repetitive stress

I have a pinched nerve in my neck which was probably caused by some sort of repetitive stress. Was it hand sewing all those tiny hats last week? Sifting through and attempting to answer the hundreds of emails I have received this week? Rocking out to Sufjan Stevens at the Crystal Ballroom on Friday night? Cutting out and sewing strips of wool for the scarf I made my mom for her birthday? Cleaning out my basement? Hemming 70 napkins (with my mom's help) for my daughter's school? All of the above? Who knows, but it's causing me a lot of pain and trying to ignore it isn't working, so I'm going to take it easy on the sewing and computer stuff (the most likely candidates) for a few days. I thought I'd feature a few things from my archives in the meantime.

I made this tooth pillow for my daughter in August 2005 when she told me her first tooth was loose. Well, 14 months later, that tooth finally fell out this morning at breakfast (after dangling there and grossing us all out for weeks), so we'll put this pillow to use tonight. It lost an eye, so I'll have to fix that. It's made of wool felt and vintage fabric. My daughter designed the heart pocket, I embroidered the word, she sewed it on the tooth. What is the going rate for the tooth fairy these days?

I've received quite a few emails letting me know that people are being asked for a password at the new little birds location. I have no idea why this is happening as I have no password associated with this blog. Maybe something from your cache? Apparently, if you hit "cancel" it disappears, so try that. I'm guessing that with time, this problem will go away, but I thought that about my neck too...

Fixed, I think! Thanks Hillary!

Comments

[laeroport]

I've been working on a tooth fairy pillow too, as we will be needing one in the near future. I think $1 is what the tooth fairy will bring to our house, although I've heard tell of as much as $5. That's a bit steep for us.

Lovely scarf for your mom!

Cheers!

[sally]

Sorry to hear about the pinched nerve. Rest up! I'm feeling a little stress in my forearms/hands these days...think its from sewing and holding my chunky babe. =) Beautiful scarf! I just cut some wool last week to make scarves for the boys...hmm...still sitting in my WIP pile. Hooray for tooth fairies [and cute tooth pillows]!

[elaine]

Here in the uk we thought £1 - that was way back when my daughter lost her first tooth - what you've got to bear in mind is that they have ( i think) 22 teeth to lose and in our case we have 2 kids - well you can do the maths! but our children don't really have pocket money ( we can't stand the relentless consumerism it seems to generate) so it kind of makes up for that. Thing is - don't forget to do the swop over - we've had to do some pretty fast talking in the mornings on more than one occasion. Sorry about the crick in the neck - my experience is - time heals this one.

[Toni]

The scarf for your mama is so pretty. Lovely colors. I've been seeing that style around (a DS design I think) and it's so cute and different.

Oh man, so sorry to hear about your neck. That has happened to me a few times and the good news is yes, it did go away. I HAD to cut out the computer and other activities that were causing it, there was just no way around it. Keep rocking out though :) Wishing you a quick recovery!

[hillary]

this photo (that isn't showing up) in the previous post seems to be password protected...
http://littlebirds.typepad.com/little_birds/images/7.jpg

[tracy]

oh, hope you are feeling better my friend.
e's tooth just began to wiggle - must start thinking about these things!! be well

[Pip]

I'm so glad you've decided to continue with this crafty blog. As much as I enjoyed the photos of your children, at least we still get to see your inspiring creativity. It takes a strong person to continue something like this after a negative experience.

I have to admit, both you and SoulMama have struck some fear into me. I'm a little less inclined to post pictures of my little guys now. I'm still not sure exactly what happened to your pictures. Whatever it is, I hope mine are spared.

I'm just getting my studio together, and I plan on coming to the Trunk show in November to support all you Portland artists and buy some supplies for my studio. See you there!

[abby]

Sorry to hear about your injury-that sounds like no fun!
I am going to the Crystal Ballroom tonight to see yo la tengo!!
I wish I could tell you the rate for the tooth fairy-all I remember is that when the 3 quarters I got came wrapped in a neat little puch-I was sooo excited about the pouch and forgot about the money.
Hope you feel better soon.

