Meet Rhonda

Very soon, there will be five drivers in the house.  Blake has his learner's permit and will get his license in November.  After that he gets a job.  We were faced with five drivers and five or more jobs and only three vehicles. The girls each had two jobs over the summer so there is potential for multiple this winter.  Ed's coworker offered us his car at a very reasonable price.  After getting it checked out by a mechanic, we bought it.

This is Rhonda.

She gives the kids an incognito option for getting around town.  The first car we bought for them is a PT Cruiser.  Great little car that seats five people.  I thought the kids would love it because it was unique.  Well, it was not cool-unique.  Kristin complained that the PT was too conspicuous during Senior Tag. We will still have one car less than the number of drivers, but we like it that way.  The insurance is cheaper when the drivers outnumber the vehicles.

Thursday one of my friends from the gym gave me a sack of homegrown tomatoes.  I haven't planted any in a few years.  I had forgotten how absolutely delicious they are.  This was the first course at dinner last night:  Caprese salad.  The basil is my own.  This is my favorite way to eat tomatoes.  Unfortunately I had to share this plate with Ed.

This week's knitting was dedicated to Kristin's blanket.  I've made a bit of progress.

Almost 50 inches.  I have a little less than one and a half skeins left.  I definitely will get it done by next weekend when I plan to give it to her.

I did a little spinning this week also.  I bought a new chair.  This is my spinning corner in the sun room.  I figure I have a couple more months of using this spot.  Once the weather turns cold, I'll have to move Lena to another room.  The sun room is not heated.

Beginning in late September, I am taking a drawing class.  I have always loved to draw but never had any lessons.  My high school had a phenomenal art teacher, but since I was 'college prep' I didn't have time in my schedule for one of her classes.  I really regret that.  Years ago I bought the book Drawing with the Right Side of Your Brain.  I've started the book several times but never finished it. Last week, after I decided to sign up for the class, I stopped at a book store and bought myself a little sketchbook.  I found the book in the basement and started it again.  This is one of the first exercises.  The exercise is meant to baseline a person's ability.  This is Blake playing his PlayStation.  If I may say so myself, I think this is pretty good.  I'm going to try to work through the book before the class begins.

The Last First

It is back to school time.  Trisha had her last First Day of school.  (Sorry that the photo is sideways.  I can't figure out how to rotate the image.  I tried HTML commands, but Blogger ignored them.  grrrrr!)  She was up and excited, off to school with her lemon-strawberry water. 

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Blake wasn't quite as excited.  He did manage a smile for this picture, but the scowl returned as soon as he heard the click.

Only a little knitting this week.  I want to get Kristin's blanket finished before I see her in a couple weeks.

After 4 skeins, it is at 34 inches.  I have one more skein here.  I may head out to the store today to get more.  Hopefully they will have one or two more.  I'll really have to dedicate myself if I have any hope to get through 3 more skeins in 2 weeks.  I better have the ibuprofen ready for the aching wrists.

I got a little spinning in yesterday.  Before I could do that I had to buy myself a new chair.  Blake stole my chair to use in his room.  He made himself a desk and is now studying up there.  I didn't want to discourage that so I didn't insist on getting my chair back.  However, I think the main reason is so that he can save time going between his books and his gaming system.  I'll have to keep a close watch on his grades to make sure he is dedicating himself to his work.

Progress

Starting the post with a picture of a flower from the front of my house.  We have terribly neglected our landscaping this year.  Most of my day lilies have fallen victim to Ed's habit of spraying Round Up.  This flower is up against the house and away from where he normally sprays.  It was a surprise bit of color this week.

I turned the heel on the Thelonious sock.  It is moving along, but I made a mistake somewhere.  Somewhere up the leg where the two pattern sections merge, I decreased stitches.  I went from 64 to 56.  It really isn't a big deal given that my calves are proportionally bigger than my feet and ankles.  The problem is that I don't quite know how I did it.  I need to figure it out so I can reproduce it on the second sock.

This is where Kristin's blanket stands.  I have noticed that I was the only one working on it.  It was supposed to be a joint project.  The blanket is still sitting on the ottoman in the family room, so I guess I will be the one to finish it up.  Why won't Kristin help?

Because she is now moved back to college.  Here she is with her roommates.  Ed and I moved her into her place this afternoon.  As soon as things were unloaded, she was telling us 'Good bye'.  I had hoped we could go to lunch together, but the girls and the guys across the hall had plans already.  Last year my feelings would have been hurt, but I've adapted to her being in college.  This behavior was natural.  They haven't seen each other since May.  I've had her all summer.  To be honest, part of me is happy to see her back in school.  It was nice having her home but it was time to have her go back to her own world.

One less child in the house means one fewer distraction.  This week was successful in terms of my new healthy strategy.  I was able to keep on track with my eating and exercise.  Today is an off day for me.  I figure I got exercise by moving Kristin's stuff into her place.  My weight is down a bit, so I'm happy with this past week's progress.

