Knits and Kids

The Downward Spiral of Love

2012-02-07T12:49:00.001-05:00

Cheesy? Yes, probably. This is the name I'm playing with for my Feb. Socks. They're an original design that I'm working out as I knit the first sock. After my recent experiences with variegated sock yarn, I'm quite happy with how this one is turning out. It's knitting up just the way I expected and it's making the spiral pattern stand out in just the right balance of subtleness and noticeability.

I've been dealing with a sick kiddo for the past few days, so that has really taken away from my knitting time. Even yesterday - my birthdays of all days - I knit not a stitch until after 8pm! As far as birthdays go, I expect that the normality of this one is now the norm. It felt like just a regular day. I suppose this is what it feels like to be a grown up. Long gone are the days of the construction paper crown painted with glitter bearing the words "Birthday Girl" or simply "Megan". After last year's surprise party (which I was too sick to enjoy, thankyouverymuch baby Miles), it's only fair that we take a year off. That being said, I was able to celebrate last night with my favorite pizza (Spicy Perogy) and a beer. Next weekend Hubs and I will be heading out to dinner while his parents watch our children. That should be nice. I'm also planning dinner & a spa day with my BFF, Kris, who's birthday is the week before mine.

Back to the knits: Boundless is done. It's blocked and almost dry. It still needs a button, so as soon as that's sewn on, there will be photographs. I'm shooting for a photo shoot later on this week. The art of the piece deserves it.

The first Feb sock is half done. I'm debating between posting the pattern here for free or submitting to knitpicks. Choice is TBD.

New stuff this week!

2012-02-02T14:23:00.005-05:00

I've been meaning to write this post for about a week now. It's amazing how a couple of munchkins and some yarn can eat up all the time in the world. (Speaking of... I will now be taking a recess from writing this post to take care of said baby.)

OK. I'm back. First off, I completed a pair of mittens:

These used to be different looking mittens, but were grown out of, so I ripped them back to make new ones. Next up: matching hat. I should probably do that before winter is over or the kid grows out of this stuff again.

The pattern is the Briggs & Little Family Mittens pattern. In theory, really good, but in actuality, the pattern is awful. If I ever knit them again, they will be very different.

Boundless (left) is almost done. She's looking mighty nice - and should be done just in time for my birthday. I'm just starting the 72" of applied I-cord bind off. This scribbling to the right is me, trying to figure out how much yarn is required. (X = the number of inches, turns out I need about 34 yards. Each ball has 77 yards, so I need about a half a ball. This is good. I'll do one more row and do the I-cord. All six feet of I-cord. (I'm a bit intimidated by the length.)

In other yarny goodness, I've come across a few new toys. First, a new spindle; She's quite beautiful.

Even better - she spins quite well:

That's a Fleece Artist BFL Sliver there. I love the feel of it as it drafts.)

And soon to come into my possession, is this beauty. A single treadle Lendrum. Sad circumstances, but I hope that I can make her work.

Chaussettes Janvier Part Deux

2012-01-24T17:23:00.001-05:00

As if putting it in French makes it any easier pill to swallow. The fact is, that after completing one sock, I'm refusing to start the second one until I'm sure that it fits its intended recipient. The sock itself isn't so bad. But it still does not fit over my heel, and I just don't trust the darned thing. I do, however, LOVE the toe. Very sly. I will reuse this toe.

It's made quite slyly by starting off with more straight rows between the decrease rows, then gradually getting to decreasing every row. The kitchener stitch is made vertically (assuming that the 'normal' way of doing it is horizontally.) I really did enjoy making these socks. They didn't take that long, considering that they're completely stranded. The zigzag pattern is easily memorized, and the only time I had problems was when my row started with dark brown on my variegated yarn, so it was difficult to tell which row I was on.

And thus, I will start my February Socks. Or if I get them done fast enough, they will become my January socks and these pinked socks will be set aside for some other future month, TBD. So as I was deciding on my next socks, I went stash diving, (since part of my resolutions for 2012 is to use up some stash) and found the following candidates:

The choice was easy. Since I don't own a swift and I'm home alone at the moment, the already wound yarn cake wins. It's Wolmeise Rosenrot. I'm not sure exactly which version - but my guess is the 80/20 split, as it does feel like it's not 100% wool. This cake was recently acquired in a trade on Ravelry, it came pre-wound, and tag-less. I'm ok with all of those because a) it's sock yarn and b) it's red. Very Red.

In deciding on a pattern to knit this sock in, there are a few requirements: 1) I don't want to have to look at a pattern/chart for every row. It should be easily recognizable after a couple of rows. 2) I should be able to use whatever heel or toe I want.

These requirements are leading to me choosing to make my own pattern. Stay tuned.

January Socks

2012-01-22T16:22:00.000-05:00

Oh the January Socks. These have become the bane of my January. First off, when one is trying to complete 12 pairs of socks in one calendar year, one should not choose a completely stranded sock to start with. Or perhaps one should just leave the stranded sock totally off of the speed-knitting agenda. But I should start from the beginning.

I bought this skein of sock yarn a couple of years ago to make myself socks. I mean, it's called YUMMY. What could not be yummy about a sock yarn called YUMMY? Plus, this particular colorway has streaks of orange and blue. Some of my favorite combination. (Yes, my family are Illini fans, why do you ask?) It seemed like a match made in heaven. These beautiful socks were to come and they would cradle my foot in their superwash merino softness. So I set off to knit myself socks. It all started while I was in Abu Dhabi in October of 2010. (Lots of posts here about that.) I tried to start these socks with different needle sizes and stitch counts and nothing would stop them from pooling. After ripping it out like 3 or 4 or 5 times, I decided that it was time to knit different socks. I brought the yarn home, unknit.

Then, this fall, I had just finished my son's Monkey Blanket, when I decided that it was time to knit something for myself. He was due in a month or so, and I was just waiting, so I started to knit Everyone Out Of The Pool. They turned out like this:

While I was assured by many of my knitting peeps that these, in fact, were great and the flashing was nothing to worry about, I myself did not like it. Some people love pooling like this. I, however, am not one of those people. I ripped them out. Yep, that's half a pair of socks right there that the rip-out phobe ripped out. After some discussion with said knitting peeps, I decided to turn them into Pinked Socks. Turns out my knitting library was up to snuff in this particular case. (That means that I already had that issue of Interweave Knits.) And I worked away at them. Just when I was trying to find out how much longer they needed to be to fit me, the unthinkable happened. I tried them on, and they did not fit my foot. I couldn't fit them over my heel. I made a face sort-of like this:

This yarn was supposed to be for ME! SELFISH ME! So I bit the bullet, and instead of ripping back and making the gusset bigger, I've decided that they can fit my sister's size 7 1/2 foot (Mine is 9 1/2 - 10). Yes, I took it as a sign from the knitting gods that this yummy sock yarn was not meant for me. I figure, this suits me well for 2 reasons - 1) I don't have to rip-out. 2) It's January and I'm already behind on my "Pair of socks per month" knitting goal, this way the socks are shorter so they get done faster.

I've just started the toe, and they do look quite nice. To quote a friend who has made a few of these socks, they're "Cushy." They're thick and squishy. I'm sure that they will keep my sister's feet very warm.

WIP Finishing Success!!

2012-01-10T19:51:00.000-05:00

Yes, it's true, I have finished my first WIP of 2012. It was a belated Christmas present, but let's not get caught up in the details. This project went fairly fast, once I got past half-way. But for a long time it felt pretty stagnant. Like one of those projects where you measure it, knit for an hour, measure it again and it's actually shrunk. I couldn't even finish it during a road trip. This is why I don't like to knit scarfs. They never seem to end.

It's Dragon Scale Scarf by Erin Landon made out of Brown Sheep Lamb's Pride Worsted, some that I had in my stash from a big sale two years ago at The Needle Emporium. I've used all that was in my stash, so I've actually checked off TWO goals - finishing WIPS and depleting stash. Plus, I've got my first heel turned on my first sock of 2012. These are the January socks. I figure I've got 5 more days to finish the sock itself and then another 15 to do the other one. Things are looking up for completing my knitting goals!

And now, back to the real world of clogged toilets and putting children to bed. Luckily, tomorrow is a play day with their friends and mine.

2012 - A Beginning

2012-01-07T08:00:00.000-05:00

I have a few goals related to 2012 - many related to yarn, some to kids, some to me, and one to this blog. Here they are:

Yarn:

Knit from the stash - it's taking over the playroom. I have a bunch of projects that I've bought yarn for, and haven't knit.
A pair of socks/month. Or thereabouts. I figure if I get behind on my 12 pairs in 2012, I can knit a few pairs for the kids and they'll go faster.
Finish WIPS - I have a couple going - Boundless, Gossamer Smocked Tunic, Thrummed Mittens, to name a few. Not to mention my first pair of socks for 2012 (more on those later) and late Christmas Scarf.
Knit a few squares for my LTK afghan. I'd love to finish that someday.

Kids:

Say "Yes" more. Sometimes I say no, just to say no.
Breastfeed for the entire 2012. This depends on my Monkey. Hopefully he's game.
Don't have any more kids. Pregnancy sucks for me. That's it.

Me:

I'd like to lose 20 lbs. I'm not sure I can make it happen, but I'll sure try. Here's how- burn 3000 calories/week. That is about an hour of working out 5x/week. Don't ruin it with eating. Save alcohol for the weekends.

Blog:

Write once/week at least.

Since I'm already working on a lot of these, my prognosis feels good. I lost about 3 lbs in December, and did a bit of Christmas knitting. Baby is EBF and I'm not pregnant. I can do this.

2011 - Endings

2012-01-06T11:57:00.003-05:00

2011 ended in lots of fun. Here are a few highlights:

Christmas - Going to see santa, The fireplace ready for him, and the Whale Shark Umbrella that he brought.

End of the year knits. The Stocking of AWESOME. And the socks that won't work.

Me & My girl:

I'll leave you with this: The little guy on our trip to visit family for the holidays.

It's been a month!

2011-05-10T14:52:00.000-04:00

It's been a month since I posted last and boy, have there been changes. And I mean BOY!

Late last month, we found out that this little critter in my belly is, in fact, a boy. After a period of adjustment (we all thought that it would be another girl), we are starting to get exited. We think we've picked out a name, but we're not sharing. Only that it starts with an A or an M. Now get guessing!

While we enjoyed the ladybug (the little girl and I did),. I don't think I"m quite ready for a commitment of that monetary magnitude quite yet. So we'll stick with the knitting.

