A Letter

This morning I stumbled over my running shoes and workout clothes sitting in the middle of my floor. I don't remember putting them there. How did they get out of my closet?? Then I noticed a piece of paper sitting on top the exercise gear. Much to my dismay, the following words were scrawled across the page:


Dear Self,

You know, for a pretty smart cookie, you sure can act dumb sometimes! When are you going to learn that you just can't eat and act like "normal" people and feel "normal?" How many times do we have to go through this cycle of feeling totally crummy before you are going to get it? I know it doesn't seem fair, but face it, Honey, life isn't fair. So what if other folks seem to be able to eat junk and get along fine? I can't do it. I am special and you have to take better care of me! I'm the only body you've got.

Remember last year when you were eating clean and working out hard? Remember how great we felt? Ahhh, good times! Yeah, yeah. You hurt your back and that was a royal pain, but that's no excuse for totally throwing in the towel. Besides,that was months and months ago. What's your excuse now? Time to move on from that. I know I may sound mean, but I think it is time you had a little tough love and faced the facts:

--Notice how our clothes seem to be getting tight on me? Yeah, I put on weight when you don't make good food choices.

--And what's with the lack of exercise? Look kiddo' if you don't take me out and work me hard a bit, we are going to end up with a horrible middle-age spread.

--But let me be frank, gaining a little weight and our vanity is the least of our problems! Let's talk about allergy symptoms, muscle knots, sore joints, lethargy, muddled thinking, yadda, yadda, yadda...you know I am not functioning optimally. You know you can't get everything done when I feel like I have the flu. Don't make me use the "fibromyalgia" word!

Oh, please! Stop whining and feeling sorry for yourself! This is the way it has to be. You know the drill, but I'm gonna' tell you anyway:

--Get back on your mostly-vegan, mostly-raw eating regimen. It works for you. It isn't the easiest or most convenient, but put on your big girl panties and do what you know is right for you.

--Drink more water.

--Cut back on the coffee.

--Get plenty of sleep.

--Get up and get moving more. I don't care what you do, but since you haven't been behaving like the brightest bulb in the box, I will list here some ideas. These won't cost you a penny because you already have all that is necessary to do them:

Couch-to-5K
30 Day Shred
Tae Bo
Tabatas
The New Rules of Lifting for Women
Jumping rope
Walking
Biking

Or any combination of the above. As the famous ad campaign says, "Just do it!"

I'm sorry if it seems like I'm being hard on you, but these things needed to be said. We're a team and we've gotta' work together. With a little will-power and self-control on your part, and some hard work and sweat on my part, we could be so much better. Whaddaya' say?

Signed with much love and a swift kick in your ever expanding pants,

Your Body

Knitting Lace

(Just to clarify, above photo is not my work. More info below)

My blog has been quiet lately, but my life has NOT! In the last few weeks two college boys have come home and my oldest daughter has graduated from high school. That means I have successfully home schooled 4 of my kids from the very beginning all the way through. Only 3 more to go! My hubby says that if you added together the 12 grades I taught each of those 4 kids plus the 10, 8 and 3 grades of the three not yet graduated that would be a total of 69 years worth of school I have taught (and we won't even bother counting kindergarten)! I'm exhausted just thinking about it!

I have had something new and a bit challenging on my needles lately: knitted lace! The photo above is from the Rose Leaf Trellis Shawl/Wrap pattern by Janet Barton. It is available for FREE on Ravelry.

I have knit lace stitch patterns before, for example, the simple feather and fan pattern that is on the border of the Multnomah shawl. (Pattern available for free at Hello Knitty.)



I recently knit this for my mum and sent it to her for Mother's Day.



However, I have never actually knit with lace weight yarn. The fiber I am using is called "Merino Lace" by Skacel. How strangely different it feels! The yarn is thin, like thread, but it does not have the body or weight or drape of thread. It is light and airy and it takes some getting used to.

Here is a picture of what it looks like on the needles:



Not too attractive, is it? But that is part of the magic of knitted lace. It looks very unimpressive on the needles, but when you block it, your hard work shows up and you have a thing of beauty.

Here is my work stretched and pinned out a bit to give an idea of what it will look like when it has been finished and blocked:



Sorry to say, finishing will probably be a while from now...I am pretty slow at knitting lace!

So, every now and then I whip up another dish cloth just so I can feel I've finished something. :-)



Oh, and by the way. Should you want to join me on my lace knitting adventure, there is a knit-along group on Ravelry working through the Rose Leaf Trellis Shawl/Wrap pattern together. Feel free to join us!