Variety

Variety is the spice of life, they say.  I wholeheartedly believed that and lived by that mantra.  In fact, I think it's one of the reasons that I gained so much weight.  In my effort to eat something different every day I went a little crazy and ended up eating lots of something differents every day.

In fact, it was one of the major problems I foresaw with my ability to continue and do well on the diet because the food options were so limited and I "had" to eat the IP food.  I put my game face on, though, and decided to give it a try and see what happened.  If nothing else, maybe I could shed a few pounds before I got too bored with the food.

You know what I found out?  That variety isn't really necessary for satisfaction in eating.  In fact, I found great comfort in routine, in knowing what I was going to eat for lunch, in knowing how I was going to order when I went to a restaurant and in knowing how the food was going to make me feel.

And to be honest, it's the last little bit that has become the most important factor in my relationship with eating and food now.

I discovered, in this "cleansing" as I like to call it, that some foods made me feel bad.  Really bad.  Sick, swollen, miserable.  They gave me migraines, made my feet swell...not to mention what they did to my stomach and digestion.  I never realized which foods were triggering my ill feelings...I just thought I was "sickly."  I had red rashes that would spontaneously erupt on my face, neck arms and legs.  Sometimes I would have terrible eczema.

And now?  I have no eczema, I don't swell...I haven't had a migraine in over a year.  My stomach is mostly happy--and only unhappy when I eat one of the foods that triggers ill digestions.  And it's so cool that I now know what foods those are (dairy, wheat, and grains).

How do I feel about the lack of variety in my diet?  I actually like it.  I like the comfort of knowing that I can have "whatever" for dinner and feel satisfied.  Every now and then I'll want something specific, but there's a huge freedom in eating leftovers and pretty much the same thing every day.  The freedom of knowing that I can maintain my health and my weight and that all I have to do is eat meat and veggies and fruit.  It's amazing!

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On a slightly separate note:  The IP products provide lots of variety.  I think that the company has gone a long way to try to encourage different tastes and preferences for foods. They not only have a good variety of options available--Shakes, puddings, bars, soups, chips and other snacks--but the variety of flavors available in them is also very good.  I have to be careful because some of the bars (what I prefer to eat because of the flavor and convenience) have wheat in them and even that tiny bit of wheat sets off a digestive reaction in me that is unpleasant.

My one complaint

I only had one complaint while doing the Ideal Protein Protocol:  I was tired.  As in really tired, and sometimes felt like I couldn't make it through the day.

I went to bed a 9 or so each night...but somehow managed to easily wake up around 6 or 6:30 on weekends without my alarm.  I missed my lazing around and sleeping all morning.  I missed being able to stay up late and go out with friends or hang out and watch a movie with David.  Apparently, though, the sleep I was getting was good sleep because I couldn't go back to sleep and laze around even on a Saturday morning.

I felt weary a lot during the day too.  Especially as I stayed on the diet for a longer period of time.

****and I want to say here that I never cheated while doing IP.  I was "on program" the entire time***

I couldn't exercise even if I wanted to, and in general I just felt foggy and muddled.

David did not have this side effect, and after a good bit of discussion, some data gathering, and thinking, we decided that I was having a bad side effect to being deep in ketosis.  Getting out of dietary ketosis, or even lessening the effect of it, while on IP is rather difficult, so we talked with the diet nurse who told us about the "Alternative Plan" which is what they prescribe people who have health problems or diabetes.

Because I didn't want to jump completely off the diet, I went into the alternative plan very slowly adding one "carb group" for 2 weeks and seeing how I did and then adding another and so on.  I immediately starting having more energy and feeling better and actually started losing a little more quickly for a few weeks.

I doubt that I'm normal in my reaction to ketosis.  I get into ketosis very quickly and will stay deep in ketosis (as measured by the test strips) even after having a good dose of carbs.  I think my particular biochemistry requires me to be very careful when approaching such a low carb diet, and when I need to lose a few pounds in the future, I will need to remember to try to keep myself from going into ketosis for a long period of time.  I think that the worst for me was in October, and at that point, I'd been doing IP for 7 months.

I don't plan to gain so much that I have to stay on the diet for 7 months again.  I weigh myself several times a week and once I get 5 pounds above my middle number I will go on Phase 1 for a couple of weeks and lose the weight.  I'm hoping that by maintaining within 10 pounds I will be able to stay this size until I'm ready to lose the rest--if I do.  I'm really happy with my current size.

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I've rambled a good bit today, but I don't want to leave the impression that being tired is a terrible thing.  It was a side effect that I knew was diet related and temporary.  When my body told me that it couldn't take it any longer, I listened, talked with my diet nurse and came up with a plan to address the problem.  It worked and I have been very happy with everything since then.

In fact, I like that I "phased out" of the diet using the Alternative Plan and would recommend it for anyone who has lost a significant amount of weight on this diet or who suspects that they may have food allergies.  By adding only one food group and seeing how I did for a couple of weeks I was able to see if that particular food caused me problems and if it did to look into other foods within that group (i.e. fruits, grains, dairy).  For a while I did ok with dairy, then I realized that it was causing me problems.  I dropped dairy from my diet and am now doing just fine.  I knew wheat would be a problem, but I've tested out other grains so that I can have that food group in my diet and after a couple of months I know what causes me problems and what is safe to eat.

