Wait, What?

Published
by
Miss Lissa
on February 5, 2010
in daily
. 0 Comments

Hello, February. I do not understand how you can blink, and thereby miss an entire month. What did I even do in January? Let’s see… I… worked? Got sick? Whined about working? Whined about getting sick?

Yeah, that about sums it up.

The other day I got an email from my webhosting company that I had been billed for the next two years. And I was like, wait, what? I’ve had my website for 2 years and I STILL haven’t put it up? And also that was $190 I wasn’t mentally prepared to pay quite yet? Aaaaah.

SO ANYWAY

I am randomly updating the blog so as to GET MY MONEY’S WORTH, holy moly.

Sunday I finished my Gathered Pullover that I mentioned in my previous post. It is awesome and fits great. I blocked it this week and since it’s been raining it took forever to dry, even though I put the fan on it to help. So: pictures of that soon!

At the beginning of the year I hit the 50% all the buttons at JoAnn’s sale, and I scored a bunch of buttons, and these are my favorites:

buttons

Extremely patriotic, heh. They might be for another Liesl. I haven’t really decided what I am going to do with my Ultra Alpaca that I got at Christmas. I might just do a short sleeved pullover though. I am feeling a strange urge to knit nothing but sweaters! I have to roll with this desire while it lasts because dudes, it has never happened before, and I do expect to go crazy with socks again. Buuut, not right now. :/

Here’s what I’m working on now:

DSC03262

Vaila from Twist Collective, in Berroco Vintage (blueberry colorway, I think), which I like a lot so far. We’ll see about how it holds up. It’s like 40% wool, 50% acrylic and 10% nylon. It seems like it will be a good hard wearing easy-care blend. I hope so. I like Wool-Ease, and this is a lot softer than that and comes in a lot of great colors. I’m actually about halfway down the body with six motifs completed. I want there to be at least eight before I start the ribbing, and there might be nine depending on how long the eight measure out to be. There will be about 4 inches of ribbing at the bottom, so I have to take that into account. Incidentally, the sweater is supposed to be knit from the bottom up, but I don’t like that way so I am knitting it top down with no turtleneck. I want this sweater to be finished before Stitches West. At least I already finished the Gathered Pullover.

It is now three months till I leave for the Chicago/Milwaukee trip. I am getting excited! It will be here before we know it! I think it’s pretty amazing that my grandparents will have been married for 65 years and also amazing that we are all heading out to the Milwaukee area to celebrate it. I think almost all the family is going to be there for it. (It helps that several of my cousins live out in the Midwest these days.)

(Incidentally, it is also exactly 5 months till I turn 30. Not that I am counting or anything. *ahem*)

Well, I think that is pretty much IT on this end. I have been really poor this week due to even more teeth appointments (phooey on braces and genetics, etc.!) and so I have literally been to two places besides work this week: the Lafayette Reservoir, which I have a yearly pre-paid card for, and Jason’s house, where I ate/mooched dinner. My aunt actually brought over the dinner and she made a delicious stew. This week I must be needing protein because I have just been CRAVING the delicious flesh of beasts. I ate an entire rotisserie chicken. And the stew meat was soooo goooood (like pot roast, but more stew-ish if that makes sense.)

I am sleepy, the end.

Onwards and Upwards!

Published
by
Miss Lissa
on January 1, 2010
in daily and knitting
. 0 Comments

Oops, I haven’t blogged since Thanksgiving!

Happy New Year, folks! I think 2010 will be excellent.

After falling off the health bandwagon mid-December thanks to holiday noshing I am raring to get back with it. Today happens to be Friday so I can reconfirm my commitment to health and wellness in 2010.

Also I will be thirty this year. :O

Anyway, I made a collage of the things I made last year. It’s missing the two hats I made my mom for Christmas, but you get the idea.

2009 FO mosaic

Lots of nice things last year! My favorite things are the shawls and the Liesl sweater. I got back into the hat mojo, and of those, I really like the alpaca ribbed hat I made myself (last pic on the 2nd-to-last row).

