Yesterday

To update yesterday’s post:

The SO is seriously not waffling. I can’t believe that he is using my plan to prevent impulsive dog getting to actually prevent me from impulsively getting a dog. The nerve of some people! LOL

We went to look at the outside of our ideal house yesterday. It is super nice. But we were both almost run down twice while we were there by people driving crazily on the street. It is a death trap for kids and pets. I think we are going to focus on getting our house sellable and then see what happens.

I haven’t mentioned it before but I’m making an effort to ride Prize. I’ve been riding briefly twice in the past two weeks. Yesterday I rode her and you’d have thought she was being suited up to go on a death march. She just kept sighing as I saddled her. Walking around the arena for ten minutes was obviously going to be the death of her. She also has a new friend who had a fit when her Prize was taken away. She ended up having to held by the arena so she could see. Prize didn’t care that she was away from her but the other horse was nuts. That kept the riding short too.

I realized that I’ve never aimlessly ridden. When I’ve done arena work I’ve always been training for something. Now I’m not going to be showing since I don’t have a truck and getting up early to dress up in black clothes and paying to stand in the hot sun (or rain) for hours has somehow lost its appeal. So I don’t have a focus and I get bored. There are trails I could ride but I’m not ready for that yet.

I ordered a book on arena exercises to give me some ideas of things to do while I work on my confidence so she doesn’t get bored and decide to make things ‘interesting’ as she’s been known to do. ————-

The cats have taken the abscence of Snowball hard. Riley is missing his sparring partner so he picks on Powder more but she doesn’t fight back as much. That’s not as much fun and smacking a snarling dog on the head apparently.

Powder used to protect Snowball when she ate. Snowball got all kinds of human and raw pet foods during her last few months. Powder would sit beside her and watch until Snowball had her fill. Then Powder would ever so graciously clean up whatever she didn’t eat. Now Powder only has her own dry cat food to eat. Poor baby!

I said never again!

Here’s a quiz to see how well long time readers have been paying attention. What activity do I hate more than anything else in the universe?

Moving. If you doubt this I suggest you check the archives for August - October 2008 to remind yourself of the level of whining I can work up to when I’m facing a move. Hate it, hate it, hate it, hate it!

Now imagine an equilateral triangle. We live at the top point of the triangle. The SO works at the bottom left corner and I work at the bottom right corner of the triangle. It is a large triangle. An hour drive on each side in fact. It would make logical sense to push down the top point of the triangle so it was closer to the bottom two corners. So, we decided that we should move. Let the cussing begin anew!

We are just at the looking around stage. I got excited about an updated house. The one we live in was built in 1890 which means it was retrofitted for newfangled stuff like plumbing and electric. As a person who once picked a house design to build based solely on the fact that it had a soaking tub, I had some reservations about moving in here. It has character - and no counter space and no closets etc. The SO had always wanted to redo an old house and was telling everyone that he had it out of his system now. So what was his mantra while looking at ads? “That house is too new.” Turns out to our shock and amazement that he might not have it out of his system.

We found our perfect house in the town I work in. It is in our price range which must mean that it is leaning 45 degrees to the left or something else horrible like that. It is in the historic district of that town on a corner lot. That’s just like where we live here. It is almost the same style as this house but seriously updated. Amenity #1 listed? Soaking tub. It also has had the attic (which we can’t even access here) renovated to a “recreation room.” I already yelled DIBS on that for a sewing room before he realized what he was looking at. We have a request in to see it to see what is wrong with it that the pictures don’t show. I’m hoping it is just that most people have the sense not to want to live in a house built in 1900 (Yay! A whole decade newer!)

As much as I hate moving, I love looking at houses. I’m the person that real estate agents hate. I’d be happy taking one night a week to check out cool houses that I have no intention of buying. (I don’t because I’m not that mean.) So house shopping makes me happy. House buying freaks me out. Moving makes me cuss. But the SO apparently feels that hiring movers in a necessity. I’ve always moved myself. This may change my attitude entirely!

_________

Guess what else I’ve said “never” about lately? Getting another dog. I like dogs. But for ease of operation there is nothing like having pet cats. I’ve said for years that after Snowball dies I don’t want another dog. It has been two days. I’m waffling already. I love to see puppies at work but if I was going to get another dog I would want an adult. Yep.

