I have a question for you. What would you like to know more about? What would you like to read in this space?

Thanks for your help!

This has been a super full week of writing, working, figuring, and planning.

I did come across a few cool things:

Mezmerizing Time-Lapse Videos:

Wired magazine picked 10 videos they loved.  They are short and well worth a look see. Here are my two favorites:

A year in the life of a forest – gorgeous and hypnotic

This video gave me chills. Breath-taking!

Desert island:

I spent much of the week simulating a desert island with the help of Calm.com I’d turn it on and write to the echos of the surf and sand. Fabulous.

Enjoy!

Today, I start the end of a long journey.

In May, I began to run for the first time. I took my two herniated discs, muscle atrophy, neuromas and a variety of issues, on the road with me. The goal?

A Half Marathon on December 6, 2009 in Las Vegas.

Originally, twelve other people were going to be there with me.  One by one, everyone dropped out. Except me and the husband.

One step at a time, I have moved toward this goal.  In the process, I learned:

• I have another completely blown disc in my low back.
• I have significant problems with my feet probably stemming from a combination of issues.
• I am allergic to all “sports” drinks, supplements, and foods.

As time went on, more and more chips were stacked against me. Of course, that only made the goal more interesting. It had been over twenty years since I’d run even a mile. The first mile was almost impossible. But slowly one mile led to three and, as of last Thursday, three miles became ten miles.

I learned other things too:

• I’m not the fastest runner, but I’m not the slowest.
• I can survive someone screaming “YOU LOST” in my face. (Happened at the end of a grueling, confusing, got lost 10k)
• My body needs to run.
• Running is a great time to reconnect with the time crunched, overworked husband.
• I can survive running in: snow, ice storms, rain, freezing cold, and even the hottest day of the year.
• And I do have limits. (I won’t run if it’s under 25 degrees.)

Probably the biggest thing I learned was that I can do it. I have a huge and heavy bag of reasons why I couldn’t, shouldn’t, wouldn’t be able to run. I met a lot of people who said I couldn’t do it.

And, on Sunday, I’m going to lace up my Puma’s and run 13 miles down the Vegas Strip.

I can’t express how significant this accomplishment is for me. I never thought that I would be able to run. And here I am. I’m one of ‘them’ – a runner!

I’m going to be away from the blog for most of the next week. I will either be getting ready to run, running, or recovering from running. Denver Cereal will post as usual. If I’m able to get on, I’ll let you know how it all turned out.

Wish me luck!

After the snow and frost, then immense heat of last week, our little trees are hanging in there. How are you handling the wild weather this spring? Are you growing and stretching toward the sun? I hope so.

Who won last week?? Capricorn Cringe from the Friggin’ Cat House.

The prize box this week includes: a signed copy of the Fey, a signed copy of Denver Cereal, a copy of The Homeowner’s Handbook to Energy Efficiency, and chocolate body paint from PinkCherry.com. (Still too cool to bottle honey). You enter by simple answering these word prompts (created for us by the lovely Pea at Luna Nina).

I still love these. Thanks for playing!

1. Soul ::
2. Fold ::
3. Breakup ::
4. Will ::
5. Fond ::
6. Powers ::
7. Ho-hum ::
8. Hustle ::
9. Avenue ::
10. Tower ::

My responses:

1. Soul :: longing
2. Fold ::ing laundry
3. Breakup :: atoms
4. Will :: ing but not able
5. Fond :: memories
6. Powers :: that be
7. Ho-hum :: one of the forgotten dwarfs
8. Hustle :: ‘do the’
9. Avenue :: of
10. Tower :: ing Tottering Torrents of Tolerable Twits

Who played this week? Glad you asked!

• Miss Riss from Wild Hair
• Robin from Valbolium
• Griff from Griffonage Studios
• Not a Mean Girl
• Perpstu from Popping Bubbles
• Sarah OG from the Life of Me and Mine
• Claudia from Skipping Stones
• Footpad <–won this week
• Heart in San Francisco
• Van from Furious Ball
• The Bumbles
• Capricorn Cringe from the Friggin’ Cat House
• Julia at Mind Over Matters
• Squirrelly at Realm of the Lone Grey Squirrel
• Tommie at Tuesday Update
• Dana from Awareness
• Jo from Majority of Two
• The Walking Mark
• She became a butterfly
• Janet from Fond of Snape

I don’t usually pass along this kind of information, but it was very helpful to me. An accountant friend of mine emailed me with this:

IRS plans to audit 1 of 44 returns this year to help fund stimulus…targets are:

• EITC,?Earned Income Tax Credit,?
• Schedule C, ?independent small business on the 1040, ?
• Schedule E, ?rental income property?and?
• Form 2106, unreimbursed employee expenses.

