I've been working with a trainer at the gym twice a week for six weeks now. Today we had the six week evaluation to see how it is going and to plan for phase 2. Phase 1 has been focused on core strength and balance and trying to improve my posture. So, what did the evaluation reveal? I'm taller than I was six weeks ago, which I guess is a sign that I am standing up straighter than I was before. I also lost inches, but not any weight (adding muscle?). My blood pressure and resting heart rate have improved, so I guess that's progress.
In phase 2 we get really serious - more strength training and increased cardio workouts. Also, starting on Monday I will have an eating plan designed by my trainer. Since DH and I are actually pretty healthy eaters, I don't think there will be that many adjustments except for the times that I eat. The one change that I knew was coming is no more Diet Coke. Yikes! My trainer wanted me to quit cold turkey and substitute tea, but I know that's not going to work. I got him to agree to a slow tapering of my consumption to be completely off it in three weeks. He's got lots of good reasons, most of which I've heard before, but the hard part will be that I really LIKE it. Oh well, no use paying all this money to a trainer and then not listen to him.
Wednesday, May 12, 2010
Monday, May 10, 2010
Flour Power
Last weekend I fed my knitting habit and for Mother’s Day weekend I fed my bread baking habit. I am so lucky that DS#1 lives in Lebanon, NH which is very close to the King Arthur Store. On Saturday DH and DS ran a race in Woodstock, VT. It poured and I elected to stay behind to sleep in. When they came back they were drenched and tired, so they decided to warm up and then take naps. This was my chance to head out for my flour fix.
After getting only slightly lost, I arrived at the King Arthur store just as the morning’s baking class got out. After stowing their goodies in their cars, all of the students made a beeline for the store. It was jammed. I snagged a shopping cart and started to snatch up the things I knew I needed. I got white whole wheat flour, high fiber flour blend, hi-maize fiber, malted milk powder, potato flour, Harvest Grains and malted wheat flakes. They got everything on my list; then I started to browse. The store has every gadget and gizmo the home baker could want - baking pans, baking tools, linens, aprons, dough buckets, mixers, bread machines and on and on. They also have every ingredient you could possibly want from mixes to make cakes and scones to bagel toppings to 3 or 4 different kinds of rye flour. It’s a baker’s paradise. I controlled myself and only bought a dough scraper.
After a lovely weekend and Mother's Day breakfast with two of my favoite guys, we headed home. And what was the first thing that I did when I got there? You guessed it - I baked a loaf of Harvest Grain bread.
Wednesday, May 5, 2010
Lilacs
I love lilacs. Lilacs make me think of my Nana, who loved them, too. Lilacs make me think of Mother's Day since that's when they seem to bloom, so that makes me think of my mom. Lilacs make me think of my childhood. Lilacs screened our yard from our next door neighbor's yard. We had white and purple and, when they bloomed, my mom would cut some, wrap the stems in aluminum foil and send me off to school with a bouquet for my teacher.
We have two lilacs in the front of our house. Every year I say I'm going to cut some to bring into the house, and every year I forget until it's too late and they are starting to fade. Not this year. I saw them out the window as I was vacuuming and stopped what I was doing, grabbed the clippers, and cut myself a bouquet. The lilacs are on the piano now and the room smells like memories.
We have two lilacs in the front of our house. Every year I say I'm going to cut some to bring into the house, and every year I forget until it's too late and they are starting to fade. Not this year. I saw them out the window as I was vacuuming and stopped what I was doing, grabbed the clippers, and cut myself a bouquet. The lilacs are on the piano now and the room smells like memories.
Tuesday, May 4, 2010
Spring Has Sprung
So spring in Vermont can be a capricious thing. Last Monday we had lunch on the deck and then I sat out there in the afternoon with my computer chatting with DH while he worked on two new raised beds for vegetable gardening. Then for the following two days it snowed! 
Now it is quite warm again, but is it really spring? I think I got the proof I needed when I went to the local supermarket after church on Sunday. There in the produce aisle were fiddlehead ferns and rhubarb – sure signs of spring. I passed on the ferns because I don’t really like them, although I will pick some up for DH and DS #1 before they are gone, but I did buy rhubarb. While DH was out participating with the Marine Corps League in the Annual Maple Festival Parade, I baked him a strawberry rhubarb pie. It was the least I could do for someone who has spent days building raised bed and shoveling soil for me.
