NaNoWriMo is going to be the death of me

I spent about 3 hours this afternoon writing.  And I’m pretty sure it’s not good writing.  But that’s not the point of NaNoWriMo.  The point is to write.  Even if it’s bad.  Just write.  But I gotta say, it’s tiring.  I cranked out a whopping 1950 words today. I may revisit it and try for a little bit more.  I think writing during the week is going to be difficult.  So what ever extra I can do during the weekend, I think can only help me.

On a sad note, Judge Hecht was found guilty.  I wonder if there’s vending machine soup in the big house?

Dead computer hard drive and some quidditch homework

Sorry I haven’t posted in a bit.  My hard drive died Monday night and I took it in to be fixed on Tuesday.  I’m hoping and praying that it will be done today.  I’m starting NaNoWriMo on Sunday so I’d prefer to type instead of handwriting.

And now the quidditch homework – it’s a fill in the blank:

Hi Magpies!
Boy this has been a crazy week! I have been so busy and haven’t had much time to post! So, I thought I’d do a quickie to tell you about my plans for the weekend! Saturday, I am planning to knit like a fiend and eat lots of candy with Kink and Jimbo. If I have time, I might also do some laundry since I haven’t in a long time. Sunday will be spent running and writing and maybe some napping if I’m lucky!

I hope you all have a great weekend too!
And here’s the second half of the homework – Where in the World is Winnie?  I’m gonna take a shot in the dark, based on the clues… She’s at the home of the Appleby Arrows, Appleby village.  I’ve never been there but I hear it’s lovely this time of year

 

I ordered my Vibrams!

I just ordered my Vibram classics.  They should be here in a week or so!  I went to REI and they didn’t have my size.  I tried them on and I can see there’s going to be a bit of getting used to it.  It took moving of toes to get them into the right spots.  But once they were all set, they were really comfy.  It really was like being barefoot with a little bit of protection on the sole.  I can’t wait to give them a real life try.

Also,  I just wanted to post this link:  Norawas de Raramuri.  It will live on the left side of my blog.  If you can please donate to them.   This is the non profit that Caballo Blanco started and he spoke about when I saw him speak a couple days ago.  Even if it’s only $5.  Every little bit helps.

If this half marathon goes well, I may start up the one race a month challenge on January 1st.  If I do, I’ll try and set up a donation type deal.  For every race I run, donate a couple of bucks to Norwaras de Raramuri.    Besides, if you donate think of the karma points.  You’ll get the parking spot right in front.  Perhaps, you’ll get out of that speeding ticket.  Or you may even win the lotto (Grandma Buck I’m gonna need you to work your magic on that one).

Quidditch assignment numero 1

We got the first assignment for quidditch.  And here’s the finished homework assignment.

Find the following people among players on your and the other teams. (Each person can only be listed once.)

1. Someone with the same craft as you.  Lily May Clearwater – I knit and while I have some crochet hooks, I haven’t really gotten that into it yet.
2. Someone who was born in the same month. Enna Kirts also born in August – the best month ever… aside from December.  I really can’t compete with Christmas.
3. Someone from a different country. Eugine Nigeno – I believe is in the Netherlands!
4. A new HSKS Quidditch player.  I think Maisy Muddlesticks is new.
5. A player who has been in 3 or more HSKS swaps. Violet Starfire
6. A player who has a bigger stash than you! (And if your stash is the biggest, proudly say so!) – well this one should be easy, as I’m slowly working my stash down.  So I’ll say Selena Starfire
7. A player who both knits and crochets.  that’s easy!  my swap buddy, Bridget the Bloodthirsty!
8. Someone who has the same favorite color as you. Quietus, of course!

There’s more homework to do, but I’m a bit exhausted. I did a nice mile swim this evening and am now going to start sleeve numero 2 on the french braid sweater.  Here’s hoping I can have it done this week!  But I may just grab my book – Tears of Pearls by Tasha Alexander, and go to bed.

Vonknitta is up!

I just finished putting the final touches on Vonknitta.  I’ll be blogging at both places for the time being.  So you’ll see the same stuff on both blogs. Let me know if anything on Vonknitta looks askew or is wonky.  I’ll fix’er up.

The quidditch season starts soon!

I’m very excited to have been drafted by the Montrose Magpies!

I may not be the best player but I’ve got heart!

Since I’ll probably have a bunch of fans that will want to send things to me, I thought I would give them a little wish list to choose from.  I like to take the guess work out it for my fans

I would love any books by Elizabeth Zimmerman (and they can be used.  I don’t mind getting used books at all.  In fact, I don’t think I’ve bought a brand new book in a couple of years.)

If you’re in the UK, I would love some Smarties.  Those are my weakness.  And if there’s any cute little knitting patterns by Alan Dart, I’d love that too!  I can’t seem to find anything of this in Seattle.