Thought you’d like to know!

Right after I was tossed from the house, I learned to knit. In my mind, those two events are link together. I suppose because I always wanted to learn to knit and my birth mother was… let us just say, not interested.

I’ve knit off and on since then. I’ve been in an off stage for a bunch of reasons that don’t really matter. Recently, I met a bunch of fun knitters who encouraged me to start knitting again.

This week, I opened the closet to look at my knitting stuff. Wanna see what I have?

Thursday Thirteen #38 – My yarnish compulsion.

1. Here’s my knitting “box”. Actually, it’s a free soft sided fishing tackle box that I got from Marlboro. (I used to collect the points off the ground and this was one of the prizes.)

2. Inside the yarn box, lives a little plastic box that holds my needles and other knitting essentials. I love Crystal Palace bamboo needles but when I was last knitting they were not making these needles. Now that knitting is “cool”, they are back in business. Plus I had a knitting friend who read me the riot act for my wood needles. We had to use metal or plastic needles around her. Esh. Shut up!

3. I like to knit in the round. Rather than knitting one side at a time, you knit the entire thing at one time. It gets a little tricky around the top, but it’s fairly straight forward over all. Here’s my knitting in the round needles.

In red knitting box

Knitting in the round needles

4. I consider these to be the most essential tools of knitting.

A pair of scissors, stitch holders for sleeves or pieces, caluculator to determine gauge, large needles for fixing things and sewing together, crochet needle for fixing things, and scissors.

5. Here are a few of my favorite books.

I love Emily Post’s knitting, crocheting and embroidering because I’ve had it for so long. It’s my first knitting book – well actually, I stole it from my mother’s bookshelves. She inherited the book from her mother.

The Knitter’s Companion is a great knitting book. It has the basics and also has great tables like how much yarn you need to make a size 10 sweater. It’s small enough to carry with you, so I take it to wool festivals.

The Step by Step knitting I bought in Paris the first time. It’s a fabulous book filled with every stitch you can imagine. Great descriptions of how to make beautiful things. YAY! Oh, it’s in British, so you have to convert a bit.

6. My very most favorite book is the Sweater Workshop.

This book was out of print forever, but is now back because of knittings popularity. It shows how to easily, painlessly knit. I like it because it takes the drama out of knitting. If you want to knit a sweater, you need this book – really!

7. In the days before the internet, knitting patterns were really expensive and hard to come buy. If someone you knew had a pattern, they would usually make you a copy. Everyone I knew had a binder like this one. Now you can bet patterns really easily and they are cheap! Amazing how technology changes things!

8. The coolest knitting thing I own is a tool from my grandmother.

She died when I was six months old. There was a chest of her things in our house that I would play with as a kid. This was one of her precious knitting items. I heard that she was taught knitting at the “insane asylum” but who knows? This is a stitch and needle guage.

And yarn? More than anything, I love yarn.

Ok you’ll laugh. I haven’t knitted in at least three years. But I still have quite a stash. Wanna see it?

9. Box 1 holds my sock yarn.

10. Box 2 holds project yarn

This is yarn that I either bough for a specific purpose – to make bears with (brown) or a specific sweater (maroon – trust me I would never intentionally buy this color or anything acrylic). Some of it was given to me in order for me to knit something specific (yarn from Scotland).

11. Box 3 holds yarn I bought for myself.

This yarn I bought for simply because I loved it. I will probably make something out of all of it, but for now, it’s just pretty.

12. So what did I decide to knit?

I decided to knit a lace scarf out of some alpaca that a friend of ours alpaca herd. I just started so here’s what I have so far.

13. Now what crafts or projects have YOU left behind that you’d like to return to?? List your abandoned creative projects in the comments and I’ll add them to the post.