Aren't you Hungry?

That's the question I got most often while on Phase 1 of the Ideal Protein Protocol.  Aren't you hungry?  My response would be "yes" but it wasn't so simple as all that.

Yes, I was hungry.  We were eating approximately 800 calories per day.  A salad no matter how big is a salad...and doesn't last that long.  Ask anyone who came into my office during the summer 2013 whether I was hungry!  My stomach would let up a loud growl as soon as anyone walked in.

But you know what?  In asking that question, I think everyone missed the important point.  It's this:

Were you hungry BEFORE starting the diet?

Wouldn't it make sense to ask that of someone who was significantly overweight?  Wasn't it obvious that I was hungry before starting the diet?  And wouldn't it be obvious that I was hungry in a way that was completely and totally unhealthy?  I'd even say sick?

Before starting IP, I was hungry pretty much all the time.  I just chose to feed that hunger with whatever foods I liked.  I believe those foods (mostly sweet snacks) were creating a biochemical response in my body that made me more hungry...for more of the foods that were making me hungry.  It created a vicious cycle that I could not break.

While I think that hypoglycemia is an important function of that vicious cycle, I believe that more is going on.  I honestly believe that food allergies and/or sensitivities play a large role in how hungry we feel and in the quality of that hunger.  Is the hunger you're feeling a "raving gotta eat anything as soon as possible" kind of hunger or is it the hunger that says "stomach is empty so eat when you get a chance."  I think that food allergies and sensitivities drive the first kind of hunger where as being hungry is just a symptom of eating the "right" amount of food for your body, activity levels and desired weight management.

And, for me, it was liberating to know the latter kind of hunger.  To know that no matter what I was going to "survive" until the next feeding.  That food was something I used to control my energy levels and ability to get through the day, not something that controlled me by making me kind of crazy.

In transitioning through the phases to "maintenance" (though I still have weight to lose, I'm at a point in my life where hard-core dieting just isn't going to work), I have not felt that crazed hunger in a year, and I'm so happy about that.  I believe the trigger for me is grass-based foods (wheat, oats, etc.) and as long as I make sure the label doesn't include "wheat" or "gluten" or "oats", etc., I'm actually doing very well.  My digestion is good, I feel good and my overall hunger is in the normal range.  I get hungry, but I don't get crazed.  The triggers for David are different, but we know that he has lots of food allergies and the out of control hunger is one of the symptoms of his allergies.

All this to say that I still battle with hypoglycemia and have to remember to eat every two hours.  I've had to put myself on a schedule (which I'm not totally crazy about...those of you who know me know that me and schedules are tricky)...but isn't that something...that I have to REMEMBER to eat every two hours.

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I can't tell you how many times I'd tried to lose weight during my adult life.  I did Weight Watchers several times, Atkins, and even tried the Dr. Phil approach.  I'd be successful for a while and then I'd fall off for one reason or another.  I was "starving to death" hungry on all of these programs, though less so on Atkins (which gives credence to my theory of grass-based foods which are so prominent on the WW and Dr. P approaches).

What I think Ideal Protein does right is this:  Significantly lowers carbs, significantly lowers fats, forces healthy food choices by giving a limited option of food items, and provides quality, tasty protein products to replace meals until your body has reset and is ready for working in the real world again.  Learning to live without certain groups of food can be difficult, but for me and my husband, it helped us to learn about the appropriate kind of hunger, start to dissect what kinds of food drive that hunger, and approach our maintenance with an attitude of "I want to feel like this every single day for the rest of my life, so I will choose to eat the foods that make me feel good."

And that is just awesome!

One Year--and 240 pounds ago

This week marks one year since David and I decided to do the Ideal Protein Weight Loss Protocol.  It's been an amazing journey--one that was completely and totally life changing.  Here are our pictures comparing us week 1 and week 52.

We are not the same people.  In more ways than just being 1/2 our original sizes.  I want to spend this week talking about the changes that we've made in our diet, lives and outlook.  So, look forward to that.  Today I want to talk about getting started and making the commitment to be organized.

When we met with the doctor one year ago on Wednesday, I couldn't help but think that we would never be able to stick with this program.  In the questionnaire we filled out before going to meet with her, one of the reasons I'd found diets too difficult to follow in the past had been the restrictive nature of the diets.  I'd always end up hungry, tired, or just bored with the food.  The IP program looked more strict, had less variety in food, and was very low in calorie which would mean that I'd be starving to death all the time.

Because I'd had such a difficult time convincing David to come along with me to do this diet, I was afraid to speak my concerns.  Instead, stepping up and "giving it the old college try" (as we always said at TAMU) was the only real option.

While I can say that I was hungry, I was tired, and I did get bored with the food sometimes...I never gave up.  I never quit trying because this weight loss protocol works.  We feel and look amazing and are so proud of the accomplishment we've made.

