Too much sock knitting

That must be the problem. I tried to work some more on the heel flap last night but my hands just kept cramping up. I'll bet if I could practice more doing Continental knitting that might help the problem. Even though I was very keen on finishing the heel flap I just couldn't do it and instead picked up the Rockstar and worked a few rows on that. I have thirteen more rows to go before I start the armhole decreases. And that is going to take some concentration because I haven't written those instructions out and since it's only 26 stitches on each end I might just read the charts. That's slow going. I hate charts.

I was all set to ride in today but the weather took a turn and when I got up it was foggy and very very cold with frost on the grass. I won't ride when it's below freezing. It's just not worth the pain. I'll just have to run extra hard at lunchtime today to make up for my sloth.

Big weekend coming up. A million and one errands tomorrow, including getting my dirty little Tink to the groomers. Dinner for S's birthday on Saturday night and Sunday is Super Bowl and we're having a few people over. I might have to come into work a little late Monday.

It is lighter

Yes it is. I really could notice it this morning on the way in. It wasn't raining but it wasn't cloudless either and still I wasn't riding in the dark. Niccccce.

Yesterday I had an awesome run at lunchtime. Four more "training" runs before the race February 8. I don't want to jinx it but if I keep this up I will for sure have a PB. That's pretty exciting ... well, for me anyway.

'Lost' was on last night so there wasn't much knitting done. I finished up the foot portion of my socks and started on the heel flap. I am loving this yarn, dyed by an ex-Secret Pal, Jen. It's soft and the colors are so beautiful! You should check out her Etsy Shop.

Finished!!

Wow! I finished "Sizzle"!! No pictures because I haven't blocked it yet. I wanted to bring it in to show at noon knitting today and I'll block it tonight. If I had knit the smallest size I would have been able to squeak by with the 5 skeins I had. Since I opted to go up a size I ended up having to use a skein from another dye lot for the trim which is only two rows on each arm hole and four around the neck!! It's not bad though - the other dye lot - since it's the trim with a lot of texture. I tried it on and indeed it is a little big around the ribs. As I said, the shaping is just beautiful and on the whole it is a very pretty garment. Maybe when it's blocked I can squish it in a little bit. I think I'd like to make it again in a smaller size. I think I'd do it in the round just to keep the purling at a minimum.

I received the "French Girl Knits" book from Interweave Press yesterday. That was fast! Unfortunately I wasn't bowled over by the designs. Nothing really jumped out at me but there were a few designs in there with potential.

Now that I have the "Sizzle" monkey off my back I'm going to concentrate on the Rockstar Jacket. It's Super Bowl weekend and we're having a party so I won't be knitting on Sunday, and Saturday is my DH's birthday and I've got a million and one errands to run plus dinner Saturday night but maybe I can knit on it then for a little while. And I'll have Thursday and Friday evenings as well. Tonight is "Lost". No knitting that I have to concentrate on, for sure!

If I said "more snow" would you believe me?

It is Seattle, after all. We're not known for our snow but yes, it is indeed snowing again. As luck would have it (this time, at least) Seattle is in the snow shadow so all we're seeing right now is a very fine snow which should turn to rain later today. I drove in, obviously. I wanted to ride my bike but I learned the hard way that the wind chill is too much to handle when it's freezing plus it's too dangerous to bike in the snow with all those hills in the morning.

I did have another great run yesterday afternoon and I'm hoping that the snow will have turned to rain by noon-ish today so I can have another one. It's two weeks to the first race I've signed up for and I am feeling very strong and believe there's a possibility that I may set a personal best at the Love 'em or Leave 'em run February 8. Friday and Sunday I ran around my neighborhood and my Sunday run was right after eating breakfast, when I've got lots and lots of energy -- well, "lots" meaning that my stomach isn't growling which is what it's like for me on week days at work. That made a big difference in my energy, as you may imagine. There are so many hills around my house as well, which makes the run more of a work out than here, which is on the trail and mostly flat. The Feb. 8 race is on a flat track, around the lake, but I believe there will be some elevation at the St. Paddy's Day Dash. I know they have changed the course but I'm pretty sure it's mostly uphill from the Seattle Center to the Aurora Bridge. If it's at the beginning of the race I'm okay but if it's in the middle or near the end, disaster for my time.

While I had plans to pick up and knit the sleeve bands on Sizzle last night, I opted out and instead worked on the socks. I want to do that tonight. I'm really keen to see this top finished. It's really nice. Makes me see all over again why I love love love that yarn (Ella Rae Shibu) so much!

