Inches Left

Inspired by YarnHarlot's recent post on her Knitting Olympics, here is my progress so far:

I'm rounding the last part of my 2nd baby kimono for my Knitting Olympics. I'm thinking I have this in the bag, only the right front left and now I have this problem:

I ran out of yarn.

This the second time I've had this problem. And, it was with the FIRST baby kimono. My knitting friends say it is not stash enhancing if you are finishing a project, but I feel like I'm failing in some aspect of stash-busting. I'm committing to working through my stash, but it is getting slightly bigger with every project by a skein or 2.

Poor planning? Maybe I need help with planning out the project. Conspiracy to keep yarn addicts buying? Probably.

So you can find me at LOOPS this afternoon, buying more Be Sweet Bamboo in sea green. And my friends better not sabotage me by getting the 3 skeins. I know who you are.

Weight Loss Wednesday

WOW! I just checked last Wednesday (137) and with today's weigh in I'm 135. So 2 pounds gone.

Out of here.

Last night I was seriously contemplating what I was going to do if the scale did not move, but I'm happy with 2 pounds. That's a healthy amount to lose in a week. Here's how I did it:

1. I exercised 6 out of 7 days. I mixed it up with walking and running, but did a minimal of 30 minutes per day.
2. I drastically cut down on the junk food. If I ate something sugary sweet, it was a bite and that was all.
3. I made one of my meals a fruit/veggie smoothie in some way. You can google "raw food" and will find lots of information out there. Right now with the weather being so wintry, I can only do one meal as a smoothie.
4. I logged what I ate daily using SparkPeople on my phone.

So here's to continuing making progress instead of planning my sabotage.

Movies That are Fun, even on Cable TV

I've been thinking about the movies I will watch on cable.

1. Steel Magnolias - there are so many lines in that movie that remind me of my grandmother, great aunt and yes, my mom. She IS Sally Field's character. I cry every time at Shelby's funeral.

2. The Green Mile - Although the plot revolves around a gruesome murder and the most of the movie takes place in the death row of a penitentiary, I really enjoy the watching the interactions between the guards and inmates. Even bad guys can still care about each other.

3. Fried Green Tomatoes - Another film with powerful female characters and about the nature of human beings.

4. The Breakfast Club - Reminds me tragically of high school. Everyone of us is a nerd, a prep, a jock, a psycho, whatever. It's true and sad that high school can feel like that sometimes.

5. Mean Girls - It's an updated version of Heathers to me. I think I enjoy the movie because it reminds me of my job at times and how ridiculous keeping female friendships can be. I want to read the book it's based on "Queen Bees and Wanna-be's." I love Tina Fey's interpretation of the book...

6. The Notebook - a hopelessly romantic film, about a girl and a boy and their love story. The first time I watched it was around the death of my great-aunt, Mimi. She had Alzheimer's, dementia, whatever-you-want-to-call-it and it was so sad to see her die that way. I bawled and bawled and bawled - I still miss her.

7. Chocolat - I think it would be fun to own a chocolatier in France (during Lent, of course) and wear amazing clothes and red shoes. It would be fun to be the mom that is not like any others. Especially if Johnny Depp was my love interest. Wow.

8. Along Came Polly - Sometimes I think I'm Polly and Rich is Reuben at times. We have different ways of thinking about things at times, but it works for us!

9. Parenthood - Another movie set in the 80's about parenting. This movie gets me all nostalgic about the circle of life and how we are just really trying to do what's best with the people we love and sometimes that gets messy.

10. Walk the Line - I'm a closet Johnny Cash fan and I think Joaquin Phoenix and Reese Witherspoon did a fanastic job in their portrayal. Another love story about two people finding each other...

What's your favorite movies you'll watch when flipping channels???

Olympic Knitting

Yarn Harlot started the Knitting Olympics a few years ago to challenge knitters to complete a project within the 2 weeks Olympic Games. The idea is for you to do something "Citius, Altius, Fortius" or "Faster, Higher, Stronger." If you finish your goal, whatever that is, you get a gold medal banner to put on your blog, etc as a reminder of that feat. If you belong to Ravelry, then there are teams and everything. Yarn Harlot keeps her Olympics separate. Ravelry is a whole other ball game. It's a little overwhelming....