And there are many days when it doesn't really feel like an accomplishment because it just made so much sense and once we were organized it wasn't really hard--just structured.  Something, apparently, I needed.

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Details on how we were (and are) organized:

Because mornings are always difficult, we make our meals for the following day at night before going to bed.  We make a giant salad with as many vegetables as we could put in it--lettuce, spinach, cole slaw, celery, cucumbers and onions for me.  David adds peppers, radishes and home-made pickles.    Our salad dressing is oil and vinegar and we bought some little "jello shot" cups to put in our salad containers to take to lunch with us.  We put in our shakers, IP foods and an extra snack just in case we get hungry, and 2 large bottles of water and then we are ready.  In the mornings, we just pull out the fridge food and go.

As we've transitioned, we still do the same thing but have added things like fruit, natural protein to lunches, nuts, rice cakes and the like for snacks.  I'm unable to tolerate gluten so haven't tried to add bread or bread products back into my diet.  My one indulgence is Frito Pie.  I'll have that every couple of days, but since I've never been much of a chip snacker, the Fritos don't tempt me outside of the chili days.

We've also found that alternating fish with other proteins for dinner every night has been a very good plan.  Anything that we can freeze, we cook extra servings up and keep our freezer well-stocked for the week-nights where we're too busy or too tired to cook.  These extra servings also become our lunches.

We have found that pre-chopping all of our veggies when we get home from the store results in yucky veggies by the end of the week.  The best way to store them is open in the fridge--i.e. not in a bag or zip loc--if it's a regular veggie.  Leafy greens stay in their bag, then we put that bag in a zip top bag and squeeze all the air out.

We also buy our vegetables and most of our fruit in bulk at Sam's Club.  We eat lots and lots of vegetables and they seem to have the best quality in town.

Another change we've made has been to be organized while we travel.  It's very important for us to be able to travel and stay within our diet plan.  We love travel too much to give it up, but travel has been one of the slip-ups we've had in the past.  We've lost weight, went on a trip, ate anything we wanted and continued that when we got home and gained all the weight back in the end.

Being aware of that tendency and having too much at stake, we've determined to go on small trips, force ourselves to make the right choices and we have succeeded.  In fact, I'm always happy to come home now because I can eat the foods that I know for sure what's in them and get back into my now familiar routine.

While I can say with certainty that IP isn't for everyone, what I can say is that the method of being organized with your food choices and routines can significantly impact your ability to succeed--whether it's a decision to lose a lot of weight, a little weight, or just to be healthier.

The end of 2013

On this day where we both look forwards and backwards, I'm going to do my best to look forwards.  It's been a rough year.  First there was this:

And we got gallons of water in the house and had to move to an apartment for 3 months.

Then there was this:  Weight Loss

and a little over 9 months later we look like this:

My Daddy was diagnosed with two brain tumors in September, underwent radiation and surgery in October and is now on hospice.   I will treasure this photo forever:

I have two beautiful daughters (inside and out) and am profoundly proud of who they have become...and can't wait to see them on their life journey in 6 months.  I'll miss the devil out of them, but will be so excited to hear about the life they'll build for themselves.

 I have two of the sweetest and prettiest cats one can imagine:

I've knitted a whole bunch...and even started a new blanket to ease the travel time in the car.  Isn't it gorgeous.

Tonight David and I will go out and celebrate making it through all the tough times this year.  We will toast our weight-loss, the professional and crafting accomplishments we've made this year...

And we will ring in 2014 with a positive attitude.  I have decided to stash bust in 2014 (and following) as things have grown to embarrassing proportions.

The optimist in me...

...believes I'll be done with the blanket by next weekend.  I did the "figuring" on this this morning while I was waiting for time to leave to go to the dentist.  Here's how it worked:

I'll finish attaching row three tonight, then get started putting the blocks together for row 4.  I'll finish that easily and have row 4 attached by mid-day on Saturday.  Then it's just putting the last blocks together for row 5, attaching them, and then doing the borders.  I should have row 5 on by Sunday night, which means I can get each border done during the week nights.  Easily done by Sunday next week.

We'll see.  I crack myself up at how "easily" and "quickly" I knit in my "figurations."

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Exciting diet news.  I got on a pair of size 16 pants today--they fit perfectly.  I'm wearing them to work tomorrow.  SO excited.  I mean, really really excited.

Today's pictures is of me in the same dress.  The first pic is from July 1st, the 2nd pic is from yesterday.  I'm amazed.

Sitting Side by Side

For those of you who know me and David, you'll know that though we've been married for almost 23 years, we are still kind of sappy, romantic and touchy.  We like holding hands.  He rubs my back and neck or shoulders when we're sitting together on the couch.  We thoroughly enjoy spending time together and spend more time together with each other than we do with any other people out there.  I can't imagine going out on weekends and doing something that he isn't also doing.  It would seem crazy because I so enjoy the time we spend together.

