Sunday, May 27, 2007

R.I.P.

The beater bike that T-man so lovingly restored was stolen from in front of the house on Wednesday night. If you see anyone riding this bike around Toronto - the lime green brake cable will give it away - please steal it back and return it to me!

update!

I'm still a bad blogger... does it make a difference that I feel bad about it? I do really want to post more and share my thrilling and exciting life with y'all. I have yet to work out a good method to include computer time in my day. (Currently Facebook sucks up all my computer time. Evil, evil Facebook.)

I am looking at a very busy week ahead... today I am meeting J & A for brunch, then I have a rehearsal in the afternoon (for my dance recital!), and in the evening I'm going to Myth for Layali Arabesque.

Going out on a school night? Am I crazy??

Lucky me, I don't have to get up early on Monday because I am doing shortbread sampling at a retail location on Monday and Tuesday. The hours are 11 am-2 pm (lunch hour) and 5-9 pm. Even though the shifts are short, it will end up being a long day when I factor in set-up and clean-up time. I'm a little nervous about it... dealing with the public like this is not my favourite thing. It will be easy though - who doesn't want to try a free sample of a cute little delicious cookie? I just have to smile and look approachable.

Wednesday is a regular work day, and it's my one free day this week to run errands. I will probably just nap on the couch. Hopefully get some knitting done - my tank is SO not getting done this month.

On Thursday night, a couple of girls from dance class are coming over to practice for the recital. Not sure why I volunteered my house, since it's a disgusting mess - a little better now after vacuuming and sweeping. Maybe inviting them over was a way to force myself to do chores.

This coming weekend, the in-laws are in town and we're going up to bro-in-law's cottage. Hopefully I can finish work early on Friday and drive up in the afternoon, since I have to be back on Sunday afternoon for The Last Rehearsal Before The Recital. It's especially important that I attend since I'll be missing BOTH classes this week. Good thing the girls are coming over to practice!!!

Time to get this busy week started... I hope to post a knitting update today, but no promises! :)

Monday, May 21, 2007

japanese tap dance.

From Zatoichi, The Blind Swordsman. Tap dancing goodness! This looks like SO much fun.

Saturday, May 19, 2007

bad blogger.

This once-a-week posting thing is not good. I apologize to my loyal fans... er, fan. I am going to re-post part of an email I sent W. earlier this week, because it sums up my life these days:

Things are going well at the cafe, but I'm still soooo tired in the evenings. I hope it will get better soon! A few days ago, I was thinking "PHM still does physical stuff, like go to the climbing gym, I'm sure I'll get used to this" but the next day we were talking, and she told me that she hasn't been to the gym in months and she has no energy for physical activity outside of work! uh oh. That doesn't bode well for me. T-man is getting out on his bike more often (and on my old bike that he fixed up) and is excited to go for longer rides... but I look forward to lounging around on my time off. We'll have to find some balance.

I DO like the new job, and I enjoy biking to work (4 days this week, woo hoo). I even rode in the rain on Wednesday! That was not especially enjoyable, but I saw lots of other cyclists on the road so the "poor me" didn't last too long.

I will be re-starting my food log, for two reasons:
1. it keeps me posting on a regular basis
2. I've been eating like crap this week, and my body is mad at me. If I don't bring good snacks and lunch to work, I wait too long between meals and after I eat, my stomach doesn't feel great. Then I don't want to eat or make good food because I feel nauseous. So I don't make dinner and the next day, I don't have good snacks or lunch to bring to work. And with all my physical output, I need to pay attention to my input. (my output isn't extraordinary by any means, but I'm exhausted all the time, so for me, it's a lot)

Did I mention that the ride to and from work is getting easier? (there's some positive news for you!)

Sunday, May 06, 2007

riiiiiiiiip part deux.

Before:

I am having gauge issues with the ribs and lace tank. I almost got gauge with 5.5 mm needles, but once I started the sweater I realized the fabric was quite loose. So I swatched with 5.0 mm needles and the stitches look much better, but I have too few stitches per inch. Hmm. I did some calculations, and with the larger needles the waist would be 40.5 inches around...! Yowza! That's way too big. With the smaller needles, the waist is 34 inches. Much better, but it still seems rather large. I finally decided that I could accept the sweater turning out smaller than the pattern.

After:

Time to start over with the smaller needles. My goal is to finish the tank by the end of May, so I'd better get cracking! I am still working on the swatch for the rib portion, with 2.5 mm needles. It knits up nice and tight, which is good, but I'm not sure yet how it will compare to the pattern gauge. I refuse to measure it until the swatch is complete! Which would be tonight if I stopped blogging and started knitting...
geared up.

On Saturday, T-man and I went to Mountain Equipment Co-op to get some bike stuff. Now that I'm riding to work everyday, I need to get set up right! It's a 20-25 min. ride, a little longer on the way home since I take the waterfront trail. We took my old bike from my parents' house last year (I got it in high school, but hardly ever rode it) and finally got it set up to use as a beater bike - both of our bikes scream "steal me" so they're not good for running errands and leaving parked for any length of time. T-man took off the neon green curly handlebars and the neon green stickers, put on straight bars, a light and a bell. The bike is too big for me, and I don't like the crossbar, but it will do.

T-man also fixed up my baby - I have new riser bars, new grips, lifted seat, a new dinger and the light re-installed. He tried to take the stickers off but they're painted on. :(


Om bike
(the model is Omega, but I'm dropping the 'ega')

I got some new gloves and shorts at MEC...


Not especially exciting, but I still wanted to put them on as soon as I got home and dance around the house! Actually, I pretended to be riding around the living room, which is even more ridiculous!! (gotta love the padded crotch - not so stylish but so necessary)

Saturday, May 05, 2007

riiiiiiiiip.

Before:


After:

The crochet mini-sweater is no more. I ran out of yarn and it wasn't something that I would really wear anyway... so why keep a half-finished project around to taunt me?

Now, what to do with the leftovers? The cream-coloured Lamb's Pride cotton is nice and soft, but the tan yarn (also cotton) is rather stiff and better suited to a dish cloth or purse than clothing. Any suggestions?
I'm back!!!

Sorry, started the new job, been exhausted, but now I'm back and will update more regularly, I promise! I haven't even been reading my favourite blogs - I feel so out of touch! (but I still check Facebook daily... some addictions are stronger than others!)