Crafty Girl

I got home last night and Bill and I were chatting and I told him about yesterday’s guilt for not going to lunch with him. He said “Why did you feel guilty? I went to lunch with Brian and had a great time. I’d rather have lunch with you, but it’s no big deal”.

Like I said, I put these feelings on myself.

Today is our company Christmas lunch party. This will probably involve stopping at a bar and having a drink or two. I’m still off dairy because Sam is sensitive to it so I’ll have to pass up the yummy desserts unless they are clearly dairy free. Not much chance of that. I’ll have to make due with a drink or two.

Yesterday I had to skip the final superset because the Silat guy was at the desk again, and man, can he talk. Almost as much as my husband. Blah, blah, blah! Dude! I just want to say “Hi, how’s it going” and get my workout in! Limited time here! I skipped lunch with my husband so I could talk with you? I don’t think so!

I worked out this morning instead of at lunch because of the party today. I did bodyweight circuits for my HIIT and added on yesterday’s final superset.

Thursday
Bodyweight Rows 12
One legged deadlift 8
DB Stepups 16.25 lbs (heavier next time)
Swiss Ball Crunch with med ball 4KG

Friday
Bodyweight circuits X 3
Close grip pushups
One armed Kettlebell swings
Pushups
Two armed Kettlebell swings

Superset
Swiss Ball Jackknife
Swiss Ball Hip Extension, Leg Curl (gasp, these are almost easy now, need to drop the reps and do them with a single leg)

Looks like I have succesfully migrated to a new server and all shiney new blog software.  Yay me.

 We’ve been wanting to get a new host for a while now.  When they notified us only 10 days before expiration that we needed to pay up, I figured it was time.

I was using Moveable Type, but I have to say, WordPress is rocking so far.  Love it.

I’m feeling really good after taking a recovery week. My foot isn’t hurting anymore and I have lots of energy.

Today I started Stage 2 of Turbulence Training for Women. I read on the TTMembers forum that a recumbent isn’t recommended, so I tried the other style of bike. I couldn’t get the resistance to increase on either bike, so I switched to the treadmill for intervals. I’ll have to get one of the employees to help me figure out the bikes. I’ve tried them before and had the same problem. Maybe they’re just broken

TT Warmup

Romanian Deadlift 8×45, 8×65, 3×8x85
DB Flat Bench Press 8×15, 8×20, 3×8x25

DB Row 8×25, 2×8x30
Elevated Pushup 3×8 each side

Intervals
8 60/60 Hills on treadmill.

Today marks the 1 day of the last week of this TT phase. After next week I’m taking a recovery week. I’ll be doing some jogging and yoga though.

Next week is going to be kind of weird. Monday is Memorial Day and I am keeping my commitment to myself to run a 5k before the end of May. On Tuesday our intern returns from MIT. He’s been saving up stories to tell us all year and that boy can talk! It will be fun seeing him again and I expect to go to lunch with the gang on Tuesday & Thursday. So that will leave Wednesday and Friday for finishing up this phase of TT. That will also get me back on track for workouts starting on Monday.

I joined the Turbulence Training Members site today. Craig will be raising the price on June 1st and was offering some great extras this month. I purchased the monthly plan. A quick peak at the forums and articles leaves me impressed! I know I’ll be spending some time this weekend poking around some more.

Morning
TT Phase 1 Core Workout A
Held both the regular planks and side planks for 60 seconds. Damn those are tough Did I say a couple of weeks ago that I didn’t think the core workouts were all that challenging? I retract that statement.

Lunch
TT warmup
Specific Warmup

BB Bench Press 2×8x80, 6,2×80
BB Romanian Deadlift 3×8x85

Reverse Grip Seated Row 3×8x65
Swiss Ball Leg Curl 3×15

Intervals 6 - 60/60 Hill Intervals on the Treadmill

Weight: 168

Morning
TT Core
A1) Ab Curl 2×10
A2) Side Plank 2×30 sec each side

B1) Bird Dog 2×10
B2) Plank 2×30 sec

I didn’t find this very challenging. I’ll have to increase the time for the planks I guess…and maybe look ahead a couple of weeks and see if there are some swiss ball exercises.

Lunch
Treadmill Walk 3 min

TT Bodyweight Warmup

Specific Warmup
DB Bench Press 1×8x12, 1×8x20
DB Stepups 1×8x8, 1×8x12

Workout
A1) BB Bench Press 3×8x60
A2) DB Stepup 3×8x16.25

B1) Pushup 2×12 (9 toe, 3 reg)
B2) Ball Leg Curl 2×12

Looking at my picture of the Ribby Cardi below… My stripes at the bottom don’t seem to line up. Wonder if I can stretch and block it into matching?

It also looks like I have some strange color pooling and striping going on in the fuzzy top down.

Summer-like weather in northern Michigan has traditionally been a pretty short season…like 4 months. We’ve had some extended seasons the last few years but that doesn’t change the “I have to get it all in now” mindset. In fact…even though we’re experiencing record heat the thoughts of winter are looming closer.

I’ve been spending a lot of my free time working in our first large vegetable garden. It’s in a completely vigin spot and although we added lots of dirt from the pig pen (it’s been two years since we’ve had pigs in there) I think the soil is pretty lacking in nutrients. Thinks just don’t seem to be thriving like they did up near the house. But we needed a larger space so there you are. I think next year I will get a soil test. And we’ve got two HUGE bins of compost going. We’re using old hog panels wired into a circle. I think the panels are 12 feet long and 4 feet high. We have enough old rotted hay to make another bin this summer too. I’ll also be putting leaves and other mulch on over the winter.

