Feeling bad

I'm having a bad fibromyalgia flare up right now.  The weather triggered it by fluctuating wildly.  It would be around -20 F at night  and early in the morning and then it would drop to 0 or 1 F.  There was some light icy snow and wind that blows straight through you and the snow stung my face.  That's been going on for about 4 days I think.  I went to lunch with my husband on Friday and when we were walking to the door the wind was blowing in our faces.  It was so cold!

My neck has been hurting so bad and that's a new thing for me.  Fibromyalgia doesn't usually affect my neck that way.  Usually I get pain in my arms, shoulders or hips.  I've been having such a hard time getting to sleep at night because I can't get comfortable.  I can't sleep with my usual pillow and had to get out a softer one and I put a rolled up towel under the back of my neck.  That helped a little.  I also put some lidocaine cream on my neck but I barely felt anything.  I just felt a little bit of tingling but it didn't help with the pain.  It usually helps when I have pain in other areas but I prefer the patches over the cream.  I just don't want to stick something with adhesive on the back of my neck and end up pulling out my hair when I try to take it off.  I've been using ice today and I think that helps more.  

If it keeps bothering me tomorrow I will probably called the place that does Osteopathic manipulation to see if they can help.  They fix my muscle knots but the neck thing is new for me.  I hope it either goes away or they can do something to help.  

For now I'm trying to focus on something else.  I found a crochet blog post - Marly Bird - about planned pooling (color pooling).  They are using Red Heart Super Saver Stripes and the granny stitch to create a neat design.  My brain is a little slow today but I got it figured out and I can't wait to see how it looks when it's finished.  

Oh, and I finally reached my first weight goal yesterday.  I officially reached 218 lbs. and I set my next goal for 199 lbs.  I really want to get below 200.  I can tell my gut is smaller and that makes me happy.  I know my doctor will be happy because we talked about me trying Intermittent fasting again and just trying to go a little longer each day.  I did 16:8 before and didn't lose much weight.  I would just go up and down by little bits.  She suggest I start there and then go a little longer each day.  Now I'm doing one meal a day and haven't been hungry at all.  I also haven't been having the late night cravings anymore.  I think I've lost about 12 lbs and ready to lose more.  I saw her on Jan 24th and started fasting that day so I've lost this weight since then.  I can't wait to tell her I'm finally losing weight.

~D

Check out the Tunisian Crochet Baby blanket I just finished

 

I think it turned out really nice.  I tweaked a pattern I made not long ago but this time I didn't want to use fingering weight baby yarn.  Baby yarn only comes in boring colors and it's hard to find it in that thin weight.  Now that I know how to do it already I was able to use regular yarn and just adjust the size of the hook and number of stitches until I got the size squares I wanted.  I used Caron Simply Soft and a 5.5 mm hook and got 2" squares with 7 stitches across and 5 rows.  The baby's mama requested those colors and my husband said I should do "the square blanket" again.  I just made up a simple border.  I think it's very pretty.  

Valentine's Day

We had a nice date today.  We wanted to avoid the crowds so Chris left work a little early and we went to a bar that has the best fish & chips.  Here in Alaska it's made with halibut and this place has the absolute best.  It was not crowded at all and the food was nice and steaming hot when we got it.  We both do intermittent fasting so we only have one meal in a day.  

When I open the door to get into the car there was a gift in my seat.  My husband surprised me with a new fairy for my collection.  This one is really big and is a steampunk fairy.  It has such cool details all over and I can't stop looking at her.  There are gears all over her wings and they are huge!  Even the thing she is sitting on is neat if you look down at it.  

Her eyes are turquoise blue but it's hard to tell in the picture.  I just love her.  I think she is the biggest one I have now.  She's not the tallest but she is huge with those wings.  The tips of her wings are probably between 6-7 inches apart.  I bet she was expensive.  

My husband bought me a blue fairy for Christmas that probably came from the same place.  They both have clear epoxy on the base but the blue fairy looks like she's sitting in a pond with some cattails around it.  I'm running out off room for my fairies now.  I might have to get another cabinet or shelf.  

