On Saturday, we took the girls to see Lisa Loeb at a Barnes and Noble in Seattle.

She’s promoting her Camp Lisa CD, which is a kids album with songs about summer camp. She’s great. We got there early and were right in front

Afterwards, she signed CD’s for the girls

and Liv’s guitar.

From there we went to my spinning group where Charisa video taped me spinning the wolf yarn. I didn’t realize she was going to post it for the general public, (a little embarrassing), but since she did, I’ll link it for you.

When we came home, I, uh, kind of had to play my guitar a little bit.

But only a little. And I iced right after.

Busted.

Good morning! I had another great week. I exercised 355 minutes, met my calorie targets (came in at over 300 calories below a couple days, but went about 500 over last night), and I feel really good.

My weight stayed the same this week, but I lost 1/2 inch in my chest, and 3/4 inch in my hips. And in the last month, I’ve lost an inch in my chest, an inch and a half in my waist, and an inch and a half in my hips.

So, I’m happy.

My friend Ros has invited me over to work out with her a couple times per week. She has THE elliptical that I’ve wanted since I researched them a few years ago. It’s an Octane.

Love it. According to Calorie King, my time on the elliptical burns twice as many calories as walking 3 mph, which is as fast as I can manage with my gimpy ankle.

So, I did that three times this week plus lots of walks, plus some of my physical therapy/core strengthening (not as much as I’d hoped, though).

I’m going to walk now, and push my exercise minutes up to 400. That’s 6.6 hours of exercise in a week!

I can breathe when putting on my shoes again.

I had my first physical therapy appointment this morning. Chris said that I am very inflamed, and would be a good candidate for the steroid shots. He also said that my left arm is much worse than my right. He did some sound wave stuff, and then massaged and pushed on it for the rest of the time. I brought my guitar, in case he wanted to see how I was holding it and such, and…

I can’t play it. At least until my appointment next week, but I’m sure it’ll be longer than that. I’m sad. I’m in the middle of writing another song, and it was going really well.

I didn’t even bring up knitting :-). Not that I’m doing much right now, my fiber time is more spent on spinning and dyeing right now. Speaking of, I have some bombyx and some tussah noil soaking to dye.

So, I have to ice my arm a lot. Do some mild stretches, and we’ll see what he says next week.

I’m closing up my guitar, and will try my bestest not to cheat.

Sigh.

Veronica was launched off her bike, downhill, forehead first into the curb last night. Nate and I were standing right there with our neighbor, watching in horrific slow motion as she came towards us. She almost fell once, almost fell twice, perhaps a third time, then crashed.

We were lucky. She’s not hurt. Her helmet is banged up, right in front, and now I’m wanting to take the all girls in to be properly fitted with brand new helmets. If she hadn’t been wearing one, or if it had been loose enough to push out of the way, she’d be in the hospital. I have no doubt.

Seriously, her first point of impact was her forehead.

Her hands aren’t even scraped. It was awful.

Nate is painting various colors on the front of our house in a continued search for the right one.

We’re not there yet. But we might be close.

Also, while habitually perusing the new Modernism magazine, Nate spotted an ad for these guys.

Holy cow, we want one. Dang, they’re expensive.

I don’t know how exactly, but my tracking of Health Group weeks was off by about a month, so I’m just calling today Year 5, week 4 to get back on schedule.

Year 5. Wow. I clicked on my original Health Group post to see what the date was. I didn’t read the whole post, but I saw my weigh in numbers at the bottom, and here I am, 5 years later, within a couple pounds of the same. What a roller coaster it’s been. Dealing with car accident injuries. Great weeks. Poor weeks. Bad years (Pregnancy. Baby.), but still trying.

This is when I tell myself that if I hadn’t been trying at all, I’d be 600 pounds, so I’ve accomplished something. I’m healthier than I would be.

Anyway, to those of you who have been around here for years and years, I thank you. It’s been enjoyable. I’ve learned from all of you.

I’m starting out our Year 5 (week 4) with a great week! I’m so excited. I’m happy with how I did at the barbeque last night. I’m sure I went over, but not much. I went a little over today, but I burned it off in exercise.

I’ve upped my exercise target from 150 minutes per week to 300. (I’ve exercised 395 minutes so far this week). Calorie King has downed my daily calorie target from 1670 (plus whatever I lose exercising) to 1552 (plus whatever I lose exercising). They haven’t told me why. I’ll go along with it and see what happens.

Pop in and say “hi!”

I am grateful to those who sacrifice to protect and uphold this country, and to those in the beginning, who had tremendous vision and were willing to sacrifice everything to build it.

This year, Independence Day has me thinking about my own little life, and about how much I enjoy the freedom I experience day to day. To choose what I do. To do what I love (which is why my house is usually a mess. That and the fact that I live with an artist husband and 4 young kids who have me for a mom to learn habits from).

It seems like our own, personal freedom is highly controlled by the choices we make. The risks we’re willing to take. The things we’re willing to try, even if they’re scary. Or the sometimes unpleasant or monotonous work we put in to eventually achieving something that’s important to us.

Reflecting like this actually makes me want to be more responsible. More productive. To step back and think about what I really want and what I need to do to get there. At this exact moment, I’m wanting to finish organizing my house. Finding places for all the things that pile up and cloud my brain. A place for everything means that the house will be capable of being tidy, and the time I spend fretting over clutter, and moving things from here to there will be free.

