A Field Report . . .
The Book Project
I have succeeded and met my goal of reading 12 books this year!!! Yay Me!! And I've discovered that I pretty much just like to be entertained at this point in my life :-D I'm not reading near as many "self-help" books as I was a few years ago. My friend, T, and I were going to work our way through the Simple Abundance Companion, but we decided that it wasn't for us after all. And I decided earlier in March that reading the DayBook, Simple Abundance, was no longer something I wanted to do. It was published in 1995 and it definitely felt dated to me in ways that I can't really pinpoint. In any case, however, I decided that - in the interest of reducing my stress and keeping with my plan to let stuff go that doesn't grab me - I donated both yesterday to my local library.
I just finished a book this morning called A Lily in the Light. It was OK - but felt unfinished somehow. Everything wrapped up much too easily.
I'm definitely pounding through the books on my Kindle app rather than toting books on the train every day.
Kidney Craziness
At the following link is the other article I mentioned, that Dr. Coe wrote about Idiopathic Hypercalciuria. Technical, but I share it in case you are interested.
I went through two rounds of blood work at two separate doses of potassium citrate in the past couple of weeks, and I'm now on the dose that Dr. Coe wanted for me. This is supposed to help raise my urine pH, which should keep my body from making any more uric acid stones. It all remains a process. I wish I was faster at it. But I'm not, so I just keep plugging away. Mostly I don't think of it much, not wanting to allow it to take root in my consciousness. Rather, I focus on what I need to do to take care of myself. I don't always succeed, but at least I'm focused on the positive.
WW
I made the decision a couple of weeks ago to begin tracking again on Fitbit rather than in the WW app. I did this because WW has absolutely no interest in sodium. WW is focused on sugar and fat. All their recipes are super high in sodium and all require me to fiddle with them. I also can no longer track my water consumption on the WW app.
Fitbit isn't perfect - they discontinued their best tracker, the One, and now I've come to find that they've also discontinued their premium service, which offered detailed nutrient reports that I used to use a lot. Thankfully I added Sodium to the front page of my tracker two years ago, so at least I still have access to that information. And, I can track my water intake.
Finished Objects
Why yes, I have finished something!! I started a Piper's Journey shawl a bit ago in support of my friend, Paula's, cancer journey. This is my favorite of Paula's patterns. My experiment of using Aran weight yarn on size 8 needles instead of the sport weight called for in the pattern was a success. I was concerned that maybe this experiment wouldn't work - but it blocked out beautifully and it's large, which is exactly what I wanted.
I gave it a good long time to dry downstairs on the blocking tables and mats. (Definitely good purchases, both of those!)
It's funny - I've knit a number of Paula's patterns (they are all wonderful), and they always come out like shawlettes on me. I finally figured out that it must be because Paula is so much smaller than I am, in both size and stature! Hence the experiment with the Aran weight yarn on bigger needles.
Here it is on the sofa in the sunroom. I used leftover yarn from both my St. Patrick and St. Brigid sweaters. The yarn is Queensland Collection Kathmandu Aran.
Other Stuff
Spring seems like it's never going to arrive here in Chicagoland. It's sunny today, but it's 30 degrees . . . But the longer days speak to the things that grow around us. My daffodils are trying their best to come up. I'm guessing by the end of the week if the weather reports are correct - it's supposed to warm up. I'm crossing my fingers.
That's the news from the Third Coast today, and I've done everything I can think of to avoid sitting down with my tax paperwork. I'm going to have to get cracking :-D
On my way back from visiting J a few weeks ago, I sat next to this man on the second leg of my trip - out of Nashville back to Chicagoland. I didn't know who he was (Hmmmm, guess I'm old . . . ), but learned that his name is Kevin Griffin.
I have succeeded and met my goal of reading 12 books this year!!! Yay Me!! And I've discovered that I pretty much just like to be entertained at this point in my life :-D I'm not reading near as many "self-help" books as I was a few years ago. My friend, T, and I were going to work our way through the Simple Abundance Companion, but we decided that it wasn't for us after all. And I decided earlier in March that reading the DayBook, Simple Abundance, was no longer something I wanted to do. It was published in 1995 and it definitely felt dated to me in ways that I can't really pinpoint. In any case, however, I decided that - in the interest of reducing my stress and keeping with my plan to let stuff go that doesn't grab me - I donated both yesterday to my local library.
I just finished a book this morning called A Lily in the Light. It was OK - but felt unfinished somehow. Everything wrapped up much too easily.
I'm definitely pounding through the books on my Kindle app rather than toting books on the train every day.
Kidney Craziness
At the following link is the other article I mentioned, that Dr. Coe wrote about Idiopathic Hypercalciuria. Technical, but I share it in case you are interested.
I went through two rounds of blood work at two separate doses of potassium citrate in the past couple of weeks, and I'm now on the dose that Dr. Coe wanted for me. This is supposed to help raise my urine pH, which should keep my body from making any more uric acid stones. It all remains a process. I wish I was faster at it. But I'm not, so I just keep plugging away. Mostly I don't think of it much, not wanting to allow it to take root in my consciousness. Rather, I focus on what I need to do to take care of myself. I don't always succeed, but at least I'm focused on the positive.
WW
I made the decision a couple of weeks ago to begin tracking again on Fitbit rather than in the WW app. I did this because WW has absolutely no interest in sodium. WW is focused on sugar and fat. All their recipes are super high in sodium and all require me to fiddle with them. I also can no longer track my water consumption on the WW app.
Fitbit isn't perfect - they discontinued their best tracker, the One, and now I've come to find that they've also discontinued their premium service, which offered detailed nutrient reports that I used to use a lot. Thankfully I added Sodium to the front page of my tracker two years ago, so at least I still have access to that information. And, I can track my water intake.
Finished Objects
Why yes, I have finished something!! I started a Piper's Journey shawl a bit ago in support of my friend, Paula's, cancer journey. This is my favorite of Paula's patterns. My experiment of using Aran weight yarn on size 8 needles instead of the sport weight called for in the pattern was a success. I was concerned that maybe this experiment wouldn't work - but it blocked out beautifully and it's large, which is exactly what I wanted.
I gave it a good long time to dry downstairs on the blocking tables and mats. (Definitely good purchases, both of those!)
It's funny - I've knit a number of Paula's patterns (they are all wonderful), and they always come out like shawlettes on me. I finally figured out that it must be because Paula is so much smaller than I am, in both size and stature! Hence the experiment with the Aran weight yarn on bigger needles.
Here it is on the sofa in the sunroom. I used leftover yarn from both my St. Patrick and St. Brigid sweaters. The yarn is Queensland Collection Kathmandu Aran.
Other Stuff
Spring seems like it's never going to arrive here in Chicagoland. It's sunny today, but it's 30 degrees . . . But the longer days speak to the things that grow around us. My daffodils are trying their best to come up. I'm guessing by the end of the week if the weather reports are correct - it's supposed to warm up. I'm crossing my fingers.
That's the news from the Third Coast today, and I've done everything I can think of to avoid sitting down with my tax paperwork. I'm going to have to get cracking :-D
On my way back from visiting J a few weeks ago, I sat next to this man on the second leg of my trip - out of Nashville back to Chicagoland. I didn't know who he was (Hmmmm, guess I'm old . . . ), but learned that his name is Kevin Griffin.
Comments
Michelle - he was carrying a guitar on board, and people kept stopping to say hello to him, so I figured he was a musician. I ended up seeing the name on his boarding pass and looked him up later :-D