Calender Week 8

No weight (likely still up) as we were away over the weekend. No fitness units either, but at least I picked up walking again to and from the railroad station.

Knitting on some socks for MyGuy and eyeing the newest mystery from Vera Sanon.

No patchwork progress at all last week. Need to get on to it this week.

I finally read An Old Man's War, a book that I have owned since 2007. I am also continuing on with Tiger Queens, might have to read some non-fiction on Ghengis Khan to put this in perspective.

Slow Blogger

As I cannot seem to get to the meetings of the local Slow Food group, maybe I have more luck with this one:

Irish Chain Twist QAL

A bit behind, but I have socks inspired fabric in hand and can start this one:

Calender Week 7

Back to 75kg, drat. No wonder since I have not moved much the last weeks.

For the Sicilian Oranges I have decided on 117 blocks and have cut out the remaining 13 blocks. 100 sewn now.

Cast on a new pair of socks for MyGuy on Valentine's Day, hope to get them finished by next Tuesday, so he can have them when he is away. The brown ones are on hold because they are annoying me.

Read Memories of Running and have now started Winding Ways.

Additional Habit to establish: write down something I am grateful for each day.

Habits

Inspired by a post from A Stitch in Time I have started using Habit RPG. I like the idea, but will have to see how much I am going to stick to it. I have added some stuff that I want/need to do, like finishing Sicilian Oranges with substeps in the checklist, walking and not drinking coke, doing my dishes daily etc. Of course I am still exploring the site, but it looks like fun.

Calender Week 6

No weight this week as I was already in the Netherlands on Monday morning.

No fitness update because the damn cough came back. I want to get out and to the gym, so get lost cough.

I did sew a bit on my Sicilian Oranges, but I am now considering if I want to add another column to it to make it wider. It would then measure 170 * 220 cm. Maybe I will leave it at 153 * 220. I need to cut a bunch more blocks (either 13 or 26 depending on what I decide). I am also still sewing on my Star Struck blocks. And I had this idea spinning around in my mind for green liberated frames on white. I made a few test blocks, but am not sure they are all going to end up in the final quilt.

Started a new pair of socks for ski world championship watching and traveling. Brown for MyGuy.

Calender Week 5

Surprisingly enough I weighted in at 73,8kg this morning. Surprisingly because I had not moved a lot, the sniffles could not keep me indoors, but the coughing was no joke. I am sure my work colleagues were happy when I finally went home on Thursday. Friday I had a fever on top of the cough and stayed home. Still better off than MyGuy as he is now on sick leave for pneumonia for the second week.

Luckily sewing kept me from eating even more sweets than I did. The good thing about this is that I have now 90 of the blocks for Sicilian Oranges, however I am considering making it one row wider than the brothers' quilts as MyGuy is a bit more substantial than those lads. That would mean I need 130 blocks. I have another 14 cut, so might sew those up first. In addition for every two orange blocks I make one for my star quilt. I laid out a couple of blocks yesterday and I am sure now I am not going to put the sashing from Bonnie's book version, I like the interplay of the triangles and the secondary stars too much. Might mean I need more blocks there, I will have to check. And of course with the sewing of those blocks figured out my brain was off entertaining itself with the idea of green frames. I made one test block yesterday and think I need to make a few more to see if what I am seeing in my mind is what I will get.

Not a lot of reading, but I did start three new books and finished one of them last week, Night Broken by Patricia Briggs.

Calender Week 4

I finally finished the Georgette Heyer biography, but now am not finding any book that captures me. However (2/10) read.

I lost another pound and now weigh under 75 kg again (74,7 kg).

Gym got a bit lost due to my cold, but I did take my first few running steps for this year over the weekend. It does not amount to any real distance, but mentally I have a good feeling because I got started. My knees are not too keen on it, but hopefully the weight loss will help with that and I am not going to have to go to the doctors.

I restarted sewing on MyGuy's orange blocks and think of calling it Sicilian Oranges to remind us of our nice vacation there. 64 done, 117 needed altogether, so more than half way there. I have also sewn a few star blocks for my quilt using them as leaders and enders.

7 Continents Reading Challenge

I am also considering taking this one on:7Continents 7Books

Reading Challenge

To keep the reading mojo, I am going to participate in the Lucky No.15 Reading Challenge. This runs from 15th of January 2015 to 15th of January 2016.

