Titania

I haven't been counting calories for a few days.  I haven't been eating a lot.  I just haven't counted the calories.  When I went back to the doctor Thursday for my wellness checkup and I weighed 170.2, I just gave up.  I'm just going to give it a rest for a while and get back on it maybe when school starts.  I'm not overeating, though.

What I have been doing is practicing on Titania.  Since I'd never stitched on 32 count fabric before, I really wanted to practice that and beading before I started on the real thing, so I got a piece of scrap 32 count fabric and marked off a 50 stitch x 50 stitch section of Titania and I've been working on that.  Most of the first night was spent winding floss onto bobbins.  I took a picture each night. 

7/17/15

7/18/15

  

7/19/15

The awesome needle minder was purchased from Gina's Unique Boutique on etsy.

It has not been nearly as difficult as I thought it would be to work on 32 count fabric.  It took me a little while to get used to the pattern, but it hasn't been as difficult as I had imagined, either.  I'm going to frame this one and give it to my daughter for her dorm room.

The summer's almost over and I am so not ready to get back into the stress of teaching.  I got a phone call from a fellow teacher the other day and she was telling me how many of our teachers have been cut and our principal has been in a really bad mood.  Morale is probably going to be low and we'll have much larger class sizes and program cuts.  I am not looking forward to this year at all.

Well, that's all for right now.  I will post more later.

Day 46

I missed yesterday, but there just wasn't really anything to post.  I didn't count calories day before yesterday.  Yesterday I ate about 1400.  I really thought I'd lose a little weight this summer, but it hasn't worked out that way and I'm really discouraged about that.  I really thought I'd lose a few pounds.  I wasn't expecting much.

My daughter and I both have appointments with the doctor next week for check-ups.

My best friend is supposed to come by today.  Her mother is very ill so that may not work out.  I haven't heard from her yet today.

This is the second day I haven't seen Raggedy Man.  I hope he shows up sometime today.

I've got massive amounts of raccoons now coming up to eat.  I've been feeding them for years, but this is the first time I've had so many at one time in a very long time.  I'm having a hard time keeping up with them.  I've got a few that will actually come up and grab my hand for cookies - whether I have a cookie or not.  Last summer I had some really nice raccoons.  This summer, they're kind of jerks and there are so many.  But, they're also sweet.  I just love raccoons.  There are several babies coming up now.  They're so cute and fuzzy.

My back has been acting up for two days.  I may need to go get those shots again, but I want to wait until my appointment at the end of the week, but the way it's felt yesterday and today, I'm not sure if I'll be able to.  It brought tears to my eyes yesterday.

I want to call my eye doctor tomorrow to see if he'll go ahead and make me some glasses.  The reading glasses just aren't working for my cross stitch and it's getting quite frustrating and aggravating.

Well, I need to go get ready for my friend to come over.  It won't be a surprise if she doesn't make it, but I still need to get ready just in case.

Day 39

I'm not feeling well today.  I woke up with a nauseating headache so I haven't done anything since then.  I figured I'd better go ahead and post since the day's almost over.

I did go off plan yesterday, but not too badly.  I had a really good salad at Chick-Fil-A while we were in the city.

We didn't get to see fireworks because the weather got bad and it rained all day.  It's rained here on the 4th of July for the past 6 or 7 years.

I also didn't get the working copy of Titania made.  Office Depot closed early.  I was really disappointed about that.  I did get a few skeins of floss I needed at Michael's, though.

My stray cat hasn't shown up again today.  I named him Raggedy Man.  I shouldn't have done that.  Now I've gotten too attached to him.  I worry that something has happened to him.

It's getting to be pretty bad weather out there again today.

Boyfriend is supposed to be leaving today.  He does have class tomorrow so he'd better not miss it.

That's about it for today.  I'm just taking it easy trying to get rid of this headache.

Day 38

Off plan yesterday.  I did eat some of what the kids cooked for supper.  I will most likely be off plan today as we're going into the city for the 4th.

I won't be getting any stitching done today as we'll be gone, but I'll be able to get some floss and make a working copy of Titania.

This one is short.  I've got to get ready to go and I'm running a bit late today.  I do feel better than yesterday since I managed to get a good bit of sleep last night and my cat showed up this morning.  I was so afraid something had happened to him.  I don't know where he hangs out when he's not here, but he just hasn't decided to quite live here yet.  Ok, I do need to go now...

Day 34

I'm feeling a bit better today than yesterday.  I didn't stay on plan yesterday because the kids made supper and I couldn't tell them I didn't want to eat any.  I ate turkey and rice with a little gravy so it wasn't that bad.  I'm feeling a little anxious, but I'm afraid any medication will put me to sleep because I didn't get much sleep last night.