I told the SO that we needed a firm dog plan. In my line of work dogs appear needing homes on a regular basis. Leave a dog sized hole in your house and they will be rushing to fill it. The ability to say no because _______ (fill in predetermined set-in-stone reason) saves trouble. Besides the SO and I while agreeing on a few fantasy dog characteristics had definite differences of opinion that needed worked out.

Agree:
Bigger dog that would go on walk/hikes with us. Even when Snowball wasn’t elderly and less inclined to walk, she had very short legs. You didn’t cover much distance with her.
Preferably less hair. Nothing like a white Pomeranian to put you off long haired dogs for a while.

My goals:
Gentle. I work with too many mean dogs to want to deal with that at home especially with kids running around.
Couch potato tendencies/I’m not a terrier person - I don’t want super high energy.
Love Golden Retrievers but there is the hair issue.
Always wanted a Greyhound but the requirement to never be off lead and short life span/horrible diseases they seem to get make me worry.
I’ve always been a ‘big dog’ person but it was nice being able to pick up a Pomeranian and go in a crowded car without worrying where the dog would sit.

The SO:
Wants a protective dog
Loves German Shepherds and Giant Schnauzers (some of the meanest breeds I see at work)

So I was satisfied that we weren’t going to figure out a compromise to that anytime soon. Then last night he looks at me and says, “Standard Poodle.”
I responded in the way that I always do when suddenly faced with profound truth. “Shit.”

Standard Poodles:
Big enough to walk but smaller than other breeds we were looking at.
Low shedding. Needs groomed but I just take it to work one day and he gets groomed for free as long as I keep the lavish grooming team Christmas presents coming and examine their dogs whenever needed.
Not super high energy.
Smart and gentle but some can be protective if his people are threatened.
Fairly healthy breed

But I hardly see any at work. That must mean that there aren’t many around here, right? Too bad. I googled them. Then I fell in love with a picture of a brown and white male puppy. He’ll be ready to go in July. Double shit. I’ve slept on it. I still want the puppy. I’m starting to justify it to myself. Riley is afraid of big dogs so starting with a puppy would help that transition. Riley is beating up Powder more since he no longer divides his attention between her and the dog so a puppy would help Powder out short term while eventually getting big enough to put Riley in his place. House breaking wouldn’t be bad since he could go to work with me where one of the techs has a new puppy to be his friend.

I’m hoping the SO comes home tonight and very firmly reminds me that we are planning on waiting to get a dog. If he waffles it will be all over.

Sacred Threads 2009

I found out about this show from Kimberly Mason. This was a juried show that happens every two years. Here is her quilt.

The Followers by Marlene J. Shea

The Peace Quilt by Ellie Pancoe is a mandala with words for peace in many languages.

White Buffalo Calf Woman Rhapsody by Janice Porter

RIP Snowball

I put Snowball to sleep this afternoon. For the last few months she had been slowly fading. She would eat but not enough to keep her from losing lots of weight. She was alert and normal when she was awake but was only awake about 15 minutes a day. She was getting less and less mobile. She was starting to look sad except when the SO was bribing her with McDonalds cheeseburgers. Then she was downright enthusiastic!
She was 17 years old so it wasn’t unexpected but still sad.

An idea!

Today was a designated cardio day. I’m to the point where I just can’t face another treadmill session. I’ve always been awful about cardio machines. I’m surprised that I’ve hung in this long doing my workouts. It was 90 degrees on the bank sign on the way home so going out to the trails wasn’t a great option either.

Then it dawned on me. Netflix Watch Instantly. If you have a netflix account there are lots of movies you can watch on the computer. I’ve been watching documentaries a lot. I checked out what cardio videos they had. I did three routines from the 10 minute dance blast video. I’m dripping sweat -way more than I would be on the treadmill with my wimpy workouts - and it was fun. They have three pages of video choices for variety. And if (when) I get bored with those options there is a video store nearby that gives out all their workout videos for free.

It may not be as great of a workout as hard intervals on the treadmill but I was getting to the point where I was trying to make excuses to not work out on cardio days. Hopefully this will get me over it.

Body for Life

I haven’t been reporting on my Body for Life challenge but that doesn’t mean that I haven’t been doing it. I’m starting week 9. Weight loss so far - still zero. I attribute this to the fact that I don’t like cardio so I don’t push hard enough. Also I have fallen totally apart on the food plan. But, I’ve been doing really well on the weight lifting program. I’ve seen big strength gains. I have muscle tone that is amazing. The best thing is that my thighs are melting. Absolutely melting! I’ve always had proportionally big thighs. They still aren’t in danger of being ’skinny’ but the change is obvious enough that I occasionally just stop and stare at them.
I wish my food control motivation was as high as my weight lifting motivation. I thought about declaring another self challenge to do 12 weeks of the diet. Just the thought made me weak.
I’m going to the Virgin Islands in October. That is a swimsuit vacation. I bought a new suit this spring. My new life goal is to be scrambling to find a smaller size before the trip!

