Blog is the New Black

A new low

This time I ate an M&M out of the trash.  I had the last M&M in one hand, and the empty bag in the other hand, and I threw away the M&M and held onto the bag.  I wish I could say that there wasn't anything in the trash that you wouldn't mind having near your food, but I can't.  I CAN say that the M&M wasn't directly touching any of those objects.

In my defense, it was the last M&M.  If there had been more, I would have left it in the trash.

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Why no blogging?

I have to say I was holding out for more comments on the teddy bear, to no avail.  I must therefore assume that because I have been lax in my commenting (as usual), you are all retailiating by witholding comments in return.  I must say that I think this is beneath you.

Oh, and also I am lazy and didn't feel like writing anything.

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General life update

No 5K on May 10.  I made it to the very last week, and then got cocky.  I ran 2.5 miles on Monday, and it turned out to be more than I was ready for.  I tried to run on Thursday and couldn't do more than a couple of minutes.  So I skipped the race and took a few more days off to recuperate, in the hopes that it was not a long-term injury.

I went running again this past Monday, and although there was a little twinge here and there, it wasn't anywhere as bad as I feared.  But, bizarrely, my legs have been hurting "real bad" this week just from walking around.  Tonight will be my next trip to the gym, so I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

If all goes well, I'm aiming for a re-do at the Cooley 5K Race for Education on June 6.

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I don't have the energy to do a whole-life report, and there hasn't been a lot of excitement going on anyway.  My sister came to visit last weekend and we took my mom to brunch and then to the casino for Mother's Day (white trash, unite!).  We were trying to think of something different to do, and that's what I came up with.

As usual, my sister ended up pissing me off, which ended with me ignoring her when she left, and then her calling my mom to pass on the message "thanks for saying goodbye."  The same night my mom told me "thanks for putting the macaroni and cheese away" (long story), so that was twice in one night I was thanked for things I didn't actually do.  Of course I was polite and said "you're welcome!"

So that's enough of my family and our passive-agressive ways.

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If I ever get less lazy, I have some cute pictures of my youth to show you.  I'll try to get around to that soon.

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I'm supposed to get my free-but-not-really money from the guvmint tomorrow, which is nice because I'm taking my car in for maintenance work on Monday and I don't have any money.  Keep your fingers crossed for me!

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Local peeps, I'll be having an arts n' crafts day, along with a Lia Sofia jewelry party, on Saturday, June 6, so put it on your calendars.  Feel free to come hang out with your knitting, or do scrapbooking and whatnot if that's your thing.  Keep in mind that I have tons of wine that needs to be used up, if that's an incentive.

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Alrighty, I need to get to the gym and then home in time for the Office season finale, so I'm out of here!  Maybe see you at the East Lansing Art Fair this weekend?  Weather permitting, I'll be there Sunday after I pick Annie up from her grooming appointment.

A bear...literally and figuratively

Figuratively...I ran 2 miles yesterday!  My legs be killin' me.  But, I'm almost convinced that I might actually be able to do this 5k on May 10.

Literally...

This is the only clean area in my office.

I was getting ready for the MMKG charity knitting on Sunday and realized that I didn't have any charity knitting in progress to take.  I remembered the Mother Bear Project and decided that I'd make a teddy bear.  I got started Saturday night, finished most of it Sunday, and stuffed it last night.

It's the "Cashmere Teddy Bear" from Simple Knits for Cherished Babies by Erika Knight.  It's not cashmere.

I don't have kids, but I think I'd equate this little bear with childbirth.  The end result is so cute that I almost immediately forgot about the preceeding 12 hours (it seemed like) of pure torture.  This bear takes major skillz to put together symmetrically/attractively, skillz that I don't possess.  It's my first stuffed animal, so maybe it'll get easier.

Good news here: this bear cost less than a dollar.  The yarn is some baby-weight cotton that I bought on clearance at Threadbear for $1.50, and I used less than half of a 50g ball.  (Why would anyone buy baby yarn in TAN?  Even I, the queen of neutrals, wouldn't make anything tan for a baby.  It's the sale, I tell you!  My brain is overcome by the sale every time.  So this was the perfect solution to get rid of [a tiny bit of] it.)  I had to bust out 35 cents for the embroidery floss, and I already had the ribbon.

