I give up

Next Tuesday the UW is having a seasonal flu clinic at the medical center. I don't usually get flu shots, but considering what I've already been through and that I do NOT want to get sick again, I am going to be first in line! Thankfully this go 'round seems to be just(!) a simple cold and sore throat, nevertheless I'm working from home again just to make sure it doesn't get any worse.

I had a pretty busy day yesterday, got lots of work done. At lunchtime rather than walk Tinkerbell I had a quick little snooze, which helped me finish out the day strong. I sure wish I could have a little nap at work sometimes! I remember one guy used to keep a futon in his office and have a little lay down every day after lunch.

My training schedule is all off track this week. I haven't been able to run since the 10 miles on Sunday and this coming Sunday we're set for 12.5 miles! I am hoping I'll feel good enough tomorrow to at least do a slow 30 minutes so the Sunday run doesn't kill me.

Still puttering along on the angora sweater. I should really cast on for some socks or fingerless mitts but I am actually waiting for the yarn my sister ordered for her coat. When that comes I'm going to have to concentrate on that so I can have it finished for her birthday. Until then ... no new projects.

How could this happen again?

Well of course that is a rhetorical question, since I have been listening to medical students hacking and coughing and sneezing nonstop. I am practically paranoid about washing my hands, not touching doorhandles, etc. but with the amount of people and germs around work it's tough. So yesterday I started getting a cold. I had been planning on working from home today anyway since Mr. M is still out of town and there are people coming to work here today, so I've got plenty to do. Now if I can just manage to kick this cold to the curb as well as get my work done, I'll be happy.

No running yesterday of course. It was a gorgeous day, too. As it is today. This is such a nice autumn we're having. Let's hope we don't get the kind of winter we had last year again.

Look at my widget!

I sent out a big mailing yesterday to my Facebook friends and others on my email contacts list. I had to get serious about fund raising since we are less than a month away from the race. And last night two people made donations! I am SO grateful to them for getting the ball rolling and for supporting me. I am going to copy the letter I sent out yesterday here onto my blog because I know there are some of you out there reading this who aren't on my email list nor friends on Facebook. I would be very thankful if you could sponsor me in this endeavor. Today I'm just doing a 30 minute training run and it is going to be a cakewalk compared to last Sunday. Plus which it's another gorgeous fall day.

Now another cup of tea and back to work!
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Dear everybody,

I am writing today to ask for your support. On Sunday, November 29, I am participating in the Gilda's Club 1/2 Marathon Fundraiser, a run to support people touched by cancer. I’ve been running 5K races for a few years but I have never before challenged myself to run a half marathon and let me tell you, it has been a challenge! I have been training with a group since August, running on my own 3 days a week and meeting up on Sundays for a big run. Yesterday I ran 10 miles, so I am confident now that I can finish the half marathon. I won’t be setting any speed records, but I expect to finish it in 3 hours, depending upon how many hills are in the course.

This is my way to honor the memory of my mother and my sister Rebecca (whom some of you may remember) who were both taken from us at an early age from cancer, and to do something positive by supporting Gilda’s Club. One out of every three women and one out of every two men will receive a cancer diagnosis in their lifetime. When that happens, it is devastating and confusing. People living with cancer, their family members and friends need a community to which they can turn, an environment where they can both give and get support and understanding. That’s what Gilda’s Club offers. Its mission is to provide a place where everyone touched by cancer can join with others to build social, emotional and educational support. All programs and services at Gilda’s Club are FREE of charge. It is open six days a week and offers support and networking groups, lectures, workshops and social events in a nonresidential home-like setting.

I would be so very grateful if you could donate to support my fundraising efforts for this wonderful organization. I have set up an account on my Facebook homepage where you can click and donate easily and securely. Or you can go directly to Gilda’s Club page (http://www.gildasclubseattle.org/) and scroll down to the link “Support an Athlete”, search for my name and donate from there.

I thank you very very much!

Shelley (Nopp) Golard Midkiff

Racking up the miles

Thursday I did indeed have another great run, an hour and just under 5 miles. Obviously, I'm not setting any speed records but hey, I'm not walking. We had a wonderful dinner Thursday night - cassoulet. It was great.

And Friday I got Mr. M to the airport WAY early. He was just so sure that we were going to run into Friday afternoon traffic that he made me take him extra early. It ended up to be good for me because I was home before 3 and didn't run into any traffic at all! I had knitting goals and I set to right then. My first goal was to move the markers on the Frost Flowers stole, so I set out to finish up rows 29 and 30, which was enough for one sitting. Then I moved on to my white angora sweater ... the modified Simple Knitted Bodice. Instead of the lace portion under the bust I decided to do a little 2x2 ribbing to pull it in a bit, and also to add a twisted stitch - like a 2 stitch cable . So I worked on that until I was tired and that was my Friday.

Saturday I was expecting to be rehearsing in the evening so I got up and out early so I could go shopping for new running shoes. I got them, got to the grocery store and gave Tinkerbell her walk all before 2:30. So I settled in to do some good time on the Frost Flowers Stole. I should put up some WIP pictures. It's starting to look like something. While I was knitting along Doug called and canceled the rehearsal. I had been thinking about making some candles lately so I took the opportunity to do so, since I had a free evening. I filled 3 on Saturday night and Sunday, after my run, I did 4 large ones and 2 smaller ones. Different scents Saturday and Sunday since I'm using my old supplies and don't have more than 1 oz of any one scent except lavender. They look pretty good so far. I've got to let them cure for a couple more days and then I can burn them.

Ah ... and so yesterday was my big training run. And I wanted to break in my new shoes. The weather was just perfect. We met at the Madison Park Starbucks and ran from there down to the REI on Eastlake and back again. Round trip -- 10 miles. Ten HILLY ... very very hilly .... miles. I thought I was going to expire. There is a HUGE difference between running on the flat and running hills. It took me nearly 2 1/2 hours to run 10 miles, mostly because I was walking up the larger hills. When I got home I filled up that tub and just let the jets work their magic. I don't feel too bad today either. I rode my bike in. My knees are a little bit achy, but other than that ... not so bad. The route for the 1/2 marathon is indeed quite hilly so I don't expect to finish it in under 3 hours. And then I'm taking a day off and doing a spa day. I am going to be happy to have my Sundays back too. Even though I did get some candles made yesterday, it really takes a bite out of the weekend, especially if I have to rehearse. [and now I will quit complaining].

Today is my Friday

Yay! I'm taking Friday off this week -- tomorrow -- to make good and sure Mr. M gets to the airport on time. If I could, I'd walk him to the plane and see that he actually gets on it, but no ... we're not allowed to do that any more. So I will get him to the curb and trust that he gets on that plane. And then .... ahhhhhhh .... nine days of Shelley time. And to celebrate, tonight we're going to Maximillians for dinner. That cute little French restaurant in the market. I love that place. Unfortunately it's going to be dark and we won't be able to enjoy the view, but the food is SO good.

Yesterday was my half yearly dental cleaning and check up where I got the fabulous news that I need to have a crown. I know it's better to take care of these things before a) the tooth breaks or b) one is writhing in pain, but I sure hate them. It's the 2 1/2 hours in the chair that gets to me. I don't like being numb. I always think ... what would happen if it stayed that way? Silly, I know.

Today is a 60 minute run at lunchtime and it's raining now, and cold. I don't mind too much, actually. I like running in the rain. I just hope I have another great run like Tuesday.

Yesterday at noon knitting I just ripped out the Pomatomous fingerless mitts. I realized that the reason I don't knit on them any time but on Wednesdays is that it's a fiddle-y pattern and the combination of yarn and needles makes it nearly impossible to do. Fingerless mitts should be easy -- TV knitting. So I'm going to start over and do an easier pattern. I meant to work on the angora sweater last night but I never got around to picking it up. Maybe tonight after we get back from the restaurant, since I don't have to get up early tomorrow.

A super run

I had SUCH a great run yesterday! I wasn't sure that I'd even be able to finish but it was like I had wings on my feet. That's what a nice long recovery does for me. I'm a bit nervous about this weekend run, having missed last week. Even though the run last week was long, it was on a nice flat route. This coming 12.5 miles is, I believe, on part of the marathon course and it quite hilly. I don't like running hills. It makes my Achilles hurt.

I worked for a bit on the angora sweater last night, after going through the new Interweave Knits Weekend Knits magazine. Lots of nice things in there but all of the sweaters are pieced! Why why why??? I have too many projects lined up right now anyway. Plus I promised my sister I would knit her a coat and she's quite keen on that happening right now, so no more new projects until I get a few things finished.

Wednesday -- noon knitting day. I brought the fingerless mitts again. Seems like I only knit on those when I bring them to work. I could knock those out in a good day or two if I concentrated. It's just that it's not TV knitting so I've got to take up a weekend day, when I would much rather knit on the Frost Flowers Stole. So -- again, not enough time, is there?

It's cold today

It is definitely autumn. Cold and dark. It's also a running day so I didn't ride my bike in and I'm thankful for that. I'm a bit nervous about going out running since I've been off for an entire week. I'll just take it easy. I'm sure I'll be fine. This weekend we're scheduled to run 11 miles, and then the following week 12.5 which is basically the half marathon. I mean, if you can run 12.5 miles what's one more? I must get myself some new running shoes this week. I think I'll do that after I take Mr. M to the airport Friday afternoon. I can stop on my way home. Then I'll have them for the long run this weekend. I have found that my foot hurts after about 5 or 6 miles and the trainer showed me how my shoes are most likely causing that by being a bit too rigid and not letting my foot roll in more.

