kareina

I got up bright and early on Thursday morning and went into the city. I was running low on my muesli so I needed to go buy more ingredients, and I had a variety of other errands that needed doing as well. Among these were getting a new PIN for my new debit card for my new bank account. Commonwealth Bank is very kind about that--they will let you bring your card in and change your PIN to a number of your own choosing, even if you have not yet received the letter they sent out telling you the pre-assigned PIN. This meant that I was then able to accomplish the other errands using my new debit card (but if they hadn't have been that kind, I could have simply pulled out cash to cover it, so all would have been fine, if less convenient).

Another stop was a second-hand store, where I found two pairs of jeans which fit. To properly appreciate the miracle in that sentence you need to understand that while I wore jeans most of my childhood, I haven't as an adult. Why? Because they were nearly impossible to find in a size which fit me. I was blessed with a very small rib cage for my height, and was a slender child. I became somewhat chubby with the onset of puberty, but, because of my small ribs and the way the chub was distributed (primarily on my thighs), starting around late highschool any pair of jeans which would go over my thighs was much too large for my waist. So I switched to skirts, which were easy to fit to my waist, and much more comfortable for most purposes. A few years back the fashion for jeans switched from waist bands high on the waist to riding down around the hips, give or take a bit. As a result my mom and sister bought me a pair of jeans which mostly fit just before I moved down to Tassie four years ago--I needed only take them in a little bit at the small of my back and they were quite comfortable (this because my hips were closer to the expected size relative to my thighs than my waist is). However, about a year ago, since I was tracking everything else I'm doing as part of my goal to get this PhD complete, I started tracking what I ate. I wasn't specifically trying to lose weight--I was within what is considered the "healthy" range for my height, if at the upper end of it, but I was very much interested in seeing what balance of the various food groups I was eating. Oddly enough, when I started writing down every bite I ate, I started losing weight. Not very fast (which, to my mind is a good thing), but creeping off a bit at a time, including in the thighs. Yesterday's purchase gave me not one, but two pairs of jeans which fit, are flattering, and didn't need any taking in at the waist/hips whatsoever! This is a good thing, because all of my skirts are wearing out, and I haven't time to make new ones, so I need something to wear. (one pair is marked size "8L", and will need to be hemmed at the cuffs as they are quite long, and the other is marked size "10" and are the correct length to start with).

After I finished my morning errands I went in to uni and crushed rocks for fun and profit, getting seven of J's samples ready to have their zircons separated out. I'll need to repeat this for the other 14, before going on to the next task she wants done, so I'll be busy working on her stuff regularly for a bit longer.

After all that I went home, intending to do lots of uni work with my evening, but instead went "splat" and didn't really accomplish anything, other than a walk around the block, during which I met one of the neighbours, who was riding a young horse. They walked with me around the block--apparently the horse is still new to this whole leaving the paddock and having a passenger thing, and is happier to walk on the road when there is someone to follow. It made for some nice company.

This morning I had intended to do the vacuming, but I slept in, and clovis_t's mum was already doing it when I got up. When I mentioned that I'd planned to do that she suggested that I sweep the sun room at the back of the house instead. The sun room has been left all summer as a storage area, and place the dogs hang out when their feet are muddy, but now that we are coming in to winter, it would be nice for that room to be usable again, as it has a lovely view of the cliff. So I not only swept, but scrubbed the floor as well, and am very happy with the result. The rest of the afternoon slipped past quickly, with the highlight of the day being charmed by a colt. I'd walked up hill on one of the side streets, and on my way home the young horse (only just about my height tall at this point) came up to its fence to say hello, so I stopped and visited with it. What a charmer, and so affectionate! Though, I think the attempts to nibble my fingers were because they probably still smelled of blackberries I'd picked at the start of the walk. Not having carried any of the berries, I offered the colt some grass from my side of the fence, and (s?)he (I didn't think to look) seemed to appreciate it. It was rather later in the day before I started doing uni work, but once I did the time slipped by even faster than did the rest of the day, and now I'm sleepy once again. However, I've put uni work down mid-task, so with luck, I'll pick it up straight away tomorrow. Hope so, it is only by actually working on it that it will get done.