Ten on tuesday

Ten things to do instead of watching tv...
1.  Knit
2. Play cards..we like gin rummy.
3. Talk. PC and I have an hour every night where we just chat.
4. Sew.
5. Fire poke. I am camping right now.
6. Work out.
7. Hike....yes, camping.
8. 

-- Sent from my Palm Pre

Fenway or....

Not?  Real football comes to Boston!
And, girl? Them footballers are cute!

-- Sent from my Palm Pre

Ten on Tuesday

This week is 10 things to take on a camping trip... it's like Carole designed it just for me! See, PC and I are heading out on our annual week-long camping trip this weekend (I'll try to smartphone-blog, but bear with me... I might just be too busy, doing nothin').

10 things ....

1. a tent and accoutrements. I spent my childhood camping in both tents & trailers and for those of you who are campground residents, I was a seasonal kid. While we are quickly approaching the age of the camper, PC and I are still loving our tent. Our "summer house," as we call it. You'll need sleeping bags, an air mattress and chairs no matter how you camp, so bring them along too.
   
2. food. I prefer to shop on our way to the destination. There must be hot dogs, potato chips and pancake mix on that list. As I'm on South Beach this year, we might do more eggs than pancakes.
   
3. Beer. We prefer bottles to cans, but there is nothing like a good beer, in front of a nice fire while you stare at the lake. Yup, when camping, "lake watching" is an activity.
4. Books/reading material. PC catches up on all his music industry magazines and this year, I'm packing my Nook. Tonight I'm going to buy 2 more books to add to it.
   
5. Knitting! While PC fishes and smokes a cigar, I'm usually knitting and listening to the radio. One year, I got a whole pair of socks done between the car, the site and the side-trips.
6. More than 1 swimsuit. There is nothing like hanging up your suit to dry and having it still be damp in the a.m. So, I always pack 2. This year I bought tankinis. Why, yes, that South Beach is going well.
   
7. PC. I can't get the tent up without him. He and I are such a well matched pair-- -there is nary a fight or squabble between us when we're camping. Our first ever trip, our friends were engaged and broke up after the trip... PC and I became soulmates. :) Never live with/marry a man you can't put a tent up with.
8. Radio. We have a tradition of listening to ball games while we play cards and eat dinner. It started on a trip 7 years ago on Lake Androscoggin in Maine, but it's continued. I don't like watching baseball, but I like listening to it.
   
9. Camping crap: this is easily defined as "all the stuff we keep in the camp boxes." See, if I said "bring camp boxes" you would have been confused, right? This includes: batteries, flashlights, dishes, utensils, the big knife (think Rambo), rope, trash bags (always, always, always pack out! don't be "that guy" at the campground), bug spray, bug candles, etc...
10. A sense of awe, appreciation and wonder for the world. I am closer to God when I am camping than any other time in my life. I love hearing the lake wake up, the loons sign their children to sleep, and watch the clouds move across the sky. I am closer to PC when we are camping as well. We connect on a level that defeats any petty argument that we've ever had.
    

weather, llamas, and mittens...oh my.

Yup, that's an FO. Branching Out (Susan Lawrence) (Rav link) in Mirasol Miski. It was lovely knit, it's 4 balls of yarn and unblocked. I haven't decided if I'm going to block it, I kind of like it as is. And, since it's a holiday gift, I have a bit until I need to block it. Since today will be in the high 80s and tomorrow, the 90s.... I decided to cast on for mittens.















Yarn: Wisdom Yarns "Poems" which is like a Noro-knock off. It's nice, but it's a single and has some thick and thin pieces.

Pattern: Elizabeth Zimmerman's Mitered Mittens.

Needles: Bamboo US 6 dpns...

Modifications: none! I'm just whizzing along on these... that's 1 hour of knitting last night. I see a great many pairs of mittens ahead of me. I mean, c'mon, if you can make a pair in a weekend, or 2 good nights at knit night, why not?

Now, below... what you can't see is the crazy cat trying to feel the back of the ottoman for the dpns...lol. I kept trying to get a pic of the cat "hand" feeling around for it! When I was done, she came running after me and said "meow?" like "we're done with the photoshoot? you didn't get any pics of me!"

A knitting photo. Yup. I knit. In fact, I'm almost done with this project... it's a scarf for PC's sister (who may be reading, but that's okay).

Pattern: Branching Out (knitty.com)
Yarn: Mirasol Miski

Worsted / 10 ply (9 wpi)

Yardage

82 yards (75 meters)

Unit weight

50 grams (1.76 ounces)

Gauge

18.0 sts = 4 inches

Needle size

US 8 - 5.0 mm

Fibers

100% Llama

Needles: US 10.5 circular bamboo needles
No real modifications besides bumping up the yarn weight and needle size accordingly. For a warm yarn like llama, a lacy scarf is very nice.

















What was that? Oh, the computer-ish thing to the left? Oh, that's my new nook. and I love it. I have been on the e-reader fence for awhile... PC even offered one for Christmas, but it was still too much money and I wanted to see how it all played out in the price wars. And, I think I won. I have the Wifi version (not 3G) and so far, not a problem, I simply download while at my house or Starbucks (anywhere there is free wifi: the airport, the hotel, the Starbucks... my office).