The noise

There is a noise in my office. I believe it's caused by the vibrations made in the duct now that the heating/air conditioning is working again. So I'm no longer sweating like a pig but I am being slowly driven INSANE by this noise!! I asked for some help. I am hopefully that something can be done about it because it is so nerve wracking and distracting!! No wonder I get more work done at home than I do here -- I have natural light and no f*$#@ing noise!! I did have a wonderful day Friday. I made huge strides in my program. I got it to ask for what category of question one wants to make, and if you put in a new category it writes it to the database(!!!) and then you are presented with a form to write a new question. If you choose a category that already has questions in it, those questions are shown so that you don't write another one that is too like a previous one. Sounds simple but I am thrilled that I got that far. Next step - get the program to accept and write out the new question. I could get a good start on that today if I don't start bleeding from the ears from this noise!!!

Got some good knitting done as well this weekend. Friday evening I finished up the pedicure socks and got all the ends woven in. And I measured out and divided the last skein of matching yarn for Sizzle. Saturday and Sunday I worked on Sizzle and finished up the body and yes, I had just enough yarn!! I got it all seamed up and next step is to pick up stitches and knit the sleeve bands and the neck band. Unfortunately I tried it on and I am kicking myself for not knitting the smallest size. I was afraid it would be too tight across the chest and since it has good shaping in the pattern thought that the other size would be better. But I tried it on and it seems to be a little large, which means it's probably going to be too loose for my sister. I will put the trim on it anyway and block it. Who knows, she may want it and if not I'll keep it. I don't wear my tops quite as tight as she does.

Also I cast on for another pair of socks using the lovely yarn I bought ages ago from a old secret pal, Knitting Like Crazy. I love the colors -- purples and browns .. I think it's called "Enchanted Forest". Really nice. I am just doing a plain toe-up but I may incorporate a little cable or something just for fun.

Saturday I needed to shop for S's birthday gift, although I did find something on the internet for him but I'm not entirely sure it'll be here in time so I wanted a back-up gift. I had gone through my clothes and found that I am able to wear all of my jeans! Yay me!! So to celebrate I went out and bought a couple things -- a really cool pair of embellished jeans and a few tops. And Sunday I went through my closet and got rid of some "fat" pants and a few shirts and sweaters that I don't wear. Not as much as I wanted to get out of there but it's a start.

No wonder I go crazy in February

Clouds, fog, more snow predicted for this weekend. No wonder I always want a vacation in February. It's dismal around here!! The good news is that I can tell it's getting a teensie bit lighter day by day.

I am working from home today. I've got a big programming project I am tackling. Learning PHP programming by myself, from a book. NOT easy. I got so frustrated yesterday. I couldn't stop thinking about it last night and it took me ages to get to sleep. I believe I have a solution to one of my problems and so I will tackle that first thing. I have to keep thinking of this project in little bites rather than thinking of the whole entire package or I will go nuts for sure. One little step at a time is the key to success. And I was sure I had step one done only to find a stumbling block yesterday and now I have to start all over. My husband is working in his shop today so that leaves me with a nice quiet house and I should be able to get lots done. Fingers crossed!!

Still haven't finished the pedicure socks. I'm working on the cuff ribbing and the yarn keeps on coming. Those little balls have a surprising amount of yarn on them! I only wish now I had made the foot a bit longer but had I done them top down I wouldn't have known how tall to make the cuff so .... there ya go. Next time I will know. And since I love Koigu so much it's super nice to know I can get a decent pair out of one skein. In fact, if the cuff is long enough I will know that I can get a short pair of whole socks out of one skein ... yeah.

Still hoping to resurrect the Sizzle this weekend. I don't have much else going on except to shop for my husband's birthday gift. And I might be able to get that on line.

So much better

Yeah ... I drove in today. The thermometer was showing about 30 degrees this morning and there was ice on the banister on the front porch. AND foggy still. We have a burn ban again - I don't know how many days in a row it's been. Lucky for us we have a gas fireplace. And lucky for me I don't still live in my little house because I used to use my wood fireplace a lot during this time of the year. So I gave up biking, I'll run at lunch and I'm nice and comfy right now instead of thawing out.