It was a busy day yesterday and I was tired when I got home. I was going to work on my angora sweater but I got a new catalog in the mail. You know how sometimes it's just nice to sit with a cocktail and look at new clothes and shoes. No? You don't do that??? That was my evening. Maybe tonight I'll work on that sweater. I have the perfect skirt for it.

Taking another run at it

Okay so .... here it is Monday and I'm going to give the week another try. Do over. I lost an entire week. I did manage to do a few things but most of the week is a blur. I had to come into the office on Friday to do a couple things I cannot do from home. Truly, I would not have been able to do it on Thursday. I didn't do much on the weekend either. Mr. M worked all day Saturday and I washed the puppy and did some knitting (finally). It's funny - when I'm sick I just can't knit, which is a shame considering all the spare time one has when one is not working. hah ... aaaaanyway .. I got the sleeves on holders and the fronts joined on the white angora sweater I'm making. I am using the Simple Knitted Bodice as a jumping off point. Rather than do the lace under the bust line I'm going to do some ribbing and then make it plain after that, and do some flared sleeves and then a ruffle around the low neckline. I think it'll be cute.

My sister wants a coat and I believe I've found the perfect pattern for it. Chunky yarn so it won't take forever to make. And something that's washable as well. I'm not keen on using yarn with acrylic in it, but I might have to bend my rules a bit here and do it for the sake of washability.

I'm going to be very busy this week. I've got tons of work to do here, plus I've got to start running again tomorrow since I missed a whole week of training, obviously. I couldn't run yesterday after being sick all week. It does explain why my run the previous Sunday was so hard though, doesn't it? I was coming down with that flu. I am hoping that after a week of rest I will be very strong tomorrow. It is nice after a week off that nothing hurts! I had gotten used to that. No wonder I'm so crabby all the time.

Mr. M is heading off to Arizona for ten days on Friday and I've got to get him to the airport so I figured I'd just take a vacation day. Then it'll be just little Tinkerbell and me rattling around in that big house. I'll most likely have rehearsal on Saturday evening -- I hope, anyway. I don't want to have to deal with Trick-or-Treat so if I am home I'll just turn off the lights and hang out upstairs.

Where did the week go?

I'll tell you where ..... nowhere. I've got some bug -- I really don't think it's the swine flu because I don't have any of the upper respiratory systems associated with it. Just a little cough, but major major body aches and a headache that has been with me since Tuesday morning. I haven't been knitting. Just doing a little readiing from time to time in between naps. I truly expected to feel much better than I do today. I have work to do! So I am propped up in bed with my laptop. At least I have a view here.

Probably a mistake

I woke up at 4 am. I ached all over but just figured it was that Sunday run through the trails catching up with me. I tried and tried to get back to sleep but finally gave up and got ready for work. But I realized while I was getting ready that I didn't feel very well, and that perhaps the aches were more than sore muscles. Sure enough, I'm sitting here now at work and feeling terrible. I had a cup of tea hoping it would make me feel better but .... not. I'm going to get a few things together here and head back home.

Fingers crossed this is nothing more than a little 24 hour bug.

Stolen day

Friday was indeed intense, but I managed to solve my programming program and got it up and running for the students again. Alas, Sunday evening I got yet another little problem pointed out but hopefully I can get that handled today.

I managed to get Tinkerbell a walk on Friday afternoon when it was simply raining and not pouring. And Friday evening was quiet with pizza left overs and knitting while Mr. M was out working. I did not get a phone call from Doug, the band leader, leading me to believe that we would not be getting together Saturday. Fine with me.

It rained hard all Friday night and Saturday it was so dark and stormy! I had to run a few errands -- Tink was out of food and I needed groceries as well. It was just nasty and wet out there! I did give Tink a walk when I got back, a little before noon, because she needed a bath. And guess who called around 12:30? Right -- Doug. I didn't pick up the phone. At that point, after noon, I was all set to have a little Shelley time, so I ignored his call, washed Tink and settled in the comfy chair for some knitting on the Frost Flowers Stole. I got over 3 hours in on it while doing laundry. I am making progress, slowly but surely. Doug tried again around 3 o'clock but again I didn't pick up. I did try to call him on Sunday but there was no answer. I've got to try again today. I need to make it clear to him that I cannot be called mere hours before he wants to get together. I have such little free time these days then when there is even the possibility of a few hours to myself I latch onto it.

Thank goodness yesterday the rain had stopped, because we were doing 8 miles in the trails at Cougar Mountain. It was brutal, to say the least. I was figuring it would take me 2 hours to do it but wasn't taking into account the terrain, which was hilly and slippery and full of roots and rocks. It actually took more like 2:20 and I was wiped out. I did manage to run a good bit, but going down the hills really hurt my knees so I ended up walking about the last 2 miles with another woman. At least I didn't get lost like last time we ran trails. I was very uncomfortable though - I was so afraid I was going to twist my ankle or trip, which I did a number of times but didn't fall. It was a long drive out there as well and we didn't meet up until noon so I wasn't home until after 3. Oh ... and to make matters worse I didn't eat enough breakfast so I had less than zero energy. I wasn't really very hungry when I got up so I just had half an orange and half a bagel with a little lox. Not nearly enough. Oh well, live and learn. Next Saturday it's 9.5 miles around Greenlake which at least will be flat. I'm going to get new shoes this week so my foot won't hurt (fingers crossed).

Working in my PJs

Oh I love working from home! And I chose the perfect day, too. It is just nasty outside. Raining and blowing and chilly. I was hoping for a light day but as luck would have it ...... it's shaping up to be a rather intense day. I have been working on a program for one of the teachers. He needed an application for the students to enter questions into a data bank and also upload images for the questions if they needed. I had an application that I had been working on that I re-purposed for him and we finally got it ready to go and up on the web site yesterday afternoon. I hadn't even made it to the parking garage yesterday when I got an email saying it wasn't working properly. I have it set up so that when a student chooses a category for which to write a question, all of the questions that have been previously written for that category are listed so that they can avoid duplication. For some reason that was not working for all of the categories. I unlinked the application and now today I have to figure out why. It could be as simple as a misspelling somewhere or ..... ????

I had a SUPER awesome 45 minute run yesterday. Completely makes up for that terrible one on Tuesday. I sure hope it's not a muddy mess for our 8 miles this Sunday. I was going to get new shoes this weekend but I am thinking I'll wait until after that run, even though once I hit 5 miles my foot has been hurting.

Mr. M had a couple of guys over for a business dinner meeting last night so I just watched a little TV and knit on the TV knitting project, another Simple Knitted Bodice with as-yet-undecided modifications. I went up to bed to read at about 9 and fell asleep before 10. Unfortunately I woke up at 1:30 am and my mind went straight to the programming problem. Not good. One hour later I was still awake and took my iPhone out of the cradle and read email and played word games until I felt sleepy. For some reason I cannot make myself get out of bed when I have insomnia. But you know what? I am going to try that next time. I can go downstairs, turn on the fireplace and maybe read or knit for a while. I'll bet that would put me back to sleep faster than tossing and turning. I'll try it next time.

And now ....... another cup of coffee and on to the program puzzle.

It's that the way it goes?

Two days ago, right after I finally registered to run and paid my money (which is non-refundable, by the way) I changed and went out for my usual Tuesday "easy" run. Feeling a bit cocky after running 5 miles on Sunday without any trouble, I took off. One mile into the run my knees and thighs were hurting so badly I had to stop! My legs felt like they were made of lead. NOT good. I wasn't unusually winded or anything like that, it was just white hot pain. I got back to work, popped a couple of Naproxen and iced my knees and ankles that evening. Now I know that I should not be taking Naproxen any more until after I am done with the hard training. (But that's another story). I am a bit concerned but in retrospect I believe it was the fact that I was wearing super high heels that day that caused the major problem. No more high high heels until I'm done with training. There is too much stress on my knees and no amount of stretching is going to make that go away. I hope. We will find out in a couple hours. I have to go 45 minutes today. At least it's not raining.

Things are calming down a bit here at work. I have a fun programming project to work on. That makes the time zoom by, especially if it's all working well. I have another hard part to iron out and maybe I'll start on that this afternoon.

Yesterday at noon knitting I did a few more rows on the Pomatomous fingerless mitts. The pattern is finally showing up. It's a rather fiddle-y pattern and I'm regretting it somewhat, although the finished product is going to be quite nice so I will just keep plugging away. I would dearly love to spend a few hours on the Frost Flowers Stole this weekend, but as usual my weekend is jammed. If we don't rehearse Friday night then I can maybe do a bit then if I'm not too tired. I probably will be. It is SO complicated that I have to be on top of it every second. My guess is that we'll rehearse on Saturday and what with having to take Mr. M down to the hotel at noon for a gala, then the football game starting at 12:30 .... that's not going to leave me any quality knitting time. Just TV knitting when one is watching football. Which leaves Sunday. Ah Sunday -- which is pretty much eaten up with my run. We are going to meet up at Cougar Mountain at noon for an 8 mile run on the trails. My best guess is that it's going to take the major portion of 2 hours for me to run 8 miles. I'll be luck to be home by 3. Well maybe then after I get cleaned up I can take a couple hours. I certainly won't want to do anything strenuous.

No backing out now!

It's official. I just registered to run the Seattle Half Marathon on November 29. I've been doing fine with my training runs so I am feeling confident that I can do this. This Sunday our training run is 8 miles, and I've already done 6 1/2 and last Sunday was 5 and that was no sweat. Well .... I mean it wasn't easy mind you, but I wasn't gasping and crying at the end of it.

