Monday, January 9, 2017

Good thing school was cancelled today; the roads still haven’t been plowed at 4:30 AM.  At least we won’t have to worry about buses getting stuck.  Hopefully, the snow plows will get the roads cleared up today.

Sunday, January 8, 2017

*Humpf1!*  Woke up to frozen pipes this morning and the plumber in the family is in Everett until late this afternoon.  What’s strange about this is that it’s relatively warm out – 6º, not like the -20º weather we were having last week. 

I’ve neglected my laundry for way too long and I’ll be ironing for a couple hours this morning, but since I have no running water, I decided to go get a breakfast bagel and iced mocha from the Rocking Horse Bakery.  

The town is still slumbering.

I spent all yesterday honing my sewing skills, but feel like I should have done some studying.  I think I’ll catch up on that this afternoon.

The weather forecast for Moses Lake is snow and I’ll have to drive back down this afternoon versus early Monday mornings when I usually get up and am out of the house by 4:30 AM.  

---

Meet up with my folk in Pateros.  I was heading back to Moses Lake and they were heading to Seattle; my mom has an appointment with her eye doctor Monday morning.  Mom likes her tote.  

The drive down was slow; the stretch on Hwy. 17 from Leahy Junction to Hwy. 2 was a complete whiteout; the sky and ground were the same grayish white and with no fresh tire tracks on the road and the only guide to follow were the snow-covered reflectors.  Once I got off 2 and back on 17 again (about a 2 mile drive), the road was mostly clear due to high winds and snow drifts, but I discovered that hitting a little drift at 40 MPH can be very exciting. 

I got into Moses Lake around 3:30 PM and the roads were in terrible condition.  There’s at least 6″ of fresh snow and none of the road had been plowed so it was like driving through a slushy.  Hopefully, the town will get the snow plows out tonight.

---

Just received a call from my boss; the Superintendent has decided that tomorrow will be a snow day – no school.  However, I’ve been informed that I still get to come in a 5:00 AM.

Saturday, January 7, 2017

Woke up to -9º outside.  It’s hard to believe that in just a couple short months it’ll be hiking season again.

Today I’m taking an “off” day from my eating program…that’s not to say I’ll go hog-wild, but I got cleaned up and drove into town to Rocking Horse Bakery and enjoyed a breakfast bagel and an iced soy mocha (even in a deep freeze I still love my coffee iced).

Sitting down in the back of the bakery contemplating what I want to do with my Saturday.  Since Tiago’s on the wet side till tomorrow, I can do pretty much what I like (he’d say I do anyways). ;-). Mom’s invited me to spend the afternoon with her while my dad has to go take pictures of a high school basketball game in Brewster. 

Should I study college algebra and statistics and probability, sew, knit, doodle, binge watch the new season of Man in the High Tower?  So many choices.  

This brings me back to one of the main reasons for keeping a blog; all my life I’ve been disjointed in beginning and finishing projects.  I’ve always had a tendency to be a dreamer, but not a doer, and, as a result, I’ve spent a good part of my life waiting for things to happen instead of creating those things.  Again, this isn’t a soliloquy about a life wasted – I’ve had a great life so far, better than most and I’m happy with where I’m at, but I think I may be going through a typical mid-life crisis, so, consider this as a type of therapy to exorcise my demons. 😉

I spent all day working on a sewing project.  I wanted to make a makeup tote for my mother and started by drafting a pattern.  I wanted the tote to be wider at the bottom and taper at the top.  I also wanted a liner and a zipper.

I originally designed this pattern to use one piece of folded fabric.  There would only be two seams on either side to shape the tote.  I found that after cutting out a mock-up, the pattern skewed the finished product; it was necessary to cut the bottom corners at an angle so the vertical center sewn seam would be at a 90º angle to the bottom horizontal seam.

This pattern has a 1/2″ seam allowance.  Once I made up the pattern I used a piece of scrap canvas to make a prototype.

I was fairly happy with the prototype, but realized that since this design only used one piece of fabric, anything with a pattern would be right-side up on one side and wrong-side down on the opposite side.  To get around this I decided to use a geometric piece of fabric for the bottom third and use two cut-out panels for the fronts and sides.

This pattern stumped me a bit on how to properly attach a zipper and a liner, but after some playing around I was able to assemble this piece.

There’s a lot of issues with this first attempt at a tote, but overall, I’m happy with it and hope my mother enjoys it.

I’m going to move on to making a toiletry tote for Tiago and myself.

It’s time to take a break and binge on some Man in the High Castle. 