Now the peas are poking through the soil, the arugula and lettuce are up and maybe there is a hint of a beet or two and some Swiss chard, but time will tell. Anyway, I’m going to continue to think spring.
Sunday, May 2, 2010
Road Trip
Since DS #2 joined the Marine Corps, I have bonded with a group of women on the knitting website, Ravelry, who also have kids in the military. It’s been great to be able to chat with a group of women who really understand what it’s like to have a child deployed to a war zone. We chat as a group on Thursday evenings, not just about our kids, but also about our knitting and life in general.
It turns out that one of my Ravelry friends with a son in the Navy lives in Rutland and has another son who lives not far from me. Last fall Cindi stopped by my LYS while visiting her son and his wife so we could meet in person. Shortly after that, I took a trip to Rutland on a Sunday afternoon to sit and knit at her LYS. A month or so ago, I went down to Rutland again when a Ravelry friend from Massachusetts, Corky, (2 sons in the Army) was in there to visit family. The three of us had a lovely afternoon knitting together and chatting in person. Two other friends from the Midwest (Marine and Navy corpsman sons) are coming to Vermont in July so that we can meet them in person, too. It’s amazing that one can feel so close to people one has never met in person, but it’s even better when you actually get to see them.
Last Thursday night the subject of WEBS, a yarn store in Northampton, MA, came up during our chat. For those of you who are not familiar with it, it’s a very large yarn store with a huge warehouse in the back where one can wander around and find great bargains. It also happens to be the time of their annual sale. Cindi had never been there so she suggested we make a road trip. Bright and early yesterday morning I headed to meet her in Rutland and then we made our way down to meet Corky at WEBS.
I don’t suppose I really needed any yarn, but there is never such a thing as too much yarn. It’s hard to go to WEBS and not buy a lot (although I did get out of there with only one skein of sock yarn when I was there last May). This time I had two knitting friends to encourage me and a request from my sister for some yarn to go with some in her stash. We wandered the store petting all of the yarn and filling our baskets. Then we went out to the warehouse and wandered the aisles snatching up more bargains. After more than three hours of shopping, we finally made it to the check out. Here are photos of my haul.
Yarn for socks for DH
Sock yarn for me
Yarn for my sister
Yarn for unknown project
Yarn for a shawl
It turns out that one of my Ravelry friends with a son in the Navy lives in Rutland and has another son who lives not far from me. Last fall Cindi stopped by my LYS while visiting her son and his wife so we could meet in person. Shortly after that, I took a trip to Rutland on a Sunday afternoon to sit and knit at her LYS. A month or so ago, I went down to Rutland again when a Ravelry friend from Massachusetts, Corky, (2 sons in the Army) was in there to visit family. The three of us had a lovely afternoon knitting together and chatting in person. Two other friends from the Midwest (Marine and Navy corpsman sons) are coming to Vermont in July so that we can meet them in person, too. It’s amazing that one can feel so close to people one has never met in person, but it’s even better when you actually get to see them.
Last Thursday night the subject of WEBS, a yarn store in Northampton, MA, came up during our chat. For those of you who are not familiar with it, it’s a very large yarn store with a huge warehouse in the back where one can wander around and find great bargains. It also happens to be the time of their annual sale. Cindi had never been there so she suggested we make a road trip. Bright and early yesterday morning I headed to meet her in Rutland and then we made our way down to meet Corky at WEBS.
I don’t suppose I really needed any yarn, but there is never such a thing as too much yarn. It’s hard to go to WEBS and not buy a lot (although I did get out of there with only one skein of sock yarn when I was there last May). This time I had two knitting friends to encourage me and a request from my sister for some yarn to go with some in her stash. We wandered the store petting all of the yarn and filling our baskets. Then we went out to the warehouse and wandered the aisles snatching up more bargains. After more than three hours of shopping, we finally made it to the check out. Here are photos of my haul.
