Walking! And mowing. And Stuff.
After some hard truths from the Doctor on Monday, (115 kg!! SHIT!! That crept up!) I’ve been walking. I even had Mr Beloved drop Connie and me at the library in town and we walked the 3.2 km home! Today I walked home from my appointment at the chiropractor, only 2.8 km (and 20 minutes of the 38 minute walk was down hill) and without Connie, so I’ll be heading out again later today.
(clicky biggy)
Yes, that is Constance J. Woodle – but no, that’s not really me, LOL! Connie is in her full winter coat – I think next time she sees the groomer she’ll have a close shave – her hair starts to get knotty at this length.
(clicky biggy)
The bottom line that the scanner cut off says “I am really looking forward to bed!”
We see the doctor again in a fortnight and I’m determined that I will have lost at least a couple of kg by then. I’m back to using the CalorieKing.com.au website to count calories and record exercise: that really helped last time when I managed to lose weight. I’m aiming for around 80kg as my final goal – heavier than Weight Watchers or CalorieKing recommend for my height and age, but more achievable than their estimate – 60 kg? I don’t THINK SO!!Last time I was that weight I was 20 something years younger and caught any flu/cold/lurgy that was going. That’s when I got the glandular fever that is still effecting my life NOW.
And here’s a journal page I started at Social Cre8te at Tammy’s shop yesterday:
There’s some stamping in the background using one of the new ($4!) Kaisercraft texture stamps (the one called “Flourish”, CS759) – I’m looking forward to using the same stamp in wet gesso to give more texture to backgrounds – I forgot to take the gesso with me yesterday! The buildings are made from a book I bought for $2 on British plants - a very good buy because the paper is such beautiful quality, no foxing at all, and very sturdy, even though the book dates from the late 1930s (from memory). (No, it wasn’t worth anything as a book, but it’s lovely as art material.)
In other news: Mr Beloved hired a slasher (what a beastie!)
yesterday, and did the yard. First time in about (mumblety… 5?) months, and the !@&*^!* kikuyu grass ( Pennisetum clandestinum – if you do a search on google images you’ll see just how invasive it is!) had grown into knee high, tangled mats that an ordinary mower had no chance of defeating. (And our mower still needs to go off to be repaired anyway…) At least we can see the dog when she’s in the yard now! We’re pulling up runners and trying to poison the rest of the kikuyu, it’s awful stuff.
And now it’s time to hang the washing – such a beautiful almost Spring day here, blue sky and the birds are turning over the drying “hay” left in the yard…
Not much, how ’bout you?
I haven’t posted because I haven’t been doing much. Getting through the days … trying to eat less and have the dog drag me around the block at least once a day. Trying to get something done in my art journal every day, even if it’s only gluing down an image. (BTW, if you’re looking for images and updates in my art journal, I’m “caityquilter” over on Flickr.)
I had to buy new jeans this week (thank goodness Target had them on sale!) and since there was nothing acceptable in the fat chick range, I bought mens’ jeans. BIG MENS jeans. Actually ended up with a size bigger than I needed (or wanted) but things were getting desperate so I grabbed what I could.
(clicky biggy but you still probably won’t be able to read some of the journaling)
It’s always harder to keep the weight off in winter – yeah, I comfort eat, who doesn’t? – but this year has been harder with the Seroquel coming into play. I know I’ve whined about this before, but it really does seem unfair that I have a choice of being mentally ok and fat or mentally screwed and maybe thinner. It’s all very well for the psychiatrist to counsel not having any “bad” food in the house, but carrot sticks and celery are NOT what I want to eat on a cold and miserable day! I’ll have to work out how to make long, slow cooked soup in the microwave – the stove is kaput, although the oven part still works – it’s just the cooktop that is not working.
