dearest heart knitting

3:15:10

That's how long it took me to run the half-marathon. 

 

I really enjoyed the race. It was easier than I thought it would be. I had been warned repeatedly not to start out to fast. (To which my standard reply was, there is very little danger of that. There's not much about my running that qualifies for "fast.") But Jay told me to be sure and run more slowly than I felt like I should for the first few miles. So I ran slowly for the first 3 and a half miles or so. The course had a section between miles 2 and 4 that was an out and back. So I got to see Jay coming back on that stretch while I was still on the "out" portion. I had planned to eat some of my protien and carb snacks at miles 3, 6, 9 and 12. So after I finished my snack, at around 3.5 or so, I picked up my pace a little. Miles 4 and 5 went fine. I started to get a little nervous, because I didn't see mile marker 6, but I eventually stepped on some kind of orange thing that said 10k, so that reassured me. Jay was supposed to run about 20 miles that weekend,  (He's in the home stretches of training for a marathon in Alaska.) so our plan was that he'd finish the race and then come back to meet me around the 10 mile marker. When I got to the restrooms and water at the 10th mile, I hadn't seen the mile marker, so I asked if I'd passed it yet, and they said I was at about 10 and  a half. I had a text from Jay asking where I was, so I replied, and we met up somewhere between 10 and 11. We ran the last few miles together, which was really cool. My friend Anne came to watch us, and we passed her 2 times in the last part of the race. The course was hillier than what I am used to, so I walked a little on some of the hills, but for the most part, I ran. My legs got a little tired at about 11.5 miles. When we got to the last hill, Jay told me to take my ipod out so I could hear them call my name. I took it out, but it occured to me several days later that I didn't hear them call it. Oh well, it was an awesome weekend! We got to hang out with Anne Friday night and have lunch with her Saturday. I'm now trying to decide which race I'll enter next. 

Yes, I still blog here

Thirteen days ago, I received an email from Andy which read, in part,

Blog?  Dude.  It's been a month.  Think you're blogging is going by the wayside...

To which I responded:

Blog: noted. It has been a busy month. I'll get right on it.

Which was clearly a lie, because today I received this short message, with the heading, Ten Days:

How is running going blog non updater?

 

So yes. My race is ten days away, and I am a non-blogging slacker. I was about to defend myself with the pitiful excuse that something has been wrong with computer or flickr, and I've been having trouble getting my pictures to upload, when I remembered that typepad doesn't even use flickr. I upload the pictures directly from my computer. And how sad is that that I haven't blogged in so long that I don't remember how I do it?

In absence of a well-planned post (or what passes for such here) I will treat you to a random assortment of thoughts and updates about what has been going on in my life for the past 6 weeks? or so.  And because Andy likes them, I'll use bullets. 

THE RACE:  2011 Renaissance at Colony Park Half Marathon and 10k 

• The race is 10 days away. I didn't realize that until Andy pointed it out. 

• I ran 10 miles Sunday and had a really good run. 

• I was supposed to run 2 miles yesterday and 2 miles today. (I didn't, because baseball is kicking my ass.) 

• Tomorrow I am supposed to run 8 miles. Most weeks I don't run on Tuesday and Wednesday, but Thursday is my regular mid distance run day. (Who'd have ever thought that I'd refer to 8 miles as a middle distance?) Eight miles is quite a chunk of time for a school morning though, especially since we have another softball game at 7:30 tonight. This means we won't get home til after 9:30, and then I'll have to wrangle getting the boys to bed.

• We have a new running store here. FitRight Active. It is awesome. Jay and I were talking a few weeks ago about where I could go to get fitted for running shoes. I was thinking I might have to go to Shreveport or Jackson. And within days of having that conversation, I saw FitRight pop up on my Facebook page. It turns out the owner is engaged to Sarah's best friend Annemarie's aunt. I went last Thursday and bought new shoes. The owner, William, was so cool and spent a lot of time helping me with the shoes and talking to me about my first race.

THE KIDS:

• Cole had a birthday. He's "ree" now.
• 
  
• As I mentioned in an earlier post, I love baseball season. But as I mentioned earlier today, it is kicking my ass. And by baseball I mean baseball and softball. At least one of the kids has practice or a game every day. It makes it very difficult to cook dinner and keep up with laundry. It also means we get to bed a lot later than I like.

• Sarah made cheerleader at Lee. I wasn't that wild about her trying out, but she wanted to, and so far it seems like she's really enjoying it. She's the flyer for her group, which means she's the one who flies in the air when they do the stunts. She also wants to play softball, basketball and soccer and run track for Lee . I'm not sure if all that is possible. (Even if it's possible for her, I'm not sure if it's possible for me and Mark. He told someone a few weeks ago that he thought I was warming to the idea of polygamy!) 

• Nathan's baseball team has won two games and lost two games. They won big the first two times, got creamed in the third game, and lost a decent game on Monday. They play again Thursday.

