Online competition redux

Back in April 2016, I mentioned an online competition where I won a voucher, which I used to buy a skirt and dress, both in size XL.

According to their size scale, XL should have been an Australian 12 (38-30.5-40) to 14 (32-32.5-42), and at the time I was basically a size 14 to 16 (34-34.5-44), so I knew that I was too big for them, but thought that they might have enough stretch, and that I might lose enough weight for them to fit.

I very quickly realised that neither were going to fit at the size that I was, and put both back into their plastic bags, chucked them in the bottom of my wardrobe and forgot about them.

Until today.

In an odd sequence of events, I bought a plastic headless female mannequin today. It's 34-27-37 (about a size 8), but its very close to the same height as I am. The idea is to start by padding it to my size, then use it to make new padding to bring my proportions to a female size larger than I used to be.

The first step is to find some fabric to cover the mannequin. A pair of footless tights that neither my wife or I wear wear an obvious start, and they are tight enough to fit it properly.

I was looking through my wardrobe to see if I had any small but stretchy tops that would be the right size for the mannequin, and I spotted the dress and skirt.

When I put the dress on the mannequin, I discovered that it is actually pretty close to a size 8, except that the waist is probably closer to a size 10. Even if I lost weight until I was below a safe minimum weight, I would never be that small.

Resetting the body clock

Years ago, I mentioned that my sleep patterns were screwed up.

On new years eve, I found myself at home alone, with my wife and son having gone to the last 3D screening of the most recent Star Wars movie, then to my inlaws' place for dinner.

I made the decision to have my shower early, and go to bed by 11pm, to see if I could reset my sleep pattern.

Twenty days on, I've managed to be in bed by 11pm every night, and even by 10:30 one night. As a consequence, I've been getting up around 7am. For the first few nights, I lay awake for hours, but stayed in bed and eventually got to sleep. After a few nights, I started getting to sleep faster, and I haven't used an alarm since I started this process. After many years of sleep deprivation, I think that I'm starting to make progress towards getting somewhere near the amount of sleep that I need.

Unfortunately, I've been experiencing back pain in bed, and that's interfering with my sleep. I'm fine during the day, but it becomes painful while I'm in bed. I finally realised that the issue is our mattress, which has developed a pair of distinct depressions, one on each side of the middle.

Because my wife comes to bed anywhere between about 3am and 6:30am during school holidays when she doesn't have to get up to make sure that our son gets up and goes to school, I have had the opportunity of experimenting with sleeping on the hump in the middle of the bed, between the depressions, then moving across when she comes to bed. I quickly discovered that the pain from sleeping there is a fraction of what it is in my normal sleeping position.

We ordered a new mattress yesterday afternoon, and it should be delivered next Saturday.

Much as I'd like to get to bed by 10pm and up around 6am, I have to wait until my teenage son has cleaned his teeth before I have a shower, or he will go to bed without cleaning them. Unfortunately, he steadfastly refuses to clean his teeth until around 10pm. Without a second bathroom, I simply don't have a solution.

If I can maintain my current sleep pattern after I return to work on Monday, and after my son returns to school the following week, I hope to start walking regularly in the mornings before work. I have tried walking in the mornings, but so far I'm not awake enough until at least an hour after I get up, and that wouldn't work for getting to work on time. Hopefully, the new mattress will help me to sleep better, and I'll be able to get moving earlier.

Then I can start trying to work on my weight.