I finished the blocks for the Bento Box quilt this afternoon:



This is a potential layout. It's hard to lay out because there aren't very many different prints used, and it's a challenge to distribute the colors. I think this is about the optimal layout.

I like it some better now that all the blocks are side by side. I'm totally reserving judgment until it's sewn together, because I've had quilts that looked not so good in the block/layout stage that looked lots better once they were sewn together.

I do think the colors look less obnoxious together now.

Here's a close-up of one corner:



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A number of months back I alluded to something new I was doing to see if it would boost my energy, and I'd report back here if it seemed to work.

What I was doing, was taking a B-complex supplement every morning. Because a particular medication I take is rumored to mess with your absorption of some of the B-vitamins (or "deplete" them, or whatever. It's hard to find reliable information; none of the medical sites really talk about it and with the alternative-medicine sites, I have a hard time determining good information from 100% pure woo). But anyway - I had a few other symptoms suggesting I was low on B-6 (getting weird little cracks around my mouth that a dermatologist once told me were symptomatic of that).

(Some of you may guess what medication it is based on these comments. I probably don't need to say that this isn't an invitation to speculate on which one it is in the comments. I will reassure nervous readers that it's a treatment for a non-life-threatening condition that's really more of an annoyance than anything).

Anyway. B-complex. I haven't noticed so much with the energy (my energy levels are so variable anyway and they seem largely to be linked to whether something I'm badly allergic to is shedding pollen or not). But I *have* noticed that I'm sleeping a great deal better. I haven't, for the past six months, (knock wood) had any of those terrible nights where I got in bed and my brain. would. not. shut. off. And I seem to sleep more soundly. And I don't have so many frightening, oppressive dreams. (Though that could be a factor of the fact that my classes this semester have been pretty much even-keel and they all have a high enough ratio of people who are cool to people who are upsetting in some way that I am fairly happy with that).

I figure it's probably not too much of a danger to take extra B - it's a water soluble vitamin, so it (ahem) leaves the body pretty quickly if it's not used.

And I do have to say - if you've never suffered from insomnia, you might not "get" this - but of all the not-really-life-threatening conditions I've had, insomnia has to be the most hellish. Both in the middle of it - lying in bed not sleeping you feel like you are literally the only person in the world; it's a horrible sort of existential loneliness because there's no one you dare call up at 2 am to try to commiserate with (well, if I had friends in the UK or Israel or somewhere, I could have, because it wouldn't be 2 am there...). And afterward - that horrible, treacly flow of the next day, the mental fuzziness, the lack of tolerance for even little things, the worry if you have to drive anywhere, if you are alert enough to do it safely. It's really horrible.

In a way, it's even worse than the migraines I get, because at least with the migraines I know they will be over in an hour or two. (Shorter, if I can fall asleep or if I happen to vomit).

So it's a real blessing (and no, I don't think that's too strong a word to use) to find something that seems to make me sleep better. And no, I'm not going to be one of those crazy one-size-fits-all-solution people and say stuff like, "They should put B-6 in the water; there would be fewer unhappy people out there!" or insist that everyone run out and buy a bottle of the stuff and start taking it - everyone's different and what works for me might not work at all for you. But I do want to acknowledge something simple that helps and seems to improve my quality of life without noticeable side effects. (Well, except for an odd little color change when it, ahem, exits the body, but I'm the only one who will ever see that.)