A Stitch In Time

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I talk about my various and sundry hobbies here as well as my life in general. The primary focus of this blog is my spinning and my knitting but you can find just about anything covered if you hang out long enough.

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• Why can’t I be coordinated like a normal person?
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I tried taking a class at the gym this morning at 7am.  I say tried, I was there for the whole thing.  I even stayed until 9:20 trying to get the moves down and in the end I still am not even close.  I am SO frustrated and angry at my body.  I have never been able to grasp “routines”  things like step aerobics and dancing and cheerleading were never possible for me.  I am not able to grasp routines well at all.  I was asked not to return to ballet after my first 2 classes when i was little.  Perhaps what I lack is an ability to develop muscle memory.  I feel so damn ungainly and stupid in this class.  EVERYONE else not only gets it but they are excelling at it.  I am at best struggling.  At worst I would say I am embarrassing to watch and frustrating to the others in my slowness and ineptitude.  The instructor is being kind and saying it’s my first time learning it so I should be patient withy myself but that is not how I feel.  I feel like I am dragging the other people down because I am so awful, and that makes me sick to my stomach.  Perhaps it is because I am such a driven person, and my will to succeed is so strong that outright being horrible at something is frustrating and makes me so angry at myself.  I am angry to the point of tears, but I will not let myself be reduced to a blubbering fool.  I will spend as much time as I can this week trying to understand so I can hopefully not embarrass myself again.  I hate being the clumsy, short, chubby and ungainly girl.  I HATE it.  I mean I am going to the gym to try to fix the chubby and ungainly part but apparently it’s not working.  Times like this make me hate myself for thinking I am even remotely capable of this kind of thing.  I should have trusted my instincts and stayed home.  Dammit.  Well, at least typing this has been cathartic.  Tomorrow is another day.  Perhaps I can redeem myself then… And I didn’t even get to do my workout yet for the day!  GAH.  I SUCK.

Add to this the fact that I am able to do some things most people can’t, like rotate my ankle/foot in a clockwise circle and draw a 6 in the air with the same hand as the foot that is circling.  I can do it on both sides of my body.  I can do the rub stomach/pat head thing on both sides as well.  I am a freak of nature in some ways but simple things that a 3 year old can grasp, like a Bow-staff Kata, I can’t.  Ok, I seriously need to let this go and try to move on and stop beating myself up over it but I am really upset and mad at myself right now.

Thanks for listening folks.

Oh, and I managed to finish my Panda Wool socks while I was on vacation and accidentally felted them before I even got a photo or got to wear them!!!  Gotta love it. 

I feel I should come clean with the Blog, and its readers few though they may be. I started this blog as a way to chronicle my hobbies in the fiber arts, however, in the last year my life has undergone a very interesting shift. I have begun to focus more on making my body fit and toned and less on sedentary hobbies like knitting and spinning. These days by the time I get home from the gym I can barely manage to feed myself and squeeze in an hour of TV or XBox and my mental itch for productivity while watching TV has stilled. I don’t think this will be permanent, but I am definitely on a bit of a fiber hiatus right now. I have been quilting, so maybe I should show those fruits of my labors here as well. And it’s not that I haven’t been knitting, I just haven’t been doing much of it. I will make an effort to actually take photos of all I have done recently and post them. Truthfully, my working out has become more than a miserable chore to keep my cholesterol down. It has become a new and really consuming hobby that I am almost starting to enjoy.

I feel myself floundering in many ways, almost coming into a new personal identity of sorts that has shifted my focus in ways that have surprised me. I still read knitting and spinning blogs, but I feel strangely silent when it comes to commenting. Like I have lost my voice as it were because I am not engaging in the process right now. I need a re-boot and a re-charge. That’s going to happen over the next 2 weeks or so when I go on vacation to St Louis to visit my dear friend Anne.

If I want to continue this blog I am going to have to start talking about my pursuits at the gym and beyond, so bear with me if you want to continue to read about the journey my life is taking. I appreciate your taking time to visit me over the years and staying with me through the doldrums of my inspiration. It will come back and I will chronicle it as it does.

I started working out and going to the gym to help myself lower my cholesterol and not have to take medication for it.  I achieved that, but now, after a year plus it has morphed into something I kind of enjoy and spend a LOT of time on.  I’m at the gym 5 to 6 days a week and I am starting to find myself feeling REALLY guilty if it is only 5 instead of 6.  It’s becoming both a lifestyle AND a hobby.  I find myself thinking about exercises to do on my off time where other things would have occupied my brain before.

Currently I am in the midst of a 6 week ab workout cycle that I am doing with a gym workout partner who I will refer to as PR until I receive permission to use his first name here on the blog.  We start week 4 today.  The concept is to perform a certain number of reps of each exercise and continue to cycle through for a determined period of time.  This week we are doing 8 exercises, 15 reps each for 25 straight minutes.  No breaks.  It actually a lot of fun because PR & I push each other and ourselves partially through a competitive kind of thing.  I refuse to let a boy beat me, and he refuses to let a girl beat him.    Honestly it’s not like that but the thought is an amusing one. 

Yesterday I started seriously training to do a pull up.  I did 7 negatives.  4 were good form and slow speed.  3 were well, let’s just say less than impressive.  I will continue to try and do 6 of these a day, but wow are my forearms sore today!  Must mean it’s working! 