[blair]

So sorry about your neck. I laughed about Mia's tooth. Emma had one front top one that took for-ever to come out. Gross! Yes!

[jill m]

Can sympathize w/you on the neck thing..it's happened to me too. My Dr. told me to try crafting at a higher level meaning keeping things more eye-level...but that just doesn't work for everything! Hope you get some relief soon. I remember trying to drive..don't realize just how often you turn your head while driving.
Two of my three kids are losing teeth often these days, but neither of them want to give the teeth up! Sad to say there has been no visit from the tooth fairy in our house...instead I find the little tiny teeth tucked away safely with their treasures!

[Anja]

Well I read your site through rss feeds and the old site asks for a password (sorry for the hits, I haven't gotten around to removing it from the list yet), but not the new one - not with a browser either. Hope it helps!

Also, I'm so sorry about what happened to (the photos of) your kids. It's a chilling experience. I hope it's all in the past by now.

[Lili]

oh no! dont blame sufjan!

I saw him saturday night and it was amazing. i have a bunch of crafting to do today, and im planning on putting on some illnoise to re-live the moments. *sigh*

i hope you feel better soon. I loved the little hats.

[Mama Urchin]

I hope studio craft doesn't put all you Portlanders on the disabled list. We need you hear in blogland too!

[mamaloo]

ooooooooh, so sorry. I get that too, usually in times of stress, or if I've spent extended time hunched over working on something (I do jewelry). have your hub give you a good agressive backrub in the problem area!! feel better!!

[carol]

lucky girl...you saw Sufjan! i wanted to see him in chicago, but of course my niece's birth was priority!

[Alicia A.]

It seems the past few weeks for you have been more than a little full- don't forget to take care of yourself.

I've been thinking about your tooth pillow- it's perfect you put it back up today. My J's tooth is a little loose.

(Tell her congratulations!)

[melissa]

so lucky to see Sufjan Stevens in concert. he is my favourite at the moment.

Hope you feel better soon!

[Jenni Simmons]

I'm sorry about your pinched nerve, too; I just got over a similar thing in my neck and upper back. Isn't Sufjan great?! I recently saw him in Austin, TX. Did he wear bird wings at your show?

[mo]

How exciting- to lose a tooth! I try to get fun money, like Sacajewa dollars or fifty cent peices. I am looking for a two dollar bill for next time. Its not about the amount here, its about how fun the money is!

[sarah]

hope you are feeling better soon...

[ambeart]

Losing a tooth. What a milestone. Like Mo above, my kids got Sacajawea dollars or Susan B. Anthony dollars. I prefer the Susan B.s because we live just south of Rochester, NY where the Susan B. Anthony house is.

[Sarah]

When Lola lost her bottom front tooth a few months ago (before she even turned five...eek!) we wanted to give her a silver dollar. She already had a few Sacajawea and Susan B. Anthony coins (change from the P.O. stamp machine???) and we wanted the experience of her first visit from the Tooth Fairy to be novel. The bank had no, not a one, silver dollars though. The next novel thing we could think of was a $2 bill, of which they had two. We took them both which was a good thing because she lost her next tooth about a week later. I'm not sure the Tooth Fairy will be able to keep up with the $2 payout but whatever.

[Alicia P.]

14 months! Patient girl!

And make sure you haven't switched pillows recently. The same thing happened to me, and I couldn't figure out why until I went on vacation and slept in a different bed and it when away. And then I remembered that I'd gotten all new pillows recently. So I went back to my smashed-flat old one and was good as new in one night. I was telling someone this at the hairdressers and two people who were in there said the exact same thing happened to them and none of us figured it out until . . . way later.

[Emily]

I have both elbow and shoulder/back repetitive stress injury and it seems to act up every now and then, not so much from working it too much, but more from mental stress. It goes away when the mental stress clears up. (And the heating pad helps too.) I hope you're feeling better soon!

[polli]

We're in the Sacajawea camp. The kids get TWO for their fist tooth, and a letter from the Tooth Fairy thanking them for taking such good care of their teeth.

They get one dollar per tooth the rest of them. I've heard tell of a little bit of glitter being sprinkled, but I've never gone that far, though it seemed cool.