Chat

For a few years now, I’ve been reading several blogs that, while generally crafty sorts of blogs, talk occasionally about running.  After awhile, your start to think, “Hey – maybe I could run a bit too!”  So, late last summer (as in 2009) I decided I was going to become a runner.  I ran every other day for about 3 weeks and after the first week, my knees started killing me and by the third week, I could barely walk.  I consulted My physical therapist CrazyBIL and he said “What do you expect, you’ve been a lazy-bum couch potato all your life, so give it up!”  Ok, not really, but he did say that my leg muscles were weak, which was causing my knees to take the brunt of the impact and he gave me exercises to do.

I occasionally faithfully did the exercises over the winter and decided to try again in the spring.  This time, I tried the couch to 5k program with a friend from work.  After three weeks, my knees were doing great, but my legs were killing me.  Fortunately, quilt market came along and saved me from myself.  After market, I tried to pick up where I’d left off, but had to quit again after three weeks.  Walking around peg-leg-like isn’t a good look.

So, I sat around for a week or two and gave it some thought.  I decided maybe I was running too often.  I started going to the Y and working out every day on the implement from hell elliptical machine.  That way, I could keep up with the aerobic part of running and minimize the impact to my knees.  After a week or two, I started running on the track, once every 4 or 5 days.  It worked!  No more soreness at all.  I found the ticket, except for two things:  I loathe the elliptical machine and running on a track is soooo boring.  I’ve decided I’ll just have to suffer and give myself the occasional reward, like this one below, after the first time I finally made it to a mile.  Suffering requires trade-offs!

I’ll never be a Finny or Raina or Jen, but if I can run a little now and then, I’ll be content.  So far, I’ve made it up to 1.5 miles on the track and yesterday, I decided what-the-heck, let’s try for 2 miles outside — should be easy without the boredom of the track, right?  Ha!  I hadn’t factored in the heat and humidity and slight hills.  Lucky for me, at 1.25 miles I had to stop to cross a busy 4-lane highway, so I bagged it and walked the rest of the way home.  One must improvise when required.

I have no clue where my little running adventure will take me.  I’m not really losing any weight (see reward program above.)  Unlike Jan, exercise doesn’t discourage snacking.  Quite the opposite — the little devil on my left shoulder says “Oh, go ahead, you just burned off some extra calories.”  Apparently Jan has the little angel on her shoulder.  Anyway, just in case you’ve been having trouble running or exercising, I thought you might benefit from the knowledge of what seems to be working for me.  Don’t try to run too frequently (but exercise in between) and a little extra sugar never hurts.  ;-)

XOXO,
Anna

P.S.  Thank you SOOO much for all your wonderful comments on my ghastlies.  I had several questions on where to get the fabric.  It’s getting pretty hard to find now, but there are rumors that Alexander Henry plans to rerun the fabric next year with a new set of coordinating prints.  I hope so — the frenzy that these fabric companies create by short fabric runs drives me crazy!

Yay! I love it when the weekend rolls around. Sleeping In. Catching Up. Quilting. Knitting. Whatever!

I’ve been the very lucky recipient of two lovely packages this week. First up from Anne — she sent me some beautiful stitchery patterns that she drew herself along with a pretty postcard. Very cute angels and a fab thistle. I’m especially drawn to the thistle which probably comes as no surprise with my Scottish addiction. Thank you so much Anne — they’re adorable and you’re such a sweetie!

Theennnn….I was lucky enough to win a fabric giveaway from Quilt Taffy.  Four fat quarters of Punctuation from American Jane.  It’s such a cute fabric and I LOVE the alphabet print.  Someone asked me what I’m going to do with it.  I have no idea — any fun suggestions?  Corrie and Des are so amazingly generous — they’re always having fat quarter giveaways.  If you don’t subscribe to their blog and you love fabric, you should.  Thanks for the great giveaways ladies!

So…on to the weekend.  I hope you have a fun one planned.  I’m in the middle of phase three of the kitchen paint project at MeMum’s and I’m hoping to do a little quilting this weekend too.  I’ve been lucky enough to quilt a bit each night this past week.  The big fat EmptyNestChild helps every night too.  He’s so funny — he sees me sit down with my quilt and then he jumps up to cuddle up under it.  I have a few straight pins along the edge and I’m wondering if maybe he got stuck, as last night he was nipping at one of them.  He’s certainly entertaining!

