Just a quick post. One of my pieces of jewelry was chosen for a treasury on Etsy today. Check it out! Mine is the "Blue Bead Bracelet."

On May 23rd, Patrick and I headed out to Provincetown, MA for our first real vacation together since I don't know when. We ended up having a great time. Here's Patrick enjoying the local cuisine:

On Sunday, we spent some time hanging out and people watching downtown and then went out to Race Point Beach to do some beachcombing:

Sunday night we went to see Poppy Champlin, a hilarious comedian. I laughed so hard I cried. I highly recommend seeing her if you are the open-minded sort and don't mind a lot of very dirty, gay jokes.

On Monday, we went on a whale watch. It was an amazing day and we ended up seeing between 20-30 humpback whales.

Tuesday, we went on a dune tour and then up to the top of the Pilgrim Monument.

Wednesday, we headed home as the rest of the week the forecast was for rain. We were happy to get home and pick up Saffy from the kennel. She wasn't too happy because she got a bath:

Boy I suck! It's been way too long since I last posted. I guess I've just been too lazy. Busy isn't an issue in my life usually, so it can't be that. Right now I am on a forced hiatus from yoga so I have a lot of extra time on my hand.

Since December I've been having lots of adventures with the dermatologist. I had a biopsy on a bump on my face which turned out normal and then I had a mole check in March which resulted in another biopsy on a mole on my stomach. That was mildly abnormal and the doctor decided he just wanted to watch that one. While on my follow up appointment for that mole, he decided to biopsy another mole on my groin which turned out to be moderately abnormal and resulted in another appointment to have it and everything around it removed. I now have nine stitches in my groin and two on my chest as he decided to biopsy yet another mole when I went to have the one on my groin removed. Hence the hiatus from yoga. I should find out the results of the biopsies this week and get the stitches out on Friday. I really hope this is the end of these adventures for a while. I know it won't be forever. Being a redhead, it's just something I have to live with.

In two weeks, Saffy and I are heading to Wisconsin for a two week visit with my family. I am really looking forward to it. A trip to Six Flags, a Brewer game, and a wedding reception are all on the agenda. Saffy will be very happy to have her very own Golden Retriever to play with in her cousin, Gus.

In knitting, I finished my Kai-Mei socks and have started the Cookie A KAL for June by knitting the Sunshine socks from Sock Innovation.

Patrick and I also took a short vacation to Provincetown, MA last month. I'll update with tales of the trip and pictures tomorrow.

So, it's been two weeks since I've last updated.  Today was Weight Watchers and I am now down 40 pounds!  I can't believe it.  I only have 29 more pounds to go to get to my goal weight.  It seems so much easier now that I've come as far as I have.  

In knitting news, I am doing a Cookie A KAL on Ravelry and one of the patterns for the month of May is Kai-Mei from Sock Innovation.  I finished the first sock on Tuesday and I love it!

I am also working on another pair of Mingus socks:

And I picked up some new gorgeous Malabrigo Sock yarn to be used for a future Cookie A KAL:

In Saffy news, she went to doggie daycare for the first time today.  I have never seen this dog more exhausted than she was this afternoon.  The people at the kennel wanted to keep her and were impressed by her ability to hold her own with the big dogs.  I just wish I could have seen it all.  They have a webcam, but it just isn't the same. . . 

Happy last day of April!  I did it!  A post a day in April!  Hooray!

Today was Weight Watchers.  As I said last week, I've been having a big loss week then a small loss week.  This week was a small loss week of only .4 lbs.  I've lost a total of 37 pounds with 5 pounds lost in April.  I also was able to meet my other goals of earning 28 activity points and eating all my daily points every day.  I plan on keeping those two goals for every week.  It should be easy now that the weather is nicer and I can take a lot of walks with Saffy.

Hope everyone has a great May!

All through high school, my best friend was a girl I'll call Jane.  Jane and I weren't the kind of best friends that were inseparable, we each had other friends outside of each other, but we were very close.  Every summer we went to Chicago to stay with friends of Jane's family and go shopping, do crafts and just be silly.  It was really great.  When I went to college, we still stayed close, but not as close.  It was hard with me being in Virginia and Jane in Sheboygan.  She started dating when we were in high school.  I was too scared and self-conscious to even talk to guys.  She always got really distant when she was dating someone.  She never talked to me about anything since she believed I wouldn't understand since I never dated anybody.  That really hurt my feelings, because maybe I wouldn't have had first-hand knowledge of what she was talking about, but I could still listen.  It also seemed that whenever she was dating someone, she could only be close to him and only came back to me if they broke up.  After college I joined the Army and Jane found a husband.  She got married shortly after I started dating Patrick.  I was the maid of honor in her wedding and caught the bouquet at the reception.  I got married five months after her and she didn't bother to come to the wedding and sent our gift three months late.  Shortly after we received her gift she sent me a long letter about how she didn't want to be my friend anymore because I was a bad friend and selfish person who cared more about myself than about her.  She said we were just "fun friends" that didn't have any substance.  I have to say that no one ever hurt me as much as she did with that letter.  