This year I finally feel like knitting some sweaters. I have one that I’m currently working on on my knitting machine, and one that I am working on by hand – a top down version in worsted weight yarn of the Gathered Pullover from the Winter 2007 Interweave Knits. I actually splurged, crazily, and got myself enough Dream in Color Classy (in my favorite colorway, Happy Forest) to make a sweater with Christmas money. I also got enough Berroco Ultra Alpaca in a gorgeous deep teal to make another Liesl. So I’m going to roll with the sweater making while it’s hitting because it doesn’t happen all that often.

2010 will again be a year of Knitting What I Want To Knit, When I Want To Knit It. I am looking forward to it!

I still have to finish up a couple of projects for my sister for the quilt she made me, which is taking longer than I wish, but… I really don’t like making stuff for other people on a deadline so I kind of barf out projects here and there for her. I’m almost done with a pair of socks for her, then next I will make a hat, then next another pair of socks out of the hot pink and green Shibui Sock.

Anyway, other than the Abby knitting I don’t really have a rhyme or reason for what I plan on making this year. Last year I had no idea I’d make shawls, but I did – 3 of them. I also didn’t think I’d ever make a sweater, but I did! And I like it a lot.

This year I do plan on trying to knit down the stash. (She said, enthusiastically if, honestly, unrealistically) I have, recently, acquired Christmas stash, which was dumb, but fun! I’ll take a picture later.

I also want to blog more, but interesting things have to happen. :P

Stuff I Made That Is Awesome

Published
by
Miss Lissa
on November 22, 2009
in daily and knitting
. 1 Comment

The end of year crafting extravaganza has begun. I love making presents for people. “People” also includes myself. Okay, mostly myself, haha. Seriously though, I have started two of the three knitting gifts I plan on giving this year, one of which is about 75% completed.  So I’m way ahead of my “OMG it’s December 15th??? I should get started on the present making!!” I usually wind up with.

So no pics on those till after Christmas. They’re awesome, though.

Hey, so I finished Liesl and I love her.

Liesl - Finished

You can also get a nice view of my sassy wood paneling up in there.

She fits nice. Here is a crappy picture I took of myself in my “vanity” area, and it is a mess so ignore the laundry all over the place.

Liesl - Finished

Not only is that a fairly crappy picture, but it’s an “in the mirror” picture, haha! But as you can see, Liesl looks super cute on.

Though I will fess up to the fact that even though there are six buttons they don’t all close. I should have stopped making button holes after four, but, whatever.

Basically I knit the 46″ size, but didn’t, you know, swatch, or use the right needle or anything, so it’s a miracle that I like it and it fits! And I did the picot bind off, which is kinda twee but I think works for this highly girly knit. The buttons are from the La Mode vintage reproduction line. I found them at JoAnn’s. They cost more than the Vanna yarn, heh.

The other thing I made is this awesome beret:

#14 Beret

#14 Beret

I made this out of Fleece Artist Merino 2/6, which is an awesome fingering weight yarn. Very silky feeling. I used a #3 US needle. I should have used a smaller needle for the ribbing because it blocked completely ridiculous. Like, too huge to fit. So, annoyed that all my hard work had been negated by a very necessary block, I bought some red elastic thread and sewed it into the cast on edge. You can’t even see it, but it salvaged the knit spectacularly! I noticed that a lot of store-bought berets have elastic in the edge, so it must not be that uncommon for the edge to be a little too big. But that would be my recommendation on this pattern (#24 lace beret in the latest Vogue Knitting Holiday mag) to not be lazy and actually knit the edge on smaller needles. I think the pattern actually tells you to do this, but, whatever. Now it fits great.

#14 Beret

Anyway, so aside from the Christmas projects, I have also cast on for a sweater out of some gray wool-ease I had lying around. Much like the Liesl yarn, I suspect that I bought this way on sale. Here’s the initial design for the sweater:

graysweater

I’m winging it, as usual, so we’ll see A) how long it keeps my interest and B) if it even does what I want it to. Basically I want it to have a yoke of some sort, whether garter stitch or cabled I haven’t yet decided, sort of blousey sleeves with a narrow cuff and a sewn hem for neatness. Worked top down. I already have the top rib started and need to look in my stitch books for the yoke part.