Here are the first items I've made for my new little guy:

A hat and some baby legs to match. NO pattern here, I just made it up as I went. Legs are about 8" long.

A Turtle Butt and a Curly Purly Soaker. Yep, I'm one of those crazy, cloth diapering parents and have started by knitting my boy some soakers. They're lanolized and dried and ready for his arrival. (in FOUR MORE MONTHS!)

Both of these went pretty quickly - they were done within a week. But hey, worsted weight yarn and a little bum will do that!

I'm currently working on some shorties for DD in hopes that she'll wear them to bed. Recently, she's not wanting to wear anything to bed. ("I want just my blankets") Which wouldn't be SO bad, if she was completely reliable overnight. She's not even three years old yet - what 2 year old IS reliable everynight? I guess the good news is that when she does wet, it doesn't wake her up, so we all get a full night's sleep and just change the sheets in the morning. (note to self - get clothesline fixed to hang sheets out)

The Ladybug Comes for a Visit...

2011-04-08T10:42:00.000-04:00

This week we have had a visitor in our house, a lovely rental Ladybug from Spun Fibre Arts. She's a compact wheel, easy to use, although I had a hard time getting the scotch tension quite right. As I'm looking through the manual, I see that I was using it wrong anyway. I'll try again tonight, I have some roving that I bought back in September that I'd like to try on it.

Here's my first bobbin from it, it was a lovely shaded green Blue Faced Liesterer Sliver (also purchased from Spun) The varrigations in the sliver have made the singles look plied. I can't wait to knit something with it!

It's currently getting the spin set, and I didn't take and photos of that. It very much over-spun, so let's hope that I can even knit with it.

We even managed to sneak in our very first spinning lesson! Mostly it consisted of her doing the pedals and hitting her head on the side there. She keeps asking to try it again, so I'm going to have to give in sooner or later.

I feel like this has taken forever!

2011-03-15T20:37:00.000-04:00

I finally finished my Anatolian Mittens, a.k.a. Martin's Mittens. These were supposed to be a Christmas present for my little brother, but after running out of black yarn when I was 3/4 finished, I put them down for a while until I could figure out what to do.

So, last weekend, I was rummaging through my stash when I found the mate to the black yarn. I had used this white and black yarn to knit a hat a few years ago for my nephew. (the Death Flake Snow Hat)

So, anyway, back to Martin's Mittens.

As you can see, I ran out of black yarn.

And there was no way I was ripping back anything to make up for this. There would be way too much to rip out and there's way too much work already put into them. So I hummed and I hawed. I guess this is what happens when you go stash-diving to find yarn for a gift.

Now is the part when I get to tell you a little bit about the Mart-man. He's his own kind of guy. Smart, clever, intelligent, funny, and cute. I can't tell you the last time he wore matching socks. He prefers if they don't match. Turns out, same goes for mittens. Well, not only do they not match, NO ONE will ever have a pair like them!

They're a little late for Christmas, and maybe even for weather cold enough for wool mittens. I know he'll love them, and actually appreciate them, and that's the best part.

The Spindle....

2011-03-14T10:42:00.000-04:00

As promised, I have finally uploaded photos from the spindle. This first one is my very first hand-spun project. It's a corridale, as was suggested to me because of the longer staple. What I found with this was that it was very dense, and therefore hard to draft at times. I ripped the roving into strips, and still wanted to pre-draft. As you can see, as I went along, my plies got smaller, so I ended up with two weights. I haven't checked WPIs or anything, but here they are.

This here is my second project, some BFL (blue faced leicester). I'm finding this much, much easier to draft, and I'm not sure if it's the staple length or the un-dyed part. I'm looking forward to dyeing this once it's done, though!

Darn This Blog Thing

2011-03-10T15:03:00.000-05:00

So, as I sit here at my job, bored to death by the idea of sitting in a cubicle all day, staring at a computer screen whilest my Addi Turbos and Brown Sheep Cotton Fleece are sitting just a yard stick away from my right hand, I've come to the conclusion that if I want to do anything with this knitting thing, I'll probably have to get more into this blogging thing. It really is the best way for shameless self promotion.

So right now, I'm working on the Twirly Skirt, by the lovelies over at Barefoot Knits. The first two stripes went really fast, seeing as how it's Thursday and I casted on Sunday night. (I'm making the size 4 in case you wondered. It's going to be huge on my girl, who just now fits into her 2T's but only in length. I can't stand the thought of her growing out of this adorable little knit.)

I've made adjustments to the pattern, the main one being that I'm knitting in the round. Ok, that's the only adjustment I made. The stitch count is the same and the yarn type is the same, though I chose different colors. I bought these on a super sale, so they were really cheap, like $3 or maybe $6/skein, so there wasn't a whole lotta color choice. I'm really liking the stretchyness and drape of the cotton/wool blend. I do think I'll use this again. Pretty awesome, since I"ll have enough left over to make more stuff. Not sure what to make with it, yet. I'll cross that bridge when I get to it.

I've been getting more familiar with my spindle lately, while I'd love to share photos, I just don't have any here, and the spindle is at home, so I can't take any. I finished spinning up my bright pink corridale, and now I'm onto my undyed BFL. So far, I'm having much more luck with the undyed stuff, since it's much, much less dense, and therefore easier to draft. The yarn is coming out pretty thin (think Malabrigo Lace) and pretty even. I'm having a few hiccups here and there, but let's face it, this is my second time spinning ANYTHING, so I think that I"m doing pretty darned well!

Let's test this out!

2010-12-15T11:50:00.000-05:00

Something different...

2010-12-03T12:15:00.002-05:00

I haven't blogged about kids in a while, so here it goes.

I'm pretty green when it comes down to it. I go around the house turning off lights (that could also be because I'm cheap), we religiously use our green bin (for organics) and our recycle bins. But my favorite "green" initiative at home was using cloth diapers for my DD.

When my DD was born, we had a stock of disposable diapers from showers and whatnot. So she was about 10 weeks old before I actually had to purchase any diapers. When they went on sale, I bought two mega-packs of size 1 or 2 diapers. (I don't remember) They each lasted about a week. I couldn't believe that it was going to cost us $20 a week for diapers! (if we were lucky enough to find them on sale everytime) No Way!

So I did some research to find out a bit about cloth diapers. What was washing really like? What do they cost? Will I like it? I got a couple of hand-me-downs and bought a couple of new models to try out the different kinds. Before long, I had made up my mind - Bum Genius 3.0 One Size diapers were how it was going to work at our house. I made one trip to Tree City Diapers (now The Little Seeding) and purchased an entire set for about $500. AND NEVER BOUGHT ANOTHER DIAPER!!! By the $20/week average, the $500 would have made it through 25 weeks - about six months. My set of cloth diapers made it all the way through 2.5 years. (DD is now potty trained at 30 months - yay me!)

This all brings me to my point - 29 Diapers, a cloth diapering website, is offering 29 days of giveaways on all kinds of eco baby supplies!

I encourage all my readers to find out more about modern cloth diapering and how it really has come a long way, baby!

Dubai

2010-10-29T14:14:00.003-04:00

Sorry it's been a while since I've posted. Guess it turns out that when you work over 50 hours in a week you have no desire to write any blog posts.

SO, Dubai. We went to Dubai on Friday the 22. The day started out pretty early (since Oktoberfest was the night before) at 8 am, leaving in a taxi. We just taxied over to a different part of the city, where G lives. He's a Canadian that we work with and he lives there. G was nice enough to drive us up to Dubai and show us around. I will apologize for no photos here, as all of them are on my camera and I'm still not home with the cord.

Our first stop was the Atlantis hotel on Palm Jumeirah. This is the (in)famous palm tree shaped island. Cool in theory, looks more awesome from a satellite than in person. I think it's because you can't really get a feel for the shape of the island while you're on it. The Atlantis hotel was pretty cool. I think that it would be cooler if I was staying there, though :-) Next stop - Burge Al Arab. This is the world's only 7 star hotel. It sits on it's own island and is shaped like a sail on a sail boat. It was way bigger in person than I thought it would be from pictures. You can't actually go in it like you can the Emirates Palace Hotel. Because it's on it's own island, they stop tourists from going in. So we stopped just outside the gates, took some photos, and then went around to the other side on the beach and took some more photos. I waded in the Persian Gulf that day. The water was such a beautiful shade of aqua - just so picturesque.

Next stop - a souk, but I don't remember what it's called. We shopped for quite a while and found lots of gifts for our family. This souk was kind of like a mall, only the stores were more like independent stores. Bargaining was a big part of shopping here. Next up - The UAE's only YARN SHOP - it's called Craft World. I bought a skein of sock yarn. That made me happy.

After the LYS, we headed to Dubai Mall. It's the largest mall in the world and truly lives up to it's reputation. I saw the largest aquarium in the world, and the largest candy store. I saw an indoor ski hill and a snowy wonderland (that was actually a different mall, but I don't remember the name) Saw a full-sized skating rink, and did some more shopping. I bought myself a gorgeous white-gold ring with an amethyst at the gold souk in the mall. G got me a good deal :-) He's way better at negotiating than I am.

Next up we checked out the Burge Khalifa - it's the largest building in the world. It was going to be called Burge Dubai, but the Sheik in Dubai ran out of money and the Sheik (Khalifa) of Abu Dhabi bailed him out. So the building is named after him now. We had dinner at a nice steak restaurant and sat outside near the dancing fountain. Every 30 minutes it went, choreographed to music that was played on speakers. Think Bellagio in Las Vegas only bigger.

As hard as I tried to keep awake on the way back, the day was just so fun filled and busy that I passed out on the way back to Abu Dhabi. Photos to come, once I get home!

A Mall Is A Mall Is A Mall

2010-10-20T09:53:00.004-04:00

It's time for my next installment of "What Brand Is This?" Today I bring you a worldwide brand. I'll take answers in the comments. There will be a prize for the first person to get it right, and I'll give you the answer in my post tomorrow (or Friday - not sure when the next post will be)

As it turns out, my hotel is right next door to Abu Dhabi Mall. On the very first day here, K and I headed over to check it out. Turns out a mall is a mall. Sure there are

fancier stores than in our everyday Burlington / Ann Arbor malls like Tiffany's and Baby Phat and Paris Hilton. But all in all it's just the same thing in a different language.

Here are a few pics from Marina Mall, which is a fancy one on the marina (duh) in Abu Dhabi.

