Monday, June 30, 2014

End of the month update on the "Me Project"

It's been a couple of weeks since I last posted, sorry ;(( I mostly don't have a lot to say right now.

I've lost 12 pounds this month (or 5.44 Kgs-I think I like the English system for this it seems like more just because it's a bigger number!)! Yeah me! The Myfitnesspal app and the fitbit have made a HUGE difference-so easy to use!  I'd like to tell you if inches have been lost but that seems to be impossible.  I know I took my measurements, I know I wrote them down, I even remember thinking that it would be an easy place to find that piece of paper.  Alas, I can not find it!  (No doubt it will turn up as soon as I quit looking for it!)

I'm walking Quinn everyday and riding my bike most every day.  I'm up to riding 13.3 miles-that's 21.4 kilometers.  After 5 more rides at that distance I'll add another mile marker-which will add two miles to the round trip.  Here's hoping I've done enough by the time the Buffalo Classic 35 miler comes along in September!

I'm currently getting all the gardens, which seem to have run amok with violets and weeds- cleaned up, spreading lime (due to acorns!) and compost, moving some plants and adding others in the front shade garden.  We've had a good bit of rain, just often enough that watering hasn't been an issue, so everything is in good shape for the moment.  It is very hot today 92F/33C with enough humidity to create the famous "blue" effect we are known for and to give us heat index readings of 99F/33C to 104F/40C.  Plus the wind is blowing 10-15 with gust up to 30 MPH.  Quinn and I tried to walk--just too icky-sticky hot for that, I didn't ride either.  I did run a couple of errands, one of which was to pick up Hill Country Spring from the long arm quilter.  I'll post a photo when I get it bound-that will be a bit as I have to acquire fabric (oh, darn it!)

I've decided to take the pool table down, it's been used exactly 3 times in 18 months making it a large floor weight!  When it's gone and the room repainted etc I'll be moving my studio back downstairs leaving this room as just an office.  I don't really like having the studio down there, there are lighting issues and it's chilly in the winter but both of those can be remedied.

The rest of today will be spent cleaning house, doing laundry etc at a very slow pace as I have no desire to "work up a sweat" over it.  Quinn needs a good grooming, I have some work to do in the garage and somewhere in there I'd like to at least type on the Town of Kansas stuff!  Trying to find a balance in all of this is tough!

Wednesday, June 11, 2014

Me Project Update

Since I last posed I have lost four pounds!  I love my Fitbit and I love MyFitnessPal both make counting calories ( both ways, on when I eat and off when I exercise) so much easier.  I'm up to 8 miles on the bike-it's really  amazing how quickly you gain strength in your legs.  Quinn and I are still walking, unless it's raining.  So except for not eating enough calories some days, that part of things is going well.  Other parts of the projects are still not off the ground, sigh.  I'm hoping that I can add things to the finished list more as I go.  The first few days of exercise I was so tired I had to have a nap before lunch!    Now I don't always nap, so I just need to find my mojo for the other stuff.  It'll come, change is hard.

I'm going to take off borders on Hill Country Spring so I can send it off to be quilted, it won't fit my long-armers frame if I don't.  I thought about leaving them on and quilting it by hand but I just don't feel this one deserves that ( I have some on the list that will get hand quilted but not his one.)

Our quilt guild had Ami Simms on Monday-she's a hoot! I need to order one of her patterns, for a quilted jacket.

Nothing else to report, boring, boring stuff!

Sunday, June 1, 2014

A New Project--Me!

Today I began a new project.  Seems like I do that quite often, if only my finishes equaled my starts!  This one is a bit different-it's all about me.  Today I began tracking my food and exercise in a little app called myfitnesspal hoping to lose some serious weight and get healthy.  (My Fitbit arrives on Tuesday to count my little steps!)  I also want to be in condition for a 35 mile bike ride in September.  Today I have: walked Quinn 1.8 miles in 30 minutes, done my stretches and therapy exercise, took Annie (my bike)  for a six mile ride in 40 minutes, then spent 3 hours gardening.  At this point I can eat over 1,000 calories for dinner and still make my target.  I don't think I'll eat that much though.  Also on the project are all the craft, home repairs, yard work, etc, etc, etc.  that are already begun.  Gretchen Rubin of  The Happiness Project  is studying habits and has discovered that tracking your progress is a really helpful way to accomplish change.  I hope it proves to be so for me, I've spent entirely too much time getting "lost in a book" (especially ones I've read before-some many times) and not on projects.  I've already lost 3 lbs-and that was before I started!

Perhaps I'll manage a Sunday Status Report, or not, who knows?