Hey, knitting going on!

I cast on for Grandma's birthday socks. There is no question that she gets socks because she didn't get them for Christmas again and was not happy.

I also whipped up a quick infinity scarf for Mom because she likes them and will be in Oregon's wine country in a few months with her friends so I think she could use it. I believe this is a Rowan yarn but I've had it for years. It is a lovely, loosely spun creamy white with a strand of ribbon running through it. The ribbon goes from light blue to navy. I think it will be really pretty with Mom's long silver hair. This is just a simple seed stitch and I just kept going until I ran out of yarn.

The lighting is terrible in this picture because it is such a grey, dark day. Even for Oregon it is grey and rainy. (better color representation here)

I have so much yarn stash and I really want to embark on a reduction project. Weed out the clothes, shoes, books, etc. But this should include my yarn which is overflowing one closet, the tops of bookcases, under the desk, and on and on. I think, at the very least, I will try to eat up those onesie twosie skeins I accumulated with the idea that I would do a hat or scarf. If I do one of those a month and give it away to someone, it chips away at it a little. I still need to do a major purge.

This Saturday I'm going to haul it all out of all the nooks and crannies and halve it (at the very LEAST). I'll take a picture of the before to blow your mind and then I'll start posting it on Ravalry and eBay. Probably should have done this in the Fall...

Gratuitous greyhound picture to distract from my hoarding project. I piled up the dog beds to vacuum and my old girl, Sapphire (who turned 15 last month) managed to get up there and claim the pile as her own. Pretty good considering her shakey hind end!

Posted by TheBunny at 06:07 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Goodness! I was absolutely positive I had posted after Christmas but either that post disappeared or I'm imagining things. My money is on the imagining. Since I have so much catch-up to do and nothing planned out for this post, I'll go with the random format and random pictures (hold cursor over picture for caption).

Random bit #1:

I did finally get all the lights up and it looked adorable. However, I have very irritating neighbors who got their lights up the day after Thanksgiving and took them down the day after Christmas. I looked like a slacker getting them up and a slacker today since they are still up. I like lights during the winter months because they brighten up the grey scenery. However, I think I'm starting to look foolish. I may have to venture out today and take them down. Sad face.

Random bit #2:

Christmas with the family was lovely and I enjoyed myself immensely. I absolutely hate the drive to Arizona because I hate driving but I'm so happy that is all over that it almost makes up for it. I scored some great stuff for gifts and managed to hit a bullseye with almost all the gifts I gave. That feels really good.

Random bit #3:

The dogs are great, even Sapphire. Her spirits are high, she is eating very well, she is still shaky in the hind end but everything else is strong. I love her to bits and am glad for every good day we have. It turns out Oscar is petrified of the fire in the fireplace. This is a nuisance because we had a wee bit of snow today and the family room gets a chill that only the fireplace can help. I have a good heater but that room has old sliding glass doors and a cat door so I think a lot of cold air gets in there. I had a fire yesterday but the poor boy spent the whole day trying to get in my arms and I finally felt guilty. I didn't want him to be miserable but her certainly was. I am working on a new strategy.

Random bit #4:

I managed not to gain any weight over Christmas. This is huge because I wasn't careful at all. However, I haven't lost any weight this week and I'm starting to wonder if I just need to stay away from the scale all together. I've been eating super healthy and I feel pretty good but I find myself falling into that old "diet" mindset that really just results in a shame spiral for me. Hate those.

Random bit #5:

I have to buy a new phone and a new TV. I really don't like buying toys that cost that kind of money. I have the money, that isn't the problem but I just don't enjoy it like I always thought I would when I was poor and couldn't afford anything. I don't know why I rain on my parade like that. I just want someone to tell me what I need and then I'll do it. I have to stop reading all the product reviews and agonizing over it.

Random bit #6:

I feel like I've been grumpy all week with companies for being stupid. Grumpy with Comcast because I got a phishing email with someone using their name and account. I forwarded it to them because I used to work at one of the largest online companies in the world and I specialized in that kind of abuse so I know that they need to jump on this but their customer service agent didn't read my email and just sent me an email educating me about phishing. I stayed very polite but since one of the things I do is customer service training, it chaps my hide when the agents don't completely read the email. They just skim for keywords and then send an unhelpful response. So that irritated me. Then I had a really rude call from PayPal because I had a negative balance. They had their Collections people call me. I asked why an automatic email wasn't generated the second I went negative. The agent couldn't answer that. She just kept repeating her shpiel about they weren't designed to hold a negative balance. Seriously. That kind of crap for $45 over 9 days. I could have fixed it in 3 seconds if an email had just been sent. She also wanted me to pay over the phone and I told her there was no way I was giving card numbers to someone on the phone. Irritating! This is on the heels of them freezing my account over Christmas because I used the card at gas stations on my road trip. Somehow that was suspicious behavior. Really? No one travels over Christmas?

