Nored No More

What th- ?!?!?

How is it August already? I'm pretty sure my sister is asking the same thing, since she starts teaching again any second.

JULY absolutely FLEW by. I spent the first five days of July in Lake Gaston, NC with some fun new friends. I mostly floated in an innertube in the lake the entire time, but I also did some mudding with a suped-up golf cart, road the boat to film the surfing, jet-skied, played some cornhole, and made some awesome peach french toast.

On July 9th I competed with some colleagues in the area's first ever Metro Dash. It was nothing at all like what I had thought it would be (and I have tons of pictures that I wanted to blog about here... but perhaps on ANOTHER rainy day I'll get to that...) - but I'm hooked and totally loved it. In October I have not one but two obstacle races - the Warrior Dash in Richmond and the Run for Your Lives Zombie Race in Maryland. In November I have the Primal Mud Run, and in December I have the Hot Chocolate 15K. Of the four, it's the last one that I'm the most nervous about. Thankfully I'm still churning away at Crossfit.

I watched the entire Game of Thrones series on-demand before it expired in mid-July. That was AWESOME, and much like MadMen and United States of Tara, I'm not sure I can wait until next year for the next season. In other TV news, my DVR delete the last episode of U.S. of Tara, and I haven't put forth the effort to find it somewhere else. Don't tell me anything.

Last weekend (the last day of July), I went white-water tubing with some friends. Glad I didn't do the rafting, as the 6-in-a-boat-with-life-jackets-and-a-helmet trip didn't appear to be nearly as fun as the solo-in-an-innertube-with-the-life-jacket-used-as-a-tie-off-for-the-cooler trip.

I'm making decent progress on the embroidery for my Christmas quilt, but have done no sewing or knitting yet. I bought enough Prince Charming and a pattern I'm siked about to make a huge quilt for my bed. I need to start cutting and sewing before the fabric is out of production!

I'm reading (STILL! for a MONTH now!) The Social Animal. I got sidetracked for three days by The Shack, which was... interesting, but I'm loving The Social Animal. Now if I could just finish it...

Finally, I am pleased to report that Charlie has been seizure-free since May 16. I do hope this new diet is truly the key!

Someday you'll come by to read this blog, and you'll be STUNNED! STUNNED, I say!! to see pictures posted, too. May I recommend that you not hold your breath on that, though?

Quickly

I know it's been ages, and I have so much cool stuff to post... I have a few things to get out of the way (a trip to North Carolina for the 4th of July, and the D.C. Metro Dash on July 9th) before I go back to regular sewing/knitting/posting.

In the meantime, Charlie is love love loving his new food. Even-more-expensive-than-before kibble for breakfast, with a spash of unpasteurized goats milk; an afternoon snack of virgin coconut oil, and dinner is either kibble with canned ground turkey (it worries me that I like the smell; makes me think of Vienna Sausages... and it makes sense since the ingredient list is TURKEY, WATER, and CARRAGEENAN GUM) or two raw chicken burgers. 

I am love love loving my Crossfit workouts every day (well, not every day anymore, since the trainer gave me the word on inserting two days of rest somewhere in the week).  I am love love loving the story line in Game of Thrones. The gore and the nekkid folks are kinda much, but the acting is excellent and the storyline fascinating (says the girl who isn't SUPER fond of Sci-Fi or Fantasy...). I've been watching on-demand, so no need to wait for the next episode - just have 9 and 10 to watch.

Happy (and safe!) Fourth of July to everyone.

Progress and Photos and More! Oh my!

Greetings everyone - sorry for the delay in posting. I've had no pictures to post along with, and since SOMEONE suggested that readers (readers -- heheh -- like there are more than 4 of you!) were demanding photos. But I think I'm about to get better at it....famous last words.

So my Knitpicks order came, and lo - the postman didn't need to ring twice! Rather than not drop off a delivery slip even though the package has arrived, and rather than leave a slip that takes me two weeks to redeem for my package, and rather than not just leave the package at my door for me (Hello? Gated-community - are my neighbors really going to swipe a box that has a return address to Crafts American? How dorky is that?) -- the postman just left it at my door. And there is was, all sweetness and full of goodies, waiting for me.

