a few days

[tielan]

I've been writing in a hire-an-office for the last three weeks. Not every day - about 2 days a week because of the membership level that I've taken with the hire-an-office company.

10 days a month on my plan, but because I signed up 1/3 of the way through the month, I only got 6 free days. There'll be 10 free days next month, and I'll be using them more often.

It's been quite good; I get at least 4K a day written, with fewer distractions from around the house, and the office is nice, clean, and pretty quiet, although I'm sharing it with four guys (not all of whom are around every day).

--

The parents are away right now - in NZ on holiday - and will be away until mid-October. B1 and B2 are staying at the (new) house and looking after the cat, although B1 will be coming back home from Friday onwards. I think she just wanted to keep an eye on B2 and get some work done without our cats yowling at her. One of the reasons why it's difficult working at home is because the cats are a distraction. A really cute distraction, but a distraction nevertheless.

So it's kind of quiet at home right now, which means the cats come looking for me most of the time (when they're not sitting in nice sunny windows warming themselves).

--

I have three swaps for October: the Halloween Craft Swap, Trick or Treat, and Shipoween. Out of ToT or Shipoween, there's probably only one treat that I'm going to write, and frankly, I'm doubtful if the person who requested it even really wants it. Awkward that.

Craft Swap is easy enough, just have to get off my hands and make something.

And speaking of making things, my youngest cousin is getting married some time in October. We're not close enough to be invited to the wedding. We (all the cousins) got invited to the engagement party but due to various clashes of scheduling only two people made it. My stepdad thinks - and has no hesitation in declaring - that this is why we're not invited to the wedding (while he and my mum have been invited, but they were living in a house rented from youngest cousin's parents and were seeing my aunt and uncle once a week for about 18 months). Which is disappointing, but...she's about 14 years younger than me, and while we were close and social when she was a kid, she's nearly thirty now.

Whether or not we're invited I've been planning to give her and her siblings a quilt each for some time now, so I figure this is a good push to get it done. If I can knuckle down, of course...

I made a quilt for my mother's charity group:


It was going to be this one:


But she wanted 'pretty', so I made her the pretty one. In about a week...

--

Garden is coming along nicely, now that the weather has warmed up, everything is going great guns. Even the avocados have flowers! Hopefully they'll turn into fruit; we'll see.

--

I'm putting on weight; even formerly loose trousers are starting to get tight. And I hate shopping for new clothes.

Also, I need to work out how to change 'boat neck' tees to 'v-neck' tees, preferably without having to replace the entire neckline (although I'm not hopeful). Anything that goes around my throat these days - even the base of it - can trigger a desire to vomit.

Actually, I feel almost constantly full these days; swollen full, like I've eaten too much, even if I haven't.

Comments

[scribblemyname]

Congrats on the writing! It's great to get some distraction free time in. That is a beautiful quilt. I am in awe. Blessings on the whole body situation and getting clothes to do as they ought. Also the family. Family's always... complicated.

[tielan]

I'm struggling a lot with the writing tbh, largely because it's UF/PNR which makes for delicate walking of trope-lines as regards faith and depictions of faith.

Truly, the easiest solution would be to lose weight, which is mostly a matter of changing habits and being organised. Which...is actually the harder part than just buying new clothes. *sigh*

[scribblemyname]

I feel you there. I have five extremely simple exercises I'm supposed to do every day, but the energy and wherewithal just isn't always there.

I also feel you on the careful lines re: faith. One of the things I've worked with a lot is how much faith to incorporate or not when I'm not writing Christian fiction. I mean, I write a lot of SFF and people who do bad things (regardless of their reasons) and people who do things that are sinful though not bad without regret. I even write made up gods all the time. I feel like when I'm writing those genres, I should avoid faith, though I suspect that's the wrong approach too. Ah well. Good luck on getting it just right! You're really good at walking lines in fiction, in my opinion.

[beatrice_otter]

The feeling overfull sounds like it would be really disturbing and mess with your ability to eat regularly and enough. I hope it's not a symptom of something wrong.

The quilts look beautiful, though, and the office sounds like it's very productive in a satisfying way.

[tielan]

I've been wondering a bit about the feeling overfull for a while. I might have to see a doctor about it at some point, I'm just...it's hard to explain and hope that you'll be taken seriously. Even by perfectly nice docs over here.

And yes, the office is very productive and satisfying. I just need to work out what to write that I'll both enjoy and be comfortable with.

[wpadmirer]

That swollen full thing doesn't sound right. That with the weight gain... maybe you should check it out?

The quilts are lovely. I think the "not pretty" one is pretty.

[tielan]

It's marginal weight gain (maybe 5kg - I haven't actually checked my weight in a while) but enough to mean that everything's getting tight.

I think the last time I felt pretty good with my weight was earlier this year - before the whole thing with the hockey team selection, when I was playing the summer competition, I'd done a cleanse 'diet' (excluded gluten and dairy and some of the more common allergen foods) to try to check some basic allergy things, and was feeling pretty good.

I should try that cleanse again for a while now that we're getting back into a time of seasonal fruit and berries.

[velithya]

You should be able to fairly easily change a round neck to a V-neck! If you turn the garment inside out, fold it in half down the centre front line, and put in a diagonal tack through the CF corner of the neckline you've just created, that should do the trick :)
(ETA: if that doesn't make sense let me know and I'll try and draw a picture!)

Having said that though, your throat and feeling full symptoms sound to me like they might be related - I'd recommend seeing a doctor for further investigation.

