Food For Thought-

Yep.  This non-dieter is thinking diet.  This morning I found this list on of a pinterest post.  Although I am not going to go crazy on the diet wagon there was some very sage advice here.

Something happened to me on the band.  Things that I never dreamed of doing while I struggled with my weight pre-band I now do without a thought. Sugar drinks and sauce anyone?  We also still eat out way too much.

On the other hand some of the good things I have changed include-no more fast food, equal parts protein and vegetables at meals,Slowing down and concentrating on meals, and eating small meals.

How do you feel about this list?  How does the band help/hurt you in some of these suggestions?

xxxooo

Picture Fest

I have been a slow blogger for the last few weeks.  Here is one big picture post with captions.  Although I hate the changes blogger has made most of the time.  Uploading pictures just got a whole lot easier.

I stopped in Target in Eugene on my way to California.  I got a bag of mixed popcorn (Some girls in Chicago introduced me to the joys of caramel, cheesy and buttered popcorn mix...it is sooo good and oh so bad).  I also picked up some cheap CD's. Willie Nelson, Barry White, Maroon Five and Etta James.  Nice music to drive by.

View from the drivers seat..California sunshine :)

My watermelon car freshener and trees near Mount Shasta

A truck on the right and oak trees on the left.  I love road trips even by myself.

Trying to capture Mt Shasta but she is invisible in photos for some reason.

In Mill Valley, CA I attended a research conference with colleagues who have become my friends over the years.  We always have a great time!  I brought three of them back with me to Portland to show them the sites.  We had a great time in Mill Valley, CA at the conference, on the road home and in Portland.

Out to dinner on a small inlet near Mill Valley, CA.  My friend Tom

 On our drive back to Portland we stopped off and Crater Lake.  There was a big snow storm in May!!

Tom's Son Ciaran on an old fashioned Fort Vancouver outhouse toilet..'pretending'

 Grace in front of the Cannons at Fort Vancouver

 My friend is a beer lover.  He was in heaven at the grocery store.  So many types of beer so little time.

 My friend Helen at the Apple headquarters.  A car-load of us drove down to Cupertino on Saturday to visit the Apple headquarters.  It was closed so all we could do was look in the windows and get chased off by a security guard.  Word to the wise.  Only go on weekdays unless you want to peek in windows.

After the whirlwind trip by my visitors I had three days until the opening of my new knitting/craft shop.  It has been open a little over a week and it is going well.  I am slowly filling classes and have had several requests by customers for more classes.  I found a web designer who works for YARN!!! :)  He is helping me get online registration set up...wahoo.

a friends child modeling a cute froggy hat sample in front of the shop

The view from the shop door.  Walls of colorful yarn, a table with chairs to sit and knit at, A spinning wheel

The front counter: Do you want to get some puppy snips?  How about a spare darning needle?  or on the wall just behind are knitting needles, markers or bobbins to hold small bits of thread for color work.

Display cabinet with the good stuff inside-expensive beaded yarns, shawl pins and a shawl knitted by my Mother in Law. I can wind a cake of yarn to the right.  In the background are paintings of sheep and birds on consignment from an artist friend.

The notions wall..I need more hooks there are a bunch of knitting needles and crochet hooks to be added.

Some of the books for sale.  We are going to do a block of month knit along with the Book Above
(Great North American Afghan)

A hand dyer in Seattle specialized in yarn sets that are graduated one shade at a time or across a color bridge.

This week went well.  We packed the house with knitters for the hand work guild night and Friday night Chardon-knitting (yes wine and knitting at the same time).

I spent today picking out what I knitted on Friday night.  I had three glasses.

Just a note on the diet front.  I have lost 5 of the twenty-ish pounds I put on this Spring.  Being busy seems to be a huge factor for me.  I have also tightened up from my last fill which is helping tremendously.  I had a look at pictures from our summer trip to Iceland..I can really see the weight gain.

July 2011-size 8 and no boobs :)

June 2012 size 10 and pushing 12..um the girls are back but im not sure it is worth it :)  With the boobs came muffin top.

Popping in for a quick 2am update.

• The knitting store opened on Friday and it was good.  
• Being nice to customers is hard work :).  
• I have met so many of my neighbors and so far they are all happy to see the store.
• I registered 3 people for classes, sold some yarn and a book.
• two weeks ago I drove to San Fran for a conference.  I had a great relaxing week in the sun before coming home to hard work.
• I drove some friends back home with me and introduced the Brit and two Irishmen to what real mountains look like :)
• I also taught the guys to eat burgers in a car :)  (I didn't have one..they did)
• Pictures some day :)

xxxooo

I Fell Into A Burin Ring of Fire :)

My friend talked me into a bike ride this morning.  She is a riding machine :)  I managed 10 miles in the lovely sunshine.  I am soooo sore now.

:)  We then came home and went to Grace;s Spring choir concert, moved a bajillian boxes of yarn into the shop.  Put together three base cabinets for my workshop while David put drawers in my tall cabinets.

Phew...Did I mention I have a bad case of bike butt. :)

xxxooo

Just popping in with a webpage address

Ok it is all hands on deck and busy busy here.  This is what I have been slaving over for the past week. I now have to figure out how to get online registration figured out.

http://www.blacksheepatorenco.com

The shop grand opening is June 1. I already have 7 people registered for classes.  I hope that trend continues and I have a busy summer!

