Ok, to be honest, I was a very bad girl on Friday night. I went out with a couple of friends to the Fiddlers Hearth to celebrate Kathy's 1 year anniversary of her brain surgery. And while I would recommend that anyone who goes there gets the Irish Car Bomb for dessert because it was sooo delicious, it was soo not on the diet.
That being said, I got on the scales this morning and was amazed to see that I had only gained 1 lb. I ate sensibly the rest of the weekend and also did some extra exercises to try to burn it off the car bomb, so apparently they worked a bit.
Monday, March 9, 2009
Thursday, March 5, 2009
No Pain, No Gain
Or so they say. In this instance, it should be no pain, no loss. Of course that doesn't rhyme, but who cares right?
Anyway the point to this train of thought is that I worked out last night. I am amazed at how puny I felt when lifting weights. Of course I haven't exercised in over a year. In last nights class, the instructor had us doing a lot of arm/shoulder exercises, squats, and crunches. With the arm exercises, I started out with 5 lbs, dropped to 3, dropped to 2 and finally had to go to no weights. But I felt really good afterwords. Although, my muscles were kind of quivering like jello and it felt kind of weird.
I am sore this morning and just a bit tired. But it felt good to exercise again. The hardest part is sitting down and then getting back up again.
Anyway the point to this train of thought is that I worked out last night. I am amazed at how puny I felt when lifting weights. Of course I haven't exercised in over a
I am sore this morning and just a bit tired. But it felt good to exercise again. The hardest part is sitting down and then getting back up again.
Tuesday, March 3, 2009
The Exercise Place Got Lost!
I drove out to the west side of town last night (slightly scary) to try out a new workout place that a friend told me about. It's called The Fit Club. Well anyway I couldn't find it. Of course I printed out the class schedule from their website, but didn't have it with me. I drove back and forth on S.R. 2 from Krogers out past the bypass and couldn't find it. So when I came to work this I checked out their website again. It's located on the west side of the bypass, but I turned back too soon. If I had driven another 1/2 mile, I would have seen it on the right side of the road. The next boot camp class is on Wednesday, so I'll head back out there before knit and try it out.
To be truthful, I really needed the workout last night too. I had a bad weekend. I went to the Quilting Day Camp at Barb's. I was doing OK staying away from the snacks (I brought some of my own) UNTIL.... Until I stumbled across the Rice Krispie Treats. Oonly they weren't made with rice krispies they were made with Fruity Pebbles cereal. OMG they were so good and so bad for me I know. So I majorly crashed and burned that day. But I did much better on Saturday. I brought a salad with me and ate it when I got there around. So I wasn't hungry for snacks. I got back on track food wise yesterday.
I am planning on changing my weigh in days to Monday instead of Thursday. It's hard to remember to do it in the middle of the week. So I won't be weighing in again until 3/9. Bonus is I get a couple extra days to make of for those RC Treats.
Speaking of the Quilting Day Camp, I finished a small wallhanging while there. I had one of those Moda 5" Charm square Packs that has been vegatating at my house for a couple of years. I never could figure out what I wanted to do with it. My friend Patsy found a pattern from Marcus Brothers. It used the Aunt Gracie Charm pack, but I like the layout so I used that one. My charm pack had lots of bright colors in it, like pink, purple, yellow, orange, blue and LIME. I haven't taken a picture of it yet, but I will.
My Quilt Guild is doing a Challenge for our March Meeting. It is called the Paint Chip Challenge. What you do is take your initials and find 3 paint chip colors that start with the first letter of your initial. Then use those colors plus a background color if you want to make a quilted project. It can be any size or shape. It's supposed to be completely done and quilted by the March meeting which is on 3/12. I almost had mine done on Saturday, but ran into a snafu. I didn't have enough fabric to finish the pieced border that I had planned. I was using up some Michael Miller Zephyr scraps I got from my friend Patsy. Another quilter Helen and I played around with it and think we have a plausible solution. Not sure how it will look. If I had not waited until the last minute, I could have ordered more fabric from Hancocks of Paducah, but since I'm a great procrastinator, I just have to deal with it. I think someone said Stitch in Time has a lot of Fairy Frost fabric, so I might go see if I can get a bit more of that to add to what I have. I am hoping to get it finished on Saturday and work on the binding on Sunday at work.
On the knitting front, I got the neck ribbing finished on my Tomato Sweater. I have to finish the arms, but I'm taking a week off to rest the elbow. Stupid Tennis Elbow! I don't even know how to play tennis. :oP I not sure yet if I want to make long sleeves or 3/4 sleeves. I'm waffeling, but it will probably be 3/4's.
