Ten Things Thursday: Some Do It..I have no Idea who started it.

1.  Sometimes these topics help me think of stuff to say.  It is funny. I have two other blogs that I never write on.  On of them I REALLY should because it is for the shop.  I would much rather post here.  Why is that you think?

2.  I have stuff to do but I am too tired.  I did NOT have a coffee today.  I think I need one?  What do you think?

3.  I still have a cedar garland hanging in the front of my house with lights!  Do you think February is the new Jan?  Below is a photo from last week:  It was Coooollllddd.

4.  I love photos in blogs but never seem to do a good job of uploading any for you. Should I try harder?

5.  I got a haircut yesterday.  My nail lady expanded and hired a hairdresser He left and now a new one has come in.  I really liked the old guy (John).  He did great color and man o man the massages that man could give.  He left to go somewhere else.  I am rather sad.  His replacement seems nice enough.  She knits and says she will come visit me here at the shop.  She works part time at another shop near here.  Is your hair dresser a man or a woman?  Which do you prefer and why?

6. The Gray is back!  We have had a really cold couple of weeks and I was beginning to freeze into a solid block of ice. On the up side we had sunshine with that cold.  Now we are back to gray skies and at least a little warmer temps.  Which do you prefer? Below is a photo of a project we are doing in the shop. It is a sky scarf.  You go out each day at noon and look up at the sky.  You then match one of 15 colors to that sky color and knit or crochet a row.

7.  I just plugged in my 'happy light'  The cat and I are now enjoying a little light therapy.  Do you suffer from SAD? Have you done anything for it?

8.  On Saturday one the teachers from the shop came in and we did some yarn dying with koolaid.  It was cool!  Have you ever dyed anything?

 The instructor Dorie

 You can see the Koolaid packets.  My yarn took two.

Dipping the yarn in warm water to get it ready to go into the Koolaid.

 These two squirted their Koolaid onto the yarn

 I dipped mine into the two colors I chose (Black Cherry and Orange).  The two containers and yarn went into a microwave and cooked, cooled and then rinsed in warm water.

The koolaid was really great.  When we rinsed it no color came out at all.

The finished blue and purple yarn

 Dore dyed a blank (yarn that has been knit onto a machine.  You then reknit it into whatever you want to make.

 Our finished yarns mingled on the table.

9.  Saturday night my grandson had a sleepover.  We decided to make a felted ladybug.  He is only four but with supervision/help and only one bandaid he made a great ladybug.

 punching the blob of red wool into a ladybug shape

 He wanted the ladybug to be round and smooth so we took the started ball into the bathroom added soap and rolled it around, rinsed and then went back into the shop for more needle poking.

 Next we poked on the black head, stripe and dots.  This part required some help.  He told me where to start the shapes and then he took over to make them smooth.

 10.  I Spin sheep fleece into yarn.  Up until now I purchased my already cleaned and dyed fleeces but this summer I received two fleeces in the mail.  One from a friend in the Faroe Islands and another from the Gulf Coast (LA).  I have been a little afraid to do anything with them because I didn't want to screw anything up.  The dying session helped me gain confidence.  Saturday night I got warm water, squirted in Dawn dishwashing liquid and went to town prepping it.  All this week I have added more fleece and rinsed the other.  I am hoping by Saturday to have an entire sheep's fleece cleaned and ready to card into something spinnable.  One of my customers has a drum carder and she said she will bring it over for me to try out. I cannot wait!!  Do you do fun crafty things?  What kinds?

The fleece came in the email in this bag.  It is dirty and smells of sheep (yum)..I like the smell of sheep.

The first wash shows just how dirty those little guys get running around the fields.  Yup..dirt, poop and grease.

 Close up but this is wash two.

 Every day I change the water and soap.  the cleanest half is now in rinse stages. You have to be careful with wool. You can heat it up but if you agitate it too much or cool it down to fast it will felt.

 It is still a bit yellow but I think this is just what color the fleece is.  It will be interesting to see if it takes dye well and spins well.