Oh..almost forgot.  I popped into my surgeon and he gave me a 0.2 top up.  This is the same amount I had taken out last fall.  The visit was good.  The surgeon manipulated my shoulder a bit and suggested that the pain is probably due to pressure on my diaphragm but as my port doesn't hurt or I don't have stomach pain I am unlikely to have a problem with my band.  I didn't really feel any difference yesterday but today..I can feel it.  Best of all the scale..has turned.  I am down one pound.

Oh and by the way..the surgeon told me to get my arse back on my bike  :)  He was right I know.

xxxooo

BYOC on Saturday

Thanks to Draz...many of us post the answers to these questions on Friday.  I take part at time and give it a miss at times.  It is Saturday but what the heck..One can bring on craziness any day of the week right?


1. Do you have any Mother’s Day traditions? 


We are senders for mothers day.  David's mum lives far away and gets a US mothers day present most of the time.  My mother usually gets a bigger combined birthday and mother's day present as she was born on mothers day.  


The girls usually come over for a visit and get me flowers or a treat.  

2. Do you take a daily vitamin? Why or why not?

I take Iron (because my doctor said to).  I take a vitamin D-3 and an A vitamin every morning.  I probably should take a multivitamin and I do sometimes but usually it is just the others.  According to my husband the D-3 and A help promote regular sleep. I don't know if they work but I figure since the doctor said I should take a D vitamin anyway in the winter and A is a good green vegetable vitamin that it can't hurt to take them.
3. Do you wear perfume every day? If yes, what kind?

I love perfume on other people.  I do not wear it myself because when I do all I smell is myself and not anyone else.  That annoys me :)
4. When you walk or run or work out outside – what do you take with you?

When I walk I just put on my good tennis shoes and take off.  If i get thirsty I can usually get a bottle of water somewhere along the way.  If I am walking alone I cary my cell phone and play Pandora radio these days with headphones.  If I am walking with Grace and David...we just talk and walk.


If I am working outside I put on my gardening gloves (cause that is usually what I will be doing).  


Run?  um no.


Biking?  I wear my butt padding diaper shorts.  I wear my gloves.  I wear my nice Nike shoes that stick well to my bike pedals.  I usually carry a backpack with my ID, a phone.  I have my safety pack with a spare tube and inflater.  I have water in my water holder and I usually carry a protein bar.  Oh..and my helmet on my head :)

5. Repeat question. Summarize your week.


This week was crazy.  We put together bit cupboards for the workshop part of the shop.  I made arrangement to rent a garage behind our house.  We moved stuff from our storage unit into the house.  I called IKEA seeing if they had more of my order in.  I got my work bank account ready to go and checked on it.  I set up a meeting with one of my yarn suppliers.  David re-messed up my shop with stuff from the garage as he put together three of the storage cupboards.  Grace went to Horseback riding twice and I sat around and waited for her (pretending to work on my webpage for the shop and failing miserably).  My grandson stayed over Thursday night and attempted to Friday but he seemed to have an allergic reaction to the cat and ended up having an asthma attack.  I sorted through a bunch of crap and cut down paperwork from my old offices by 75%.  


The scary part is there is so much left to do.  


As far as my bloggy duties are concerned I rate myself a 6 for reading (cause that part is easy and I can do it even when I am 'pretending' to work on my new webpage.  Posting I was lame at.  I even semi-announced my plans to quit..yeah well as soon as I do that I came back in a day right?  I don't know what will happen on this blog.  I won't go exactly but I really need to attend to shop business so hopefully I will finally learn to be a balanced person and give a reasonable amount of attention to all that I commit to right?


xxxooo

CH Ch Ch Changes.

After some soul searching and another blip up on the scale I finally took action on that half-baked plan of mine to make a fill appointment.  I have called and amazingly I have an appointment next week to go in for a fill with my surgeon no less.  So I always used to moan about not getting to see my surgeon but I kind of like the new nurse practitioner and I actually had a little pity party in my head about it :).

I am going to ask for my last amount.  Last fall I had something like 0.2 ml taken out.  As I am planning on making a try without the Prozac for a while I am hoping that this will return to the perfect amount of restriction.

I am still working on preparation for the shop.  I have class schedules printed. I am meeting with a yarn wholesaler next week and I have ordered a few things that should be coming soon.  My Ikea order is still unfinished but I am hoping that by this weekend the extra stuff comes in.  We also now have the opportunity to rent an extra garage right behind our house.  wahoooo...so we won't have to drive to the storage unit and it gives us good incentive to clear out a bunch of stuff before hauling it over here.

I am going to ask my daughters to come over and help with a big moving session this weekend.  Mostly because I am hoping they will take their stuff away and pick up some of my rejects before I haul them off to goodwill and the dump.

Like so many of us this living at or near goal means that our lives get filled up with all of the stuff we never had the energy to do before.  Before the band I was a couch sitter most evenings and spent my nights working on my computer and watching TV.  Now I am out and about much more frequently but that means my computer sits for longer periods of time unopened.  The result is that I fear my blogging time is starting to slip.  I will still come in here to say hi and I will definitely read your blogs but don't be offended or disappear completely if I slow down on the blogging lark.

Please ask me questions and post comments.  It does keep me motivated for sure!!!

xxxooo