That said, I’ve stopped buying the bikkies (cookies) I liked, and am eating green apples like they’re going out of fashion. Nom nom nom. I’m going to bake some bikkies or slice tonight (I’m limiting any baking to once a week) just so we can have something nice with our cuppas. Without the palm oil and other strange additives of the commercial products. A small treat while the rest of the food intake is so sensible … zucchini slice is a marvellous thing, lots of stealth veges and it lasts for at least 3 meals for the two of us!
Some of the stuff in my art journal has been too personal for me to post. I know, shocking – that I wouldn’t post something – it goes against my history – but there’s one issue in particular that is tricky and unresolved and I don’t want to expose it before things are sorted out.
(some info smudged for privacy reasons)
It’s been cold here. I don’t sleep well when it’s cold – my bones ache. Carrying all this extra weight doesn’t help that, of course, but July is always a tough month to get through.
I didn’t dust this week. I’ve only vacuumed the front and lounge and kitchen once. There’s only so much fighting against the dust monster I can manage!
Another art journal page waiting for the writing… my hair is reaaaaaaalllly bugging me but I can’t afford to go to the hairdressers – and so I’m just using a headband to keep it back off my face. I’m so grey now! (Even the vet commented on how grey my hair is when I last took Connie in.) Connie has to lose 1.5 kg (from her 7.5 kg total weight) and I am not even game to get on the scales (although I suspect my GP will make me when we go to see her on Monday…) – I’m back to needing to lose at least 20kg, though, I’m sure. I can’t afford the gym, so I’m trying to walk each day – even though so far it’s only for 15-20 minutes.
Another oddly proportioned gal, inspired by the styles of Teesha and Nancy B…
I’m very excited that my parents will be visiting for a couple of days in September! YAY!! And I was excited that I was going to be able to get some parts for my brother’s car from the local wreckers – except that when they quoted the price, we had to “tell ‘em they’re dreamin’!” – they wanted $260 for a coupla bits of trim!! Dad reckoned that he could make them out of gold for that price.
Mr Beloved also finds Winter difficult – his old back injury often flares up in the cold, and he just can’t get away from the pain. We move slowly in Winter. At least we don’t live in c-c-c-cold Canberra anymore – we think it’s dreadfully cold when the temperature overnight is 2 degrees C, but there were nights when Canberra had – 6… and I don’t think the houses we had there were any better built against the cold!
As you can see from my Shelfari widget (over there on the right if you’re reading this on my blog) I’ve been doing some reading. Thank goodness for the city library! I’ve really enjoyed “The Secrets of The Immortal Nicholas Flamel” series written by Michael Scott: the whole series (three books so far) takes place in just over a week – it’s action all the way. I’ve also found some of the boxes of books that I moved with; some I’m probably never going to read again and can get rid of, and some books that I look forward to re-reading. I recently read “Cat in a Hot Pink Pursuit” by Carole Nelson Douglas – book SEVENTEEN of that series! I used to re-read all the previous books before I read the new one, but these days I just read the one before if I can get my hands on it – I stopped buying this series at around book “K” (they’re alphabetical).
And now it’s getting too cold again for me to write. Off to the house for some art journaling before an evening of couch potato-ing – Monk, Doc Martin, and The Bill.
Oh, and the election? Let’s just say that regardless of all the sh1t that happens in the (drearily long) 5 week campaign, my vote will be going to another party for the first time EVER. And it won’t be one of the major 2…
C-c-c-cold!
I’m really feeling the cold today – the official weather site I check says it’s currently 13.1 degrees C but “feels like” 10.5 because of the windchill. It’s been a blustery sort of day. At least the washing will be dry (even if it’s difficult to tell because it feels cold as you take it off the line.)
You can see the length of our “lawn” here too – we’re currently without a lawn mower, and it seems to RAIN whenever we scrape the money together to hire one! Oh well, maybe this fortnight…
And I’ve had a weepy sort of day – I’m not sure why. Today is the last day Mum and Dad have in their home of 30+ years in Wagga Wagga before the removalists arrive to start loading. I’m thrilled for them that they’re moving on to a new adventure in Adelaide, where they’ll be close to my brother and his family; but I’m also sad that they’ll be leaving friends and networks behind.
