Time to make a big change...

In my list of things I meant to blog about in the last week and didn't (but still plan to), I mentioned big changes coming...and to ward off any and all rumours, I figured I better start there!

If you have been following my posts over at Get Fit Chicks recently, you know more than you ever wanted to know about my crazy diet.

The quick history (imagine the long history!) is that about six years ago I was unwell for months, but for no obvious reason. I had the very best doctor in the world at the time and she was patient and listened when I told her what was wrong (or what wasn't right) and told me that regardless of what test results say, she thinks most patients know their bodies better than their doctors do and if they think something is wrong, well something is wrong. She eventually made me take a good month off work (in part to determine if this mystery illness was environmental - physical or mental. That experiment was a good one, but had no definitive conclusion) and sent me to see another doctor to get a second opinion just in case she had missed something. More tests, more blood work, same answer: everything falls into the "normal range."

Usually I'd be happy with that. But I wasn't. Something was still wrong.

I was too tired.

I couldn't get out of bed when my alarm went off - it was physically exhausting. Depression was ruled out.

I couldn't exercise. After 15 minutes of light walking, I needed four or five hours of rest to recover.

It was a vicious cycle - I'd hang out with my friends and have a great time visiting and feel better - usually something low key, a meal out or tea in someone's living room - but then I didn't see anyone for ages because that made me tired too and I needed time to recover.

I figured I was going crazy and was prepared to try pretty much anything. I had drained my savings by taking a month off work while working at a place that had no sick leave policy. I was worried. What would happen to me if I got sicker and needed to take more time off. I was picturing packing up the Hobbit Hole and returning to live with my parents. Not really something I wanted to do.

But my doctor figured there were a few things left to try. She told me that modern, Western medicine didn't have the tools to figure out what was going on and help me get better, but that complementary medicine might help. She sent me to a massage therapist and suggested I go see naturopath and if that didn't work, an acupuncturist. And thankfully, while I wasn't entitled to sick leave, we did have decent extended benefit coverage.

Through word of mouth I found a naturopath who specialized in fatigue and headaches (with the fatigue came extremely frequent headaches and migraines every 7 - 10 days). I'd never been to an naturopath before, and I thought this guy was quite interesting - he was also a pharmacist.

And I decided he was a miracle worker! He did some testing, put me on the crazy diet, gave me some of those drops that naturopaths like to give, and added a few supplements to my daily multivitamin (some Omega 3s and something else, maybe more Vitamin C?). He told me I'd see an improvement in the headaches within the first week and they should keep improving over the next 6-8 weeks until they stopped almost entirely. The fatigue would take longer, but I should see an improvement within 4-6 weeks.

He was right about the headaches - the change was almost immediate.

And on day one of the 5th week, the fatigue changed. It didn't go away completely, but I was able to take the short 15 minute walk I used to take every morning without feeling tired. But the end of the 5th week, I could do my morning walk and my longer (45 minute-ish) walk in the afternoon. By the end of the 6th week, I felt great, I was walking in the morning and all the way home in the afternoon (just over 4 kms), and I had energy again.

I stuck to that diet like my lift depended on it. On special occasions like Christmas day, I let myself indulge. Everyone was scared of my diet and wanted to try to accommodate it, but after the first six weeks of super-strictness, I could eat small amounts of the foods on the elimination list, as long as I paid attention to what I was eating and in what quantities.

It worked. And whenever the fatigue would set in again, I would completely eliminate the stuff on the list for a few weeks and slowly add it back in again.

Life was good. But the last two times I've tried to do it, there have been no great results.

So, to head off another spiral of unhappy health, last week I decided it was time to go back to the naturopath.

I've been seeing another naturopath since the birth of J - this one specializes in women's health, pre- and post-natal women, and pediatrics, so I felt like she was a good fit.

And the new plan might just be crazier than the old plan. She did a test to make sure my hormones are fairly stable, my thyroid isn't out of whack, and to check a couple of other things, but I'm basically going to be doing the GAPS diet and using a cookbook called Nourishing Traditions. I've been doing some research and there's all kinds of interesting information about both of those. GAPS is often used for people with autism, but seems to also have been effective in dealing with fatigue. I'm glad it's winter because there is a lot of soup on this diet for the first little while. I'm not looking forward to the sauerkraut and animal organs...I think I can get away with not using the organs, but probably am stuck with the sauerkraut.

