SNIPPETS

Kim's mini-challenge!

2008-10-18T15:56:00.000-07:00

I went for a very short hike, maybe only 20 minutes. I'll actually go for another one right at dusk, just to keep my muscles loose.

Here are some photos from the woods behind my house.

Hour 11

2008-10-18T14:46:00.000-07:00

Title of book(s) read since last update: Father's Arcane Daughter by E.L. Konigsburg.

Number of books read since you started: 1.

Pages read since last update: 21

Running total of pages read since you started: 99

Mini-challenges completed: None so far, but I'm going to participate this hour!

This past hour, I read out on the deck for a while, read on the family room love seat for a while, and read on the couch next to the fire place in the living room. Earlier, I read on the recliner in the living room. Later I plan to read in bed and in the chair in my bedroom. I think it's important to change locations so your body doesn't feel stuck in one position all day.

Here's my spot next to the fireplace!

Hour 10

2008-10-18T14:20:00.000-07:00

This hour, I'm reading out on the deck with a mug of tea.

Last hour, I went for a quick hike. I was going to try to get a spooky photo of the cemetery for Carl's mini-challenge, later, but I forgot.

Title of book(s) read since last update: Father's Arcane Daughter by E.L. Konigsburg.

Number of books read since you started: 1.

Pages read since last update: 10

Running total of pages read since you started: 78

Mini-challenges completed: None so far.

Mimi says, "Oh hai."

Hour 8

2008-10-18T11:29:00.000-07:00

Title of book(s) read since last update: Animal Farm by George Orwell and Father's Arcane Daughter by E.L. Konigsburg.

Number of books read since you started: 1. Finished Animal Farm!

Pages read since last update: 66

Running total of pages read since you started: 68

Mini-challenges completed: None so far.

Last hour, my husband baked Ghiradelli brownies! And now I'm off for a short hike while he heads to the store to stock up on snacks for the rest of the read-a-thon.

Here's a picture I took yesterday of a scarf I made for a friend who likes yellow. I love the buttery color! It's hard to tell, but the tassels are a slightly shimmery golden color.

Hour 7

2008-10-18T10:48:00.000-07:00

Now it's my turn to be a reader for the next six hours!

Title of book(s) read since last update: Animal Farm by George Orwell

Number of books read since you started: 0

Pages read since last update: 2. I was busy hosting!

Running total of pages read since you started: 2

Mini-challenges completed: None so far.

Here's a photo I took this morning when it was just getting light out. This poppy may be the last of the flowers in my yard. The white roses went crazy with blooms in early October, but now they're over. The really full bookcase on the right is TBR Mountain!

Quilt giveaway!

2008-10-16T12:48:00.001-07:00

Oooh, look at the gorgeousness! I want to win SO BADLY.

little hurt birdie

2008-10-06T13:08:00.000-07:00

This little guy flew into one of our windows the other day. My husband went outside to use the grill, and there the bird was, lying on the deck. So he called me out to look at it.

It was obviously stunned and had hurt its leg. I held it for a little bit, but I didn't want to terrify it to death, so I got a rag, made a sort of nest out of the rag in a big pot of lavender we have on the deck, and put him in there. He fluttered and struggled a bit, at one point fluttering himself out of the pot, where he lay upside down, beating his wings wildly. But I put him back, and he rested there for about an hour.

And after that, he seemed ok. He hopped to the rim of the lavender pot and flew off!

Please help me name my cat!

2008-10-01T17:44:00.000-07:00

We have a new cat! And we have to come up with a name. The shelter had named her Hannah, which I don't want to keep as her name because I know some human Hannahs.

So I'm sort of semi-secretly (shhh!) going to give anyone who suggests a name two bonus chances for next week's drawing for the Hachette books. I'm going to link to this post from my books blog but not say there are any bonus chances, just that I want some naming help.

She is a year old, very small and thin. She has short hair, and is white and black. She's timid, and while she likes being petted, she doesn't like to be picked up. She has beautiful light brown eyes. They look sort of crabby in that photo, but she was having a bad day, being put in a carrier and handled by strangers and hissed at.

Name I've suggested: Minerva (after Professor MacGonagall). Unfortunately, my son says it's a horrible name. But it's my turn in my family to name a cat, so he might just have to get used to it unless you guys help me pick a better one.

Names my (freak) husband has suggested: Not a Barky Dog, Fluffy Ninja, The Odds Against This Name Are Astronomical, Mr Kite, Mrs Henderson, A Splendid Time Is Guaranteed for All.

Name our son suggested: McFuzzlebottom.

So, what are your suggestions?

raven photo

2008-08-28T15:51:00.000-07:00

Here are a couple of the ravens I mentioned.

Raven training progress

2008-08-26T12:00:00.001-07:00

I may have mentioned before that some ravens hang out in our yard. I read that they're as smart as dogs, so I decided to try to train them.