Vacation Time (for 2010)

Published
by
Miss Lissa
on November 19, 2009
in daily and fashion
. 0 Comments

I have somewhat injured myself and seriously must lie down for the next two days. Damned lunges and also squats. I am so tired and achy, which may also be a symptom of being dehydrated. Made it into work though, where I am diligently working hard. *ahem* At any rate, I full on feel like crap.

I have been talking to my Texas friend Tara via Facebook and we have decided that we will do the South Beach diet starting after Thanksgiving.  Our reasons are thus: Tara’s getting married next year and wants to look awesome, and I also want to look awesome for this event. I have been wanting to do the 2 week Atkins metabolic reset that starts out your South Beach experience because I really felt great the last time I did it. I was going to do this in January, but having Tara do it at the same time will be a supportive bonus, because no carbs is SO HARD for like three days, you think you are going to keel over and croak, but by the end of the two weeks you are really feeling awesome.

Speaking of Tara’s wedding, I asked her if they’d set a date, and they have! July 31, 2010 – which, honestly, is like the most perfect time for me to take time off the job. I was going to go regardless of workload/meeting schedule, but now I can take a little more time off and really enjoy myself! Since 7/31/10 is a Saturday, I am thinking that I may take off 7/29-8/6/10.  I won’t spend all that time in Texas, but I will certainly spend a chunk!

(Incidentally, I wonder if Tara realizes she is getting married on Harry Potter’s birthday?)

I also found this picture and I think I found the style of dress I will wear to the wedding:

anthrodress

Isn’t that cute? I love Anthropology stuff. Made out of cotton jersey or just regular cotton would be a nice, cool, and flattering fashion statement. I want to whip out the sewing machine this winter, so hopefully I will acquire some Mad Skillz to make it. I haven’t actually sewn anything in about 18 years, so I’m a little, uh… out of practice. I think boots would look awesome with this dress, however being realistic I have to say that boots in Texas in late July would be stupid as it is approximately 800 Billion Degrees that time of year there.

My friend Sarah has started sewing recently and has really surprised me with her enthusiasm for it, so I kind of figure that if she can get going with it, so can I! I’ve been toting a sewing machine around the country for five years, I oughtta use it, don’t you think?

Anyway, I’m pretty stoked about going back to Texas for a few days next summer. It’s my favorite place, after all. I’m a little bummed I didn’t make it out there this year, but every other year seems to be the schedule so this will be right on track.  PLUS my friend Daphne is out of grad school in Arizona so I will be able to visit with her.  I haven’t seen her since I moved away – she was out of state when I was there in 2008.

So, brace yourself, San Antonio. I am returning to your hallowed ground in a mere eight months!! bwahahaha

How corny.

Published
by
Miss Lissa
on November 17, 2009
in daily, fitness friday and recipes
. 1 Comment

Having received a real-live-actual invitation to Thanksgiving I am now backed into a corner re: my least favorite holiday because I was summoned to bring something to eat.

So I replied to the email summons that I would bring a corn pudding.

I like corn pudding.

I had not actually made one.

So, I putzed around on the internets and found myriad recipes for corn pudding until I came across one that would only cost me a couple of dollars because I actually had most of the ingredients, including about 4 cans of creamed corn in my pantry (wtf?). Last night I made it as an experiment and it turned out pretty good.

Here is the recipe:

CORN PUDDING THING

1/2 Cup Butter
2 Eggs
1 can creamed corn
1 can regular corn
1 box corn bread mix
1 Cup sour cream

I actually used the following:
1/2 Cup Fake Soy Butter
2 Eggs
1 can creamed corn
1 16 oz package frozen white corn
1 box Jiffy (8 oz, I think) cornbread mix
1 cup lite/light sour cream

Directions:

