Assorted notes and babbles
Jul. 4th, 2011 10:38 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
selenayHappy holiday weekend, whichever side of the border you're on!
I had a lovely Canada Day with my mum, aunt and cousins. There was lobster and there was steak and there was strawberry shortcake, so I totally overate and felt stuffed for the entire weekend. So good, though. I now know that prime rib is the only suitable steak for BBQ-ing. Cousin B slapped the things right on the grill, no marinading or sauce, and they were possibly the tastiest, tenderest pieces of beef that I've ever eaten. It was a lovely day.
Mum and I spent part of Saturday doing various errands, including buying trail shoes. My old, beloved grey trail shoes/trainers/whatever have served me well for many years but the soles had become incredibly thin and have recently developed some very large holes.
New trail shoes are so incredibly comfortable. Seriously, I am blown away by how good they are to walk in and it's persuaded me that these things may need replacing more often than every eight years. Mum and I did a short (sub-3km) walk yesterday and I felt like I could have kept going forever, rather than feeling like my ankles and knees were able to die as they have on other walks lately. So, yay new shoes!
Then we spent the rest of Saturday watching the Tour de France and the women's final at Wimbledon. Yesterday, after walking and doing the weekly family Skype chat, we continued the theme with Tour de France and the men's Wimbledon final. May I say, it was a very fine weekend of sport. High quality performances all over the place and, for once, some results that made me happy because I liked the guys who did well.
All that sport meant that I finally got some solid knitting time in. Lately, the knitting prevention squad (aka my cats) have been conspiring to make it very difficult for me to knit while watching TV. Combine that with my tendency to fall asleep if I sit down to read for more than five minutes and there is very little knitting done.
Over the weekend, I powered through the rest of the knitting on the front of my waistcoat. Tonight I'm pinning the pieces so that I can sew the shoulder and side seams during the Tour. Then I just have to knit on the edging and find some buttons. Woo!
With the bulk of the knitting on the waistcoat done, I can turn my attention to a new project. I bought the yarn (Rowan Cotton Glace in a pretty green colour) when I was in England, but wanted to get the waistcoat tackled first. I'm making a cute little sleeveless top that has a neat collar and a bit of lace detailing at the hem but is otherwise quite plain. It has princess-style shaping through the waist, which always flatters me, and I'm getting brave and making it in size small because I always end up making things like this a size too large and I want this one to fit well.
So far, I've gauge swatched and got about an inch of the back done. The fabric is light and cotton-y, so should be lovely in the warm weather, and it should be both smart enough for work and un-fussy enough to look great with jeans. I usually go out for dinner on my emmigraversary so I'm vaguely aiming to have it done in time for that.
I think that I'll also be ordering the yarn this week for my next project, a light-weight cardigan that's knitted top-down in one piece. It's a bit of a departure from my usual work and it's an incredibly popular pattern, but I have a suspicion that it would end up getting worn all the time so I'm quite happy to give it a go. I've picked out a pretty grey, which should go with anything my wardrobe, and I'll get the order in the next time my computer is on.
One of the other factors in getting more knitting on is that I'm not constantly drained and falling asleep. The prednisone isn't giving me crazy manic energy (although it is giving me insomnia - thanks) but I haven't felt quite so utterly dead for the last couple of days.
One of my cousins commented that at least prednisone would make me gain some weight. All I could do was laugh. It tends to suppress my appetite more than boosting it, so I have to track my food and calories to make sure that I'm getting enough in. Heh.
It's not that I'm crazy-thin, but I know that I can't drop any weight so I need to make sure that I keep eating enough.
That's a bit trickier now that I'm being much more careful about the low-fibre thing. I've switched the whole-grain tortillas with plain, white tortillas for lunch and I've given in, admitted that I probably shouldn't eat unpeeled grapes, and I'm eating homemade apple sauce as my lunch time fruit instead. It bites not being able to eat a lot of the healthier things that I'm used to, but I can see why they aren't helpful right now.
I've also stopped the healthy granola and low-fat yoghurt for breakfast. Instead, I'm on cocoa Rice Krispies because they're pretty much fibre free, taste OK and can be comfortably eaten without milk. I have texture issues with putting milk on my cereal, even though I drink a glass of the stuff with my breakfast. It's insane, I know.
