Setbacks, Cravings, Short Days, et al

I didn't intend for it to be this long between posts on my blog. I've thought many times the past several weeks about posting and just didn't get around to it. So let's see....as far as the weight loss battle, I've lost a few more pounds since I last reported, but my rate of progress from several weeks ago has decreased. Going to Standard Time 4 weeks ago meant I could no longer walk after work from the ferry dock to my car a mile and a half away like I had been doing; too dark and dangerous. To compensate for this, I should instead be getting on my stepper for at least 20 minutes each evening, but I haven't done that. I have continued to do the walk to the dock on weekday mornings and will continue to unless the weather just gets too ugly. The sun is up (or at least close to up) by the time I park at 7:25-ish, so the only thing that will stop me is snow and ice.

Speaking of which, we have some today, over an inch so far. The Pierce County Crochet meeting was today, and I was thankful it ended early enough that I was able to drive home before it got dark. I would ordinarily go to that meeting with Dianne, but she and Margaret had one of their annual craft fairs today. Before the meeting, I stopped at JoAnn's in Tacoma and bought my first knitting loom, the small 10" rectangular variety, along with a small instruction/pattern booklet. Crochet will always be my passion and love, and needle knitting never will be even if I ever learn the basics. But looming is something I wanted to try since reading about it in a Crafter's Choice ad last month. I don't know if I will try it this month or keep plugging away at rewriting my recipes on the 4 x 6" cards and scanning them all on my nifty new Canon MP160 printer/scanner. But I'll report here on how it went after I do try it! The round loom is supposed to be a bit more versatile, but it recommends bulky yarn or 2 strands worked together, and I don't like working with something that bulky. So I thought I would start with the small rectangle loom that calls for standard worsted weight yarn, the weight of all my favorite yarns.

I also need to report that a few weeks ago, I got two sampler ghans assembled that I've wanted to get done for months. The first one consists of 20 12-inch squares arranged 4 x 5 squares, in various shades of burgundy, greens and beige/cream. Four or five were made by me and the others were obtained in online exchanges. The second is my magnificent "friends and family" ghan consisting of 56 8" squares that are all made from the following three yarns: Bernat Berella in soft peach and soft forest (a dusty pale green) and Bernat Mardi Gras in (dark) green. 16 of the squares were made by me and the other 40 were made by Dianne; her daughters Becky, Lisa and April; her mom Margaret and April's friend Shiloh. We each selected the yarn(s) we wanted and each of us made 6 or 7 squares for each of the others. My ghan is very beautiful and is being displayed in our living room. I plan to take pics of it as soon as I learn to use my new Nikon Coolpix digital camera, which I plan to do before the end of this year.

Another reason I have not made more progress on my weight loss the past few weeks does have to do with my cravings. When we had our housewarming, I was reintroduced to the combination of salty, crunchy pretzels or Triscuits combined with creamy, tangy dip. The combination, when that readily available, is too hard for me to resist. I've also eaten the whole dang box of Kraft Macaroni & Cheese in one evening a couple of times, which is ridiculous and I know better. I've only done it a couple of times because I absolutely have NO intention to undo the good I have done, with 19 pounds gone so far - which, while not outstanding for four months, is still forward progress. Yet, I need to do almost twice as well in the coming months in order to meet my original goal. That may not happen, especially with winter coming. But as long as I continue to go forward, even slowly, and not gain in December with all the goodies that abound, then I need to not beat myself up if I haven't reached my goal by April. It's not impossible, but I need to get back on track in short order. Hopefully I can report next time I post here that this will be the case.