Month: August 2006

No Self Control

Sarah Knitting

The pink socks from my sock kit are on the needles. So much for waiting until I was finished with the gift socks!

I justified it by telling myself I would just knit a swatch. But the thing is, this yarn is just amazing to work with. I think I mentioned it has aloe in it, and it’s so incredibly soft and wonderful to knit that I couldn’t just stop with the swatch.

The good news is that halfway through the ribbing I gave myself a swift mental kick and vowed to work the other sock at least through the heel turn before I could even look at the other sock again. So far it’s working…

But the fact that I couldn’t even wait 24 hours before casting on is a pretty good explanation as to why there are several unfinished mate-less socks and many, many other UFOs in my craft room. I’m just too fickle!

Oh, I do have to mention one thing, though. I ordered some new KnitPick’s needles for my pal, and a set for myself while I was at it, so I decided to start my new sock on those instead of my Addi’s. That pretty purple cable is the most flexible circular cable I’ve ever used, and the needles themselves are nice and sharp, perfect for the “slip two together, knit the next stitch, pass the two slipped stitches over” part of the pattern. So far I think these are my favorite sock needles. Don’t tell the Addi’s. ;)

KSKS Goodies!

Sarah Knit Sock Kit Swap

Look what came in the mail today! Aren’t I lucky?

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My secret pal was Valerie, and she did such a wonderful job on my kit! (I, on the other hand, did a terrible job photographing it. I was too scared to go outside on the deck (see last night’s post) and take advantage of natural light.) I really love both sock yarns – the pink one has aloe in it! – and I’m sitting here trying to convince myself that I really need to finish the gift socks I’m currently working on before I can even swatch the yarn. I was thinking that the crazy stripey yarn looked kind of familiar…and then I realized it’s all the colors I’ve just redecorated the living play room in:
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(Remind me not to leave my finished socks laying around on top of that blanket, or I’ll never find them.)

Thank you so much, Valerie!

And…

I don’t have to feel guilty about getting my kit, because Carrie and I went to the post office this morning and mailed out my pal’s kit:

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I had the hardest time giving this bag away, because I love the fabrics and how it turned out. I really hope my pal loves it just as much!

Scary, Scary Spider

Sarah General

Why do the freaky spiders gravitate to my house??

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This incredibly scary creature built an enormous web outside our sliding glass door in a matter of just an hour or two – we had some family over for dinner, and we were in and out through that door, and literally just a couple hours later Denis went to go out that door again and there it was. Oh, the unspeakable horror! If I had been the one to open that door and see it first, I’m sure I would have had a heart attack.

I’m going to live in terror of this spider for the next however many months until we get a deep freeze, because Denis just picked it up with the Swiffer and shook it into the lawn. Where it’s still alive. Somewhere. Waiting to attack me when I close my eyes. Whimper.

The Great Fitness Challenge

Sarah Fitness

I joined a gym. Again. Only this time, I was smart about it. I usually join, exercise aimlessly, see no results after what I think is long enough, and then lose motivation. So, this time I shelled out the $$ for a few personal training sessions. This way, I’ll have a plan for every time I go to the gym, hopefully tailored enough to my goals to show some results in a reasonable period of time.

My goals? Well, losing weight would be nice. Fitting into my clothes would be nicer. And even though I’m below my pre-pregnancy weight, I’d like to get enough below it before having another baby to not even see this number again on the scale the day before my due date. (If it’s the same weight gain as with Carrie, that would be somewhere between 30-40 pounds.) I’ve always wondered if the pregnancy-induced hypertension could have been avoided if I hadn’t been quite so overweight from the start (the OB said it could have been a factor, but wasn’t the only factor). If/when we have another baby on the way, I don’t want to have to put Carrie through 6 weeks of me being on bedrest if I can avoid it.

The other thing is, even though I strive to have a positive body image to be a good role model for Carrie, the bottom line is that I don’t like how I look. I hate that I can’t wear cute and trendy clothes. I don’t want to diet (beyond obviously making good choices and controlling how much I eat) because I don’t want Carrie to think dieting is good, or even necessary. So the only way I’m going to lose weight and feel better about myself is to move. A lot. It’s going to be a lot more work than I want. But hopefully it will actually work this time. I haven’t decided how much I’m going to actually blog about – the actual number on the scale right now, while not my heaviest non-pregnancy weight – is embarrassing, but we’ll see. Maybe some incredibly raw honesty with the entire internet will be enough to keep me motivated?

My first session is Friday morning. I went today and walked for 20 minutes on the treadmill, and burned 103 calories. And since I got an herbal iced tea instead of a sugary coffee drink at Sit & Knit tonight, that’s an extra bonus, right?

