Life is Good

I have always like the Life is Good products and it was so ironic because last night we had a general family discussion (read big fight) about getting new cell phones and all of us pretty much went to bed angry, but this morning I noticed that the coffee cup I reached for was my Life is Good Peace cup and when my dear husband finally got up, he had on his Life is Good Golf shirt, so all is well and Life is Good. (I still don't know about the cell phones.)

On the Weight Loss Front

I have lost 16 pounds since the second week in September. YEA!!! I think I may have finally found a program that works and that I can stick with. I love all the staff at the Methodist Weight Management Clinic and it has just been great. I hope I can keep it up.

One the Knitting Crochet Front

I have finished objects. First the shawl I did for my mother out of the hand died yarn we got when we were in Lancaster Co., PA:

This is just a simple shawl. I cast on 40 stitches using no. 15 circular needles and just kept adding a stitch at each end. It was great fun, but I thought I was never going to run out of yarn. I told my mother that I was sure the sheep were breeding and multiplying the yarn as I was knitting it.

The second is a circular shawl that I crocheted out of the yarn my dear husband bought me last Christmas. I love it. The patter is from Vogue Crochet to Go Shawls. I think I already have an Amazon link for this book. It has a ton of great wrap patterns that I can't wait to make.

And I save the best for last, next weekend I will be in knitting heaven. My dear husband gave me three knitting classes with Cat Bohrdi of New Pathways for Sock Knitters fame. I can't wait, I finally get to meet a knitting rock star. I got Cat's Lorna's Laces yarn which was recommended for the classes and I got some Malabrigo for the Mobius class and some Noro sock yarn for whatever else comes up. I still need to get a 47 inch cable circular for the Mobius class, but they had not arrived at my LYS yet.

That is all for today. Don't forget, leave comments.

Peace

Laura

I have now been on the Methodist Weight Management Steplite program for 5 weeks and I have lost 13 lbs. I can't remember the last time I lost over 10 lbs. or stayed with a program for 5 whole weeks. On this program you drink 2 of their shakes a day, and they are very good, and then you eat 600 extra calories. You can do whatever you want with the extra calories, but of course you should eat healthy. Once a week I go for weight in and counseling and they are very good classes. Tonight is the first time I have really cooked my extra meal and I have to say that I am going all out. Last week I wanted to be in Ithaca, NY at Moosewood Restaurant so bad that I could not stand it, so I thought if I can't go to Moosewood, I will bring Mossewood to Texas since I have several of their cookbooks. For those of you who might not be familiar with Moosewood, it is a cooperative owned, vegetarian establishment that has been in business for several decades. Their cookbooks are sold in any bookstore, I will add links to the one I am using tonight to Amazon, and they sell ready made items in upscale/ health food stores such as Whole Foods. Tonight I am making a Morocan Spinach Chickpea Orzo dish, a Roasted Garlic Dip and an Applesauce Cake. All of the recipes can be found in the Moosewood Lowfat Cookbook. I even put together a Vegetarian Lasagna for tomorrow. Unfortunately I also had to make a meatloaf for my son and husband. My mother is coming to join us for dinner. I will have to get back and let you know how good it is.

Peace,
Laura

Ok, the blog is starting over.

I am totally committed to losing weight. I have gotten financing to have lap-band surgery, but I am not going to have it as long as I am losing weight with Weight Watchers Online, www.weightwatchers.com . I am at the beginning of my forth week and I have lost every week, even the week and a half I was out of town. I just wrote down everything I ate, no matter what it was, and counted all of the points. We walked a lot touring and shopping, but I never did "workout." I am going to take this one day at a time.

I had the most amazing walking workout tonight. I found it as a podcast on itunes. It is Prevention Magazine's Interval Walking Workout. It is only 16 minutes, but I just played it twice. There is music so all you have to do is walk to the beat. It is called interval because you walk at a fast pace for 3 minutes and then you walk at a very fast pace for 1 minute and then you go back to the previous pace and you alternate until it is over. I was very worked out afterwards and I really had a good time doing it.

The next thing I am going to do is for the mental aspect of motivation. I am going to order a pair of yoga pants from http://www.tranquilit.com/ . I have wanted all of the line for so long and this is going to be my goal. When I get the pants I promise that I will take some very embarrassing pictures of how far they won't go around me, but one day I will get into them and everything else in the line.

Please leave me comments and encouragement, I will need it.

Peace,
Laura

On the Knit/Crochet Front I cast on the Imagine sweater and I swear I can never start anything in the round without getting it all into a big twisted mess. Well, I frogged it and started over with a knit cast on and have had no problems since. I also got the last hank of Aracunia Ranco Multi that I needed to complete my Circle/Swirl shawl and I hope to complete it this weekend, because I need it for a trip that I am going on next weekend. How do we get ourselves into these deadline messes. Aren't we doing fiber art for fun? Fun should have no deadlines.

On the Weight Loss/Getting Healthy Front Monday I visited a nutritionist and I really like her. The main thing I am working on this week is portions and slowing down when I eat. Both are hard, but slowing down for me is the hardest. Everyone in my family eats fast and I have to really concentrate to slow down. I am still considering having the lap band, but I am not there yet.

Go do something just for the heck of it.

Peace,
Laura

On the Knit/Crochet Front I know that in my last post I said that I have too many works in progress (WIPs), but I have cast on yet something else. I am going to knit Imagine from the most recent Knitty.com.

You know how I like anything hippie. I am knitting this in Cascade Cotton Rich DK in a very light green colorway. I ordered my yarn from WEBS at www.yarn.com . They are currently having a great 35th anniversary sale, so you ought to go and check it out. This should be an easy knit as it is all in stockinette. I am knitting it in the round until the underarms and then I am going to finish up the front and back, seam at the shoulders and the pick up the stitches for the sleeves and knit them down. This is not the instructions that are written for the pattern, it is written in pieces, but I wanted to eliminate some of the seaming. I will let you know how it goes.

Peace,

Laura

Well good morning and a long time no talk. I don't know why I have been away so long, but I have got a lot to catch you up on.

On the Weight Loss Front I rejoined Curves today and had a great workout. I quit about a year ago because I had no time to go. I don't know why I think I have time now, but I guess I am just going to rearrange my priorities. I have got to make big changes and this is the first. I am meeting with a nutritionist on Tuesday, at the advice of my new doctor who I love. I am not sure what the nutritionist is going to tell me. I am sure that I could pass with flying colors what ever kind of board test they have to take to practice, but I just don't do what I know. Maybe that is what she will get me to do is do it. If I don't get my act together I am going to have to have Gastric surgery and I do not want that. Send good vibes so that I can make things start happening.

Weight Loss Find Chick Filet's Char grilled chicken and fruit salad. This salad has grilled chicken on lettuce, a little cheese, grapes, apples, mandarin oranges, strawberries, carrots, and red cabbage. It is so colorful and very tasty. If you have access, try one this week and let me know what you think.

On the Fiber Arts Front I have so many things on the hooks and needles right now that I don't even know where to start. My main push is a Modern Baby Blanket from the first Mason/Dixon book (it can also be found free here http://images.amazon.com/media/i3d/01/log_cabin.pdf )and the Spiral Shawl from Vogue's On the Go Crochet Shawl book. (I will include them in the Amazon picks on the right side of the blog.) I am doing the MBB in Knit Picks Swish DK in the following four colors:

Swish is a superwash merino and can be found at http://www.knitpicks.com/. If you have never ordered from Knit Picks you don't know what you are missing. They make the best knitting needles ever. They are wood and called Harmony and are both beautiful and very, very nice to knit with. I am making the Shawl out of Aracunia Ranco Multi in a blue, gray, brown, copper, cream colorway that my dear husband gave me for Christmas. He even went to my LYS and picked it out and purchased it all by himself. Of course earlier, when he was with me one time, I pointed to a wall and said that I would love pretty much any and everything on it. So he knew where the good stuff was.

I am sure that I have tons more to share, but I don't want the post to be too long. Please leave comments and let me know what you are up to.

Peace,

Laura

Battlestar Galactica

Finally

The Bush Countdown Clock has been removed, that means that the country can finally move forward and heal. I hope it does not take more than 8 years to undo what has been done in the previous 8. I am home sick, everyone in our department has had whatever this is, but I am watching the parade. I love Michelle Obama's outfit and I can't wait to see what she has on tonight. This is truly a historic day.

On the Weight Loss Front Since the first of December, I have been on the Jenny Craig Weight Loss program, but not faithfully and as of today I have lost 8.2 lbs. I have also not been able to exercise because I have a foot problem, but that is getting better. In the past 2 weeks, I have attended seminars for Weight Loss Surgery and a Medical Fasting Plan. I don't know if I can ever wrap my head around having the WLS, but I know now that I will do that instead of the Fast. The Medical Fast will cost almost the same as WLS and it just sounds horrible. Hopefully I will continue to lose on Jenny. All of the food tastes great and, since I already carry my lunch to work, it is not all that hard to do. I think, now that I have reviewed all of the other options, I am more committed and will hopefully continue to see steady losses.

On the Crochet and Knit Front I have more on my needles and hooks then I have places to store or time to write about. I have had a major after Christmas, lets start everything that looks remotely interesting, mindset. It has been fun, but now I am having a reality check and know that I have some items that I have to complete because they are gifts that are to be given soon. I will get focused.

On the Book Reading Front I got a Kindle for Christmas. Everyone needs one. It is great. You can download books no matter where you are. I downloaded the Bible in the car on the way to church. I waited for the Kindle to be out for an entire year before I decided I wanted one. I was not sure I would really like a book reader, but it is great. Hopefully Saturday I will be getting back to the Saturday Morning Book Review. Check out the Kindle Link to the right and get one for yourself or the book lover in your life. Remember Valentines Day will be here before we know it.

Leave comments and let me know how your year is going so far and talk to you soon.

Peace,
Laura