Who can sleep in this heat, tonight?

My body aches and feels slightly swollen. My head is throbbing and I feel dehydrated. It's 4:47am and I've been up for an hour.
I've printed off 20 copies of j's CV, as requested, done the laundry, sorted through the freezer to see what we should eat today and tomorrow, updated all the software on my laptop and plucked my eyebrows.

I tend towards early waking as a matter of course, but it's always worse when I'm a bit stressed and the weather is warm. This is always a busy time in my line of work.

I did debate doing a bit of spinning, but I don't know yet whether I need to be relaxed to do it or whether it will help me relax.

This was waiting at home for me yesterday:



Gorgeous colours from Helen at My Heart Exposed.

I'm doing it!

Some yarn that I have spun:



and made into a (albeit horrible) hat:



(crappy phone shot, sorry)

I went shopping and I bought...

...frankly, a ridiculous amount of stuff...



...at Woolfest!

I have vowed to stop buying (much) yarn and fibre throughout the year and save my budget for Woolfest next year. Had a really good day and got so much inspiration from the wealth of colour, texture and design on display.

Loved the sheep and alpacas too. And the rabbits! And the funny little depressed-looking dog I kept running into. He looked just like J when he has to come shopping with me. (Except smaller and hairier)

My haul:



Fibre from Philippa Joad (who taught me to spin) at Wheeldale Woolcrafts.



Gorgeous yarn and a pattern for a crocheted scarf (will need to relearn crochet!), which may become a throw instead, from The Natural Dye Studio.



Sock yarn and fibre from Freyalyn.






Acid dye starter kit and some fibre from DT Craft & Design.



Lovely buttons and a flexiband for my wheel.

Waste not

I'm worried about the amount of food we seem to throw away as a family. I also always seem to be at Tesco. We spend a fortune and it needs to stop - it's all so wasteful.

To this end:



Found-in-the-fridge-Mexican-Chicken

and:



Lurking-in-the-chiller-drawer-veggie-and-halloumi-tart.

Ups and downs

Saw my surgeon for my (belated) one year post-op check up. He told me I had hit the point that they were 'concerned' about my weight and asked me to see Maureen, the dietician. She seemed ok about my food intake. I then had 9 vials of blood taken, so must have been screened for just about everything.

I told him about my plastic surgery plans for this summer and he said he would be much happier if I waited a bit until my weight had settled and I proved I could maintain a weight. He also offered to refer me for NHS tummy tuck at our next appointment in 6 months, if I can gain a little weight and keep it stable.

Today I got a copy of a letter he has sent my GP, which states "She cannot afford to lose any more weight."

I was seeing my GP today about something else anyway. I told her I think I will probably be seeing her regularly throughout the next year to address the things that are wrong with me - things I put down to being due to being fat. Now I'm no longer fat, the issues remain so I'll start to pick them off one by one

We talked about the 'too thin' issue. She agrees that, although my BMI is within the normal range, if you take the loose skin and my bone structure into consideration, at 10 stones I look a bit thin in places. I talked about my panic at being told to gain weight. After the initial funniness of the concept had passed, I had started to get really worried about regain. We have agreed that she will refer me to a psychologist for some CBT around my food issues.

Other than this, I am well and healthy. Yesterday I took my class on their summer trip to an eco-centre and we did the healthy living trail. There was a big zip wire and I spent a long time running up and down, supporting the more timid little people, before having a go myself! Then I went down the big stainless steel tube slide down the hillside! I have not been on a slide since I was a small child. I was so proud of myself. The children cheered me and one of my colleagues who has supported me through the WLS journey was in tears. Quite a special moment.

Weekend stuff

I've had a busy day, given that I had put the day aside to do some work-stuff (most of that completed too!)

Finally managed to get a haircut today. It's still short as I'm still trying to deal with the aftermath of losing so much hair in the first year after my surgery. At least it's shiny and not red again now :)



I have reached now, I feel, a weight I'm happyish with. Actually, I'm 11lbs under my last revised target and at the lower end of the 'normal' BMI range. Full face shots like that make me feel that I'm maybe a little too thin now, which is ironic. J has asked me to stop losing weight. It's not something I'm doing wilfully any more; it's just what my body is doing. Advice has been to increase my carbs and add more things like bread, cereals, pasta and rice. Pasta and rice, I can tolerate in reasonable amounts. I like risotto a lot. Bread and cereals are trickier. I can no longer tolerate bread easilly and most cereals have far too much sugar in them for me to risk. So, I'm adding extra nuts and proteins and taking each day as it comes.

I love these crustless quiches:



There are lots of recipes around, but mine is:
4 eggs
1 tub cottage cheese
4 spring onions
a handfull of grated cheese
some chopped chives
a glug of milk
salt
black pepper

Mix together and throw into silicone muffin cases
bake in a medium oven until set.
Cool in the cases then turn out and store in the fridge.

Good for packed lunches and breakfasts.

Finally: my new baby:



She's an Ashford Traditional. Needed a bit of tlc, which is complete now. Works beautifully. Wish I could say the same about the quality of my spinning ;)







I'll get better with practice. That said, I'm so pleased with myself!

Sun spot

Today, I got caught out by the sun on our frozen coastline.
J and I drove down to Staithes and then out to Grosmont. Despite the factor 30, I am pink in places now. Admittedly, some of it could be wind burn!



Staithes was quiet when we got there at 10ish. We'd called into Loftus on the way, as I wanted to look in Brigantia. As I may have mentioned before, I have a real thing about Wold pottery and I wasn't disappointed today. J bought me a new mug (see below) and a beautiful swirly green bowl.

We called in at the Staithes Heritage Centre and Captain Cook Museum, which has to be one of the strangest museums you can find. It is crammed full of Staithes and Cook-related artifacts and seems totally untroubled by the bother of labelling or display conventions. They do have some lovely pieces of fishing community knitting:







We had something to eat at the Station Tavern in Grosmont and then had a look at the trains. I love the smell. It brought out a touch of nostalgia in J, but I'm not really old enough to have vivid memories of steam trains.



(Don't look now... It's behind you!)



Below: progress on my Hollyhock sweater, being knitted in reclaimed yarn from something I made that is now too big! Beside it, my lovely new Wold mug.