knitting and my dogs...again!

I am slowly trying to go through my things and either find old projects to work on instead of buying new ones. I have sooo many half finished projects - 4 or 5 pairs of socks, gloves, scarves, beanies, latch hook rugs, cross stitch, oh man. So the other day I was just craving doing tiny clicking bamboo needle knitting, and I found a pair of knee length striped socks that weren't even half done - only about 3 inches of one leg was done! It's perfect. I've been working on it just for a day now, and I've already quadrupled the amount I had, and it's neat because I am obviously such a better knitter now than I was 5 years ago when I started.

I put aside the Juliana project for the time being. It's kind of mindless, what with needing to knit 3 feet of the same damn thing, but on the other hand, you also can't tune out completely or you'll wreck the pattern. So it's something I will resign myself to being an ongoing slow project that I will take with me to conferences and things where it's either knit that or knit nothing.

Yesterday was karate - my stomach was hurting so I didn't feel like I was paying good attention, or giving it my all, strength wise - so I tried to concentrate on technique. We did an exercise where we kicked through rebreakable boards - with two of them together instead of just one. My right snap kick is by far my strongest, and the first three were easy, but that darn brown rebreakable board gets me every time. I will work on this! I will also work on my side kicks and my hooking heel, so that when my next belt test comes along I'll be ready.

My puppy got her rabies shots last weekend, and has had enough cycles of her other shots so that I can start taking her places soon! I can't wait! I've been dying to get her on a leash so we can go walk through Central Park and go to the beach and stuff!!! She's such a sweetheart - she has two very distinct moods. There's the Crazy Eyes mood where here eyes roll back in her head and her teeth come out and she rolls around on her back trying to get her pearly whites on anything that will stay still. You have to watch your ankles when she is in that mood. Her other mood is her sweet, calm, loving mood where she follows me around throughout the house as I putter, and when I take a shower she comes and lies down on the shower step and when I do dishes she lies down on my feet! I love this dog. I can't believe how much I love this dog!

The big dog keeps chewing a hotspot on his back so he now officially has been CONED. This means you have to watch out because he doesn't know how wide or painful he is when he tries to brush by you. This also means I need to separate the two dogs because Juno likes to grab onto Rommel's cone and pull. Juno gets the backyard during the day (Rommel has the advantage of more years of house breaking) and Rommel gets the backyard at night (Rommel doesn't struggle with separation anxiety).

Let's see..what else... Adam graduates in...22 days! The week before he graduates, some of his academy friends, their husbands and wives, and me, will be going out to a fancy dinner. He told me a week ago that I need to decide what I am wearing SOON because he doesn't want to deal with my last minute what-to-wear panicking that I always do for every holiday or event. Hah. He knows me too well.

I've been doing a sparkpeople Sweatsuit to Swimsuit Challenge, and I am pleased to report that I haven't missed a day in 2 weeks! Coach Nicole's Cardio Blast DVD with 6 ten minute workouts have saved me so many times - when it's late and I don't feel like going to the gym and I don't even feel like doign 30 whole minutes of working out, I tell myself I am just going to do 1 ten minute segment, and invariably I end up doing more!

I feel like there is so much more I want to talk about, but really I'm just pining for my knitting and my puppy. My knitting is sitting on my desk next to me, and it's so hard not to do that, but I really need to go back to work. Ah! I am so glad this weekend is a three day weekend!

oh hey, my little sister is having her Gold Award Ceremony this weekend! HOW AMAZING IS THAT? REALLY AMAZING, that's what!

today

tonight - I picked up tshirts for bowling blast (work), went to the grocery store, went home, made chicken/bellpepper/onion kebabs, grilled them, swept, wrapped up joel's bags, did dishes, cleaned the fridge, watered the garden, made asparagus, went to karate, went to the gym and went swimming.

Now I am tired. very, very tired. I believe it is time for bed. I bought a bunch of barley, lentils, and split peas at the store - I am suddenly very excited about cooking grains and legumes. The lentils I made the other day - plain old lentils with nothing in them - have been hitting the spot all week. I can't wait for barley.