So now this means that I am seriously starting my fund raising campaign because I am running this not only as a personal goal but to help support Gilda's Club. This is a wonderful organization run entirely by volunteers and contributions, started by the brother of Gilda Radner (who died of ovarian cancer). You can read more about Gilda's Club by clicking that link. You can also contribute to support my fund raising effort by clicking on the "Support an Athlete" on that page, or you can conveniently click from this blog -- look to the right.

Thank you thank you thank you!
And now I'm going to change and do my little run.

It flew by

As I predicted, it was a SUPER busy weekend. It started out Friday with a rehearsal. I was just exhausted but it was better to get it out of the way. Then by the time I got home at around 10:30 I was wired so I ended up having some wine and watching TV until Mr. M got home, around midnight.

Saturday it was gorgeous outside - as it was all weekend, actually. I had so many errands to run and chores to do. I got Tink washed, did a little shopping, hair, nails and grocery shopping. I didn't get home until after 5. Thankfully the Husky football game didn't start until 7 or so. I set it to record and we went out to dinner. I saw the photo exhibit of my old high school Anthropology teacher. Lovely photos. We had a great Italian meal and then went home and watched the football game. Huskies won. It was a very exciting game.

And Sunday was another huge day. We had our 11 am training run. This time 5 miles. Next Sunday it will be 8+ ... Anyway, after I got home from the run I just had to get out into the garden and clean out the vegetable beds. The weather is supposed to turn in a couple days and that was really my only opportunity. By the time I finished with that and had a shower it was after 2 pm and I hadn't had anything to eat since a very small breakfast at 9:30. I shouldn't have waited so long because I was feeling terrible! I thought I was coming down with something - headache, nausea - but in retrospect I think it was just that I had gotten too dehydrated and tired. I felt fine by around 6. Especially since the Seahawks were beating the tar out of the Jags. Another great football game!

And now it's Monday and the start of another huge week. Thankfully I haven't gotten sick like I usually do at some time during the Anatomy course. Today is the final, tomorrow starts Histology. Hopefully things will start to slow down later this week.

I started another project yesterday evening. I needed a TV knitting project and I also need a white sweater for a particular blue skirt I have. With some white Angora Soft that I've had in my stash for a couple years I started another Simple Knitted Bodice. The one I had made in black I accidentally put into the dryer(!!) so it's way too short now plus it never really fit me that well. I will not do the lace on this one and perhaps put a ruffle around that deep neckline.

Oh what fun!!

Yesterday after work I had to stop at Macy's to pick up some Clinique stuff. I had had the foresight to pop a couple discount cards into my bag just in case I felt like shopping. Guess what? I DID feel like shopping! I have been needing some new work clothes for so long and now that the weather is changing and I can't wear my summer clothes it is really very apparent that my wardrobe needs new blood. So I just started findings things I liked and went to work in the dressing room. As luck would have it, most of the clothes were just right! I bought a brown skirt with flirty pleats, three tops, a most awesome dress and, my favorite, a long-ish brown coat-type thing and matching leggings. I wear a black tunic (also new) with silver metal beads and short, high heeled boots with it. When I got home with my booty I gave a little fashion show and then went to town on my closet, throwing out the old worn and unwearable stuff and moving the summer things to the guest closet. I'll have to go through that as well, but not now. At least my work closet is sorted and color coordinated and everything is clean and wearable. Now I'm going to have to do the same for my dressers and my shoes. Baby steps.

That didn't leave any time for knitting but no matter. I am just happy to have that done! Tonight Mr. M is working and I am rehearsing so that my weekend is free! Tomorrow I've got a hair appointment at 1 but before that I hope to get in the garden and clean out my vegetable beds, at least. I'd also like to plant some bulbs but that might have to wait to next week. I also need to bathe Tinkerbell and get a mani-pedi. Out to dinner and maybe a movie on Saturday night and Sunday will be running and groceries and chores. Somewhere in there I'm also going to have to fit in two football games and some knitting. I am kind of wishing I hadn't started those arm warmers because now I have no TV knitting. Both projects I have on the needles are not conducive to TV or moving watching. Oh well ... guess I'll just have to cast on something else.

I'm getting faster!

I had a great run yesterday. After running 6.5 miles on Sunday, running for a mere 30 minutes didn't seem much of a chore, so I started out at a pretty good pace. And I managed to keep it up for most of the run. I ended up going at least 1/4 mile further in 30 minutes than I usually do. And my foot was fine. I am going to need to get some new shoes here pretty soon. Those longer runs - over 5 miles - are harder on my feet, obviously.

It was Tinkerbell's annual exam time yesterday so I didn't get finished with chores until 6:30. I was pretty tired so we didn't do much. I ate some YUMMY ribs made by my friend's husband who indeed makes the best ribs I've ever had, bar none. I'm afraid to ask for the recipe because I might just go on an all rib diet if I knew how to do it. Got caught up on a couple TV shows I had recorded and headed up to bed early. I was asleep before my head hit the pillow, which is what I love. It was actually a decent night's sleep. Tink woke me up snoring, but it was nearly time for the alarm to go off anyway.

I haven't done any knitting the past couple nights, but I brought my newest project in today for Wednesday noon knitting. I cast on a pair of Fingerless Pomatomus Gloves on Saturday. I had found a couple balls of lavender sock yarn at Weaving Works in the clearance bin. I had one ball in green that I used for a pair of socks and loved the yarn -- it's kind of stretchy. I can't remember the name of it though and I threw away the ball bands. Anyway I am just about ready to start the pattern part and thought they'd be a good project to bring to work - small and portable, like socks. [It is just killing me that I can't remember the name of that yarn!!!]

A well deserved rest

I had such a nice weekend. Saturday was wonderful, even though I did have to resort to telling a lie to get an entire day to myself. Doug, the bandleader, called Friday evening but I didn't pick up the phone. Saturday morning I had to run out to get some gas in the car before I took Mr. M downtown and while I was out I called him and told him I was sick with a sore throat and couldn't rehearse that evening. I know .... I should have just told him I wanted the night off but I did it anyway.

Got Mr. M down to the hotel in plenty of time to get myself out to the spa. In fact I was early, which was a good thing because there was a convention going on at the convention center which, coincidentally, shares a parking lot with not only the spa but a Chuck-E-Cheese, a fabric store and a bunch of other businesses. There were no spots. The spa had a sign saying parking arranged at the front desk so on my 3rd cruise around I drove up there and as luck would have it someone was leaving, so I followed her and took her spot.

Ahhhhh ... then I had a luxurious hour long soak in the hot tubs and visited the steam room as well. Next, the body scrub and finally a body moisturizing which was too decadent! Slathered all over, head to toe, with warm olive oil and other natural oils, and a facial that is ended by covering the face with a cucumber mixture that smelled very much like that sweet cucumber side dish one gets at Japanese restaurants. I walked out of there feeling like a million bucks and then .... my car wouldn't start. I was in such a rush I had left my lights on and drained the battery. Normally this would never happen but a couple days ago my dashboard lights went out and the fuse that runs them also runs the beeper for the lights. AAA was there in just a few minutes though, so it was no big deal.

I had the Husky football game taping and was looking forward to watching that. I settled in and finished up a bunch of knitting projects - socks and a neck warmer/hat - and watched the Huskies play valiantly against Notre Dame. They lost in overtime. Oh dear ... it was so sad. And right in the middle of the game my phone rings - my friend's husband who was watching the game live. I stopped him from telling me what was up but I knew then it wasn't good. I still watched it all but fast forwarded a lot. The Seahawks didn't do much better on Sunday - in fact they got beat up by the Colts.

Sunday was a 6.5 mile run - twice around the outside track at Greenlake. I did it all. My foot was pretty darned sore when I was done though and my Achilles is sore today. I iced both last night and I'll do it again this evening. It took me 1 hour and 22 minutes to run 6.5 miles. A half marathon is 13 and some tenths ... can't remember ... so basically I ran half of what I will be running on November 29. I could definitely have gone further if my foot hadn't started hurting so badly. I need to get another pair of shoes.

I thought I'd be sore today

After running for an hour, I was sure I'd be a bit sore today and I'm not! My Achilles is a little sore, but that's how it usually is anyway. I'm really happy about that.

I was awfully tired yesterday evening though, so I didn't do much of anything. Mr. M was up at his brother's open house for the business. I wanted to go -- it was a big party -- but it was all the way up near Mukilteo and would have taken at least an hour to get there during rush hour. Since it was slated to end at 7:30 it just wasn't worth it for me to go. Plus which, alone time has been all too rare lately. So Tink and I had a nice quiet evening and I turned in super early. I didn't even knit! [I know!!] But I have big plans for knitting this weekend. I am going to finish that last neck warmer/hat thing and also cast off the socks I have on the needles and then I'll wind the Noro sock yarn and start on a pair of fingerless mitts. On Sunday I'm going to spend a couple hours on the Frost Flowers Stole after my run.

I am SO looking forward to my perfect Saturday. I'm going to sleep in, take Mr. M to the Sheraton downtown, then I'm off to the spa for 3 hours of bliss. After that maybe I'll stop by Tuesday Morning, then home to watch the Husky/Notre Dame football game, which I will tape since it's supposed to start at 12:30. I have to think up some reason for not going to rehearsal -- that's the tough part. I'll think of something .....

A new record

I can't believe it did it, but this afternoon I ran for one hour. It's the first time I've done that. Unfortunately I didn't have my Garmin with me, but I know from running last Sunday that it was more than 4 miles. Probably very close to 5. The first 30 minutes were tough but actually the second 30 wasn't bad. I'm looking forward to Sunday when we're running 6.5 miles around Greenlake.