I wanted to take a moment here, in public, to thank my occaisional workout buddy PR for taking the time to help me and push me to do things I probably never would have.  You’ve shown me that I am stronger than I think I am, and you’ve helped me grow more determined and for that I thank you.  You are making this journey a lot more pleasant due to your friendship.  And the fact you can always make me laugh through the pain which is key.  (Don’t expect such sappy kindness very often, so enjoy it whil you can.) 

So for my other readers, thank you for reading this little snippet of gym talk.  There may be more as time goes on.  I will understand if you decide this workout stuff is boring and bail on me.  But rest assured, fiber will return to this place sooner or later.

Cheers Dears!

In a perfect world, I would post every day, or every other day.  In a perfect world I would not have been sick for the past 2+ weeks.  In a perfect world I would actually have pictures to show you.

But, since this isn’t a perfect world, here’s what we get:
No pictures, but lots of words.
Still sick with the plague… (No, it’s not really the plague butit sure feels like it…)
A post a month-ish…

So, first off, important GOOD NEWS!!!!  Ivan has gained back 2lbs!  Yay!!!!  His fur is starting to grow back!  YAY!  I will actually try to go home and edit this tonight with photos of the kitty but if not I will do another post with the kitty as the star.

Despite my nasty plague-like illness I have been reading like a fiend, playing X-Box games (1 vs 100 is SO much fun) and a bit of quilting and knitting.  I finished the top my Asian fabrics quilt, got the back sewn together and fitted the bamboo batting, pinned all three layers together and started practicing with my free-motion quilting foot my honey got me.  I’m having a bit of panic over what to do quilting wise though so I am stalled.  Again, pictures will be forthcoming.  I hope…

The waving lace socks are coming along.  first sock is done and second is on the leg about 1/2 way to the heel flap.  The hexagon blankie is coming along slowly too.  Again, I’ll probably put poictures up soon.  (Before September I promise…)

I’ve been fairly stressed these days, for no real reason other than illness.  Oh, and Kirk and I got a new coffee maker and it is Awesome!  Kirk & I have never been heavy coffee drinkers, really only on weekend mornings when we share some quiet downtime with each other and the dogs.  We both enjoy coffee a lot but not enough to have it every day.  I never have coffee at work and rarely in a restaurant.  (Usually if I am really cold and it is a pretty good restaurant I’ll chance ordering coffee, but usually I’ll go for tea.)  This coffee maker may just convince me to do coffee more often.  I love the smoothe flavor and the warmer coffee this machine produces.  It’s also not bad looking which is always a plus.  It doesn’t have any reall frills or features which may be offputting to sime but we never really used any of the features on our old coffee maker so it’s not a big deal.  Yes, it’s spendy but considering we were replacing our machine every 3 years or so trying to find one that maintained temperature and quality, the investment is worth it.  I expect we’ll have this for the next decade or more…  Ah, investment appliances. 

I feel a little like a drowning person right now. I know I have been absent, both on my own blog and on others’ as well. There are reasons which I will attempt to tell you about in Cliff’s Notes fashion.

In the middle of May my hubby went out of the country for 5 weeks. Yes, I did say 5. He was in the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan. Doing a really wonderful thing actually. He was installing a 9-1-1 call system for the entire country. Pretty cool stuff. But 5 weeks is a long time. I was kept quite busy by friends who were worried about me, 2 dogs and a cat to take care of, work and quilting. Yeah, quilting. The animals fared well while Kirk was away and we had no real issues. I thought Ivan (the kitty) had lost some weight while Kirk was gone but he told me no when he came home so I thought nothing more of it.

You see, about 4 years ago I took a quilting class for an Asian fabrics quilt. I hadn’t worked on it in all that time because my sewing machine needed to have some work done on it. Maintenance and a good clean mostly but some adjustments were needed and a couple of parts replaced. I did that while the hubby was away and got back to my long neglected quilt like a sewing machine novice. Which I am really. When I picked up the quilt again I had 12 of 72 squares done. While the boy was away I finished all 72 squares, and made all 4 pieced borders. I had not sewn them on yet as I decided with a little help that I needed an edging to offset the border from the body of the quilt. So I did the offset and I have 2 of the 4 borders sewn on. I still have to cut the fabric for the back of the quilt and figure out what I am doing as far as the quilting goes. I’m not yet sure what I want to do.

Kirk was only home for a week before he went to Canada for 5 days. That was last week. That was the week everything went to Hell in a Proverbial Hand-basket. Kirk left on Sunday morning.

Sunday night/Monday morning Max & Koni decided they weren’t really happy with each other in the middle of the night and they got into quite a tussle. They hadn’t really had one in over a year but this one was bad enough that I had to take both dogs to the vet. Koni looked like a vampire bit his leg as he had two little punctures, caused when he got on his back paws and shoved his legs at Max’s face. Max had superficial cuts and a nasty scrape from said paws. So some antibiotics and we were off to home.

When the fuss over the dogs died down on Monday night I started wondering where Ivan was. I hadn’t seen him since the night before Kirk had left (Saturday night for those of you keeping score at home). I thought maybe he had gotten out and was prowling in his singular way. I thought maybe he was locked in a closet or the basement. I searched and called but couldn’t find Ivan. I went to sleep a little worried but otherwise not too upset. The food dish hadn’t changed and there was no litter box activity so I assumed he got out with the pups one night when I took them out in the middle of the night.

