Weekend Warrior

Well, I wasn't really a weekend warrior, I just feel like one. I played my first softball game of the season on Sunday. We won even with only 9 players, which in co-ed rules means we had to take an automatic out every time the 10th player was up to bat. (It's a very sexist rule. I don't want to get into it any more than that. You can actually play with 5 girls and 4 guys and not take the out. They seem to think you're trying to get away with something if you do it the other way.) It felt pretty good at the time, but of course yesterday various aches and pains set in, even though I went walking at lunch and biked to and from work in order to keep the lactic acid on the move. The pain has eased up today, but I still didn't bother trying to go on a run, I suspected it would've been a waste of time. I always hope my running keeps me in shape for softball, but when most of my running is done at a slow and steady pace and softball is the opposite of that, I guess I run into problems. More pre-game stretching is necessary, I've decided.

I've been reading about running lately, and it has pepped me up about the sport. This fall, UNP is publishing Personal Record:A Love Affair with Running by Rachel Toor and I just finished an advance copy.

This is a collection of 26.2 chapters (note the marathon distance reference!) that chronicles Rachel's path from couch potato to ultra-distance runner. While there are several things I don't have in common with the writer, such as my speed (no speed on my part!), distance that I'm going to run in any given day (I will never be out on a course for 24 hours straight!), I found we had a lot of things in common, admittedly, just like a lot of runners do. I have a big watch, although not as big as Rachel's, I have text messaged my friend Steve all of my mile split times from a 10 mile race, and while Rachel seems to favor peanut m&ms during and after races, I have been known to put away a 1 lb. cheeseburger after the half-marathon. Rachel also explains "speed goggles", a term she gives to her tendency to find the average-looking fast male runner very attractive. I too admit I enjoy the scenery at an out-and-back race, where I pass every single runner who is ahead of me. I think we both dislike stretching as well, thus my softball woes.

I recommend this book for runners of all ages and abilities, and I especially enjoyed the fact that it was a woman's perspective. It's a fast read, and Rachel writes with a great sense of humor.

Twitter Yourself Right out of Jail

Even though I created a twitter account a few months ago, so far I hadn't had a burning desire to twitter, but maybe I need to keep it in mind. From cnn.com, man twitters himself out of jail:

http://www.cnn.com/2008/TECH/04/25/twitter.buck/index.html?iref=mpstoryview

Homespun Fun

Corrie's matching pillow and afghan set is officially complete, unless I decide to go back and sew a little around the button holes, because I suspect that the buttons are going to slip out some.


I think I will make myself a pillow as well (as I bought an extra one that was too small for Corrie's cover, and I was too lazy to return it), perhaps in purple, however I have had my fill of working with Lion Brand's homespun yarn. I like that it's so soft, but I get tired of struggling with it fraying, and I left one mistake in the pillow because I was afraid if I backtracked, I'd lose a stitch and with the bumpiness of this yarn, I'd never find the stitch again.

I've moved on to the next project: an overdue replacement for the kitty couch. I crocheted this purple one at least ten years ago, and it has seen plenty of kitty gnawing and kitty naps.


Don't think I came up with this pattern idea myself-someone else did and hopefully made some money off of it. (Does the cat model receive royalties?)


I've done the lower two side panels so far. Luther seems to approve. I'm using Red Heart TLC Essentials-Sedona. I think I was swayed a little to use it when I saw the kitty on the label, but now that I've gotten into it, I'm afraid it's going to look like a couch from the 70s. Oh well.

v bbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbb v (Todd says "hello!")

Happy Earth Day!

Following closely behind my love of red tulips is my love of yellow tulips. Here are the most recent blooms in my yard.


We also have some pink hyacinths blooming-I planted 5 bulbs last year, it appears only 4 made the cut.


Jana pointed out that my yarn crafts aren't coming up much in my blog. (Their time will come, probably around mid-November all the way into December when I start cranking out the Christmas decorations and gifts. My goal this year is not to be finishing my Christmas crafts in the car on the way to Omaha for Christmas. That was cutting it a little close.) So here's a nod to Jana-I was trying to finish Corrie's pillow tonight when my orange helpers got in the way.


That's ok, I still need to buy buttons for the pillow, so it wasn't going to get done tonight anyway.

My first tulips

It's amazing what a couple of 70 degree days will do! These red tulips went from mostly green to full out red all on Saturday.


I think red tulips are my favorite. I love these yellow centers. When she was little, my sister used to talk about how someday she wanted a yard full of tulips so she wouldn't have any grass to mow. I don't think she understood that a tulip's bloom time is very short, or sometimes non-existent, like what happened last year when we had literally frigid weather in late April/early May. Corrie claimed I personally killed all of the tulips last year, but I beg to differ.

I planted some spinach and lettuce seeds yesterday. I hope they don't wash away like my seeds did last spring.

Grow little plants, grow!

Maybe it's the warmer weather that triggered it, but I just realized that I think my seedlings should be bigger than they are at this point in their growing process-I'm a little panicky. I just transplanted most of the tomato plants to bigger containers last night, so hopefully the extra room will help. I guess there still is another month until the frost date, so I shouldn't worry so much. I won't be moving them outside anytime soon.


Congratulations go out to Td, who from what I have seen has the first tulip in Lincoln blooming in his yard.

Thrift Store Goodies

While shopping for an April Fool's chicken at my local thrift store, I spied this game from the 70s that I wasn't familiar with: Constructo-straws. The package looked too complete and a very good deal at $3.99, so I bought it.

It didn't take me long to find someone who did know and love this game; my friend, Amy L. said she and her brother played it a lot when they were kids. (although is it really a game? I guess not. Just a toy.)

I thought maybe I had the very first daffodil blooming in my yard in Lincoln, but I saw a bunch on campus already in bloom, so mine isn't that special. It still looks really nice, though.


The tulips are a large mass of green now, and the crocus still look very nice. I didn't realize they closed up at night, so I made sure to get a good photo while there was plenty of daylight.



Corrie got a hankering to build a real compost bin today so he could have a place to put the stuff that had decomposed nicely in the bottom of his old truck bed, but he got as far as sifting the twigs out and then informed me that the compost bin would be part of his 2015 yard plan. (I don't think he really means that-I think/hope he means he wants to do some other re-arranging in the yard before he settles on a permanent compost location.)