• Sarah had her first preseason game last night. I think her team won. They didn't keep score.  Her team has a really good pitcher who struck out a ton of batters. And by a ton, I mean way more than 3 an inning. They have a crazy rule, where if the catcher drops the ball on a third strike, the runner can run to first. I realize this may not be a crazy rule. It may be a real rule that just never comes into play in leagues where the players are more experienced. However it confused the girls last night to no end. The first catcher had a new glove and was trying to break it in, so she dropped a lot of balls. The second catcher dropped a few, but she was confused and kept trying to throw the girls out even when she didn't drop the ball. I thought she was going to tackle a couple of them. 

• Sarah and Nathan both got tested for the talented art program. Sarah came home and said "I don't think I made it." Nathan came home and said "I think I made it." I think that says more about their personalities than about either of their art talent. As it turns out, they were both wrong. 

• I am sad for Nathan that he didn't make it. I know it's not good for kids to get everything they want. A lot of things come easily to Nathan, and I know it's good for him to lose some games and not make everything he tries out for. But as a mom, even though I know this intellectually, I never want this (whatever this is the moment) to be the time one of them doesn't get something they really want.

THE TRAVEL (PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE)

• Mark, Scott, Andy and I went to Atlanta for the weekend in March.   
  We saw the Coke museum, the zoo, the aquarium and a Hawks game, and I shopped at Eat.Sleep.Knit.                                                
  
  
   
  We had a good time, and I always enjoy being with those guys, but it's funny how I feel more comfortable some places than others. I never really loved Atlanta when we lived there, and I didn't love visiting it nearly as much as I did visiting Portland last year. Sometimes I get to a place and just immediately have a feeling of "yes, I belong here." And sometimes I don't. Atlanta is still a no for me. I think the plan for this summer is Montreal.
• While we were in Atlanta, Cole fell and cut his face. He had to go to the urgent care center to get "glue," which is the modern answer to stitches, I guess.
  
• We met Stan and Scott in Orlando and visited Disneyworld and Universal Studios. It was fun, but wow. Exhausting! And the weather was terrible. And we made the mistake of telling Nathan that he'd be tall enought to ride all the rides this time. Nope. You have to be 54 inches to ride the hulk and the dueling dragons. When we got to the hulk and he couldn't get on, he was so upset. So Stan and  I took him and Cole over to the Harry Potter ride. While we waited in line, he picked up bark to put in his shoes and lamented over being the shortest boy in his class. (He's not.) I told him I'd look to see if they had any shops that sold shoes (his have a big hole in them) and I'd buy some with the tallest sole I could find. By the time he rode the ride once with me and once with Stan, he perked up a bit. Several of us walked on the dragon ride without anyone even looking at us, so we thought he might be able to get on. He put the bark in his shoes and wore his hat. But no, someone stopped him and made him take off his hat. He was still an inch too short. We did look for shoes, but didn't find any. Here are a few highlights from the trip.
•  
• We are going to the beach for Easter weekend. My dad and Linda, both her kids and their families (3 kids each) and our family. Whew!

• I'm going to Washington, DC for a Paul Simon concert with Andy in May!!!

Check Me Out

I'm a runner!!!!

 

That is a picture of the new stuff I bought Saturday night to go on my 6 mile run yesterday morning. I asked my brother, who is a marathoner, at what point in my training would I need to start thinking about carrying water and/or snacks with me on my run, and he said "probably now." The real answer, in case you are wondering, is when you are going to be gone 90 minutes or more, which I figured I probably would, since I started off running about a 15 minute mile. But, I ran 6 miles yesterday in 1:22:58, which is a little less than a 14 minute mile, which is by no means fast, but it means I'm getting faster. I ran 2.2 the other morning at about a 13 minute pace. And in case you missed it, I RAN 6 MILES! I've never, ever run that far before, and I'm pretty     very     wildly excited. And, I am enjoying it! Maybe not so much while I'm doing it sometimes, but I feel great after I do it, and I look forward to the next time. This is very exciting stuff, ladies and gentlemen.

 

So in the picture up there, I have a camelbak water bottle, which you are supposed to be able to wear on your back and sip out of while you run. Sadly, it did not come with any instructions for filling it, and I obviously did it wrong, since when I put it down on the table and went to the back of the house, I came back to a soaking wet pack and water all over the table. I'll have to try to read about how to work it online. So for water, I did what I've been doing, which is fill a water bottle and take it to my dad's house. His house is on my route, and he lives at the beginning of a street that has a loop, so I drink a little water, run the loop, and drink a little more. I also have a few different types of energy gels and gummies. I tried the gummies yesterday, which were a little less gummy than I expected. I can't think of exactly what the texture was like. They tasted pretty good, but they made me a little thirsty. I also bought two kinds of gels, one with protien and one without to try on my next couple of long runs. 

In other news, Cole had a birthday party.

 

Sarah and all her friends made cheerleader.

 

I'm going to get to do another test knit. It's going to look something like this. (Not the pineapples. Scroll down.)