First, I started to put snacks out for them. It seems they prefer cookies and bread. They ignore cheese, which means the squirrels eat it, which then means the squirrels conk out for a big, full-tummy nap in the platform birdfeeder. But then I think they're dead, so no more cheese is going out there. The ravens don't really care for pretzels, but they'll eat Cheerios if there's nothing better.

They really seemed to learn fast to expect food from us. After about a week of sometimes showing up and sometimes not showing up, they seemed to catch on that there would be food every day. Now, if I don't get it out there early enough, they'll sit in trees and caw until I bring it.

And today! A raven was in the tree nearest the deck, on a branch close to the railing. When I went out with the leftover toast I wanted to give them for today's snack, he didn't fly away like they usually do when I come out. Earlier on, they'd fly away if I even came close to the sliding glass door. But today he just sat in his tree and watched me put his toast out. I was only about five feet away from him. Him and his large, sharp beak and deadly claws.

Soon, my pretties, soon you will do my bidding! Soon, the barky dogs of the neighborhood will have bird shit on their heads! As a second warning, their eyes will be pecked out! BWAH HA HA HA HA.

Game Stop

2008-08-19T08:55:00.000-07:00

A while back, Mom Central sent me a gift certificate for Game Stop. Since my son loves video games, we were thrilled to use it and blog about the experience.

Aside from using the gift certificate, we were also shopping for a new Xbox 360 for our son. There are two Game Stops in the city nearest us; the first one we tried was closed down, or maybe just moved locations, though there was no sign saying so either way, just an empty store.

Since it was only 10am and we had to go to Target anyway, we checked prices on Xbox 360s there. Later, when we went to the other Game Stop, the price was better, so we were pleased with that feature, at least!

Unfortunately, I was completely unable to go inside the second Game Stop at all, since it had an overwhelming smell of farts. There's just no delicate way to put that, I'm afraid. Someone inside there, either an employee or the one guy shopping, had a terrible, terrible case of gas. My son, being motivated by his gift certificate and Xbox 360, went in, and I went next door with Crystal to get some juice. My husband says he went in just because he knows I have a more sensitive sense of smell than he does, and some adult had to go in.

I asked my son about the experience, and he said, "Well... are you going to mention the smell?" I said that I felt I had to give an honest report, so yes. He then said that the experience was good because he was able to find the specific game he wanted for under the value of the gift certificate, and that his only criticism might be that the service was a little slow. But I think that's probably more a feature of the fact that I raised him in a less laid back state than this; service seems slow everywhere to us because we're used to a snappier pace at all businesses.

All in all, let's just assume that either of these two scenarios were the case:

1. The inconsiderate customer was farting all over a small shop

or

2. The poor Game Stop clerk had to work when he wasn't feeling well, not well at all.

It's unlikely anyone else would run into that problem at Game Stop, so my advice is that if you need a new game console or game, you'll likely get better prices and selection at Game Stop than at Target.

been a while!

2008-08-18T10:10:00.000-07:00

If you're reading this, you probably know that I took a break from my books blog, something I haven't done in my admittedly short time (about a year and a half) since I started the blog. I'm planning to go back later this week, but meanwhile, I wanted to check in and say hi over here.

We're all moved in. Our friend Crystal has been staying with us for almost three weeks now (she leaves Wednesday) so the house is at least functioning well enough to have a guest, and I feel like that's good progress, considering we only moved in three weeks ago ourselves (two or three days before she arrived).

We also had a housewarming party, which I think went well. It wasn't without glitches, but I think that in general people had a good time and left feeling well-fed and beveraged. The guests were a combination of people we work with, some friends, and all the neighbors on our block. I was really amazed at how many neighbors came to check out the new people! I just put a colorful barbeque flyer on their doors and hoped one or two would show up, but all except one household came.

The best part of the house is the deck, which is where I try to spend as much time as possible. There are bird feeders and the birds come in swarms. Crystal and I decided feeding the birds is sort of like blogging. You put out what you hope is the right content and make it accessible and hope people/birds show up. I think our bird feeders are the dooce or even ichanhascheezburger of the bird world, actually. It's not that we put out such great food, just grocery store seed, but the location is a busy one. Our yard backs onto National Forest, so there are plenty of birds. I can't decide whether the ravens who come every day and caw their beaks off for leftovers are trolls or Oprah. Today they're making strange noises that I think might be mating sounds, but they're up too high in the trees for me to be able to look and see if I can figure it out. And don't birds mate in the spring? We put the food on the railing in the morning; if any is left by evening (rare) then we remove it, because we also have bears, coyotes, raccoons and skunks, and we don't want to encourage them. Right now, there's a squirrel on the railing eating a chunk of farmer's market raspberry-orange bread that was supposed to be a treat for the ravens. The squirrels like to hide raven treats in my flower beds so they can snack on them later. I tried to explain to this one that the bread was for the ravens, but he just made weird squeaky noises, turned around, and started stuffing his cheeks faster. Then he ran off with the whole remaining slice of bread hanging from his teeth.

dishes/bookmark!

2008-07-23T13:03:00.000-07:00

I'm trying to win this beautiful bookmark from Lizzie!