He bought me 2 bouquets of flowers because it was hard to pick between them.  He knows I love purple flowers and white roses so the one was perfect but it didn't have any lilies.  I love bouquets that have closed lilies so I can watch them open.  That's why I ended up with two bouquets.  I hope everyone had a nice Valentine's Day.  

I'm losing weight finally!

It looks like Intermittent Fasting is working this time.  I think the main difference is that I'm fasting longer this time and eating fewer calories.  Last time I tried IF I was doing 16:8 and using the zero app to track it.  Zero is an app that is available for apple and android.  I would lose a little but it didn't last. I just went up and down without making much ground.   I was also tracking my calories so I knew I got at least 1200 calories.  This time I'm still using the zero app but I noticed after I get to 16 hours it says "fat burning" so I decided to go a little longer each day.  I'm tracking my food with the Livongo app and they don't track calories.  They focus on eating healthier food and on portion sizes.  I get feedback from a coach on my food log.  I am trying to eat more non-starchy veggies and work on portion sizes and a balanced plate.   I'm not very good at the balanced plate thing.  I am more of a one thing per meal type person.  I'm learning though. " I've lost 6.2 lbs since I saw my doctor on Jan 24th.

I noticed on my "books I'm reading" page that it says "books I've read in 2021."  I can't edit the pages because of a bug with blogger so I can't change the date.  The widgets are from goodreads.com though so the book's showing are correct.  I'm currently reading The Last Hunt by Bruce Coville.  I'm pretty sure that's the last book in the series.  That is a series I started reading to my 2 sons when they were little but after the 2nd book there wasn't another book released for a long time.  By the time the next book was released my boys weren't interested anymore.  I wanted to know how the story ended though so I'm reading them all.  There are a few short stories available on amazon that tie in to the story line and I read those too.  

I just finished crocheting a hat from a video by the crochet crowd.  I think mine came out a bit big for some reason.  The BERNAT STEPPING TEXTURE HAT is a free pattern available here by Yarnspirations.  The link to the video by The Crochet Crowd is here.  I didn't add a pompom because I hate making them.  I bought the yarn in a 3 pack on amazon which I found is cheaper per skein than at my local Joann store.   I used the shadow ombre colorway.  

I'm going to have one of my son's try it on and see how warm it is in our weather here in Alaska.  I think the colors are pretty.

I'm working on another small crochet thread project too but I have to take a break because of problems with my left eye again.  I have severe dry eye syndrome and get a reoccurring corneal erosion on my left eye.   It used to get huge and painful.  My eye doctor put a embryonic membrane (from Placentia tissue) over my eye and after it was absorbed into my eye the erosion quit happening.  The problem is it didn't quite cover the whole area.  I still have a small spot that keeps hurting.  It starts to heal up but when my eyes dry out at night my eyelid will stick to the new cells where it's healing and pull them off when I open my eyes.  They need more time to adhere to the layer below.  I've been using lubricating ointment in my left eye all during the day too and at  night I wear these goggles that help keep my eye from getting so dry.  I'm being extra vigilant about using drops and I'm avoiding screens most of the day.  I think that will help it heal.  If I can make it to summer it usually is less dry then and I don't have as much trouble. The eye doctor could just do another membrane but it is expensive so I'm trying to avoid that.    

I'm not very good at blogging

I need to post more.  It is already Feb of 2023 and I haven't had much to say.  I need to get out more.  

I have been crocheting and knitting.  I just made a crochet shawl for a gift.  It's finished and all I have to do is weave in the ends but there are over 100!  It will take me a while!  

I've also been reading and enjoying that.  Sometimes I listen to audiobooks with audible and I love that.  It's nice to be able to do something else while listening, which you can't do when reading.  I've been listening to a book while walking on the treadmill.  

I changed my diet plan again and I'm no longer doing Noom.  I lost some weight but it was just up and down the whole year.  I ended up pretty close to where I started but I did learn a lot.  I really think the reading I did there helped.  I just have so many things working against me, including chronic pain, perimenopause and medications that cause weight gain.  If it weren't for those things I really think I would have had more success.  I started doing this app called Livongo, which my insurance pays for.  They sent me a digital scale and blood pressure cuff for free and when I use them the results automatically get sent to the app.  They also have blood sugar meters for people with diabetes.  It just depends on what medical issues your medical history shows you have.  I track my food and there are coaches that give me advice.  I like that I can also print a report to give to my doctor which shows my blood pressure readings and weight over time.   I talked to my doctor recently and she told me some useful tips.  I mentioned that I was trying intermittent fasting and she said that was good.  She talked about that and told me I should look for a book on it.  There is tons of info on the internet.   I took her advice and I've been losing weight finally.  I'm using the zero app to track my fasts.  

