Even Medical Professionals Craft

The germs continue in this house. I guess that’s what we get for having two kids in daycare plus working in germy offices during cold and flu season.  I took my knitting with me to visit an urgent care clinic. And guess what? My physician was a crafter!

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She spotted my knitting and correctly identified it as socks (my second Helping Hippo Socks)! Turns out she crochets and we swapped crafting stories as she did my exam. Turns out we are all just fighting an upper respiratory virus and it just has to run its course with fluids and rest. But oy vey….so much coughing in my house right now!

Happy Knitting and stay well my friends!

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?

A New Balance

As most of you have noticed….I’m a pretty voracious knitter. I have a perpetual case of “KNIT ALL THE THINGS” coupled with occasional start-itis. This bodes well for me as a blogger. But this can become at odds with the rest of my life.

Recently I have found my stress level too high and my health too low. It has gotten so bad I haven’t knit anything IN DAYS! I literally lost my knitting mojo along with my mojo for pretty much everything else. So in the efforts I’m looking for a new balance. I’m striving to find a dietary mix that better suits my body, I am trying to get my butt off the couch and moving a little more, and not put so much pressure on my knitting/blogging.

What does this mean for you dear readers? Well I might not be so diligent about posting every day. Never fear, my blog isn’t going anywhere and neither am I. I just need to take my speed down a notch or seven. So you will continue to see my original posts as I have them and I hope to give some shout outs on my ‘off’ days to some other awesome bloggers and posts for your viewing pleasure.

Thank you for your patience and I hope you stick around!

The Good With the Bad

I could not imagine my life without this face!!!

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She is my husband and I’s first dog and our baby. She came to us a rescue and we couldn’t have asked for a better dog. She is sweet, loving, quiet, and full of snuggles. She is now a 5 year old Cavalier King Charles Spaniel. She brings so much love and can instantly make my worst day better. (Even when she stares at me over my book, lol)

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At a recent vet visit for her annual vaccinations, we got some bad news. She has a heart murmur. Now this is a common thing to Cavaliers, but was unknown to us. The murmur is a precursor to congestive heart failure. I’ll spare you the ugly details of the disease as they are unpleasant. Follow the link above to learn more about it. Right now Chloe has no other symptoms but the murmur. As the disease progresses there are medications that can mitigate some of her symptoms. But no cure. Chloe is unlikely to live past 9 or 10 years old and the last of those years could be uncomfortable.

I will admit this was a shock to me. And I spent the rest of that day trying not to weep. I grew up with dogs and I have been through the death and disease before. But this time is different because she is truly my baby. I have prayed and knit on this since that day. I have decided to make the best of what time we have left with Chloe and make sure she has the best most loved life ever. I may still cry from time to time but I will always love her.

Having animals always brings good with the bad. The trick is to make sure the good way outweighs the bad. I wouldn’t give up a chewed up shoe or early morning wake up call for a single day without her puppy kisses and puppy snorts.

Now if you excuse me, I have a puppy to snuggle and spoil….

 

Battle of the Buldge

In preparing for the impending huge step in our lives by buying a house, we decided some life insurance might be necessary. We are young and it’s really rather affordable right now. So off we went! There was a small matter of routine physicals….

Holy moley, were the holidays hard on our waistlines. Both of us are overweight and the hubs has high cholesterol. I knew that both of our wardrobes had been getting tight but sheesh! So we’ve decided to do something about it.

1) The hubs has started a fish oil regimen and increased his fiber intake per doctors orders

2) I’m increasing my cardio workouts and dragging the husband with me

3) Dinner time is now a no starch zone. We try to fix lean protein, steamed or raw veggies, and a high fiber fruit.

4) Cut our soda/sugar intake by half

5) Cut out alcohol consumption unless attending social events

6) Packing sack lunches before we go to bed instead of when we are bleary eyed first thing in the am.

7) Having bottled water on hand and Brita pitcher always full. We need all the hydration we can get!

We suck at dieting. We like carbs. We like sweets. We don’t need to crash diet. We need to learn to live better! I’m hoping by still getting our whole grains and bread/rice during breakfast and lunch that we won’t feel deprived! And if we have a soda or donut here and there….it’s not going to kill us. We simply makes choices and find a balance.

Disclaimer: I’m by no means an expert on health or fitness! This is just what we are going to try make work for us. Common sense and moderation…

Baby steps and positive choices! Here goes nothing!