Goodbye January

The sound of the wind woke me in the early morning hours… “Good”  I thought, “blow this month outta here!”

I am done with January – how about you?  I can’t say that it’s because it’s been too cold or snowy because it hasn’t.  It’s just been too dark, gloomy and dull… I need me some sunshine and we haven’t had nearly enough of that.

Over the years there have been many times I’ve looked back on a month and wondered what happened – where did all my days go?… but not January 2013!  Good bye…

The only thing saving January 2013 from ending up in the Total Waste of Time column is that I’ve been knitting during these dark gloomy days.

Last Year…

This morning I looked back at January of 2012 – I had forgotten that I had headed to Texas mid-month… and didn’t return until March.

I was reminded in looking back of a resolution I had made last year – to not talk on the phone while driving nor talk to others who are driving.  I’ve done pretty well with that and will continue to make this a habit that sticks.

I’m glad I looked back – I’ve been finding it hard to motivate myself to get up early and get to the gym… and I’ve been beating myself up mentally because I didn’t remember having this problem last year.  Well - that would be because I wasn’t going to the gym last year at this time… see – I’m not a terrible slacker!

My daughter in SC gets her household goods delivered this week… I know she’s excited about that.  They closed on the new house last week and have pretty much been ‘camping out’ in an empty house.  She said they were going to make a big sleeping pallet up each night in a different room and all sleep together… give them all a chance to settle in and get use to all the rooms together – then when beds arrive they will all go sleep in their own rooms… hopefully… LOL

I need to finish sorting thru my paperwork so I can give The Engineer the receipts he needs for his Tax appointment in early February.  I need to make a greater effort to give him this stuff through out the year rather than holding on to it… it’s not like I need it for anything myself!

On The Needles…

Judy Laquidara from Patchwork Times hosts an “On The Needles” post each week… Please go and check out what others are knitting this week!

What mine should be titled is “What’s BACK on the Needles”.

Earlier this week I had posted a picture of this cowl finished… but I wasn’t entirely happy with it.  The pattern is in Creative Knitting Magazine – Keep it Casual Cowl on page 52.

 

I decided I wanted a little more up around the neck – so I undid the bind off and picked up all the stitches.

This went along a lot better than I expected – there was no screaming or crying involved… and no panicked trip to the yarn shop for help either… (which I’ve done a couple times this past month) LOL

I had picked up an additional ball of yarn this morning whilst out for my knee appt. and errands so Edna (yarn shop owner) knew she might be seeing me again before too long if things didn’t go well.

I also came home with a couple more little projects… (sigh…)

Procrastination…

I seem to be all about that right now.  If it doesn’t have to be done RIGHT NOW – I’ll just be doing it later thank you very much. 

It might be easier if the sun would at least shine some… on dark cloudy days (i.e. winter!) I could stay inside and not go anywhere until Spring.  I went out on Monday and dropped some stuff off at the UPS store… OK - I wanted to go to the yarn shop so I stopped by UPS on my way.  Everything else I have had to do this week will get done tomorrow (Friday) when I go out for my appointment (which I had already moved from Wed. to Fri.). 

I have however not been slacking on getting back on track with more healthy eating and exercise.  Although I haven’t gotten back to the gym I have been using a new exercise video I got from ADVOCARE.  I have to say I’m liking it a lot.  The video is set up in different sections – Melt, Sculpt, Shred and Core Stretch.  It’s set up for you to work 5 days with 2 days (optional) off.  You alternate the Melt, Sculpt, and Shred exercises with the Core Stretch.  The cool part is that it’s a 24 minute workout - there are 3 instructors working at different levels for different amounts of time.  You work along with the level you are capable of doing.  I am pretty much working at the lower level but continue thru the time for the upper levels.

I will get back to the pool next week… I miss that warm water workout!

My sewing room became a catch all while my daughter and grandkids were here… I’ve been sorting through stuff, putting things away and hope to reach the fabric layer soon.