To be truthful, I really needed the workout last night too. I had a bad weekend. I went to the Quilting Day Camp at Barb's. I was doing OK staying away from the snacks (I brought some of my own) UNTIL.... Until I stumbled across the Rice Krispie Treats. Oonly they weren't made with rice krispies they were made with Fruity Pebbles cereal. OMG they were so good and so bad for me I know. So I majorly crashed and burned that day. But I did much better on Saturday. I brought a salad with me and ate it when I got there around. So I wasn't hungry for snacks. I got back on track food wise yesterday.
I am planning on changing my weigh in days to Monday instead of Thursday. It's hard to remember to do it in the middle of the week. So I won't be weighing in again until 3/9. Bonus is I get a couple extra days to make of for those RC Treats.
Speaking of the Quilting Day Camp, I finished a small wallhanging while there. I had one of those Moda 5" Charm square Packs that has been vegatating at my house for a couple of years. I never could figure out what I wanted to do with it. My friend Patsy found a pattern from Marcus Brothers. It used the Aunt Gracie Charm pack, but I like the layout so I used that one. My charm pack had lots of bright colors in it, like pink, purple, yellow, orange, blue and LIME. I haven't taken a picture of it yet, but I will.
My Quilt Guild is doing a Challenge for our March Meeting. It is called the Paint Chip Challenge. What you do is take your initials and find 3 paint chip colors that start with the first letter of your initial. Then use those colors plus a background color if you want to make a quilted project. It can be any size or shape. It's supposed to be completely done and quilted by the March meeting which is on 3/12. I almost had mine done on Saturday, but ran into a snafu. I didn't have enough fabric to finish the pieced border that I had planned. I was using up some Michael Miller Zephyr scraps I got from my friend Patsy. Another quilter Helen and I played around with it and think we have a plausible solution. Not sure how it will look. If I had not waited until the last minute, I could have ordered more fabric from Hancocks of Paducah, but since I'm a great procrastinator, I just have to deal with it. I think someone said Stitch in Time has a lot of Fairy Frost fabric, so I might go see if I can get a bit more of that to add to what I have. I am hoping to get it finished on Saturday and work on the binding on Sunday at work.
On the knitting front, I got the neck ribbing finished on my Tomato Sweater. I have to finish the arms, but I'm taking a week off to rest the elbow. Stupid Tennis Elbow! I don't even know how to play tennis. :oP I not sure yet if I want to make long sleeves or 3/4 sleeves. I'm waffeling, but it will probably be 3/4's.
Thursday, February 26, 2009
First Week on the Diet
First off, I hate calling it a 'Diet'. It has such a negative feel to it. So maybe I'll call it an 'exercise plan' instead. Exercising is part of it. Yes, that's what I'll do.
I jumped on the scale this morning for my weekly weigh-in. This is my first week on the new exercise plan. I didn't think I was going to have anything to report, as I got an error message. I couldn't believe my eyes. I thought "What the .....?" I got off, let it shut itself off and tried a second time. Got the same thing. The scale is digital and apparently needs a new battery. I tried it a 3rd time after my shower and finally got a reading. I am down 2.8 lbs for my first week.
Last night I met up with Anita O. at knit night. We are planning on being partners as we both have a little weight to loose and it is sooo much easier to have a partner. I took my books along that I follow, specifying that she didn't have to follow the same ones. We had a great conversation where she made it clear if this diet book required her to give up her morning coffee with creamer, she just wasn't going to follow it? LOL I assured her she didn't have to. If you have to say "I can never have this again" your not likely to commit to the diet anyway. We are going to report into each other every 2 weeks. Of course if we have stuff to share in the mean time, we will definitely be in contact. Although I forgot to give her my phone number, I will be sending it to her.
On the knitting front, I got all of my stitches picked up around the neckline of my Tomato Sweater. I was a little thrown on how to evenly space them. Talked it over with Kathi at work and realized I had to do the ratio thing. I haven't thought about ratios in almost 20 years. Couldn't really remember how to do it. But since she has high school kids, she reminded me. So here is how I figured it: (not sure if it is the correct way to calculate it, but it came out)
I had 40 stitches to pick up and I have 55 stockinette rows. Divide both numbers by 10 and you get a ratio of 4 to 5.5. So for every 5.5 rows of stockinette, I have to pick up 4 stitches. To make it an even number and easier to fiddle with I multiplied both numbers by 2 to get a ratio of 8 stitches for every 11 rows. Since I'm a visual person, I drew a graph with 11 boxes and played around with where to 'skip' 3 rows that would make it look even. I came up with this: KSKKSKKKSKK Repeat. K= pick up/knit stitch & S=skipped row. It worked perfectly on the first side of the neckline, but I had to fudge it a bit on the second side. Might have been because I was doing this a knit night and trying to do this plus follow several conversations at the same time. I then got 1 row of ribbing done before we had to leave. I'm planning on taking a couple days off from knitting as I am going to a quilting thing this weekend, but I can't wait to get it done and be able to wear it!