New Commitment

No knitting to show today.  I have been working on the sock and Kristin's blanket, but they look about the same so I'm not going to post new pictures.  Once I turn the heel on the sock, I'll post a picture.

Today's blog is a pledge to myself.  Last week I was told by my doctor that my cholesterol has gone up in the past year.  Not by much, but enough that she felt she needed to issue me a warning to take better care of myself.  I don't need to go on medication.  I do need to lose some weight and start eating a healthier diet.  This really isn't a new concept for me.  I started this year with a goal to lose 50 pounds by my 50th birthday.  I have lost about 6 pounds so far, but that was a couple back in the winter, a couple in the spring and a couple more this summer.  Not a rate to make 50 by 50.  I need to get more serious about this, and I'm using my doctor's warning as motivation.

The first change I am making is to pack my lunch instead of buying from the cafeteria at work.  This is going to be a hard one.  I've been with the same company for over 29 years.  I have bought my lunch probably 28 1/2 of those years.  By packing, not only will I be saving calories, I will be saving money.  I don't even want to think about how much I've spent at the cafeteria over the years.  Instead, I'm thinking about how much money I will have for more fiber.  I'm combining this with planning healthier meals at home.  My husband has noticed that he is finding it harder to lose weight, so he's on board with this.  Gone are the days where he would stand at the kitchen counter and eat an entire loaf of Italian bread as a snack.

The second change I am making is to resume my walking habit.  During my late 30s, I walked every night after dinner for 30 minutes.  It was my time to unwind.  The weather wasn't a factor.  In fact, I enjoyed walking in the cold winter air, as long as it wasn't single digits Fahrenheit or below.  These walks gave me some much needed exercise, a 10 pound weight loss without trying, and some spectacular starry night views. In fact, on one particular walk I witnessed a once-in-a-lifetime event.  I got to see and hear a meteor. It was in November around the time of the Leonid meteor shower.  I heard a whistling noise behind me and glanced over my shoulder just in time to see the meteor.  Just as the meteor fizzed out, the whistling stopped.  I still get a thrill thinking about that.  (Yes, I'm a geek!)

A couple months ago I started back into yoga.   Doing yoga regularly was part of my life during my mid-40s.  The walking habit has waned and I replaced it with yoga.  I really loved it but when my yogi quit I stopped.  I have really missed it.  Earlier this summer my hairdresser told me about another client who had just become certified in yoga.  I contacted the lady and now I take a class from her every week.  It feels good to be back into it.

For the past 2 1/2 years, I have been going to a personal trainer.  It has been difficult getting up two days a week at 5:30 am and working out for an hour, but I am seeing the benefits.  He has been having me focus on weightlifting for the past year.  I am stronger now and see muscle definition that I've never had before.  I used to weight lift with some guys from work back in my single days, but that ended when Ed and I started dating.  Dumb decision on my part to stop.  I stopped because Ed was a little jealous of me spending time with those guys.  For the sake of our relationship I quit.  Looking back I wished I had stood my ground and told him that our relationship was strong enough to withstand me working out with other guys.  I guess that was my 'dumb and in love' phase.

In the past I've always done one of the above activities, but I had never had the discipline to do it all.  I'm making my commitment now to eat healthier, walk at least 5 days a week, do yoga at least once a week and weight lift twice a week.  I am 6 pounds down from my all time high weight.  44 pounds to go.  I will periodically report my progress.  You can read the updates if you wish, or pass on by.  No worries here.

PS:  before sitting down to type this, I took a 30 minute interval walk outside.  I'm cooled off now.  Time to get to bed because 5:30 comes mighty early.

In A Pickle

I'm taking a few days off work.  The kids go back to school in a couple weeks.  We took the last of our summer trips and started the 'back to school' shopping.  The summer is winding down.

We spent last weekend at Lake Norris with my sister and her family.  It is an annual trip for us.  The kids love the uninterrupted days spent with their cousins.  I like getting some time to relax and talk with my sister.  The trip involves a lot of sunshine and boating.  Unfortunately, I forgot to pack my camera. No pictures of this year's adventure.

As soon as we got home, the topic of 'back to school' came up.  Ed took the kids to the store to buy school supplies while I unpacked from our long weekend.  I spent a good portion of Monday afternoon at the mall buying clothes.  My son is now becoming mindful of his fashion.  I'm wondering if there is a girl at school he is hoping to catch the attention of when he goes back to class.

I'm spending a few days here at home enjoying the summer.  It has been nice getting to sleep in and putter around the house with no specific plans.  Yesterday I went to a farmer's market and bought a few pickling cucumbers.  They are now Refrigerator Pickles.  I used the recipe from here.  I can't wait to taste them.

It won't be long now until the flurry of school activities.  Trisha is a senior, which means the next few months will be busy with filling out college applications and scholarship forms.  Blake is learning to drive.  Once he turns 16 in a few months, he'll be looking for a job.  The activity never stops.

Now, I'm going to refill my cup of tea and enjoy the last quiet moments of summer.