flemmings: (Default)
flemmings ([personal profile] flemmings) wrote2007-10-22 10:15 am
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Random thoughts on the female remove-program program

Me, I never thought random mention of tampons constituted too much information, but you never know what information is too much for some people, hence I cut.

So as it's been five months since I had a period and seven since I had one that wasn't 'make up your mind already', I feel safe removing the sanitary products from convenient storage (bedroom shelf) to inconvenient (under the sink.) And that's that and very nice too. Am especially glad to be done with the 'five pounds on/ ow ow ow/ five pounds off in a day' routine.

I'm sure there'll be future fireworks along the way, maybe, but I was sure there'd be fireworks before now and there haven't been. Compared to just about everyone else I know this has been a cakewalk. No insomnia, no hot flashes, no unforeseen deluges. Briefly heavier periods at one point, which annoyed me at the time but were nothing compared to what I went through in my 20's. Brief experience of cramps, which was at least instructive. Occasional murderous rage, but that's been me since childhood. Otherwise nothing. Soya, you are a wonder.

But I do think this sudden annoying sensitivity to temperature must be a side-effect. I'm always too hot unless I'm too cold. I'm too hot in the daytime at work and in my study and if the temp is over 65F unless the air is moving. I'm too cold on the living room sofa unless the temp is over 70F and then I'm too hot unless the air is moving. Under 70F I'm dressed as if for the outdoors and huddled under a flannel-covered duvet with heating packs and wishing for fingerless gloves. Yesterday was record-breaking warm. You couldn't have proved it by me.

I'm too cold in bed even when it's too hot to have covers on. Videlicet: at such times I'm too hot unless the air's moving, but if it's moving I'm too cold. Thus me wearing long-sleeved shirts to bed in August so as not to be chilled by the fan. Thus me wearing long-sleeved shirts, hooded sweatshirt, flannel pyjama pants and woolly socks to bed in September when the lows were 45F. With two quilts and a hot water bottle. Then removing socks and quilts and whatever when I got too hot. Balance, there's no balance. My eyes have balanced nicely now, why can't the internal heating/ cooling system manage it?

I'm resigned that I must find a nightcap somewhere. I can't sleep with my head uncovered no matter what the temperature. When the hoodie gets on my nerves too much (the hood slips open at the side and the horrible cold air hits my poor poor ears) I've been contriving a cocoon out of various light cotton sheets but the way I thrash around that can get too close to auto-asphyxiation. What I need is a balaclava: one that's not made from wool. Such things do not exist. I mean, try finding even a balaclava these days.

Maybe it'll all even out when it's cold enough to turn the heat on. Or, you know, not. Heat's always dicey anyway: 68 degrees is too hot if the wind's from the east, not nearly warm enough if it's from the west.

Since this is a TMI post, I'll also mention a handy household hint. Good citizen me now has a new water-conserving toilet: not the smallest tank on the market but much smaller than the previous one. And of course there are problems with low volumes of water: at least once a month the stupid toilet would refuse to finish flushing and back up; and not always for the reason you're thinking. 'Too much tp. Hang up and try your flush again.' Then I had to plunger it and then it would flush and jeez was it a pain.

Now, I'm also a sucker for certain ladies' magazines, the ones with simply dazzling chicken recipes! and the miracle herb that erases years! and walk off forty pounds by Thanksgiving! even though Thanksgiving was two weeks ago. They tell you useful stuff from time to time, and one such hint was: if you have an overflowing toilet, turn on the sink taps. Whether it cuts water volume or water pressure I forget, but it works. And it works on my toilet. Now I start washing my hands before I flush, and to date my toilet obediently swishes and gurgles and sometimes sort of thinks about it, but in the end it swallows.
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[identity profile] flemmings.livejournal.com 2007-10-22 03:35 pm (UTC)(link)
We actually have something like them for skiiers, but again, they're all heavy wool/ meant for feeerocious winter weather. Do they make a lightweight cotton version over there? That, or a synthetic, is really what I'm looking for.

The balaclavas I grew up with couldn't be pulled up to cover the face- the face opening was too large. The one in the wikipedia illustration looks like it might be good for winter bicycling, though.
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[identity profile] flemmings.livejournal.com 2007-10-22 03:48 pm (UTC)(link)
Woot! Are you serious? I mean, all your copious free time these days isn't as copious as it was...

