Not again!

Roger, my boyfriend (who is also a skydiver), and I went for a hot air balloon jump the day before Labor Day. Long story short, I damaged my right knee and I'm going to need surgery next month. I am still on crutches after 9 days, but the swelling is down and my range of motion is slowly coming back. I won't be able to jump for at least another 7 months. I am not happy with myself at all :( I am trying to keep myself busy by paying more attention to promoting my necklaces.

If you haven't seen my new designs, check out 3 Ring Necklace on Facebook. Any necklace you see can be made as a horizontal design, mini 3 ring or a bracelet!

WAHOOOOOO!!!!!

Well the rain finally cleared up last Saturday after waiting patiently until 5:00pm. I was able to get my hop and pop, and a kiss pass jump with my sweetie. Then the bad weather rolled in again and we called it a day. I would have been perfectly happy with those two jumps, but the weather gods smiled on the dropzone once more on Sunday. Blue skies, nice wind (a little bumpy though), and four marvelous jumps. I would have made one more jump, but I discovered a nickel-sized hole in my pilot chute. I bumped off the load so I could get it replaced. That was a $100 surprise!

It's so nice to be back in the air again! I'm not running yet, or doing tandems, but just being able to jump again is a blessing.

Rain, rain, go away

It's been 7 weeks since I injured my knee, and thankfully, I didn't require surgery. Now that I have my knee brace, and I'm at the dropzone, of course it is raining! I was so excited all week long to be able to jump this weekend for the first time in 7 weeks, but Mother Nature has other plans. I am patiently waiting for the weather to clear, at the same time, contemplating giving up and leaving the dropzone. Here's hoping that the weather will clear and I can get at least a hop and pop to end my jumpless streak!

4 weeks down

It's been four weeks since injuring my knee. It turns out that I sublexed my knee cap and I sprained my MCL. No damage to the ACL or cartilage, and thankfully, no surgery is needed. There is no more swelling and I am attending physical therapy twice a week. I have about 3-4 more weeks to go before I'll be back in the air. Hopefully, that time will fly by, rather than creeping along (because it feels like it's creepy along very slowly!).

In the meantime, I am busy updating my beads and making new designs. I have posted new pictures here and on Facebook. If you haven't become a fan, add 3 Ring Necklace on today!

Skydive Dallas has added 3 Ring Necklace to their gear shop. So if you're in the area, stop on by and check them out in person. The pictures really don't give them justice!

Lastly, 3 Ring Necklace has been selected as Artist of the Month from Jenafusion. Check out the posting on http://jenafusion.blogspot.com for full details. Thanks Jenafusion!!

Opps I did it again

Ok, I'm not a Brittany Spears fan at all and that was an incredibly cheesy subject line; but fitting nonetheless. I tore up my left knee last Sunday on a jump. It's weird how there was no wind that day when we have been having such high wind days in Texas since the beginning of the year. I damaged the mcl and the cartilage but I don't know the extent of it yet. I see the doctor in about 2 hours and I will found out whether or not I am going to get surgery. If I do need it, it'll be my fourth knee surgery.

Needless to say, I am royally pissed. I am angry at myself that I broke myself. After 940 jumps, I'd think that I would know better by now. I guess not. I am most angry that I cannot workout. The last time I injured my knee I put on a lot of weight and I got very depressed. I am a gym-a-holic and I am already going into withdrawal! I just purchased 18 sessions with my personal trainer before the accident, and I'm not about to quit now. So I'm going to work on keeping the habit of going to the gym and not losing the upper body strength that I worked so hard to get. I can finally steer and flare the SETS 400 canopy all on my own, and I don't want to lose that strength either.

So I'm just taking it one day at a time and keeping my chin up. This is only a temporary phase in my life (I got over the elbow injury, didn't I?) and I've got to work my way through it.

I'm not a Miley Cyrus fan by any means but I love the lyrics to this song (it gives me strength):

There's always gonna be another mountain
Always gonna want to make it move
Always gonna be an uphill battle
Sometimes I'm gonna have to lose
Ain't about how fast I get there
Ain't about what's waiting on the other side
It's the climb!

Here's to staying strong!!!

Red Alert! Red Alert!

Barbed wire necklaces are HERE! Check out pics on facebook!

Barbed Wire 3 Ring Necklace

Using a suggestion from a 3 Ring Necklace fan (thanks Hal!), I ordered leather barbed wire cord. The necklaces look fantastic!! Pics are coming soon!

In my neck of the woods, I make been making great progress with tandems. I can fly them and land them all on my own. My accuracy is getting better, but it still needs some work. I have even begun to land them on our feet. Well, the high Texas winds have been helpful too! ;) I now have over 100 tandems. I want to do at least 200 more by the end of the year. Skydive 35 is getting a turbo charged 206, which will be great! I checked my log book today, and I saw that I haven't jumped a turbine aircraft for a YEAR. Yikes! I really miss Otters! I love Skydive 35 though even though we have Cessna 182s. The people are great and I have a lot of fun. If you're ever in central/north Texas, come check us out!