I won!

Joan had a contest a few weeks ago and yours truly was one of the winners.  What did I win?  A kit to knit a Heather Undulating Waves Scarf.

The beads are Swallow Hill Creations, color Black Diamond.

The yarn is Schaefer Yarn, Heather.  It is 55% Merino Wool Superwash, 30% Silk, 15% nylon.

Forgive the blurry pictures, but the color is pretty true.

I think I'm going to have to adore it for a few weeks and pet it for another few before I can finally bring myself to cast on.  I've never knit with beads before but this looks like a good project for a beginner.

If you can spare a few prayers or good thoughts for Joan, I'm sure she'd appreciate them. Chemo is dragging her down.  Yet she does so much.  She is truly an inspiration.

I didn't get any knitting done last night because Zach and I moved both desks.  The monster desk was so heavy.  We managed to slide it out the front door and leave it in the yard for the thrift store guys to pick it up this morning.  The roll top divides into two pieces but the upstairs is a converted attic so the stairs are narrow and curvy and it was so hard to get the bottom piece down.  I had to take the door off the hinges and Zach and I were drenched with sweat before we got done.  

I was going to wait until today to put everything back together, but I'm really fussy about things like that and have to have a clean house in order to sleep.  So it was about 2 a.m. before I was done enough to call it quits.  And I had to get up at 9 a.m. for the thrift store guys.  It actually took me until nearly 4 before I could sleep.  I had to unwind.

I found a few crochet patterns for baby blankets from crochet pattern central that Jan recommended.  I've got a lot of baby sport weight that I need to use up and I haven't crocheted a lot lately.

Not that I don't have a lot on my plate right now.  I had to wash out Zach's shirt for work tomorrow because he only gets two and he works on the grill so they need to be washed out every day.  I know that he needs to learn these things for himself and he will.  He's asked me if he can start taking over some of the laundry.

Sigh.  I know it's ridiculous but I like doing laundry and don't like anyone else doing it.  But I also know that he needs to do these things for himself so I just have to bite the bullet for a few years and let him take over.

But timewise he didn't have time to wash his shirt out and I had some other hand washing to do so I did it this time.

I was hoping to take some time off today and relax, but the kitchen is a mess and needs some deep cleaning and the bathroom needs to be scrubbed tomorrow.  Zach generally takes care of the weekly cleaning of the bathroom but once in a while it just has to be scrubbed.  

But Tuesday morning I'm sleeping in.  I swear it.

On the plus side, my blood sugar levels are coming down because I've been more active.  I'm still not dieting and my relationship with food is ever so much better.  It took a lot to get past the panic that if I just ate without measuring or counting calories, I would gain weight.  Well, I've lost 2 pounds this week.  

I no longer think about food 24/7 and I don't eat between meals much at all.  Only when I'm hungry and even then, sometimes I just don't think about it enough to bother.  It feels like I've been freed from bondage.  It really does.  Quitting smoking felt like this, too.  Once I got past the cravings, it felt so great to be able to plan my day without thinking about when and where I could smoke.  Or waking up in the morning hacking my lungs out and then grabbing a cigarette.

I'll try to get more pictures in on a more regular basis.  I do want to show you the rolltop computer desk.  It was designed for a 386, way back in the olden days and the monitor, of course, is too big to sit back into it so you can't roll the cover down.  And the tower is on top instead of on its side under the monitor, but it still looks so much better than that monstrosity we used to have.  And it takes up 1/3 less room.

I'm off to fix something for lunch because I'm hungry.  I'm fixing pizza tonight.  Vegetarian for me.  And cooked from scratch.  The guys swear my pizzas are better than take out.

TTFN