Oh my. The last several weeks have been a roller coaster.

1. Mom’s cancer is back.
2. Transmission issues with our car led us to acquire a new suv (ahem, I will Not mentioning locking the keys in the new car!)
3. Mom in and out and back in the hospital.
4. Several get together’s including English high tea, Knottie Ladies knitting (read eating and chatting, love!), monthly book club, friend’s birthday, and Apple Hill trip with my girlfriends.
5. My sick cat….that was nasty. I threatened her with a trip to the vet and I think it worked because she seems fine now….I was bluffing…mostly.
6. Prepping for what has become a traditional themed Halloween party at our place. This year we chose Harry Potter. This means costumes to fit the theme and lots of themed food.
7. I’m going as Fleur and hubby is going as Bill. My hat isn’t finished.
8. The holiday shopping season has picked up and I’m working on a steady stream of orders and items for donations.
9. I’m posting a blog instead of sleeping but can’t seem to drag myself to bed yet.
10. There are only 45 days till my Christmas gifting deadline with little to show yet.
11. Next month is NaNoWriMo where I’m supposed to write 50,000 words….not sure how to fit this in with all the knitting….it’s causing a little stress….and I still want to do both.

Let see…this would be more interesting with a few photos….

Wet felting is a labor intensive process but usually worth the effort and a lot faster than knitting something and Then felting. This is just the first three layers with a sudsy foam all over. Likely it will also need some starching to help hold the shape.

It seems I missed posting about Lambtown 2011 from the beginning of October. As always it was a lot of fun taking classes and spending time browsing the vendor booths.

Since I am getting tired I’ll write up a full post about it later but here is a picture of the mittens I started at a class about using home spun yarns.

and spinning in class on my new wheel.

One last photo. It’s a yummy sort of homemade whoopie pie. I baked pre-made cookie dough from a co-worker’s kid’s fundraiser along with some Noah’s Bagel whipped cream cheese, about 2 tables spoons plus a teaspoon of powdered sugar mixed together for the frosting.

Today I was reading a about spinning in a new book I bought, Start Spinning by Maggie Casey. With only one spinning class behind me I have a lot to learn. Back in October I bought a spinning wheel that isn’t one of the big brands so help manuals are sparse. Tension was a bit of a problem so I’m going to read this book first and maybe start with a drop spindle again.

Cooking is also going slow. Friday I had a burst of energy after work and “attempted” soup that turned into more of a flavored rice. Oh well. At least the pre-packaged oat meal cookies with chocolate chips turned out well.

Ok, so here is my very exciting list of activities.

Knitting! I’m teaching myself to knit again. After a few tries I got back the knit and purl stitches easily enough but reading patterns are still beyond me. Unfortunately, I’ve decided that my first project that looks great but is completely the wrong size for a scarf just won’t do and my second try with a combo of stitches used too large of needles. So, I will start again but it’s good practice.

Exercise, my second activity. Most nights I don’t want to exercise but afterward I feel great and energized, right before bed (oy, sigh!). As I type my calves are sore and I’m fidgety. Time for more activity. The hope is to look at least closer to my weight in academy in April for my 9 year reunion (James 10 year). One perk is that I can knit or watch a movie while I peddle the exercise bike or I can play games and do yoga on the Wii fit. Variety is very important for the bored mind.

Less reading. This may not seem quite right but I’ve limited my rec reading to less time because I have energy for other things. Right now I’m slowly working my way through Mansfield Park by Jane Austin. I didn’t have the energy for this book for several years so it sat on my self collecting dust bunnies.

Monthly massage! Best idea ever. I started this in the spring but didn’t have time to go since August or September. Sunday I have my first appointment in months, YEAH!

Game night. This isn’t a sure thing but on occasion it’s nice to get together with friends or online for Mario Cart.

Jewelry. I haven’t gotten back into this as much as the others but when I get bored of knitting I can always fall back on jewelry.

Cleaning out the garage (I sound like my dad!). I’ve already started dragging in a few boxes at a time to sort and donate or toss whatever we don’t need to keep. If it’s been in the garage for over a year without missing it then it can probably go….and then we can fill the space with a new car!…….eventually.

At work things have improved also. I’m getting more little projects done (due to more sleep and less stress) and I’ve joined the Social Committee. So, next Christmas James, lucky guy , will be helping haul Christmas trees for the annual Christmas party and I can enjoy decorating and planning for at least 4 social functions during the year, starting in March….actually starting a few weeks ago but that isn’t for the social committee. I volunteered to plan a baby shower for the Fujimoto-Johnson’s on February 5 (we will also be on cat duties late February).

Yesterday did not help my motivation. I found out that my husband will not graduate in the fall and so he will miss his opportunity to get a raise. HE DOES THE SAME WORK AS EVERYONE HE WORKS WITH BUT GETS PAID AT LEAST $10/HR LESS BECAUSE OF THE F* DEGREE. Needless to say I’m not happy. This puts everything off schedule for another year, including babies. That ticks me off the most because a friend and I were planning similar due dates (yes, I know it doesn’t always work like planned) :::deep breath::: I’ll live and I’ll probably be happy I waited….eventually, but I’m a planner, darn-it. I like to plan ahead.

So…………today I had a low fat pumpkin spiced latte, pumpkin seeds with honey and sesame seeds…mmm (Harvest Roast brand), and a fruit leather (oh, did I mention the coffee cake and vitamin water too). At least I had to walk 10 minutes get it.  Tonight I vow to walk up and down the stairs at least twice before crawling into bed, probably without dinner. (How will I ever survive children???)

On a side note, I noticed several bloghers who wanted easy stomach exercises. I recommend the book Maternal Fitness by Julie Tupler. It has pictures! (I’m already using this stuff and I’m not pregnant yet. Loving it)