We also tend to do major life-things together, like going on this journey to lose weight.  We have started diet after diet together and succeeded and failed together.  We are rocking the Ideal Protein diet, and I'm so happy to say that we are.  I haven't felt better in years and years.  And I can't remember when I last fit into regular sized pants (1993 maybe?).  I have weighed less than I currently do, but I didn't fit into regular sized pants at the time.

This last fact tells me a couple of things: 1) I'm losing more size (fat) than weight which is really awesome because 2) that means that I'm keeping my muscle mass which is a really good and necessary thing.

I still don't have the extra energy in the day to exercise.  I will definitely start that after we're done losing the weight and add more calories to our diet, but for now, I'm losing continually each week (and so is David) and feeling great and loving life.

I wanted to share this picture with you of me and David in our oversized chair.  We've never fit in it sitting side-by-side and now we do.  A perfect emblem of our life and journey together.

What a difference 20 years makes

20 odd years ago I went to Dillards in search of new jeans.  My old ones had gotten too tight.  I needed the new pair of jeans fairly soon, so losing weight to get into the ones I owned that were too tight wasn't an option.  So, off to the store I went to deal with the fact.  I searched and searched and searched and every pair of jeans I tried on was too tight.

The clerk realized what was happening to me and steered me to the plus-sized section of the store, where I did find a new pair of jeans that fit.  They were 16W and I was devastated.  I hated those pair of jeans.  Hated them.  Hated them in a way I'd never hated an inanimate object before.  They symbolized to me a failure on my part to get my life under control and to lose weight (or manage it!).  I did not think I looked good in these jeans, and I remember obsessing over the fact that the ankles were so wide.  This was long before the days of the wide-legged jeans (or after depending on how you're looking at it.)

But I wore those jeans because I didn't have much choice, but I do remember going home and crying because I was now "plus sized" and I would have to wear frumpy ugly clothes.  (I did later discover more fashionable options, btw).

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I didn't realize what a comfort I'd found in shopping in the plus-sized sections of the store until this Friday.  I have lost enough weight that it's time to get some new pants.  I was in 20W and figured that I'd probably be in 16W, so I picked out some pants and dresses and went to try them on.

The first pair of jeans I put on were 16W and they fit perfectly.  I almost cried with happiness.  I was immediately brought back to that first pair of 16W jeans I'd had to buy and how unhappy I was about them and how excited I was about these.

My what a difference 20 years makes!

I decided that I would go to the regular sized section of the store and try on the largest size they had there and see what would fit.  After all, these 16W jeans will start being big in a couple of weeks...I need to buy something that's a little snug now so that it'll be able to last me a few weeks on the "big side" as well.

Nothing "over there" fit in the pants yet.  Dresses, if they have a full skirt, were perfect, and I got a couple, but pants...not yet.  I am blessed with an ample bottom and will have to wait for another 15 or so pounds to drop before I'll make it to the regular sized pants.

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What I did find interesting was how overwhelming it was shopping in the regular sized section.  There are so many options, different designers, different collections.  There are cuts that are made for certain body types...and I was completely overwhelmed.  I tried on samples (things on sale!) from one section of Dillards only to find that there were at least 3 more as large if not larger sections yet to be discovered.  Definitely something for future shopping excursions.

I'm not sure my budget will be able to afford the skinny me :)

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Today's photo is of the 4th block in the Noro Afghan, what I'm calling "falling leaves."

Life Changing

I haven't talked a lot about the fact that David and I are losing weight.  I've mentioned it here and there (look at my "Getting Skinny" label on the right if you want to follow exactly what I've said).  But we've been at this now for 15 weeks.  And it truly has been life changing...and our journey is still several months from the end.

And I can't tell you how happy I am about this.  So very very happy.

We are doing a diet called Ideal Protein.  We see a diet coach (nurse) once per week, weigh in, talk about how things are going, and then go home motivated for another week.  Sometimes we buy some more food, but we keep our pantry pretty well stocked with our food.  It's a big purchase at one time, but we are usually "set" for at least 3 weeks afterwards, so it isn't so bad.

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How the diet works:

• We eat a protein packet for breakfast.  I also drink coffee, David drinks tea.  We can have a shake, bars, or a package of other foods. 
• For lunch we eat 2 cups of veggies plus a salad and a protein packet.  Again, sometimes we have a shake, sometimes we have a package (think chips or nuts).  We can dress our salad with olive oil and vinegar.  The coach recommends some products that are fat free and calorie free, but I haven't found that I like them, so I'm sticking with olive oil and vinegar for now.  We are going to make up some salad dressings this weekend to try out.  I'll let you know how they go.
• For dinner we eat 8oz (pre-cooked weight) of lean meat, grilled or baked, a little olive oil for cooking, 2 cups of veggies.  I find it difficult to actually eat all of this food, but I try.
• And 2 hours after dinner we have another protein product.  We almost always have a shake.

The food comes in different types.  There are shakes, puddings, bars, pancakes, cereal, oatmeal, "puffs," nuts, and "curls."  The puffs and curls are kind of like chips.  I like eating them with my salads.  They come in flavors like salt and vinegar or barbecue...others as well.

