bunchofheather

Category: ramblings

  • what to add for 2014?

    It is time to make a new change, to add something in to my health and fitness life.

    See, back at the beginning of 2013 I began counting calories.  In August I added in exercise (cardio) and quit smoking but quit counting calories.  Then, at the end of November I added back in counting calories.

    Now, I think it is time to add in some strength training!  Way back in the day, 1994-ish, I lifted.  I didn’t do cardio if I could avoid it but weights?  Loved it!  Time to re-embrace that feeling of power.  Back then I belonged to a great gym, even worked there for a while.  Currently a gym won’t be an option so I am starting to research bodyweight exercises.

    Not giving up my cardio though, turns out I enjoy it.

    Biggest loser update:  our team for the big challenge is at 6 people and our local competition group is 10 people.  People have until Friday to join and then weigh-in is by the end of the day on Monday.   I’m excited and plan on kicking ass again this year.  I maintained everything I lost in last year’s competition so I have happy hopes for this year’s!!!

  • sewing for exercise

    Oh, if only sewing really counted as exercise… I would easily be svelte!

    So this morning I achieved my plan of making new exercise gear.  Two new pairs of fancy pants:

    pants-dotspants-redblue

    Sadly, I didn’t have enough of the dots fabric to make a matching top.  I did have enough of the red/blue fabric on the right to do so.   And hair wraps as well from both though I only photographed the one.

    top-redbluehairwrap

    I wore the red/blue pants to walk this evening and had to change out of them after a mile and a half…  They are warm!  So, I can see them working well for those early cold mornings when the back room where the treadmill resides is chilly but today wasn’t a very cold day so they were a bit much.

    In between my sewing this morning and walking this evening we went and ate at the Chinese buffet then came home and napped.  All in all, a relaxing Saturday!  (With a bit of sadness in the day as well as I watched my motorcycle go off to its new home. We sold it yesterday and they came to get it today.  Maybe someday I will get another…)

  • Sewing plans for the weekend

    Fancy pants!  I am going to make some stretchy leggings for my treadmill walks.  Mid-calf length.  I have been picking up some wild knit prints.  My original plan for the fabric was tank dresses but I really don’t need more for around the house but fancy exercise pants? Need.

    Imitation Buffs!  Today I took the Buff I got at REI, pulled it over my wet hair, and twisted it into a bun that was kind of cool.  So, I’m going to seam up some tubes from leftovers from the pants and see if I can’t make hair accessories to match my new fancy pants.

    Bonus:  If I can figure out how to lay out the pattern to get enough leftover fabric on some… matching tank tops.

    I love starting the weekend with a plan!

  • quilt tops

    I finished this quilt top last month, it’s based on a baby quilt pattern called strip and flip or something like that.  I bought one of those “jelly rolls” at Joann’s.  I actually bought two, one solid and one patterned.  Got home and opened up the patterned one and it was cut so far from straight that I had to take it back.  They didn’t have another so I bought cut fabric to match the other roll.  I have the batting for it but don’t have backing fabric yet.

    ImageImage

    This next one is from leftover denim scraps and recycled jeans, finished last weekend.  I think I’m going to double layer flannel for the backing and forgo any other batting.  I think a bandana print would be a cool backing.

    ImageImage

    So today’s sewing was little, quick, and nothing fancy!  Catnip mats for the kitties.

    Image

  • What’s it all about?

    Facebook doesn’t fulfill my need to ramble…

    So here I am, blogging again, after a hiatus of multiple years.

    Who am I? What do I like?

    My name is Heather.  I’m 40 at the moment. I’m married with three cats and a llama. I work at a unique school for deaf students with behavioral problems.

    I like to sew a lot, crochet a bit, and other crafty things as the mood takes me. With the sewing I do apparel, bags, & quilting. I just finished some commission sewing for a woman at work. That was cool that someone thought I did good enough work to pay me for it!

    I’m overweight but am taking steps to change that. I’ve lost 23 pounds since the beginning of the year with another 52 to go.

    When the weather gets warmer here in Pennsylvania I’ll ride my bike. The husband & I enjoy at least two motorcycle rallies each summer. We usually ride to one just because the tattoo guy we prefer is there and that’s just a day trip then we spend four days tent camping at another.

    More, perhaps with pictures, later.

