Sue's Stuff

Hat!

2012-02-13T16:59:00.000-08:00

I just had to quickly post that I finished my hat!! The picture shows it a bright green, but it's really more of a moss color. And really soft!

I'll post more later with some of the items I've been sewing. Yes, that means I did find a power cord that works!!I'm quite excited and have finished a couple of items and have supplies for a bit more. I'll post more and some pictures in a few days!!

Sewing!

2012-02-07T13:03:00.000-08:00

It's like having an old friend come back to visit. I have not sewn anything for over 12 years, and yet when I went through the yardage store the other day with my daughter I was inspired to pick it back up again. The only problem is that I lost the power cord for my good sewing just over 12 years ago when we moved. I've tried in the past to get a replacement, only to be told it would cost $150 to do so. So, it just wasn't that important. But now, being inspired again, it is important! First, I looked up new sewing machines and found I could get a basic one for $80, and almost bought it right then (good thing I don't get paid for another couple of weeks or I probably would have!). In the meantime, I decided to see if I could find that cord again (maybe used someplace. . .) and I found a "universal" power cord for my brand of machine (Bernina) that looks like it should work - for only $16.95! So, I ordered it. And I am hoping that it works. If not, I may try to find a store that sells Berninas and see if they can help in. But, in preparation, I bought a few patterns (of course a sun dress for my Granddaughter!) and some material. It's washed and ready to be ironed. My kids are both excited as well since they want to learn to sew. So, I'll take a different pattern for each girl and walk them through the steps. I'm just ready to have that cord in hand now!

While waiting, I did start knitting my slouchy hat though. It's such a lovely yarn and I'm doing mine in this beautiful green yarn. I'll post a picture of that when I'm done. And I'm still on the lookout for that special sweater pattern to use my gift certificate for yarn from my good friend. So many fun projects to do!

Fun Weekend

2012-02-04T20:09:00.000-08:00

Luckily both my husband and I were mostly over our sickness before the weekend festivities. We went with a fun group in a limo down to Stone Brewery for one of our friend's birthday (it was a surprise from his wife). We had a great time overall with the whole trip and it was a blast to see the brewery. And they are even building a beer hotel across the street from their brewery as well!! As much as I enjoy wine, I really like brewing beer and the very good varieties from microbreweries. Speaking of which, I don't know if I posted or not, but we have a Belgium ale in the carboy right now. We brewed two weeks ago, so we should be testing it this week (but I doubt it will be ready to bottle). We actually used a kit for this one, but it should be good. Our last one, a triple IPA (my recipe!) is bottle ready and is really good. And we're looking at doing a spiced wheat beer next. Not sure yet, but my husband wants to try some spices so we are looking into what we want to do.

On a creative note, I finished the chemo hat for my friend today. I usually make them for people just for the cost of the yarn, but they discontinued the yarn I've been using. So I really need to find a replacement. This one is really soft, which is nice for someone going through chemo. I need to find something soft and washable. I will have to look into it carefully. As for the other hat (my pattern), I finished one for the same friend who has another friend going through some kind of medical problem. They don't know what it is, but she's not doing well and losing her hair and very self conscious about it. So, I thought the nice slouchy hat would be nice for her. And this weekend (during the Superbowl), I plan to start on the slouchy hat for myself (in a lovely green - not bright, just pretty).

I'll have to post more later. The baby is asleep and everyone is heading to bed. It's only 8pm!! I'll go upstairs and read. . .or knit. . .or watch some bad television. I'll decide when my husband finishes mixing my drink to take upstairs (It's martini night - I ran 7.5 miles today so I earned it!).

Sick

2012-01-26T14:31:00.000-08:00

Well, I actually had a really good weekend, surrounded by sickness on both sides. On Friday I had to take off work to go be with my older daughter in the ER. She would have gone to her doctor, but he was not in that day. Then she would have gone to an urgent care center, but there is not one in her network (what is that all about?!). So, we went to the hospital she had the baby at (very nice place). We spent the full day there, but at least she's okay. It was a burst ovarian cyst. Very painful, but at least it wasn't her appendix. So, feeling relieved that everything was okay, I got up Saturday and baked some fresh bread and healthy muffins. And Sunday I did a long run and brewed some beer (Belgium Dubbel - should be good). But the high was not to last. My daughter ended up bringing the stomach flu home from the hospital and was throwing up Sunday. And boy did that flu go around the family. It got her husband next, then me, my husband and is still with my youngest. It's fast moving though!! But I'm still not able to eat right, and so therefore do not have the energy to run or workout. But I'm not going to let it get me down (especially since I had a good workout on Monday). Besides, I have a birthday party that I'm going to this weekend at a brewery (it's a surprise party, and although I seriously doubt the person reads my blog, I won't put anything more about it in here now), so I need to save up my energy for that! I'm sure I'll be posting more next week on that trip, and hopefully on my runs and knitting as well (didn't even feel like knitting while I was sick).

Another Hat

2012-01-16T08:37:00.000-08:00

I finished another hat while watching football this weekend (yeah 49ers!!). This one is for a friend of mine. Well, it's actually for someone she knows. For a few years now I've offered to make people chemo hats if they buy the yarn, and I've done quite a few. But this friend of mine knows someone who isn't going through chemo, but she's sick and the doctors can't figure out what's wrong. And part of the symptoms is that she is losing her hair. So for her, instead of a soft, tighter fitting chemo hat, I made a pretty slouchy hat. I just love this pattern and this is the third one I've made. Next weekend I will be working on another hat just like it during the play-off games (go 49ers), but this one will be for me! I don't wear hats very much, but I just love them so I keep making them!

