A Hard Earned Victory

 I have not been able to wear this dress since 2002. Yes, 22 years ago.  It was around that time that I became a sandwich generation, mom.  I had my own family to take care of and I also started taking care of older family members who needed help too. Almost all of my self care time disappeared almost overnight.  

I lived on caffeine and fast food lunches.  I mastered eating at red lights in between appointments for everyone but me.  Slipping in grocery shopping just before school got out for Eric and just beating his bus home.  In 2009 I gave up artificial sweeteners and substituted Mexican Coke instead.  The pounds slowly creeped on.  Favorite dresses and other clothing items were put into the back of my closet.  

At one end I had school activities and fundraisers for both kids. I had activities for both kids at 2 different schools.  I needed to be there for both of them.  Eric had more medical issues and appointments.  More therapy to be done at home.  At the other end I had appointments to take elderly family members across town at the Veterans Administration Hospital and Doctors offices.  They needed help with shopping and errands.  They liked fast food lunches during the week because they missed going out to lunch.  Yes, that added weight on too. 

That slowly everything wound down to a different life after we lost the elderly relatives and Eric went to spend time with relatives who crossed over before him.  The year 2019  brought Covid 19 to the whole world.  The year 2020 brought 5 different surgeries for me. Then I spent time trying to recover my body and health.  

A doctor recommended the weight loss program A Pound of Cure.  Me being the skeptic bought the book and read it cover to cover before I made any commitments. Between myself and various family members we had failed at too many diets to count.  So before I even went to the doctor who wrote the book and ran the program I gave it a test drive to see if it really was possible and really worked.  After losing 30 pounds, I decided that the program worked and more importantly I could live with it.  So I made an appointment with the doctor.  I have continued to lose weight and inches.  Which brings me to last week.  I decided to try on some clothes to see if I had finally lost enough weight to fit into some of my favorites. Three dresses fit and were washed and added back to my wardrobe.  A lot more clothes were regulated to a pile for the consignment shop either because they were too big, yeah me, or had polyester or acrylic in them.  Somewhere between the time I bought them and the present day I became very sensitive to polyester and acrylic and can no longer wear them.  

Here is a picture from today in one of my new to my wardrobe rotation dresses  yes it is another driveway picture. It is an L.L.Bean regular size large. My daughter thought I had gotten rid of it a long time ago. I am so glad that I kept it.  By the way it was in the mid 50’s when we took the picture and I was freezing cold.  I am not a winter person. 

The Alternative to Knitting

 There is an alternative to knitting.  It’s is called cleaning house.  I did not do any heavy duty lifting. Most of the carrying and lifting was done with my left arm. Most of my current works in progress and the next up to knit have been put away. All I ask is that you refrain from looking into certain closets.  They just might resemble something akin to Fibber McGee and Molly’s closet.  No things really will not fall down on you, but they are a little more full than normal. Each project has its own bag.  I will pull them out one by one when my arm is better. 

I spent part of the day looking for a larger flax seed filled heating pad.  Most claimed to be all natural.  I have yet to figure out how polyester, fleece and the various fillings are natural. Granted that cotton and flannel have to be woven into fabric but I do consider them natural fibers because than decompose in about a year if buried in your flower bed. I am not even sure what the half life of polyester and fleece are but I am sure that it is longer than a year and puts nothing good back into the garden.  

I will try one more place tomorrow to find a larger heating pad. If they do not have what I am looking for, I will buy some food grade flax seed. Take some muslin from my fabric stash. Measure, cut and sew the inside piece. Then fill it with the flax seed.  Sew it closed. Make the outer cover so that I can take it off to wash as necessary. Most of the ones that fit my criteria had a delivery date of 2 to 3 weeks out.  My time to make will be less than 2 hours. 

My arm felt better in the morning. As the day went on the pain got worse. Every time I put the heat on my arm, I  fell asleep. To that end I am going to microwave the small heating pad that I have and go to sleep.  

At A Standstill Yet Again

 I am not sure what is happening with my right arm. Right now I am on A temporary hiatus from everything I do. Till we figure this out, they’ll be no spinning, knitting, weaving, making jewelry doing need to work, or anything else fun.

So today I’ve been watched The Crown.. I watched 3 episodes.  After every episode, I got up and did a low cleaning. I brought all my knitting and fiber arts projects to the knitting room. Then I tried to figure out what I could do and I as I ran through each type of art I do I feel like I cannot do anything without my right arm. 

Unless I figure this out by Saturday, I’m gonna have to give up my spin together spot because I won’t be able to spin. This makes me very sad. I usually get a lot of spinning done during this week. Well, I’m gonna go put some heat on my arm and then go to sleep, hopefully sleep will help. 

