Off the Grid

This past week, I decided that I needed to take back my weekend. I was starting to feel burnt out and exhausted. The result of being social too many weekends in a row and not allowing enough quality "me" time to decompress. By Thursday, I felt super rundown and exhausted which prompted me to go home sick and  sleep the rest of the afternoon. It was just what I needed. Sleep and quiet.

I had already taken Friday off because I had plans to do an Anchor Brewery tour and tasting and they only do them during the day and during the workweek. It was a ton of fun! And then I had dinner plans at a fun place I hadn't been to in a while. Dinner was delicious, the company was fun...it was the perfect social fun day!

Saturday was stay home and stitch day so I assplanted in the recliner most of the day and stitched on Fairy Moon. I do have to say...I stitched and stitched and stitched. I stitched a lot! More than I have in months and yet...

...it doesn't really look like I stitched that much. Although I did. I have a lot of fill-in left to do in the wing. It's moving right along. I'll get excited once I get her really shaping up to look like the fairy she is supposed to be. I am not excited about tackling her monstrous white dress though so I'll need lots of cheering once I get to that point.

I was so focused on getting as far as I could with Fairy Moon that I didn't work on any finishing and did minimal winding of bobbins. That's ok though. It'll all get done...eventually. Just hopefully sooner than later.

Things aside from stitching are good. I'm holding steady with my weight loss. These next five pounds seem harder than the last seven. I'm hoping to lose them by the end of May but we'll see what happens. I know it's dependant on how many workouts I manage at the gym and I've only been able to fit in 1-2 gym visits a week. I still get lazy...although I consider it more tiredness from the crazy go, go, go schedule I've set for myself. But I'm devoted to yoga for the week and need to get back on my cooking schedule.

Hope everyone had a wonderful weekend!

Until next time...

IHSW and TUSAL

Hello lovlies...how's it all going?

Things, as you can imagine have been busy busy. I don't think there is any other setting at the moment. But let's see if I can remember what I've been up to lately. There hasn't been much stitching going on. At least I don't think so...

I did finish two motifs on Mary Wigham and she is going to be put away for a little while. I can't believe I am still on Part 5 (of 9)! One more motif and over 1 wording (yuk!). It's going back in the wip basket for a spell. Oh, the two motifs I did were the big "Ackworth School" and the gold bird to the right of that one.

I also finished the stitching on Shepherd's Bush Little Eggs Pincushion. I finished before Easter but it took me until this past weekend to finally attach the buttons. I have to look in my stash to see if I have a suitable Easter or soft print to use for the backing.

I started some finishing I can't show yet. I am as slow as molasses when it comes to finishing so of the 3 pieces I wanted to finish, I only managed to complete 1.33 of them. Guess finishing will continue throughout the week/weekend although I am itching to get back to Fairy Moon now.

And lastly, the TUSAL report. I thought I would take a complete shot of what the top of my tv looks like. It has my TUSAL jar, some ranunculus that I picked up at the farmers market along my with roku and cute japanese figurines.

Wow, I am loving the new blogger template! Why did I wait so long to upgrade?! It puts pictures where they are supposed to go and I don't have to go into the html (which I don't even understand) trying to fix things. Awesome! I hope it continues to work this way!

And I thought I would request something that is a total longshot. If there is anyone out there who has Stitchmate scroll rods that they don't like or don't use, please contact me as I may like to purchase them. My order for rods was unfulfilled and I have to figure out another solution...besides qsnaps...or borrowing rods.

Well, I think that's it for me. Until next time...

Public Service Announcement

I'm back earlier than expected with some sad news. 

Yesterday, I learned that the gentleman who created and manufactured the Stitchmate floor stand passed away on Wednesday from a brief battle with cancer. I had known he was sick since I had a nice conversation with his wife a couple of months ago inquiring about their old table stand and the scroll rods I needed and had blogged about. I had hoped he was feeling better but it appears his illness was more serious than it appeared. 

I thought that other Stitchmate fans would like to know. Roger changed the life for many stitchers by the invention and workmanship of a floor stand that he individually handcrafted to order. I am thankful that I was able to order my stand last year as I honestly don't know how I would tackle my BAPs otherwise. There is hope that in time, the family will find someone to take on the manufacturing of the stand but at this time, the business is on hold and the website is down.

Thoughts to the family during this sad time. 

Randomness

I'm restless and procrastinating the things I should be doing...hence more randomness.

~I have no idea where the week has gone! It's been a blur of cooking, yoga, shopping, socializing and eating WAY too much.

~Wine Saturday was tons of fun! Lots of wine, lots of laughs, lots of food and some great people. The wineries we went to were Corison, V. Sattui, Benessere and Gloria Ferrer. My favorite was Benessere. The sommelier was fun and we sat outside and soaked in the sunshine while enjoying our tasting. I told myself I wouldn't buy any wine but I couldn't resist here. Two bottles caught my fancy and it will be a nice reminder of Wine Saturday when I get around to opening them up. Fun times!

~Why is it that when you're shopping for something specific, you have the hardest time finding it?! I spent most of Sunday shopping for a white shift for a work photo and a fun party top. Shopping is exhausting!

~Back to yoga this week. I had to try something called a Dolphin. Seriously...me and this dolphin pose did not see eye to eye. I hope we don't have to do it today...

~Went to a 9 course Japanese dinner which was yummy but WAY, WAY too much food. Seriously, I don't know how people do those multi-course tasting menus. Around course 5, I was hoping the courses were over since I didn't pay attention to how many courses the dinner was in the first place. Nope...4 more to go. I wish we had a better table and weren't seated next to loud guys who I could still hear talking in the bathroom.

~I've barely stitched this past week but I've managed 1.25 motifs in Mary Wigham. I'm hoping to finish up that second motif and put her away again for a bit. She's not really my style and I have no idea what I will do with her when I finish (if ever) but every once in a while, I feel like working on something quaker-ish.

~This weekend is International Hermit and Stitch. Go sign up and plan on some "stitch ass". I'm hoping to relax enough to do some finishing. Famous last words...

~I was scanning through The Stitchery catalog the other night. I don't usually find anything I like in there anymore but I saw this...

I love it! Too bad it's kitted with Aida and so expensive. Something to think about...

~On Saturday, this little space turns 7. Hard to believe that I've babbled on for that long. But this little space has been a huge source of comfort and friendship and I am thankful for it. I stitched up a little something for a surprise but as you can imagine (if you know me well enough), I haven't even tackled finishing it. I'll wait til I do that to announce. I always seem to be late to my own party!

~I'm so glad readers appreciate the randomness. I think my brain would buzz incessantly if I wasn't able to offload at least some of it somewhere! And I suppose some of it is interesting.

Well, you all have a nice weekend. I'll be back Monday to report what I've done with IHSW and do a proper stitch report. You all have fun!

Until next time...

Randomness

~I get along with men better than women a lot of the time but I am starting to wonder if men can really be friends with women. I am starting to doubt it. I was just "dumped" by a male "friend". Despite getting along really well, I didn't want to date him because he was what I classified as a mess. No job, crashing with friends, no car...nice enough guy. He reminded me of the last relationship mistake I made. I was clear that I wanted to be friends and each month, I had to remind him...and each month, I'd sense red flags that just made me more secure in the decision of just being platonic friends. He said something offensive to me last week and I got really upset. I told him how I felt and all I got out of him was that "he's been patient with me and his patience was wearing thin and how we both wanted different things and that he was done with me". The dude basically broke up with me...as if we were in a relationship! But I'm here telling myself that I was explicitly clear that we were friends from the beginning. And boy am I glad! I don't need any guy being more of a diva than me. And I don't need some guy pressuring me to be more than I am comfortable with. I don't need a guy who's so desperate to be in a relationship but can't see a good friendship staring him in the face. I don't need any of that.

