Busy Busy Busy

Oh, what a busy past few weeks I've had. Busy getting ready for vacation. Going on vacation - to Arizona - to visit family.

And now - adoption of a new family member: Mollie Mouse, a sweet dog. I found her online and fell in love with her. I emailed PAWS (Pineywood Animal Welfare Society) and received an email from her foster mom with more info. I knew she was meant to be my new baby. I filled out the paperwork while on vacation and picked her up 2 days after my return home from Arizona. She is such a good dog. Well-behaved, housebroken, crate trained, funny, sweet. Her only faults: pulls too hard on lead when we go for a walk and barking at "intruders" or who she thinks might be an intruder. We've got the pulling under control with a training harness. She still pulls a bit, but nothing like before. The barking. Well, I'm at a loss there. We'll figure it out.

Progress

Ran/walked again today. That's 3 times this week so far. This time I did the 2 miles, doing a 3/2 run/walk both ways. The plan: Tomorrow 3 miles.

As far as songwriting, progress there as well. I'll not be able to meet with my new friend who also writes plays and music as she'll be going out of town, and then I go on vacation, and who knows when we can get together. But she made some wonderful suggestions on how I can proceed and I've been on the internet tracking down things she mentioned. I am much encouraged. I'm looking to learn piano and taking a creative writing course.

"Just do it," someone said. OK, I will. Stay tuned.

On the Creative Side of Things

I haven't been creating through sewing lately. I've cut out a Tote-a-Tee purse, but not the lining. I've been concentrating on my other creative interest, song writing. Yes, I write songs. Mostly Christian songs, but I have some others too. What's so interesting - well, hysterical really - is that I have almost no musical skills with which to do this. I don't play piano. I don't play guitar. I can barely read music, as I played clarinet in high school, but remember so little about it. It's just in my head, all this wonderful music and lyrics; and of course I sing them. But I'm learning more about it each day. And I'm finding people, wonderful people, who are willing to help me. God has a plan. I'm going to stretch beyond my comfort zone to see where he wants to lead me in all this. Yaaaaaay!

Running Again

Well, after walk-running for the first time in months on 4/29, I didn't walk/run again until yesterday. And then again today. So, I'm beginning to get back on track (excuse the pun). I discovered - rediscovered really - that slow and steady is my pace. Now, I know that even when I go faster than I should, it's still pretty darn slow, but if I slow down to my comfortable slow pace, I can go farther and feel better in the process. So there. I'm currently just doing 2 miles, walking the first mile and run/walking back. My run/walk is a 3/2, meaning I run 3 minutes and walk 2 minutes; so, 3/2 intervals. Two days this week so far. I'm happy with that.

Whoa!

January 18th, 2010. That's the last time I posted. Right after completing the Houston Aramco Half Marathon (walked it). Whoa!

I must confess I hadn't walked/run since then, until today. Well, I take that back. I did 1 mile on January 19th. Wahoo! No, I haven't been a total slug. I've been really, really busy. I took on the job of co-manager of our church's thrift shop. Actually it is run by the women of our church (all volunteers; some are men), in League City, TX. St Christopher Thrift Shop. We've been working really hard to make it more and more fabulous. And we're succeeding. It is "boutiquey". Such a cute little shop. I'll post pictures, maybe even a video soon.

Sad to say I haven't been sewing much. I did make myself a big, fun purse out of MHGS's old hoodie. I put lots of pockets in it. It is so NOT attractive, but it is very great. (Yes, I know that's not grammatically correct.) But I really, really like it and carry it almost always. I also made 50 little clutches for our annual retreat (Women of St Christopher Retreat). It was our 20th year, so our theme was Roaring Twenties -- Dancin', Prancin' & Praisin'. And the clutches are actually God's pockets, where you stash your prayers and concerns. I made them out of several different fabrics and the ladies decorated them to their liking with trims and the like. The skit this year at Retreat (I write them, changing words to songs from well-known musicals to make them spiritual) was a bit different. I had original songs (thank you Holy Spirit) and lyrics. Quite good, I must say. I hope to get them orchestrated, as I can envision this one (skit) done on a grander scale (more than 5 actresses). Funny, that God gives me such fabulous music -- I do not have the musical skills to do it, but somehow I do. I don't play guitar or piano or anything (clarinet in high school, but no memory of most of that). I guess HE wants me to collaborate with others who are "musical." Yaaaay!

I have some things in mind to work on in the studio, but just don't seem to make the time. I have trouble with "balance." Seem to be able to focus on only one thing at a time. Two at the most. And my house is a mess. The living room is full of Retreat stuff, costumes and the like. Oh, for a little elf to do it all for me so I can get back to sewing.

Wow, I really got carried away. Yaaay! Let's see if I can keep it up.

Oh, yeah. I've been using my FLIP (Christmas gift from MBD and family) quite a bit. I LOVE IT! I'll post some videos of interesting stuff. Plus I can make photos from them. It's lighter weight than my camera and soooooo easy to use. I carry it with me all the time. Never know when I'll need it. And it fits nicely into one of the many pockets in my new "very great" purse.

L&HAA

Half on the Half

Completed the Houston Aramco Half Marathon yesterday, Jan 17. That's 13.1 miles. It was fun -- before and after was fun -- as I got to spend time with MBD and her BFF, and then with all my kids and HH for lunch afterwards. Can you say SORE. Very, very sore. I didn't train like I should have; so, I am thankful to God for allowing me to complete 13.1 miles, all in one piece.

The thing I struggle with is the half empty/half full thing. I'm afraid I see the half empty part of it mostly. Like, 3:24:45, soooo slooooow. I had to walk most of it. My runner's byline is "They time me with Carbon14". But to show you what I mean:

Half empty: finished in bottom 4%

Half full: 599 finished after me

Half empty: bottom 8% of all female finishers

Half full: 465 finished after me

Half empty: Females, age 60-64, bottom 35%

Half full: 36 finished after me

Brimming: Houston has 2+million residents. I figure I'm in the top .25%, at least, figuring the other 99.75% didn't even participate.

I finished. Yaaay! And today, I can even walk without limping!

HAPPY NEW YEAR

Now that Christmas gift exchange is past, I can share what I was working on so hard. It was an Apron Christmas this year. I made aprons for almost everyone in my family. I have pics of a few of them, but not all. I'm hoping they'll wear them and take pics and send to me. I was so busy making them, that I didn't take the time to take photos before wrapping. Here's MBD and MHSNL modeling their aprons. His was made from a pair of MHGS old jeans. Had to do a lot of piecing to get it big enough as MHGS' jeans were skinny, skinny, skinny. Hers shows chili peppers and free-hand machine embroidery "Chili Out". They can enjoy wearing them in their newly remodeled kitchen.

I also made bags for MBGD and my mom. I made ToteATee's for MBGD and a huge bag for my mom with expanding pockets so she can pack 8 pairs of shoes in it when she goes to visit my cousin. Here's the ToteATee's. The Texas one is a messenger bag.