So much to say so little time

Well here it is 4:30 and I finally have a minute to write on here. It's been a while :-)
CRAFTS
I haven't been crafting as religiously as I was before. But I am going to try and start up again. I am currently in the middle of looming myself a pair of slipper socks with some GORGEOUS yarn that I bought for myself on Newbury Street (I love that store)... I also have a good amount done on a gift for Cameron (when he is born). Other than that I haven't been doing very much... Jim did go to a fundraiser auctin and bought me a box full of yarns (all pretty cool I might add) and I have been trying to find time and excuses to use them.
EXCERCISE
I haven't been working out as much either lately THOUGH now that we have a working DirecTV system I am planning on taping Denise Austins daily workout. It takes 30 minutes and makes me happy. I am trying to fit some running and some biking into my days too... I am having a dilemma on what bike to buy. I know I need a new one. BUT it is so hard to choose. I keep thinking I want the Specialized Sirrus because it is a partial change and then I could upgrade parts to make it what I want as I continue to grow as a biker... *sigh* decisions decisions.
LIFE
Life has been amazingly good the last few days. I am happy where I am. I need a new job BUT that will come and I have a few ideas that I want to think through first. I don't want to jump into this without lots of thought... This time around I want a career and not just a job.
What do you define the difference between the two...

Word of the day
gerrymander
Pronunciation: /JER-ee-man-der/
v : to divide a voting or geographical area so as to give one political party a majority in one or more districts

Have a great day off to update the care page :-)

So much to say so little time

Well here it is 4:30 and I finally have a minute to write on here. It's been a while :-)
CRAFTS
I haven't been crafting as religiously as I was before. But I am going to try and start up again. I am currently in the middle of looming myself a pair of slipper socks with some GORGEOUS yarn that I bought for myself on Newbury Street (I love that store)... I also have a good amount done on a gift for Cameron (when he is born). Other than that I haven't been doing very much... Jim did go to a fundraiser auctin and bought me a box full of yarns (all pretty cool I might add) and I have been trying to find time and excuses to use them.
EXCERCISE
I haven't been working out as much either lately THOUGH now that we have a working DirecTV system I am planning on taping Denise Austins daily workout. It takes 30 minutes and makes me happy. I am trying to fit some running and some biking into my days too... I am having a dilemma on what bike to buy. I know I need a new one. BUT it is so hard to choose. I keep thinking I want the Specialized Sirrus because it is a partial change and then I could upgrade parts to make it what I want as I continue to grow as a biker... *sigh* decisions decisions.
LIFE
Life has been amazingly good the last few days. I am happy where I am. I need a new job BUT that will come and I have a few ideas that I want to think through first. I don't want to jump into this without lots of thought... This time around I want a career and not just a job.
What do you define the difference between the two...
Word of the day
gerrymander
Pronunciation: /JER-ee-man-der/
v : to divide a voting or geographical area so as to give one political party a majority in one or more districts

Have a great day off to update the care page :-)

Oooh oooh Ice Cream

Free ice cream September 12-17
http://www.boston.com/thescoop/getyours.html

Knitting's Bastard Child and my sanity

So anyone who reads this obviously knows me, and knows that I have been spending a lot of my days at hospitals and dealing with all the stuff with my mom. Spending a lot of time hanging out with a sleeping person doesn't make for a ton of fun... I needed something to entertain myself... Ahhhh my old friend crochet. Well that has kept me pleasantly busy and I have enjoyed it immensely. I have almost finished a blanket for a friend's baby, I started a twin size afghan for my mom and a scarf for mom too... I made a few trips to Newbury Street for dresses for Christy's wedding and while there I found a great little shop called newbury yarns. www.newburyyarns.com
It was so cute and more than a little overpriced but the ribbon yarn made me a very happy person.
Pictures coming - after a certain shower, don't want anyone to see things before they are supposed to!

There's got to be something interesting going on...

Morning,

I read my blog this morning and realized that there has not been a single thing of interest in quite some time. Certainly there has to be something interesting going on in my life. (said in the voice of Pooh) *think, think, think*

What I am focused on right now is:
Sunday is Christy's shower :-) We are having it at the Chateau in Andover... I think there will be about 30 - 40 people there a nice size if you ask my opinion.