~I don't need any of that because I am happy and secure in the knowledge of who I am. I don't need to be in a relationship to feel better about myself. And in my world, that is the most important and calming feeling. I'm happy with me. I know what I want. I am not settling. Needy diva boys can go away. I haven't the patience for them.

~I found a social group that makes me amazingly happy. Wonderful people looking to be happy, have fun and make friends. I've fit in nicely and they've even given me a title. I'm all important now. It's nice to be liked for who you are. I feel like I'm making new friends and it's the best feeling! A lot of us are going wine tasting on Saturday and I can't wait!

~I hit a little bit of a slump with stitching since it's been so busy and I've been more tired with implementing cooking and workouts into my weekly routine. But I have a couple of tiny finishes I'll tell you about later.

~Last night, I had a headache and I took my normal Excedrin dosage. I fell asleep from 11pm to 130am. I woke up with a crazy charley horse (hate those!) and was wide awake until 430am when I fell asleep for another 2 hours. I'm wondering if the caffeine in Excedrin made me feel like I slept for 7 hours when it was only 2.5 since I've been caffeine free for 3 weeks now.

~What does one want to do in the middle of the night when you're wide awake and can't sleep? Shop! Followed by rooting around for my stitching projects. I finished a small that shouldn't have been as troublesome as it was, found fabric for a Just Nan I'd like to start and dug Mary Wigham out of the WIP basket. I know! Crazy! I guess I found my stitching mojo again!

~I've been slowly organizing my DMC. I literally have hundreds of skeins to wind and it is tedious! But the colors are so pretty...

~I went on a date last weekend. More to keep up on my dating skills. It's like keeping sharp on interview skills. You don't want to get rusty. The guy constantly brought up his ex-ex-ex girlfriend (big dating no-no). And then he actually told me his ex-girlfriend (Not the ex-ex-ex) was repressed and terrible in the sack and how he had to break up with her even though he really liked her. Uh, ok. I'm glad that you feel you can be honest with me but you probably shouldn't be telling girls that information that you're hoping to date. Not to mention that our date was at 7pm and he ate dinner before we even met! Um, didn't he think that maybe I'd like to eat something when we're meeting around dinner time? Sweet Jesus...Serenity Now! Needless to say, I'm not seeing that guy again and it solidified the fact that being single isn't so bad and some guys really need help in the dating department.

~Since I only slept 4.5 hours last night, I wonder if I will make it through yoga tonight!

~I feel like this is one of my more boring "randomness" posts. It's been a weird couple of weeks but I promise that the next post will have photos of actual stitching! Promise!

Hope you're all having a nice week...until next time!

I Survived The Cleanse!

I survived...woo!

It's been funny the last couple of days. I've been diligent about keeping up with my comments and my blog friends have been writing me back asking about the cleanse. I suppose I peaked some curiousity despite my whining!

I'd have to say that the cleanse was a success. I feel a lot better. I'm more energetic and getting better sleep but I do think my digestive issues are just something I will have to try and balance. Sometimes, it's fine and sometimes it isn't and I know that stress only aggravates my symptoms.

For a week, I did an ayervedic cleanse which basically focuses on building a healthy metabolic system and attaining good digestion as well as exercise, yoga and meditation. You test to see which dosha you are. I tested as a borderline Pitta/Vata but because of my digestive issues, the cleanse leader told me to consider myself Vata. Apparently, this is like having old lady digestion! And my dietary staples of salads, popcorn and crackers are bad for this dosha because it takes a lot of effort to break down those foods and they are drying. Great...apparently, I've been jacking myself up for a while. My dosha requires that veggies and food be cooked. Hence, me now having to cook a little more. I can still eat salads but need to counteract it with good fats and acids to help the breakdown of the veggies and should stick to that being an afternoon meal instead of an evening meal. Ayerveda believes that your biggest meal of the day should be lunch and not dinner.

