I went to school early, on Thursday, to work on my wax carvings as needed the wax files I don't have any wax working tools in my studio. Note: Nor do I plan too. 

I was making good progress on carving a ring/band that will be made from the gold from both of our (the Shop Elf's and mine) original wedding bands.  I will also flush set three small round faceted topaz in the band. Two will be Imperial, brown, topaz - for our birthdays and then set in between the two will be a London Blue topaz. This will be for our wedding and the engagement ring that Erich gave me was a blue topaz.

Anyway... back to the good deed. I was there during the beginning metals class and suddenly a girl screamed and ran to the sink; which was next to where I was working at a bench. The teacher and TA ran over and apparently she had sliced her finger open with a spiral wax saw blade (those things are nasty sharp and much thicker than a regular jewelers saw blade. She was bleeding but not pumping blood and had her hand under cold water and the teacher was trying apply pressure but the girl was shaking. I suddenly volunteered, quite loudly, as I went over, that "I KNOW FIRST AID".  I asked if she felt faint and her response was yes. We got a chair and I made her get her head between her knees while I kept pressure on the finger. Someone else got her some water.  During this the teacher retrieved some gauze and band aides. We verified that she was not allergic to latex and I wrapped the finger in the gauze and used the band aides to tape it shut (see below as to why there was no tape). The TA walked the girl to the campus health center where they cleaned and re-dressed the wound. 

I should tell you that there is NOT a full first aid kit in the studio because years ago a student cut herself and gauze and tape was applied only to find out that this student was allergic to latex (it is unknown if she knew) and the taped used had latex in it!  The family did sue and thus this is why there isn't one in the studio.  

I made the suggestion that the Teachers and TAs get First Aid training!

Yes, school is in full swing and I am glad I am only taking one class as I now have time to take care of me, the house, and do fun stuff.
I spent all day, yesterday doing the laundry, vacuuming, putting the dishes from the dishwasher away, changing the bedding, and cooking roasted veg and a full side salmon filet so I have dinner for the week, alternated with salads and sandwiches.  

Fun stuff for me has consisted of:
* Me, joining the Tye Preston Library Maker Space club. We meet for once a week to discuss projects, issues, and successes and afterwards we go to dinner where we talk movies, tv, road trips, and more. 
*Going to dinner with friends.
* Making stuff, for me, for use in the studio, on my 3D printer I bought in December as my birthday present.
* Finishing purging my clothing and other stuff in the house I no longer use.

Here's a picture of my new flex shaft bit holder I printed over the weekend. It took 22 hours!

It's now 2026.
​I am getting ready for the Spring semester to begin next week.
I have also reached MY milestone of finally shedding the weight that I put on due to various reason which are:
* stress eating
* thyroid cancer
* taking Prednisone due to an allergic reaction to a medication
* various other reasons

After the Prednisone adventure almost 2.5 years ago, I fully committed myself to getting rid of the weight.  Because I don't have a thyroid and take a low dose of a synthetic, my body does not like to give up the weight. My doctor, said years ago that no thyroid combined with the muscles I developed as a youth, playing sports would mean that I could probably get back to my college weight but going below that and staying there would be difficult.  And back in the 80's I got close but he was right, it was not possible to get to or stay at my high school weight. This was a bit upsetting for me because I was focusing on the weight - NOT my body composition which really was/is more important.

Once I made the decision to finally get the weight off and work on the body composition. In October 2023 I contracted with a nutritionist who set a macro and exercise plan for me. My exercise plan was to go to the local gym and lift weights plus doing lots of walking. Which I did. I did take the occasional break when I went on a road trip or it was a holiday without going overboard. I also tracked my measurement and purchased a body composition scale. 

I am now at my goal weight. All my composition numbers are in the Average or Better range. What is interesting is that my metabolic age started at 73 which was 5 years above my actual age and now it is at 69, which is a year below my actual age which is excellent and rather amazing. So, how much weight did I loose??
                                                       I lost FIFTY POUNDS
This past September is when I really began to notice that my pants were starting to fall off my hips. I then set aside a weekend and tried on every piece of clothing I had. The nice go to the day job clothing went in a pile to be donated to Dress for Success. Jeans and other shirts were going to Goodwill. Clothing I sewed were going to be put in my memory (camp) trunk. I did keep 2 nice outfits and several shirts that fit me again - in other words they did not fit me for a long time due to the weight but they now fit me again. I also kept some pants that were not what I wore to work but they were not jeans and are slightly loose. These I will have taken in.  My closet is over half empty.