Kindle Case

2012-01-09T11:08:00.000-08:00

So, my wonderful husband gave me a Kindle Fire for Christmas! We were only getting stocking stuffers for each other, but he knew how much I wanted one and he made that my stocking stuffer. Well, it actually sat behind my stocking, but that's okay. I've been having a lot of fun using it and personalizing it. One thing I did want right away though was a case. I looked at all of the options, and found what looks to be a wonderful purple leather case. And since purple is my favorite color (and stops others from wanting to use my things that are purple), I wanted to order that one. But, it wasn't being released until early January. So, the dilemma for me was. . .do I wait for the purple one since that's what I really want, or do I order the identical one in brown since that is shipping right away and the touch screen on the Kindle needs to be protected. So, knowing I would be sad settling for the brown one, I decided to crochet up a quick cover just to protect it in the mean time. And it didn't turn out too bad I think!

That's my Kindle right next to it. It did it's job fine and protected my Kindle until I received my purple case over the weekend. I should have taken a picture of that as well!!

Knitting pictures

2012-01-06T15:18:00.000-08:00

Okay, I found a couple of pictures of items I knitted for Payten. First is a sweater I did in a teal blue. Yes, I know she's a girl, but the color is just wonderful!

And here is my daughter (Payten's Mom, Dee) holding the tree of life blanket I made for her as well.

The picture is kind of dark. So I will just have to get better with my photography! But, the blanket is a scaled down version of the tree of life pattern. It was a lot of fun to make, but probably not as useful as some of the other larger blankets that were made for her!

I just finished a quick crocheted case for my Kindle Fire (the purple case I really want is on back order) that I'll post up next week, and I'm working on an afghan right now as well. My next big project will be a sweater since my good friend gave me a gift certificate to our local yarn store! Yeah!!

New Year, New Resolve!

2012-01-06T14:50:00.000-08:00

I have been very lazy in keeping my blog up. No doubt about that! Since I'm trying to get back on track with quite a few things, I've decided to get back to my regular blogging. Besides my own personal goals (getting my running mileage back up, eating healthier and not just less calories, toning up, and reading some decent books this year), I have other great things to blog about. There is my knitting (pictures to be posted soon). . .

My puppy, Zeus

My first Grandbaby, Payten

And of course the odd and fun things that happen - like going to the Stone Anniversary festival with my youngest daughter, Heather

Since I have a lot of wonderful things happening in my life (let's not forget my husband, Jim)

I think it's a great idea to update my blog a bit more often!

Catch Up!

2011-08-24T17:03:00.000-07:00

It's been quite a while since my last post! So much has happened. First, I went on that high blood pressure medicine. It wasn't quite working right. I don't know if it was the medicine, or over training, but I tweaked my neck a bit. It lasted for a week, so I went in to the doctors. She put me on some muscle relaxers - even though I told her I was running a lot (training for a couple of half marathons) and lifting weights. She said it wouldn't matter. It did. Long story short and a lot of physical therapy, I'm finally getting back to running. (Oh, yes, I did do both of the half marathons. One with my older daughter and one with my younger daughter). I've since switched doctor and am off of ALL those medicines (high blood pressure pills as well). I still have a bit of a twinge below my knee, so I'm being careful. But I'm up to 10 miles a week without any pills or braces. Once I don't have that last bit of trouble with my knee, I will start slowly adding back up again until I'm up to 6-7 miles on the weekend. That's the length I really enjoy. And, on another good note, we now have a puppy! Once he gets a bit older he should be able to do at least the short runs with me. I'm really looking forward to that! Oh, and my oldest daughter got married in November, and she's due with her first baby this November. A lot of changes, but it seems to be headed in the right direction.

We also made it back to the Stone Anniversary Celebration again this year with my youngest and her boyfriend. We had a great time! And I'm back fired up again for brewing. My husband and I worked out what we think will be a good IPA recipe and the ingredients will be ordered this payday.

Bay to Breakers 2010

2010-05-18T11:19:00.000-07:00

We had a great time at Bay to Breakers! Almost made it up that hill, but still ran the rest really well. And Dee was really pushing me hard at the end!!

Bay to Breakers

2010-05-11T20:02:00.000-07:00

It's been a bit since I posted, but I thought I'd mention that I'm head to the Bay to Breakers race this weekend! I'm going with my older daughter (and her fiance, although he's not running!) and I think we even have a costume planned out! I'll post more after the race.

I placed!

2010-03-28T20:09:00.000-07:00

This weekend I ran the Women Running Wild 5k race in Palm Springs with my friend Bev and her daughter. We all came in within seconds of each other (with Tracy coming in first), but I got lucky and the people in my age bracket were a bit slower. So that meant that I actually won by placing second for my age! Not too bad. Actually, I was pretty excited. The race was a hometown race to raise money for breast cancer, so there were no chips or anything for timing. And of course, being the anal type of person that I am, I had my timer on and checked and was 10 second behind in crossing the starting line. But that's okay, because the time they have for my race (25:48) is still my pr!

Here is a picture of me with my tile award!
Here is one of Bev, Tracy and me.
And one of Jim and me waiting for the awards to be given out!

Running

2010-03-06T18:37:00.000-08:00

Well, I did 5.1 at a pretty good pace and felt fairly good - for almost 24 hours. Then I got such a bad cramp in my upper leg/hip joint that I couldn't run the next night. I took of Thursday and Friday and was rather worried about my run this morning. But, I made 8.5 miles and didn't have a cramp until mile 8, in my calf this time. Now tonight that I am getting ready to go out and celebrate my birthday, I have a slight cramp in both legs. I won't wear too high of heels. And I had both an orange and a banana for the potassium today already. So I guess I just need the garlic cheese fries tonight for some more potassium! Hey, I'm justifying it since I lost another pound. It could be a continuation from being on the high blood pressure diet - or it could be the low dose water pills. Probably the later, but it's my birthday celebration so I'll use that excuse!