A Busy Day

 Today was fantastic. We went to another venue of the Tucson Gem and Mineral Show.  We went down to the Kino Sports Complex on Ajo Way.  We skipped the main tent and went to wonder around the back tents.  Some of the awesome things we saw included the Australian mineral exhibit.  The stones were so colorful.  They were very different from the stones from other parts of the world.  If you ever get a chance to see stone from Australia don’t pass up the chance.  Of course I found some more charms for stitch markers.  We walked around until John thought I might be running out of spoons.  I was having so much fun, that after 3 hours of walking and looking I did not want to go home.  

In other good news I tried on my largest size blue jeans in my closet today.  Only have to lose 3 more inches on my waist until they will zip up.  This is a lot better than the last time that I tried them on.  Last time the would not go over my hips.  So I consider this major progress.   

In knitting news, I finished a charity scarf tonight. I will take pictures tomorrow.   I am almost finished with the thumb on the first glove to match new shawl. Now I just have to weave in the ends, take pictures and publish the pattern.  No problem except that I either need a model or someone to take my picture.  

I have picked out the yarn for the next shawl. I just need to cake one huge skein of lace weight silk.  No it’s not going to be a lace weight silk shawl.  I will double strand she shawl with a pretty mohair yarn, I got both of the yarns at Grandmas Spinning Wheel here in Tucson.  The changes in yarn happen so fast that sometimes you might have to pick a different yarn combo than I am using.  More pictures tomorrow.  

Well it’s getting late so it’s time to call it a day.  

Serendipity

 Today was full of serendipity for me. I went to my closet to look at some dresses that I had worn when the kids were much younger. I decided to try on a few and this resulted in some laundry, and about a dozen outfits leaving the house because they were either too big or made of the wrong material. And now I have to find a resale shop for them. I also have less stuff in my closet. Roomba can now enter safely.  

I also have four dresses that I haven’t worn in decades that now fit. They have all been washed and are drying in the garage. That was such a good feeling to get into those dresses. I can’t wait to wear them.

I know the pounds are not coming off as quickly as before. However, I am in a period of losing a lot of inches. That makes a big difference too. I am following the book A Pound of Cure.  It eliminates all junk food and a lot of processed foods.  I don’t  have to count calories or points.  I just make sure that I eat between one to two pounds of vegetables a day. Throwing in fruit and protein.  I have found this lifestyle very easy to follow. 

Redecorating

 I have spent years decluttering the entire house. Getting rid of stuff we no longer use or need. Creating more space. Finding lost treasures. Taking car load after car load to Goodwill.  Taking selected things to Bookman’s for store credit so I can get new socks for the children’s clothing bank I knit for.  By the way the kids are rumored to like the socks as much as the hats and scarves that I make for them.  

Now enough clutter has been up cycled  and recycled to create newly made space to create a new environment for us.  I did start on the selfish side though. I took 2 previously acquired works of art and placed them with a lovely piece by Navied Mahdavian who is a cartoonist for the New Yorker and author of Searching for Home in Rural America. The piece is so attuned to me, reminding me to unwind. 

So without further ado, here is the new wall of art.  The picture is a little off center due to lighting issues  I know the frame on the sheep did not match the other frames, but a brown frame would not have done the sheep justice. I am just not going to mess with sheep under any circumstances.  

Now I am off to reclaim my knitting room.  It became a way station during my closet tear down and reorganization. Since I am really close to needing to type up several new patterns, I need the room back. Also please don’t remind me that I should only work on one design at a time, my mind just does not work that way. 

Living in Tucson

 There are a lot of great things about living inTucson besides the nice spring and summer weather.  One of them is Bookman’s.  Bookman’s is an old favorite. It was the place to exchange things like books, music and a whole assortment of fun things. It was fully linked to the sustainability issue long before it became an issue.  It was a place I took the kids to exchange their books for new to them books. If they got an album that they did not like they could exchange it for something else.  I even pick up the odd arts and crafts supplies.  

For the last several years I have been using Bookman’s as a part of my house decluttering efforts.  I bring Bookman’s things like books, old jewelry, and other things.  In return I take store credit.  I pick up the occasional book, but mainly I get cool socks for the children’s clothing bank that I knit for.  The picture below is from the store credit I got from today’s trade. 

The other thing that is really special about Tucson is the yearly Gem and Mineral Showcase.  It takes place from late January to mid February.  It is one of the largest shows of this kind in the world.  Some of the shows are wholesale only. Others are open to the public.   We occasionally go to the public shows.  We get to see all kinds of all things lapidary. From raw rocks to highly facilitated gems.  

I occasionally get supplies for stitch markers and earrings. Sometimes jewelry findings.  Yesterday I got 5 charms to make one of a kind stitch markers for myself.  I pretty sure these won’t be at Joann’s or Michael’s anytime soon. I have even been know to buy some earrings. 

Now it’s time to go do some knitting.