Yesterday evening was the premier of the new season of 'Lost' so there wasn't much knitting done. I did finish up the gusset decreases and work on the cuff of the pedicure socks for the first hour during the re-cap episode, but once the new stuff started I quit knitting so I didn't miss a thing! Surprisingly I'm going to have plenty of yarn to make a decent leg on the pedi socks. I am using just one skein of Koigu and it's going to be plenty. That's nice to know.

I really do want to pick up my 'Sizzle' again since I'm going down to see my sister in a few weeks and it would be nice to be able to give it to her. When I finish these socks I will measure out the rest of the matching yarn and see if I can finish up the fronts without having to change to a different dye lot. If I can't then I won't give it to her because there is too much of a difference. It won't be bad if I just the other dye lot for the trim but I can't just switch it up on the shoulders because it would be ugly.

Just in case you ever wondered ...

Here's a time saving tip. If the thermometer is reading below freezing, say 29 degrees, it is too cold to ride a bicycle. OMG!!! What was I thinking??? Despite the extra tights and scarf over my face and glove liners and fleece headband to cover my ears I still was freezing!! Half way in my hands were numb and hurting so badly. I didn't know whether to pull over and throw up or just start crying. I nixed the crying because I was afraid the tears would freeze on my face. Holy crap! I've been here at work now for almost 45 minutes and still my legs are cold. And I've changed out of my bike clothes!! I should have driven and believe me, next time it's this cold in the morning I will. Maybe if it hadn't been foggy as well .... or even a few degrees warmer. Yesterday it was like oh ... something over freezing and it was cold and uncomfortable but I didn't feel like I was going to throw up from it!

The temperature in my office is now seasonally appropriate so today I get to wear my lovely Shibu shrug. The only complaint I have about this yarn is that I get little silk slubs on my clothes from it. But the drape is wonderful.

I took it kind of easy on my hands last night and only knit for about an hour on the pedicure socks. I've brought them in for noon knitting today where I should be able to finish up the gusset decreases and whatever yarn is left over will be the leg. These are really going to come in handy.

I made reservations for part one of my February trip yesterday. I've got part 2 all reserved but I needed to get the local stuff nailed down. I reserved two nights in McMinnville, Oregon - February 14th and 15 and also managed to get reservations for Valentine's night dinner at a wonderful little French restaurant in McMinnville. Sunday we'll so do wine tasting down there in the Willamette Valley and on Monday we'll drive up to Long Beach, Washington and stay on the coast for a couple days. I got the same place we had last year about that time only this time I don't plan on being sick as a dog! That was the beginning of that horrible 8 weeks of whatever the heck that plague was last year.

A new bad experience

I know I have repeatedly complained that my hands hurt sometimes when I knit too much. However, I have never before been awakened out of a deep sleep because of it. That is until Sunday night. Saturday I did nothing but laze around and knit on the Rockstar. I didn't finish up the back but I got some very good work done on it. I finally got around to getting a little scale calibrated and I divided a skein of Koigu into two equal balls to make my first pair of pedicure socks. I was excited about it and while I watched the football game I had recorded (dang -- Arizona won, which means I have to root for the Steelers in the Super Bowl) I cast on and started the pedicure socks. On Sunday, after my run and washing my dirty little dog I sat down to watch the other football game and I finished up the foot part and started on the heel flap. The heel flap means purling and I guess I just overdid it because I woke up in such pain! It was a sharp shooting pain. I finally got up and took a Naproxen, which thankfully did the trick and I was able to rest. Did I knit on Monday or rest my hand? What do you think -- I finished up the heel flaps, turned both heels, picked up the gussets and got half way through the gusset decreases. My hand is fine. Weird.

Yesterday we had the day off for MLK day and S and I enjoyed the beautiful sunny weather and went down to the Pike Place Market for some shopping and a lovely lunch at Maximilien's Restaurant, a very French place. It was just yummy and the produce we bought down there was fantastic, of course. It was a lovely lovely day. Tinkie then got a nice walk when we got home and I got to knit some more. Nice weekend.

And of course today is a day to remember. S has a couple of friends over watching the inauguration on the big screen. I had to miss that but it's okay. I imagine I will get to see plenty of it. I really bundled up for my ride in today and the trail was practically empty. Nobody passed me coming my way and I only saw a few walkers and runners and maybe 5 bikes going the other way toward me. It was foggy and very cold. I dressed for it this time though - I had my face covered, extra tights on under my regular tights and a warmer shirt plus extra gloves. I was fine except it was hard to see through the fog. It's a loooooong winter. At least it's dry.

Well that just hurt!!