Bummer

2010-03-01T19:40:00.000-08:00

I just got back from the doctor's office. Two months of going every two weeks to check my blood pressure. After altering my diet just a little (I added more vegetables and cut back on my red meat) and trying to add some relaxation techniques (I already do enough exercise) to try and get my blood pressure down I finally had to give in today and start going on some medicine :-( It's the lowest dose and I start tomorrow - to be checked again in two weeks (plus on my own at home). The semi-positive news is that the doctor said if I wasn't doing all of this stuff I would probably have really high blood pressure and be on a lot more medicine. And the good news, well, the doctor said that normally she would tell patients with my level of blood pressure to try and lose some weight first, but she said I don't have any weight to lose :-) That's really nice to hear from a doctor's office!

In the meantime, they told me to just pay attention to my body for the next few days while it gets used to the medicine. I already worked it so tomorrow is an off day on running, and we'll see how it goes for Wednesday. If I feel good it will be the full five miles. Otherwise, I want to do at least 3.1!

Long Time

2010-02-22T21:30:00.000-08:00

It's been a bit since I've posted. One daughter got a job, and the other got her associates degree :-) That's my happy news. Other than that, I've been running, lifting and reading. Not too much knitting going on. But I will be soon since my Mom asked for some socks for Mother's Day. I like getting enough notice! Also, I've signed up for a couple of runs. A 5k in Palm Springs - Women Running Wild - since I've wanted to run that one for a while just for the shirt! I've also signed up (along with my older daughter) for the Bay to Breakers in May! I just need to find an inexpensive hotel someplace along the BART and we're good to go. Also looking at doing a half-marathon with my husband and younger daughter (they want to walk/run it) in the vineyards in Oregon in September. I sure hope that one comes through!

New Year

2010-01-02T11:39:00.001-08:00

Well, 2009 is gone and I'm rather glad. Let's hope 2010 is a much better year! I had not set any goals for myself until I was entering my running stats. I noticed that I did really good for the first few months of last year, dropped in the summer (with vacations and such) and ended decently. I'd like to keep an even run distance throughout the year. I plan to do a 5k or 10k in the next couple of months with my family, the Bay to Breakers in May, and at least one half marathon with my oldest daughter. I'm not sure this year is my marathon year though. I think that will still have to wait!

Cooler Weather

2009-10-10T11:31:00.000-07:00

It's cooling down (again), but I hope this time it doesn't get back too hot again. It was nice to run in the cool without having to get up at 5am!

The past month and a half has been quite busy. The latest was going up to Carson City for my cousin's wedding. It was really nice to see family and visit with everyone. I would post pictures, but I left my camera in the hotel room :-(

Stone Brew Celebration

2009-08-23T16:28:00.001-07:00

Yesterday was the 13th annual Stone Brew Anniversary Celebration. $35 for ticket gets you a cute glass and 10 tastes to over 140 beers. And the money raised there goes to charity. It's great fun for a great cause! My husband and I went last year and had a blast. This year my youngest daughter and her boyfriend met us there. I think they might come back again next year. I know we will!

Disneyland

2009-08-16T16:36:00.001-07:00

Not a lot to catch up on. I've been running and reading. Trying to do my weights at home. But I did manage to go to Disneyland this month! Great fun. We went with my parents and actually rode a lot of rides. They bought us the three use tickets, so we went back again with my daughter and her boyfriend. He hasn't been in years and prefers that faster rides. So we did a lot of roller coasters and such. I did make him go on It's a Small World though. Poor guy. I thought they had updated it to be more current. Nope. They just added a few things like the little mermaid. It was still quite old fashioned and rather long. I think he may have fallen asleep in it. But the two of them had a good time and I'm glad we got to go with them. Now it's back to normal hours at work, so I guess summer is officially over for me. Oh well. At least I'm getting my running back up in mileage. I lost some ground when I was on vacation and then sick. But now I'm working it slowly back up again :-)

Back From Vacation

2009-07-18T10:08:00.000-07:00

Vacation was wonderful. We went to see my family, then up to Trinidad for a week. From there we went to Fern Canyon:
A few hikes in Patrick's Point:

And a couple of trips into Oregon. Unfortunately, the second day on vacation Jim got sick. About the time he was starting to feel better, I got sick. So, we were able to do a decent amount of hikes, but no bike rides or runs. I wasn't even able to run at home until today. And it was 82 degrees when I finished my run this morning! Coming from 65 degrees in Trinidad, it was too hot to do any more than the 6 miles. And I know it's going to hit 100 degrees today before the day is over. Oh well. I'll get back into a decent running schedule now and slowly add some miles back in. I wasn't planning on doing another half marathon until December, so I have time. But I'd better find a good 5k or 10k in the next couple of months to keep me focused!

Almost Summer

2009-06-20T09:46:00.000-07:00

Summer is almost here. Earlier this week I would have said it didn't feel like it. I ran my long run in the rain and wasn't able to ride my motorcycle. Then Thursday it was so warm that I was hot on my run (bad news - I should have hydrated better), but I was also able to ride my motorcycle to work (good news)!! Things around here and work have been pretty stressful. You would think with the added stress I would be escaping more into my books. But I have not at all. Nor to the television. I've kept up my running and pretty good about the gym (which I think exercise is about all that is keeping me sane right now), and it's been listening to music and playing number and word games. Kind of a mindless thing to do, but it seems to help. I still have my martini nights on Saturday after my long run as well, but I've started mixing them with lighter items (low-cal cranberry juice, diet ginger ale. . . ) and that seems to be helping with the weight as well. You know, you control what you can and do the best you can with the rest! On another good note, my husband and I are enjoying or time together. We may not being going out to dinner as much, but we cook together at home, do walks together, the gym, brew beer. . . basically we still enjoy each others company. And after almost 25 years, I think that's a really good thing :-) And, looking to the future. . . I'm hoping to do another half-marathon with my daughter in October! We're looking to do the Rock n Roll one in Vegas and my friend and her daughter (if it's not finals week) may join us as well! Of course my husband will go, but he'll sit on the sidelines and cheer with my daughter's boyfriend because neither of them like to run those kind of distances!

