Flight of the Yarnbird

Today started out with a sigh of relief. I had been stalking the fares to Philly for quite some time lately and today there ended up being a sale TO Philly.  I ended up saving over $100, which is abso fantastic, and ended up getting the exact flights I had wanted. 

I stayed pretty calm within minimal BAH BAH BAHHHHH muttering and hipshake quasi dancing. Inside I was like Bucky from Get Fuzzy during his nightly freakout. (If you have not read any Get Fuzzy, I highly recommend it especially if you have pets.) Now I am one step closer to getting everything settled.

THEN the day just kept getting better.

The BFF is amazing for numerous reasons but one is that she is a HUGE animal lover and has fostered over 100 animals in the past 10 years or so.  Both Frankie and Bond were rescues that came via her.  Right now she has two 5 week old kittens. Safe to say  it is easy to guess what this week’s Foto Fursday will be!  I went over to get some pictures to help her find them homes.  Numerous blurry photos later we ended up with a few that should work. Kittens just HATE to do cute things when the camera is ready.  Stretched neck open mouthed mew-yowling almost  NEVER ends up on film… even with sport mode. I didn’t come home with the orange tabby boy kitten in my purse even though I wanted to take him. Oh who am I kidding I wanted him AND the calico girl kitten. Too cute.

I DID come home with something though that made me happy, just a different happy.

This made me happy.

First box of yarn

Second box of yarn

This made me giddy.

 

The massive beige-ish blob is over 50 skeins of fisherman style 100% virgin wool.

 

We aren’t sure if this was all her mom’s yarn or if it was a mix of her mom and gramma’s. Honestly, it doesn’t matter to me.  I am just super excited to have it. Now I just need to figure out where it all will go – probably the attic.  Nonetheless, getting something like this is a big deal when you are a knitter. Woohoo! Darth Husband actually didn’t complain about me bringing home the yarn. He was just happy I didn’t bring home a kitten.

Bloggers to take over Philly: HLS round 2

Last year when I found out that the Healthy Living Summit was being held in Chicago, I decided that I had to go. It was RIGHT there, for the most part, and if I hadn’t gone I knew I would have regretted it.  It was seriously one of the best choices I have ever made.  I ended up having an amazing weekend, meeting new people, connecting in person with people I “knew” online, and leaving HLS with a positive vibe and a sense of energy that got kicked into high gear.

This year has been a bit crazy for numerous non-blog-posted reasons but throughout it I have had my HLS fund.  Christmas money, birthday money and misc cash made it into it. It was a goal to do something for ME.  I have a tendency to do things for others and put myself on the backburner at times. It’s often things like I’ll go to the mall to get my eyebrows threaded and end up bringing home a sundress for my niece instead. It’s not really a bad thing especially when I get to see her ity bity little face light up because she is so excited (and then she goes back to digging in the dirt.)

So this was my plan, goal, light at the end of the puddle (new saying since I literally found a blinky safety light at the end of a giant puddle not to long ago) and if I didn’t get in during registration, it wasn’t meant to be. I don’t know what I’d done w that money though otherwise. Perhaps save for HLS#4.

Overall, I was being “selfish” on purpose.  Darth Husband and I never really had any issues with my planning.  I had told him I had planned to go awhile back and that I’d set up my little fund.  He knew how excited I was about it as well. We have a marriage/relationship where I don’t have to ask for permission for things nor does he.  It is more so a bring up the idea and if the other person sees something that might not work/be problematic/doesn’t make sense in the long run, then we discuss it.  Plus he “gets rid of me” for a weekend. ”Absence makes the heart grow fonder” and so does mancaves and art/crafty rooms.

I am planning a Healthy Living Summit related series for the upcoming weeks.  It is a list of what I plan to do differently, what I plan to do the same, traveling to Philly, and general misc stuff.

Are you going to HLS this year? If so, find me and say hello!

Please press and hold the panic button

Please turn off all electronics.

Please make sure your seat is in the upright position.

Please make sure when you drop the garden hose it doesn’t accidentally spray you.

HUH? WHA?

Sometimes I swear real life needs a voiceover.  Today it would be in the style of a flight attendant with a voice similar to Bobcat Goldthwait.  It is a perfect mix of informative and AHHHHHHHHH.

So why is the imaginary voice looming overhead yelling this morning?