I woke up on Wednesday morning and started getting ready for my work day and Ivan staggered into the bathroom. Normally he comes in and drinks from the faucet while I brush my teeth but he was swaying and couldn’t really jump up on his own so I picked him up and he drank for a good 30 seconds. He felt SO light and frail. He then ran straight to the litter box and cried when he was done. I tried to get him to eat and he had no interest. I was very worried so I called my vet and got an appointment for very shortly after that. SO I put Ivan in a carrier which he normally NEVER needs as he likes to stroll around and usually sit on my lap. After one look and a temperature reading they admitted him to the hospital. He was severely dehydrated and had a life threatening temperature. Bad stuff.
By Thursday afternoon there was no progress in his condition, and it was strongly recommended that we see an internal medicine specialist after I remembered to mention about the weight loss I noticed during Kirk’s time away. Turns out Ivan had lost 25% of his body weight. That’s BAD. So, off I went to the specialist hospital with an emergency referral and a pocket full of hope.
The specialist saw Ivan on Friday morning. Turns out he may have 3 things wrong with him. Mal-absorption disease, Inflammatory Bowel Disease or Cancer of the Intestine or Lymph Nodes. We had a test done to determine if it is the first 2 which would be a MUCH better diagnosis as they are both treatable.
SO after all that it was back to our vet hospital for the kitty as one day with the specialist hospital was more expensive than 2 days at our vet. During all this time Ivan was completely unresponsive and basically immobile. VERY UPSETTING. Kirk was home by Friday afternoon and we transferred Ivan back to our vet together which was nice for me to have some support. In those 3 days I had racked up $3150.00 in bills at the vet. I was a complete stress case. That’s 2 mortgage payments just to have a cat who is still living but only just.
Saturday morning early we got a call that Ivan had turned a corner. His temperature was down and he was eating everything in sight which was the first time he had eaten in a week. We were given 6 different medicines to give him twice a day including a narcotic pain reliever. Nice! We even have to mix his antibiotic liquid up ourselves tonight which should be interesting. But after 4 days at home Ivan is starting to get stronger and I think he may even be putting a little weight back on. I can’t feel his spine poking into my hand as much. This is only round 1 however as the fever may have been caused by a tooth root from a broken fang which will be extracted Friday. Hopefully that surgery goes well and doesn’t bankrupt us. Anyway, good healing thoughts would be MUCH appreciated.

And that my friends is why knitting, spinning and blogging have been scarce. I’ll get back into the swing of things when I get back from St Louis on Sunday. I’m visiting my friend Anne for the 4th of July.

Have a great holiday everyone. And please think hungry thoughts for my kitty.

Well, let’s see…  I’ve been knitting and spinning and I went to MDS&W.  Long ago, a few years actually, I bought some Jacob Roving and spun it up into 6 different yarns all using the 3 colors.  I decided to do a blanket/lap afghan but couldn’t find a pattern I wanted to use.  I thought about entrelac but decided I didn’t want to deal with the fiddly-ness of a large scale project with it.  I finally decided on Komb a pattern from Berrocco.  I took all of my hanks of Jacob and wound them into balls.  I decided to use the Chocolate brown Bond I had been spinning as the outside edges.  Here is the yarn all laid out ready to start.

I started and here’s how far I am as of today:


After much thought and deliberation, along with some advice from my buddy Vee I opted to only use 5 of my Jacob yarn colors, not the dark brown as it was too similar to the edging.

I’m also knitting the Waving lace sock from the Best of Interweave socks book.  My friend Anne & I are doing a sort of Knit along of this book.  Here’s my Panda Wool socks as of right now…

I’ve been spinning on my Suzie again.  I’m nearly finished with all 8 oz of this BFL I got at Rhinebeck when i went there with Deb a few years ago.

My buddy Anne came to visit for Sheep & Wool and on Friday we had a great time going to DC and visiting the Museum of the American Indian.  It was amazing.  Beautiful, sad, overwhelming and powerful.  We spent a lot of time checking out everything at the newest Smithsonian museum.  We also checked out the Freer Gallery and various other sights which we took in on foot.
 
That was Friday before MDS&W.  On Saturday we went to the festival and had a lovely time.  It was way too crowded and a lot of vendors I expected to see there didn’t make it this year which surprised me.  I saw Kim and we chatted briefly which was great fun.  She was wearing her new February Lady sweater and it looks FABULOUS on her!!

So next post I’ll talk about what I got at MDS&W and what I’ve done with it so far…

Ciao friends!

I’m borrowing this from Deb, as I saw hers and thought it would be fun.