Almost all of the food has been good.  There are a couple of flavors that we haven't found appealing (lemon and banana come to mind) but most have been enjoyable.

We also take a bevvy of nutritional supplements.  We need to keep our salt and potassium levels up.  Magnesium assists in weight loss.  Calcium supplements are required because we are not eating dairy.

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I want to say that when I found out how the diet worked, and how restrictive my eating was going to be, I almost walked out of our first session with the doctor.  I thought "there's no way I'm going to be able to do this."  But, I had had to work very hard to convince David to try this, so I knew walking out wasn't going to work...and that I'd tried every other diet imaginable and found them all lacking for one reason or another.  So, I had to give it a try.

And let me tell you that within a week, I felt like a new person.  I had an energy and vitality that I hadn't had in a long long time.  I felt in control of my eating and motivated to try new things.  I was excited about my real food--ate with gusto when it was time.  AND I discovered that I could be hungry without going crazy, craving sugar and wanting to bite someone's head off.

Within two weeks, the thought of sweets or anything sugary disgusted me.  I was feeling even better, even more motivated, and truly getting the hang of the diet.  I'd learned to live with being hungry (and yes, I'm hungry...right now I'm hungry!  And it's only 9:30 and I have to wait until noon to eat, but I'll survive).  And I'd learned that all along, I had been poisoning myself, slowly, with sugar and white flour and other processed foods.  My skin was glowing and my blood pressure had dropped (it's holding a steady 100/60 or lower now).  I can't tell you how completely life changing this has been.

For both me and David.  It's so wonderful to wake up every day knowing that I'm now in control of my food intake, and that I know how to control it for the rest of my life.  Even though the diet is very low calorie, I want to stay on it forever. I know that we'll phase into eating all regular foods before long, and sometimes that scares the devil out of me, but most of the time I'm simply excited about it.  I'm excited to get to my goal weight--and know that it'll happen.  I'm excited about the changes that I've made, but mostly I'm excited about how these changes have made me feel.

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And without a doubt I can tell you that one of the prayers, wishes, hopes and dreams that I'd held all my life has finally been answered: I no longer want to eat sweets. I no longer crave them.  They no longer consume me mentally nor do they control my life.  I will never eat sweets again, and that makes me happy.  At one point in my life that would have made me sad, but it makes me happy.  I'm excited thinking about how I'm going to transform birthday and holiday celebrations to be about the person or event and not the food.  It's all such a wonderful thing. 

And it feels perfectly and wonderfully normal.  Life changing indeed!

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Today's picture is of me and David from Sunday.  Week 15 into the diet and we've lost 50 (me) and 75 (him) pounds.  Astounding.  And we are very very proud!

Making Hats

I love making hats.  It almost makes me want to move someplace with cold weather so I can wear them more often...but not quite.  I really don't like being cold.  BUT I'm very well-prepared in case the weather does turn cooler, like it did this past winter (that would never end).

The 2nd project in the great Wool Experiment was another hat.  I showed you a picture of the colorwork section about half finished last week.  Over the weekend, I went into retreat (more on that tomorrow) and finished the hat.  I love the hat.  It's so unbelievably soft, plushy, and sweet.  As soon as I finished it I plunked it on my head and told David he needed to take a picture of me in it.

He then proceeded to go do a load of laundry, come in and start prepping something for dinner, and then tidied up in the kitchen.  While I'm not about to interrupt anyone cleaning in my house, I was beginning to get quite warm.

So, David came over and did a little photoshoot and this adorable picture came out of that.

I do love this hat and it will definitely be my "go to" when the weather turns cold (wool, blended with alpaca and angora and then double thickness due to the stranded colorwork=very warm...Fresco yarn is amazing!).  I've picked out a pattern to do a cowl in the pinks and green (with buttons, yea!) as well as some mittens in the grey and a darker grey that I had laying around in my small skeins box.  The colorwork was fun and interesting...made me concentrate which I don't always have to do while knitting.  And the yarn is a simple pleasure to work with.

I will also point out that I make mistakes in my knitting.  I don't fret over it.  I'm not perfect and the chance that someone will notice that I've made a mistake in my knitting is pretty slim.  I got off from time to time in my colorwork pattern.  Never more than one stitch, and if the mistake was close by I'd correct it.  If not, well, I'd just let it be.  The structure wasn't going to be compromised, and the overall pattern has so much going on that you'd really have to look to notice.  And I figure if someone is looking that close AND says something, then they just don't understand me and my knitting principles...so there!

With project #2 finished, I promptly cast on Project #3.  It's a pair of socks in a thicker wool than I usually use.  It's dark green, plump and really wonderful (David says it's scratchy, but he's said that about everything so far).  I'll talk about it later this week as I'm still getting to know this yarn (Naturally Perendale).

And for the record, I finished 3 projects this weekend, made HUGE progress on the baby blanket, frogged my very first knitted hat (which was too big and I want to use the yarn for something else, and as fate would have it it's been discontinued), and noticed (in a big way) just how much weight I've lost and how good I'm looking.  I realized that the girls favor me quite a lot.  Something I hadn't paid attention to because I attributed much of my "shape" to what was evidently weight.  This getting to know the new me is going to be a long experience and one that I'm looking forward to seeing all the way through!