I'm still waiting to hear from Silkweaver about my fabric.  I'm about half done with the alpaca and I picked out a sloth to do if I'm still waiting for my fabric in the next few days - if we go into the city to get the floss.  I've been trying to plan how I'm going to do Titania - and the rest of the fairies - and I've decided I may have to grid the whole thing before I start stitching.  I've never done that before so I'm not really sure about it.  I didn't have a problem with counting before I needed glasses, but I'm having trouble now.

I'm still waiting for the kids to wake up.  They stayed up pretty much all night playing a video game.  I stayed up most of the night so I'm still pretty sleepy.  My daughter's boyfriend was supposed to leave Sunday and then he was supposed to leave yesterday.  I'm pretty sure he's leave today.

Update: Silkweaver is now saying that it will be next week before my fabric is shipped so I said to heck with it - I'm going to start stitching Teresa Wentzler's Tempest.

Day 33

172.4 at the doctor's office.  I am completely baffled as to how I have gained weight.  I've gone off plan a few times but not enough to gain.  I should have at least maintained.  So it's back to counting calories.

My daughter's boyfriend is still here.  We watched The Mist and Maximum Overdrive today.  I'm not a fan of Stephen King, though.

I finished the possum and the frog.  I'm now working on the alpaca and still waiting for my fabric to come in.  They said it would ship by today, but it hasn't shipped yet.  I'll have to email them and ask when it will ship.

I'm feeling a little better, but still a lot of anxiety going on.  I just got my medication refilled about an hour and a half ago so I'm waiting to see if that helps.

That's all for today...

Day 32

I'm feeling better today, thank goodness.  I don't know what happened yesterday, but it was terrible.  I did not stay on plan yesterday, nor will I today.  I'll just have to start over tomorrow.

I've got an appointment tomorrow with one of my doctors to get my anxiety medication refilled among other things.  I ran out which made yesterday tougher to handle.  I should have already gone for the refills, but I just hate going to doctors.

I finished the raccoon last night and started on the possum.  I got the possum done.  Now all I need to do are the flowers and backstitching.  I so wish my fabric would come in for Titania.  If it doesn't come in soon, my daughter is going to have tons of little animals to hang on her dorm room wall.

I'm getting sleepy.  We stayed up really late last night - until 3:00am - watching the last season of Parks and Recreation.  My daughter and her boyfriend are still asleep, so I may take a nap.  I would work on stitching, but my daughter has been sleeping on the couch where all my stitching stuff is.  I can't just bring it back to my bedroom because I need my magnifier lamp.

Day 31

I'm not sure what happened, but yesterday I spiraled into an abyss of depression.  I've lost interest in stuff.  I'm just not feeling well today.  I'm hoping it will pass soon.  Several things went wrong and I lost it.  My nerves have gotten to the point that I can't take stress that well.  I've had to take extra anxiety medication.

I went off plan yesterday, too.  I've been such a mess for the past couple of days.

I'm supposed to get my materials for Titania today which is good.  I'm just waiting on the fabric now.  I'm just not sure I can do it on the 32 count fabric.  I'm really nervous about that and discouraged.  I found two other things I can work on until the fabric comes in - an alpaca and a frog.  I just keep trying to find little things to work on so I don't get caught up in something big before I start Titania.  I don't know.  I'm beginning to think I don't deserve to do these things.  I'm in a bad place right now.  I hope it passes soon.

We're probably going the Chinese restaurant to eat at some point while my daughter's boyfriend is here so I might as well forget my diet until he's gone.  I doubt I lose anything this month.

I need help today.  I can't exactly pinpoint what's wrong although I have some ideas.  I apologize for the depressing post today.  Hopefully things will get better.

Day 30

I didn't count calories yesterday.  We had pizza and dessert when my daughter's boyfriend got here.

I'm still waiting on my supplies for Titania which are a couple of states away.  I'm still very upset about that.  So I'm looking for more small animals I can do until I get to start on Titania.  Because my packages are taking so long to get here, my floss for the possum won't be here tomorrow so I guess I'm going to have to drive to the city to get the floss.  That's an hour there and an hour back which I did not want to do, but I guess I'll make the trip today or tomorrow.

I've had a stomach bug for the past couple of days and I've got a headache, so I'm not feeling very well.  I'm kind of weak and just overall yucky.

I'm just waiting for my daughter to wake up to see what they're doing today to decide what day I'm going into the city...