  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F and lightly grease a 9×9 pan (MY MOD: 8×8 nonstick pan… because that’s what I had.)
  2. Melt butter/fake butter on the stove, in a small pan/pot. Drain the regular corn of excess packing water. Throw all ingredients into  a big bowl and stir until everything is mixed. Looks kind of like lumpy cake or cornbread batter when you’re done.
  3. Bake for 45 minutes in the preheated oven (MY MOD: Since I was using an 8×8 pan instead of a 9×9, it took a good half hour longer to bake, because of the thickness of the batter). It’s done baking when the top is golden brown, and the pudding is “set”. Also, you stick a knife in the middle and it comes out relatively smoothly. Serves six or more, depending on serving size.

cornPudding
(image “borrowed” from here. Please note that my version had a bunch of knife holes in it where I poked it to see if it was done. And also it was square. But it looks really similar other than that! hehe)

Note: I didn’t thaw my frozen corn before I made this so I think that combined with the smaller pan definitely had an impact on baking time.

It turned out really nicely, moist and tasty. As a further modification, I think adding some chopped jalapenos to this recipe would be awesome. Then it would be like that chile rellenos casserole that my mom makes that is so delicious. Only with corn.

So if you like corn stuff, I would definitely recommend this recipe because it’s kind of a cross between corn pudding and cornbread. It’s also not too terrible fat-wise, though it’s pretty carby, so watch out for that, if that’s something you’re watching out for.  I like corn a lot, but in my quest to eat lower carbs, or make better carb decisions (whole grains, etc.) I don’t really eat it all that much since it’s not really a vegetable, it’s mostly a starch/grain. Because I used fake soy butter and lite sour cream that also added to the lower-calories/sat fat results.

Also if you’re looking for something less cholesterol-y I think you could probably substitute egg beaters for the eggs, but I’m not sure yet how to do substitutions like that. Food science, like the amount of canned corn in my pantry, remains a mystery.

Finding Food Friday #4

Published
by
Miss Lissa
on November 14, 2009
in Uncategorized
. 0 Comments

I think summer has let go, here on the Left Coast.

I enjoyed the one stretch of cool-but-warm weather, maybe a week. It’s my favorite. Everything else I loathe. Today was the first cold day of the season. I hate it.

This week was much less of a food challenge than previous because I actually had groceries! Go figure. I’m making better choices and making use of the awesome, cheap, and questionably originated vegetables and fruits  at the Asian markets around here. My favorite is 99 Ranch Market, which is across the street from my office, but if I can’t get there for some reason, I can go to County Market which is less than a mile from my house.  It’s one of the few things that’s nice about living near the coast of the Stupidest State of Them All: easy access to A) Asian culture and B) their grocery stores.

Anyway, one of the things that’s really nice about the Asian stores is that everything is so, so cheap. I’ve been kind of strapped for cash lately (this whole “owning a house” and “paying for mortgage” thing kind of sucks you dry in the greenback department), and one of the monumentally unfair things I have found in terms of trying to Lead A Healthy Lifestyle is how frigging expensive it is!!

You can, however, learn how to shop around and make use of bulk stores and other types of stores, like organic or indie grocery shops.

My favorite grocery store, besides 99 Ranch Market is Trader Joe’s.  Trader Joe’s is not only a great store with great products and great pricing, but it treats their employees right. I buy most of my meat here because it’s good quality, often organic (like free range chicken, which is more delicious than regular chicken… honestly I could care less about chicken treatment, except that nicely treated free-range chicken really ARE way more delicious!!), and fairly inexpensive if you shop right.

Anyway, so my whole point is that here, in what is one of the (if not THE? – I’m too lazy to look) most expensive places to live (e.g.: my cost of living is triple what I was paying in Texas) if you look around and make the right choices, healthy eating isn’t too hard.

Here’s where I shop:

Trader Joe’s for basic groceries on a weekly basis – I can get about a week’s worth to supplement my current supply for about $20.

Asian Grocery Stores for fresh fruits and vegetables and quirky ingredients (I cook a lot of Thai food these days, mostly curry)

Local Farmer’s Markets for fresh fruits and vegetables – this also localizes where you shop and helps the economy for your neighborhood or county.

Winco/Target/Walmart for discounted canned goods and basic groceries.  All “house brands” at these places are good and much cheaper than regular grocery stores.

