Category Archives: Training

So, where was I? Oh, yeah!

Posted on September 20, 2008 by Terri | Comments Off

Thank you for your emails this past week. I’m sorry I turned off comments, but I just didn’t want to have a bunch of comments that made me feel like everyone felt sorry for me. I don’t feel sorry for myself that I’ve made this decision – in fact, I’ve had a great stressfree week, knowing what I had waiting for me the upcoming weekend.

This is the first Saturday in a long time that I have absolutely no obligations. The ONLY thing I have to do this weekend is go grocery shopping. That leaves lot a ton of room for catching up on my DVR’d stuff, stitching 😉 and maybe a load of laundry or two. I do plan to ride this weekend though.

Kahuna has been fighting off ‘pneumonia’ since the weekend before last. He finally went to the doctor and had his lungs xrayed this past Thursday. Thankfully they are clear. He got pneumonia (for the first time) in bootcamp 100 years ago and didn’t have it again until about 1999, when he got it twice in a 3 month span and has had it (what feels like) every other year since then. It scares me and I get all hovery and naggy about going to the doctor. So he’s hanging out in the garage doing some tweaking to his tri-bike instead of surfing like he really would rather be doing trying not to cough up a lung.

I watched the first episode of Fringe bright and early this morning and thought it good enough to keep watching it. In the past I seemed to miss out on a lot of early showings because we go to bed so early and everything is on at 10:00 p.m. here. That’s changed a bit since we finally broke down and got a DVR. I have a couple of West Wing DVDs waiting for me to stitch to today, and this afternoon will find me in front of the TV watching the LSU/Auburn game. Need I say . . . Geaux Tigers?

So, where was I?

Training – I finally bit the dust and rode on heavy traffic roads this week. The first attempt I swear there were a couple of times I actually closed my eyes and prayed that I wouldn’t get run over. There are a LOT of road-ragers living here that hate cyclists. I survived and will do it again this week – at a further distance. Kahuna goes with me and that helps me feel safe. At least if I get run over, I’ll have a witness 😉

Work – going okay. The paralegal who went out on extended sick leave 2 weeks after I started returned about 4 weeks ago to work 4 hours a day. It’s definitely taken a lot of work load off me and I’m starting to get a tiny bit into what I was hired for…personal injury litigation. I’ll miss the criminal work, though.

Reading – I’ll be updating my Books tab (up top) some time this afternoon. I have several things to add. I even read the Twighlight saga twice over the past month. I’m looking forward to the movie release in December. Have I said lately how much I love my Kindle? Right now I have some books by James Grippando waiting. I like his books that feature the character criminal defense attorney Jack Swyteck. The first book in the series is The Pardon.

Stitching – working on French Alphabet Sampler this weekend. Before and after photos will be posted soon-ish. I’m pondering what to take with me to Hawaii next month. Probably Hannah Beebe since I’m embarrassingly behind (read = not even started) in the stitch-a-long I started and am thinking of also taking Mimi’s Tape Measure kit. I’ve also pulled out 3 things to have Jill Rensel frame and will make a final decision on that by the end of the weekend.

Stash – I added to my collection this week too. I’ve just now started collecting the Drawn Thread Chartpacks for Sampler of Stitches and received ABC and DEF. I also got Homespun Elegance Delivering Needlewares and Home is Where You Hang Your Needleswork; and Katidid Designs Come Gather (the colors match my dining room).

Puppies – they *trapped* a gopher this morning. It was on the other side of the fence and was a very brave critter. Every time it popped its head out of the ground Harley would spaz and bark like there was a grizzly bear over there. Bandit supervised the whole time. Kahuna said it even kept poking its head out of the ground at him when he was getting the trap ready to push into the tunnel. It was rather a large one as our gophers go and it’s now in the trash bin waiting on the Monday morning garbage truck. It was hard work and the puppies are now recouperating in the sunbeams coming through the windows.