Yarn for socks for DH
Sock yarn for me
Yarn for my sister
Yarn for unknown project
Yarn for a shawl
We were starving so we headed over to Chandler’s, the restaurant at the Yankee Candle shop (or should I say complex). We had a lovely, if very late, lunch (Thanks again, Corky.) and then wandered into the candle shop. Next came an hour of sniffing and critiquing the zillion different candles that they stock. The names got so confusing that we weren’t even sure which ones we liked and which ones we didn’t. We finally made some selections and bought something to remember our trip. We each got a candle holder that says “Hope” which seemed to sum up our feelings about those who are deployed.
Our original plan was to knit outdoors on the beautiful grounds of Yankee Candle, but it was getting late. We still couldn’t say goodbye to Corky, so we chatted in the parking lot for longer than we should have. We headed back to Vermont and Cindi dropped me off at my car. I finally arrived home at 9:30 PM. I was exhausted, but it was a wonderful day.
Friday, April 30, 2010
Baking Bread
One afternoon during the winter, DH happened to be channel surfing when he came across an Oprah show featuring Michael Pollan discussing his book, Food Rules. We were very interested and listened as he suggested that one not eat anything that one’s grandmother would not recognize as food or anything with ingredients that a school child cannot pronounce. We had just watched the film, “Food, Inc.”, so we found all this quite interesting. He also mentioned the rule that one should not eat anything that doesn’t rot or spoil.
A few days later, I was checking through the fridge and found a loaf of cinnamon raisin bread that had never been opened. This was in February and the sell by date for the bread was October. The really scary part was that the bread looked as if I had just bought it. Yikes! We checked the ingredients and, of course, there were enough preservatives to keep it fresh until next October.
Now there are quite a few very good bread bakeries not far from us and the supermarket in the next town carries bread from most of them. They don’t use any preservatives or anything artificial, but I decided that I would rather bake my own. I own a Zojirushi bread machine, which had been relegated to the garage, so I went out to rescue it and dust it off.
On our next trip to New Hampshire to visit DS #1, I made a side trip to the King Arthur factory store and stocked up on sour dough starter and all kinds of interesting flours, such as Ancient Grains and Harvest Grains. I started baking different kinds of bread, using my bread machine to knead the bread only. The more I got into it, the more ingredients I needed – vital wheat gluten, grains and seeds to top the bread, 9 grain flour, and it goes on and on. Then I decided to try making English Muffins, which required muffin rings and a raft of new ingredients - hi-maize fiber, malted wheat flakes, and non-diastatic malt powder (whatever that is).
Since we don’t go to New Hampshire that often, the woman who delivers our mail started dropping off big boxes from King Arthur. It seemed as if it was getting out of control, but every loaf of bread was better than the last and we decided that there is no comparing homemade English muffins with the store bought – even the organic, no preservative store bought ones.
So today, I set about making my second loaf of the week and had a terrible time finding a recipe for which I had enough ingredients. I finally settled on 9 grain bread sweetened with maple syrup. I’m not sure what we’ll have next week, since supplies are getting low, but there is a visit to New Hampshire in my future, so that will mean another side trip to King Arthur.
A few days later, I was checking through the fridge and found a loaf of cinnamon raisin bread that had never been opened. This was in February and the sell by date for the bread was October. The really scary part was that the bread looked as if I had just bought it. Yikes! We checked the ingredients and, of course, there were enough preservatives to keep it fresh until next October.
Now there are quite a few very good bread bakeries not far from us and the supermarket in the next town carries bread from most of them. They don’t use any preservatives or anything artificial, but I decided that I would rather bake my own. I own a Zojirushi bread machine, which had been relegated to the garage, so I went out to rescue it and dust it off.
On our next trip to New Hampshire to visit DS #1, I made a side trip to the King Arthur factory store and stocked up on sour dough starter and all kinds of interesting flours, such as Ancient Grains and Harvest Grains. I started baking different kinds of bread, using my bread machine to knead the bread only. The more I got into it, the more ingredients I needed – vital wheat gluten, grains and seeds to top the bread, 9 grain flour, and it goes on and on. Then I decided to try making English Muffins, which required muffin rings and a raft of new ingredients - hi-maize fiber, malted wheat flakes, and non-diastatic malt powder (whatever that is).
