A Bit Lost

So we left home Friday afternoon and it's now Sunday night. We stopped in Clovis Friday night at Steve's parents' house, then headed to Weatherford to see my brother and sis-in-law and the twins (who are ADORABLE enough to eat, by the way). We're going to Bryan tomorrow morning to spend the remainder of the week with my folks.

And I'm feeling a bit lost. Kind of floating. I don't have a knitting project (I finally finished my green sweater - more about it later) and I have a few writing things I need to catch up on. But nothing I need to work on at the moment. This is a weird feeling. I'm usually working on something that needs to be finished ASAP, but not right now. Strange.

The green sweater - I finished it last week after a year and a half of working on it. It's too big. Nuts. Nuts, nuts, nuts. That's what I get for losing 45 pounds after starting a new project. But it's a great excuse to start working on a new sweater, right? I think so. But no new sweater projects until I'm done in Sock Wars.

Changing gears here...while I'm in Bryan, I'm hoping to spend some quality time at the mall and/or Target getting some new clothes. I have NO shorts and NO capris and, if you recall my "panties in a wad" episode from a couple of weeks ago, I need undergarments. What a weird feeling. I don't think I've ever needed this many pieces of clothing at one time. I feel a bit guilty about it, really. I have clothes in perfectly fine condition that I'm getting rid of because they don't' fit. I'm used to getting rid of too-small clothes and I usually berate myself for gaining weight, but this losing weight thing is different.

I was getting ready the other morning and caught a glimpse of something I haven't seen in years: a fatty deposit on my collarbone. I know, sounds gross. Sorry. But several years ago I discovered this grape-sized deposit and had it checked out. Nothing serious or abnormal. It's been there ever since but since I had a layer of "finish" on me (finish=fat) I couldn't see its outline until recently. Weird.

It's 9:22 NM time and I'm about to fall over because I'm so sleepy. I'm going to head to bed now. It's nice to see family but I never sleep as well when I'm away from home. I'm in love with my mattress. It's 8 years old and fabulous. SO worth the money we spent on it. But when you're tired enough, it doesn't really matter, does it?

Nighty night.

Survey

I got this today from my sister-in-law and since I live my life on this blog anyway, I figured I'd post it here. That way if you want to respond, just copy and paste into an e-mail to me.

1. What side of the heart do you draw first?
left

2. Can you swim without plugging your nose?
yes

3. What kind of cell phone do you own?
a lame-o Nokia with an AWESOME bagpipe ringtone

4. What is your blood-type?
coffee

5. Where would you go to live for the rest of your life if you could?
Hard question…I like Los Alamos for the snow and summers, but I like the shopping anywhere else, but I love England (but not their crappy health care system). So my official answer is Hogwarts.

6. How do you feel about carrots?
they're fine and just this weekend they saved me from the horrible fate of chips and french onion dip

7.How many chairs are at the dining room table?
6

8. Who was the last person to text you?
Aaron (little brother)

9. What color are your socks?
dark gray with white flowers around the top

10. What's your favorite color?
bright pink

11. How many windows are in your room?
1

12. Have you ever had a crush on anyone on your top friends?
I don't know what this means. Somebody younger and cooler needs to enlighten me.

13. What time is it?
Time for me to get off the Internet and do something productive. Or 2:21 p.m.

14. Do you scrapbook?
nope

15. Do you have a crush on anyone?
David Tennant a.k.a. Doctor Who; James McAvoy (Atonement, The Last King of Scotland, and The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe although he was a bit furry as a faun in that one).

16. Do you own an iPod or an mp3 player?
MP3 - Sansa by Samsung. It rocks. I'm listening to Dave Ramsey yelling about Health Savings Accounts and Health Insurance right now.

