Ahhh… garden dreams….

Keith shot this photo in the lovely town of Lewiston, NY, about a month ago. I love it! The bright colors, the white picket fence, the whole package.

Little did we know that one week after seeing these beautiful blooms that we would have found a home for us, and one with fabulous gardens too! So next spring, we will have beautiful tulips blooming in our own yard!

Now, what to do about Mercy and the gardens… and the not-completely-fenced-in-yard.

Big news!

We’ve found a home and we are going to be moving! We are very excited, to say the least, and very busy. Cleaning up the condo, packing when we can… and all the million papers, documents, & insurances we need to get taken care of in the mean time. Our closing date is in mid-July.

At last, a garden to call our own.

My hourglass sweater is complete, and I am waiting for the weather to cooperate for an outdoor photoshoot!
In the mean time, I have decided that a “sanity” project is needed for me during this transitional time.

Daphne’s Baby Cape is back on the needles, the, uh, correct size needles I mean.

Garter Stitch. All garter stitch. Doesn’t get any better than this.

Except for the fact that I may run out of yarn. Ravelry talk points out that 3 skeins of Cascade 220 will NOT be enough, despite what the pattern says. Hopefully I can get ahold of a fourth skein.

I can pause in the middle of a row and not worry about messing up anything. It’s also great Stanley Cup playoff knitting too.

GTG! The puck drops soon!

Frugal Friday

Have you ever heard of GasBuddy.com? It’s this sweet site that allows you to punch in your zip code and it will then show you the gas prices at various stations all around your area.

Even though a penny less a gallon realistically only saves me about 11 cents (I have a 12 gallon tank car) it’s the psychological aspect of “sticking it to the gas man.” Or something.

Speaking of gas and cars and such… has anyone revisited the idea of being a one-car family?

We have casually considered it… I’m a stay-at-home-mom with a 6 month old so I am not carting people around to various activities. My ventures out of the house consist of the grocery store, bible study (which is now done for the summer),  a moms group (also done for the summer) and Babies R Us once a month for diapers. I go to the gym a lot too, but we usually walk there since it’s 2 blocks away.

I don’t go out and drive for the heck of it, especially now, and if I am sitting at home, not going places to conserve gas, then why in the world do I have a car? Granted, it is convenient. And nice. And the way we’ve always done things. But I am starting to wonder if it’s really necessary…

Any frugal thoughts? Gas/car related or otherwise?

Covered in Cables

And I think she likes it! I know I do.

It’s the Cabled Coat with Hood from Debbie Bliss’ Baby Cashmerino book. This pattern was the reason I bought the book!

The specs:

Size: 6-9 months

Yarn: Knitpicks Swish Superwash DK in Cornflower (I couldn’t spring for cashmere when I knew there would be spit up on it!)

Needles: Size 3 addi’s- the pattern said that you would need size 2 and 3, but nowhere in the pattern did I see any indication to use the size 2’s… so I just used the 3’s.

Started: January 2008

Finished: May 2008

I love this coat. I am SO happy that we have a little bit of a cold spell here in late May so that Sweet Pea can wear this!

The 6-9 month size should, by all indications, fit her throughout next winter, due to the longer style of the coat.

I do no have any buttons for this yet, because I am a little nervous about the choking hazard it would pose. I plan on waiting until Sweet Pea is past the put-everything-in-your-mouth stage before buying buttons. I also had not sewn the pocket linings down when I took the above photos.. I’ll get to that soon…

Cabling without a cable needle is a must for this project and a new skill that I have mastered after finishing this!

And we got to show it off last week at my cousin’s lacrosse game:

Dog Whisperer, help!

Thanks for your support on my last post! Ahhh child rearing…

What about dog rearing? It is Dogs on Thursday, you know. And I have a dog in need of some intervention. Dog Whisperer, are you out there???

She’s generally a happy dog, but she HATE HATE HATES my neighbor. A lot. I think she would bite him if she got near enough. I’m not sure why; he is 75-ish and smokes- the smoking bit is one of Mercy’s phobias, remember? But seriously, it’s embarrassing. And I don’t know what to do.

Mercy doesn’t seem phased at all by this afternoon’s “barking mad” incident. my neighbor was out puttering in front of the condo and Mercy was having NONE of that. She sounded like she wanted to rip him up! Fortunately she couldn’t, and didn’t, as I promptly brought her inside.

The “sun spot” is back and she  couldn’t be happier.

It’s tough to stay mad at her. Especially when she looks like this.

Attachment Schmachment

Can I just vent on “Attachment Parenting?”

I love my child intensely, like any other mother. My day pretty much revolves around my child, but in a good way. I quit my job to raise my child, and I know not everyone can or wants to do this, but I did and I am happy with my decision. I love being a stay at home mom.

I know my child. I know what her cries mean. I know when she’s tired or hungry or just bored. Most of the time.

BUT because I don’t subscribe to all the Dr. Sears Baby B’s, I am not ATTACHED to my child and must not really love her.