Oh, and a little blog note.  Thank you so much to all of you who stop by here and comment.  I try so hard to always answer my comments but in the past week or two, some of the comments aren’t being forwarded to my e-mail.  I can’t remember how I figured it out and I can’t seem to find out what triggers it.  It seems totally random, but for example, of the last 5 comments left on the last post, only 3 were forwarded to my e-mail.  Anyway, it’s really hard to answer them if they don’t pop up in my e-mail.  Just didn’t want anyone to think I don’t love and VERY much appreciate your comment if you don’t hear from me!

XOXO,
Anna

Apparently, I need to go on a fabric diet.  Yikes!  When I went into the dungeon yesterday, this is what I found:

All of my older fabrics were neatly stacked in an old 60’s style china closet.  It has glass-front doors and I love it because it protects the fabrics from dust.  It has faithfully served my fabric collection all these years, but apparently, the new folding method that I instituted a few years ago allows for more fabric per shelf, and the poor shelf finally caved in.  Sooo sad.  ;-(

Not much else going on around here.  I’ve been pre-shrinking my City Weekend fat quarter pack from market and neatly folding it.  Fortunately, I hadn’t planned on putting it in the china closet.

And I’ve discovered the Dollar Tree.  Those stores have always been so crowded that they gave me a headache.  A new (cleaner) one recently opened up here so I ventured in.  That pretty cherry blossom soap was only a dollar.  I’ll definitely be going back — even if it’s just for the soap!

Have a good week.  Things will definitely be picking up here by the weekend, so I might actually have something to talk about.

XOXO,
Anna

Here in ThimbleannaLand we live in the corn belt. Most of the corn grown around here is field corn, but there are local farmstands that grow the good people corn. (And btw, if you live in a country that considers corn only for pigs and other animals, you have my sincere condolences!)

I know that strawberries and blueberries and raspberries mean summer to a lot of people, and while I do love them, summer is all about the corn for me.  I patiently wait until the day that I open my mailbox to reveal the card from my local farmer to tell me that the corn is finally ready.  This week was the week!

Yum oh Yummy Yum!  Look at those luscious yellow kernels.  And slathered with butter, salt and pepper?  Heaven.  How could I possibly be expected to resist?  By the end of summer, TheManoftheHouse and the kids have always been sick of corn on the cob.  But not me.  Never!  (Btw, in case you’re currently lucky enough to have fresh corn, the fabulous Ms. B has FINALLY posted and it’s for a delicious corn salsa recipe.)

So, while we’re munching on our corn, can we talk traffic?  I’ve been thinking about it a lot lately.  Mostly because TheManoftheHouse and I drive to work together.  Every morning we pass through an intersection that has a right turn lane with a yield sign.  TheManoftheHouse maintains that the yield sign means that you can turn right on red without stopping.  (There is a dedicated lane for just such a thing.)  Every morning, there is a car in front of us that stops to wait for oncoming traffic.  And Every Morning TheManoftheHouse yells at said person and honks his horn.  AND Every. Morning. I’m the only one who can hear him.  One of these days I’m going to jump out of the car and run up to the stopped car in front of us and ask them to please get moving ’cause I’m sick of the complaining!

But, I digress.  I read in the paper that our local authorities are planning on re-vamping a local freeway interchange by using the Diverging Diamond pattern.  Have any of you ever heard of such a thing?  It’s a cool new traffic concept where traffic actually ends up on the wrong side of the road for a brief time.  The first interchange of this type in the US was built in 2009 and there are quite a few more being planned.  (All of you blog peeps in Utah are scheduled to get two of them in American Fork, if they’re not already finished.)

The US version was developed by a college student. While I think it looks pretty darn amazing, I can’t help but wonder what kind of drugs he was on to come up with a goofy plan for shifting traffic all around like this! Anyway, you can see a visualization of how the traffic moves in this short video.

And one last thing on the topic of roads — check out this cool map I found via Anglotopia: (click to enlarge)

I love it!  That map was possibly another drug induced event!

Have a good weekend!
XOXO,
Anna