17. What was the last thing you ate?
Weight Watchers Turtle Ice Cream. Very good and only 3 points.

18. Do you have aim, yahoo, msn, etc.?
nope

19. Do you know the song Total Eclipse of the Heart?
Yes - and I also know that before the singer, Bonnie Tyler, had throat surgery, she wasn't very popular. Then she had throat surgery, got a raspy voice, sang a song written by Meatloaf and became popular in the 80s. Plus she's Welsh.

20. Do you have any pets?
Gray Cat. She's a gray cat. She puked on the kitchen floor last night and when Audrey discovered it this morning, she screamed. Cat puke and screaming 4-year-old at 6:30 a.m. really stinks.

21. Do you like flowers?
Yes - the wild colorful kind. And daffodils. And any perennials in my yard that I haven't managed to kill yet.

22. What did you do today?
Soothed a screaming 4-year-old, cleaned up cat puke, took all tickets from all kids (meaning they're grounded to their rooms this afternoon), went to Community Bible Study, ate lunch at Subway, bought Dad's b-day present, came home, sent 2 of the 3 kids to their rooms (3rd kid is in school), drank some coffee, and have been farting around on the Internet for the last hour. Productive, no? And I watered the still-live daffodils and other green stuff in my front flowerbed.

23. What's your sign?
Hopefully not "Stupid" (Bill Engvall..."here's your sign")

24. Do you wear a lot of black?
probably every other day but not on purpose - I don't have many clothes that fit left in my closet - the casual stuff is jeans, and about 3/4 of the dressier stuff is black.

25. Are you close to your family?
yes

26. Describe your hair?
Posh with split ends

27. Ever been arrested?
no

28. Have you ever had a dream that you were killed in?
No - but I had a dream where I was running away from that scary motorcycle-riding guy from Raising Arizona and I hid in the mailbox. Not a big blue thing, the type that you see in front of houses on the curb. And I fit.

29. Have you ever cried and started laughing out of nowhere?
I'm sure I have - going through pregnancy hormones 3 times probably has made me bawl like a baby and then laugh like a maniac in a matter of moments, but I have the gift of selective amnesia and only remember the things that make me think I'm sophisticated.

30. Do you have a tan?
If all my freckles decide to unite, I will.

31. When was the last time you went to the mall?
When I took my mom back to the airport on March 14. By myself. It was glorious! I bought stuff. Green nail polish, for one.

32. Are you wearing any jewelry?
watch, 3 rings, earrings

33. Are you a sugar freak?
why do you think I used to weigh 230 pounds?

34. Do you like orange juice?
it's so-so

35. What do you want to be when you grow up?
Either an author or a ballerina. Or a princess. That would be a cool gig.

36. Can you count to ten in more than one language and what language?
English, Spanish, French, and we're working on Chinese. Yes, Chinese, thanks to the newest little kids' show on Nick Jr. Ni Hao, Ki Lan.

37. Do you miss someone?
I miss family who are far away, I miss friends who have moved halfway across the country, I miss certain young adults who used to be "those darn teenagers" 8-9 years ago (you KNOW who you are...) and friends who have gone before me to heaven.

38. Are you single?
no

39. Have you kissed anyone in the past week?
Steve made me open my car door after he got the girls all buckled in after lunch to kiss me. Very sweet. I get slobbery things from my kids on a regular basis, and I kiss them on a regular basis.

40. What are your plans for this weekend?
Hopefully not kill my children. We're going to Texas to see the new cousins. The kids are stoked, as am I.

I *SO* Did It!

I made it through the workout. All 22 minutes of running and 22 minutes of walking. I SO TOTALLY DID IT. I'm tired now, but no rest for me - have to go get the girlies and Caleb (it's his half day).

:)

P.S. There's a movie coming out this weekend I want to see - it's called "Run, Fatboy, Run" and it's a British comedy about a fat guy trying to get in shape to run the London Marathon in order to win his formerly-jilted fiance back. Hmmm - something about this resonates with me...

A Tail Whuppin' Is Imminent

I just looked at my running program for this morning. Instead of 7 two-minute running segments, there are 11. Holy cow.