So I’ve not been spending much time on knitting. I have two projects in the works…the ever present socks and a mohair sweater. I’m knitting the sweater from the top down following the instructions outlined in Knitting From the Top

Here it just looks like a fuzzy blob of yarn I think but it should take shape soon. I’m making it a V-Neck.

And the ever present Road Sock, as Bill calls it. This is made from some Opal yarn I got off of Ebay a couple of years ago.

Just last week I was thinking I might go visit an Amish farm and get some raw milk and butter. My stepfather buys from them and they’ve made him butter before. Michigan has some of the strictest laws on the sale of raw milk. So given the following:
Amish busted for raw milk sales
Amish man Arlie Stutzman now finds himself fighting the state of Ohio for the right to sell raw milk. He says laws banning its sale - the likes of which exist in 25 states - violate his religious freedom by restricting his ability to share with those in his community.

I’m gonna guess that I’m not gonna get my hands on any raw milk unless we get a cow or goat.

According to Victory Seeds the last frost date for my area is actually 6/23 and the first fall frost comes on 8/23. This data is from “Climatography of the U.S. No. 20, Supplement No. 1″, 1988. My experience has been that you can plant Memorial day weekend and we start getting frosts after Labor day. Although the last couple of years frosts haven’t come until late September. I think we’ll be ok if we plant the tender stuff on June 1st.

Here’s the first seed flat I started. It’s got 4 Each of the following:

King of the North Bell Peppers
Hot Ornamental Habaneros
Joe’s Long Cayanne
Hot Jalepeno
Boldog Hungarian Spice peppers

And 6 Each of
Ropreco Paste Tomatos
Amish Paste Tomatos
Cherry Roma Tomatos
Cauliflower
Red Cabbage
Nutribud Broccoli

And 12 Brussels Sprouts (I love Brussel Sprouts!)

And some German Camomil. The seeds for this were so small there I used the bottom of a water bottle and just dumped them in.

I found the ambient tempurater in my house is 68 degrees which is too cool for quick germination of many seeds. Lucky for me we have a great resource fairly close by. Organic Plantit. They focus mostly on hydroponics, but they had a seed starting heat mat that was just what I needed. They also have all kinds of organic fertalizers. Our soil is pretty good and we have all the manure we could want. I’ve also started a compost pile, but I got some concentrated compost tea to help get my seeds off to a healthy start.

According to Victory Seeds the last frost date for my area is actually 6/23 and the first fall frost comes on 8/23. This data is from “Climatography of the U.S. No. 20, Supplement No. 1″, 1988. My experience has been that you can plant Memorial day weekend and we start getting frosts after Labor day. Although the last couple of years frosts haven’t come until late September. I think we’ll be ok if we plant the tender stuff on June 1st.

Here’s the first seed flat I started. It’s got 4 Each of the following:

King of the North Bell Peppers
Hot Ornamental Habaneros
Joe’s Long Cayenne
Hot Jalapeño
Boldog Hungarian Spice peppers

And 6 Each of
Ropreco Paste Tomatoes
Amish Paste Tomatoes
Cherry Roma Tomatoes
Cauliflower
Red Cabbage
Nutribud Broccoli

And 12 Brussels Sprouts (I love Brussels Sprouts!)

And some German Chamomile. The seeds for this were so small there I used the bottom of a water bottle and just dumped them in.

I found the ambient temperate in my house is 68 degrees which is too cool for quick germination of many seeds. Lucky for me we have a great resource fairly close by. Organic Plantit. They focus mostly on hydroponics, but they had a seed starting heat mat that was just what I needed. They also have all kinds of organic fertilizers. Our soil is pretty good and we have all the manure we could want. I’ve also started a compost pile, but I got some concentrated compost tea to help get my seeds off to a healthy start.

We’ve a hen get broody. That means she wants to hatch eggs. She hardly ever gets off the nest and after a week or two of taking the eggs away, I realized we would have to stage an intervention because at this time I really don’t want any more egg laying chickens. I found that we would need to isolate the hen from her nest for a couple of days until her hormones return to normal and she loses interest in sitting on her old nest. So we’ve got her in a cage with food and water. I sure hope this works because otherwise I fear for her health and status in the flock.

I heard on the radio the other day that Grand Traverse Bay (Lake Michigan) used to freeze 7 out of every 10 years. It’s only frozen twice in the last decade. What does this mean? High temperatures and more snow due to evaporation, or as a friend once said “It’s not snow, it’s lake effect”. Also more and heavier frosts to damage the fruit tree crops we grow up here. Big fun.

This weekend marks the six weeks before the last frost date in my neck of the woods and we need to get on with the planting! This weekend!

There hasn’t been much progress on the Ribby Cardi. I finished off the collar a couple of weeks ago and didn’t like the way it looked so I ripped it out and started over. Basically, the instructions said to pick up the stitches with the right side facing me, but the “seam” showed once the collar was done and folded over. When I restarted it took me three tries to get them picked up evenly.

Work has been crazy lately! We’re supposed to have a new version of our software out on March 31. No way in hell is that going to happen. In fact all us programmers new that in November when we started. To many delays, requirement changes, tool changes, etc. Oh, and a complete lack of planning. At some point in last couple of months my boss started being more and more verbally abusive. He would go from telling us we were doing a great job to saying he “qeustioned our ability as programmers”. He’s always had mood swings but it was really getting ridiculous! I’d spoken to him before about his threatening and combative methods of communication and that helped for little while. This time I went to the president of the company (we’re a small company with no HR). It worked! I suspect that there is storm building, but the last few weeks have been relatively peaceful.