emsy

I've gone over to Dreamwidth so...find me there https://elphiemcdork.dreamwidth.org/ thanks dudes 

I read six books this month which considering I've struggled to read a single book in the last...over a year means that hopefully I've kicked my reading mojo back in line. Which is awesome. Plus I'm now further through the Toby Daye book series than I've gotten before which is VERY GOOD. Double thumbs up.

Yesterday the final part of my outfit arrived for the Medieval Day we're going to next week (on ma birthdayyyy) and it looks awesome. And it's in a literal medieval barn because I live in the part of the world where history comes from.

As for today, I'll need a shower fairly imminently as I'm planning on leaving the house for the wool shop to get more yarn for the cardigan I'm crocheting. Which I will hopefully finish on stream tonight. Although it depends on how warm it is as I don't fancy having a lap full of acrylic yarn if it's going to be too warm.

Also I'm writing. But I feel kinda weird talking about it right now so I'll leave it at that! At some point I'll feel comfortable enough to share. Hopefully...!

Happy weekend y'all!

I feel that statement is fairly self-explanatory. Any questions?

In other news, my reading mojo has returned which I'm very happy about. My brain has rearranged itself slightly and decided the best thing to do is stop paying attention to the crap going on in the world and read books instead. I can get behind that. 

Monday morning means library admin. And griping at the Department for Work and Pensions. Story of my life.

Yesterday R (girlfriend) and I went for the second time to Chance and Counters in Bristol for our becoming-fortnightly board game lunch date. They do a really good deal of a burger lunch, a drink and two hours of board games for a tenner and that's a good price for lunch and nerdery!

(they also do a really good raspberry lemonade with it)

I sat and read for an hour before R got there as I had to wait for her to have an appt first, so I stared Late Eclipses (fifth Toby book by Seanan McGuire) and listened to the LOTR lo-fi playlist I found on Spotify when I was looking for Twitch-friendly music. 

It was a really good afternoon. We played a quilting-inspired board game I forget the name of, a card game around running a bakery, a complicated but fun board game based around dog walking and then another card game involving collecting treasures and stopping an island from sinking. I probably should remember their names.   But it was loads of fun and we're going back next week to begin our fortnightly-board-gaming-date-afternoon. Yey!

Firstly, welcome to everyone who got an email notification saying "Emsy's posted on LJ!" I have! Whee!

So. I keep posting "yo I'm here" posts and then disappearing but, I'm going to start using this again. I've spent months Googling "LJ-type blogging places that aren't LJ but have some semblance of a community" and getting nothing back so I might as well stick here. I figure, I'm 43 next month, I'm allowed to do the "this is what we used in my day!" thing with LiveJournal. So, hey.

(and I know I KNOW that LJ is run by Russians who want all my data and think I'm illegal because I'm gay I KNOW. I'm not giving these guys any money, OK?? They have 20-something years of my personal data, it's fine, none of it is interesting!)

"So what going on then?" I'm so glad you asked.

Hi. I'm Emily. I don't really use Emsy as an online name any more but yes that's also me. Mostly I'm ElphieMcDork everywhere now. I am going to be 43 next month. I live with my girlfriend and cat, Blue, in a house in the south-west of the UK. I have previously worked as a youth worker and a school librarian but now I am disabled, so I don't have a job any more. However I do stream crafting streams on Twitch, and I run an LGBTQ+ library for children and young people. I knit and crochet a lot, I spin hardly ever at the moment, maybe that will increase at some point. I read a lot, I still collect My Little Ponys, I still drink a lot of Dr Pepper. 

Still don't like it. 

I've managed to eat breakfast and take my meds this morning so that's good. I need to unpack some boxes and take a shower. 

On Sept 11th the moving van will arrive at my flat and take my stuff here, to the house. Finally. Before then I should probably pack everything in my flat. But not right now coz we're going to Surrey for a week. 

But before that I need to stream tonight. *

But before that I need a shower. 

Also I booked myself a membership to the UK Filk Con! Only been wanting to go since 2005. 19 years late is better than nothing I guess! It's part of a whole new thing where I do things I like for the goodness of my mental health. I'm also looking forward to (I think my fifteenth?) BristolCon at the end of October and, The Southern Wool Festival at the beginning of September (I'm really only going to hang out with a few people but it's still a Wool Festival) and going to Surrey. And London. We're seeing The Mousetrap. 

I like this whole thing where I got to places and they're fun. I should do more of that. 

* I stream on Twitch. Mostly crochet gay octopi to sell for the queer library I run. It's a whole thing, I think the link is on my about page somewhere. 

Morning. I do not like the new post page. Bring back the post page of 2007. I think there may be two of you still here, so hi to you.

**WARNING I'm going to talk about weight and health and things in this post. Probably in this journal generally now tbh.**

I'm 42 years old and very unhealthy. I have fibro, still, I'm 230-ish lbs and my blood pressure is ridiculous. I'm basically a heart attack waiting to happen and that's Not A Good Thing. I think I probably weigh the heaviest I've weighed at the moment but I don't check my weight often so I'm not 100% on that. My chronic pain is ridiculous and I just can't do stuff. I can't cook, I can't clean the house, I can't go out. I know weight loss doesn't fix everything, it doesn't fix your mental health and it doesn't fix your chronic illnesses but I feel at the moment it might help with both of those things. It's no fun not being able to do anything.

Also I need dental surgery and currently my blood pressure is too high for them to do it safely. YEY.

Let's set some parameters: 

* I do not calorie count. I can't do it and I do not believe in restrictive eating based on calories. Calorie counting is not a sustainable way for me to live and it has to be sustainable. 

* There is no such thing as a "bad food". I am not cutting things out, I am not restricting things. Again, it's got to be sustainable. The way my brain works I have to make individual food decisions at the time otherwise it's all way too overwhelming.