I am no longer tracking my macros, I stopped doing that last summer. I decided to see if I could eat well, loose weight, and make progress without being fanatical about it because life goes on and I don't want to spend the rest my life worrying about my weight.

This IS a Roman milestone, outside of Bardon Mill, UK just before you enter Vindolanda which is a Roman Fort along Hadrian's Wall. The Shop Elf and I actually saw this milestone when we visited Vindolanda and a few other places along Hadrian's Wall on one of our trips to the UK in the 1990's.

The year is almost over and a new year is about to start and life goes on.

​I had a quiet birthday which is what I wanted and now I am on semester break, from school. I have many things planned with all my free time and yet I have, at the moment, no desire to to any of them. I am enjoying just sleeping in, staying in my jammies, and watching lots of show on TV and playing with my new toy - a 3D printer.  

BUT I know I will soon tire of sitting on my butt and will eventually address that TO-DO list.

See you next year.

Yes, today I my birthday.
A few days ago it was our anniversary
And a few days before that it would have been the Shop Elf's birthday.
Between it all was Thanksgiving too

Now a-days, November is a difficult time for me.
It is getting easier but I doubt it will ever be normal again.

I stayed home for Thanksgiving and watched some movies and made myself a nice steak dinner with a baked sweet potato, brussel sprouts, and wine. I also spoke to my cousin and Elisa of Scotland; it was a guiet day.

Last weekend I found that I was getting dizzy with spinning when I stood up or laid down and when I bent over to tie my shoes... Not just a small dizzy but to the point I fell over twice and had to stay on the bed or floor for a good amount of time before the spinning would stop. I questioned if I was experiencing vertigo! It continued into the beginning of the week too. Luckily my classes on Monday/Wed don't start until 2pm so I had time to make sure I was OK before I drove to campus - very slowly. 

I researched my symptoms and looked into my antidepressant side effects as a possible cause due to the reaction I had to my (ex) heart medication 2 years ago. Sure enough, it can result in Orthostatic Hypotension: Low blood pressure, especially when moving from a sitting or lying position to a standing one. This can lead to feelings of lightheadedness, faintness, and dizziness. So I called the doctor and went in for a quick appointment and he said that combined with my weight loss (43 pounds so far and just 2 more to go) and being a bit dehydrated resulted in a perfect storm!  I was to move slowly and drink LOTS of water and even salty foods and no sudden moves up/down until everything was under control. WHEW!

And why was I dehydrated.... I normally drink upwards of 2+ liters of water a day, one while at school and another and more when I get home in the evening. When I am not in school, I carry a liter bottle with me where ever I go - running errands or around the house. I can't drink or eat anything while in the metals studio at school and so by the time I get home from classes I have only drunk half the bottle and so I finish that before I go to bed. This means that over the course of the semester I have been slowly dehydrating myself because I was not drinking that missed water the other days. 

This happening was on top of TWO big projects, one for each class, at school which of course stressed me out even more and I was not having fun working on one of them. As I said before I am taking these classes to learn and have a fun enjoyable time! The project for metals was the one I was not enjoying and I understood the project process was so the youngins would learn but it's not how I roll; added to the fact I was not thrilled with the topic idea we were supposed to use as a starting idea. Wednesday, while still not feeling well, things took a U-turn on what I was making and I was ready to not only get a big-fat zero on turning in a finished item but actually NOT going back to class for the rest of the semester.   Well, after a good night's sleep I felt better and came up with an alternate idea I knew I could finish by the due date on Monday; I emailed the teach and got approval.   The other decision I made was to take only a single class next semester - Intermediate Metals to give me more time for big projects and to allow me more time to play in my studio.