 

The designated February sweater is not finished, and is dragging its feet. It has both sleeves now and most of the bodice, so surely it will be finished soon.

 

I cast on for this, in this.

I'm casting on for this soon, in this. 

 

The blanket is also taking it's sweet time, (No, I don't think it's because of the other projects I'm working on.) but at least I'll get to change colors and start a new block soon. 

 

Did I mention I ran 6 miles?

 

 

Ten Good Things About March

Funny how different things are depending on where you live. This is what Carole said about today's Ten on Tuesday Topic.

I have a habit of complaining about the month of March. It’s long and I’m really sick of winter by this time. There are no Monday holidays and the days are often gray. However, I try to stay positive and upbeat so this week’s theme for Ten on Tuesday is 10 Things to Like About the Month of March.

As I write this, the sun is streaming through my office window. It's a gorgeous day. The low this morning was 44 degrees, and it's 70 now. In Louisiana, March does not come in like a lion. It mostly comes in like a lamb and goes out like a ....hot lamb? I'll have to work on that one. Of course we're likely to get a cold snap or two this month, but I betcha we'll hit the 80s too.

My mother hated February. She said it was dark and depressing, and her favorite thing about February was The Westminster Dog Show.  This is my favorite thing (or one of them) about February.

By the end of February, the Tulip trees start to bloom. They only look great for a couple of weeks. After the first hard rainstorm, they will make a mess, but they sure cheer me up at the end of a dark drab month.

So anyway, 10 Good things about March:

1. Birthdays- My father, my husband, and one of my sons all have birthdays in March. As do several others in our extended family. Cole is turning 3 next week. Everything is so exciting when you're three. I was going to write a post about it, and maybe I still will. But he is still so excited everyday when I pick him up, like it's a great surprise to see me. And he's equally excited each day by the accomplishments of waking up, bathing, brushing his teeth, and picking out his clothes. It's pretty cool actually, and probalby something we should try to emulate a little. He's been excited about turning "ree" ever since my birthday in November. This is the first year we've invited kids from school to his party, and I sure hope some show up. (That reminds me...I need to order the cake.) The kids' birthdays mean Mark's dad comes to town too, and that's always a treat, especially for the kids.

Mark and Dad are not necessarily of an age to be excited about their birthdays, but I am definitley grateful for each one we all get. Two years ago, we didn't know if Dad would get another one. 

                                                                                                                   Cole and Dad at their joint birthday party in 2009. Cole is 1. 

2. Spring break- Spring Break has become one of my favorite times with my family. There's something more relaxed about it than other vacations. Two years ago, we took what was probably my favorite Spring trip, to Cleveland to visit Mark's grandmother. We did a lot of fun stuff, like going to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and the NFL Hall of Fame, but the best things about it to me were that I got to spend little pockets of time with each child.

All the Peseks, from L to R: Cole, Mark, Nathan, Stan (Poppa), Sarah, Nana, Scott
 
  

                                                                                       Nathan at the Cleveland Zoo                                     Sarah and Nathan ice skating.

                                                                                                                                           You'd be hard pressed to get a picture of them hugging like that now. 

 
 

Last year we went to Virginia and we got to take the kids snowboarding. That was fun too. This year we're going to Orlando! Sarah's school orchestra was taking a trip to Orlando for some type of music festival or competition. The dates overlapped with Spring Break, so that she wouldn't be home until Wednesday of the week they are out of school. So we decided to take the boys down and meet her there. Stan and Scott are meeting us there too. We're planning to do Disney and Universal. It should be a great week.

3. Tulips-They are my favorite flower, and they are blooming now.

4. Spring weather- Spring doesn't last long here, and the summer is brutal. But there are a few weeks of nice weather in the Spring and the Fall.

5. Baseball- The kids try out for baseball and softball this month. I like this sport the most of all for watching my kids play. The last two years were awesome for Nathan. He was on a team which was coached by my best friend's husband. My husband was the assistant coach. The team was good the first year, and we won the championship last year. Sometimes you get lucky and just get a great group of kids and parents that are a joy to play with. Sometimes you don't. Sarah didn't have the same experience last year that Nathan did. I hate to admit that I enjoyed his games much more than hers, but not because of the kids themselves or their abilities. That's probably as much as I need to say about that. Both kids have to try out for new age groups this year, so I'm keeping my fingers crossed that we have good experiences this year. 

6. Afternoon soccer- During the spring, some of Nathan's soccer games are played at 5:30 on Tuesday evenings. This is my favorite time to go watch soccer. It's not too hot or too cold, which the soccer field always is on the weekends. There are no trees there, and the weather seems to bear little relation to the weather in the rest of Monroe. It is either really cold or really hot every Saturday. There is just something relaxing and just right about sitting outside on a sunny afternoon watching kids play.

7. Daylight Savings Time- It's so nice to have the extra daylight at the end of the day. I hate driving home from work in the dark and feeling like it's already the middle of the night before you even cook or go over homework or anything. During daylight savings time, I can sit outside and knit while I watch Cole play in the yard.

