They're Done! They're Done! They're Done!

The Neverending Socks (aka the socks from hell) are DONE!!

They are not delivered yet, although I had planned on delivering them this last Saturday. However, McKelle called late Friday night and said her daughter Brenna was sick with Pneumonia. So I said thanks for the update and I'll see ya next Saturday instead. So here is the finished socks.


Pattern Disclaimer: Just wanted to let everyone out there know there is nothing wrong with the pattern. That is NOT why I was calling them the "socks from hell." The pattern from Knitty.com is actually a pretty easy pattern. But after having ripped out sock #2, I kind of lost interest and had to really struggle to make myself knit them.

Magic Loop Link

Once I get the never ending socks done (aka the socks from hell) I want to work on a pair done on the magic loop. I have the needles, but I don't have the book, so I was looking for a good tutorial on the web. I found this tutorial, so I am putting this link here on my blog so I don't forget it. I have this nasty habit of surfing blogs and thinking something looks great, and then not remembering where it is or how I got there in the first place. So know I should be able to find it again. Let's just hope I don't forget that I blogged about it. :o)

Hot Cocoa Swap - Topic of the Week

What is your most memorable vacation? Where did you go? What made it memorable?

That's a toss up. I have 2 favorite/really memorable vacations that I have taken. The thing that makes them so memorable is that they were both firsts. In September 2001, yes the week after 911, I took my very first vacation by myself, ever. I rented a car and drove all by myself out to South Dakota to visit a friend. And let me tell you, boy is that a really long drive, more so, because I had checked out several books on tape from the library and the rental car did not have either a tape player or cd player in it. Anyway, we visited the badlands, Custer National Park and Mount Rushmore, which was especially nice as they had a 911 memorial set up.

My second most memorable vacation was the trip I took to England in 2005. It was my first trip overseas. I stayed with a friend near Nottingham and had a lot of fun. I was only there a week, but the weather was gorgeous. Normally all they have in March is rain, but the sun shone all week except for my last full day there. After I left, it rained every day for over a month. I thought that was kind of funny!

Good News

I thought I would offset last week's bad news with a little good news.

My Mom called yesterday to let me know that my Aunt Margaret had lost her buddy. I tried to rack my brain for which of my Aunts friends might have gotten sick and died, but that wouldn't in any way be construed as good news. Well so no, that is not what happened at all. My Mom was calling my Aunt's feeding tube her 'buddy'. So after having had her feeding tube in for almost 2 years, the doctors finally took it out yesterday. Hurray for Aunt Margaret!! My Aunt had the feeding tube installed when she was going through kemo and radiation for throat cancer. She has gained about 16 lbs since she was allowed and able to start eating "real" food again. My mom said that she will still have to go back in March to have another throat stretching procedure done, so she still has to put some things through the food processor, but she's doing really well.

Fit Club Update: Even though the B100 Fit Club ended, I have not stopped my workout routines. The gym that I go to, has multiple classes each and every day. Since I work better when in a class than if I go by myself, I have been trying out a couple of the classes. I tried the Bootcamp class on Monday night (75 minutes), but have discovered that I don't really like it. The first week was fine, if a bit hard, but the rest of the sessions have been more running than anything else. In one class, the instructor had us running 'suicide lines' the length of the gym. Multiple times!! God I hate running. The only good thing that came out of that class was that I figured out that I have exercise induced asthma. There is also the Zumba Class (60 minutes), a latin dance aerobic class, which I really didn't enjoy either. I have found a couple of classes that I do like. One is the Only Abs class (15 Minutes), but am usually too late to join it. And I really really like the Signature Strength class (60 minutes) on Thursday night, with is much more like B100 Bootcamp that I had been going to. I have an appointment with a personal trainer Heather tomorrow night. Heather was the instructor in charge of the B100 Fit Club, so she will know more of what I am looking for and not just tell me to do aerobics or treadmill. My original purposes for going into this story was to say that after a couple weeks of doing aerobics and a little weight training and 1 week of weight training only, I have have come to the determination that you really don't loose weight with aerobics. Over the last couple of weeks, I have been 'stuck' with regards to loosing weight. But last week, as soon as I switched back to weight training only, I started loosing again. I have lost a total of 26 lbs and 27 inches so far. I have gotten asked by several people if I have had to go out and buy new clothes yet. The answer so far is no. When I started this all my clothes were super tight. I just hadn't wanted to buy a bigger size. So now, the cloths are fitting me great. Yes, a few are getting a little baggy, but not extremely so. And some items have been tossed in the giveaway basket, but not as many as you would think. I am determined to keep going though, not only for my health which has improved, but also because I have a friend getting married in May and I want to buy a new outfit for it.

