Plan B

Okay, well I've got to face the facts.  I'm not going to be able to just get running again without working up to it.  Too much time has gone by and I am going to have to do what I did when I tore up my ankle ten years ago.  I've got to build up to it gradually.  The thing is that I'm so concerned about hurting myself again that I can't get going enough to build up my muscles.  So to that end I walked over to the IMA, the gym, and got my membership started up again.  This weekend I'm going to get myself some new gym clothes (no I cannot use my running clothes) and gather all of the other little things that one needs to shower in the afternoon and starting Monday I'll start going at lunchtime.  The nice thing about the IMA is that there's an indoor track and tons and tons of machines.  So I can, for example, use the Precor one day, the bike another, and use machines to build up my quads and hamstrings, do upper body work.  I can start out running ONE day a week for 30 minutes.  And inside, so the pollen won't be as bothersome.  And this way at least I'm doing something! 

Today it's going to be a long walk up to get Tink some food and maybe get a nice salad from TJ's.  It's raining hard today but we're supposed to have a nice sunny weekend.  I might get out in the yard and clean up the vegetable bed.  I won't be able to plant until I get back from my trip in May, but I can clean up.

I did get all of the last train reservations made yesterday.  Now to fill in the itinerary.  That's going to take some study.  And no I'm not going to fill up every day with things to do.  I like to have plenty of lazing around time.  Here's hoping we get decent weather.

A little blip

I did go home Tuesday, stopped at the store for some soup and headed home to a hot bath and bed.  I spent yesterday sleeping and paying attention to the dog and by evening I was feeling okay again.  I suspect it's my sinuses that cause this.  It was much like what happened in January and as I think more on it, it happened after a few days of cold, clear weather.  The headaches though!  Oh my.  It woke me in the night and that, my friends, is a bad headache.  All's well today.  It's cloudy and misting. 

I am still listening my way through the Outlander series.  I'm on the sixth book in the series.  I love the stories but I have to fast forward through the sex scenes.  It's SO creepy to listen to that.  I've always had a problem listening to sex scenes in these audiobooks and there are more than enough in the Outlander series.  If you can get over the melodrama and romance-ish (is that a word?) prose though, it's well worth it.  A wonderful historical group of novels.  I think it would be much easier to flip past the pages than fast forward through the narration.

I've been reading the earlier works of Sarah Dunant.  I much prefer her historical fiction, but the early works are readable.  Not nearly so engrossing through.  I'm reading Fatland now.  I think there's one more in this Hannah Wolfe series.  I almost finished it yesterday but the headaches ... it's hard to read on an iPad when you've got a headache.

Okay - for sure today I'm going finish up my train reservations.  Really.

Good intentions and all that

I didn't run after all yesterday.  It was a gorgeous day and I had every intention of doing it, but then my ankle twinged a bit and I thought it might be better to just walk.  And so I did.  I took the exams to upper campus and then continued on through to Red Square and down around the statue then back to my office.  Not quite three miles but quite nice.  Sunny and cold so that I was glad to be back inside. 

Tink and I had a nice quiet evening.  I had gotten a spinach and kale pie from Trader Joe's and that was my dinner, with some really nice chardonnay.  Now that is a girlie meal right there.   Plenty of knitting and some silly TV rounded out the night.  A little after 7 she wanted to go outside, as usual.  But she wanted a real walk so I bundled up and got the flashlight and out we went.  The sky was so clear and the stars were beautiful.  She didn't want to stay out long though, that's for sure.  Same with this morning.  Got out, got her business done and then back inside.  It's going to cloud up and it will be warmer later this week.

I was not sure about coming in to work today, but it's knitting Tuesday!  I woke with a sore throat but I just figured it was allergies or something.  It seems to be lingering.  I may have to go home.  Let's see how the morning progresses.  Maybe once I get a cup of tea in me and a bite to eat .....

That golf ball!

Ever since I started driving to the Transit Center I have been plagued by a golf ball in the truck.  Every time I would turn or stop I could hear it.  It was driving me crazy.  So of course I looked for it and got it.  I thought.  But even after capturing the ball I could still hear it.  Unbeknownst to me, there is a little storage place under the front seat.  A drawer.  And that's where the ball was!  It is gone now and I am SO happy! 

My run on Friday was a real tough one.  On the plus side, I did the first mile non-stop (except for the crossing light I had to wait for).  That's a first.  But after that ... not so good.  My thighs and knees started really hurting at 1.5 miles and by 2 miles I simply had to stop running and I walked the rest of the way back.  I wasn't worried about it though.  It makes perfect sense that my muscles would be tired and my knees sore.  The good news is that the aching in my knees didn't continue and by the time I was back and changed it had stopped.  So I am looking forward to a really great run today.

I have an exam to proctor from 10:30 to 11:30 so I think I'll put on my running clothes and walk the exams up to be scored and then run from there.  It'll be nice to have a different route for a change.  And the first part will be downhill, which is always a bonus.

Friday night we met a couple of people at the 192 Brewery to drink some good beer and listen to music.  The duo was okay, but a little folk-y for my taste.  But it was something different.  Saturday was a quick trip to the mall in the morning and then Tink got a bath before I went for my manicure.  I did her in the sink and it was better than trying to do her in the shower.  Much easier on my back.

On Sunday I finally got my area rugs out and cleaned them.  I've got a new bed set and the floral rug will look good in there.  And then - finally - I got some time to sit and knit and it was lovely.  Saturday was so nice and warm and sunny but Sunday got cloudy and it wasn't sunny until late in the afternoon.  And then it got SO cold.  When I got up it was 28 degrees!  It's because it's clear and sunny.  I don't mind.  I still want a bit of winter.

Cue the theme from Rocky

I did it!  I ran yesterday and my foot was fine!  I wasn't fast but that's to be expected.  And my legs were getting tired.  But the most important thing is that my foot didn't hurt.  My ankle didn't hurt.  My toe didn't hurt.  All awesome things.  Barring a rain storm, I'll be out again today.  Three in a row?  Fingers crossed.

This has been a long week and I'm glad it's done.  I know ... it was only a four day week, but having most everyone gone was a little hard.  I got a lot done despite that.  I don't have anything really on for the weekend except going out tonight after work.  I've got chores -- to the mall to bra shop (oh how I hate bra shopping) and I really should clean the refrigerator this weekend as well.  Okay -- two nasty chores so I'd really better find something fun in there.  See when there's football on there's not so much time for awful chores.   Maybe I'll get around to blocking those projects. 

I think we're seeing some progress

Yesterday was beautiful and I went out for my run at noon.  Because it's been so wonderful the trees are blooming and the pollen count is very high.  I have been a bit sniffy but not too bad.  I did have to stop at half a mile to have a little puff on my inhaler, but otherwise had a pretty solid run.  The very wonderful part about it is that my foot and ankle were just fine!  At about 2 and 1/4 miles the ankle started to feel a bit sore, but not so bad that I was limping.  Now the big test will be how it feels today when I go out.  There is just minor soreness so I have high hopes that I'll be able to run the entire 3 miles.  That is SUCH good news!

Yesterday was another day at work with only myself and the IT guy manning the office.  Thank goodness he knows how to do the mail and check in packages.  Well at least it's very quiet here without the normal arguing and calling back and forth that goes on.  And yes, that's why I have a door and I do use it.  Still ....

I finished up with the Saturday Night Live special last night and nearly finished with the first skein of Entropy yarn.  I am glad I revised this pattern because now I know I'll use every last bit of the yarn on the scarf.  I would like to save a bit back for some tassels.  However, I can surely find something that will compliment the colors if I don't.  And I want to finish up this project because a new YarnBox is on its way plus March is the Luxe box so I'll be getting two boxes next month.  I am almost to the point of putting the classic box on hold for a while.  I have a bit of yarn, yeah?  Yeah.

I'm wondering if I'll take a project with me on my trip in April and I'm thinking that I probably will.  We'll have a couple of long train trips, most notably the one from Monterroso to Geneva.  One hour between Monterossa to Genoa, and then seven hours from Genoa to Geneva.  That's a good bit of time and I can't imagine I'm going to want to be looking out of the windows the entire seven hours.   Perfect for some sock knitting, because socks really are the only portable project that's small enough.  I am going to take one carry on sized bag so there's no room for extra stuff.

Wednesday already

I love the short weeks.  It's Wednesday already!  I'm going to run today.  I had to cancel Noon Knitting yesterday because so many people were out and we still have lots of people out again.  Funny how people seem to disappear and have unexpected "emergency" trips when the administrator is on vacation.   But at least the chairman's secretary is in today so I can go out at noon.

The weather is cold cold cold in the morning and getting fairly warm in the afternoon.  I feel kind of bad about it considering that there is so much snow in the northeast.  And they're getting hit again today, according to the weather report I saw last night.  We basically had no winter at all to speak of.  Those few weeks in November was it - and that's not even technically winter.