It is very weird to me that
A) I am a bridesmaid and
B) that I have NO CLUE what is going on with the shower. I don't know the favors... I never even saw the invites...
C) And I didn't even get Christy a gift off of her registry. I got her a really cool platter that I figured she could use again after the wedding BUT during the wedding it is a guest book. It should fit the 175 people coming (I think). Corey likes kitchen stuff and I figured that way it wouldn't be a book that nobody ever looked at again. Have any of you who are married ever looked at your guest book again? We did the next day and then it went into the cellar. I have pictures of everybody who was there :-)

After that (and I will post a couple of pictures) I will be going on vacation Tuesday night and returning EARLY Saturday AM. We are going to Chinoteague
http://www.chincoteague.com/pony/ponies.html
This has been a vacation I have always wanted to take. And this is the year... It has ALWAYS been one of those "next year" vacations. I am excited to go I can NOT wait to see the ponies and the island. We will be there for a carnival (and I really REALLY love carnivals)
SO here is the schedule:
Tuesday night fly out of work RIGHT @ 5:00 (in my already packed car) and pick up Jim and maybe Mom and watch KR tell at Blue's. From there we are getting together with Robin to grab Katy and Abby and we are headed to VA... Here are the directions for anyone interested: http://tinyurl.com/o3n2h
We SHOULD arrive in VA around 6:30 - 7:00 and the ponies are scheduled to swim between 7 and 11 so hopefully we will get there in time.
We will watch the ponies swim across and head on over to the carnival for the rest of the crew to have a BBQ lunch and me to take a nappy (since chances are I will do most of the driving.)
Wednesday and Thursday we have no plans but to check out the island and the reserves on near-by Assateague.
Friday we are watching the ponies return to Assateague and will hang out just a little bit more (there is something that Abby wants to do for her mom and dad this day) and then heading home.

Then Saturday is the registration for that God forsaken tri and Sunday is the Tri.

Hugs to all

Can you believe that the weekend is over?

I can't! It seems like it hasn't even begun yet! Friday night we went to see Bill Burr (a comedian for those like me who have no clue who he is) and it was great to see Fred and Joyce. I haven't seen them in a long time :-)
Got home a little late and crashed. Saturday I got up and decided to make bread HOWEVER our AC had died the night before so that was brutal... I whipped out the trusty bread maker and plugged it in on the back porch. Quick and easy bread :-) I made a

"Simple oatmeal Bread"

3/4 cup plus 3 Tablespoons water
1 Tablespoon oil or butter **
1 tablespoon molasses
1 tablespoon brown sugar
3/4 of a cup quick oats **
2 1/2 cups white flour
2 teaspoons of yeast
**

Put all the ingredients in your bread maker in the order listed. Set it for a 1 pound cycle and go for a bike ride/run combo (or at least that is what I did) Come home and take bread out of machine bring in house and enjoy.

** =
I used olive oil
I didn't have quick oats but I did have a packet of instant maple and brown sugar oatmeal so I used this.
And lastly I added some wheat germ (about 3 tablespoons)

Sunday morning I made toast and jam for breakfast ~ I know this sounds like a lame breakfast but remember the no air conditioning? 2 slices per person was enough to fill Jim through to dinner. There were a variety of jams available for trying with the bread. Guava, Peach, 4 fruit, Grapefruit Ginger, Raspberry, Strawberry, and concord Grape... A loaf only made about 8 - 10 slices but I am told they were heavenly.

Well back to Saturday:
First I went for a short run (a little over 2 miles), then a bike ride (about 17 miles ~ I was a little tired). Then we went to Tricia's for a great BBQ and Jim and I had a fun time. I had a yummy fruit salad... Thank you Tricia for being such a lovely hostess. We left there after 9:00 and it was most definately my nappy time. It took about 50 minutes to get home (the 495 way is about 10 minutes shorter) I was asleep by 10:30 :-)

Then for Sunday I got up and made more bread :-) I like the fresh bread feeling. I got to read my favorite magazine (for me magazine is the name if you are interested) and just enjoy a quiet house (which is a rarity) and got ready for a longer bike and shorter run. I met up with Laura (after having to call her and tell her I couldn't remember HOW to get to the bike path) and we went for a nice ride. Then we met up with Kevin and went on a really up and down ride! Damn I am out of shape! After the ride Kevin and I went for a short run and headed back. Where I sat in a chair and did NOTHING, that was great :-)

