Medieval

Monday:

I had decided to never buy clothes online again after a couple of unsatisfactory purchases, but then I decided I needed some medieval dresses and it is very hard to find them anywhere else. I chose three, from a costume shop (they are costumes and therefore much cheaper but not as good quality as a real medieval dress would be) with the intent of keeping them all if they looked good but sending back any that didn't. I've learned to base my size choice on my hip measurement, not my waist measurement.

They are all much too long of course, and will need to be hemmed up, but aside from that the fit was very good. The green dress looked great:

The purple dress didn't suit me at all (I sent it back):

The black and red 'vampire countess' looked nice but the weird grey flap hanging from the waist is uneven and I haven't decided what to do about it. It would not be easy to just remove. In the promotional picture it doesn't overlap the red stripe down the front at all, that would have been much better, on mine it goes too far and meets off-centre. But overall the dress looks nice and I'm keeping it.

Why do I need medieval dresses? My family goes to Comicon and places like that and all wear costumes, I've never been but I may go one day. And it's just nice to have a costume ready for any occasion that may come up.

My weight was 72.4 kg this morning.

I came down sick (again) on the weekend. It's been a trying winter in that respect. We had to cancel D&D and family dinner.

Thursday:
I am starting to feel better but Tim came home from work yesterday feeling awful and went straight to bed (very very unusual!) and is home sick today. I have some sores in my mouth that I don't know if they are from this illness, or dry mouth from Duromine (which I've stopped for the moment), or from too much sugar; but there is one on my tongue that is quite painful. It woke me a couple of times in the night feeling like a needle dipped in acid had been stuck in the tip of my tongue. Ouch.

Aiden will be starting High School next year and he's doing an 'Extension Exam' this morning to see if he gets into the top class. Jasmine didn't get the chance as we moved here right at the end of the year just before she started High School so they put her in the second class originally, but she was moved into the extension class the following year. Aiden is very good in maths and science areas and he has a great imagination, but his handwriting is like a five year old and I hope that doesn't hold him back. We've been working on it at home, and at school of course.

Handbags

Thursday:

I’ve always been a person who owned only one handbag. When it wore out, after maybe five years or so, I’d buy a replacement. Always a smallish over-the-shoulder style, reasonable quality (ie real leather) but nothing too pricey. I wasn’t much into fashion, and who wants to transfer all their stuff from one bag to another all the time? If I could get away with it, I'd shove keys, phone and a credit card in my pockets and go without a bag at all, or if I needed to carry a lot I'd use a backpack.

Suddenly I’m reading fashion magazines (and giggling quite a bit at the ridiculous things that surely no-one would ever wear), watching Project Runway, and buying multiple handbags. I own five! I know that is nothing to some people, but it’s a multitude to me. Still nothing pricey, I can’t justify spending $500 (or $5000!) but maybe I’ll get to that stage eventually.

It started with needing new clothes and shoes because I was returning to the workplace. And because I’d lost weight, I looked better trying things on than I had for more than ten years. My nice aqua handbag was still good, but I decided I needed a larger bag as well, and used that while in work placement. It was black, so a couple of weeks ago I bought a more summery blue and white one for variety. Then yesterday I bought a small vibrantly purple shoulder bag - and because a second bag purchase was half price also got a cute black one with gold bees on it 🐝. Five bags!

Maybe I need a pink one...

I’ve solved the ‘transferring things’ problem by putting essentials in a little mesh insert, so I only have to move that with my wallet and keys each time instead of a mess of small items.

Is it normal to match your clothes to the handbag you want to use instead of the other way around?

Hayfever

Monday:

My food choices have been terrible this week. Not only too much junk, but also hardly fruit or vegetables. I’ve been affected badly by hay fever for a few weeks, I hardly ever get serious symptoms but this year the entire state is in drought plus it is very windy so pollens and allergens are everywhere even though it is still winter. When I was buying some medication the pharmacist told me everyone is bad this year. When I feel unwell I generally turn to ‘comfort’ food which does not help my body heal! I need nutrients, not over-processed frankenfood! Determined to do better this week.