A - Age: 37
B - Bed size: King
C - Chore you hate: Doing dishes
D - Dog’s name: Maxamillian Augustus and Koni Crash (He’s a bit clumsy so we made his middle name Crash…)
E - Essential start your day item: Morning snuggles with my pups before I get out of bed. Always makes the start of the day happier.
F - Favorite color: Yellow and Purple
G - Gold or Silver: both, but Silver just edges out
H - Height: 5’2”
I - Instruments you play(ed): Clarinet and hand bells
J - Job title: Market Analyst
K - Kid(s): Not of the human variety, but 2 dogs and a cat of the furry variety
L - Living arrangements: I live with my husband and my pets in a single family home with a great garage!
M - Mom’s name: Eva
N - Nicknames: Liz, but a very select few people in my life have called me Lizzy and gotten away with it (mostly very elderly family members).
O - Overnight hospital stay other than birth: When I was 4 or 5 I had a horrible case of stomach flu and I was kept overnight to maintain my fluid levels.
P - Pet Peeve: Rudeness. It is never necessary to be rude. It takes more effort to be rude than it does to be civil or pleasant.
Q - Quote from a movie: “There is no Spoon” - The Matrix Kirk and I often use this when things are a little odd and replace spoon with other objects. My other often used quote is “I should have taken the Blue pill” also from the Matrix.
R - Right or left handed: Right
S - Siblings: Nope, but I have a sister-in-law now.
T - Time you wake up: 5:57am on weekdays and I get up around 6:30am after a period of intense cuddles and snuggles with the pups. Weekends are whenever the pups start getting restless or I get restless usually around 7:00am
U- Underwear: Yes…
V - Vegetable you dislike: Lima beans. Zucchini mostly due to over exposure as a child I will consume it if I am a guest at someone’s home and they make it so I don’t hate it as much as lima beans. I mostly just avoid zucchini.
W - Ways you run late: I am rarely late. If I am, traffic is more than likely to blame.
X - X-rays you’ve had: My ankle when I had to have a cast for dislocating it, my thumb when it was thought that I broke it (I didn’t), my teeth, and a lot of full panorama x-rays of the jaws as a test subject for when I was training other orthodontic assistant on how to create full records.
Y - Yummy food you make: My lasagna and my spaghetti sauce.
Z - Zoo favorite: Zoo’s aren’t my favorite thing. They tend to make me sad. I love aquariums though.

Have a great weekend!

Ah yes, the old adage:
SO it’s your birthday and what do you get?
Another year older and closer to death.

I can’t say that I feel any different than I did yesterday, but this morning when I woke up I was officially 37 years young.  It may make me seem Pollyanna-ish to sound chipper and non chalant about my birthdays.  Frankly I’ve never put much stock into them as a day worth singling out in particular.  I’m not one to seek out the center of attention and it makes me uncomfortable for people to fuss over me.  All I really ever expect or want out of my birthday is a card from my hubby and my own choice on what to have for dinner.    I know not exactly demanding the world am I?  I mean really when it coils down to it I am a fairly easy to please person and I would be just as happy having a cozy evening at home or a quiet dinner out.  Big parties tend not to be my style, although I was given one by my hubby for my 31st birthday and I really did enjoy it.  I tend to prefer small gatherings of very dear friends so I can actually enjoy their company instead of feeling so spread out I can’t spend time with anyone. 

This morning was lovely actually.  I lounged in bed with the pups for a while, hey were super cute this morning, and did my morning routine, got surprised by an attack birthday card in my medicne cabinet left by Kirk.  Then got surprised again by a card in my purse from Koni and Max.    So cute and sweet.

But the BEST part of my morning was a surprise phone call right before I left for work from my nieces and nephew wishing me a Happy Birthday!  They even sang to me!  I really enjoyed that, and it brightened my day in a way that nothing else could.  I got to talk to Morgan who called me, and she just turned 9 on Thursday, and Ally who will be 7 in July, and Di my sister-in-law, and my Mom and Dad-in-law who were all together in TX.  I’m somewhat sad because I wish I could be closer to spend more time withthe kids.  I really do love them tons and miss them even more. 

It’s made me decide that I am going to talk to Di about going out to visit for a long weekend sometime to spend time with the kids and my sister and brother-in-law.  I need to make more of an effort to see them because we just live so far away from each other.  So mybirthday is bittersweet.  I’m thrilled and also a little melancholy.  I really do miss my family in TX and AZ.  (Yes, I know they are Kirk’s family really but they’re mine now… *insert maniacal laughter here*) 

I’ve had a lot on my mind lately so perhaps that is influencing me.  Anyway, I’ll sign off now and enjoy my day!  I hope April 21st is a great day for you and yours.  It’s usally a pretty great day for me no matter where I am or what I am doing.

So much has been happening.  Let’s see, everything is lovely here, the pups are doing great, I’ve been doing a little knitting, and best of all, we built a fence!!!!

Yes, it’s true!  So visiting pups will have a fun place to play.  Hear that Chappy???

Knitting has consisted of a sock, my best buddy Anne and I are doing a personal knit along with all of the socks from the Interweave knits Favorite Socks book.  I’ve made the Retro Ribs before and I started the Waving Lace socks.  Anne has made the Embossed leaves and the Hidden Passion socks, and she’s making the Flame Waves now.  When she comes to visit I suspect we’ll do some sock knitting in between a visit to the MDS&W Festival…

Anyway, the other knitting I have done recently is that of a dodecohedron from a pattern called Celestine.  I saw the one that Theresa knitted and since I had a baby shower to go to and all of the registry items had already been bought I decided to make one for the baby to be.  Below are the before washing and after washing photos.  It’s cute both ways but I really think it looks like a Katamari after washing.

It went over well at the shower along with a gift card.    It was super fun to make, and if my pups did not make it their life’s mission to eviscerate plush toys I would make one for my boys.   

Not much is going on other than a lot of reading, working and playing with the pups.  I am hoping things start to slow down enough that I can have time with my friends again.

** Deb informed me that I haven’t talked about this before, but the basic gist is that our garage has been broken into 3 times in the last 6 months.  After the first time Kirk installed an alarm that has 2 zones that alert us to where in the garage someone may be. **

Ok, remember when I promised to share something about Koni?  Well, now is the time.  The night of the AFC Divisional Playoffs sadly the Ravens lost.  It was a good game and we were sad and bummed.  We got home, took the boys out for their final walk before bed and went to sleep.  Not 15 minutes after we got in bed at 11:00pm we heard it.  Main Garage, Main Garage, Main Garage.  This has become a call to action for us and Kirk got up and got dressed and I went to the phone and called 911.  This time we were a little smarter in some ways, dumber in others.  Kirk had a flashlight this time along with the .45, but didn’t have his glasses so while he saw 2 people in black clothes he couldn’t discern anything else due to his blindness. 