Wow. It is cold outside! I was in serious pain all the way in to work this morning. I had to stop and put on another pair of gloves underneath my regular ones because my fingers were getting numb! I've been in my office now for 45 minutes and my face is still cold to the touch. I can feel the tea as it makes it way down to my stomach. No record breaking speed today, that's for sure.

Last night I wove the ends in on the Noro socks and two pair of other ones that had been languishing in my socks basket. A pair of Crusoe made from Koigu and another pair of socks that was my first try at toe-up but with a short-row heel which I didn't like because it left gaps. Both of these sock yarns are also NOT superwash and if you think I'm washing my socks by hand ... well, hah! So I figured I'd go ahead and weave in those ends and I'll wash them in the washer and just make sure they don't go through the dryer. I didn't get around to measuring the left over Noro sock yarn so didn't cast on for pedicure socks and quite frankly I was just too groggy to knit on the Rockstar so after I finished my little weaving project I just watched TV and fell asleep at 9:30. Slept great, too!

Besides start some pedicure socks this weekend I'm going to try to finish off the back of the Rockstar and maybe, just maybe, cast on for the sleeves. We shall see. I have a long weekend but also have some projects to do around the house. Santa brought me a lovely HUGE external hard drive and so I'm going to move all my iTunes stuff (8 gigs of TV alone!) off my laptop and onto the hard drive. And then I'm going to buy more. wheee! Oooo .... I was telling my DH last night how blazing fast my friend Steve's new 3G iPhone is. We were up at his house on Sunday for a party and I was downloading some apps onto his phone for him and I was astonished at how fast it is. His wife was one of the very first to get an iPhone and hers is now almost 2 years old. She says his is WAY faster than hers. Mine is coming up on 1 year old and I want ... no, I need a bigger one. I was too anxious to wait a few days for the 16 gig version because I was sure 8 would be enough. Hah! and double hah! I want a 3G 32 gig version. I guess I could live with a 16.

An evening of LOST knitting

In preparation for the start of LOST on next Wednesday there were 3 hours of enhanced episodes last night. I thought it was only two and at 10 o'clock was ready for bed. S stayed up to finish watching but I couldn't keep my eyes open.

I finished the Noro socks last night. Still have to weave in the cuff and toe ends. As I suspected, they are just too bulky and too hot to be socks and will instead have to live out their lives as slippers. I think Noro sock yarn is more better suited to gloves or arm warmers or a wrap. Or if you were a sandals and socks person I guess they would work. I am pretty sure there is enough left over for pedicure socks. We'll soon find out.

It's still quite chilly but, thankfully, dry! I really noticed on my ride home last night that it's staying light longer. The trail is not pitch black at 4:30 any longer and that makes for a much nicer ride home. I wasn't as fast coming in today. I had a wicked bad night last night. Poor Tink -- I always let her outside before bed to take care of business and last night was no different except I did have to go out and physically shoo her in to the house. She was sitting up by the fire pit and didn't want to come in but I was ready for bed and didn't want S to have to chase come down and get her if she started to bark. So I went to bed and fell asleep and she woke me up 3 or 4 times from 11:30 to 2:30 yipping at the slider downstairs. I thought she had just heard something in the back yard and wanted to go investigate but by the 3rd or 4th time, at 2:30, I finally decided that she must have to go finish her business. Sure enough, I let her out for a few minutes and then she was ready to sleep. So I didn't get much rest last night and it was difficult to get out of bed and even more difficult to go out into the cold. I feel okay now but I know I'll sleep like a log tonight!

38 and 39

38 -- minutes it took me to bike in this morning. This is a new record. And I wasn't even trying for it! And 39 ... degrees outside. Talk about wind chill! Dang! My face was frozen. Thankfully I found a couple of guys to draft behind for a while near the end and it cut the wind chill significantly. Unfortunately they were super pokey so I had to go around. But it was nice relief while I had it.

The haircut is a huge success if I do say so myself! Test number one -- I took my bike helmet off, fluffed up the hair and it looks good! We'll see how it looks after a run but for now I am very very pleased. It is quick to dry and hoorah, my curls are back! It was just getting too long. I didn't feel like it ever looked good. I suppose I could have had more layers cut around the face but I was feeling it was time for a change. I don't think I've had it this short since 2000.

