06.30.08
Posted in odds 'n ends, Crafts, knitting, wls at 8:49 pm by Shari
… that bike I was just on? I think I managed close to a mile tonight, in 2 little jaunts down the road a bit and back. I can’t believe I was afraid to get on the darn thing! I made Chuck watch me just in case I fell or something. So I survived, though I was WHIPPED when I got back. I wasn’t just whipped, but my butt is very sore too. This is definitely something I need to work up to a bit more and then make it part of my exercise plan. A new seat is probably not too far in the future as well. Chuck need a new seat too, and would like to swap out the handle bars on his bike so he’s not leaning so far forward and putting so much pressure on his hands/wrists.
Yesterday I went walking on the Erie Canal for a bit. Not too far - started at the parking lot of the Box Factory and headed east toward the 31F bridge. Along the way I saw a sign for Thomas Creek Wetlands but I kept walking… a bit further down the path, I saw what I was guessing was the other end of a path through that area. Sure enough, when I followed it, it was a path through the wetlands. From the villages website:
THOMAS CREEK WETLANDS WALK
- Liftbridge Lane East
This 13-acre recreation and historical site encompasses both Thomas Creek and Irondequoit Creek - the once provided water for farming, and power for grain and lumber mills. The Wetlands Walk features a connection trail, elevated boardwalk, observation platform and interpretive signage.
The elevated boardwalk was nice… I didn’t so up on the platform, nor did I spend time reading the signage. I figured I’d save that for the next time I head over there in 2 wks.
Another place someone told me about today is found at the Friends of Webster Trails site. Laura mentioned that her husband really likes riding on the Gosnell trails. I’d already been told about trying the Whiting Road trails, so now I have more to explore. It sounds like the family walks/hikes on the 3rd Sundays of the month might be nice to do sometimes too.
I’ve made some progress on that sweater I mentioned recently. The bottom band is applied the whole way around, the shoulders are joined (3 needle bind off) and all the existing ends are woven in. We decided at sit ‘n knit today how far up I should sew the side seams and the general thought is I can probably go without adding sleeves. So tomorrow I’ll try to get the seams sewn and those last 4 ends worked in and see how it looks. With a little luck it’ll be great like that and I’ll be able to wear it next week to sit ‘n knit.
I also whipped up a little crochet headband, after talking to Eidolons (from Ravelry, also an IRL friend) about my hair dilemma. I want to grow it out at least a bit so I can walk into a salon and say “Do whatever you think will work!” I know the current length won’t lend itself to much but my current style, but letting it grow out is hell! So I need some way to hold it out of my face, at least sometimes. Those plastic headbands just make the ends stick out, and an even width tubular one makes the back flip up too much, so this is graduated from skinny under the back hair to wider at the top. I’ll add a little elastic and see how it works and then improve from there (if, indeed it’s plausible to continue in this direction at all).
Tomorrow is probably going to be a long day. I have work, as usual, and then a party that I’m doing from 4:30 til 6:30 and from there I’ll go to sit ‘n knit at Louise’s. The party should be fun - a smallish group of just 6. It’s a project I’ve done myself before, but not with a group of kids. We’re making sculpey clay tiles to apply to wooden frames. They’ll texturize them with stamps and the pat the tops with brilliance ink pads. My only real concern is if there’s enough time/space for baking all the tiles we’ll be making. My plan, though, is to start sliding them into the oven as soon as some are done so they get staggered. That and taking an extra toaster oven to work.
So I’d better finish getting myself together for tomorrow - find some of my own stamps to take, make sure the toaster oven is ready to go, knitting bag ready for the evening and on to get a good night’s rest.
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06.27.08
Posted in wls at 9:25 pm by Shari
3 fun things have happened in the last 2 days….
- I went to Panera’s yesterday - had a cup of soup and was working on some website stuff using their free wi-fi access. While I was there, I saw a guest from the store that I hadn’t seen for a couple of weeks. I called out to her, beckoned her to stop over at my table. She kept looking at me, trying to figure out who I was. When she finally realized who she was talking to, she was genuinely surprised that it was me talking to her because she thought I had changed so much that she didn’t recognize me.
- Today I went to the bag of “too small” clothes to see if there was a pair of jeans that would fit now. Lo and behold, I ended up finding that one pair was actually big and I’ve missed a few weeks of wearing them. (unfortunately I keep trying on the jumpers I’m waiting to get into and those don’t seem to get any closer)
- Tonight Chris and Lana came into the store as they do nearly every single Friday evening. Chris was coming down the book aisle, where I was standing with my back to her. I finished checking what I was checking and turned around to talk to her - she hadn’t realized it was me standing there and was shocked that she hadn’t recognized me.
How fun is that, huh?
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06.26.08
Posted in odds 'n ends, daily life stuff, Crafts, knitting at 8:23 am by Shari
Once upon a time, Chuck and I both lived in Irondequoit. He in West Irondequoit for much longer than I, but in his earlier years, me in East Irondequoit for the 12 yrs or so before I met him. Even before I lived there, I’d take Shaun up to the lake to play in the water. Since I sold my house, most of my visits to Irondequoit are passing through on 104 or 590 to somewhere, or some of the shopping along East Ridge Rd.