The dogs got out. Let me rephrase that – Cosmo let the dogs out who who who who let the… .  He might look at you with a dopey grin and a bit of a spacey look at times but I swear if this dog is a canine MacGuyver.  If he had thumbs, we’d be in serious trouble.  So MacDogver weasels the gate open as I am rewrapping the hose post watering the garden and the escape without me knowing. Luckily I can hear them in the next door yard and just need to catch them before they go further.

Cue the panic button.

Both are chipped, tagged, and not aggressive dogs so that isn’t why I panic… for the most part.  We live on a somewhat busy suburban street and so the threat of a car always terrifies me. So does not finding them at all. So does someone taking them and not giving them back since there are horrible people out there like that. I just get plain scared and take off running and yelling.

Best move? Probably not but that flight or fight or find instinct kick in. The adrenaline rush has me outside running in Darth Husband’s sandals since they were the first I found while still in my pjs (luckily a tshirt and capris and not a nightgown for the neighbors sake.) I end up with Cosmo coming by the time the second call of his name is over. Molly ends up stuck because she can’t get out of the neighbor’s yard due to a short fence. Luckily he is a really nice guy and gives me the ok to go get her.  Another neighbor comes by as well.  I am lucky to live by some really good people.

Both dogs are currently napping due to their adventure earlier. This dog-mom is currently chugging Tazo Awake tea after downing two pain killers to keep this post adrenaline rush headache from kicking into a migraine. (The spike in the weather today as well as a semi crappy sleep is also a risk so adding to it doesn’t help.)

The gate will end up being restrengthened somehow. 

I wonder if I could knit a cargo net.

 

Do your dogs, or pets in general, ever give you a good scare?

Foto Fursday: Kitty nap yoga

Ugly food: Oatmeal edition

I make ugly food. I wholeheartedly admit to this even though this is not always the case. I can make a great hodgepodge that looks weird and tastes amazing. I can make a great stir fry that becomes monochromatic though I have no idea how that happens.  I think the best way to approach it is to have a sense of humor and be a bit brave.

I had a pretty ugly breakfast routine going for some time.  I never took any pictures because there are numerous other bloggers who take amazing oat pix. I’ll leave it up to them. It was oatmeal w flaxseed, cinnamon and sugar made in the microwave. Overnight oats isn’t for me since cold gooey oats grosses me out – texture thing.  I’m too impatient to make them on the stove even though I have steelcut oats that I need to make rather than let sit on the shelf.

So why the rambling about oatmeal? I’ve fallen into the trap of oh-look-theres-a-place-where-I-can-grab-something too often.  I don’t get things ALL the time because that is not smart financially or health wise. Plus all you really need to do is look up the nutritional information on some of this stuff and it is like a 2 x 4 of reality smacking you in the head can be pretty surprising.  Overall I know I’ll feel better in the morning and save even what minimal amounts of money I had been spending.

FMM: CSYA round one

I found Shari’s blog  Finding A Weigh by chance via playing the Twitter version of Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon (In case you have NO idea in general what I am talking about wiki-explanation here.) She posts Friend Making Monday including “Answer these questions on your own blog (after commenting on mine first of course) and then link back to Kenz at All The Weigh! ” I’m being a rebel and posting THEN commenting.

My inner junior highschool girl I can’t help squeek but enjoy  these survey dealies.

Ok time to roll your eyes start your engines stop crossing out stuff:

FMM: Yes or No?

1. Do you use coupons? Yup I saved $2 via them tonight – $1 off kitty food & $1 off kitty litter – so both ends are taken care of for now.

 

2. Do you like football? I’m married to a Bears fan. I deal and pay attention in small doses.

 

3. Are you in a relationship? See #2

 

4. Is your phone always within arm’s reach? For the most part though now it is revolting and eating both sent and received text messages.

 

5. Do you like thunderstorms? I deal & just bought rain boots to deal w the current onslaught of thunderstorms. Of course now the weather will behave. Cosmo will be a happy dog then since he becomes the 75lb shaking lapdog.

 

6. Can you cook? Yup.

 

7. Are you – or have you – lost weight?Yes/no/shrug

 

8. Do you know how to read a map? Yes though Dolores our GPS what?!?! I’m not crazy she needed a name tells me where to go or so does Darth Husband’s iPhone.

 

9. Do you wear make-up? Yes but I try to not always so my skin can breathe.

 

10. Do you read regularly? On a good week – 1-2 books, otherwise it is whenever I find things I like at the library or get hooked on a new series.

