A New Year

2023.  I survived 2022?  I am not sure.  I know it was an interesting year, especially if you take it in the form of the Chinese curse, may you live in interesting time.

I have no guarantees that I will be in this space more this year.  I do find I record recipes here well because that way I can use my phone in the kitchen.  2022 was a lot of learnings about health.  My Beloved's digestive system really does not digest carbohydrates well.  It has not been just him avoiding gluten but all carbohydrates.  I have done research for myself and my health which points to the Mediterranean diet is the best to decrease inflammation. 

This all means there is a big push for lots more vegetables and animal/fish protiens in our lives.  My Beloved is not digesting beans well at all and I chose not to cook two or three different meals for dinner.  I have added animal/fish proteins back to my diet because of this.  The few times I eat dinner by myself, I am still eating plants.  I find being creative around animal/fish proteins in this house are pretty boring.  Children of all sizes are really the reason.

My arthritis is still what it is.  Good days, bad days.  The diet sometimes help.  My eye is a different story.  I have a diagnosis which is good.  ICE syndrome.  The fix is a partial cornea transplant.  My ophthalmologist moved practices to a city I have no access to which meant that I had to find another ophthalmologist.  I found one I like at Ben Taub, which is a teaching hospital.  He said I was rare but not interesting.  You do not ever want to be interesting in a teaching hospital.  I let all the residents who wanted to look at my eye because they only see about four cases a year.  Because my case of ICE syndrome is not very extreme, we are going to do a wait and see.  I need to go back about every three months currently so they can have an idea of progression and I am supposed to call them directly if the vision in that eye suddenly deteriorates.   I like this path.

One of the things I am trying to be good about for my health is walking every day.  Not just a little bit but 15000 steps.  Sometimes that is easy, other days not so much.  It helps keep everything on an even keel.  I am also trying to be consistent with yoga.  Bleah!  As my best friend's teacher said five minutes a day can make a difference.  Some days that is what I get.

This portion of my family is its crazy normal.  Business is busy and has all the problems and joys of a small business.  The new display room and work area are still being worked on.  When that is done, the house starts to get remodeled.  I am not looking forward to that.  I really do not like change in my living space.  Adding all the short people four years ago was enough.

My Dad is 94.  His health is declining.  The holidays and all of my siblings families visiting were a lot for him.  It showed.  I got caught in the flight problems and went up a week later.  I could see where they made him tired.  Not that they tried but it was a change of routine and rest.  He does talk that he is ready for the next step.  He just wants to die with no pain.  He does not want to wake up from sleep at some point.  It is hard but I do understand.

I do not think I shared this coat but if I did I apologize.  I made myself a waxed cotton work coat.  It has many names if you were to look for a pattern.  I took it to Homer with me and I loved it.  It is not very heavy but with a sweater underneath it, it is warm and dry.  

There are many things I love about this coat.  One of the biggest things is that I can keep changing it to make it work better for me.  I have changed the position of the button pockets and I have added length to the sleeves.  I rewaxed it from the original fabric and it is even more waterproof and wind resistant.  I find I have to be careful not to get over heated!  I have another jacket I bought that has different pocket placements and I  think I am going to add some more pockets to this one.  It is what I love about this coat.  I can keep modifying it until it is perfect for me.  And mend it.  

I was talking with my best friend and Koda Bear about meditation.  I do not really meditate in a form that is sit and do nothing but meditate.  I am a chop wood, carry water person.  All my meditiations are done with my hands moving.  When I hand sew for mending or alterations, I find that is true.  Crochet can be a meditation.  I treated myself to some embroidery patterns I have been looking for a while just for that.  Moving hands meditation. 

I find gardening can be the same but with the going to and from my Dad's, I am not sure that is going to happen this year.  Part of it also is I am tired.  But in the last few days I have thought about digging up my beds and doing something simple but expensive.  Buying the starts for my vegetables and then adding seeds around them.  No beans this year though.  I still have not eaten all I have grown.  What I can grow, I seem to be able to grow in abundance.  Like the year I grew 37 pumpkins.  Those took four years to eat.  I love my pressure canner.

I hope all the best in 2023 for anyone who reads this.  It feels like I am putting my thoughts into the universe and that is okay.