Since we don’t go to New Hampshire that often, the woman who delivers our mail started dropping off big boxes from King Arthur. It seemed as if it was getting out of control, but every loaf of bread was better than the last and we decided that there is no comparing homemade English muffins with the store bought – even the organic, no preservative store bought ones.
So today, I set about making my second loaf of the week and had a terrible time finding a recipe for which I had enough ingredients. I finally settled on 9 grain bread sweetened with maple syrup. I’m not sure what we’ll have next week, since supplies are getting low, but there is a visit to New Hampshire in my future, so that will mean another side trip to King Arthur.
Monday, April 5, 2010
Labor of Love
So, despite the fact that I am retired and, supposedly have all the time in world, I haven’t been very good about updating this blog. The last three weeks have been consumed with a labor of love.
When my parents moved to Vermont in 2006, they decided to attend the Episcopal church with DH and me. They seemed to enjoy the fellowship and, when my dad passed away a few months later, my mother was supported by both the clergy and the parish. She formed a close bond with one of the priests and even planned her own funeral long before her death. My mother wanted to make a memorial gift in my father’s name, so my sister and I joined her in donating a new smaller cross for the younger crucifers.
When my mom died in 2008, I wanted to give a memorial gift in her name, but had a hard time deciding what it should be. I finally decided on white vestments and altar hangings, since the church did not own any. The only problem was that the fabric would be more than I had planned to donate. Recently, a friend’s daughter became engaged and the white vestments became important to her, too. We decided to share the cost and, with four weeks until Easter, I insisted that we get going and finish them in time for that celebration. We ordered the fabric and appliqués, and I began what would be three weeks worth of work.
It was a little scary to cut out the pieces because of the expense of the fabric, but I bit the bullet and went for it after a lengthy discussion with my neighbor over the right and wrong side of damask. The plan was to make a pulpit hanging, a superfrontal, bible markers, a burse, a veil, stoles for two priests and a chausible. Most of the items had only one appliqué, but the stoles had three each and the superfrontal had three. That added up to fifteen appliqués. They are attached by couching them with gold thread, applying two separate rows of couching.
When my parents moved to Vermont in 2006, they decided to attend the Episcopal church with DH and me. They seemed to enjoy the fellowship and, when my dad passed away a few months later, my mother was supported by both the clergy and the parish. She formed a close bond with one of the priests and even planned her own funeral long before her death. My mother wanted to make a memorial gift in my father’s name, so my sister and I joined her in donating a new smaller cross for the younger crucifers.
When my mom died in 2008, I wanted to give a memorial gift in her name, but had a hard time deciding what it should be. I finally decided on white vestments and altar hangings, since the church did not own any. The only problem was that the fabric would be more than I had planned to donate. Recently, a friend’s daughter became engaged and the white vestments became important to her, too. We decided to share the cost and, with four weeks until Easter, I insisted that we get going and finish them in time for that celebration. We ordered the fabric and appliqués, and I began what would be three weeks worth of work.
It was a little scary to cut out the pieces because of the expense of the fabric, but I bit the bullet and went for it after a lengthy discussion with my neighbor over the right and wrong side of damask. The plan was to make a pulpit hanging, a superfrontal, bible markers, a burse, a veil, stoles for two priests and a chausible. Most of the items had only one appliqué, but the stoles had three each and the superfrontal had three. That added up to fifteen appliqués. They are attached by couching them with gold thread, applying two separate rows of couching.
The bride-to-be helped with the appliqué on the veil, but the rest was up to me. It seemed to take forever. By Maundy Thursday I had completed everything except for the chausible and about 25 little rings to be sewn on the superfrontal to attach it to the altar. The chausible has a beautiful, intricate appliqué which took much longer than I anticipated. By Good Friday afternoon, the appliqué was finished, but I couldn’t figure out how to sew the two pieces together. At DH’s suggestion, I googled “sewing a chausible” and, surprise, there was a website with photos of exactly how to do it! The deadline was Saturday at 1:30 PM and I finished by noon.
On Easter Sunday, the priest who was celebrating showed off the new chausible, pointed out the new hangings and read a note of thanks for my work from the altar guild that was accompanied by a beautiful pink azalea. I didn’t need any thanks, though, because I knew that my mom was looking down proudly at the work I had done in her memory.