I need to go fuel up.

Seussical the (Brief) Musical

The 1st and 2nd graders at Caleb's school performed some songs from Seussical last night. Seussical is basically Dr. Seuss books set to music.

We got there at 6:25 because Caleb needed to be there at 6:30. There were maybe 4 other families there, so we got primo seats on the front row. Then we waited. And waited. You get the picture. The program didn't start until 7:00. The girls ran around (we were in a gym) and had fun, but eventually they got bored.

Finally the kids came on stage. There were a few words from the principal and then they started. I was trying to conserve my camera's battery power since I didn't know how long this program would be, so I just taped bits and pieces.

Fifteen short minutes later as the kids were singing the final "Dr. Seuss Master Mix" - a medley of the 4 songs they already sang - I realized that I could record the whole medley because I would have more than enough battery power.

So later today I'll post the video of the medley. Caleb was great, as usual. He boogied, sang, did all the motions.

A Bit Battered - Pix Towards the End

I've just finished a pruning session out on one of our evergreen bushes. Even though I wore gloves, my hands are a bit scratched up, and my arms are really scratched up. I washed my hands and arms after I changed clothes and I could feel all of the little places where the evil bush got me. But it looks *much* better now. It's on the front corner of our lot right beside the driveway and I think I might actually be able to see over it when I'm backing out now.

I'm working like mad on laundry. We're going out of town for Spring Break and I always like to have as much laundry done as possible before I start packing. I'm weird that way. I like to have options.

Uummm....

I got my second writing assignment back today from the class I'm taking. I haven't opened the envelope yet, though. I don't know why. Maybe I'm avoiding more work. It will have my due date for the next assignment in it. I have already given myself an assignment to do over Spring Break (I need to finish an article) and I don't know that I want another assignment hanging over my head. But it's hanging there, whether or not I'm aware of it.

I'm going to totally cop out tonight on dinner. The 1st and 2nd graders at Caleb's school are doing a program tonight. I'm uninspired dinner-wise, so the kids and Steve will have corn dogs and I'll have a frozen Weight Watchers dinner. Or we'll all have leftovers. Or cereal. Or deviled eggs from Easter. We'll see.

I think that's all from me. Oh - maybe not. How about a horribly embarrassing picture of a really bad hair day? I had my hair in those cute little pin-curl-looking things on my head - like Princess Leia from the original Star Wars movie, except my "cinnamon buns" were tiny and there were 11 of them. I wanted waves. I got poodle.

I couldn't even run my fingers through that mess. It was awful. The kids thought it was hilarious. Of course they would. I thought it was, too. Steve just rolled his eyes and took the pictures when I handed him the camera.

How about some Easter pictures?

Julie is enjoying dyeing Easter eggs with Daddy.

Not so much anymore. She's crying. I woke her up from her nap for this.

The girlies getting ready to hunt Easter eggs after church at the park. Notice their BIG coats and frilly dresses. It was windy, freezing (33 degrees), and miserable. Thank goodness hunts always go fast. Notice the fancy Easter baskets - recycled gift bags. Worked fine and the kids were happy with them. Plus I folded them down and stuck them back in the closet when we were done.

Lest you think Caleb was missing this weekend, here is a picture of him. I turned on kid music (thanks, Dish Network, for having satellite radio stations) and the kids boogie-oogied for quite a while. He was attempting some kind of gymnastic maneuver here, but I thought the leap looked pretty cool.

Quick Post

Just got back from my run. It was the same one (length & type) I did Saturday and Monday. Saturday I probably ran 12 minutes of the 14. Monday I think I probably did 13 of the 14. Today I did almost all 14. Probably 15 seconds short. But it's so cool that I can see such an improvement in just a couple of workouts!

Now I'm going to go hose off and then go to Beall's to try to find a new pair of dress shoes for Audrey. Her current favorite shoes are her black dress shoes and they look horrible. But she loves them and doesn't care. I do. She needs a nicer pair for Easter.