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Posted in FAS, LSU, Puppies, Reading, Stash, Stitching, Training, Work

What is your joy?

Posted on September 15, 2008 by Terri | Comments Off

I have been going through a lot of personal stuff lately and really didn’t want to blog about it in case doing so became influential over what decisions needed to be made. Very little of it has been *bad* so to speak, just *stuff* that needed dealing with and decisions needing to be made. Most of it has been drudge, like cleaning out closets and dressers and giving stuff away, decluttering (still) my office and other areas of my house, financial decisions, etc.

My *litmus test* was whether or not the thing I needed to make a decision over gave me joy. It made some of the decisions very easy to make when I allowed only that aspect of it to rule. So, what is my joy?

First and foremost Kahuna. I don’t think I would be able to breathe if something were to happen to him.

The puppies. They always know when I need a snuggle – and even when I don’t need one they are still always there to love on.

Son. Not so much joy in that department lately. He’s trying to put a lot of guilt on his parents right now and we’re not buying it, but it’s still been difficult for me to deal with.

Reading. I’ve been doing so much reading since I bought my Kindle. I absolutely love it and wag it with me everywhere! Usually the most reading I do though is during my lunch break at work and then 10-15 minutes here and there.

Riding my bike. New joy! I don’t get to ride it as often and I’d like but I can see me continuing to do so for a very long time.

Swimming. A born-again-joy. I loved swimming in high school and am so glad that I’m back to it. Again, I don’t do it as often as I’d like and am trying to change that.

Stitching. Not any joy here at all. And herein lies my major problem.

I cannot live my life without the joy that stitching brings. It is the most calming factor in my life and I have solved many a problem while stitching. I have sacrificed this major joy for the running-biking-swimming thing and now the joy of those things is slipping away. So finally this weekend I decided that after October’s race, I probably won’t do another triathlon (I cannot say ‘never’).

The running is okay by myself because I don’t have to focus on anything around me…just run. Biking I have to pay attention or get run over by someone who either doesn’t know, or refuses to believe, that cyclists have the same road laws as motorists. Swimming I have to pay attention or I breathe at the wrong time and then there’s that whole drowning thing. Biking and Swimming are not something I enjoy doing by myself because of the social and safety aspects of both. There’s no one for me to train with here and I find that I don’t enjoy it. No joy.

So I’m going back to being a volunteer at Kahuna’s races and will become a dedicated triathlete widow (I’m even going to buy the T-shirt that proclaims this!) and all-around jockstrapper. I’ll ride and swim as often as I’m able and I’ll get back to stitching! It was amazing how relieved I felt when I finally made *that* particular decision.

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Posted in Life, Races, Stitching, Training

Are you enjoying the Olympics?

Posted on August 19, 2008 by Terri | Comments Off

I thoroughly enjoy watching the swimming, triathlons, track and field, etc., but the gymnastics this year has been full of drama and surprise. If you enjoy gymnastics, you may enjoy these:

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oBPjhB9d3jc]

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tu-YAMiS5wA]

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EO_BnsrWMnI]

As a postscript. Thank you for your comments, and private emails, over my clothing dilemma. I especially want to thank Glenna for your link to junonia.com. I have looked at that site a hundred times, but they didn’t carry ‘true’ triathlon-wear. It looks like they’ve changed some, which gives me more options. One note about their triathlon shorts. They are NOT padded, so they’re really just compression shorts. I did receive some shorts from the site I posted about and they fit wonderfully. I ordered 2 different sizes and am pleased to say that I have to return the larger of the two and am going to exchange them for a smaller size. Still working on a top, but I think I have that figured out. In any event, can you hear the sigh of relief?

I went out on a very short (1 mile) bike ride with Kahuna this evening. He’s giving me pointers, which I really need. The main one is that I need to start riding every single day between now and the race — which by the way is exactly 2 months from today! Eek! I’m still wobbly, and he’s worried I’m going to piss off the more experienced racers. I don’t want to do that but a little part of me is thinking that this race *is* a beginner’s type race, so the more experienced racers should probably expect for we novice folks to inconvenience them somewhat…but again, I don’t want to do that.