I drank all my water today, got some exercise, and kept up with sparkpeople. I kept up with house chores and remembered to hang my keys on my new hook so I don't spend ten minutes every day looking for them. I remember Char always saying that success is a series of small good habits practiced every day. So all these little things- remembering to hang up my keys and water the garden.....success. All success.

hello world

Oh my goodness.

So. I am so used to livejournal, where I have it set to email me anytime someone leaves a comment, that it didn't even occur to me that I may have been getting comments and not knowing it on here. I just clicked back through my archives - and - HI EVERYONE! Sorry I never responded! I had no idea! *laughs*

Well, that certainly, suddenly, made me feel like I was actually writing for an audience. It's funny, I was just talking to a fellow etsian at karate last night about how to continue being a blogger, you have to have a certain amount of narcisism and not care if anyone else is actually reading it. What great timing to find out that people are. :)

I am totally underprepared for my pyschology test today. I have karate tonight - and I am inspired all over again. I had the fastest stripe test from Mr. Fuller last night - I did my lessons, did a few strikes, and into third squat position I went. I actually felt like I deserved this stripe, just for the amount that I *cared* about it. It feels good to really care about karate again.

Photos: My little sister is the one with the blue gi (she's an instructor) and in the crazy-hair photo on the right. I'm the other one, holding the kali sticks. The crazy-hair photo is her at her blackbelt test making me more afraid of her than I've ever been.

oh you know, stuff

Well, yesterday's doctor's appointment turned out to be a big emotional drain/letdown/hopeful visit. It was a weird mix. I didn't end up getting a biopsy...but I also don't feel very good about making progress in figuring out exactly what is going on. The doc gave me something else to try for another month, and, yet again, we'll just have to "wait and see." Grr.

On the upside, Adam took me to the doctor's and was wonderful and supportive and made me realize, yet again, how good it is to have someone like him to be able to lean on. I have a hard time asking for things like "hey I'm nervous about the doctor, I'd like your physical presence, will you go with me?" I remember once I had to go to the emergency room when we were first together, and I got my mom to go with me - I'm used to depending on her! It's a funny transition going from her to boyfriend, you know? But Adam did make it very clear that it's both that I *should* ask him of these things, but he really *wants* me to. I can understand that. I love to "be there" for him - it would hurt if I were never given that opportunity.

After the doctors, we had lunch at Souplantation, then I went home, did some work (I was working from home for the rest of that day) and then watched The Office while I knitted. I am working on my fingerless gloves in order to survive my freeeeeezing office.

Tonight is picture night at the karate studio, and I need to do some reading for psychology. Adam is frantically heading to Monterey as I type, and I turned down an invitation to go to Mammoth this weekend in order to see Roxana's show, And Then There Were None.

As far as karate goes - I hit a slump a few months back where I was just not interested. I had to force myself to go, and it took a long time for me to get into it once I was there. I consciously made the decision not to give in to that, and reestablished myself at the studio. Tonight I am testing for my first stripe on my greenblack belt, and I am excited about being excited. I am doing two lessons - one is a right forearm hammer to the back of the neck while stimultaneously kneeing them in the groin. This makes them bend over, and I do a choke on my right side (while making sure my right foot is placed beside theirs), then I plant my right foot behind them, and do a right sweep, which takes them to the floor. Then I do a stomping side kick to their throat with my right foot.

The second lesson I am doing, we both start left side up, they throw a straight punch, I block with my left (upwindmill block), then do a straight one-knuckle punch to their ear. I do a right side kick to their knee, which brings them to their knees. I do a right backhand to their neck, then I do a left upperarm strike to their throat while bringing them in to a four knuckle upper cut to the back of their head, almost in a scooping motion.

I am starting now preparing my lessons for my blackbelt test. These will be the first two I do. I will now never stop doing these lessons.

Friday morning I would like to wake up early enough to go running on the beach, since it's dark by the time I leave work now. Day 2 of the Couch to 5k involves two 8 minute runs. Adam will try to do his while he's camping in Monterey, so I have to make sure I do it before he comes home and wants to run 20 minutes straight.

Alrighty - that's all from me for now. I will miss Adam, but I am also looking forward to not having to negotiate what we watch on tv. :) Romantic comedies and "stupid" tv shows, HERE I COME! ;)