It's Tuesday Morning...But We'll Meander Anyway!

Cheery, isn't it!

• I am firmly in spinning mode.
• And I am very, very happy about that.
• So is my wheel!
• Who doesn't have a name.
• That's not the way I roll.
• Yesterday I finished spinning the silk singles. They are now resting on the bobbins for a while and I have moved on to a merino/bamboo blend.
• It took a year to spin the first 2 ounces of that silk....and three days to spin the second 2!
• There is actually a reason for that dreadful lapse. I had initially only purchased one wee hank of the silk - Chasing Rainbows in the aptly named 'Starbirth' - because I had never spun silk before. Once it was in my hands and on the wheel, I promptly fell in love. It was, however, only 2ounces of fiber, and I decided I wanted more. The second skein - having been purchased at a much later date - was quite different from the first. It took me a very long while to decide what to do about that, but ultimately I decided to just make it work. (I'll share more about the differences when I present the finished yarn.)
• The silk will be a two-ply laceweight, and after all of that careful, tiny spinning I decided to purposefully turn the merino/bamboo into a squishy, lofty, chunky two-ply.
• So far, so good!
• Next up will be 16 oz. of the lovely merino in yet another colorway. It'll be time for a bigger project...although I think this one needs to be spun up heavier as well.
• At my current rate of spinning, I could get much of my stash spun up before the end of the summer.
• Interestingly enough, if I look back it does seem that summer is my spinning time.
• This is not to say that I haven't been knitting. My attention has firmly been captured by my Heart to Heart Beaded Scarf.
• Why is it that a certain project just jumps out of the basket to claim your full attention? It seems completely random sometimes.
• At any rate, I did hit the half way on my scarf on Sunday after a day of marathon knitting.
• Finding the middle involved lots of OCD weighing and measuring. Suffice it to say that there will be very little yarn left over on this project as well!
• I'm going to go ahead and cast on for another project or two this week as I finished two last week. The current number of WIP's seems to be working well for me - as does the variety within my workbasket.
• In fact, it seems that variety is the key...and not the number of projects on the needles.
• The new projects will likely be either baby gifts or lace.
• Probably both.
• My children have been perfect lately.
• That's kind of odd.
• VBS was a fantastic success last week! The girls had loads of fun...and they actually learned something this time around.
• Good for the parents - the music this year was not as obnoxious as it has been in the past. As the church sends home CD's with the kids...which we will listen to approximately one million times over the next four months....that is very important.
• Good for the family - the VBS program Friday night was a delight. My girls give it their all on stage, and we always enjoy watching them. The little one in particular seems to be a natural born performer.
• My bigger girl announced this week that she liked all crafts because, "I am an artist."
• My GP is officially fired. When I went in to see him about the cashew reaction, he pretty much dismissed all of my medical concerns and told me that my only problem was that I was depressed.
• I left in tears, and proceeded to be very upset for the rest of the evening.
• To be fair, this is the GP who treated me for depression during college. I have no doubt whatsoever that I needed antidepressants at that time as I fully remember what I was like before, during and after treatment.
• However.
• I think it's a huge stretch to blame the last 7-10 years on depression - especially when fatigue would seem to be the ONLY symptom that I've had for most of that time.
• I will agree, though, that the surgery was much more traumatic on my body than I wanted to admit, and I will also agree that it did trigger about three months of serious depression.
• Having said that, I'm rapidly improving....all on my own, thank you very much.
• The first time I got mad at a doctor, I wound up choosing homebirth after a great deal of research and several interviews. It was the single best decision of my life.
• The second time I got mad at a doctor, I found my acupuncturist. She's done more good for me in the last two years than I could ever have hoped for. Ask my husband, he'll happily tell you that it's been some of the best money we've ever spent on healthcare.
• I'm not sure where this third great wave of anger is taking me....but history tells me it's going to be someplace good!
• Speaking of homebirth (sort of), I found a page on Facebook called, "I Gave Birth At Home. Not Crazy. Not Brave. Just Educated." That might be the best title ever!
• Also this week in health news - I let myself relax and had a fairly large dose of sugar on Sunday.
• Sugar is the devil.
• Yesterday I not only fought massive cravings all day (which I haven't had at all since about the third day of going sugar-free), but my entire body ached horribly and my energy levels rose and fell in ridiculous waves.
• Lesson learned. It's just not worth it.
• On the positive side, my workouts were fantastic last week! I managed to get three really strong runs in along with one strength training session...and it all felt great!
• This week's goal is to get in a full week - 3 days of cardio and 2 of strength and cardio.
• Which means I'll have to go in on Saturday.
• Sigh.
• On that note...I do need to get moving so that we can go to the gym. The sooner the better!

Have a great week everyone!

• Whoops, one last thing! Since I kicked sugar, my sleep has been improved by about a million percent...which is very important as I've had trouble sleeping my entire life. (Seriously....my second entry in my first diary - written when I was 13 - complains about sleep!)
• I told my husband this morning that it amazes me every morning when I wake up and realize I had another night of peaceful, uninterupted sleep.
• I can't stress what a huge blessing this is!