Friday Block Party

We interrupt the quilt show pictures to report on sewing day. This is my Friday Block Party block for this week.

I also kept working on my many trips around the world quilt. I just have four more blocks to make and then I can put it together. I think I’ll give this one to Z because she’s enjoyed watching it being made. She’s a slave driver though. This weekend I made one block and then wanted to go read for a while. She kept insisting that I “make more quilts so you can make a whole blanket!” She was horrified that I was only going to make one block that day.

Even more NQA

Pirate Treasure Maze by Cathy Wiggins. This is a whole cloth quilt that was then embroidered.

Bijagos Warrior by Sarah Ann Smith

Unbridled Passion by Denise Havlan

Mardi Gras by Patricia Kerko

Friendship Braid by Sherry Euton. I’ve always liked braid quilts and I love the stained glass look of this one.

I can’t read the label on this one but I think it might be Big Bang by Nancy Messier and Pat Harrison.

Dragon’s Breath by Claudia Clark Myers

Last Dance in the Arctic by Kathy McNeil

More NQA

A Peruvian Tapestry: Women of the Andes by Betty J. Taylor

Blazing Beauty by Beth Schillig. She is the same person who made the Dear Jane quilt on the last post. I didn’t realize that until I was posting but I guess I’m consistent in whose quilts I like.

There was a challenge where you had to use a certain fabric (the red cat body in this quilt), added fabrics may be red, white, black, or yellow only, and must be 20 x 20. This is True Colors by Vickie Nunez.

We were following some ladies around the exhibit. We turned a corner and there was a guy smoothing this quilt. The ladies in front of us were horrified and told him in no uncertain terms that he wasn’t allowed to touch the quilt. Turns out he was the maker and it wasn’t hanging flat. Then they were embarrassed. Kaleidoscope Rainbows at Night by Brian McCoy.

NQA

I spent the last two days at two big quilt shows with my mother. Yesterday we went to the National Quilting Association show. I have lots of pictures so I’ll post a few at a time.

This is Jeepers…It’s Jane by Beth Schillig. I like this one because the people I sew with are trying to do a Dear Jane. This one doesn’t require all the blocks.

This is Screecher by Grace Errea.

Adding more stuff

We’ve started a new renovation project. We are going to be adding a low stone wall around the porch. Of course since there is a male, non-blogger, non-scrapbooker involved he started the project without doing the most important part of the prep work - the before photo. He said that the before was ugly so he didn’t want a picture. *shaking head*

Here’s as before as it gets:

The garden is going crazy this week.

I have to either go get more stakes or try to cram my runaway tomato plants into cages before they eat the eggplant.

Lady

I call this one Lady Looking for Her Tramp.

Friday Block

Here’s this week’s Friday Block Party block. Yes, it is only Saturday. I’m overachieving this week!

Reinforcing stereotypes

Sometimes I feel like we pick on Riley and his clumsiness too much. Just when I start to feel bad he has a day like yesterday.

He was in the garage/gym with us. The SO was getting ready to bench press some show-off amount of weight like 300 lbs. He was laying on the bench when Riley decided that his position must mean that Daddy wants a cuddle! So he jumped on the SO’s stomach right as he started to lift. Noone was injured. Riley was shooed but he came back because obviously Daddy was really in need of a cuddle since he seemed so jumpy!

Later Riley was by himself on the bench. Weight benches are narrow. This is not a secret but Riley couldn’t get the hang of it. He’d lay down and tumble off it. Repeatedly. If he could balance himself on the bench then he’d get messed up if you petted him. He would lean into your hand and then fall off the bench. I feel bad but he’s a cat and he really should have better spatial awareness!

Random thoughts

I had some freaky dreams yesterday morning. One involved the making of a documentary about Roslyn Carter’s first husband who happened to be Sonny Bono’s dad. What sequence of neurons needed to misfiring to bring up ex-First Families and Sonny Bono and get them all mixed up? In the same dream Heidi Klum declared that both she and her husband were gay. Again, I worry about my brain. The SO gently inquired about whether or not I’d ever considered therapy.

