Holy cow! The weather here is so crazy! Yesterday it was almost 80 degrees when I went for my run after work. Today it's pouring rain and in the 60's. I'm so done with winter. My face is already getting a tan from all the time I've been spending running and I was hoping that the old pasty pale legs might be getting the same treatment. But no. The sky just opened up and it's raining so hard I wasn't even sure what was happening. Oh no!! Thunder!!! I gotta go hide in my bed now! Both of the dogs are looking all over trying to figure out what's going on! They're cracking me up! Hope everyone else is having more spring like weather then I am!

I LOVE this lotion. It is so smooth and creamy that my skin feels like silk when I use it. I keep it on my desk at work and at home. The soap at work is so drying on my hands that my skin feels tight all the time. This stuff works wonders. Other lotions feel so greasy and icky and leave marks all over my desk, my papers and my keyboard. But this stuff just goes right into my skin and has no greasy residue at all. Not to mention that it's also non-staining.

I keep some next to my sewing machine too. Since it's non-staining I can use it and then touch fabric or yarns without having to worry about it ruining it. I just love this stuff!

So finally some a picture of sock #7, Pomatomus. I finished the first sock of the pair on Saturday night. I really like this pattern but it's the most challenging one I've tried this far. You really have to be paying attention to the pattern when you're working on this one. There are a lot of yarn overs and decreases in the pattern. Pattern: Pomatous by Cookie A.

Yarn: Cascade Yarns, Heritage Handpainted

Color: Red with blue stripe
Started: 03/16/2009

A couple of weeks ago when my mom and I went up to Grass Valley to Fabrics on Mill Street we also ran across the street to Fibers. Fibers is a great yarn shop that we'd been to before and they have a fantastic sock yarn selection. I grabbed some great Cascade Heritage in a fabulous Kelly Green. But while we were there my mom picked up a really cool kit for a market bag. She started knitting on it while I drove on the way back. It was turning OK really great and I wanted one too. But I didn't want to drive all the way back to Grass Valley for the kit, so I started looking on Ravelry for a pattern. I found one I really like and cast on for that on Sunday. I had to go buy some needles because I didn't have any size 15 circular needles.

Pattern: Fantasy Naturale Market Bag by JoAnne Turcotte
Yarn: Lily Sugar 'n Cream in Corn Flower

Cast on: 4/5/09

On Sunday I also whipped out a couple of project bags for small knitting items. Sometimes I don't want to take my knitting bag and just want something small to toss into another bag. So I whipped up a couple of draw string bags that I can toss my sock projects into and then toss into another bag.

Detail of first bag.

Detail of second bag.

So that's the recap of my weekend. Unless you want to hear about how we ate out every night and I didn't run once. But no one wants to hear about that. Back on my training schedule today! Got a 3 miler planned for after work today.

For the last two weeks I've been training in earnest for my 5K that's coming up May 9, 2009. Yesterdays run was the best so far. Up to this point I haven't been able to find my rhythm and have really been struggling. I haven't been able to run more then half a mile before I have to stop and that half mile is the longest of my life.

Yesterday, I took my running gear to work with me, changed before I left and stopped at the park on the way home. The park is just gorgeous. It's the park where Hubby and I got married almost three years ago. There's a pond in the middle with a fountain and ton's of ducks and geese. Squirrels frolic in the grass and scramble up the huge oak trees that shade the grass area. There is a dog park that's fenced in for all the little (and not so little ) doggies to play and run free. But best of all there's a brand new walking/running track that runs around the entire park. They just put it in last year and it is fantastic. The trail/track is 1.44 miles long and is marked about every tenth of a mile all the way around and is mostly shady due to the huge oak trees. It's really pretty and so very relaxing. The trail only crosses the road in two spots and it's so nice to not spend my entire run worrying about getting hit by a car.

