Sweater - DONE!

I have completed a few of my knitting projects. My sweater (sleeveless) is done. I plan on wearing it to Christmas Mass. I have patterns for the two gift projects, whee! I have to start them...

Tomorrow I will go to the Y, then go visit with some friends and go to the Science Museum to see the CSI exhibit. I will go rollerblading at the Dome in the PM. Tuesday is 'get car fixed and finish buying presents' day. Wednesday is 'finish knitting project number one' and Christmas Eve. Thursday is Drive to Parent's house - Sunday.

Next week I haven't figured out everything yet. Is it almost Christmas already?!?! I better make a list and check it twice, or I'm not going to get everything done!

Knitting!

I need to get some knitting done. As some people who may look at this website before X-mas...may look at this website before x-mas, I cannot specify 2 of my projects to complete. However, I will have some extra time to do the knitting in. I have been...strongly encouraged...to take vacation the week of the 22nd and 29th. So I will have those two weeks to knit. Grant it, many of the knitting projects need to be done by the 24th and 25th respectively....which is why this will be interesting. I think I have the supplies...I think I understand my patterns....Each project should be relatively fast.....ish...(eep!)

I might even finish my not quite never ending afghan, and my sweater, and a hat, scarf, and mitten combo for myself, and perhaps start another sweater. We'll see.

Touching!!!

Tonight I'm going to do something I haven't done for a year or more. Tonight, I'm going to tie on my rollerblades and hit the Dome. I was a very. bad. blader. this summer, not once did I take my skates out onto the trails. Grant it, it was a busy summer with two softball teams and one golf league, but still - not once! A travesty, that was! Tonight I will take myself, my skates, my wristguards and helmet, and my safetyglasses (to keep the wind out of my eyes) and head to the dome. I don't intend to stop until I've clocked at least 10 miles...maybe more. What I won't have is my heartrate monitor. I can't find the watch bit. I have the band...but the watch part is oh, so missing. Sigh. I will have to just zoom around based on assumptions of time. So, what does that title have to do with this, you ask? Touching! is what you say when you are zooming up on someone and don't want to try to brake (and thus knock over 1/2 your paceline by clicking skates). You simply put your hand on the small of the person in front of you's back, and say Touching. I don't think I'll be in a paceline tonight, unless I run into some folks I know, as my skating partner is sadly in a Small Town somewhere :P Trevor is coming, but he needs new blades before he's up to skating pace-line speed. Perhaps we'll work on that tonight.

More snow fell last night. I'll be looking into skiing places for the weekend. Not til then, however. Too Darned COLD!

New Shoes!!!

I returned the shoes that just weren't working. I paid four dollars more for a pair of Saucony Triumph 6 like these. (No I did not pay that much!) I found out my foot is a neutral and that I need cushioning shoes! I thought I needed stability shoes, but it turns out when I brought my old running shoes in that I actually hit dead on center running, and that w/ high arches cushioning shoes are better. I'm getting used to them now, I've logged 5 miles on them already running, and probably another 5 walking. I think I've finally found a shoe I like to run in (notice I didn't say I enjoy the running!)

I am doing week 3 of the Couch to 5K running program now. I use the mp3 player mixes from the Podrunner Intervals page which really, really helps me! One of my main problems with running is I would start out at a pace, but then get going faster, and faster and faster until I couldn't run anymore - only to discover I'd done only 1 mile. The beats on these are set to a certain BPM and really help me keep a pace. I figured out I'm doing between a 9 and 10 min mile - closer to 9...way faster than normal, which is why I'm tired when I'm done. But, it's a good tired.

Yesterday I did the second of 3 workouts to the week three, and then I did the squat/lunge thingies, and then I did many, many ab thingies. My squatty muscles hurt more than my abby ones. Probably cause I had just run. Right now, the first step I take after sitting any length of time is painful, as is the second, and the third....Still, I'm getting somewhere.

We have snow. Enough the the xcountry skiing places should open their trails soon. V. soon I'll get to find out if I am going to die later this winter or not :P I still have to buy my trail pass, and I should probably make sure the extra mass I'm carrying isn't going to affect the performance of my skies. OOF! On a positive note, my extra mass has been reduced a little bit...must. not. give. in. to. holiday. sweets.!!

New Shoes?

I went and purchased Real Running Shoes this weekend. You know - the kind where you go to the running store and they analyze your stride and pick a type of shoe and then you try them on and they cost lots more money that at the department store? My new shoes are sliver and shiny metallic purple and they have gel in them and are to support my arches. My new shoes hurt my feet. Do those two sentences seem like they should not be next to eachother? You are right, if you said no they should not. I will have to return my new shoes. They felt great in the store, I even ran just a smoodge on their treadmill. I thought the tighter heels would be nice. NOPE! I took my new shoes to the Y today to try them on the treadmill/track thing. After 20 min I knew that these were not the shoes for me! I hope they let me return them! After all, I paid more money than I've ever paid for workout shoes...I don't want them to sit in the closet...AND I don't want to wear them and hurt myself since I spent the money. I didn't wear them for very long - heck people were trying shoes longer in the store, and I didn't go outside. I don't see a problem.

Still, I'm sad. I was all excited to have Real Running Shoes and to step up my workouts. Now, I'm back to my wornout shoes until I can return these and get a second new pair. Sigh. The worst part is the little voice in the back of my head whispering...But really...your old shoes are only mostly worn out. You don't need to spend the money. Horde it! If one is going to pound the CRAP out of one's body running, one should have the proper equipment to do so. Since the main equipment is running - that means shoes.

So, one night this week - or more likely this weekend, I will be going back to the store I bought them from, asking politely if I can get a different pair, and starting over. Too bad I want to get in shape so badly. Sitting at home is so much easier!

Benefits Fair

I just returned (a few hours ago) from my work's benefits fair. this is the annual event where I collect a new Snoopy from Met Life - I have three now in my office, one playing soccer, on driving Nascar, and this years edition playing baseball! I also get pens and clip magnets and other swag. This year's score?...a pedometer! Yup! While the flower (live) is beautiful, adn the waterbottle quenches my thirst, and I'm on a quest to collect a snoopy for each year I work here, the pedometer takes the cake!

This particular pedometer has a built in BMI/%fat indicator, like my scale at home. I enter weight, height, age, and the fact that I am, infact, female, and then I put my thumbs on the two little silver pads, and wait. Poof! Out comes percent fat and BMI. It's biased a bit because I'm wearing clothing, but it's not all that different from my scale at home, which isn't all that different from the nice doctors calculations....in fact there probably isn't much statistical significance in the difference between the numbers. They all say "high" - work on that (well, they imply it). But, I now have a pocket sized, belt attachable guilt trip! Yup, you got it. See that chocolate cake over there? SHould you eat it? Just stick your fingers on your pedometer/guilt-trip monitor...NOPE! Look at that number!

Seriously though, it's a cool toy. I have a pedometer at home, and I haven't used it. This one has more buttons, I plan to use it. I will ahve to take my number of steps with a grain of salt though...Aparently I'm bouncey enough in my office chair to have taken 7 steps since I put it on whilst sitting.

Oh, yeah, and I got really good information on benefits enrollment while I was there, too!

That little matter called Fitness

I have been so excited about our birds, and I feel as though I should blog even more about them. They are darned cute, and each day they develop a bit more personality. Lately, they have been sneezing, which of course made me go into 'uber-mom' mode and worry they were getting sick. And they are not even human children!