8. Andy-sometimes Spring Break means getting to see Andy. Last year he came to Roanoke and went snowboarding with us. This year, we're not seeing him in Orlando, but Mark, Scott and I are going to Atlanta to see him the weekend of Mark's birthday. We're going to see a Hawk's game, which I don't really care about, but getting to hang out with Scott and Andy is always fun. (Also, I am planning to go see Eat, Sleep, Knit in person on this trip.)

Ok. I admit it, I'm stealing the last two from Carole. 

9. March Madness- This is usually fun to watch, and I like to fill out the brackets.

10. St. Patrick's Day/Mardi Gras-I'm stretching here. I'm not really a huge fan of either one of these, but what the heck. 8 or 9 reasons to be happy about a month is enough, no? I like some of the other reasons enough to count double, anyway. :)

Do you know, I wrote this whole post, and only when I went back to add the link to Carole's website did I realize today is WEDNESDAY, not Tuesday. 

Checking in with the New Year's Resolutions

So, I told you, Katherine asked me how the New Year's Resolutions were coming. I thought maybe it would be a good time to revisit them. Maybe at the end of each month, I'll check in with myself and see how I'm doing. Feel free to play along with your own resolutions. 

Resolution the first was to exercise. I'm going to give myself an A on this one. I've been working out with a personal trainer for 4 weeks now, and I've been running. I am training for a half-marathon at the end of April. A subgoal I set for myself was to run 500 miles this year. I figured if I average 10 a week, I'll get there. So far, I'm at 25, and it's the end of February, so I've definitely got some ways to go there, but I plan to be logging a lot of miles in the next 2 or 3 months. 

Resolution the second was to eat better. This one has moved to the forefront over the past week or so. Up until that point, I'd have to give myself a C. I'm trying to cut out sugar--during the week at least. I'm making sure I get enough protien and fruits and vegetables and water. I've also beefed up my vitamin/supplement routine. I should have more to tell you about this in a couple of weeks.

3. Blog more faithfully-- F. I think I only blogged once in January and 2 or 3 times this month. So, I hereby rededicate myself for March. In fairness to myself, I start a lot more posts than I finish.

4. Participate in Project 365--Ok. I'm giving myself a B to B+ on this one. I have only missed taking a picture two days that I know of, and one of those I was sick, so I give myself a pass. However, I am probably about a week behind on posting pictures to Flickr. I'm not so great at thinking ahead to try to take a picture each day, and a lot of nights I end up on the way home from work thinking, "GRR, what am I going to take a picture of tonight?"

5. Be a more productive knitter--My goal was to finish at least one project each month. Technically, I guess I'm doing ok with this one. I finished a sweater in January,(yay!) but so far all I've finished this month is the two baby bibs. I am close to the end of my second sweater, though, and I am still clinging to the belief that I will finish it by Monday night. So far, that's an A, although if I don't finish the sweater, I'll downgrade myself. I just can't count the bibs as full credit. Another knitting resolution that I didn't post here was to take better pictures of my finished items. I'm still working on this one. I'm thinking of asking Katherine to take the picture of my February sweater. She does a great job with the food pictures on her blog. Maybe she'd be willing to do some photo shoots for me.

6. I'm hanging the wording of this resolution from "get promoted" to "work with different managers at work to learn more about different parts of the business." I've been talking to all the managers here and letting them know that I want to learn more about what they do in preparation for eventually becoming the dealer. I'm planning on spending a period of time apprenticing (is that a word) in each department during this calendar year. 

7. Pay off debt--I've paid down a good bit so far this year. I'm feeling pretty comfortable with being able to get everything paid off in a timely fashion. However, my van needs new brakes, and I'm sorely tempted to trade it in and get something new. But Mark and I have been lucky the last couple of times we traded, and we haven't had to finance anything for more than 2 or 3 years. Used vehicles are high right now, though, and to buy something like I really want, I'd have to finance for 5 years. I'm not sure I'm willing to do that, so I'll probably just fix the brakes.

8.Be more organized in my shopping and cooking. This has been so-so as well. Some weeks, I've done well, others, not so much. I need to figure out a good time of the week for me to go grocery shopping. I used to go on Sundays, but I haven't wanted to recently. Then I think I'll leave work early to go Monday or Tuesday, but I forget or get distracted. 

9. Spend more time with my friends. Hmmm, this one still needs work too. We are scheduled to have dinner with Tommy and India tomorrow night, so I'm looking forward to that. But Katherine and I had our first chance to talk to each other in a LONG time last night after book club was over. I loved catching up with her, but next time I don't particularly want to do it in the parking lot at Viex Carre. And I haven't seen Anne (in Jackson) or Carey (New Orleans) yet, so they are on my list too.

10. Go to church more often. I've been doing better at getting to church each week, but I am not really feeling like I've found the mass that fits us. I'd like to get the whole family more involved, so I still feel like there is work to do there too.

