I meant to post on Friday but then we had a snow day (that I worked half of) and I wasn’t feeling well and I could maybe come up with a thousand excuses. But I didn’t post. But I’ve been making progress.
Since starting this adventure I have lost 8lbs. I’ve managed to do two days on the treadmill where I did 30 minutes. I’m starting to feel better. My big thing now is figuring out this whole meal planning stuff.
Treat for sticking with things even when I felt like utter crap. Sometimes all you need is a cheap and cheerful bouquet from Target to keep you going.
The one thing I haven’t really been able to do – at all – is knit. My skin has finally gotten to the point where it cracks and bleeds if I look at it cross-eyed. As I type this I have bandaids on both thumbs, and I should maybe have two more on just one middle finger. It’s pretty damn awful.
Garth is sharing his grooming tips with everyone these days, including Lancelot
I’m 44 years old and I’ve been looking for this bobblehead for ages. While I’m trying very hard not to let my office be overrun with Baby Yoda stuff, there are some things I just NEED.
This has been a WEEK. And yes, I know that today is only Wednesday. But our semester started on Monday and it’s been ridiculously busy so far.
It doesn’t help that I’m feeling rather like something you’d scrape off the bottom of your shoe. I’m not one for naps, I have a hard enough time sleeping at night, but yesterday after finishing my one and only meeting I got into bed and slept for three hours. I just felt wiped out and I couldn’t get warm.
Before you get too worried let me say that I am pretty well positive that this is NOT The Rona. I think I just have a wicked head cold, maybe a mild case of the flu. I’m achey, cold, only a little congested, and tired. Very tired.
So I’m resting, I’m kind of ignoring the diet right now, and being as gentle with myself as possible. And it seems to be helping. Today I’m starting to feel better. I’m fairly sure I’m doing the right things because in spite of eating with not-quite-reckless abandon yesterday I lost 1.5lbs. I’ll take it. Today I splurged on a bagel with cream cheese for breakfast. I need to feel better before I stress myself out over this.
I haven’t even been knitting the last few days, and that was the first sign that I wasn’t feeling good. This morning I had to take Lancelot for a quick blood draw and I took the shawl I’m working on with. It felt good to knit.
So I’m here, alive, still trying to fight the good fight. Mostly fighting with the dog, actually. It’s been warm enough here that the back yard is muddy and yesterday she came in covered in it. So me, not feeling good, had to wrap her in a towel, carry her up the stairs, get clean towels from the linen closet, and give her a shower – all while making sure L stayed asleep.
So last week was kinda odd. On Thursday I had more blood tests and a visit with the hematologist. That was fine except my blood pressure appears to legit be high. The nurse who checked me in about flipped. Yay, I get to start taking a new med.
Friday was Lancelot’s 50 year fun. The prep for that stuff is just utterly horrible, at least judging by the faces he was making and how miserable he appeared to be. But the procedure itself took almost no time and in spite of the kind of restrictions I’ve gotten used to with the pandemic, I was able to go back to the room where they got him ready and then I got to stay in that room until he was ready to go home. So that was nice. And he was back to normal by the time we were back to the house.
The weekend was fairly quiet, which was wonderful. We had a few friends over to watch a concert in the living room, we had sushi delivered, and then yesterday I tore part of the kitchen apart. Good times. We also finally put up the Celtic tree of life decal we bought.
It’s about 24″ in diameter and the color is actually black. I was trying to take a picture for my mom this morning and the light here today is just awful. Anyway, in spite of it being rather a bitch to get up it turned out great and I think it’s going to be a great foundation for that wall.
I am still knitting, trying to make progress, but progress is hard with Pippy being so damn needy lately. If I’m sitting down she wants to be in my lap. The snuggles are nice but it makes it hard to do anything.
A rather horrible photo of Off Kilter, and Eric’s butt. Apologies for the photo, the bed was the only fur-free place with a solid color that I could try to spread it out. This sucker needs to be BLOCKED.The teeny tiny amount of yarn that was left
Yesterday was ridiculously slow for me. I’m going to assume that had something to do with the election, not sure what else to attribute it to. So I took advantage of it and managed to finish a few office-based projects, like the file cabinet. I was basically at my desk and able to hear when the computer demanded my attention so I decided that made it a legit activity. I can’t say as I threw out much stuff, but I definitely got it more organized and that’s always a good thing. Let’s be honest, I’m not really done yet. The file cabinet, yes. The other storage spots, not so much.
It’s a sickness maybe.
Anyway, I’ve started the holiday knitting which has, of course, resulted in the realization that there are more people who need knit things.
I can do all of this, right?
Part of it is I’m trying to distract myself from more medical appointments. I’m still feeling confident that everything is going to turn out to be nothing, but it’s still stressful.
Super Garth does not know what this “stress” nonsense is
I am pretty sure I have some kind of sinus infection. Yesterday I ended up spending the entire day, Monday?, in PJs doing remarkably little. I needed it. I maybe could have used another today, but I’m going to try to get by with just calling it a day early. So the ol’ brain pan isn’t working that well right now, I’ll offer you some pictures in lieu of coherent thoughts.
Her new favorite place to lay at night, right in the middle of my lap.
Finished shawl; two repeats of the lace pattern. I need to block it yet. I had a ton of fun knitting this.
The start of Waves of Happiness. I’m 20 repeats into the lace border. Those are my favorite slippers, by the way. Oh, and L’s feet on the other foot thingy.