I haven’t actually set foot in a regular grocery store (here it’s Safeway, other places is Vons, HEB, Ralph’s, etc.) in months. Making that decision to look for alternate sources of healthy eating wasn’t very hard: mainstream supermarkets are crazy expensive! And I can get all the things I used to get there at Winco for much, much cheaper.

So that’s what I do when I’m grocery shopping, is go to many different places in order to find the best deals around.

(And yes, I realize I’m posting this on Saturday.)

What I’m Working On

Published
by
Miss Lissa
on November 10, 2009
in daily and knitting
. 0 Comments

I’ve inexplicably been compelled to knit a sweater, which honestly doesn’t happen that often.  I don’t like purling that much, I really only like cardigans (in which purling is pretty much a must) and I just REALLY REALLY love making socks and shawls more than anything else!

So, EXHIBIT A that I’ve lost my mind a wee bit:

DSC03134

Is it not super pretty? I realize that I’ve already added the buttons, but that was to try it on. I still need to sew on 2 more but I don’t really need them. And I’ve knit another three or so inches on it since I took this picture last weekend. The inside is finished as well – I’m weaving in ends as I go. (Since this picture was taken I’ve finished the body of the sweater and started on the sleeves.)

It’s an extremely painless process, I am amazed to report.  That Ysolda really knows how to write a pattern, and Liesl is no exception. The Vanna White yarn is nice to work with and seems to have a nice drape.  Also, *ahem* only cost me $10.81 for four skeins, which will be the perfect amount. IN FACT, the yarn was the cheapest thing, the notions and the US 10.5 circular needles (a small circular for the sleeves and a large one for the body) will have cost about $16, hah – and I used a coupon at JoAnn’s for the larger needle.

I am enjoying the knitting and I do like sweaters, so I may make an attempt to make another one, but the construction would have to be interesting and not too purly (I’m thinking Manon from Norah Gaughan, maybe). On the other hand, I would also like to try a yoked sweater, so I dunno.

I must be out of my mind, wanting to knit sweaters.  But I did go through my closet and pulled out a bunch of yarn for various projects. I apparently really like kelly green Vanna yarn because I counted fifteen (15!!!!1) skeins in the closet, so I would just like say WTF about that. And also: ugh.

Anyway, I also finished a pair of socks, like, a month ago. Six weeks ago even.

DSC03132

Another pair of Lacunae Socks from Anne Hanson/Knitspot. I really love this pattern. I think it might be my new “Monkey” or vanilla-type sock. Quick, easy, interesting and super comfortable.

Next time: I’ve been obsessively crocheting snowflakes for a Christmas themed decoration that I am planning on affixing to my ceiling. Good times at my house.

Fake Butter Friday #3

Published
by
Miss Lissa
on November 6, 2009
in daily, fitness friday and health/wellness
. 1 Comment

I swear I have a blog post floating around in my drafts that ISN’T a Fitness Friday but… this has been a busy week with a Lost Day (Wednesday), house guest (Tuesday), and Unexpected Vegan Discoveries.

Now, no lie, I like meat.  However, I’ve mentioned before my interest in vegan recipes, and when I was browsing the internets I came across a few recommendations for Earth Balance “butter” so I thought I would try that out when I happened upon it at Trader Joe’s yesterday. Since I needed new butter anyway, having almost finished a container of my very favorite spread, Country Crock. Usually a margarine spread like CC lasts me pretty long since I don’t use it for much except on waffles and sometimes on bread or when I make brussel sprouts. I don’t eat that much bread, though. But I was at Trader Joe’s getting cheapish groceries – I love their fair trade Pajaro coffee and organic evaporated cane sugar – and saw this butter stuff I’d just read about.

I got the fake-butter, which is made of soy byproducts, I guess, took it home, tried it out on some artisan bread I also picked up at TJ’s and came to the conclusion that fake non-dairy butter spread is just okay. It’s no Country Crock, people. But it’s decent, and for a non-dairy soy product I will actually use, I will give it a B grade. Not bad.

EXCEPT: and here’s the big surprise that shocked me! VEGAN FAKE BUTTER IS TWICE AS FATTY AS REGULAR FAKE BUTTER.

