My Life in Bullet Points

Hopefully I'll feel like posting from home soon, with pictures, just haven't felt like it when I get home.

• My grandfather passed away May 21, 2009.
• We almost lost our old dog Dexter 4 days before that.
• I planted a garden this year and just harvested spinach from it last night.
• We leave for Florida to go cavern diving for 3 days and reef diving on the Gulf for 2 days.
• In knitting news, June is officially Finish My UFO's month: finished a washcloth that has been sitting in my basket since December; February Lady sweater just needs buttons, ends woven in and washed/blocked.
• I've been reading like a fiend for some reason lately, finished Sarah's Key in 2 days and The Time Traveller's Wife in 5, now I'm a hundred pages into The Historian.
• My co-worker was fired yesterday, meaning work is going to be stressful for a while.
• We've dove a couple of times, but nothing super exciting, and no pictures.
• Obscene amounts of caffeine is the only thing getting me through the work day.
• I haven't been working out. At all.
• That's all for now

Drive by Posting

This: Outrage over sentence in honeymoon drowning really upsets me... I can't believe he's only going to serve a year.

Back later with a full blog entry, lots of stuff has been going on, thus the absence.

Cold Water and Mushrooms

Had a great day of diving yesterday, cold water notwithstanding! We went to Whitestar Quarry in Gibsonburg, Ohio. It is a beautiful Sandusky county park with relatively deep (the bottom of the crusher pit hits 75 ft) and super clear water. Visibility was probably 50-60 ft! Jeff got to play with his new gear, a set of 108 steel double tanks and with an OMS Harness, Dive Rite Classic wing and Apex XTX50 Regs. He's wanting to get into the tech side of diving, while I'm going more into the professional side. He did pretty darn good with his bouyancy actually. Had to throw on an extra 5 pounds of weight, even with 3 pound ankle weights and 130 pounds of gear! But, he managed to stay pretty trim. I took a couple of pics and videos too!

Here's Jeff on his favorite Christmas present ever:

Good example of the great viz:

Jeff in front of the staircase in the crusher pit:

Jeff demonstrating how to silt up the quarry with the sea scooter:

Me playing on the sea scooter:

Me hanging out on our safety stop:

We also went mushroom hunting Friday evening and today, with no luck. We're looking for morels, a delicious springtime treat! They're the only mushrooms that I really like. We go out at my grandparents' house, who have a couple hundred wooded acres. Last year was a great year, we probably found about 50 or so. I gorged myself on them and still gave a bunch away. Even though we didn't find any, a walk in the woods is always a good time. I just want to know why EVERYTHING is covered with thorns! I ripped a big hole in my jeans and scratched up my arms today. Oh well, maybe later this week we'll get some!

UFO Sightings and Updates

So, update on my grandpa, he's been released from the hospital and is now temporarily (hopefully!) in a nursing home much closer to home. He still needs to gain quite a bit of strength back. At least enough that he can get in and out of a wheelchair without assistance. They believe that the weakness was caused by a combination of his cholesterol medication (simvastatin) and his dialysis. He's been taken off of the statin and will be doing physical therapy to get his strength back, but the doctors are optimistic that he'll be able to go home within the next month or so, all depending on how hard he works. So, good news for the most part. My aunt and uncle brought my grandparents' Chesapeake Bay retriever Emma to see him, I think he was missing her more than anything else while he was in the hospital!

As for working out, I haven't run in about a week and a half=bad, but I did swim last Wednesday and plan to go again tomorrow evening=good! Diet is bad. I have zero willpower to eat right. I do good for breakfast, but lunch and dinner just fly out the window! Oh well...

So, UFO Sightings:

February Lady Sweater:

I'm getting there, slowly but surely. So much for having it done in February! Hopefully I can get it done in April!

Mossy Firestarters:

Had a heck of a time with the chart, still not sure if I'm doing it right, I guess we'll see!

The others... I don't want to talk about... :-) (that means no progress!)

Supposed to maybe go diving this Saturday, all depends on whether Jeff gets all of his tech gear together. His new Apeks regs came in today and he's got his wing and harness. He's still waiting on the metal fabricator in town to finish his backplates. So, we'll see! Hopefully, cause we're probably going to either Whitestar or Gilboa, both great places to dive here in Ohio!

Just so you know...

I am not stoopid! :-)



Well, at least only 18% stupid!

Days like today, I just want to go home and curl up on the couch to knit...

Work has been stressful this week, cleaning up data in one database so we can build a new one, with a deadline of April 8. That's on top of everything else that I have to do. But the biggest thing is that my grandpa went into the hospital on Monday. He's been on periteneal dialysis since November, but just switched to a cycler at night 3 weeks ago. Since then, he's become weaker and weaker, and the doctors can't seem to figure out why. He's not in any pain and he's come off the oxygen (he's had emphysema for 15 years), but isn't gaining any strength back. He's not even able to pull himself up in bed or move his legs without help. Doctors have been putting him through test after test and can't figure out anything, but that's only when you can find anyone to talk to. Hospitals kind of suck sometimes. Not to mention its rainy and soggy outside, bad weather never helps anything.
On a good note, I got a delicious lunch from Noodles and Company. Japanese Pan Noodles with Sauteed Beef, yum! I don't know if it's good or bad that food is one of the few bright spots in today. I guess you gotta find joy in the small things... :-)