PS: I forgot to mention something that happened when I went to the doctor last week to have my bloodwork re-checked. I got the standard look in ears and throat check. Then the doctor asked me to lay down so he could check my stomach area. I was in the process of telling him about my new exercise/diet program and as he was poking here and there, checking my gallbladder/liver/whatever, he suddenly says "wow, you really have been toning up!" I was so proud of myself!!

Bad News

Business has been pretty bad for the company I work for. Order have been very slim lately. Anyway, we found out yesterday that everyone is getting their hours cut. We will all (except the salesmen, who I hope will be putting in overtime) be working only 4 days a week. I will have Fridays off starting tomorrow.

On the good side, the owners announced that that they have been trying to sell their shares in a business they own in India. Well they have found a buyer. Once that goes through, our money problems will go away, because they will have about $500,000 to re-invest into SYSCON.

However, even with this news, I know I will not be alone in getting my resume updated this weekend.

The Results are In

I had my bloodwork retested last week. This was my 3 month checkup after I got the last results on 10/4/07 .

Here are my new totals:
Cholesterol = 139 (total) - Down from 157
HDL = 39.0 - Down from 41.0
LDL = 53.0 - Up from 45.6
Triglycerides = 209 - DOWN FROM 352!!!!
Calcium = 8.9 - Up from 8.3
Hematocrit = 33.8% - Down from 37.5%
Blood Pressure = 118/81 - Down from 136/75

The nurse, who called with the results, said the Dr. is a little concerned that the HDL has gone down because I guess they don't want that number to be too low. Not sure of the specifics as to why, but.... Anyway, I explained these were my 3 month check-up after I had been on a new diet/exercise program. I have lost a total of 24 lbs so far. I can't believe that my Triglycerides went down that much! I am so proud of that. My Hematocrit has dropped lower even though I have been taking an Iron supplement. I asked about that and she asked whether it was a OTC or a prescription. It was an over the counter supplement from Walmart. So she said they would call me in a prescription for another iron supplement that I will need to take 3 times a day. And then come have my iron retested in a month or two.

I think I have hit a plateau with the diet/exercise program. I have been exercising 3-4 times a week, but I have been slack on the food front. I just get tired of cooking for one and start looking for short cuts. But now that I see that it is really working, I need to really start watching what I eat again. I mean, I haven't gone back to my old ways of fast food or fried food, but I have kind of gotten tired of fish and chicken.

Hot Cocoa Swap - Topic of the week

Now that we're in the thick of 'Winter'... has your knitting changed to match the season? Are you moving on from dishcloths, and tank tops to afghans, hats and mittens? Has your yarn changed from silk or cotton to wool, superwash or heavier cottons?

Well, to answer this honestly, yes my knitting would normally change, but I am stuck on a pair of never ending socks that just don't want to get finished. When I had to rip the beginning of sock #2 out and restart it, I got frustrated. And I started to dislike this sock. I knitted on it last night at Bella Vita and I have made it down to the arch of the foot, so I really don't have much longer to go. Crossing my fingers in the hopes of working on it Sunday at work. But I do have a sweater planned as my next project. I want to knit it in superwash wool (so I don't inadvertently shrink another project). I have not bought or knit anything in silk yet, although I would like to try it out someday. I even looked at some wool/silk blend yarn for my sweater, before I decided to get superwash instead. I bought some silk hankies to try to spin, but they are still sitting in my stash. About the only thing I have ever knitted in cotton is dishcloths. Although the socks I made for the Monkey Sock Swap were a cotton/bamboo blend. It had a real nice feel to it.