So what did I eat? A lot of rice! This doesn't bother me too much since I grew up having rice at two meals anyways but I haven't kept that practice up since high school so I'm not used to making or eating so much rice hence dusting off the rice cooker. So it was a lot of warm coconut rice cereal, a rice and bean concoction and lots of veggies with a smoothie, stewed fruit or soup thrown in for good measure. I felt satisfied each day. No hunger pains.

The worst part of the cleanse was the caffeine withdrawal. On my second day, I felt like death. I had no energy, was super lethargic and only got up to cook or feed myself. The headache was terrible. But I persevered. In exchange for giving up caffeine, I have a better sleep schedule. I can't really last past midnight anymore so I am forced to go to sleep earlier which means it's a little easier to get up in the mornings when the alarm goes off and hence, I have more energy. Amazing what I was depriving myself of for 30+ years. But as you can expect, after 30+ years of coffee, it isn't so much the caffeine I miss but the taste of coffee so I'll be switching to decaf to fulfill the coffee craving. I do think that the caffeine was making me a spaz and I feel a little calmer. I think it will take a little while for me to reach my inner zen.

There was no weird colonic enema although that was an option. Yes, I said enema. Don't go freaking out. Instead I took a natural supplement to help move all the bad stuff out of my system. I took it before bed, it did its work while I slept and when I woke up, I did my bathroom business and I strangely felt a lot better. I have a very slow digestive system that I think this just helps do some of the work my system seems to get lazy about.

I didn't do any of the yoga, meditation or exercise I was supposed to do because the cooking took forever. At least I thought it took forever but I also have a small kitchen and I usually try to avoid being in there as much as possible so I am not very proficient in that department. The cooking wasn't my favorite thing but I think you all got that vibe from my whining. :)

Would I do it again? Yes. I would probably try to find a time when I was doing a staycation so I could take full benefit of the cleanse with enough time to cook, meditate and exercise. Ayervedic cleanses occur in the Spring and the Fall.

Would you all like some stats?

At the beginning of Lent, I gave up sugar and was at a starting weight of 157.

At the start of the cleanse, I was at 155. For one week, I was going to give up caffeine, sugar (already was), meat, wheat, dairy, fat (other than olive oil and ghee) and alcohol.

One week later and I am at 150.8.

So I'm down about 7 pounds with 4 of those being due to the cleanse. My goal is to be down to 145 by the time I go to Grand Cayman in June. The hard part, of course, is to keep those pounds off while losing more. I'm 5'8" so I think 145 is a good healthy weight plus I'm not sure my bone structure will support me being lower than that. Time will tell though.

I'll maintain some aspects of the cleanse and incorporate more grains and veggies into my diet especially in the evenings. I ended up eating a lot of rice just because I prefer it over quinoa but I did have some of that. I am just happy I can incorporate oats into my diet now. It's my usual morning grain. I love oatmeal!

I am back to regular eating but I am trying hard to make careful choices and not snack. ANd if I do snack, that I snack on fruit.

It was an interesting experiment. A year ago, I would never have done this. I didn't think I could. What?! Give up coffee and meat and wine?! You have got to be kidding! I don't miss the coffee, I don't miss the meat although I'm back to chicken and well, I can take a break from wine but not give it up altogether. Lucky for me, my dosha says red wine is good. Thank Goodness! So...if I can do it. You can do it to if you so choose to. You can do anything! You just have to believe in yourself.

So...the cleanse was a success.

***

If you've gotten to the end of this, my thoughts go out to my friends living in the Dallas/Forth Worth area. My sister lives in this area and her house wasn't damaged by the tornado but was damaged by the storms. If you can send some good thoughts, I'd appreciate it. She has lots of water damage due to the hail breaking her tile roof and skylights and she had just finished a remodel. May she have the strength and motivation to deal with the insurance and having more contractors in and out to fix the damage. I can't wait to see her in a couple of months. I am just thankful that they are all ok. The house will be fixed up in time.

I'll be back soon with a stitching update.

Until next time...