Always Look on the Bright Side :) or is that Back-Side

Just and update:

I am up and stable about 15 pounds from goal (I sway between 176-180.  I am usually cool with it..until I stand in my closet.  My lovely closet full of clothes for a girl who weighs 160-165.  Until now I mostly resisted the urge to trade up :) Although I have one size 10 pair of jeans from a trip to an eating free for all in Vegas and a size 12 pair of levis from this fall.

Today I cracked again but..for the sake of crack. :)  I traded up because...I am suffering from 'baby got back'  Whenever I bend over the skin and some new fat come spilling out of the top of my jeans.  If I had gone under the knife for a body lift this would of course not exist.  If I still weighed 160-165 my less fluffy back would just slip right down into that waistband.  Not today though..today was the last blooming day I could stand my back jumping out of my jeans..and here is why...

it if F-ing cold outside.  Whenever I bend over that damnable back fat came launching out and froze me to death!  My stubborn self froze to death by back fat I'm telling you :)

After Grace finished up her morning math/science class at her school we popped into Fred Mayer (my go to store for jeans..and groceries and coffee and well everything!!)..kind of like Tescos for you Brits.

So anyhow..just to add fluff to my back fat I invested in a coffee and then we were off.  We looked at the Valentines day goods..We wandered around the office supplies because I do love them so.  I picked up some pre-perferated printy cards that make index sized cards.  I also got a three ring punch (my other one has been lost for more than 3 years and it still has not surfaced).  I found a long length thermal shirt (might hold some back fat in)...then some underwear (because instead of granny pants I now wear hipsters).  oh..and then I ran across the women's department and there was a 50% off reduced price sale on rack after rack of pants/jeans.  I pulled 6 pairs to try on.  Grace pulled 2 from the non-sale size (darned kid!).

I found a pair of mom pants that go all the way up to my WAIST!!!  no back fat!!!!  They are size 12.  two sizes bigger than my smallest.  Gloria Vanderbilt is a brand that never fit before but these do..they are like trouser pants in cut.  I also found a similar pair of green cords too.

so at the end of this ramble (I do like a good ramble).  I have come up with this...

I am getting older and my junk is shifting.  I can live with the move to a size 12 for now.  I cannot after all continue to flash my back to the world.  I will keep my two new bigger girl pants but get rid of the other two big girl pants on my shelf cause they are way to short waisted.  THEN..I will get the newly uncovered bike thingy and hook my lovely neglected bike onto it in the shop workspace.  I will ride that thing as I have been saying I will do for almost a year now..and hopefully get some fitness back..damnit it.  Maybe I can even shed some weight and some of that damned back I have going on.

 Both examples of my best back...I am on the far right in both.  My back is doing fine here as both photos were taken when I weighed between 160-165.

I had a good look for some bad back pictures..apparently I have been in control of the camera a lot lately.  :)  only a few faces and from the front shots were available.

xxxooo

A Banded Bender

I remember way back...back when a food bender was a lot.  In fact I remember childhood days where we had taco eating contests and my aunt and uncles.  I distinctly remember once eating 12 tacos.  Any how as I moved into adult hood the benders  usually were on holidays.  A great big turkey dinner with all of the trimmings.  the run up days filled with cookies and drinks.  I always gained weight over the holiday.

As much as I would like to say I never have benders anymore I can't.  I am not always sure what brings them on.  Emotions? Stress? Hormones?  Who knows.  Wednesday was a bender day.

1. Three peppermint mocha frapps (no I have not managed to get off them and yes I know it is a big problem) spread throughout the day
2. Breakfast: one cup oatmeal with brown sugar.
3. Several short bread cookies
4. 1/2 bologna sandwich with cheese, mayo and relish.
5. McDonalds (yes I slept with my old boyfriend)-1 child size fries, 1/2 cheeseburger.
6. 1 cup OJ

This much food is weight gaining quantities big time.  To be fair...I did find out (Thank Goodness) that McDonald's and I are still no good for each other.  I kept the fries and burger down until 9pm (had them at 5ish)  I attempted to take a few sips of the child size diet coke and viola...over the next hour the burger and fries returned.