I went through a lot of therapy and dug into my relationship with Jane from every angle and discovered that I was NOT a bad friend and selfish person.  It took me a long time to realize that everything that happened between us was all about her and never about me.  I learned that when people are angry with themselves they accuse someone else of what they are mad at themselves.  I heard this all the time when I worked on the phones.  I got accused of losing a lot of people's money.  Usually they were just mad at themselves for not selling their mutual fund shares when the price was up.  Anyway, what I learned from the situation with Jane was that I never want to be that kind of friend.  Being without much of a social life except Patrick makes me hope that I am not that kind of person.  

There's a lot of uncertainty in my life right now.  My husband works four hours away from me in Maine and I don't know when I am going to be able to live with him full-time again.  I also don't know where we'll be living when we are back together full-time.  I'm in a holding pattern here.  Sometimes I think I use the fact that there is so much uncertainty right now as an excuse to do anything.  I'm working really hard to lose weight and be healthy, but I am not doing anything to help my social life or to figure out what I want to do with my life.  I don't really have many friends here so during the week I am all by myself.  My social interactions consist of chatting with people on my walks and small talk before yoga, at knitting and at Weight Watchers.  I think I'm ready for a do-over.

After today, I have three more posts for the month of April. I think November was a lot easier because of the holiday. April has been pretty much yoga, Weight Watchers, and walking the dog--lather rinse repeat.

Patrick left very early this morning and when he woke me up to say good-bye, I had a killer headache.  After he left, I went back to bed and dreamed that I, along with my brother and sister, were kids again and we all had the swine flu.  I am slightly freaked out by all this swine flu news.  I try not to let it worry me and I probably won't change the way I live my life unless something comes out that tells me I should, but it does worry me.  We almost booked a vacation to Mexico in May, but we couldn't afford it and are going to Cape Cod instead.  I'm looking forward to the trip.  Finally something a little different in my life.

It was another warm day and Saffy and I took yet another walk today.  Also, the trees in our back yard are getting their leaves.  I never think Spring is really here until the leaves show up.  I went out onto the back deck to take pictures of of the trees and who should be sitting on a branch and looking at me, but our friend the red squirrel.  I decided today that the red squirrel is a boy and his name is Clancy.  I got some pictures of Clancy and I swear he was posing for me.  Such a saucy little lad!

Here we have the leaves:


Here's Clancy!


This is our back yard in December when we had the big ice storm:


Here's our damage, which I need to clean up:


Patrick is heading back to Maine tomorrow. I'm going to miss him. It was nice to have him home for a week.

It was another beautiful day today.  It actually got into the 90's according to the thermometer in the Beetle which we took out for cruise with the top down.  I also took Saffy for a super-long walk after which she was exhausted.  Not a whole lot else to say today, but I do have pictures!  First, we have me in my new shorts.  The only thing that could make my outfit more preppy is a white cotton sweater tied around my shoulders.

The next photo is Saffy after her walk today.  She pretty much passed out after she drank practically her whole bowl of water.

Last but not least, the first completed Twisted Flower sock!  I am turning the heel on the second so it shouldn't be too long before they are all done and I start on another pair of Mingus socks.

Today was a very nice day.  I went to yoga in the morning and came home and had my omelet.  Then I showered and fell asleep for an hour with the puppy and the hubby.  After I got dressed, Saffy and I took a nice long walk.  We ran into our doggie friends Gracie (Pit Bull mix) and Sully (Greater Swiss Mountain Dog).  Gracie was overjoyed to see us.  She is such a sweetheart.  Sully had never met Saffy before and was scared of her.  Every time she tried to come near him, he would whine and back away.  It was very funny.  Saffy also discovered the squirrels on the back deck today.  She likes to sit on her pillow in the sun in the mornings and today she saw the little red squirrel darting around.  She just followed its every move and then started scratching on the glass and whining.  We think she wanted to go play with it.  The whole thing was very cute.  

Tonight, Patrick and I went to Macy's to buy me some shorts with my gift card since it is going to be in the 80's this weekend and all my shorts are too big.  I got a really cute pair of brown and pink plaid shorts and a pink polo shirt.  The awesome news is that the shorts are a size 12!  I can't tell you the last time I wore a size 12!  I just got my new size 14 pants a month ago and they are already falling off of me.  It's going to take some time for me to reconcile my new outside with my old inside.  Going shopping was never easy, but I have to consciously steer myself away from the XLs and the plus sizes.  

