Fun Weekend

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

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

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

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

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!

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!

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.