Lazy knitting

Now that I've finished the "Not your normal baby blanket" I'm doing some lazy knitting. I'm in between traveling scarves, should be getting one soon (hopefully). I've got the materials to start on my first lace shawl, I'm hoping that by the time I get it finished that my daughter or niece will wear it as a wedding shawl. But that won't be anytime soon, I'm sure. Being bored this weekend but not wanting to take on a big challenge I got out a ball of cotton and started on some dishcloths.

I love dishcloths, the hard part is using them. Right now I'm trying to figure out how to make a dragonfly dishcloth. When I started, I really didn't know what I was going to do with this. I started out with a seed stitch border, and thought to myself, that's good, I could just keep it going all the way, but I kept hearing a little voice in my head "dragonfly". I continued the seed stitch (5 stitches) on the edge, but now I wish I'd only done 3 stitches, it's okay, but leaves less room in the middle for the design. I totally winging the design, I don't have a pattern or a chart, just picturing what a dragonfly looks like and knitting it as I go.

The picture is what I've done so far.

Not your normal baby blanket Pattern!

This will be the first time I've published a design of my own. So here it goes, (if you find any mistakes - please let me know immediately)

Not your normal baby blanket
Materials - I used Debbie Bliss Rialto DK weight 3) A: red 3) B: teal 3) D: orange 3) E: pink 3) F: purple 3) G: lime 3) H: pale blue 3) I: maize 5) C: Adriafil Knitcol - 046 self striping

Needles - size 7 /4.5 mm - 26" circular, tapestry needle.
Guage - 18 stitches x 24 rows = 4 inches

NOTE: To keep from having to turn your work each time you need to switch from knit to purl, I knit backwards for my purl rows. With stitches on right hand needle, insert left needle into the back loop of stitch, wrap yarn from back to front, lift right needle over left and slide stitch onto left needle. The directions are written to turn your work, when you come to a purl section you can knit backwards if you chose.

With A cast on on 160 stitches any cast on method will be okay for this project.

Tier 1 Section 1(Base Triangles)
Row 1: p2 turn
Row 2:k2 turn
Row 3: p3 turn
Row 4: k3 turn (continue in the manner adding 1 stitch on each purl row until you have 8 stitchs purled and a triangle base has formed (1 of 20). DO NOT TURN Leave these 8 stitches alone (you are finished wtih them) starting with the next stitch repeat the process of Section 1 (Base Triangles) until you have 20 triangles on your needles.

Tier 2 Section 2 - (right side triangle)
Row 1: With B k2 turn
Row 2: p2 turn
Row 3: k3 turn
Row 4: p3 turn (continue in this manner adding 1 stitch on each knit row until you have 8 stitches knit and a right side triangle complete)

Section 3 - (left slanting rectangles)
Row 1:*pick up and knit 8 stitches turn
Row 2: sl 1 p7 turn
Row 3: k7, ssk (using 1 live stitch from the middle base triangle) continue in this manner until you have picked up all 8 stitches from base triangle. Repeat from * to end

Section 4 - (left side triangle)
Row 1: (WS) pick up and purl 8 stitch along left side of base triangle turn
Row 2: k6, k2tog turn
Row 3: purl turn
Row 4: k5, k2tog turn, continue until only 1 stitch remains

Tier 3 Section 5 - (right slanting rectangle)
Row 1: With C (WS) pick up and purl 7 stitches (to make up 8 stitches) turn
Row 2: *sl 1 k7 turn
Row 3: p7, p2tog (picking up live stitch from rectangle turn, Repeat from * until all 8 stitches from rectangle have been pick up. Repeat Section 5 until you have completed all right slanting rectangles. Continue using this process switching colors for every tier (3 times)

Bind off Triangles
Row 1:*(WS) facing pick up and purl 8 stitches turn
Row 2: sl1 knit turn
Row 3: p2tog, p5, p2tog turn
Row 4: sl1 knit turn
Row 5: p2tog, p4, p2tog turn
Row 6: sl 1 knit turn
Row 7: p2tog, p3, p2tog turn
Row 8: sl 1 knit turn
Row 9: p2tog, p2, p2tog turn
Row 10: sl 1 knit turn
Row 11: p2tog, p1, p2tog turn
Row 12: sl 1 knit turn
Row 13: p2tog (3 times)
Row 14: sl 1, ssk
Row 15: ssk - 1st bind off triange finished slip last stitch onto right needle and continue from * to complete all bind off triangles

Weave in any ends and you are finished.
Labels: baby, blanket, designs, entrelac

Not your normal baby blanket

So I decided to try my hand at designing and this is what I've done. It's about 1/2 finished and I'd like to know what you think.

My niece is having her first baby and so I decided to make her a blanket, but I didn't want to do the "normal" baby blanket. My sister and I were at Loops in Tulsa, OK and I just had to get this Debbie Bliss "Rialto". Now, I'm sure this blanket would be just fine in whatever color or yarn you'd prefer because I've got about $200 into this blanket so far.

I plan on posting the pattern as soon as I've finished the blanket. Check out my Ravelry page "knakedknitter1"

Tax Refunds

I don't know if you guys know this, I work for a staffing service. We specialize in finding people manufacturing and industrial jobs. We are not considered a TEMP service, because we only have 2% if that, that is really temporary. Anyways, as everyone knows this time of year people are getting back tax returns (some of us are paying). I've been in this business now for 8 years and every single year our employees disapear during January through March. I could never figure out why our hours dropped, numbers were sloping down and then around the end of March beginning of April the people would start calling and wanting to go back to work. A few weeks ago I called someone who had been looking for a job to tell him about a particular opportunity that we had coming up that he could start the next day. He told me he didn't need to work right now because he got his tax refund!!! What??? people actually quit their jobs or don't accept a good job because they are living off a tax refund!!! I thought you actually had to work and pay taxes before you got a refund back, but apparently not! I work everyday, I struggle, I've got mouths to feed, but I don't quit my job if I get a tax refund. Good God, what is the United States coming to?

I hate to be to preachy here, but something has got to change. We need stricter rules for giving people government assistance. Now, let me state this first, I am all for helping people who are out there trying to do for themselves. Let the single mother have daycare assistance, WIC for her children and foodstamps if needed, but the boyfriend who is laying on the couch all day while his single mother girlfriend is working a minimum wage job needs to get his ass up and find a job and quit living off the $100 worth of foodstamps she gets to feed her child. What has happened to work ethics? They need to have a mandatory class in school on work ethics. Kids need to be held responsible for their actions and not given a 3 day vacation when they mess up in school. They need to be given community service at the school, really make them work, clean the cafeteria, scrub the locker rooms, make them wear coveralls and no interaction with other students, zeros on all their work, then they might think twice about screwing up in school. They might pay more attention to their studies and really appreciate a job someday. I know no one likes to work, we'd all like to get paid and still be able to do whatever we wanted whether it's stay in bed all day, watch soaps, garden or hang out with the kids at the zoo. I work because they pay me to be here. How do we make our teens and young adults understand this?

I know I'm ranting, but it just really pisses me off, everyday I see these people coming in saying they want to work, but then no call no showing, or tardies everyday, missing because their girlfriends, step mothers, 2nd cousin is in the hospital. I've heard them all!!!

Leap Year 2008

Wouldn't it be weird to be 40 years old today, but only celebrating your 10th birthday? What if you were a twin and one of the babies was born at 11:58pm on 2/29 and the other was born at 12:01am on 3/1. Would you just tell them they were both born on 3/1? That reminds me, my brother-in-laws birthday is tomorrow, and he's a twin (identical). Was there a leap in in 1966? hmmm, makes me wonder.

So, thank goodness today is Friday. I've really been tired this week, going to bed too late and getting up too early. But, tonight my plan is to leave work (maybe stop and pick up dinner - I don't want to cook) head to the house, play with Hayden for a little while (until he gets cranky, then I'll let him mom have him back), starting planning the yarn organization project, better known as YOP.

Oh, I forgot to mention the traveling scarf. I mailed my scarf to Lindaspinandknit last week, she received it but I don't know if she's sent it on to the next person yet or not. I did receive a scarf from Merrypurl on Wednesday. I went home and sat in the floor of my closet with my stash spread out around me trying to decide what to do with Merrypurls scarf. She started it with a yarn that is bulky and thin, the color is a purplish and black, on size 7 needles in a lace pattern. I finally decided to use Pattons 100% wool in a worsted weight in a very pale pink, it's a huge contrast from the dark to light, but I think it works and will probably be very pretty once all the other knitters add there flair to the scarf. I decided on using the herringbone rib stitch for my section. I love this pattern, it's easy and quick. So I started knitting and noticed the edges rolling in on me a little and realized the guage just wasn't going to work using size 7 needles, so I did what all knitters have to do sometime in their lives, I frogged it. Yep, ripped her right out of there. I thought about using a double strand, but was afraid the pattern wouldn't show as pretty with 2 strands of yarn. I then moved up to a size 8 needle and actually could have probably gone for a 9 if truth be told. I knit my 4-5 inches and it's very nice. The edges do still roll a tad bit, but not bad, I think I'll block it before I send it on, just so it looks nice and neat. Tonight when I get home, I'll take a picture of the scarf at this point and post it in the Spoilers thread on Ravelry. I'm hoping to get it mailed off tomorrow, Monday at the latest.

I hope everyone has a great weekend
ttfn
Teresa

Traveling Scarf

I've joined the traveling scarf team on Ravelry and I'm so excited. Yesterday, after I found out who my team mates were going to be I ran home at lunch and started digging through my stash and started my scarf. The rules of this game are very simple. You start a scarf and knit 3 to 4 inches and then you will mail it on a stitch holder to someone else on your team, along with a note card with any instructions or suggestions for your scarf (needle size, type of yarn, etc) also, each knitter will sign the note card so the owner of the scarf will know who knit which portion. We will each be given 1 persons address and mail each scarf to the same person, that way we are sure that everyone knits on each scarf.

I started my scarf with a deep chocolate brown acrylic/cotton blend, if I remember right it was Black Horse brand. I bought it at Edla's Yarn store in Walsenberg, Co last year on a visit to see Mom and Dad. Edla was discontinuing the yarn so I bought a gob of it at $4.00 a skein instead of the normal $7.99 per skein. (I always loves me a yarn sale). So when I got home and picked the needles up again, I just wasn't feeling this scarf, so I went and dug through the stash again and found a skein of olive green tweed Tahki wool, I don't remember the exact name right now, but I'll include it when I send out my scarf.

So, I've already knit my 4 inches, but if there are 13 people on my team and each person knits 3-4 inches, my scarf will be somewhere between 39 and 52 inches long. I was thinking, if I knit 5-6 inches at the beginning and then the other 12 team members knit 3-4 inches and then when I get it back I'll knit another 5-6 inches on the other end to make the ends match that might just work out long enough. That would put it roughly around 60 inches which is perfect.

Now I've just got to add another 2 inches and get my team mates address and ship her off in the mail, then it's just waiting for my next scarf to arrive to do some creative knitting for someone else's scarf.

This is going to be so much fun to see all of our creative minds working together.

The ugly little bug

The weekend started out great. Our granny slumber party was off to a bang and everyone was happy and cooing and gooing. Sabina and I ordered sandwiches from Jason's Deli at 7pm for delivery. At 8:15 still no sandwiches so we called them, we were told they were in the car and on the way at 9pm we receive a call from Jason's Deli saying the driver was in a car accident and the food was back in another car and on it's way. So our chicken salad sandwichs and pasta finally show up around 9:15pm and the driver told us he was only charging us 1/2 price. I thought it should have been free by then. So I ate 1/2 of my sandwich and a few bites of pasta salad before Hayden woke up. But, he was back down for the night by 10:30pm. We were all awake by 7am on Saturday morning and then everyone's Mommy's came and picked them up.

After the babies were gone, I stayed at Sabina's and did her kids taxes and then we ended up going to the Creek Casino for the evening. I'm not sure if we caught the bug at the casino or if it was our chicken salad riding around in a car with the heater going for over 2 hours. I ended up spending the night and woke up Sunday feeling a little queezy. I got home around 2pm and was really starting to feel bad. Mike had planned on coming by around 3pm for me to work on his taxes and I was actually feeling relieved when he didn't show up. I was just about to head to bed at 4:45pm when he showed up, so I let him know I wasn't feeling good at all, but did his taxes in a hurry and then excused myself to the bathroom.