Yes, these are photos of an ice rink in the desert. The one on the far left is actually a ski hill - they're just

having problems getting it going.

I think it's a little nuts to have skating and skiing in the desert. However, I do know that there ARE children's hockey programs here, too.

On the other hand,some things ARE different. Like Salons. They're always only one sex. Men are not allowed in women's salons. Usually the doors are frosted or shaded and always closed. Even in the mall there's a nail salon that has the doors frosted and always closed.

Here's one more pic for you - THEY"RE EVERYWERE!!!!

Now I must pack up my stuff from the balcony where it's almost as moist as swimming and head inside because it's dark now and it's about to get loud with the Oktoberfest starting soon.

Sheik Zayed bin Sultan Grand Mosque

2010-10-19T13:07:00.006-04:00

On Saturday, K and I went to see the mosque. This is one of the largest mosques int he world and the idea came from Sheik Zayed. (Remember, he's the one that started spending the oil money.) There is not much in the mosque from the UAE, mostly there are materials from all over the world.

The first thing we had to do was to put on a black Abaya and cover our heads. Then, we had a tour. There was a nice young local man named Mohammed (of course - as most are) and he told us all about the Mosque and some things about the religion, too.

<--These inlays are semi-precious - Jade from China, Mother of Pearl from England, etc, etc. They're all pretty magical.

Also, you can see the sun to the right, that's the prayer yard. There's a special marble there that doesn't get heated up by the sun. It's almost cooler than the regular stuff that's in the shade. It's so that when they pray, especially in the summertime, they don't burn their hands or heads.

Sheik Zayed first thought of building this Mosque around 1986. They began construction in 1996 and are still adding on today. The main areas are done - prayer halls, prayer yard, a special side-mosque for the Sheik himself. (Current Sheik is Khalifa Bin Zayed) They are adding a Muslim college and Islamic Centre. The price tag is CRAZY! ( We had a hard time actually getting a number out of our guide, since construction is continuing)

It is required for Muslims to pray five times per day. And yes, there are specific times that they

should pray. This clock here, shows the times that they are required to pray - The first prayer goes between the first two times and then then there's a morning, afternoon, early evening and late prayer.

Also in the middle of the clock are two dates - the one on the top is the current date with a regular calendar. The other one, on the bottom, is the date according to the Muslim calendar. It has to do the Prophet Mohammed and the moon. I'm not exactly sure after that, but the year on it was something like 1411.

Before they go to pray, they do a cleansing ritual where they wash their hands, face, ears, and feet three times, and then go back and wash their hands up to their elbows again three times. They are then 'clean enough' to go pray.

No shoes are allowed in any mosque. It was really nice to go barefoot and feel the hand-made carpets with my feet. This green carpet is the largest hand-made carpet in the world. It fills the main prayer hall and weighs something like 30 tons. It was made in pieces in Iran and then brought into the Mosque and stitched together by the creators. There are subtle lines running down the carpet that help the people line up for prayer time.

Here are some more photos:

Rental Abayas

This little alcove used to be for projecting the Imam's voice back to the people while praying. Now it's a place to store some gold-leaf.

A giant chandelier - can't remember if they said it's the largest in the world or not. Either way it weighs like 3 tons and yes, those are Swarovski crystals from Austria.

Allah:

Safari

2010-10-18T08:52:00.003-04:00

I went on a safari Friday night with a tour company called Emirates Adventures. It started around 3:30, when a local man in a Toyota Land Cruiser picked us up at the hotel. As it turns out, we weren't the only ones from our hotel going. (I went with my colleague that is here with me) There was also a German family - while not speaking much English, they were still very nice.

We headed Southeast out of town. Did I mention that people here drive very fast? Yes, fast. We headed down the road, towards Al Ain. We stopped at a gas station on the highway when we were almost there - at first we thought just so that all of us could empty our bladders before

getting into a bouncing car for hours. But NO! We stopped so that the driver could head into the roadside mosque for prayer time. Muslims (Not sure if just men or both) are required to pray five times per day. (more on this when I tell you about my trip to the Sheik Zayed Mosque) So we stopped for the driver(s) to pray.

Next we headed out into the desert. We pulled off to the side of the road where the drivers got out and removed the valves from their tires and let quite a bit of air out. Once the tires were sufficiently flat, (side note- due to the heat, tires only last about 50,000 kms here.) we dune bashed over to a camel farm.

Dune Bashing - driving around

up and down sand dunes with four wheel drive engaged. It was almost roller-coaster-y and tons of fun. There were two moments that stick in my mind.

1 - Our driver got stuck on the way up a dune. I think it was entertaining because he couldn't r

everse and get out and another land cruiser had to get out and tow us. Also because since they don't drink, I'm not sure what he owed the other drivers. (because you know if that happened in North America, he'd own the other drivers beer)

2 - We had just crested a dune and were heading down the other side, going almost sideways and fe

eling like we were going to flip. (you dont, by the way, you just slide down the dune sideways) And I heard a scream from the German Mother in the back seat, "Sheisse!". I know enough German to know what that means!

Then we stopped at a camel farm. There were quite a few out and roaming. They were really quite domestic

ated - coming right up to you and asking for some love. Besides smelling like horses and having wiry hair (i.e. not soft) they were cute. But alas, they're farm animals.

Onto more dune bashing and then we stopped at the top of a tall one to watch the sunset. It was quite amazing how you could just watch the sun fall in the sky. It was hazy in the distance and it just looked like a big red ball. Very cool. Onto more dune bashing. I was so glad that someone warned me of the motion sickness and I took a gravol and sat in the front seat. Had I sat in the back, I would have puked.

We stopped at the "base" where there were two camels saddled up for riding, some sandboards (think like snowboards) and a large stage with tables all around. These were short tables and had pillows around them to sit on. There was Arabic Coffee and dates available (along with reg. coffee, tea, and soft drinks.) There was an area where you could put on the Abaya or white men's robe and have your picture taken. I stayed away from this - just because it felt a little funny to

me. There was also a nice young lady doing henna. I am now addicted to this stuff. I have a small henna tat on my right hand, extending up my pointer finger.

As we were standing in line for Henna, the food opened up. While I LOVE middle eastern food, I did not like this food here. Something is lost when it's made in large quantities.

Anyway, after eating dinner, they brought out the Hookahs and Shisha. This is not to be confused with Ganga - which if found in your blood (even if you partook before you arrived here) will land you FOUR YEARS in jail. I'm told that Shisha is tobacco, but it doesn't taste or smell anything like it. It's fruity - I think that we had grape shisha. The herbs are put in a bowl and then wrapped with foil. Holes are poked in the top of the foil and then the bowl is fitted onto the Hookah. Hot coals are placed on top of the bowl (on the holes) and then you start smoking. It's not like anything I've ever tried before. I didn't try very much, but think that I might try it again.

While we were smoking, a belly dancer came onto the stage. She danced around shaking her tush and even incorporating audience participation. Next a bunch of the drivers (locals) came out and danced with canes. Traditional Emirati dance with a skinny cane. Then men did a couple of songs and then they turned out all of the lights. It was quite amazing to see how much light the moon produced in the desert. And oh, all of the stars were magical. There was something especially magical about seeing the strong North Star and thinking about the magi traveling to Bethlehem.

After the lights came on, we trekked up a dune, back to the land cruiser (where my shoes were located - it was much easier to walk around without shoes), and headed back to town. Quickly. We traveled about 150kmh and reached our hotel in no time. All in all it was a fantastic evening that I will never forget.

Food

2010-10-17T08:27:00.002-04:00

Yes, food is different here. As it is from different parts of the world, and even different parts of the same country! Mostly, I like the food from this part of the world. I have been spoiled by La Shish in Ypsilanti with Hummus, fresh pita and shish tawook. And spoiled ESPECIALLY with Mom's Tabolieh. So, I was going to have to find some good stuff here to keep up!

Last week in Al Ain, one of the officers at the school zone (district) brought in lunch for us from her home. There were skinny yellow noodles - I'm not sure if they were rice or wheat. I think that they were probably wheat because they were too dense for rice. And definitely vermicelli - very skinny. They were yellow because they were cooked with Saffron and Cardamom. They were also mixed with sugar. So here we have sweet yellow, saffron-y noodles. In with the noodles looked like purple pieces - they were eggs and onions cooked with what we think was cinnamon, but we're not really sure. At any rate, they were excellent! It was one of the most unique things I have ever tasted. And to have it come from a local Emirati home was really something special. I was sad that I didn't get a photo.

Something I've had quite often is Arabic Bread (pita) with Cheese and Zatar (herbs - mostly thyme). It's heated and folded in half and eaten like a sandwich. Except for when we had the noodles above. The woman, wish I knew her name, cooked fresh bread - like with yeast and everything. It was in little pieces, like monkey bread kind of, and each piece had cheese inside. It was then brushed with zatar. THAT was delicious!

I had falafel from a little dive near the office. It was fresh and yummy, even though the place it came from looked a little questionable. (The guys at the office eat there often, so we knew it was OK) The office has a little cafe as well, with yummy fattoush and tabolueh (although not as good as mom's). I had the fattoush for lunch today.

There have been some not so yummy meals, too. On the safari, (more on that another time), there was a buffet of "local" food. However, when food is made in bulk like that, something is lost in translation. There were a couple of skewers that were yummy - chicken and lamb, but for the most part, the bread was stale and I make better hummus at home. I ate lunch at Chi-Chi's yesterday - it was overpriced and really terrible- and I had fajitas. How can you screw up fajitas? Assorted veggies on the skillet (as opposed to just onions and peppers) and those aren't really cooked. I will say that the sour cream and guac was good. It was the saving grace.

OH - Almost forgot some of the BEST food I had! It was fish and chips made with the local fish here - Hammour. It's a white fish, but denser than whitefish and halibut like we usually get. It IS almost like Sea Bass. Although my experience with Sea Bass is limited, so it's hard to say.

Tonight my colleague and I are in search of Lebanese food. We both feel like going for a walk, so we're going to try to find some good middle-eastern food. YAY!

Al Ain - the "oasis"city

2010-10-14T17:59:00.002-04:00

For the past two days I've been having workshops in Al Ain. It's about an hour to ninety minutes drive south of Abu Dhabi city, near the border of Oman. Because it's away from the water, the weather there is much drier - like a desert. (duh)

The culture there is much more conservative than here in Abu Dhabi. The women mostly wear burkas and some even with a black veil that covers their entire face. Again, though, it's amazing the amount of personality that can go into even that type of clothing. The women have beautiful eyes and eye makeup. And great glasses and handbags.