She says:

So here is your mission, should you choose to accept it:

Post a blog entry about either one (or both!) of the following questions:

1. What is your favorite thrift store find?
2. Do you have a set or piece of a set of dishes that you absolutely love?

Include pictures if you can. I love pictures of cute plates and mugs.

My current favorite thrift store find is a pair of small ceramic pots I'm using to grow basil. They don't quite match, but they coordinate. I think someone painted two unrelated containers in similar colors. They weren't anywhere near each other at the store, but I was carrying one around, so when I saw the other, I could tell right away that I liked them together.

(Ha ha, I just looked through my camera, because I thought I had a photo of the pots in there, and found a bunch of photos I took of my eyes after they were dilated at the eye doctor's office. I look like Puss in Boots.)

My favorite set of dishes is our Pfaltzgraff set. They're all packed, but here's a photo from the internet:

We also have the salt and pepper shakers and the butter dish, but none of the serving stuff.

My husband's favorite set of dishes is a set of old china we found in an antique shop, speaking of thrift shops. They weren't really antiques, just sort of retro, so they were very affordable. See the Pfaltzgraff salad plate? They're off-white with black stripes around the outside, so they go really well with that set. The set contains regular dinner plates, cups and saucers, salad plates and two sizes of plates smaller than the salad plates. One is probably a bread/appetizer plate, and the other is probably a tapas dish or dessert plate; it's very tiny. There are also some oval dishes in the set, but we're not sure whether they're very deep oval plates or very shallow oval bowls. My husband thinks that since there are no bowls in the set, they must be bowls. But I'm not sure; you'd never try to eat cereal out of them. They're perfect for when you're having stew or pasta, and would like to use a plate, but want something to contain your sauce or gravy.

And we don't have any other sets of dishes! We have some blue cereal bowls, but everything else is part of one of those two sets.

Memoirs of a Geisha (film)

2008-07-22T14:45:00.000-07:00

Last night I watched Memoirs of a Geisha. It's been so long since I read the book (about ten years ago) that I don't remember enough details to know how faithful to the book the film was. Although I thought the movie was really well made, visually appealing and a good story, I kept feeling like I'd be more interested in the story of a more realistic, ordinary geisha.

Chiyo was the best geisha in the city, whose virginity had the highest bidding price ever. She loved a prominent man, lived in extraordinary times (World War II) and ended up with her true love in the end. But what about all the everyday, nothing-special geishas? What were their lives like? What about the geishas without dannas or eyes the color of rain or the best mentors possible? Why just hint that rape is a possibility and let the heroine escape it? At times I felt more interested in Pumpkin, because she seemed like a more realistic character. Although this is a good tale, I guess I'm just more interested in the historical aspects of how this system, which was a form of slavery, affected regular women.

surprised

2008-07-19T10:22:00.001-07:00

I'm surprised! I rarely write here because I thought no one was reading. I get excited if a post gets one comment. But then I checked google reader and found that 11 people are subscribing via that service. It doesn't sound like much, and isn't compared to my books blog (218 people subscribe to that via google reader) but even if no one reads in any other way besides via google reader, 11 people is more than I thought I had reading here.

So, my eleven pals, I will try to write here more frequently!

Moving day is approaching quickly. It's exactly a week away, with the Uhaul rented for July 26th. I am still so thankful that the people moving out are leaving such an incredible amount of their stuff behind, since they'll be traveling for two years (they just retired). Not only is the place completely furnished (although this does mean squeezing in our own stuff or storing it) but they're leaving behind most of their art, their electronics, their kitchenware, their linens, etc. So we'll be able to just move right in and be comfortable. No days of pizza and paper plates for us! The only thing we really need to do to make it immediately livable is to put our mattress and box springs on the bed. We asked the to store or sell theirs because ours is a Tempurpedic, which I need because of my pain problems.

The new place is only about a mile away, so we should be able to do a quick move with the Uhaul and start unpacking by evening. We do have a guest coming for three weeks, arriving on the 30th, so we want to get as unpacked as we can before she arrives. But she's a close enough friend that we could ask her to help unpack if necessary. And just to show how awesome the people moving out are: we told them we had a guest coming, so they cleared out the guest room first, had their cleaning woman up the bed all fresh, and showed it to us the other day, saying it should be ready for our guest! You can tell such thoughtful people are going to be leaving things nice for us. They even showed us their liquor cabinet and said they were leaving all the booze behind. We're not big drinkers, but we're having a party mid-August, so we'll get rid of whatever we don't want, I'm sure.

Speaking of guests, summer is usually a big time for guests for us, and this summer seems no different. The friend who arrives the 30th is staying until August 20th, and then two other friends are coming in late August (they haven't set a date yet) so there may even be overlap. And then I think (I hope!) my mother-in-law will be coming from England in September. I know it's unusual to hope your mother-in-law will visit, but she's stayed with us twice long-term (a month or so) and she's the perfect guest. She tidies a lot, but not in a way that suggests we're poor housekeepers like some mothers-in-law seem to!