  • July 7, 2002

    Started a new page, halfway through the year and all… So, tonight’s ramblings are not only brought to you by the ubiquitous Maxwell House but also tonight by Tylenol Allergy Sinus 🙂 I was sneezing so much I looked like Rudolph so now I’m not sneezing but I am floating. It does that to me, so usually I just try to put up with sinus issues…

    Ah, what topic to ramble on tonight? Coffee and its wonderfulness? I drink mud, thick, toxic, spoon-melting mud… no decaf here please! Amazingly enough, I sleep like a rock. I can drain half a cup at 11 and be sleeping at 11:30. But, coffee and sinus medicine together makes for an interesting evening… weee 😉

    Another topic… e-mailing… I am the world’s worst correspondent. I have many, many relatives’ e-mail addresses… do they get letters? Um… No. I shall seek to rectify this here soon. (HI to my relations that may be reading this at some later date!)

    And to wrap up this evening’s mini-rant… Webpage updating… hmm, just see e-mail blurb above 🙂 Tonight I’m adding a few more pictures of the house and maybe do some general work on the blahness of that page… possibly not though, as I haven’t started that yet and it is 10pm and I do have to work tomorrow.

    WooHoo to work… would you believe… I’m NOT on-call at the moment??? It’s a new experience, quite. No, no… relax peoples, I’m still gainfully employed 🙂 it’s just that work has instituted true rotational on-call! This is a good thing 🙂 Now… I do my first week as tier 1 starting July 15th so we’ll see if I’m still as enthused after a week of being the first touchpoint for all of our North American network issues for a week hehehe. Was tier 2/backup last week and only got 4 pages, have been off call this past week and only got 1. Coolness.

    Signing off with one more cup of coffee to drink tonight. Cheers!

    me in deland, florida

  • June 14, 2002

    Amazing how much time can pass and you just don’t notice…

  • May 18, 2002

    May 18, 2002

    “What a long strange trip it’s been.”
    — Jerry Garcia

    “The first step to getting the things you want out of life is this: Decide what you want.”
    — Ben Stein

    “If we don’t change, we don’t grow. If we don’t grow, we aren’t really living.”
    — Gail Sheehy

    I really prefer IRC as my chat medium of choice… if I’m online at home… you’ll likely find me on Undernet, nick ciscochic.

    I also use MSN (ciscochick) but I’m not always on that when home but almost always when working…

    Heh. The two sides of my connected life 🙂

  • April 1, 2002 – Colorgenics

    I took one of those quick web personality tests tonight. It’s called Colorgenics, which apparently tries to diagnose your personality based on the order you pick colors…

    My results 😉

  • March 7, 2002

    So, the obvious PMS of my last post is gone (yah, yah… too much information 🙂

    Anyway, as a result, work is going well again… Plus, got a bunch of changes/projects coming up rapidly and it’s always a learning experience. hehehe That’s it, that’s the root of it all 🙂 I think if I weren’t in technology I’d end up being a perpetual night student. (aack, bad flashbacks there of my graduate classes in accounting… I think it was the “Governmental Accounting” course that drove me to find a totally new career!)

    I’m quite the happy camper! We have a sales agreement on our old house. So, we should be closing with the buyers sometime in April… now I’m glad we signed with another realtor (we were very realtor-shy after the first horrid experience trying to sell the house! – I’ll save that story for another braindump.)

    We’re getting a lot done on the addition!! We’re up to wiring and insulation in the walls… That’s the schedule for this weekend. I have to post some interior pictures on the house-stages page! Soon! We went to Home Depot and Lowe’s this week… looking at lights, flooring, etc… I don’t have a lot of patience in stores when I don’t know exactly what I’m looking for… but, got a few ideas for what Montey and I both like, and now… it’s back to online shopping!

    And, I got another new (well, ok, slightly worn, new to ME) router 🙂 2500 series, dual token ring, dual serial!! Buying equipment for my study lab piece by piece as I find parts I want on the web is working well. So next I believe is a switch… :))) If you’re reading this and understand why I’m building a lab 😉 feel free to e-mail me with suggestions on what else I might want to get?

    For right now, I’m trying to not let the presence of toys to play with distract me from studying all the bits of theory for the written…

    Well, off to read for a bit… I have two changes scheduled for 3am so, I’ll be up for a while yet.

    Have I mentioned how much I love coffee?

    /me prays to the coffee gods… fill me with your caffeine essence!

    — another rambling bunch of text brought to you by Maxwell House and the number 0x3e3e