Bay to Breakers

2009-05-19T20:27:00.000-07:00

I just finished the Bay to Breakers race. What an experience that was. All good and fun though! Here's a picture of my friend, her daughter and me after the race. Also, one of one of the many costumes that I thought was funny. And yes, I have pictures of people running naked. And no, I won't post them on the web!

Catch up - again!

2009-05-09T10:07:00.000-07:00

I see it's been over a month since I last posted. Lets see, work is going as usual. The big event of the year is over and just one more week of actual school for the students left. It's always nice to go on to summer time! Running is going well. I've been averaging just over 20 miles per week. It feels good - although I keep thinking I should lose at least a little more weight. Then again, my eating is not the best. It could be a lot worse though so I just need to be thankful for what I have. And maybe go to the gym more than twice a week! I've also been catching up on a lot of reading. Now that I'm buying less book (and actually using the library), my tbr pile is getting smaller. In a couple of months it may get to the point where it's just books on my bookshelf waiting to be read, and not around the floor as well!

As for future plans, we're planning another trip up the cost in July. We have the trailer, and a place to stay the first few nights (going to see my Grandmother!), but we haven't made the reservations for the rest of the nights. I've picked the places and written down the phone numbers. My problem is that I do that late at night, and these places are only open for reservations during normal business hours. So hopefully today we'll get that done! And, next week I'm running in the Bay to Breakers race (I think it's just over 7 miles with a killer incline around mile 2.5) with a friend of mine. Since it's a hilly race, and more run for the fun and scenery, I plan on slowing down my pace and just enjoying the people and such around me. I'm really looking forward to it though. And when I get back, I need to buy some new running shoes!

Napa!

2009-03-30T15:35:00.000-07:00

Well, my youngest just turned 21, so we all celebrated by going up to Napa for some wine tasting! Here is just one picture of my girls and their boyfriends.

Birthday Celebration

2009-03-16T18:46:00.000-07:00

We had a fun time celebrating my birthday last night. It was a murder mystery party set in the Renaissance time. Everyone did great getting into a costume and trying to act their part. I do wish the kit we bought gave us a bit more detail, but not bad for a first time. I'd love to try this again - not sure if the others would or not! Here is a picture of my girls and me in costume.

Catching Up

2009-03-05T20:06:00.000-08:00

I feel like I'm behind on everything right now! It took us almost 6 weeks to bottle the honey ale. But the reading were really good and so is the taste (so far). But it's done and bottled and now we're getting the yeast starter done for the next hef. And I went to get a Belgium, and there were only three small bottles left in the pantry! So, I went to order the supplies to make another next week, and the website is down. Oh well. One day later for that as well! I also want to get my exercises done, but I keep putting them off or only doing one type and calling it quits. I need to get up off my behind and get back going. Not to mention my online class is taking a lot of time as well. And I feel like I'm behind with it because every week we have to post on the discussion board and then take an online test - but the test isn't even available until tomorrow morning! And I've read the chapter, done the pre-tests, completed the online homework (that doesn't get turned in), and yet I feel like I'm behind. I guess I don't like thing left undone! Oh well. On the running side I'm still keeping up with that. I signed up for the Women's Nike half-marathon lottery. The race is in October, but you have to sign up now and then they draw names by the end of the month. We tried last year and didn't make it in, but we're hoping for this year!

I finished it!

2009-02-15T14:24:00.001-08:00

The race was good. Weather was beautiful, cool and no rain. Not too many inclines and I felt really good. I ended up running the whole race! There was not any chip timing, so it was just when you finally made it past the starting line, so that will add I think less than a minute to my time. Plus, when I used my GPS it showed a little over 13.2, I think from dodging people! But, I did it in under 2 hours, so I'm really happy. Looking to do another half in December - maybe in Las Vegas!

Here is a picture of me and my friend Bev that did the race with me:

2009-02-13T21:04:00.000-08:00

The race is in two days and it's been raining almost non-stop this week! I did manage a couple of runs outside, and I was very bundled up. I've been watching the predictions, and so far it's supposed to be overcast and cold, but hopefully the rain won't come until after the race. Either which way, I'm getting excited/nervous about it. I'm looking forward to it very much though. I have most of my stuff laid out to pack and I'll get my running belt ready tomorrow morning before we leave. Next time I do one in the Spring or Fall!

Almost Ready

2009-02-06T19:58:00.000-08:00

I've been training for the upcoming half-marathon and I think I'm almost ready. I've been slowly increasing my long runs up to 12 miles last weekend. Keeping up three shorter runs during the week. Then instead of running and working out yesterday I felt like being a blob and came home and opened a bottle of wine instead :-/ Well, instead of letting it get me down, I changed my running schedule around this week and ran on a Friday night for my last short run and now I'll be doing my long run on Sunday. It's not too bad to do that one week before the race. First, I'm doing only approximately 7 miles for my long run since I'm supposed to cut back the week before. And two, the race is on a Sunday so my schedule is just off one week earlier. But the bad thing is that I really like doing my long run early Saturday so I start of my weekend feeling like I've accomplished something. Oh well. At least I didn't give up, I adapted!

Getting Things in Order

2009-01-06T16:33:00.000-08:00

Today is my last day off of work from the holidays. My work is great in that they give us a week and a half of paid vacation over the holidays. I added four days to that to get just over two weeks off! It's been nice though. I've got back into the swing of things with running and bike riding. I've read quite a lot of books. Scheduled the things I need to do. Brewed a new batch of beer and bottled another (Belguim and peach wheat) and ordered supplies for two more. And I just downloaded a new accounting package and I'm going to get that set up and start from January 1st. So, everything I really wanted to accomplish at home I did. And now tonight I will get everything ready to go back to work tomorrow and hope I can learn to get up a couple of hours earlier than I have been so I can continue to run in the mornings!