The biggest issue is that we've always had a couple of meat-free suppers every week. Finding filling, nutritious vegetarian recipes that do not contain evil beans, lentils or dried peas, aren't over-laden with fibrous veggies and do not rely heavily on processed stuff is hard, man. This week we're doing processed stuff from the chiller cabinet on one night (broccoli bites - at least they're a bit lower in fibre than falafels, right? and aren't quite so bad for fat and sodium as some processed things?) and cheese omelette on Thursday.
I'm finding that I feel a bit guilty about not being able to eat a lot of the things that Mum would normally suggest for meals or needing to alter them a bit to suit the current issues. Mum has conceded that plain, grilled chicken is too boring for words so we're working together on some more interesting Things To Do With Chicken that I can eat. However, I still feel bad for suggesting things that I know are OK for me but contain red meat or may not be as 100% low fat, low sodium, low content as Mum would normally eat.
We're getting by, though, and I'm willing to admit that cutting out the granola (for now!) has helped a lot with how I feel in the mornings. Turns out that sharp, scratchy food on an empty tummy does not help the girl whose primary (usually only) colitis symptom is bleeding.
Despite all this, I'm finding that my ability to get enough food in is often not that great and I'm falling back on biscuits and the occasional bit of chocolate to keep my calories up. It's hard not to feel guilty about that, too, because I get crazy obsessive about eating healthily when I'm told that I can't.
Argh, my food issues had been getting better until this flare. Now I'm all crazy again about whether I'm eating right. Please, let this be the last time we do this for a long time, OK?
On the book front, June was a slow month due to a combination of constant sleeping, a book rut and reading fanfic on my Kindle instead of actual books. So although I've read a lot (fanfic novels, yum), I only actually read 5 books. D'oh!
This month, I am hopeful that I may get a bit more progress on the book stack despite all the sport that needs to be watched. Three new books walked into the house over the last couple of weeks and I was so excited about them, I had to eeny meeny miny to pick the first one to be read (Heartless, Gail Carriger) on Saturday. I've also got several others that I want for my Kindle that would get me excited to read, as well. So, you know, there may be some good reading this month even though I suspect there will still be a wee bit of fanfic consumed as well.
One day, I want to work out how to add an extra three hours to every day without needing to use any of that extra time to sleep.
I had a lovely Canada Day with my mum, aunt and cousins. There was lobster and there was steak and there was strawberry shortcake, so I totally overate and felt stuffed for the entire weekend. So good, though. I now know that prime rib is the only suitable steak for BBQ-ing. Cousin B slapped the things right on the grill, no marinading or sauce, and they were possibly the tastiest, tenderest pieces of beef that I've ever eaten. It was a lovely day.
Mum and I spent part of Saturday doing various errands, including buying trail shoes. My old, beloved grey trail shoes/trainers/whatever have served me well for many years but the soles had become incredibly thin and have recently developed some very large holes.
New trail shoes are so incredibly comfortable. Seriously, I am blown away by how good they are to walk in and it's persuaded me that these things may need replacing more often than every eight years. Mum and I did a short (sub-3km) walk yesterday and I felt like I could have kept going forever, rather than feeling like my ankles and knees were able to die as they have on other walks lately. So, yay new shoes!
Then we spent the rest of Saturday watching the Tour de France and the women's final at Wimbledon. Yesterday, after walking and doing the weekly family Skype chat, we continued the theme with Tour de France and the men's Wimbledon final. May I say, it was a very fine weekend of sport. High quality performances all over the place and, for once, some results that made me happy because I liked the guys who did well.
All that sport meant that I finally got some solid knitting time in. Lately, the knitting prevention squad (aka my cats) have been conspiring to make it very difficult for me to knit while watching TV. Combine that with my tendency to fall asleep if I sit down to read for more than five minutes and there is very little knitting done.
Over the weekend, I powered through the rest of the knitting on the front of my waistcoat. Tonight I'm pinning the pieces so that I can sew the shoulder and side seams during the Tour. Then I just have to knit on the edging and find some buttons. Woo!
With the bulk of the knitting on the waistcoat done, I can turn my attention to a new project. I bought the yarn (Rowan Cotton Glace in a pretty green colour) when I was in England, but wanted to get the waistcoat tackled first. I'm making a cute little sleeveless top that has a neat collar and a bit of lace detailing at the hem but is otherwise quite plain. It has princess-style shaping through the waist, which always flatters me, and I'm getting brave and making it in size small because I always end up making things like this a size too large and I want this one to fit well.
