Bird's Nest Knits

Moral dilemmas

So I own a pair of leopard geckos.  I've had lizards since I was in college and really enjoy them.  Occasionally I'll splurge for them and get them a pair of pinky mice which are baby mice at the mostly hairless stage.  The extra fat and protein the pinks give them is a really good thing once a month or so.  Usually my lizards will eat them up really quick but I screwed up this time and had fed them some crickets early yesterday and they weren't hungry. 

I left the pinks in the tank over night hoping that since the lizards are nocturnal they'd feel more like eating sometime during the night.  This morning? no luck - pinks are still squirming around the tank getting hungry now.  They are too young to survive without their mothers and if the lizards don't eat them soon - they'll die of starvation or exposure.  I found myself left with a really tough choice.  The pet store is closed, I cant bring them back, and I know they won't live till morning. 

I had bargained for a quick relatively painless death - the lizards swallow them whole so that isn't too bad.  I feel that just leaving them in there to expire from starvation would really be wrong, that somehow the quick death of being eaten was better.  How perverse is this really?

After consulting with Mr. Bird on deciding what would be the best way to put them down, I went for the freezer route.    They would lose consciousness quickly and die after just a little while.  So here I sit at my counter with a tupperware of baby mice in the freezer debating on how long to wait before checking to see if they are dead yet.

So.. tie.tiie...

How far do you have to run before you actually start to feel that runner's high thing? 

I'm starting to wonder if that's a total myth.. like blue balls.  (that comment's gonna get some interesting search hits for sure)

I will say that I'm starting to develop the habit, and hopefully it's not just the bloom of a first crush that will fade away after a couple of months.    Just shy of 7 miles so far this week and its only Wednesday.  I should get a nice big push on my stats at the 5k this weekend.  I've become a bit obsessive checking out my progress on the various challenges I've joined.  What's fun too is that I can talk smack during the challenge and that just adds to the motivation.   The fact that I stopped at the gym to run (aka walk/jog) after work at 6:15 is no small feat let me tell you.  I am the Queen Slacktastic and even without the added support of my dear workout partner Yoly, I pumped out two miles before I headed home.  I'm sure that the poor fool on the recumbant bike in front of me was going to turn around and ask if I was asthmatic.

All of this to be able to post such sweet smack talk.  (I'm myriame1973, you can figure out my sister and Mr. Bird.)

I think I'll take a day off tomorrow and go out to lunch.  A girl's gotta eat.

Hell hath frozen over...

So, I'm a bit of a fluffy zaftig sort of girl.  Lots of curves, plenty of cushion, and generally out of shape all around, well, if roundish is your shape I'm all over that.  Recently I've been rather confronted by my age and my lack of activity, and frankly - a little worried about my overall health.  My cholesterol is high, my blood pressure is high and I have an extensive history of cancer in my family.  At a recent checkup my doctor gave me an ultimatum...  Get some exercise, lose some weight, work on your heart health or you are going to be looking up the shotgun barrel at late onset diabetes or an early stroke.

What.
The.
Fuck.

Ok, so maybe I've been deluding myself that getting a little out of breath going up two flights of stairs was just because I was carrying stuff.  Uh.. a latte.  She also said that the extra weight would screw up with my fertility and may make it hard for me to get pregnant when that time comes.    By sheer force of laziness (and the force is strong with me folks)  I managed to put on a LOT of weight after college.  I avoid looking much at those photos of me when Mr. Bird and I started dating 12ish years ago - its just too embarrassing.  With the financial and emotional stability - you start to get comfortable in your own skin, and before you know it - there is a heck of a lot of skin now.

I need motivation.  And I found it in Nike+ .  The thing is freakin brilliant.  It is a little sensor that attaches to your running shoes, and works with the iPod Nano, tracking the number of miles you've run, the calories you've burned, and the pace you are running.   Once you've signed up for an account on the Nike+ site, you can challenge other people to distance or speed contests, look at your own progess, setup your own goals.  The competition aspect of it has made all the difference.  My sister, Mr. Bird and I have a challenge going now with the first to run 20 miles.  I'm in the lead with 14.75 miles, a little over three miles ahead of my sister.

I'll let you in on a secret.  I hate running.  My boobs would bounce all over the damn place, my shins would hurt, and my arches would cramp up before even a quarter of a mile was done.

