garden

Weekend in Review – Boring!

Friday – I worked from 8 am – 6 pm. Then the architect & I went out for dinner. Then, I went to bed. We are party animals!

Saturday – I went to yoga (yay!) and then to Babies R Us. We are now the proud owners of a carseat for Alvie Bean. The architect is convinced that Alive will be early, and wants to be prepared.

Saturday afternoon, I did a bit of yard work – a lot of pruning & prep work for the spring – and tried to decompress a bit. I got really sick Saturday night – nauseated and dizzy and cold sweats and blergh. I slept on the sofa (with a bucket near by!) and it was the best sleep I’ve had in a while. Apparently sleeping on my back propped up into a semi-reclined position with a cat on my ankles is the most comfortable ever!

Sunday – pancakes and coffee in the AM. School in the PM. Today will be work from 7 – 7, I think. This damn project I’m working on needs to be done by mid-day Tuesday, and oh, it will be. Oh, yes.

I am tired, and still a bit pukey feeling. I’m pretty sure it’s mostly exhaustion & stress.

I will try to stay abreast of the posting this week, but no promises!

November 2011 Goals

Nov 1st, 2011

by gazelle.

16 comments

And, of course, the October recap….

October 2011 Goals

Finish the bathroom by 10/29/11. We can do it! All supplies are purchased! I can paint like a mad woman! And make sandwiches for the architect while he tiles. (I am not allowed to tile due to my propensity to say, “eh, fuck it! That’s good enough!”) I am excellent construction support staff. – FAIL! But we are so very close! We should be done by Thanksgiving.
Get the rain garden outlined, dug, and partially planted. – FAIL! I have decided to hold off on this project for now.
Finish summer garden/start fall garden. – Partial SUCCESS! The summer garden is done, and the plans are complete for the next phase…just need to execute said plans.
Remove all extraneous computer crap from the house. Like the printer that doesn’t work. And the CRT monitor that weighs 375 lbs. And the 50 (approximate count) PCs (both laptop & desktop) that are just sitting around doing nothing. NOTHING! Except gathering dust. – FAIL! But, there is progress in that we have now determined which things need to go. I just need to wait for an electronics recycling day to happen so I can be all environmentally responsible.
Finish my very last class of my Master’s program with an “A” before starting the final project phase. – SUCCESS! Class is done, A was achieved, terminal project is now in progress
Throw the ass-kicking-est 2nd Annual Halloween bash ever! YAY for Halloween! We will have a howling good time! – SUCCESS! I think, anyways – I had a good time.

October Training Goals

I have them! My gym membership expires this month, and I will not be renewing it. So, I want to spend more time outdoors. Running, jumping, biking, hiking, etc. I have been slacking on yoga lately, too, and need to make that a regular practice again.

I have definitely been better about working out in October now that I’m not quite as tired. Not at the level I’d like to be at, but better than September! Go me!

November 2011 Goals

Survive the first 4.5 weeks of my terminal project without going crazy.
Make lefse! With her! We will have so much fun.
For reals, get the garlic in the ground & build the cloche
Visit the daycare that looked awesome on paper (or, the computer screen, rather) and beg them to take my as-yet-unborn child
List one thing I am thankful for every day (thanks for the inspiration, Alisa!)

November 2011 Training Goals

Since I am pregnant, this is harder than usual, but my goal is to work out a minimum of 3 times/week; 30 minutes/time. I had a decent start last night with a trainer ride, although I wasn’t able to hit 30 minutes due to the extreme discomfort of my bike shorts which apparently are not baby bump accommodating. (Why do I never spell accommodating right on the first try? WHY?!?) Any suggestions for bike short comfort? I really don’t want to shell out bike short money for something that I’ll wear for a maximum of 5ish months (I’m pretty sure that biking will not be the first exercise I’ll get back to after giving birth…just a feeling I have). (Also, 5 months? Seriously? That’s it? ACK!)

I already have a swim date for Wednesday evening, and yoga plans for Friday afternoon, and will try to run on Thursday and/or Sunday….I am hoping to convince the architect to start doing weekly long walks with me on a weekend day. I’m pretty sure I’ll be mostly walking my half marathon, and want to start getting some serious distance on my feet.

Gratitude Journal

November 1, 2011: I am grateful for my (so far, knock on wood) easy and wonderful pregnancy

It was the best of times, and oh yes – the worst of times

Sep 12th, 2011

by gazelle.

3 comments

The bathroom is coming right along. Unfortunately, we’ve hit a wee snag – the tile did not come in this weekend, which means that we might not have our toilet & sink hooked up by the time the inlaws arrive (which makes me very, very sad. not just for them, but for me).

The architect slaved away on the bathroom all weekend. The walls are 100% done! YAY! AND, although I don’t have photographic evidence right now, the shower walls and the floor are a beautiful shade of red (from the waterproofing).