Last night I got home and Cheryl called me over she had new yoga pants for me (I might have bicycle grease all over my other ones) and then I went home and crashed. On the floor of the hobby room. I was asleep by 9:00

Whew this weekend flew by...
And this morning (after a 4 mile run) I made french toast for my dad for his birthday (with the homemade bread) and tonight we are having a BBQ for him.
Happy Birthday Daddy-o

YAY

I have the picture from Tuesday so now I can tell you all about the day. I REALLY REALLY wanted the picture included. Kevin was telling at Blue's Tuesday night so Jim and I decided to head on in. Well first awesome thing of the evening. I, Joy, knew how to get us there with only one slight oopsy wrong way. Then I dropped Jim and his nephew Phillip off in front of the building and I went to park the car... What were we thinking having ME park in CAMBRIDGE? Heck I can't even park in the lot at work... BUT I found a parallel spot (and this is where I usually stop in the middle of the road nad hand the car over to Jim) And it was a SMALL spot but I figured that it was the best I was going to get. So I parked there... It took me 7 tries to get in but I did it. YAY! I got into Blue's just in time to hear my friend Laura tell a GREAT tale. I don't get to hear her tell near enough so it was a great treat. Then I heard a few other tellers with some good stories... Then a brief break (where I paced ~ I have INSANE amounts of nervous evergy lately), then Kevin came on and he told an incredible story about his mother... It was GREAT. It moved from before they were married (in the early 40s) through to just a few years ago. I loved it. I love stories that help you travel. And this one did that so YAY...
Then a group of us went for dinner. And had fun just hanging out....
It was great.
Here's my parking job! Yes I took a picture

A new favorite phrase

Okay so I am currently (and when I say currently I mean here at work in leiu of working) reading "slow fat triathlete" this book is great, it really makes me feel like I be a loser if I do (or don't do) the tri. So anyway I digress here is my new favorite phrase(from the book):
"Self-consciousness is the enemy of fun. It's the enemy of feeling comfortable. It's the enemy of achievement. It's your enemy. Decide right now to banish self-consciousness from your journey..."

One big old whining rambling post ~ not a great read

So yeah if you are looking for motivation or an interesting read I suggest you go to your next blog read.

Here are my insights of the last 3 days...
1- I am fat. I actually had TWO people in the last two days call me solid. One was a make-up artist friend of mine, the other was my neighbor. Yeah solid = fat... Answer to this I am on a diet. A HUGE DIET! If you see me eating something other than celery remind me I am fat!
2- I am out of shape. I biked on Saturday with my friend Kevin and we did 23.6 miles. Kevin had already biked 40 (+) miles in the morning and then met me and we did our ride. I = dead. Kevin = fine. Do I need to mention that Kevin had already biked 40 miles again? Then yesterday Kevin, Laura, and I went on a ride. Kevin again = fine, Laura = good other than her lungs were giving her shit and Jim apparently could not remember the ONE THING (his inhalor) I asked him to bring with him when he met us! Apparently the fact that he should never leave home without it means nothing to him. GRRRRRR. We did 36 miles yesterday. I have never before thought that I was going to die from exercise before this. I literally was thinking how nice it would be to lay on the grass on the side of the path and go to bed.
3- My husband was out last night when I got home and I couldn't fall asleep until he got home so I was cranky and miserable. And then all night he would just roll over and kiss me it was SOOOOO cute but I was tired and therefore today I am a sleepy cranky bitch.

And so that there is at least SOMETHING slightly cheery in my blog of complaints.
Friday night and Saturday Tyler and Alicia were right next door and Alicia said that I am her favorite person ever. Hey that is high praise from a 7 year old. AND she cleaned her room and gave all her old toys and clothes that don't fit her anymore to the poor people. She is so good about that! She hated to give her clothes and toys away until we told her that we would take them to shelters for poor people and now she asks if she can do a clear out after every season. AND she wants to buy them all new towels :-) I love this kid. AND Tyler (the little boy of my life) smiled at me. Honestly just caught my eye and smiled
LOVE IT!

hi ho hi ho less than 30 days to go...

