Monday Meanderings

First, there was a request for a progress report on Near Solstice, so here it is: Love the bird tracks!

Here are some more!

I have completed 206/597 rows, and the stitch count is down to 395. (Started at 599.) Yesterday I started bird track #41/81 - which had been my goal for the weekend. This was the ONLY project I worked on last week, often putting in 8-12 rows/day....twice putting in about 20 rows for the day. In other words, it's time for a bit of a break so that I can work on other projects. I want this particular shawl to always be fun to work on - and in order to do that I need to stop when my mind and hands say stop.

And on to the weekly blatherings:

• Today I start Boot Camp at the gym! Yay!
• I signed up because my workouts have been rather hit or miss this summer, and I really wanted a good kick in the pants to get myself going again. This should do the trick nicely.
• My trainer had recommended a specific teacher, and fortunately her class was the best fit with my schedule!
• I also got new running shoes last week. Yay!
• Funny, in the two to three weeks leading up to my new shoes I had started to really hurt during my runs. In fact, my knees were so bad the week before that I was getting worried.
• One run in my new shoes and I know - it was not me, it was the old shoes.
• Note to self, don't wait so long to order new running shoes. It's THAT important.
• Sugar is evil.
• I had ice cream on Saturday from the Dari B, THE ice cream stop back home.
• Seriously - the Dari B has run every national chain that has tried to come to ES out of business.
• Anyway...I hadn't had a Dari B hot fudge sundae in approximately 10 years, so I decided to splurge when we went.
• I was so sick for the rest of the day that I could barely function.
• Every since my yeast and sugar free experiment, that's my reaction to sugar - although this particular reaction was perhaps a bit extreme.
• Sugar is evil.
• I also can't sleep when I eat sugar.
• So why I chose to fix a brownie cake last night and eat it is beyond me.
• It was, perhaps, a last hurrah before Boot Camp.
• I'm so silly sometimes!
• I will say, though, if you know you're going to react poorly to something - you'd better make darn sure that it's worth it before you eat whatever that item is.
• Brownie cake is definitely worth it.
• Dari-B hot fudge sundae...not so much.
• Let's see...what else to talk about.
• Crafting has been rather limited as of late - see the progress report above.
• Oh yes, I'm still in the process of moving my craft books to the basement. Now that I'm almost there, I'm tempted to move the barrister's bookcase down there too...although that would necessitate a serious look at the organization of the entire room.
• We shall see.
• I did go to The Wooden Spool with Mom on Saturday. It's her local quilt store, owned by one of my childhood friends from church. It's a lovely store, and makes me wish I actually sewed.
• I managed to get out of there with only four fat quarters. That's a record low for me!
• My purpose for going in was to get flannel to make the cupcake a receiving blanket like those my mom made for me. They were sooooo much better than the el-cheapos that were/are in the stores!
• Why did cupcake need a blanket? I can't managed to swaddle her for her naps in the hospital blanket her mom sent to me. It's just too thin, and the swaddling falls apart with one wiggle.
• How to make a blanket - wash fabric, cut square, put a rolled hem on the edge with a serger. Altogether it takes less than 10 minutes.
• And makes me a much happier babysitter.
• (A note - Mom's receiving blankets are becoming quite famous. They were by far my favorite gift when my kids were born, and I hear she now makes them for just about anyone.)
• I also bought some white cotton for an embroidery project. No more excuses!
• Speaking of kids (sort of), we did survive the first week of school relatively unscathed.
• The Pixie is not so happy about school right now, and we're not so sure about her teacher.
• Poor kid was heartbroken when she discovered her best friend wasn't in her class (They wouldn't have been anyway because her friend is young enough that she's not pre-K this year.)
• We're not sure about the teacher because she seems a bit too soft and wishy-washy. I'm trying really hard to give her the benefit of the doubt....
• I'm hoping a weekend with the grandparents chased away the Pixie's gloom.
• Actually, the thing that really set her off was when her sister started school - leaving her for the entire day.
• Have I mentioned the fact that my girls are close?
• So far so good for the Princess. She had one tantrum leading up to school, but has been perfect since. It's a far cry from the stress of the start of both kindergarten and first grade.
• She's growing up.
• However, she did have a nasty headache her first day of school. She's been fighting these since kindergarten, and they are starting to really worry me.
• Seven year old's should NOT have tension headaches! (That's a rant for another day.)
• The Princess actually has two teachers this year who do team teaching. She's excited, and we really like both of them.
• Cupcake and The Boy had settled in nicely by Friday. Actually, The Boy had settled in two minutes after he got here on Monday, and has proven to be an excellent little man. I've already got him into his routine, and that's great! Cupcake took a few days to adjust...but by Thurs. and Fri. was her happy/normal self.
• The Princess has graciously decided to ride the bus home every day so that Mom doesn't have to load three children up in the van to come get here.
• Helping greatly is the fact that the bus is actually getting here at a decent time every afternoon. Once the route gets ironed out, she should be here a mere 10-15 minutes after I could get her home if I picked her up - which is a very good thing.
• The Pixie and The Boy have acted like siblings since day one - which is good for both.
• All right, I want a few minutes at my wheel, so it's time to wrap up this party!

Have a great week everyone!