I am nearly finished with the Noro socks. I am now working on the leg. Because I made them two different sizes it's like I'm knitting the same pair of socks twice -- which I am! Because Noro sock yarn comes as 400 yards per skein, which is enough for a pair, and I was too lazy to wind out 200 yards of it so I could do two at once, this is the price I have to pay. My friend Peggy, when I told her that story, said something on the order of well, that wasn't much of a time saving, was it? And no, no it wasn't. The few minutes it would have taken me to wind out 200 yards ... *sigh* .... let's just say I won't be making that particular mistake again.

One other thing I love about toe-up socks -- you just knit until you either run out of yarn or until the leg is the right height. I am hoping I'll have enough yarn left over to make a pair of pedicure socks. This is my new thing and don't ask me why, except the last few times I've gone for a pedicure I've wished I had some. That's reason enough I suppose. I was doing a quick little inventory of my yarn last night while I was tidying up my office/yarn room and I've got some nice sock yarn but some only one skein where I'd need two to make a decent sized pair of socks. Perfect for some pedicure socks. In particular I have one skein of Koigu that I originally purchased as trim for Knitty's Tahoe, which I decided again because OMG, look at all that stockinette!! Arghghg! I'd go crazy with boredom. That Koigu would be lovely as a pair of pedicure socks.

I got my little February vacation finalized yesterday. Not exactly what I was hoping for, but my sister got a new job within her company - a horizontal move - but that changed her schedule. Previously she was going to be ready for a vacation February 22 through 28 but now she can't take the time off then. However, I had already made plans and was too invested to have to wait until March(!!) so what I'm going to do is spend most of the first week here with S and we'll go to Oregon and the coast here in Washington and then Thursday I'll fly down to California and spend a long weekend with my sis, then Monday fly to Phoenix and get some sun with my old friend Mikie in Phoenix and then Thursday fly back home and have another long weekend with S. At least I'll be away from home and, with any luck at all, get some sun. Not as good as a cruise or Hawaii but I will be away! And nice thing about my sister's new job -- she goes to London every year in October and next October I'm going to meet her over there for a few days. That'll be niccccceeee.

'Twas a dark and stormy night

Wow .... It rained and rained and blew and blew last night. The sounds of the storm kept waking me up. There were some incredible pictures on the news last night. The flooding around here has been just incredible! By "around here" I mean in the greater Seattle area and up into the mountains, NOT in my neighborhood. With the exception of a few storm drains that are plugged up, we're in pretty good shape. Wish I could say that for other parts of the city. What a mess. Thank goodness there was no rain this morning and I actually got to ride in for a change! Since I never did locate my old Garmin ... heaven only knows where that got to ... I bought a new Forerunner 301 which comes with a wireless heart rate monitor. I got the unit charged up last night but that was about it. I used it to time my ride this morning and later I'll fuss with the settings and, since I'm giving myself a day off of running, I won't be trying out the heart rate monitor until tomorrow. I have a lot of training to do -- the first race I'm signed up for is February 8 - four weeks from now. Which, coincidentally was the LAST race I ran last year. After that I got sick and then ... I never did catch up. I believe this model has a few more bells and whistles than the earlier one.

I knit on my socks last night until my hands hurt. That really makes me mad! Why do my hands hurt?? But I know better than to push it. If I stop when the pain starts then I can knit the next day. If not then I have to take time off, which would be very annoying. So I played Wii sports with S. I am such a geek.

The frustration meter continues to climb

Why? Because I couldn't bike today. It was blowing WAY too hard. So that means another run at lunchtime time today - 3rd day in a row. Thank goodness my knees and ankles are holding up so far. And truly it's not as if I'm a fair weather biker, but it's pitch black when I leave my house, I have to bike on the side of a very busy street before I get to the trail, AND I have to go down some really steep hills. When the weather is super bad it just makes it that much more dangerous (as if biking on the side of the road in the dark with big trucks whizzing past isn't dangerous enough). I could just see myself getting blown into the path of a speeding SUV along Sandpoint Way. Not my chosen way to leave this world. My DH volunteered to drive me in to work today and when I got up at 4 am to answer the call of nature and heard the wind howling outside I decided to take him up on it. I guess the bottom line is that I'd rather be alive and bitching than dead and not.

I frogged the Noro socks last night and re-started, toe-up two at a time (TUTAT). Here's the snag -- casting on both socks using the Turkish method [which I prefer to the figure 8, which leaves gaps]. I have come to the conclusion, after starting over 3 times, that one cannot use this cast on without starting one, taking it off (on a couple of spare DPNs) and starting the other, then slipping the first one back on. I tried several things, none of which worked and now I have one sock with two little inside-out rows at the very beginning of the toe. I will leave it as a reminder that perfection is not always possible -- plus which, okay okay, I just didn't want to start over a 4th time!!