On Easter Sunday, the priest who was celebrating showed off the new chausible, pointed out the new hangings and read a note of thanks for my work from the altar guild that was accompanied by a beautiful pink azalea. I didn’t need any thanks, though, because I knew that my mom was looking down proudly at the work I had done in her memory.
Friday, January 29, 2010
Five for Five Giveaway
So, I felt bad that no one commented on my sister's Five for Five Giveaway post, so I commented. Of course that means that now I am committed to posting my own Five for Five Giveaway. I don't suppose that I am going to get five comments, but, after Sock wars, I am game for anything.
Here’s how it works:The first five people to leave a comment on this post will get something from me.But in return, you have to do the same thing on your blog and make something for five other people. The details are as follows, and if you want to play, copy the following onto your blog and leave me a post:
1. I make no guarantees that you will like what I make. Whatcha get is whatcha get.
2. What I create will be just for you, with love.
3. It’ll be done this year (2010).
4. I will not give you any clue what it’s going to be. It will be something made in the real world and not something cyber. It may be weird or beautiful. Or it may be monstrous and annoying. Heck, I might bake something for you and mail it to you. Who knows? Not you, that’s for sure!
5. I reserve the right to do something strange.
6. In return, all you need to do is post this text on your blog and make 5 things for the first 5 to respond to your blog post.
7. Send your mailing address – after I contact you.
There you go; let's see what happens.
Here’s how it works:The first five people to leave a comment on this post will get something from me.But in return, you have to do the same thing on your blog and make something for five other people. The details are as follows, and if you want to play, copy the following onto your blog and leave me a post:
1. I make no guarantees that you will like what I make. Whatcha get is whatcha get.
2. What I create will be just for you, with love.
3. It’ll be done this year (2010).
4. I will not give you any clue what it’s going to be. It will be something made in the real world and not something cyber. It may be weird or beautiful. Or it may be monstrous and annoying. Heck, I might bake something for you and mail it to you. Who knows? Not you, that’s for sure!
5. I reserve the right to do something strange.
6. In return, all you need to do is post this text on your blog and make 5 things for the first 5 to respond to your blog post.
7. Send your mailing address – after I contact you.
There you go; let's see what happens.
Thursday, January 28, 2010
Requiem for a Sock Knitter
So it happened – I am well and truly dead. As noted on the Sock Wars website, I’m “All Dead. Not Mostly Dead. All Dead. Dead as a doornail.”
DH went to the mailbox yesterday because I didn’t want to open the box to see the weapon of my destruction. He came back in with a handful of letters and no package – good news, right? I was so relieved and DH offered a hug. As I put my arms around him, I could feel a bulge under the back of his fleece. The day of doom had arrived.
The socks are blue, just the color I had requested. They are perfect with jeans. I wore them to my Wednesday evening knitting group and got lots of compliments.
I was pleasantly surprised to see that some swag accompanied the weapon. There was candy, stitch markers, tea bags and a card. The treats helped to soften the blow.
I was startled when I opened the card. Stars popped out at me and my assassin had written, “Bang! You’re dead.”
So, I’m not going to be the last knitter standing and I’m not going to have the most kills, but I did get one notch on my knitting needles. Will I do it again? Probably, I will. It was a lot of work and the quickest I’ve ever finished a pair of socks, but it’s exciting to wait for a weapon to arrive in mailbox.
I'm not afraid of death. It's the stake one puts up in order to play the game of Sock Wars. ~Jean Giraudoux (apologies)
DH went to the mailbox yesterday because I didn’t want to open the box to see the weapon of my destruction. He came back in with a handful of letters and no package – good news, right? I was so relieved and DH offered a hug. As I put my arms around him, I could feel a bulge under the back of his fleece. The day of doom had arrived.
The socks are blue, just the color I had requested. They are perfect with jeans. I wore them to my Wednesday evening knitting group and got lots of compliments.
I was pleasantly surprised to see that some swag accompanied the weapon. There was candy, stitch markers, tea bags and a card. The treats helped to soften the blow.
I was startled when I opened the card. Stars popped out at me and my assassin had written, “Bang! You’re dead.”