I. Hate. Running.  (and I hate to sweat)

Until - I discovered that I had the wrong kind of shoes for my feet, that there were kick ass sports bras out there for even my gigantor boobs, and the motivation to leave my sister and Mr. Bird in the dust really kicked in.  I went to RoadRunner Sports to have my feet checked out - I have severe over protenation which in English means my feet are flat and as a result running puts a lot of strain on my arches.  Armed with some nice (read pricey) shoes - I took on the treadmill and lo and behold - dang.. my feet don't hurt.    It's not easy mind you - it's still damn hard to run because I get tired so fast and my heart just isn't used to the work.  It regularly cusses me out like a drunken sailor these days, but I soldier on.    I run/walk on the treadmill with Yoly every couple of days at work, and since March 8 when I got my Nike+ I have gone 15.72 miles and worked off 2188 calories.  Yah I know - damn unbelieveable.  I'm actually excited now when midway through my workout I can feel the sweat on my forehead.  I even have to wipe it away!

I am still firmly in the camp that I am NOT a runner.  But I've started running.  For myself, for my health, and for my rather suck ass body image of late.  I don't delude myself into thinking that I'm going to turn myself into some super model.  I like to eat.  But I would like to see myself being able to wear cute little clothes and such.

Saturday is the annual 5K Race for Autism and I'll be going to that.  I won't be running the whole thing (not even close)  but I'll be jogging till I get tired, walking to recover and jogging a little more.

Oh yah...  I even finished a sock.  I went with a 1 stitch picot bind off that made the cuff crazy stretchy even if its a tad sloppy looking.

I'm on the bandwagon for knit from my stash in 2007 and have not bought a SINGLE skein of yarn all year.  Not even sock yarn!  (although I'm reserving that priviledge cause sock yarn doesnt count)  I've also not cast on a single new thing.  Nothing till the other sock is complete AND Mariah is done.

I think I've been taken over by a body snatcher.

Where to begin..

A blog is a lot like weeding your garden.  A little maintenance here and there and it looks lovely.  But sometimes, life gets in the way, work gets a little busy, the needles start to get dusty, and you realize that you haven't knit a full row in over a month.  You start to forget how much pleasure the delicate stitches gave you, and the comfort a tube of stockinette could provide.  The effort of picking up an unfinished object to figure out where you'd left off weeks and weeks ago seems too much trouble.  You become ashamed.  Reluctant.  The excuse that posting with so little knitting to show for yourself gets in the way of actually writing anything.

If you let it go, a week maybe four, ten minutes of pulling the odd weed here and there turns into a full days work usually involving a machete, the neighbor's weed wacker and 911 on speed dial in case either gets a little out of control.  This is where I find myself.  A backyard filled with 6 foot tall weeds without a machete in sight and the only thing to do my much needed maintenance with is a butter knife.

To say that I haven't been knitting at all is not entirely true.  I have in my brief and sadly rare moments spent time working on Mariah's sleeves, still not quite done yet, and also a pair of worsted weight socks.  The yarn is Cherry Tree Hill worsted weight in this wonderfully plummy color.  I started out planning to make them into knee highs but realized that it wouldn't be all that flattering on me and I didnt remember to put in calf shaping, or a stretchy enough bind off at the cuff.  Definitely a downer when you can't get your socks on.

My sister tried them on and they dont fit her either so its not entirely my chubby feet at fault here.

March in San Diego is the beginning of a long extended summer for us.  With the change of Daylight Savings Time, the longer days have allowed me to spend more time with Lila the WonderDog.  She's starting to grey around the muzzle, reminding me that life is so short, and I've only got a few years left with my darling fur child.  I dread that day coming, and try to enjoy every moment I have with her.

That stuffed animal she's got in her mouth is a hedgehog that she loves with all her little heart.  She'll carry that thing around all day and then bing it to bed with her.  It's lasted nearly three weeks and now there is a bit of a split down the center of it.  It'll have to go into the trash soon but I'll leave it with her as long as I can.

With the longer days has come warmer weather as well, and I've taken advantage of it to start my spring planting.  Tomatoes, strawberries, green beans, radishes, cucumbers, and peppers are all on the agenda this year.  Last year's blueberries are starting to flower, as well as the wee nectarine and tangerine trees I have in pots so I'm hoping for a really great harvest of wonderful home grown produce.

Clockwise from the top: 
Nectarine flowers, Tomatoes, Blueberries, and Tangerines

Does anyone out in blogland know how to get rid of aphids?  They have over taken my roses and are absolutely decimating the buds.  Check out the grossness: