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! :)

japanese tap dance.

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

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!)

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)

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!)

found!

I have located the 5 mm circular needles but the 3 mm circs are still on the lam. I am definitely going to need the smaller size for the tank.... must keep searching...

so tired.

I'm into Week 2 of my wake up early training plan, and it's not going so well... I'm so tired!!! Yesterday I got up at 6:30 AM, not 6 AM like my original plan, but I still was not feeling very well so I didn't want to push myself. I slept terribly that night, and was a zombie all day yesterday.

Today I was out of bed at 6:15 AM, and although I slept pretty well, it's been a slow start. More coffee!! Actually, I'm going to make a smoothie with Greens+, hopefully that will give me a boost of energy.

new project.

I picked up yarn yesterday for my next knitting project: the Ribs and Lace Tank from Interweave Knits Spring 2007. Originally I was shopping for yarn for the wrap sweater on the cover, but I didn't love the colour in person, and the yarn was very close to my price limit ($10/ball) so I didn't want to make a hasty decision. Now that I've had more time to think about it, the wrap sweater in black would be very wearable... perhaps I'll go back next weekend.


Back to the tank - Romni doesn't carry the yarn specified in the pattern, so the staff helped me pick out an alternative (yes, she was helpful! you can't always count on that at Romni). Actually, she showed me a couple of options, and I decided on a slightly thicker yarn since I knit so loosely. Lucky me, it was cheap!! $3.49/ball. I also picked up some 5.5 mm circs, although I think I may already have some that size... My 3.0 mm circs are hiding somewhere, and I wanted to make a gauge swatch for the rib part of the tank (I get gauge with 3.5 mm but I'd like a tighter knit). This morning I noticed that my 5.0 mm circs are also missing, so I think they ran off together! I recall using them both not too long ago... they are probably tucked into a bag of yarn somewhere...

socks done!

OK, so the socks have been finished for a few weeks, I was just really slow to block them. And there is still one end that needs to be woven in.

Here they are, pre-blocking...

Oxo wanted to be part of the photo. At least he didn't lay down right on top of the socks! And the lovely socks, post-blocking and basking in the sun...

I guess they do look better after being blocked... Sock #1 (left) still looks a bit lumpy and the stitches are a bit uneven. Alas, blocking cannot cure all my knitting ills! Once they're on my feet, no one will notice anyway, not even me.

I am also blocking the sweater I knit over the winter, which has been piled up in the corner waiting to be finished for about 2 months now. It was such a big deal to me to knit a sweater, but once it was finished... meh... who cares. I still need to get buttons, but it can be worn button-less till then.

It's all pinned up like a science experiment. Not sure how to flatten the underarms... hope they look OK once I have it on. Mango told me that when she washed and blocked her sweater, she laid it out on the bed and then put towels on top of it because of her cats. Good advice! I put a towel on top of this one and Oxo found it to be a lovely bed, if a little damp. Hurumph.

spring cleaning.

The weather was glorious yesterday (today is going to be glorious too! maybe even more so), so T-man and I took the opportunity to clean up the deck and get things organized for our container garden. Whenever I would look out the deck door, I would be saddened by the mess out there - we did not clean up very well in the fall, and there was miscellaneous junk around: broken pots, a tarp, tiles from the roof...

Before:

After:

Ah, much better! There is a sumac tree in the backyard, and those trees are prolific! At least 20 sumac keys in every plant pot and piles of them on the deck. We swept up leaves and dirt, wiped down chairs, tossed broken pots and put things away. I wouldn't say that we're ready for planting yet, but it's a start. Today I want to get some manure and new soil to supplement our old soil (I was doing some research on Friday) and we need to pick up a few new containers too.

Rachel Brice and Mardi Love.


Watch More Bebo Tv Uploaded by belly-eva.bebo.com

let's review.

So how is my "wake up early" training going? I know you've been wondering about that heh heh. Here's a day-by-day review:

Monday: despite going to be late and sleeping terribly, I got up at 7 am and was out of the house on time... about 8:04 am. I had a dream that I had a bellydance performance with A., at my parents' old house, but I thought it was somewhere else and got in a cab to go there.... then I realized I had to go back to the house but there was all this traffic and I was going to be late or miss my first show! Oh no! It's so funny that the dream combined influences from the previous night (Layali) and the next day (I'm always worried about sleeping in and being late when I have to get up early for something).

Tuesday: not so good. I got up at 7:30 am and left the house around 9 am. It was too easy to press the snooze button - I need to set the alarm for an earlier time.

Wednesday: Again I slept terribly... no strange dreams, but I had a cold, and cramps, and I woke up around 4 am feeling really hot and uncomfortable. But I managed to get up on time (maybe a bit after 7 am) and out the door so that I could see Stephen Lewis speak at the conference.

Thursday: I didn't push myself to get too early, because I thought I would still be sick enough to stay home from work... but I slept well and felt better! Up around 7 am, and I was ready to leave around 8:30 am. (Checked Facebook instead heh.)

Friday: Obviously I woke up early, because here I am posting at 8:30 am! Last night I set the alarm a little bit earlier, so that I can press snooze twice before 7 am. The motivation is not there to be ready to leave by 8 am... there's no reason for me to be ready early so I end up taking my time getting ready. I'm OK with that. Being up and out of bed on time is the important thing.