Right now I’d give just about anything to be able to move close to them all, but it’s just not going to happen – even if we could sell our house, we couldn’t afford to buy anywhere else. I feel very isolated – which is weird, because they’ve been so far away anyway!
Mr Beloved has been working hard on building me a faster computer from spare parts (and from the care package sent by a good friend in Perth). He’s also built pelmets for the lounge and bedroom windows – hopefully once we get those up, the warm air won’t just slide down the cold windowpanes and back into the rooms. Pelmets are supposed to be one of those simple things that can make a huge difference to the warmth of a house… ours are just finger-jointed pine from the hardware store, stained with Mr B’s special mix of Black Japan and a secret ingredient. Nothing fancy – we thought about covering them with quilt batting and fabric, but since they’re going over existing curtains that we don’t have matching fabric for, the stain will do. And it matches the other woodwork in the house.
Half past four – time to get that washing in and start to close up the house – curtains drawn and blankets over doorways down (we don’t have many doors – that’s another story!) to keep in the warmth.
Me. Hot flush, recycling and all.
(washi tape frame from Kitschy Digitals kit, recoloured)
One of Mr Beloved’s dear friends sent a care package today, (thanks, Prote!) which included two coffee mugs from the recent Atheist Convention. Also lots of computery geekery bits and pieces which have made Mr Beloved very happy. So here am I, in the middle of a hot flush (just looooove that red faced look, NOT!) in our kitchen. On the left of the photo you can see that the kitchen table has been completely taken over by art supplies; on the right of the photo you can just see the laundry, complete with the unemptied recycling box perched on top of the washer. It’s just non-stop glamour around here, let me tell ya!
Speaking of glamour – I won a gift voucher to iSUBSCRiBE, thanks to the wonderful Girl With A Satchel. I read GWAS blog every day because she saves us money: I wait and see her review of magazines before I buy them, especially if they’ve been wrapped in plastic (ooh, anyone else just hear the Twin Peaks theme?!). I’m trying to decide between getting 12 months of Vogue Australia (which I buy maybe every 2nd or third month, it’s pure fantasy) and Country Style magazine (which is also pure fantasy, but with expensive kitchens instead of expensive clothes.) So far I can’t make up my mind.
You’d think having hot flushes would be useful in the colder weather we’ve been having, but sadly my face is the only part that gets hot. I find myself lying in bed at night with a damp facewasher on my cheek while my feet rest on the hot water bottle. Very odd. I’m not sure if the flushes are physical or psychological (or both, since can you really separate the two?) but I DO NOT LIKE THEM.
Not much else to report here: it’s cold, I hate my medicine, we’re trying to get more things done each day (Mr Beloved is currently building pelmets for the lounge and bedroom windows, to try and keep some heat in); my nose is still very sore and swollen, and my throat still hurts when I yawn. I’m slowly recovering from the surgeries – s- l-o–w—l—y. And I’m continuing to work with the psychologist and psychiatrist and GP to try and manage my anxiety and panic attacks. Not getting much reading done.
Right, getting too cold here, back to the house to do the dishes so my hands warm up!
An eventful evening…
During the pre-prandial Throwing Of The Ball For The Dog (an important afternoon ritual) A DISASTER was noted. Yep, the loo had backed up and raw sewage was flowing out onto the concreted area at the back of the house. (It would be too grand to call it a patio, even though it is roofed.) This happens every so often (as I’m sure it does to most households) probably due to tree roots in the sewer pipes.
ACK! Call Nice Plumber (who, as you may remember, was only here the other day to tell us about the leaky gas stove) who sends his offsider to snake the pipes or whatever it is you call it. Expensive is what I call it – “call out” fee (because of course, it’s after 6 pm by now…) plus the snaking thing adds up to $250+. Five runs of cable down the pipes later and we *should* have reached the elbow of our sewer pipe where it intersects with council’s responsibility.
