Milk

Saturday:

My weight is disappointingly up a little bit this week, 74.0kg. I blame the freezing rainy windy weather. I only got out for one walk all week. And I eat when I'm cooped up and bored. On the plus side, I am still sleeping well with no night sweats.

There are six women I work with over the two libraries, all friendly helpful people. But I'm having a slight problem with Stacey, who I was in the same library as for the first time this week. She is … too helpful? Or just doesn't listen? It started with the milk. I brought in milk to have in my tea, not knowing if there would be any there already. Stacey fussed because there was already milk in the work fridge that I could use, so I should take mine home again. But it turned out the choices were milk that was already several days past its 'best before' date (she made me sniff it and agree it still smelled ok); or her skim milk, when I prefer full cream milk, and it was right on it's 'best before' date anyway; or a frozen solid bottle defrosting on the sink that was mine from two weeks ago that someone put in the freezer - but I had no way of knowing if it had been frozen straight away or after it got old. So I wanted to keep my fresh new milk. She kept fussing and fussing about it, I should take it home so it wasn't wasted. I had plenty of milk at home, and this was a couple of dollars worth, and I didn't want any of the other three choices! My polite rebuttles were not heard.

The first day I conveniently 'forgot' to take it home with me. The next morning she started in again. Really? And she checked with me as I was leaving that I hadn't forgotten again. So I had a brainwave. I took the frozen/thawed milk of doubtful freshness home with me, and left the new one at work. And tipped the old one down the sink when I got home. And tipped the really old one down the sink at work. So we're down to two bottles at work, my fresh one and her out of date skim milk. She hasn't mentioned it again (yet).

The second incident was I had ordered a book I wanted to read from another library a couple of weeks ago, then I had a week off work. Stacey mentioned that it had come in while I was away. So she sent it back. What? She didn't keep it for me for a week, or (maybe not knowing when I was coming back) contact me to let me know it had arrived so I could come in and pick it up? She just … sent it back.

And finally, a very trivial incident on its own, she asked if I wanted some herbal tea she had just made. I said no thanks. So she gave me some. I guess I have to start being a lot more assertive.

But the milk thing was pretty funny.

Sunshine

Saturday:

My weight is down to 73.7kg, a loss of 0.6kg. Not as dramatic as week one, but that is to be expected.  And I didn’t do any exercise, I was sick early in the week then wasn’t allowed to exercise for three days after the Mirena procedure. I should be fine to exercise now. My eating has been mostly good, we had pizza one night and I’ve had a bit too much chocolate.

It’s been gloomy and cold and windy all week but now we’ve got a warm sunny weekend which will be lovely. We all need to get out into the sunshine. Tim went back to work midweek but stayed home again yesterday, he’s really had a nasty flu. We did some gardening today.

We had the electrician here during the week to replace many of our ancient faulty light fittings. He’d done a few rooms since we moved here, this time is was our bedroom, the lounge room and the kitchen. Amazing how much lighter it is when the lights actually work! Maybe the PlayStation will be able to see me when I dance now.

The ceiling lights are pretty standard, but I chose some pretty wall lights. The old:

vs the new (yes that is a different background wall):

My four weeks off has shrunk down to one and a half. My boss keeps adding days. It seems like I don’t need to worry about not getting enough work.

Mirena

Wednesday:

Jasmine’s trio came 4th overall in the State (level 3A) in Acrogymnastics, an excellent result. They came 3rd in the Balance routine and 5th in the Dynamic routine - they made an error in spacing and Abbey kicked Sienna as Jasmine swung her around. Whoops. Otherwise they probably would have been 3rd overall. Nationals is in a few weeks - but the lowest level you can compete in there is 4 so the trio have a few new skills to learn! They’d already been doing some level 4 skills in 3A. After Nationals the teams will all be reshuffled, Sienna is getting taller but Jasmine is not growing any more - they need to be the same height to toss little Abbey around. And some gymnasts will be ready to move up a level.

My first week off hasn’t been much fun so far. Tim was still home sick until today and Aiden was home on Monday. Flu is kind of gross, and doesn’t allow a bedmate much sleep with all the coughing and snoring going on next to you. Thankfully everyone finally seems well now. Also yesterday I had a minor procedure that left me a bit traumatised. Sorry for TMI in next paragraph.

I finally got to see my gynaecologist, and I had a Mirena inserted. It’s a modern IUD (interuterine device) that works as a contraceptive but releases hormones at a low dose which is better for older ladies like me than the pill. You’d think I’m unlikely to get pregnant at 49 and in the midst of menopause anyway, but it happens! And I got pregnant straight away when I was trying. Also the Mirena might help my menopause symptoms, but it will be hard to tell as the Duromine has fixed that for the moment. She told me insertion might be ‘uncomfortable’ and that was a bit of an understatement. She prised open my cervix then pushed the IUD in through a plastic tube, then it opens out into a T shape. I thought the ‘discomfort’ was over but then my body started cramping in response to having a piece of plastic in my uterus. This is normal, but unpleasant. As well as the pain I felt really weepy. I got myself home and rested, and I’m fine today. Except I can feel the string (that they pull the Mirena out with, in 5 years) inside me, and the end seems to keep jabbing me. I don’t know what it’s made of. If it doesn’t stop very soon I’ll have to go back and get the strings trimmed or something. Am I supposed to not be able to feel it? I have plenty of nerve endings in there! (I just checked online, the strings are supposed to soften and curl up, otherwise you can get them shortened. Some people’s partners complained it poked them during sex!)