This bear turned out way smaller than I expected, so I just checked the Mother Bear Project website to see if there were size restrictions.  Imagine my surprise when I read that all their bears have to be made from the same pattern (available for the low, low price of $5).  Which happens to be NOT cute at all, and I think this is a stupid rule.  This is also an example of why it's helpful to have a computer at your house, to check things like this BEFORE you knit a bear.

So, I guess this bear will be a present for an upcoming work baby.  I have already started on another one (started before I put this one together) in heavier yarn to make it bigger.  I have no idea what I'll do with that one.  Maybe keep it for my very own and look at it and squeeze it and bite it.

Because it is SO CUTE!!!

So many choices for the new black today...

Zicam? NyQuil? Financial responsibility (which continues to elude me)? Running? ME running? Lace? Take your pick.

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So on Friday, I mentioned my busy weekend.  Saturday morning I got up plenty early and went to a stamp camp from 10:30 to 12:30 (no pictures, sorry).  Then I went to Parma to meet my friends Kris and Kara and check out the Pioneer Wine Trail.  They had an event where you could go to every winery (7 total) and have a wine and food pairing, and then do their usual tasting.  I promised myself that I'd only buy one bottle of wine due to my previous financial indiscretion.

Oops.  Okay, the last 3 bottles I bought were pretty cheap, so I couldn't resist (as you can tell by the screw-off cap).

We ended up in Dundee when all was said and done, and then drove up to Ann Arbor.  Now let's pause for a little background info.

Breadsticks are one of my primary joys in life, and I consider myself a connoisseur.  So I don't say this lightly - hands down, the best breadsticks ever are at Good Time Charley's.  They are filled with cheddar and pepper jack cheese and served with delicious homemade ranch sauce.  I have seriously been daydreaming about them since the last time I had them, close to 10 years ago.  I've tried a couple of times in the past couple of years, but circumstances conspired against me.  Finally, on Saturday, I took a voluntary day off from healthy eating and I ate them all up.  They were SO GOOD!!!

Then, onto the final activity of the evening:

Brian Vander Ark concert.  You would never recognize him from his Verve Pipe days.  Then, finally home and to bed after a very long day!

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I've been pretty smug about being the only person who didn't get sick this winter, but on Sunday I woke up with the beginnings of a cold.  So I pretty much sat around and read (the third Southern Vampire book, and started on the fourth) and made cards all day.  Still no knitting.

I was almost looking forward to calling in sick on Monday, but Zicam came through for me as always and I felt almost totally better in the morning.  I've got a little bit of a cough, but that's it.  Plus, thanks to NyQuil, I've gotten the best 2 nights sleep that I've had in months - even with the cold.

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So, back to that other financial indiscretion.  Last week my boss revealed that we were allowed to wear peep-toe shoes, after years of no toes whatsoever.  So I immediately headed to DSW...no luck.  Then to Younker's...no luck.  But still I ended up with:

4 pairs, none of them peep-toe.  The search is being called off since I cannot behave myself in the presence of shoes.  It's the sale, I tell you!  I can't resist a sale!  (PS Younker's has some great shoes on clearance right now if you're looking.)

One pair is actually knitting related (the ones waaay in the back), in that I hope to be able to wear my handknit socks OUT of the house.  Finally.

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Once upon a time this was a knitting blog, so I finally got around to taking some pictures of a long ago FO.  Here's my first lace of any significance, also my mom's Christmas present:

It's the "Shetland Pattern for a Shawl" from Victorian Lace Today.  Yarn is Haindmaden silk from my SP9 pal, colorway unknown (no label).  Oh yeah...please don't tell my mom how all the dog hair got on her scarf, kay?

Here are some closer shots:

 

The color of this yarn freaked my camera right out.  This last picture was as close as I could get.

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A while ago, Judi asked for more pictures of Annie.  Thank you, Judi, you are my new favorite person!  Just for you, here's one more:

Kids...always wanting to try on their moms' shoes.

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Oh yeah...I ran a mile and a half yesterday!  Thanks to my cold, I felt like I'd been swallowing knives by the time I got done.  But someday I'll think it was worth it (not today).

Butterflies are the new black

I could so easily have left without doing this, but I did promise.  Here is an example of the cards we made at stamp club on Wednesday:

The marbled effect is created by putting drops of ink onto a wadded up baby wipe, and then blotting the ink onto the stamp.  We also made a bookmark out of a giant paper clip:

I'm itching to get out of here, it's so nice outside.  Way too nice to work late.  Tomorrow's going to be one of the busiest days I've had in a long time, so stay tuned for a recap on Monday.  I might also actually show some knitting projects, if I get out in the sun to take pictures.