I got a nice little windfall yesterday. I overpaid somehow for that little surgery I had on my leg a few months ago. I got a check in the mail and today I made an appointment for some serious pampering on Saturday. I have to take Mr. M downtown in the morning for a gig, then I'm heading to the spa. Ahhhhhhhh AND I'm going to cancel rehearsal for Saturday. I feel like I haven't had a minute to relax or a minute to myself for weeks and weeks. Nobody but Tinkerbell and me all day long and all evening long. I am going to get pampered, do a little shopping, then walk the dog and knit and knit and knit ... oh, and watch football. I cannot wait.

MMS comes to iPhone

I updated my iPhone software. Let's see if this works. And video as
well! Say hi to Tinkerbell.

Shelley

Ah ... uh ...

ermmmm ..... [insert warm glowing smile here]

Yesterday it poured rain and the temperatures have dropped significantly. Lucky for me it hadn't really started when I went out for my run yesterday which, by the way, was not good at all. I just can't figure out why some days are better than others. I know it should be a relatively easy thing to figure out -- what I had to eat the night before, or drink, or what I had to eat for breakfast, all of those things. But truly, there doesn't seem to be much of a correlation that I can count on. Monday night we had dinner with friends, I drank very moderately -- 2 glasses of wine -- and got to bed not too late. I did have a restless night but much better than the night before. And I just couldn't get it going. I mean, I did the entire 30 minutes and my pace was off a bit and I was only off about 2/10 short of my normal distance. But it was just like running through mud or something. SO hard! Sunday, after the first mile, I felt as if I had wings on my feet. I never got to that point yesterday. Still eight weeks to go. Maybe I'll have a big break through this weekend.

It was a very busy day yesterday and by the time I got home, after stopping at Trader Joe's (which is the best place to buy cheap French wine, I have found. They have a cremant de bourgogne that is really good. Even my sister's wine snob of a boyfriend who lived in Paris while they were shooting that film ... oh what's it called .. ah! Ronin .... even he loves it). Anyway, it was pouring down rain, and by the time I got the groceries put away I was so exhausted I felt like crying. You know that feeling? When it feels like you have no reserves left and walking upstairs to change my clothes seemed like a huge effort. So I didn't do anything but watch TV and knit a bit. Of course, I woke up at 4 am .. again. No voices this time though. That's okay - that was a bit weird. Nice, but weird. Maybe I should start trying lucid dreaming again.

Did you hear that??

SO strange .... Monday morning, very early as in about 4 or 4:30 am, I woke up. What woke me is that I heard someone say "Hullo". I recognized the voice. It was some sort of aural hallucination because, obviously, no one was in my bedroom saying "Hullo" to me. But that did it for the sleeping for a few hours. I drifted off a couple times around 6 or so but needless to say, I was a zombie yesterday. And yesterday evening we had a dinner party to go to, so I I couldn't wait to get into bed. I read for about half an hour and I was off to dreamland. I am feeling pretty good today, thank goodness, because it's a real bitch of a week.

Last Friday was a good run, considering I had ridden my bike in. I had a busy weekend too. I did a few errands in the morning and then rehearsal in the evening. I was able to knit on the Frost Flowers Stole for about an hour or an hour and a half before I had to head over to Doug's for rehearsal. Now that we have a bass player Doug is very keen on getting some set lists together and starting to rehearse sets so we can gig. While at rehearsal I used another cool iPhone app to find out what was happening with the Husky/Stanford game. Huskies lost, but they fought well.

Mr. M's son was busy getting ready to head back to school on Sunday morning when I returned home Saturday night. I was, unfortunately, in very bad humor because he had left the door to the house unlocked when he left while we were out running errands earlier that day. I was VERY angry and let it out on him when I got back from rehearsal. He swore he locked it, but he is a notorious liar and I didn't believe him. It is very difficult to give a pathological liar the benefit of the doubt, like his father does. I am, quite frankly, thrilled that he is back at school and dreading his return at Thanksgiving and Christmas. And, as you might imagine, his father and I had some sharp words about it on Sunday. I don't think it's too much to ask that someone maintain some normal level of hygiene, for example. Mr. M thinks my standards are too high. (!!) Good heavens. Well, I'm not going to go down that road - it just gets me steamed up again.

Sunday morning I went out for my weekly training run with the other Gilda's Gang runners. [Speaking of that .... now would be a fine time to donate. Click on the box above and support me and my fund raising efforts for Gilda's Club.] The weather was perfect for running - not too hot, sunny, a little breeze. We did 4.25 miles. I must say, I was feeling pretty darned good. Not sore at all! This coming weekend it's 6.5 miles. My nephew has completely dropped out because he seriously hurt his knee. I am little bummed about that, but I'm not going to quit.

After my run I was worn out, as usual. I still had all the laundry to do, cleaning up of the boy's mess, grocery shopping, dog washing .... etc. etc. I did manage to get another few rows done on the stole after the Seahawks stunk up the place and lost. I need some serious time off but I've been looking at my work schedule and I don't know when I'll be able to do it until November. I will get somewhat of a rest when Mr. M goes away for 9 days, the first week of November. If my sister can come up I may take a long weekend with her. I have plenty of vacation, just no time to use it!

I love it when I'm right

I had a fabulous run yesterday! Laying off on Tuesday was just the right thing to do. I wasn't sore yesterday, I had a lot of stamina and I ended my run strong. Today's going to be tough though - it's a biking and running day. And then on Sunday it's five miles. But this time I won't be getting lost, since we'll be on the trail.

I sent my unfinished hat off yesterday to a woman in New York. She will finish it up and send it on to Tahoe Terror (whoever she is). I learned something with this competition - I do not like to knit when I am obliged. It just sucks all the fun out of it. I was happy to knit on my fourth (!) neck warmer hat last night. I must stop knitting those. I have lovely cashmere to make my sister a hat, I have some Noro sock yarn that I want to use to make some fingerless mitts, not to mention the Frost Flowers Stole that I haven't been able to touch for weeks. Maybe this Saturday? Oh I hope so. With my training on Sundays my weekends have gotten very short. Saturday I have to do all my errands, and I really should work some in the garden. If I have to rehearse as well it's almost like a work day.

Pushing 90

No, not me. The temperature. Today is the first day of autumn and the weather forecast is sunny and 87 degrees. It is a schedule running day but .... guess who forgot her shoes today? I had five packages to mail, and packed my running clothes but since I am not yet in the habit of bringing my shoes home for the weekend, left them! My calf muscles are even more sore today than they were yesterday, plus my knee is a bit twinge-y so maybe it's not so bad after all. I'll take a nice long walk and call it good.

I wanted to work on my Hat Wars hat yesterday evening but we had to go to the in-laws for dinner and it was not a conducive atmosphere for doing knitting that required any type of concentration. So rather than do a bunch of work I'd have to take out, I just played Scrabble on my iPhone. When we got home I poured myself a much needed cocktail and started working on getting all that yarn I had sold on eBay wound up and packaged up. Then I got on the Ravelry Hat Wars forum to see what was up and found a message from a woman wanting to know if I was Tink the Avenger. Good sleuthing!! I found her blog where she details the lineage of a kill and who gets the WIP. It is very confusing. But then she says that so-and-so had killed me. Well no ... I got no hat in the mail yesterday. I sent her a message and she explained that someone had finished and mailed off my hat and my death is imminent. Kind of lets me off the hook to finish this hat since I'm out of the competition and I'm not in love with knitting it. If I don't get killed today I'll work some more on it tonight so whoever gets it won't have that much more to do.

What else ..... work takes up so much of my energy this time of year. Add to that the training on Sundays which effectively wipes out the day since I'm so wiped out by the time I get home. That leaves me Saturday to do my errands, grooming, yard work and relaxing. Oh .. and there's rehearsing in there too. I can't seem to get enough sleep.

Lost in Discovery Park

Yesterday was our third training run. We all met at Discovery Park took off on the trails for a 5 mile run. Our group is essentially 3 groups -- the fast runners, the slow runners, and the walkers. I am in the slow runners group. The fast runners took off with the trainer who told the rest of us that he'd leave markers for us to follow. He said he'd make the mark of an arrow in the dirt or leave ferns or branches pointing the way. This is a VERY hilly park, by the way, and most of the trail is in the woods. Long story short, I was following a woman and there was another runner behind me. We missed a crucial turn and when we arrived at the top of the bluff we realized we were lost. So we turned back and started running to the spot where we understood there were steps leading down to the beach. And we ran into the walkers who had also made the same wrong turn. We ran to the stairs and started going down and who did we meet but the trainer and the others runners. The trainer berated us for not seeing his signs and told us that had never happened before. As if we're all dumber than anything for not seeing his grass arrows. We ended up just doing the run in reverse, running along the beach trail and up the steep stairs they had come down. It messed up the mileage and I ended up doing less than 5 miles, but more than four, so that's good. Plus the elevation .... holy cow. My calf muscles are SO sore today. It was so hard. I am hoping for a breakthrough soon. And by the way, look to the right at the top and you'll see a little widget for supporting my run by donating to Gilda's Club. It only takes a second.

The Hat Wars started on Friday, unbeknownst to me. I had to get on the Ravelry group to find the pattern. And of course I chose the hardest one. I worked on it Friday night, and Saturday realized that I had misread the pattern and had to take out the whole cuff, 3 inches, and four rows of the cable pattern that I was doing wrong. I got it started again and after knitting on it yesterday I'm 4 rows into the second 16 row repeat. I am kicking myself for choosing that pattern. Not that it's not pretty, but it needs a cable needle for nearly every row! I hope my target likes it.

