This last week and a half hasn't been all that great for my miniwork. I started off doing very well, but now my physical limitations are catching up with me.

Darn it..it's bad enough that my 'bad' hand is useless in doing any kind of craftwork. I'm lucky to be able to open and close it once on a good day.

But when my 'good' hand and arm declare mutiny, it's both frightening and frustrating.

I use a variety of assistance tools in working with my minis. But there comes a time when all the aids just fail. I've done two floors in Mystic Moggie..cut the veneer strips, laid them on the pattern and base sheet, ironed them on, stained them, and put them back in the house. I also am working on a lovely little fireplace for the parlor. But the wood for the fireplace's sides and top needed cutting, and after a few hours of using my razor saw..my good hand was in agony.

So here I am now..and for two days, my so called good hand has been very very bad. Most of the time it's either tingly, feeling like it's getting a series of electric shocks..or it feels dead. Like I've attached a rubber arm to my body. It feels like someone else's arm. Then there are the times of active pain, that come and go in waves..that is REALLY dreadful..starting in the elbow with a creepy whacked-funnybone feeling, and degenerating into real, intense pain.

During those times, I can still type..by using Dragon Naturally Speaking. But the tones of my voice aren't consistant..I have allergies and that can play hob with sound..and so it takes three times as long to draft a post by using Dragon, than it does when I type..even if I'm using one finger on my good left hand. This blog post, for example, is taking forever, because either Dragon has cotton in it's ears, or I have worse diction than Eliza Doolittle before Professor Higgans taught her to speak.

In other words..no mini work is getting done now, and just posting in the forum is a real problem. I'm getting more and more frustrated.

So, on days when I want to mini, I have a choice. I can type, and talk to friends online, or I can work on my projects...but never the two together. I have relatively little precious time to chat with my friends here, and this issue will cut those times back any further.

So I apologise again for not doing a better job of my blog. I just can't attend to it as I'd like. When I finally have something noteworthy to yak about..I'll do so.

In the meantime, I'm an unwilling lurker in the forums. I can do a few short posts..but there might be days when I am at odds with Dragon..and don't post at all.

Sorry bout that, I'd change it if I could.

Talk soon...perhaps. *sigh*In the meantime.. This blog is going to be unused for a long while. Sorry ;)

J