Calorimetry

On Friday, I took the kids to the rollerskating rink for an afternoon of skating with their friends. I was able to start and finish this Calorimetry during the 2 hours I sat a visited with the other moms. It turned out a little larger than I needed for my head so Saturday morning I decreased my needle size (to a 6) and cast on less stitches (100 instead of 120) and whipped out another one. It fits much nicer. Then I started a 3rd one.

Sweeney Todd

Sweeney Todd is my new favorite movie. I love the music, the story, the cinematography, Johnny Depp, Tim Burton, and Helena Bonham Carter. If you are interested in seeing it, I plan on going again, so just give me a call.

2 finished things and 1 WIP

Finally a picture of the finished Tree Jumper, sorry it took so long. I am very happy with the results. I am so proud of the use of colors no one else on Ravelry has used two colors on a Tree.

This the Andre scarf. If you are not familiar with the Andre Project here's a link that kind of explains it. D saw this image all over Boston when he was there earlier this year. When he saw the scarf pattern he had to have it. It is taking forever- as you remember I hate making scarves.

I made this little dragon hand puppet from leftovers of Cascade 220. Mostly, leftovers from T's The Nightmare Before Christmas Scarf. The pattern is from Interweave Knits Holiday Gifts.

Lia's Leaving

The reality hit me this morning: Lia's moving.

My goal is to keep it in perspective, she isn't terminally ill she is just moving 1604 miles away. I can still talk to her on the phone, e-mail her, read her blog, and visit her. But I'm going to miss her on Saturday mornings at Panera and we won't be teaching Knitting 102 together anymore.

Ouch, my heart is hurting. No, no it will be okay I have other friends to help me through this. I will see her in April in Las Vegas. Deep cleansing breaths. I am definitely going to cry tonight at the Bon Voyage party. I might have to go into therapy over this (as in group knitting therapy at Twist.)

The Day after Christms

I hope that you got everything on your Christmas list! The big Santa gifts this year included a skateboard for T and iPods and iDogs for both the kids. T has been asking for a skateboard for two years and we finally gave in. Luck for him, there is a little skatepark about a mile from my aunt's house and D and my cousin took him over to try it out. He even slept with the skateboard last night.

S's iPod is now permanently attached to her ears. I loaded all their favorite CDs and purchased some new iTunes before I wrapping up the iPods.

Also, just a reminder that today is the last day to e-mail your Lia questions in order to receive an amazing prize so get on it.

Last minute shopping

I went out this morning to get one last present for my mom. I had planned on getting her one of those fancy photo frames, that is really just a glorified screen saver, but I waited too long and I discovered that every place was sold out of the inexpensive (cheap) ones and all that were left were over 100 bucks which was not in the Christmas budget (like I make a Christmas budget, ha ha.)

Anyways the only solution was to get up early and venture to the Disney Store in the mall. My mom is a huge Winnie the Pooh freak (don't ask) so I always know I can find a great gift there. I ended up with a large Pooh stuffed bear that I know she will love. Surprisingly the mall wasn't that busy and I was able to get in and out quickly.

Snow, Snow and more Snow

It snowed for about 7 hours yesterday. I went to my regular Saturday morning hang out at 7am and it wasn't snowing but by the time I left around 10 I could only see a few meters in front of the van because of the blowing snow.

I thought I would go stir crazy in the house all day and the snow just kept falling. Around 8pm I couldn't take it anymore and I ventured out to get a movie and some snacks for D.

Unfortunately I got stuck at the end of the driveway and had to be rocked out. When I got home I was able to get my workout in by shoveling the snow from the front walk and the driveway. I wish I had some snowshoes as the dog is going crazy not being able to go for a walk.

Glovelet's

On our last trip to KC I picked up this Hacho by Mirasol Yarn and a glovelet pattern. I made one and then took a little break and then made the second one but some how I lost the first one before I completed the second one, so I had to make a third one. Anyways I love them and have been wearing them over my mittens (they fit perfectly.) I might need them soon because it's suppose to snow.

Finally the post you have been waiting for

I know some of you were wondering when I was going to make some comment about Lia's impending move. Mostly, I have been pretending that she is just going on a very long vacation but since they are buying a home, I guess I should face the fact that she is really moving.

I really don't know what to say, I love Lia very much and I will miss her terribly but I'm looking forward to seeing her in Vegas in April and the impact she has made on my life will stay with me always.

I have decided to have a little contest to see how much we have learned about Lia while she has lived here in Kansas. Just e-mail your answers to me at knitandfit(at) gmail (dot)com, I will have a fabulous prize for the person who gets the most correct answers. In the event of a tie, I will use a random number generator to pick the winner. The deadline to turn in your answers is midnight on December 26th, 2007. Even if you don't know all the answers please enter because you never know what surprise prizes I will be giving out.

