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