Table of Contents:
1. What is Wrong with the Neighbor Kids? - we get egged
2. Walking/Weight - I start exercising
3. Writing - I have ideas for new books
4. Knitting - sock update
5. Sock Knitters Anonymous
We were egged yesterday. I am not kidding! This has got to be the most annoying activity of the kids in our neighborhood. When I was a kid (now I sound like my mom), we Tee Pee'd (toilet papered) houses of kids we liked. Here, when kids are mad at you for what ever reason, they egg your house and/or car. It started for us when my daughter, Samantha, made cheerleader at the end of her sophomore year. For the next 2 years, we were egged regularly. But, Samantha graduated from high school a year ago. We haven't been egged since last summer. WHY NOW?? They egged her car, my car, my husband's car, and the garage door. My guess is that they either never got out of their car, throwing from the window. Anyway, it was a huge mess.
2. Walking/Weight
I used to be in amazing shape. About 5 years ago, although I was overweight (about what I weight now in fact) , I worked out every day. I walked or did the elliptical for at least 1 hour, then lifted weights for another 30 - 45 minutes. I was walking in our neighborhood also, 3 - 4 mile at a time. Then I decided that it was getting out of control, and it was like an addiction (also, I did not lose any weight during this, in fact I gained 20 pounds). I was working with a trainer and he kept saying that once I got some muscle mass (which I did), the pounds would fall off. BUT THEY DIDN'T. So I started a diet and completely stopped training. And I lost weight, but got horribly horribly out of shape. I gradually gained back all the weight I lost.
Here I am now, overweight and horribly out of shape. My back aches. My legs ache. I have trouble sleeping at night because my hips and lower back hurt. I have lost 30 pounds this year, and am back to where I was 4 years ago, when I was STARTING to lose weight. Wow, but at least I am on the way down again. I have to start walking again or I am a bit afraid that I will lose the ability. I walk like an old woman. I am 51! When I was in Pittsburgh and Chicago, I had to walk and do a lot of standing (we waited in line for 1 1/2 hour for the Sears Tower). And I thought I was going to die. When I got back, I told myself that I had started walking, and I was going to keep it up.
On Tuesday I walked 1/2 mile around the block. This is much harder than it sounds as we live on a steep hill. It is almost harder for me to walk down the hill because it hurts my knees and hips, than the cardio horror of walking up the hill. I don't even try to walk briskly. I am happy that I am putting one foot in front of the other. Today, I decided to go walk the track at the high school, but it was closed when I got there, so I drove to the grocery store, then walked around the parking lot and did a lap of our little mall, it was about 1 mile. It took me forever (about 45 min), and I definitely did not get any cardio exercise, but I did it. My lower back was aching and my legs, too when I was in the grocery store. I have to keep this up. I am hoping that eventually, the aching will stop.
3. Writing
I have my 3 books listed on this website, and also some of the books that have my poems as part of their collections. I have not done any real writing for quite a while. LOL! Really, I haven't written since I stopped walking. I used to walk for about 1 - 1/2 hour each day. On the walk I would think about story ideas, or the picture book or poem I was working on, and when I got home from the walk, write for about 1 - 2 hours. I was amazingly prolific during that time. I didn't sell any of the stuff I wrote, but I was really writing. I have ideas for 2 new picture books (I didn't come up with them while writing, but while knitting). I am determined to work on them. In many ways, I would love to just come home from walking and knit. But I need to start writing again, and now that I have these ideas, I am inspired.
4. Knitting
Now to the topic that actually fits this blog. I have finished Zach's Red Hot Socks.
These are not blocked, but they are "ends woven in." I don't think that I will bother to block them. I will just wrap them up and mail them out. I want them to get to Zach in time for his birthday.
I need to take apart Allie's Rain Socks. There are too many mistakes (they are too long, the heels are wrong, they are knit a bit loosely). I want to remake them.
I got some new needles in the mail while I was in Pittsburgh/Chicago. I originally knitted the Rain socks on size 0, but I think I will go down 1 or 2 sizes, now that I have some 00 and 000. I don't like to have to knit super tightly, but I want the knitting to be tight. They are Addis Lace Turbos, like the 0 I used when the beautiful wooden needles broke. They can be a bit slippery, but it's not bad at all, and they shouldn't break. That is key.
5. Sock Knitters Anonymous
I joined the Sock Knitters Anonymous group in Ravelry.com. They have a year long challenge that starts on September 1. I am so excited! It will be horribly challenging (hence the name) for me, but I am going to really try to do it. I like socks because they are such short projects. But I still have to finish up James's Aran Afghan, and make an afghan for Luke! I can do this all. But I want to stretch my knitting skills, and also, get to know more knitters. I need to be more active on Ravelry. I hope this will force me out of my shy shell.
C. A. Losi
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