Why the e-reader? I'm traveling more and more these days: I have 1 trip per month until the end of the year (except November). This lets me take my pdf knitting patterns, my books, and some photos with me. It's good for work pdfs, larger texts that I can convert to epub at work and then load, my work trade journals are available epub (some, not all).

Why not the Kindle? I like the B&N interface better. And, I could walk into a store and try it. And I did. Like 900 times. :)

puppies & cupcakes

This weekend was filled with puppies and cupcakes.... the stuffed puppy is the Daniel the Spaniel pattern from Ravelry. Great pattern, no mistakes. I'll be knitting this again soon. :)

Cupcakes were for my favorite 2 year old: Chloe! The Noodle turned two a few weeks back and at her 4th birthday celebration (1 in Romania on vacation, 3 at home here), her favorite Auntie made her "Mickey" cupcakes (well, Minnie really). Oreo 'ears' and twizzler bows completed the look.

South Beach Week 2, Monday
Breakfast: low carb yogurt
1/2 cup blueberries
Lunch: pork tenderloin/1/2 sweet potato/zucchini
cucumbers & hummus
Dinner: pork chops & broccoli w/ cheese
Snack: sugar free popsicles!

-- Sent from my Palm Pre

South Beach re-commit Day 1

Even with the doctor telling me, the medications, etc... I'm too stupid or stubborn (let's go with stubborn) to get out of my own way. So, I have challenged PC to a "contest" of sorts this summer: sticking to our diets from July 4th to Labor Day weekend. Should be simple, right?  Well, we'll see.

A few things you will have noticed about the blog: 1) the weight loss tracker is back, barring it allowing my blog to crash again; 2) the WW point calculator on the side...it's there for PC's use or yours; 3) I'll be posting more often... knitting and cooking and such. So be prepared for the unexpected. Recipes will appear if they are deemed yummy, knitting photos will appear more regularly. I mean, if I can't eat sweets, I have to do something with my hands, right?  What's the contest part? Nothing, really, but if you leave a comment on at least 2 blog posts per week while we're doing this, we'll provide a nice present at the end, I promise.

Here are the "rules":
Mini:

• must stay on SB Phase 1 for 2 weeks (including Chloe's bday party: no cake!) and then volley between Phase II (modified) and Phase I
• must take her medicine, no matter what.
• must start exercising ASAP... even a walk in the a.m. is something. get up and move!
• journal every bite, sip, taste, nibble and emotion. track weight and f/v servings and dairy.
• not bite off PC's head for eating oatmeal

PC:

• must eat WW style, including calculating points and helping create menus
• hit the gym!
• track weight and reduce # of "empty" points (like 100 cal snacks) and move to "real food"

We can do this, right?
Here's my menu today:

• Breakfast:  low-carb vanilla yogurt (1/2 cup), 10 ounces sugar free (sf), nonfat (nf) vanilla latte
• Snack #1:  12 cashews
• Lunch :      1 chicken leg quarter (leg & thigh), no skin, bbq'd with sate seasoning only, 1 ounce reduced fat cheese, 3 cucumbers ( small) and 2 ounces hummus
• Snack #2:  12 ounces iced vanilla latte
  
• Dinner:       grilled steak, steamed veggies and salad greens
• Snack #3:   sugar free lemon jello w/ 1 tbsp cool whip (sf)
  
  

4th of July

As a kid, we were removed from our suburban Boston home with our tvs, radios, etc and sent to a trailer in NH. And we loved it. From the last day of school to the first, we were barefoot and sunburned, playing with friends and creating memories. Some of my favorite memories were of the 4^th of July… fireworks, organized games, new people at the campground (us ‘seasonal’ kids were enamored with new people) and tons of ice cream. My dad usually stayed with us for the whole week (normally he was up Friday night, left Sunday night/Monday morning) and we just loved it. We had a medium sized camper, 3 kids, 2 adults, 2 dogs, 1 4-wheeler, 1 dirt bike, 3 BMX bikes, 2 canoes, 1 motorboat… and a whole summer on the pond.

It shaped who I am and what I will be. I need water in my life. I crave it. So many times I am feeling cagey and stressed and ready to run and I head for water. It calms me. I want to spend my summers with my feet dangling off a dock, looking for fish.

So, today, I start planning. Planning for my ultimate retreat… someplace near the water, someplace in the woods… where a campfire crackles and my heart grows full.

Sometimes I forget what Mom & Dad really gave us when they took us camping for the summer: freedom to be kids, run around, live in our bathing suits, catch frogs & crayfish and learn to swim like fish.

I don’t think I’d trade a hundred Disney vacations for one of those summers, with mom’s blueberry pancakes, begging to “walk around the pond”, visiting FrogLand, and eating marshmallows.

The campground has been turned over to new owners and they will be trying their best to get it up and running, but it’s not going to be the same, and that’s okay… I’m just happy with my memories. Who knows… perhaps PC and I will find our own little slice of heaven in the NH woods… a small seasonal site, with a cracklin’ fire and a view of the lake.

(photos taken from the campground website)

View of the “beach” with the playground in front. First dock is to the right.

Kids in the annual tug-of-war on the 4^th of July at the campground.

Those trees were a sure sign that it was time to pack up the camper for the last time and spend the rest of our weekends at home.