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Posted in Training

The little things that have been bugging me

Posted on August 11, 2008 by Terri | Comments Off

Warning – this blog is going to end in a rant 👿

I’m on my mini-vacation and right now I think I’m going to need a mini-vacation to recuperate. I had a ton of plans for the first 4 days and no plans at all for the last 2. The first 4 days (Thurs – Sun) included a Thursday night at Phantom of the Opera as a late birthday present from Kahuna, a Friday evening wedding/reception for a beautiful person, Kahuna’s Saturday sprint at Camp Pendleton (where he took 1st in his age group for the military division), tri-club network meeting that same evening, and movie and jazz concert Sunday afternoon/night. We had talked about going to the race track for Monday but the two of us are pooped from being gone every single evening and most all of the day Saturday and Sunday.

You notice there’s no mention of any training in there for me, right? All my plans went out the window. I thought I would be home more, but nope. However, today I took Silver out for a ride with the new-to-her fat-bottom girl seat and it was tons better. I’m definitely going to need some butter, but using the tri-shorts I was able to find in *Athena* size will be okay. I have been terribly worried that I was going to fail my first attempt at a triathlon because of that bike seat. I didn’t really admit how scared I was until I got on it this morning (and adjusted it about 3 times) and actually was able to take a quick ride around my neighborhood in less than 5 minutes.

The next thing I need to work on is what top to wear. I have found a sleeveless plus-size top, that zips up the front, but it has a collar so I’ve decided to order it and take it to a tailor to have the collar removed. I think doing that, plus wearing the tri-shorts I found at Aero Tech Designs, will allow me to not have to stress about what I’m wearing during the swim inside the wetsuit (which is another whole ball of worry).

I’d like to give a shout-out “thank you” to another triathlete for posting in her blog about a place to rent a wetsuit – but I can’t. (I’ll be calling them in a week or two to discuss what I’m looking for). So, why can’t I? Her blog was changed while I was on hiatus to ‘invite only’ and I could no longer read her posts. It seems some people just are so unkind to *fat* people and the comments she received caused her to make her blog by invite only and eventually completely delete it. It saddens me because she was an interesting read and I learned things from her even though she’s about 20 years younger than me.

Hello, just because we’re fat doesn’t mean we don’t want to have fun too. And that’s the whole reason I wanted to attempt a triathlon…being on the sidelines watching all shapes and sizes of men and women have fun…I wanted to have that fun too. I always had the impression that triathletes had to be super fit because of the *endurance* aspect behind the race, until I went to my first race with Kahuna. I was so in awe of the large people out there and every single person was having a blast! I have never seen so many supportive people either!

As an aside – because of Kahuna’s time, we hung out for the awards ceremony. We were diagonal from the finish line so I was watching the latecomers while we waited for the ceremony to begin and then waiting on Kahuna’s name to be called. Anyway those individuals who were finishing last, weren’t finishing alone. The volunteers were 90% Marines. Those Marines were practically surrounding those finishers and running in with them. It was so fun to watch. You could see the runners’ step it up a bit having that help and encouragement, but the one that brought pride to my heart, and tears to my eyes, was the very last runner to finish. A woman who was probably in the 39 and under group. Not only did she not have to finish alone but almost every one of the Marines who marked the path to the finish line fell in behind her, started running in formation, and started singing cadence all the way to the finish line. She had the biggest grin on her face, and I was jealous. She was DFL and I wanted to be her! So many people stopped what they were doing and turned toward that finish line and started cheering and clapping for her.