As you can probably tell, I'm really excited both about moving and about having guests!

2008-07-10T11:42:00.000-07:00

I'm waiting for a couple friends, who are supposed to come over in about fifteen minutes.

We were going to go to my water aerobics class, and I even told the instructor yesterday that I was bringing two friends, but I guess we're going hiking/exploring instead.

My town has totally free bus service. Completely free, whether you're using the regular bus route or the Dial-A-Ride, which is a door to door service. Isn't that amazing? It goes along with the no library fines policy and many other fine features.

Anyway, suddenly, using the bus is very popular, with gas prices so high. My son has used the dial a ride before. And yesterday, I saw it at the pool. And I realized it might be the answer to some of our problems. See, I am not supposed to be driving, because of my health problems. I've had to sign a form a few times saying I understood that I'm not safe to drive and would not hold my doctor responsible if I did so and had any problems. Although I feel safe to drive, I realize two things.

1.If I have an accident, my insurance company will probably look up medical records, see that form, and refuse payment.

2. Drunk people also often think they're ok to drive when they're not.

So my husband does a lot of leaving work to come home for me, especially for my pool classes, and that is not only inconvenient but a huge waste of gas.

I went up to the dial a ride bus driver, who was just sitting there waiting for someone, and asked what the number was. The number used to be posted on the bus itself, but no longer. She gave me a card.

Today I called, and was told that the dial a ride became so popular that they now have a policy that allows seniors and people with a documented disability to reserve it up to three days ahead of time. Everyone else is free to call on the day of service and see if there's availability. This increased popularity must be why they took the number off the bus itself.

So I decided I'd just figure out where the regular bus stopped near our new house, and I looked on the map. The bus stop is what looks like a 25 minute walk, mostly through the woods, hopefully on a trail, from our new place. So the hike my friends and I will be taking is to find our way from the house to the bus stop.

The thing is, though, that I do two hours of water aerobics at the pool, and adding 50 minutes of woods walking to that may leave me wanting to nap the rest of the day.

I mentioned this to my husband, and he reminded me that being told not to drive by a doctor is probably considered a documented disability. So I called the dial a ride number and asked what they needed to document a disability. They said a note from a doctor would be good, and that I would just keep it on me and have it ready to show to any new driver who might not recognize me.

So I called the doctor's office and asked about this and the customer care woman said definitely, I did qualify for this service, and that she would put a document in the mail for me to carry.

This means that in a few days, I will have door to door transportation at my service! For free! My husband seems thrilled, of course.

My friends and I will still go exploring today, though because

1. My son will want to use the bus route from our house; he usually bikes, but the bus will be handy for rainy or snowy days. I'll be able to just walk him once along the trail (which I hope is there) to the bus stop, and then he'll know the way.

2. My friend Crystal will be coming later this month to stay with us until late August, and since she does not have a documented disability, we'll only be able to use the dial a ride if it's available for her on the days we want to use it. She could just drive my car, of course, but I'm not sure she knows how to drive a stick shift.

So I feel great, like I just solved a tricky problem that had been inconveniencing my husband so much (although he'd never complain). It's a little weird to have to face up to having a documented disability, right on top of having to face up to needing to be put on medical leave from work for a year. There is a big part of me that keeps trying to pretend I'm not really very sick at all. But it's still nice to have solved a dilemma.

Scarves

2008-07-07T15:50:00.000-07:00

Prepare to be NOT IMPRESSED. Neither my scarves nor my photography could be called impressive. But here goes.

I made this one because I like moss stitch, wanted to practice it, had a shitload of fat white yarn, and like white scarves. Very plain. FOR ME for winter. Well, except I offered a friend her choice of scarves, and she hasn't seen them yet. So if she chooses this one, I'll just make another for myself!

This is the one I made with with my friend in mind before I decided to just let her choose. If she doesn't choose it, I will either give it to someone else or sell it on etsy (if anyone would want it). I like its colors, but they're not colors for me. It's just garter stitch, but the yarns are really nice. I don't know if you can tell that. The dark purple is the bamboo stuff another friend gave me for Christmas. Then there is a multi-colored silk/linen novelty yarn. It's annoying to knit with because it has holes, and it's much more textury than you can tell from this photo.

This is the one I love right now. It's just garter stitch, and I made it to use up the two colors of pink. The lighter pink is fluffy bamboo and the darker heathered pink is silk, which you'll see further down. The black is just in there because I like black and pink together. If my friend doesn't want this one, I will either keep it, sell it on etsy, or give it as a gift.

This one will probably be frogged. I was trying to knit lengthwise. So I cast on like 120 stitches and then just did a handful of rows, so it's got really long rows. But the needles were too big, so it's too loose, and it is not special enough for this gorgeous silk yarn. If my friend chooses it, it's hers, but otherwise, I expect to frog it and save the yarn for something else. From this I learned to try new things with cheap yarns.