Done!

2008-12-24T11:56:00.000-08:00

It's just about noon on Christmas eve and I'm finally caught up with everything that I need to. All of the gifts have been purchased and wrapped (except for wrapping some small stocking stuffers that I do when I put those together), food purchased and even Cinnabons bought! I did my 3.67 mile run early this morning and the only thing really missing is doing my weight workout at the gym. But, I think I'll do some sit-ups here this afternoon and maybe some legs exercises, so that should be okay. All gifts that I was making I finished yesterday as well. So now I have all of the ingredients out to make a batch of Belgium ale. As it's boiling, I'll try to finish a book that I've been reading for the last few days and just relax!

Catch up!

2008-12-13T11:22:00.000-08:00

It seems like Christmas is far enough away that I'll get everything done that I want to, but then when I realize it's less than 2 weeks and I still have a full week of work, plus my anniversary, my daughter's birthday, and of course my exercising (I have to at least keep up the minimum or I'll be really cranky). So I'm not sure how much time I really will have and I hate trying to finish things at the last minute. That said, I did manage to run over 7 miles this morning and make a nice breakfast before sitting here at my computer, catching up on emails and post, and trying hard to knit fast! I also have ingredients for a new Belgium ale I want to make, but I forgot to do the yeaster starter. So I guess I'll do that maybe mid-next week and brew one of days I'm off. We'll see. I also have the peach wheat ale that has been in the carboy for two weeks that I'm going to take a reading on today as well. It might be another week before bottling, but since it's for my daughter's birthday I want to bottle is as soon as possible! That's about it for now. A lot going on, not a lot of free time!

Books and Movies

2008-11-22T11:49:00.000-08:00

I've been reading a lot of books, including the "Twilight" series. I'm about 3/4 done with the last book and then last night we all decided to go see the movie. Blah. And yes, I should have known because the books are for young adults, so the movie was going to follow that as well (he's so beautiful, why does he like me, we can't kiss), but it also had really bad special effects. Oh well. I still will finish the series. But I can't wait to read the next Cassie Palmer series book by Karen Chance - but that doesn't come out until next April. In the mean time I've organized all of my books upstairs that I want to read, and put them in piles of series, romances, and books my husband would like me to read. I say I'm going to finish a lot of those before I buy any new ones (especially series), but I've already ordered a few more!!

More beer & knitting!

2008-11-02T11:41:00.000-08:00

It's been a bit since I posted. Still brewing beer and really enjoying it. We did our own Hefeweizen recipe and it's almost gone! We have a new hazelnut brown that we did for Jim's birthday that we should be able to bottle next week and the week after we should be able to bottle the chocolate hazelnut porter from B3 (Jamil's recipe). After that, I have all of the ingredients for Dee's birthday peach wheat beer. Then we have the yeast for another Hefeweizen and a belgium beer ( still need to figure out the receipe for that, but it's best to buy the yeast at the store instead of having it shipped). I've also been working on baby sweaters and Christmas gifts. I finished both of the sweaters, but still working on all of the Christmas gifts. I know it seems far away, but when working on knitting gifts it seems really close!

Quick Update

2008-10-11T20:10:00.001-07:00

Things are going well. I rode my motorcycle to work four days last week. Stalled on my first u-turn in front of the office, but kept going with my feet and started it back up right away! Did another long ride (okay, just over 10 miles, but long for me!) this weekend to Glendora with Jim. That was fun as well. I'm quite glad I have a full face helmet because a rock flew up and hit the face plate. That would have been my forehead! Also, bottled the Hefeweizen ale last week and the mocktobertest the week before. I have one of each in the refrigerator to try. I know the Hefeweizen is probably not ready, but I have to give it a try! And there is a new pale ale in the carboy fermenting now for four days. Yesterday it was so active there was beer and yeast in the bubbler! I cleaned and sanitized it and put a few drops of the foam control in it. Next week we'll brew Jim's birthday ale. Another hazelnut ale with a few changes of our own :-) And now tomorrow we get to go to the Weinsfest. It's at Weins winery and includes their wine and beer from Stone Brewery - as well as German food and other stuff. We're staying down there and then driving back Monday morning for work. I'm really looking forward to it!

Beer and Motorcycles!

2008-09-20T09:20:00.000-07:00

First, a quick update on the beer. The mocktoberfest was moved to our cooler in the closet so we could brew a hefeweisen beer the next week. That is supposed to ferment at 62 degrees, so we wanted that in the new chiller. It's been in there almost two weeks (as of Tuesday) and I think we'll do a hydrometer test at the two week point. The mocktoberfest is at 1.021 and has been there for the last week. We brought the temperature up a couple of degrees and carefully shook the yeast off the bottom. We'll take a testing tomorrow and if it's still 1.021 then we'll bottle. But if it's gone down any we'll wait and take another reading in a couple of days. When we get two in a row the same then we'll bottle. We're trying to be really careful. And I'm not sure why it doesn't want to come down just a bit (the estimated FG is 1.015), but I hope it's not because we fermented this at 64 degrees since everything I've been reading says the beer will taste better at the lower temps. And, the nut brown seems good proof. It's been bottle conditioning for three weeks now and it sure tastes good! I'll be sharing this one next week!

Now to the motorcycles. We took our CHP approved course last week. Five hours of classroom time on Thursday evening and then five hours each day on Saturday and Sunday. I was exhausted from the heat and layers of clothes from those two days. But it was a really good class. They showed you how to ride from the very beginning and how to do it right. I would highly recommend this class to anyone. And the really good part, all three of us passed the test (my husband, older daughter and myself!). Our passing certificates came in the mail on Thursday and we went down to the DMV yesterday and traded them in for a permanent license! Okay, we just got the temporary paper one saying we are licensed and the expiration date on our picture license punched out, but the final one is in the mail and we're legal to ride :-) As a matter of fact, I just got back from my run (it's been two weeks since I've been able to do one - Las Vegas and the motorcycle class) and I'm just waiting for my husband to get ready so we can do our first real ride down to the Village for breakfast!!