TTFN!

No More Panties in a Wad

So this morning I did two things differently before my run: 1 - I chose the panties that lurk in the back ofmy drawer because they're too small, and 2 - I put a drawstring of sorts in my running pants. Everything stayed put through the whole run.

Today I began an eBay odyssey. I recently went to the local thrift store and bought 3 paper grocery bags full of designer clothes in all sizes in good shape. I paid $5 a bag. I don't really know how many pieces of clothing I bought for the purpose of eBaying, but I do know it's a lot. I added to the thrift store clothing all of the stuff I've been shrinking out of. I had to put another dress in the "too big" pile on Sunday before church, plus I have a sizeable amount of stuff in the garage. I've been waiting for a garage sale, but I'm going to take all of the clothes that are "designer" (as opposed to the Target and Wal-Mart stuff I have) and list them on eBay. I listed the first 10 pieces this afternoon. We'll see how well they go over.

Now I must go. I need to finish my Bible study for tomorrow and then I need to try to finish my green sweater. Obviously since I'm posting this on St. Patrick's Day I didn't get it completed in time to wear it for the green holiday, so now I'm aiming to have it done to wear Thursday. That's when I go to Bible study. It will be nice to show it off to a couple of my knitter friends.

Maybe tonight I'll even have the chance to watch a little TV. Last night Steve hogged the boob tube and played Pokemon on the Wii. I went to bed early.

Audrey's Adorable New 'Do

Audrey and I both said, "enough!" today with the tangled mess that is her hair. I wanted it long and she thought she did, too, but we decided today to cut it. Here is the result:






Sorry they're blurry. But you get the idea.

The only problem we had was poor little Jules. She kept saying in a pitiful voice, "My turn haircut!" I told her it wasn't her turn but that her hair looked beautiful. She doesn't even have enough hair to pretend to cut!

A First

I had the strangest experience today while I was on my run. I had on my new running pants (which I've worn once and discovered they're going to be too big pretty soon), a t-shirt, and a windbreaker, in addition to the usual undergarments.

It is the undergarments I will be discussing today. Just a warning.

So I start out on my run with a warm-up walk for 4 minutes, followed by the "run 2 minutes, walk 1 minute" pattern. As I begin my first 2 minute run, I notice that the waistband of my pants is slipping. No biggie. I had them hiked up to my natural waist (above my belly button) and they seem to be more of a lower slung fit at the hips just below the belly button. At least that's where they ended up during my last run.

But this time I had another strange sensation: my undies were slipping downward, too. After 2 minutes of running, my pants were still covering my posterior, but my drawers were resting happily underneath my bum. They were still up in the front, but the only thing keeping them from slipping further was my running pants. So I tried surreptitiously to pull everything up. It took the full 1 minute of walking time to get everything sorted.

Then I started running again. I kept clutching and tugging at both my pants and undies, desperate to avoid losing my britches again. Finally about one-third of the way through my workout, I guess I got sweaty enough for things to stay put. I didn't have to do the "pull the pants up" run and the "hike up the panties" walk.

What a disaster! At least it kept me amused for a while while I was running. This run, by the way, was harder yet than anything I've done so far. It kicked my butt by the time I got home. That is, it kicked my fully-clothed butt.

Lesson learned: get new underwear and put a drawstring in my pants.

Hilarious T-Shirt I Should Have Bought Today

It had a map of New Mexico with the words:

NEW MEXICO
Not really new
Not really Mexico


HA HA HAAA!!

Dun Dun DUN! (Dramatic music)

I have signed up to participate in Sock Wars III. It's kill or be killed. Or rather, knit or be killed by knitting.

This is from the official website:

Welcome to the original and bloodiest death-by-knitting tournament.

Sock Wars III kicks off on 9th May 2008 and will run until only one blood-soaked champion remains.

