Reflection 2017

Dear 2017,

It was not such a bad year after all, I think.

 I published 2 bag patterns and many applique templates.

I baked my head off. I attended 2 bread making classes - Artisan bread and water kefir bread which improved my skills. Money well spent. I also attended puff pastry and yeasted pastry classes. These pastries require so much effort that I doubt if I'll ever make any at home. Oh well... I managed to go into flower yeasted bread. It requires a lot of time and patience. Do I have them? I didn't exactly conquer sourdough. Still work-in-progress.

2017 wasn't a crafty year. I made 1 blouse, 1 dress, 1 bag and a few yarn items. And that was it.

I wrote 2 tutorials.

How to sew a lined patched pocket.

How to sew a wristlet strap.

It wasn't intentional but I managed to blog every month except in September. A total of 66 blog posts. With blogging not very fashionable nowadays, I'm still hanging on. I do enjoy blogging! My stats has gone down horribly. When the focus of my blog is no longer on bags, that's bound to happen. Not everyone's that interested in what I bake or where I ran. I totally understand.

I took part in 3 Performance Series 10km runs and one 10km Star Wars night run. I also took part in a 8.5km Big Walk which I did not blog about. In between I didn't run very much. But I went swimming nearly every week, doing 10 laps which is all I can manage.

2017 was the year things got better and better for me.

Diet wise, my stomach finally became settled and I can eat all sorts of shit. Rice? No problem. Low lactose milk? No problem. I even manage to tolerate a tiny bit of cheese. The only exception is smelly food. That, I believe will always be a no-no. Thanks to the removal of my gallbladder, I'm no longer bloated. It didn't happen overnight. My body took a while to adjust.

Oh yes, I almost forgot. I visited 2 countries. Previously, I avoided travelling because I would become ill - migraine and vomitting. I'm so glad I don't get travel sickness anymore. I'm also glad I'm still "young" enough and has the energy to travel. Imagine I finally became well enough to travel when I'm 80? I can't wait to travel again. It would be nice to do it again without the kids.

This year, I finally got a better idea why I suffer from headaches. It's a joint and spine issue which cannot be cured (it's deterioration). I take this medication which is good for nerve pain and I don't get headaches so frequently. It isn't a cure and it has terrible side effects - a humongous appetite. I have gained a ton of weight since taking this medication and I know that I can't rely on it long term. The swimming is supposed to help and it does. I'm also doing some stretching and I have a new physiotherapist who is working on adjusting my joints. Have you ever had your joints cracked? It's quite frightening but extremely soothing afterwards. My neck joints are very stiff and I need to go for more mobility massage. Sounds painful? It is. For the first time in a long while, I feel quite positive that I can conquer the headache beast.

I'm not making any New Year resolutions. But I have some loose goals to achieve. Firstly, I've got to lose weight. Move more, eat less. As simple as that. I won't run 10km anymore. I've been told it's not good for my spine/neck issues. I will run 5km but I won't do organised runs anymore. I really don't want to wake up early in the morning to go someplace and run with a bunch of strangers. I will do walks. I tried walking fast during the Big Walk and it turned out it's not that easy. It's not a bad form of exercising so I will, for a start walk 5km. I will continue swimming 10 laps a week.

I think in 2018, I will craft and sew more. Lately, I've been energized and the mood to make stuff is there. I do have lots of craft supplies which I've not used. I will bake less. I will focus on making stuff I want to eat.

Lastly, I hope to better housekeep my files. It seems 2017 decided to end with a dent because my hard drive died and my backups had many files missing or corrupted. Plus Dell is taking forever to come switch out the old hard drive with a new hard drive. I'm using a temporary pc at the moment. I feel like a homeless person.

Hope 2017 was a good year for you. If not, there's always 2018. See ya over there.