It was a bit breezy and cool yesterday when I started out and I was wishing that instead of my running skort that I had put on my long tights. But once I got warmed up the skort was perfectly comfortable. My new running shoes finally came last week and I think I'm determined to wear them out in the first few weeks.

So like I said, I've been having some trouble finding my rhythm. Normally I just zone out and run. Before I quit running a few months ago I was running 4+ miles without stopping and without having any problems. But since I started back again I just haven't been able to find that rhythm. I was starting out too fast and then being out of breath with in a couple tenths of a mile. Or my feet would hurt (I think that was due to my shoes being worn out and having trouble finding a pair that fit correctly). Yesterday, after I warmed up, I started out and my knees were killing me. It felt like every time my foot struck the ground that my knees were just grinding on the bones. I almost quit and went home but I figured I could give it a couple of minuets and see. I'm really glad I did. Once the joints warmed up, no more pain at all. I managed to run one full time around the park without stopping! I was pretty syked! But being cautious I took it easy the second time around walking when I felt the need. I still need to build up my stamina and speed.

When I ran the park on Tuesday morning I ran two loops around in 32 min's. Yesterday I ran two loops in 30:28. That's an improvement to say the least. I'm still not where I want to be. I'm hoping for a better time at my 5K then 30 min's. I'm not sure I'm going to get that since 1. It's going to be very crowded. This event brings in about 20,000 people. and 2. I don't have as much time as I would have liked to train for it. If i hadn't stopped running back in February I'd be able to breeze through it but that's not going to be the case this time.

Wish me luck! I'm going to need it. Race day is just over a month away! Hopefully I don't train myself into the ground!

On my way to work this morning, as I do many mornings, I was listening to Brenda Dayne's podcast called Cast On. I love the sound of this woman's voice. Very soothing. I was listening to episode 51: That's Mistress Dork, to you. In this episode in addition to talking about knitting she talked quite a bit about her days as a Camp Fire Girl. I was never a Camp Fire Girl and I'm pretty sure that we don't even have those here on the west coast, at least we didn't where I grew up. I was, however, a Girl Scout from 1st grade until I graduated from High School. I don't remember attending that many meetings once I was in high school because I had homework and a job that was pretty much a full time gig. But I do remember camping trips and hiking and hoe-downs and father-daughter dances.

The summer between 5th and 6th grades, my troop traveled from California to Tennessee by car to attend the 75th Anniversary of Girl Scouting. As I recall (I'm sure I have a patch on my Senior vest) they called it the Diamond Jubilee. I could be wrong on that one but I remember the trip. My mom and my leader, Ann drove 5 girls cross country to this event. I remember stopping at the Grand Canyon and Inez squeezing the mustard until it exploded on the front of her shirt because she forgot to open the twisty top. I remember stopping at the Lum and Abner store in Arkansas and the Corn Place in South Dakota. And Wall Drug. I remember going repelling for the first time at the Jubilee. I remember meeting girls from all over the US, especially those from the south that couldn't get over the fact that the girls from California say "You guys" instead of "Y'all" like they did. I also remember getting asked over and over if I knew any movie stars and if I spent every day at the beach. It's funny how the stereotypes are. 1st of all, I was 12, I didn't know any movie stars and I lived in Northern California which is like a whole different state then Southern California. and 2nd of all I didn't really live anywhere near a beach and if I did, it was Northern California. The water off the coast of Northern Ca is freezing and you only go in if you have a wet suit! Brrrr!

I remember my dad participating and taking all the girls in my troop when I was about 8 or 9 and taking us all on a hike up the dormant volcano that sits at the end of the valley where I grew up. My dad really didn't like the Scouts because he felt that the troop leader was only trying to instill her values in us girls and those were not values that my father held. I recall him wanting to get a picture of all of the girls together before we started the hike and saying, "All right, all you little women's libbers line up over there." At the time I didn't really understand what he was saying but I do remember out troop leader getting really pissed about it. Now that I'm in my 30's I understand what he was saying it's one of my all time favorite memories of my dad. He's a pretty funny guy once you get to know him.