Friday, January 6, 2017

My favorite day of the week.  I’ll have the house to myself this weekend; my husband is heading over to the coast with friends.   What to do.  I’m thinking I’ll go visit my folks and there’s a couple sewing projects I’d like to tackle.  One is making a toiletry tote and the other is sewing a couple bread bags out of utility cotton – lighter weight than canvas.  I bought a French baguette bag from the Mazama store a year or so ago and I’ve been completely captivated by the idea of swaddling home-baked bread in its own cloth bag.  Jo-Anns, in their perpetual “coupon’”promotions, once again has their “50% Off”coupons, one for any regularly-priced item and the other for calico fabrics.  I already went there last night after work and bought four yards of fabric, but I think I need to go back and get some duck canvas and some ticking.  

The zippers I purchased are not long enough for my projects.  I need to go get some 17″ zips.  I have a sense that sewing may become an addiction.

I got up this morning at 4:00 AM, drove to work to check-in, but the temperature’s high enough and not much wind so school will start at regular time.  That left me with 3 hours before my shift starts at 8:00 AM so it’s off to the gym.  Today was just a cardio day; 20 minutes on an elliptical and 40 minutes on a stationary bike.  Weight: 269 (-2).  Day three on my eating plan, but I’ll cheat tomorrow by enjoying a vegetarian burrito from 3 Bears Cafe. 😉

My goal is to weigh 245 lbs. by Sunday, March 12, which is only 65 days from today.  Sunday, Marcy 12, is the Scott Firefighter Stair Climb fundraiser for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society.  My husband is a volunteer firefighter and this will be his second year climbing.  Here’s a link to his fundraising page.  All monies raised goes directly to this charity.  All the climbers pay their own expenses to be able to go to Seattle and participate in the climb and I’m extremely proud of Okanogan County F.D. #6.

During my lunch break I swung by Jo-Annes again to get some utility cotton (3 yards), two yards of a colorful calico print, two yards of cotton cord, two 13″zippers and some cream cotton thread.  I can only use Jo-Anne’s “50 Percent Off”coupon once per transaction so I’ll stop by tonight before heading home to Winthrop and pick up a couple yards of blue and white ticking; I’m going to be ambitious and try to sew three projects this weekend.

 

Thursday, January 5, 2017

Another late start for school.  The surrounding school districts already made the call for a two-hour late start and we’re somewhat obligate to follow the pact.  I was at work at 4:30 AM.  Four more hours and I’ll take a break and go to the gym.  

There’s also going to be a bond information tonight at one of the local elementary schools.  I’m on the bond committee and really want to work to get our district’s $130 million dollar bond passed so a new high school and a new elementary school can be built and do extensive renovations to our existing high school.  The vote will be this Valentine’s Day.

Because I’ve been going to work so early, I’m taking a 3-4 hour break and going to the gym and them back to Taj Mahtrailer (my fifth wheel which is my base of operations here is Moses Lake) to shower.  Today it’s my quad and calf workout consisting of Squats (3 sets of 10 reps), leg press (3 sets of 10 reps), leg extension (3 sets of 10 reps), and seated calf raises (3 sets of 15 reps).  Finished with cardio: 20 minutes each on an elliptical and a stationary bike. 

Weight: 270 lbs. (-1), and I’m on day two of my 1,400 calorie regimen.  Not sure where my target, or healthy, weight is, but since January of 2016 I’ve taken off 54 lbs.  Last March I was tipping the scales at 242 lbs., but gained some of that weight back.  What I find works well for me is prepping my next day’s meals the night before, knowing what I have to eat for the entire day and dolling out a small meal every couple of hours.  I’m eating two sandwiches that I cut in half.  Each sandwich is two slices of Dave’s Super Seedy Whole Wheat bread and has half a Laughing Cow cheese wedge spread on it and three slices of Oscar Meyer Ham.  To make sure I’m getting the minimum amount of protein, I’m supplementing a protein bar and shake as well.  I also have a Yoplait yogurt, a Jell-O 60 calorie snack and a couple whole dill pickles.  It doesn’t take much to add up to 1,400 calories.

On my way back to work after the gym and showering I was listening to NPR’s Hidden Brain, Episode 56: Getting Unstuck.  The topic of this podcast resonated with me and I think it’s part of the reason I decided to start a blog.  I’m not writing for any audience…this is more a journal for me to look back at as well as a means for me to document what I can accomplish in a year’s time.  

The podcast is about how we can feel stuck in our lives for any number of reasons and applying “design thinking” which is:

Design thinking is about recognizing your constraints, realizing there isn’t just one answer, and then trying something: “Building a prototype,” getting information from it, and then trying something else.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not unhappy about my life, in fact just the opposite – I’ve always had a certain fatalistic optimism; it’s just that as I’m fast approaching 50, I have an appreciation for how finite the amount of time we each have and that I want to “design” the life I want to lead.

Here’s the link.  It’s well worth a listen:

Here’s the book by Bill Burnett and Dave Evans: 

I’m going to buy the Kindle version and start reading it.

Wednesday, January 5, 2017

It’s cold!  One of my responsibilities as the Assistant Transportation Manager for a school district is to make sure weather and road conditions allow to safely transport students.  That means I’m up at 3:30 AM and I go out and drive city and county roads. 