 

11. Are you publicly affectionate?I hug hello/gbye but not overly mushy w Darth Husband in public

 

12. Do you like picnics? I’ll respond w another question – do I like ants? NO. If picnics would always be ant free, then awesome!

 

13. Do you have A/C?Yes but we don’t keep it on all the time.

 

14. Have you ever been out of the country?Toronto as a kid

 

15. Do you know how to ride a bicycle? Yup. I need a basket for mine which also gives me the excuse for offkey humming of the Wicked Witch of the West melody.

Yarny yarny quite contrarny how does your garden grow

Yes, yes I know that’s a pretty cheesy title but my actual name doesn’t really rhyme with anything. The bananafanna song always sounded silly too.

I grew up in a fruits and veggies household. My mom had told me before that when I was really young she’d put the veggies in front of me first. Hungry kid = eating veggies. True there are kids who are the absolute opposite and won’t touch anything green and then grow up to be our one friend who rarely eats veggies. Luckily I wasn’t one of them.

For years summer meant getting the garden ready.  We had a space set up in the back yard with timbers and a fence that would be put up to keep any rabbits as well as my childhood dog from getting in there.  It was a pretty good sized space and so could fit a good amount of plants.  There’d be cucumbers taking over one section, green beans in another and tomato plants at the other end. I remember too we would get something different some years and add that to the mix. Kohlrabi was one that I definitely remember especially since I thought the name was really cool.

The back of my parents property had a cherry tree when I was a kid as well as numerous raspberry bushes. After awhile being brave and eating the berries FROM the bushes without washing them was a daredevil thing to do. YUM! BUGS!  The tree that I used to hang from since that is what kids do or should do – hang from trees and climb trees just not break bones doing so isn’t there anymore but the bushes are still there. Their dog now loves to eat the raspberries right off the branches too! YUM! PRICKLIES! (If you are not familiar with raspberry bushes, they do have thorns/pricklies that DO hurt and can scratch you.)

When Darth Husband  and I started looking at houses the mention of “oh we could put a garden here” or “not really a lot of space to put a garden” was included more times than not.  Being with someone who also understands the greatness of fresh picked produce makes this even easier.  It didn’t have to be a huge spot. It just HAD to be A spot and we ended up with one.

The people who lived in the house before us were MAJOR gardening people. The lady clearly enjoyed working in the yard.  Flowerbeds are all over the place with perennials and rose bushes.  It was and still is though there is a bit of plant chaos going on pretty cool.  Several places could work perfectly for a decent sized planting bed. We would just have to add a few timbers and fencing to keep the dog out.

The dog soon became DOGS when Molly joined the CSYA family not too long after we were married.  The addition of the cute puppy that would grow up to be the still adorable dog led to the unofficial world federation of dog wrestling. Two 50+ dogs chasing each other around the yard as well as barking at the furry little bringers of annoyance squirrels changed our plans.  The amazing location for the garden is now AHHHHH SQUIIREEREEERELLLL WOOF WOOF ARFARF ARAFARAFARFARF BWAAAAAAAAA edged in timbers and covered in woodchips for the time being.

Did I get upset? Nope. I got self watering planters.  They have little spaces at the bottom that you fill with water and as long as that has water they don’t wither and die as quickly are happy.  They work PERFECTLY for veggies as well as flowers. We have already had tomatoes, jalapeno, and bell peppers.  This year the plan was tomatoes and bell peppers again since we eat them all the time.

I was given a new addition to the garden/yard this year – my awesome new cart.

Awesome Cart to the rescue

It makes hauling bags of dirt and numerous plants that the store clerk insisted on putting in plastic bags  much much easier.  The worry of dropping a bag or plant container and watching it explode is very very low.

Flowers are much happier now . Yes that is a little chair plant stand.

Salvia (purple on the left), geraniums (white on the tiny chair), coreopsis (yellow) and autumn joy sedum (wavy leaf on top right) is this years mix.  All are perennials except for the gernanium and they will eventually be planted in some sort of flowerbed so we can enjoy them next year.  I wish I had a large budget for gardening but I don’t so I try to pick things that we can enjoy more than one year. PLUS it is fun to see them come back year after year. I get happy excited!

Now is the waiting game. Last year we managed to wait until some of the peppers turned red. It was worse than waiting for water to boil.  I may or may not have said “Hurry up!” to the plants more than once.