If the problem re-occurs tonight, we get to call council out to fix it. Fingers crossed that it’s now fixed… Trust me, Irritable Bowel Syndrome and non-working loos are NOT a good mix!
Then – after Mr Beloved had made a rush trip to the big supermarket before they close at 8 or so for cleaning stuff (ewwwww) there was a rattle at the door.
This small wire haired terrier had slipped under our fence and was looking for someone to be nice to him and a feed… he was dragging a broken lead, as though he’d broken away from someone or somewhere he’d been tied up. So we secured him to our fence on a long enough rope that he can get under the house for shelter. Mr Beloved fetched water and food which were both guzzled. Poor thing is very friendly but very thin. Oh, and yes, that’s a pigs ear he’s got in his mouth – not that we spoil dogs in our house, much! Connie desperately wanted to go out and play with Stray Dog but of course we couldn’t let her – I mean, the poor stray could have had any number of issues, yes? But at least a pigs ear to chew on will keep him occupied for a while. (I suspect Connie will whinge all night at hearing the stray outside, though…)
And of course there are just not the resources in a regional town like Toowoomba to have after hours RSPCA or council help for lost dogs. I did call both council after hours number and the 1300 RSPCA to register that the poor thing (he?) was here, and give a description and my phone number, but there just isn’t much else to be done before morning.
This all on top of braving the shops earlier today – all I wanted was a black cardigan, you know, just a nice looking cardie to throw on as it gets a bit colder? You would have thought I was asking for the MOON! I looked at the cheap chickie shops (Big W, Millers, Katies, Rockmans) and the fat chick shops (My Size, Autograph, and the Be Me section of Rockmans) but nope, such an article was not to be found. I did see ONE warp thing I liked, not a cardy, but it was $120. Um, nope! All I wanted was just a plainish black cardie, nothing fancy, you see people wearing them ALL THE TIME, so where are they hiding?
Turns out “they’re just not fashionable” said the lady at Lowes (cheap menswear) “but I do have a couple here…” $48 later and I have a nice black cardie AND a blue-ish one as well. VALUE!
So – I’m tired, there’s a strange dog making rattly sounds that will probably upset our dog all night, the back concrete has been cleaned down, and in a little while I will go and start my bedtime rituals. Got my CPAP machine back today (it had to have a new motor and switch) and I’m hoping it’s now as efficient as the loaner machine was.
Here’s hoping for a quiet night … although I must say, all this other stuff took my mind off my anxieties really well, LOL!
(Quick update: we all slept, and stray dog was taken away by Council’s Animal Control bloke this morning. Apparently the dog is a known Houdini…)
A week later…
Well, the surgeries were a week ago today. I’m still pretty miserable, as you would expect. I went and saw the ENT (otolaryngologist) doctor on Monday afternoon, and he said everything was going the way it should. I’m eating ordinary food (including scratchy toast!) to help the healing from the tonsillectomy – although I am also having ice cream every so often because the coldness is so soooooooooooooooothing. Bugger the weight gain, for now I want the real deal, full cream, super smooth ice cream. To be eaten with a teeny coffee spoon so it lasts longer.
My nose is very tender from the septoplasty- I’ve been using this stuff at least 3 times a day.
Once you get over the initial weirdness, it’s fine; the oh-so-trendy (but really very old) neti pots are the same thing, with a different solution to mix up. One of my blog friends suggested it must feel like getting dumped in the surf – I’m not a beach person, but yep, I have vague memories of the feeling – but the Flo stuff is much much gentler. Still weird though.
BUT – I can breathe through BOTH NOSTRILS!! AT ONCE!! Which I haven’t been able to do for maybe 20 years or more. It’s awesome! My right nostril actually works!!