At Least There’s One Clean Kitchen In The House

Sarah General

I know they’re really just extras, but I always worry a little when I build some pre-fab something-or-other and end up with extra screws and such:

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But look what I built! It took me a whopping 90 minutes, I think because I was using a screwdriver that wasn’t quite the right size – I had to really lean into it to avoid stripping the screws. I don’t understand why it is that whenever I need a flat head screwdriver I can only find phillips head, and vice versa. (This happens to me even with the three or four multiple bit screwdrivers we have in the house. The right bits always seem to be missing.)
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This is the Target Play Wonder kitchen. It’s wood, and cheaper than most of the plastic ones, and conveniently enough (probably since I shop at Target a lot) it coordinates with all the toy storage and such in the living play room. (I had briefly considered ordering this fabulous kitchen, but since absolutely nothing else in my house is modern looking I just didn’t think it would work. I still love it, though.) The only thing I can see that warrants the “3 and up” rating is that the pegs to hold the shelves in the fridge and stove in place are removable. I think we’ll just end up gluing them in place, and that will solve that little problem.

Carrie spent the evening baking lego cookies and giving her baby a bath in the sink. I think it’s really interesting that she dug through her legos and found the two that are actually food items (a honey pot and a cake from a Winnie the Pooh set) and used those in the frying pan. I guess wooden play food would be a good birthday suggestion when people ask. :)

Dinner is Saved

Sarah Food

I ordered and downloaded the Mega Menu Mailer from the Saving Dinner site on Friday. I’ve actually used one of their weekly menu mailers in the past, but because my parents live so close and we do spur-of-the-moment meals with them or just don’t feel like cooking sometimes a 6-meal-a-week shopping list and recipe plan just doesn’t work well for us. But this seems like it will work better: you prepare and freeze 20 meals, then defrost and use them when you feel like it.

So yesterday Carrie and I went shopping. We spent not quite twice what we’d normally spend in a week, so we’ll have to see with the next few grocery bills whether this is more or less expensive. (I’m going to guess it will be slightly less, but we’ll see.)

Denis and I spent a bit less than 6 hours while Carrie was napping and after she went to bed preparing the meals and cleaning up the kitchen. (We were pretty inefficient about it, but I seriously doubt anyone could possibly do it in the two hours the menu plan claims.) We had some extra meat and veggies, so we made a total of 24 meals. That works out to 15 minutes per meal of prep work and cleanup, which is less than you’d spend on each meal individually if you cooked every day. (Well, some of them were really super-easy, but others required a lot of chopping, measuring and dirtying of bowls.)

I think there will be two big benefits to doing this: first, we only messed up the kitchen (a lot, too!) once, and it’s all clean now; second, we’ll have creative, healthy meals even when we’re both tired from a whole day of work – and the temptation to go out will be much, much less.

We’re thinking we’ll go through three or four a week – they’re almost all meat-based, so we’ll throw in a batch of lentil soup or some pasta a couple of other days, and plan to eat out once a week – so I’ll know in about six weeks whether this was a good idea or not.

The Family That Watches Football Together…

Sarah Family

…watches football together!

The Bills are playing a pre-season game tonight. They’re totally sucking, but that’s not my point. Carrie remembered that when you watch football you (sometimes) get to shout “Touchdown!” (arms up, of course) and was pretty excited to watch football. I wish I’d had a camera on a remote set up in the family room, because Denis, Carrie, Molly and I were all sandwiched on the couch, and Murphy was curled up on the ottoman we pulled up to put our feet on, and all of us were snuggled together watching football.

That lasted for an impressive 7 minutes.

Then Carrie decided Murphy wasn’t close enough to pet, and her antics to try to get to him disturbed Molly enough that she decided she’d had enough. Then Carrie wanted Molly to come back and “Lie down couch!” and…well, let’s just say the evening ended with Carrie crawling around pretending to be a puppy and the dogs going nuts. She was so wound up she’s still awake and kicking (literally – she’s kicking the side of her crib) almost an hour after I kissed her goodnight.

Puddle Jumpers!

Sarah Shopping

T-chocpk-big-flower.jpgI just ordered Carrie the cutest pair of shoes for fall from Puddle Jumper Shoes. I was going to buy them at a local store which carries this line, but they don’t carry this particular style. However, I was able to try a similar style on Carrie and they fit really well and are super flexible, so I know we’ll love them. Hopefully it will be a much better experience than the last time I ordered shoes online!

Unfortunately, their toddler styles only go up to size 7 – Carrie’s current size – so if we love them we’ll just have to try some of their bigger kid styles.

Snow In August

Sarah Cross Stitch

It’s done.

Done! Finished! One of the oldest cross-stitch projects in my craft room is complete!

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Now I just have to get it framed and that’s one less thing on my ever-expanding craft to-do list.

(Oh, and I finished Christmas gift #5 today. I don’t have a complete list of all the things I’m making yet, but I think I’m on track to be done with everything before Thanksgiving.)

Not The Mama!

Sarah Carolyn

Apparently, I am no longer “Mama”, I am “Mommy”. (Or sometimes “Mommies”.)

I’m actually a bit heartbroken over this, because Carrie’s been calling me “Mama” for so long I just assumed that’s what she’d always call me – well, at least until she’s a pre-teen and I become “Mo-om” (said in your best I-am-embarrassed-to-even-be-seen-within-ten-feet-of-you voice). I don’t think we even have any video clips where she called me “Mama”. :(

Interestingly enough, even though I am quite definitely “Mommy”, I still drink out of “Mama’s cup” and wear “Mama’s shoes”.