The worst feeling in the world is not knowing whether to sit or stand, so I sit with a bowl in my lap most of the night. I stayed in bed all day yesterday and slept most of it off. My fever finally broke around 7pm last night, I'm still achy and very tired so I stayed home from work again today. But I'm feeling better so I'm sure I'll be back at work tomorrow.

I haven't done any knitting since Wednesday nights knit-in with Carrie, Leigh Ann and Pam. I need to get back to it and get my wrap finished up. I've got to get busy making some baby things for Alyssa's baby. I have a feeling she's going to have a girl, but don't want to get carried away with pink things before we are sure. It seems like just yesterday that I was a young mother and my sister was having a baby, now we are the grandma's.

Granny Slumber Party

First let me just say, TGIF - Thank GOD!!! it's Friday...this has been the longest week in forever. On Wednesday, I was feeling like I'd already put in an entire weeks worth of work. I don't know why I've been so tired lately. But, finally, here we are and it's Friday. Yes, I've got plans tonight. I'm going on a double date with my friend Sabina. We've got the most loveable guys in the world. Our grandbabies. After work (I'm going to try and take off early) I'm taking Hayden to her house, her son is dropping Caden off with her around 5:00 tonight and we are going to have a Granny Slumber Party. We've done this a few times and it's getting more fun each time we do it, the babies are finally starting to notice each other. Caden is 2 months older than Hayden and he is really cooing and telling you all about it, always laughing and very interested in what Hayden is doing. Hayden has just started really focusing on us and making noises, he has really been watching our mouths and trying to mimick what we do. It's so much fun to watch them learn and grow everyday.

Now, for knitting talk. I found out last week that my niece, Alyssa, Leigh Ann's daughter, is going to be having a baby. Her due date is September 1st. We are all hoping she will have an August baby. That way the family August Birthday Bash will be even bigger. My birthday is on the 14th, Dad's is the 22nd and Leigh's is the 29th. Leigh wants her grandbaby to be born on the 29th so they will share a special day. Of course it's too early to know what the babies sex is, but they all think it's a girl. Don't worry - I'm getting to the knitting talk right now (I had to build the suspense at little). I found the cutest little sweater/coat pattern. I'm going to use Debbie Bliss cotton, it's probably considered a little girls sweater, but I think a boy could also wear it as long as it's not pink. So I was thinking mossy green or maybe even gray for the color. I'm also going to knit her a baby blanket as soon as I found out what colors she's planning for the nursery. Once I get the knitting finished on the blanket, I'll have mom back it with fleece and sew a satin edge around it. I made one like this for Hayden and it's a great blanket to put on the floor for playtime.

It's time to get busy and get the work day finished so I can start playing.

Have a great weekend everybody!

Why do I have to work?

I'm tired of working. I just want to play with my yarn, buy more yarn, organize my yarn, knit my yarn and have fun. I think I might have been a cat in a previous life, lol.

One of these days, it may take me 10 years to make this idea come into fruition, but I'm going to open my own yarn shop. My idea is that I'll let my kids have my house, if they want it. I'm going to buy one of the old buildings downtown on main street, renovate it and have my yarn shop downstairs and turn the upstairs into an apartment. Then I can play with yarn all day long. My vision is a cute little shop with all types of yarn with all price ranges. (I won't carry Red Heart or Bernat because they can get that at Wal-Mart cheaper than I could carry it). I'll have a big round table in one room for people to sit around and knit, retro couch and chairs in another room, a tea pot with hot water at all times so people can help themselves to a cup of tea.

I may have to win the lottery to actually afford to buy one of the buildings, but that's my plan. What do you think about it? I can't tell you the name I have in mind because I don't want anyone using it before I get the chance.