However, the other thing that happened is that Koni got out right as Kirk opened the door to confront the would-be criminals.  It was in the 20’s that night and Koni took off like a shot chasing one of the men.  Kirk saw one run behind the house and the other ran around to the front.  The police arrived within 2 minutes, again a testament to the local authorities and the K9 unit tracked one of the people to a community about 3 miles away.  The prints this time were different so we have new offenders.  Wonderful.  (We didn’t find that out until later of course)  During all the hub-bub we realized Koni had not come back yet.  When he ran outside he was growling and barking and neither of us saw where he had gotten to as it was pitch black and our adrenaline was pumping.  We were told by the police we couldn’t leave the house to go look for Koni due to the K9 unit and the risk of our being hurt.  We called our dear friends Lee & Julie (Racer & Nicks Mommy and Daddy) whose house we had just watched the game at.  They were kind enough to come over and look for Koni.  Lee & Julie looked for about an hour, came back to the house, then Kirk got in Lee’s truck with him and they went looking while Julie stayed with me to help me calm down.  I was pretty hysterical at this point as Koni had been gone for an hour and a half with no sign of him.  When the guys got back we did another quick sweep of the yard and told Lee & Julie to go home.  I had Max out with us as he was very upset too and keyed up after everything that had gone on. 

As we were turning to go back to the house Julie saw Koni crest the hill at the road that makes a “T” at the end of our yard.  She immediately called for Koni and he stopped right in the middle of the road.  Kirk and I started calling him and he ran back to the house!  Even though I had Max, Koni jumped off the step to me and I caught him and held him and wouldn’t let him go until we were in the house.  I was so relieved and crying and grateful he was ok.  I can’t tell you how frightened I had been.  He was gone for over 2 hours coming home just after 1:00am.  I know he was just trying to protect us by driving the threat away.

There are people who doubt providence and fate, but I am not one of these people.  I’ll give you a little background:  I live on a very busy street.  People drive WAY too fast on this road.  The speed limit is 35 and changes to 45 right after my neighbor’s house.  People drive very fast sometimes over 50mph and especially at night.  There is a stoplight at the end of my yard where that “T” intersection is.  traffic was fairly heavy when we were coming home, but when the thieves broke in and Kirk and Koni went outside there were no cars.  While Koni was gone there was a steady stream of cars.  When Julie saw Koni on the hill and in the road, there were no cars.  People can say whatever they want but I think something was looking out for Koni.  For him to have been safe for over 2 hours after running to who knows where I am just so grateful he came home to us unhurt.

I am forever in Julie’s debt for seeing Koni and helping him come home to us.  It’s a happy ending to what could have been a horrific thing.  Koni is our Protector and thank god that boomerang tendency of the Australian Shepherd kicked in and he found his way home.  The funny thing is he came back exactly in the direction that I have taken he & Max with me on my runs.  At least it was somewhere he was familiar with.  Had he gotten lost behind the house I don’t know that he would have been able to find his way home but since it was in neighborhoods i have taken them running at least he knew his way home.  All of this can be seen as mere coincidence but I think it’s something more. 

Kirk and I were so keyed up after the excitement of the night that we stayed up for a few hours afterwards fawning on Koni the whole time.  Poor pup!  He didn’t leave our sides for about 2 weeks after that and was visibly upset when we would leave the house.  He’s gotten back to normal since then but wow that was some scare. 

So anyway I wanted to tell you all that story now that I have recovered from the shock and fear of that day.  I still teared up even while typing it just remembering how upset and helpless Kirk & I felt not being able to go out and look for Koni ourselves. 

So give your furry friends some love and remind them how much you love them. 

When we woke up the next morning (really the same morning technically) we did some research on what to do about the windows.  We implemented a temporary solution of plywood on the inside of all the windows making it nigh impossible to get in without some serious effort.  When it gets warm we’ll look into other options.  We are thinking we’ll replace all of the garage windows (instead of the one we did before) and have a friend help us weld some bars to go on the inside of the windows to hopefully prevent a repeat performance. 

I wish we didn’t have to take these measures but my faith in my fellow human has deteriorated somewhat in the last 6 months and 3 break ins and frankly I don’t want there to be a 4th.

So that’s what has been going on with me…

SUPPOSEDLY if you’ve seen over 85 of these films, you have no life.

There are 239 films on this list. Copy this list, go to your own blog, paste this. Then, put x’s next to the films you’ve seen, add them up, change the header adding your number, and click post at the bottom. Have fun.