While in Al Ain, we visited the ro

yal palace of Sheik Zayed, before the money. This compound was not what I

expected at all. It was all cement construction and open windows. The tea rooms had charcoal pits in the middle where the Arabic coffee was made and pillows and bolsters around the outside where people sat and enjoyed. (All my pictures are on my camera, so you will have to wait until I get home to see them.

I learned that Sheik Zayed (1918 - 2004) is the person responsible for making the UAE the UAE. Sheik Zayed united the Emirates into one country (although the emirates act pretty independently.) He is the one who decided to start spending the oil money and helped build Abu Dhabi into the place it is today.

The locals talk about the Sheiks with a sense of love and admiration. It's almost like a very personal relationship. I be

lieve this to be because they are taken care of. The locals receive their salary from the government, and because the country is so wealthy, I think it's not a pittance. (more on the locals later)

This afternoon (Thursday), we visited the Emirates Palace. A former palace that is now a swanky hotel.

We also visited the Gold Souk, as this is a place that Abu Dhabi is known for. It was like a shopping mall of nothing but jewelry stores. I found a few rings that I liked, but didn't find the prices to be any better than I'd find at home.

<--Emirates Palace - front entrance

Another note on just stuff around here - there are cars EVERYWHERE! Driving is insane.

Signals are hardly used and honking is common. They are terrible drivers! They speed and wander in and out of lanes. People park anywhere, too. There are no parking tickets.

That's it for now. More later!

Clothing Observations

2010-10-11T09:17:00.002-04:00

So pretty much it's all over the map. This place is very multicultural, so there are many different clothing styles. Most predominantly western and Indian. The local Emirati are a minority. I have a few observations on clothing that I would like to share.

1- European Men: at the pool. Do you know what I'm going to say? That's right - I'll never get used to seeing them in speedos. I'm always going to look there. Can't help it.

2- Emirati Women: Wear black robes and black hijab. While they can be very plain, I'm noticing more and more little details on the abaya (robes) that stylize them and make them more personal to the wearer. A bit of gold trim, or some sequins are subtle ways to bring out one's personal styel. Also, Handbags and Shoes - Since they don't get very fancy with their dress, the glam it up here. A woman that I work with here was sporting a Louis Vitton handbag today. Some of that may have to do with the better quality knock-offs that can be found here, too. For $100 you can get a Jimmy Choo knock off that's got the butteriest leather feel and that wonderful new leather smell.

That's it for now. Catch up later!

The Middle East

2010-10-10T12:35:00.004-04:00

To start, here are a few photos of the journey:

This restaurant made me think of Arlene:

A Dutch restaurant in the Amsterdam Airport. You can eat inside that tea pot.

Yep, this guy really is wearing a kilt and a soccer jersey:

The Abu Dhabi airport - unique in the mosaic tiles everywhere.

Yes, I am in the Middle East. It seems a little odd to say, really. And I've talked to my family on the computer (video chat) quite a few times already so it doesn't really seem that far away quite yet in that respect.

I have, however, noticed a difference in other places. Like, for instance, my first experiments with food here. When I got in, I order some chicken fingers off of the kids menu (room service) because I was tired and hungry and needed to take my vitamins with food. It was pretty good, the chicken was coated in a cornmeal and fried - very tasty. Although the chicken did taste a little off. I chock it up to they must feed the chickens differently here. I'm sure the heat plays a role in how the muscle develops and in the end how it tastes.

The real disaster came at breakfast the next morning. I went to sleep at a reasonable hour - 10:00. With some Neo Citran, it was no problem. I slept all of the way through to 7:30 the next morning. It felt great. After 18 hours of travel and over 30 with no sleep, I was happy to have a full night. I stumbled down in my sweats, grabbed some eggs, toast, fruit and cheese off of the buffet and brought it back up stairs. Remember the part about how the chickens are different? The eggs yolks were orange. Not like the deep yellow of farm fresh eggs in NA, but orange. And they tasted funny. Boo. Onto the cheese. Brie = Yay! Blue - Not the blue I'm used to ! Yuck! I ate some watermelon and cantaloupe, but was unable to stomach anything else after that gross, gross, cheese. Later that day, I was itching for coffee and made my way to the tea cafe in the lobby. I ordered an iced mocha (which she didn't get quite right, because she still steamed the milk) but that didn't matter because I discovered that it was the milk that tastes funny! So, I've come to the conclusion that I just can't drink the milk here. Believe it or not, I'm actually drinking my coffee sans milk.

So around that time I talked to Mom and Hubby and then took a nap for a couple of hours. When I got dressed (this time for real) I headed downstairs and happened to catch my collegue from work in the lobby. We wandered over to Abu Dhabi Mall. I know that you want to hear how it's all different. Really, it's a normal mall. With normal stores (Nautica, Paris Gallery, Carter's, Samsonite, Starbucks, etc.) After a work out and more chatting with the family, we headed out for dinner. So turned off by breakfast, I was unsure I wanted to make sure that I had something hearty and delicious for dinner. Turns out K and I went for our comfort foods at the Italian restaurant on campus. I had risotto primavera and she had fettuccine alfredo. Both were delicious.

I did have a bout of jet lag last night as I was wide awake at 12:30 (after going to sleep at 10) but seemed to make it back to sleep at some point. Not sure how much I slept only that 6:30 came REALLY early. By 2:30-3:00 I was bagged and ready for a nap. Resisting, K and I made our way back to the hotel, changed, chatted with family and then went shopping. We hit a mall like spot across the street where I made my first gift-purchase - a cute little dress for my girl next summer. And then to the grocery store. It took us a while to find it, but finally we did. I bought a 6 pack of diet coke (coca-cola light), some flat bread, and an Arabic bread with zatar and cheese. (Zatar is thyme, I'm told. Tastes good) I was looking for hummus and couldn't find it. Go figure. I did find this:

Can you tell what it is? I'll give you a hint - It's laundry Detergent.

If you guessed Tide, you're right!

Off to bed for me, busy day at the office tomorrow and the next day we're off to Al Ain for workshops!

OMG - only THREE days left!

2010-10-03T14:22:00.009-04:00

Oh My GOSH! There's only three days until I leave my family and N. America for THREE WEEKS! I'm kind of freaking out about it, since I've never been away from home that long (I mean, besides drumcorps - but that's with lots of friends, so does it really count?)

At first I was very, very

excited about this tri

p - planning all of the

fun things to see and do. But now, as we get closer and closer to the day, I realize that I'm not going to hug my munchkin for three whole weeks!!! Luckily, we'll be able to video chat at some point. (As I speak, she is supposed to be sleeping in her bed, but instead has turned her radio onto a country station, cranked the volume, and is laying on her mini-couch. At least she's laying down with a blanket. Here's a cute little pic of her daddy reading her a book before bedtime.

In my effort to find out about things like local yarn and shops, I've come up dry. Abu Dhabi doesn't have a local yarn shop, however, there is one up the road in Dubai. Also, everyone I ask about local yarn or fiber seems to think that I'm nuts. Maybe I'll be able to find something at a Souk. I know that there's one for carpets, but not sure about anything else.

I've packed socks to knit on the plane. I've got four 6-hour plane rides coming up - I'm wondering if I'll get two pairs of socks done. I figured their the

least intimidating thing to knit on a plane. Seriously, who's going to get mad at a nice lady playing with toothpicks?

<-- Yarn is packed in the carry-on! Along with one of my fav. sock books, Sock Innovation by Cookie A.

So as I finish up my laundry on this cold and dreary Sunday afternoon, I'll leave you with this little tidbit:

On Friday, I became the mother to a Froggie.

One shaken up lady and one very, very, nasty driver...

2010-07-18T08:13:00.005-04:00

I said I'd post the whole story, so here it goes -

It was Thursday and I was riding to work, as I usually do. This being without a car thing stinks, but being able to exercise at the same time as I'm getting to work really pays off in my time-management area. It only takes like 5 mins more to ride to work than it does to drive. I'm taking my regular route, which involves a small stretch along a busy road. I have to do it, though, because there's no other way over the expressway. The part that I really don't look forward to is when I have to turn left off of the busy road. That means I have to merge across two lanes of traffic to the left hand turn lane.

So on Thursday I Signaled and looked and looked again, and when it was clear, began my trek across those two lanes. Just when I had entered the second lane (that would be the left lane for drivers), I was thinking that I had almost made it to the promised land of the turning lane. All of the sudden, I hear a honk and feel a bump as a shiny black Acura clipped me on it's way by! Now, I understand that I was in the driving lanes, but cars, you are supposed to yield to bikes, just like you do to other cars. Anyway, the rear-view mirror hit my left buttcheek and something else on the car broke the handle off of my quick release axle on my rear wheel.

The first thing that went though my mind was, "He just hit me. YOU F****ER!!!" Let's face it, I often use that moniker for drivers when I'm riding my bike. By the time I thought, "I should get the license plate number," it was too late. I couldn't see it anymore.

So I turned the corner, where I would've done anyway and then decided to check for damage. I was pretty lucky since I stayed on my bike and upright. Once I saw the damage to the axle, I decided I couldn't continue to ride the bike like that and returned home. I picked up the car at home, picked up the bike, and headed over to the police station to file a report. After that, I came home and cleaned up, dropped my bike off at the shop and went to work. Shortly after I arrived at work, my phone rang and the guys at New World Cycle had already repaired my bike!

I'm lucky, everything is fixed, and I'd be back out there except for the fact that I left my helmet at the shop when I picked up my bike. I'm sure you can understand why I refuse to ride without a helmet.

Knitting is NOT like a DS

2010-07-13T12:28:00.003-04:00

So as much as I love my hubby, after over 11 years together, he STILL doesn't get my whole yarn addiction.

We were talking with some friends last night, one of which was mentioning that his current anniversary was "Wool or Copper". He was thinking, "What do I get her?" I was mentioning that I could help because of my knitting prowess, and he thought that it was totally crazy that I knew how to knit. To put it into more perspective: This was over beers after our softball game.

So DH pipes up, "It's like worse than a kid with their [Nintendo] DS, because it takes all of her attention." No, not it's not. Don't compare my ancient art to some stupid electronic gadget.

Rant is over. Have a nice day.

What a day!