My weight is up more than a kilogram to 72.9 kg.

Tim has asthma, luckily he doesn't seem too badly impacted by the conditions although other asthmatics I know are. But he is a heavy breather while asleep (not only now, always) which I find very frustrating. We don't have a spare room here for me to retreat to. My current solution is to have a 'daybed', Aiden's old bed tucked behind the three-seater in the lounge room. The kids (and visiting children) love lying on it during the day, and I can stumble out there when the loud breathing gets too annoying. I mainly use it on weekends when I would love to have a sleep-in but never can with Tim beside me - and he always sleeps in on the weekend, he needs it after a tiring week. It means I don't start the day full of resentment that he gets to sleep in and I don't.

The past two weeks there has been a substitute instead of the usual teacher-librarian at my son’s school. This morning there was no-one, and it was still dark and quiet. I went in and turned on some lights and the computer and sat there for half an hour just in case. Generally class 4G are being taught research skills and borrowing books on Monday mornings, and pairs of children return books for their classes, which I scan in and return to the shelves. Today only one class apparently didn’t get the memo and returned a few books for me to process. It was kind of weird sitting there in the gloom (I didn’t bother finding light switches for the whole library). But it got me out of the house for a nice walk there and back. I hope the teacher-librarian is ok.

Another week

Monday:

Another new week. Doesn't time just roll on by! This morning my weight was up a little more, 71.7 kg (I think, I kind of forgot before I wrote it down). Still working on that. It's that time of the month when I eat more chocolate. And everything else. Even when taking Duromine.

I'm still taking the Duromine (phentermine) but I have one or two days without it each week, to have a break from the dry mouth or if I'm sick or occasionally if I sleep late and don't want to take it late because it might affect my sleep that night. I'm trying to increase my exercise; did dance and walk yesterday, walk today.

I did my volunteer duty at Aiden's school library today, then grocery shopping, then an afternoon of bills and paperwork. We chose a solar power company, based mainly on the quality of materials they use. We've decided to go with more solar panels than we expect to use (there were differing opinions about whether this is a good idea or not); it helps future-proof us if we need more later, our electricity company pays for excess power that we send back into the grid (not as much as we pay them for electricity!!) which helps cover our night-time non-solar usage cost, and solar power that we sent to the grid that someone else uses helps save the environment because the electricity company isn't burning as much coal or whatever. Bigger up-front cost, of course. But it only takes a few years to pay for itself. And we're helping the environment! And therefore our own health. You can get a battery to store excess day-time power to use at night, but they are not cost effective at around $14000. We are better off selling excess to the grid.

Solar

Friday:

We've been planning to get solar panels on our roof for ages, this week I finally got around to doing some research and asking a few companies for quotes. Prices have come down a lot in recent years and the government also offers a large rebate which works out to around a third of the total price. I had long talks with several companies (over the phone; they look at images of your roof throughout the year to see if you have shade problems, ask about your electricity usage etc) and learned a lot! We haven't yet decided between two companies, but there was one we definitely won't be going with.

The guy seemed nice on the phone, and the quote was the cheapest, but my research showed that they use the lowest quality materials on my list. He wanted to call me back the next day but I said to at least give me the weekend to talk to my husband before we made a decision so he said he'd call Monday. He asked me to give a deposit on the spot to fix the quote and make sure it didn't go up (with other companies the quote was valid for a month without a deposit!) and that he'd give the deposit back if we didn't use his company (what is the point of a deposit then?) which I declined to do. Then despite me asking him not to call until Monday, I have received a 'follow-up' text from someone else at the company and it seems I have been put on their subscriber email list because I've also received advertisements about their latest deals. To be fair, I suppose neither text nor email are technically a phone call! I've blocked their number on my phone and unsubscribed from the email list, and sent messages on both mediums that we won't be needing them thanks. Maybe it's just me, but it feels more like pressure than customer service.