And, because I do most of the cooking and I'm not prepared to make two different dinners every night, J and Alex are going to have to get used to eating strange stuff too! The naturopath thinks three months should be enough time to sort everything out and then, like the last crazy diet, I should be able to add things from the NO list in small quantities, some more occasionally than others.

There are going to be some big challenges - especially with the holidays around the corner - but I don't want to end up where I was six years ago, so if doing this now will prevent that, well, let's do it!

Out with the old

When I moved to the hobbit hole, oh, six years ago, my mom brought me these lamps. I think they might have been in our house at some point...my grandma picked them up at a garage sale. I got the lamps because I had nothing. Well, not nothing. I had a bed and a dresser and a desk. I might have had two little lights. But that's it. Nothing else cause I'd always lived with someone who had all the other stuff. And the lights had atrocious shades.



I don't know if you can even see the difference in these pictures, but the shades are not the same. They are different sizes and different colours and have different decoration bits on them. And the liner pieces are ripped (you can sort of see that in the first picture) and one had the trim held on by a safety pin.


Last night, I finally got new shades for them...something I've been swearing I'll do for, oh, six years. And they match.

Delayed mail

Back in October of 2001 I picked this card up for Fiona at the Louvre. I fully intended on sending it before I came back to Canada in January of 2002, but my good intentions were thwarted by something...likely the vast number of other postcards I bought to send to Fiona that she may or may not have received.


Yes, yes I do have a pile of postcards from other places that never got written on or sent to their intended recipients.

Since we no longer live in the ginormous Blue House and no longer have the lovely basement with all its storage, I've been trying to declutter. And some days I'm good at it and others, well, I suck. My criteria has been to keep only necessary things or things I love or will use. Which means I get to keep the two drawers plus random piles of stationery and writing utensils because I WILL USE THEM.



So if your mailbox suddenly starts getting surprises from me, that's the motivation...that letter I've been promising for two years is finally going to get written...

Anyway, back to the postcard. In the last 18 months I've come across it a number of times....and I remember finding it in the Hobbit Hole more than once...and possibly even in the Blue House...but it was sent on Monday, so Fiona should have it by today, so this shouldn't be spoiling any surprises.

And because my brain is no longer functioning as it should (I blame it on having a baby!) I forgot that today is also Fiona's birthday....so happy birthday to my super wonderful friend! Look...you got a pseudo-birthday card on time-ish from me for the first time since, oh, elementary school?

Four Things

You know it's a slowish day at the office when she-who-never-posts-anymore posts twice in one day!

Four things I did 10 years ago (1998):
1. Survived third year
2. Found out I was going to Pax Lodge after graduation
3. Spent the hottest week of the summer at Camp Arbuckle
4. Went to Victoria for the first time (and the second time too)

Four things I did 5 years ago (2003)
1. Worked for Sammy
2. Lost a lot of sleep because of the Kelowna firestorm and worrying about it and my family
3. Moved into the Hobbit Hole
4. Painted many walls with Fiona

Four things I did yesterday
1. Saw pictures of our baby
2. Invaded six people's homes (legally!)
3. Celebrated a co-worker's birthday
4. Cleaned...lots...nice sparkly apartment for the weekend

Four TV shows I like to watch
1. The News
2. Hockey Night in Canada
3. Bones
4. House

Four things I love to do
1. Read
2. Knit
3. Hang out with Alex
4. Hang out with my family and friends

Four places I want to visit
1. London
2. Kelowna
3. New York City
4. Ireland

Four books I love (and will reread)
1. The English Patient
2. Harry Potter, all seven
3. Maisie Middleton
4. Little Women

Four things to do this weekend
1. Celebrate Alex's birthday
2. Hang out with my Mom and Alex's family
3. Get some warm weather clothes that fit
4. Continue the hunt!

Four things to do before my next birthday (which gives me not quite six weeks)
1. Swim two - four times a week
2. Catch up on my emails and letter writing
3. Reduce the pile of books that are half read to one
4. Reduce the number of knitting projects in progress from about six to two

Four things about you?