If you are brave enough, sign up to do battle. You will be emailed a top secret assassination dossier on 9th May 2008. This file contains the details of your target and an exclusive, never-been-published-before knitting pattern with which to assassinate them.

To kill your target you must knit them a pair of socks in the pattern (your "weapon") and mail it to them. Once your target receives your parcel they are dead and must post their death on the website.

They must also send you details of their intended target (who becomes your next person to assassinate) along with their unfinished knitting (which becomes your new weapon).

All the while this is going on, someone has been assigned YOU as their target!

Prepare to live in fear... kill or be killed!

http://sockwarsiii.memberlodge.org/

So there you go. I've signed up for a death-by-socks assassination game. And it's worldwide. The fee to register on the site is $2 (I'm not sure why it costs, but I did it) and you get to pick your nom de guerre.

Mwah ha haaaa! (evil laugh)

I Skipped A Size!

Today at CB Fox, I found a pair of size 14 jeans on sale for $15. Not bad for CB Fox. I was pretty sure that I was down to a 16 because all of my 18s are loose-ish, so I figured, "What the hey?" and tried on the 14s to see how far I am from them.

A bit tight in the bum, but by next week they should be fabulous!!!

And I ran again today. I got a new inhaler for my asthma on Monday and it worked like a charm today. I actually ran all the parts of the workout that I was supposed to run and didn't feel like I was going to die like I felt last Friday.

I was hoping to be a size 14 by summer, but now it looks like I need to revise my goal a bit.

YIPPEEEEEE!!

And I got a new pair of Chinese Laundry shoes for $15, too (cream-colored leather, peep toe, high heel, cool flower, ankle strap) to go with the new dress I bought at Target on Sunday. I'll have to get all gussied up and take a picture.

Steve is Home. And Ouch.

Steve made it home last night at 2:30 a.m. He's still sleeping this morning. The kids, once they got past their initial, "Woo hoo! Dad's home!" settled down to watch Saturday morning cartoons.

I ran yesterday. Have I mentioned that? I haven't run since 9th grade PE. The workout alternated 2 minutes of running with 1 minute of walking. It was tough. My shoulders, rib cage, back, and thighs are all sore. I was going to run again today, but might not since it all hurts. Plus I need to grocery shop and get the house ready for a week-long visitor (Yay, Nana!).

Julie Nolen

Her pronunciation of "L"s are hilarious! Watch her tongue.

Correction

We didn't get 10 inches. We got 12. This is according to Channel 7 news. Much more dramatic, those 2 additional inches.

SNOW

In case you can't figure out what that yellow thing is, it's a 12-inch ruler. Two inches are all that are visible above the snow on the recycle bin lid. That thing on the other trash can is my coffee mug. I was taking a break.

School was closed today. I awoke at 5:58 a.m., turned on the TV because I figured there would be at least a delay today. We got about 2-3 inches between 6:45 and 8:15 last night and I knew the snow wasn't letting up. I saw the news and went back to sleep. Before the kids went to bed last night, I told them to stay in their beds and snooze until I came to get them in case school was delayed. So they stayed back in their rooms and entertained each other until I got up at the fabulous hour of 8:45 a.m. IT WAS WONDERFUL!!! I even got 2 phone calls (one at 7 and the other at 8:15) and was able to get back to sleep.

We're just hanging out today. I shoveled snow for an hour, then had all 3 kids go outside and play for a while. Julie kept getting her mittens wet, so we had to keep changing mittens. When we ran out of mittens, she decided it was time to come inside.

Interesting Morning

This morning I conducted a telephone interview for an article I'm working on. It went well. I was very nervous, but the interviewee was gracious and intelligent.

On to another subject.

I ate 14 french fries from the girls' happy meals yesterday and almost didn't write down that I ate them because, "it wasn't that much." But in a weird way, I'm glad I did. It was 7.5 points. YIKES! I'm about to eat a Healthy Choice brand pizza that's only 7 points.

Uuummmm.....