Back to some of the little things that are upsetting me lately:

In addition to the slow training I have to do in order to not hurt myself (more than I already have), I have a harder time of it because of the clothing situation. I know it’s mostly my own fault I’m the size I am but that doesn’t mean I shouldn’t be able to participate because of a clothing issue. In fact, one of my largest aggravations in the clothing area are the organizations, such as Danskin, that have their own triathlons, but don’t carry plus size triathlon gear, even though they carry plus sizes in their other active wear. Grrrrr.

And to cap it off:

Saturday, someone told me it wouldn’t count if I had to walk the run portion of the triathlon I’m signed up for. A woman who was in that conversation said it did, but it still hurt to hear those words come from someone I thought would support me 100% in my efforts. And no, I’m not planning on walking it, but that part of the conversation came after I discussed my fears about the bike portion because of the pain the old seat was causing. I said something like, I know I can swim the swim, and I know if I have to I can walk the run portion, but the bike scares me…then the comment about it not counting. Definitely put a damper on my enthusiasm for the event and try as I can here it is 2 days later and I still can’t get it out of my head. It also makes me wonder that even if I do complete that triathlon will I feel like I belong because of my size…never mind that I should belong because of my accomplishment.

Head demons suck.

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Posted in Races, Training, Weight

Still 'gutting' it out

Posted on July 23, 2008 by Terri | Comments Off

Kahuna has a plane load of Marines coming back from Iraq tonight (Woohoo!!) so we decided to switch our movie night to last night (we saw Wall-e). Because it wasn’t planned, we headed out for something ‘light’ for supper. I ended up getting a chicken burrito, and even tho I asked for no beans, they substituted pintos for black beans. There weren’t very many on there because I wasn’t really sure I was tasting them, but this morning, I knew for a fact that they were. Beans K.I.L.L. me and my stomach was cramping so bad this morning that it woke me up. I’m so sensitive to them that I’m surprised I wasn’t hurting about a half hour after I ate them. It’s now 3 hours after my shuffle around the neighborhood and I’m still in pain. It made me so much slower because all I could focus on was my stomach and not my stride. I am seriously praying that it goes away before swimming tonight.

Kahuna lowered the nose of my seat last night so we’ll see how that works out tomorrow. I know just a smidge can help considerably. Of course I’ll try out the other bajillion saddles we have in the garage before spending the money on a new one, but I’m looking at the Koobi tri saddle if what we have doesn’t work.

Even though I haven’t raced my first triathlon, I’m already planning next year’s races. I want to do the super sprint in May that I originally was supposed to do this year, but didn’t get to because of my PF (which is doing 90% better thankyouverymuch!).

I also want to do a sprint early in the season before it gets too warm here (I was amazed at how hot it was at 8 a.m. a couple of weeks ago at Kahuna’s race, and could not imagine running on that concrete in that type of heat for an hour).

Lastly, I am planning on doing the Subaru super sprint again next October, just so I can see how much I’ve improved my time.

However, Darla’s comment below has made me go ‘hmmmmm’ and now I’m thinking about a relay before a full race by myself. It would give me a chance to do a full open ocean swim without having to worry about the biking and running portion before attempting to do it all on my own.

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Posted in Movies, Training

Gutting it out

Posted on July 22, 2008 by Terri | Comments Off

Isn’t that a lovely subject line! 😆

I did better in the pool last night that I ever had. I borrowed Kahuna’s ‘finger’ lap counter and tried to go 25 yards further than I have in the past. I figured I’d have to get back to the other end anyway, so I forced myself to finish and I managed to go 50 yards further and swam it in a shorter amount of time. I’m still slow by pro standards, but my swimming is strictly arms only, except the breathing stroke and I’m doing better without the pull buoy than with. Major accomplishment, for me. I was starving and worn out when I got home.

The time in the saddle (T.I.T.S.) is getting better too. My sitbones (butt) have accepted the saddle. The lady parts have not. I am going to tilt my seat for the next ride to see if that helps. If it doesn’t I’ll be on the hunt for a split horn saddle. I gutted it out for about a minute and a half more than last time and my goal is to just always go longer than the time before. I know that minute and a half doesn’t sound like much, but it’s the mileage that I’m most concerned with.