Well – I guess I’ve fiddled around enough today…

This and That…

New Tree:  My old “Christmas Forest” (a lighted set of 3 varied height trees) bit the dust a couple years ago.  We had one other 3 ft. tree we’ve used a few years but with the grandkids here for the holidays I thought it was time to invest in a new tree.  I knew I did not want a bulky full sized tree so I was very happy to find a 7.5 ft. SLIM tree.  Perfect… simply perfect!  What a hoot it was with the baby helping us decorate.  He could not run fast enough back and forth between me (with the box of decorations) and his mother (hanging them).  Over the next couple weeks many of the lower ornaments got hung higher has he persisted in playing with them – but for the most part it was fun to watch him walk up and look at the ornaments.  The kids had a grand time! The baby really is in a clean shirt… he was working on a new molar so it didn’t take him long to get drool all over it even on Christmas morning!

The thing I hate about holiday trees is that you then have to take them apart and store them… so I got a Tree Keeper storage bag!  

The bag arrived last Friday and on Sunday The Engineer and I pulled the tree off it’s stand long enough to attach the bag and about 10 minutes later the tree is standing in the basement taking up a whole lot less room than it would in it’s box… and I won’t have to spend an hour or two re-fluffing the branches next year!

How cool is that?!!

I’ve been knitting in the evenings…

This wraps nicely around my shoulders or I could double wrap it around my neck… but I mostly use it to keep my shoulders and arms warm while watching TV.  It’s Baby Alpaca so it’s soft and oh so warm.  I wish I had made it a bit wider so… here is plan B.

I saw this cowl in the September issue of my Creative Knitting Magazine.   Although it’s done – I’m thinking about picking the stitches back up and giving it another round or two at the top to snug it up a bit more around my neck.  I’ll have to try it on another time or two and decide… but I love it that it covers my shoulders and arms down to my elbows and since it’s nice and stretchy I have full use of my hands and arms.  It’s superwash merino wool.

Late last summer I had lost 10 lbs (woot woot!) but between spraining my knee in early Oct. (resulting in a lower activity level) and the carb fest we call the holidays I found 3 of them (boooo!).  All the yummy goodies are gone and I’m back to focusing on getting some daily exercise.  Ow… some of those muscles forgot how to work hard.

Speaking of exercise… enough sitting for me this morning…

There’s Always Tomorrow…

I’ve had in my mind (scary place for sure – wait… maybe that is the problem?) anyway… I’ve had in my mind the idea that Wednesday Jan. 2nd I’d get back to my life.  I’ve been working on a list of things to tackle once the house cleared out.  Little did I know that I’d not fall asleep until 4 AM and therefore not get up until after 8:30 AM… so my morning is shot already and I’m tired before I’ve even glanced at my list.  So… there is always tomorrow…

My daughter and grandkids left this past Friday morning and my husband and I have spent the days since doing vegetable impressions in the living room.  Not because we were devastated that they were gone after 7 months - we just both gave up fighting the colds that had been nagging at us over Christmas.

Their leaving has it’s good and bad points…

• The dog will loose weight as there are no longer scraps of food on the floor…
• …but I will have to start mopping the kitchen floor as the dog will no longer be interested in licking it clean
• I will be able to find things in the refrigerator…
• …after I clean it out
• I won’t have to spend all my time cooking and cleaning in the kitchen…
• …but I will miss sharing meals with the kiddos
• I can get in my car and go anytime I want to…
• …there are no longer sweet little faces to greet me when I get home – or watch as they play - or kiss goodnight

OK… that’s enough of that list…

Except to say that I’ll also get to spend some time sewing again… after I put the toy boxes and Christmas stuff back into the attic storage and clear out my sewing room… again.  It seems like I’m always cleaning out or rearranging my sewing room… I need to fix that.

I hope everyone had a Wonderful Christmas and I wish for you all the Most Happy of New Years!

I’ll be back… after I tackle a thing or two on my list… and maybe get in a nap or two.