Second purple wristwarmer: check

I thought I’d have to save #2 for next weekend but as it turns out, if I knit without (much) interruption it only takes about two hours to whip one of these guys together. So I completed my project last night.

I didn’t write my daily words for NaNoWriMo, however, so today I’ll need to write like a demon when I get home from my dayjob.

I also need to work out. I slacked bad last week.

basic wristwarmer, purple hair, a guinea pig

I didn’t go to the play. I did clean my apartment and knit a wrist warmer. But first:

Squiddle the Bad, Bad Piggle

Breakfast on the dirty kitchen floor!

Also discovered while uploading knitting pix – me at RenFaire 2008, a day after I had my hair dyed purple.

Do I look stoned to you, too?

And the main event: a wristwarmer!

This one's for Haven but she doesn't know it yet.

Materials:

1 skein bulky weight yarn (this is 75% acrylic, 25% wool)

four #8 dpns

Pattern:

Cast on 31 stitches. Divide onto three needles. Work in the round k3, p2 all the way around. k2together last stitch of third needle and first stitch of first needle, then continue k3/p2 until desired length from thumb hole (how long you want it to go up your arm).

Thumb hole: k3,p2 until last five stitches on needle #3. Working in pattern, bind off those 5 stitches. Continue working in round until you reach the last stitch on needle #3. Cast on 5 stitches using a crochet hook. Continue working in round another 2 inches. Bind off in pattern. Weave in ends.

I'll turn the rest of the skein into wristwarmer #2 next weekend.

Bad blogger, bad.

I’m pretty sure I’ve mentioned I can’t be trusted to check in daily. I’m trying to be better about weekly. Really.

Random fact: A spider is living beneath my Wii balance board. I’m unthrilled.

First week of November -

• Wrote almost 12k on the vampire book. Woke up this morning and realized I need to write yet another chapter one. Bad habit of mine, starting the book too late in the story.
• Did not keep up with my fatchicksrunning schedule. I was sick the weekend, didn’t get to make the yoga and pilates (I was really looking forward to those) and didn’t bounce back. This week will be better, though.
• Bulk of my “for other people” Christmas shopping accomplished. Hooray.

Second week goals:

• Do week two of my fcr schedule.
• Finish first draft of vampire novel.
• No #3. The first two are occupation enough.

I’ve been pouting because I missed the Torrid socks. I had my eye on knee-high fuschia tube socks but was waiting for the 50%-off-clearance sale. I didn’t realize it was happening til 36 hours after it started and by the time I clicked over to the socks section, most of them were gone. Even the monkey socks. I’m debating whether I want to place an order or not. I could still score 8 pairs of cute socks plus a pair of wedge-heel flipflops for next summer, all for $26, but as much as I’m interested in great deals I’m also interested in knocking out debt instead of creating more debt. DILEMMAS.

I need to start holiday knitting. Bulky yarn and bigger needles are on my shopping list today.

Also tonight, a play!

Plans for the Weekend

Someone at work referred to this as a “holiday weekend” and I confess I did a double take. What-ever. Americans and their long-weekending. Mine will be long but not in costume.

Saturday, I have a work meeting, followed by grocery shopping and writing, followed by an hour of yoga followed by an hour of pilates, followed possibly by a play. Or maybe by writing instead of a play.

Today…I don’t know what today will hold. Maybe I’ll talk dh into grocery shopping today instead of tomorrow so I can check it off my to-do list.

Also, I need to clean my apartment because I might have an overnight guest 11/4 into 11/5.

Busy busy.

Week 1 of JM09 finished. Woo.

This morning I did my 2 x 10 minutes and decided to only take about a 1-minute break between them. The long 20-minute session is going to be a breeze next week. Right?

This Saturday, I’m signed up for an hour of yoga followed by an hour of pilates in the afternoon. Hopefully my MIL will join me. It’s free!

I’m also thinking about revising my NaNoWriMo plan. Very late in the game. I want to focus myself but I also want to end this year with some accomplishments, some finished projects I can shop in 2009. Start with a clean slate. Maybe spend a bit more time researching my historical before I launch into it. Either way, the idea of tying up my loose ends of 2008 and my 20s sounds really good. So I might figure out how to put some progress meters on two different projects up in my sidebar there, and work on finishing the vampire book and the fantasy book. Then January 1…Romance Divas Novel Writing Month might get me jump-started on the historical. Maybe.