More than, in fact.  I don’t really look at the ingredients or fat content on stuff (I probably should do this more) and I was always under the impression that Country Crock was not super great for you, but I like the way it tastes 100% better than I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter or Smart Balance. Country Crock has 5 grams of fat per serving (tablespoon) – and I would rather eat my favorite in moderation than waste my time on stuff I don’t like.

Earth Balance, woo woo vegan product has 11 grams of fat per serving.

WTF, vegan product!!!

I was alarmed. So I will be more careful about future vegan products, that is fo’ sho’.

At any rate, the vegetable oil content is quite high, so I think it will be good for baking. You can use I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter in baking because of the vegetable oil content (talking about food chemistry here) but you can’t use Country Crock because the veg oil content is too low (too delicious I guess).

A quick Google brought up the fat content of regular butter, which is identical to Earth Balance at 11 grams per T serving.  So if you actually eat real dairy butter (I don’t) you could theoretically substitute Earth Balance for that and not see a difference in the amount of fat percentages in your life.

So, I guess my point here is that you DO need to pay attention to what you are doing when it comes to vegan products/cooking or you will be the fattest vegan in town.

And yes, I do realize that I just wrote an entire entry on FAKE BUTTER.

buttertoast

Fitness Friday #2

Published
by
Miss Lissa
on October 30, 2009
in daily and fitness friday
. 1 Comment

This week was harder than last week for whatever reason.  I had a lot of errands to run right after work, which is the best time for me to work out.  On Monday I got an email from the library saying I had a bunch of books weeks overdue and I was like, WTF LIBRARY, YOU DIDN’T TELL ME THEY WERE DUE! I usually get an email from them saying they’re due in two days. Anyway, having to rush home and find those books to return them so I didn’t have to pay more than the $21 I wound up paying sort of set the aggravated tone for the week. Tuesday I had something else I had to do, Wednesday I had a long work day because I had a meeting, Thursday I can’t remember what stupid thing I had to do, but every day I didn’t get home till almost six (I know, whiny, whatever. If I leave work on time I’m home around 4:45 and done with my work out by 5:45 or 6, not starting at 6).

HOWEVER, I still managed to get in at minimum 31 minutes on the Wii Fit every day I had scheduled it. So, good for me.

Food-wise, I didn’t do particularly well, but I’m not starting on that phase until January, when I will detox with two weeks of Atkins after New Year’s.  I’m just going to go on the way I have been but with more fruits and vegetables and more milk. I bought a gallon of milk. Let’s see if I drink it.

I like milk, I just don’t seem to drink it all. Meh.

Anyway, so week 2 was a minor success, all told. I’m down about 4 pounds since starting this on 10/19.

Now to have some tomato soup for dinner and then knit on my latest project, a Liesl, and it ACTUALLY FITS, which is nice.  I’ve never really made a sweater that fits before – they’ve all had something wrong with them before. I haven’t made a sweater since 2007, so I must be out of my mind, since I don’t really like making sweaters – I prefer working with fingering weight yarns and I don’t have the patience to knit a sweater out of little yarn.

It occurs to me that I still haven’t shown the Lacunae socks that I finished for myself like two months ago. I’ll take pictures of that tomorrow when the light is better.

Friday Physical #1

Published
by
Miss Lissa
on October 23, 2009
in daily and fitness friday
. 2 Comments

I am going to try to keep myself accountable here on this blog each Friday by chronicling my journey into ATTEMPTED PHYSICAL FITNESS.

I am going to be 30 next year, and over the last TEN years (since my surgery) I have watched my weight creep up and now I am uncomfortable with myself. Not necessarily in a bad way or a vain way, but in an actual physical way – I don’t feel healthy a lot of the time.

This isn’t about numbers or buying into the skinny-is-better culture. I’ll never be skinny. My (let’s face it) Germanic bone structure is such that I will never be dainty. But I think I have the ability to be:

AVERAGE!

Ultimately my goal over the next six months to a year, is to lose enough weight to fit into a size 14. It’s a realistic goal. I don’t know how much weight that will take. Ten years ago, post tumor, I was a size 16. So, I am doing what I should have done then and get into shape. It will be harder now, of course. I’m not 19 anymore.