The Huskies played their hears out on Saturday and it was a HUGE upset! It was bedlam in the stadium. I was watching it on TV, needless to say, and it was nuts! And today their Huskies are ranked #24 - Ranked for the first time in 6 years. Pretty special.

I love love love my new iPhone

I do! I've been working on transferring all my iTunes songs and videos from my laptop to my external hard drive and it's been a time consuming chore, I can tell you that! My goal is to get all of my person stuff off my broken lap top and onto the external hard drive so I can bring my work laptop home and use that for work. I've been using my personal computer for work forever and now that it's broken, I'm going to use my work computer for work. Yeah. I don't sit around at home and play on my computer or do personal stuff on it, except manage my iTunes, so it won't be hard to keep it just for work. They're very fussy about that kind of stuff, being a state institution.

Anyway, last night I synced up my iPhone and got all my music (except the holiday songs) on there and I've still got more than 17 gigs available! Right now I've got 1,631 songs, 2 music videos, 12 episodes (6 hours) of "Extras", 5 audio books (short ones though - the Ricky Gervais "Guide to .." series), 164 photos and 27 applications. I need to get more apps.

My new favorite app is called Checkbook. When we were coming home from Fort Flagler and getting on the ferry Mr. M remarked that the ferry system won't be accepting checks as of sometime soon. And I said that nobody uses check anymore. And I got to thinking - the only checks I write are twice a month to the housekeeper. If I paid her cash I wouldn't need my checkbook. I use the register to reconcile my debit card use with my account and I pay all my bills electronically and keep track of them on the register. There must be an app for that, I thought and sure enough, there is! It's great too. Way better than the check book register. I just have to be super conscientious about entering every transaction. Pretty soon it will be automatic.

I am working on the fourth neck warmer hat and when that's done I'm putting them aside for a while. First of all because Hat Wars is due to start Saturday (I think). Plus which I've got to work on the Frost Flowers Shawl when I'm not knitting for Hat Wars. I am SO looking forward to Saturday. Mr. M is going to be gone working, the son is going to be gone visiting and I've got the whole house to myself! I am going to sleep in - I am still not caught up from the weekend - and get my nails done and be home by 12:30 to watch the Huskies play USC, and knit and knit and knit and knit. Sunday I'm running 5 miles in Discovery Park so Saturday I'm not doing a thing!

From the coffee room

It was a lovely lovely lazy evening. Having written out an eight point "House Rules" for the stepson, (who, despite numerous assurances that he had his school vacation housing settled has ended up at our house for the whole month!!) I had a quiet home in which to rest. Work was again crazy and I was still a little sleep deprived from the weekend. I knew I had to get that kid under control and his dad was not about to do it, but was oh so willing to let me write out the rules and go through them with the man/boy, making me out to be the bad guy. I am totally fine with that. Perpetuating the stereotype - Wicked, Evil Stepmother. They aren't tough rules, just common sense and housekeeping.He chose the first and walked from our house to Gas Works Park and back, which I estimate to be around 10 miles each way. If he keeps that up he might even lose a little weight, besides going back to school with clean clothes that are really clean. Okay -- enough of that.

So besides some sparking wine and Mario Kart, I had silly TV and knitting. Mr. M wanted scifi, so he took himself up to his "man cave" and watched some odd movie. I hopped in bed at a decent time, read a chapter or two and was out. It was a good sleep. Our irrigation system starts at 3 am and usually I wake up when one of the back portions start, but I didn't last night. I feel rested today. I hope I can get a good run in. My ankle is bothering me a bit, which I suspect might have something to do with all the hills on Saturday. I'll take it easy.

The weekend from hell

First off - if you like camping then you probably shouldn't read this post. I HATE camping and this past weekend just made me remember why and how much.

The weekend actually started off nicely. I had a busy week at work, got everything done I wanted to get done and caught a cab down to the ferry dock. There happened to be a boat waiting so I hopped on. It was a gorgeous day. Mr. M wasn't expecting to pick me up until around 6, so I walked into the town and found a lovely little bar and settled in with a martini and sports on the TV. He picked me up and we drove off towards the campground, stopping at a wonderful restaurant for dinner on the way. GREAT dinner. I love that restaurant. And while we were eating people at the campsite, his son I guess, set up our tent. Pretty much everything was fine when we got there. People drinking and chatting around the fires. We found our tent and put our stuff in there and Mr. M began starting to get the air mattress pumped up. But the pump was missing a crucial part so he had to go in search of another one. He got it pumped up, I got ready for bed, having found the facilities to be just as disgusting as I had imagined they would be. Unfortunately, the new air mattress had leaks. Lots of them. It was like trying to sleep on a water bed, but one that was not filled up. And then there were the drunk people, hollering and talking and making noise. And the not drunk people shouting at them. Oh, and the guy in the tent next to me -- so close next to me that when he started snoring I just about lost it. As my ass was sinking slowly and inexorably to the hard and rocky ground, I sandwiched my head between two towels and cried myself to sleep.

Saturday morning I woke up on the hard, very hard, ground. I was NOT a happy camper in any sense of the word. I had to run 4 miles on Saturday because I wasn't going to make the training session Sunday, obviously, and we were going to the Seahawks game so I just wouldn't have time. I figured I'd get up, get my running clothes on, have a little breakfast and then go. But breakfast was not happening in a timely fashion so I swallowed a cup of coffee that was about 25% grounds, and had some juice and took off for my run. Oh it was a hilly run. But I made the entire four miles in less than an hour. Unfortunately my new iPhone arm band was chaffing me something fierce. It still hurts like crazy. I'm going to have to find some way to pad it.

I was feeling not entirely bad when I got back, had a nice little breakfast and then headed to the shower. Oh my good heavens .... I'll try to be as delicate as I can ... there I was lathering up with some super wonderful smelling soap and someone else was in there stinking the place up. It pretty much doesn't get much worse than that. Ick ick ick ick

Still ... it was a lovely day. And Tink was having the time of her life - all the smells and the kids and the other dogs to play with. We took her for a little walk down to the water, I was hungry again so I had a little lunch and then thought I'd have a nap since I hadn't been able to sleep the night before and Mr. M had patched the air mattress. Unfortunately, he missed a hole and the tent was as hot as an oven. There was no sleeping, although I tried for about an hour until I was too hot to even pretend to nap. That evening was planned a big shrimp boil and since the teenagers had gone through all of our beer(!) I took the opportunity to escape that particular hell and drove 10 miles into town to get more beer and pop. As luck would have it the Husky football game was on and they were beating the tar out of the Idaho Vandals. It was SWEEEET! Finally, a win!

By the time I got back the preparations for dinner were going strong so I packed up some knitting and made myself comfy and did a little knitting and tried to get my blood pressure down. The dinner was nice. We got to bed at a decent hour and the mattress held up. I was anxious to get up, even though we had to get up at 7:30. I couldn't get out of there fast enough. I hated every second of it and will now have a full year to figure out how I can get out it when it rolls around again.

The Seahawks took almost a full quarter to get their motors going, but beat the Rams 28 to nothing. Sacked the QB 3 times. It was a good game. And I slept like a rock in my own soft bed.

And now to work!!

Technology has got it in for me

It was a very nice and looong vacation weekend. Yesterday school started and I didn't have a second to breath let alone rant. I don't have to be in class first thing this morning so I'm indulging myself.

My weekend was wet. I did not attend Bumbershoot, needless to say. Saturday was errands and an evening of Husky football. They didn't win, but it was a great game and they really played well. And considering they were playing a highly ranked team on national television, it was awesome. They scored on their first drive, even. It wasn't a blow out, it was a good game to the end. Everyone is very optimistic.

Sunday was the first group training run. My nephew called at 10 am asking me if I was going to be there. I guess because it was raining so hard, he thought I might opt out. No way! Truly, I don't mind at all running in the rain and in fact quite like it. Picture though - this is not plinky-plunky rain. It was dumping! I got all togged up - I had bought new running shorts on Saturday but it was too wet for them - I had my long running pants and a short sleeved wicking T-shirt and a zip hoodie made of the same type of material. My nephew was not thinking straight and showed up with a cotton T-shirt and a sweatshirt hoodie. Off we went with the trainer, everyone but me just zipping along. Me, I know how to pace myself. I ran the entire 3 miles at a very good, almost race pace. The trainer took the other group 4 miles rather than 3 but they stopped at 2 miles and regrouped. I caught up to a poor woman who had not been pacing herself and run out of steam, plus was cramping. We ran the last 1 1/2 miles back to the start together. I was so mad at myself for not thinking to bring dry clothes, although I also wasn't intending to do anything other than drive right back home, but my nephew wanted to go eat, so I stopped and bought a Husky sweatshirt before we got to the restaurant because I was soaked to the skin and getting cold.

I'm going to have to miss the Sunday run because -- hold your breath -- it's Family Camping Weekend. O.M.G. Can you even imagine how much I am NOT looking forward to this? The first year we had just started dating plus I had Seahawks tickets, so it was easy to get out of. Last year Mr. M didn't want to go for some reason ... I think because his friend wasn't going to be there to make the big dinner or something. But this year -- no way out. On the plus side, my FIL gave us his Seahawks tickets so we get to leave bright and early Sunday morning. That means I'm going to have to do my four miles on Saturday, but I think it'll just give me a good excuse to get away from the chaos.

