Bag lady

Earlier in the week, whilset still feeling relatively well,    I made myself have a go at making a cross body bag, sized for my phone. 

I watched a Craftsy lesson ("Zip It Up: Easy Techniques for Zippered Bags" with Joan Hawley) on it, which was very helpful.  I brought my sewing machine downstairs to the kitchen, which was a first.  It threw DH a bit,  he's used to seeing the overlocker downstairs, but he's never seen my sewing machine there. I did explain that it was just while I was having a go at making a bag.

After the video, I remembered that I had bought  Dog Under My Desk's "Zip and Go" bag pattern some time ago, which is for a similar bag to Joan Hawley's bag,  but has the benefit of a second zipped pocket (rather than an open pocket).  

I decided to use that instead, but bearing Joan Hawleys's excellent tips in mind.

I gathered my fabrics, zips, interfacing.  I got out the table-top ironing board,  fired up the iron,   and got started.     I took time with my cutting, interfacing, pressing and sewing.  I followed each step carefully, and I found the pattern instructions easy to follow.   I was amazed at how well I'd managed to pattern match around the two zips.    It was all going so well..... until I got to the final bit of sewing, before turning the bag through,

Fail.

I looked at what I'd done, I looked at the pictures, and I just couldn't work it out.   I unpicked the last bit I'd done, and went back to the last step I had been able to follow.     

It's my fault, I have terrible diagram dyslexia. When I am first learning how to do something, I need pictures and diagrams to be accurate,   I was thrown because the bag in the picture no longer looked like my bag.  I realised that they had obviously gone back to take these particular pictures after a later step.  I know this because the bag in the pics had had the zip ends trimmed off,  but the zip trimming was a later step. 

 We were at the stage where the pics just showed layers of lining,  which was all white.  My linings were all white.  Without the zips hanging out of the sides on the bag in the pic,  I couldn't work out which was top and bottom, nor  which was front and back, .  .   It was a particularly complicated couple of steps, and I just couldn't orientate myself and the bag to work out what I was sewing to what.  I unpicked the bit I'd got wrong, and then I put the whole bag down and walked away so that I could look at it with fresh eyes later.

I came back to it the following day, (the day of the  bad night),  and looked at it without the instructions.  I had a go at  turned it through, and I could see that it was going to need a double turn through.   Luckily, I've previously made  complicated bags that I've made on the embroidery machine,  and I'm used to having to turn a bag twice.  

I had a go at turning it (still with part of it unsewn), which results in an inside out bag, and then  pulling it through the zip area so the bag is right sides out.   It looked OK - but wasn't yet useable because I hadn't done the last couple of bits of stitching.     

I marked the back of the unsewn ends with chalk to indicate which piece was which, and then reversed the two turns to put me back where I started.  I could then better work out where I should have stitched.     In the end, the bag was too small anyway, so I didn't  bother to finish it.     

I was happy that I'd been able to work it out, and I'm counting that as a definite win.

I measured and  cut all the pieces for a bigger version,  and I interfaced them all, and pressed them, and put them to one side ready to sew up the next day.

Then I had my bad night, and they (and the iron) have been sitting on the table-top ironing board waiting for my attention.   DH has been very kind in not commenting on how everything is encroaching at the moment.

 As soon as my back has improved sufficiently,  I'll have another go.  

Not better, just better at managing

I mentioned a few weeks ago that I'd had some impulse purchases and I was expecting Buyer Remorse to kick in.

One of the purchases was a Renpho neck massager.Its a weird thing, like a scarf with slings for one's arms.  There are rotating massaging things which roll and squeeze,  and it's heated. It also has three intensity settings, which I initially described as ranging from  "Ow!" to  "F*cking OW!", 

I then learned that there is a switch so iI can reverse the direction of the rolling and squeezing, and I can move it around so its rolling and squeezing more or less where I need it to.  Once I'd got that sorted out (and put the heat on) it no longer hurt on the lower setting.  I revised my "Ow!" description to "ooh, not bad"

I gave myself a couple of short sessions, and then I did one really long session, which really did seem therapeutic.  I was a little surprised, I hadn't really thought it would work, I was just desperate enough to try anything.

I had a session with my Chiro about a week after that, and she asked me if I'd had any other treatments since I last saw her.  I said no, and she checked specifically that I hadn't seen the Physio, or anything.  and It was only later I realised that my Renpho might have made an improvement. I suppose it could be the sleep bra. Or a combination.

This cheered me up, and prompted me to try and think of all the thing which feel better/less bad than they have been in the almopst-2 years since "all this" started,  (I'm putting that in so I don't completely forget that there was a time when I didn't have any of this going on.  I've forgotten what it felt like,  but I'm not yet ready to forget that such a time existed).