Sorry about this very strange photo. I was about to hold up that wispy purple thing, but I snapped the photo too soon. And the real photo was totally blurry, so I guess I'm just letting you see that it's a very wispy summer scarf, silk yarn. Just garter stitched. Instead of just throwing this photo out because it hardly shows anything, I thought I'd post it anyway, because you can also see my husband's hemp scarf in the background. I wasn't going to show that one, because I made it before I grasped the concept of weaving in, so when I would change yarn colors, I would just knit the old color in with the new. So it's horrible, but he loves it and wore it every day last winter. If anyone who knows how to knit sees it, so they know his wife is a beginner, so what. As long as he's happy with it, right?

greenness!

2008-07-07T15:34:00.000-07:00

I recently received two Recycline toothbrushes from Mom Central. I was really glad to get them, because I've tried various ways of using toothbrushes that didn't require throwing out plastic every couple months.

1. First I tried toothbrushes with replaceable heads. This didn't work for me, because I'd never be able to find the right heads for my toothbrush. Then I'd get another one, and not be able to find those heads. It seemed like whatever replaceable-head toothbrush I tried, my stores would start carrying a different brand.

2. My dentist said I need an electric toothbrush because my teeth are so close together because all my wisdom teeth are intact (and trouble free). I guess an electric toothbrush gets deep in between teeth. I liked that idea, because electric toothbrushes also have replaceable heads. But I ended up hating the feel of the electric toothbrushes. And since I never get cavities or have any teeth problems at all, a regular toothbrush must be working ok, right?

Then I got the Recylcine brushes, and I'm happy with those. They're made of recycled yogurt cups, and the case (which can be used as a travel case) is wood-based plastic. And best of all, when you're through with it, you can get a mailing label to send it back and have them recycle both the brush and the case.

Shortly after we received our toothbrushes, my husband noticed Recycline razors at our co-op. I was surprised that he tried one, because he's been pretty loyal to his own brand of razor, but he loves it.

Since this is my first time reviewing a product on this blog, I just want to let readers know that I will always let you know if a post is a product review for something I received free, and I will always share with you exactly, truthfully, how I feel about a product.

moving

2008-06-20T13:26:00.000-07:00

We're moving in a few weeks. I've already started to pack, because I prefer to pack a few boxes a day rather than getting all stressed out in a day or two. And as I'm packing, I'm also cleaning, organizing, figuring out what to throw away, what to give away, what to bring.

I'm really in love with our new house. This house is right on a canyon, which is nice, but the new one is on the edge of a national forest, and there are huge windows everywhere looking out into the forest. I'm going to love that. When we're moved in, I'll take photos!

poundpoundpound

2008-06-13T10:25:00.000-07:00

My neighbor is on a 9/40 schedule, which means he has every other Friday off work. And do you know what he does on those Fridays? He bangs a hammer ALL. DAY. LONG. I'm sure he's doing something very constructive on his house, but for me it just has the effect of listening to constant banging. I'm so grateful it's hot and sunny today, because every 10 minutes or so, he stops just long enough that I'm sure he's drinking some water. I can feel every cell of my brain relax a little during those brief moments. It's even better when he goes inside to pee (I figure that's what the five minute breaks are) or stops to have some lunch.

And the hammering would be bad enough, but for some reason, his hammer makes several of the dogs in the neighborhood start barking. If everyone doesn't shut the hell out, pretty soon I'm going to be standing out in the street barking in a frenzy myself.

I've been meaning to start writing about movies here. I always feel like I don't know the important things to say about a movie. I've heard some book bloggers say that about books, and I always feel like I just want to know how they liked books, and what they were about. So I'm sure any film studies majors who may come along and read wouldn't look down on me for my uninformed opinions about movies, but I still haven't started those posts.

My cat's face healed just fine, but she still has a big scar under her eye. My son calls her Scarface now.

Happy weekend.

exercise log

2008-06-12T07:44:00.000-07:00

Brr, it's freezing today! Isn't this June? Anyway, in my last post, I put a brief log of my exercise last week. Inspired by Becky's summer goals meme, I decided I'd like to keep a log of my exercise all summer.

So here's a start, and I'll see if I can remember to add to this every so often.

6/1: Hiking
6/2: water aerobics and a short, after-dinner walk
6/3: Hiking
6/4: Water aerobics and hiking
6/5: Hiking
6/6: Hiking
6/7: Went out dancing!