And I probably should have posted about Las Vegas a couple of weeks ago. It was fun, but the funniest part is that I left my luggage at home! I had to buy all new clothes when we got there!

New Brew!

2008-09-01T19:38:00.000-07:00

Brewed another ale today! This time we brewed a Mocktoberfest. To the regular kit we added just a little bit of cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger and allspice. It sure smelled good (okay, my youngest thought it stunk up the house - but Jim and I thought it smelled good!). And we put this one in our new fermentor chiller that we just made!! Here is a picture of that:

So far (just seven hours later) the temperature on the fermometer is right between 62 and 64 degrees. I'll be checking it each morning and night for the first few days. Then we head to Vegas for a few days and my youngest will change out the bottles once a day. For her help (with this and the animals), we're going to brew a wheat beer as soon as we come back. Now that we can ferment two ales at once :-) But I'm going to need more bottles! But that might work out since I just tried the earthquake honey ale tonight and it's tasting good. So now I can start sharing those (and getting those bottles back) as well!!

Here's a picture of Jim brewing this morning:

New Batch!

2008-08-11T10:59:00.001-07:00

We bottled the earthquake honey ale on Saturday and that seemed to go pretty good. We had an OG of 1.055 and a FG of 1.011. That makes this beer a 5.76% beer. We're going to be better this time and wait the two weeks before opening one. But that's not easy! So, to make it a little easier they say it's good to have a wide variety of homebrews on hand. To learn to do some new styles, have them in the pantry, and to taste them and see what we like and what we can change for the next time. So, we brewed the nut brown ale on Sunday. This is our third brew and a lot of it went a smoother than the other times. But not the breaking of the basket we were going to store it in (you can see the blue basket on a previous post). Jim's handle broke after he picked up his side and the basket went down. I dropped my side and grabbed the carboy! We saved the beer! But we had water all over and had to find another items to put the carboy in to keep it cool. I found an old ice chest that it almost fits it(not quite level on the bottom), but it fits and it's been keeping the water even cooler than the basket did. Plus, using the towels to clean up all the water we have a very clean kitchen floor! It seems to end up cleaner (the whole kitchen) after we brew, which is a nice thing! But, we're going to try and make a fermentor chiller this week so we can brew our Halloween spiced beer next weekend (which will be on Sunday since we are going to the Stone Brewery 12th Anniversary Fund Raiser on Saturday!!). Anyhow, here is a picture of our pale ale after three weeks bottle conditioning:

I'm still getting the hang of putting pictures in with the posts. So please excuse this entry if the pictures do not make sense next to the text you're reading!

For the other thing we did this weekend - we practiced riding our motorcycles. I don't know if I mentioned it, but we (my husband, older daughter and myself) got our permits last month and then we bought a couple of motorcycles. I really like mine (V-Star 650) and it's the one we are learning on. I've made a lot of progress (starting with walking it while playing with the clutch, going straight and walking it to turn it around, to going around the neighborhood block). This weekend we not only went around the block, but down the street and around a culdesac. And I learned not to go around that corner in second gear! It felt like it wanted to stall so I went faster than I was comfortable and as I do when I panic, I pulled in the clutch! I made it around (with a foot down once) and went back up the street. It didn't occur to me to downshift to first since I turn other corners in second. But, since I've upshifted to second and third, I haven't downshifted. So my next learning lesson will be to go down the street and downshift until I' comfortable. Then I'll try that culdesac again! And we are taking this really slow (Jim did the same route as me, but added a bit more the second time. He's doing really well!). Dee finally rode the bike up and down the street and even did some u-turns! We're just trying to get a little familiar and comfortable with the motorcycle before we take the certified class in September! And here is a picture of me on my new bike:

Earthquake Honey Ale

2008-07-30T22:58:00.001-07:00

Okay, this one started off good. We had the cleaning and sterilization down and we knew the procedures better. But, since we knew the procedures better we realized we did a couple of things wrong the first time around. So, we fixed them this time, and that meant that the wort took longer to cool down (no lifting of the lid this time). But, we did everything as best we could and tried a liquid yeast. Okay, looking back and reading more I realize now that even though the packaging says we can pitch one vial for 5 gallons, we really should not have. We should have made a starter. It took over 24 hours for our fermentation to start. That, and we are doing it at cooler temperatures this time as well. We bought a large bucket and have put in water, ice, and a black t-shirt around the carboy. It's a lot cooler than last time :-) But, we've already bought the ingredients for our next beer (a nut brown ale), and again we're using a liquid yeast. So, I read up on making a starter and I ordered the necessary items to do that. It looks like as long as you have good sanitary procedures it should not be too hard. It just requires a little more planning ahead. But we think it's worth it! Also, we tried our pale ale after a week and a half (we put it in the refrigerator for 2 days), and it was pretty good. Still a little green and needs more carbonation, but it's a decent ale! I can't tell you how excited I am about all of this!! And here, for good measure, is a picture of our newest earthquake honey ale fermenting (it's called earthquake honey ale because we had the 5.4 earthquake just two days after it started fermenting!).

Oh, and I'm still running and working out! Okay, the gym is down to two days a week, but I plan on increasing that as possible. But I'm still running. I need to - it not only helps my physical health, it helps my mental health as well!!

Beer bottling day!

2008-07-20T15:07:00.000-07:00

Just a couple of pictures from our beer bottling day!

More Beer!