I need to be able to swim .375 kilometers, bike 6.2 miles, and run 1.58 miles. So far the only thing I ‘can’t’ do yet is the 6.2 miles on the bike, but I’m working up to it, a mile at a time. Babysteps, right?

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Posted in Training

Oh my, I neglected my blog again

Posted on July 20, 2008 by Terri | Comments Off

I don’t know how this has happened, and I’m sad about it. I love blogging but for some reason I’ve stopped. I need blogging more than it needs me because this is my diary. I love going back and reading old posts and seeing where I was a month, a year, 2 years ago. Of course if I were to see where I was a month ago, I’d find myself missing. Before I try to catch up I’ll respond a bit to the comments on my last post:

Gas is still high here, like everywhere else. I did see it get to $4.80 but fortunately I never had to pay that price. By the time I had to fill again it had dropped back to $4.70 something. Right now it’s hovering around $4.60. I could say I’m glad to see that I’m not the only one suffering with the gas prices, but I love my stitching blogging friends too much to wish that on them. Gas prices suck the big one for everyone right now. Kahuna is talking quite a bit about trading in his BMW M3 on a car that gets better gas mileage. He loves that car, so I know it’s something he’s given a lot of thought to if he’s really serious. He hasn’t gotten to the test-drive stage yet and I keep reminding him that the next new car is mine. I’m thinking me and my purse would look good driving around with a car that bears this emblem.

I’m still not convinced it’s time for me to return to school. The Marine Corps has just about approved for members to transfer their education benefits to family members if they’re not going to use them. I’m sort of holding out to see if that’s going to happen. Of course, now that they’re throwing actual dollar amounts around Kahuna is thinking of retiring and going back to school to get the monthly allowance being offered to students. I could smack him since for him it’s about having more money to live off of while he surfs. For me, it’s about furthering my education (okay, being able to make more money to buy purses and shoes) but honestly I don’t want to quit my job right now to go to school full time, which is probably what I would have to do. The curriculum is 3 years of full-time study or 4 years of evening study and I just don’t have the mental energy to put myself through full time school and full time work again.

As to me making an excellent attorney, that’s a frightening thing (oh, and yes, J.D. is the degree of juris doctor). I still don’t know if I have the self-confidence to stand before 13 people and convince them not to throw a client into jail for the rest of his/her life for whatever they’ve been accused of doing. I do know there are areas where that would not be an issue, but remember….I like the criminals. Of course, I also like personal injury and if I were to go that route, it would probably be products liability, instead of slip and fall/auto accident injuries.

I do want to do something though, so I’m thinking of taking spanish lessons. Far cry from what’s discussed above, but it is learning.

So to the present.

I’m in full-on training mode for October’s super-sprint. Last week Kahuna and I started our ‘every day swimming’ schedule, knowing that we actually wouldn’t get to swim every day. It’s a mindset for me though and as far as I know there’s no reason to miss a night this week. I’m trying for 5 days a week in the water. Every morning finds me dragging my pooped out behind out of bed to either run or ride before work. I’m trying to decrease my run time each effort, and increase the amount of time I’m on the bike. My butt still doesn’t like that seat; however, I’ve learned that if I just stay on it long enough the blood circulation will finally be cut off and I’ll go numb. 😆 I’m back religiously on my WW plan and that and the training is paying off. I lost another 1.6 pounds this week. I bought Oahu Revisited for my upcoming trip to Hawaii (the afternoon after the tri 🙂 ) and have been fantasizing about laying on the beach reading romance novels, while drinking something with an umbrella in it!

