Etherknitter

Focus

I suppose one could call it restructuring.  Or reaffirmation.  Avoiding the word 'resolutions' is difficult, but necessary in order for the redefinition to have legs.

My language has actually cleaned up this year.  "Flipping" is my substitute.

Fiber goals, in review, may come later, closer to New Year's.  Right now, I wanted to review for myself where I am and what I need to focus on for the near and farther future of 2015.  

1.  Weight.  Still an issue.  This is more than cosmetic,  as clothes would fit better if I dumped 7-10 pounds.

2.  Exercise.  YAY ME.  I completed the 100,000K indoor rowing challenge between Thanksgiving and Christmas Eve.  Finishing felt good, but the real motivator was avoiding how bad I would have felt if I had given up.  I will try to keep to the 150 minutes recommended weekly.  (Oy.)

3.  Eat less crap.  I am very sorry to be the bearer of bad news.  The data for what is good for you and what is bad for you is currently in significant disarray.  A study came out in December suggesting that low glycemic carbs were not as good for you as once thought.  And that high glycemic carbs might not be as bad for you as previously stated.  The study definitely has major limitations, but one of the markers chosen (insulin levels) pointed towards conclusions that became confusing.  So the bottom lineage is that I now have no idea what to eat.  

My plan is to eat as I have previously known is reasonable, and follow my numbers (HDL, LDL, total cholesterol, triglycerides, HbA1c, body weight).  Maybe I will feel less guilt for sweets.  But maybe I will feel less confidence in bulgur.  If I am confused, how do nonmedical people sort this out??

4.  Organize my papers better.  Organize the stash.  Bleah.  This is a psychic weight lifter only.

5.  Do more stuff that I want to do.  This focus is to make sure I wrest time for me from the unpaid, underappreciated, timesuck stuff that has become attached to work.  There are days where I feel as if I have stepped into a tarpit.

6.  Spend more time being a human being.  I really don't want to elaborate on this.  It simply means more outreach, more expressions of appreciation and thanks, to those I care about and love.

ENOUGH.  I used the word focus, because almost none of this can be accomplished in most lifetimes.  Typing it down puts it into my mindfulness bin, which I am dipping into more and more these days.  I am looking for peace, I am seeking healing, and hoping for what really matters - connection.

When I give a knitted gift, my road to sanity is to let go.  I gave my niece a Hitchhiker, knitted in BallandSkein yarn, merino/silk.  When we visited, I didn't ask about its acceptance or utility.

The niecelet is going on a trip.  We were sent bon voyage pictures.  And yes, there is Hitchhiker flying proudly around her neck. 

 

 

Ten on Tuesday: 10 random songs on the iPod shuffle setting

Yeesh.  I knew this would happen.  I haven't updated from iTunes (either ripped nor downloaded) in a Very Long Time.  So what you get is exercise music.  Book.  Classical music.  Be warned.

1.  K-klass, Don't Stop:  Exercise music from Shape M@agazine

2.  Adele, Set Fire to the Rain

3.  Bach, Concerto for Piano and Orchestra, Zoltan Kocsis and Andras Schiff:  I love Kocsis for his early maturity and expression, and Andras Schiff, who bucks Steinway tradition by insisting on Bosendorfer pianos for his performances.  He usually brings his own.  

4.  Beethoven, Symphony #4 in B flat, Op #60, Lorin Maazel, Cleveland Orchestra

 

5.  Boyce, Symphony #6 in F, Trevor Pinnock, The English Concern:  Good, solid, melodious baroque repertoire.

 

6. JS Bach, Concerto in F minor, BMV 1056, English Chamber Orchestra

 

7.  Metamora, This Rush of Wings, A Winters Solstice II, Windham Hill

 

8.  Enya, Storms in Africa, Pt 2, Watermark

 

9.  Beethoven, Symphony #9 in D minor, Op 125, "Choral", Lorin Maazel, Cleveland Orchestra

 

10.  Anita Diamant, Red Tent, Chapter 05A, part 3

 

Shuffle is just shuffle.  These selections are not in proportion to the various genres that live on my iPod.  I love thinking about iPods.  No two will ever have the same music.  It is like human genetics in electronic form. Each iPod is born as a clean slate.  It develops depending on its parents.  It changes over time.  That is us.