Quilt Bee!

It's official...the Quilt Bee starts in one day.  I won't be there for 2 days, but it's official anyway.  We're a small group this year.  There are some illnesses in the family, major anniversaries, and young adults with plans.  But we'll have a fabulous time anyway.

I can never wait for the Quilt Bee.  I have to say that this year it snuck up on me.  What with the tornado, moving twice, a serious case of knitting fever, making serious life-changing decisions with the diet, and all the other general goings on around here, it's suddenly here.  And after last year's performance with all the handwoven and cross stitched items, all of my friends keep asking me "what did you make"?

I didn't make anything this year.  Not one thing.

I bought a few things to knit, but I didn't get to them.  One will take a long time and who knows when it'll be given away at the bee--our 30th?

I do have a game with some gifties...but nothing big.

In a way I almost feel like the bee is surreal this year.  Like I know it's going to happen, but I don't believe it either.  But, I'll get there and it'll be fabulous fun and we'll all have a terrific time and I'll go home on Sunday feeling the joy of being part of such a wonderful family.

There's only one thing that's slightly concerning me...the diet.  I know I can stick to it.  I've done it through vacation,  turmoil, moving and all that.  But, I haven't had to face the temptations of all the yummy and creatively prepared food that will be available this coming weekend.  I'm going to stick to it.  There's too much momentum going and I'm ready to have the weight off and be thin.  But, I do think this will be the most challenging time to date.

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Today's picture is of the other "main" project I have going right now (you'll remember startitis from March?  Well, those are all still on the needles, but not being actively worked on right now).  Anyway, I'm working on a pair of socks out of some Blue Moon Fiber Arts Rockin' Sock Club yarn.  This colorway came with a gorgeous multi-color (rust, purple and green) that I used to do the colorwork hat (which I had to give away because it was too small for my huge noggin).  I picked out a lovely anklet pattern from Sockupied Fall 2012 and started knitting away.  The lace pattern is lovely, the yarn is gorgeous.  I couldn't see it when it was paired up with the mulicolored yarn, but by itself.  This brown is subtly shaded and just so pretty.

Don't tell anyone, but I'm going to start another pair of socks for the trip.  I need something that all I have to do is "knit"--no pattern just knitting--I've already got the Vesper yarn wound into a hank.  It's a recent acquisition, but I can't remember the name of it right now...it's much more muted in color than the last one I fnished, but it's gorgeous and will be a very nice pair of socks.

Hi!

Hi all!  I'm back.  Sorry to have been gone for so long, but vacation was, well, vacation.  I unplugged, relaxed and thoroughly enjoyed not working.  Almost 2 weeks of that.

Then, of course, I returned to work and found things rather intense.  Stuff I thought was due next week, was actually needed that day.  My aunt had gotten very ill and was touch and go for a couple of days.  It was rather stressful, indeed.

And I find it really hard to deal with stress when I'm coming from a relative position of total stress-free.  I don't get "geared up" for it very easily.  I resist being stressed out.  I hate it.  I avoid it.  And yet, sometimes it rears its ugly head and I don't quite know how to handle it.  In this particular situation I just let it roll on past me.  I did what I could, worked hard, and managed to get everything done that I needed to do.  And so it goes.

But, back to vacation, which I know you're dying to know about.  Thursday was a day off to luxuriate and pack.  Friday we left for Lexington.  The drive seemed to take longer, though we didn't deal with any traffic...our stops were longer than anticipated and we got off to a late start.  Saturday we slept in a little and then went to the "Sheep and Fiber Festival."  Now, what I was expecting were sheep...and of course vendors to buy yummy yarns.  The vendors were there, but I did not see one single live sheep at all.  I was sorely disappointed.  The festival lasted for 2 days, but I was done in about 2 hours.  While I am terrifically glad that we went, I will need to tame my desire to attend these things to the "biggies"...at least if I'm going to travel that far.

SO, my desire to meet up with sheep, is, well, still a desire.

After the festival we had time to run out to Shaker Village for the afternoon where we looked at exhibits, walked around and enjoyed the beauty of the countryside.  It was a great day, beautiful weather and just all around relaxing and fun.  We came back into town and in our search for Outback found Chuy's so ate dinner there.  Yum.

On Sunday we slept in again, went to the local bookstore Joseph Beth, and went to our friend, Brent's wedding.  It was a beautiful ceremony, and the picture below is David and I all dolled up for the ceremony.  I think we're looking "real good"...don't you? (as of yesterday I'm down a total of 38.8 pounds and David 56...we feel amazing...simply amazing).  We then drove around and looked at our old houses.  That's always an interesting exercise.  That night we met some other friends from grad school for dinner at Bella Notte.  It's gotten better over the years.  Wonderful food and better company.