Seriously, Dr. Sears and company, I loathe you.

You make these comments and “research” that has caused me to question if I am a good mom. Grrrr.

You know what? My baby started being A WHOLE LOT HAPPIER when I bit the proverbial bullet and staved her off for another 20 minutes before feeding her so she’d be on a 2 1/2 to 3 hour routine. The “demand” feeding schedule is misunderstood to feed your child every time she cries. WRONG. She was crying because she was tired or gassy or something ELSE. It just so happened that my child’s natural rhythm, so to speak, was a 3 hour schedule. If she started to cry at hour 2 and I fed her, she’d just cry some more because what she really wanted was SLEEP or some gas relief.

While I don’t like being labeled an “Ezzo Baby Wise Follower” he said something that made sense: ASSESS your child’s needs before you put baby to breast. Duh. My grandmother said that too. So did her mother.

My baby started being A WHOLE LOT HAPPIER when I let her cry through her naptime. It took 2 days, 2 naps of crying and yes, I did check on her and did not just let her cry for hours on end. She wouldn’t fall asleep on me, in the rocker, nowhere. What else was I supposed to do? Now she has her little “transitional object,” which I love, and she’s off to dreamland. Every time. Like a champ. She is well rested and happy.

I have a baby sling. I use it sometimes in the grocery store. She isn’t stable enough sitting up to sit in the cart and the weight of her and the car seat is just insane. So I “baby wear” her there. And when we traveled. And sometimes when when my back hurts too much to carry her in my arms in and out of places. But it’s difficult to do 24/7 at home and I also think that she needs to be on the carpet sometime, exercising her own muscles, learning to roll over, sit up, crawl, feel new objects, learn to play with toys. She can’t do that if she is carried all the time. What do you say about THAT Dr. Sears?

Listen to the way that Dr. Sears describes Attachment Parented children vs. non AP:

“Group A were attachment-parented babies. These babies were securely attached, the products of responsive parenting. Group B babies were parented in a more restrained way, with a set schedule and given a less intuitive and nurturing response to their cues.”

OH MY WORD! “Responsive parenting?” !?!?!?!?! “Less intuitive and nurturing response?” So I don’t respond to my child in a nurturing way because I believe that parents should be in charge and not the 15 pound dictator? Yes, my baby is on a schedule, but it’s flexible based on what we all need. And I’d like to have Dr Sears in my house to see how I lay on the floor and play with my child, enjoying her very presence, watching her try new things, giggle, and laugh as I give her little feet raspberries. And then let him tell me that I’m not a responsive parent. Or a nurturing parent.

UGH! I know what I am doing is right for my family. I can’t stand this categorization of what “type” of parent you are. You are a parent. Period. Sweet Pea is happy, we’re all happy.

Thankfully no “parenting style” was carved in stone on Mt. Sinai. LOL.

Run Mercy Run

I came across a cool article in this month’s Runners World.

See Spot Run.

There are not only dog-walkers in the world, but dog-runners. People who are paid to take your dog out for a run.

Hmmm. I could do that!

Some of you may know that I run with Mercy. It’s quite a sight to see, I would imagine. You picture her kind in a foo-foo purse walking down Main as opposed to running full speed.

She can’t help it. She has two speeds: Fast and Faster.

I don’t seem to have a photo of her and I running together (I promise to get some soon), but here is one of her and Keith running.

I take Mercy with me on my Easy runs, not because she couldn’t keep up on a tempo run, but rather because I need to concentrate on those! Easy runs are relaxed, and not really for time, and it’s not a big deal to have to make a potty stop a few times for Mercy. I can stop at the fountain in town and she can get a drink, or we can cruise over to the creek and get a little wet.

Mercy doesn’t get a run in everyday, but if the weather permits, she and I and Sweet Pea will get out for a walk. A happy dog is a tired dog.

The vet says that she is ideal body weight.

I say she’s a machine.

Bread Baking S.O.S.

Help me.

I have tried many times to bake whole wheat bread. I’ve used recipes from the bag of whole wheat flour and from the internet. I seem to churn out whole wheat BRICKS instead of bread.

I gave up on the whole bread baking deal for a few years, then when I went grocery shopping last week, I
was shocked and disgusted with the price of a 12 inch Boboli pizza crust- 3.50!?!?!?!?!?!? So I bought a container of active dry yeast and made pizza dough myself. I used this recipe from Cooking Light and it turned out fine. BUT it was WHITE flour.

So I decided to try baking whole wheat bread again. I used the KitchenAid Mixer’s recipe for whole wheat bread- 5-6 cups of flour, 4.5 tsps yeast, 2 c warm water, 1/3 cup brown sugar, a lil salt, 1/3 c oil… you get the idea.

Things were looking pretty good. I let the dough rise in my oven, which I turned on and then off, to get that “magic” but elusive 85 degrees.

I punched the dough down, shaped into loaves (one was a little bigger than the other, whoops) and let them rise again.

