Side effects may include: ANOREXIA

I have noticed lately that I am just not hungry.  Or when I am hungry I really just don't want food at all.  So I'll grab a glass of water or something.  If I do end up eating something I get two bites in and I'm full or I feel like when you really over stuff yourself.  You know, that yucky "I ate too much" feeling?  I constantly feel like that.

I started keeping track of my calories on my My Fitness Pal app so that I could make sure that I'm not under doing it.  According to the app, I'm barely taking in 800 calories a day.  So I've created a meal plan specifically for myself and put timers on my phone so that I am reminded to eat because if I don't do things this way I just won't eat.

I was wondering why I've been feeling this way and I looked up the side effects of my medications and my vitamin supplements.  I found that my vitamin D supplement can cause the side effect of "anorexia."  Not anorexia as in I think I'm horribly fat and need to not eat to keep my calories under control, but the kind of anorexia where you just don't eat.  Whether it's because you never feel hungry or maybe because you're like me where you feel full after only a small amount of food.

Ah well, I will live.

I have a WIP of my mystery afghan!

It's a bit busy, I'll admit, but I do love it anyway.  I love gaudy things, so this will fit right in with the rest of my stuff!  This week there is no mystery afghan clue, so I have an entire week off of this to work on my geisha.  Which I have not touched since the last WIP, sadly.

I am out of blue yarn for my daughter's rainbow blanket, so that one's on hiatus until I can get to Hobby Lobby...whenever that's going to be.  

I have been making squares for my "Bold Blues" blanket:

Admittedly I only have two squares done.  And only one with all the tails tucked it.  So it's slow going.

Hmm...anything else?  No...I don't think so.  I'm buying more yarn to make a shawl?  That's about it.

Off to go shopping for my youngest minion's birthday gift.  Happy stitching, everyone!

Enginn er alheimskur, ef þegja má.

"No one is a total fool if he can be silent."  - The Saga of Grettir the Strong, chapter 88.

That's a Viking saying.  There's a reason for that:

I made my son a beard today.  He is loving it and I'm hoping that when I make the viking helmet, I'm sure he'll love it even more.  This took roughly 2 hours because of all the cutting and measuring of the yarn.  Lots of long strands.  This is a crochet pattern I got from Ravelry.  

I also have for you today A GEISHA WIP!

This section of the Geisha is taking a lot less time than the blue part.  I was definitely needing a break to re-interest me in this project.  So happy I took a week off.  Okay, I am going to go start on my son's hat.

Happy stitching, everyone!

Lifestyle Change

My family has committed to a lifestyle change.  Here's what we do:

At the end of the month, make a meal plan for the entire next month -- breakfast, lunch, dinner, everything written on the calendar.  Then, looking at tomorrow's "menu" we walk from the house to the grocery store.  When we get to the store, we ONLY buy what's needed for the next day.  No extras, nothing we don't need, no processed foods, and only fresh vegetables and fruits.

This forces me to actually walk for 3 miles every day and we are going to be eating healthier as a family.  I figured with my Vitamin D levels being pretty poor it would  be a good idea to go out and get some sun every day.

I can't wait to discuss this with the nutritionist.  I hope she thinks it's a good idea, too.

Okay, no more of that.  I have a mystery afghan WIP!  Clue number five is done and I'm halfway through the ten weeks of clues!

Not sure why it's all grainy, but it is.  I am so pleased with my colors right now!  I'm getting ready to start another afghan (I know, I know, ANOTHER ONE) so that I can make one for me for once.  All my blankets are for other people.  

I'm also going to make a Toothless (How to Train Your Dragon) amigurumi so that I can give it to my husband for our anniversary.  He loves Toothless.  He even bought a little Toothless piggy bank from Walmart to display in our living room.

I will probably have a Geisha WIP tomorrow sometime.  I have been working on her, I just haven't taken any pictures of her or anything.  Back stitching is slow going for me and that's all I had done for a while, so now that I've actually started working on the kimono again I should see some progress!

Mmkay, I think I've pestered y'all enough.  Happy stitching, everyone!

I'm to blame for being sick all the time!