As soon as the tile arrives, the architect will take a day off to install the tile, and then, 36-ish hours later, we will grout. THEN, 24-ish hours later, we will sand & paint the walls this color(ish): (I think – I’m not great with color)

Anyways – the architect assures me that our vintage mauve will took fantastic in the black and white bathroom. (Our color might be a bit lighter and slightly browner.)

After the painting, we will put in the wainscoting (which will be white), and one wall (minimum) of shower tiles. At that point, the plumber can come back & hook everything up. If the tiles come this week, that means that the floor could be in by Friday, and then on Friday (my day off), I could start sanding (with clear instructions, I can do lots of stuff!), and then hopefully we could paint & wainscot on Saturday/Sunday, and maybe even do the one shower wall, and then could have the plumber come in on the 23rd (Friday) to hook up before the in-laws showed up. Of course, all of that is contingent on the tile arriving in a timely fashion this week. *fingers crossed*

In other good news – I got to watch my friend Jen finish a 31 mile run on her 31st birthday. She ran the entirety of Wildwood Trail (30 miles) + an extra mile in honor of her birthday. She finished strong in 6:19ish, and looked great at the finish line. (Also looking great at the finish line? Celebratory champagne and cupcakes! YAY!)

****

Yesterday, I went to pick tomatoes, and as I filled up my bowl, I emptied the bowl into my (normal sized) kitchen sink. By the time I picked everything ripe (i.e. maybe 1/2 of the tomatoes out there), my kitchen looked like this:

Just in case you’re curious, after peeling, coring & seeding all those tomatoes, that is approximately 13 qts of chopped tomatoes.

Do you know how long it takes to can 17 pints of salsa & 8.5 qts of marinara?

FIFTEEN YEARS!

Or, more accurately, about 7 hours. By 8 pm last night, my kitchen looked like a murder scene, and I looked like a serial killer who bathed in the blood of my victims. It was pretty awesome.

I can’t wait to do it all again in 2-3 weeks when I’m sure I’ll have another sink and a half of tomatoes! (I’m serious – I love canning, and when the next batch is ready, I’m guessing it won’t be 90 degrees.)

Next up – maybe another 6 pints of salsa (we go through about 2/month on average; another 3-4 qts of marinara (1/month here), and then FUN things! Like ketchup! And whole tomatoes! And maybe soup. YAY!

***

When I hit the trail, I hit it HARD!

And now, for the worst of times. I was on a trail run yesterday morning (before tomato-palooza), having a grand time. The best run I’d had since my 15.5 miler (also a trail run) at the end of July. Everything was going so well. I felt great. I was happy with my pace. I’d hit my turn around right on schedule, and was FLYING (relatively speaking) back to my car. About 1.25 miles from the trailhead, I bit it. Unlike last time, I didn’t transition directly from upright to faceplant. This was more of a slow motion fall.

I hit pretty hard on the left side of my body. So hard, in fact, that one of my water bottles, after digging into my side, flew off my fuel belt and landed several feet down the trail (behind me). My right hand is a little bruised and swollen, I have some cuts on my left hand, some pretty bruises in the vicinity of my right knee, and a little road rash on my left elbow. I can feel the deep bruising on the left side of my back, but the best part of my body is my left leg below the knee.

This picture doesn’t really do it justice, since I just took it now, sitting at my desk at work (those of you who followed my exciting foot photo series will recognize the carpet), but I’m thinking I’ll have some spectacular bruising in a day or so…..

(Please note that my calf isn’t that humungous, but it’s hard to take a picture of your own leg and not get a weird angle.)

That is beautiful, right?

I hurt all over my body. My left side especially. It hurts to move. And to sit. And to lay still, even. It especially hurts to be headbutted by affectionate cats. (On a completely unrelated note – does anyone want to buy a used cat?)

I’m hoping this heels up pretty quickly!

Happy week, everyone! Watch out for gravity!

Three (3!) Things Thursday

Jul 21st, 2011

by gazelle.

6 comments

1. I am having a great week. I feel good. I’ve been sleeping well. I’ve been eating well. I wonder what the difference is? OH, yeah – maybe it’s the whole “going to bed by 10″ and “getting up early” and “exercising every day.” Despite my good exercise record, I have a small problem. I rode my bike to work yesterday; the first time in AGES. Seriously. I don’t even remember the last time I did that. It’s not too bad of a ride, really. Just over 9 miles one way. And I got passed a lot. By young people and old people and a woman in skinny jeans riding a beach cruiser. On the way home, riding up the only significant hill of my round-trip commute, I had to shift into the lowest gear in order to keep peddling. I felt like my legs were made of lead. I am slow and it makes me sad. (Also making me sad: the way my sitting area starting hurting about 3 miles from home.) I need to be better/faster/stronger! I know that part of that is actually maybe biking more than every 3 weeks, but will that actually help with the faster, or am I doomed to average 13 mph on my commutes forever?

nothing ever blurs when I'm biking

2. I’m starting to feel that maybe, just possible, I am getting a handle on what I’m doing at work. I’m hampered by the lack of people to delegate to, and am anxiously awaiting the return of my office mate (she’s on maternity leave and apparently isn’t tired of her new baby yet), because dear gods, I need help. BUT, things are starting to fall into place. There are still things that give me a bit of anxiety – like the need to have an uncomfortable conversation with one of my delegees . Overall, however, I think I can do this.