Putting that aside for a moment, though, I'd like to talk about that little matter called Fitness. Fitness is defined by Dictionary.com as health, or capability of the body of distributing inhaled oxygen to muscle tissue during increased physical effort. My body - she has no fitness! Seriously. I start to exercise, my heart rate goes up, up, up, and soon I'm panting and having little cramps here and there. It's frustrating. But maybe, just maybe, my fitness is getting better - that's the goal, anyway.

I have been swimming. I have been doing the couch to 5K training program. This weekend I added weights to my routine. I walk, I use the sit-down bike and the elliptical machines. At the end of this week, I will have gone to the Y 3 months in a row at my minimum 12 times/month (I may have gone more, but I at least hit my minimum). As a reward, I am buying myself brand new, shiny, 'real' running shoes from a 'real' running store. Probably even this weekend yet. Why is this important? Because I have a bad habit of wanting to do something so I go out and buy all brand new equipment to do it and then I don't. Or, I do it but not as much as I should. So, this time I said...baby steps. One thing at a time. You wish to lose weight. You wish to be in shape. You have some athletic shoes. They aren't the greatest, but start there. Start slowly, and build. Give yourself a reward if you can stick with this for 3 whole months. And I did - stick with this for 3 months. So off I go to get new shoes. (Last night after running 2.5 miles I had the shin splints very badly, so now I know it is time for new shoes)

The mass issue isn't progressing as I would like. I am very slowly going on a downward trend, and this is very good indeed. I need to keep reminding myself that all at once is a Bad Thing, and not sustainable. The pace I am on IS sustainable. But it is so golly-darned frustrating! Starting last week I imposed a new rule (one rule at a time, building, always building). I may only eat out 2 times in one week for all meals encompassed. This is HARD! I've fallen into the bad habit of eating out a lot, and wanting to eat out a lot. But it is so very hard to control intake of calories and even portion size when you eat out. And kids - I need only eat 1550 calories per day to maintain my current weight. That means eating about 1350 per day if I want to lose a pound a week. Of course, if I excersize 300 calories one day, I can eat 1650 that day and still lose a pound a week. This is NOT your 2000 calorie a day diet. This is a horse of a different color. I had been eating towards 2000/day, and subsequently gaining weight. Time for me to step back from my food and say "I've had enough" or "I don't need that." Too bad I'm so very much in love with food!

Summary:
Good things: I have consistantly gone down in mass. I have excersized at least 3 times/week (ave) for 3 months. I am noticing the ability to run 'a little longer' that I could 3 months ago.
Reward: New shoes!!!
Goals: Eat out maximum of 2 times/week for any and all meals. This means trying out new recipes at home, and I do like to cook. Begin training for Korteloppet. Karin...are we go for registration? If we do, there is no turning back! It's scary, and a good feeling! Rachel! Come home, ski it with us! Whee! (Also anyone else who wishes to try. Price goes up Oct 31st though.)

Names, and a First Bath

The cockatiels have names. They are named Crash and Pippin. This weekend they took their first bath. Birds like baths, right? Apparently, baths are something to learn how to do. Pippin, who in the post below is sitting on my finger displaying his crest, took to bathing like a fish to water...mostly. He jumped into the small pan of water we provided for bathing, and took some drinks. When we spritzed him with a mister he opened his wings and dipped into the water and got fairly soaking wet. Crash, on the other hand, is afraid of baths. He is afraid of a lot of things, our more timid baby. But we managed to mist him mostly damp.

The problem - our babies didn't quite realize step 2 to the bath was preening. They are ALWAYS preening when dry, so it didn't occur to us they might not realize this was the logical second part of a bath. They just sat there and shivered. I finally had to take them up into the kitchin into the sun of the main window til they warmed up and dried off enough to realize they were supposed to preen. They finally figured it out.

Let's hope bath #2 goes slightly better for them :) I'll take pictures during bath two so you can see the soaking babies. They are rather alarming!

Welcome Home!

Our birds have arrived. We picked them up last night, and brought them home. We played with them a bit and then let them rest in their new home. Today we took them to the birdie vet. They got a clean bill of health and their nails clipped. Here is a photo of them in their house.


Here is another photo. The pied likes going into the 'house' at the top. (he's the one w/ his tail out the cage).
Here is a close up of the pied, sitting on my finger, displaying his crest.

Here is a photo of the pearl, with a relaxed crest, on Trev's finger.

We haven't come up with names for them yet...working on it. They both know how to wolf-whistle, and to chitter, and they like doing that in the eveinings as it gets dark.

Rearranging our furniture, and our lives

Trev and I decided to get a new piece of furniture. But this required a whole new arrangement of the downstairs. Here is trevor enjoying the new arrangement, and the new addition.

Here is a close up of the new furniture. As you can probably tell, it's built to house some new additions to our household.

So, the reason we need this new addition was that Trev and I found some new additions to our little house. I've wanted birds ever since before I went to volunteer at the Raptor Center. Trevor agreed. So we did some research and we think we've found two. The first:

The second is below. We don't know if they are males or females. The typical cockatiel coloring these birds do NOT have. The top is a pearl, the bottom a pied. We're trying very hard NOT to get a male and a female as we prefer to not have babies appear suddenly. We are about 90% certain that we'll come home with these two birds next week. There are 5 options, so we're going to do one more gut check w/ these two.

Why two? Because cockatiels are even more a flock bird than other parrots, it's mean to have one if you don't have many hours to spend with it, so since we are active it's better if they have a playmate.

So, the above have no names yet and have no idea if they are even male or female. We might not even bring these exact two home, but next week we will have 2 birds to share our house with us.

Guess what I did?

Yesterday, I swam one whole 1000 yards without stopping. I finished the day at 1150 yards. (1/2 mile is 880 yds, so for all intents and purposes in a 25 yd pool, 900 yds, or 9 - 100s or 18 laps, 36 lengths. So, I managed to swim over 1/2 mile without stopping!!! I've gone more than this before, yardage - I mean. I've swam over 1 mile. But, this was always something like a 200 yd warmup, then some 100 yds of this thing, or 300 yds that thing. Breaks in between. Also, I swam yesterday freestyle. This is significant because I hate swimming freestyle. I like breaststroke. It's easier for me. So, I swam a long way, and in a stroke that is more 'acceptable' for such (read, if I ever want to do a triathalon). Yay!

The problem with this? Somewhere around 200 yds I started to get a headache. By 800 yds it was almost a migrane. I was stubborn. I kept going. By the time I was done w/ a 100 yd kickboard and a 50 cooldown, the headache was like whoa. By the time I finished my shower, I knew I couldn't drive home. Good thing Trev was with me. When I got home it was RIGHT into bed with me.

Today, the last day of the month, I also had to go to the Y (I'm good at procrastination!). Trev and I went and played b-ball for about 30 minutes on the way to the bookstore, and then home. Now, I'm watching the Twins play their 1 game playoff. (eep, eep, go Twins!!)

Also I finished the dayglow stoplight colored washcloth I was making. I ran out of yarn before I ran out of pattern, so it's a bit of a pentagon. Oh well, I love the colors and it's mostly done :D

Tomorrow, I'll try to go to the Y again, but I might not make it.

Ah! Ye scurvy dog! You scurvy cat! You....Scurvy MOOSE!