Lots of books

Monday:

My weight wandered back up to 71.5 kg this morning. By the time I start at this job it will be the middle of spring, and I'm excited about buying more new work clothes, but I would love to lose a bit more weight before then. I really really need to get exercise consistently into my life - and keep it there even when I start work!

My tiredness of last week morphed into illness on the weekend. Headache and dizzy and backache and jelly legs. Sometimes I was nauseous and didn't eat much, other times I was bored with sitting around and ate too much. I'm feeling so much better today though. I made some lovely chicken soup for my lunch.

I'm back volunteering at my son's school library on Mondays. Last week the teacher librarian was there but as usual was teaching a couple of classes so we don't really get time to talk much. There was a lot to do and I was there most of the morning, when I tried to leave she asked me to help a little longer (which was fine). Today she wasn't there, another teacher who I don't know (maybe a sub) was running the class and only said hi and left me to it, but there wasn't much to do at all and I left after less than an hour (it's only supposed to be half an hour anyway). I realised when I got to the shops that I'd left my handbag stashed under the desk at the library (my car keys were in my pocket, and I often don't carry a bag, just essentials in pockets, so I didn't notice) and I had to go back for it. Luckily not too far.

Tuesday:

I went into the city today to buy some books. Doing the cataloguing revealed some gaps in our collection; sometimes we hadn’t finished buying a series but quite a few gaps were where people had borrowed books and not returned them. I asked around last week but none turned up so I decided to replace some favourites. I went to my two favourite bookshops; Galaxy which specialises in sci-fi and fantasy (12 books) and Dymocks which is more general, and has a three-story store in the city (5 books). Very heavy! When I got home, 2 more had arrived that I had ordered online secondhand! Now I don’t know what to read first - and I was already in the middle of three before I bought these new ones.

Job Offer

Later Thursday:

I got a job offer! Apparently I was first on the suitability list. They offered the temporary position starting in October replacing someone on maternity leave for 9 months. This position was mentioned at the interview I had but I said at the time that I could only do part time so I surprised at this offer. Wasn’t it full time? I asked today. Only 30 hours a week, which I can manage. We are still sorting out what shifts I would do, but it seems like I have a job!

It’s only a temporary position, but that’s ok. It will help me get the next job. And it’s further away than I would like, driving through traffic, but on the other hand I don’t have to work during school holidays (because it’s a library for college students, and they have minimal staff or close during holidays) which solves any problem of what to do with my own children.

I no longer feel like I’m in limbo.

Limbo

Thursday:

I’ve been having a really low energy week. I was exhausted on Sunday after cooking all day for the family dinner, but thought nothing of it as I’d tried a new recipe which is always stressful - it turned out well - in the midst of a house full of excited children. But then I felt the same all Monday, and kind of depressed on Tuesday. But the last couple of days I’ve embraced it. If I’m tired, I’ll just enjoy reading and watching old Project Runway. I’m in Limbo at the moment; finished my studies but not yet in a job, so it makes sense I feel a little adrift. I keep myself busy with things like sorting my photos and doing my home book cataloguing project, but they are not the same as having a real purpose to your days.

I’ve also been thinking about writing another book. I sent my first manuscript to a couple of publishers last year (no response) before deciding it wasn’t the best I could do. I’m really proud of myself for writing a whole novel and I love it but it has its faults. I can do better on my next attempt. I’ve had a few ideas for quite a while, but now I have concepts that tie it all together and I really should start writing.

Aiden is away at school camp at the moment. In Canberra, where we lived until two years ago! He should know many of the places they are visiting quite well. Questacon, the interactive science museum, for example - we had an annual pass there for many years. I just wish they weren’t there in the middle of winter, it is much colder there than here in Sydney. It can be miserable down by the lake where most of the public buildings are when an icy wind blows over the water. They had to wear full school uniform, which I’ve never seen for camp before. Extra layers underneath! I miss my baby, but it does mean I can sleep in in the morning! Jasmine gets herself to school without assistance,  only Aiden has to be dragged out of bed.