What was in the box? Well, my first and favorite:

An orange Chibi! Whoo-hoo! Whoo-hoo (and Lordy it's a shame my photo skillz suck...).

Also, I broke down because I just know in my heart that I'm funny and that there won't be enough yarn to finish Glee:

so one more ball of Elegance in Coal.

Finally my Knitpicks box had some fresh yarn in it - because eleven twelve thirteen projects on the sticks isn't too many - ever:

This is their Essential Sock Yarn - in Burgundy, I think. It's for making Clessidra. What? Shut it. I know I've yet to finish an entire pair of socks, and knee socks may seem silly. But - the Tofutsies did the trick:

Why what's that?? Oh! Hey - it's one whole sock done, and a miracle second sock on the sticks - already started. Awij! Awij! (Sometimes I type "AWuh!Awuh!" in IM's to friends - and much like "nored" came about, my fingers went with "Awij! Awij!" one day instead. That's now part of the vocabulary, too.)

In running news - check it out (look for the post called "Miracles never cease"). I'm at 96 miles, and still have Thursday, Friday, and Saturday to do the last four. I'm also going to participate in the second round (which you'd know if you clicked the link and read my entry), which is another 100 miles by July 1.

And finally, in preparation for Knitting Night, let me share this:

Brownies!!

Must go - the season finale of Dirt is starting!! Wretched yet addictive show. Happy knitting!

Saturday Night Blog

Happy Saint Patrick's Day - from the fun and exciting living room of #208. I was invited to do several different things tonight, but I was at Happy Hour yesterday and had enough happiness for the rest of the weekend. It's gonna be a zoo everywhere, and when I went to pick up a salad and some pizza for dinner, the cops were already crawling all over. I stayed home instead. Here's what I did:

I finished Ms. Green!  I also took about a gazillion pictures of Ms. Green, and this was the only one that was even close to acceptable. But, the blog is for knitting skillz, not photography skillz, and I'm really siked about my shorts. The yarn was just perfect.

Hey - Chris Rock is on Saturday Night Live. That's pretty funny. He cracks me up - but Julia Louis-Dreyfus is hosting and Snow Patrol is the musical guest. Need to post and get back to the tube.

Here's what else I did tonight:

I finished my Chickami #2! It's perfect - in measurements, it matches Chickami #1 perfectly. I'll be getting a ton of wear out of this thing this summer.

I also cast on for the Ribbon-Tied Dress. I haven't returned to Glee. It just has me so agitated - I'm going to be really stressed if there's not enough yarn. Some how I came across a blog the other day called G. Bella Knits - and she had just frogged her entire Glee because when she was done, the size was too big.
I'm gonna have a COW if I have that problem, as well.

Here's what I did Thursday night:

White cupcakes with chocolate frosting. Nothing exciting. The Office Males rated them an 8 out of 10. When I reminded them that they thought the Pink Lemonade cupcakes from Valentine's Day were an 8 out of 10 also, they decided they had made a mistake. The Pink Lemonades were actually a 9 out of 10 - the white with chocolate were an 8. If you're making them (the recipe is from 125 Best Cupcake Recipes), I halved the amount of almond extract - a full teaspoon seemed too powerful to me, and I believe I made a good choice.

And finally, until Knitting Night, here's where my bike was living:

Kinda worked for me, but not for a houseful of guests. I took it out to ride and then took it to the balcony. Just about everyone in the neighborhood has a bike on their balcony, and it works. I can't wait for the crappy weather to go away - we had an inch of ice and then an inch of snow yesterday, and the high today was 35. I miss the weather of earlier in the week, where it was in the 70's and I was able to ride my bike all over.

Scrapping the 8K tomorrow - too cold and with the protesting going on downtown, it's just going to be a zoo.  And then the two and a half miles I did on Thursday took me 30 minutes. I need to be a bit quicker if I'm going to be running with the crowds.