Today be 'Talk like a Pirate Day'. In honor of such an ostentatious occasion, I offer ye this:

My pirate name is:

Captain Grace Bonney

Even though there's no legal rank on a pirate ship, everyone recognizes you're the one in charge. You can be a little bit unpredictable, but a pirate's life is far from full of certainties, so that fits in pretty well. Arr!

Get your own pirate name from piratequiz.com.
part of the fidius.org network

All Aboard, ye scurvy moose, or it be the plank for ye!

Wet, Fun, Weekend

This weekend we went away North. Trevor took me away to help celebrate the day of my birth. We were going golfing. Were. It rained. A LOT! Saturday we left the cities and headed to the destination. We checked in, and it was raining. After exploring the hotel and the attached casino, we decided to go to Duluth, as we weren't that far away. We did some driving around, and watched the boats, and had supper at Blackwoods with a friend of Trev's. Then it was back to the casino, where I made a bit of money with the free money they gave us to stay there.

Sunday dawned grey, but dry. We went down to the breakfast buffet, then came up and packed, and checked out. At checkout it was just misting. We went to the golf course and got set up and a bucket of balls to warm up with. By the middle of hitting our bucket, it was raining again. Little drops, yes, but LOTS of them. We went back to the clubhouse, asked for a small towel to wipe the seat dry on the cart, and headed out to play. It kept raining...and the wind picked up. The entire area was conspiring to keep us from golfing. We tried though, we did. But after I shanked a few balls we gave up. They gave us rain-checks, and we'll go back yet this fall when it's not nearly so nasty out.

We went back up to Duluth and went to the Army Corp of Engineers Marine Museum. We watched a 730' cannaler come in. We chatted, had supper, took pictures of the waves, and had a good time.

Today I'm back to reality. Tonight - I swim. I have reread my last post, reminding myself that yes, I need to get in shape. Tomorrow, I run. I will repeat as necessary, adding aerobics, Rollerblading, climbing, skiing, etc.

Do I dare?!?!?!

Karin will say, H-E-double hockey sticks Yes, you do! What am I talking about? I'm talking about setting a goal for my fitness. I'm talking about the...
2009 Kortelopet, Saturday, Feb. 21, Near Cable and Hayward, WI

The 2009 23K race starts in waves along with the Birkie skiers on Saturday, February 21st, at 8:30 a.m. Skiers must choose between Free Technique or Classic Technique when registering. At the 9K point, the Kortelopet will enter its own trail and ski to a finish line at Telemark Resort. Registration is available on line or by downloading the registration form. You may also contact the Birkie office for registration information.

Am I nuts?!?!
This, dear readers, is something I have yet to determine. I was going to get my bottom back into rollerblading in a big way this year. Somehow, that never happened. Getting my bottom into skiing will really depend on how much snow, and how soon we get it. But. 23K. I can do that. It's only what...14.3 miles? Easy! (Ok, not really.) I am WAY not in shape to do that. But...I could be! It would give me a goal, something to strive for. It would make Karin happy, because she swore she wasn't doing another one without me, or someone else to ski with her. It would make me happy, because it's something I want to try. But, I have to decide now. Because I need to be able to freestyle ski 14.3 miles in 5 months. That means starting to train NOW. Crap.

Karin, are we REALLY Reeeally thinking about doing this?!?!

Perhaps I can use this excuse?!

According to this report, having many ear infections as a child can lead to obesity.

Summary: Chronic ear infections may alter children's sense of taste and lead them to prefer fatty, sweet foods and eventually gain weight, according to several recent studies on the subject. In one study, preschoolers who had a history of severe ear infections ate fewer vegetables and more sweets, and tended to weigh more. In another study, adults who had moderate to severe ear infections in the past were 62 percent more likely to be obese than those without ear infections.

So, can I blame my current midsection and derriere on the fact that I had terrible ear infections as a child?? While I do believe the study conclusion that middle ear damage can cause a shift in taste, "A tonsillectomy may damage one of the nerves that carry taste information. In addition, ear infections can also alter taste. Altering taste does have an effect on the preferences for food," I am still skeptical. Really, this sounds like an interesting manipulation of the data. 1. Almost everyone I know would prefer to eat chocolate to broccoli...(Trevor is my exception in this). 2. Parents control what children eat, or should. Just because a child prefers fatty, sweet foods does NOT mean that a parent should indulge them in excess.

Another study conclusion: "Surprisingly, we found that the single best predictor of body weight was not how much saturated fat they took in and not how often they ate high-fat foods, but was how much they liked high-fat and sweet foods" To this I say, um? Are they wishing themselves fat? Do the children like the food so much they become, like in Willy Wonka, a personification of those desires?!

Tricia's Discussion: Having not seen the data, I can't say what statistics were played with. However. 1. Tricia had many nasty ear infections as a child. 2. Tricia did not suffer from childhood obesity. Tricia's parents also forced her to eat homemade meals most of the time, and did not pack sweets in her lunches very often. 3. Tricia does prefer fatty, sweet foods, but knows many others who did not suffer ear infections who also do. 4. Tricia is, by the BMI definition, overweight and bordering on obese. 5. Tricia lives a busy lifestyle, where she sits all day at work, has many after work activities, and has fallen into the habit of poor eating.

Conclusions: An interesting study, and interesting results. Anyone saying they are obese because of ear infections, however, is finding a convenient excuse. For example, I don't have to eat the truffles at my desk, but I'm going to. I just try to only have one a day, and only on days when i haven't had other excessive amounts of sweets or fatty foods. I had salad for lunch today, err-go I get a truffle as a treat! Everything in moderation, that's what I say.

Go Slow? What was that again?!

My plan was to start slow. I did that. It's been a whole month and I've been building. I've not had softball for a while. I've been swimming and golfing, with the occasional 'other cardio' added in. This week I decided to add to my 'go slow, build yourself up' mantra by restarting the Couch to 5K running program. This week I warm up for 5 minutes at a brisk walk, then I alternate run 60 sec/ walk 90 sec for 20 minutes, then I cool down 5 min, for a total of a 30 min workout. Monday, that was more than enough. I was still a tomato-face when I arrived home. (Yes, tomato-face. My little face turns the beet/tomato red and stays that way at least 30 minutes after I run.)

Today, I went to the Y after work again. I was tired, and a bit crabby, and a bit hungry. I did not want to work out. But, I'm sticking to this! So, in I went. I changed clothes and limped upstairs. Limped, because I apparently ran yesterday for my 60 second blocks faster than I usually do, so was suffering a shin-splint in my left leg. I did my 5 min brisk a bit less briskly than yesterday. Up to when my heartrate monitor registered 5 minutes of workout, I wasn't even sure I was going to run. But, the timer turned 5:00 and I started. I think I must have wanted it done, because I was going even faster than yesterday. We're talking 8:30, 9 min mile pace. (Way WAY under my typical 10-11 min mile)...(Also this is ONLY one minute at a time, that, I can do.) I did relatively well, but I didn't count how many laps I did, so I have no clue on the miles. My guess, somewhere around 2.5.

