Election Day

Yes, it is that day. I voted early. No sense letting any mishap get in the way of an important time. I have looked at some news headlines. (I am not going to continue to do this it is too emotionally charged.) Judging from the sensory laden reports I can be grateful I am among those who are not waiting in long lines today! That said, I am looking forward to watching some of the results today.

Many projects are calling my name today and because of that I feel quite paralyzed in my forward movement. Yesterday got ahead of me and therefore there were no additional miles added to the Tour. Today that will not happen. There is a client arriving in about 20 minutes so now is not the time to get on the bike. However, I will be mileage bound as soon as she walks out the door! Today is take charge of the projects day, and that includes the body challenge. I began an intensive elimination diet three weeks ago. (That is a project all in itself!) Yesterday I ate a bit of nightshade (only a few slices of banana pepper and chicken with a chipotle sauce not much really) and today my allergies are up again. I am so desiring to be eating peppers, tomatoes, eggplant, and potatoes that I will take another week off them and add them one at a time just to be sure. That means this week will be quite strict food wise as well. So what am I eating/not-eating? NO: glutenous grains (wheat, spelt, kamut, rye, oat, to name a few), soy, peanuts, dairy (not even butter!), corn (this is the hardest), nightshades, sugar, beer, wine, alcohol, and anything that I might really crave on a daily basis. What is left? Leafy greens, rice (hot rice cereal is great like a cross between cream of wheat and grits), nuts (other than peanuts), ORGANIC chicken and turkey, fish (not shell fish right now), almond milk, almond butter, an occasional piece of fruit (the sugar high is quite a ride when you are eating this clean), garlic, onions...It really does not sound fun but I have gotten past the sad-poor-me-I-can't-have-my-favorite-foods phase. I am now in the OMG-am-I-bored phase. That is leading me to the WOW-look-at-what-I-can-make-with-this phase. Those interested in healthy living tips and menu busters will be wanting to follow along I may just get some of that added in : ) One of my past faves was Applegate Farms chicken sausage. Unfortunately many of their recipes include dairy. I stumbled upon Bilinski in Earth Fare recently. This product is made in New York state and is 100% organic. They have some nice choices without added dairy. The spinach & garlic is wonderful and this morning I tried their apple. The apple was good but I am not certain why both of these companies seem to feel the need to make their apple sausage (a breakfast item in my book) so spicy. I mean really why don't they save the pepper spices for the Italian style? I am sure they could save lots of money.

Other projects? I finally completed my reward socks and wore them last night. Merino is a lovely wool and not itchy. The weather was almost cool enough for the wool socks but the outfit was right. It really is all about the fashion, right? The baby shower is Sunday and I have two pairs of baby socks and one adult pair. I was trying for another. White with a chevron lace that looked great but somehow turned out to be very large for a small baby. The first one went to the frog pond before the heel turn was complete. The real cincher for the rip out was the heel. I read the directions and did it wrong twice in 45 minutes time. Yes, *[read them, stitched, ripped back] and repeated from* until I finally realized the real problem was these socks were not destined for the greatness of completeness. Over three years ago I bought a lovely burgundy yarn and knit all the pieces for a pullover. Last fall I pulled them out and decided they looked like I was just beginning to knit. Really it is true, this was one of my earlier projects and I have learned lots about tension and perfected techniques. Result there? That less than lovely pullover returned itself to lovely yarn. One year later I am about half done with the sleeves of a rather sweet cardigan. It has been fun and I am looking forward to wearing it. I have also gotten 75 % of the threads buried on my Bamboo Lace Henley. I am looking forward to wearing this one too but it will need buttons and I discovered last weekend that I have a button phobia. Not a bad one where I would need medication or anything but a real procrastination problem. (Four of the found items needed for winter wear are in need of new or replaced buttons!) Looks like getting to wear this one will have to wait until I can overcome the button obstacle! I have added some inches to the Victorian Lace Stole (picture soon) I am making out of some hand spun mohair. I think I will continue my election season tradition and get that out for the returns. It really would be fitting to get that one complete during the tally time as I did most of it during the debates. (One of the nice things about NPR is the eyes are free to do something other than watch the candidates!)

Now that I have effectively written this might be a good time to work on the NaNo novel. All I have so far is jottings of the main character. After a good night's sleep I have an idea of how to proceed. I started with telling the story about the character. That did not make me happy. I think I will try to write from the first person. No one is telling me how to do this, there are no rules, this is simply down and dirty writing. Yes, I am working on an erotic fiction but the down and dirty of this is to simply get the words written. Get the story out in less than a month. Today being the 4th of the month means the story must be ALL OUT in 26 days. The added challenge here is to get this thing written on the computer. I much prefer to draft on paper with pencil or fancy pen. Time is of the essence though and preferences must be put aside.