I stopped eating beef and drinking alcohol on my birthday (June 30). So far I’ve had beef once and no alcohol. I’m tempted quite frequently by both, but I’d like to see if I can just do without either as much as possible until the end of the year…or at least the triathlon considering that comment about about the umbrella drinks! 😆

We finished one of our trials and are waiting on the sentencing portion – another trial was continued until next month – and we took on the sentencing portion for a new client, which happens tomorrow. I’ve been on-call every night for Federal jury duty, which lasts a month. It’s rather aggravating since I can’t make any plans. I have some routine medical stuff I need to get done and I’m having to put it off since I can’t make an appointment I don’t know I’ll get to keep.

Last week Kahuna competed in another triathlon and I volunteered to work body marking and transition. It was a fun race, but man was it hot! This weekend has us at an outdoor jazz concert down on the beach and the weather is dreary right now and I’m hoping it’ll stay overcast so we don’t have to deal with the sun. Next week Kahuna is competing in another triathlon, but I’m just going to watch. This is the same triathlon I went to last year (my first) that got my interest peaked. Kahuna was suffering from a leg injury and didn’t do all that great, but this year he’s in excellent shape and I cannot wait to see how much time he shaves off of last year’s results.

Wednesday night is movie night for us (the only day of the week for no swimming) and we’re catching up on new releases. We normally see a movie about 2 weeks after it’s released so we don’t have to deal with the crowds. That last few movies we’ve seen are Love Guru, Wanted, and Get Smart and I think this week will have us seeing either Wall-e or Journey to the Center of the Earth. I’m looking forward to Dark Knight, The Mummy, Hancock and X-Files.

And you notice there’s no mention of stitching? I’m hoping to remedy that today. Maybe. If the groceries get bought and the laundry gets started…which means I need to get off this computer.

I can’t promise to blog more frequently, but I hope it’s not 6 weeks until my next post.

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Posted in Life, Training, Weight

I love weekends like the one I just had!

Posted on April 20, 2008 by Terri | Comments Off

Nothing special happened, it just was.

Kahuna was supposed to compete in a duathlon on Saturday morning but changed his mind on Friday (His quads are still tight from playing soccer and rocking his 3 mile PFT [19:46]) so this left all day Saturday to do what ever. And guess what we did!!!! Nothing! Woohoo! Okay I did some laundry and he finished building my bike, but we never left the house and it was fantastic.

Today I grocery shopped then we went to get my car detailed, made a return at WalMart (and proceeded to spend $50 on very important “stuff), made an Ulta stop (that place is dangerous to my checking account) and to the bike shop where we bought handlebar tape and I found the perfect helmet to match my bike and tri-“uniform.” I’m going to be one color coordinated “triathlete” when I come across that finish line. I even have matching sunglasses that Kahuna bought me this past Christmas, in pink of course! 😆

I have a chicken baking in the oven and am waiting on Kahuna to finishing putting on the tape so I can show you my new toy. I have no idea if I’m going to name it. Guess I’ll see how it makes me feel riding. One thing you will notice is that I’m not using clip in pedals just yet. I need to get used to riding it and then I’ll switch over.

Tada!

Up close and personal – but not so focused.

Tomorrow is my first day at work by myself. “A” is having surgery tomorrow morning and will be out from between 6 weeks and 6 months depending on what the surgeons find when they “get in there.” She has been very patient training me and I’m nervous about being on my own, but also looking forward to it. I have been feeling very satisfied in my work since I started. It’s so nice to be putting to use what I’ve learned. I have no time for the computer, barely time to go to the bathroom, and so far I’m loving every minute of it. Here’s hoping it continues that way.

And every time the camera comes out, so do the hams 🙂

Did somebody say cookie?

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Posted in Puppies, Training, Work

Woohoo it's Monday!

Posted on February 18, 2008 by Terri | Comments Off

and I don’t have to be to work today 😆

I managed to make a dent in the “to-do” list I posted on Friday.

The swim went great for me. I managed to push myself 100 yards further than the last trip, plus for the 1st time I managed to swim 100 yards twice without stopping. The second time I had to roll over and backstroke a couple of times, but I did NOT stop. This is a great breakthrough for me as it shows me that I have not been pushing myself hard enough. Kahuna is convinced I need to be swimming everyday, and I’m going to ramp it up a little this week. I don’t know if that means going more yards per trip, or more trips. I’ll be playing it by ear.