During my cool down I walked over to the studio where classes happen. I saw they were doing family Drums Alive (take excerize ball, put on upside down stair risers, hit with drum sticks and work out to music). It was in 10 minutes. I decided I'd only been there for 40 minutes, and it wasn't dinner time yet, I could stay. It was, after all, family Drums...it couldn't be too hard.! It wasn't too hard, though I did get some sweat going, and it was terribly fun to watch the kids play drumming! I was ready to go home. Really I was. I had been working out for 1:40:00. Time to leave....but then, a lady I met in class mentioned she was staying for Zumba. I say, 'What's that' and the instructor we'd just had explains. Ooh, sounds cool...so I stay.

Zumba is a salsa/hip hop/dance/aerobics explosion of effort. Similar to Step class, I usually am a bit off the routine. But, it was great fun. I even survived the 6 minutes of squats at the end. I left and came home after working out for almost 3 hours and over 1500 calories burned.

Now, I HURT! Literally, I am afraid to get off the couch because I don't want to TRY to move :P I see the stairs, and they are doing the nightmare-get-longer thing. The problem is, I want some rhubarb pie, and it's upstairs, so I have to go up, get it, and come back down to finish watching the Twins/Olympics (back and forth...must watch Mr Phelps swim for gold and the gymnastics along with the Twins trying to win against the Yankees)...

They are still both going, but I can not. No more gas. I'm going to bed. Good night.

Milestones...Mile Post

I did it! Today, I have done something I don't think I've ever done before. I have swam (swum?) one mile! I started with a 600 yard warm up. Then I did 10 50yd somethings that hurt...where you start by swimming slow but then speed up. then there were 400 kick-swim,swim-kicks. And a few other things in there...some practice backstroke (I think 200 yds of that) and some cool downs between...At any rate, I did one whole mile. I think I'll be sore tomorrow.

The scale is slowly acknowledging my hard work. this morning when I stepped onto it, it showed almost 6.5 lbs of progress. This changes, of course, day to day...but I've had over a week of showing better than 5lbs of progress...which is encouraging.

I also managed my 12 times to the y last month, even with being gone and occupied on some weekend days. I have been there 2 times so far, and it's the 4th. Tomorrow, at long last, I'll go back to the climbing gym.

The only problem with leading an active lifestyle, and working 9 hours a day, is that by the time I go to work, come home, make supper, clean up after supper, go to the gym, come home, have a glass of Kool-Aid, and read the news online, it's bedtime. This leaves no time for chatting with friends, cleaning my house, reading a book, etc. A bit troublesome...

I think the next step (although it will take probably til the end of the year) in this grand scheme of mine will be: find the balance. I'd write more on that tonight...but as you can see in above paragraph(s), I've done a lot today, and I'm beat. I am going to practice a side-step...called going-to-bed-at-a-reasonable-hour-and-having-a-full-night's-sleep. 8 hours of sleep?! Well, I might just get that, even! Goodnight, everyone.

Memorial

This weekend was the memorial for my uncle, my dad's brother. It was a good time. "What?" you ask. A good time? How is a memorial a good time... It was a good time because it was a celebration of his life, and a bringing together of family. We shared stories, shed tears, drank a few beers (cept me, I don't like beer...I had 'real' soda instead). We made fire, and I went mini golfing with some of my cousins. I saw some relatives I haven't seen in perhaps 10 years, some I'd just seen for July 4th. All in all, a pleasant experience.

It was also a good time because I rode my motorcycle there and back. It took about 6 hours each way, but it was nice. The wind on my face (not in my hair because I had a helmet on), with time to just ride, reflect, think.

The only downside to the trip was the copious amounts of food. I always eat way too much when I'm home. I'll just have to work doubly hard this week to keep on track.

Plodding Ahead

We've almost reached one month into this little crusade for better well being. I signed up for the Y on June 30. As of today I will have gone 10 times (though only 9 this month). I need to go 3 more times (not counting today) to reach my 12 times per month. T/W/Th next week you will know where I'll be.

I bought that bathroom scale right before joining the Y. I stepped on it. Yes, and I keep stepping on it. Slowly, ever so slowly, the numbers associated with my mass have diminished. I have almost reached that magical 5 lbs gone. It's not the end, it's barely even a beginning. I don't notice it upon my frame. Still, I'm below the number that scared the crap out of me. I'm back in the range of numbers where I started - two years ago - to 'get in shape'. Yes, the sine wave of my mass is almost exactly the same as it was 2 years ago. I have been up to 15 lbs lighter, and up to 5 lbs heavier in that time. I think it's time to work on staying the course.

Still, the gradual decline in mass is heartening. And, even though it's a small number, it's a maintainable one. I read that about 1 lb per week is a maintainable weight loss. I'm about there. This means, of course that it won't be until Thanksgiving time that I will be near where my goal is. Right before the holidays - but I like a challenge.

So, tonight I'll go to the Y, again. It gets easier, and it will be easier to make my 12 times when 3 nights a week aren't eaten by other sports. Maybe I'll soon be able to run more than 1/2 mile before collapsing. Right now, I swim, walk quickly, and play on exercise machinery. That's enough, for now. I'll just keep plodding ahead, making tiny, reachable goals.

Tornados and Monster Maples

I had a bad dream last night. It came in two parts. In the first part, I was at the electrical station - which is where I worked? but I could see a Tornado coming towards town. Apparently this place I worked was up on a hill. I watched the tornado destroy half the town, and half my plant, and then it went away.

Second part, I had to landscape my? house, but it wasn't where I live now. The front yard I had designed to be a gorgeous wildflower garden, with paths and arbors and such. I was going to put my turf in the backyard. But, when I got to the back yard, only a little turf was growing! There was giant maple tree back there, the trunk had to be 3 ft in diameter (yet you couldn't see it over the house...from the front) and the root system was all above ground and nothing would grow around it. And then, there was a small patch of grass just outside the patio that was overgrown.

What in the world?! Well...in the storm yesterday we lost power at our house for 2.5 hours during the day, and then again for 2.5 hours in the evening. And I'm taking a landscaping class. I see where the dreams came from, but wow! I woke up more tired than I went to bed. Not Cool.

Landscaping is fun, you get to play with protractors!

I love gardening. Lots of people know this. I name my plants. I try not to name the ones in the garden...because I'll be eating them. But the house plants have names. So when the announcement for the Landscaping for Homeowners class came in my Northern Gardener magazine, I jumped on it. Trevor also signed up.

We took the first class (of three) this past Monday night. It was very informative. The same class (or a similar one) is taught at the U during a semester. Landscaping 101 - or some such. The only problem with a 15 week class crammed into 3?? The homework is also piled into three. Good thing I have this weekend off :P

This weekend our homework is to create a base plan, a bubble diagram, and a concept map of what we'd like our landscape to look like. This doesn't mean pick the plants. This means lay out where the trees and shrubs that are staying are, make a to-scale drawing of our plot (including house, driveway, outbuildings, etc), and show where we want turf, planted beds, walkways, and trees and shrubs, and etc. I'm excited....I'm also daunted. I have to decide what I want to keep, and what I feel will get ripped out. Not that we're going to get out the shovel and heave to this weekend, but...eventually, I'll have to say goodbye to some plants. I'll get new ones, but...it will be sad. We also have to decide what to do with the easement...do we plant it, do we put in ground cover, do we just mulch it? We have to get rid of the weeds.

Friday night is golf, then Saturday will be work on the homework, pull weeds, and finish pressure washing the deck. I also have to go to the Y twice this weekend. So, this weekend is mostly for the yard - let's hope the weather cooperates.