I jumped on the scale this morning for my weekly weigh-in. This is my first week on the new exercise plan. I didn't think I was going to have anything to report, as I got an error message. I couldn't believe my eyes. I thought "What the .....?" I got off, let it shut itself off and tried a second time. Got the same thing. The scale is digital and apparently needs a new battery. I tried it a 3rd time after my shower and finally got a reading. I am down 2.8 lbs for my first week.
Last night I met up with Anita O. at knit night. We are planning on being partners as we both have a little weight to loose and it is sooo much easier to have a partner. I took my books along that I follow, specifying that she didn't have to follow the same ones. We had a great conversation where she made it clear if this diet book required her to give up her morning coffee with creamer, she just wasn't going to follow it? LOL I assured her she didn't have to. If you have to say "I can never have this again" your not likely to commit to the diet anyway. We are going to report into each other every 2 weeks. Of course if we have stuff to share in the mean time, we will definitely be in contact. Although I forgot to give her my phone number, I will be sending it to her.
On the knitting front, I got all of my stitches picked up around the neckline of my Tomato Sweater. I was a little thrown on how to evenly space them. Talked it over with Kathi at work and realized I had to do the ratio thing. I haven't thought about ratios in almost 20 years. Couldn't really remember how to do it. But since she has high school kids, she reminded me. So here is how I figured it: (not sure if it is the correct way to calculate it, but it came out)
I had 40 stitches to pick up and I have 55 stockinette rows. Divide both numbers by 10 and you get a ratio of 4 to 5.5. So for every 5.5 rows of stockinette, I have to pick up 4 stitches. To make it an even number and easier to fiddle with I multiplied both numbers by 2 to get a ratio of 8 stitches for every 11 rows. Since I'm a visual person, I drew a graph with 11 boxes and played around with where to 'skip' 3 rows that would make it look even. I came up with this: KSKKSKKKSKK Repeat. K= pick up/knit stitch & S=skipped row. It worked perfectly on the first side of the neckline, but I had to fudge it a bit on the second side. Might have been because I was doing this a knit night and trying to do this plus follow several conversations at the same time. I then got 1 row of ribbing done before we had to leave. I'm planning on taking a couple days off from knitting as I am going to a quilting thing this weekend, but I can't wait to get it done and be able to wear it!
Wednesday, February 25, 2009
Weight Loss Update
I have a couple of observations from my first week back on the diet.
1) Since I have been eating better I am not feeling totally exhausted by the end of the day. I haven't fallen asleep on the sofa once this last week.
2) Eating better foods has sparked my interest in cooking again. I have not been in a cooking mood, because all I was cooking was unhealthy junk food. I broiled a nice steak the other night with a small baked sweet potato and salad with romaine, spinach, tomato, a little cheese.
I have held off on renewing my membership to Fitness USA, because I just don't enjoy going there. So I stopped off at another one called Lakeland Athletic Club, but it wasn't what I was looking for either. I have admitted that I don't do well by myself. Both of these facilities operate basically the same. You are given a list of exercises and you do those on your own, unless you have a friend join with you. I do better with classes, but the only ones these places have are aerobics. On Friday, I'm going to try out another facility out by the bypass called The Fit Club. Sounds promising. They don't have machines, they just do free weights and classes. The first class is free, so you can try them out. Then it's either $6/class or you can get a punch card for $45 which is good for 10 classes. Will let you know what I find out.
In the mean time, I'm going to be doing some of the weights from The Cardio Free Diet Book and from a new book that I got last night at Borders. It is geared towards women and is called "101 ways to work out with weights" by Cindy Whitmarsh.
Tomorrow is weigh in day, so I'll let you know how I've done this week.
1) Since I have been eating better I am not feeling totally exhausted by the end of the day. I haven't fallen asleep on the sofa once this last week.
2) Eating better foods has sparked my interest in cooking again. I have not been in a cooking mood, because all I was cooking was unhealthy junk food. I broiled a nice steak the other night with a small baked sweet potato and salad with romaine, spinach, tomato, a little cheese.