Saturday I got my hair cut….short. She even shaved my neck, which I’ve never had done in my life!! I’m not sure I like the cut. It’s really the same as I’ve had, just shorter in the back. My hair grows in a circle around my head and with it being this short, it kind of wants to do the fuzzy chicken thing unless I mess with it a lot. I’m not the sort of person who wants to mess with her hair much. I got it cut short for less messing with. I’ll see if it “grows” on me. I love the way it looks, it’s just a little more work than what I’m wanting. I also went to a new stylist, who was 50% cheaper, fast, great – and pregnant. Why is it I feel like I find someone I like, they’re never around for long? I didn’t ask her if she was going to return after having the baby (her first). I’ll go to her again in about 6 weeks and I’ll talk to her then. I’ve also found myself a new manicurist, who’s also 50% cheaper than my last one. I wasn’t going to continue having my nails done but the swimming just destroys them, and while I don’t keep them very long, I would like for them to look nice. Both ladies work at the salon on the base which is 5 minutes from where I live. Amazing the great resources you can find when you take the time to look. But you realize that I’m moving right? 😆

During all this beautifying Kahuna was surfing, and then he had a cycle/run brick which left me at the house working in my office. I think it was 3 before we left the house to do our errands. I went to Joann’s and got the fibers picked out for Hannah Beeby. I am really happy with my choice and am looking forward to the stitchalong starting the end of March. I’ve decided on DMC 839, 3863, and 224 on Lambswool Linen.

I haven’t decided on 28 or 32 count, but am leaning toward the 28. I just need to see if what I have is large enough. I also picked up a pair of embroidery scissors, a thread holder for my sewing machine and a couple of other little things bringing my total to less than what I would have paid for the scissors full price. Yay for sales and coupons. I neglected to get a new bulb for my OTT though and I have a 40% coupon for that, that I really need to take advantage of, since the lighting by my sewing machine is next to none.

I went through my pantry Saturday and made a menu and grocery list around what was in there. I’m determined to get us back to eating better and not break the bank doing it. I spent less than my budgeted $75 on groceries Sunday, and only forgot 1 thing. Woohoo!

The rest of the day was spent doing a whole lot of not much. We really enjoyed Daytona 500. I would have been happier if Dale Earnhart or Casey Kahne won, but it was great that Tony Stewart or Jeff Gordan did not! 🙂 The rest of my time on Sunday was spent on and off in my office. I made great headway with my desk and got my keyboard and printer moved and almost everything put where I want it OFF the desk. I have some photos to be framed and moved around and I’ll be tickled with my desk setup.

Stitching? Well except for playing floss toss for Hannah, I didn’t have anything to do with stitching on Saturday or Sunday. That will be different today though. I am running out to town to see about the above mentioned picture frames, and to hit up Costco for some bread (but will still be way under budget). The rest of my day will be spent doing laundry, stitching, and catching up with the stuff I have recorded on the DVR. I only have 1 small thing to stitch on the RR that I want to mail out tomorrow and then I’ll be working on Ann Holewll. I’m going to have to piece together some qsnap components for it, but am planning on using some of the money I get from selling my stash to buy another set of rods for my Handi Clamps.

I would like to get the fabric cut for Houses of Hawk Run Hollow today, but if it doesn’t happen I’m not going to worry about it and just put it on next week’s “to-do” list. My poor French Alphabet Sampler is probably going to be ignored today as well since I really need to get caught up with Ann Holewll.

I wanted to stay off the computer over the weekend and except for cleaning out some old emails and emptying my camera chip, I did pretty good! I managed to sell several of the Shepherd’s Bush items I posted so was on the computer getting that squared away. I didn’t do any posting of The Silver Lining stuff, but that’s because the box they’re in is sort of out of reach right now as I work my way across my office cleaning and sorting and selling. I do need to get them up though.