Then I baked them according to the instructions- 15 minutes at 400 and then 30 minutes at 350.

This is what happened. A wrinkly crust and a very dense loaf.

I troubleshooted on Breadworld.com and my problem (or at least one of them) is that I let the dough rise at too warm of a temperature.

OK Guilty. I kept the temp at about 100- 120 by turning the oven on to 200, then letting it get to 130, then turning it off. A hundred times. But I was afraid it wouldn’t rise at all! And I don’t know where I am supposed to get an area of my house 85 degrees. It’s NEVER 85 degrees here except in the summer. And it ain’t summer yet.

On top of it all, I was completely exhausted from the bread baking fiasco yesterday. I kept running up and down the stairs to peek on the bread and the sheer anticipation of success or failure sapped my strength. My husband, the ever positive encourager, even quietly suggested that maybe I should give up whole wheat bread dream. He reasoned that perhaps we don’t have the right equipment, like a brick fired oven or something. It’s only 3.69 to buy it at the store and that may be worth it.

What do I do? How can I fix this? I just want to make homemade whole wheat bread that is yummy and good and healthy and all that jazz.

Bread bakers of the blogosphere, please rescue me. I’m sending out an S.O.S.

Taking shape

Sweet Pea’s coat is finally starting to take shape.

I still have a ways to go… like finish the hood, the button band, and set the sleeves in, oh and do the pockets… but at least it’s starting to look like a coat instead of random cabled swatches of fabric. My husband reassuringly told me that if the weather is too warm for Sweet Pea to wear it, he’ll just have to crank up the A/C and take her on field trips to the polar bear exhibits… I just love that man! He always keeps me smiling and positive. His view of life is ALWAYS the “glass is half-full.”

I feel like I am starting to take shape too, finally! Although the scale says that I am pre-pregnancy weight (actually a few pounds less!), this deflated-beach-ball-looking stomach makes me wince. So I keep trucking along… I’ll get there eventually!

My running plan has changed, as I mentioned last week. I am now working towards a 10k race at the end of June to boost my speed before beginning to train for my fall half-marathon.

I have stopped using PeerTrainer and started using Runners World online Training Log. Running is my main gig, so naturally a running based training log suits my needs much better. I am a graphs and charts kind of gal, and the RW training log makes cool bar graphs that are color coded based on what type of run you did- easy run, tempo run, long run, speedwork, etc. They also have a place to record your average and max heart rates during your workout and will make you a cool graph of that too. Graphs and charts make me happy.

The downside of not using Peertrainer was that I don’t record my daily nutritional intake, but that was a pain to do anyways. I’ve been eating pretty healthily lately and that is partly due to trying to cut down our grocery budget! It’s expensive to eat junk food!!!!! If you don’t have it in the house, you can’t eat it.

And an extra 50 bucks a month that I don’t spend on snack food equates to six hundred dollars a year to spend elsewhere.

Like yarn.

Nice.

A setback

The May 25th half-marathon is a no-go for me. I hope to be there to cheer on my girlfriends (would you believe I know 3 women who are running the half and two that are running the full marathon?).

I am a little bummed. I was VERY bummed last week about it, especially since I had just started training WITH people. There is something incredible about running with one of your gal pals- not only is it motivation, but you talk the whole time and it’s so much better than your regular heart to hearts over those thousand calorie decadent chocolate cake, etc, because you BURN a thousand calories instead!

Endorphins make me happy. So does burning calories.

Why am I out? I hurt my back two weeks ago. I haven’t been able to pinpoint a certain movement that did it, but rather a combination of running hills, lifting weights a little too zealously, and getting the car seat (with child) in and out of the back seat of my 2 door car.

I was very humbled, as I have never really had back problems and sort of wondered how much someone’s back could hurt. Well, it can hurt A LOT! I could hardly pick up Sweet Pea and placing her in her crib was an operation for sure- I would sit her down in her crib, then hold on to her arms and lower her to a laying down position.

I am feeling much better now, about 85%, and finished my first post-back run yesterday morning (yeah can you believe it? I woke up early, woke the baby, fed her, went to the gym, and came back in time to make my husband breakfast before he went to work!). I don’t doubt that I could get my mileage back up and I know that I could run the whole 13.1 miles on race day……….

But you see, I have a little bit of a competitive bone in my body. A big one actually. And I decided that I couldn’t safely train hard enough to break the 2 hour mark at this point. Two years ago, before I was a mama, I would have pushed myself and to heck with the consequences of possible injuries. But I am a mama now, and being injured and taking care of a baby is not something I would like to do again.

So, it’s 1:59 in the half or bust for me, so May 25th is out.

The half marathon will be delayed until the fall, since longer events are not usually run in the dead of the summer due to the heat. I shed my tears and then my husband and I came up with a plan to break that 2 hour mark. I have 6 more months to get there

It’s all good.

“In his heart a man plans his course, but the Lord determines his steps.”- Proverbs 16:9