Now for the technology woes. My iPhone had been acting up a little bit for a few months. Sometimes when I would put it in the iHome dock it would light up and say something along the lines of this accessory is not made for iPhone and do you want to turn on Airport Mode. Since the accessory was indeed made for iPhone, I just ignored the warning. But Saturday night I received a call from my sister, everything normal. Next call I got I couldn't pick it up. And by Sunday is was not letting me make or received calls and that message was coming up all the time. I made an appointment to go to the Genius Bar at the Apple Store and, long story short, my iPhone was just broken. And since it was over 18 months old ... WELL over the warranty .. there was nothing they could do. I went home and thought about it and made an appointment to get a new one, which I picked up yesterday. A 32 gig version! Well, why not? Double the memory for $100 - it's a no brainer.

I was setting it to synching last night and when I came up to check on it, guess what. My lap top screen was shot. I rebooted and it was the same. Mr. M hooked up an external monitor for it and now I'm going to have to figure out what to do about that. Having just bought a new iPhone I really can't see buying a new laptop. Thank goodness I have that huge external hard drive and everything is backed up. Since I only use it for work, I might just start taking my work laptop home. That makes the most sense, but it's the lugging it back and forth that it tough. It needs more thought.

On Sunday I also got to meet our new bass player. The verdict it still out. He's okay, but I didn't exactly warm up to him. Partly I think because he and Doug, the leader, had to argue about a bass line. It made me uncomfortable. We rehearsed for 3 1/2 hours. I had no voice when I left.

Ahhh .. and Monday. Blissfully quiet, chores done, Tinkerbell and I hung out and I knitted on the Shawl for a while. This is a real time sink. Now up to row 21.

Holiday weekend coming up

The last day of student orientation for us, thank goodness. Tuesday we hit the ground running. I have to be ON my bike by 7 am. erghgh Thankfully it's only for a month or so that I have to get in so early.

Had a pretty darned good run yesterday. Not effortless but I was strong and it was only a 25 minute (rather than the normal 30). Today, my "easy" day, is another 30 minutes and I'm really curious whether my legs are going to hurt or not. I have been very thorough in my pre-run stretching but it's the morning bike ride that I'm more concerned with. There's only one way to find out - and I'll be doing that in an hour or so.

I did not pick up the stitches in that hat last night. I must do it tonight. I was watching the Seahawks beat the pants off the Raiders in their last preseason game. That makes the Seahawks unbeaten in preseason which hasn't happened ... well, I don't think it's ever happened. Must make the new coach pretty darned happy. Let's hope the Huskies come out of the gate as strong as the Seahawks have this year.

Mr. M's son is due this evening for his summer break. He did the summer quarter so now he's got all of September as vacation. *sigh* Well, I do have lots of work for him if he's at all interested in doing something other than sitting around playing on his computer or arguing with his father. I just love having my quiet time in the house when Mr. M is out working and I can sit and knit in the comfy chair and hear ... nothing. That's not going to be happening for a whole long month. Here's another one .... *sigh*

My stress buster

Last year at this time I was having terrible nightmares. I get stressed out only about once a year, this time, because work is pretty intense. This year I have not had the nightmares! I think it's because I have been playing Mario Kart Wii. I know I know ... it sounds really stupid, but I curse and yell at the other drivers and it's a cathartic experience. The down side is that I've developed a weird callous on the middle finger of my right hand. Almost like a callous from doing a lot of writing. But it's totally worth it. I hated those nightmares.

I am nearly done with the 3rd neck warmer hat, but I found a dropped stitch last night ... wwwaaaay down there about an inch and a half!! It's going to take some skill to pull it back up just right so I put it down. Maybe I can get to it tonight but more likely this weekend.

My run on Tuesday was really good! I felt strong and my legs did not hurt. I'm looking forward to another strong one this afternoon. I am going to try one more time to bike in and run on the Friday but if my legs hurt like they did last Friday then I am going to have to conclude that it's a bit much to bike 8 miles, rest for 3 or so hours and then run. I will probably have to start taking the bus, as much as I hate the idea. AND this Sunday is our first training run so I need to be strong for that one as well.

This weekend is also Bumbershoot. I still haven't decided if I'm going to go. Mr. M has a stage and he wants me to come for a while on one of the days but it's supposed to be raining and I hate crowds. The good side is that if we want to see anything on the Main Stage our passes let us come and go without standing in lines - bonus. But there's still the parking hassle, etc. And I have a huge weekend - unless it's pouring rain I've got to get in the garden on Saturday, get my hair done, do some shopping and then it's the Husky season opener that evening. Sunday I have my morning run and evening rehearsal and in the middle I've got to get other chores done and wash the dog. Ahhh but Monday is a holiday and I was hoping to dedicate the day to my Frost Flowers Shawl. Big plans. We'll see how it plays out.

Lake Louise

Oh I am in a very bad mood and it's only Tuesday. There is LOTS of week to go. I think I'll have my run super early today and maybe I can sweat this mood out of me.

I had weird dreams last night, Tinkerbell barfed on the duvet this morning, and I turned on my computer when I got into the office and there was Lake Louise on my rotating picture widget. Beautiful. Blue. Perfect. I had a wonderful weekend there a few lifetimes ago. I remember the oddest things about that weekend - little pictures. It was a gorgeous room - breathtaking views out of all the windows. I still can't watch college football without getting a silly grin on my face. So ... there it was on my screen. Yup.

This is a rant day. People just drive me crazy sometimes!! I know I get a little short tempered and ... well, let's just say it ... crazy this time every year, but that still doesn't excuse stupidity, does it? I am trying one last week to drive in on running days in hopes that I'll get a better run than I would after biking in. [The jury is still out on that. I didn't feel that my run Friday was any better or worse than my run on Thursday.] *Anyway* .... my rant is about idiots who can't figure out how to get into the garage, or (and this is most likely the reason) people who don't know that you have to be assigned to the garage, you can't just use your Husky card to get into any garage!! For the second time in a row I've had to back up because somebody couldn't figure out how to get into the parking structure. Come on people!! It's not rocket science!

Whew ... okay well I'll have another cup of tea and see if I can't shake this.

More work on the Frost Flowers Shawl

I got to spend a good three hours on Saturday and another hour or so on Sunday working on the Frost Flowers Shawl. I have finished the first 15 rows, moved the markers for the corners and repeats and done another two rows. I did have one little problem - I had stopped during the row when I was moving the markers to their new positions and when I picked it back up on Sunday I didn't realize exactly where I was. I ended up having to tink back about 20 stitches but amazingly enough I got it right! Here is a close up. There were a couple weekends when I didn't get much done so I am pretty happy I was able to spend so much time on it this weekend.

I still haven't rehearsed with our new bass player. I didn't hear from the leader on Saturday so I just assumed we weren't rehearsing and made other plans. Then he calls me at 5 pm Sunday ... uh no .. sorry, I can't make it. I HATE being called at the last minute. He was pretty mad because I guess the drummer was supposed to call me earlier in the week. Oh well - next Sunday.

Mr. M has been suffering with a cold for a few days. He never gets sick so you can imagine what's it like at my house. *sigh* I just keep him doped up with daytime and nighttime cold medicine. That man will NOT rest though! What is up with that? Stay in bed!! No, he'd rather be out there spreading his germs around.

I had a pretty decent run on Friday and it would have been really good, actually, except my thighs were just killing me! I believe I need to strengthen my medial quads. I was a bit achy on Saturday as well but I think that's because I was wearing such high heels. I am going to keep the heels to a minimum for a while and keep my fingers crossed that my legs get stronger. My wind was fine and that's good.

The weather is gorgeous but it's predicted to start raining later this week. Bumbershoot is this coming weekend. I don't have to go and probably won't especially if it's raining. Mr. M, on the other hand, has a stage to run. Ick

No FO

It was just too bloody hot to knit last night. I did really want to finish that hat but I couldn't do it. Maybe tonight. It's supposed to be cooling down and it is much cooler today than yesterday. We might even have some rain on Saturday. I've got to get back out into the garden again but Sunday will work just as well as Saturday, I guess. I'll just postpone the manicure. There's no use getting my nails done before I garden - it's a total waste of time.

I ordered some cashmere from Elann earlier this week. I was sure I had ordered 5 balls each of blue and black but when I opened the package I found blue and plum! I plan on using the blue to make a nice hat and mitts set for my sister's birthday in December and I had planned on using the black to make something luxe for myself. Alas .... I have no black cashmere. I don't know ... maybe I'll use the plum for myself. I should branch out on my color choices more often.

Had a good run yesterday. I still am not totally convinced that it makes any big difference if I drive in or ride my bike when it comes to the strength of my run. Logic tells me that it should make a difference . Today is my "easy" run day and so I biked in. We'll see if it's any harder than yesterday. Another thing I'm concerned with is that I don't over do it and injure myself. I have a feeling that I'm going to need all of the training in order to make it through that 1/2 marathon. If I over do it and get behind, I'm going to be sunk.

I have a choice???

It has taken 3 days but I have finally managed to change our phone plans from individual to a Family Talk Plan with AT&T. Talk about hoops -- it took 3 days because each time I tried I would run out of patience after completing one or two of the steps involved. I am sure they are hoping you will just throw in the towel after a day or two of fruitlessness, but I was determined to get this done. The phone company makes too much money off of running people around. So back and forth and on the internet and on the phone, I finally get it done and she says, "Thank you for choosing AT&T". As if I have a choice! With iPhone there is no choice. Whatever .... I am happy knowing they will get $100 LESS a month from us from now on. Next - a new iPhone but I think I'll wait a few more months.