I know it doesn't look like that much but it is.  I normally have the coffee for breakfast..no actual food (although it should be the other way around-food no coffee).  Lunch is fine.  The other two coffees NOT.  McDonalds should have been a no go.  I won't for a long long long time that I can say with confidence.

The points-

1. No matter how long you have had the band those old nagging urges to be naughty come back.
2. We cannot always be good but the band is there still to give us a quick kick up the arse.
3. I know..all of this food would have been fine if would just quit with the slider stuff..It is a real problem that I see myself writing again and again on screen and failing again and again to solve.

And that my dears is life 'at goal'.  Still struggling, always struggling.

xxxooo

Talk about a roller coaster-

This weekend I was all sweetness and light.  Today not so much..I have a feeling it is hormones.  They bite..big time.

What should have been relaxing 'day' off was a touch stressy.  What does this girl do when she stresses?  Why manage to fool her old band into eating more than it should.  Coffee-check, ice cream? check...tsk tsk.  In the end I didn't really get a 'day' off as morning was the school run where I edited a paper.  In the afternoon my planned Downton Abby TV time with Grace became phone conference with a student, older daughter needing a checkbook that hubby had at work with him, cleaning out paperwork.  At one point my hormonal pity party reached a peak and I cried a little.  I packed up some checks, walked to the bank and had coffee number two with a little sitting down time.  It helped a little.

This emotional crap is for the birds however.  I am too busy this term to be dealing with stupid menopause uppydowniness.  (If I had a camera handy Which I don't I would take a photo of me shaking my fist at the gods....or one..or none..you know...that whole damn you higher power routine.

Teaching my night class was a mood lifter-thankfully.  the weather is a bit cold right now so I was a bit worried about my commute (it is across town about 45 minutes from my home).  I take a back way down a really slippery windy road on Mondays and it was 31 the whole way.  I took it slow but needless to say I was a bit jumpy about what the weather was going to do as it got dark.  I decided to get through the material we needed to talk about and then send my students home early.  NO sooner had I released my students that the school alarm system went off informing campus that it was shutting down for weather (I guess I am good at calling crappy weather conditions?)  Anyway..I got outside and into my car and it had warmed up???? weird eh?  I drove home in balmy 34 degree weather.

David thinks the security guys were just wanting an evening off duty :)

xxxooo

What a Great Weekend.

Have you told you how much I love where I live?  We have great neighbors, Great services, and a great location.

Friday night was Chardon-knitting at the store.  Basically I serve wine, people come and bring their knitting.  We make a little craft usually seasonally themed.  I serve wine and we work on whatever our projects are.  There were supposed to be 6 ladies but 3 came down with some flu bug or something so it was just 3 plus me.  We had a great time talking and knitting.  when Chardon-knitting was over David and I went to our local pub and had a drink and late dinner.  We visited with our neighbors who were also there.  All good fun.
                                       
This is a shot into the mirror behind the bar.  This seems to be David's favorite photo shot as he always takes it when we are at the bar and posts it on his facebook page.  Someday there will be a record of how much of a pair of lush's we were because of his recording each drink on facebook.  I am in the middle, David is on the left and our neighbor is on the right.

Saturday I took David out for his Christmas present.  I bough him tickets to a one man play about James Beard the food critic.  it was rather good. I had never been to a one man play before and they did a good job of revealing James' personality, did a wonderful job breaking the play up so it wasn't just one long speech or something.  we were also served an onion sandwich..it was apparently an appetizer that he once used to serve when he started catering parties in New York when he was young. white bread cut into circles with a wine glass, home-made mayo covering both pieces of bread.  Thinly sliced onion (I would suggest Vidalia, Walla Walla sweets or a nice mellow red onion would be best for this).  He then rolled the little sandwiches in more mayo and then fresh chopped parsley so they look like prety green edged wheels.  The little sandwiches tasted really good.

