Weekend Update!

Thursday was my birthday, so instead of taking off on Thursday and coming back on Friday, I took off Friday for a 3-day weekend. I did have a dental appointment for a check-up, which took about 5 seconds, then I was gone. Dave and I went to the Pho place and had pho for lunch. We had one spring roll each and a giant pho. I didn't eat it all, had it packaged up, then went and got some TCBY for dessert. A very low-key birthday celebration.

Drat! I just deleted!! d9*(&$()_)#$*.

So, Saturday Sara took me out to lunch and a movie. We saw, "Killers", which was cutesy and funny. Apparently, Sara and I were the only ones who actually had a sense of humor about it all. Kind of dark humor.

Sunday was our riding lesson - a flat lesson - no jumping. We worked very hard at getting ourselves balanced, doing serpentines with no stirrups, 20-meter circles, 15-meter circles, which are hard to calculate. I can't tell if I'm at 15 meters, 12 meters, or what. I go by what my coach says, then take it from there!

We went out to dinner with Dave's parents for their birthday celebrations to their favorite Greek restaurant. Well, we got ther 15 minutes early, and you would have thought the world was coming to an end. If there are people there, they complain it's too loud; we were the only ones in the room they likedbut apparently, it was too quiet. All of us except Sara got the lamb shank(s), but we only had one shank each and lots of orzo. I ate the lamb and part of the orzo, but with the salad and -oh! I forgot! some bread and oil - it was too much. I had a spinach salad beforehand and should have stopped there, but no, I had to go for the dessert! What a mistake! I was so stuffed! . Sara ordered the spanakopita (spinach layered with phylo dough and cheese) and a side salad. She had the yogurt with honey and nuts for dessert, and decided she shouldn't have ordered a dessert, either. Fortunately, today we have a better handle in the food department.

Today is run on the TM day to get rid of all that very rich food I had last night. Finished my dress and wore it to work. I keep amazing people with the fact that I'm actually wearing dresses/skirts to work these days. Just needed a change of pace; have another pattern and bought some more fabric yesterday. I'm on a roll!

Eventing Show Over! WHEW!

So, the eventing horse show was Sunday. Sara and I both rode; however, Sara was slated for her first ride, dressage, at 10:15 (?),then she had to wait 2 hours before her jumping courses; I didn't do my first ride, dressage, until 1:35, when Sara started her last jumping course. By the time we waited around for my jumping rounds, it was 4:00. As usual, I was nervous about the jumping, but Team Bella made a clean sweep of the stadium course. Off we went to the corss country course, and Team Bella did another clean sweep!

Results: Sara had an error on her dressage, a clean course on stadium, but an error on cross country; she came in from 7th pulling up from 11th place. My dressage score was not so hot, so I came in from 8th to 7th. Drat that left-handed circle!

I was expecting to go to Michael's on Saturday to get beads for the shawl I'm making; however, that didn't happen and since I'm ready to start the design, beads are now OUT again. I had great intentions, but I'm not that hep on the beads that I'll hold up going forwared with the shawl. Great idea; maybe next time.

Hard to believe it's another year gone and my birthday is in 2 days! Yikes! Where did the time go? More importantly, how did I get so old? It's still old in years, no matter how I actually feel. ha ha.

Eventing Show Coming Up

Let's see......Went XC Schooling last Sunday, again. Good news is I didn't fall off! Score one for me! Almost, but that only counts in horseshoes, the game, not the ones on the horse. Anyway, psyching myself up to be in the competition mode - NO MERCY! Show is on Sunday. The weather is going to be atrocious - high 90s!

I'm happy to report that I finally finished the sleeves on my 3-year sweater. Now it's time to block the body of the sweater, sew the sleeve saddle, sew the sleeve, then the back and front together, then knit the collar. Piece of cake, eh? The bad news is I don't have very much yarn left (who knew I would run out 3 years later?), but my plan is to use some other worsted weight blue yarn I have for sewing up the seams and save the "good" yarn for the collar. It might just work.

I'm also happy to report that the yarns I ordered to make a shawl as a gift came in. I'm using a painted teal merino and a teal mohair held together. Very pretty. After reading the Yarn Harlot's blog today, I have now decided that putting beads in my shawl would make it pop that much more. Why, oh why, do I listen to other people's blogs?

If You Can't Exercise, GO SHOPPING!

Although my bruised body is feeling better, exercise is still not in the picture. So, in order to occupy myself, I went to Dress Barn and bought some trouser socks, which by the way were 50% off! I bought 9 pairs of socks and just as I was getting ready to leave, I saw a really cute jacket that I can wear with the dress I'm making. I had looked at some other jackets, but none of them caught my fancy. I should have kept my eyes straight ahead and not looked back.