As far as yarn, I’m a big fan of KnitPicks and Etsy for yarn.  I’m not too particular about fiber.  I tend to use a lot  wool (super wash and regular wool).  I’d prefer superwash because I’m lazy and tend to just want to throw stuff in the washer.  As far as colors – well black and white (as they are our team colors) but other than that, rich colors, earth tones -but nothing super bright.  I did the neon thing when I was a teenager.  I don’t think I should be reliving that era.

And little knitting accessories and needles – I can always use stitch markers, but I prefer that they be cheap.  They’re like socks in the washer/dryer – you start with a certain amount and inevitably one or more will go missing.  Knitting needles, well I can always use circulars.  Smaller length circulars would be great.  I’m awful with dpns.

I hope that helps.  Honestly, I’m happy when I get something in the mail other than bills and junk mail.  I tend to get a lot of junk mail

2 days in and feeling good

So far I’ve walked 5 miles (not all that impressive but it’s still something) and swam 1600 or 1700 yards.  I need to get a lap counter.  It’s hard to keep track of all those laps.  While swimming I realized that I have lost enough weight to make my bathing suit fit a little too loose!  Fortunately it’s not loose enough to flash somebody, but it’s getting close!  Who would have thunk it!

I also happened to be online when the announcement that the tickets Seattle to Portland Yarn train are now on sale.  I’m in!  Now it’s all about living off of $20 a week so I can save up money to buy out all the shops of their yarn.  I’m kidding mom.  There’s really only 2 things I want – first – at least a dozen maple bacon bars from voo doo doughnuts (I’m sure they are not on the Weight Watchers point system, but I’m willing to take the risk) and another Habu textiles kit.  But now that I’m looking for a link to it, I’m not seeing it.  So maybe I’ll just blow all my money on doughnut

First run

This morning was the first day of training for the marathon.  I didn’t really run so much as walk with two friends.  Hopefully on Thursday I’ll be running.  I think we decided to walk because we weren’t sure we could keep up the running pace.  Tomorrow after work, I’m heading to the pool to get a workout in there.  I may even run down to the pool.  It’s only a mile and a half and I’m pretty sure I can handle that.

I’ve also signed up for a crazy thing that happens during the month of November – it’s the National Novel Writing Month.  So I’m taking the National Novel Writing Month challenge.  The challenge being to write a novel (50,000 words) in a month.  I’m not expecting it to be a good novel.  Nor am I expecting it to be even close to 50,000 words, but I kinda felt like I needed a creative challenge too.  I think the fall and winter months here make me want to do very little.  And I often wonder if that makes me get a little depressed.  I’ve found that if I keep busy, doing things I enjoy and have a goal to get to, I handle the winter months a lot better.

And on the knitting front, I’m almost finished with the body of my french braid sweater and then it’s on to the sleeves.  So far it’s going well.  We’ll see how the sleeves go.  I’ve never actually attached sleeves the way the pattern says to.  So it’s another challenge in a fall and winter filled with challenges!

The Christmas list is here!

So this is mainly for mom and dad, but if you’re feeling like you need to get me something, I won’t stop you.

A gift certificate to Sky Nursery for next years veggie crops!  My farm hand, Ruben will be helping me tend to the crops.  I think even little Levi might be lending a hand as well.

I would love a gift certificate to Weaving Works and/or So Much Yarn.  There’s a couple of classes I would like to take.

And in keeping with the knitting, I kept going back and forth about this book.  But I keep taking it out of the library.  So I’m taking that as a sign.  I’d like the Norah Gaughan book Knitting in Nature. (PS there’s 40% off all knitting books at Knit Picks until November 2nd!).

In the spirit of Grandma Buck, I’d also like some of my very own personalized labels for all my knitting projects.

I would absolutely love the State dvds and the 4th season of It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia.

And as always, gift certificates to Target, Walmart and Ikea are always useful.

And don’t forget the stuff over there on the left hand side of this blog…

what a weekend!

I started this weekend early Saturday morning – 5am.  I volunteered as a swim angel for the Cottage Lake tri.  It was raining and cold.  But we got out there and it went great.  One gal had a hard time.  Actually I don’t think she could do anything but the doggie paddle.  Not a great way to start your triathlon career.  After that I headed home, took a nice long nap and then got a text message.  My friend’s were at the hospital getting ready to deliver their baby!

This morning I get up at 5am and head down to Lake Washington.  I’m back in the water as a swim angel.   This time for the Trek triathlon.  I end up dragging the last woman around.  She didn’t really want to swim without a noodle.  Again, I have to wonder, why sign up for the triathlon if you didn’t train for it.  But she was nice enough and apparently suffered from debilitating migraines which kept her from training.  All of the ladies in our training group, hit the water like a bunch of fish.  Every one of them made their way to the front of the pack and as soon as they were told to go, they swam off like a shark.

This evening I helped my friend’s get their house a bit more put together when the baby comes home tomorrow afternoon!  So hopefully Simon Bailey will have a nice welcome home tomorrow!  Now I’m off to bed.  I’m taking the day off tomorrow to head to the Puyallup Fair.  I’ve never been and apparently it’s something I need to experience while I’m living in the Pacific Northwest.