Random bit #7:

The above paragraph made me grumpy again. So I'm going to focus on the snow falling outside (yay!) and some hot chocolate. I got all of my errands done yesterday so I don't have to leave the house today. I can just putter around and nest. I love that.

Posted by TheBunny at 03:08 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

This weekend is the last weekend before Christmas and I'm kind of in screaming panic mode. I have my shopping done. I didn't knit much for anyone this year. I do still need to get on it and knit Grandma's socks. I didn't make her a pair last year and boy did I hear about it. Where is this dementia she is supposed to have? She didn't forget that she usually gets a pair of hand-knit socks. Not once. Not for a second. But that is all I have to do.

So why the screaming panic mode? Habit I think. Plus I have the road trip to AZ ahead of me and I hate driving. I really hate that road trip. I am so crabby by the end of it I just warn people away. I have to get the house ready (nothing worse than coming home to a messy house) and I'm just not in the mood. Cleaning house sucks, doesn't it?

I'm trying to at least get lights up so I don't look like a scrooge. I won't be here to enjoy them but then, they aren't really for ourselves, are they? Plus, I really like lights during winter. I wish we could leave our lights up through February. We really need them in the PNW. Unfortunately, it has been freakin' cold and I don't last long while I'm putting them up. It doesn't help that I'm trying to clean out my gutters at the same time. Too tempting to kill two bugs with one stick. I'm up there looking at the gutters, I can just scoop them out at the same time, right? Except the leaf material is frozen so it comes out in little bricks. This makes it both easier and harder. Easier because you just lift out the brick and harder because it is so cold!

My solution has been to do it until I can't feel my fingers and then I quit until the next day. Which means that last night I got to here.

I have been calling it my "Oh f**k it" design. Because it kind of is. It looks pretty funny actually. I hope my neighbors have a sense of humor about it too.

I'm wrapping up my last week of my second UBC. Bummed that we will be out for 3 weeks and I'm trying to figure out what I can do in the interim while the dojo is closed and I'm in AZ. Everyone keeps saying to walk but that isn't always an option with my knee. I'll try it though. I can feel so much more strength in every other way that it has to help, right?

As I get fit, I struggle with the fact that my outside isn't changing much. I have so far to go, it just takes a while. So I really rely on finding those moments where I know there is a muscle-bound me underneath the fat and when some of those many layers are gone, I'll get to show off a little. This means I really cling to those moments of "Cool! Look at that!"

There was an open gym after Thanksgiving (which means no class was scheduled but they opened the dojo up and we could come in and work out). I took advantage of it and was trying to get through my own version of Thai Kick Drills (over 100 round kicks - I do 30+) and realized that my speed between kicks was really improving. These are hard because my legs are big and heavy and my stamina sucks (whose wouldn't carrying all my extra weight around!). But I was actually getting a normal kick-kick rhythm than my usual, kick-step-kick.

It was awesome. It made me think that someday in the future I'll be able to do the Thai Kick Drills. Actually, it made me start looking up how much it would cost to buy a bag. If I could squeeze in some kick drills everyday...

And that was when I realized I had become one of "those"...

I am looking for opportunities to work out. I think strange things like, "Oh good, it is an abs day, I can't wait to do crunches."

People, Hell has officially frozen over.

Posted by TheBunny at 10:43 AM | Permalink

The good news is that I didn't gain any weight over Thanksgiving. Yay! I wasn't especially careful either. I was sensible but honestly, because I was hosting it, I just didn't have time to nibble. But I ate what I want including the mashed potatoes with half and half and cheese in them. Yum.

I think the weight maintenance is likely due to my regular work outs I've been enjoying. I didn't work out Thanksgiving week as much as I normally do but I got a couple days in there and I made sure they were cardio (rather than weight training which is what I actually enjoy the most). Now over Christmas my dojo will be closed and my group won't be meeting and I'm really bummed about that. I feel like I've finally gotten in the habit (which is SO hard) and I'm enjoying it, have had some success, and really hate to lose the momentum. So I'll have three weeks off and I'm trying to come up with some alternatives. People say walk a lot but that isn't a great work out for me. Because I have a bum knee it ends up hurting, I end up compensating with my other leg and, quickly, my toes start to go numb. So I don't last long and I certainly don't hit the maximum of my stamina.