I may or may not have confessed to buying more yarn. Well, I did, and here it is. The colors are fairly accurate except for the two balls of Chroma on the end. All of this came from Knit Picks. What you see here is three shawls (at least one of these is a for sure) and a cowl. I’m pretty damn excited.
I’ve decided that I’m also going to try branching back out into some of the crafts I used to do. I saw something on Pinterest this morning that was made with seed beads and lamented my lack of motor control. Lancelot gave his usual gentle encouragement and that got me started looking for ideas. What I came up with is decidedly not as complicated as I used to do, but requires only supplies I have on hand and should be completed within an hour or two.
I also found instructions so I can re-teach myself how to needle tat. I never could figure out how to use shuttles, but the needle made sense to me. The only tatted piece I still have is a reasonable size doily I made. I’m not sure if I’ll get back to that level of complexity, but I’d like to give it a shot.
Speaking of shots… More blood work came back goofy so today I had a tele-health visit with my psych doc. The regular doc is worried about my kidneys so she wanted me to talk to the psych doc to make sure it’s not related to the Lithium I take for the Bipolar. Psych doc is not worried but has requested her own blood work which will include a Lithium level, among other things. So for now there will be no changes. Her guess is that the kidney doc will do the same as the blood doc and we’ll keep an eye on this for a while as well. Very exciting.
I’m looking forward to a productive yet relaxing weekend. There are some small projects around the house that need to get done and some craft projects I would like to do, and Lancelot mentioned wanting to watch a few movies. Doesn’t sound half bad.
I am not super excited about working at home, it’s just not my thing. But I’m trying to make the best of it.My coworkers are kind of jerks sometimes, but it’s nice that they’re spending more time with me.
My biggest issue is that I miss my friends on campus. I chat with them off and on but it’s not quite the same. I’ve been able to see Lancelot the last two mornings and that helps, a ton. I know he’s worried about me, and I know why. He’s sweet.
The birthday wasn’t what either of us had planned, but I really thought it was good. L got me two gorgeous necklaces and a really cool resin skull with Celtic knot designs all over it. Mom’s friend R got me a baby Yoda coffee mug.
It’s not the stuff or the place that makes an occasion, it’s the people you’re surrounded by.
Pretty much everything around here is closing. Restaurants, bars, churches, schools. I’m thinking it’s just a matter of time before I start working from home. And then this morning when I picked up Lancelot they had blocked a section of the parking lot because they’re going to put in tents and screen everyone before their shift starts.
I’ve been screened twice, once before each doc appointment I’ve had this week, so I get it. We’re worried, rightly so, and checking for a fever is a fast way to help reduce the spread. But it’s a little scary.
So I’m trying to keep things as normal as I can.
I’m taking silly pictures of the kitties. Garth has been picked up by Penelope a lot so he’s taken to hiding on top of the linen cupboard in my bathroom.
This morning I spent a little time with my fella watching the Dropkick Murphys concert from last night. If you missed it you should definitely go out to YouTube and watch. It was phenomenal.
As much of my life as I can keep the same I am. I’m having to make a few adjustments like everyone is, but I refuse to let this get me down. My 44th birthday is this Saturday and I’ll be damned if I let anything fuck with that.
Life around here is just 100% BATSHIT FUCKING CRAZY, to put it mildly.
Y’all might have heard of that rotten little COVID-19 thing that’s going around. Since I work for a university everyone here is trying to scramble to make sure that we can continue to operate as close to normal as possible when the inevitable happens and we end up closing the campus. They call this stuff “disaster preparedness” and what you tend to realize is that you really aren’t very prepared at all.
So I haven’t been knitting or really doing much of anything recreational because by the time I get home I am entirely exhausted and incapable of anything more complicated than drooling on myself. It’s amazing.
But no, I’m not sick. I’m as healthy as I ever am, just totally wore out. I miss writing, I miss knitting, and I miss Lancelot. I haven’t been picking him up every morning and I didn’t realize what a difference that would make. Honestly, I HATE not seeing him every day.
How to you stay healthy when the people in your house get sick? What are your favorite ways to prevent a cold?
I take Humira to deal with a skin issue and because of that my immune system isn’t great. I take Airborne, an immune supplement, every day. I also take a multivitamin, drink orange juice, and try to get decent sleep.
What are your secrets to treating a cold? Do you feed a cold and starve a fever?
I mostly let my body tell me what it wants. If I’m hungry, I eat. And I let myself eat whatever the fuck I want. I always assume if I’m craving something there’s a reason for it. I do try to load up on vitamin B12 and vitamin C, preferably from food. I also drink, tons.
I believe that when you’re sick you should be extra kind to yourself? What do you do to baby yourself when you’re sick?
I try to be extra kind to myself, but it’s not always easy. I have this mentality that I have to do all the things all the time, and it’s hard to break that just because I don’t feel well. I do try to make myself favorite beverages like hot cocoa with instant espresso powder in it.
I think eating when you’re sick is a challenge. Do you eat your usual foods or do you have special things you like to eat when you’re sick?
I absolutely love Campbell’s Chicken and Stars soup, which I know is kind of gross. I also like the really cheap ramen noodles. My favorite is my mom’s rice pudding, or really any of the comfort foods I grew up with.
I have to admit that the corona virus is scaring me. Not that I’ve traveled to China or know anyone who has been recently, but we’ve got one of the quarantine sites not far from here. My concern is that because my immune system isn’t great I know I’d be more susceptible to something like that. But I get all of my vaccinations and I do try to take good care of myself. Just a little scary, ya know?
My coworkers are kind of jerks sometimes, but it’s nice that they’re spending more time with me.
randomly erin 