Dave went to NYC today on the bus, so Romeo and I will have a quiet evening. I'm thinking of getting a big salad from the restaurant next door to take home for dinner. I won't have a lot of time because I have to take Romeo out for his one and only walk today; I know he'll be ready to get outside as soon as I get there. Then, dinner and I can watch the shows I recorded and fell asleep while I was watching them.

Progress on my cabled fisherman's sweater: I am at the point now where I am binding off and then knitting the "saddle" of the sleeves. Once that is done, everything is sewn together and all that remains is knitting up the collar. It took three years to get there, but a job well done to me!

When Going Over Jumps, It Helps To Stay ON the Horse!

The weekend started out as an uneventful weekend. Saturday a.m. Romeo and I went for an hour walk. As humid as it was, it was a good thing we went early. Actually, we should have gone even earlier as Romeo tends to dart out at other dogs on the path. Going earlier would have been easier for me, anyway.

I started work on a new dress, and I found that it went much faster than I anticipated. I got to the point of the zipper, decided it was time to stop for awhile, and picked up my long-lost sweater. By the way, I'm doing quite well with the sleeves. About 32 rows done. That means really 64 rows since I'm doing double the rows. Yay me.

Sunday Sara and I had a riding lesson, and we went to Waredaca for a cross country schooling lesson. Bella is so in love with Satchmo, that I have discovered that I have to ride her much more agressively when he's around because all she does is follow him around. We went over a few jumps, some with multiple approaches, but over nonetheless.

The next jump I approached (uphill) and Bella refused. I wasn't ready, so it was my fault. The next approach was more aggressive, but as I got closer, I got too far ahead of her, she stopped and I didn't. I fell splat onto my chest on the edge of the jump. My watchband cut my wrist up, and the band was twisted into a non-recognizable item. Fortunately, for me, I was wearing my jump vest or I might have broken a rib since I landed on my left side.

Sara jumped Satchmo over a fence (or attempted to) and he put on the brakes and actually slid on all four feet to the jump. After several slips Sara finally got him over the fence. Off we trotted to the next jumps, and I went over a few more. They were good jumps; we got over them; might not have been pretty, but we did get over.

Then Sara did a jump over a small log into a shallow pond. It was a great leap, she really felt the air on that jump. After she jumped she said she heard her thumb go "pop". Fortunately, it went back into place, but started to swell up quickly. Between the two of us we really made the day exciting. I won with the injuries because I was bleeding! Ha!

Needless to say, I spent the day with a cold compress and Aleve. I didn't injure my arms so I could knit in between bouts of short naps. I did go upstairs to work on my dress, but after sewing in the zipper, my side hurt, so back downstairs I went to the couch and lots of pillows.

Back to work; another week to look forward to. Yeah, right.

Gee, Switching Up Exercise Really Works

This week I've continued to rev up my exercise especially in the running department. More calories burned and I'm still breathing. What a revelation. I've proven to myself that I can go faster. I was kind of in denial about it all and was letting "fate" take its course.

If only I could sleep at night. All I do is wake up from being hot (even with the fan), then I'm cold. Makes for not good sleeping. No wonder I'm always falling asleep at 8:00 at night.

I decided to pull out a fisherman's sweater I've been working on since 2007. I found the receipt the other, and I'm amazed I haven't finished it. I've made 4 pairs of mittens, 3 or 4 sweaters, but I'm still staring at this sweater. I made a vow to finish it before I do anything else - good luck with that! All I have to do is finish the sleeves, which I'm knitting at the same time. If I weren't doing that, I would really have a bad case of not wanting to finish it. And then sew the thing together and knit the collar. Bam! I'm done. Easier said than done as this pattern is somewhat complicated and every single row has cables, knit through back loop, or something outrageous. But, I'll get it done so I can wear it next winter.

The grey sweater I started is a bust right now, too. It's knit in the round and somehow the stitches got twisted so I had to rip out 17 rows of knitting. I started again, cast on those 229 stitches, and AGAIN, the stitches got twisted. I must not be getting them pointing in the same direction. Anyway, it's basically sitting in the corner because I'm so mad at it. Well, not the sweater because I ripped it out, but the yarn, directions, and needles are being punished.

Dave might go to New York next week for another bank conference. Yay! The only bad thing is I have to get home to take Romeo out because he'll be sitting around all day by himself. It's a 50/50 blessing.

Here's hoping the train is on time; we have lights and air conditioning. Always an adventure with Mr. MARC.