Six years and 2,643 posts later

That's how long I've been blogging. It started here. I added a photo blog beginning in January 2008, but then decided to just post the photos here. It's much easier on me to only be managing one blog.

It's fun to go back and look at all those pictures, though.

My very first Project 365 photo: homemade apple pie.
That tells you everything you need to know about me
and my priorities, doesn't it? Heh.

My favorite post of all time, the one that comes to mind when I ask myself, "Self, what's your favorite post of all time?," is this one.

Is anyone reading this blog who started out reading Shrinking Knitter from the get-go? My first commenter  – January 30, 2006 – suggested I was being too hard on myself and encouraged me not to give up.

I guess you could say I took her advice. FINALLY.

The second comment came on the first post in February, from my friend Nancy, who I met online in 2005, and who died four years ago. She was my first internet girlfriend, and we were great friends. We had knitting, dieting and sobriety in common. You don't often find that soul-sister combination. Wow, do I ever miss her.

Anyway … thanks for reading all these posts for all these years, months, weeks and days. I love blogging. I've occasionally taken some time away from it, but I've always come back.

I'm getting ready to pack the car for a little weekend getaway. I'll be taking the daily photos, but may or may not post them while I'm gone. I definitely won't be writing a daily post. (Yay! You get a break!) Writing, for me, is a solitary exercise. Spending time with people I love and don't often see trumps writing a few paragraphs daily.

I'll be back next week, all full of myself, relaxed, refreshed and ready to rock. Thanks for reading.

No. Really. Thanks for reading.

Almost four years to the day …

I've been blogging for a long time. I started posting my drivel in 2006 at Ye Olde Shrinking Knitter. Life got a little complicated in the spring of 2008. I stopped writing regularly in February that year, but MISSED YOU GUYS SO MUCH that I started again, here, in May, 2008.

1000 posts ago.

If it hadn't been for that darned NaBloPoMo, I could have stretched things out and had #1000 land on May 14, 2012. Heh. I'd like to think I'm not so OCD that that doesn't bother me just a little bit, but that bothers me just a little bit.

I'd also like to think that after writing about weight loss for six years I might have lost some weight, but it turns out that hasn't happened. I haven't really been writing about weight LOSS. I've been writing about weight-loss STRUGGLE.

As most of you know, I'm a recovering alcoholic with more than 21 years of sobriety. When I hear newly sober people talk about how they know it's going to be hard to not drink for the rest of their lives, I try to reassure them that that's just not true. If not drinking was going to make me miserable, why would I not drink? I don't want to be miserable, I want to be happy, joyous and free.

And I am, when it comes to alcohol.

But I'm a prisoner of food, and I think it's time to plan my escape.

I've learned a lot about myself, struggling to get rid of a good deal of me over the past six years. Oh, hell, over the past 50, really. (I went on my first "diet" when I was 11. How in the world could my mother have encouraged that?) Six years of introspection (because what else is a blog but self-absorbed navel-gazing?) have taught me that

• wishing doesn't make it so
• good health is more important than wearing a size six
• the love of my husband, family and friends trumps everything else
• I love to cook (have you ever seen a skinny good cook?)
• I'd rather eat healthful things most of the time, and 
• life is too short to skip dessert.

Y'all have been through thick and thin with me. More thick than thin, unfortunately, but from now on it's not going to be all about the struggle. If I happen to lose some weight you will, OF COURSE, hear about it. But I'm more than my weight. (And you are, too.) And, looking back, I've certainly written about more than my weight.

You congratulated me when Mr. Shrinking Knitter and I got married. You've celebrated the births (this links to my third) of two of our grandchildren (this links to my husband's youngest. The triplets were born between blogs. (You've also probably noticed I don't write much about them or post their photos, at their parents' requests).

You were here for me when I ran my first half-marathon, and my last.

You helped me immensely when I lost my father. (I miss him so much, especially in the spring, when it's time to plant the garden.)