2008-07-19T21:14:00.000-07:00

Okay, things are progressing really well with the beer. We've gone through the first and second stages of fermentation; taken our hydrometer readings; and are at the point that we are going to bottle tomorrow morning (my daughter wants to help and she had to work today). The bottle have been sterilized and capped with foil and I'll be sterilizing the bottling bucket and all equipment in the morning. As well as getting the corn sugar ready (boil water, add, cool down) and such. I'm rather excited about the whole thing. For for the last two hydrometer readings we tried the left over beer, and it tasted like a decent beer that was left out too long (warm and no carbonation). So, I think (knock on wood) that it's going to be a decent beer! Hopefully I'll be posting in the next 2-3 weeks after we try our first one :-)

Beer!

2008-07-10T19:59:00.001-07:00

Not only have we made cheese (twice) since coming back, but we started our first batch of beer! I think it took us an hour just to clean and sanitize everything; a good 45 minutes to bring the water up to a boil (we started off too slow with our grain, worried it would heat up too fast); cooked the wort for an hour, adding the hops at the proper time; cooled it in the sink until it was cool enough to put in the fermenter (oh yeah, and started the yeast before that time), topped off the wort with fresh water (not tap) and when it was cool enough we added the yeast. Put it in the pantry in the middle of the house and turned the air on so it would be below 75 degrees in that room (which we may need to cool more. We'll figure this all out). Anyhow, a day later it started to foam and work! It was cool to watch the progress. The wort was churning, the foam was coming up on the top, and the airlock was working away! Now it's been three more days and it's been fairly quiet, but I see a pop now and then. We took an original hydrometer reading before adding the yeast (it was a lot lower than we expected) and we're set to take our next one this weekend. I'm quite excited about all of this and hope it will turn out okay. I ordered enough 22 ounce bottles to bottle it, but I've also been saving good 12 ounce bottles. I plan to wash and sterilize those this weekend (and make some more cheese)!! And my husband and I had so much fun doing the first batch, he already ordered the stuff for a second batch! But we agreed not to start that until we've had a chance to try our first beer and see where we need to improve our technique. In the meantime I've also been doing the mozzarella cheese. And I ordered supplies to make a couple of other kinds of cheese. If that works out, and I hope it does, then I'll be buying the pattern to make a cheese press and trying my hand at some hard cheeses as well. But also, I need to make room for some more toys in my garage so I've been going out there and cleaning up a bag of trash every other day. At this rate, my part should be done in a couple of weeks and it's just a matter of my husband cleaning up his tools (I will put them all close to or on his work bench) and him and my daughter cleaning up some of the car parts that I can't move. I'm rather excited about it all.

Oh, and a new Belgium Pub opened up in our town in a little alley by the theater. We've gone there the last three weeks and enjoyed some very good ale and then twice went to the movies afterwards (my husband loves the movies)! I'd have to say that I've been enjoying myself :-)

Now, if the beer turns out any decent, I will also put up a few pictures along with my comments!

Pictures!

2008-07-03T21:56:00.000-07:00

Finally, some pictures from my trip. . . and the week after!

Here is Dee in Trinidad looking at the sea lion!

Here is a road we rode bikes on in Myers Flat!

This is the path we took in Fern Canyon. I would have more pictures of this place, but my camera battery died! I think it was my favorite of all places we went!

And when we got back my cheese kit was waiting. . . so we made some fresh mozzarella cheese! We did a few things wrong, but were careful with the cleanliness of it all and the cheese turned out fine. We'll be making more this weekend. And more bread, and beer. . . and I'll be posting later about some of this stuff!!

Back from Vacation!

2008-06-28T09:51:00.001-07:00

I just got back from a wonderful vacation! We went up the coast and did some bike riding through the redwoods and a lot of hiking. Then on the way back we did a day of wine tasting in Napa. Just a wonderful time. I even did a bit of reading and knitting (while on the road). I have pictures to post. But, my computer refuses to connect to the internet and it's just being a pain (I'm on my husband's computer today). So, I think it's time I finally spent that money I've been saving for either a bike, kayak or computer and get that computer. So I'll be on his computer a lot tonight doing some good research - but I already have a good idea of what I'm going to get. And as soon as I do, I'll download my pictures and post them! Oh yeah, and last night we made fresh pretzels and mozzarella cheese!! :-) And a beer kit is on the way. . . I have a lot to post about!

Vacation!

2008-06-12T18:12:00.000-07:00

I am headed out to a nice vacation. As soon as I get back I'll post about my hikes, bike rides, reading along with pictures (I hope)!!

Weird Weather

2008-05-24T11:10:00.001-07:00

The last few weeks the weather has gone from really cold, to really hot (up to over 100 degrees) to really cold and thunder storms. I rode my bike to work on Thursday, and by Thursday afternoon it was raining hard enough that I had to get a ride home. I was worried that I was going to get my long run in this morning. But the rain went away and it was just beautiful outside. I ended up doing just over 8 miles and I feel really good! Now to just get my bike back home from work. Oh, and sign up for that 5k my daughter and I keep talking about!

Mother's Day and Other Stuff

2008-05-09T20:25:00.000-07:00

Well, first and quite important is the fact that one of the harder days at work is done and over. It's a day we plan for for a semester and we make sure it goes off smoothly for the faculty, students and visitors we invite. It went well, but of course there were the typical (and maybe not so typical) things that went wrong this year. But, to the people attending it went smoothly and that's what is important. That, and the stress of working on it is over - for another year!

Now on to Mother's Day. A month ago I decided I wanted to go to a good brunch for Mother's Day. Actually, I've been wanting to go to one for a while, but this seemed like a good excuse to make the plans. So, I called and made reservations for my family, as well as my parents and my in-laws. So a group of nine of us are going to a Doubletree Inn Mother's Day brunch. I'm really looking forward to that. Then, my oldest daughter and I are treating ourselves to some time at the new spa in town. We are going to have a massage, a facial and a pedicure! Now, I've never gone to a spa before, so I called to see what the basic procedure is. I understood that they give you a locker. . .and that between the massage and the facial they give you a robe and a warm blanket and that you can stay in the robe for the pedicure or change to your own clothes. You can even take a shower in between if you'd like. But what I'm still processing is the "before the massage you dress down." If that's what I think it is, why didn't they say we get the robe before the massage?!! I am not walking anywhere in my birthday suit!! And yes, I will have a normal (but cute) pair of underwear and not my typical thong for that day as well! We'll just have to figure that out before Sunday!