I worked on the Incentive shawl last night while watching part of the SNL 40 (!) year anniversary special that I had recorded.  It's quite long so I only watched about half of it before I threw in the towel and headed for bed.  And Tink, even though she went out before bed, got up at 1:30 and after drinking water and eating, insisted on going outside.  She had to go, but she was quite distracted by the fresh scent of some critter or other.  She was sniffing and running back and forth.  I am glad the long line is solid.  If I had let her go she would have been long gone.  I wonder what she would do if she came up against a deer - assuming a deer would let her get that close at all.  Or it could just be a mouse.  We have caught seven - yes, *7* - mice in the last week.  Not inside the house mind, but in the garage.  That's a lot!  But it has been cold at night so I suppose they come in looking for warmth.  There's no food in there - except in the traps!  Aha!

A nice long weekend

Well mine was a bit longer even, because I woke up on Friday with a very sore eye.  I couldn't get my contacts in and it wasn't looking great, so I stayed home, off the computer and all was well by the end of the day.

The unseasonable weather continued all weekend.  Tinkie got lots of nice walks in the park.  I frogged the Incentive wrap and started over.  I could see that I wasn't going to nearly use up all the yarn and it wasn't big enough.  So I'm modifying the pattern a bit and doing it like the Venomous Tentacula - working increases until I've used one skein and working decreases with the other skein.  Plus I'd made too many mistakes in the edging.  It was driving me crazy.

It was Valentine's weekend.  I allowed myself a few minutes to remember - fifteen years ago.  Fifteen!  Amazing.  I had a somewhat busy day with dinner guests coming and a hair appointment.  But the dinner was cooked in the slow cooker so that was pretty easy.  I found a video to fold napkins in the shape of a heart, which was so cute.   We ate lamb shanks and had homemade ginger snaps for dessert and drank SO much wine!  But that's what Sundays are for - a nice long sleep in.

Lots of knitting on the wrap during my day off and more long doggie walks.  It was a pretty quiet day otherwise.  My hands are sore from the amount of knitting I've done in the past three days.  Today is noon knitting, so no running although it's a shame because it's going to be a gorgeous afternoon.  Still, I suspect it'll be nice all this week, so plenty of chances left for this week.

Arrangements for Tink

What are my options?  House sitter would be best, but we live SO far out that it's unlikely.  At least the one I know and used before is not an option.  Option #2 is a kennel.  And that's not ideal.  First of all it's expensive and secondly I don't like to think of her being in a kennel for three whole weeks.  Ah well then, what's left?  Send her to stay with a friend!  I have a friend who has two Westies because she fell in love with my Westie that she took care of while I was in Paris for those six months.  They have two, older than Tink.  Hopefully they can take her.  I suggested we do a trial run, since the older of her dogs has been sick.  I hope it works out.

I ran yesterday and had a pretty good run!  I took an entire minute off my first mile, which is awesome.  I did get a twinge in my ankle at 1.25 miles, but walked it off and was able to finish up.  Today I'll walk for an hour - up and back to get Tink some food.  And tomorrow run again.  This is slow going, but I am feeling more confident that I'll get back to it sooner rather than later.

I wasn't in the mood to knit last night.  I watched a silly movie and went to bed early to read.  I didn't last long.  I am sure I can finish up that Incentive scarf this weekend.  I would like to take advantage of the extra day off to get all of those things blocked.  I must make it happen.

Coming around

Okay ... what is this?  Week three or four that we've had noon knitting on Tuesday?  So today it actually feels like Wednesday.  I think I can run this afternoon, which would be awesome.  I swear, if I can't get a routine going pretty soon I'm going to have to join the IMA again and work out there.  I'd much much MUCH rather run outside than go to the gym .....

I got two solid rows done on the Jo's Pride yesterday at noon and then at home I got some good work done on the Incentive wrap.  I'd like to get that finished up and then this weekend get a bunch of stuff blocked.  I have two others sitting in my room that need to be blocked.  I have Monday off so it would be nice to get it done on Sunday.

I am trying to get Tink set up for our trip.  I really don't want to have to put her in a kennel for three whole weeks.  I have a friend who has two other Westies so I'm hoping they can take her.  She needs to talk to her husband.  Fingers crossed.