It's coming along nicely

It's not a fast knit by any means, but it's coming along nicely. I wish I'd have been able to find some other colors, the picture is hard to tell but I have a pale blue and a pale lavendar side by side and they look like the same color and then I also have a deep red and a burnt orange side by side and they look like the same color too. I found the color swish so I'm adding it in my next square and I've got dewberry and drab on the way. I guess I should have waited until I had all my colors to start, but I just couldn't stand it any longer. I'm the type of knitter who can only have one project going at a time. I start feeling guilty about leaving a project and going to the next, kind of like I might hurt it's feelings. I know, I'm just weird like that. I'm the same way with reading books, I've got friends who will say "I'm reading this, and that, and I've just started on the next one, etc" I have to read one book at a time. Plus, with knitting I like to look at the pattern read through it, work a few rows and then just go. If I had 3 or 4 projects going at the same time, I'd have the patterns mixed up and my knit a mitered square in the front of a sweater. Hmmm, that give me an idea for a sweater, just take this pattern, some cool colors and viola! a retro 70's sweater. Maybe I'll make one for the baby.

New Project

I finally finished my interlaken blanket and I love it. It's so comfy to curl up on the couch and watching tv or working on my lastest knitting project.

I've started working on the modern quilt wrap from knitting daily. (pictured) Isn't it soooo pretty? I'm using kid mohair in all different colors and working mitered squares in different sizes, picking up stitches from one square to another. The pattern suggests using a size 7 circular needle, but it just seemed so tight so I switched to an 8 and it's turning out really cool.

Changes

I was reading some of my old posts and realized alot has changed in a year and a half. Like the animal situation, KC (Kitty Cat, my beloved 17 year old) died last year, his kidneys failed and he went blind all in one day, I had to have him put to sleep which was so hard. KC you are truly missed.

We acquired a new dog, Nellie in February (she was a Valentines present from Brennan to Chelsea).

Beau, our loveable big black lab was killed by the neighbors. I'm not certain, but the neighborhood rumors confirm they did it. He went out one night to go to the bathroom and he never came back, the shotgun blast concerned me, but I thought he was okay. Why are some people so cruel. He was a very sweet and good dog.

The most important addition to our family has been this little man (pictured above). Hayden Michael will be 2 months old on Jan 17th - he is the reason I continue to breath. I look forward to seeing him everyday.

Almost finished

Here it is, this is the Interlaken blanket from Berroco. I used Berroco Comfort worsted weight yarn and size 9 needles. It's really been fun making this blanket. I just wanted to let you guys see it. I'm not quite finished but almost, I need to complete 2 more sections and weave in some ends and it will be complete.

I taught my son-in-law Brennan how to knit last night, he has alot of anxiety attacks and worries about everything. He won't take pills, he says he can't - it's all in his head, but he needs a way to relieve the stress and tenion that builds up on him. So I told him knitting was the best thing to help you relax. I got out a pair of size 13 bamboo needles and some yarn I got on sale for .99 cents and showed him how to cast on, once he had 20 stitches on the needle, I showed him how to knit. He's making a scarf, and doing very good on it, if I do say so myself. He was able to catch on very quickly.

I'm back

Wow, alot has happened since I was here last. I've gained back all the weight I lost while on NS. I remodeled my house and I became a grandma. I know, I know, you think I'm too young to be a grandma. I'm really older than you think, I'm just aging gracefully! LOL!!! My grandbaby's name is Hayden Michael and he was born November 20th. He's 6 weeks old and very healthy. They've had a little trouble trying to get him on the right formula. Yes, he's on formula. His mommy really wanted to nurse him, but she just didn't produce enough milk, after 2 weeks she just didn't have anything to feed him. He is such a good and happy baby, and he is sooo loved.

So, It's a new year and I'm trying to lose this sickening weight that I've gained back. This time I'm just going to do it the old fashioned way. Portion control and calorie counting. That's right. I've joined a group called SparkPeople, if anyone is interested - check it out. It's free, they offer menu plans, articles to read, message boards, you can sign up with other groups and it's really motivational. Tomorrow will be my first weigh in.