I finished the second Neck Warmer Hat Tuesday evening and worked on the i-cord at lunch yesterday. I didn't finish it up last night because we had to go pick up something in Alderwood and then we went to dinner. So tonight I'll finish up the i-cord, weave in the ends and perhaps cast on for yet another. It's good TV knitting. But I am going to have to plan out a couple hours Saturday and Sunday to make some progress on my Frost Flowers Stole.

It's going to be hot again today. It's predicted to be about 86 degrees. I am going to go for my run early, like maybe 11 am, before it gets unbearable. I am still not convinced that NOT riding my bike on running days is making a difference. Tomorrow I'm going to be riding and running but my Friday run is supposed to be easy. I was figuring that my run on Tuesday would be strong but it wasn't particularly. That could be because again I was a bit late and I was hungry so that's why I'm going out at 11 today. I still have a couple weeks before "official" training starts so I guess you could say I'm training for training. I don't want to be the slowest.

Does my dress form need a name?

It has been suggested that my dress form needs a name. It has no head - it has a little ball for a head - and that makes it a little harder to name for me. If I had an alter ego or an evil twin name then it would be simple, but I don't. I supposed it'll come to me.

This weekend I found a cute peach colored linen sheath which just happens to coordinate perfectly with my February Lady Sweater! So that's what I'm wearing today. It is the only thing I have that goes with that sweater! I have been just wearing it around the house but I'm glad now I have something to wear it out with.

I didn't knit on the neck warm hat last night, nor the socks that just need binding off nor the Frost Flowers Stole. By the time I was done with my shower and my little after work chores I just wasn't in the mood to knit. Mr. M was out at a meeting so I had a little time to myself to play Mario Kart and by the time I was cooking dinner he was on his way so we got to eat together. And then he had ANOTHER meeting, but this one at home, so I just went upstairs and read. I should be able to finish up that second one tonight though. And when I have some spare time I'd like to bind off the socks and divide that Noro sock yarn I got to make a pair of arm warmers. So much to do ... and never enough time!!

No London trip ... boooo

I spoke to my sister this weekend and she was pretty upset with her company. She's been selling booth space for a licensing show. The one in February was in Las Vegas and the whole London office came over. The one in October she was promised she would go, and I was going to meet up with her and we were going to have a few days, but come to find out they have decided to cut the budget and save a little money so she doesn't get to go, nor do I. She has filed a formal complaint but doubts anything will come of it. We shall see.

I ended up taking Friday as a vacation day since I had plenty and I'm caught up at work. It was a good thing to do and I ended up being able to make a nice party without being all stressed out about it. I gave myself Saturday off - just did a little shopping (using my b'day gift certificates) and watched the Seahawks on TV. The second pre-season game and they won again, this time beating the Broncos.

I've been getting a head start on my holiday knitting, finishing up one neck warmer hat and starting another. They go quickly and are really cute and useful. I've also joined up with another silly knitting contest. This one is call Hat Wars. It looks like it's going to be a blast!!

Rehearsal was cancelled on Sunday due to the bass player having the flu(!!), so I worked in the garden for a couple hours and did chores and knit. Typical Sunday. Dinner was lovely. One of Mr. M's clients had caught some salmon which we grilled on cedar planks and had fresh from my garden corn and a caprese salad with my tomatoes and basil. Funny thing about the tomatoes - I believe the plants must have caught some sort of thing because they have hardly produced any fruit compared to my neighbor's plants and the ones we had last year. I'm going to be more careful picking out the plants next year.

Better FO pictures

Yesterday my dress form arrived! It is awesome and now I have no excuses for bad FO shots. I snapped a couple this morning on my way out. I should have used my real camera and I will, but for now here's a pictures of Loppem and the wrap I made when I was on vacation. It's from "Knitting in the Sun". I still haven't put a button on the Loppem. I have worn it once and just let it hang but I think I'll use a pin as a button. I have a couple cute glass ones that would work just fine.

It was, as predicted, blazing hot yesterday and my ride home was tough. After walking Tink and having a quick shower, I went out to purchase the stuff I need for our dinner Friday night. I was unable, however, to find the two main ingredients for the starter and entree! Thank goodness Mr. M has time and he's on a mission today to find them. Then tonight I'll get it all set and all he has to do is start the cooker. On the one hand, it's a hassle to have people over for dinner on a Friday, but on the other hand I'll have my whole weekend to shop and knit.

Wow .. here comes the heat again.

It's supposed to top out at 90 today. It was pretty darned hot yesterday too. I ran at lunchtime but I was so exhausted from that rotten night that it didn't make any difference that I drove in - it was a bad run. I also had started out later than I had planned because it's pretty darned busy around here so I was hungry as well. No matter -- I've got a couple weeks before we even start the serious training so I'm feeling pretty good.

Oh! And great news yesterday - we finally have a bass player! Yay! We're going to have a 3 hour rehearsal on Sunday. I couldn't make it last Sunday - actually I figured it would be much better if just the guys got together for the first time. I am SO looking forward to this weekend.

I worked just a little bit on the Neck Warmer Hat last night. And I have definitely decided to frog the Flutter and sell the yarn. And while I'm working slowly on the Frost Flowers Stole I can start holiday knitting. Hats. Lots and lots of hats and fingerless mitts.

I feel SUPER this morning. I got caught up on my sleep. Despite the fact that it was sweltering last night, even with the ceiling fan and another fan across the hall, I slept soundly and got a full 8 hours in. I went up super early to read, made it for about 30 minutes and then conked out. Tink woke me briefly in the night, barking at some phantom in the street. But once I got her upstairs and settled I was out! I have lots of chores the next few evenings because Mr. M wants to have a business dinner party on Friday so I have all the shopping and prep to do the next couple nights so that he can get the entree cooking on Friday afternoon and all I have to do is finish the sides. It's much better for me to have these types of things on Saturday, but I guess schedules did not permit that.

It's that time of year already!

It's insomnia season. That time of year when if I am awakened during the night the chances of me being able to get back to sleep are slim indeed. I try to avoid looking at the time, but I do know that it was pitch black when I woke up and so that means it was before 4 am. Needless to say, I am exhausted. I started thinking about work and that was all it took.

I drove in today because Tuesdays and Thursdays are my harder weekday running/training days and I think I'll get a lot more out of the run if I'm not worn out from that long bike ride. We'll see how it goes these next few weeks.

I finally ordered myself a dress form! Mr. M found it in one of his catalogs he gets. I'll finally get to take some decent FO pictures. It should be here tomorrow. Woohoo!

And Monday rolls around again

We are getting our summer weather back this week. Yay! It was perfect gardening weather Saturday. Not too hot, a little breeze, and sunny. I filled up 3 garbage cans with stuff. Amazing. There was a lot of dead heading to do, and tons of buttercups to get cleaned out. The other gardeners I hired to do weeding just never got around to that. I should have walked them through the garden before setting them loose. I spent a good 2 hours out there. That's about my limit. Next weekend I'll work more in the front.

Tinkerbell was up getting groomed while I was working in the yard. When I finished and got cleaned up I spent a couple hours on the Frost Flowers Stole. Still not up to the first moving markers row. I'm on row 12 now. This is just something that I am going to have to keep plugging away on.

Saturday was the first Seahawks pre-season game so I mostly spent the evening watching that and doing a little more work on the socks. I think I can bind them off any time now. And I have decided that I hate that pink bamboo yarn so much that I'm not even going to bother finishing Flutter. I absolutely will not wear it. If it was more of a creamy pink, then yes I'd go ahead. But this is absolutely bubble gum pink. Not good on anyone over 8 years old. I think I'll frog it and sell it on eBay.

Last night I started a neck warmer hat - a pattern I saw in a book of Knitted Gifts that my friend brought to noon knitting. It's going to be a project I can make a few of for gifts and use up some of that yarn I got for that organic wrap that flopped so badly.

A busy bike trail

There is some kind of bike race going on today and part of their course took them onto the Burke Gilman trail. They were heading the opposite direction as me, and since the weather was bad this morning there weren't the normal numbers of commuters heading into Seattle. If it had been a sunny day it would have been quite a mess for a few miles. Yesterday when I was running at lunchtime I actually yelled at a bicyclist who passed me. I swear if I had moved one inch he would have clipped me. I always ding my bell or call out before I pass someone. It's just polite! And safe. And I know how annoying and scary it is to have a bicycle whiz past you unannounced.

There was no knitting last night. I was soaking wet when I got home, and then I had a phone call, then walking Tinkerbell, and on our walk I was waylaid by a guy selling meat and seafood .... weird. Anyway while he was showing me his wares it started raining even harder so I was really cold and wet by the time we made it back home. I had decided to finally finish up those socks I have been working on so I can cast on the Noro sock yarn I bought on vacation and make some arm warmers. But it was so late by the time I finally got showered and settled that I just watched TV and thumbed through Spring and Summer issues of IK. I can't decided if I should do the Tangled Yoke Cardigan with the beige Ella Rae Shibu I bought or if I should get some cotton and make the Gatsby. There's also a nice tunic in the latest issue of IK but I think it's pieced. The Gatsby is done in the round. That's a big plus -- not that I couldn't re-do the flat pattern to round but .... it's nice when it's already done that way. We'll see.

Big plans for gardening this weekend. Tonight we're going out to dinner, tomorrow Mr M will be working late so it's a perfect day for me to do chores and garden and MAYBE start a new project.

The hat is finished and my next 15 weeks sorted!

