It’s been a really long time since I’ve updated. After my back went out I got into a real funk and just feeling down. I also noticed my energy level was just dropping. This past week I realized I’ve been drinking coffee every single day since I started my new[er] job. For me caffeine will work for a while but then it will actually make me more and more exhausted. This week I’m taking a break from coffee. I’m having green tea and herbal tea only. The other benefit to cutting back on coffee is, I like my coffee very light and with half and half. Needless to say this is a good elimination from my daily routine.

I’ve decided to use iCal to track my health because I have it available to me at work, at home and on my iPhone. It’s very simple, I don’t have to pre-enter information and create databases. I’ve tried Traineo, but it didn’t track food as well as I’d like. I’ve tried Gyminee, and it’s ok but a pain to enter new foods in. I’ve also tried FitDay which also you need to pre-enter foods. If I’m spending my time entering foods, it’s a waste of my time.

In iCal I’m tracking my food for the day, exercise, weight and any other health related items in a separate calendar called “Health”.

I’ll post an update at the end of the week as to how this is working.

As a newer knitter, I didn’t really get this whole concept of stash. As a person on a limited budget and lots of interests, I also decided that a stash is something I’ll try in the future.

When I got new that the local yarn store was closing, which I’m really bummed about, I realized if I was ever to create a stash this would be as good of a time as any. I shopped frugally still, I went in looking at each yarn with the idea of how I would use it. If I couldn’t come up with a good need, or if it needed 8 balls to make it, I passed. Below is a slideshow of all the goodness in my new stash.

Created with Admarket’s flickrSLiDR.

Rainbows, originally uploaded by criana.

A nice view to start my ride home.

Harlot @ the Calvin, originally uploaded by upstateknitter.

RantingKnitter, Knitorious and myself went to see the Yarn Harlot at WEBS in Northampton, Massachusetts back on April 27th.

I’ve been following Stephanie Pearl-McPhee’s blog, the Yarn Harlot for about 3 years now. Not only is she a gifted knitter, but very funny. She’s written a few books. I’ve read Knitting Rules, Cast-Off and am working on The Yarn Harlot.

The reason for her visit to WEBS was a book signing for her newest book, “Things I’ve Learned From Knitting”. We got to WEBS shortly around 10:30. Did some shopping, bought our stuff and then got in line for the book signing. The time went by quite quickly. The ladies from Knitting Liberally were in front of us. We got “stuck” in the warehouse section of WEBS. I think if I were truly addicted to knitting (not yet) I’d have gone crazy with wanting to buy everything around me.

We did finally make it up to Stephanie just before 1:00pm and got our books signed. I shared a quick story with her regarding my last name. She laughed and said she had a very similar one.

Off we went to the Calvin Theater to see her speak. Meanwhile I had been working on my socks, which I hadn’t touched in quite a while, on the car ride up. I then worked on them some more at the theater. I got a lot done!

Stephanie spoke for roughly an hour. I haven’t laughed that hard in a while. She shared some great research studies about the brain, different frequency waves and how knitting puts the person into a state of almost meditation.

Afterwards, we got lunch at FitzWilly’s where I introduced Kelly to the most decadent of treats, Garlic Bread in a pool of melted Gorgonzola and Asiago cheeses.

There was still some shopping to be done at WEBS and then we made the journey back to Connecticut.

To all the Mom’s out there. Happy Mother’s Day!

While going through photos I found this picture of my Dad at the Bronx Zoo, July 1949. He’s 13 years old here It’s so interesting to see my Dad’s childhood.

I could watch this over and over and over again, and still laugh each time. This is our cats.

hello there!, originally uploaded by Marlis1.

This is a great photo from Marlis, posted over on Flickr. It brought a big smile to my face and a laugh. Animals are great, they have so much character.

That’s so the look of, “who goes there”.