May the 4rth be with me!

 I booked my appointment for my COVID-19 vaccine for May 4rth.

I posted it as a status on Facebook and some young woke white chick came to spew a whole paragraph of antivaxx garbage, ending with a sarcastic "Good luck".

Deleted the comment and the person. 

I might not have wanted the AstraZeneca vaccine for myself but certainly didnt go make any of my friends and folks in my age group who made the decision to get it feel bad about it. I cheered them on for being vaccinated. 

May the 4rth be with me! 

Vaccine time soon!

 The only COVID-19 vaccine available to me at the moment is the AstraZeneca and I just don't feel comfortable with it. From experience I know to follow my gut. 

But starting on the 28th I can register for my vaccination as an autistic and be offered either Pfizer or Moderna. I'm looking forward to it as so many variants of concern are driving the pandemic with a new force. 

Guilty!

 

Thoughts about COVID-19

Since being sick last March I've never been quite the same. 

First there's the insomnia..I don't think I've slept more than 4 hours continuous in the past year more than a few times. Most nights are a series of one or two hours, where I'm exhausted when I wake up. I've always had disordered sleep but it's gotten far worse. 

Then there's the herpes outbreaks. I usually get cold sores in my nose at the peak of my allergies usually late june/early july. In a bad year I might get 2 more outbreaks either from having a virus or fighting one. 

Until 2020 I'd never even taken antivirals for my outbreaks. But the one I had July 2020 was so bad I thought I had shingles. I was prescribed valacyclovir. Since then I had 7 other outbreaks all treated with valacyclovir. 

The other fun thing... migraines. Other than always having been prone to light induced migraines, and allergy induced migraines... i just get more of them, more often. Some mornings just looking outdoors to see if it's a sunny day is enough to trigger a migraine. Then it goes downhill. I become more sound sensitive and just sensitive to sensory input. 

With the migraines seems to travel arthritis. I've had it to varying degrees for some time but since I was sick March 2020 it's far worse far more often. Some days it hurts to cut a vegetable or open a juice container. My hands are clumsier and I have no strength in them.  I've almost dropped glasses. Suddenly the pain is unbearable and I have no strength. 

Other than that my memory has gotten worse. I still remember what happen 30 years ago but not what I did yesterday or last week. My cognitive skills are worst. It takes a huge effort to write a text like this whereas in the past I could write double in half the time. 

Matching gardening aprons for daughter & granddaughter.

 Samantha asked me to make her a gardening apron sometime last fall. I found some thick cotton canvas at Fabricville and used a 1940's kitchen apron pattern to make Samantha's apron.  I basically made it as long as the pocket and used the extra length to double it to make it more solid so that garden shears, and other assorted items don't feel too heavy.

For Mado I used a normal apron pattern that I shortened and added a pocket.  I didn't make hers as sturdy as I figured she would mostly use it to carry garden pickings like cherry tomatoes...

 I like working with patterns because my sense of size varies. I'm not good at figuring out the base size for anything. At least with a pattern it's a starting point and I modify around it accordingly. You could argue I should use a measuring tape and measure. Sure. I can. BUT I mix numbers in my head so often that it's best if I don't do that. I can forget halfway that I meant to use a 1/2" seam but then realized I did a 5/8" seam. Never fails .So I don't trust my brain to size things properly.

Gardening Apron for Mado

Gardening apron for Sam

I modified B to make the Apron

Sporting the aprons

More things I sewed for Mado

Here are some things I made for Mado recently. Sadly the hats did not fit. 

Dino hat made with Butterick B5019

Simplicity 1453

Simplicity 1453

Simplicity 1571

The Kelty bug and kitchen shelter.

I found this posts in the drafts. This has been an amazing addition to my camping equipment.

 

 It's great to protect you against bugs at night, rain when it's pissing rain as you can see from my first photo. The mesh is fine enough that even in heavy rain, it prevents from raining inside or on the picnic table. Only downside, unless you put a stick on top of your picnic table to hold the roof taunt, water will accumulate. But a few pokes and it will slip off to the sides. 

It's also good to protect me against the midday sun where I tend to cook and burn. During the day, if you're out with no shade, you'll want both doors open to let air through, as it gets warm. This is great for spring & fall camping. 

It fits a traditional size picnic table with room to walk around. You build the shelter and with the help of a friend put it over the table, and picket it in place. I found it easy to assemble. 

The biggest downside, it almost became airborn at Parlee Beach provincial park. The ground was hard as rock so the pickets didn't hold very well. One gust of wind and the Kelty bug Shelter was ready to saunter down the path. Luckily one of our neighbours used a mallet to put in 2 pickets for us as we had wandered off when it happened.

I'm really happy so far with my purchase of Kelty's medium bug blocker shelter.

Kelty bug shelter in the rain

Kelty bug shelter at Parlee Beach Provincial Park NB

Bug Shelter and tent at The Islands Provincial Park NS

Photos of Buddy et al

 

BUT BUT I don't want you to go to work

Reactive Hypoglycemia

 At some point in my early 30's I was given a 5 hour Glucose Tolerance Test after which my family dr at the time told me I had 'episodes' of hypoglycemia. His suggestions was to eat every 3 hours, first thing when I wake up, last thing before going to.sleep 

It made sense. As an infant I was also a 3 hour baby. I did research and adapted my diet so my sugar were more consistent as opposed to going up & down drastically. I realized the sugar highs and  lows really affect my mood. 

I'd never taken sugar readings because after a few years of experimenting with food I found carbs bring my sugars up quickly whereas protein help keeping my sugars more constant. 

A few months ago my current family doctor wanted me to get a fasting blood sugar test as the one she had me do in 2019 showed slightly high fasting sugar in the high 5's which fasting can be a prediabetic sugar level. 

I talked to a diabetic co worker and picked up a contour next One glucose meter. My doctor was concerned that my 'reactive hypoglycemia' had turned to diabetes. Personally I argued that it didn't feel different. 

I did find that the longer I fast the higher my fasting blood sugar is. I've recorded it as high as 6.4 after close to 12 hours fasting. I'm also not exercising much since the beginning of the pandemic. 

I had a bad day earlier this week. Went to Costco to pick up medication and when I came back I felt like a sugar low. Was right meter said 4.4 I ate 2 slices of Domino's gluten free pacific veggie pizza. One hour later was at 8.3, 3 hours later was back at 4.6. Ate something high in protein, sugar levels stopped yoyoing. 

So I discovered that the way I had modified my diet, high in protein low in refined sugars & flours actually do keep my sugars constant. And i suspect if I had a daily walk even my fasting morning sugars might be a touch lower. When my sugars go from 5 to 6 between fasting and after meals I feel better overall.