Category: Everything Else

Well, That Didn’t Go Well

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June 11, 2010

12:00 pm

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It’s possible that the Universe was trying to tell me that going to the Group Run was a bad idea.

It started with me being unable to find the freeway on-ramp. I forgot that the nearby ramp was closed and that the detour instructions make no sense at all. Then, I made it onto the freeway, which was completely packed with cars. After taking 40 minutes to make a 20-minute trip, I found the store, which was surrounded by residential streets with strict permit-only parking and a few 2-hour meters.  Guess who had no quarters in the car?  I dashed into a drug store to change my $5 bill for some ones and some quarters.

I made it into the store a few minutes before the scheduled beginning of the run. I just had time to sign in before we all headed out the door.

I knew I was in trouble in the first few blocks, really. The web site said all abilities were welcome, and the pace ranged from 7 to 14 minutes per mile. By the end of the first half-mile, they were at least a block ahead of me, and I lost them all a turn or two after that. They had distributed a cheat sheet with the route written out on it, which probably would have been more useful if I knew the neighborhood. At some point, I took a short cut, going straight on instead of turning left for another loop of side streets, and was about half a block from the store when the first member of the group came flying by me. So, at least I got to stretch out with the group. But, you know, I can run three miles by myself without driving half an hour each way first.

I’ll probably give it another shot, though. I’d like to get there a little earlier next time and get a chance to meet some of the people. And now I know I need to bring some quarters.

Three Things Thursday

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June 10, 2010

3:00 pm

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1. Our tomatoes are starting to grow, and we’re wondering if fried green tomatoes really are tasty. Anybody got a good recipe?

2. After years of insisting on using my own bookmarks and blogroll, I’ve finally jumped on the GoogleReader bandwagon. I am now subscribed to 238 blogs (and other RSS feeds). And counting.

3. I am thoroughly enjoying the return of Ice Road Truckers. I’m also enjoying Lie to Me, although after Monday’s episode and the preview for next week’s, I started thinking that Cal’s had an awful lot of guns pointed at him. Wouldn’t you think that would get to you after a while?

Three Things Thursday

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June 3, 2010

8:30 pm

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1. I am in Week 5 of Couch to 5K, using Robert Ullrey’s Podcasts for Running. I do not, however, have a 5K lined up for the beginning of July (when I’ll be finishing Week 9), because the “local” races in July are not all that local. Ah, well.

2. K’s stocking is coming along nicely, but there’s been no knitting around here. Now that both Lost and Amazing Race have concluded their seasons, even the Blankie has taken a back seat.

3. I have been searching my local stores for weeks in search of a new tube of tinted moisturizer. The store where I bought my Jane Aguaceuticals last summer no longer carries it.  All I can find are self-tanning moisturizers.  Online, I can only find places that would charge almost as much in shipping as for the moisturizer itself. Bummer.

Saturday is Santa Day

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May 29, 2010

8:27 pm

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There hasn’t been much knitting going on around here lately. I started the Couch to 5K program a few weeks back, which means I get up quite early to go running, which means I (usually) go to bed quite early, which means what used to be my evening knitting time now gets used up by things like checking my email while watching How I Met Your Mother.

And, of course, this:

Two weeks ago, it looked like this:

And you thought it was slow going knitting a lace shawl.

This is the third of three cross-stitch stockings for our family. It was supposed to be done for last Christmas, but since I took more than a year doing the second stocking, that didn’t happen.

I am determined to finish it for this Christmas. And then, maybe I’ll knit myself a lace shawl.

A Hat Would Be Good Right Now

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December 12, 2009

7:00 pm

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For the last several years, I’ve been a big proponent of sock knitting. They’re small! They’re quick! They’re portable! They’re way more practical than the big bulky sweaters I’d love to knit, since I live in sunny Southern California!

Yeah, it’s that “sunny” part that is mocking me at the moment.  The rains have come. And so has the cold. On Monday, I went running in a drizzling rain. On Wednesday, I went running on a clear early morning that happened to be 37 degrees Fahrenheit. Wednesday night, I bought running pants to wear instead of my running shorts, but this is not a running blog.

Yesterday, it rained on us as we picked out our Christmas tree.  It stopped, of course, while we were at dinner afterwards, but this morning, it was bucketing down. Cold, wet, fat drops of rain pelting our garden window, streaming off the eaves, and turning the dirt in our side yard to mud.

To be fair, it has warmed up. Yesterday’s high was 55.  This is good, because we have no heat at our house.

Early in the week, the heater abruptly started blowing cold air out of the vents. This was disconcerting, to say the least. No matter what we did to the thermostat, including turning it off, adjusting various switches, and hitting the reset button, had any effect. K called the HVAC company that the home warranty people had sent out for a previous repair. When the HVAC guy came, he informed us that the “computer board” needed to be replaced.  He turned off the system (yay – no more cold air!) and left, waiting to hear on whether we wanted to pay for the repair ourselves or go through the home warranty company, which he assured us would take at least a week.

Meanwhile, the HVAC company that the home warranty people actually called had not even called us to make an appointment to look at the problem.  They finally made an appointment with us… for today.

And then, yesterday, HVAC guy #1 returned with a computer board. Unfortunately, it was the wrong computer board, and the shop was about to close for the weekend and unwilling to either stay open to give the board to the guy or to leave the board where he could retrieve it.

All of this leaves us with no heat.  Still.  We are dressing in layers. My Bastille Cables sweater has gotten more wear this week than any time since I knit it, several years back.

Which brings me back to the socks. While I have been loving my handknit socks this week, I’m rather wishing I had knit more sweaters. Or maybe some hats. Hey, Laurie, could I have Dmitry #5’s number?

New Baby in the Blogosphere!

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February 18, 2008

8:56 am

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There’s a new baby over at Georgia‘s house!

I would say a new “little one”, but that baby’s not so little!  22 inches and over 10 pounds, and a drug-free homebirth to boot!

I, too, had to have the water broken to kick-start labor (the castor oil didn’t work for me, either), then went on to have a drug-free hospital birth about 11 hours later.  We give a whole lot of credit to our doula, who was with us all day – if you’re a mama-to-be who wants a no- or low-intervention hospital birth, especially, I can’t recommend a good doula highly enough.

Enough about me!  Go look at that baby!

One Week to Spare

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December 19, 2007

4:29 pm

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Last night, I put the finishing touches on Checking His List.  I trimmed the selvedge, hand-stitched the hem at the top of the aida cloth, braided the yarn for the loop, and stitched that onto the side.  K’s coworker had sewn up the seam for us Monday night.  It’s now hanging proudly over the fireplace.  Little Miss’ name is stitched at the top, though you can’t see it in the photo.

I think it’s fantastic, if I do say so myself.  And nobody can say anything about the appearance of the back side of the stitching, since I used the included white felt to line it and made the back out of red felt.

Yarn Harlot Ahoy!

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August 17, 2007

9:24 am

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I’ve just RSVPed for the Yarn Harlot’s appearance in Los Angeles.  This means that I will be spending my first Saturday off from the library in a month… at the library.  Funny how that works out.