I finished up the Windansea during noon knitting yesterday. It's SO CUTE! I should have Mr. M take a picture of it on me, but here it is on my flat topped hat block. The color is my favorite and it fits my head perfectly. I'm not going to sew in the elastic. I really don't think it needs it.

I attended a meeting at Gilda's Club last night. I am definitely going to join their 1/2 marathon training program. As soon as I'm registered I will put a link up here and be bugging you for sponsorship. I have to raise $750 for them and it's a really really wonderful program, so I'm going to be really trying hard to even beat that. The training starts next week but I'm going to start this week since I already ran Tuesday. And every Sunday we all meet at one of several locations to do a training run together. The schedule is moderate 25 - 45 minute runs on Tuesday, Thursday and Friday and on Sundays we will start at 3 miles and eventually get up to 12 miles a few weeks before the race. The sole down side is that the scheduled training is Sunday - football day - and starts at around 11. Thankfully I've got a DVD and can record the games but that does mean that if someone happens to have a spare ticket I can't go unless it's a night game. Or after the 29th. Totally going to be worth it though. (Can you tell I'm excited?)

Mr. M has a big job tonight and won't be home 'til late, so it's just the Tinkie dog and myself. I guess I'll do some work on Flutter and get that out of my hair.

Pleasantly sore

It turned out that I was feeling quite strong yesterday afternoon and made my whole 30 minute run without having to stop and walk. That's great news! My leg feels fine, except of course that I'm a bit sore. But it's good soreness. So I am very excited to go to the meeting tonight and find out about the training. I did a bit of sleuthing on line and it looks like my Saturdays from now until race day, November 29, will have a formal training session. Shorter runs during the week and a longer session on Saturday. That makes sense. I just have to stay injury free, which is going to be the trick.

I didn't get to do any knitting last night because Mr. M's daughter came over for dinner with her new boyfriend. She's going to be gone for the next month and wanted him to meet her new beau. He seems nice. A whole lot better than the previous one.

It's noon knitting today. I brought my hat - I've only got 2 inches left of crocheting the wire in so maybe I can finish it up. It's sitting on a chair in the picture, the crown is flopping over but you can get an idea of how it is going to look. I will put it on my hat blocker and take a really good picture when I'm completely finished. And I brought my WIP Frost Flowers Stole just for show and tell.

Making up for all those dry days!

And how! It's been raining since yesterday evening. I know the garden and lawn will certainly perk up. Of course so will the weeds.

I'm feeling much better today. No sore throat! Since it was pouring rain and my rain gear is nonexistent, I drove in. I am going to try running today for the first time in over a month. More like a little run/walk action. Tomorrow is that meeting about the training for the half marathon. I want to know how my leg feels before I go to the meeting. I mean, it feels fine just walking and riding my bike, but I don't remember how long the last time I waited before I got back running.

I had plenty to do yesterday, work-wise, and kept busy. Tinkie got a bath late in the afternoon and then I settled down to finish up my Windansea hat. I didn't have much knitting left to do on the crown and finished that up and started crocheting the wire into the brim. I'm almost done and it looks really good! I meant to snap a quick shot this morning but as usual I was running out the door when I thought of it. Tomorrow.

Except for the sore throat ......

it was a pretty darned good birthday! I went to rehearsal Friday and when I got home my throat was very sore. I thought it was just from singing but it was still there Saturday. I chose to ignore it and did a little shopping instead of laying low. As usual, Mr. M gave me an awesome gift -- who doesn't love jewelry? And we had a nice dinner out with friends. And there was cake! Yay!! And a gift certificate to my LYS! YAY!! And champagne (well, sparkling wine). It was an early dinner so we had a movie when we got home.

I had big plans for Sunday -- yard work and doggie washing topping the list. But I was just not feeling well at all so I did a quick grocery shop and spent the day knitting. I got quite a bit done on the frost flower stole - I'm now starting row 11. I know that doesn't seem like much, but this is hundreds and hundreds of stitches. I got the hat nearly done - just the crown left to do. And I even managed to work a bit on the Flutter. I would like to finish the hat tonight. I couldn't find millinery wire but found 20 gauge wire that should work.

My goal today is to pound liquids and get rid of this whatever-it-is. Thank goodness I can work from home.

The good thing about it being unseasonably ....

cold today is that I got to wear my Ingrid skirt! It's awesome, if I do say so myself. I had Mr. M take this shot with my iPhone this morning. Yes, I could have been a little less lazy and had him use my camera but I was running late. At least you can see how the ruffle is indeed higher on one side and that is a design choice that isn't apparent in the picture on the web site. But it's really cute and it works. When I walk the ruffle moves in a most fetching manner. ;-)

I didn't do a thing last night. Mr. M was working late and Tink and I just chilled on the couch. I read the paper. I watched some TV, cooked some dinner. A nice, quiet evening. I haven't heard from Doug yet but I'm assuming we're still rehearsing tonight. If not, I'm going to do a big push and try to finish up the hat. I'll need to get some wire tomorrow. It is supposed to be cloudy all weekend but I really want to work in the garden AND I want to put in some solid hours on the Frost Flowers as well. Good intentions. Tune in Monday and we'll see how well I did, eh?

Clearly what I needed was a good sleep

I was so groggy yesterday. It was difficult to be productive and impossible to be in a good mood. When I got home I had a nice shower and got into my lounge-y pants and just relaxed. Mr. M was out running errands and so brought dinner home, which was nice because I sure didn't feel like cooking. And I tell you what -- after a dinner and a movie I went to bed and I must have been fast asleep before 10. I slept like a rock and now this morning I feel pretty decent.

Tomorrow I think we'll be rehearsing again, since I can't do it Saturday. The drummer has a bass player in mind and is lobbying hard to give him a try. I'm game. I don't know what the hold up is. Anybody is better than nobody because we can't make our gig demo without a bass player. Do you realize, if I'd started taking bass lessons when that first guy quit I'd be a whiz by now!

I got a good bit done on my little hat while watching the movie. I must make myself work for a few hours on the Frost Flowers Stole this weekend. It looks like it's going to rain so it shouldn't be too hard to carve out a few down hours since I won't be working in the garden and Mr. M is working most of Sunday.

The birthday week

It is in fact my birthday week and I am just flat out depressed. I hate getting older, and I miss my old friends SO much I can hardly breathe sometimes. I know ... don't think about it. But it's much much easier to say than to do. And OMG, do NOT read old email. I made that mistake. My thinking was ... oh this was a few months ago ... let's see what I was doing in May of 2000. Oh no no no. Bad idea. Well anyway this will pass. It always does. And there are always surprises around every corner, aren't there? And even if my birthday itself is a bust, there is football on Sunday! The first pre-season game.

I was going to attend a meeting about training for the half marathon in November. Gilda's Club is offering 16 weeks of free training if you pledge to raise $750 for them. I have always wanted to get some running training but it's rather pricey. Since I've just started riding again I am so tired I can hardly stand it. So I think I'll skip the meeting tonight and go next Wednesday instead. That way I can drive in and I won't be so wiped out and able to make a 6 pm meeting.

I worked a little on my hat last night but didn't want to bring that in with me because the yarn is so slippery, so I've got the Flutter with me today for noon knitting. I am really not loving that color. Way too pink. The picture on my monitor had it looking much lighter. I can give it away when it's done if I don't like how it looks.

Okay, so it hurt a little

I got back on my bike today - one month off! It was not painless, I'll tell you that. But I was only 2 minutes off pace. The weather was much cooler than it has been and it was very pleasant. Except for the pain, of course. Since I have my doctor's approval to do it I shall assume I'm not causing myself any permanent damage. But oh my goodness .... I am going to have to take some Naproxen or something. Ouchie

I got my hair done yesterday and by the time I got home and got a few chores done I was just ready to watch a little Star Trek and chill. I didn't do any knitting. I hope I can do some tonight. Tomorrow evening I'm going for a meeting about training for the half marathon in November so I probably won't knit tomorrow night. Oh ... but it's noon knitting tomorrow so I should be able to get something done. I guess it'll have to be Flutter.

More tea!!

According to plan

I got going early Saturday in order to get a good morning in the garden before the heat kicked in. Well of course the back garden is on the west side of the house so it was warm even at 9:30. I got out there and started with the hedge around the deck. I have never trimmed a hedge before but it actually turned out quite well. I switched up from trimming the hedge to weeding to dead heading, etc. etc. I ended up spending 2 1/2 hours out there but I got lots and lots done. It looks pretty good. I've learned a lot about gardening this year, watching this one come full circle. It will be better next year.

Mr. M was gone the whole day Saturday to a memorial service for a distant cousin so I had a nice long afternoon to myself. I *should* have picked up the Frost Flowers Stole and done a couple rows but instead I started Windansea with some beautiful green Seduce I bought at Weaving Works on Friday. I wound it up Friday evening and that was quite an ordeal. This yarn is linen, rayon, silk and nylon. VERY slippery! It is not a portable project because the balls threaten to unwind. It is knitting up nicely. I got it cast on and did a few rows before he got home that evening and a few more while I was watching a movie. It's an easy pattern.

Sunday was very hot again and we kept the AC on so we could sleep at night. Saturday night we tried fans and windows open but I ended up melting all night so at least I got a good night in last night. Went over to have a little rehearsal yesterday afternoon. Thankfully Doug has a window AC in the studio because it's on the top floor of the house. So it was okay - not cool by any means but we spent a couple hours up there without too much trouble. We hadn't been able to get together since my vacation and surgery. Still no bass player(!) but the drummer has a line on one so, fingers crossed, by the end of this month we should be able to put together out demo.