12 Times a Month

I quit the gym at work. It was hard, because I like the people there. The program directors, those who run the classes, they are all nice. The facilities are nice too - although they could use more fans by the treadmills. It was only 18 dollars a month. So, why did I quit? I quit because I wasn't going. It wasn't even that I couldn't motivate myself to go, although to be honest it was much easier to go when I wasn't the only one going. It was more...I didn't want to be at work any longer than I had to. I didn't want to get up early and go before work...and I certainly don't have time after work with all the after work activities. They aren't open in my building on the weekends, and it's a rather long way to go work out when I can walk around my block for free.

Instead, I joined the 12 times a month crowd. I joined the YMCA. Why the 12 times a month? Because to get my discount from my health care provider, I have to at least sign in 12 times a month. For me, this equals doing SOMETHING active 12 times, as the Catholic girl guilt would get me if I tried to just swipe and leave. Looking at my calendar (and excluding softball and golf) 12 times is 12 times more than I've been going lately. This month I think I have 5 times in...so I had better get on the wagon and get there more in the second half of the month.

That 5 times means I am doing something I haven't in a long time...swimming! And not the swimming that I used to do either. This is far more arduous. I am having Trevor teach me to lap swim for real, and actually pushing myself. I did kick board for 300 yds, and my little legs were jello after! Thankfully, they got better. My biggest challenge with the swimming...OK, two challenges: 1. Finding goggles that don't leak when I do flip-turns. (so far, the Junior sized Speedos are better than the reg sized, but I still have to adjust every 50 to 100 yrs or so.) 2. Breathing only when above the water. Seriously! I have a bad habit of beginning the breath before arriving at surface of water. My lungs have not yet adapted to breathing water. This usually requires me to stop where I am in the lap, cough a bunch, alarm the nice lifeguards, and then continue to catch up on what I was doing. I'm sure I'll get better. (though whether I mean at drinking the pool or swimming I'm not certain!)

Start Small, and The Blog Itself

As I mentioned in my last post, I intend to start now with changes to myself and my lifestyle. No more putting it off. I've also learned, though past experience, that I have a Very Hard Time starting something slow. This tends to be a problem because I burn out and quit. For example: I say "I'm going to start exercising more" and proceed to go out and roller blade 20 miles; not 5 or 6 (which isn't far for me as I like to skate long distances), but 20. Or, "I'm going to start running again" and I go out and run 3 miles as fast as I can (which is a long distance for me because I hate running). Then, tired, frustrated at my inability to do well, and fed up...I stop.

Goal 1: Start Small.

It may not seem like a hard concept. Staring small, take a small bite of the pie, and work my way up. For me, though, it's extremely hard. I am not a patient person (and admitting that to myself has taken 27 years). I like things done NOW! I like and hate knitting for that very reason. I love that you see the instant gratification. Finish row of knitting, can see row of knitting. I hate it because you still have 200 more rows of knitting before you can see the final project. The same is true for me of working out, and trying to 'get in shape'. I go to the gym, I work out, I 'feel the burn', but I still have a whole lot more of this before I see the end result. It's worse on working out and etc, because it shouldn't just be a 'lose 10 lbs' or 'one year' goal...it should be a change of lifestyle and an 'always thing'. So. Very. Hard.

So, Goal number one for me is to Start Small. Make a small change, work at small change, when it becomes a habit, move on to the next small change. Also, as part of this, I will be prioritizing the changes, and listing them as 'easier' and 'ouch'. Easier, relatively, of course is something like take my vitamin every day. 'Ouch' are the changes in habit of diet and exercise because, face it...I love food.

Goal 2: The Blog Itself

"What does that mean?" you ask. I am the type of person who can work out by herself. I can make goals. Really. But, I am also the kind of person who will allow herself to cheat. If I don't hold myself accountable, somehow, I will do 9 situps instead of 10. I will skip a day if I 'just don't feel like it', I'll find myself eating that extra snack. I know the only one I'm cheating is me. But that little sentence does nothing to stop it. I'm hoping 'the blog itself' will help with that accountability....I do not intend to be using this space as a 'look at me, look at me! lookey how cool I am.' place. Nor do I intend to hurt anyones feelings if the topic I am discussing seems to...strike home. This is something to help me stay accountable to myself. If you have advise, encouragement, constructive critism, want to play along, that's awsome!! It's always more fun when you are not in this kind of endeavor alone. I also realize that other peoples methods and goals are going to be different than mine. That is cool too. :P (Here ends the 'disclaimer' part of this blog). I mentioned a few posts ago that the reason 'whimsical doodles' has a new look and new name is because it had outgrown its original purpose, and that is true. "the blog itself" is the other reason for the new name and new look. I am not forgetting about the path behind (some parts of it are circular and I'll find myself on them again and again), which is why I didn't sunset Whimsical Doodles.

Originally, I was all gung ho to start a new blog, even a new webpage about life changes and fitness goals and using it to keep myself accountable. (See goal number 1). I sat down to create the blog for it, and...NO TITLE would come to my mind (Recall with Blogger one starts with title and description). I had a few ideas, but they all sounded - wrong - after some thought. Then, when I was finally frustrated enough to stop and think...the idea of changing my current blog came to mind and the process went smoothly. At first I didn't even think about why. I just thanked my lucky stars and got to work. The title - there it was, I found a template that didnt' completely irritate me (although it has some quirks I want to be rid of), I had a new description, found some pictures, and away I went. Then I thought about it. The reason I had trouble with creating a new web page/blog was because it was too big a chunk. I was falling into old traps. (DUH! - but I'm not always the brightest when it comes to my own foibles.)

Originally, I had drafted the first post in my mind, and thought - hey, others might want to join me, I can even make it editable by many people, and we can all use it.... It may get there, someday. Maybe people who read this will like the idea and want to jump on board. We can be like a writing group or book club, except we're clubbing our life changes. Maybe we'll have a website where we each have our own personal blogs linked instead, or maybe we'll have a community elsewhere. I have no idea. But the point is, that wasn't where this needed to start. I was starting in the middle, not at the beginning. I was wanting to be done before I had begun.

I can see that Goal 1 is going to be an 'ouch', but for me, it's a life lesson, one of the quinteciential building blocks of my path...I have found a wa yto help me with my goals, and my path...this, the blog itself. Now, I'll just have to tag this post and reread it often so I don't lose myself on some of those lovely circular paths I have mentioned.

On Scales, Mirrors, and Notes-To-Self

I made a huge mistake. What did I do? I stepped on a scale. “Big deal!” you say, reader? Well, it was rather a shock to notice the numbers continued past their time honored end point to a number I have never before associated with my own mass. I stepped down. I checked the zero/tare of the scale; I stepped back up. The same number stared back at me. For the sake of science, I participated in a third trial. Yup – there it was again. The precision of that scale was marvelous! I wasn’t sure about the accuracy though, so I went to find another measuring instrument. The result was similar to the first scale. This scale, too, has marvelous precision. My self esteem could not handle repeating the experiment a third time, on yet another scale.

