Day THREE

I want to whine. My biceps hurt. Straightening out the arm is close to impossible. I worked out with Kam yesterday evening. There is some crazed competitive person that emerges when I am doing anything athletic with her. I try so hard to impress knowing that there is no way I could ever out do her in any physical task. Thus, today I am paying for my eagerness. Now, I will not deny my own desire to reduce the amount of stored energy (read FAT) and increase the amount of potential force (read MUSCLE) in my body. However, this does not inspire me to get on the bike and do another 25 miles (my legs are sore today too). Perhaps some Tylenol would help.

OK enough of that! What about those sock pics? I have completed the Peppermint Candy Socks and started the baby ones. Oh, did I forget to mention they are "Mommy and Me" socks for a friend who is having a baby girl? Those pics will have to wait until the little ones are complete. I think they will be much better as a set.


These are Edelweiss Socks Socks from Vogue Knitting in sock it to me. They took a very long time to complete. The pattern is intricate and full of switches between knit, knit to the back, and purl. The V-patterning is beautiful though and I think they will be well received even though they are 4 months late for the birthday. What was I thinking? Knit a hard pattern at the same time that I am graduating from college and my father is ending his battle with cancer? I must have been out of my mind. (Glad it is back!! I need to complete spinning the yarn for Kam's new hoodie! Then complete all my other projects and clean the house and dispose of old clutter and apply to grad school and...)


These are my reward socks. After taking the 2 hour exam to become a personal trainer in Dallas last June I found a yarn shop and bought yarn for me. These are not complete yet. I have about an inch and a half of the second sock on the needles. The yarn is pure bliss to work with (I can't find a link for this one. It is Collette hand painted from Whales in Sahara.) and the pattern easy to memorize. (Again I do have a math mind that puts me in line for psycho-therapy but all is well, I have a degree in psychology!) I am sure that I will have these completed by the time the weather turns cold and my beach-girl feet can stand to have warm socks on them.

Fall Goals

Wow that was a busy week! Amazing how much energy it takes to assist someone in a healing process. Now here we all are on the first day of September looking at a new month and before the month is out we will be in a whole new season of the year.

The season change takes place in three weeks. What a great time to get going on fitness again. Three weeks from now is half way to reaching a fitness goal. Not a huge one that requires a year of training or a monumental one like burning 40 pounds of fat, but an average goal of reaching the next level. My current level of cardio is 20-25 miles daily on the exercise bike. I am planning to add 3 ~ 15-20 minute walks to my daily cardio. I know that seems like too much. Keep in mind that the biking is done in about 75 minutes. This burns about 600 calories! (Joy Bliss) Also, Celie has put on a little bit of fat. Celie is my beautiful little dog. She thinks she is helping me by walking and does not realize that it is really her that needs the extra exercise. For me this will burn about 300 extra calories in my day. I am only biking 6 days each week but poor Celie will need to walk every day. I found this calorie counter and calculated my expenditure while weight lifting. That is a whopping 366! Weight lifting is 5 days weekly.

I am a math type person. I need to see it all broken down. On my weight training days I will be burning about 1266 calories just in my workouts! So mathematically speaking I should be burning about 2 pounds of stored energy! (That is politically correct terminology for shedding 2 pounds of fat!!) I am interested in changing some of my stored energy (fat) for potential strength (muscle). The goal is to drop 3 percentage points in my fat in the next 6 weeks. Therefore, by the time the season changes I could be down 6 pounds of fat or 1.5 percentage points in my total body fat. (You may want to watch for the smoke of the burning fat coming from east Asheville!)Added bonus to the amazingly long cardio sessions on the exercise bike? I am almost finished with the peppermint candy socks. I think I will just get another basket (hehehe) and fill it with sock yarn to keep me busy while I bike across the French countryside. There are a few babies in my life and some new ones coming too so I have a use for all those bits of "leftovers" from my grownup projects. I got the new Interweave Knits magazine yesterday. I waited patiently, it came out on August 19th and I waited until the 31st!! Well that is not going to happen again! When I got there it was the only one left! I am either going to have to subscribe or I will have to get out as soon as it hits the newsstands! So I have all sorts of stuff going and want to get going and have added more to the list of want to do! Kam is in need of cool stuff. She is always in need of me making her cool stuff. But this issue has a great vest that I want to make her for the Holiday Gift Giving Season. I think she will look handsome in it and it will help her to stay warm as the weather changes to COLD.

In Charge!!

OK today is my big day. "The Boss" is sick and in bed. I am the lead trainer! So far two clients have canceled. One showed and he lead me around the gym. Good, the next client is my scheduled 3:30. I know they will be here they confirmed yesterday. I am wondering how to do an in-home client for the boss and my 1/2 hour power training here at the studio at the same time. Maybe the gods and goddesses of cold viruses will will the boss to be well by 4:30. Maybe they will clone me and I can meet both! Isn't that what happens when the boss is out? The second in command does something to mess it all up like duplicating themselves or casting a spell. I could just tape my instructions for the 5:30 and leave the player with a note that says "Push Play and SWEAT HARD!!"

I made cookies yesterday. I know they are considered a sugar thing but I did them without adding any of the horrific stuff! I used a banana that was VERY ripe. Granted they do taste like banana but they have all the leftover goodies from my former baking urges thrown in so the banana works!! I went for eclectic experimentation.

How to make cookies when you have almost nothing to work with...
1-2 over ripe bananas
1 egg
1/4 cup butter
1/8 (I think) cup sesame oil (or some other light oil)
1 tsp. baking soda
2 cups oatmeal
Flour to make dough stiff (I keep adding until it is not very wet anymore and resembles what could be dropped onto a cookie sheet)
1 cup coconut
1 cup choco-chips (I used dark chocolate, it was what was lurking about)

Drop this onto a greased sheet. I shaped mine and flattened them because they did not spread the first time. This is one of the drawbacks to making the dough so stiff. Less flour could be added but without the sugar I don't think they would spread much anyway. I baked mine till they were light brown. This was about 10 minutes on 375. I got about 60 cookies out of this. If I had put walnuts in them they would have been even better.

Don't be afraid to experiment in the kitchen! I find that Sundays are good for this. The boss says we can eat cookies on Sunday. I think this is because she calls it her free day and she really likes cookies. I am in search of a recipe that will make only a few cookies. I know I could use less ingredients but how do you really get half an egg?

Well, since I am in charge I think I will give myself some time to knit. I need to get on the bike and go about 20 miles. The Peppermint Candy Socks are coming along and I can work on those while I ride. I would really rather just ignore everything and enjoy the drippy weather. (YES we are getting what appears to be a bit of rain!) Can't do that though I must set a good example:) So riding it is!