Cold Water Diving and Divemastering

So, we went diving last Friday at Lakeview RV Park in Lancaster, Ohio. It was cold!! I was bothered by the cold on the surface more that day than I was on our ice dives! We did one 40 minute dive, vis wasn't too bad, about 10-15 feet. Sounds crappy, but for Lakeview, it's not bad at all. I'm an Ohio diver, I'm used to low vis! We had a pretty good time despite the cold, and I'm jealous that Jeff is going up to Gilboa without me this Friday! I'm not a big fan of missing dives! But, it sounds like it's going to be yucky weather, so maybe it's not so bad.
Also, I'm cracking down on the Divemaster studying. I've got to get the book read and the tests taken. I still have the watermanship skills and the 4 confined water dives to do too. Thankfully the weather is getting warmer and I'll be more motivated since we'll be diving more. We've convinced our neighbors J & V to get certified and took them to Scubafest this past weekend to get them in the pool for a Discover Scuba session. V's not really sure about it, but J is really going to do well I think. V just needs some more pool time to get comfortable breathing underwater. We're humans, we're not supposed to breathe underwater, of course it's going to be awkward at first!
I swam at the rec center again today, man that's a workout! I did 550 meters in about 30 minutes. I'm so out of shape! I've been running too, and trying to watch my diet, but I'm just not cut out for dieting. I don't have the willpower, and I like ice cream too much!
Well, I need to go read before the husband gets home. I'm going to take advantage of the empty house!

Slacking Blogger

So, I haven't been blogging much, but stuff has been going on. I haven't been working out much, but I did run last night! I ran outside too! It was such a pretty day. I started the Couch to 5K program and need to learn to run outside. I haven't been swimming but once, because I got a tattoo and couldn't submerge it in water for awhile. More on that later...

I've been working on some knitting, but no sewing. I've started the 2nd Jaywalker sock, and am about 2 inches in. It's my travelling sock. The one I throw in my purse to take with me, so those ones usually take a while to get done. I'm going to cast on tonight for Firestarter socks with my Andey's Original sock yarn in the Mossy Brook colorway! It is so pretty and soft! I'm excited! My February Lady Sweater is coming along, I'm about 6 inches into the lace pattern, it's going sooo much faster since I separated the sleeves! And the lace pattern is super easy! Let's see... Foliage is still hibernating because it hates me. The same with River. And I think that's all that on the needles right now.

On the diving front, Jeff and I are going tomorrow with our friend/instructor Jason to Lakeview quarry in Lancaster. We've been there twice before and conditions are going to be a crapshoot. The first time we went, it was great, 20 foot vis. The last time was awful, 15 feet till you got to about 20 feet deep, then when you went through the thermocline, the lights went out. You couldn't see your hand if you stretched it out in front of you. So, we'll see. I'm excited to get in the water again though! If conditions are decent, I'll hopefully have some pictures! I'll post some pics and talk about our ice diving certification soon too! Oh! And Scubafest is this weekend here in Columbus! I'm excited to see a bunch of people we met last month up at Whitestar Quarry for the ice dive. We're taking our neighbors, who are not certified yet (but soon!) and getting them in the pool for a Discover Scuba class. It should be a really good time!

I think that's a start for catching up... I'll do better at blogging, I promise!

And just for fun, here's a pic of Murphy curled up on the couch:

I'm Totally Working Out Tonight... Really!!

I HAVE to, I haven't worked out since Friday. I'm a slacker. And I had cake for breakfast. Plus I found (through the Ravelry forums) 2 awesome motivational websites, 1 on Runners World, this is an article on getting started running. An 8 week plan to get you running 2 miles in 30 minutes.
Swin Plan, you sign up for this website and enter some information about your level of swimming abilities and it will build a custom workout plan for you! Cool!
Since it's raining, and I don't have workout clothes, I will be working out at home tonight with this video: Jillian Michaels 30 day Shred
The first time I did it, it was way harder than I expected it to be, but, it's getting easier. I'm also starting the 200 Sit-ups program. Yeah, I get bored easily. I've just got to get my butt into shape! Once the weather starts warming up, I've got to get out there and get my divemaster swimming done so I can get my instructor done by the end of the summer.

I've done better with the diet than I usually do, but I'm just not cut out for dieting. I like junk food too much and I have no willpower. But, when I weighed myself on Monday, I had lost 2 pounds! So I'm happy with that. And I haven't given up yet on it and said screw it I'm eating McDonalds for breakfast Wendy's for lunch, Taco Bell for dinner and topping it off with ice cream. Okay, so maybe I'm not THAT bad, at least with the fast food. But I loves me some fast food...mmm, Frosty...

BTW, the diet I'm following is the ABS DIET POWER food diet.
A-Almonds
B-Beans
S-Spinach
D-Dairy-lowfat
I-Instant Oatmeal
E-Eggs
T-Turkey and other lean meats
P-Peanut Butter
O-Olive Oil
W-Whole Grains
E-Extra Protein-in the form of whey protein powder
R-Raspberries and other berries

I Heart Fat Quarters!

Went to Joann's today at lunch and they have all their fat quarters on sale for $1 each! Yay! Pretty much all of their other fabric is on sale too! Look what I bought:

I especially love the doggy one and the pink ovals.

The blue and browns are for pillows for the living room. Haven't decided completely what they're going to look like, but the solid brown is the back panel.

And I picked up the liner for the purse I'm going to make. The silky fabric is the liner and the gray and teal is the outside. They were both remnants, a yard of each and less than 6 bucks for both! Yay for cheap stuff!

So, no knitting or diving stuff today, but today and yesterday I've done good with my eating habits, but bad on the working out. I'm being lazy. Maybe tomorrow, cause I'm eating dinner now.