JOY TO ME!

I received 2 of my favorite cards from my secret pal. Hoops and Yo-yo have been my favorites since I first saw them. They can brighten the gloomiest day. These were about FALL ... I got quite a giggle from the first and then the second was a beautiful calm one! I did not know they could be calm and quiet!! My secret pal included the news that she was sending me a subscription to KNIT SIMPLE. I did not know this magazine and of course had to go look it up. I'm excited!!  This was totally unexpected and guaranteed to help use up the stash, I hope. Thanks you SP for such a novel idea. 

Knitting pictures have to wait . . mostly knitting for secret pal!  

Biggest news. . . . drum roll, please!  We bought a motor home. Yessir a 35 footer complete with queen size bed, full kitchen with side by side refrigerator/freezer and a bath with shower. Our dream was always to hit the open road and my knees have really delayed plans.  SO we will make some small  trips here in SE Virginia and tune up our skills.  Everyone is excited so we are busy with maps and campground directories, as well as combing the house for all the things we can use in it to cut down costs. Anyone with suggestions? Jump in, because we love help!

Maybe we will see you in the coming months!!

The Week in Review

Let's see . . . .

Bummer of the week - The Redskins lost. A real downer

Exercise- I biked for an hour each day. Friday my foot and ankle began to really ache and I decided to forgo biking until it stopped. Normally I would have pushed on BUT the injuries and trauma to that leg make me gun shy. Tonight it is much better and I will be back on the bike Monday AM.

Water-Lots of water and one glass of wine this week . . not too bad.. 2 glasses iced tea, no sugar

Weight-I am down 3.5 pounds for the week.  I know it is probably water weight but it sure felt good on the scale.

Sleep- I actually got 6-7 hours each night, a real success for me

Relaxation-This was a surprise flop. I substituted knitting simply booties instead. It felt good and I finished them.

Nutrition-first week of SBD, no flour, no sugar, no fruit, no problem

so to sum up it onward and downward. I feel good. Could be that John's cappucino's really can do the trick . . they sure taste good. Come on over, he is a frothing genius!

How to make a Box of Chocolates

First you scour the LYS's for the ingredients, then you "cook" the ingredients  and load the box...

be sure to

label

them 

and 

add a

cover.

Now what do you think I should do with this???

Conversation

I was invited to join my daughter and friends at their monthly book club meeting. They usually meet on the beach with wine and brie, etc. but I cannot walk over the dune with these knees. Due to a rain that evening they met at a local Mexican restaurant to discuss a book about the chef of "Mastering the Art of French Cooking".  Julie Powell wrote a book called "Julie and Julia" in which she resolves to cook all of the recipes in Julia Child's book and do it in one year.  I've laughed, winced, commiserated and been astonished that she succeeded.  The discussion was almost better than the book. I've missed the exchange of ideas between a variety of ages. We all brought views from different experiences, travels and jobs. They all had an interplay with the occurrences in the book.  I have always believed that this  cookbook has never-fail recipes because Julia tells you exactly what to do, how to do it, pitfalls and what to do if something does go wrong.  We all recommend this read!

Breaking the Fast

My son sent me the following picture of his breakfast.  Like me he has discovered the joy of  breaking the over night fast.  I have perfected the egg-beater omelet. It's fluffy outer has contained many a good thing recently:mushrooms, salsa, asparagus, spinach, lo-fat cheese. Coupled with a cup of John's luscious cappucino topped with clouds of foam, it slips me into another beautiful day. Early morning on the porch the birds sing,  the newspaper even reads better. Shep has found a frozen mixture of  black beans, peppers, corn  and onions that he uses but I have not found it yet. Yummo!  Knitting continues with pictures later today.

Fit to Knit

Once a week I will be accountable to myself (and you because you are reading this) in order to help track my progress. Please feel free to jump in with any thing you thinks needs saying. 

Water . . . Dr. Oz said water makes no difference in keeping your skin healthy, however it is necessary to proper bowel function along with fiber. I have no problem drinking water. Over the past years of trying to find a Diet I could live with I discovered I like water. It satisfies thirst and when you are tired, it often is the pick-me up solution. Also I try water first if I start thinking of food.

