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. 

Amazing gnocchi

 I like gnocchi but boiling it made it too pasty for my taste. So today I tried something new. I first fried onions, garlic & peppers, added the gnocchi and fried it too. Then added tomato sauce. The finishing touch was the mozzarella cheese. It was perfect. The gnocchi was tasty. 

Never too many masks

 So since last March I've sewn a lot of masks. Apparently over 50 for myself 

Love making little dresses!

 Dresses I made for Mado so far in 2021. I just love the red/orange together 

Made with Simplicity 8522

Made with Simplicity 2943

FUCK COVID-19

 Today is my COVID-19 anniversary. At least I think so. 

March 3rd 2020, I took Terry to Sacre Coeur hospital for his followup colonoscopy. He had like 27 polyps removed the year before. I wanted to wear a mask but could not find any. 

March 9 & 10 I had stomach issues & sore throat but worked both days. March 11th I could not get out of bed. The fatigue was epic. I was running a low grade fever in the mid 37's. ( My normal temp is 36.5)   

The fever lasted for 4-5 days and my whole body hurt. I had no appetite and while I could not get out of bed, I could not sleep more than one hour at a time. 

Fever broke for a day then came back with intense chest tightness like I had bronchitis or pneumonia. I doubled up on asthma meds. 

I called the covid hotline and since I had not traveled they told me to stay home  unless I couldn't breathe at all. 

My fever finally broke on the 23rd, my energy levels improved and my breathing got better. But it took another 2 weeks before my cognitive skills improved. 

It's now a year later. I had some form of arthritis before covid but it's so much worse since. There are days it hurts just opening a container. I have no strength in my hands when they swell up. Or cutting a few vegetables. After which I'm in such  pain I can't even type on a phone. 

My cognitive skills are still not 100% I can't tell if it's age or still a side effect.

While I was bedridden, so was Terry. It was a week after colonoscopy so pain should have been receding from the 2 polyps they removed. But instead he spent those 2 weeks with horrible stomach and kidney & back pains. He's never felt that type of discomfort before or after. He's got sensitive kidneys due to 10 ICU 3 years ago. So the way it presented with him made sense to. 

We suspect Terry picked it up from the health professionals he saw for his colonoscopy. While we were home  with COVID-19, Sacre-Coeur had covid outbreak. So I'm sure Terry & I got it. Zoey too as she was unwell during the same period  

The first time I left home after 14 days bedridden, I got into car and Terry used hand sanitizer. The smell nearly knocked my socks off. He was puzzled, he'd been using it for weeks at the time and I'd never smelled it. That's when I realized I'd lost my sense of smell for a while but at home in bed, I had never noticed. I have allergies and I do lose sense of taste & smell sometimes so I didn't clue in until it came back. 

I can't wait to qualify for vaccination. Cutoff was 60 year olds born in 1961. I'm born in 1962. I hope being asthmatic and having bronchiectasis I will be getting vaccination soon

Nightshirts and Pyjama's for Mado

 Here is all the nightwear I sewed for Mado in 2020

Leggings, tops and other assorted things I sewed for Mado in 2020

 I made a few leggings, a hoodie  and a few tops. I used an old style pattern that I modified to make the zipped hoodie.  Here are photos. 

The Owl dress!

When I was contemplating Newlook 6504, all I could see was an owl on the dress. So I designed my own. Here are a few photos of my process. First I drew an owl and cut fabric pieces to match. It took months because my sewing machine died on the first pass making the eyes. After which I was paranoid. I attempted a 2nd time and had no success. With my trusted thread ripper, I undid the eyes and redid them again with the machine, you can see the final result at the very bottom! It even has owl buttons.

Some dresses I made for Mado in 2020

 These are most of the dresses I made for Mado in 2020. All except the purple dinosaur dress, was made with fabric left over from making myself clothes.

Baby blue knit/cotton dress - Burda 9341

Blue knit/cotton dress - Burda 9341

Turquoise Dragonfly print - McCalls M6878

Made with a colourful cotton batik with Burda 9375

Cotton plaid dress - McCalls M6982

Dinosaur dress with fabric ordered from India - made with Simplicity 2377

Baguette Cat Ahoy!

So Toby learned to pee on the toilet

Mado wearing things I made for her

When Mado saw the purple dressed she squealed apparently and had to wear it then and there! She chose to wear it with cowboy boots, a jean jacket and an umbrella :)