Time for an update

Knitting

I've been working on Yet Another Doll from a pattern in one of Vogue's "On the Go" series of books. I've made many of these dolls, and they all seem to be well-received. This one is going to a little miss who was born three months ago … it's not like I didn't know she was on the way. But it'll be a nice little surprise well after the initial welcome-baby gifts have been opened.

I'm using an easy-on-mama machine-washable cotton-wool blend. I hope to finish the project tonight and deliver it this weekend.

Running
National Running Day was Wednesday, and I meant to post then but the days just kind of get away from me when I'm not NaBloPoMo-ing. It's been a nice break, actually, this posting-when-I-feel-like-it instead of posting daily.

I missed a couple days of walking/running when I was in Nashville last weekend, so in order to make the 1500-mile goal for the year I'm back to needing 4.5 miles every day the rest of the year. Just to make things easier, I'm trying to log 35 miles per week. Since I'm pretty sure I won't be able to add any miles Sunday – I have to be in Huntington for lunch, which is a three-hour trip, one way – I'm taking longer walks this week. I ran/walked Wednesday and yesterday and felt great! I didn't use my interval trainer, but instead just walked up the hills and ran down. Also ran most of the flat spots, of which there are very few on my road. I had some pretty decent splits – a couple of sub-12-minute miles both days.


Reaping

The only food I've been able to harvest so far – it is early, after all – has been one Egyptian onion and a few herbs. The cilantro and dill self-seeded over the winter, again, and I'm finding it everywhere and letting it grow. Last year I pulled the dill whenever I found it, thinking that would eliminate the surprises this spring, but clearly dill grows like Topsy.

I've added a row of Italian green beans and one of beets to the garden. The winter squashes have started coming up and the summer squashes are leafing out nicely. I had trouble with squash bugs last time I tried planting zucchini, so I'm going to start spraying Safer (an organic product) sooner rather than later.

Eating

I'm still eating a paleo/primal template and holding my own with my weight. The latest addition to my eating plan has been fresh juice, which is definitely not something the paleo crowd recommends, but oh well. It's still fresh food and we found a juicer at a great price. I've only used it a couple times so far, and the juices have been delicious and filling.

I'd love to be losing some weight, but so far maintaining is as good as it gets. Which, YAY! Staying the same weight for months on end might be boring but I haven't been able to do it for any length of time until now. Maybe adding some running intervals regularly and frequently will kickstart the losing process. As I've mentioned before, feeling good about the loss so far and looking/feeling good in smaller-sized clothes isn't much of an incentive to lose more. The swimsuit shopping expedition helped quite a bit, though. I felt almost as uncomfortable as I did during the Christmas season of 2012.

Whatever it takes. Apparently I respond more to pain than to pleasure. I'd love it if wearing smaller sizes would encourage me to work harder so I could wear even smaller sizes. I'd love it if wanting to reach a normal BMI was all I needed. But noooooo. It appears I need a negative – swimsuit shopping being the most recent – as an incentive.

There's not much more I can do with diet, which is why I've upped the intensity and distance of my daily outings. I still haven't made the rowing machine a habit, and I'll always have trouble disciplining myself to lift weights – even tiny little ones that don't take much time at all. Why IS that? I want Gingerzingi's enthusiasm about weight training.

Writing
I miss updating the blog daily, I really do. But I'm getting a little more stuff done than I did when I spent my mornings on my ass in front of a screen. And when it's really warm, I'll be out there walking and running and sweating, oh my, instead of wrangling the keyboard and spitting out sentences.

I've added handwritten letters to the writing discipline, so far about once a week to my younger granddaughter. She looks forward to receiving mail, and she promised to write back. It's been quite fun so far.

So you're all caught up now. I'm still here, still committed to knitting, running, reaping and eating, and still writing. Just not as frequently. Which is a probably a good thing for all of us!