This caused me to take a long hard look at myself in the mirror. Mirrors are funny things, for though they create a reflection of you, a mirror-image, the way you perceive that image depends on many factors. Are you in a good mood that day? Is the lighting good? Is the mirror surface dirty or flawed in any way? What did you have for dinner that evening (this is a confounding factor). The image that stared back at me was not the image I would have liked to see. I have been grumping at said image for quite a while. Months have passed where I have perused my person after a shower and made a mental note to ‘do more sit-ups’ or ‘attend to my posterior’. Said mental notes tend to fly out of the brain the second the clothes are donned. For you see, the clothing that I have owned for the last few years still fits. It’s stretched with my own image. It’s old, and wearing. As I sit in the chair and write this, though, I notice the bulges on my tummy that used to not be there (or not as prominent, anyway). Yes, the clothes still fit, but not as well.

The scale and the mirror are in agreement, something is changing. Perhaps that change isn’t rapid, and that is probably the worst part. These changes have been sneaking up on me with every meal eaten out, every day of missed or neglected exercise, and each forgotten a-for-mentioned note-to-self. I need to do something about the scale, and the clothes, and the mirror. And I intend to start now.

The Path Forward...

Where did Whimsical Doodles go? They are still here, the website for the blog didn't change - mostly because that would just confuse the crap out of everyone. However...I looked at my blog...my doodles haven't been so whimsical lately. In fact, most of my blog has been about life's little changes and challenges. The path I'm taking. So, it was time for a change. I had thought about starting a new blog, but that's always tricky. Then you have two to post too, and inevitably, one dies out. Besides, I didn't want to lose the posts on this blog, just...change direction a little.

So here you have it. Undoubtedly I'm not done tinkering, And even the template may change a few times until I'm happy with it, but for now...welcome to the path forward

Fire!

It was Fourth of July this weekend. Most people shoot off fireworks, have cook outs, watch parades. We light big fires!

Here is Trev w/ the pile. He helped my dad, uncle, and cousins make it. He got to light it. He's an Eagle Scout. It took one match.

The fire really got going, and then the wind picked up. If you look below the major flames in this picture, you can see the grass starting to burn. That was A Bad Thing. Trev, my dad, my uncle, and I got shovels and started thwacking grass fires. (Don't worry, they were little smolders.)

After the first major burn, the fire settled down some. Here it is impersonating a fire bird or phoenix.

We saw many animals in the fire and coals that night. Turtles, an eel, an anaconda, a human hand and shoe (shoe not truely an animal), an aligator (who got cut in half), etc.

The fire was still burning the next day. Only a few ashes left. For those who missed it, don't worry...we have plenty of wood left.

Frustrated.

I have energy today. Loads! I have ambition today. Not quite loads. I have things I. have. to. get. done. today. Lots!

I feel like I'm in a car with both it's front wheels in mud. I'm spinning my tires. RRR.

No post in a month...

...And I was doing so well! Oh well. It's June! Whee. It's also Father's Day - so happy day of Father's to all you you male personages w/ children.

The garden is planted, the yard has been mown...three times. The mosquitos have hatched, much to my dismay. We're expecting a week of sun after two weeks of rain rain rain rain.

Yesterday Trevor and I went to the Minnesota Zoo . I've never been, but it was great fun. Here are a few pictures.



Butterfly on a flower in the butterfly garden.



















From the bird show













Also from the bird show



















These guys are just too cute!

More Birdies!!!

I saw Orioles in my yard! Two of this this morning, and they were fighting over the really cool feeder I put out! It has a space for nectar, a space for grape jelly (that's their favorite in my backyard), and a place to skewer an orange half. They are so bright. They remind me of my car...

Also, the female cardinal has been hanging out in our yard.

We took a walk at the Ravine Park last night, and we saw a cardinal, a song sparrow, heard lots of chickadees, and birds I don't know, and saw many ravens. We also saw two skeletons. One, the front half of a deer including lower mandible, neck vertebrae and ribs. Second one, back vertibrae, pelvis and one leg. Maybe, but probably not two haves of the same animal. Leg still have fur on it, so did the lowerest part of the mandible (chin) on the other one. The rest was picked clean. The scientist in me enjoyed looking at them, I even poked at them with a stick!. I also saw lots of deer tracks, and two chipmunks fighting. It was a bit breezy, but a really nice walk otherwise. We'll have to make better use of that park in the future.

The Poor Hairy!

Hairy Woodpecker, woe is you. You knew your feeder well. It sat upon my deck all winter, but this time it did move. I put it on the tree - just there! See, just down below. Yet you sit upon my deck and ponder, wherever did it go?
..............................................

I didn't mean to be so poetic, but there you have it. The hairy woodpecker was quite confused today, as I moved his feeder lower in the yard to make room for my herbs (in hanging baskets off the deck - easier to get too, and not as much a temptation for the rabbits). He hopped on the railing for a while (it's very funny to watch a woodpecker hop, they are very awkward), then tried to land on the pole holding the other feeders, but kept slipping. Finally, he gave up and flew away. I tried to point it out, but to no avail.

Birds I've seen this year so far: (in no particular order)
whitebreasted nuthatch
hairy woodpecker
downy woodpecker
red-bellied woodpecker
flicker
tree swallow (I think)
ruby crowned kinglet
yellow rumped warbler
bluebird
robin (X1000 at least, one is singing to me now)
house finch (again X1000)
purple finch
junco
goldfinch (also X1000)
chipping sparrow
song sparrow
house sparrow
morning dove
raven
crow
duck - mallard I believe
goose (buzzed the tower, decided that counted)
one I haven't identified yet (yesterday, at birdbath, have decided I need a better birdbook)

Birds I've seen at another home's feeder:
Blue Jay
Cardinal
red-breasted nuthatch

Birds I heard golfing:
Lots, I need to learn to identify bird calls

Birds I saw at Tartan Park, golfing or while playing softball:
Red winged blackbirds
barn swallows
turkey vultures
wild turkeys (taking off for flight, about the funniest thing I've seen in awhile)

Not a bad list. I'm going to keep adding to it.

Another Weekend, more work in the yard

It's the weekend. Lately that's meant yard work. Which is fine, really! I love being outside, especially right now, when there are no mosquitoes. There are ticks though, I had to brush two off me, and one off Trev. Still, even ticks can't dampen my appreciation for the weather we had today.

Yesterday was nice, too, but way windy. So I went to Chris's house and we knitted for a while. When I left there, Trev and I ran errands and we bought a bunch of things we needed, and a bunch of stuff we didn't (BAD me!). Today we woke to a gorgeous day. We had breakfast, filled two new birdie feeders - an oriole feeder and a hummingbird feeder, and hung them, then it was get to work time. We spent 6ish hours in the yard, listening to the twins game on the radio and having a fire to burn all the sticks we raked up. We cut branches and pulled weeds, and moved plants, and burned sticks.

For a break, we went to Menard's, where we bought a shiny new blue wheel barrow, 8 hanging plants, and a watering can, and three brand new (working!!!) lights for outside the garage. We stopped at Cub's garden store on the way home and bought herbs. I'll plant them tomorrow as I ran out of light tonight. Trev is, even now, outside in the dark with a headlamp making the garage lights go up. I'll go help in a bit, when it gets to the 'hold things while he wires' stage. Until then, I'll hide inside at the computer.

It's such a nice night, half of me wanted to build the fire back up and sit there for a few more hours. The other half of me is so dead tired from 7 hours of yard work that I know I'd fall asleep and perhaps fall into the fire! It's been a glorious day no matter what though, and I KNOW I'll sleep well tonight.