This month has proven to be a hectic one, especially in the work area of my life, so I decided to work on the "faster" aspect of my knitting. My goal is to complete 2 "heart-breakingly cute" baby kimonos out of some cotton that's been hanging around my stash. The pattern is done is one piece, with minimal stitching to complete. It's like you are going along in your stockinette stitch or garter and voila! it's done! Here is my progress so far:

This is just after one weekend of the Olympics. But all Olympics have some disappointment and mine is not immune. I. ran. out. of. yarn. Seriously. And not only that, but I have 3/4 of one kimono done, so I have to go to the store to get something that might work. I'm thinking blue, white or tan - keeping it simple. If I can't find a coordinating color, I know, I can find white somewhere.

Weight Loss Wednesday

137. I indulged in a lot of sweets over the weekend. But here is my saving grace: a brand new treadmill. Yes, I have found my running mojo in the form of a new treadmill. If you know my husband, it will do the basics, plus more so now there are no excuses.

This morning I cranked it up to 12mph and thought "this feels ok - I'm waking up." I remember in the not so distant past when 5.0 on the treadmill was a talking pace for me and let's just say that is not the case now.

I have faith it will soon. I'm running a 1/2 marathon with my baby sister in May, it better. She's telling me she's running a 9 minute mile.

I may have to tell her to meet me at the finish line.

Valentine's Day Crafting 2010

I'm now into month 2 of my sock de-stashing. Janine mentioned making a X's and O's cable pattern for February socks? To which I whined, err replied, "I don't know how to cable." So as any enabling and helpful friend would do, she sent me several patterns that explained the mystery of that cable. And of course, I obliged and thought, "Why haven't I ever done this before? Easy!" So 2, yes 2, of these hats were made in a bright Valentine-y red:
One for Miss Ava and one for her cousin Bella, who at this moment, is snowed in New Jersey. They probably have dug out of it by now, being that the east coast is used to that kind of weather.Valentine's Day also brought, if early and FIRST, some wonderful blush roses brought by my partner in crime, Rich. Work has been albeit interesting lately, and he is so thoughtful. We celebrated Valentine's Day with some excellent steak (and butter sauce) Thursday.

Later that weekend, we went shopping for a treadmill and since then have been rearranging the office/game room to make room. I think there will be less steak in our future. I told him that we should both be totally ready for summer if we buy one. No excuses.

Pass the pizza and the Dr. Pepper! (just joking, of course)

Weight Loss Wednesday

136 again. I'm still cheating. Yesterday was a little rough around the edges and involved pizza and chocolate.

Good news: Rich is considering getting a treadmill for the office. I'm slightly concerned about how it will fit with the drum kit, small couch and video games. If we buy one, there will be no more excuses about the weather and that would be a good thing.

Anybody else have a treadmill? Is it like a boat? The best day is when you get rid of it?

Weight Loss Wednesday

So in a week I've lost 3 pounds. Down from 139 to 136 again. During our latest ice/snow storm, Rich and I did a little (ok, maybe more than that) cheating in the form of dark chocolate and junk food. We are back on track again.

I've been reading a lot from Michael Pollan lately. He's a journalist turned food activist who has done extensive research on where our American food comes from. His latest book is a compilation of his other 3: Food Rules - An Eater's Manual. One of the tips encourages you to eat a meal that is no bigger than 2 fists put together. Go ahead. Take a look at your two fists. If you are petite like me, that's not a lot of food. So I'm implementing that this month.

Did you know that it takes burning 3500 calories to lose 1 pound? I heard that today on NPR as I was driving to the gym. Kind of puts it in perspective that you really have to eat less and exercise more to create that deficit in order to lose weight. You have to feel a little hungry. Not ravenous - I - will - eat - my - first- born, just slightly hungry.

Speaking of, I burned 451 calories on the elliptical in 45 minutes. I'm working toward that 3500 calorie goal this week.