So, this was an interesting exercise. Overall, I think I've made progress on most of my resolutions. That makes me feel good. In March, I'll try to blog and see friends more frequently, and stay on track with my shopping and cooking. If I check-in with myself each month, I'll be able to adjust my list as necessary and add new goals as they arise.  

Some Finishing and Some Starting

I've finished a few things.

One of them has been finished for a while, but I couldn't show you yet. It is my first finished sweater of the new year, Irish Coffee, by Thea Colman. 

 

I'm very happy with how it turned out. I've gotten lots of compliments on it, some in person, and some online from other knitters, which really gives me a kick. :)

I finished another small knitting project for my friend Christy's new baby. I have another project in mind for Emmett, but I needed to whip up something quickly when the shower invitation came. 

 

And I've started a few things that I'm still working on.

I'm on the third block of Nathan's blanket, which is looking good. Unfortunately, each successive block builds on the previous ones, so the third block is roughly the size of the first two blocks put together. And each successive block will probably take longer than the last. That's too bad, because I like the satisfaction of finishing a piece. Also, the blanket is knit all in one piece, not in pieces and then sewn together, so it gets bigger and harder to transport as the process goes on. It makes great movie or meeting knitting though, because it's all garter stitch for the longest time, with no shaping and very little counting necessary. 

I'm also working on my 2nd sweater. It was begun in February last year, and put down at spring break, because it wasn't good car knitting. So I worked on William's blanket during spring break, and of course when we got home from Virginia, it was too warm to wear it, so I put it aside. My goal is to finish it this month, so I can get a few wears in this season. 

I've started working out with a personal trainer. (No pics) 

Mark and I started a garden in the side yard. I really wanted the one we planted in the fall to be here, but we planted it at the farm instead. I haven't seen it, or any produce from it, since. This is how the yard looked before we started. We made good progress, but then the tiller blew up, so we stalled. I hurt my back, so I didn't take an after(ish) picture. 

Mark and I have started art again. (The kids have too.) Mark whipped this out during our first lesson, while I spent the entire time looking for something to paint. I decided to do four little canvases with pictures of classic Chevrolet cars. When they are finished, I'll hang them all in my office in a group. 

                                  

                                                                                                  This is what I got done on the second night.

I've also been cooking, but I'm too tired to talk about that tonight, and I have very few pictures.Katherine posted a comment on my post about New Year's resolutions, asking about my progress, so I guess that will be one of the next posts I do, and I'll tell you about some of my cooking then. Here's hoping you're enjoying starting and finishing things too. :)

It's Been Two Weeks Since You Heard from Me

Isn't that the beginning of a song?

I got a text from Jay this morning saying "It's been 2 weeks since ur last blog post." This is sort of true. It is true that it's been 2 weeks since I published a blog post. I have two drafts that I never got around to finishing, because I seem to be lacking in focused time to write. So here's a random assortment of what's gone on since you heard from me.

 

1. Mark was sick-- very, very sick-- while I was in Las Vegas. The doctor said it was either a stomach virus or food poisoning. Dad and Linda took the kids to eat both nights that I was gone, and Cole spent the night with them one night.

2. Yes, I was gone two nights. I was supposed to be gone one. Because of the time difference between here and Las Vegas, if I didn't leave Las Vegas by 2 p.m., I couldn't get a flight home. The dealership meeting was supposed to last until 1:30. I figured I could duck out a little early. But all the literature at the conference and the hotel said I needed to be at the airport 2-2 1/2 hours early. So I missed about half the meeting in my attempt to get to the airport on time. The TSA people at the Las Vegas airport were the nicest and most efficient I've ever experienced, and they had the new controversial body scanner there, but I didn't get picked to go through it. We boarded the plane without event, and I was in the middle seat. Ugh. 

Then we sat on the runway for over an hour while they worked on the plane's radio. Double ugh.

We landed in Dallas at 8:13, and my plane was supposed to take off at 8:30. They had called ahead to some of the gates with a lot of passengers coming to let them know the passengers were on the way, but of course they didn't call mine, and of course there is not another flight to Monroe after 8:30. I asked them to call my gate, but they didn't.  I got to the gate at 8:25, but they wouldn't let me on the plane. 

They did give me a hotel voucher and a generous meal allowance of $10 for dinner and $5 for breakfast (at the airport.)

I found a Chili's that was still open, so I ate there. I ordered a margarita that was called something like the "freshest margarita ever" and was made with agave nectar. I thought it would be like the Skinny Girl margarita, a version of which I had when I visited Jay in Austin. It was the bitterest thing I ever tasted. It was made with fresh lime juice instead of sweet and sour sauce mix (yikes- a margarita with sweet and sour sauce probably wouldn't be too good either!) and I couldn't drink it. Do not order one of these if you don't like TART drinks. I sent it back and got the Presidente--always a good choice.