I think the snow made me weak

Biking in was tops on my list of things to do today, especially since I was all psyched up about it Sunday night and had that nasty snow take away my bike ride. However the news kept showing another storm coming in, lots of rain and wind predicted. So when I woke up this morning and heard the rain pelting down on the skylight in the bathroom I threw in the towel and decided to drive AGAIN! By the time I was dressed and walking out the door the rain had stopped and it was only just misting all the way in! I was being a wimp! But oh I didn't want my first ride of the year to be a soaker. It is so uncomfortable for so long. I had it too easy all those years - that little 3 mile ride. I could ride in a gale and it wasn't any big deal because it only took about 12 minutes! But now .... 40 minutes. I've just gotten soft with two weeks off. If it's not pouring and blowing tomorrow morning I'm going to ride!

I was very very very tired yesterday. My cold - if that was what it was - seemed to have pretty much disappeared so I thought I might wake up a bit if I went outside and ran at lunchtime. It was a good run, considering that I had to practically threaten myself to get outside. I knew I would feel better if I got it over with and I did. Especially since I had to drive in. But oh ... when I got home it was all I could do to drag Tink around the neighborhood for 20 minutes. I was so sleepy! I managed to stay up until 9, knitting on my second Noro sock and watching an awesome Fiesta Bowl.

Something very strange happened with these socks though .... and I can't quite explain it but it does make me see that knitting socks at the same time is really the way to go. These two socks are just two different sizes - no other way to say it. I was working on that ribbing and I put sock 1 on my foot and sock 2 on my foot and holy cow! the first one was WAY bigger than the second. You're going to say - didn't you try the first one as you went? And the answer is yes yes yes of course I did! My only explanation for the difference in size, after pondering this mystery, is that I must have given myself too much ease on the foot part of the first sock. When you do toe up construction, in case this is new to you, you knit until the sock just reaches your leg on the top and then you knit back and forth on the bottom heel part, then turn the heel and do the gusset. I must not have been paying close attention and I went too many rows past where it meets my leg, then made the heel too deep causing me to have more stitches to pick up and therefore the heel was taller than it should be, causing it to be bigger. I was measuring just parts of the sock against each other as I went along with sock 2 and hadn't really held them up side by side until last night. Such a rookie mistake! There is a silver lining to this little disaster. Now I can do toe up two at once. I will simply start unraveling the first sock and knitting directly from it and the second one I can just wrap around the left over skein and go from there.

After discovering this travesty I tossed them aside and picked up the Rockstar again. See my little lifelines? I am 70 rows in to the back. I have 40 more rows to go and then I start the armhole decreases. This is going to be so pretty!

Happy New Year!

I was looking forward to a fancy-schmancy party for New Years this year, but things got switched up and we ended up babysitting. It wasn't so bad and since they stayed up late they slept in late as well. I was deep into sock knitting this long weekend. Having finally finished the brown socks I was able to take out my gorgeous Noro sock yarn and get to work. It knits up fast! I finished one sock and I could have finished the other one yesterday evening but my hand was getting sore so I put it down. I may even have enough yarn left over to make some pedicure socks. I want to experiment doing toe-up construction, 2 at a time. If I make pedicure socks at least I can experiment with picking up the gusset stitches. I can do it top down so there's no reason why I can't do it bottom up, is there?

Yesterday I woke up all stuffy and sneezing and thought at first that it was some sort of allergic reaction, but by the late afternoon I realized that it was a cold coming on like gangbusters. I took nighttime cold medicine before crawling into bed and I woke up today feeling just okay. It hasn't gotten any better but, on the good side, hasn't gotten any worse either.

We got another nasty surprise yesterday - more snow! Yes ... MORE SNOW! I couldn't believe it. I had gotten my bike all cleaned up, the tires freshly pumped, and I was SO looking forward to riding in today since it has warmed up and the snow was finally gone from the streets. But that was then. It started last night and we got more than two inches. S had to be downtown this morning at 7 so he was up at 5 and got out no problem. It is warm and so all of that snow is now slush. I couldn't bike but at least I could drive in it and after I got out of the neighborhood it was just fine. Maybe I can run at lunchtime if my cold is not too bad.