2010-07-10T20:56:00.003-04:00

Though it started a little slow and boring, today turned out to be one of the best days I have ever had. We started the morning with some Tour de France (my favorite part of July) and house cleaning (and boy, did we need it!). My favorite riders are doing quite well this year. I've started following some of them on twitter (follow me: @knitmegster) and I'm finding the behind the scenes really interesting. We then headed to our niece & nephew's 3rd birthday party. (They're twins) It was quite a nice day for it in the park, and the kids really had a good time together. DD is still talking about her cousin, M. It was then naptime for DD, so we got in the car and were originally going to head home, but since she was out in five minutes, we decided to head the other way. We took the scenic route along the lake, through places like Port Dalhousie, and across the Welland Canal and ended up in Niagara-on-the-Lake. It's a quaint little town with lots of touristy gift shops, but we avoided that this time. As it turns out, DD woke up right as we pulled into town, so we headed for a big park in the center of town. We just walked through the park and let DD play on the playground. We even waded in the fountain with the crazy Europeans. (At least they weren't wearing Speedos) I almost forgot one very important part - I finished DD's very first hand-made sock on the way out!

After a while, our tummies started grumbling and we headed back to the car. Since I couldn't make a trip to Wine Country without picking up a bottle, we stopped at a winery on the way back to the highway. Now, I'm picky about stopping for wine out there, mostly for one reason. There are a couple of big players in that market and I prefer to buy my wine from the smaller, Mom-and-Pop type shops. As it turns out, we picked more of a medium-sized place, Pillitieri, but at least it wasn't one of the big two. (On a side note, I once had a tour at one of the big two from a young woman, maybe between 1st and 2nd year of university, who said that the Chardonnay had peach and apple notes because there used to be an orchard where the grapes were planted. Really? Did she actually believe that?)

After tasting 4 wines, and DD tasting a sparkling grape juice, we returned to the car with a bottle of Cab Sauv, and hit the highway. When we hit the next big town, we were talking about what to eat for dinner and then so happened to jump of the highway at exactly the right exit. I was a little worried about this dinner, since we weren't as prepared as usual. I usually pack lots of toys and books for DD to play with, so that she doesn't get bored. It actually ended up quite nice. The restaurant-provided crayons didn't last too long, but after a trip to the potty, our food arrived and we were ready to chow down. Except that DD doesn't eat, so she escaped her high chair and joined me in the booth. While being "Mommy the Junglegym" can be annoying at the time, it was still nice to have my daughter hanging on my and hugging me. I love how affectionate she can be. I got started on her sock's mate on the way home and we arrived in no time. Straight to the bath and to bed, and now Mommy and Daddy are going to enjoy that bottle of Cabernet on the deck. And maybe sneak in a couple of rows on the needles!

Hot, Hot Heat!

2010-07-05T14:42:00.003-04:00

Let's get one thing straight. I love the spring. I love the fall, but when it's too hot to wear jeans and a t-shirt around my house, it's just TOO hot. And to top that off, it's sometimes hard to knit in the summer. When the temperature rises, and the humidity is up there, wooden needles soak up the perspiration from your fingers, and even the smoothest bamboo yarn will stick. That is, unless, you can find a spot so perfect...

One of the best afternoons I ever spent was in my backyard. We simply sat in folding lawn chairs in the shade, with a nice breeze, and knit the afternoon away. Because, of course, I couldn't be knitting by myself, I chose to sit out back with my Mom. My big furry baby was curled up at my feet and although I don't remember exactly what I was working on; I do remember the soft rustling of leaves as the breeze blew through them, cooling us off as needed.

If only it was cool enough today. Alas, no - the humidex is over 40C! Maybe there will be enough breeze next week.

Upcoming Knitting Classes!!

2010-01-08T08:31:00.002-05:00

I'm taking a quick break to let you know that I'm working on a few classes for Spun Fibre Arts here in Burlington, ON. I'm just excited to be working on them, that's all!

Happy Knitting!!!!

Visit my fellow blogger

2009-09-09T16:31:00.001-04:00

I couldn't have said it better myself. Please take a look at this post:

Opening My Shirt For A Better World

Listening...and waiting

2009-09-08T19:24:00.002-04:00

I'm listening to my little peanut talk/cry herself to sleep. The batteries went out on her Fisher Price Aquarium (Phebe the Fishy) so she doesn't have her music going. That's probably not helping. I don't have any pictures to post today, but we can chat about the weekend and what I've been up to.

This weekend we took a road trip to visit my sister. She had a bit of a procedure done and her family was out of town, so I went to go take care of her afterwards. She actually did really well. I think on Friday, a little too well. We got there around 10:00 and she was still up and wired! She stayed up past 12!!! And for anyone that knows my sister, that IS saying something. Consequently, she was pretty tired on Saturday. I did some work around the house for her - a load of laundry, loading the dishwasher,etc. and then the best part of the day - well there were a couple. First, because she was so tired, she stayed in bed and knit. So I joined! I read some of my new book, Sock Innovations by Cookie A. and she knit. And I knit a bit. And we played with the monkey, who insisted on being back with us instead of playing with her Dad in the living room. While I was making lunch for my little one and little hubby, sister fell asleep. I let her sleep and put the little one down and DH and I went to the mall. I was going to get a new outfit, but after checking the price tags, I ended up with a new pair of pants. (oops!) It all worked out anyway, because before we left on Monday, sister cleaned out her closet and gave me her "fat" clothes. (They're size 8s)

On Sunday we had a good time, too. Lazing around all morning, and then in the afternoon, knitting on the deck. I've got some good work done on Golden Root. or Incan Root or whatever it is that I call it. I'm onto the decreases - shaping for the waist. I would've gotten more done, but I ran out of yarn in the car on the way home! This Inca Gold doesn't have a lot of yardage per skein. 122 yds per 50 gms. And here's something I didn't realize - in my head I had that it's 100% merino - NOPE! Turns out it's 20% silk. Cool. I have good taste.

I sat and knit for a while, but then just needed to move my body a bit. I picked pears and then went out to the garden and picked tomatoes, peppers, jalepenos, green beans, and zucchinis. This garden is so prolific, it's sick. She could eat all winter on the vegetables that come out of that little plot of land in the corner of the yard. That doesn't include the fruit garden that is nearby. We made peach-raspberry jam and salsa. I made two batches of salsa - due to the vegetables that I picked from the garden. We even ate a whole jar tonight for dinner. It was taco night.

The little munchkin isn't falling asleep yet, so I'm going to go check on her. Have a good night!

A little catching up to do.

2009-09-05T11:33:00.003-04:00

Here is the pad thai that I attempted this week. I used this generic rice-stick vermicelli and as you can see, it just kind of fell apart. It turned into Pad Mush. Not that great, but apparently tasty enough for the DH to eat for lunch! This second photo is the much better looking (and tasting) minestrone that I made with the bountiful harvest from my garden and from my share. We get a half-share weekly from “Plan B”. No, not the anti-pregnancy drug, but a CSA farm nearby. As you can see, quite colourful and delicious!

My socks are going great, I’m really enjoying the pattern - enough of a pattern to make it interesting, but not too much to make it so that I have to pay attention all of the time. It’s almost time for the heel, so if I can look it up how to do the heel flap toe-up, then I’ll do it, otherwise, I’ll just do the short-row like normal for toe-up.

Golden Root is also going well, forsaking a bit of tinKing that I had to do tonight. I missed a decrease row on the sleeve - it’s the part that makes it blouse out a bit. So I had to go back about three rows on 100+ stitch rows. That kind of stunk, but I got it re-done and even a little bit more before it got dark and I couldn’t knit in the car anymore.

That’s right, us crazy people have taken a road-trip for the long weekend. We’re in Michigan, a mere 5 hour drive, although we left at 4:15 and right now it’s 10:15 and we’re not quite there yet (but we’re really close). My sister is having some surgery and her family is up north for her husband’s family reunion and Mom is in Illinois for her family reunion, and I think that my brother is up north somewhere, too. So I’m the relative that is around to take care of my sister. She’s got a friend with her now, staying until we get there, and we’re thankful for good friends. I’m really excited to see big sis and have a nice relaxing weekend with her. We’re planning to knit a bit, and I just picked up the “Sock Innovation” book by Cookie A. I saw some patterns from it on Ravelry and thought that it looked cool, so I decided to get it. Lucky for me, I had a gift card to Borders (you should always shop there because my SIL works there) and Rewards members got a 40% off one book coupon this weekend, so I didn’t pay a cent. I actually have $0.40 left of my gift card! I can’t wait to have some time to look through my book and pick out the next pair of socks that I make.

Well, the DH is missing turns, so I should go pay attention now. Happy Knitting!

Rippit-Rippit - Frogging and starting over

2009-08-27T08:23:00.002-04:00

I have this beautiful skein of Noro's Kureon Sock that I purchased last year at the Toronto Creativ Festival in the fall, and just this spring was getting around to knitting myself a pair of socks with it - because that was my plan all along -screw anyone else, these are for me. I had started knitting from the toe-up these pretty Aran-cabled socks. They were from this sock calendar so that actual name was "March Aran" (because this pattern was for march)

However, as it turned out, I didn't cast enough stitches on, and let's face it, socks are usually my zombie project. Paying attention to a chart was too much work. I had about three or four inches done before I ripped them out. Yesterday. BUT, in good knitter fashion, I casted back on right away. This time I am going to knit these based on the Spring Cable by Elinor Gray. So far, I've not even finished the toe. I'm hoping to try a gusset heel this time, as I've recently found a pattern for that in the toe-up sock. Wish me luck! Not sure what to name these - perhaps I will have a name when I start the cables.

My Incan Root is coming along fine - I actually put it on a longer needle this week and tried it on - I'm doing the decreases on the sleeves - this makes them blouse out a little. I'm really excited and happy with how this is coming. It's my first sweater that's full length and adult sized. And my first adult sized less than worsted weight sweater. The burgundy color makes it quite charming. I can't wait to get below the sleeves and actually try on this mess! Hopefully it fits over my voluptuous chest.

Oh, and I've also completed a little surprise for my friend that owns the LYS. However, no publicity with that until it's revealed.

Uh-Oh in the tub

2009-08-22T13:39:00.008-04:00

While Alli taking a few more steps is pretty exciting, she’s been doing it all week and that’s old hat by now. The most exciting thing that happened today was in the bathtub.

We had just gotten into the bathtub - I let Alli watch as I filled up the tub and she threw all of her toys in and then I picked her up and put her in and she started to play. Everything was going fine until I thought that I heard some grunting. I looked over and saw those few little telltale bubbles and then found the thing that ruined the bath - a little brown dookie.