(x) Rocky Horror Picture Show
(x) Grease
(X) Pirates of the Caribbean
(X) Pirates of the Caribbean 2: Dead Man’s Chest
(X) Boondock Saints
(X) Fight Club
( ) Starsky and Hutch
(X) Neverending Story
(x) Blazing Saddles
(x) Airplane
Total:9
(x) The Princess Bride
(X) Anchorman
( ) Napoleon Dynamite
(X) Labyrinth
( ) Saw
( ) Saw II
( ) White Noise
( ) White Oleander
( ) Anger Management
( ) 50 First Dates
( ) The Princess Diaries
( ) The Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement
Total so far: 12
( ) Scream
( ) Scream 2
( ) Scream 3
( ) Scary Movie
( ) Scary Movie 2
( ) Scary Movie 3
( ) Scary Movie 4
( ) American Pie
( ) American Pie 2
( ) American Wedding
( ) American Pie Band Camp
Total so far: 12
(x) Harry Potter 1
(x) Harry Potter 2
(x) Harry Potter 3
(x) Harry Potter 4
( ) Resident Evil 1
( ) Resident Evil 2
(x) The Wedding Singer
( ) Little Black Book
( ) The Village
(x) Lilo & Stitch
Total so far: 18
(x) Finding Nemo
( ) Finding Neverland
( ) Signs
( ) The Grinch
( ) Texas Chainsaw Massacre
( ) Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning
( ) White Chicks
( ) Butterfly Effect
( ) 13 Going on 30
(x) I, Robot
(x) Robots
Total so far: 21
( ) Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story
(X) Universal Soldier
( ) Lemony Snicket: A Series Of Unfortunate Events
(X) Along Came Polly
(x) Deep Impact
( ) KingPin
( ) Never Been Kissed
( ) Meet The Parents
( ) Meet the Fockers
( )Eight Crazy Nights
( ) Joe Dirt
(x) KING KONG (The Original)
Total so far: 25
( ) A Cinderella Story
( ) The Terminal
( ) The Lizzie McGuire Movie
( ) Passport to Paris
( ) Dumb & Dumber
( ) Dumber & Dumberer
( ) Final Destination
( ) Final Destination 2
( ) Final Destination 3
( ) Halloween
(X) The Ring
( ) The Ring 2
( ) Surviving X-MAS
(X) Flubber [the original] (Which is actually The Absent Minded Professor with Fred MacMurray)
Total so far: 27
( ) Harold & Kumar Go To White Castle
( ) Practical Magic
( ) Chicago
( ) Ghost Ship
( ) From Hell
(X) Hellboy
( ) Secret Window
( ) I Am Sam
(X) The Whole Nine Yards
(X) The Whole Ten Yards
Total so far: 30
( ) The Day After Tomorrow
( ) Child’s Play
( ) Seed of Chucky
( ) Bride of Chucky
( ) Ten Things I Hate About You
( ) Just Married
( ) Gothika
(X) Nightmare on Elm Street
( ) Sixteen Candles
(X) Remember the Titans
( ) Coach Carter
( ) The Grudge
( ) The Grudge 2
( ) The Mask
( ) Son Of The Mask
total so far: 32
(X) Bad Boys
(X) Bad Boys 2
( ) Joy Ride
(X) Lucky Number Slevin
(X) Ocean’s Eleven
(X) Ocean’s Twelve
(X) Bourne Identity
(X) Bourne Supremecy
( ) Lone Star
( ) Bedazzled
(X) Predator
(X) Predator II
( ) The Fog
(x) Ice Age
(x) Ice Age 2: The Meltdown
( ) Curious George
Total so far: 43
(x) Independence Day
( ) Cujo
( ) A Bronx Tale
( ) Darkness Falls
(x) Christine
(x) ET
( ) Children of the Corn
( ) My Bosses Daughter
( ) Maid in Manhattan
(X) War of the Worlds
(X) Rush Hour
(X) Rush Hour 2
Total so far: 49
( ) Best Bet
( ) How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days
( ) She’s All That
( ) Calendar Girls
( ) Sideways
( ) Mars Attacks
( ) Event Horizon
(X) Ever After
(x) Wizard of Oz
(x) Forrest Gump
( ) Big Trouble in Little China
(x) The Terminator
(x) The Terminator 2
(x) The Terminator 3
Total so far:55
(x) X-Men
(x) X-2
(x) X-3
(x) Spider-Man
(X) Spider-Man 2
( ) Sky High
( ) Jeepers Creepers
( ) Jeepers Creepers 2
(X) Catch Me If You Can
(x) The Little Mermaid
(X) Freaky Friday (the original)
(X) Reign of Fire
( ) The Skulls
( ) Cruel Intentions
( ) Cruel Intentions 2
( ) The Hot Chick
(x) Shrek
(x) Shrek 2
Total so far: 66
( ) Swimfan
(X) Miracle on 34th street
( ) Old School
( ) The Notebook
(x) K-Pax
( ) Krippendorf’s Tribe
( ) A Walk to Remember
( ) Ice Castles
( ) Boogeyman
( ) The 40-year-old Virgin
Total so far: 68
(x) Lord of the Rings Fellowship of the Ring
(x) Lord of the Rings The Two Towers
(x) Lord of the Rings Return Of the King
(x) Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark
(x) Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom
(x) Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade
Total so far: 74
( ) Baseketball
( ) Hostel
( ) Waiting for Guffman
( ) House of 1000 Corpses
( ) Devils Rejects
( ) Elf
(x) Highlander
( ) Mothman Prophecies
( ) American History X
( ) Three
Total so Far: 75
( ) The Jacket
( ) Kung *** Hustle
( ) Shaolin Soccer
( ) Night Watch
(x) Monsters Inc.
(x) Titanic
(x) Monty Python and the Holy Grail
(X) Shaun Of the Dead
( ) Willa74
Total so far: 79
( ) High Tension (Haute Tension)
( ) Club Dread
(X) Hulk
( ) Dawn Of the Dead
(x) Hook
( ) Chronicles Of Narnia: The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe
( ) 28 days later
( ) Orgazmo
( ) Phantasm
(x) Waterworld
Total so far: 82
(X) Kill Bill vol 1
(X) Kill Bill vol 2
(X) Mortal Kombat
( ) Wolf Creek
(X) Kingdom of Heaven
( ) the Hills Have Eyes
( ) I Spit on Your Grave aka the Day of the Woman
( ) The Last House on the Left
( ) Re-Animator
( ) Army of Darkness
Total so far: 86
(x) Star Wars Ep. I The Phantom Menace
(x) Star Wars Ep. II Attack of the Clones
(x) Star Wars Ep. III Revenge of the Sith
(x) Star Wars Ep. IV A New Hope
(x) Star Wars Ep. V The Empire Strikes Back
(x) Star Wars Ep. VI Return of the Jedi
( ) Ewoks Caravan Of Courage
( ) Ewoks The Battle For Endor
Total so far: 92
(x ) The Matrix
(x) The Matrix Reloaded
(x) The Matrix Revolutions
(X) Animatrix
( ) Evil Dead
( ) Evil Dead 2
( ) Team America: World Police
( ) Red Dragon
(x) Silence of the Lambs
(  ) Hannibal
Total: 97 Ummm.  Wow.  That’s a lot…