And that’s what this is about. I don’t really care about size or numbers (for the most part), but I DO care about being strong and feeling healthy.

And I really like fashion and want to fit into all those goddamned things I see at Anthropologie. I must confess, this is one of the more upper most reasons for wanting to do this.

But there are other more legitimate reasons as well:

  1. My family tends towards high blood pressure.
  2. My family now has the threat of Alzheimers – and I want to be as healthy as possible to try to avoid that.
  3. I am tired A LOT, and I think not being in shape has to do with that.
  4. I want to hike the Lafayette Reservoir rim, which is 7 miles. And I don’t think I can physically do that yet. I have plenty of endurance but there’s a lot of up and down hill climbing.
  5. Someday I would like to hike Halfdome without dying.
  6. Did I mention I like hiking? (I know, right, wtf, who am I??)
  7. I think if I lose weight and work on my center of balance with the Wii Fit I will be less clumsy*.

Shallow but still legitimate reasons I want to do this:

  1. See above re: Anthopologie. :P
  2. They stopped making my favorite jeans, goddamnit.
  3. A lot of knitting patterns are not sized for me, and it would be nice to make something according to pattern without having to do dreaded MATH.
  4. You’d use less yarn, too.
  5. My ass. Jesus Christ.

Ways in which I plan on accomplishing this:

  1. Use the Wii Fit at least 4 times a week for 30-60 minutes. This means on Mon/Tues/Thurs/Fri, and weekends if I feel like it (I usually go to the res on the weekends for a 3-mi walk). This means Wednesday is the only day off I get, which works because Wednesday seems to be the night that my board meetings are – I don’t get home from work until around 9 pm on those days, so after a long day like that I don’t want to do much of anything except watch TV. On Wednesdays I don’t have a meeting I go to Jason’s for dinner.
  2. Eat more fruits and vegetables (seems simple, but this will be hard.)
  3. Do more “natural” cooking – less out of cans and freezer stuff and more stuff I cook from natural ingredients.
  4. Learn to cook (hahaha) things that involve more vegetables and less gravy.
  5. Go low carb again. I liked no-carb (after the initial horror of the first three days) but with low carb you have more options to eat. Plus, an excuse to learn how to cook all those delicious meats I love to eat but have never learned to cook (steak, lamb, etc.)
  6. Get a couple vegetarian or vegan cookbooks and try out some of those recipes. I figure this would be a good way to get vegetables in me in a tasty manner. I am by no means a vegetarian however because I delight in the delicious flesh of beasts.
  7. Eat breakfast.
  8. Actually try out EA Active which is compatible with the Wii Fit board and also I have owned since June and never used. *ahem*

So, there you have it. Each Friday I am going to try to remember to post how my week went.

This week I did the Wii Fit Plus every day but Wednesday. I’m enjoying the new features to Plus, which I picked up at SUPER WALMART (land of a thousand dreams – which does not exist in the stupid San Francisco Bay Area… WHY DO I LIVE HERE, THERE IS NO SUPER WALMART) when I was down in the Los Angeles last weekend. If you already have the Wii Fit, I recommend this upgrade a lot, with the ability to customize workouts, and the new games are fun – especially (*nerd alert*) the Rhythm Kung Fu and marching band drum major one (and that’s a workout!). Old faves include the Advanced Step and Boxing.

So that’s what I am going to do. And I’m document the ups and downs here, every Friday.

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*On Tuesday I tripped on nothing and borked my arm against a weird metal wall at the library. There was a strip of metal sticking out on the perpendicular along the length of the wall and I of course tripped right into the pointy end. I was wearing a sweater, and underneath the sweater, the metal piece severely bruised my arm and shaved off a layer of skin. I really think that if I hadn’t been wearing the sweater (which, btw, survived this unscathed, not sure how) it would have cut me rather deeply and I would have had to get another tetanus shot. As it is, it fucking hurts. I’m not mad at the library, but that could poke somebody’s eye out! I’m sending a letter this weekend because they need to know about this potential liability issue and get it fixed! I don’t want the library to get sued, you know?

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