The only bummer thing that happened today was that we called our gamer friends to see if they were up for some Indian food and games and they said they were going out to dinner with our mutual friends for their daughter's birthday.  I guess they threw together a big party at the Japanese steakhouse for everyone and didn't even call us.  Gamer friend said they would ask mutual friends to invite us too, but we said if they wanted us to come they knew how to get in touch with us.  We haven't seen them since January.  I've called to talk or to get together at least once a week, but my calls are never returned.  Oh well, I'm trying not to get too worried about it.  Patrick says that life is too short for bad wine and fair weather friends.

Today was Weight Watchers.  I am down another 2.2 pounds for a total of 36.6.  I only have 32.4 more pounds until my goal--less than I've already lost.  Whoo hoo!  As for my other goals this week, I didn't meet either of them.  I missed eating all my points on two days and only earned 21 activity points instead of the 28 I wanted to earn.  I am not too bummed about that though since I had a nice loss on the scale today.  I'm keeping the same goals for this coming week though.  The weather is supposed to be much nicer this coming week so Saffy and I will be taking a lot more walks.  Unfortunately, because of the weight I lost, the 60 minute yoga class that I attend is now only worth 3 points so my yoga activity points for the week is only 18 now.  I'm thinking about adding in another class during the week.  I just haven't decided what day to add in.  I have Thursdays and the weekend, perhaps Saturday mornings.

It was another rainy day and my new head lacerations are proof that Saffy desperately needs a walk and her nails clipped.  I finished the second repeat on my sock and am about to start the heel flap.  Nothing else happened today.  Tomorrow I get weighed so there will be a longer post then.  Have a good night!

Today was a much better day than yesterday.  I went to yoga and finished the first pattern repeat on my second Twisted Flower sock.  I felt a lot better.

I've been re-reading the Adrian Mole books by Sue Townsend.  They are very funny, but can also be very sad.  It is hard for me to believe that there could be someone in this world less self-aware than the character of Adrian Mole.  He believes himself to be an intellectual, poet and writer and better than everyone else, yet he pretty much fails at everything he does.  The lack of self-awareness shows up because he rarely believes himself to be the cause of his own failure.  It is always someone else's fault.  There are a couple of rare, shining moments in the series when you think he is going to get out of his own way and become a happy and accomplished person, but it never does happen.  A couple of years back, I had Patrick read the books and thanks to that, we are the reigning Taboo champions wherever we go.  All I have to say is "leather industry" and Patrick knows I am talking about "Norway."  

No walk today as it has been raining pretty badly all day.  It is supposed to rain again all day tomorrow so it looks like I will have to put up with extra puppy attacks on my head until I can get Saffy out and exercised fully.  I guess all the lacerations have healed so it's time for some new ones.

What a miserable Monday.  I have been feeling like crap all day.  I went to yoga this morning and just went through the motions.  When I came home I wanted to go back to bed, but I showered up and got ready to take Saffy out for her walk.  When we went out, it was so cold that we didn't stay out very long.  I don't think I'm going to make my 28 activity points this week as tomorrow and Wednesday are going to be cold and rainy.

I did get some jewelry made today in my nice clean craft room.  I haven't been too inspired lately, so I have to force myself to work.  I'm going to try to get some pieces on Etsy and get some listings up on eBay this week.  Hopefully I will feel less crappy tomorrow.

I got the best news today, Patrick is going to be staying home all week!  Yay!  I knew he was going to spend the night tonight because he has a doctor's appointment in the morning, but he surprised me with the news today while we were grocery shopping.  He was picking out a suspiciously large amount of food to cook out on the grill if I was the only one going to be eating leftovers.  He also came for a walk with me and Saffy which is a very rare occurrence.  

I'm about halfway through the leg of the second Twisted Flower sock.  I am finding this one to be much easier than the first.  The cables are still a bit of a pain, but the finished object is worth it.  I am charging my camera so I can get some pictures of the work-in-progress.  

This week was looking to be another week of the same old thing, but with my sweetie home, it might be a little more exciting.  I certainly won't be as lonely as usual.