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I've been thinking of signing up for another knitting class, but I might have to rethink that after a small monetary issue I had yesterday.  I'll tell you all about that on Monday, as well.

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Today's weight: 184.5 lbs (2 lbs lost).  That's more like it!

Diet: I am all things virtuous and good.

Exercise: I did yesterday's workout all right, but I'm still having a hard time envisioning how I'm ever going to run 3.1 miles all at once.  There will be no time for running tomorrow, so I'll be back to it Sunday.  Nothing particularly difficult until next week.

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Have a good weekend!

Telling people how much you weigh is the new black

I figured I was probably the only overweight person (outside of The Biggest Loser, where you have the chance to win money) telling everyone how much they weighed.  I really don't care so much, because it's not like I'm invisible.  Keeping the number a secret isn't going to prevent people from knowing that I'm a bit on the fluffy side.  Y'all have working eyeballs (as far as I know).

But it turns out I'm in the midst of a whole trend without even knowing it.  I just saw that Amby put it out there, being inspired by someone else, who is apparently inspired by like 3 other people.  Go figure.

So, you may (or may not) have noticed that I haven't mentioned a number in the past couple of days.  I'm back to 186 as of this morning (.5 lbs lost), due to some self-control issues.  I'm trying to get back on the wagon, but all it takes is one little taste and then I just want more! more! more!

Yesterday's Diet: Not bad until about 10pm, when I ate 2 slices of cheese, a piece of pizza, a peanut butter sandwich, and 2 glasses of milk in about 5 minutes.  No, I wasn't hungry.  Have you ever had that feeling that you need to feel full and you need to feel full RIGHT NOW?  Yeah, it was like that.

Today's regimen: 3 minute run/1 minute walk for 28 minutes.  I had to add some longer rest breaks last time, so I'm hoping for a better result today.  Just over 3 weeks until D-Day!

Tomorrow I'll show you the cards we made at stamp club last night.  Worth the wait!

Daily Bagel cake is the new black

The outwardly humble Daily Bagel cake, beloved by all who taste it.  Hooray for office birthday parties.

I wonder what the people in the Accident Fund building were thinking while I was taking this picture?

I have not been showing the love to the non-knitting crafts lately.  To remedy, here are the swap cards I made for my Stamp Club meeting tonight:
I was going for something super quick since I didn't get home from the knitting guild meeting until 9:00 or so, but of course I still managed to spend 3 hours making 8 cards.

The knitting guild speaker last night was Natalie from iKnitiative, and I recognized one of the patterns on her list.  One I owned for a few hours.

Running update: I ran a mile on Monday, the first time since I was 14 years old, a freshman in high school.  While I was running, I was thinking about that, and I realized that it was 17 YEARS AGO.  How did that happen?

Time elapsed: 2 minutes.

Quick bit o' nothing

I had a nice weekend even though I seem to be suffering from some type of insomnia which prevents falling asleep until 3am.  I solved that problem last night with a glass of strawberry wine from Leelanau Cellars.

I didn't knit a stitch all weekend - mostly because I've gotten back into a reading phase, and I can't knit and read at the same time.  Unfortunately, the way I read it's even more expensive than knitting!  I read 3 books on vacation.  Then on my Dog Rescuer/Knitter Swap pal Jennifer's recommendation I tried out Charlaine Harris's Southern Vampire novels.  I read the first one after I got back from vacation along with another book I picked up at the same time.  Then I bought the second one in the series on Saturday night and had it finished before I got up on Sunday (it was noon, so what?) and I'm already feeling the urge to go get the next one.  So that makes 6 novels in 2 weeks.  At $8 a pop it's not really economical, but I hate getting books from the library.  Why do they always smell like old people's houses and have crusty bits on the pages?  Do you all drop food (or who knows what) on the pages of your books and just leave it there?

I also spent 3 hours brushing Annie (right side Saturday night, left side Sunday morning) in preparation for taking her to the dog wash at MSU on Sunday afternoon.  While we were there we ran into Rae with Robin and ... (Japanese sounding name?).  I would have taken pictures but I didn't think the dog washer would appreciate pictures of her asscrack being displayed on the Internet.  Listen up, college age girls!  If you are engaging in activities that require sitting/crouching/bending over, please leave the low rise jeans at home or PUT ON A BELT!  You don't seem to be feeling the breeze, but take it from me - your asscrack IS on display.