After the play we went to a neighbors house.  This summer Grace made friends with a couple of girls visiting for a month.  They were friends of our neighbors and as one does when the kids are friends we socialized with the parents.  The parents are two wonderful guys.  The family had such a good time in the summer they have decided to move up..the family are in the process of selling their house and then moving up.  One of the two is planning on getting a lapband too!  Anyhow..they were up for the weekend and we got to see them again. the kids got to play again. They are a great family and will bring the greatness that is where we live to a whole new level of fun :)

I had a decent day at the store and got a lot accomplished but not in a stressful kind of way.  David spend most of the day cleaning upstairs (oh yes he is in my good books for sure!!).  After I closed I worked some more and got even more stuff done (sometimes there is paperwork and yarn winding that needs to be done and never enough time to do it.  We then went back down to the neighbors for a final chat before the kids leave tomorrow.  The to the bar for a quick drink and then back to pick up the kids.  A bit of a chill in my relaxing family room chair and now it is time for bed.

Tomorrow, Monday. is my kinda sorta day off.  I take Grace to school, then home until late afternoon when I take her to Horseback riding and I go onto teach my math class.

Life is rather good. :)

Ten Things on Thursday-At Least This Week.

1.  The term started..although I am exhausted from working day and night 7 days a week (ok it has only been 3 but I can already tell I am going to stay tired)-Oh almost forgot the point here.  I LOVE TEACHING MATH.  I came home all high on work.  I forgot how much fun it was.  So although I don't love the commute (across town).  The campus parking is a mess..but I love my students.  I love the subject.  and I love helping them see that math can be fun, playful and easy (with conditions of course) :)

2.  My weight..phhhhht..Its an ASS.  The scale moves between 176-180 back and forth.  I was hungry as heck today.  Who knows about tomorrow.  I am still living with my half wardrobe (I refuse to get rid of the 8's and 10's that used to fit.  I have started falling back to my old fat wardrobe choices-tshirt with a cardi over it (slimming don't you know).

3.  The Yarn store...going great. On Tuesday I had 8 customers int he store at ONE TIME!!  my little old store could barely hold them all.  It was cool though.

4. I hired an employee.  She runs the store for me on Wednesdays (Up until today I have been closed on Wed.).  I hope she gets enough customers to earn her paycheck.

5.  Websites are an arse.  I spent tonight 'fixing' the webpage using Dream Weaver but it is hard to use and a style sheet went rogue on one of my pages slipping the footer up into the body of the page..making a big old texty mess.

6.  Grace started School (our local home-school support place)...I really aught to just call it private school. It is kind of that after all.  Anyway...She is liking it this term and we are getting into a groove.  She is excited about learning again which is a huge relief for me.

7.  My house is still a big fat MESS-boxes, charity piles, papers undone laundry.  a had a whole mess of spinning plates fall down when I put the store through storage platter up into the mix.

8.  I am a sugar addict and need to get a grip--when I get tired I go rogue and up the already too high amount of sugary products I ingest.  I wish eating right was easier.

9.  Exercise ...WTF?  I really need to find some and do it.

10.  good night all.  How are you this fine Thursday?  We are suppose to be getting snow..but it don't see any yet.

It is all about attitude :)

still holding on the coffee ban..sort of.  Just one freebie to use up.  I will not give in well except for that one.  I took most of my vitamins but I have discovered I hate CLEANING.

I like clean places.  I like no clutter.  I hate the cleaning up of the clutter.  It is beyond me how one household of three can accumulate so much crap.  For goodness sake I know I have sorted through this stuff twice in the last year.  I was obviously not brutal enough on the first two passes.  I want to be stealth, lean..able to turn on a dime.

The STUFF MUST GO...Meanwhile.

I bought a new big old shelf from Ikea to hold more shop stuff.   It is being assembled as I type.  David is useless with a cold now so I have hired my daughters boyfriend to do it.

I hope no customers come in while he is hammering and assembling..just no time to do it after hours.

Happy New Year..one day further..one day tired-er.

xxxooo

Day 1

1.We went to Starbucks today but I had tea :)  No coffee today.
2. The great Purge-We hauled 4 boxes of books away.  5 bags of garbage and 4 boxes of crap to Goodwill.
3.  I took my vitamins.
4.  Began the store rearrange but much more to do tomorrow.

Oh I do like New Year's resolutions.

xxxooo