So according to this survey I have no life, if that is the case, why am I so darn busy all the time????  That and these films span a VERY wide range of years. 

I got this from Risa. 

Lots has happened since my last post.  Assuming I have any readers left let me do a catch up here.

We went to Arizona for Christmas and spent it with my in-laws, my sister-in-law, my brother-in-law and my nieces and nephew.  My 2 nieces are 8 and 6 years old and my nephew is 4 years old.  We had never gotten to spend the holidays with the kids and it was really fun to watch them opening all their presents.  I really enjoyed the time with the kids and I wish they were a little closer than 2,000 miles away.

We had a couple days with my in-laws before everyone else arrived and we took a day to go to Sedona and enjoy the red rocks.  I even saw something I had never seen before.  It was a purple cactus.  Yeah, seriously, in fact, here is a picture.

So, knitting wise, I am finished with Celtic Dreams!

So, once Celtic Dreams was done I could start on the sweater kit I received for Christmas 2007.  I know I didn’t tell you all about that, but I received an Alice Starmore kit to make the Oregon Cardigan in the Autumn colourway which was shown in the Winter issue of Vogue Knits.  My in-laws were wonderful enough to give it to me for Christmas so I decided to work on it while I was with the family.  I tend to think about the circumstances and people I was with when I knit my sweaters.  So when I wear them later I have lots of wonderful memories.  I hadn’t started the cardigan before this because I wanted to finish Celtic Dreams before I made another sweater.  So after finishing CD around Thanksgiving I decided to start Oregon on December 6th.  Here are some photos of what I got done while I was gone.

I took a week off Oregon to knit a Hallowig for my friend Rickey.  Now, you can laugh if you want but keep in mind that pink is SO not my colour.  That and the serious expression is due to taking a photo in my bathroom mirror without being able to see what I was photographing…

And if you have read this far you get a photo of the Koni bear to enjoy…  More news next post…

The last few weeks have been pretty busy for me.  Last weekend Kirk & I went to Ocean City, MD with L&J and M&S to stay for the weekend in M&S’s townhouse there.  It was SO much fun!  But, I didn’t bring a camera which is probably a good thing as it forced me to enjoy the visit not scope out photo ops.  (Although the beach early in the morning is a great photo op to be sure.)

But, what I did do some of was knit.  In fact I began and completed an entire cowl!!!  My first and I definitely think I will make more of these.  The yarn you may recognize as the same as the Princess Wrap I made a while back, and was a gift from Deb the very first time she and Chappy came down to visit me.  It’s 100% silk and totally luscious.  Anyway I wanted to make something else from it since I had so much left and that’s how the Cowl idea started along with the growing Cowl trend out there right now.  This one is called the Stacked Eyelet Cowl and I found the picture on Ravelry and had to make it as I thought that would be a great pair with the silk and an easy project to do while at the ocean imbibing adult tasty beverages and chatting with friends into the wee hours.

Indeed it was a good choice!  I began and finished the entire thing that weekend and ever also knit a ballband dishcloth too!

I’m quite pleased with how both turned out.  I will have to tweak the pattern a bit if I am to make a close fitting cowl around my neck with that yarn, but my initial thought is to combine it with another yarn and work them together, perhaps with a Chocolate brown handspun or something…  Much to think about on that front…  Anyway, that isn’t all that has been happening…

Some of you know that my baby boy Max has had some serious skin issues due to allergies over the years.  It got to the point where we had to go see a dermatologist for him as it was causing serious skin infections that were not going away with steroids and heavy antibiotics.  After a 6 week course of antibiotics he was well enough to undergo allergy testing.  Now, for humans as well as dogs this involves lots of needle injections and looking for nasty reactions.  My boy was sedated and shaved and stuck with 65 needles!!!!  Here’s what he looked like afterwards.

We were sure we would end up having to do allergy shots with him for the rest of his life, but No!  As it turns out it appears his allergies are diet related so he is on a prescription vegetarian kibble and strict vegetarian diet.  No treats of any kids except bananas, green beans (if he likes them but we aren’t sure yet if he does) and the occasional apple slice. No peanut butter, no milkbones, no dairy.  Fun times.  My poor vegetarian pit bull.  But, here’s the thing.  He seems to really like the veggie kibble and he is getting so much happier.  I can tell he is feeling better since he is playing and making mischief with his brother again and ever terrorizing the kitty a little too!  It’s so nice to see him feeling well again.  So after a 10 week trial diet we will see how it goes. 

