Yard Cardio

The kid’s playset has been a hot mess for awhile. We have tried twice to lay weed barrier and mulch to keep a clean space. It just doesn’t work as the weeds and invasive grass from the easement just vines out and over takes the mulch.

So we ripped out and bagged up the surface. We are going to put up an outdoor storage shed similar to our neighbors. And then do some tilling and plant grass in a few weeks to get some hopefully good fall growth. At this point I am willing to mow around the play set as it will be far less work.

My watch told me I busted my exercise/heart rate goal by double doing all that lifting, rolling, hauling and raking. Now I can’t wait to see our big plan coming to fruition!

All The Yard Work

Happy May Day!!

Today I will regale you with my yard work adventures from last weekend. We have a large landscaping bed off the south side of our house. It’s out of sight and out of mind and long neglected. Well, bring on a global pandemic and I decided I needed to be outside and away from kids! The area looked like this to start.

I raked, scooped, shoveled and pulled weeds for a solid three hours. The bed at one point had a wooden mulch layer but I scooped that out as well, no thank you termites! I managed to get down to a pretty nice even dirt layer. I did use a quick spray of weed and grass killer to discourage new growth. My next plan is to call a local quarry and get some rock delivered. I want nay NEED low maintenance ground cover. I do plan to roll out and stake down some weed barrier before the rocks.

I could barely move my arms and legs the next day (or two) because I moved a metric poop ton of debris! I filled two trash bins and five large yard bags with junk. I probably should have left the sanitation workers a tip…

Anyone else out there sprucing up their yarns or gardens in this time of #stayhome?

Weight Loss Motivation

I alluded some mini skein madness in my post about my scrappy memory blanket. Well I have been working steadily on my both my health and fitness after PB. I mean breastfeeding can only burn so many calories and I have added more to my physique with two children than I would like. I am still working on a fitness routine that works as a mom of two very high needs children. But I have been doing much better on both the quality and quantity of food that I’m consuming.

DISCLAIMER: I’m not here to preach or tell anyone how or when they should lose weight or what they should eat. I know my body and it’s chemistry and where I am most happiest at. And I think everyone should live where they are most happiest. I just know I could be living a better life. That being said, as a mom sometimes you tend to put yourself last. And that’s TOTALLY me, so queue some motivation for this momma.

I saw Row One yarn minis on the Grocery Girls podcast. And I thought to myself, if can make some monthly goals and health habits then I am going to sign up for a month. And I hit my targets and got a lovely package that contained Squishy sock yarn from McMullin Fiber Co.

I set some more goals and more healthy habits for month two and you guys….the yarn was an excellent carrot. So after I hit my marks, I let my subscription roll and I got a second reward. This time it was some Matte Sock from Lichen and Lace.

I’m feeling healthier and more able to keep up with the demands of a working mother of two. AND I get to add some squishy bits of yarn to my memory blanket! I am guessing I will have some months where it’s not as good and I will probably keep my “motivation” fresh. I really just want to be as healthy as I can to be the best mom and wife.

Fingers crossed for month three!!

P.S. what I’m not spending on soda and junky fast food lunches in a month more than paid for my yarn subscription. It was humbling and eye opening…..

 

Motivation

Let me preface this blog post with….I’m not a bullet journal person. But I do see the merit in some of the philosophies. Here of late I have felt stagnant with both my knitting and healthy habits. I also know that I’m a visual person and I like things to be on paper. I managed to snag some Shutterfly coupons and get a snazzy lined 5 by 8 spiral bound notebook. So I decided to create a journal of sorts!

I created a page to see how much I actually knit. Having a full time job and tiny tyrannical toddler makes it feel like I never get to knit. Every day that I touch a project earns a colored in square. I’m interested to see what the colors show…

I also started a “rainbow” chart to show how many days I hit my health goals for the day. This one is calendared for each day of April. I’m hoping to see more colors than blanks…fingers crossed!

This may or may not stick with me. But heck….why not try?

2016 Ravellenics

I’m restarting Jellybean’s Christmas hat. And participating in the Ravellenics (at least in spirit). I didn’t join the official competition or set goals. I’m happy to just have a few minutes to sit, knit, and watch he games!

I love volleyball in all shapes and forms so I’m catching all the games I can given that I have a full time job and an active toddler!

Happy Knitting!!

Banking For Life

Yesterday my coworkers took part in a Breast Cancer Awareness 5K and it was amazing! We raised a ton of money for cancer research and got a great workout. Being a financial institution, our team name was “Banking For Life”.

Every woman should know the risks of breast cancer and get screened regularly!!! Seriously, it saves lives. I am high risk with breast cancer on both sides of my family and I take this sh*t for reals. I do monthly self exams and see my doctor every year like clockwork!

Here are some snaps of our crazy group!! Enjoy, and don’t forget to give’em a squeeze!

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Distraction and Disc Golf

I played a round of disc golf with the husband over last weekend. The hubs is pretty serious about it and I’m terrible. Not to mention the course we played could have doubled for a horror movie set with the abundance of creepy wooded areas.

I kept getting distracted by the foliage and canopies of trees against the brilliant blue sky! The hubs got annoyed. It was a gorgeous October day so we stopped keeping score and just enjoyed the day together.

Here are a few of my favorite snaps from the afternoon…

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A Wandering Walk

Over Labor Day Weekend I took a wandering walk while at my parents house. It was a bright and sunny morning, so I tried to snap a few shots of my favorite things about growing up in a rural community.

P.S. I am not a very good photographer, lol. And I took these on an iPhone…bear with me…

Rusty farm equipment in the sun

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My old high school, Pike Valley High School

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The Scandia water tower

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Rolling fields of green

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The high school football field and my parents home

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Happy Tuesday to you all!!

My Zombie Leg

I survived my volleyball tournament…sort of thanks to my klutziness 

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The bruises and bleeding due to broken blood vessels have settled into my foot. I spent 6 1/2 hours on Saturday jumping up and down on this leg. I say it’s not that bad considering! My shin is still pretty swollen and I have pretty good pools of bruising on both sides of feet and on top of my foot just before my toes. I have affectionately named this my “zombie leg”!

My friends and I competed in the Sunflower State Games in the competitive volleyball bracket. (I made sure to check out with a doc and got the green light to play) We played three matches in pool play and taking 3rd out of four teams. Then we moved on to bracket play where we played one match, which we lost….badly.

Our team has a lot of knowledge and experience….just not a lot of endurance. Our average age was 31. Most of the teams we played had an average age of 19…and by 19 I mean they were ALL 19. Not to mention that we did not practice before hand and only four of us had played together before. We had some fun, probably too much at some times, and got a great workout.

I am beyond sore! Almost every major muscle group is sore including my legs, butt, back, core abs, and even shoulders. It seriously took me five minutes to lace up my sneakers to take a short run on Sunday to work out the kinks, lol.

Now to get back to knitting! I just wish I hadn’t smashed my right thumbnail on Saturday during the second game! It makes knitting a little hard when I don’t want to put pressure on that particular digit….

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