Life Lately

Being that this is a running, hiking, and adventure blog, I often struggle with how much of my everyday life I should share here. Just because we share one common interest, it doesn't mean my other interests are mutual too. However, since I'm not doing much running at the moment, I decided it would be fun to offer a few details about my life lately.

1. Weather: I know what you're thinking. How interesting can this post possibly be if I start out by talking about the weather?  Well, winter is finally here!! After almost three years with no winter, that's a pretty big deal. It has been a series of days with hail, high winds, driving rain, and severe thunderstorm warnings for the coast. And the rain! It has been raining pretty much nonstop since Saturday. Needless to say, it has been nice that I have to rest my legs right now rather than dodging hailstones.

Ruby Sue with the view.

The ocean was pretty angry about this and waves grew to over thirty-five feet high. I'm not much of a beach person because it requires a parka to visit, but Matt talked me into it.

Is this how you dress to go to the beach too? Not pictured: My ancient purple LaCrosse swampers.

The amount of foam the surf produced was pretty incredible.

That's all foam. When the wind blows, it shakes like Jello.

2. Zoey: My fearless traveler is happy to be home.

Here she demonstrates to block a finished knitting project without an iron.

My mom jokes that my kitty has been more places than she has, and she's right. Zoey has visited eight states and two Canadian provinces.

Even though she was not a fan of being thrown around her carrier for five hours straight during our drive home on this trip, I think she enjoyed all the extra attention and bonding time we had in our tiny hotel room.

Since it worked out so well for all of us, the rest of our local trips for the foreseeable future will be with a Zoey in tow.


3. My Garmin: Somewhere during mile 24 of Sunday's marathon, my beloved Garmin Forerunner 205 synced up with satellites for the last time before her battery gave out. While I've forgiven her for leaving me hanging at the end of what would have probably been my fastest marathon time had I know how close I was, I'm saddened by her absence. I will make one last attempt to resuscitate her when a replacement battery arrives, but I fear the repair may be beyond my electronic expertise and after six years and over 10,000 miles together, we may have to say goodbye forever. Cross your fingers I don't have to do that.

 

Thanks to a very nerdy rocket building club in high school and my background in ham radio, I have some fairly decent soldering skills and know more than the average thirty-something housewife. Heck, I even have my own soldering gun already. ;) I bet you didn't see that sentence coming. Haha, I'm full of surprises.



4. Guilty Pleasures: I shop at K-Mart a grand total of once each year. This is what I buy. Bonus: These bad boys were on sale so I got two and I feel like the luckiest girl in the world right now.

These are so nice when Matt's on midnight shifts and I'm sleeping alone.

 5. Christmas Cookies: Every year, Matt and I bake gingerbread cookies and send them along with our holiday gifts. I got a new cookie cutter for my birthday back in September and finally got to try it out. I love it! We also have Michigan cookie cutters, both the U.P. and L.P. and while I wasn't looking, Matt made a ton of extra lower peninsulas. Don't worry, I tried my best to burn all those ones.

6. Knit knit knit knit....oh no!!: A few days ago, I decided to add a pair of work socks to my Grandma's Christmas present. She's got poor circulation in her feet and they're always cold. About 3/4 of the way through the second sock, this happens:

The end of my yarn came too soon!

Ugh. I bought this yarn at a thrift store and it had no tag on it, so I don't even know where to start looking for more. Luckily, this pair are intended to wear to the barn, so I'll have to grab a similar weight yarn from my scrap and finish it with a different colored toe.

7. Projects: Since we're talking about knitting and I've been working hard lately, here are a few projects that were completed before I ran out of yarn:

Grandma's other present.

I'm still deciding whether or not the sheep hat needs a bobble on top. Thoughts? This was also my first stranded or Fair Isle knitting pattern. It was easier than I expected. Then those socks. Oh wow. That sock yarn is such a joy to knit, the soft merino fibers just glide through my fingers. I can't wait to find out what my feet think of them.

These are for me...as soon as I finish the other sock.

What have you been up to lately? What's your weather like?