I’m still all happy about the new and improved muscles that I’m discovering on myself. I also found out that if you yell to a man, “Hey, come here and feel my thighs!” you get instant compliance. That might be followed by pouting when he realizes that you only want him to admire your quadricep tone.

I had a mini-meltdown the other day. The SO has been losing weight too. That’s a happy thing. But it isn’t so happy when he’s doing the man thing of doing it quickly and fairly effortlessly. He’s been weighing himself at work and getting very low weights. Other scales have not agreed with the work scale. The other day the work scale weighed him at LESS THAN ME. I was not happy. You all know my theory that I have a black hole inside of me that makes me weigh way more than you’d guess but really this is ridiculous. We are the same height. But he is all muscly. Not just mildly toned but bulging muscles that come from serious lifting for the last 25 years. There is no way he weighs less than me. He checked on another scale and it weighed him 30 lbs heavier. That’s better. Now I have a head start again so I better get moving on the weight loss before I have to have a meltdown for real if he does pass me!

Halfway

I’m at the end of week 6 of the 12 week Body for Life Challenge.

Weight loss - none

Pant size - down one size depending on the pants

Personally I’m amazed that I’m still doing it. My track record of sticking to workouts is not good. I’ve done my workouts six days a week for six weeks. I’m definitely seeing an improvement in my strength. I’ve been keeping a record of what I’ve been lifting on each move and I’m lifting more. Yesterday I was doing leg extensions and had my hands on my thighs. I could really feel my quads with good definition. I just wish the fat was coming off to show off all the new tone I’m getting.

I’m holding out for week 8. The book kept talking about women not dropping a lot of fat until around week 8. I think they didn’t want us to get discouraged especially if we are doing this with a male person who drops weight fast.

I need to be better about the food side of the equation. Go back to the small frequent meals to help with weight loss. Overall I’m glad I’m doing this even if I’m not seeing huge results yet.

Today’s quilting

First off today I worked on my Friday Block Party square for the week.

You’d think that’d be simple but I was math impaired today and never could make exactly the right number of units for any section of the block.

Then I had some extra time and pulled out a project that I just work on now and then. It is the scrappy mini trips around the world. I started laying out the finished blocks and was horrified. It looked like a mess on the living room floor. You couldn’t see the diagonals well at all. I looked at it through the viewfinder and it was much better.

This picture makes it look so much better than it is. This may end up a donation quilt and I’ll just keep the photo that makes it look presentable!

Acceptance?

I got back from Montreal late Saturday night after Z was in bed. The next morning she was full of questions about where I had been. Turns out that I was in a bit of trouble with her for being out of town “because you’re part of my family now” and therefore it is my job to be home when she is there. I was a bit surprised to hear that from the same kid who has repeatedly told me that I’m stupid and need to leave. I’ve worn her down!

She did have a mini-fit that morning. It was sort of cute since it was such a shadow of what used to be normal for her pre-medication. I was upstairs and I heard, “NO!! Stop! I hate that song!” Then she came running upstairs and threw herself against the bed dramatically. Her father was playing music she hated on YouTube. Since I’ve also retreated upstairs in the face of his musical tastes I sympathized with her feelings if not the method of expression. I asked her what song she wanted to hear. She hiccuped out, “Old McDonald.” So I told her that she should go downstairs and sing five verses at the top of her lungs. She giggled and agreed. Her volume was good but it turns out that she doesn’t really know the words except for Old McDonald had a farm EIEIO. Then she came running upstairs again to report that he didn’t seem to notice. Oh, well, it was a good revenge plan even if the execution was a bit weak.

Montreal church tour

Notre Dame is the most famous tourist church. It is beautiful inside but they charge to get in and I wasn’t giving them a second admission fee so I just retook some outside pictures.

Marie-reine-du-monde (Mary Queen of the World) was my favorite church and it was free!

Looking towards the front

A simple area of the ceiling

The altar - The whole church is supposed to be a 1/4 scale replica of St. Peter’s in Rome down to this copy of the altar.

Looking through the altar to the back of the church and the organ

Montreal pictures

I went back and took more pictures to replace the dearly departed ones.

Street scenes in Vieux-Montreal which is the old downtown area with lots of shops and restaurants.

The architecture was amazing.

Occasionally you’d get glimpses of gardens

This area is on the waterfront.

Gratuitous horse picture - love that carriage