6/8: Hiking
6/9: Water aerobics and hiking
6/10: --
6/11 Water aerobics and Tai Chi
6/12: Hiking
6/13: --
6/14: two walks (one morning and one evening)

6/15: Hiking
6/16: 2 water aerobics classes (warm water and then deep water)
6/17: --
6/18: water aerobics
6/19: walking
6/20: 2 water aerobics (warm and deep)
6/21: hiking

6/22: hiking
6/23: walking
6/24: water aerobics (deep)
6/25: 2 water aerobics (warm and deep)
6/26: hiking
6/27: water aerobics (warm)
6/28: 2 walks (morning and evening)

6/29: --
6/30: 2 water aerobics (warm and deep)
7/1: water aerobics (deep)
7/2: hiking
7/3: hiking
7/4: hiking
7/5: --

7/6: hiking
7/7: 2 water aerobics (warm and deep) and a walk
7/8: walk
7/9: 2 water aerobics (warm and deep)
7/10: hike
7/11: hike
7/12: hike

7/13: walk
7/14: hike
7/15: water aerobics (deep)
7/16: --
7/17: water aerobics (deep)
7/18: 2 water aerobics (warm and deep)
7/19: walk

7/20: hiking
7/21: 2 water aerobics (warm and deep)
7/22: water aerobics (deep)

(I lost track a bit here, being busy with moving, so the next two weeks are just to the best of my recollection!)

7/23: 2 water aerobics (warm and deep)
7/24: deep water class
7/25: 2 water aerobics (warm and deep)
7/26: Moving day! That counts as exercise, right?

7/27: -- (unless unpacking counts)
7/28: 2 water aerobics (warm and deep)
7/29: deep water class
7/30: --
7/31: deep water class
8/1: 2 water aerobics (warm and deep)
8/2: walk

8/3: walk
8/4: -- (liquids only today pre-surgery, no energy for exercise!)
8/5: -- (surgery)
8/6: walk
8/7: water aerobics: deep
8/8: 2 water aerobics: warm and deep
8/9: hike

8/10: hike
8/11: 2 water aerobics: warm and deep
8/12: water aerobics: deep
8/13: walk
8/14: hike
8/15: --
(pool closes for annual two-week maintenance)
8/16: --

8/17: hike
8/18: hike
8/19: hike
8/20: swim (hotel pool)
8/21: swim (hotel pool)
8/22: hike
8/23: --

8/24: hike (got lost, so longer than expected)
8/25 --
8/26: hike
8/28: hike
8/29: hike
8/30: hike
8/31: hike

Pool opens again!

9/1
9/2
9/3
9/4
9/5
9/6
9/7

9/8
9/9
9/10
9/11

I had a paragraph here saying I was done September first, but it turns out the challenge goes on until the 11th!

*Note: The difference, in my mind, between walking and hiking is terrain and time. If I walk on the street, I call it walking no matter how long it is. If I walk in the woods or the canyon for less than half an hour, I usually call that a walk, too. Longer canyon walks are called hikes, because of the rugged, steep terrain. Other people have other definitions. One of my friends calls our two-hour canyon outings "walks" because, as she says, we don't pack a lunch. Other friends only call walks hikes if they're day-long trips. I'm not so hardcore.

Another note: The warm water aerobics class is a "stretch and tone" class and not very aerobic, but really good for my muscle spasms. The deep water class is pretty intense and definitely aerobic as well as strengthening.

health pondering

2008-06-09T08:43:00.000-07:00

I've made mention in my books blog that I'm off work for a year on medical leave. Part of the reason I'm off work is that my career is in a high energy, high stress field, and my doctor seems to think it's even higher energy and higher stress than it really is. I have one of those jobs about which people always say, "Oh, I could never do that!" And they're right. Most people couldn't. I think my doctor is one of those people, and since she feels it would kill her with stress to try, she thinks it's killing me with stress. She feels, probably correctly, that my job is playing a detrimental role in my "regression."

That word is bothering me ever since I saw my insurance forms, which my doctor finally finished filling out, and saw that she had written that I was regressing. It made me feel like I was flunking my illness or something. Ugh.

Another reason I'm off work is that I'm not really able to have time to heal from flare ups and surgeries and so forth. I had two surgeries last year, and I was supposed to have another at the end of this past May, but I postponed it. I should really call and reschedule that. Anyway, one of the times I had surgery, I went back to work at the time most people are healed enough, and ended up in the emergency room. And then off work for another week. So it's sort of hard to recover from the treatments deemed necessary, let alone just feel well enough day-to-day to go to work.

And finally, the main reason I could bring myself to agree to be off work for a year is that I wasn't doing my job as well as I normally would. I'm a perfectionist, I know, but I felt that I was not only not doing a perfect job, but I was actually floundering, and in some small ways, failing, though my boss claimed I was doing just great. But you know, you don't go into your boss' office and tell her about every time you fuck up.

I just didn't want to go off work because a) I love my job and b) everyone I've met who has my illness and is on disability is a sedentary obese person whose health is further impaired by a lack of activity. And I don't want that to be me. I've now convinced myself that they have a harder time managing their health because they were sedentary and obese in the first place, but I was afraid that they became sedentary and obese when they stopped working.

So here's what I'm supposed to do this year. I'm supposed to exercise daily, and not just one type of exercise, but various types, so I'm getting the benefits of different activities. I'm supposed to relax. I'm supposed to learn how to relax. I'm supposed to pursue quiet interests; my doctor actually ordered me to keep reading and working on my books blog. I think she hopes I'll find flexible online work. She's a huge believer in "feeling like an asset to your community" so I know she wants me to keep doing work of some sort. But I think she's also just happy that my blog makes me feel like an asset to my book blogging community. After this year, I think she's hoping I'll have found some sort of low-key part time work, online or not. She keeps talking about part time jobs at the library.