I picked her up and put her on the toilet - but since she’s not really that big or old enough, it didn’t do anything. I called for Tony and he came in and pulled the plug and rinsed everything off. And since the dookie was pretty compact, I didn’t worry about disinfecting everything. And let’s face it - I’m not really that kind of mom.

I think that the worst part about the whole thing was that about a half hour later I discovered a big one in her diaper. Like she couldn’t have done it into the toilet!

A totally bad day....

2009-08-19T10:07:00.002-04:00

I almost had a breakdown today. Wish I could just stop and knit at work - maybe that would help me feel better. It all started with the most innocent email. I was actually quite happy to get it, from the lady that teaches my fitness classes. It innocently said, "havent' seen you in a while, I hope you're not working too much." That did it. I cried.

I have been working really hard the last couple of weeks because I'm going to work all day and then coming home, making dinner, eating, putting the munchkin to bed and getting on the phone and working the silver business for an hour and a half or more and by then it's time for bed. No time for working out and it's making me miserable.

I miss my girl, I miss my hubby, and I totally miss working out. I'm totally bored by my job and while I'm ready to move to do something else, due to merger activities, there are NO openings around. AND it doesn't help that I REALLY don't want to stay at this office - it's just too far from home. Can't I just quit and work my silver business and work part-time at the yarn shop? Oh the life!

So that's my day - I know that I need to get over it and get on with my day and make the best of things. Sorry for the rant - but I think that I might just feel a little bit better now.

What a week!

2009-08-17T20:28:00.010-04:00

Wow, it's sure been a busy week. Having lots of fun with our little girl and it was our anniversary last week! It's be five whole years that DH and I have been married. That's 10 years of dating and 5 of marriage. It's amazing that we're still in love! (Awwww....do you have cavities from the sweetness yet?)

The first exciting thing that we did last week was go to a place called River Run. In case you can't get the gist from the name, we went white water rafting on the Ottawa River.

This is DH in front of the 'resort'.

Our trip sort of started the night before when my MIL picked up DD and the pup. I can't tell you how odd it felt when I woke up in the morning to not have to let the dog out of our room. And then I didn't have to worry about being too loud, either! It was really a good thing that the little ones were gone, because we hadn't packed AT ALL and needed the time to get our stuff together without the distractions that a one year old can provide. Once all packed and out of the door (by 10 A.M. - Amazing!) we had to stop in town on the way for me to do some work, but then hit the road. We made our way through Toronto with only one slow-down on the 401 (again, AMAZING!) and off we went! I got lots of knitting done in the car. In fact, I've already started the toes on a pair of socks that are only three weeks old (tomorrow). That, however, will not be my fastest pair of socks, as I have been known to knit a sock per week.

After stopping at Subway for lunch, we were off of the 401 and onto the Northbound highways. These highways are not like the 401. Perhaps 2 or 3 minutes after turning onto said highway, DH thought that he'd like some Tim Horton's. Great idea - I got out my iPhone with the always great "Timmy Me" application and went looking. The closest ones were 10 km backwards and the nearest one on our route was at least 30km away! Oh the humanity!

Fast forward a few hours, some mild motion sickness (nothing a nap couldn't fix) and LOTS of small towns later and we arrived. (see above photo) We checked into the B&B on site and got settled. It was such a treat. What a genius I was to book the "luxury suite" for our anniversary. It was a huge room with a sitting area and separate porch that opened onto the deck. On the deck there was a pool and hot tub!

After getting settled, we decided to go in search of food and civilization (and GAS). We headed off to the second nearest town - Cobden. A mere 16km away. Yep - that's 10 miles. It's like being back in Manchester, only worse, because Cobden is probably that size and where we were was MUCH smaller!

We had dinner (sandwiches) at a place called "Delicious". Let's just say that the name didn't exactly describe the food.

The London House Inn and Spa

After dinner we made our way to Renfrew - as a necessity, since it was after 6:00 and that's when the store in Cobden closed. We managed to find Walmart, since they seem to be practially everywhere. After picking up a few necessities we were off to find a Beer Store or LCBO. Again, this being the country, and a Wednesday, we were totally S.O.L. Everything seems to close at 6:00 out there!

Back at the resort we headed down to check out the pub. They said it was a pub - really, it's a gift shop with a beer cooler.
The "Pub"

So while the resort seemed a little sketch in these parts, the whole experience was absolutely wonderful. The next morning, we woke at our normal time and had plenty of time to get down to the pavilion for breakfast and our safety briefing. Afterwords, we lined up to receive our paddle, life jacket, and helmet and boarded a bus up river.

Someone had told me to sit in the front of the raft, so relying on strangers like I do, I did. We perched ourselves at the front of the raft, ready for all that the day might bring. After a short paddling lesson, featuring the commands that we would receive during the day (Easy forward, Hard Forward , Back, and ALL DOWN) we were able to jump into the river for a quick swim before heading into our first rapid.

Called McCoy's, our first rapid was one of the most exciting of the day since our guide, A.J. caught his paddle just at the right time during the rapid and went flying off of the back of the raft. He was the only person that fell out all day.

We did some "surfing" on a rapid called "Frog in a Blender" in which DH and I were totally submerged. I even felt the helmet lift off of my head in the midst of it!

All in all, it was a pretty good day. That night we made our way into Pembrooke to a restaurant called, "Saffron Bistro". It was pretty expensive, but OH SO tasty! Our night concluded with the ritual of sparkling wine (Prosecco this time) and cake. It's an anniversary tradition ever since our wedding night.

The next morning, we brought our breakfast back to the inn to eat on the porch and drink mimosas with the leftover Prosecco. We loaded up the car and check out of the inn. We then went in search of a gift shope for our fabulous baby/dog sitters. Cobden provided just what we needed. Then, because I had mentioned wanting to go to "France Candada" as I like to call it, we made the 5km trek to Portage Du Fort, QC. A small town - no bigger than a stop sign. It was very cute and I was happy enough to see the big red sign that read, Arret.

Coming home was pretty uneventful, except that somehow we hit Toronto at 4:00 pm on Friday. Smart, REALLY, smart. Once on the 407 (the toll highway that runs through the city) we were able to make up most of the time and pick up our family in Stoney Creek.

DH is editing the video, but I'm sure it will be quite a treat! We will share once it's done. Here's the slideshow. Enjoy!

The weekend of Silver!

2009-08-09T19:27:00.007-04:00

I do have a night job, and as naughty as that may sound, it's really not. (AND, it's really quite fun) I am an independent representative for a silver company called Silapada Designs and we give hostesses free jewellery for hosting a show. This weekend was our National Conference and boy was it great.

The theme this year was "A Hero Lives In You" and it was truly inspirational. At the new jewelry preview, one team even had shirts that read: Helping Everyone Realize Opportunity. It was so great. Here are a few pictures:

I'm a superhero! Do you see me responding to the Silpada Signal? Someone must need some free jewellery!

Here is a gorgeous themed display. The theme is "Girls Night Out" I learned lots of neat tricks for displaying my jewellery more creatively.

Our fearless leaders and founders - Bonnie and Theresa. They're dressed in sombreros to announce our incentive trip (SOAR) for 2011 - we're going to Cabo San Lucas!!! I would really like to go on the trip, so if you're reading this, please ask how you can help!

Our founders Bonnie and Theresa again, this time without the sombreros.

So I had a great weekend - exhausting, but great, and I'm pumped to kick my business into the next level.

You can see my NEW!!! online catalog here: www.mysilpada.ca/meg.shuker I can't post a link, but if you copy and paste, you'll get to my personal site.

Have a Sterling Day!

Accident on the train

2009-08-07T13:20:00.000-04:00

Because no good knitter can take the train without something to knit,
I decided to take my current sock project with me. Everything was
going fine until the the tension on one sock got too tight and I had
to tugg the wool.

The computer fiasco

2009-08-06T08:30:00.004-04:00

So I've long been a computer geek and always stood up for PCs and especially those cute little "I'm a Mac, I'm a PC" ads. PCs just get a bad rap sometimes. But this time, I broke down. I gave in and bought a mac. Part of the reason is that my hubby is a teacher and they use macs at his school. He can now get familiar with programs that they use at school and more effectively teach with them. I'm hoping to have more creative freedom with photos and websites. Perhaps this blog will move somewhere else as a result!

It all started a couple of weeks ago (yes, it's been that long since we've had a computer that worked). As per ususal, Hubby called me at work to say, "The computer's not working." To which my standard response is, "Did you turn it on?" He's not THAT slow with computers, but he really is that close. Poor guy, I love him so much, but technology is a challenge. Yes he turned it on and yes its starting to start, but he keeps getting this message about "Safe Mode". So those of you that know Windows know that that's not a good sign. So I told him to leave it and I'd take a look when I got home. So two weeks later, I finally got to take a look and couldn't boot into safe mode. I couldn't boot at all. So I dug around and finally found my recover CDs and booted into the recover console. I was running a chkdsk and everything was going alright ( it was taking a long time) when the storm started getting really bad and the power flashed. Crap. It's a desktop. When I got it re-booted into recovery console, and tried to continue my chkdsk I received a message about unrecoverable errors. POOP. Well I said something slightly more colourful, but you get the drift. So we now need a new computer.

Needing a new computer isn't that bad. Especially considering neither of us has purchased a computer since 2001. That's eight years, and in these days, that's an eternity. Our computer that broke was a hand-me-down from Hubby's parents when they made the switch to Mac. We had it for almost three years - so all-in-all, our computer life has been pretty good. Although this most recent Sony desktop computer, did look a bit like frankenstein. I have increased the ram and added a couple of hard drives and I added a USB PCI card. The cover didn't often stay on the computer and there were always inside parts showing. I actually had my old laptop hard drive plugged in via USB. I am pretty awesome at computers, if I do say so myself, and had drug this one along as far as it would go.

So we begun talking about what to get. I think that we had both decided a while ago that we wanted a Mac. The software that's included is great, and iWork for MS Office files works well, too and is less than 1/4 of the price! (It was about $60 compared with $250 for Office). Then do we get an iMac or a MacBook? We decided on the macbook so that we could use it downstairs. That's right, we can now do computer and tv at the same time - I'm sure that's somehow wrong, but oh well!