   

Then I had to wait outside in the very cold for a very long time to get my shuttle to the hotel. By the time I got to my room, it was after 11.  I could have either been home in bed by then, or I could have stayed in Las Vegas, gone to the whole meeting, had another meal at a nice restaurant and slept at the Mirage again. Grrr.

 Here are a few pictures from Las Vegas. 

                                                                                                      

                                                                              The Bar at Emeril's                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   My dinner. MMMMmmm.

            

                                                                                           
                                                                                                                                                                         That's about as much of the strip as I saw. 

3. It is taking my pictures a very long time to upload, and sometimes they don't. I've quit a couple of posts because I didn't get the pictures in. I wonder what's up with that?

4. I think it was a virus, not food poisoning that Mark had, because Sarah got sick after I got back. She went to school Wednesday, but I took her to the doctor Thursday, and she stayed home Thursday and Friday. She felt very bad Friday at 6 a.m., and I know she wasn't faking, but by Friday night, she wanted to have friends over. She didn't argue when I said "no," though. But by Saturday, it was all my fault that her friends had gone to the movies without her, she wouldn't know any of their in jokes on Monday, and she wasn't going to have any friends on Monday if I didn't let her spend the night out Saturday night. I told her that if she didn't have any friends on Monday morning, then she didn't have any friends now, but you can imagine how that went over. However, it is Wednesday now, and it appears that she does still have friends. Whew. 

5. Mark and the kids cleaned out the carport.

6. Cole got a big boy bed. So far he's slept in it pretty well at night. He didn't take a nap Sunday though. I put him in bed, and he just got up and played.

7. We bought Nathan a tempurpedic type foam topper for his bed, and all of the sudden he loves it. He's slept up there alone 4 or 5 nights in a row. Why didn't we think of that sooner?

8. I haven't gotten brave enough to try the cleansing program yet. But I've got to do something. My weight is at a non-pregnancy peak. And not a non-post-pregnancy peak, either. I have so much conflicting information about what to eat rattling around in my head, I'm feeling that same sort of paralysis that I described about the gravestone and the tattoo. (Btw, the gravestone is being carved, but I'm still on the fence about the tattoo. Now I'm worried about toxicity from the ink.) Of course I know I should eat less sugar and salt, and fewer processed foods. But should I try to give up meat and dairy? And bread? At least temporarily? I know there's nothing in this book that's bad for me. And you know how you keep seeing the same things over and over again, and it's like the universe is trying to tell you something? That's how I'm feeling about this process of eliminating foods from my diet. It is coming up everywhere. 

                                                                                                      

9. I did call a personal trainer, but she hasn't called me back.

10. I'm planning to run a half-marathon on April 30 in Jackson. There I said it. Hold me to it. I even downloaded a training program that begins in February. (It counts backward from the date of the race.) Between now and then I need to try to get up to running 15 miles a week. I ran twice last week. I haven't run yet this week, though. I also set a goal to run 500 miles this year. You can see my progress at the bottom left hand part of the blog page. 

11. Oh, I finished the test knit last night. I can only show you a little bit of it, until the pattern is released in a week or two. If you're dying to see it though, go to Genusa's for dinner tomorrow night. I'm planning to wear it to book club. I don't think I'm going to run into any knitting spies there. 

12. Knitting has begun on the hunting-colors blanket for Nathan. So far I love it, although I suspect that before it's over, I'll be very tired of garter stitch and picking up stitches.

                                                                    

13. I've chosen my next sweater. It is going to be this, knit out of this, which is also the yarn in my header.

14. Nathan had been having some trouble with his AR tests. They have to earn at least a certain percentage of their points from non-fiction books. And if they don't meet certain goals and percentages by certain times, they don't get recess until they bring up their points or their averages. I have some issues with this way of doing things, but that's the way it is. Now, Nathan is an excellent reader. But he reads long books, so he doesn't necessarily earn points every week. When he gets to the point where he's going to miss recess, he picks out a one point book, and tries to read it fast. Then if he doesn't do well, he gets another one,  panics even more, and does even worse, which makes him have that much more he has to read before he can have recess again. He made a 60% on one yesterday, which is way out of character for him. Last night, Mark told him no more x-box until he made a 100. Today, I've gotten two emails already that he's made 100 on one point books. (It's 11:02)

15. The kids have been out of school a lot lately. They missed 2 Mondays ago because of weather. They were out last Monday for MLK day. They are out 1/2 day tomorrow and all day Friday for teacher conferences. Then in February they are off for Presidents' Day. 

16. Now that Katherine has started blogging regularly again, I feel doubly intimidated. One, by the frequency (and quality) of her blogging, and two by seeing all the food that her family is getting regularly. I promise, my kids have no idea that there is such a thing as homemade bread, let alone homemade king cake. I am planning to try the venison steak recipe soon. If I don't decide to give up meat. And rice.

17. Taking a picture a day is harder than you might think. Or rather, taking an interesting picture a day is. Some days I take more than one that I like, and then some days, it's next to impossible.  When it comes down to it, I see the same things most days, and I'm struggling to find the time and subject matter to create interesting pictures. And it's still January. 