• Jewelry making (Janet at Fond of Snape)
• “My grandma taught me how to crochet when i was little. i don?t remember how to do it but i would love to re-learn so i can make a scarf. i love scarves.” (Jehara)
• “It?s been years since I?ve knitted anything.” (Sarah at Puss Reboots)
• “Sort of like I used to bead and had so much beads and bead gear, but a few years back I got rid of it all. It just got out of hand but it served me well for quite a few years as in income.” (Colleen at Loose Leaf Notes)
• “I decided to ?bead?. It worked well until I adopted Rumsfeld, who delights in spreading my beads everywhere. He put an end to my needlepoint – shredding the yarn. My newest idea is cigar box hand bags. We shall see.” (SJ Reidhead)
• “I have a never ending scarf that my children think is hilarious. I find I love to knit when my mind is cluttered. Funny thing is, I have no idea how to end it LOL I guess it doesn?t much matter because I?ll probably never finish it.” (Adelle Laudan)
• “I do calligraphy?just used it for a girlfriend?s wedding invitation?used to do latchwork but then I discovered the ?net?and 15 years later?well?lol.” (Yasmin)
• “After years of passionate crocheting, I?ve just started to knit. And yup, already the unfinished projects – one knit teddy bear that?s almost done being sewn up, one small purse in the same state, two doll sweaters. But I did finish matching sweaters for our little one and her favorite doll. Very cool!” (Grandmother Wren)
• “I have gone through many hobbies: painting, cross-stitching, scrapbooking, photography?.. I have discovered I have boxes and boxes of scrapping materials. After I get L?s baby book caught up, I think it will be time to get rid of it all! It is just taking up precious space.” (Tommie at Tuesday Update)
• ” I do like graphic design.” (Pamela Kramer)
• “I?d rather cook or bake.” (CEO at Morning Meeting)
• “Well, a plethora of unfinished projects!” (Perpstu)
• “I keep telling myself I?m going to get back into painting. I plan to paint something for my new house and even have a blank canvas waiting for me.” (Jill at Another day in the same life)
• “I have also crocheted a little when I was younger and have embroidered a few things. I guess the most I every accomplished was with cross stitching. I just don?t think I am a needle craft type of person.” (Toni at It’s Nap Time)
• “I love knitting I don?t know how to do very much but I find it very relaxing I have tried to learn crocheting but to no avail me and those hooks don?t get along lol.” (Rae)
• ” did a bunch of fabric painting a few years back and there are still tubes of paint, brushes, stencils, etc., etc. etc. in a plastic bin in my closet. I did beading and made jewelry for several years and now all that has turned into a discovery fest for the kiddo too. This is one that I would love to pick up again someday when I don?t have all the ?help?.” (Tricia at Tabbikats Time)
• “I started quilting once, and I guess that is still my downfall. I still find myself at the fabric store (or even walmart) checking out different fabrics that would make a COOL quilt.” (Lisa at Stamps A Latte)
• “Now it?s scrapbooking and photography for me.” (Ivanhoe)
• “About this time of year, the urge to knit becomes very strong. Maybe this time I?ll act on it.” (Heart in SF)
• “I did beaded necklaces for a bit. I still knit, but I never got beyond the scarf stage. I tried crochet once, but I never finished even the one granny square. I also don?t sew anymore.” (Celtic Librarian)
• “I would like to return to scrapbooking (which has taken a definite hiatus since joining the Cult of Insanity). I?ve always wanted to take up jewelry making too. I don?t have enough patience for anything other than writing lately. And, I need to take advantage of the unblock while I can.” (Cajun Vegan)
• “I didn?t knit for most of the time that I was away on my trip so I?m looking forward to relaxing and getting back to the potholders I?m trying to make before I tackle a baby blanket. I?m definitely looking forward to creating some more things.” (Los Angelista)
• “You could say that my writing is/was a casual pursuit. yet I have never gone a week without writing something since I was 14. Jaysus! I think I need to get out more or something.” (Mark at the Walking Man)
• “i do/did creative things but never considered them hobbies.” (Jameil)
• “I have stacks of magazines that I pillage for collages I do as a way of seeing the story I?m working on. You can?t create if you don?t have the raw materials. And non-creative types will just have to shake their heads and wonder, because the rest of us will keep gathering our material.” (Julia)
• “My creativity flows mostly from the kitchen in the fall when I cook more?other times I?m challenged to be creative to keep my kids entertained ” (Flowering Shrub)