You know it's bad

when mice seem to have better health care than you do. Check it out -

The soothing feeling of cooling Mentho-Lyptus apparently is what the cold, hungry, and sniffly mice need to feel better. That and my new favorite cotton rounds for removing makeup and nail polish.

AND?!?!!?

AND!!!!!!!!

ONE OF THEM JUST RAN ACROSS MY LIVING ROOM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I have to go.

***
Update
Well, I just swore up a storm, wrote a nasty letter to the property manager, and poured myself an EXTREMELY stiff vodka soda. Now I can't sleep, either. I've been exhausted all day, and made myself stay awake through Grey's Anatomy. I was getting ready to go to bed when the Mouse Incident occured. That got the adrenaline going, and now I can't sleep - especially because every skritch, scratch, and tink in the walls is another huge mouse trying to chew its way through the drywall to get me. My pantry - where the food is kept - has been mouse-free (knock on wood), but I presume that's because I've had a makeshift draft dodger thingymabob covering the half inch gap at the bottom of the door (i.e. a rolled up towel), so they can't get in there. I'm fairly confident they're coming in through a hole in the wall behind the dishwasher. When the exterminator was here he said, "Yeah. I can't move that, but we can seal up the cupboard." Well that makes no sense. They're not coming in through the cupboard - that's where they're GOING. And the fact that the exterminator is CLEARLY no older than my niece and looks/acts like my nephew (and, is named MASON, like my mother's dog, for Pete's sake) probably has nothing to do with why he can't move the dishwasher. For crap's sake, even I know how to pull a dishwasher out. WHICH I will be doing when he returns. And you know there's going to be a MOUNTAIN of mouse crap back there, because it's nice and warm back there, especially after I run it (which I'm trying not to do).  At some point this weekend I'll be pulling out all of the furniture and storage boxes to check EVERY nook and cranny of this house so when Mason comes to seal off "points of entry," he gets them ALL.

***
Let's move on to knitting. Here's what I accomplished during Grey's Anatomy tonight - which, by the way, wasn't as fantastic as I kept hearing it was going to be. Plus, with all the on-set drama we have to hear about, I'm starting to get annoyed with the show. In any event -

I finished (as in picked-up and knit, bound-off, seamed, and weaved in) the sleeves of Glee. I also rejoined, so I'll be knitting good ol' stockinette in the round for another foot (literally, another foot - I'm hippy, and need things to fall mid-hip rather than just-above-hip. This is why I'll rip out the Malabrigo - designed to be cute and cropped - and reknit with extra inches at the bottom. That is, if my sister (hi Deb!) can find the original pattern, scan it, and email it to me). I really hope I don't mess up the ribbing that comes up the front there, because otherwise I'm quite pleased with the work on this. It sucks to knit great pieces, but have a crappy F.O. because the seaming just didn't go well. I honestly think the first piece I ever knit with good, not great, but good seaming was Mom's Christmas cardigan. Ooh - do I have a photo of that? Why, I do:

I was pleased with the finishing on the Malabrigo, actually - the seams on those sleeves were a bitch, but only because I'm impatient and like to short-cut everything (probably why my seams used to look like crap). I re-read the finishing book I have, and now that I know how to knit - like, I understand how stitches go together and whatnot, which makes fixing mistakes possible and teaching yourself to cable without needle work - the finishing book makes sense. Before, it didn't.

Alright - the EXTREMELY stiff drink has done it's job. Typos are no longer a concern, and I'm ready for bed - I just need to find my iPod first.

Notice there's been no Nike+ content. Tomorrow will be two weeks a very long time since my last run. Maybe I'll go to the gym in the morning. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA.

I Heart William

S-u-c-c-e-s-s! William the Nike+ Thingy was on track and attentive today - I did 3 miles, using the 45 minute timed workout. Per William, I also expended 334 calories - that, I'll buy.

And?? Who knew Lance Armstrong pops up after William to say, "Congratulations - this was your longest workout yet!" Now there's motivation - I want to hear what he says next!