On Monday we drove up to Holmes County, OH, where we arrived at our hotel.  Our plan that day was to totally chill, which we did.  On Tuesday, we decided that the rock hard pillows at the hotel were not going to work for another 2 nights, so we drove into Canton and bought some pillows and I went to a yarn shop there because I could.  Then we went to Kidron where we shopped for furniture at Eastwood Furniture.  We bought a living room suit which will be hand crafted and delivered to us sometime in late July or August.  Then we tooled around some more driving around the countryside, and went back to the hotel in the afternoon to relax a little before dinner.  Wednesday was more of the same (without the big purchase).  

On Thursday we got up very early and drove home.  I don't want to talk about the drive because it was awfully stressful with terrible terrible traffic.  We made it home safely and I didn't completely lose my mind, so I guess in the end it was all ok. 

Then for the weekend (and it was a long one, thank goodness) I knitted.  I completed some beautiful socks (pictures later, I promise) and started another pair (almost finished with them).  All-in-all it was fabulous to just SIT and do nothing.  It was a great all-around vacation.

What a difference a week makes

#1:  Well, this time last week, I was still living at the apartment. I had most of my belongings packed, but not all.

Today I'm living back at my house (yea!) and I have some of my belongings unpacked but not most.


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#2:  Looking at pictures of myself and David from last week to this...all I can say is wow.  Usually I don't see the changes in myself...but between this week and last I truly do.  Pic of us is below.  I apologize for my messy hair...it's just that after unpacking and cleaning all week, I don't think I even thought about what my hair looked like.

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#3:  Last week I was doing a lot of knitting...last night I was itching to do some knitting.  I have no idea which bag or box my patterns and yarn are in, so I haven't been able to knit a thing. I think that once I find my current works in progress, I'll end up stopping unpacking at that very moment and getting to my knitting. I dearly miss it.

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#4:  Last week I was a staunch fan of the coffee I made in my little bitty coffee pot, this week I'm in love with T-Bones' coffee.  I may never brew another pot of coffee ever!

A Weekend Appearance

Excited today.  We are packing up to finally move back to the house.  The contractor is supposed to be working all weekend to get us ready to move in on Thursday.

So, last night and this morning I've been combing through my closet to purge all the too big clothes.  I'm excited to report that I did manage to shrink my pants enough to get a few more weeks out of them.  At this point I've lost 20 pounds and David 31.  We are both so thrilled and feel so amazing, I can't even begin to tell you how happy we are to have finally found a diet that works and that we know will end up with us being fit and trim by this time next year.  We even gave away all of our winter coats.  We figure by the time it gets cold enough to wear them, we'll have lost most of our weight and everything we have will be way too big

In the midst of all of this, though, David has had to go shopping for new pants and shoes.  His old shoes have gotten too big, which is an unexpected outcome of the diet.

Knitting and weaving will have to take a short hiatus this weekend.  I'm going to work on a couple of projects in between packing, but I won't be just sitting and knitting like I usually do on the weekends.  That's ok.  The end result will be that we'll be back in our house and happy to be there.  Thrilled actually.  Then I can knit and weave myself crazy.

Today's picture is of a fun little project I'm working on.  I bought some yarn at Halloween from Blue Moon Fiber Arts. It's a neon package that has pink, green, turquoise and orange.  I've decided for this to be a hat and possibly socks, mittens or a cowl...haven't decided what to make next.  The choice of colors is based on a deck of cards.  I have assigned each color to a suit and then I draw the card out of the deck and knit that many rows in the color indicated.  It's been fun and mindless knitting...and wow, is it bright!

Thoughts on Boredom

I abhor being bored.  Absolutely hate it.  I hate it with all the passion I can muster.  Being bored in one aspect of my life feeds over into so many more...I get cranky, have a hard time settling down to the things that I normally like to do.  I think I'm probably very hard to live with.

And I am beyond being bored at work.  There is NOTHING to do.  All the students are diligently working on their own, behaving and otherwise engaged.  We're pretty much waiting until finals to get all the data we need to write all the reports we have to write.

And to be honest, it's about to drive me mad!  I have played games until I'm tired of playing games.  I would pull out my knitting but that won't do either.  People will look askance at me if I do something so out of line with acceptable work behavior.  I can't start anything or plan anything because that's not supported...so I sit and while away the hours in the day and hope that my mood isn't to terribly sour by the time I get home.

Ah, I really do hate boredom.

So, to share some good news.  The construction crew is finally winding down work on the house.  We should be back in (easily) the first week of May as planned.  We'd hoped for earlier, but that just isn't going to work.  David and I are going tonight to pick out a new light fixture for our foyer and to get a vent hood for the stove.  I'm definitely ready to get back to the house.  The apartment living adventure has been good, and I know it's something we could do with smaller furniture and better planning, but I dreadfully miss our high end appliances and the garage.

And the diet is still going very well.  We go weigh-in today, and I expect to get close to 20 pounds.  I'm wearing pants 2 sizes smaller than my previous ones and tops one size smaller.  Very exciting on both counts!  David must go shopping this week because his pants are not looking right on him...and he's happy about that.