I didn’t get anything done on ebookdrop.com either. I could probably do that from work, since I’ll have to haul them in for mailing anyway. I know the prices won’t be much, but they’ll be more than just sitting in my office taking up space and collecting dust. I’m almost to the point of throwing things away so I don’t have to move it or clean around it so if I can get some money for it, that’s better. I also want to look into cashduck.com for a bit more income. I think I’d rather go this route for now and not increase my hours at work until we decide where we’re going to live. I may increase them by 15 minutes a day though in a week or so. We’ll see.

I’ve decided to split whatever extra I have coming in equally 3 ways:

Training – Kahuna is building me a bike from components he’s selling on one of his bikes, and I want to contribute. This money will stay in paypal, since he buys a lot of components from places that accept paypal.

Stitching – I love my hobby. I have tons of money invested in it. I have lots of beautiful things to work with without buying more so I’m trying to buy only what I need to stitch from my stash. The first item will be the 14” bars for the Handi Clamps I mentioned above. I’ll probably also use this $ for finishing. I have a savings account I don’t use that I’ll keep these funds in.

Debt – While it won’t be much, the last 1/3 of my extra income will go toward getting my debt paid off.

I thought I would feel deprived while I worked on getting myself out of my debt fix; however, I have taken the advice of several blogs I read and made sure to have some “wants” budgeted for (like my manicures). It’s working and I almost feel like I’m playing a game seeing what I can accomplish with what I have. I’m also trying to get out of the impulse spending that I practiced in the past. I’m doing pretty good! I also have my wonderful hobby that entertains me which helps a lot.

I didn’t mean for this to get so long, but I guess I had a lot to get down after all my thinking this weekend. I guess I’d better say “The End” to this novel and get on with my day.

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Posted in 4Sale, Ann Holewll, FAS, Finances, Hannah Beeby, HOHRH, NASCAR, Training

Gearing up for a long weekend

Posted on February 15, 2008 by Terri | Comments Off

Friday sure got here fast and I’m ready to go home and start my long weekend. Kahuna just left from bringing me Taco Bell. Not exactly waistline friendly, but I have $1 and no time to go to the bank. There’s a Taco Bell on the base by where he works so since he got off early today he was kind enough to drive by and drop off some food. Actually, he hung around long enough to eat with me before he left.

And just to backtrack to yesterday for a minute, my Kahuna Marine surprised me! He brought me the most beautiful bouquet of creamy orange roses for Valentine’s Day. I have to stick my nose in them everytime I walk by. They are so gorgeous.

We had unexpected storms yesterday that left roads closed due to snow and mudslides. Today’s temperatures are low but the sky is a clear blue. I hope it stays that way all weekend because Kahuna has a lot of cycling and running to do. It’s just 6 weeks to his half-ironman. I think he’s getting excited. I know I am, and I’m just volunteering!

So what’s up with me for the weekend?

I’m going to do my best to stay off the computer this weekend, except to post more stuff 4Sale. I was rather surprised how fast I got the SB stuff together last night, but that’s the way it should be when you’re organized. I think my The Silver Lining items are organized already, so hopefully that’ll be painfree.
I’m going to try to get rid of some books on ebookdrop.com this weekend. If you have experience with it, leave a comment, please.
I want to get a lot of stitching done this weekend.
- Get RR piece in the mail.
- Get my lessons done on Ann Holewll.
- Get the fibers needed for Hannah Beeby.
I’ve decided to quit putting of starting HOHRH and will pull my fabric and get it measured out to start the first block. Who knows, it may even get some stitches.
French Alphabet Sampler desperately needs attention!

We’re headed to the pool tonight after supper and then maybe settle in with the puppies and watch a movie. Have a great weekend all. Oh, and don’t forget…..Gentlemen, start your engines! Woohoo!