OK, we're decided - we're getting a Mac. We're getting a MacBook. Let's go to the Apple Store and pick one up. There's no Apple Store in our area. We had to go to Toronto yesterday to get to the closest Apple store. I hate traffic, so I had him meet me there at lunchtime. It took FOREVER THERE!!! We were there for two hours, which is stupid because we already knew what we wanted! SO, all in all, I didn't get to leave work until late and hardly had anytime to play with the new computer. It'll still take me a couple of hours to get files transferred and stuff setup so that we can use it again.

I really wish I could just leave the hubby to it - transferring files and installing software, but we all know how that would end up. And since I know that, I got to work extra early today so that I can get home extra early and work on that machine. I can't wait to get it all setup and finish some projects that I had going on there! It's compounded by the fact that I can't work on it until after 7 because my little girl can't keep her fingers off the buttons! She's only 14 months old and she already is hooked on technology!

I forgot to mention the temper tantrum she threw when we pulled her off of the iMac at the apple store - So loud! She loves pressing the buttons, and was sort of playing these Dr. Seuss games and the little kid-sized desk near the checkout. It was just the right height for her to stand on the ground and reach the keyboard and mouse. I've heard there are some good games online for kids, so I'm hoping to check those out and that she'll actually pay attention. She was just pressing buttons to press them at the store.

And now I'm stuck on the PC at work, unable to configure my new mac. So sad.

So It's Been A While

2009-08-06T08:27:00.002-04:00

And I'm not sure what to write about today. I've been telling myself that I need to be better about blogging because I do like to write, but when do I have the time?????

So here I am, a year and a half after my last post or is that two and a half years? Baby in tow and countless knitting projects behind me. I've got a couple on the needles now and I'm excited about that.

So let's start over. A fresh start, a new look, a new name. We'll make it all better!

My Newest Handiwork

2008-02-13T11:21:00.003-05:00

Here's my most recent knitting project. The beautiful model is my neighbor, Paxton. This is knit in Sublime Baby Cashmere Merino DK. I especially enjoyed the bonnet, as it worked up quick and the flower was something new to me!

Petro-Canada Basketball

2008-01-17T12:39:00.001-05:00

My Very First Tri

2007-06-09T20:52:00.000-04:00

Wow - I actually completed a Triathlon. I never thought that I'd do it. Well, I never thought that I'd do a marathon either (much less, two!) But I did, and it was great. So exhilarating. I can't wait to race again. It was the feeling I used to get when I raced in high school - like I was going to loose my breakfast, but not quite. And mixing the sports totally helped!

This picture is of me coming out of the swim. This is definitely my weakest of the three sports. I was actually so uncomfortable in the swim, that I did the elementary back stroke the entire time! (If you don't know what the elementary backstroke is, click here) I finished the swim in just over 11 minutes and was 26/36 in my age category when finishing.

Next, came the bike. This was by far, my best part. In the photo below, you can see my superior dismount, before the dismount line. (that's what that tape is on the ground) When I finished the bike, I was 12th in my age category.
Next, came running. I totally underestimated the running. I figured, Running is old hat - I've done it lots of times 2.5K is a walk in the park. BOY WAS I WRONG! After swimming and biking, running is a whole other challenge! They call it "brick" running and now I know why! My legs really did feel like bricks. But I trugged on. I stopped to walk a bit, but was really running faster than I thought that I could! I was doing the same pace that I usually do while running without biking or swimming!

However, as you can see to the right, my finishing time was under an hour - 52 minutes, in fact! Pretty good for a girl that figured 1:20 for that race! I am excited to race again, and looking for another try-a-tri race in my area. I'm hoping to finish the season with a sprint distance tri.

That's all for me!

Happy Tri-ing!

Red Sun In the Morning, Sailors Take Warning....

2007-03-01T08:23:00.000-05:00

Red sun at night, sailor's delight. And what a warning to take this morning! The sunrise was SO Beautiful! The orangey-red sun illuminated the lavender and magenta glowing sky. This photo was taken a bit late in the day to capture the full beauty of this morning's sunrise. Unfortunately, this afternoon, we're expecting freezing rain! I guess the good news is that it's warm outside. (0C is pretty warm as of late) Hopefully I'll be able to leave work early to avoid bad weather and traffic. Thank goodness for laptops with VPN.

The Synchronized Boys on the Backstreet Block

2007-02-23T14:41:00.001-05:00

When I was in second grade, just getting into popular music, and liking only the music that my friends liked, I really got into the boy band. They were young, and REALLY cute, and it felt like they were singing just to me. I would sing along to every song on the radio and then one day, I was lucky enough to get their cassette tape for my birthday. It didn’t take long for me to learn all of their songs by heart. I carried around my little boom box and sang out loud to my heart’s content. (Or until my older brother stole my batteries so that I would only sing in my room)

Once in my room, with my boom box plugged in, I would stand in front of my mirror, mimicking the oh so cool dance they did and sing along. Oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh….And I’d put my hands on my waist, where my belt buckle would be and swing my hips to the beat while hopping from one leg to the other while keeping my knees locked. It was one of the few boy band moves that were OK to do by yourself. The others needed the four other boys to look cool.

The tape was the gateway product to the commercial aspect of the boy band. First it was the tape. Then it was buttons. You know, the round, celluloid buttons in every size from 1” diameter to a full 12” (a whole foot) in diameter. I had them all over my clothing – on my coat, my jeans, my shirts and sweaters. Even all over my neon pink Eastpak backpack. I had buttons of each of the boys, and buttons with the whole band on them, and buttons with just the band logo on them. It didn’t matter what size or shape, the person with the most buttons was the coolest of them all. We ended up looking like a waitress from one of those casual dining places that requires so many pieces of “flare” on the uniform.

As I said, the tape was the gateway item and led to not only buttons, but pillowcases, sleeping bags, and t-shirts. All listed in order of the popularity of the girl that had them. The sleeping bags, pillows, and oversized t-shirts came in especially hand at slumber parties. Especially if the sleeping bags and pillows matched. During these parties, we would listen to tapes, sing along, and watch videos of concerts and interviews. And we would talk about which member of the band we wanted to be our boyfriend. The girl with the most paraphernalia would get to go first. She inevitably chose the most beautiful member. “I love Jordan,” she would say, and then the next girl would go. “Joey is my dream!” said the next. And we’d go right down the line until the last girl got stuck with the not-so-cute member of the band. And no boy could get chosen more than once, because after he was claimed, he belonged to that girl and that girl only. She would be the one that had his picture on all of her buttons, and cut-outs from the most recent issue of “The Bopper” magazine. I had a whole wall of my bedroom dedicated to newspaper cut-outs, buttons, and pages ripped from J-14, M, or Twist.

This was a game that was played often on the playground at recess. We’d march along the edge of the snow banks at the end of the blacktop and go down the line choosing our man. And if there were more girls than boys in the band, then the sixth girl was left out. And if someone else chose the boy that you were going to say, you had to stoop and choose one that wasn’t your most favourite. Once the boys were chosen, we’d make up stories about our lives together. “Jordan and I are going to get married and have lots of babies.” Or “Donnie and I will have a huge house and lots of cars and a pool to sit by all day.”

We wrote them letters. I’d pour out my heart and soul to Joey, tell him how much I loved his music and knew all of the words and how I had two t-shirts but wanted the one with the squares on the front. And you know what? He wrote back! A few weeks after my letter was sent, I received a typed (Form Letter) response signed Love, Joey.

Let’s not forget the trading cards. Yes, trading cards. Like any other playground trading cards, these ones were fought about and collected. I had a stack of at least 200. They had a yellow-brown border with some sexy, yet grade-school appropriate pose of the boy or boys along with stats like, “favourite food”, “favourite color”, and “musical inspiration”.

One of my friends, Michelle, actually got to go to one of their concerts! Her parents got divorced the year before, so I’m sure that they felt bad for her and her sister and that’s why they took her. Going to a concert of any kind was a big deal where we lived. We were at least an hour’s drive from the venue and that doesn’t include any parking or traffic time. So, of course, Michelle thought that she was the Queen Bee after that. She even ended up with the newest album on C.D.

Anhhh…the Compact Disc. While I don’t’ think that this directly contributed to the downfall of the band, when the CD became popular, The Band became unpopular. The wall of pictures came down, and in a very smelly and unsuccessful attempt, the trading cards were burned. The buttons were thrown away and the t-shirts turned into rags. A part of our youth had been left by the wayside, and nothing would ever be able to take its place.

The Time I Left My Purse At Work and Why I'm Thankful That My Boss Is A Work-aholic

2007-01-17T08:26:00.000-05:00

It wasn't that long ago, just a week or so. It was Friday and Tony was heading to Michigan for NCA and I was sneaking out of Petro early so that I could let Cadence out, change, and head to Running Room for my shift there. I gathered my belongings and went over to the coat area and put my coat on and left. Since I had snuck out early, I took my time getting home. Not that I had a choice with traffic the way it is around here. I got home, let my little monkey out of her kennel and changed my clothes. I grabbed some food as I headed out of the door, and as I opened my car door, just happened to think, "Where's my purse?" I started frantically searching my car - all over the back seat and the front seat. Underneath all of the junk that had gathered there over the week. As I thought back, I didn't grab it out of my desk at work. It was still there, securely in my desk, with my key to the building inside.

Had Tony been home for the weekend, it wouldn't have been so bad. However, with him gone, I was on my own and needed to get groceries. Not just that, but the "dummy" light had just come on in my car. (That's what I call the light that comes on to tell you that you're low on fuel.) So now I desperately needed fuel for my body and my car and had no way of getting it because I was locked out of my building at work.

Then, I remembered, my boss had e-mailed me her home number just before a party that she hosted last month. I ran into the office to the computer and started frantically searching my e-mail account. No dice. She had sent it to my work account which I couldn't access without my laptop. Which was on my desk. Locked in the building at work. I e-mailed her anyway, hoping, praying that she'd turn her blackberry on at some point on Saturday. I also phoned her work cell phone. I still had that number from just before I was hired. I'm sure that she still thinks that I'm nuts. But I had no choice - with Tony out of town, I was stranded!

She finally checked voice mail or email on Saturday. She phoned in the afternoon while I was working another shift at Running Room. I was able to stop at her house, grab her ID card, and bring it with me to rescue mine. After I dropped off her card, I stopped at the grocery store to pickup some groceries. While the whole ordeal only lasted about 24 hours, it felt like a lifetime. Thank goodness my boss is a workaholic.

Start reading at 2007?!?!?!?