The logistics of moving

or how it will be different the next time.

Because no matter how much I stamp my feet and make noise about never moving again, well, since I'm not currently housed in a pine box or a house with yard and some trees and some storage space, it's inevitable that sometime in the not too distant future (which at this point in my life could be a few months or a few years) I will have to move again. And as a reminder to that future self, this is what worked, didn't work, and must be done differently the next time:

Do this again

• thoroughly clean and disinfect the new place
• borrow bankers boxes from work for books, dishes and other breakables
• use lots and lots of tissue paper
• hire movers
• set up the bedroom and bathroom ASAP before unpacking anything else. Then when bath time, naptime or bedtime comes, well, you can get clean and have a comfortable place to sleep, now, not after you unpack and assemble stuff!
• have company come a week or two after the movers move everything...motivation to get unpacked!
• make sure horrible old furniture stays away from the new house...motivation to replace it. If the nasty stuff moves in, well, it's never going to leave
• give any and all things that are not important, useful, or needed to charity
• use original packing boxes whenever possible
• forward mail

Don't do this again

• move on someone else's terms (okay, sometimes there's no controlling this)
• prolong the move over a three week period
• be a presenter at a conference the weekend of the move
• move while recovering from the nasty winter cold
• edit March 2008: move while suffering from morning sickness

Do this next time

• move somewhere that has parking, preferably assigned.
• move somewhere that has storage...Christmas decorations and spare tires need to live somewhere else for most of the year
• move in one day...prolonging the inevitable is stressful and makes everyone sad (especially when no one wanted to move in the first place)

I don't remember the last move being so stressful and horrible and unpleasant, but that might be because I was moving from the Hobbit Hole to the Blue House (i.e. from about 550 square feet, half a closet and no storage to 1300 square feet plus a deck and storage) and this time the move was from the Blue House to the Pink Palace (latter place to less than 700 square feet, no storage). Hmmmm....yeah....

looks like it's ours

I think we have our new place. We pretty much just have to sign the agreement and we can move in shortly...but we won't...we'll wait until January.

We'll wait to have one last (and really a first) Christmas in the blue house. We'll wait until we made a few trips to the Salvation Army with some good stuff that we just don't need or want anymore. We'll wait until the ghosts have calmed down a bit. Strange things have been happening lately...like the shredder turning itself on, things falling over for no reason and not leaky taps dripping. I think the ghosts know something is up...smart ghosts.

Anyway, here are a few pictures of the new place.

It's a bit smaller than what we're used to, but it will do...I will post some more pictures on we take some. Like maybe when there's stuff in the apartment!

not-the-blue-house

bedroom looking out towards the other bedroom and the living room in not-the-blue-house

kitchen in not-the-blue-house

Oh, and not-the-blue-house needs a new name. Not-the-blue-house doesn't quite cut it. Not after the hobbit hole and the blue house.

Suggestions? Or maybe the apartment will name itself after we move in.

Thanksgiving thoughts...

My house is quiet and almost back in order after a (WONDERFUL!) weekend of people everywhere; the soup is simmering on the stove; I've done four loads of tea towels since Saturday morning; I'm still super full from all the yummy food...ahhhh...thank goodness for long weekend Mondays...

Since it is Thanksgiving and I am a complusive list maker, I made a list of things (in no particular order) I'm thankful for...

• for my family and Alex's family (and Alex too!)
  
• for all the wonderful food we ate over the last few days including the delicious turkey dinner last night and the tasty cinnamon buns this morning
• for the fresh South Kelowna vegetables from the SBN gardens
• for my parents and all their help cooking and all the things they brought with them for our dinner (dinner plates, cutlery, microwave, food, recipe for stuffing, meat thermometer) and for the HUGE free range turkey Alex's mom provided for last night's dinner
• for the sunshine and warm(ish) days
• for our happy and healthy families
• that I moved out of the hobbit hole and into a house that could fit 12 people at the same time
• for our friends, some of whom we don't see nearly often enough and some of whom have been in and out of the blue house all summer and fall
• that I feel healthy again
• that Wednesday is Alex's mom's last treatment
• and for all the other good things in our lives that we forget about until Thanksgiving reminds us they're there!