So far, I've gauge swatched and got about an inch of the back done. The fabric is light and cotton-y, so should be lovely in the warm weather, and it should be both smart enough for work and un-fussy enough to look great with jeans. I usually go out for dinner on my emmigraversary so I'm vaguely aiming to have it done in time for that.
I think that I'll also be ordering the yarn this week for my next project, a light-weight cardigan that's knitted top-down in one piece. It's a bit of a departure from my usual work and it's an incredibly popular pattern, but I have a suspicion that it would end up getting worn all the time so I'm quite happy to give it a go. I've picked out a pretty grey, which should go with anything my wardrobe, and I'll get the order in the next time my computer is on.
One of the other factors in getting more knitting on is that I'm not constantly drained and falling asleep. The prednisone isn't giving me crazy manic energy (although it is giving me insomnia - thanks) but I haven't felt quite so utterly dead for the last couple of days.
One of my cousins commented that at least prednisone would make me gain some weight. All I could do was laugh. It tends to suppress my appetite more than boosting it, so I have to track my food and calories to make sure that I'm getting enough in. Heh.
It's not that I'm crazy-thin, but I know that I can't drop any weight so I need to make sure that I keep eating enough.
That's a bit trickier now that I'm being much more careful about the low-fibre thing. I've switched the whole-grain tortillas with plain, white tortillas for lunch and I've given in, admitted that I probably shouldn't eat unpeeled grapes, and I'm eating homemade apple sauce as my lunch time fruit instead. It bites not being able to eat a lot of the healthier things that I'm used to, but I can see why they aren't helpful right now.
I've also stopped the healthy granola and low-fat yoghurt for breakfast. Instead, I'm on cocoa Rice Krispies because they're pretty much fibre free, taste OK and can be comfortably eaten without milk. I have texture issues with putting milk on my cereal, even though I drink a glass of the stuff with my breakfast. It's insane, I know.
The biggest issue is that we've always had a couple of meat-free suppers every week. Finding filling, nutritious vegetarian recipes that do not contain evil beans, lentils or dried peas, aren't over-laden with fibrous veggies and do not rely heavily on processed stuff is hard, man. This week we're doing processed stuff from the chiller cabinet on one night (broccoli bites - at least they're a bit lower in fibre than falafels, right? and aren't quite so bad for fat and sodium as some processed things?) and cheese omelette on Thursday.
I'm finding that I feel a bit guilty about not being able to eat a lot of the things that Mum would normally suggest for meals or needing to alter them a bit to suit the current issues. Mum has conceded that plain, grilled chicken is too boring for words so we're working together on some more interesting Things To Do With Chicken that I can eat. However, I still feel bad for suggesting things that I know are OK for me but contain red meat or may not be as 100% low fat, low sodium, low content as Mum would normally eat.
We're getting by, though, and I'm willing to admit that cutting out the granola (for now!) has helped a lot with how I feel in the mornings. Turns out that sharp, scratchy food on an empty tummy does not help the girl whose primary (usually only) colitis symptom is bleeding.
Despite all this, I'm finding that my ability to get enough food in is often not that great and I'm falling back on biscuits and the occasional bit of chocolate to keep my calories up. It's hard not to feel guilty about that, too, because I get crazy obsessive about eating healthily when I'm told that I can't.
Argh, my food issues had been getting better until this flare. Now I'm all crazy again about whether I'm eating right. Please, let this be the last time we do this for a long time, OK?
On the book front, June was a slow month due to a combination of constant sleeping, a book rut and reading fanfic on my Kindle instead of actual books. So although I've read a lot (fanfic novels, yum), I only actually read 5 books. D'oh!
This month, I am hopeful that I may get a bit more progress on the book stack despite all the sport that needs to be watched. Three new books walked into the house over the last couple of weeks and I was so excited about them, I had to eeny meeny miny to pick the first one to be read (Heartless, Gail Carriger) on Saturday. I've also got several others that I want for my Kindle that would get me excited to read, as well. So, you know, there may be some good reading this month even though I suspect there will still be a wee bit of fanfic consumed as well.
One day, I want to work out how to add an extra three hours to every day without needing to use any of that extra time to sleep.