In more positive topics I'm glad your garden is going well and your writing has been flourishing in your new part time office! I hope that continues to go well for you :)

[tielan]

put in a diagonal tack through the CF corner of the neckline you've just created, that should do the trick

I'm afraid I might need a diagram! The bit that I'm struggling with is how to extend the...neckband? (The stretchy band of material that's usually around the neck of the t-shirt.) I saw someone say you could just cut the neckline into a vee and stretch the neckband, but surely the neckband would wrinkle the v-neck?

I'll think about the doctor for the moment; might try cutting out certain foods and see if that changes things. Dairy and gluten in 'normal' volumes have become iffy for me in the last couple of years, so it might be good to go low for those.

Re food

[velithya]

You could try trialing a low-FODMAP diet, which cuts out multiple different types of long-chain sugars that are hard to digest and can cause a lot of issues including bloating; it's actually the first-line treatment for IBS now and there's been a lot of research into it by Monash University over in ?Melbourne I think. The idea is that you hold the diet steady for six or eight weeks (and hopefully experience in that time an alleviation of symptoms) and then trial each group one at a time to see if you experience a recurrence of symptoms from any of them. It's a bit complex and might be tricky with your garden things depending on what plants you're growing, but I know a lot of people find it helpful.
(I am currently on a low-FODMAP diet (among others) and I think it's probably helpful.)

(Specifically with the feeling full thing and the throat nausea though the first thing that came to mind was heartburn and acid reflux type things which are definitely in the "see a doctor" category!)

Re: Re food

[tielan]

Yeah, the cleanse diet I did earlier this year was a simplified and shorter version of the low FODMAP.

I've done a non-official low-FODMAP a couple of years ago when I was having sensory issues and thought I might be developing an allergy to shellfish (it might have been that it was shellfish in Vietnam that set it off that night), but that was really difficult. This version was simpler and easier and less intensive; I'm not at the really desperate stage just yet, so I might try this and see how it goes over summer, with an added exercise plan in there...

Re: Re food

[velithya]

ahh, gotcha. Yeah, the full low-FODMAP can be a total bitch and is quite difficult at times (the current caterers on the film are not managing very well at all so I have been quite bloated after more meals than I would like :| siigh) so I totally understand not wanting to pull out all the stops just yet.

You might want to consider other non-FODMAP potential allergens (for want of a better word) like soy as well if you're cutting out allergen-type things.

Re sewing

[velithya]

Hmm, oh is the neckband tight? "Boat neck" necklines are normally quite wide on the shoulders and not particularly tight on the throat so I assumed it wasn't super high.
Do you have a picture of the type of neckline you're talking about? If it's a crew neck you don't have a lot of options unfortunately.

ETA: and if you just cut into the neckband your garment won't be as structurally sound and is likely to fray and not wear as well/as long as an uncut garment.

If you can show me a pic of the type of shirt you're talking about I will be able to offer more professional advice! :)
(and in this field, unlike the medical field above, I am a professional! :)

Re: Re sewing

[tielan]

and in this field, unlike the medical field above, I am a professional!

And I would definitely take your advice! They are crewnecks, sorry, not boatnecks (this is not my professional area, see? :D) but the necklines are high enough that I feel a little choked. I've found videos that say you can turn crewnecks into v-necks - not very deep vees, obviously: eg. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lZWs58mhuOc

My sewing skills do extend to completely recreating/resewing the neckband to the neckline if necessary and the shirts I have in mind are ones that I like enough that I'm willing to put the time and effort in to do it just so I can wear it more often.

Re: Re sewing

[velithya]

Ahh, yeah & I don't like wearing crew necks either! I find them a little "chokey" myself <.<

I watched the video and understand what you were saying above now; you're right, it would wrinkle the shirt a little and you can actually see in the video the finished V-neck shirt does have wrinkles coming out of it around the front neckline because the neckline ribbing is too short for the new neckline length.

With a crew neck I just don't think you have a quick option unfortunately. My advice in this instance is to take off the crew neck ribbing, create your new neckline, and then sew on a completely new, appropriately sized piece of ribbing. If you have an overlocker, I would recommend overlocking it - with stretch overlocking thread for your chain threads if you have access to it - but if that's not an option do a zigzag instead so that it still retains some stretch.

Re: Re sewing

[tielan]

Hm. Actually, I do have an overlocker right now, which I borrowed from a friend. Now the problem is where to get the ribbing. All the fabric/notions shops in the area recently closed...

Re: Re sewing

[velithya]

If it's the ribbing specifically that's a problem, the neckline doesn't necessarily have to be made with ribbing; you can use any kind of jersey style fabric. Just cut a strip sliiightly shorter than your neckline (enough so that it holds the neckline securely in place without gaping; not enough such that it's going to cause the neckline to wrinkle) fold it in half along the length, and use that instead :)

[rmc28]

Hurrah for the writing going well in the rented office! Cheering you on!

That is a pretty quilt but I think the one you were going to make is more to my taste.

The feeling full all the time sounds a bit worrying tbh, especially combined with unexpected(?) weight changes. Has it changed whether/how/what you can eat or feel like eating? Can you see a friendly doctor? I shall resist playing Dr Google.

[tielan]

The quilt I was going to make is more to my taste with the scrappy vibe, but...the person likely to buy a ticket for the raffle (which would win them the quilt) was probably more of the 'traditional pretty' type of person...

I'll finish making the other one...sometime. After making my cousin quilts... Oh boy...

And I might try the exclusion diet I was on for a while earlier this year to see if it's food-group related. I've been noticing an extra fullness with dairy and gluten lately, so I might be developing an increasing intolerance to those.