Just a quick FYI..

That pedometer in the bra thing??? It works! I slipped into the center of band, forgot about it and it still happily counted away.

Whatcha Doing Today? Picking Katy up at the hospital, trying to find my discharge paste. Playing nursemaid.

Reading?The same.

Steps: (reaches in bra).. 10,137! And no stepping in place during the late night news!

What's For Dinner, Deb? Whole wheat pasta with tomato sauce and a salad. I see a Guinness Stout in my future...

This morning I take Katy to the Vet Surgeon for a consult. She will probably stay there, have surgery on Wednesday and come home on Thursday. I'll have a little time to make this pen area more comfy.

With the Refashionista challenge beginning, I picked up this pretty cotton sweater at Goodwill. I'm planning on re-knitting it as another shell. I took the collar and one sleeve off before I thought of taking a photo. Think I'll try to completely avoid the orange (not really my coloring).

Now for something totally different. We had company for supper Monday, Most of it looked so pretty I thought I'd share the photos. First there were grilled veggies,

Then coleslaw and BBQ ribs.

We finished with strawberry shortcake. Since the pie started at the same temperature as the shortcakes, I baked a rhubarb pie too.

And finally, the moment of sunset.

Walking the Line..

I broke down and invested in the Cadillac of pedometers. And I'm glad I did. I was convinced to try when Wendy Burmgardner of About.com wrote:

This advanced design lets you wear it on your belt or carry it in your pocket, clip it to your bra, anywhere it is perpendicular to the ground.The Omron HJ-112 counts steps, calculates distance and calories burned. It also tracks aerobic steps separately when walking or jogging more than 60 steps per minute or more than 10 minutes continuously. The Omron HJ-112 has a 7-day memory, a feature I prize greatly. Top rated for accuracy by a consumer magazine.

Imagine a pedometer you can wear in/on your bra!!

Now I got to admit something here: I do not have a waistline. Never did. When I was a skinny 97# I still had a 26" waist and 32" hips. Now the size is a little higher, but the proportion has not changed. This means if I wear jeans that come up to the "natural" waist, and clip my pedometer onto it, it immediately flips 60 degrees from vertical (curling up like the waistband) and stops working. Eventually it falls off. I walked 2 miles one day last week with a clip on pedometer. It told me I'd taken 487 steps. I can't even imagine how long those strides must be!!

When I wear one with my low-rise jeans? They just fall off. A lot.

So a pedometer that you don't need to clip to the waistband of your pants? Has my name all over it!!

This one comes with a "holster" that you slide it into when you want to clip it. And you clip in on your pants, on your bra, on the breast pocket of you jacket, even on a purse you're carrying.

It also comes with a short safety strap and clip. I've been using it this weekend to clip it to my jeans, and slip it into the watchpocket. You would think the watchpocket would work for the cheaper pedometers, but I didn't find that to be true. This miracle works fine there. I'm thinking I can slip the necklace part of those ID packet things on this, and wear it tucked in a sportsbra. Will have to experiment this week.

Imagine being thrilled by a pedometer!! My life is so simple.

Whatcha Doing Today? Took Jake for a 2+mile walk (38 minutes of continuous stepping, thank you Omron!), did some yard work, watched the Cubs lose, did 2 loads of wash and hung it on the line. Need to do some housecleaning.

Reading? Yes. Book 6 of the Dresden series and (finally) Quilting Arts Magazine.
Steps: 7536 at the moment. I'll get over 10,000 before I go to bed.
What's For Dinner, Deb? uhm???I dunno. Maybe pasta.

Tags: pedometers, walking

Yep. That's My Town

You may have heard on your news that there is a town in California that is going to use the power of Eminent Domain to keep WalMart from building a store in their community.

Yep. That's my town.

The truly interesting thing about this that the news isn't mentioning: a year ago the council was pretty strongly telling it's citizens that we were going to have to accept WalMart. We needed the sales tax revenue.

But a citizen action group stepped in and started organizing the city (again). The council heard the voices (close to 75% of the town does not want the WalMart here), and decided to listen to the citizens. It's going to cost us $13 million or so to accomplish this task, but I'm glad it's going forward.

What will happen to parcel in the future? It is designed to be grocery store, a drugstore and other retail outlets. When the city gets the land it will invite developers to come up with a plan for the land that does not include any "big box" type stores.

I'm praying for a Trader Joe's.

Whatcha Doing Today? Calling a trainer, making fabric postcards
Steps: yesterday: 9256
What's For Dinner, Deb?
Pulled pork, veggies

Tags: Hercules, WalMart

Time to "Bitch Up"

I figure if when professional male atheletes strap on their uniforms and get into the game they call it "manning up", then when I when become an assertive and demanding female, I'm "bitching up".
And I"m proud of it.

What burr's gotten under my butt now? Fire trails.

If you've read my blog at all, you've seen photos of the open space behind my house. There are safety trails back there that are supposed to allow the fire trucks to move in incase of a fire. These trails are also a "safety net" evacuation route for the 2000+ families that live in my neighborhood. If the main road out is blocked, we are supposed to be able to escape by these routes.

The trails behind my house have not been taken care of for over 3 years. They are overgrown, there is a sink hole in the middle of one trail and huge California oak tree that came down and blocked the trail over the winter. Under the current conditions, if we had to evacuate we couldn't.

So this morning I walked up there with the dogs, and took photographs. Then printed the photos out and delivered them to the fire department with a note asking for attention to the trails and informing the chief that I'd be back next week for an update.

And here's the photographic evidence that I'm "bitching up" and not simply bitching. These three pictures are 2 fire trails and one field. Can you tell the difference? For reference, the first two photos are fire trails, the third is a field.



Whatcha Doing Today? Being assertive; organizing to make postcards
Reading?Book 5 of the Harry Dresden series.
Steps:
What's For Dinner, Deb?
Meatloaf, corn, salad, fresh fruit for dessert.

Sunday's Sundrys

Whatcha Doing Today? Straightening the house & studio. Watching the Cavs play. Hand sewing.

Reading? Still working on Jim Butcher's books.

Steps: My pedometer fell off somewhere yesterday afternoon.

What's For Dinner, Deb? Leftovers.

These are my favorite reason for welcoming spring: Champagne Mangoes. They are smaller and sweeter than regular mangoes and only available during the spring.

And my dinner: bacon, avocado, tomato salad and fresh fruit salad. Yum.

I hope this is a good idea..

Moving the personal things off my art/craft blog may give the room to breathe and work there, without giving up my personal stuff.

Saturday's Distractions:

#1. I am the spangle fairy. Ok, an explanation: My Pickle friend, Jeanne, knit and felted me this fabulous bag. And she trimmed it with a cool piece of trim that has beads and spangles dangling from it. One problem: as I carry it around, the spangles drop. Everywhere.

Grace can probably attest that her house was fully spangled back in February; my car is spangled.

I could try and fix it, but I like the idea of sprinkling spangles all over the place.

So call me Spangle Fairy.

#2. Yesterday's steps: 8444

#3. Reading: Book Five of the Harry Dresden series by Jim Butcher.

#4. Knitting: a pale yellow summer tank top.

#4. What's for dinner, Deb?
Bacon, tomato, and avocado. Sandwich for S; Salad for me.
Fruit salad (apricot, raspberry and strawberry) with vanilla pudding.