It was a good thing to do, and it made me feel quite sunny.

....

A couple of nights ago, I managed to deactivate the NightShift device.   It needed charging, so it was only buzzing once when I turned it on, and it's the same buzz then for turning on and turning off.  I suspect I turned it on when I put it on, and then "turned it on" (that is, turned it off, thinking I was turning it on) when I got into bed.

However it happened, the end result was I woke up in the night, but I was on my back, and my back and head were throbbing. I managed to sit up while everything drained, but it was very painful.    Thank goodness for my Wellue ring, which woke me because my o2 levels were low.

In the morning, after more than the usual interruptions, I felt like crap.  I felt like I was carrying a rolled up carpet around my neck and back.   I used most of the hot water (my husband is so kind about me doing that) trying to ease the pain.  I concentrated on working out exactly where I was feeling the pain, and trying to describe it to myself.

My face was swollen, the back of my head hurt and had some squidgy bits,  it wasn't great.

On the plus side,  it confirmed (in case I had forgotten) that the devices are helping.  It also reminded me - in case I needed reminding - that I am not actually getting better, I'm just getting better at managing the symptoms.    I resolved to phone and chase my hospital referral.  I resolved to contact the Apnoea consultant.  

Once again, I failed on both counts. But I'm still resolved to doing it. Soon. Really. 

Yesterday was not a good night. Better than the one where I'd stuffed up,  but not great.  I'm now in discomfort rather than pain though,  I'm not carrying a carpet now, but I do have someone's knee in my back (or I've been punched in the back, I can't decide which description is more accurate).

I know it'll get better, so I'm once again thinking about the things which are better than they have been (in the last 2 years).

............

I'm sitting with the Renpho on again as I type, and it really does seem to be  helping.   If I get it in the right place, the squeezing part of the motion is soothing rather than painful.  I'm still only on intensity 1.

Breathing Space

We got the British Heart Foundation (BHF)  to come and collect the the gorgeous TV cabinet from the living room (and I got them to take the mattress from the sewing room at the same time).

I was sorry to see the cabinet go; it had cost us a lot of money (£1400, some years ago), and it was a lovely piece of furniture, very well designed by an American company called BDI.  The arthritis in my neck meant I needed to get a lower cabinet, which we ordered months ago (and then it took months to arrive),   The new cabinet is pleasant enough.

The BDI cabinet has been sat blocking the dining room end of our living room since the new cabinet arrived.     It was a sad relief for it to go.  Sad, because I really did like it, and I was sorry that we couldn't find a buyer,  and a relief  because it's given the room so much more breathing space now.  

 I've moved the dining table more into the centre of the room now., something I couldn't do before because I was trying to get used to that taking up so much space.  Now the BDI has vacated the space,  the table doesn't seem as big,   so I've moved it before I get used to having the space available,

I'm hoping that the removal of the mattress from the sewing room will encourage me to go and do some sewing, or embroidering, or both.  

I'm trying, yet again,  to clear the sewing table in the kitchen.   

I made myself chuckle when I realised that I haven't used it for cutting for the last few items - I've used the breakfast bar instead - so I'm not really sure why I feel the need to clear it before I can do any sewing.  I suspect it's something to do with getting in the right frame of mind, and clearing the table clears my mind. 

Or something like that, anyway. 

Normal

I realised this morning that  I no longer really remember what "normal" (that is, pre all this malarkey starting) feels like.  It was not a happy realisation.

I didn't have a great night last night, and my back feels like I'm carrying a roll of carpet round my shoulders.  As I was trying to ease my right shoulder in the shower,  I was thinking how different it felt to yesterday, when I felt well.  

As I thought the thought,  I realised that there was something not right about that statement.  I went back over it and analysed it a bit, and then it hit me.  When I expressed the words 'I felt well',   I hadn't used the term 'well' in the sense of  'relatively well'.    Up to that very point,   when I thought  of myself as feeling "well", I always (used to) think "relatively well, compared to other days since this started in 2021. But not well compared to how I used to feel before it all started".

Suddenly, 20 months in (23 if we go back to the start of the heart stuff),  and my reference point of what is "normal" has changed.   Just like that. 

I thought about this some more.

I was still thinking in relative terms a week or two ago.  I'm pretty sure that last week, 5 days ago, staying in a rented cottage near my parents for 2 nights when I was thinking about whether I slept OK, I was still thinking relatively.

I tried to remember what it was like before all of this.   I tried to remember waking up, having slept through the night.  I tried to recall what it is like to wake up and not feel any pain/discomfort.  I tried to remember what it was like to just get on with whatever, without having to deal with whatever.

