Saturday, November 25, 2006

Medifast Diary-Week Two

Yes, I cheated, OK? I had a lovely Thanksgiving dinner in front of me Thursday, and I ate it. But I also cheated yesterday. I drove four hours (by myself) to get home, and I was freakin' starving when I got there, so I ordered takeout from Applebees, got a bottle of wine, and I didn't hold back. So I gained a few pounds back. 3 1/2 to be exact. But now I can get back on track....at least until Christmas.

The pewter coat is on hold for now. Two cable projects was too much for my brain to handle! So I started the moon and stars blanket instead, and am keepin' on with the aran cardigan.

Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving!

Monday, November 20, 2006

A fight to the finish (well, the start, actually)

I have been fighting and fighting with the sweaters for two. days. now. I couldn't get the gauge right on the aran cardigan (even though the gauge swatch was perfect). Then I wanted to start the pewter coat, got the foundation row done--which was really hard because it starts right in the cable pattern, and realized I was using the wrong size needle. Sigh. I'm going to try and fudge it though....I was using a size 9 and I was supposed to be using a size 8. Hopefully my anal-retentiveness won't make me redo the whole thing!

Saturday, November 18, 2006

Medifast Diary-Week One

I cannot freakin' believe it...I lost 10 pounds my first week! I will probably consider killing for fast food for about another week, but I made it through week one. Phew! BTW, I added a ticker at the bottom of the page to show my current weight loss. This weekend I'm going to buy myself a present for doing such a good job..... :)

Taffy is doing much better. Since yesterday she's shown some interest in food, and is eating by herself. This morning she even mewed while I was getting it ready, like she was saying !hurry up!

Wednesday my friends Becky and Linda went to Madison with me to Lakeside Fibers. I was hoping to get some more Dale Baby Ull to start the Star and Moon blankie, but they only had one of the colors I needed. Gah. But then I happened on their wall o' Cascade 220, and I found the perfect heathered shade for my Pewter Coat, so I bought all they had (8 skeins), and still had to order two from WEBS (and now that I think about it, I'll probably need one more). Then we went to The Sow's Ear in Verona where I found two more colors of the Dale Baby Ull I needed (had to order the last color plus needles from WEBS, what a wonderful thing the internet can be!). I spent over $100 on yarn.....it was a good day.

I don't know when I'm going to start the baby blankie because I've started two sweaters (yes, two. I'm nuts). The Pewter coat for li'l old me, and Jack's Aran Cardigan from Men in Knits for Sir B. His is made in a chunky yarn (I'm using Encore Chunky in Stone from Patternworks), so I need to have something to switch to and take a break from that big ol yarn. I've found I much prefer finer-gauge knitting, altho I'm just switching from chunky to worsted-weight.

Yesterday I gifted the Rabbit Baby Set, and she just. loved. it. Here is a photo of the finished pieces:


(click for larger image)

I also included a white teddy bear for her to display the outfit on after the baby outgrows it.

Monday, November 13, 2006

About last week....

I'm still in recovery mode from last week. Not only because of our anniversary get-away and my diet, but on Friday Taffy was diagnosed with diabetes. Now we (read: I) have to give her a shot of insulin every day for the rest of her life. And she's only about 6 1/2 years old. Poor baby, she's been so lethargic, hasn't wanted to eat or drink....nothing. She perked up a little yesterday after her shot, actually jumped on and off the bed a few times (we still don't know how she's doing it, she can barely walk), but all this worrying about her is wearing me out! My heart just aches for this sick little creature, and she is getting "little" now, she's down from 16lbs to 12lbs and she almost looks gaunt.

I have finally gotten back to my knitting, which is good since I need to have this done by Friday! Here is the hat, with only the earflaps to go:

I noticed they didn't seem to adjust the size of the bunny to the size of the hat, because it seems a bit big to me. It's darn cute though.

Saturday, November 11, 2006

Medifast Diary-Day One

From now on, my Saturday posts will document my weight-loss journey. As much as I'd like to beat around the bush on certain things, like my weight, I know I need to be perfectly honest in this "documentation" so it helps me. So here we go...the first step to a better me. The before pictures:




Weight: 282 pounds

Size: 22 jeans, 2XL shirts

Weight-loss goal: lose 100+ pounds

Thursday, November 09, 2006

Lots 'o photos

Sir B and I just got back from our anniversary getaway to the Lazy Cloud Bed and Breakfast in Delavan, WI. Here are some photos of the buildings:



Here are the stairs going up to our room (the "Enchanted Treehouse"):


And our room:



You can't see it in the above photo, but just to the right is a double whirlpool. We had a (pretty) nice, relaxing time. It was only (pretty) nice because Sir B's schedule was still off even though he took two extra days off to try to get back on "regular" time, so he ended up napping alot, which left me...just sitting there. Which I could've done at home. Eh.

We've been to the Lazy Cloud three times now: on our wedding night, first, and second anniversaries. Each time we bought the bear that was in our room, and I tied a champagne cork to its neck with the year written on it. Here are the bears:

Aren't they cute?!


Last but not least.....kitty in a box!

Saturday, November 04, 2006

My aunt sent this to me today, just thought I'd share the....
20 Ways to Maintain a Healthy Level of Insanity

1. At Lunch Time, Sit In Your Parked Car With Sunglasses on and point a Hair Dryer At Passing Cars. See If They Slow Down.
2. Page Yourself Over The Intercom. Don't Disguise Your Voice.
3. Every Time Someone Asks You To Do Something, Ask If They Want Fries with that.
4. Put Your Garbage Can On Your Desk And Label It "In."
5. Put Decaf In The Coffee Maker For 3 Weeks. Once Everyone has Gotten Over Their Caffeine Addictions, Switch to Espresso.
6. In The Memo Field Of All Your Checks, Write "For Smuggling Diamonds"
7. Finish All Your sentences with "In Accordance With The Prophecy."
8. Don t use any punctuation
9. As Often As Possible, Skip Rather Than Walk.
10. Order a Diet Water whenever you go out to eat with a serious face.
11. Specify That Your Drive-through Order Is "To Go."
12. Sing Along At The Opera
13. Go To A Poetry Recital And Ask Why The Poems Don't Rhyme
14. Put Mosquito Netting Around Your Work Area And Play Tropical Sounds All Day.
15. Five Days In Advance , Tell Your Friends You Can't Attend Their Party Because You're Not In The Mood.
16. Have Your Co-workers Address You By Your Wrestling Name, "Rock Bottom".
17. When The Money Comes Out The ATM, Scream "I Won!, I Won!"
18. When Leaving The Zoo, Start Running Towards The Parking lot, Yelling "Run For Your Lives, They're Loose!!"
19. Tell Your Children Over Dinner. "Due To The Economy, We Are Going To Have To Let One Of You Go."

Edit: I had deleted #20, because it just said to forward the email to friends.

Thursday, November 02, 2006

Doin' the finished-project-happy-dance

I'm so proud of myself, I finished the sweater exactly when I said I would. Yesterday. Here is the finished project:

front


back


and inside


I almost can't believe I made this! It turned out SO well, the recipient may end up having to rip it out of my crazy kung-fu grip.

Here is little Lexie stretching after a tough day of napping


And look at this nasty hair-covered cat tree. Lexie likes to climb up to the top, lie down, and spin. If I don't vacuum it every other day, it looks like this, plus now every time she spins, hair comes raining down on the couch. Ick.