Since, I'm back trying to lose weight, I've picked up the needles again. Right now I'm trying to finish a really cool blanket. It's a Berrocco pattern called interlaken and it's been really fun to knit so far, but now I'm getting antsy to finish it because I'm dying to start a new project with Rowan Kidsilk Mohair, it is a wrap that uses 9 different colors, absolutely gorgeous. We found a sale and were able to get some of the colors for $2.12 per skein, the other colors we had to pay $16.99 per skein - crazy, isn't it. I'm excited and I'll post pictures when I've finished my projects. Oh wait, I wanted to talk about a great find. Ozark Handspun yarn is beautiful and so fun to knit with. It's made by a guy in Missouri and the yarn shop in Tulsa finally got some in and I was able to get a few skeins before it sold out on the same day. It's $27.99 per skein but you can knit a great looking hat with only one skein and it only takes about 30 minutes to complete. Check it out.

Back on the wagon

Hi everyone - I'm back on the NS wagon. I've tried to lose weight on my own without buying the food from NS. I did really good until I went to Colorado a few weeks ago and now I've noticed a few extra pounds. So, I'm putting in my order with NS again. My food should arrive next Tuesday. I still need to lose another 34 lbs.

One of my employees, Sheri, just signed up for NS last night. It will really help having someone in the office eating the same way. She only has about 23 lbs to lose.

My sister and I are still planning on meeting my cousin Judi in Las Vegas the 3rd weekend of September so my goal for this month is to lose 10lbs.

Wish me luck on trying to lose the last 34lbs.

Happy 4th of July

I hope everyone has some fun plans for today. I'm going to my sisters again tonight. We had Chelsea's birthday party there yesterday. We cooked burgers, chicken, and some dogs on the grill.

I'm so sore today, before the partiers showed up I went to Leigh's early. She was telling me that she had ordered Turbo Jam and wanted me to try it. It's a combination of ty-bo and dancing. It's really pretty fun. But, why don't skinny video instructors understand how hard it is for short fat girls to balance. First, knees wide apart, toes pointing out. Now tuck your tail bone up under you, this is the (tuck) and squeeze the abdominal muscles. Now with your tailbone under you, (Pump)! Keep your knees wide, toes pointing - now tuck and release. Kinda of a sexual looking move. Don't stop, now we are going to add jabs and kicks. Keeping your knees wide in the tuck positions with fists up (protecting your jaw) Pump and jab, 2...3...4... now kick out to your side. Oh I forgot the 7 step (it's like running through the tire part of an obstacle course, but on the 7th step you kick someone next to you.) I really can't remember if you lift your knee or kick out. Also the zig zag and kicks. Like I said it was fun, but will take a couple of times to get all the moves.

After the workout, we ate dinner. I think I did really good on portion control. I had a hamburger patty, lettuce, tomato, pickle, a tsp of quacomole, tsp of beans, tsp of potato salad.
1 bite of birthday brownie with icecream. Lots of water. After all the kids were gone, Leigh, her husband Brent and I sat out of the deck with the dogs. Drinking our water and listening to bluegrass music, talking and having a good time. Leigh and I even got up and did a couple of jiggs to the music. I'm just glad no one had a video camera.

I've got to get some laundry done today and hopefully knit up another purse. Then I'll probably go back to my sister's this evening and watch her neighbors shoot fireworks.

Have a safe and happy 4th everyone.

I'm back

Wow, it's been over a month since I've updated my blog. I guess I haven't been very motivated lately. I was on a plateau for the last month and finally today it broke with a 1.6 lb loss.

I decided to postpone my NS food for the month and see how I do on my own. Maybe that's what helped me break the plateau, my body was used to eating the same things all the time.

Let's see - what has happened this past month?

School is out so Chelsea has been looking for a job. She turns 18 tomorrow and is hoping to get a job at the local recreation center as a front desk clerk. Work has been busy, lots of drama going on with my employees. One got married, one is not happy in his marriage and the other is having problems with a step-son. Whew!!! I'm supposed to go to Boulder on the 12th for a training class. It should be fun, Stefanie from our Tulsa office and I are going. We are both the Risk Safety Coordinators for our offices in addition to our other duties.

I finally got my yarn back out and started knitting again, I've got lots of stuff on ebay right now. I'm trying to get all of my old yarn knitted up and sold to make some money to buy new fun yarn when I go to Colorado at the end of the month. (Check out my auctions on Ebay, search for handknit items and mine should show up in the list, or search by name for knakedknitter.) It's always fun to go see Mom & Dad up in the mountains. Plus, we hang out at Edla's Yarn shop alot knitting and drinking tea. It's very relaxing.