Frustrating

For some reason my ankle was very sore yesterday and twinge-y.  I wonder if I twisted it when I was running with Tink on the weekend?  Whatever, I couldn't run since I was limping around the office.  I did go out for a walk at least.  Now today it's not hurting so hopefully tomorrow I can go out at lunchtime.  Today is noon knitting.

The unseasonable weather persists, warm and wet.  If it's not raining it's misty.  The ground is soggy and the gutters are running high.  The deer must be out in force too because Tink just goes nuts when we are outside, nose to the ground.  At least I don't need the flashlight in the evenings any more so it's easier to handle her. 

I downloaded an app yesterday called UntilAgo -- it's a countdown timer.  So now I know that it's 66 days, 7 hours and 12 minutes until we take off for Paris.  Fun.  My goal is to get the rest of the rail reservations done this week.  We'll see how I do.  I have been having trouble with goals lately.

The birds

They're back.  I heard birds singing this morning when I was walking out the door.  We'd better get some real winter weather here pretty shortly or spring is just going to be here before we are ready.  I already noticed pink trees and leaves budding on the smaller shrubs.  I am not ready for spring.  I still want evenings with a fire going. 

It actually didn't rain all through the weekend and Sunday was quite nice, so we took a long long walk along the Samammish river from Woodinville park south.  There were tons of people walking their dogs and lots of bikes too.  If you continue on that path it goes to Marymoore park.  Tink was having a ball.  She really loved all of the new smells. 

I got all of my running around done on Saturday with the exception of a little food shopping.  That was taken care of on Sunday and then .... no football.  So I did laundry and knit and just relaxed.  It was quite nice although I wish I'd been a little more productive.  Well, there's plenty of time for that now, isn't there?

Friday I got the last of the accommodations taken care of and now this week I need to get the last few rail reservations nailed down.  And then I'll start reading up in depth about each place so I can start figuring out what exactly we'll be doing with all that time. 

It was too wet and stormy to run on Friday and it looks like I'll have a good day for it today.  I want to do at least three times this week.  Fingers crossed.

Keeping the illusion alive

I have definitely been having trouble with my weekdays since we've moved knitting to Tuesday.  I know it's such a little thing, but after having that to look forward to in the middle of the week .... it keeps throwing me off.  So yesterday was feeling definitely like Friday to me, and then we went to have dinner at Ben's cousin's house last night, which is usually a Friday night activity.  But here we are finally - it's Friday.

I had lots of work to do so I didn't do much more on the itinerary except find a place in Geneva on AirBnB.  But the woman hasn't gotten back with me to confirm so ... I guess I give her 24 hours and if she doesn't respond I've got to find another place.  Not a big deal.

Rain.  Rain rain rain rain rain.  Lots and lots of rain.  It keeps the air smelling great but it's such a mess.  Walking Tink in the pouring rain in the pitch black at 6:30 am -- not fun.  Not fun at all.  Ah well.  It's not snow.

What's up for the first weekend without football since August?  Hmmmm .... manicure and pedicure on Saturday morning.  Meeting up with friends at Redhook Brewery on Saturday afternoon.  I've got to get to Macy's at some point either Saturday or Sunday.  Movie night?  Maybe a nice long afternoon knitting on Jo's Pride?  I do think we're going to be rained in so there probably won't be any long walks with Tink.  Although ..... it's not cold.  Maybe a little trip to the river park in Duval would be nice.  We'll see.

Does it get any better than this?

I was a little nervous about running yesterday but it was a GREAT run!  My breath was almost back to normal and I didn't need any extra puffs.  I ran at least 80% of the time and maybe more.  And, most importantly, no pain.  I have a teensie twinge this morning in my toe, but otherwise I feel great.  I'm going to skip the run today and just walk instead and then run again tomorrow.  Then next week I should be able to do consecutive days, with of course a skip on knitting Tuesday.

So -- great run.  And then I finished up with my itinerary!  I am not done booking hotels or trains, but I have finally finally figured out the last week.  That was a huge load off my shoulders and now I can just enjoy the anticipation of seeing old and new things in 11 weeks (but who's counting)?  Here's what I finally decided -- after Florence we'll do three days in Monterossa, then on Sunday we'll get up early and take a train to Genoa and from there catch a train to Geneva and have a beautiful trip through the Alps.  It should be absolutely stunning.  We'll get to Geneva Sunday evening, spend 2 nights -- I think one day in Geneva is quite enough.  Tuesday morning we'll head back to Paris and spend three nights there, taking off Friday morning for home.  That's a lot of traveling when you think about it -- 3 flights and 5 train rides.  Fly to Paris, fly to Venice, train to Florence, train to Monterrosa, train(s) to Geneva, train to Paris, fly back home. 