I have a little added incentive though, I signed up for HBBC (Holiday Bootie Buster Challenge).

I am a bit competitive so this is usually a good way to inspire me. Now it is entirely possible I'll be busy and distracted and won't follow through with this but I'm sure going to try. If I just give myself an hour every morning to do something active. Anything to make me sweat, I think it will be a good thing.

I've already decided I'm definitely signing up for the next 10 week UBC program and I think this may be the course where I start to actually see results. Up to now there has been a big difference visually. Even the scale doesn't show much weight loss but I can really feel the muscle I've been building under the fat and muscle weighs more than fat so I wasn't expecting the scale to be dramatic at first. I'm hoping the first UBC program of 2012 is where I get to actually watch my body and scale change.

On the knitting front: I'm totally behind. I've slacked off and have only one Christmas present made. I'm working on another right now and trying to get in a few rows during work (like a smoke break only healthier). I found myself stuck today because I needed a couple of stitch markers but I didn't have any here. That was when I figured out a straw...

Could make excellent stitch markers.

I feel very clever.

Posted by TheBunny at 12:17 PM | Permalink

I honestly haven't dropped off the Earth. It's just been a busy summer. I changed jobs and stepped up my work with a non-profit I've been working with and then there has been lots of dog drama.

My Sapphire is 15 years old and has a weak, wobbly hind end so I'm steeling myself for the worst with her. She had a dental this summer which actually went very well. It cost me a small fortune because she had some teeth extracted and I had them perform acupuncture on her while she was out to help her recovery. That was totally worth every penny by the way. She did fantastic! But she has not ended up being the drama this summer.

Last month my 5 year old greyhound, Daisy, developed neck problems. We spent a lot of time going to and from the vet trying various treatments. In the end it ended up being a hemangiosarcoma which meant I had to let her go. We had a hellish night at the emergency vet while it was being diagnosed. The very next night I was back at the emergency vet with Daisy's brother Frankie because he was having a bad reaction to donating blood (he made a donation the night before briefly saving Daisy's life until we realized what was wrong with her). I was terrified I was going to lose him too and it was just too much.

Daisy and Frankie. Daisy is looking at the camera.

That was a few weeks ago and Frankie is fully recovered (including putting back on 9lbs he lost while he was recovering) and I think he is recovering from losing his sister too. We are adjusting to our new normal as big a hole as there seems to be.

I've also taken up kickboxing and I'm having a ball. I get bored easily with the exercise but I work in a cubicle and most of my hobbies involve sitting (more computer stuff and knitting) so I have been desperate to find some activity I enjoyed that would get me back into shape! The kickboxing program is pretty aggressive and means I'm working out 5-6 days a week. I'm lucky I found a dojo right by my house (I could walk to it) and the people I work out with are fun and I don't mind seeing them at Good-Lord-o'clock in the morning.

I started at a level that hardly counts as any level of fitness. I knew I would have to just suck it up and accept that I was the oldest, slowest, and fattest person in class. And I am. But every morning I just push aside that embarrassment and I go. I've had some small victories that are actually pretty huge for me. For example, they do an assessment in the beginning to see where you are starting. I suspect they shouldn't have even let me into the class but I kind of jollied them along to distract them and get in. At the assessment I was able to do 7 sit ups. Yup. Just 7. Even I was shocked. Now in class I'll do 50 sit ups, 50 crunches, 50 reverse crunches and 50 quads all in a row while holding a 10 lb. medicine ball. I'm about to move up to a 12 lb. ball too. Phew! It is amazing how quickly you can correct a loss of mobility like that.

Sometimes it is harder than others and there have been a few times where I had to stop for a bit because I was about to throw up. I didn't tell anyone (I'm still afraid they will kick me out) but I'm really working to my max and am feeling really proud of this achievement. I know I've lost some weight but I'm trying not to keep track. I have taken off inches (at least 1 inch all around except the waist which lost 2) and I have funny moments where I'll do something like scratch my shoulder and get really confused about a strange lump before I realize it is a muscle trying to pop out!

So yeah, my household is looking a bit different. Level of knitting has been really low. I was doing so good with a Christmas present a month and then things just got so chaotic. I need to (at the very least) get a pair of socks done for Grandma who gave me a hard time last year when she didn't get her expected pair. She may get confused about most things but she never forgets that she was promised a pair of hand-knit socks.

Here is hoping things are well for you and yours. Are you ready for the holidays yet? I'm in my usual denial so stay tuned for the complete panic attack that is sure to happen in T minus 30 days and counting...

Posted by TheBunny at 04:03 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)