We have three bird feeders on our back deck.  I love to sit in the kitchen and watch the birds come and eat.  Our usual visitors include goldfinches, tufted titmice, black-capped chickadees, and nuthatches.  We also on occasion get purple finches and woodpeckers.  There's a mangy old squirrel that has been trying to climb up onto the feeders as well.  Unfortunately, the baffle is not baffling him.  This morning when I woke up and came downstairs, there was an adorable little red squirrel sitting on the deck railing making a loud chirping noise.  I noticed it was shaking.  Saffy started growling and I saw why.  There was a big white cat with brown spots and a tiger-striped tail on the deck stalking the poor squirrel.  I've never seen this particular cat before and didn't want it to get the little squirrel.  Saffy started barking and barking with the hair on the back of her neck standing on end.  That cat stared at me as I moved toward the door.  It darted down the stairs as I opened the slider and then sat at the bottom of the stairs.  It started creeping back up when I moved to go back inside, so I fake-lunged at it and it ran away into the woods in the back yard.  Then the little red squirrel relaxed and took off into the trees in the side yard.  Me and Saffy to the rescue!  Saffy continued barking until she was sure that cat was gone.  I don't mind cats catching small animals, I know it's in their nature, I just don't want it happening on my back deck.  It's not fair to turn our bird feeders into some sort of easy-prey trap for cats.  

The rest of the day hasn't been as exciting.  I worked on cleaning my craft room and tonight we are heading over to our friends' house for a game night.  Hence the reason I am posting this early.

Today was my average Friday.  I went to yoga this morning, came home, showered, made an omelet, cleaned up the kitchen, threw in a load of laundry and took Saffy for an hour long walk.  Then we just chilled until Patrick got home.  

Patrick is a total sucker when it comes to Saffy.  He always holds her Kong so she can eat the treats out of it easier.

Sorry for the short post, just the same old same old today. . . 

I had Weight Watchers this morning.  I am down .4 pounds for a total of 34.4.  It seems like I am getting a good result every other week.  Last week was 2 pounds and the week before was .8.  So next week, I think I can expect to be down between 1 and 2 pounds.  I've been having trouble eating all my daily points this past week.  My goals for this week is to eat all my daily points every day (already did it today) and earn 28 activity points for the week.  If I go to yoga four days during the week, I earn 19 points, so I just need to earn an additional 9 points.  Luckily, tomorrow it is supposed to be in the 70's so Diana and Saffy will be hitting the streets for a long walk.  

Patrick is an evil evil man.  Today one of his co-workers was talking about getting a dog and he started looking on Petfinder.  This is what he found.

His name is Jasper and he was born without front legs.  He looks like such a sweetie pie.  Just like Saffy did when she was a puppy except brown.  We are currently not planning on getting another puppy, but sometimes it's nice to see what's out there.  I'm a sucker for Chihuahuas!  Saffy is our fourth Chihuahua and definitely won't be our last.

We got Petie and Cocoa in April of 2001.  They had to be adopted together and were about five or six years old when we got them.  Petie was a roly-poly guy and Cocoa looked like he had some Dachshund in him as he was shaped like a little sausage with a pot belly.  They were both sweetie pies.  

Jesus came to live with us on Christmas Eve after Cocoa died in April of 2005.  He was a total character.  He walked into our house when we brought him home like he never lived anywhere else.  He and Petie never really got along all that well.  They only tolerated each other.

Chihuahuas are really wonderful dogs.  I think they have a bad reputation as yappy, obnoxious ankle-biters.  They are actually very loyal, sweet and loving dogs.  I think the yappy idea comes from the fact that they are very protective of their people.  If you ever want a dog that loves to curl up on your lap and snuggle or if you like your dog to be silly and make you laugh, check out a Chihuahua!

Of course, all five of my followers are quite familiar with Saffron, so this Chihuahua-lovin' tribute post will end with a shot of her.  This picture is the aftermath of Saffy versus Time Magazine.  One guess who won!

I finished the first Twisted Flower sock today.  It's a little tight on my foot, so I've decided to give the pair away when I'm finished.  I was thinking about making gifts for my yoga instructors as a thank you for helping me lose all the weight.  I have three skeins of Classic Elite Alpaca Sox and will make a pair of socks for each of my instructors.  I'm glad to have even a small goal to work towards!

Saffy and I took another long walk today.  It was a beautiful day.  I would have worn shorts if I had any that fit.  We met lots of new people and Saffy made a new dog friend named Gracie.  She is a very sweet dog.  She's some sort of pit bull or bull terrier.  She was so excited to see Saffy.  She is very friendly (she even let me give her a tummy rub) so hopefully we will run into them again on our walks.

In first grade, I was in a lower reading group than all my friends.  So, I went to the local library and checked out the higher level reading book and spent all weekend learning the whole book.  The following Monday, I went to school and told my teacher that I could read the whole book and should be in the higher reading group.  She had me read for her and put me in the reading group with my friends.  