So imagine our surprise when we decided to take a drive down Lakeshore Blvd, enroute from Schooners on the river to Don’s Original at the bay outlet when we found the Lakeside Trail bridge over Tamarack Swamp (pictured here). We immediately stopped and turned around, found a place to park along Lakeshore and went off to explore.
The bridge was the dead giveaway that something had been done, but we were so pleasantly surprised to see the trail that had been created. We walked from the east-most parking lot to the end of the wide paved area at the top of the incline just west of Culver and then back. It winds back into the woods and was SUCH a nice walk. It was a stretch for me because of the incline - much more than walking in our neighborhood has, but it felt so good to walk it.
Everytime I go on a walk like that, I’m so psyched - I think back to when there was NO WAY I’d feel like I could do it, and it was ME that was driving and pulled over right away so we could explore this path. Chuck’s still trying to adjust to the walker named Shari too. When we went to Schooners, I parked at the first place I found, pretty far out from the pub itself, whereas I usually would have trolled for a really close place and last night, I sent him across the plaza to Target w/ the car and told him I’d walk over when I got out of work. He questioned it at first then said, “oh, yeah - you are walking more now” 
BTW, the reason we went to Schooners was to see the band, Knockout, play. Check them out sometime if you like live music. Jim plays the keyboard in the band - he’s the one that is ever so kind to throw website work my way to help supplement my income. Schooners is a great place because you are outside, just above the river rather than cooped up inside somewhere.
I’m wrapping up a series of knitted and crocheted hats to send off to Shaundra for kids at the hospital she’s been working in and the other thing on my needles right now is a resurrected sweater project from last year. I’ve got a whopping $8 in the yarn (bought at 50% off at JoAnns) in the project, created on the fly but based on Just One More Row’s Heartbeat Sweater. Last year, as I was starting it, it was going to have a pretty wide insert at each side, and now it probably needs no insert I had the front done and the back just a few stitches from done. I’m applying a perpendicular garter-stitch border to the bottom (3/4 done now) and have to 3 needle bind off the shoulders, then I’ll stitch up the sides and sort out what I want to do for a sleeve. If ever I get a focussed time to knit, I should be able to get it together quickly. Maybe this Sunday at our coffee shop knitting group.
My other current crafty project is lockerhooking. I did some quite awhile back, but now that we have kits and stuff at work, I decided it was time to do this w/ fabric and get better at it. So, I’m working on a little coaster, playing with the sizes of the strips and getting my loops to be as even as I can. I put it on the calendar to teach in August, so I’ve got to get pretty knowledgeable by then.
Time to be off and face the music that as much as I felt like I was working on website work this past week, I don’t have enough truly completed to feel good about it. and I’m SURE Jim’s got a ton more that he’d like some help on.
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06.13.08
Posted in wls at 9:25 pm by Shari
There was a time that the 100 I was breaking was MPH, but this time it is lbs. Woohoo!
I wonder how much of it is due to being sick this week. On Sunday I had 1/2 of a pork chop that was on the greasy side, so when I had the runs on Monday, I guessed it was from that. Of course by that point, I had already eaten the second 1/2 of the chop, so I figured that guaranteed it carrying over to Tuesday. Wednesday was still a problem, but I had 1/2 of a chicken florentine crepe at IHOP that night and another 1/2 the next morning. Okay, maybe the bitty bit of spinach in that was a problem because still today, my stomach is not happy. But really - is that it or is this some stomach bug that’s apparently going around. I mean, just sipping water is making my stomach roll. Hmm…
Well, whatever the reason - I did break through the 100 lbs mark this week - actually 101 now. That makes 54 in the last 14.5 wks - an average of something like 3.7 lbs a week. When I plugged it into sparkpeople, it shows me ahead of the goal curve to meet my goal by next April. I know the rate is bound to slow at some point, so ahead of the curve right now is a good thing. I don’t know if next April was a reasonable timeframe to set for meeting the loss goal, but that’s where I set it just to get some goal out there.
Walking is going so so. I’ve managed to get out a few nights this week - usually for nearly 2.5 mile walks, but tonight I got home early, had Chuck convinced he would go for a walk with me and then we had a wicked thunderstorm move through. Now it’s after 10:30 and I haven’t been out for a walk. The last peek I had at the radar images, it looks like the rain has pretty well passed through, so I’m thinking I’ll get some walking in anyway.
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06.11.08
Posted in odds 'n ends at 2:44 pm by Shari
I recently came across a blog for someone I knew eons ago. Browsing through, I found this quiz (It probably made it’s rounds in the blogiverse years ago, but I’m new - what can I say!). Seems silly for me, the black thumb plant person to compare to a flower at all but….
|
I am an
Echinacea
What Flower
Are You?
|
Described as:
“You are a health conscious person, both your health and the health of others. You know all about the health benefits and dangers of the world around you.” |
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