• “Maybe one day, I?ll have a really nice garden to tend?one day?” (Claudia at Skipping Stones)

~~~~~~~~

View More Thursday Thirteen Participants

What can I add to a conversation about someone that so many people have talked about?

Dr. Randy Pausch died last week.? He was forty-seven years old and had three children.? The cancer that killed him was no sissy.? Pancreatic cancer is like drawing the shortest straw in the “who gets eaten first” contest.? It is a painful, awful, twisted disease that defies treatment and explanation.? Most people climb into bed where they beg for morphine drips and a quick death.

And yet, in this condition, Dr. Pausch chose to change our lives.

Why did he do it?

He said he did it for his three young children.? Why?

Because he lived joyfully.? He pursued joy in the way that many people pursue money, fame or sexual conquest.? He wanted his children to see that joy was possible.

Follow your bliss, encourages Joseph Campbell.? Dr. Pausch lived that bliss.

In honor of Dr. Pausch, for the month of August, I am going to actively, purposely and with intention pursue joy.? Will you join me?

Hurray for word prompts! Hurray for Unconscious Mutterings! (The word prompts are created by Luna Nina.) I do love these – my responses – and particularly your responses. I love to see everyone’s together. Now, how cool is that?

So make a girl happy – leave your mutterings in the comments!

1. Loneliness ::
2. Traffic ::
3. Chaos ::
4. Burp ::
5. 500 ::
6. Movie ::
7. Coma ::
8. Bark ::
9. Stare ::
10. Angelina ::

Here are my responses:

1. Loneliness :: kills
2. Traffic :: road construction
3. Chaos :: pandemonium
4. Burp :: ee
5. 500 :: gum balls!
6. Movie :: Netflix
7. Coma :: brain trauma
8. Bark :: perpetual barking dog
9. Stare :: angriest dog in the world
10. Angelina :: is an amazing person.

Happy Sunday!

While sitting on my neighbor’s deck, I overheard this conversation:

“Can you believe it? She actually keeps bees?” The woman said.? “She even said that she wanted to GROW her food this year.”

Was she talking about me?? I don’t know her.

“Oh, she’s ridiculous,” the other woman said.? “What does she thinks she has?? An urban farm?”

They laughed.

My neighbor whispered, “That’s not you.? They are talking about someone in Boulder.? They don’t need to know about your backyard.”

Now at least I know what to call our little project.

Here’s a little update.

Beehives:

• We have four beehives.
• One with a beautiful Zia Queenbee.
• Another that is in the process of requeening itself.
• And two swarms. The third swarm did not stay.

Gardens:

• Everything survived the last snow storm and is beginning to grow!
• We’ve planted almost everything.
• We are starting new beds because order 3 get 3 free raspberries plants meant 18 plants and not 6 as I thought.? I’d complain but come on. Who wouldn’t eat more raspberries if given the chance??
• We are still waiting for a blueberry and strawberries.? Our squash and watermelons have not come up yet but we are optimistic.

Bed 1

Bed 2

Bed 3

Hope your weekend is going well!

Rather than visit the bees in early February, I decided to wait until a really warm day in early March.? That day is today.

It’s 70 degrees, no wind.? Perfect for an early spring peek.? I’ll tell you that I hate, absolutely hate, the first peek of the year.

Why?? Because no matter how strong a hive is in November, they can easily be dead or have disappeared via Colony Collapse.? I put off looking in the hives every year then, with a heavy heart, I get dressed, light the smoker and head out to the bee yard.

You probably remember that we started the winter with three hives – two Italians and one Russian.? All hives were packed full of honey and pollen – ready for a long cold Colorado winter.

Today?

• We have one hive that is packed full of bees and honey.? They are ready to go and it’s only March!? I will need to find a queen soon to split them or they will swarm.
• The Russian bees died over the winter.? They look as if they got the new nosema.? This is a disease that causes terrible diarrhea.? They were medicated for nosema but there is a new variety that is part of the spectrum of Colony Collapse Disorder.
• The third hive had about a hundred bees. I saw a big happy queen but no babies.? I fed this hive with frames of honey and pollen that I saved from the hive.

It’s supposed to dump snow tomorrow so I won’t be able to check again for a while.? Let’s hope the small hive grows, the big hive slows down and I can find some excellent queens (I hoping for Zia Queens but they are sold out for most of April and May – we’ll see!) to keep my little apiary going.