The exercise is going well. I've always hiked, and I love to swim. This past year, I've only hiked, because I was too busy to add swimming to my life. With hiking, I just put on hiking shoes, grab some water, and walk out my back gate into the canyon. For swimming, I have to go to the pool, change into my suit, swim, shower, and change again. But now, I've started taking a water aerobics class. A couple years ago, I used to swim with a U.S. Masters class, although I didn't compete. But I'm not in swimming shape. Hiking does nothing for the upper body. So I figure I'll do water aerobics for a while, and eventually I'll run into my old coach or his wife, who is a co-worker, and ask them about joining the class again. My husband agreed to sign up for a Tai Chi class with me, so that'll also be a different type of exercise. And probably great for this whole learning how to relax thing.

So here's how my week in exercise has looked:

Monday: water aerobics and a short, after-dinner walk
Tuesday: Hiking
Wednesday: Water aerobics and hiking
Thursday: Hiking
Friday: Hiking
Saturday: Went out dancing!
Sunday: Hiking
Today: Water aerobics and probably a walk
Tomorrow: Tai Chi class! And maybe a walk

So I think I'm doing well with that.

Learning to relax is a more gradual process. My first week off work, I was terrified I was going to become a useless blob who sat on the couch all day, so I spent a lot of time getting my house clean (it's been fairly neglected because of the whole working full time while sick thing) and I actually kept a list of everything I accomplished every day so that I would be reassured that I wasn't turning into a lazy blob. I saw that my list of daily accomplishments didn't look much like I was learning to relax, so I stopped keeping those lists.

After the first week, I started noticing that I was able to just enjoy activities, like cooking dinner, that I was used to rushing through because other things needed to be done. Time is a wonderful gift. When you have it, everything you do becomes more mindful and pleasurable. I'm not looking at piles of books to be reviewed and getting anxious because I don't know when I'll do them. Now I feel like, well, it doesn't matter, because I have plenty of reviews saved as drafts. I'll do reviews when I'm in the mood to do reviews.

So I've done a lot of things I've been meaning to do for a while. I set up my etsy shop. I made this blog. I finally set up an itunes library and have songs on there now. My house is clean! This is another way that time is a gift. I don't have a long list of stuff hanging over my head waiting for me to get a chance to do it.

And this morning, my son accused me of running around all energetically. He'd just gotten up and he has the same aversion to other people's perkiness that I have when I first wake up. The energy he noticed might have been over-caffeination, or it may be that I still have no clue how to relax, or it may just be that I'm doing a bit better already, that my energy levels are increasing. I can't hope that I'll get completely better, because my condition is for life. But I can hope that I learn how to manage it well enough that I'm as healthy as possible, considering.

Mimi

2008-06-02T11:31:00.000-07:00

Mimi is my cat, and she's been wounded! Not badly, though, don't worry.

We live right on a canyon; you literally open the back gate and there you are, on the edge of the canyon. This is great for hiking, but it makes life outdoors dangerous for Mimi. And she's definitely an outdoor cat. A former housemate once said about her, "This cat loves the outside more than any cat I ever met." I tried to keep her indoors when we moved into this house, because of the dangers of the canyon. We hear coyotes out there. We've seen bear prints in our yard. And while deer aren't usually dangerous, seeing deer in our yard frequently reminds us that there are less friendly animals in the canyon: raccoons, skunks, off-leash dogs.

But when we kept her inside, she became almost comically obese, and she seemed depressed. I don't know if cats get depressed, but she spent all her time lying on the couch, to the extent that her favorite spot became dented. She really did nothing but eat, sleep, and sometimes climb into people's laps.

So we decided to see if we could train her to come in before dark. That was actually pretty easy. We stopped feeding her at any time of day but right before dark, and since she was so overweight, she didn't leave the yard. After a while, she was in much better shape, and we noticed that she did get into neighboring yards, did show up in our front yard sometimes, and did meet us on the canyon trail right outside our gate when we were returning from hikes. But she still came in many times a day to eat (we keep water indoors and on the porch) and check out what was happening in her indoors territory. And we don't let her out again once it's close to dark. She did have one terrible encounter with a skunk this winter when a controlled burn in the canyon drove hibernating (I think?) skunks up into residential areas. But otherwise, being an outdoor kitty has been an obvious improvement in her life.

But this morning, my son got up and asked frantically for the cat. I told him that she was already outside. He asked if I had actually seen her this morning. I thought about it and said no. He told me, in a very distraught tone, that she never came in last night. So we called her for a while, and he got dressed to walk the path behind our block that runs along the canyon and see if he could hear her meowing, since she once got closed inside the neighbor's shed.