Today's picture is of one of the sweaters (I still have on the needles!) that will be my "skinny sweater."  I love the colors and am very much looking forward to finishing it!  The yarn is simply divine!

I may put some extra effort into it this weekend.

Retreat

I'm on retreat this weekend.  A much needed retreat.  In fact, I'd stay this way for an entire week if I could but work beckons and it's the wrong time of the semester to call in sick. There's a lot moving and shaking at work and I could find myself in quite different circumstances in the coming months...or I could find myself just exactly where I am.

I'm ok with that.

But back to the retreat.  My plans for this weekend are to knit and weave and relax.  I'm going to watch travel shows and dream about where I will travel and what I'll do there once I lose my weight.  I'm eating healthy this weekend (thank you so much David for cooking me food for when you're gone...steaming or baking veggies is definitely something I can manage on my own).

I was so excited about my retreat that I actually woke up early this morning.  I did this during spring break too.  Cracks me up.

I currently have 8 knitting projects on the needles and would have started a 9th without question except I'm out of size 7 needles (though I do know I have tips in there, so may change my mind if I can find the right size circular cord) and am definitely starting another mystery knitalong.  Those are so fun.  I even watched the premier episode of Game of Thrones this morning to be part of the spirit behind the KAL (not sure it's going to be my kind of show, but I'll watch it with David when he gets home and hide my face during the violent parts).

I designed the next scarf I'll weave with a lovely "splurge" yarn (thanks to David for my Easter "basket").  It's a cashmere sock yarn and goofy me didn't pay attention to the fact that it's only 50g which isn't enough to knit a pair of socks, so I'll have to weave it into a gorgeous scarf with some bamboo and tencel yarn. It'll be scrumptious.  I have another scarf waiting to be woven that I'm calling "4 shades of grey"...for obvious reasons.  Art Box #1 is still on the loom, but I've made very good progress on it today and won't be surprised if I finish it off if not today, then tomorrow morning.

So, my goal is to be creative, relax, watch tv, knit, weave, and not disarm the alarm on my door until the girls come over on Sunday evening!  Heaven.

Today's picture is of Frankie.  It's a little knitted monster I'm making for my mom to give the little girl she babysits.  The head and body are complete.

I Better Start Knitting Faster!

I had my second weigh-in yesterday!  I lost 6 pounds this week for a total of 10 overall!  woohoo! yea me!  Very very awesome.

And in that light, I'd better start knitting faster or these gorgeous sweaters I'm making are going to be too big!  And that just won't do, let me tell you.

Fortunately things have been quiet at work this week and tomorrow I have a day off.  I'm going to get my mammogram (boo!), do some shopping (yea!), and have 2 days of PJ days.  SO looking forward to PJ days.

The picture for today is the 2nd of the 3 sweaters I'm knitting for the skinny me.  It's an arrow head lace pattern, sleeveless top with a ribbed waist.  I enjoy the lace pattern as it's pretty, easy to work, and looks fabulous in this yarn. My only regret is that the yarn is discontinued.  It's so pretty and fun to work and feels like heaven.

There's A New Me Coming and I'm Knitting for Her

I mentioned a couple of posts back that David and I started a doctor supervised weight loss program.  So far things are going smashingly.  We both feel great, have motivation to keep going and are seeing significant results already.

And it feels really good.  Yesterday, David created an excel spreadsheet so that we can put our weekly weights in.  On that spreadsheet, he put on milestones that we need to know we passed--like the weight I was at my last successful diet attempt (2006), and the weight I was when I went to the hospital to have babies, and the weight I was when I started college.  Those weights that mean something in the big picture.

And in talking about all of this, and feeling the weight starting to drop off, we realized that we're going to need clothes to get us through the phases.  While we don't need lots of them, we do need them because both of our jobs require us to be in front of people conducting meetings, etc., on a fairly regular basis.  Plus, we're putting so much time and effort into making this happen that we want to be sure to look as good as possible throughout the duration--and it'll be a while, we both have a lot of weight to lose.

Then I got in a new knitting magazine and saw three really cute sweaters that I like and then I looked in the back at the patterns and noticed that they only go up to L or XL and my initial reaction was "too bad" and then I remembered that someday soon I'm going to be a L or XL and that I could wear these sweaters that I want to make, so I rummaged through my stash and found  enough yarn in the right weights for 2 of the sweaters...the 3rd sweater is a total splurge, but that's ok. I bought that yarn (and it's complete luxury) and I have cast on 3 sweaters in the past week and have been knitting industrially on them all...it's kind of like planning for a baby's arrival, only right now I'm planning on the arrival of a skinnier, healthier, more amazing me.

Sweater one's progress is pictured below.  It's a "twist front top" and I have no idea how I'm going to make the long strip of fabric I make twist around into a shirt that can be worn, but I'm going to trust it and go for it.  It's a blue cotton yarn called Solaris by S. Charles that will feel divine next to the skin.  I can't wait to see it finished (and to figure out how to actually put it together...if it works, I can see this being a pattern for using woven fabric as well!)