It helps that the weather is turning spring-like... the sun streams in when I open the blinds and it's so quiet on the street. Am I turning into a morning person?!

Next week will be a challenge... up by 6 am. Yikes.

photos.

I brought my camera to work today, with the idea that I would take some pictures of my work space, or of the view from my window, some memories of the time I've spent at this job. But I didn't. However, it was a beautiful sunny day today, so I made sure my camera was easily accessible on the walk home - not buried in the bottom of my backpack - and I took some random shots of the city...

The skyline

Family of cranes at the CityPlace condo development

Roots growing on concrete near Skydome. I like that the top of the CN tower is just peeking out at the top.

layali.

On Sunday night, the Harbourfront CC bellydance alumni met up at Layali Arabesque at Myth. The dancer, Emese, was excellent (of course!) and it was really great to get together with the girls. I was hoping that the dancer would use a shamadan for her folklore piece (the dancers do two sets: one cabaret and one folklore). A. said it was unlikely... but guess what?


Wheeeeee out came the shamadan!


Emese pulled Yasmina out on the floor to dance, since it was her birthday. There was cake too! Yasmina has some serious long blonde hair, and it was super straight (flat ironed, obviously). I was trying to decide if she has extensions...

Sorry about the poor quality pics - I didn't want to be obnoxious and use the flash, so my photos are blurry and "artistic".

pasta-licious.


I'm a bit behind in posting... I'll back date some of them so keep reading down the page!

Tonight we made a pretty simple dinner of whole wheat penne rigate with tomato sauce and courgette medallions (sliced zucchini... but doesn't "courgette medallions" sound better?). T-man bought some olive bread this afternoon, so we made garlic bread with cheese to go with the pasta. I need lots of garlic - I have a cold. :(

cookies, but not cookies.


On Sunday, I whipped up a batch of Raw Oatmeal Cacao Nib Kookies. Well... I was missing a number of ingredients so I made a few adjustments. I'm not sure it even counts as being the same recipe! Obviously I didn't read through it very well before going grocery shopping - I bought dates specifically for these (first time buying dates ever) but my eyes stopped at the first ingredient!

These are raw cookies, i.e. no baking. I didn't have cacao nibs, so I used chocolate chips instead, which changes the essence of the cookie, but I'm cool with that. They are very similar to the energy balls that Wendy shared with me. They don't seem like cookies to me, more like a healthy snack, and I've been enjoying them for breakfast or as a snack during the conference, although they get a little messy away from the refrigerator.

Conference? What conference? Why, the IAPA Health & Safety 2007 Conference. Here's Craig Kielburger, one of the keynote speakers:


I volunteered to attend because Stephen Lewis is also speaking at the conference. (oh yeah, and work paid for it) But I am enjoying the H&S seminars! I find the workplace wellness-type topics interesting, but the two sessions I attended on ergonomics were duds.

The swag bag is hilarious - safety glasses and ear plugs. Sweet!

new routine.

I am a bit worried about being able to get up early enough for my new job with PHM... hopefully she's not reading this LOL! I have to be there at 7 AM, 6:45 actually, and I am not an early person. Plus it will take me close to an hour to travel - an hour for sure by TTC, probably less if I bike. (I haven't done a test run yet, but my estimate is 45 min.)

Of course I'm ABLE to get up early, but it's going to be hard. So I decided that I will gradually get up earlier over the next couple of weeks (it's training):

Week 1: I have a conference Mon-Wed which starts at 8:30, so my goal is to be out of bed by 7 am and ready to leave the house by 8 am.

Week 2: Up by 6 am and ready to leave by 7 am. Ugh, just writing that is painful.

I'm not going to actually leave the house at that time - what to do? It has to be quiet because T-man will be sleeping, but interesting enough to prevent me from taking a nap on the couch. I thought about doing yoga or something, but it's better for me to get showered and dressed first thing. Maybe I could start dinner? Knitting and reading are too sedentary, I might just close my eyes "for a second"! T-man suggested that I use my computer - I can always waste time online. If I'm really ambitious, I could go to work early and work out at the gym. If I'm really really ambitious, I could travel to the cafe and still have time to get to work.

Week 3: New job starts! I HAVE to be up and at'em on time. Out of the house by 6 am. Up by 5-5:30 am.

I will reduce my morning prep time by showering the night before and wearing less makeup. (I can't go without makeup, that's downright mean. To my coworkers. ha.) My hair will be tied back all day, so no need to blow dry or style it. Don't worry, I WILL brush it! It will be very important to pick out clothes and pack my bag the night before - it's amazing how that eats up time.

I've been officially approved for the LOA from work, and some of my co-workers know... I shouldn't be so nervous about it but I feel like they'll all hate me 1. for escaping (ha ha) 2. for being smart enough to request the leave (thanks TH!) and, most importantly, 3. because they will have to pick up my workload. My job is not hard, and I haven't been very busy lately, but no one seems to like my duties. Oh well, it's not my job to manage work flow! Especially now!! And they probably won't hate me, I'm just being sensitive.

When do I start getting excited??