On another note:

My lunch today is brought to me by the color Orange. I have oranges, carrots, cheesz-its and a sandwhich (which thankfully isn't orange). Perhaps I'll have to have many green things tomorrow - for balance.

Arbor Day

Saturday was Arbor Day, so in the spirit of the theme, we brought home 2 new trees. Our Fair City had an Arbor Day event, and was handing out free maple trees (not little ones either, ours is as tall or taller than me! I'll measure tonight). They had parks and rec and garden club people there, and some others, and another tree vendor. So...we got our free tree, and bought one spruce tree, sized 4ish feet. It was snowing and winding on Saturday (SPRING! I want spring!) so we didn't plant them Saturday.

Sunday we had some shovel work to do before we could plant the trees. We had a dead tree last year, and had cut down most of him, but still had to remove the stump...oof! That involved breaking up all the roots, digging down below it, and trying to pull it out. After trying to lift the sucker, and un-stuck it from the ground, we decided to try something fun. I have now an SUV. We decided to try out the 'utility' function. So, using our climbers skills, we used anchor points in the back of the car and created an anchor to hook the webbing attached to the stump to. Then, I put my new car in first (I can choose the gear, it's not a manual...but I have some options), and she PULLED. Out came the stump! Tonight, we'll have to go buy a wheel barrow to carry the stump to the back yard. In the hole we created, we planted the spruce. In the back yard, we planted the maple. Today, I hurt.

In the spirit of sharing....

May I borrow someone's eyeballs?!?! Mine have a curious new tendency to burn, itch, and irritate. Every day for the last week, I reach a certain point in the day, and BAM! a flare up of the worst itching and burning you can imagine. I know it's allergies, but I'm taking the one-a-day meds, and the extra innings meds on top of it. AND using allergy eye drops 2x daily. Honestly. I'm not keen on taking MORE medicine.

Hopefully spring will spring soon enough and I'll just have the day to day pollens to worry about. So, if you happen to have a pet, I will NOT be visiting your abode for the next week or so, maybe more, until this is under control. No use provoking the beast.

April Showers

...bring May flowers, and the return of allergy season, and the strong desire for a fire, a cup of tea, and a book....or a nap. Right now, I vote nap. Alas, not for a few more hours.

***EDIT***
I just heard on the radio that it may snow tomorrow night, leaving up to 1 inch of white stuff on the ground to wake me Saturday AM! NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! I am going to cry. I'm going to remove myself from my workstation to tear up in the Ladies. I'm going to have a tantrum and throw things - like hot water...as it's at hand. See above. Spring! SPRING SPRING SPRING, and FLOWERS! (Ok, I'll have my tantrum here instead.) I wanted to plant things on Saturday, not clean the house. Much more fun to make a mess outside than clean one inside. RRRRRRRRR.

Motorbike!

It's motorcycle season again! WHEEE! I rode mine to work this AM, my chin got a bit cold (from the wind rushing in up under my helmet), but otherwise no worries. I was amazed how quickly riding came back to me, after all - it's only my second season. It was like riding a bike....wait. Yeah.

Tomorrow it's supposed to rain, and storm, same w/ Friday. Saturday and Sunday have highs of 47....so probably this is the only day this week. But! I did get out in April.

Ouch!

Can I just say that I am not young enough to combine 2 hours softball practice with 4 hours gardening and not be sorry about it the next day?

I am very funny to watch, I'm sure, all hobbling around and such. Yet, I'm looking forward to attacking the last chunk of against-house landscaping that Trev and I didn't get to last night.

Oh, and my dad and Trevor cleaned our garage. It looks super-nifty!

Lastly, the ticks are out already...beware!

I need a metal detector!!!

I have so many bobby pins in my hair, I may need a metal detector to get them all out! Probably not, but I also have enough hair spray in my hair to service an entire high school cheer leading squad! But, my hair is v. cute! I don't want to take it down, but I have to. It's starting to be itchy, and I have softball practive tomorrow.

Why is my hair so cute?? Because Karin got married this past weekend, and i got the Very Cute Hair so I could stand up next to her at her wedding. It was wonderful. I'll not steal her thunder by describing every little detail, but she looked happy and that's what matters.

Now, I just need to go visit the shower to wash the spray out of my hair. Whee.

Crisis of Conscience

I am having a day! It started last night. I went to bed and the second I lay down, I knew I was going to have an asthma/allergy attack. So I got up, took Rolaids and used my inhaler and lay back down. It's only a matter of time when I feel like that but I've learned to try to get a few hours sleep before they hit. I managed an hour. I then spent the next hour or so in the bathroom (sorry for the overshare, my allergy attacks usually manifest in a gastrointestinal fashion). The one downside to trying to sleep before such attacks is that I end up in a dreamlike state and can't quite shake the fog from my mind. So I spent one hour trying to decipher what I was thinking, why I was thinking it, and determine if it was 'real'.

When I went back to bed I had a dream. In my dream I kept trying to get to my PE/CIH/CSP professional certification exam (yes, I had to take all three at once!). It was only a 2 hour exam ('only' because you had only that long to cover a crap-load of material), and it was on the U's campus. I was at work, in my cafe, eating lunch and trying to figure out how I was going to get there by my appointed time of 12:30PM. Then, just as I had determined how, Hulk Hogan and Jessie Ventura entered the area. They were beginning an American Gladiators/WWE Smackdown spinoff and it was taking place in the cafeteria!! I was stuck. I missed my time, but managed to somehow get a new one assigned to me (2:30) and I was in the process of fighting my way to the test (now on campus in some woods?) when I awoke. Anxiety much?

My current crisis is this. I want to write. Yup - this second. I want to sit down and work on one of the two ideas swirling in my mind for novels. I have places to go on the one I've sent a few chapters out to certain people, and I have a starting point - I think, for the other one. The problem, I'm at work and it's just past lunchtime. After this blog, I'll have to go back to doing work things. This blog is writing, so it's satisfying some of the urge, but it's not what I wanted to write, so my Muse is still playing hopscotch in the back of my brain. The urge to write is so strong I feel it in my chest and it's hard to sit still. I have a meeting in 50 minutes, I have to prep for it, I don't have time for this to be interfering, but it's not going away.

The worst part - I don't think I'll have time to sit down and work on the writing until Sunday afternoon. Who knows if the Muse will be driving me then, or if I'll sit down and...nothing! Sometimes I hate having a day job. It's almost clockwork when I want to write, and it's always when I'm at work. Is it because I'm at work that I want to work on the writing, or is it just that the Muse speaks to me at that time of the day? I may have to do something drastic. I may have to see if I can start waking up early to write! (GASP!) My excersise (read team sports) tends to happen after work, and so does my relax/chill time, so those are probably not the best times to write - it's hard to find the foucs. I may have to start setting a bed time, setting an alarm, and writing in the morning the way some people work out. Maybe that will reduce this NEED I feel right now. Or perhaps, it would just make it worse.

Enough with the "Raised" threat level, already.

This weekend Trevor and I took a trip to see my brother in CO. To do this in a reasonable time frame (e.g. not taking more than 2 days off work), we flew. The troubles and adventures we have flying is enough to fill a book, not just this one blog, but let me vent for just one minute about the loud speaker announcements in airports.

"The threat level, as determined by the Department of Homeland Security, has been raised to orange....."