On another note, I've been keeping up my reading and running. But I really don't feel motivated to do my long run tomorrow. But with what I plan on eating and such on Sunday, I had better get some kind of run in. So, I think I need to go relax with a fun book (I'm trying to finish a non-fiction book right now that maybe I should put aside tonight) and picture a nice, enjoyable long run before I go to bed. Maybe the fact that I ran last week in the heat (okay, it was in the 70s when I ran but to me that was hot) and this week it's overcast and rainy and I'm going to have to pull my long pants back out to run in. Then again, what great weather to run in and won't it feel good to start off my weekend with a nice, long run and then got into the shopping we're supposed to do (pricing out new kitchens) on Saturday and my fun filled day for Sunday?! Yes, I think that does sound better. I'm off to my reading/relaxing/visualizing! :-)

Running

2008-04-26T09:56:00.000-07:00

I just got back from my long run. It went well, but it was warmer out. Okay, it was only 75 degrees out, but since last week it was only 60 later in the day, this seemed really hot! But, I'm glad I did it. I'm trying to keep up my running and I'm actually going back to running in the morning some days before work. So that feels really good! And I'm also reading more as well. I'm trying to finish the big pile of books I have by my bed. Especially the older ones and the ones I started oh. . .a year or two ago! Maybe it's my type of a spring cleaning!!

Books & Doctors

2008-04-12T09:49:00.000-07:00

I've actually been reading at a decent pace again. I just finished another book from my tbr pile - "Grave Secrets." I liked the book and actually look forward to the next one in the series. I've also been running, which I really enjoy. But I went to the doctor's office last week to see a specialist about my knee. I can run fine with a brace (and every once in a while it gives me trouble midweek), but I wanted to see if I could run without it. Well, that doctor is "not a fan" of running since it's really hard on the body (knees, hips, etc.) and would prefer that I try to do more biking and swimming. But, if I want to continue to run, he's sending me to physical therapy to try and strengthen the muscle around the knee and told me to continue to wear the brace and use advil as necessary. And that some day it will just hurt too much to run. So, I just figured that means I need to continue to wear the brace and that since I don't use any pain medications now, I'm in pretty good shape. He even said my x-ray looked really good. But, others in my family had different ideas and gave me a hard time about wanting to continue and keeping up my long distances. So, for him I said I would cut back from my weekend runs. And when I did a mile less today, he said he never asked me to cut down :-/ I give! Oh well. It was much warmer this morning anyhow, so doing 6.25 instead of 7.1 is not such a bad thing. Especially since I was able to run three times midweek. But we'll see next week. I need to go to an evening function for my work on Thursday (and I just realized last night that all of my dresses are too cocktail-ish for a work function - so I need a new dress!), so I may not be able to run three times mid-week next week. So, maybe I'll do my 7 miles again on the weekend! We'll just have to wait and see.

Reno

2008-03-28T10:12:00.000-07:00

It's about time I was able to post a bit on Reno. We had a great trip there. Spent some time with extended family, and then some good time with just my Grandmother. It was wonderful to hear her stories and be able to talk to her without outside interruptions. She had said before that on this specific birthday (and I won't list which one here in public) that she wanted to smoke, drink and gamble! Well, we went to Reno, everyone else drank, and we had candy cigarettes - but we had fun and we took a funny picture!

New Blog

2008-03-09T16:50:00.000-07:00

Well, not exactly new! I am changing over my internet carrier and the old one has my blog. So, I had to find a new place to start one. This site was recommended. And funny enough, I found that three years ago I had started one and then let it go because my carrier offered an easy way to do a blog linked to my email. But like I said, that one is going away. So, now I've found this one again. I've made my updates and I'll be testing it out and updating as I go along. Not sure about my running list and my TBR list. I've put them to the side, but I'm wondering if they should have this own mini-blog and link to this? Not sure. But I'll figure it out in time! And to see if I can do this. . . I'm going to put a picture here and see how it comes out!

Interesting Book

2005-09-10T18:47:00.000-07:00

Underground Education by Richard Zacks

I'm about half way through this book right now and enjoying it. I just finished a section on serial killers, and thought one of them sounded rather familiar. . . and turned out it was to do with the same person from Devil in the White City! Anyhow. . . back to reading the book. . .and knitting. . .!

Making Progress

2005-08-17T16:46:00.000-07:00

I just wanted to add a quick post that I am making good progress in the poncho. . . and slow but sure progress with the scarf. I am on the last color repeat of the poncho. Then I'll block it, put it together and knit the edging around the neck. As for the scarf, I'm supposed to do a k1p1 ribbing for 32" - and I'm only around 11" now and I've been working on it a little bit every day! Once I finish that part, then I'll go back, pick up stitches and do the ruffle thing. I'm sure that's going to take a very long time!! In the meantime, I'll do some more afghan squares. . . finish the poncho. . . start another scarf. . . maybe start that sweater that I keep talking about and talking about!!

Kittens picture

2005-08-13T15:49:00.000-07:00

Just testing how to post pictures from FotoFlix!

Posted by SueL

A new start!

2005-08-13T14:02:00.000-07:00

Okay, so I have had a blog over on the earthlink site for quite some time now, but I am not happy with what little control I have over it! My posts are fine, and the pictures are fine, but it is all squished to the left of the screen and I can't seem to undo that. Plus, there are other aspects that I'm just struggling with! So, I thought I would try a new service, and if it works well for me then I'll try to switch my web rings over here. In the meantime. . . double posts! And, in case you couldn't tell - I'm playing with the pictures too!