I’m also, of course, worried somebody in November’s writing madness will beat me to the punch on the historical and I’ll have missed the boat. Paranoia!

My oatmeal is delicious

1/2 c Irish oatmeal

1 c water

–cook 3-5 mins

Dice 1 apple, microwave 1 minute to soften.

Mix 1/2 c pumpkin puree,

1/2 c almond milk,

plenty of cinnamon, allspice and nutmeg,

add to diced apples,

add fruit/veg mix to oatmeal,

heat through.

Sweeten and butter to taste. Serve.

Yum. It might snow tomorrow. Just a little.

And I’m going to be late for work.

Oh, I’m blogging today at Tales from the Crit. Go congratulate us on our accomplishments.

5 days til fat(ter) ass.

I’ve recently accepted that I can’t possibly write a novel, knit gifts for half a dozen people, and contain my ass spread all while working full-time. Something has to go, and I’m not so impoverished (this year) that I can’t gift everybody with old navy fleece gloves. So the knitting gifts has to go, except for requested pieces (ie socks for my aunt). If you come here to read about the knitting, forewarned I probably won’t talk about it much again til December.

In the meantime, it’ll be all writing and all fitness all the time. Woo!

Joined fatchicksrunning

Though I’ll be doing it in my living room due to some different issues like current lack of funds for running shoes to replace my two year old walking shoes, sports bra I bought for the boobs I had 40 lbs ago, and my fear of being spotted by a coworker or client as I jog around the (small) town in which I work and live.

Week 1 started yesterday. Woo!

This is my tentative progression.

WEEK 1

Saturday, Monday, Wednesday:

2 sessions 10 mins each/light setting (this in the weight loss program of the game)

(walking or other exercise Sunday and Tuesday)

WEEK 2

Saturday, Monday, Wednesday

1 session 20 mins light setting

(walking or other exercise Sunday and Tuesday)

WEEK 3

Saturday, Monday, Wednesday

2 sessions 15 mins light setting

(walking or other exercise Sunday and Tuesday)

WEEK 4

Saturday, Monday, Wednesday

1 session 30 mins light setting

(walking or other exercise Sunday and Tuesday)

WEEK 5

Saturday, Monday, Wednesday

2 sessions 20 mins light setting

(walking or other exercise Sunday and Tuesday)

WEEKS 6, 7 and 8 to be determined (I’ll probably move up to the moderate setting)

Ok, it’s Sunday, so walking day. Time to get myself out there so I can have dinner before midnight.

a friend’s new release: Black Opals

Crystal Jordan’s first Ellora’s Cave release! You can also find her books at your local bookstore (IN ICE, a story in Kensington Aphrodisia’s latest SEXY BEAST anthology, is just awesome) and at Samhain Publishing.

Lorna Malone is having a day from hell. She had a one night stand with her best friend, SWAT officer Tyrone Forrester, and had to sneak out before he woke up. Her wild night is making her late to a photo shoot for her biggest advertising agency client, Carraway Jewelers. She stops at a gas station and manages to lock her keys — and a small fortune in black opal and diamond necklaces — in her car.

Tyrone is furious when he finds Lorna left him after their amazing night together. He’s wanted her for years, but he got burned in his last relationship. His ex couldn’t handle his dangerous job, so now he doesn’t do serious, and he doesn’t play for keeps. But with Lorna, one taste is all it takes to convince him that he’s met his match — if he can help her see that her luscious curves make her desirable.

Jillian Michaels Fitness Ultimatum 2009

I have it. I’ve loaded it twice. I’m not sure if it’s me or the game.

The first time I fired it up, I was too excited to read the directions and shot my thighs, which are still sore three days later. Last night I tried again, but had limited room in which to move. Some of the motions needed more space than I had, and my response times were a little off (my character kept getting flattened during the punching bag dodge)…but the game’s response time is a little off, too. I swing left to simulate a kick in the punching bag dodge, and my character does nothing. So I end up swinging left several times. The paint grenade and boxing games are the same–the game’s not recognizing my motions.

I’ll try again but first impressions make me a sad panda.

Also, don’t like the wristwarmer I knitted last night. Nor do I have enough same-color yarn to make a mate. I’ll call it a trial run.