We had girls night last week, Frankie had to have back surgery, she's recuperating well. Diana had a total hysterectomy and is doing good. Kasey kicked her husband out and is dealing with that situation fairly well. Kim is doing good, her son just got back from his 6 week stint with the army. He's an MP in the reserves. We had a good time just talking and catching up on everything.

I've been spending alot of time looking at flights to Vegas, my sister Leigh and cousin Judi are planning a trip in September to meet in "Sin City". I've never been and I'm looking forward to the trip.

I'll try to keep everyone posted a little better.
talk to you later,
t

Weigh-In

Good news! This week I lost another 1.4lbs which brings me to 161.8 a total of 33.2lbs gone forever. This morning I straightened out my NS cabinet to get ready for my new shipment which should arrive Wednesday.

I haven't done much today - haven't felt that great. I mowed the yard - 2 acres yesterday and my allergies really hit hard. So today I've just played on the computer and watched some tv. I did manage to get a load or two of laundry done.

Today's Food

I got up this morning and had my favorite breakfast, blackberries (microwaved 3 min) sprinkled with cinnamon and splenda topped with NS granola and a few squirts of butter spray (microwave again for 20 secs) It's fabulous.

Lunch was NS tuna salad on a small whole grain bun with lettuce, tomato, green onion and green peppers. Very tasty!

Snack - ff yogart

This evening I think I'm gonna have the NS Chicken Parmesan, green beans and peaches with sf cool whip.

I'm running low on my favorite desserts, I think I've got some carmel corn left. I've got several puddings and shakes but I really don't care for them.

The Rest of the DAY

I'm going to go for a walk, what??? did I say that? just baby steps, for those of you who read my blog you know I hate exercise. So I'll go to the end of the road and back which is 1 mile. Then we'll see what happens tomorrow. I'm not making any promises, but I can set a goal. My goal is to walk 2 times this week. Remember I'm taking baby steps. Maybe next week I go for 3 times and progress from there.

After my walk - I'll have dinner and then finish up the laundry and finish reading the James Patterson novel I started the other day. Okay, Teresa get up, get Beau's leash and go for a walk.

TGIF

It's Friday finally - actually it's Saturday morning. Couldn't sleep so I decided to do some writing. What a day - still having problems with our new system, payroll has been a disaster. Still too many freaky glitches happening.

Mom and Dad came for a visit over the long weekend. It's always good to see them. They drove up last night from Colorado. I hope that everything works out and I'll be able to take off work for a week and go visit them this summer. The weather is always so nice at their house in the summer. It's so humid here in Oklahoma and add 100° temps to that and it's miserable here.

If I haven't mentioned this before, my sis and I are doing some research on our Indian heritage (or, trying to prove our Indian heritage). It's been really interesting. We always thought we were Cherokee, but we've recently found out that we also have some Osage history. Now we just have to find the proof in writing somewhere. I sure wish we would have started this while more of our family was still alive to help us with names and places.

This week has been really good food wise...I really need to get the exercise in, but I HATE IT!!! I know I would lose the weight faster if I'd get off my butt and get some cardio. I always have grand ideas and plans for exercising. I'll take my walking shoes to work and plan a walk during lunch time - do I walk? NO! I play on the internet instead. My friend Sabina wants me to take salsa dancing lessons with her. It sounds like fun, but I just can't see myself doing the salsa without throwing out my back. I can always think of an excuse not to exercise. My girls club wants to start taking belly dancing lessons...haha that's funny. The image I have of myself wearing a belly dancing outfit is hillarious. I'm sure it's good exercise and I should do something like that maybe I'd be more inclined to stick with an exercise plan if it was something fun. Because walking up and down my road just isn't fun. Going to the gym isn't fun. If not for the exercise the belly dancing would make me laugh so hard I'd have to burn extra calories. I'm giggling right now just thinking about it.

Sunday is weigh-in day - let's all pray really hard that the scale moves down again.

Talk to you later,
t

Alyssa's Graduation

This is the reason for getting up in the morning!

David (20) Chelsea (17) Alyssa (18) Baryn (16). Hey Sis - I think this means we are getting old. 2 more graduations to go, then we get to look forward to the weddings!