Healthy eating. . . I have egg-beaters every morning adding Canadian bacon, or spinach or  mushrooms and 2 T. of salsa. Then in 2-2 1/2 hours I need a small snack. Usually 10-15 cashews or pistachios or a slice of turkey in a romaine leaf or a wedge of Laughing Cow Lite in a celery stalk.  Lunch is a salad. I love salad WITHOUT dressing. Another thing I discovered looking for a "LIVE-IT" is that drencing my salad with a fat dressing covered up the taste of the veggies. I like the veggies. So, no dresssing or maybe a little fresh lemon or lime or white balsamic vinegar. These freshen up the veggies.  I have edamame, spinach, field greens, 1 oz. cheese, 2 oz meat, cucumber, peppers, or any combination of lo-carb vegetables.  Mid-afternoon a snack again. Supper has always been the downfall. WOrking and coming home to prepare a meal with no processed food was a B-----! Now it is a lot easier. Megan has gotten us on a healthier supper routine and we are looking for a downward trend!!

Exercise . . . Here is the real bug-a-boo.  Walking is out as is any weight bearing exercise for longer than a few minutes. So my recumbent bicycle and I had a discussion. We set up in the living room near the new small TV and yesterday I biked for an hour. Easy to judge as it was the length of the TV show. Not very fast, no resistance, burned 30 calories 12 of which were fat.  It's a start. I don't intend to set the world afire right away. Just get the knees moving around and strengthen he quads.

Sleep . .  I get up at 6 every morning. My knee, hip and back never let me sleep more than 6-7 hours. I am working on this. Hopefully as I lose weight, I can sleep on my back.

Relaxation . .  This is funny as I knit the days away. But watching TV and knitting is not the unwind I think I need.  So I am having a 15 minute break every morning and afternoon to meditate. Sit in solitary splendor and concentrate on nothing, clear the mind and let any tension flow away.  I did it in college those many years ago and it worked then.

So those are the goals and along with the weight I will report each week.

I am excited. I have 8 weeks to surgery, and the more I can get rid of, the easier the recovery.

Secret Pals

s-s-s-s-s-h!! It's a secret!! What fun...packages being wrapped, knittery things arriving from on-line orders, shopping around with lists in hand, surprise e-mail cards, and just tickled giggling when some item worked out well!! Whoopee!!  And then. . .there are the surprise friends you make from reading blogs. During SP10 I read 2 blogs in particular. One resulted in a knitting buddy who lives 2 blocks away. Some one who comes and spends the afternoon in companionable knitting and "knittip" (that's knitting gossip).  We ride together to knitting groups at LYS and coffee shops. How great is that!  And then.. there is the knitter I may never meet. I hope to meet her one day but she lives across the big pond in England. Her heart is so-o-o-o big. How big, you ask? Well, she knitted MS3 and sent it to me! I could never have let it go. I just sit and admire the hours of tiny knitting and marvel if I will ever master stockinette!!

My secret pal this year has sent messages and e-cards. They are so much fun to get. Suddenly they just pop up in your mail and you know someone somewhere got up that morning and thought of you. It makes me feel warm and fuzzy inside.

My downstream pal is about to be gifted. Because of the surgery in November I decided to get it all together now. The hardest decision now is what to send when. I am a terrible gift person about waiting. Christmas is torture. At 66 I am the first up that morning and I want everyone to open now!! Fortunately My family understands and jollies me around. They take the paper off so-o-o- slowly!

Knitting news . . . the lace socks have gone to the bottom of the barrel. The pattern was distorting because my tension was not dependable!! I am a self taught knitter and picked up some terrible habits. One of which is throwing and it is not conducive to even tension. So I am putting myself through Cheryl's knitting school of "picking". I quess in all the years of baby and childrens knitting I never ran across these lovely patterns that require a certain degree of continuity in tension. The variance never seemed to make a difference and now it does. I am still knitting, booties and some hats and dishcloths.

Knee and general health. . . . the lack of exercise has resulted in a hip spread that is deplorable. My daughter, however has stepped in and shown me the way. SHe is going to lead me to weight loss and better health. I hear my son cheering in the next state over! I have gotten very slack about diet and exercise. I found "Fitter Knitters" and "Diethack". I also used South Beach Diet last year and liked it. These are my tools and I will report every Tuesday after our check in with each other. Megan created a visual to help me achieve my goal.  Don't you like my new ME!

WOWEE!

At my age in life to be nominated for anything is a treat but to be considered ROCKIN" is fantastic!! Thank you Christine! You made me grin from ear to ear! Up till now my chair was the only thing rocking!