Thanks to Girl Scouting I got to do a lot of things that I never would have gotten to do other wise. I've been to Mexico to the international Girl Scouting house called Our Cabana, I've been to Alaska on a Wider Opportunity, I've back packed the Grand Canyon and seen the cinder cone volcano in Lassen National Park. I'm thankful for the opportunities that I gained from girl scouting.

I'm also thankful for the love of wild places that I got from Girl Scouts and from my dad. With GS I went on ton's of hikes and back packing trips as I got older. When my parents were still married my dad took me everywhere with him. A lot of those father-daughter trips were doing things like cutting wood and hunting for mouse ear tea (I have no idea what that is now). My dad also took me hunting with him even though he knew with a small girl with him that it was highly unlikely that he would get a deer or squirrels but it was that time with my dad that instilled my love of the wild places. I still love the wild places today.

Hubby and I go camping every chance we get, which really isn't enough. Right now we're planning a trip in two weeks for April 17th. This will be my first snow camping trip. Being that we live in California's Central Valley we're only a couple miles from the Sierra Nevada's and there is still snow up there. Hubby usually goes snow camping a few times a year but I don't generally go, too cold for me. But I'm going to give it a try. The last few times Hubby has gone I haven't been able to go up for even a day trip for various reasons. Some of it has been work and some of it has been "boy's only" trips with other clubs. I'm hoping that some of the other wives will be going so I won't be the only one subjected to the boy's nasty habits that they seem to fall into when there aren't any girls around. I think because I am the only girl a lot of the time they seem to regard me as just one of the boys and forget that their is a lady (if you can call me that. lol) present! Silly boys!

I haven't been doing much knitting for the last couple of weeks. I'm too tired in the evening to focus on the pattern and have been having to pick out stitches over and over again. Not fun. I finally picked up the sock that I started a few weeks ago and worked on it some yesterday morning before I started work. I've finished the leg, heel flap and finished the gusset yesterday morning. My goal for the year is 12 pairs of socks and this is #7 for 2009. I think I might have burned myself out a bit in the sock department. Not surprising. I tend to do this.

With March basically over, I need to start thinking about Birthday gifts and Christmas gifts. I know that I'm going to make my mother-in-law a scarf that she requested for her birthday but as of yet I haven't picked out any yarn or even a color. My MIL is a blonde with very fair skin, so I'll have to be sure to get something that will not blend in with her skin tone. I tend to lean toward very neutral colors for myself because I like things that will go with anything and I hate to stand out in a crowd. I'm all about blending in. But for my MIL I'm thinking about a Red. I really need to add the information from the pattern to my "Note Book of Fun" so I have the information with me when I head into yarn shops like I did last weekend. Naturally I bought myself some sock yarn but didn't even have a passing thought for yarn for MIL's scarf. Gotta get on that. Thankfully I have until the middle of November to make a decision, get the yarn and knit the dang thing.

Most of the Birthdays in my family fall toward the end of the year. My FIL is in June. My Step-mom is in July. Hubby and my dad share the same birthday in August. My sister and my mom are two days apart in October. SIL and MIL are two days apart in November. And my Grandmother and my husbands Nephew are both in December, about 10 days a part. It's a lot in a very short amount of time. And unfortunately it's all up to me to handle. Thankfully, both sides of the family are very easy going and are happy with anything you give them.

As of right now, I have no idea what I'm going to do for anyone other then my MIL. I'm sure it will come to me but I need to be on the look out for good gifts.

Oh boy, what a messed up week. I work Monday, Tuesday off for Ceaser Chavez day, and then work Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. I don't normally worked Fridays and this will be the first one that I've worked in a really long time. And my work hours are changing so I'm just feeling all over the place. Normally I work Monday through Thursday, 7am to 5:30pm. This week, Monday is 7 to 3:30, Wednesday & Thursday 7 to 4:30 and Friday is 7 to 3:30.