18. I'm working on starting a Facebook page and Twitter for the dealership. There's not much there yet, but I'm working on it. Go sign up to "like" us.  I'm also thinking about starting up a blog for the dealership. 

 

There you have it. One interesting-ish tidbit for every day we've been apart, plus a few to tide you over to next time. Talk to you soon. :)

Reason Number 2 Why I am a Slow Knitter

I'm in a hotel in Las Vegas. By myself. I flew here today, and I'm flying home tomorrow. That's a lot of potential knitting time on the test knit, which is due in 10 days.

It's going pretty quickly now that I've separated the sleeves. But I left home without an extra skein of yarn. So after my plane knitting, this is how much yarn I have left.

That's right, hours and hours of knitting time--minutes and minutes worth of yarn left. 

I discovered my mistake when I was on the plane. I was a little off on my game in packing, because I went to Ruston for dinner with the Paris ladies last night.

These are the ladies who Mom and I went to Paris with in 2005.

I figured I'd have plenty of time to pack this morning because I didn't have to be at the airport til 9 something. But Mark is sick, so I had to hurry all the kids up this morning, take everyone to school and then come home and pack & get to the airport. 

I discovered my mistake when I was on the flight from Dallas to Las Vegas. I racked my brains to see if I could think of anyone who wouldn't think I was crazy if I asked them to rush to my house and FedEx a skein of yarn to me. I couldn't.

And even though there are plenty of yarn shops in Las Vegas (though you couldn't prove it by my experience trying to go to one) the yarn I'm using is only sold in 9 retail stores in the US, and there's not one here.

I do have another project with me, the Tarty Snapdragons. I've got to go back and work on them some tonight to fix some mistakes so they'll be ready to work on on the plane tomorrow. It's only 8:30 here, but I feel like it's 10:30. I'm going to try to accomplish some knitting on one of those projects before i go to sleep. Night, night.

Dear Katherine,

Dear Katherine,

Your children are so lucky to have a mother who makes them homemade bread and king cake and guacamole. That is why the next time Nathan wants hot chocolate, even when it is snowy or icy out, I'm sending him to his Aunt Katherine's house. Fair warning. 

Love,

Tanya 

Yesterday Nathan wanted hot chocolate. Easy peasy, right? I had cocoa, sugar and milk. I read the recipe on the side of the cocoa box. 1/3 cup cocoa. 1/2 cup sugar. 4 cups of milk separated. Make a paste. Blah, blah, blah. So here's where I first went wrong. I had organic milk in the refrigerator, but I also had almond milk, because as I said earlier, I've been toying with the idea of doing some kind of cleanse. I had a smoothie with almond milk the other day, and it tasted pretty good. So I thought I'd try putting almond milk in the hot chocolate. For no good reason, really, except I thought maybe putting almond milk in the hot chocolate would make it good for him. Remember, I had regular milk, so I could have abandoned this plan at any point. I poured my 1/3 cup almond milk in with my sugar and cocoa, and it wasn't nearly enough to make a paste. So I poured another 1/3 cup and then another. Hmm. Maybe this almond milk is thicker than regular milk. (As I pour in the second cup.) Maybe I should use only half almond milk and the other half regular milk. (Pours in third cup. ) Boy this looks really dark. It is almost as dark as chocolate cake. It doesn't look like hot chocolate at all. (Pours in 4th cup of almond milk.) In my defense, I did taste it. It didn't taste bad. It just didn't taste exactly right. I would probably have thrown it out then and started over, but Nathan and Mark came into the kitchen then, and I didn't want to admit that I had tried to make hot chocolate with almond milk. So I said, maybe it needs more milk, and added some regular milk. That tasted ok.

Then Nathan wanted whipped cream. We didn't have any whipped cream, and we didn't have any marshmallows. But I did have some half and half in the refrigerator. Self, I asked myself, does half and half whip, or does it not? I'm not sure. Katherine would know, I think to myself, but again, I don't want to admit what a clueless chef I am. (Not that I think you can really call someone a chef for making hot chocolate. Or in this case, for failing to make hot chocolate.) Okay, Nathan, I'll try to make us some whipped cream. I climb up on a chair and get the immersion blender and pour some half and half into the container that came with it. Maybe there is a way to turn the blender on and make it stay on without constantly holding the button, but I couldn't figure it out. I kept changing hands until the thing was so hot I thought it would probably blow up. No whipped cream yet. So I get out the stand mixer and pour it in the small bowl and start whipping. Again, no luck. So I just ladled half and half into our hot chocolate cups and said it was sort of like melted whipped cream. Cole took one sip and said, "I'm finished. Can I have some brown yogurt?"* Then Sarah walked in and said, in that tone of voice that preteen girls have, "You tried to make whipped cream?" So I had to explain that  yes, you can make whipped cream, that's how they make whipped cream, and I've made it hundreds of times. Which might have been more convincing if I hadn't had iffy hot chocolate and un-whipped half and half to make my point. So, um, yeah. Next time, Katherine, they are coming to you. I'll knit hats and blankets for your kids if you'll cook for mine. Deal?