Just the cuff of the 2nd sleeve and some end weaving to go on Celtic Dreams and it will be ready for blocking!!!  Yay!  I am pretty thrilled as I will be taking it with me to wear in AZ for Christmas. 

I have a few more posts percolating in this head of mine,  but or now I am going back to bed.  I was totally awake at 4am and now at 6am I am tired again.  But hey, it’s a Saturday so I am able to go back to bed and enjoy so puppy snuggles. 

Cheers!

Well, I did my first 5K on September 27th.  I woke up to pouring rain and chilly temperatures.  I looked at the radar and saw that it was possibly going to clear up so I decided to go ahead and run.  My hubby drove me the 40 minutes to the site of the run.  It was still pouring rain.  I got ready to run, had done my stretching at the house and was getting myself psychologically and physically ready.  It was cold, but I decided that the rain would keep me cool.  I was getting nervous because it was SO humid out.  It wasn’t only raining, but it was also foggy/misting.  Crazy weather.  SO we all lined up at the start area and then were informed that the race was to be postponed by an hour.  Now, the original start time was 8am.  I am SO not a morning person.  I do all my runs in the evening.  My friend Julie wanted to come and watch me and maybe walk the 5K with me.  So as it turned out she was able to join me for the event which was wonderful.

Here’s what I looked like before the start of the race:

Not sure if you can tell but I am soaked.  This was before we were told we had to wait another hour.
Now, there were 9 hills on the course.  How do I know?  I counted every one as I ran up it.  I walked down one of the hills at the urging of a police officer due to streaming water across the road.  Good times.  Here’s what I looked like at the end. 

They were pulling the bottom of my number off for their records.  The finish was at the top of a steep incline.  Their idea of fun apparently.

I did not run the entire thing.  I walked for about a total of 3 -4 minutes.  (Half of those were when myself and 3 other people got lost.  I was completely unfamiliar with the area, and it was not well marked.)

But anyway, my friend Julie walked it with me, and we were both soaked by the end.  But we did it and we had fun.  Here we are together in our soaked but very happy condition.

It took me about 45 minutes.  A little less.  But as I said it was pouring rain, cold (in the upper 50’s) and we were all un-stretched.  I finished before all the walkers though.  SO my first 5K is behind me.  I’m sure I will do another in a few weeks.

But I just wanted all of you to know that I did it. 

A few weeks ago when I started blogging again I told you my lovely readers that I was running.  But I didn’t really tell you why.  I went to the Dr. on the 4th of August and was told I had high cholesterol.  In order to combat it I made a few changes in my life.  I cut out all fried foods, cheese, alcohol and began exercising.  I now exercise 6 days a week by either running or going to the gym.  I’ve done this since August 4th.  On September the 16th I went and had my blood taken again to see if I was able to lower it on my own or if I would need medication.

My original Cholesterol number was 253.  I went to the Doctor yesterday to get my results from the second test.  Ok, so, are you ready????  I went from 253 to 181!!!!!  That is a reduction of over 70 points!!!!  So, I went from dangerously high cholesterol to below the high range of normal!  YAY!  No medication for me!  I’m so tickled with myself for being able to do this.  The diet helped but I think the exercise is what is making a difference. 

So I’ll keep plodding along on my runs and working my butt off with my trainer.  Hopefully I’ll be able to say I am fit and trim eventually, but even if I don;t lose any more weight than I already have (5lbs) I am super happy because I am healthier and don’t need any meds!!!!  The extra weight won’t kill me but that cholesterol could have.  I mean my mom had a stroke at 40 and we both have similar blood chemistry, normal Blood pressure and no other warning signs other than cholesterol.  SO I was pretty scared.

But anyway, that’s my FANTASTIC news!!!!!  YAY me! 

It’s true!  The Entrelec Socks are Done!  It’s been quite a journey.  The first sock was straight forward.  Worked fine, no drama, great finished product.  I cast on the second sock right away but somehow it lingered and languished.  On size 0 needles it was by far the tightest gauge I have ever knit.  9 stitches to the inch. 

But there were casualties.  The sock came to CA on a business trip with me in May.  We had a great flight but I dropped a needle and couldn’t find it.  So, I scoured the local area for a yarn shop that would have double pointed 0’s in stock.  I finally found one that was open early enough that I could get there in time before my flight.  Ok, that problem was solved.  I finished the foot and turned the heel by the time we got home.  I couldn’t remember for the life of me how I added the extra rectangles in order to make a gusset.  The pattern doesn’t call for one but it’s too uncomfortable with the tight gauge to not have a gusset.  These were my first toe up socks and I realize they won’t all be so challenging to complete but so far I think it causes too many ends to weave in…  After a couple of months of thinking about how to get that gusset to work I finally remembered in August.  So I started chugging away on the leg…

I was 2 rows of rectangles away from the ribbing and left the sock on the dining room table.  I came home to this:

Yes, 3 of the 4 needles are completely bent beyond recognition.  What you can’t see is that the 4th needle has the plating chipped off by little Koni teeth…  Because that wasn’t enough fun, the yarn ball was completely tangled too.  This caused the sock to take quite a while to finish.  But finish I did.  Here is the difference that blocking makes on these socks.  See the fully blocked sock next to the one right off the needles.

Ok, so with those done, I started the 2nd sleeve of Celtic Dreams!!!  Shocking I know!  I mean I started this sweater the weekend I met Deb & Chappy for the first time which was what, 2 years ago?? 

So I have been doing some things other than running.