Now that I am a grown-up, I wish I knew what happened to that very determined little girl who didn't want to get left behind.  It's not so much that I feel left behind, I just have no idea what I want.  I don't know what I want to do with my life.  I'm getting in shape and taking care of myself which is all good, but now what?  I don't know what job I want and I don't know what career I want.  I have a bachelor's degree in Sociology with a concentration in women's studies, I've been a supply specialist in the Army, an events coordinator and a stock broker.  I have no clue what's going to be next and I kind of wish I could figure it out.

Sorry if I freaked anyone out with yesterday's post.  You all have had a little glimpse into Diana's crazed psyche.  

Today is Easter.  As with most other holidays, my husband and I don't really celebrate Easter.  We live far from our families, have no kids, and have friends who celebrate with their own families leaving us on our own for most major holidays.  We just hung out and worked on cleaning up the house today.  We only got a little bit done, but a little is better than none at all.  This week, my goal is to clean my craft room.  I have a friend coming to visit at the beginning of June and don't really like the thought of having to do major cleaning right before she comes.  I'll have to make sure the house is toddler-proof as she is bringing her 3 year old son and her 2 year old son.  I think Saffy will enjoy the visit as she will have lots of people to chase her.

If you celebrate Easter, I hope you had a wonderful holiday.

Sometimes, my mind works in mysterious ways.  Recently I was wondering if I lost a limb, depending on how much it weighed, would I still be considered overweight?  I thought that one leg would be a good option (like I would be able to choose) because I would retain my height and it would weigh more than my arms.  I brought this topic up at a knitting group and one of the other girls said she thought they probably have an adjusted BMI chart for people with missing limbs.  We just don't know about it.  They probably use body measurements, but it was an interesting thought.  Believe me when I say that I am not trying to be offensive to people with missing limbs, I just wonder.

In the same vein, last night I was talking to Patrick and I told him that his being home makes my heart smile.  In my mind, when I picture my heart smiling, it is spreading arms wide open.  Yes, I actually imagine the things I say are really happening and in this scenario, my heart has arms.  I told him about my heart arms and wondered if my heart would be able to smile if it didn't have arms.  Then I wondered if I would be able to smile if I didn't have arms.  I thought I wouldn't be able to smile immediately after I lost my arms, but maybe I would after I had time to get used to the situation.  I then started imagining life without arms.  Life without arms would be very hard.  I pictured myself eating a grilled chicken salad at the Texas Roadhouse (my thought scenarios are very specific) with the dressing on the side.  I have to be VERY specific about asking what I want on my salad because I wouldn't be able to eat around it and I wouldn't be able to dip my fork in the dressing like I usually do.  After that thought, I wondered what body modifications I could make in myself to make being armless easier and I came up with a snout and dog teeth.  I would also have to have a very strong neck so I could lift things up with my dog teeth.  I imagined myself trying to feed the birds by chewing holes in the bag of birdseed (much like Saffy does) and picking up the bag in my teeth and then shaking my head violently to scatter the seeds about.  That's about as far as I went thinking about being armless with dog teeth, but I will probably continue the thoughts at a later time.  

In not so bizarre news, Patrick and I are having a date night at Harlow's Pub in Peterborough.  We haven't been there in months and months and I have been jonesing for their chicken quesadilles with homemade vegetarian black bean refried beans.  Yum.  They also have great beer on tap, so it should be a nice time.  

This past week I've been watching a lot of Buffy The Vampire Slayer.  I've watched the complete first two seasons and about 6 episodes of season three.  After repeated watchings, it is definitely easier to pick the good episodes from the not-so-good.  In season one, my favorite episodes are "The Pack" and "The Puppet Show."  The former for hyena-Xander and the eating of Principal Flutie and the latter because I love how the opposite of what you expect is true and the excellent "Oedipus" performance by Buffy, Willow and Xander at the end.  I tend to like the stand alone episodes in the early seasons better than the ones focusing on the Big Bad.  In season two, I am partial to "School Hard" (introduction to Spike and Drusilla, yay!), "Ted," and "Go Fish."  Season two is not my favorite season.  I think there is too much Buffy and Angel angst, but then I was never a big Buffy/Angel shipper.  Season three is my all-time favorite season with my all-time favorite episode, "Band Candy."  I just love watching the adults act like teenagers and can only imagine how much fun they had shooting that episode.  I love when Joyce is looking at the coat in the shop window and says, "It's soooo Juice Newton!"  I was also a major Joyce/Giles shipper after seeing the episode.  

I'm not a big reviewer-type person.  I've just been having some thoughts about Buffy and felt like sharing.  

