Hooray!

It's the end of the year! =D

Happy New Year to everyone tomorrow and best of luck for it! I'm not sure how much blogging I'll do in January, but I'll try to keep up. I'm mostly going to be getting fit and healthy in preparation for the wedding so there will be a lot of cycling and other such activities.

Be merry, celebrate, and dont' diet until the 2nd of January! =D

More bikey goodness!

So as part of a more complete lifestyle change, I've been kitting out my bike a little to make myself as likely as I can possibly be to take it instead of the car.

To begin with, I got mudguards, a rack, and a basket. Basket is excellent as far as carrying my little backpack/handbag thing, or the cross-bar converter thingo if I've driven it to the park and forgotten to take it off before getting from the carpark to the bike track (I also got the converter thingo, in case you hadn't guessed).

So that's recreational riding taken care of. Now, I also need my bike to be something that is useful to me in more domestic circumstances. For instance, if I either want to buy groceries to begin with or remember that I need them in a very sudden and unplanned way as I drive past the shops. Under such circumstances, I'm less inclined to have brought a backpack with me purely as a just-in-case measure. I just don't think in those terms.

So, I got myself a set of fold-out panniers which start off looking like this:

They sit nicely on the rack on the rear of my bike, and don't get in the way while I'm cycling. In the central compartment I have a few protein bars (in case of rides that are unexpectedly long or vigorous), a first aid kit (in case of sudden crash, which is more or less inevitable given that this is me we're talking about), and a puncture repair kit. I can also fit my wallet, phone, and keys in there in case I don't want to carry my handbag thing but don't want to be without keys and ID. And in case I don't want them rattling around the basket on the front of my bike.

When unfolded, the panniers look like this:

Heaps of space for stuff like groceries or a change of clothes (if, for instance, I'm cycling to my Oolon's place).

I am now set to cycle for any reason other than incredibly large distances.

I finally found a water bottle with a cap that covers the mouthpiece and which fits in the cage thing (being a ladies' bike, there isn't a lot of room for large water bottles, but panniers and basket will take care of that on planned long trips) as I'm stupidly paranoid about putting things of questionable cleanliness in my mouth (infer from that what you will), and today I bought a mini pump in case I get a flat tyre. It also has a pressure gauge, which is kind of cool.

I still need a rear light that can be seen past the panniers and some reflective clothing so that I can ride home from Oolon's place after dark, but that will hopefully happen before days get too short. In the mean while, the worst case scenario is that I leave my bike here and ask for a lift home so that I can get to work on time the next day.

So yeah! I have now set my bike up so I have very little excuse for not taking it places :-) Hooray!

More female TMI.

I want to rave at you all about how brilliant the Mooncup is. You're also about to learn a few things about my own anatomy.

I got one a few days ago, and it arrived right in the middle of a period I wasn't expecting to have (I've been avoiding them like the plague and was hoping to never have one ever again), but it became clear that I would have them at least occasionally (I forget to take the pill when I'm really sick, and apparently my body is only willing to go without bleeding for 6-8 weeks).

So, I ordered this thing after a friend of mine spent a lot of time raving about how awesome it is.

It is f'ing brilliant. It doesn't leak like tampons do, it can handle clots like tampons don't (stupid endometriosis), and it's reusable so I don't have to panic about running out of them. It can also be used before a period, so if you're expecting one at some point in the next three days and have a beach day tomorrow, then you don't have to worry about starting to bleed while at the beach. The Mooncup will take care of it.

It can also be used overnight. Unlike tampons, you're not going to get TSS so you can sleep comfortably without staining your sheets or ending up in ICU. There's also the fact that it sits lower than a tampon, which is great for me because tampons were very, very uncomfortable against my cervix. I'm not sure whether that was the result of the endometriosis or the retroverted uterus (which I've also got; have a diagram).

Getting it in and out takes practice and removing it is less comfortable than inserting it. I recommend using KY jelly or some other water-based lube for insertion because it just slides in, pops open and you're away. It's also good if you're new to using it and tend to tense up, because tense vaginal muscles make it more difficult to use.

I'm thrilled. If I have a daughter, she's getting one of these as soon as she hits puberty and she can start using it as soon as she feels ready to (these things are good for about a decade, or until you give birth so there won't be any rush if she's timid about it).

I've inserted (haha, pun) three small ads for it on my site because that's how awesome it is. One for the distributor in the UK, one in the US, and one in Australia.

Seasons Greetings!

Happy Holidays to everyone! Whatever your religious views, I hope you have a wonderful time with family and friends. There is so little time to spend with family in this day and age that we should take the opportunities that come our way, no?

So! Jingle the bells, hang the holly and have a roaring good time with the mulled wine! =D

OOPS!

I forgot to write anything for today! Oh dear.

Sincerest apologies!