That's Better

Yesterday,  I left work mid-afternoon because I was feeling increasingly yucky. In truth, it's been coming. I've been working non-stop on every front. Not to mention that I've been eating every kind of rich food on the planet. I'm pretty well not interested if it doesn't have gluten, sugar, fat and alcohol.

Yes, I know that when one is as stressed as can be - when one is pulling 12 hour work-days and then planning a house reno, while preparing for Christmas - that's the time to pull out the health food. And if that's the kind of moderation you can swing while yet another person stops by with a homemade family-recipe treat, my hat is off to you.

Instead, I woke up on Friday morning - just on the cusp of the vacation I need desperately - feeling swollen, puffy, amorphously sore-throatish and my body hurt.

Classic, huh?

The diff between former Kristin and current Kristin is all attitude. I immediately set upon managing my illness anxiety. I drank a vat of water (though this is standard for me now). I meditated on my intrinsic healthfulness. I went to work to wrap up the loose ends and then, at my earliest opp, I came home. While I was in my office, I guzzled targeted varieties of herbal tea and took vitamins. I eschewed sugar. On returning home, I went to sleep immediately for 3 hours.  I would have extended that term but I had another party to attend at Portland Variety. When I woke, I did 20 minutes of a hybrid of MELT and Yoga-Tune Up, which was very effective at moderating the pain, if not diminishing it altogether.

Instead of walking to the party (would have taken 45 min in the cold), I Ubered it. And, man, it was the MOST fun ride. Randomly, we got the driver who brought Uber to TO. He's also a physio-therapist but he drives as a social experiment. It's how he met his girlfriend, a CEO of a tech company.  He commandeers a Tesla, a kind of stupidly expensive, electric car I've never seen in real life. Note: I don't care about cars and I wouldn't know one sort from another. But... This car had external door handles that pull out when the driver pushes a button. It had gorgeous leather seats. It was decked out with a large screen computer monitor on the centre dashboard. I felt a bit like Kim Kardashian!

I didn't linger after dinner and took another car home. Once consumed by couch-lock, I drank more water, watched an hour of 1938 version of A Christmas Carol and then went to bed.

I'm ok today. Yeah - I need to cool it. I intend to sit in my pjs, do some body work, drink water and eat light. I want to plan my holiday crafting projects - though, really, at this point it's all I can do to sit on my ass and knit a baby sock for a friend.

On the plus side - I have time and LOTS to talk about:

• The new "fun" lingerie (Scantilly set and a Curvy Kate babydoll) I bought in November that just arrived from UK yesterday (from 2 diff vendors). My goal was to review these in time for peeps to buy if the outcome was positive. That ship has sailed - thanks postal service. I haven't bothered to open the packages yet (SO not me) because, really, I'm too tired. But I know my mood will change as the weekend progresses.

• The reno. We've pretty well sorted out the model we intend to use - design-build with an independent architect to produce the plans (though iteratively with the design-build firm). We've got the peeps lined up - though we're still working through the scope and we hope to have contracts and to begin the design and permitting at the beginning of January. We're almost certain we don't have to go to the Committee of Adjustments again (we did that last time to confirm our gross floor area and we're not increasing the foot-print of our house) though this will be confirmed shortly. If we don't, that means we're on target to begin a serious renovation in May. Did I mention we're going to live here as they pull off a third of our house? Of course, forensic construction (we've been doing a lot of it because our home is more than 125 years old) has yielded a new, expensive glitch. But dammit, when I tell you all about what's going to improve, you're going to be impressed.

• My latest pair of socks, made from cashmere, merino and silk. Yeah, they're not the most durable but they feel like a million bucks. I made them in, like, 3 days and I have no idea of how because I have had no time even to pee over the last week. I sense that the reason for this is that my flicking technique has increased my speed and efficiency multiple times as my ability to enact it has improved. I also highly recommend flicking for those who have repetitive wrist and arm strain because it's much more ergonomic than throwing, if you're a committed right-handed knitter.

• The things I may sew over the hols. I'm not committing to this but there are a couple of garments I made during my last capsule stint - and they were great but the fit wasn't quite there. I want to remake those with improvements.

• The things I may knit over the hols. As you can tell, my arms are not bothering me, even as pain is top of mind over the last few days. 

• A follow up on pain management and what's up with me on that front. A few of you have commented or emailed me to request an update. I've been working to find my angle on this topic because, honestly, what haven't I done?? Furthermore, I sense that some of the improvement has been outside of my span of control (not that I'm undervaluing the many things I have done to precipitate improvement).  This topic is complicated but I started the discussion and I'm happy to continue it as soon as I can better detangle the many moving parts.

So that's me on a Saturday morning.

But what about y'all? Are you feeling festive? Are you "organized for the holidays"? (Like that's some kind of virtue that makes you a better human being?! Ugh.) Are you travelling soon and, if yes, is it to a fun destination? Are you going to craft your heart out over the hols?

Oh, and shout out to the peeps who have done major renos to unknowable century homes. Can you tell me about some good outcomes? Got any tips? Let's talk!