Yup that is the truth. I have less than 30 days before my triathalon
I have been doing pretty well (in my humble opinion) on the bike and the run and am still working on the swim. It will get better, I will have more time to dedicate to swimming and all other activities because J+K are now married and it was a success and my job is done :-)
So other than to worry about the tri a little more I came on here with a purpose!
I made a yummy treat yesterday.
The carnival was in town and I love the carnival. It is all about smiles and fun times!!!! One of my favorite treats is fried dough.
However a quick look at this scared me out of that:

Calories 706
Calories from Fat 655 (92%)
Amount Per Serving %DV
Total Fat 72.8g 112%
Sat Fat 9.4g 47%
Polyun Fat 39.8g
Monoun. Fat 20.1g
Trans Fat 0.2g
Cholesterol 0mg 0%
Sodium 1mg 0%
Potassium 28mg 0%
Total Carbs 13.5g 4%
Fiber 0.5g 2%
Sugars 1.3g
Protein 1.8g 3%


SO since I wanted my yearly treat but not the fat pants that were going to have to go with it I figured I could make my own. I did a web search for "low fat fried dough" and I got a whole lot of nothing SO I improvised. I went to Market Basket and bought Pillsbury French Bread Loaf and unsalted butter. I melted 1/2 of a tablespoon of butter in a hot pan and cut the loaf into 6 pieces I stretched out the pieces to a good size (about half the size of a "normal fried dough") And I cooked them one side at a time. About halfway I did use the other 1/2 a tablespooon of butter. then I topped with cinnamon sugar and powdered sugar. SO good. Jim loved this recipe and is glad I found one I will make every now and again. Each one had about (and this is a close estimate):
Calories 142
Calories from fat 36
Total Fat 3.5
Saturated fat 1.5
Cholesterol 0
Sodium 308
Potassium 0
Total Carbs 22.5
Fiber 1
Sugars 3
Protein 4.2


So overall I think it was a much healthier choice and it tasted great! And if you are so inclined to worry about the prices of carnival fare (I'm not because it only happens once a year) it cost less than three dollars for 6 servings. So overall a good thing.

Hope you enjoy it as much we did! I will take pictures next time

A rather boring rambling post @----}---

So this blog is totally nothing!

Today I biked to work. Before that I ran 5 miles... I am feeling pretty good about myself... BUT I am also so insecure about this. I have so many friends and family who are proud of me. And I have a few friends and some of my family all coming to see me at the triathalon in July... What if I suck? What if I am the last one to finish? I am so afraid that I will disappoint all the people who have helped me (with technical stuff, or with emotional support) I am a wreck over this. I biked 13 miles in 1 hour flat, and 5 miles took me 45 minutes. These are not great times and I know it. But it is also all that I can do. I am not fast, but I enjoy myself... Now while I am being a scatter brain. Tonight J. and I will for date night go swimming... Not a lot of fun but needed. And while I think of all this I realize that I am not at the thinnest I have been in my life (that was my wedding day) but I think I might be in the best shape of my life. I can run 5 miles and then bike 13 and not be hurting! At 22 I would have died... I was 235 pounds and not proud of me at all! I hated life and just wanted to be invisible. NOW I am happy, have a GREAT husband, a FABULOUS family, TERRIFIC friends, an outlook that is mostly sane, animals who make me complete, a crafting obsession that calms me when it needs to, and a job that I don't hate... I can run and smile and be proud. And J. always thinks it's funny that I work hard at catching people's eyes and smile hard so that they can have a bit of the happiness I now have...
So why am I so worried about a silly triathalon? Certainly you all aren't going to hate me if I am not the best, right?

Okay moment of weakness over!

Funny little thought

So I was thinking today about things (and yes that is ALWAYS a bad thing)
I have a bike. I love my bike :-)
I have had this bike 4 or 5 years. My Mimi bought it for me. It was the last Christmas present she bought me (as a matter of fact) She and I chose it together. We went to Walmart (I hate Walmart) and looked at all the bikes I chose my favorite three and chose from them. It is a happy memory for me.