I could no longer remember what it was like. 

I felt the loss of this quite sharply,  as if I'd given up on getting back to "normal".   I was tempted to slide into a puddle of self-pity,  exacerbated by the ache in my side.  I used distraction techniques, and I gave myself a metaphorical slap.  I tried to concentrate on how lucky I am rather than how unlucky I am.   

The ache in my side was most likely caused by me not wearing a sleep bra yesterday.   So (a) that serves me right,   and (b) it looks like the sleep bras are making a difference.

 

 

 

Brava!

For the last 3 or so months, I've been sleeping on my side, enforced by my NightShift
device which goes off if I lie on my back.   

A couple of months ago, I started to get pain down my sides, and I was sure it was directly related to side sleeping, although I couldn't really work out why.   It's continued ever since.

A week or so ago, I was trying to relieve my back and neck pain by doing a kind of self-adminsistered  myofascial release,  when I realised that the side pain was in the same place on both sides.  I massaged each side for a bot, trying to locate the source spot.  

When I found it,  it occurred to me that my boobs might be causing the problem.  DH suggested wearing a bra (me, not him) in bed, to see if it helped.   I didn't like the idea, as I could foresee all sorts of issues with it.  However, I couldn't think of a better option and,   a day or so later, I remembered that I had bought a "Lounge Bra" from Bravissimo, last time I had placed an order.   It didn't give enough support to be a day wear bra, but I'd kept it anyway.    I wondered if it might work for sleeping.  I tried it.

Pic from Bravissimo website

After the first night,  it was too soon to tell if it made any difference to the side pain.   I did have horrendous neck pain though, and I was sure it was my poor neck complaining about having to heft my boobs all night.  I guess it was not a surprise.    

After the second night, the neck pain wasn't too bad,  but I still couldn't tell if it was helping with the side pain.    After the 3rd night, the neck pain had become more tolerable, and  I decided I'd better order a second bra: turning around the washing and drying so I could wear the same night it was washed wasn't working too well.

I was surprised to read just how many big boobed women  routinely wear a bra to sleep in.  I found aninteresting article about it on the Bravissimo website, including how they introduced a sleep bra to try and accommodate some requests they had, and they were completely unprepared for its success.   It's here if you are interested

I think it might be helping, but I'm not 100% sure.   I'm going to carry on until at least my next Chiro appointment and see how things feel when she has had a poke around.

F*x up!

I'd got out of the habit of checking the garden cameras.   We knew we had two regular cat visitors, who liked to look for rats around the Girls coops, but there was never anything else.

Until a couple of nights ago.

I was surprised to see footage from about 4.20 am.  And I was startled to see what looked like a fox in the bottom corner. .   I then saw there were quiet a few recordings from that night, and we had not one, but  two foxes.  

As I watched each short video, I became increasingly worried.  One of them had spent quite a lot of time on top of the Cube, looking for a way in.

I went back through previous days' footage, and found that they weren't coming every night, but they had been before.

We had installed doors  at the back underneath and down the long side of each Cube's run.  The orange Cube - the one with the fox on - had an additional large door on the other side of the run.  All the doors were secured with long drop pins, but I was concerned that a determined, small, fox might manage to force a gap.  Just in case,  and a door on the side which as secured with a pin. It looked secure enough, but I wanted to make sure.  I went out and cable tied the doors. It means we can't use them (unless we cut and replace the cable ties), which is a pain if we have to access the hens in that part of he run.  But it's better to do this right now.

I also cable tied the piece of mesh which separates the large walk in run from the walk in run which covers our fruit cage.  We'd blocked it off some months ago to give the ground time to rest,   and because I wanted an area where I could introduce Newbies this year.     I needed to make sure that if a fox got into the fruit cage run, they wouldn't be able to force themselves into the main run.

DH said our old Foxwatches were knackered, so I ordered two new ones. They should be here mid week.  

Yesterday, we gathered up the old Foxwatches and all the wiring, and DH spend a couple of hours working on them. He managed to repair one, and possibly repair the other.   They are now back outside, hopefully doing their job. I've labelled them (and I'll label the new ones when they arrive) so we can tell which one is which.    The old ones are called "Carrott" and "Cheery"; the new ones will probably be "Vimes" and "Nobby".

They didn't come back last night, but that's not unexpected.

 

 

 

A weak week

What an odd week it has been.

I made both skirts in the end,  big win :-)   

Both are still waiting to be hemmed. :-(   

I've tried giving myself a talking to,=. I've tried a range of usually successful techniques to motivate myself.  I've even gone into the room to do it, and then walked out again,   I know what the problem is, and it's a really stupid thing.