D

31st Anniversary

My 31st Anniversary was Sept 1st.  My husband and I had a great time.  It was totally unscheduled and easy going.  He took off work until today.  He mainly just wanted to golf so he went as often as he could on the other days since they will be closing it soon depending on the weather.  On Thursday we decided to drive out to this place called the Knotty Shop which is a touristy place with neat Alaska stuff to look at.  They have a great gift shop and an ice cream shop.  We both got ice cream but I didn't see anything I really wanted to buy.  I saw a lot of things I've already bought before.  We just enjoyed the drive and the fall colors.  On the way back out we watched some jets take off from Eielson air force base.  They are so cool to watch.  We stopped and had lunch at a place called Little Richie's Diner which is a 50's style diner in a silver trailer.  The food was so good.  Then my husband took me to a place to buy a pair of small hoop earrings.  He had already scouted out some places before hand.  He knows my style very well.  He knows I don't want anything too big or flashy and I hate pushy sales people.  I found just the right pair and I love them.  We looked for the Samsung Watch 5 I wanted but they didn't have any in town yet except for the cellular ones.  I don't need it to answer calls.  I'm just interested in the health tracking features.  We ended up ordering one from the samsung website and it should be arriving soon.  

After that we took a nice nap and then went out to eat dinner.  He made reservations for the Turtle Club.  We both had prime rib and of course it was fantastic.  

I really enjoyed the fall weather and it is so interesting how different areas have more or less fall colors.  Out at the Knotty Shop there were just small amounts of leaves here and there but mostly it was still green.  Out towards the Chena Hot Springs area it was more like fall with swirling leaves in the air and dancing across the surface of the road.  This is my favorite time of year.  I just wish winter didn't come after.  

I'm back

It has been over a year since I posted here and I decided I need to get back to it.  I have just had a rough time lately but I feel like I'm bouncing back now.  

I got a new doctor and I feel like she is going to be a good one.  I was so worried about that because it is so hard to find a new doctor that knows about Fibromyalgia and Psoriatic Arthritis and keeps up to date on those issues.  Some doctors just want to keep writing scrips for the same thing and never really think about if there is something new that can help.  My last doctor was great but she moved out of state, like they all do.  It happens over and over again.  My husband said he asked his doctor if she was staying in Alaska and she said she was.  This time when I heard the names of the doctors available I recognized her name and chose her.  The clinic doesn't do "meet & greets" anymore they said so you have to choose your doctor on the spot before being able to talk to them first.  She has a strong accent but I am able to understand her.  I've seen her twice now and when I told her I was having trouble sleeping because of my RLS she told me she would call a couple of specialist I'd seen to see what they said about this and get back to me.  She called me back the next day with a plan to change some of my medication.  I am hopeful.  

I've mostly been reading this summer and not doing much else.  I've been reading a lot more than usual but then this August, for some reason, I just haven't felt like reading.  I did have a while there this month when I had a lot of headaches and a few migraines but I think that is over now.  I picked up the book I started and finally finished it.  The book is When We Were Strangers by Pamela Schoenewaldt.  It isn't the type of book I prefer to read and the first half of the book is so depressing.  It did turn around though and finally got interesting.   I'm glad I stuck with it because I did enjoy the ending.  

I've also been crocheting.  I had been knitting more so when I decided to crochet something I remembered how fun it was and how much faster it goes.  I started and finished a blanket in a week.  I saw this yarn at the thrift store and it was so crazy soft.  It feels just like a rabbit but I'm not allergic to it.  It was Caron Latte cake in the color pink melon.  There were two of them so I got them thinking I could make something with that.  I decided to try the modern granny pattern with it but I needed another cake.  That color was discontinued so I got one in pepper ash to contrast.  It turned out great and I am keeping it for myself.  I think I might get more of the grey/white and make it bigger.  

~D