I was in a terrific mood when I got home, rain notwithstanding.  To cap the day off there was a new knitting magazine in the mailbox.  AND I didn't have to cook dinner.  Nice.  I got my hair done and knit on my TV knitting project for a while.  Then after dinner I downloaded a new book and read to the soothing sound of rain.  I brought my knitting today because it's pouring rain and I'm only going to walk for a bit, so I can get some knitting done on the Jo's Pride at lunchtime. 

Speaking of knitting -- my schedule is still off because of the move from Wednesday to Tuesday.  I kept thinking it was Thursday yesterday.  Quite annoying to realize there's one more day to go.

I'm done pouting

Okay!  Enough is enough!  Football is done and I'm over it.  We'll look forward to the draft in April and I've got six months of weekends with lots and lots of free time!  And I'm ready to finish up my Europe itinerary and start day dreaming about my trip in .... 11 weeks and two days!!  I am nearly done.  I've decided on Cinque Terra to today I'll book the lodgings and decide how to get back to Paris.  Make reservations for air travel, and buy advance tickets to the Uffizi gallery and to see David.  There's still lots to do, isn't there?

Do you have that one person in your office who complains if anyone comes in to work sick?  Or with a cold?  Do you?  We do too!  And guess who's here today coughing and sniffing and blowing her nose?  Yup.  Grrrrrrrr

I'm looking forward to running today.  No pain in my ankle or foot.  The last couple of days I've been awakened by pain in that area.  I am wondering if I should stop running for a while and join up at the IMA and use the elliptical for a while.  That's what I had to do ... was it really 10 years ago? ... when I tore up my ankle.  We'll see how I feel after today's run.

Noon knitting was good yesterday and I got two solid rows done on the Jo's Pride.  We had a good turn out as well.  And last night I got some good work done on my TV knitting shawl while I watched a stupid movie.  Perfect.  I guess the only thing to make it better would have been a fire, but it's been so darned mild lately.  It seems a waste. 

Six more weeks

According to the groundhog we're in for six more weeks of winter.  Considering that we have only had a couple of weeks of cold weather, and that in November mostly, I say bring it on!  There are already daffodils blooming near my bus stop here on campus.  I saw some cherry trees with blossoms on them.  I heard frogs a couple of nights ago!  I'd like a little more winter before spring pops up.  I don't feel like getting out into the garden quite yet.

It was do nothing Monday so all I did was shower and cook and knit.  I was expecting a clean house but they never showed up!  Never called either which is very strange and unprofessional as well.  Hopefully they'll get there today.  If not I am going to look for someone else. 

Noon knitting today and hopefully I'll get another couple of rows done on the Jo's Pride.  If I only work on that thing here at work it'll take me a year to finish it.  I've been busy on my TV knitting project plus I got a couple skeins of Koigu for a new pair of socks.  Socks are also TV knitting and I really need a new pair of hand knitted socks.

What else .... still needing to finish my itinerary and get some other reservations made but I can't find the mojo.  Maybe later this week.

Sad sad sad sad sad sad

In as few words as possible -- The Seahawks lost the Super Bowl in the last seconds.  I terrible play was called.  I can't even think about it.  Awful.  Tragedy really.  Now football is over for a few months.  Oh my ...

Other than the game the weekend was pretty nice.  Doggie walks, and chores and a nice dinner out at Purple, although they had no record of my reservation.  Luckily they were able to fit us in.  Otherwise I would have been very unhappy.  It was awfully crowded though. 

From running last week my ankle was quite sore so I took some Ibuprofen and iced it Saturday and Sunday while I worked on my TV knitting project.  I've finished up with the increase section and have now started on the decrease section which is twice as long as the first section giving it an off center look.  I think it's going to be very cool and a good accessory for the spring.

I have gone back to my original plan of Cinque Terre after Florence, so now that I've finally decided I've got to put the puzzle together.  That's on my plate for this week.

Knitting tomorrow and, if the weather cooperates, running today, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday.  I know . . it seems like a lot and perhaps I should take Thursday off.  We'll see how the foot/ankle/toe feels.

The traffic was quite light this morning and the bus was not full again.  I think more than a few people took today off, or are coming in late after being at football parties.  It's dark and pouring rain.  An accurate reflection of people's feelings this morning I am thinking.