I have some odd bruises and my left hand is sore – not so much where they had the various lines in, but all around my wrist, especially on the inside of the wrist and back of my hand, and on my lower and upper arm. The ENT Doctor said that I had a panic attack when I was coming out of the anaesthesia, and he was glad that he’s already had me booked for an ICU bed, so they could give me stronger stuff to calm me down. Oops! I must have really flailed about. big black and purple bruises are still just coming to the surface.
Mum and Dad called me last night to tell me there was a program on SBS about anxiety – I’d just missed it, but Dad reckons I should catch it when it repeats. I’m almost to anxious to watch it, though! ARRRRGH!
Did I mention our computer printer is kaput? It won’t even turn on now – for a while you could fool it by unplugging it then plugging it back in, then it would shoot paper through but not print on it – now it’s completely gone. Only had it 5 years or so. I know the mean time to failure is less than that, it’s just I was hoping to beat the odds, I guess. Wouldn’t you know I’d only just bought ink refills for it a fortnight before? (and no, they’re not compatible with anything newer…)
And the cooktop for our stove? Leaking gas like a mad gas-leaking-thingummy. The plumber/gasfitter told us some horror stories about gas leaks and houses blowing up, just to cheer us up…Obviously, we’ve turned the gas off at the cylinder, duh! The oven part is ok ‘cos it’s electric, but not having a cooktop is a bit of a pain. We had to buy an electric frypan. (And I can hear my Mum laughing, because I made fun of her keeping an electric frypan in all the stuff they’re moving, “just in case”… YOU WERE RIGHT, Mum!!) The stove is only 5 years old too.
And – to top it off – my CPAP machine (the one I need for you know, BREATHING at night?) needs a new motor: $386 was the quote. I am currently using one borrowed from the local supplier, so that’s alright, but sheesh! At least I don’t have to buy a whole new machine.
Touch wood nothing else happens, right? Poor Mr Beloved is doing everything he can to help, keeping the laundry done and making sure there’s food in the fridge, and keeping the menagerie fed.
Now I’m going to head off and paint some pages in the art journal. I am going (with Mr Beloved, I’m not game to drive yet) to the supermarket later on (about a half hour before closing time, when there’s hardly any people) to get more ice cream, and to the library to pick up a book I’ve been waiting for: The Museum of Innocence by Orhan Pamuk. It will be interesting to compare it to the Istanbul of Barbara Nadels’ Inspector Ikmen series.
Otherwise, I’ve been reading various Pratchetts, and enjoying discovering Discworld all over again. Highly recommended for when you’re miserable, they’re silly enough to make you grin and wise enough to make you feel content and safe.
Right, time for more nose washing…
Rex Redux:
Just keeps getting cuter! Can almost stand properly now, though still in the nesting box.
That’s bird’s got attitude!
Introducing…. REX!
Credits: Kitschy Digitals Vintage Camera Kit (background paper, Box Brownie, Polaroid frames); Lesley Grainger‘s Birdie ABC Alpha; Doodled Edge from Laurie Anderson – Heaven’s Gate Designs.
We’ve heard the little one saying “peep peep peep peep PEEEEEEP” for over a fortnight now – but we didn’t want to do anything that might endanger him/her. Well, S/he has open eyes and is finally big enough to start to stand. I think you have to be a bird person to truly love the little ones when they’re this ugly/cute! Bollinger and Dorian, the parent birds, are spending increasing amounts of time out of the nesting box, but both are still on feeding duty.
I’m trying not to get too attached, as it’s still early days, but young Rex is over the most vulnerable phase, we hope.
BTW – Mr Beloved called the chick “Rex” because it was able to make a fierce hissing noise when disturbed – sort of like what baby dinosaurs might have done. (And how much do I love the look of adoration on his face as Mr Beloved holds Rex?!)