It's true, it's true.  I've been blaming my poor immune system when I should be blaming my stupid diet.  I have not been getting enough Vitamin D, so my being sick all the time is because of that.  Your levels are supposed to be 20-50 ng/ml of blood to be normal.  Mine was 7.  No, really.  It was 7.

So they put me on a supplement that I have to take weekly and we have to figure out why I'm so deficient.  I don't know why I'm having a problem with it, I eat a lot of veggies and fruits.  I don't go out in the sun often which is weird because it's sunny year round here in the desert.  The doctor thinks this is the root cause of my depression as well.

Okay, off that.

I am learning start stitches with this Rings of Change afghan that I'm making and let me say that they are so adorable!  I am loving these!  They're really fun to do, too, even if they are taking me a while.  I tried several times to take a picture up close, but the yarn is so bright it throws the camera off.  If it was in blue rather than orange it would probably focus, but sadly I couldn't get a good one.

I'm off to continue stitching and watching my son play Hyrule Warriors.  Happy stitching, everyone!

Still sick.

I'm still pretty sick today.  My daughter woke my son and me up a lot last night because she kept falling out of her bed.

"My son and me..." sounds so incorrect, but I looked it up just to be sure.  English is weird.

Anyway, I've got a WIP of my daughter's rainbow blanket.  I found out that I hate crocodile stitches more than any stitch I've ever done so far.  My next fancy stitch on this blanket is a star stitch, so let's hope that one is more fun.  Here's where I'm at now:

I'm working on my next giant granny square for the other crochet along today.  I haven't even looked up what it looks like, so here's to hoping I like it!

I'm going to go rest a bit.  My lymph nodes are really swollen and sore and I'm running a lovely fever now.  Happy stitching, everyone.

Sick again!

I am thinking I need to just punch my immune system in the throat.  I am running a fever, my joints are all achy, my lymph nodes are all swollen, and I have this general feeling of being run down.  Hopefully it passes soon.

Anyway, I have the mystery afghan clue #4 crocheted up.  I have seven of them done, but I only photographed one for this:

The green loopy things are still loose.  I don't know what they plan on doing with those, but they said that they will be doing something with them at a future date.

I haven't crocheted my next giant granny square yet, but I did just order the stuff to make THIS BLANKET and I can not WAIT to get started.

I have been working on my Geisha, well, I worked on her for around an hour last night.  I didn't get to do much because every time I would sit down and get started, one of my kids would call for me.  They were supposed to be in bed, but you know how toddlers are.

Alrighty, I should go make the kids their dinner.  They're trying brussels sprouts for the first time, so hopefully they like 'em.  Happy stitching, everyone.

MIA for a bit, sorry.

Another random "I'm alive" post.  I haven't been on very much because my husband is away.  It's just the kids and me so we've been doing a lot of stuff that distracts them from him not being home.  Today's excursion was baking a cookie "pizza" with the kids.  Mostly it was me cooking and the kids stealing chocolate and peanut butter chips.  My son liked mixing the "cheese" topping and I think his favorite part was drizzling the fudge on top.  It turned out really well and it tasted great.

I apparently suck at keeping with the drawing challenge because I haven't done anything since the third one.  It doesn't help that every time I sit down to draw I have a child calling for my attention.  They never do that when I'm crafting, but boy as soon as they see that drawing book come out, I am NOT allowed to draw.

I have another WIP on my mystery afghan.  I'm not sure where it's going still (AND I DO NOT WANT TO KNOW, so if you know pipe down!...please).

I have a whole stack of motifs just like this one.  20 to be exact.  I actually joined another crochet along as well.  This one has big 12-inch granny squares.  I have the first 2 done, but I need to catch up because I'm behind by two of them.

I love the second one.  It reminds me of a quilt.  I don't like to do granny squares, but I saw what last year's blanket looked like, so I figured why not?

I'm hopefully going to draw a bit tonight when the kids go to bed.  I hopefully won't be interrupted by my kids too much.  I'm actually being climbed on by one of my kids right now, so I'm gonna go.  Happy stitching, everyone.