In other news, I have officially verified that Saffy is the eater of the birdseed as I caught her red-pawed.  She was chewing on a sunflower seed with millet stuck to her nose.  It was very cute.

Patrick is home, so I am very happy!  Have a great weekend.

Today was Weight Watchers. I was down 2 pounds for a total of 34. I'm about halfway to my goal of 69 pounds. I got some new pants a couple of weeks ago and they are already getting baggy. I'm going to be wearing 12's in no time!  I think when I reach my goal weight, I'll be wearing either an 8 or 10.  

It was a beautiful day.  I took Saffy for our longest walk yet.  We walked about 2 miles.  She totally passed out when we got home, but I honestly believe she could have walked further.  I know I was pretty tired out!

I've also been working on my Twisted Flower sock.  I am almost done with the first one.  I decided to officially frog the Absinthe sock once I figure out what I want to do with the yarn.  I think the pattern is beautiful, but it just isn't for me.  Good thing Knitty.com is chock full of gorgeous, free sock patterns!

Nothing new or exciting happened today.  I guess I am not going to Maine this weekend.  Patrick said he'd rather come home.  I still miss him lots when he is gone.

Gratuitous Saffy shot since I don't really have a whole lot more to say.

When I was a senior in high school, the Spring play was this crazy, made-up, sketch show about equality and diversity.  Everyone in the play was white except one Hmong girl so we had to interpret "diversity" as different types of personalities.  It was called "The World As We Know It."  It had everything: interpretive dance, a clarinet duet, attempted suicide by a call-in radio host, and me and my brother.  My brother was a freshman and until we were in the play together, I didn't really get along very well with him.  In short, he drove me nuts.  Doing the play together did succeed in bringing us closer together and as lame public service message about getting along, I guess it did it's job.  We weren't bff's or anything, but we were definitely more tolerant of each other.  

In 1997, my brother and his then-wife had their first son, Darren.  I was honored to be asked to be his godmother.  I was in the Army at the time and the baptism was when I came home on leave before going to my permanent duty station.  I believe that Darren's birth was what really matured my brother.  I can't point to what made me an adult, but I really think that his son is what made Aaron.  Ever since then, we are much closer.  I'd even call us friends.  He has a wonderful wife, two terrific sons and a beautiful one-year-old daughter and I feel blessed to have him as a brother.  

Here we are last year, celebrating his 30th birthday.  Happy Birthday little brother!

What a miserable rainy day it was!  After yoga, I came home, showered and made lunch.  Because it was so yucky out, to cheer myself up, I watched the first season of Buffy.  That's really all that happened today.  

Saffy has taken up eating birdseed.  She has been chewing holes in the bag that we use to fill our bird feeders.  Patrick thought it might have been a mouse, but I think a mouse would have been much more destructive and left behind droppings.  There are no droppings anywhere.  I'm quite impressed that Saffy is actually cracking open the sunflower seeds and eating out the inside.  She is a talented little puppy.  When it stops raining, I might actually fill the bird feeders and give the food to its rightful owners.

Boring post for a gray day.

Today was a nice day.  I got up around 9am and watched some Animal Planet.  Patrick got up around 10 and told me to get dressed so we could go out for breakfast.  We ended up going to the Red Arrow Diner which recently opened up in Milford.  It's pretty good and not too expensive.  Not the best healthy choices though.  I have to count my points carefully when we eat there!

I thought it was going to rain all day, but to my surprise, it was sunny and in the 50's.  I took Saffy for a long walk when I got home and then sat with Patrick and watched TV.  There was woodpecker in the woods at the side of our house all afternoon going to town on one of the dead trees.  It was very relaxing.  Around 4pm, Patrick started packing up and getting ready to head back to Maine.  He decided he wanted to take a short walk with me and Saffy before he left.  We had a great time.  Saffy was soooo happy!  She was chasing leaves and greeting everyone we came across.  She is definitely happiest when Patrick and I are both with her.  It was a good end to a too-short weekend.

To close, a nice shot of my beloveds:

I haven't been knitting too much lately.  I finished a pair of Jaywalker socks for myself two weeks ago.  I used the Opal Rainforest yarn my mom bought me for Christmas.  I think they turned out very cute:

Last week I cast on for Absinthe and I am about halfway through the first sock.  It is my first toe-up sock and I really don't think I like it very much.  I got halfway through the foot and ended up ripping the whole thing out because I messed up on the cables.  Now I am contemplating ripping out the entire thing.  I'm just not feeling it and the idea of having to knit the second sock really doesn't do it for me.  I have to come up with another pattern to use with the Flat Feet I'm using for Absinthe.