1. How many dogs does Lia have?
2. What are the dogs names?
3. What is Lia's husband's name?
4. Where was she born? (city and state)
5. How many brothers and sisters does she have? (bonus points for their names)
   
6. What city and state is Lia moving to?
7. What is kind of degree does Lia have? (in what subject)
   
8. Does she prefer Coffee or Tea?
9. What is her favorite holiday?
10. Does she have any tattoos or piercings? where?
11. What is her favorite kind of food?
12. When is her birthday?
13. Name something that annoys her?
    
14. If she was a flower what kind of flower would she be?

You must answer the final questions to be eligible to win:
15. Tell me a funny or personal story about an experience you had with Lia.

1st Place

I received my first "First Place" in my age division.

As you can see from the sidebar, I am beginning to line up my race schedule for next year. I'm still a little on the fence about the Redman Half-Ironman. It's the next logical step after an Olympic distance but a 1.2 mile swim, 56 miles on my bike and a half-marathon at the end - what am I thinking.

I'm thinking it will be fun, it's a great goal to keep me motivated all year, if it wasn't hard there would be no reason to do it, to prove I can do it, I could justify a new bike, I just want to. So there you go, now I just have to come up with the $175 registration.

B-day

T's birthday party was a great success. We ended up with 11 kid guests, things were good for the first hour but the instant sugar rush from the cake and pinata candy had them running all over the house by the time their parents came to tame them.

Y Tri

This morning I was up (not so) early for the West YMCA Triathlon. My first tri was at the Central Y at the beginning on this year. It seems so long ago now.

My times today were:
Swim - 500m- 9:05
Bike- 6 miles - 22:23
Run - 2 mile- 18:16

I was so happy with my swim, I was 1 minute and 50 seconds faster than at Central. Overall, I was 56 seconds slower than at Central mostly because my run about 3 mins slower. But I had a fun time. There was a 52 year old women in my heat who had an amazing amount of determination, she was slow but she was steady.

Now on to VEGAS, baby!!

Avoidance

I should be cleaning my house, right now, in preparation for T's party tomorrow but I am avoiding it. I spent the morning shopping for extra party favors, a cake, and extra table linens. We over-invited (we sent out about 30 invites) because, in December, you never know if the weather will keep some people from coming. Which could be the case this time - they are predicting a 50% chance of 4-8 inches of snow today and tomorrow.

Okay I must stop avoiding and get down to scrubbing, mopping, and dusting.

Finals

Tomorrow is my last final for the fall semester. I am so happy to have a nice long break. Above you can see the large pile of index cards that I used for my Anatomy class. There are over 350 cards there. All that studying paid off, I got an A (97%) in the class.

(No) Snow Day

I can't believe it but we had a Snow Day today. The weathermen had been predicting a huge ice storm but it just rained the entire day. I was so surprised when I heard school was canceled on the 10 o'clock news last night.

It was a nice day though. I banned the t.v. and video games and made the kids play all day. We did a few crafts, played Life, cards, Monopoly Junior, trains, built a couple of "club houses" (with blankets over the couches), etc. I really enjoy spending time with my kids and I wish that there were more hours in the day for us to just be together.

Green Print

I'm always looking for simple ways to help the earth (i.e. reusable bags). Green Print is one of those simple things. It lets you print only the things that you need, not those annoying pages that have only one line or printing images you don't need. Check it out.

Sick Day

T was sick yesterday so I spent the day giving breathing treatments, watching cartoon network and knitting. When T is sick he wants me to stay right next to him in bed all day - if I get up to do some laundry he always calls me back. Usually I try to get a least a few things done but yesterday I needed a rest, too so I just sat in bed with him and knitted for the whole day.

D requested the Andre scarf for Christmas. It's a tall order to fill, I purchased 7 skeins of Cascade 220. I don't think it will be done by Christmas but who knows.

Holiday Fun

Bella Dia is posting a unique Advent countdown, with a book and a holiday related activity everyday. These aren't your regular ho-hum holiday crafts - there are pop-up cards, unique garland, and fabulous books like Snowflake Bentley. Add it to your bloglines for inspiration everyday.

Wal-Mart's Reusable Bags

My Wal-Mart finally started selling reusable bags, they are only a buck each.

I was so happy to see them at the checkout but my cashier seemed less than delighted. I asked her if I could use them right now but she informed me she didn't have scissors to cut the tag that was holding the bags closed - of course, I just pulled out my handy leatherman swiss army knife (thanks Lia) and promptly cut the tags. Then the cashier asked me if I wanted her to place the groceries in plastic bags and then put them in the reusable bags. What?!? I convinced her to just put the items on top of the plastic bag spinner thingy and I bagged the groceries myself. I was able to fit my entire weeks worth of groceries in 5 reusable bags and they sat up so nicely in the back of the van. Hooray for reusable bags.

I wasn't completely successful NaBloPoMo, I only posted 22 times. That was a lot better than October when I only posted 13 times. It felt good to share things with my friends in the blog world, more.