So, I’m not going to be the last knitter standing and I’m not going to have the most kills, but I did get one notch on my knitting needles. Will I do it again? Probably, I will. It was a lot of work and the quickest I’ve ever finished a pair of socks, but it’s exciting to wait for a weapon to arrive in mailbox.
I'm not afraid of death. It's the stake one puts up in order to play the game of Sock Wars. ~Jean Giraudoux (apologies)
Wednesday, January 27, 2010
Waiting for the Socks to Fall
Well, I admit it; I haven’t been as good at blogging as I should have been, considering that I’m retired. I have some good excuses – really – but I won’t go into them now. Let’s save that for another day.
On January 15, 2010, I entered into a death-by-sock knitting competition known as Sock Wars. This is the fifth war, but the first that I have had the time to join. Before the start date, one is emailed a dossier about a “victim.” It includes sock size, color preferences, Ravelry name and mailing address. At precisely 8 PM on Friday, January 15, the patterns were posted online. The idea is to choose a pattern, knit the socks and send them to the victim before an assassin does the same to you.
I started immediately, doing two socks at a time, and continued to knit for the following three days. I have to admit that I didn’t even bother getting out of my PJs on Monday just to get the socks finished. In the meantime, while all this knitting is going on, people post taunts to their assassins and victims on the Ravelry website. It all gets rather intense. Someone actually stayed up for 19 hours straight and finished her socks on Saturday in time to get them in the mail!! Another person hand delivered hers on Sunday. I was beginning to panic, but, since it was a three day weekend, mailing the finished socks on Tuesday morning was the best I could do.
I forgot to mention that when a victim receives the death socks, his/her unfinished socks must be sent to the assassin to be completed. The winner is the last person standing. My victim in Rochester, NY received her socks on Thursday, but she had already mailed her weapon to her vicitim. That means I have to wait for those unfinished socks to be sent to me. I was thinking that I was in pretty good shape because my assassin was ill and complained that her medication made her too sleepy to knit. She also had to frog (rip out) her socks because she made an error that would have caused her to be disqualified (called a misfire). I kept reminding her that knitting might slow her recovery and she shouldn’t hurry on my account, but to no avail. I got the dreaded message that my socks are in the mail. Now the question is, which will come first, the unfinished socks or my death socks.
I don’t plan to go anywhere near the mailbox for the next few days, lest the death socks attack. DH will have to get the mail at his own peril!!
On January 15, 2010, I entered into a death-by-sock knitting competition known as Sock Wars. This is the fifth war, but the first that I have had the time to join. Before the start date, one is emailed a dossier about a “victim.” It includes sock size, color preferences, Ravelry name and mailing address. At precisely 8 PM on Friday, January 15, the patterns were posted online. The idea is to choose a pattern, knit the socks and send them to the victim before an assassin does the same to you.
I started immediately, doing two socks at a time, and continued to knit for the following three days. I have to admit that I didn’t even bother getting out of my PJs on Monday just to get the socks finished. In the meantime, while all this knitting is going on, people post taunts to their assassins and victims on the Ravelry website. It all gets rather intense. Someone actually stayed up for 19 hours straight and finished her socks on Saturday in time to get them in the mail!! Another person hand delivered hers on Sunday. I was beginning to panic, but, since it was a three day weekend, mailing the finished socks on Tuesday morning was the best I could do.
I forgot to mention that when a victim receives the death socks, his/her unfinished socks must be sent to the assassin to be completed. The winner is the last person standing. My victim in Rochester, NY received her socks on Thursday, but she had already mailed her weapon to her vicitim. That means I have to wait for those unfinished socks to be sent to me. I was thinking that I was in pretty good shape because my assassin was ill and complained that her medication made her too sleepy to knit. She also had to frog (rip out) her socks because she made an error that would have caused her to be disqualified (called a misfire). I kept reminding her that knitting might slow her recovery and she shouldn’t hurry on my account, but to no avail. I got the dreaded message that my socks are in the mail. Now the question is, which will come first, the unfinished socks or my death socks.
I don’t plan to go anywhere near the mailbox for the next few days, lest the death socks attack. DH will have to get the mail at his own peril!!
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