Steve is still gone.

I worked a bit on that goofy sweater I'm trying to finish by St. Paddy's Day. It's green. How appropriate. It takes me about 30-45 minutes to sew a shoulder seam. It's a raglan design, so there are 2 seams on each shoulder. Once I get those sewn (I have 1 left), I can start the trim on the front. As I do the trim, I'll also knit the ties - it's a wrap sweater - then I'll sew up the side/underarm seams and be done with that. All I'll have left is blocking - I get the whole thing damp and let it dry naturally. It's kind of the equivalent of pressing the seams in a garment as you sew. It's a construction thing. I'm probably not doing it justice describing it thus, but oh well.

The timer for the kids' mac & cheese just beeped. Gotta run!

Another One Bites the Dust

So when I do laundry, I stand at the dryer and fold clothes as I take them out. It was a habit I started in England and even though the opening for my dryer here is 3 feet lower, I still do it. As I take out kids' clothes and fold them, I can pull those items the kids have outgrown and put them in the appropriate container that I keep in the garage.

I'm having to do it for myself now, as well.

Nice problem - to be shrinking out of clothes! But I haven't bought anything new in a while, so my wardrobe is getting pretty skimpy. I have 5 pairs of jeans, including 2 pairs of Lees that won't make it much longer (getting too loose), 2 pairs of sweatpants for working out, about 8 "nice" knit shirts (like t-shirts) that I'm not ashamed of wearing to church, 1 skirt, 1 split skirt, 1 pair black pants, and I think 2 dresses. I have 2 sweaters left. This is big, since I'm a sweater hog! I have 3 sweatshirts, but I can't keep wearing the 2XL one because it looks like I'm wearing elephant skin.

I write all this because I'm wearing a pair of cords for the last time. They were almost uncomfortably snug when I bought them 2 Novembers ago in England and now they're too loose. I wear stuff one last time so I can say, "good-bye" and have no regrets about eBaying, garage sale-ing, or giving the clothes away. My "too big" pile is now bigger than my "it fits" pile. And I'm too cheap to go buy more stuff since I still have a way to go on this journey.

I know, you're thinking, "She's whining because she doesn't have any clothes because she's LOSING WEIGHT. Get over it already, April!"

Ok. I hear you. I'm over it.

41.4 pounds gone! I'm only about 20 pounds away from where I was on my wedding day. But the dress will not come out because Audrey will want to take it.

Actually, I might get it out. It would be such a rush to get back into it! And much cheaper than my last reward to myself - the diamond ring from eBay. I would only have to pay to have it hermetically sealed again. I'll have to think about it.....

Off to the dentist now with Audrey.

Just a Couple of Minutes

I have about 4 minutes before I need to leave to get the girls. I just went on a walk with my latest experiment: a podfitness.com workout. You upload your music, choose your type of workout, choose your trainer, then it complies your music underneath the trainer's voice. I'm trying it free for 2 weeks - otherwise I wouldn't do this without knowing for sure what's up.

I'm doing the "prepare for a 5k" workout. I doubt I'll actually participate in a 5k, but it would be nice to know I could if I wanted to. Today's workout was just walking and concentrating on breathing "belly breaths." Since I have mild asthma and since the air was COLD it was hard to tell if I was doing it right since it felt like it was catching in my upper lungs. Not uncomfortable, I'm just not sure I was doing it right. Oh well. I'll do what I can.

I've discovered that the music genre of "angry chick rock" works well for my pace. Kelly Clarkson ("Since U Been Gone"), pretty much anything by Pink...probably not good for the "inner me." I need to find Christian music with the tempo of "angry chick rock" but with the smoothness of Mac Powell's vocals (Third Day) and the energy of "The Happy Song."

Any suggestions? I like more aggressive music. So maybe rock and not pop.

I'm listening to my workout for tomorrow (it's different) and I'm going to RUN! The background music is Pink's "Trouble." .... hmmm