I have held off on renewing my membership to Fitness USA, because I just don't enjoy going there. So I stopped off at another one called Lakeland Athletic Club, but it wasn't what I was looking for either. I have admitted that I don't do well by myself. Both of these facilities operate basically the same. You are given a list of exercises and you do those on your own, unless you have a friend join with you. I do better with classes, but the only ones these places have are aerobics. On Friday, I'm going to try out another facility out by the bypass called The Fit Club. Sounds promising. They don't have machines, they just do free weights and classes. The first class is free, so you can try them out. Then it's either $6/class or you can get a punch card for $45 which is good for 10 classes. Will let you know what I find out.
In the mean time, I'm going to be doing some of the weights from The Cardio Free Diet Book and from a new book that I got last night at Borders. It is geared towards women and is called "101 ways to work out with weights" by Cindy Whitmarsh.
Tomorrow is weigh in day, so I'll let you know how I've done this week.
Minor Success!
I finished binding off the ribbing on my Tomato Sweater last night. I tried it on and it FITS!!!! IT FITS! IT FITS!
Can you tell I'm excited. The first piece of clothing I knitted was a vest and it was too small. Then I made the Friendship Jacket and it was a little too big. Then I tried the Asymmetrical Shrug, which was a total disaster. The right sleeve was knit flat and then seamed and the left one was was knit in the round, which resulted in one being too loose and the other too tight and too short. It's still waiting to be frogged. I couldn't even look at it.
So you see, I haven't had much success in knitting anything that fits; other than socks. That definitely explains my joy.
Now all I have to do is finish the sleeves and the ribbing around the neck and it will be completely done. I really like top/down sweaters. I can't wait to get it done and wear it. At this rate I may have it done by Easter. Keep you fingers crossed.
YEAH! YEAH! YEAH! YEAH! YEAH! YEAH! :o)
Can you tell I'm excited. The first piece of clothing I knitted was a vest and it was too small. Then I made the Friendship Jacket and it was a little too big. Then I tried the Asymmetrical Shrug, which was a total disaster. The right sleeve was knit flat and then seamed and the left one was was knit in the round, which resulted in one being too loose and the other too tight and too short. It's still waiting to be frogged. I couldn't even look at it.
So you see, I haven't had much success in knitting anything that fits; other than socks. That definitely explains my joy.
Now all I have to do is finish the sleeves and the ribbing around the neck and it will be completely done. I really like top/down sweaters. I can't wait to get it done and wear it. At this rate I may have it done by Easter. Keep you fingers crossed.
YEAH! YEAH! YEAH! YEAH! YEAH! YEAH! :o)
Tuesday, February 24, 2009
Pink Tomato Sweater
I finished the ribbing on the bottom of my sweater last night. I didn't bind off, because this is my first top down sweater and I wasn't sure what the best way to bind off ribbing was. I thought about calling one of my Elisabeth S. but by the time I did, it was after 10pm. I thought it was bind off "in pattern," but although I looked through a couple of my books, I didn't find anything. So I decided to wait until I could ask Kathi at work. She told me that is exactly what I'm supposed to do. So at lunch today I will be binding off the bottom edge on my sweater. I'm deliberating on whether to start the neck ribbing next or pick up one of the sleeves and knit that. If I had 2 sets of Size 10 knitting needles I could do both. Hmmm Think a trip to Hobby Lobby is now in the works. If I have them both going, then when I'm tired of ribbing (because let's face it, its BORING) then I could switch to the sleeve for a break.
I've been doing so much knitting on the Tomato Sweater and the Celtic Vest the last couple of weeks, because I want to get them DONE. Any way, I notice my elbow is starting to act up again. This time it's the left one. So I'm planning to take tonight off knitting and do some applique on my Temple Guardians blocks. I have 2 done for sure and half of the 4th one done. There are 9 blocks altogether.
I know I should take longer off and I will as I am going to a quilting "day camp" this weekend. Barb D. is opening up her office on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Yeah quilting marathon. Now I just have to figure out what to sew on; UFO or new project??????
I've been doing so much knitting on the Tomato Sweater and the Celtic Vest the last couple of weeks, because I want to get them DONE. Any way, I notice my elbow is starting to act up again. This time it's the left one. So I'm planning to take tonight off knitting and do some applique on my Temple Guardians blocks. I have 2 done for sure and half of the 4th one done. There are 9 blocks altogether.
I know I should take longer off and I will as I am going to a quilting "day camp" this weekend. Barb D. is opening up her office on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Yeah quilting marathon. Now I just have to figure out what to sew on; UFO or new project??????
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