I didn't run all weekend because after last Thursday's regimen (3 minutes running/1 minute walking for 28 minutes), I was feeling some residual shin pain and figured I'd better take some rest before I got the dreaded shin splints (or worse).  Today I'm supposed to be doing a 2 mile run "easy."  Um, couldn't we start out with a 1 mile run "easy" before progressing to the 2 mile run "easy"?  And thank you, training calendar developers, for adding that last bit.  If you hadn't reminded me to take it "easy," I would surely be sprinting all the way.

I think it's fair to say that there is little to no chance of this happening.  I think I'll start out with the goal of doing 1 mile run (easy) and then some 1 minute run/1 minute walk action, unless I start having leg pain.  I'll let you know tomorrow how it went.

Take 2

Okay, for real now.  Here's what I've been up to.

I have been traveling:
Alamo!

Natural Bridge! (namesake of Natural Bridge Caverns)

Dolphin!

Sinister!

OttersleepingcutenessOMG!!!

I have been trapping:
Hello!  My name is Mr. Cute!  I am not allowed to live in the kitchen cupboards, so I am being relocated to the barn.

I have been knitting:
Okay, this is another total cop-out because I finished this a couple of months ago, but it's the only thing I've taken pictures of.

Pattern: Taiga, displayed on my office carpet.

Comments: This pattern sucks ass.  I was all excited to knit it, and then I realized that except for the top/handles, they just have you knit 2 big squares and then shape it by hand after you felt it.  WTF?  Isn't the whole point of knitting your own crap the fact that you can make things in whatever shape you want them?  So I finagled the bottom and side shaping all by myself.

Also, there is no gauge or finished dimensions listed in the pattern.  It tells you to knit until it's 15" tall or something, but it doesn't tell you anything about the corresponding width.  So my gauge must have been way off, so that it was 15" tall but about twice as wide as it probably should have been.  So I ended up having to cut a bunch off the sides and sew it back together.  I guess you get what you pay for, and the pattern is free, so there you go.

Yarn: Cascade 220 (Take that, Berroco, in return for your sucky free pattern!  I didn't even use your yarn!).  2 heathery colors, one a dark mustard-ish and the other a dark green-ish.

New techniques: Needlefelting - the yarn for that is Debbie Bliss SoHo (screwed you again, Berroco!)

Destiny: This has gone to live with my friend Holly in DC for her 2007 Christmas present.  She has already gotten the mad compliments.

Okay that's enough procrastinating.  Because of this...

Today's regimen: 3 minutes running/1 minute walking for 28 minutes.  Ouch!

I'm back...and ready for a nap.

Hi!  I'm back!  Would you like to know what I've been doing?  Well, I'd love to tell you, because I have taken some pictures and have the camera battery all charged up.  But unfortunately, right after I typed that second sentence I realized that I don't have the GD camera cord to plug it into the computer.  So keep your fingers crossed that I have the energy to try this again tomorrow night.

In the meantime, here's some more boring information without pictures.  But first, I have to say thanks to Kelli, who always comments even on my most boring posts (see: my previous post).  Thanks, Kelli!

I've still been running in preparation for The Big Day.  I ran twice during my vacation, which is twice more than I've run on any other vacation in history.

Monday's Regimen: 2 minutes running/1 minute walking for 30 minutes (in case you don't take the time to do the math, I would like to point out that this adds up to 20 MINUTES of running).
Status: Complete!  I think I died once or twice but I've since recovered.

Diet: Well, today I didn't have any lemon bars, which was an improvement over yesterday when I had 2 lemon bars, which was an improvement over Monday when I had 6 lemon bars.  Lemon bars are my absolute favorite dessert in bar format.

Today's Weight: 184 lbs. (2.5 lbs lost!).  I weighed exactly the same when I came back from vacation as I did when I left, which is a major accomplishment all by itself.

Today's Regimen: Rest!!!  Yesterday was rest too.  More running tomorrow...

Okay, I'll try to remember the camera cord tomorrow, along with the candy I brought back from Texas for my co-workers.

Hi and bye!

It's 9pm and I'm still at work, but I don't care because I'm going ON VACATION!  Before I leave, I would just like to state for the record that I have lost 1 pound.  Because I am going ON VACATION and I'm sure I will have found it again (and then some) by the time I get back.

See you all on April 7.  In the meantime, don't mess with Texas.  Because that's where I'll be.