Late night shenanigans

I'm an early-to-bed, early-to-rise kinda girl. I usually toddle off to the bedroom around 9 to read magazines or a Nook book, and am asleep by 10, meaning I'm up before the birds start chirping.

Unless it's July. Then the birds wake me up.

I was still awake, hunched over my laptop, last night at 10:30, working on resizing/reformatting digital photos to display on the electronic frame my husband and I are giving his mother for Christmas.

My husband's son and his family gave us ours, and we love it. We think she'll enjoy one but she doesn't have a computer so it's up to me (because my husband is computer-phobic) to get the images ready to load. He's going to pick up some prints that she's gathered, which I will scan. The SDHC card has been ordered, along with a card reader.

These digital frames look easy, but there's a lot of prep work before you give one to someone who isn't computer-savvy. And believe me, my mother-in-law isn't! She paid for wireless internet with her cable bundle for several months before we realized it. Wireless services aren't much use if you're a computer-free household.

But I digress.

Going to bed late (well, late for me) doesn't necessarily mean sleeping in. I've been up since 5:30, thinking about everything I have to do today. (At 5:30 a.m., thinking about it is all I can manage!) Here's a partial list:

• Wrap gifts for my daughter and her family.
• Package and mail those gifts.
• Write thank-you notes.
• Either make or buy Christmas cards.
• Print out address labels for cards.
• Walk.

Yes, it's such a busy day I thought I'd better add a line item for exercise.

This is old news if you're one of my
Facebook friends. And if you're not
one of my Facebook friends, why
aren't you? Just sayin'.

Yesterday's three-miler went well, and I wore the Vibrams for the first time on a walk. They were surprisingly comfortable, and I even jogged a little bit on the way home. There's more of a mid-foot strike, rather than a heel strike, which must be a good thing for non-aggravation of the plantar fasciitis.

Right?

In other news, I've been playing around with the blog a bit, adding a couple tabs at the top that will take you to some easy knitting patterns and a few of the food topics I've written about. Feel free to share links! The more the merrier!

Merry, get it? Holidays ... gifts ... NaBloPoMo December ... heh.

My new diet plan

My Facebook friends got a sneak peek at my new idea for a diet book. I'm calling it The Doll Clothes Diet. It's been all doll clothes, all the time around here the past few days, as I attempt to create wardrobes for my four-year-old granddaughter's two dolls, Lucy and Little Pink, who is never called Pink, but always Little Pink and sometimes even Little Pink Baby.

I absolutely cannot eat and sew at the same time. I can eat and read, I can certainly eat and watch television, I can even eat and knit (lots of knitters say they can't, but I have managed to figure it out). Sewing is not an especially relaxing activity for me, and I can't stand the mess. My guest room, which is the only place I can find to set up the machine and store the necessary sewing crap tools looks like a fabric store exploded in it right now.

When I sew, I want to get it done as quickly as possible, preferably all in the same day. I usually cut things out one day and then – in this case, months later – I begin assembling the garment(s). Today begins the third day at the machine, it's starting to feel like a sweatshop around here. (Apologies if you actually do work in a sweatshop. I don't really mean to compare my modern, rural guest room and the freedom to come and go as I please with sweatshop working conditions.)

I'm making a list of what I still need to pick up. So far Velcro® is the only thing missing. The beauty of being interested in multiple crafts and being a hoarder of multiple craft supplies is that when you need, say, pre-gathered wide lace for a tiny sunsuit sleeve, you actually have some on hand. And it's even the right color!

Because they're doll clothes, I used quilter's fat quarters for my fabric. Not only are they pre-cut in small amounts, the prints are generally small-scale, which works nicely when the intended targets are 15 and 12 inches tall.

While I have no trouble staying away from food while I'm sewing, I have a lot of trouble remembering to drink water. I'm FOCUSED when I sew. Nothing distracts me. Because I want it DONE. (Aside: I actually measured how much water my go-to cup holds and it's 24 ounces! I thought it was 16 all this time. Meaning three cups is all I need to gulp during the day. Three is better than four when it comes to drinking water, especially when the total quantity is actually greater. I bet that made no sense AT ALL, did it?)

I'll post photos when I'm done, which I hope will be sometime before December 9, when my son and his family will be coming to visit and exchange gifts. Having that part of Christmas done early is good. It gives me the remainder of the month to finish the knitted gifts.

Vibram Five Fingers – gloves for your toes.

In the meantime, here are my new shoes. I wore them all day yesterday, just to get used to them. My husband said they remind him of the Incredible Hulk, not exactly the look I was going for. I hope to get over this plantar fasciitis ONCE AND FOR ALL by strengthening my foot muscles by going almost barefoot. The foot coverings – I hesitate to call them shoes – are difficult to get on, but once they're in place they fit like … gloves! For your feet! I'm very happy with them so far. We'll see how they feel on the elliptical.

I didn't follow the whole water/weights/walking/no snacks plan during November but I managed to not gain (or lose) during the month. So in October I lost six pounds and in November I maintained that loss. I call that a win. And I hope to repeat the process. Soon. I promise. As soon as I get out of the sweatshop.

Moosejaw - my new favorite outdoor gear shop

Do you know about the outdoor gear company called Moosejaw? I only recently learned about them because they had a super-duper sale on Vibram Five Fingers.

They're having a big gift-card promotion right now, and I'd like to share with you their disclaimer:

Some uninteresting rules about the Free e-Gift Card thing...

1. It's just one free e-Gift Card per order. So if you order two $261 items you still only get one free $51 e-Gift Card.
2. If you order an item and get the free e-Gift Card and then return the item but don't return the e-Gift Card, we'll deduct the amount of the e-Gift Card from your credit. Sorry to be so mean about it.
3. Qualifying item value is after any other applicable discounts and before tax and shipping charges.
4. I love crunchy Peanut Butter.
5. The deal cannot be combined with other promos, is good for in-stock items only and cannot be applied to prior purchases.
6. Excludes products from Patagonia,Yakima, Western Mountaineering, Baby Jogger, Merrell, VIO, Scarpa, Chaco, MontBell, and select skiing and snowboarding products.
7. This deal is good through December 4th, 2011, so please snap to. Marmot ends 11/28.

I especially love number 4. (And I also love crunchy peanut butter!)

From their e-mail confirmation for my order:

Way to go. You've won the best email receipt we've sent out all day. We recommend either printing this receipt and framing it in your foyer or using it as a screensaver. It would probably also be nice for you to forward it around to a couple friends and maybe even an enemy or two.

I will most definitely shop at this website again when I need outdoor stuff. The slight snarkiness (this is just a very small sampling, the website is full of it) appeals to me in much the same way that Southwest Airlines flight attendants' patter does. Or the item-description writers at American Science Surplus. (If you're in or near Milwaukee, this store is a must-see. I'm so sorry my daughter doesn't live there any more. But Nashville is closer to the Middle of Nowhere than Milwaukee was.)

Do you like it when a company adds a bit of humor when they take care of business? Or do you prefer your communication to be more on the straight-and-narrow side?