Today I’ll be hanging around the house all day as I have a tradesman here replacing lots of light fittings. No matter how many times I close the front door it’s open again two minutes later. It’s winter! Cold AND flies! Hopefully from tomorrow I can get out and enjoy myself.

It's working

Saturday:

After one week on Duromine (phentermine) I am down to 74.3kg, a loss of 2.7kg in the first week! Awesome! I know half of that is water weight, but who cares? The first week is so motivating. My clothes already fit better and my stomach is less bloated. No cravings for junk food, and although I get hungry at mealtimes I'm satisfied with less, and I can wait for the meal instead of having a snack to tide me over. Hunger seems less life-or-death when it is not paired with cravings.

Perhaps best of all is I've had a whole week with no night sweats! I don't know why Duromine has that effect for me, but it nearly always does. I have some other sleep issues but I'm getting so much more sleep than I was, I feel normal again - tired at the end of the day instead of exhausted all the time. A human again instead of a zombie.

We saw an echidna last week on a family walk to the local shops, in a tiny pocket of bushland beside the road. I've never seen one in the wild before, not for certain. It's a prickly creature like a hedgehog or porcupine. It and the platypus are the only two mammals in the world that lay eggs. It was bigger than I expected. You really do see kangaroos all the time in Australia, in Canberra I've seen them on the school oval or literally hopping down the street, but echidnas, koalas and platypus are much more elusive.

I've finished this block of work at the library, the original plan was that I have four weeks off before they need me again, but they may actually need me earlier. Either way is fine, as long as I get this week off! I need a haircut, and I've got a tradesman coming to fix our dodgy lights, and a few other things lined up. It's hard to get everything done when you're working.

I ran storytime at the library last week. Although it is an adult education institution, we teach childcare (so why don't the students do it?) and there is a childcare centre next door. They come over once a week. Lynn usually does the storytime but was needed elsewhere, Maya refuses to do it, so they asked me. I was really nervous when I ran it once last year as part of my work experience but I was fine this time. They are just kids - 23 of them! 3-4 year-olds.

I chose a theme and read them "You can't take an elephant on the bus" to which I added lots of little comments (did you know a blue whale's tongue is a big as an elephant?), got them up to dance to "Going to the zoo" then another story "Too many elephants in this house." Then we coloured in - guess what!? - a picture of an elephant that could be turned into a mask. It all went very well. And I got a comment from a bystander on how nice my singing voice is, which was lovely of them. 

Sickness has struck the house again. Jasmine was home the last three days, luckily she is mostly better as she has the State Final Acrogym competition this afternoon! Tim came home early Thursday and is still feeling awful. I stayed home yesterday (so I'll have to go to the library next week to hand in my keys and pick up my stuff) but wasn't as bad as them, and I'm fine today. Aiden seems to have dodged it so far.

I saw this tip on English spelling at work and it made me laugh:
"i before e - except when your foreign neighbour Keith received eight counterfeit beige sleighs from feisty caffeinated weightlifters. Weird."

Hello new library

Saturday:

I started a post about two weeks ago but didn't get very far!

I've been in my new libraries for three weeks now. I've slotted in easily and I'm glad to be there. I'm working at two libraries, most of the staff rotate between the two, both are very close to my home so the short commute is great. The staff are lovely, which I knew from my work experience last year. Usually 2 people staffing the smaller library, 3 at the slightly larger. I've had two new sets of procedures to learn/remember. It's the same computer system as I'm used to, but just finding where things are kept (twice!) is a challenge. And some things are different in each place - like my old library stored some info on a Excel spreadsheet plus a card file, one of the new libraries has printouts in a folder, and one doesn't keep records of that particular information at all. My two current libraries have the same manager so why are they different? Arg! Anyway.

It already looks like I'll be getting more work than was originally offered, so that is great. Although I was kind of looking forward to some time off!

The work itself is fine, but I'm having a hard time nonetheless. My menopause symptoms continue (I haven't seen my gyno yet, don't know if she will be able to help) and I'm exhausted all the time. Tired and cold = hungry and my weight has leapt up to 77kg. Which I think has brought my sleep apnoea back. Which makes me more exhausted. Round and round we go. Most of my work clothes don't fit, or look horrible. So as of today I am back on Duromine. I just can't function like this, I am barely getting through the days. I know Duromine can disrupt sleep, as it did mine last time I tried it (before that it seemed to actually help me sleep) but we'll see. I know I'll lose weight and have more alertness and energy during the day. I'm walking every lunchtime and just started a Tai Chi DVD at home.

Sunday:

I was a bit wakeful during the night, but no night sweats! So that is a start. And the bathroom scales are showing a downward movement already.