We went to the Nice Psychiatrist today, and I feel like I have a little more control over what’s going on. She listened to my whinging about side effects and gave me the option of changing meds or sticking things out – she thinks that a lot of the symptoms I’m struggling with are signs that I’m actually getting better. So – knowing that it really takes at least 6 weeks for new medications to settle, I now have an action plan, possibly at half hour increments, of How To Cope with panic attacks, rage, hunger, etc. It feels a bit silly filling in the day in such small wedges of time, but apparently I know this makes sense and stops any one problem becoming OVERWHELMING.
And tonight I baked. It smells sooooo good – let’s hope THIS one makes it out of the tin without any disasters! It’s the banana variation of Rose Levy Beranbaum’s Cordon Rose Cream Cheesecake. Mr Beloved beta beater(!) tested the mix before it went into the tin and pronounced it Good. It’s been at least 6 years since I made it last – I had to buy a new springform tin to replace one that didn’t survive the move from Canberra.
I must get to bed: Social Cre8te tomorrow, and we’re celebrating my birthday, so I have to be there (with the cheesecake!) I should point out that I didn’t HAVE to make my own cake, I just wanted an excuse to bake. Especially since part of the new regime to cope with the side effects of the medication will be a CARB FREE HOUSE (or as close as we can reasonably manage) – so that I don’t end up the size of a house again. Lots and lots of veges and vege soup in my future.
BED!
Photos of cake etc tomorrow.
It’s a MONSOON!
Well, thank goodness we FINALLY got the phone line in the street replaced! When the Big Telco man arrived and hauled it out of the ground, he was amazed by how ancient it was. He showed me ant chew marks which let water into the line (everybody sing: everyone knows an ant CAN’T move a rubber tree plant but he’s got HIIIIGH hopes…) – apparently those rotten little beasties can gnaw right through the old stuff. The NEW cable comes covered with a more ant-proof outer, apparently. Anyway, so far the phone line is holding up under fairly wild conditions:
As I’m writing this, it hasn’t stopped raining for 48 hours. We’re getting wind gusts up to 87 kilometres per hour (that’s NINE on the Beaufort Scale – or, to be more accurate and modern, 24 metres per second.)
The rain by itself isn’t a huge problem – even though we had 157 mm of rain in February, and therefore the ground is wet, and most of the rain is running straight off into water catchments. No, the problem is that our house (and I suspect a lot of other houses in southern Queensland) isn’t designed to cope with rain that arrives HORIZONTALLY. And at 24 metres per second. Blowing right under the ridge cap and running down the frame inside.
Consequently, the roof is leaking. Again, that’s not toooooo bad – the ceiling that’s under the worst leak is pretty high on our list of Things To Do If We Ever Have The Money. It’s plywood and was eaten by termites (well, the corner opposite the wet patch was eaten by termites) and overdue for replacement. (It’s just part of the larger puzzle that involves new gutters, insulation, roof repairs, etc etc etc…)
The sheets of tin lifting in the wind (and pulling the affixing nails out with them) over the laundry/toilet extension of the house (different roof line to the main house) – well, there’s a hand’s width of daylight (such as it is in this gloom!) already. Eeeek! That’s quite worrying.
One lane of the big highway down the Range has been closed due to a mud and rockslide.
Its’ very, VERY wet.
In other news, I’ve been out of action with stomach/abdomen problems again – fortunately, tonight is prep for the procedures tomorrow. (icky drink! Then never more than 2 metres from the loo…) I’m having a gastroscopy and colonoscopy, or as Dad says, an up periscope and a down periscope. Part of me wants the doctors to find something and tell me why I’m so crook; the other part of me doesn’t want them to find anything wrong. Arrgh! In any case, I can’t go on feeling so sick all the damn time.
No pics today: camera is in house and I am down here – and I’m not braving the rain again until I have no choice!
Because of the rain…
Our phone line is not working well. We’re waiting on the Big TelCo to do something about it… meanwhile, access to teh interwebs will be sporadic. Waaaaaaaaah!