Thank you, for all of it. I don't have nearly as many readers here as The Shrinking Knitter did, and I don't think bloggers comment as much as they used to (I try to, but I'm guilty as well). But I know you're out there, and I appreciate you coming along for this crazy ride.

P.S. Here's the link I promised on how to make a garlic braid.

The End.

If you were hoping I was referring to the end of the blog, you'll be disappointed.

No, no, no, rather it's the end of NaBloPoMo, you silly goose. (I'm channeling my four-year-old granddaughter. Heh.)

The hardest part of this exercise was not, surprisingly, coming up with new material every day. I suppose living in the Middle of Nowhere, having little face-to-face contact with others and having lots of time on my hands contributes to the ease with which I can fill a blog post. I will readily admit that I'm better at quantity than quality.

It takes a certain bit of ego to just write about whatever pops into one's little head and assume it will be interesting/entertaining/informative/not-boring to both of you who eventually read it. Or, it takes no ego at all, if you think no one is going to read it. My older granddaughter was extremely surprised to learn that I've kept a journal for years when we played WhooNu last month. Whether it's for myself or published to the world matters little.

Since January of 2006, when I started writing at Shrinking Knitter, I've published nearly 1500 posts. It's hard to still call it a weight-loss blog. Six years later it's more of a weight-management effort, with the emphasis on effort. Some days are better than others. Heck, some years are better than others!

Especially that first year. I posted progress photos every week. I kept a physical journal along with the blog, which I still have and which I haven't looked at in months. I lost a bunch of weight that first winter, then leveled off when I started running.

When I switched from SK to this blog, I added running to my list of topics; it was originally called Knit. Run. Repeat. As food growing and cooking started taking over, my good friend Marilyn suggested splitting the "Repeat" into "Reap. Eat." and the current incarnation was reborn. I like it this way, although I sometimes feel like an impostor because the "Run" part is, um, not so much any more.

Anyway. The hardest part was writing while I was traveling, and I traveled a bit more this year than I have in Novembers past. I try to write every weekday anyway, so adding weekends wasn't too much of a stretch.

At any rate, it's done. My first NaBloPoMo is in the books. During this month some crazy stuff has happened, some of which I haven't shared because it's not relevant or it's too personal. Some of the most personal stuff, though, is right there for the whole world to find. Tomorrow will be most likely be more of the same, and I thank you kindly for joining me.

Oh, my aching _________

Fill in the blank.

I don't know which muscle group hurts the worst this morning. Shoulders? Back? And, frankly, back can be divided into upper and lower, even quadrants! Speaking of quadrants, the quadriceps are kind of ouchy, as well.

I'm too old to be slinging bricks.

And I was too busy yesterday to even think about how bad I hurt. I got a short (three miles) walk done mid-morning and was working on "stuff" the rest of the day.

Stuff included laundry, a couple graphic design projects, watering plants (oh, how we could use some rain; I was wrong about it earlier this week), making cottage cheese – nothing special or overwhelming, just a continuous flow of projects.

I like days like that. But I like days like today, too, when I can sleep in a little and all I have to do is go to a march and rally on Main Street in Beckley, WV.

I'm learning more and more about the NookColor, and honestly I would recommend it to anyone in the market for an ereader. The biggest difference between it and other tablet computers is it doesn't have a camera. I can check my e-mail and hop on the web. I can read books, magazines and .pdfs. I can play any number of games (maybe I'll finally hop on the sudoku bandwagon). With the right apps, I can create documents, although I find the touchscreen keyboard a bit tiresome, so I haven't acquired any kind of writing apps yet. I don't want to sound like an old fart, but I do like a real keyboard.

As I look around me right now, I'm typing on a MacBook Air while my BlackBerry buzzes on the tabletop and the Android-based Nook is charging nearby. It's not only electric … it's eclectic!

P.S. Just noticed this was my 700th post here at Knit. Run. Repeat. That's seven more than the total at The Shrinking Knitter. I guess this blogging thing has become a habit. Heh.