Before he could even leave to do that, we heard her meowing from the back porch. We let her in and she was really dusty. She gets dusty all the time, because she likes to roll around in dirt, but she usually cleans herself off before coming in. My son followed her around, hovering like a frantic, over-protective parent, because he saw dried poop hanging from her butt. This worried him, because she's a very tidy kitty, not one to actually leave poop on herself.

And then he noticed her face. She has a large gouge under one eye and a smaller bloody patch next to her nose. I cleaned it with rubbing alcohol (she barely reacted, which was surprising) and she seems ok.

My son, though, is a mess of worry. He followed her around for about an hour, fretting. At one point he even declared that she should go to the vet because she must be constipated, since she didn't even use her litter box when he scooped it. They have this ongoing conflict: she poops the second he finishes scooping the litterbox most days, which he swears she does on purpose. I told him that she wasn't pooping because she hasn't eaten since yesterday afternoon. I had to convince him that it wasn't a sign of internal injury that she didn't purr when he petted her. I'm sure she's not purring because he wouldn't leave her be, but I kept that opinion to myself.

I wonder what it's going to be like when he has kids, if he wants to take the cat to the vet just on the suspicion that she's constipated. He'll be calling me in hysterics every time his baby burps! Let's just hope he has a very sensible wife, preferably one with many younger siblings she spent her teenage years taking care of.

He finally calmed down and went over to a friend's house, but only after I promised four times that I would follow his instructions to the letter:

1. Do NOT let her outside at all today! She might get DIRT in her wounds.

2. Do NOT let my husband let her slip outside if he happens to use the backdoor today. My husband works at home in the afternoons, so he's here now and knows to be careful with the back door, though he rolled his eyes.

3. Watch her VERY carefully, and call him IMMEDIATELY if she seems to have any other problems. I should especially, for some reason, watch for rabies, even though of course she's had rabies shots.

Right now, she's gazing at something invisible in the air above the arm of the couch, apparently none the worse for her encounter. My son planned to take the canyon path to his friend's house, and he fully expected to see defeated coyotes strewn everywhere as though the canyon is one of his video game battlefields and Mimi is his favorite ancient Chinese warrior.

Weeta's surprise

2008-05-31T15:01:00.001-07:00

My best friend is coming over tonight. She just finished work and should be here in an hour or so. She lives 40 miles away, so we see each other only a couple times a month. We used to live together, though, so we're pretty informal.

I made her something, which I hope will be ready for her birthday in August. She's working on her master's degree in art therapy, and she's a nature lover like I am. So I made her a Bookmooch Journal, and called it Leaves. It's going around now, and every person will add their own take on the idea of Leaves.

It's not really a journal; it's an altered book. This'll be my first time doing an altered book, so this doesn't look as professional as what you may have seen before from artists who do altered books. I'm hoping the Bookmooch people who get it will snazz it up a bit. It was a French picture book from the sixties. I chose it because there were leaves on the cover, though it's not nature-themed at all and the images include some annoying ethnic stereotypes I hope people will cover up, because that'll really bug Weeta.

Here's the cover:

Below are the first two pages. The figure on the right was a man sitting under a tree, but I cut up a photo of Weeta to make a sort of collage of her. I'm afraid she might not like it, since it's not very attractive; the features aren't put together as nicely as hers are, because they were bigger than the room allowed by the figure's head. The green stuff is ripped up handmade paper I bought from etsy. I originally had a photo of myself, with a balloon coming out of my mouth saying something to Weeta, but it made me uncomfortable. It seemed egotistical or something to put myself into Weeta's book.

I imagine that there'll be other images of it available soon. I think the BM Journal people have a flicker page just for the journals. I can't wait to see what other people do to it.

crafty

2008-05-31T13:26:00.000-07:00

I finally got around to setting up an etsy shop. You can see my little etsy widget over there in the sidebar. Right now it has a special place at the top, because it's new and exciting for me. I photographed and listed all my knitted dishcloths, at least those that had two others that matched them, since they go in batches of three. And I photographed the two whole dolls I have finished right now. Ever since I started knitting, back in November or December, I've neglected my dolls. Even the supply bin is packed away in storage, while my yarn stash bin is right next to my spot on the couch.

As far as my other knitting, I haven't moved too far beyond flat things yet. I made one sock. Just one. It was my practice sock, and it's too short and too fat and, well, it was a trial run. I started making another sock (out of corn yarn!) and it was going ok, but I messed it up when I started to switch from dpns to a circular needle. It all had to be frogged.

The other day, I decided to start making a purse. It's very simple. There's a front panel, a back panel which is longer, so that it forms a flap over the front, and then a strap, which also forms the bottom and sides. So far, I have the front panel (pictured below) and most of the back panel finished.

I also made a bath mat, but that's a bit complicated to explain, so I'll do a separate post about that some other time.

buongiorno

2008-05-30T14:13:00.000-07:00

This is a new blog I made so that I have a place for anything not book related. Thanks for stopping by! I'm not sure how often I'll write here or what'll end up here, but sometimes I have something I want to share, but it's not appropriate for my books blog.

If you're looking for my main blog, my books blog, it's here