 

Last week, in its entirety

Meeting for big medical outcomes study:   I was the only one that did any work.  Presented that.  Now have to create Google Drive document for the three of us on the project and start filling in the cells.

 

Meeting for department service segment I am in charge of creating:  Lots of input.  Rollout January 12.  I thought it was going to be March.  Oof. More work needed.

 

Resident's wine tasting:  all of  Thursday evening spent doing the Powerpoint presentation.  You would think a wine tasting would allow me to taste lots of wine beforehand.  Nope.  Unpaid, underappreciated, timesuck.

 

Sekrit project:  Very few rows knit.  This is getting seriously behind.

 

Life:  I am living one inch from destruction at every hour.  Wish I was exaggerating.  Nothing accomplished over the week.

 

Weaving:  none.  But I did find my October 2012 Vavstuga notebook of samples and drafts.

 

Spinning:  none

 

Chilly sheep:  100% accomplished.  No time to look at yarn this week.

 

Weekend:  wedding on Saturday, bailed on a department Xmas social event  on Sunday in the neighboring town because I didn't have time to 1. bake 3 dozen cookies and 2.  obtain then wrap a Yankee swap gift.

 

Exercise:  Didn't row yesterday.  I am now significantly behind on the 100K meters.  I got home at 10:15pm fer gawds sake.

 

Sekrit project:  Must stop with the email  and the blogging, and get back to the knitting.

 

Ten on Tuesday: 10 favorite stores

I used to like to shop.  Then the retail industry stopped targeting my demographic.  So I stopped shopping.

Knitting and spinning and weaving came along.  A girl always has to eat.  And wine goes with food.  So:

1.  Webs -  I go there as little as possible.  I am helpless before all that yarny potential.  

2.  Vavstuga -  The shop is small but mighty.  One of a kind books.  Borgs and Bockens yarn.  Weaving accessories.  You know what I"m talking about.

3.  Container Store - That Japanese lady who organizes people's stuff thinks that buying new containers to organize your stuff is a one way street to hell.  Maybe so.  But I do it.  I'll bet you do, too.

4.  Formaggio Kitchen - If there is a food heaven on the planet outside of San Francisco, this is it.  

5.  Nordstrom's - There still is a department there for me.  I occasionally find something.  Mr. E finds stuff more often than I do.  The customer service there is excellent, and that is half the battle.

6.  My local wine store - The marketing that these people do is incredible.  Free wine tastings!  20% discounts! Cool seminars that highlight a region or a winemaker.  

7.  Home Depot - Wonderful potential in a store.  My HD amaryllis is blooming in my kitchen.  The DH just put up a whole bank of shelves  from the HD in the loom room to stow all the stuff.  Lightbulbs!  Plastic containers for weaving shuttles!  

8.  Whole Foods - Regardless of the whole paycheck moniker, if you shop carefully, you can buy things that are somewhat less toxic than many.  I am a big fan of their bulk grains and nuts section.  I gave up on their cheeses when they went to fully pasteurized products.  That is when I transferred my loyalties to Formaggio Kitchen.

9.  Roche Brothers - Superb store, with a heart.  Great bread.  Fine meat department.

10.  All my local farmstands - Local produce, local cheese, local pumpkins, excellent baked goods, local plants.  Shopping there is good for the soul in ways I can't begin to articulate.  It just feels right.

Wegman's is a possibility, but did not make the top ten.  The Fold is another, but circumstances have conspired to keep me away from the bricks and mortar version for too long.  Naturally, my local nursery would make the top ten in the spring.  But it is not spring right now, and I am not thinking of them.

I really did like the November posting.  I fell behind in responding to comments (unusually).  Know that I appreciated your visit and your thoughts.  Thank you for making this so fun.