I've also been working on Cookie A's Twisted Flower pattern.  It's a beautiful and very well-written pattern like all of Cookie A's patterns.  It is slow going though.  I have only been working on it when I go to my knitting group on Tuesday mornings and I just started the heel flap on the first sock.  

In general, I've been feeling a bit out of sorts lately.  Patrick being gone so much is really wearing on me.  I'm pretty lonely during the week and the time I spend with him on the weekends is just not enough for me.  I try to keep busy and now that it's spring, I will be getting out more often.  This past winter, of all the winters we've spent in New Hampshire, had really inspired me to hibernate.  I just did not want to get out of the house more than once a day.  I'm glad winter is over.  Hopefully, I will be able to see Patrick more often some day soon.

Just a short post today.  I went to yoga this morning and about halfway through class I developed a miserable headache.  I took a nice long nap this afternoon, but haven't been able to get rid of it.  I just feel tired, weak and ooky.  I hope I'm not coming down with something.

Today was Weight Watchers and I am down another .8 for a total of 32 pounds.  I really love my meeting, there are some awesome crazy older ladies there and they crack me up.  Today, one of them told me I was looking foxy.  I also arranged to start walking with another lady in my meeting that I know from my LYS.  It will be nice to get out of the house and spend time with other people.  I've been realizing lately how lonely I've been.

I went to Target today and discovered that they had Wii Fit in stock, so I picked one of those up.  I decided that it was our anniversary present.  That was my way of justifying spending money we don't necessarily have.  I did enjoy my hula hooping today and was happy that my Wii Fit age is 32 which is younger than I really am.  Yay me.

Surprises

Ever since I was a little girl, I have loved surprises.  Not the "jump out at you and scare the crap out of you" scary-type of surprises, but the surprise party awesome type of surprises.  I never got a surprise party (would love one someday, btw) but my grandparents surprised me pretty good when I was little.  I remember sleeping over at their house and the next morning, Grandpa announced that we were going to go for a ride in the car.  We all piled in and drove and drove and drove.  Suddenly, in the distance, I saw a roller coaster!  I asked my grandpa if we could go there and he said, "sure!"  I couldn't believe it!  I was so excited to get to go to Great America.  To this day, this is one of the best memories I have.  It was amazing.  I recently found out that when I was little, I would get so excited that I would make myself physically ill, so they couldn't tell me about the trip without risking me getting a high fever.  My husband picks on me about this now.  "Don't get too excited or you'll get a fever!" he tells me.

Since I started Weight Watchers, Patrick had promised me surprises for every ten pounds I lose.  Until Saturday, I hadn't reaped any of the benefits of this promise in spite of losing over 30 pounds.  Saturday, Patrick scheduled me a haircut.  I haven't had my hair cut in almost a year, so it was overdue.  Here's my before (looking skinny):

And my smokin' hot post-haircut shot:

Happy April!

I signed up for April NaBloPoMo so I will be posting every day in April.  

As promised, here is what I received in the scavenger hunt swap:

Something Local is wool and silk handspun from a local spinner and Something Related to the Letter "M" is Malabrigo sock yarn.

Something Hard is a fun fur blanket for Saffy.  She called it hard because it was a pain in the butt to knit.

Something Purple is cotton wash clothes and Something Recycled is a reusable grocery bag.

Something Funny is two magic yarn balls in Minnesota Vikings colors.  As a born and raised cheesehead, I am a Green Bay Packer fan through and through.  The first picture is the before and the second is the unwrapped after.

Something Dotted is a water bottle.

Last but not least is Sender's Choice, which was my favorite.  A felted bag.

Thanks to my swap partner for the best swap ever!

Sorry I have been such a slacker about posting here.  I think about it a lot, but never do it.  The last month has been pretty much the same old thing.  I have upped my yoga to four days a week and am really seeing the results.  I am now down over 30 pounds!  35 is halfway to my goal weight, so I am getting close to the halfway mark.  

Patrick and I just had a nice weekend.  Our 10th anniversary was on Friday, so he took the day off work and we had a great long weekend together.  Friday night we went to see "I Love You, Man," which was very funny.  We also bought some beautiful filet mignons which Patrick grilled on Saturday night.  Saffy got a couple of pieces since it was her 1st birthday.  Today we watched some DVDs before Patrick left to go back to Maine.  It was a great weekend and I was very sad to see him leave.

In crafty news, I just finished up a swap on Craftster.org.  It was a scavenger hunt swap.  We had eight categories and had to come up with an item for our partner for each category.  It was a yarn-based swap, so at least five of the items had to be yarn related.  Here's what I sent my partner:

Something Local is Reclaimed Cashmere from a local spinner.

