the time this year either, but this week I realized that the weather was perfect tapping weather (below freezing at night, 40*+ during the day) and the boys don’t really remember much about the process, so it’s time to do it again.
In the evening we went to karate class and passed all our tests, other than Ocean, who needs to get his grabs stripe still. He was sooo close, but didn’t quite get it. After class we went straight to the church, where Jeremy met us to pickup the boys and Sunshine and I got ready for our YW activity. We did glow in the dark volleyball, which was fun, but too much exercise for me in one day. I was pretty tired on Friday.
Friday Jeremy took Ocean to karate while I stayed home with Sunshine and River. Jeremy needed his last attendance stripe and Ocean needed to pass his last test. Mission accomplished on both fronts. There was wet snow on the way to class, and while we only ended up with 2-3″ of snow, it did cause some cancellations.
Saturday’s karate graduation was canceled due to no heat in the gym we were going to use (the same one we’ve used the last 6 months for graduations and tournament). Small graduation performances will be held during classes next week.
Sunshine’s Merit Badge University was also canceled due to weather, so they’ll hold the last session next Saturday instead.
Sunshine and I had hoped to do some snowshoeing for her snow sports merit badge, but not enough snow fell. What did fall, fell on top of frozen icy snow, which is not what we need for her requirements. So I’m looking a bit further afield to see if we have any other options.
Sunday I’d hoped i’d be released, but it didn’t happen. The bad part of being told ahead of time, but not given a firm date, means it’s harder to stay focused and motivated to the end. I’m hanging in there, though.
Weekly Mileage
| Tuesday | .25 miles | .5 hours | |
| total | .25 miles | .5 hours |
2022 totals
| 3.5 outside hours |
| 5.04 miles |