Freedom.

This may sound silly. Petty even. But I’m responsible for my own little family, my own little home, my own little piece of this great country, my friends and associates and the people I interact with and with whom I have influence. I’m free to make as much or as little of it as I will. Right now, that sentiment is filling me with joy and gratitude. And I’m happy.

I’m kicking butt this week. I’ll save it for tomorrow, but I’ve had a fantastic week that I’m quite pleased with, health-wise, and I’m really hoping I can make it through the holiday without blowing it.

I weighed myself this morning, just in case, and I’ve dropped 6 pounds since Saturday. I’m sure much of it is water, and that’s fine. I feel good. I’m flushing stuff out. I have more energy. I have a killer headache today. I don’t know what that’s about.

Anyway, I’m going to take my spinning wheel to the festivities tonight. If my hands are busy, hopefully, I’ll stay away from the food. I went spinning last night with a sweet group of people, and nearly finished my bobbin of wolf spun mohair. I topped it off this morning and plied it.

I know it looks like a big mess in the pictures, but really, for the most part it’s very subdued blues and purples, with a splash of something brilliant here and there. It’s magnificent. I’m so excited.

Excited enough that I’m not going to be snacking all night long. I have 1000 calories left for the day, that can surely accommodate a small dessert or two.

We bought the pads for the chairs yesterday. I don’t know what else we did, but mopping and granola didn’t happen.

We made the granola this morning, and once the boy goes down for a nap in a few minutes, we’ll mop (I hope).

A housepainter came over last night to give us a bid. I’m happy with the bid. He said our colors were “gosh awful”. (He wasn’t being rude, I asked). The colors are more Nate’s push than mine, but he’s having second thoughts, so I think we’re going back to the paint store to get more quarts of sample colors. Any thoughts?

I’m reading the Twilight books again, in preparation for the 4th book coming out in a few weeks. It’s so fun.

My floor is sticky. It’s always sticky. Which is why I don’t mop very much, because whether or not I mop, it’s sticky. Oh, I do know how to mop. And after I mop, it’ll be beautifully, lick-ably clean until someone that isn’t me walks into the room, at which point….

instantly sticky.

So I don’t mop. (One of my friends literally mops 5 times a day. I’d go insane). However, half of my dining chairs don’t slide anymore. They’re gripping the floor. It’s very inconvenient when I’m bustling about, cleaning up or setting out dinner and a chair is in the way (because they’re always in the way. They’re never pushed in and tidy unless I do it, at which point someone other than me comes into the room and then they’re all over the place again), and I go to move it out of the way as I pass, half thinking about it, and it doesn’t move and I crash into it.

This has been going on for some weeks now. I’m done.

So, we’re going to the store today to buy new pads (the things that stick to the bottom of the chairs to avoid scratching our floor. They don’t work as far as avoiding scratches go, but they do effectively reduce the scratching). Then the girls and I will mop the floor, change out the pads, and have sliding chairs again.

Hopefully for a number of months.

Please.

Many months.

Hayden came over last night for the last time.

Two of the three of my girls cried for close to an hour after she left. One quite forcibly. The only reason I didn’t is that I’m clinging to the fact that we’re going to dinner in two weeks. I’m just stalling.

It’s so hard. Aaaand, here I go again, so we’re moving on.

I’m officially an LLC! Tweedy Batts, LLC to be specific. Mwahahaha. I WILL figure out how to dye, and I WILL get set up with a fiber distributor to get my exotic fibers to blend, and I WILL make lovely batts.

It’s just taking forever.

In the meantime, I’ve begun a project I’m excited about. You won’t be able to tell how incredibly delicious it is in pictures, but it’s all I have to offer.

It’s the mohair I bought at Black Sheep. I wolf spun some and plied it with a smooth alpaca/merino single, washed it, and knit a swatch.

It’s gorgeous and unbelievably soft. I’m going to make a sweater for myself out of it. I know I keep saying that, but I really am. This time, for sure.

Liv is playing Lisa Loeb on her guitar right now. I’ve been working with her, and she’s doing really well. She said she’s trying to get “crispy fingers” like me.

And so goes another day of summer.

I told them they could make granola today. I think that should come before we mop the floor.

Yesterday I called and left a message for my doctor asking her to refer me to the physical therapist that helped me after my car accident, for my elbows. Did that come out right? I went to them 4 years ago for my back after the accident, but now I want to go for my elbows.

Aren’t you proud of me?

I’m proud of me.

I also exercised for an hour and 50 minutes, spread out over three sessions. And I counted my calories and ate well. And I drank a lot of water. And I went to the store and bought fruit and vegetables to snack on, and to juice.

And I organized my hall closet. (Well, except for the sheets and towels).

And cleared out the cupboard under one of the islands. And did laundry. And put it away. And took out the trashes…

and still managed a social visit in the evening with the kids and my internet shy friend.

I also played my guitar way too long and aggravated my elbow. That’s not so responsible, but I couldn’t help it. I hadn’t played in awhile, to let my arms heal. I thought I’d just play a simple song or two, and I couldn’t put it down. I stayed up with it ’til 1:00 in the morning.

Then I was too tired to get up at 7 and go for a walk, which is something I want to do everyday this summer. So I have to fit it in during the day somehow.

I’m trying to barrel through the house to get it mostly cleaned and organized at the start of the summer, so we can play for the rest of it.

I’m hopeful.