Well anyway now that I am doing a tri-athalon I need to upgrade my bike. But I love that it is the one my mimi gave me and I am going to keep using it. SO my friend Kevin (who knows EVERYTHING about bikes and is himself doing the 140 mile ride seen here http://www.harpoonbrewery.com/b2b/ )So we have gotten a new seat (gift from Jim), new bike shorts (a gift from Laura), new gloves (a gift from Laura after I fell), new pedals (gift from Kevin ~ and he installed them) new tires are on their way (bought them myself), and "bike shoes" (bought by me because Kevin said that my soft soft soft shoes aren't helping my riding and in fact are hurting it because the fact that they are soft means they are pulling my energy away from the pedals and making me work ineffectively)

And so back to the point of what I was thinking... Would Mimi be happy with all this? I have no idea, she may have thought I was costing everyone time and money by not buying a new bike... But more likely she will be proud when I finish my ride on HER BIKE. Yup her blue bike because everything is pretty with a little blue in it.

thanks for the ramble

The rest of the pictures

Why won't these open???
Had to add them one at a time!

Good morning I have lots to say and lots to show

So this Saturday I did my first 20+ mile bike ride and also had my first ever fall. I hurt my elbow and my knee BUT the good news is that I got A LOT of crafting done while I was keeping my knee raised above my heart (and Jim blees him was an angel who babied me all weekend - I might have milked it a bit) So I finished my second fingerless mitten. Did sharon's third belt (sorry it took me so lond Sharon). Then I did half of a really cool project that I have promised myself I will show Tricia before I show anyone else... So hopefully I will see my friend soon! Then I crocheted myself a really cute little cell phone holder out of recycled sari silk. And lastly I made match books for my friend Kurt's wedding (well it's Joey's wedding too but Kurt is the one who wanted the matches) Also there are a ton of pictures (a couple weeks old) of Tyler because really can you ever have too many pictures of Tyler. AND special for Marianne there is a picture of me making a blanket like she makes... She does a better job, but my sister was happy with it.Ohhh and I posted pictures of the purse thing and the matches. Whatcha think?

Last but certainly not least

Introducing 1000 cranes (in their new home)

My drive home yesterday

So yesterday I was diverted around all of Wilmington...
Look what I drove up next to :-)
SO COOL

Finally a post with pictures :-)

This is mom and dad BEFORE they renewed their vows
This is the other half of the church
My sister singing
And my favorite vow picture

What to do in the rain?

Make mittens on course (okay well fingerless mittens :-)
I will post tomorrow about Friday and Saturday but I just wanted to put this pic up while I was home and had it!
This doesn't do any color justice BUT what do you expect from a camera phone?

I love bread

Do you love bread?
I do... My sister does Atkins when she wants to lose weight... I can't imagine this!
I love food with carbs. I would much rather work out and lost what I a, eating than not eat what I love.

So lately I have been on a homemade bread kick.
It started a few weeks ago when I was looking at my counters and cabinets and realized I have a vast amount of "gadgets" I guess I like gadgets... SO I was taking inventory and seeing what I could craigslist.
Toaster - Keep
Stand Mixer - Keep
Hand Mixer - CL
Popcorn maker - Keep
Microwave - Keep
Quesadilla Maker - Keep
Sandwich Maker - Keep
George Foreman Grill - Keep
Coffee Maker - Keep
Ronco Food Dehydrator - CL
Bread Machine - CL... Wait no! I can't CL it I like home made bread (who cares if I have had it for EVER and never used it)
So I ran to the store and bought some yeast and flour and whipped up a loaf of bread. Well from there a monster was created... I have made:
Zucchini Bread
White Bread
Cake Bread
Hawaiian Bread
Chocolate cake
and now I am going to try:
Portuguese sweet bread (bread machine)

1 c Milk
2 Eggs
2 tb Butter
1/3 c Sugar
3/4 ts Salt
3 c Bread flour
2 1/2 ts Yeast

All ingredients should be at room temperature.

Should you prefer this even sweeter, increase sugar to: 1/2 Cup


I little bread makes for a happy home

So next time I am coming over... I'll bring bread :-)

Life is amazing

This weekend I was so busy and I didn't really get any chill time. BUT I did find pictures from my parents' wedding which was 50 years ago (this Friday) and I am making my mom an album... They have never had one. The photographer accidentally burned their negatives way back when and they only had a few photos. But I found some more from other family members and I photo edited some and now have enough for a little album. This is what I am giving them for their anniversary!
I hope they like it!
Here is one of my favorites!