​Yes, this picture represents the original project gone bad.​

except that school is keeping me busy... go look at the posts over at the Adventurous Silversmith

Less than a week to go and then it will be October. 
I have settled into a new routine. On Mondays and Wednesdays, when I have classes, I get to campus around noon and I can usually find a parking spot in the main commuter lot. Then I walk, IF it's not too hot, across campus and get to the art building. Once there I settle into the computer lab and do some work for the Digital Fab class at 5 pm. Around 1:30 I go the Metals classroom and get settled there for my 2 pm class. Having packed "dinner" I eat something as DigiFab gets started. When class let's out around 7:45 pm, I then walk back to my car (gotta get those sets in) and drive home. Once home, as it is now 9-ish, I make a cuppa tea and have it with a protein bar and watch a bit of TV, to unwind. Then it's to bed by 10 pm.

Over the past few weekends I have been making some simple earrings, bracelets, key fobs, and trays, in the hydraulic press to sell through the Metals Guild at school. The guild will have a booth at the Art Squared show(s) at the courthouse in San Marcos once a month.

The semester, so far, has been going well. I am glad I am only taking 2 classes because at times each has a project due at the same time so I am spending my weekends in my studio either doing metals or working on the computer. With just two classes, I have more free time to attend to chores and less stress. 

This weekend I am attending to the 30,000 mile maintenance on The Warrens (the car), having dinner with friends, laundry, and grocery shopping and maybe some knitting while watching a move tomorrow night.

Yes, the first week of school is done, for me.
I was, so I thought, ready on Sunday night after putting my digital note tablet in my messenger bag; packed up my food, for quick dinner between classes, and put in the fridge; ordered the tool & supply kit for Beginning Metals; and put my tool box with other tools & supplies in the trunk of my car.

I decided to buy the kit so I don't have to haul tools back and forth to class, that's why I bought it. The items in my tool box were my prescription safety glasses, other small tools I like to use, extra pens and pencils, rubber cement, Loctite, flux brushes and more. I planned on getting to the Art building well before class and sign up for a locker on the first floor, where my classes were, and then after my last class, on the drive home swing into the teacher parking lot and put the tool box into my locker. Ahhh, the best laid plans... this year instead of filling out an online form with the locker we want and then immediately putting our stuff in it NOW we filled in an online form and waited to hear back with our locker number. Well, I was assigned a locker on the SECOND FLOOR and wrote back to the person doing the work and requested that it be changed. I did not hear back by the time I was ready to go home so I was not able to get the toolbox out of the car. 

But let's backup and talk about the buses, parking, and getting onto campus. What a CF!
First while driving onto campus I was caught behind on bus that broke down and the Police were directing the traffic around it because the bus was blocking an intersection. Then a second bus side swiped a pickup truck and the police were there too doing there thing. I arrived at the main main commuter lot at 10:30 and it was full so I headed over to the stadium lots and they were almost full and did not want to spend a lot of time looking and so I headed over to the Bobcat Village on Mill Street lot. Yes there were lots of car but I found a spot easily, parked and went to the pickup spot. A bus soon arrived but when exiting the lot we stopped and had to wait because the road to turn right on was now closed for utility work and the driver could not proceed until the dispatcher told him the new route.  While waiting 2 people wanted to get off since they were now late for class and wanted to walk (the walk was going to be over 1.5 miles to campu) which the driver was not allowed to do. When we did finally move and got to the next stop there were sooo many students they couldn't all board.   Finally I arrived at the student center. 

Since my last class let out at 7:50 pm and I was in the far lot I had to take the late bus back. These buses make some additional stop and do not run as often. By the time I got home it was 9pm. 

I was tired so I had a cuppa tea and went to bed. Welcome to the semester.

Since I fully retired in 2002, after the BIG Walk, I certainly kept myself very busy doing all the things I wanted or could not do while working full time - sewing, knitting, metal work, spending time with Boots and Erich, go back to school to get the art classes I wanted...  Then I found myself, not wanting to do much anything after I returned from the trip to Arrowmont. I was tired and had things around the house to catch up on but toward the end of that week I just wanted to sit and knit and watch a bit of TV.  It is now two weeks later and I still felt that way but also I felt guilty for not doing some things in the studio that are on my metalsmithing "goals" list.

Yesterday I had a long chat with Elisa of Scotland and I mentioned all of this. We talked about how, with retirement, after a very busy career, it can be hard to accept that one is ALLOWED to take time to relax and not always be busy and doing something. All that time you spent working is now bonus time and does not have to be filled with activity.  POoOF, MIND BLOWN.

I have a week before classes start again at Texas State so I am going use this time to Relax, Knit and just do a wee smidge of metal work.