2007-01-16T11:45:00.000-05:00

I just made one big post in the form of multiple smaller posts. Please start reading with the post labeled 2007?!?!?!?!?

Back to it all –

2007-01-16T11:39:00.001-05:00

Back to work, back to basketball practice and games (I left that part out of earlier – I’m playing in a league on Wednesdays and coaching on Mondays and Thursdays.) Back to running, and swimming, and THEN, this week, I pulled a muscle! And not some typical, hamstring, quad, glute, oh no, I had to be special and pull a muscle in my foot! It’s the extensor brevis, and it’s used to help extend the big toe (pull it up toward your knee). SO – I’m wearing my running shoes to work, and feeling kind of silly. I’m really missing running. I’m registered for the Chilly ½ marathon (as a training run for ), The Around The Bay 30K, and I’m considering a spring marathon. I’d rather take the time of now, and have it only take a week or two rather than making it worse and having to take a month off down the road.

And, I’ve lost almost half of that 10 lbs

7. Holidays –

2007-01-16T11:38:00.000-05:00

Holidays - need I say more? We had a house-warming party on the 4^th of December and didn’t stop until after New Year’s. Our party was great – I may extend it to a yearly thing. The “open house” model is really the way to go for hosting parties. We had Tony’s Birthday ( I got him DDR – he loves it!) and Lydie’s (my new boss) party. Then was the week for Christmas. We drove to Michigan on the 23^rd (Saturday). This was nice because we were able to have dinner with Mom, and I invited my friend Kate over. I haven’t seen Kate since I moved, so it was really nice to catch up. Then, on Christmas Eve, I ran 16km/10mi in the morning and then went to Brad’s for dinner. Christmas morning was at Chris’s house. Mom got me a broom for outside and Brad thought that it was my new ride! We then drove to our house that afternoon. We enjoyed fresh quesadillas made with our brand-new quesadilla maker that Brad & Kathy got us for Christmas. Boxing day was Christmas for the Oldfield side of the family. Jacob is really becoming my little buddy. He’s so much fun! (See? -->) After that, it was back to Michigan on the 27^th. Tony was teaching at NCA and I went home to see my grandparents. A few hectic days of visiting with grandparents, spending more time with nieces and nephews a (even taking Katie to the mall) and catching up with old friends. (Sara and I took Cadence and Lilly to the river at Frog Island for a run/swim) And back to Burlington for us so that I could work at Running Room on the 31^st. We spend new year’s with our Port Colborne friends at Dave and Aleta’s house. Aleta is fun because she’s American like me!

Some how in the middle of all of that, I gained about 10 pounds!

6. NEW JOB –

2007-01-16T11:37:00.000-05:00

I started a new job as a “Systems Specialist” at Petro-Canada. I actually work in part of the sales department called Sales Services. I’m “in the business” as they say. This is really a great position to be in, because I can go many places here. I can go to I.T. or stay in the business and move around and go into management. The perks here are great. First, I start off with three weeks of vacation! To top that off, I have another 12 “flex days”. So I don’t have to use up my vacation time one at a time here and there. I’m really happy to be working here and can really see the opportunity for advancement. And besides that, almost half of the employees here are scheduled to retire in the next 10 years! That means load of opportunity for a “youngin” like me!

Detroit Marathon Relay

2007-01-16T11:36:00.000-05:00

5. Detroit Marathon Relay: Chris, Brad, Kathy, Martin and I all ran the Detroit Marathon relay. It’s really a great event because you get the whole atmosphere of the marathon without actually having to run the 26.2mi/42.2km. We all ran really well and enjoyed the event. Brad enjoyed it so much that he wants to do it every year so that all of us can run each of the legs! (except Chris won’t run the underwater mile) I’d like to run the full marathon this year, because it’s the 30^th anniversary and I’m sure there will be something special. I have to find out if I can do two events - relay and full marathon.

#'s 3 and 4

2007-01-16T11:35:00.001-05:00

3. We repaired the foundation on our new house. (Also, Canadian thanksgiving) During the long weekend for Thanksgiving in this wonderful country, we dug a 4 ft deep hole in our back yard and repaired a crack in our foundation. All was good, except that we didn’t get the hole all of the way filled in before it rained! The resulting leak was worse than before. And boy, did that have us sweating! All was well once the hole was filled in, though. No more new water has found its way into our basement. Now just to fix the water damage that occurred there……Stay tuned.

4. I started a second job. I now moonlight at The Running Room. It’s great because I get paid to chat about running and running gear and the discount is great! I think that I’ve spent as much as I’ve made there. However, I did buy some presents (Christmas/Birthday) there, so that’s money I would’ve spent anyway. I really enjoy working there and look forward to my shifts.

My Second Marathon

2007-01-16T11:16:00.000-05:00

2. I ran my second marathon. It was in Toronto, and called “The Scotiabank Waterfront Marathon” While it was slower than my first (Detroit) it was A LOT harder. I’m not sure if it was the wind, or my lack of taper, due to all of the aforementioned painting. Anyway, it was a full 20 minutes slower than the first time. What does it mean? Well, it means that I cannot quit running marathons now, because I must end with a PB. A special thanks to my friend and fellow runner George for getting me through that tough period around the 35K mark. And for my mommy for buying me Aspirin then, too! I will be carrying Advil or another type of NSAID with me while running the next one. And speaking of the next one, what will it be? Stay tuned….

2007?!?!?!?

2007-01-16T11:07:00.000-05:00

It has been almost SIX months since I last posted to this blog. A lot has happened since then, which is probably why I haven't posted. In chronological order:
1. We bought a house! It's true! We are now the proud owners of our very own semi-detached 3 -level back split with three bedrooms and 1 1/2 baths AND a wet bar. The decor upon moving in was awful. Have you ever seen the really old episode of South Park when Barbara Streisand is a giant robot/dinosaur? It was like that, only for Debbie Travis. There was one small bedroom with three painting techniques, AND a wallpaper border. Apparently, the person/people that painted (a gay guy that lived there 2 before us) didn't like cutting in on the ceiling, so they just put up borders instead. SO I spent the first two weeks of ownership painting everything. We've now painted our living/dining room, kitchen (including cabinets), office, and guest bedroom. Before and after pictures still to come.

Guinness!

2006-06-25T20:44:00.000-04:00

http://dogsofourlives.blogspot.com/

Cadence met Guinness at Shell Park on Saturday. Guinness's mommy wrote all about it in their blog, listed above. That's a picture of the two puppies playing, and our current family portriat below

First Day of Summer

2006-06-21T09:06:00.000-04:00

Every year on the first day of summer, Princess Cadence goes swimming. Oh no, she does not go to the beach, why as a princess, she's got her own pool in her back yard. This is not to be confused with the pond in her garden, for she also has her very own swimming pool.
Princess Cadence does more than just swim in her pool. As a matter of fact, she's too tall to swim in it now, so while she is wading, she does these other activities.
She splashes in her pool. She stands in the pool and splashes with her front paws and tries to drink the splash.
She snorkles in her pool. She puts her face under the water and blows bubbles with her nose. She does this for many hours and enjoys it a lot.
She bobs for leafs, grass, and whatever else might be floating in her pool. She sticks her nose under the water to catch whatever it is polluting her pool and gently places it on the grass outside of her pool. What a princess!

Senor Chicken Pox and Princess Cadence

2006-05-17T09:21:00.000-04:00

This week has been pretty exiting around the Shuker household. What we thought was an ear infection and an alergic response to something, turned out to be a case of Chicken Pox! That's right, my 30-year-old husband has the Chicken Pox. Needless to say, he's been home all week doing not much more than letting Princess Cadence (pictured, left) out and playing video games. OK, OK, he's doing quite a bit more. He rented a couple of DVDs, he did the dishes once, he's been sleeping until noon, and taking funny pictures of the dog. (Again, reference the photo on the left)

I've been doing what I can, but it never seems like enough for him. I made him chicken noodle soup (with homemade noodles). AND I'm not even complaining that the dishes are piling up.

It's really the dog that's been getting the shaft this week though, he hasn't been well enough to take her on a nice, long walk and I've been using up my doggie walking time leaving early for work to deliver his lesson plans to his classroom. It's not SO bad, at least there's someone at home with her all day and she's not getting lonely. She loves having someone nearby. She's going to be so happy this summer when he is off school!

So right now, I'm hoping that he's well enough to travel this weekend. (It's a long weekend) And encouraging him not to itch. It seems like a pretty mild case, compared to some that I've seen or heard of. Like when I was eight and gave them to my older brother, Brad. He had them so bad that he couldn't even drink beer because the carbonation hurt the pox in his throat. And the severity of Tony's case makes me feel better about the whole having kids factor. I mean, in adult men, it can affect the potency of semen - but I really don't think that he's going to have an issue.

Mississauga 1/2 Marathon

2006-05-15T09:41:00.000-04:00

This was my first half marathon. I kinda did stuff backwards. I ran a full marathon first, then the half. I ran so well. I passed people the entire time! I kept looking at my garmin, thinking, "There's no way I can run this fast at 15, 17, 20 kms" But I did it! My goal time was 2:30 and my chip time was 2:25! Job well done for me! Even considering my potty stop on the way! I had to tinkle when the race started, so I bolted for the first set of porta potties that I saw, which were at the 2km marker. I wasn't the only one that needed those, though, and I waited in line for what seemed like forever! I say it was 10 minutes, however, it was probably closer to something like five. AND, if it was even five minutes, that means I actually ran for 2:20! Pretty good for me, considering my half split of the marathon was 2:41 and that's the only thing I have to compare it to!

So today is Monday and my legs are really sore. It's a proud kind of sore and I'm putting up with it for now. Mostly because I get to sit at work. Although bathroom breaks are kind of tough right now.

Good Forutne to the Honest

2006-05-15T09:37:00.000-04:00

On Friday night, I went to the Y in Mississauga to pickup my race packet (more about the race later). When I got out to my car, I noticed an ATM envelope near my door. I picked it up and saw that it was full of checks and cash. What a dilemma. Do I do the right thing, or should I just take the cash and run? I called Tony, and he searched for the name on the checks online. For such a funny name, there sure were a lot of them in Ontario.

We got lucky, though, because while he was searching, the couple returned to their car and I gave them their money back, saying that I was just on the phone trying to look them up. And, just as I was about to pull away, the lady handed me a $50, and said it was for my husband and I to get some coffee. I don't know where she gets her coffee, but that's probably some really good coffee and I'd like to know about it!