So glad that I never need to have the confidence to do THIS job

3. My garden is growing like crazy! I just haven’t had the time to spend with it. Last night, I made a Tuna Niçoise-like salad. The spinach and arugula came from our garden, as did the potatoes. The green beans and tomatoes came from the CSA. The Parmesan cheese was homemade. The eggs were a gift (in trade) from Eric, a cohort in my grad program. The olive oil (lime flavored) and balsamic vinegar (fig!) used in the vinaigrette were local purchases. The tuna (in a can, not all fancy and seared, like the best Niçoise salads) is the only item in the salad of possibly questionable origin (although it was purchased at New Seasons, and I’m sure the tuna had a happy and complete life before being put in a can). I am hoping for some quality garden time this weekend. So many exciting things are happening!

* all photos were found by searching my 3 things key words for Creative Commons licensed photos at Flickr.

Updates and Shoes and Pictures and Weekends (OH MY!)

Jul 12th, 2011

by gazelle.

6 comments

I finished out Thursday with a great trail run with Sarah and then got to sleep in a bit (’til 7:30!) on Friday.

Friday started off fantastically. I had a great morning yoga class and then spent the rest of the day doing homework and packing for our camping trip.

The architect got home about 4:45 and we loaded up the truck and were off! We stayed at Elk Creek Campground in the Coast Range. It was really pretty, if a bit too close to the highway (6) for my taste. Next time we’ll leave a bit earlier and get one of the more tucked away campgrounds.

Friday night we started the fire, set up camp, roasted weenies and marshmallows, and relaxed.

Sometime in the middle of the night, some crazy person started yelling obscenities and being a general crazy, disturbing nuisance. I slept through it.

Saturday morning, we were up and at ‘em wicked early (i.e. 8 am!). We had a lovely breakfast of instant coffee with hot cocoa stirred in and organic pop tarts. HEALTHY!

We were going to do a long hike that day, summitting two nearby peaks. We grabbed the day pack, the water filter and the camera & headed to the stream to fill up the water bottles for the hike.

As the architect filled up the bottles, I decided I needed a picture of that. And that’s when I realized that the camera batteries were dead.

Shortly thereafter, we also realized that the water filter was dead.

This was not an auspicious beginning!

We reevaluated our plans, and since it was now nearing 11 am, decided that the 8-10 hour extremely (according to the trail map) difficult hike with only 32 oz of water might not be the way to go.

So, we took the moderately difficult option instead. We did a 7 mile hike, which took 3 hours and all 32 oz of water. We did see an elk that crashed through the forest and crossed the trail ahead of us, so that was cool! It was a pretty, steep, and fun hike. The way back, I rolled my ankle, bruised my heel, and almost fell in a hole (not to mention the stinging nettle that I traipsed through), and was sure glad to get back to the tent!

We split a beer and napped before getting down to the business of more fires, more roasted weenies, and more toasted marshmallows!

I fell asleep hard that night, and about midnight was woken up by the sound of rapid gunfire not too far away. There were a LOT of shots, and it was really nerve-wracking. The architect tried to tell me that it sounded really far away, but I didn’t believe him (although I appreciated him trying to assuage my fears). After the shots finally died down for good, the campground became a swarm of activity. A couple groups packed up their cars and got out of Dodge. All the flashlights bobbing about & the hushed conversations did nothing for my nerves. It took me forever to fall asleep again, and then I had dreams about being shot the rest of the night.

Sunday morning, the whole campsite was pretty much packing up & leaving early. We loaded up the car and headed to Kookoolan farm to pick up Colin!

Doesn’t he look delicious? Plus, bonus Ikea bag for all my open water swim needs!

We started on our way home, stopping Forest Grove for lunch and then spending a lazy afternoon at home.

Yesterday was my first “work at home” day, and it was wonderful! I got so much done, had fewer distractions at home than work, and generally felt way more productive. I took off & picked up Jen so we could head out to Klineline for a swim. It was perfect weather – a little overcast to keep us cool. We did two long loops in the lake and it felt really great!

Last night, the rain woke me up and it’s still gray and drizzly today. I love a break from the heat & sun every couple of weeks in the summer, and my rain barrels and garden need the break, too!

Speaking of the garden, check it out! Baby ‘maters and peppers!