Something Purple is a neckwarmer and a pair of fingerless mittens.

Something Recycled is a pouch made out of recycled grocery bags.  It took me almost a month!

Something Hard is sock yarn and sock needles since my partner thought knitting socks was really hard to do.

Something Funny is a fun fur pattern book.

Something related to the letter "M" is stitch markers.

Something dotted is some notecards.

And finally, Sender's Choice is a spring-y necklace that I made for my partner.

I'll post what I received in the swap in my next post.  I believe that I really lucked out in this swap as both of us were extremely happy with everything we received.  

Yesterday morning I had a really awesome yoga class.  It was the first time that I did Chaturanga Dandasana off my knees for the entire class.  Basically it is the down part of the push-up which you need to do without plopping your entire body on the ground.  It requires lots of upper body strength and control.  Usually I drop to my knees because I feel it is more important to keep proper form during one's yoga practice than it is to try to do the poses "the proper way" and end up doing them half-assed.  Yesterday I was feeling strong.  The entire class went by quickly and it was the type of practice that felt completely effortless.  I was going deeper into poses than I ever have before and not feeling it.  I was in the yoga-zone.  It was awesome.  Unfortunately, my mood changed rapidly after class and I was just in a miserable mood.  There's quite a bit of stress going on in my personal life right now and that was weighing on me.  I am very glad that yoga, at least, probably prevented my mood from being even worse.

I bought Patrick and I tickets to see Stephen Lynch in Boston for his birthday and last night was the show.  We had tickets for the 10:30 show (which is past my bedtime, but the earlier show was sold out).  For dinner, we decided to stop at the Burlington Mall and go to Johnny Rockets for burgers instead of going to one of the expensive, crowded places downtown.  It was a good choice, I haven't had a hamburger since October and this one was mighty tasty!  I should be able to go a while longer without having another just based on how delicious it was.  After dinner we hung out at the mall for a bit.  I haven't been to a mall for about two months.  It was crazy.  We don't have any full length mirrors so I haven't seen what my body looks like since I've lost the weight.  Plus, I tried on some clothes and I fit in a Large--no X's at all!  That was exciting.  I swear every time I passed a full length mirror I stopped to check myself out.  I'm such a dork.  

The show was awesome.  It was so funny.  I laughed so hard I had tears streaming out of my eyes.  I can't believe how lucky we got with parking.  We found a spot RIGHT IN FRONT of the theater.  If you have ever been to Boston, or the downtown area of any big city, you will understand how incredibly rare this is.  We didn't get home until about 2:30 am.  

Today, I slept in and took the Beetle and the truck to get inspected.  That's about it.  

In crafty news, I made Saffy a sweater last week while watching the Oscars.  She likes it and looks adorable in it:

  

Happy 100th Post!  Yay!  I never thought I'd make it.

Lots of pictures to post today.  First, I finished my Mingus socks.  The picture is of them still in progress, but they are finished now:

And a close-up of the stitch pattern:



Here's the in-progress Eastscarf:



I love the way the Malabrigo is working with the pattern. The slight color variations in the yarn really help to make the pattern pop. I constantly have other knitters ask me if the pattern is difficult and they don't believe me when I tell them it's very easy. I am actually to the section of the scarf which is a 6-row repeat so it is pretty boring now.

In my previous post, I mentioned that I reached my 10% goal at Weight Watchers. Here's the keychain that I got for that achievement:



I am amazed at how well Weight Watchers is working for me. I am so happy that I finally realized that losing weight intelligently was not something I could do on my own. What I love about it is that the program teaches you how to eat in the real world and shows you how to live in the real world without depriving yourself of things you love. For Valentine's Day, Patrick and I went to the Bedford Village Inn for dinner. I had a caesar salad, foie gras encrusted filet mingnon, and strawberry amaretto mousse. I was able to eat the entire meal within the parameters of the plan and I don't feel guilty about any of it. Knowing my body, I will have a larger loss this week than usual in spite of that meal! I also really like the Weight Watchers e-tools. They have great recipes. A couple of weeks ago, I made a delicious black bean soup which ended up more like a stew:



That soup lasted me a whole week. I like to try a new recipe every now and then. It's nice to do during the week when Patrick is gone so if it doesn't work out, I don't have to subject him to my experiments.

Back in the craft world, I sold a necklace on Etsy last week, so that was a pleasant surprise.  I am also working on a commissioned bracelet.  I am getting close to being finished with that.  There's a lot of sawing silver involved so I'll be glad when it's done!  In fact, I should get back to work.  

Thanks for all the support and I look forward to sharing my next 100 posts!