But if you'd like to and have the energy, I would adore a hand-knitted balaclava. The one I once had and lost alas was essentially a tube, same dimensions at each end except that the head end had the stitches pulled in and perhaps over-stitched to make a definite edge. It was also a loose-weave so air could get into it. If there's any kind of very smooth-feeling yarn (cotton-acrylic, maybe? I know nothing of yarns) that would be perfect, seeing as I'll be sleeping on it. Does that sound possible?
incandescens: (Default)

[personal profile] incandescens 2007-10-22 04:27 pm (UTC)(link)
I once had something in that shape that called itself a "snood", though it didn't really match the medieval-snood image. It was marvellous for winter wear. Though that was before my hair got really long and resulted in bumps in the snood-thing while I was wearing it, which spoiled the appearance a bit.

That was basically a long straight tube; is that the sort of image you have here, or are you thinking more of the right-angled sort with a hole at the bottom and a hole at one side?

[identity profile] flemmings.livejournal.com 2007-10-22 07:02 pm (UTC)(link)
Essentially yes- long straight tube, though practically speaking it needs to be a little looser at the bottom for sleeping. For daytime use though they're perfect if you can get them thick enough. As I said to Tammy below, they do make neck warmers from fleece, but those are only 3-4 inches wide. Good for warming neck, can be worn to warm ears, can sometimes be pulled up to cover nose and mouth in bad winds: but you need several of them for precisely that reason. If anyone makes tubes these days, I haven't seen them.
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[identity profile] flemmings.livejournal.com 2007-10-22 10:20 pm (UTC)(link)
Mhhh... you may be right. The tube I had was thin wool and if it bunched under the chin, well, that only kept me warmer. Maybe the right-angle would work better for sleeping.

I don't have a wool allergy, I just find wool usually too thick and uncomfortable on the skin, and it can't be washed easily. Anything that I'm sleeping in will get sweaty for sure. Cotton-acrylic-silk in any kind of blend would probably be perfect.
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[identity profile] flemmings.livejournal.com 2007-10-23 01:36 am (UTC)(link)
Glad to be of help. ^_^ And thanks for the tip. There must be a Value Village somewhere near me- probably the Dufferin Mall or thereabouts. I'll check the phone book.
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[identity profile] flemmings.livejournal.com 2007-10-22 06:49 pm (UTC)(link)
Oh wow, this is wonderful. Thanks so much.

Mmhh- never having slept in one of these things, I'm not sure about style. I don't like having my face covered, or even the forehead that much, so I guess I want the full-face opening, snug enough under the jaw to keep the ears covered and not pull back too easily; and long enough to dip below the back of my neck, so maybe wider and looser around the bottom opening as well. So lessee- (ties scarf around face)- the opening for the head needs to be about 25-26 inches, and around the neck maybe four inches wider than that. (My forehead circumference is 23" but I wear my hoods off the forehead.)

Colour is a minor matter- there's no one to see me in these, alas- but purple or burgundy are my preferred shades.

Horns, of course. And sidelocks. ^_^ No, actually, just plain, please. Anything else will get snagged underneath me in my midnight tossings.

[identity profile] tammylee.livejournal.com 2007-10-22 05:18 pm (UTC)(link)
mec.ca has polar fleece balaclavas and I know my dad bought a silk one from them once?

I usually wear a toque to bed because I hate having a cold head! I also like to have a fan going when I sleep even if it freezes us. Must... have... moving... air. I'm trying to train myself out of it for the winter tho as our room gets quite chilly and I don't want C. to die of pneumonia.

[identity profile] flemmings.livejournal.com 2007-10-22 06:57 pm (UTC)(link)
I had a fleecy balaclava once- are the mec.ca ones the hot heads? It worked well enough in the cold except the face opening was too wide and Toronto's nasty winter wind got at my ears. Then I discovered neck warmers which can be pulled up to seal the ears off, and sometimes to cover the lower face. Which, with the hoodies I also wear constantly in winter, keep me perfectly warm. Just, neckwarmers are never long enough for night use: or, for that matter, really soft enough, even the fleeces. (And now I've lost my source for neckwarmers as well.)

Toques don't stay on energetic sleepers like myself. I have central heat which means a furnace fan that moves the air enough in winter, at least, that I don't need a fan fan. Summer and autumn to date are another matter.

[identity profile] flemmings.livejournal.com 2007-10-22 11:13 pm (UTC)(link)
Err- the only mac.ca I can find makes plastic buttons and caps for bottles. Which one did your Dad use?

[identity profile] flemmings.livejournal.com 2007-10-23 01:34 am (UTC)(link)
I'll learn to read some day...