Daily Life

 One of the long term problems I seem to be having since my Gall Bladder operation is milk.  I am down to semi-skimmed milk (cannot abide the red cap at all), but every so often my system throws a wobbler and I end up not being too well.  I am not drinking copious amounts either. I think one of the reasons for this is that sometimes we are late in eating and at other times I tend to have a hot drink at least an hour before I go to bed.  Usually tea.  Only because I am thirsty!  So last night I experimented and I had a mug of homemade lemon and ginger tea; dried lemon slices and some candied ginger in hot water.  It seemed to do the trick.  

The other issue is that if I am not at the right height on the pillow this can trigger problems as well.  So fingers crossed I may have found a solution.  After the operation itself I was having mint tea on a regular basis.  However at the moment I do not have any and my mint plant in the garden is not quite grown enough to provide a good supply.  Hopefully will be able to do something about that soon once we have a few more shoots on it.  I have a Black Peppermint which has quite a nice flavour, which I need to take a couple of sprigs from when I can to root on some more plants to make the patch a bit bigger.  The Herb bed will not be as I want it until next year.

I have been doing some research again today.  Like yesterday I have started several posts.  I have another project in hand which is going to take some time to achieve and some of the posts relate to that.  Rome was not built in a day though.  I have to write when I get the urge too and before the idea escapes.

I have also been looking at sewing patterns on line and different tutorials for making different things, as I am feeling a strong urge to get going with some clothes sewing again or at least accessories. Probably not right now but I am planning on having a session of making things like skirts and tops in particular. I also have a very pretty gypsy style floral blue skirt which I have had for sometime.  It is one I made and it is very comfortable to wear in the summer months as it is cotton, and it is very cool to wear.  The other day when rootling through the scrap bag, I found the cut-off from this and I am hoping to make a matching hatband for a straw hat I bought last year and if there is enough fabric some scrunchies. I intend to make this so that I can change it out with different items to match whatever I will be wearing. Will see what happens. 

I thought that accessories and small projects might get me back into the swing of things with the machine and also help me to get to know it a bit more.   I am very lucky in that I have some lovely sewing equipment a beautiful Janome sewing machine and an Elna over-locker as well.  I need a bit more desk space though before I get the machines out to play and boot himself out of the craft room so that I can get on without interruption.  Might prep up several small projects and then just have a machining session.  

I do have a lot of fabric in my stash as well.  I made a load of my clothes as a young woman but as I got older other things got in the way, I had a lot of pretty clothes then.  My Mum had always made her clothes and my clothes.  Her Great Aunt was a Tailoress (Great Aunt Sue), who taught my Mum's Mum and my Mum how to sew.  My grandmother was quite nifty with the fabric and the scissors, as was my Mum. My Mum's sister was also a Tailoress by trade (although she was not taught by Great Aunt Sue); this was her trade as a young woman. My cousin (her daughter) is also the same and does far more than I ever do, but it is a family tradition as is the cooking.  The view was that if we had these skills we could always provide for ourselves.  Have held me in good stead so far and are skills which I am grateful for.  I in turn made clothes for my step-daughter as well.  She thought it was great to have clothes in colours she wanted and which could not necessarily be found elsewhere.  Made her loads of things.

Tonight I have had a couple of pancakes for my tea.  I love pancakes but himself is not so keen.  He has had baked potatoes with some beans.  Neither of us is really hungry at the moment, peckish but not massively hungry.  Get days like this and overall on the food side we do not do too badly in any event so a snack tea does not go amiss.

I have not been out foraging yet, but fingers crossed that will be sometime this week as I have a lot to do and a lot to get going.

I must get back to the garden though.  Fingers crossed I will get back out there in the next day or so.

I think on the QT I am running an animal's retirement home!  Both Missy and Mischief, are both sprawled and out for the count!

Catch you all soon.

Pattypan

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