Oh??? The threat level hasn't been raised to orange, it's been orange for over a year. I think they could spend the few dollars to record a new message that rids of of the 'raised'. Or, get rid of the darned thing. What are they trying to accomplish by telling us every 5 minutes that our world is no longer safe, and that we are almost, but not quite, at a state of emergency?? We've had to take our shoes off, travel without water (unless we bring an empty bottle and fill it on the other side, or buy their ridiculously expensive drinks on the 'inside'), travel with small portioned sizes of our liquids and toiletries unless we want to check our baggage, and subject ourselves to random searches (that in my opinion are quite inadequate to actually find anything) for over one year. I have read numerous articles where random testing found that TSA did NOT catch bomb parts, even with the 'increased' security. I'm inclined to agree with the articles. All they have done is increase passenger stress, the time to prepare at the airport, the price of airline tickets, and the hassles of flying. They are driving people away from flying, and they wonder why airlines are going bankrupt?

I am not saying that we shouldn't be a vigilant people, especially in 'today's day and age', but I remember when flying was fun. I remember when you got dressed up to go on a plane. I remember the sense of adventure. All I see now when I look around the waiting area of the airport is the sense of impatience and barely contained disgust. People no longer fly because it's part of the adventure of vacation, but because their time has become so pressed they have no other alternative, and they don't like it.

I realize that security is important - I'm in the safety and health field, for goodness sake - but since when did security include distrust and veiled malice for all of our fellow man?

This threat level isn't "raised", this is maintained, and it's time they either did something to return flying to it's normal state of operations, or made permanent their changes and did away with the message. I don't see them ever going back to 'yellow' or 'green' so perhaps it's time they recalibrated their scale. What happens the next time some random attack happens, and we need to find a way to keep it from happening again? Will we endure 2 years of 'the threat level has been raised to red. Please collect all your baggage at the airport from the seperate plane it flew on, and you may not have ANY carry-on items without a doctor's note'? What happens when they raise the level to red, remove more of our constitutional freedoms, and something else happens? Will they invent Purple? Will they finally kill the airline industry? Will the airline industry use that as an excuse to raise prices, drive out the small fish, and create a monopoly similar to the 'oil crisis, war' and the current gas price?

Why not spend the millions and millions of dollars per year on permanent, updated, security measures. Why are we still relying on x-ray machines that are 30+ years old (in some airports), and human error for our safety? How much training do our luggage searchers and person inspectors have to take, anyway? Are they trained on the making of bombs and terrorism and materials that would be used? Are they taken through practice drills, or do they spend the hours that a detective or law enforcement individual would have to be able to watch an individual and match up key behaviors with the materials? No. We'd have to pay them far more if they had that level of skill.

You what to know my personal opinion? If flying stays the same 5 years from now as it is today (no other attacks, no extra security, and no going back to the way it was), we'll have one or two airlines, insane airfares, and people will go back to the old-fashioned road trip for vacation. I personally think that even though this is hurting the airlines, someone is benefiting too much from the way things have been changed to to ever go back. They feel these changes are 'for the good of the nation', 'we have to protect our citizens from all threats', when really, they are just padding their pockets or advancing their own agendas. Why is it that noone looks at airports as a business, trim the fat, innovate, fix the problems or close down.

This stupid 'raised to orange' gets my water hot every time I hear it, but I'll get off my soap-box now. thank you

Weekend Winterland

BRRRRRRRRRRRR! Yes, it's That Cold Out. Or it was. They say that it will warm up this week, but who are they anyway. The Weather does what the Weather will, and who cares if this poor mortal is turning into a Tricia-sicle!

This weekend we spent a lot of time doing organizey stuff. It doesn't look like we did anything - well, one can notice the slip covers on the furniture downstairs, but other stuff is more internal, but necessary.

Today we had yummy brunch at Kozlak's to celebrate Trev's Grandma's B-day. Yummy. I ate enough for 3 or 4 breakfasts. I didn't eat again til just now, when I couldn't resist one cookie's worth of cookie dough. Yes, I know. I'm dieting... Oh well. One bad day off the wagon. I went to the grocer on Friday and got healthy lunching things. That, plus a cereal breakfast, plus healthy dinners and working out will help. Must. Continue. To. Be. Good. (Bleah)

So, really, it was and wasn't a boring weekend. I didn't want to go out and play on Saturday - I made dinner and we were deep in the house cleaning, and it was too cold. My car hates cold weather in her old age. I didn't want to get to the other side of town and not be able to get myself home again.

This week has much work and house cleaning still on the schedule. Boring, thy name is Tricia.

Pre-spring Cleaning

Last weekend the Christmas tree went outside in a flurry of needles. Well, more a torrential downpour of needles. We did manage to get the tree outside with some of it's needles still attached. Most ended up in the carpet. Note to self: Take down tree earlier next year.

With the tree gone the living room looks HUGE! (It's not really, it's rather a smallish room) We still need to remove the presents that have been occupying the space below the tree (they are now piled over by the railing). This weekend, however, we did solve part of the problem of 'what do we do with the space now?'. We bought a loveseat and chair. Now we have places to sit when people come to visit us, quaint, yes? Really - we had 6 seats before the tree - 3 on sofa, 3 on futon. We have 6 again, 3,2,1 - unless people get cozy with each other, then we can seat many more! But, more furniture than what we're getting would NOT be supported by the room. The part of the problem not solved is that of coffee table and lamps and etc. I think we'll wait for our furniture to be delivered this weekend and then see what the space calls for, rather than guessing. There are some tables I really like over at WorldMarket though....we may have to go look at those tonight just to see.

So, now Christmas is over, the cold has set in, and the tree is out. What to do next? Clean, of course. Cleaning always needs to happen in a house, it's a never ending cycle, but I have new things for my kitchen that I got for christmas that don't fit - this requires a kitchen reorg. And new furniture in the living room means we should clean up in there very good. And while we're at it, why not the whole house! Yah! WHEE! (nope, not really whee, but if I pretend really, really hard I might be able to find the motivation for all this work).

Oh, and then Sunday? SUPERBOWL! Not nearly as excited as if the Packers were playing - new mantra, Go Patriots. Yup, let them have their 19-0 season. Stupid Giants need squooshing anyway. Party at a friends house; friends, food, and football - the three F's...or something.

Burning the tree, and what do I do with the space now?

I think it's finally time to take down the Christmas tree in our living room. Really. It's not dropping all its needles yet, but it may get there sometime soon. It's still very pretty. So why do I want to take it down? Because it's time, and I want my living room back. Sometime this week, that means, I will have to box up the ornaments, take off the lights, fold up the skirt and find a way to get the tree down the stairs and out of the house without making too awful a mess with the remaining needles. That also means I will have to do something with the space in the living room...

When we decided to put the tree in the living room where others could view it from the window, it meant a bit of furniture rearrangement. We put the futon in the office (officially creating an extra guest bedroom), moved the new couch to a different wall, and brought the rocking chair up from downstairs. The tree, skirt, and various presents have occupied the rest of the room. The goal this week is to clean up from the holidays, store the holiday stuff, and then brainstorm what else I want to put in that room...I found some tables I really like at World Market, but they are $$$ and I really need more seating in there. Hrm.

Also, I'm tired and really just want to go home and read. Not productive when I have things I have to get done :) So, I'll take it a chunk at a time, and when we're all done, we'll burn the tree in the pit in the backyard, giving it an appropriate send off.