*(Brown yogurt is the elusive Dannon coffee flavored yogurt that all my out of town family brings when they come to visit, because I can't get it here since Albertson's closed. I used to eat one every day. Now each kid eats one every day when we have them, so they go quickly.)

One Reason I Knit So Slowly

Of course, slowly is relative. I knit at a decent speed--nothing that makes sparks fly of the needles, you understand, but if you're not a knitter, I'd probably look pretty proficient to you. I guess what I really mean is "One Reason Why it Takes Me Forever and a Day to Finish Anything." (And the reason I'm going to discuss today is not having to rip back inches & inches of a garment that I'm trying to finish on a deadline because I totally messed up the first set of cables, but i wasn't sure they were messed up until I got to the second set, and they looked so much better. That may or may not have also happened on this garment.)

Diary of my knitting experience this morning.

7:42 Wake up. I'm the only one awake in the house. Sarah and her friends are sleeping upstairs. Cole's asleep in my room. Mark and Nathan are at the camp. I have some time to myself to really get something done.

7:45 The house is a wreck. Laundry needs to be folded & the Christmas stuff still needs to go back upstairs, but I'm going to knit for a little while first. 

7:45 pick up project. Remind myself where I am in the project. (Yes, many knitters keep detailed notes about this kind of thing. But I just knit until I can't keep my eyes open anymore & then put it aside.) Ok. So, I'm just starting row 12, an increase row. 

7:46 Hmm. The dogs are awake. It's sleeting outside. I better make them go out now before it gets worse. Get the dogs. Force the dogs out. Watch the dogs to make sure they go to the bathroom. Let the dogs back in.

7:55 Pick up project. Knit about 12 stitches. Hear Cole crying. Go to the back of the house. He's not crying. His head is under his pillow, and he's got his blanket smushed up against his face. Watch him for several seconds to ensure he's breathing. He is.

8:00 Ok. It's 8:00. I am going to knit until 9, and then I'm going to get back to cleaning up Christmas stuff. I have all day to work on that, because Mark and Nathan are at the camp, the Saints lost yesterday, Linda's making chili, so I don't have to cook anything, and I can go to church at 5. Realize that I failed to increase at the beginning of the row. Start un-knitting 12 stitches. (That's called tink-ing. Get it? Knit spelled backwards is tink. That's when you're unknitting one stitch at a time. It's pretty slow. When you need to tear back a LOT at one time, and you just take it off the needles and rip, it's called frogging. (Because you rip-it, which sounds sort of like rib-bit, the sound a frog makes. We knitters are a clever bunch.)

8:04 Hear the sound of Cole crying again and realize it's really the cat. Go upstairs and open doors until I find the one she's trapped behind and let her out.

8:06 Sit down to knit again. Re knit the 12 stitches I've tinked. Hear Cole calling me. He comes out to the family room, and I have got to take a picture of his hair. As they used to say at Camp Ozark, "That's not a hair-do, that's a hair don't." Cole usually loves to have his picture taken, but I guess I made him self-conscious when I said I wanted to take a picture of his hair. I bribe blackmail him by saying I won't pour his orange juice until he lets me take his picture. You see, I'm doing this project 365, where I take a picture each day, and that might be today's. Take pictures. Also take pictures of the dogs to make Cole happy. Go in kitchen to fix orange juice. Cole doesn't want me to pour his orange juice yet. He wants me to turn on the tv in the bedroom. But only after I turn on both lamps and he turns on the overhead light. Turn on said lights. Get his cup from last night. Take it to the kitchen and rinse it out. Pour apple juice. Give it to him.

 

8:12 Sit down to knit. 

8:14 Hear cell phone ringing in the bedroom. Think "Maybe they killed a buck." Race to answer phone. Say "Hello, hello" & hear Mark say the phone never rang. Try to redial. As I'm redialing him on cell phone. House phone rings. Run back to family room, and in a true miracle see a cordless phone on the base on the desk. Answer. Mark asks if I want him to pick up doughnuts. Ask, "Are you on your way  home?" He answers, "We're already home. Nathan didn't want to hunt."

8:16 Give up knitting for now and start typing this blog. I'm not sure if I netted any forward progress at all. 

8:45 Hunters are home. Nathan asks me to help them unload the truck. Realize that I put my warm jacket and Cole's in washing machine last night, maybe not the smartest thing to do the night before it is supposed to snow. Debate going out in sleet to help unload the truck. Open the door for Nathan who has dropped his sleeping bag outside & run outside to get it. He sleeps in that sleeping bag every night. (That's another story.) 

9:00 While I'm linking to Camp Ozark, remember I'm not sure if kids are registered yet for this summer.

9:06 Upload pictures of Cole's hair. Crop the second one to eliminate the garland on the stairs. 

I'll talk to you peeps later. I've got a lot to do today! :)