Reading at least one book from the following categories:
Here are the 15 categories:

1. Chunky Brick: Grab that book with more than 500 pages that you’d always been afraid to tackle. You know you can do it!
2. Something New: Just purchased a book lately? Don’t let it buried in your stacks, read it now!
3. Something Borrowed: Read a book that you borrowed from someone else. Don’t make the owner waiting forever for you to finish it. (Books borrowed from friends, libraries, or even rental places, are allowed)
4. It’s Been There Forever: Dig your TBR pile and read a book that has been there more than a year. It’s time for you to appreciate it :)
5. Freebies Time: What’s the LAST free book you’ve got? Whether it’s from giveaway, a birthday gift or a surprise from someone special, don’t hold back any longer. Open the book and start reading it now :D
6. Bargain All The Way: Ever buying a book because it’s so cheap you don’t really care about the content? Now it’s time to open the book and find out whether it’s really worth your cents.
7. Favorite Color: Pick a book from your shelf which has your favorite color for its cover! Is it pink, red or black? You decide.
8. First Initial: Read a book that has been written by an author whose first initial is the same with you (Example: My name is Astrid, and I can read anything written by Agatha Christie, Aesop, Arthur Conan Doyle, etc)
9. Super Series: Read one (or more!) books that belong in a series, it can be trilogy, or tetralogy, or anything.
10. Opposites Attract: Read a book that’s been written by a writer whose gender is different from your own.
11. Randomly Picked: Ask someone else (a friend, your spouse, even your kids!) to randomly pick a book from your TBR pile. Don’t complain whatever they choose for you, just read it :)
12. Cover Lust: Grab a book from your shelf that you bought because you fell in love with the cover. Is the content as good as the cover?
13. Who Are You Again?: You’ve never read a book from this author, maybe you haven’t even heard his/her name before. But who knows? Maybe he/she will become your new favorite author!
14. One Word Only!: Read a book that only has one word for its title (number is allowed as long as it’s only consisted of one word, e.g: 1, 2, 11).
15. Dream Destination: Read a book that has setting in a place you’ve never visited before – but would like to if you have a chance. Could be real places or even fictional 

Number 6 might be a bit of a challenge as Germany still has fixed prices for books and I do not normally shop the remainder bins in department stores.

Calender Week 3

I went to the gym twice, actually three times if you count the evening my personal trainer gave me my new training plan. I don't because I did not do the whole plan as I usually do after the trainer session, but instead went home to see how MyGuy's appointment had gone.

I only lost 100gr this week, but at least I did not gain any.

I also managed to read a whole book this weekend. The End of your Life Book Club was a fascinating read, though it increased the list of books I want to read quite a lot. That does not help with my book reduction resolution at all, but oh well. I have some of them in my stacks anyway, so I am starting with those. (book count 1/10)

DKMS

This is the year I am finally going to get registered. I ordered the kit from DKMS today.

Reading

I am in a bit of a reading slump and have lately only read (make that re-read for a lot of them) fitness and cook books. However the unread books are threatening to take over the flat and thus I pledge to not buy any new book until I have read at least 10 of the ones I have. I might have to find some reading challenges to kick me into gear again, but the off side of that is that I always find new books that way.

Exempted are only the ones I have on pre-order at amazon as of today. And if I stick to my two habits for January I get to buy one additional one.

With this said, I better get on with my biography of Georgette Heyer which is the one book I am reading (on the train) right now.

Calender Week 2

Been to two different gyms for a total of three times, been for a lunch walk twice and walked with hubby a few rounds around the block. Walked from and to the workstation to/from work.

Also following my two goals for habit forming for January alright.

Lost 800g this week.

Will continue to try cook more, especially since I bought a whole stack of yummy cookbooks.

Fitnessgoal

As I cannot seem to get of my butt, the goal for the moment is to establish a minimum gym visits quota: 2 per week for the next 7 weeks.

Been yesterday, check. The good thing was they had downhill skiing on, the slalom of the men, so I was on the elliptic trainer while that lasted without being bored.

Back to Fitness and Weightmanagement

On Monday I weight myself and this is where I am: 77,3 kg. Too much for a 1,64 m person. So I need to lose some of that over the next couple of months. If I loose a kilo a month by next year christmas I would be at the low weight range that I have achieved.

I have canceled my Weightwatchers membership some time ago, because I was not using it, and I will not renew it. I might go for an analog food diary, but if so not before next year.

Yesterday I finally went back to the gym. Not a long session, but at least I went. Now just need to get back in the habit. Immediate goal: Wednesday is gymday. If you want to see more of my fitness you can also visit at Tribesports

Butterfly

Austen in August

For a bit more direction in August I plan to participate in Austen in August.

The Truth about Melody Browne

I am only half way through The Truth about Melody Browne by Lisa Jewell, but am enjoying it. I got it from a neighbour who was culling her books. I expected chick lit and it might be in a way, but while there is a romantic interest, that is not what the book is about. After reading the latest Bridget Jones earlier this year, I find this one a much better read for me.

Back to reading

I am currently back to reading.

Right now I am reading one Antia Blake after the other, but I am looking Forward to picking something very different for the next read from my TBR stacks.

I love the idea of reading books with summery allusions in the title as in this challenge.