Hail, the first F.O. of 07

Besides my crappy photography skills, I don't know how to upload appropriately. Bottom line though, is that I finished my Malabrigo short sleeve sweater. I can't remember where the pattern came from (a magazine that was at my sister's house). FInished, as in it's seamed, the ends are woven in, and it totally fits. Granted it will look way better when I'm ten pounds lighter, but it still is really cute and I just might wear it to work next week. Glee is coming along, I've not touched Eiffel, I've not touched Rogue, and thankfully I've not cast-on for anything else. Miracles never cease.

(click and you should see some cabling up the center)

Running - not so much. Saturday morning I'm moving along, and then suddenly I'm not. Instead, I'm spread-eagle flat on the pavement. Besides the weird bruises on my knee and elbow, and the odd hip-but-not-hip-colorless-bruise, my ego was severly injured. I'm almost embarassed to be seen on my street again. Perhaps tomorrow.

****
Rome started tonight - such an unbelievable show. Very visceral, I guess would be the word. Besides graphic, I mean. I like the mix of history with fiction - you know what happens to Caesar, but Vorenus and Pullo - you can't Google them to find out what happens next.

Perhaps another row of Glee before bed.

Take Two

So yesterday I drove the loop that William (that's what I named the voice on my Nike+) told me was less than a half mile, and found that it was indeed a full mile. Today, I deleted the calibration and opted to go with a Distance workout for two miles. As such, William would tell me when I went a half mile, a mile, a mile and a half, and then when my two miles were just about up. Being that I was walking a one mile loop, I figured I'd hear from him about half way through the loop. It was more like 3/4 of the way through when he told me I had gone a half mile, and when I had gone the full mile, the Nike+ showed that I had gone .51 miles. Uh-huh.

To do list:
1) Hand record mileage covered this weekend in notebook, seeing as WILLIAM SUCKS.
2) Return Nike+ to Dick's Sporting Goods.
3) Continue to hand record mileage covered while working toward my 100 Mile goal by April 1.
4) Conduct research on the use of the Nike+ in the Northern Virginia area.
5) Purchase new shoes as a reward for completing 33 miles, seeing as they look like this:

(click for a close-up)

Note the hole in the toe and the ripped up insides. The blue painter's tape there is the Nike+ encased in my Original Nike+ Rigging. Before anyone says anything about perhaps that's the problem with William, it's not. I got the idea from the iPod hacker site, where painter's tape, duct tape, yarn, ziploc bags, and cloth pouches have all been successfully used as Orginal Nike+ Rigging for those who don't own the Nike+ sneakers. All I needed was the stupid thing to work for 35 miles, and then I was treating myself to the Nike+ sneakers. Now I have a lot of research to do and a lot of hand recording to do. Sigh.

Tomorrow: knitting photos and content for sure.

49 Calories

I took the Nike+ out for yet another attempt at getting it to work. And after 90 minutes of hightailing it all over the neighborhood and office parks around here, my iPod told me that I had gone .44 miles and had burned 49 calories. Hello?? Not even a half mile after an hour? I don't THINK so.

I drove parts of the route I took, and measured out over 2 miles. Too bad Nike+ has me registered as contributing a half mile toward my goal of 35 miles this month. Bah humbug.

***
So, last night TOOTR and I watched movies and had cocktails. None of the movies were stellar. The worst offender though was This Thing of Ours, which is a 2003 mob movie starring/directed by the great-nephew of the man responsible for taking out Jimmy Hoffa. Yeah - what the? 100 minutes of my life I'll never see again.

***
Finished the Malabrigo sleeves and now I'm just trying to put them in and finish the thing. Hopefully I'll wear it to work next week. Eiffel is whipping along, but I can't wait for my KnitPicks order to arrive as I have some great new  easy projects to get working on. I have too many thinking projects going on right now, and no brainless ones of pure stockinette that I can do while watching TV or movies.

Off to watch the Dexter season finale with some friends who have Showtime on Demand.