Last night my niece Alyssa graduated from high school. We had a get together before the ceremonies. There was alot of food and I am very proud of myself for not standing around and grazing in the kitchen. We had very very lean hamburgers on wheat buns, small amount of baked beans, a bite of potato salad and a cauliflower/brocolli salad. I didn't have cake, but I did have some unsweetened fruit with sf ff cool whip and 1/2 of a small brownie. I could have taken my NS food, but I want to be able to learn to eat real food and not go crazy. The only thing I could have done better was drinking more water. I got it all in, but it meant drinking water until 11:30 last night which interrupted my sleep more than once. Somthing else makes me wonder-hmmmm, I had a 2.4 lb loss this week, would it have been a bigger loss if I'd eaten NS food or a smaller loss. Did that REAL food throw another log on the furnance in my body or was it because it was just different food. Or, was it because I didn't have a loss last week and my body was just catching up. That's probably it! I'd forgotten about last week's non-movement of the scale.

This has been a nice weekend, I took a vacation day on Friday and I'll also be off on Monday. I've got to start using my vacation days because the year is almost halfway over and I've only taken 1 week with approx 6 weeks left. I always have to roll over 2 weeks at the end of the year but that's all I can roll, anything leftover I lose. I spent most of Friday at my sister's house trying to research our family history. It's been very interesting. This all began about 3 years ago when my grandmother died and after the funeral a great aunt started talking about the history of our family and that her great great grandfather was full blood Cherokee. We've always know this but she actually had a name. Leigh Ann and I went to the library and search the Dawes rolls but found out that our ancestor got off the Trail of Tears in Missouri. So we thought our proof of Cherokee blood would never be traceable. Then about 2 months ago one of my employees was telling me that he had just gotten his tribal card, I told him my story and he said his ancestor was the same way. He was able to trace his lineage back to the White River Band of Cherokee Indians in Missouri and Northern Arkansas. So we were back on the search. During this we also got some more information on my Grandfather's side that traces Cherokee back to my GGG Grandmother. So that would make me approximately 1/64 on my Grandma's side and 1/32 on my Grandpa's side. I've never been very good at fractions but I think that calculates to 3/64. Is that right? So we've got branches of family trees all over ancestry.com, a little here and there and we are trying to tie the tree together. It would be nice to be able to get our tribal cards to help send the kids to college and also for medical care if they aren't able to afford health insurance when they are on their own. If nothing else it's been fun.

You know something that I haven't talked about in a while is my knitting - that last project wore me out and I haven't knit since January. I put everything away while I was painting and just haven't gotten it back out yet. But I've got the bug again. I'm going to knit this tank. It should ber very simple and not take too long, plus it will be nice for this summer and I can probably even wear it to work. It's made out of cotton so it shouldn't be hot. I really miss my knitting, I think I might even go to the yarn store tomorrow and pick out the yarn for this tank and get started on it. What color should I get? I have alot of clothes this color of green so I need to get something else. Maybe turquoise??? What do you think. Leave me comments and let me know.

I've got a new picture that I want to post - it looks a little better than the girls night photo. Chelsea took this of me last night before we left for graduation. At least I've got makeup on and my hair doesn't look crazy. In the girls night photo I look like I was getting ready to bend over, kinda hunchbacked, a little wild eyed. This pic actually looks like me (most of the time)...

Okay back to the graduate.

Alyssa plans to go to our local university this fall and apply for the nursing program as soon as she has met the requirements. I wish I could have gotten the picture of her actually receiving the diploma, but my cameral has a split second delay and by the time I pushed the botton she was already walking away. I took another picture of her when she was walking to her seat at the beginning and by the time the camera actually captured the picture, she had almost walked out of the frame. (I wish I would have spent another $100 and gotten the Fuji 5100 - trying to save a buck isn't always the best).

Here she is wearing the sunglasses. They released the balloons and are getting ready to throw their hats in the air. It was a great night, even though it was very hot, sweaty, and my butt hurt so bad sitting on those metal bleachers for a couple of hours. Congratulations Alyssa, I'm very proud of you!!! Love ya Teresa.