I need to get rid of the old mattress which is standing in the Sewing Room (Guest Bedroom). I know I am being ridiculous,  but it's just changed the whole feeling of the room.  It' makes it  awkward to nmove the embroidery machine stand so that I can actually get to my coverstitch machine, and I guess that it's not taking a lot to put me off at the moment.  I'll get it sorted.#

I had a day where I was (relatively) full of energy and gave the kitchen a really thorough clean, and mopped all the downstairs floors.   I also gave the living room a good going over, and it looks quite tidy and welcoming again  :-)

We had Miss Teen on Sunday afternoon, and Monday evening, and Tuesday evening :-)   DH helped her with her Physics revision,  and I helped her understand her Maths homework.    I made pizza yesterday.  I used the oven for the first time in a looooong time to do thin ones for myself and DH.  I made a deep pan version for Miss Teen, and I cooked that in the air fryer.  It worked surprisingly well.

I bought some more of the short and stubby haynets, and I used those to hang vegetables for the Girls.   If they use them, it will save me having to drill their veg to hang it.  There is no reason to suspect they won't use them,  they use the one the Alfablock is in, However, hens are hens, and that means we take nothing for granted.

We also finally put the multi height perch in their run, and of course they've ignored it completely.  I tried to encourage Astrid (the Leghorn) to use it, but she just panicked.  She's the hen who is most tolerant of being picked up,  plus she's back in lay and crouching for me.  I will persevere.

Other stuff has happened, which I can't (or, more accurately,  don't want to) write about.

I had a few impulse purchases over the last few weeks and, so far,  all have worked out and I'm not suffering  Buyers Remorse.   Only one of them was a brand new purchase, a Zebra 6x4 label printer, and I used my birthday money anyway for that.  I buy all my postage online now, even the normal first class postage.  No more printing, cutting, using strips of double sided tape to stick the label to the parcel!    I have to chuckle at the situation where such a thing brings me such joy. :-)

I finally started watching The House of Elliott, which I'd bought (preloved, of course) on DVD a year?  2 years? ago.     I didn't watch it when it originally aired on TV,  but it was discussed on one of the sewing groups a while ago because the designs are gorgeous.     I'd bought it because I thought my sewing DGD, G,  might like to see the clothes. 

I was surprised and delighted to find that it was written by Jean Marsh and Eileen Atkins, who also wrote Upstairs Downstairs.      I've managed to watch 7 episodes so far, I've not much opportunity to binge watch.   I love it!  I'm not sure it'll capture DGD's interest though,  probably too slow moving for her.  Personally I quite like the gentle speed of the plot and character development.

And then today I woke up with a stonker of a headache, and had to miss Pilates.  I finally managed to get up about an hour ago, and that was only because the migraine tablets had kicked in sufficiently.   It wasn't a migraine, but I did have associated vomiting, and one of the ingredients in Migraleve is for sickness,..   The tablets are wearing off a bit now, so I need to take things easy.

I'm not sure whether the headache is related to my sleeping problems, or whether it was caused by something I ate.  The two candidates are last night's pizza (although I've eaten the same ingredients in the same combination before with no headache), or a new fruit tea I'd tried.  I strongly suspect the fruit tea (because it pops into my head every time I think about my headache) ,  but I don't know which of the ingredients is likely to be the culprit.   

I need to go for another lay down now.

Skirting around

I made a skirt!

As soon as the two pieces of fabric arrived, I pout them in to wash and then hung them up to dry.  They've been sitting on airers waiting for me ever since.

For the first couple of days, I was either too unwell or too busy to do anything.

Then I was just too busy.

Two days ago I cleared space so I could do the cutting,  but then got sidetracked with a Server problem.  And then I spent a day going through thousands of emails deleting redundant stuff and filing things.

Yesterday, I cleared the space even more and, as I went to bed, I put the pattern templates on the table, ready.

Today I took a deep breath and cut and sewed the first one. It's lovely.  It just needs hemming, and I decided to wait until had made both and then do the hemming all in one go.   I want to cut and sew the secoind one before I put everything away,  but I'm not sure I have the energy. 

Guirec Soudee's Momo has died

I read today that Guirec's hen, Momo (Monique) has died.  She was 9 years old.   I'm crying like I've lost one of my own Girls.

Momo was Guirec's sole companion on some of his wild sailing exploits.  She spent months at sea with him. as he travelled from the North Pole to the South Pole/     The adventures and exploits were amazing, and well worth reading if you have time.  

https://www.facebook.com/GuirecSoudeeAventurier/

9 years is a fab age for a hen, and she lived an extraordinary life.