This isn’t my favorite time of the year since I need to change my sleeping habits.  I generally work from 8:00 AM till a 6:00 PM, but on days like today I’m at work by 4:30 AM, I’ll take a three hour break around 10:00 AM, and then back until 6:00 PM, which effectively only gives me two hours until I have to go to bed.  Days like this blur into one another and I’ll be happy when springs comes.

After the holidays I’ve decided to get back into my health and fitness routine.  My husband complains that I come home on the weekends and gorge myself and he’s right.  It’s doesn’t matter how well I eat and exercise during the week if I fall off the wagon every Saturday and Sunday.  The key here is that I need to be consistent with diet and exercise and give myself a couple “cheat” meals every week.

During my three-hour break today I went to the gym and worked out my chest and biceps, did 20 minutes cardio on an elliptical and another 40 on a stationary bike.

Current weight: 271 lbs.  

I’m restricting myself to 1,400 calories made up of 120 grams of carbs, 30 grams of fat and 153 grams of protein.  I want to build my lean mass and lose fat and I’ll keep post my progress.

I took my “Introduction to Probability and Statistics” assessment.  The cut-off score was 61.  I got 60.  I’m not too happy and have to go back and do a lot of studying.  I shouldn’t be having this much difficulty with this course, but for some reason it’s been a real challenge.  

This term I’ve completed eight courses and have statistics and college algebra left to finish before the end of February and so far I have 58 out of 121 credits completed.  My goal is to have my BA in Business before my birthday in August.

Tuesday, January 3, 2017

Noon.  I wrapped up some chores around the house which included cleaning the kitchen, moving my unfolded laundry from the guest bedroom to my office, and getting all my things collected for heading back down to Moses Lake.  Now I’m about to enjoy a vegetarian burrito at Three Bears Cafe in Winthrop and contemplating whether to go back down to Moses Lake through Bridgeport or Wenatchee.  

 

Back to work tomorrow.  I’ve enjoyed having almost two weeks off for winterbreak, but it’ll be good to get back into the rhythm of work.  Also, I’ve put on about 10 pounds and definitely need to get back on my exercise and sensible-eating routine.  I think I’ll start posting my progress throughout the year.  

Brief layover at Dry Falls to let the dogs stretch and go potty.  The temperatures were down around 3° with the windchill.

Back to my regular routine of getting up at 3:30 AM and driving the roads to make sure they’re okay for school buses.  Hopefully there won’t be any snow tonight.

January 2, 2017

Not much to report about Day 2.  Sewed two pillow cases for a couple new throw pillows for our couch.  I’m starting to get the sewing bug.  

I’ve got to get into the habit on posting a bit every day, but it’s awkward.  I want to delve into understanding WordPress and what better way than to keep a blog and play around with themes.  By the end of 2017 I hope to be fairly adept at this.

January 1, 2017

Well, 2016 turned out to be a year of unanticipated outcomes, and as a 47 year old, I am appreciating just how finite and precious life is.  I guess a lot of it has to do with the recent death of Carrie Fisher.  I am a child of the ’70s and remember my father taking to see Star Wars at the Cinerama theater in Seattle back in 1977.  Like a lot of other kids, I was completely engrossed in all things Star Wars.  I had almost all the figurines, the Star Wars themed bed sheets and comforter, the Star Wars lunch pail, just about everything commercialized I had. 

Also, Star Wars was a new phenomenon with it being serialized and every three years my friends and I anticipated the next installment with “The Empire Strikes Back” and finally  “The Return of the Jedi”. 

I didn’t expect that Carrie Fisher’s death would have such an impact on me, but over the course of the last couple of days I’ve been feeling a real mourning for something I can’t say I’ve lost…that’s not the right word for it, but a bittersweet remembrance of being a seven year old going with his father to see a movie and that event being a turning point in my life.  This time last year, I took my father to see the new installment in the Star Wars franchise, “The Force Awakens”, and having a feeling of having gone full-circle.  I don’t have any children of my own, but to be there with my father was a real treat.

I’m not one to get upset over a celebrity’s death and I never get sucked in to feeling any type of sympathy for people that achieve fame and success – they made it and if their achievements don’t yield the return they were hoping for, then they need to reexamine what makes them want to get up in the morning…but, I digress. 😉  

Going back to Carrie Fisher, I decided that I want to enter 2017 with appreciation for everything I have in my life and I also want to keep a journal (or blog) about my life over the course of this year; my daily ho-hum routine, my likes, my rants and raves, and any other thing that might take my fancy.  I’m not doing this for any sense of posterity or to fill a “void”; rather, I think of it as a diary of sorts that I can look back on and get a glimpse into what was going on in my little world on this or that date.

I think 2017 will be an exciting year and I’m happy to be here!

-Hunter