Ten Year Anniversary

Yesterday was my 10 Year Wedding Anniversary. I was very surprised to receive beautiful roses from D. He also build me a light box to take better pictures of my knitted FOs.

The top pictures is without the light box and the bottom 2 are in the light box. I'm still playing around with the lights but it is an improvement. He used the tutorial found here.

The Dog House

Last Wednesday, T got some new cool, skateboard shoes. On Sunday morning one of the shoes was found under the sofa with a huge hole in the toe. Next to the shoe was S's library book chewed to threads. I thought Sally couldn't get into the box where we keep the kid's shoes and backpacks but obviously she is smarter than I thought.

Cultural Anthropology

I have a Cultural Anthropology telecourse which meets once a month on Saturday mornings. This week we talked about what culture is and how it affects the way we think of ourselves and others. I took this picture of S with a Starbucks drink and on the cell phone the week before this class discussion. I think it tells something about my culture (an American culture.) But what does it say about me?

Just a few things

School- Mondays and Wednesdays are my hardest days with Kinesiology/Biomechanics starting at 8am followed by Statistics and Water Safety and Instruction. Also, on Wednesday, I'm teaching water therapy at an independent living facility.

Fitness- I purchased my plane ticket for Iron Girl Las Vegas this week. I have been running and swimming but avoiding the bike. Biking has become my least favorite part of the tri. Maybe if I get a better bike I will like it more. I started Weight Watchers this week. I am up 8 pounds from last year at this time and my jeans are too tight. I figure losing weight cost less then buying new jeans.

Family- D entered two pictures in a photography contest at Tangent Lab. One of his pictures was chosen to hang in the Final Friday Opening Reception. I am very proud of him because there were over 150 entries and only 67 were chosen to hang. We will have to wait till Friday to see which picture is up.

Hello Kitty

I got this cute Hello Kitty Sewing Machine for S and I'm saving it for her birthday in March. She enjoys sewing but I'm always I little wary of letting her use my machine because it can be temperamental.

Tomorrow I will be back at school. I haven't gotten much done around here in the month that I was off but I have relaxed a lot. Starting new things always makes me extremely anxious and I spend days walk around wondering what is wrong with me but then I realize I'm starting something new and I always feel this way at the beginning. Unfortunately, knowing (or realizing) that I will feel this way does not help me feel any less anxious.

Still "Obey"ing

I have been working diligently on Andre. It is taking forever. I'm at 40" so I only have 27" left.

Fun with Velcro

I love these Velcro Multi-wraps. We have an unbelievable amount of cords around our house, phone chargers, USB cords, headphones, printer cords, etc and these are so perfect to contain the clutter. I got 50 of them for $4.50 at Lowes. You need some, trust me.

Working Out

After a couple of weeks off, this week I'm back to my regular scheduled workout plan. Monday, I swam over a mile and a half (2650 meters) at Master's swimming. Today was a running day and tomorrow I will be at cycle class. I have been using The Triathlete's Training Bible by Joe Friel to help me with my training. I highly recommend it.

Golla Bags

I'm always on the look out for interesting bag companies. Golla bags are made in Finland and accommodate different styles of laptops, phones, digital cameras and music players.

Scarflet

I haven't been doing much this week but I have been knitting. This is the Linen Stitch Scarflet in Dream in Color, Classy.

So many people I know are going to be having babies this year. I am looking a cute, easy pattern that I can knit on short notice. These Saartje's bootees are cute but I don't like having to weave in so many ends. I just need to find the perfect buttons for this pair.

Mahna Mahna

Around the house we are constantly singing this song.

Saturday Morning Knitting

I wish I had been at Panera with my friends this moring, knitting, but I was at home helping lay concrete to make a nice new back patio. The big concrete truck arrived at 8:30am and we had 45 minutes to get the concrete from the truck to the backyard. I got a workout shoveling and smoothing concrete. It took us about 2 and a half hours to complete the whole thing. I will have pictures of the new patio as soon as we remove the thermal blankets, which keep the concrete from freezing overnight.

iPod and the Dog

See this huge dent in T's iPod, that he just got for Christmas. This is why the dog will be sleeping outside tonight.

Cold Weather

The cold weather makes it so hard to get motivated to workout. Swimming is the hardest sport for me to practice in the winter. Once I get in the pool it's fine but thinking about the cold locker room is enough to send me to the treadmill.

I ran the Frosty 5K on January 1st, it was freezing (27degrees.) My time was slower than last year but it felt good to start the year off with a race.

Winner

I almost forgot to post the winner of the Lia contest. Drum roll please, the winner is Allison from San Diego, CA. Congratulations, I will be send out your prize this week.