 

Bell peppers

 

Two kinds of tomato plants this year and one is already flowering

 

There will be more garden related posts this summer and maybe a veggie related recipe post as well.

Drop and give me… twelve

I have numerous DVDs. They are on the shelf too much than they are actually in the DVD player lately.  While I start planning to do one, then for one reason or another I am worn out, doing something else, or not feeling well. Not wanting to risk a migraine from overdoing it, I’ll take the safer route and hoop or walk. Mellow is still something.

I just need something a bit more and that is where the twelve comes from in my planning. I decided that twelve is the number for all my sets for now.

Here is what was included in my recent decent dozen:

• pushups – girlie style but still count
• leg raises
• planks
• lunges
• jumping jacks

I plan to look up a more thorough short routine. Since I have no training in fitness and the only health class was one I took back in high school, I am definitely not one to set up a routine on a whim. 

Research! Research! Research!

 

I say, you say

I was listening to Dave Matthews Band earlier today.

Not a big deal right?

The reality of it is that I hate DMB or so I think/thought/thunk/chipmunk.

Two Step came on while I was listening to the Dispatch station on LastFM today.  Stylistically this made sense. Similar music. Barefoot dance-ablity since there are just some music that makes you want to crazy dance sans shoes right? Same is not most of the same means it SHOULD be something that I don’t grr at when it is playing unless it is Rush which I just can’t stand. I even remembered dancing to that song back in high school. While I HAVE danced to music I wasn’t thrilled with this isn’t being forced to listen to country music at junior high dances so we’d stop trying doing the 13 yr old version of a mosh pit, I honestly was having a good time or so I remember.

Time to put on the chipmunk thinking cap. It wasn’t the music. It was the association. While DMB wasn’ the most amazing thing ever to me, the people who thought the band could walk on water drove me batty. DMB = annoying people to me though Nirvana probably = the same for them. The thought altered my liking of the band. Strange but true.

I was thinking of various other weird associations or rather ones that don’t make as much sense now that I am supposed to be a grownup older.

Here’s the list of some things that came to mind.

• Banana Now & Laters creeped me out for years due to choking on one as a kid. Luckily I was able to cough enough to be ok. Other flavors didn’t creeped me out. It was just banana.
• Darth Husband’s actual name was the same as a kid I couldn’t stand in grade school. This kid was a mean short  weasely kid with steps shaved into the side of his blonde spikey hair AND a tail. It was the 80s so that meant coooooool. He was still mean so that name immediately made ”mean weasely kid” come to mind for a long time.
• Jazz music makes me think of the dentist since that was played for years. Then the station wouldn’t come in without cutting in and out and happily another one is now played.
• Cauliflower smells like feet. Maybe not to others but I think it smells like stinky socks.

Do you have any associations that someone might think of as funny/strange/weird?

 

Barefoot dancing

Last night Nixmusic (aka that friend from high school who comes for knit nights) and I went to see Dispatch at Millennium Park.  This was my first time seeing an actual concert at the Pritzker Pavillion. (For those who were wandering w me the Sat morning of HLS 2010, this is where they were doing tai chi/yoga/something w a decent flow.) I had wandering near it but never actually sat IN it.

While she was the bigger fan of the band, I had the combo of “knowing a few of their songs” meets “like their style” with a side of “oh lets check out more online.”  I knew I wouldn’t be dissappointed and that overall it’d be a fun time since I realized my less than thrilled state regarding any band with a jam band reference was due to past jam band fans that I just didn’t like as people rather than the acutal music. Plus I always enjoy going to shows with someone I know is going to dance and have a good time. Then I’m not the only crazy lady rocking out.

If you have been to a 311 show, a good amount the crowd had a similar vibe for part as well as another part that had that particular smell you find at a 311 show = YUCK  and was that laid back everyone have a good time mellow vibe.  You could tell the people who came straight from work and were still in nylons (huh???) even with the 90+ heat as well.  I was smart and opted for the long sundress style dress that works well in the heat. No sticky super tight clothes for me though there were too many wtf moments of girls in second skin that I was surprised didn’t pass out.

Overall it was a great show and the venue had great acoustics. The best part of the show was that they played for OVER TWO HOURS!  We danced about 98% of it after getting up when the first song started. 

I am definitely counting that as cardio.

Oh and I found a concert shirt on the street on the way to the L!  Score!