Fiber Fool

Yes, I have more apple blossoms for you :-) The tree still isn’t done flowering! Though I think I did photograph it at an optimum stage as I was able to capture tiny buds to fully opened flowers and I rarely needed to remove a spent flower from the frame. Sadly, I’ve not taken other photos since that session though. But I’ll console myself with the reality that I’ll have at least one photo day with my sister and the opportunity to capture even more of where I grew up in just six days!

Right now, the focus is on getting as much work as possible done between now and departure and in doing things to keep my body working through this push. With today’s rather chilly and wet day (yay!) I think I’ll be spending much of it knitting with the company of Ally McBeal on NetFlix and one of Lori Foster’s romances on audiobook while sipping much tea. To break up the knitting sessions I think I’ll do some back care yoga to keep things stretched and hopefully relaxed.

I may not get as much work time tonight. I have been guilted into attending a gathering. DH told me the the math department thinks I do not really exist. Previous gatherings have often been on my knitting night and very little will get me to skip my Monday night knitting group. It is my sanity saver. So unless I’m on death’s doorstep or out of the state, I’m there! But I do not have that excuse tonight. Fortunately the host does not have cats so I may potentially get some knitting done while in attendance. They will just have to understand that I am under a tight deadline and thus have to work while I play. I’ll probably be friendly with knitting in my hands anyway. I get pretty nervous in groups where I know only one or two people. In reality it is nice that they are wishing me to come.

Speaking of nice things, thank you all for your wonderful comments on last weeks post! I haven’t got replies out yet :-/ But, please know I appreciate the comments and will likely start ticking off replies between knitting bouts over the next couple of days.

Now, I have something to ask of you guys. My Dad loves his “little girls” and will do nearly anything we ask. We are aware of this so sometimes make use of that fact to benefit mom. They live outside of a small town so there are no fancy health food stores and the like. Just your plain Jane chain grocery stores of the midwest and a couple big box discount stores. Mom has worked with a dietician for a few years now and lost a lot of weight - from a size 28/30 - 6/8. She has done so with a balanced carb diet, much like a diabetic diet. I have a few favorites I’ve found since I started tracking my eating habits that we can get here at our Whole Foods store (and often at other similar type of stores) and mom is wanting to shop at the Minneapolis Whole Foods when they pick me up from the airport. It will kind of work under the guise of my needing to stock foods that work within my current eating plan.

She had me start her a shopping list a few weeks ago! I’m wondering what your favorites things from Whole Foods are that we may wish to add to her list. She is especially interested in lower carb or high fiber options.

On the list so far:

• Tom-Tom’s Turkey Sticks
• Primal Strips Vegan Jerky (lots of protein, but has a decent shot of fiber too and almost perfectly balanced)
• Noosa Yoghurt
• Skinny Crisps (GF, low carb crackers)
• Jalapeno Pecan Pesto

Of course, a few of those things are local products and I’m not sure if we’ll find them at WF in MSP or not. But, we’ll give it a try! Is there anything else we should have on the list?

Okay, enough computing for the moment. Time to get clicking for the day and contemplate what I’ll do for a quick lunch.

Yesterday was two weeks before my much overdo departure to visit my family on the farm back in Minnesota. It will have been nearly 18 months since I last visited. But, there is sooooo much to do before I leave. It will be somewhat of a working vacation as some exciting new things have landed on my doorstep with deadlines soon after my return to Colorado. I’m super excited about them and am hoping all the visiting and lack of high speed Internet access regularly will help me speed through those knits.

With all these things on my to do list I’ll be somewhat absent, probably for the next five to six weeks or so. I’ll try to update at least once a week, but I’m not going to pressure myself to do so. The last thing I need is another “to do” :-) Though I enjoy sharing my days with you all. You and Twitter and Facebook are like a virtual watercooler for me.

Do know that I’m reading and following your adventures on my phone whenever I get snippets of time to kill (waiting for a train, waiting to meet up with people, etc.) but my commenting will be sparse since the phone isn’t terribly conducive to commenting (and TypePad blogs seems to not allow me to comment from the phone more often than they let me).

While the plum tree did not put on a flashy show this year, the apple tree seems to be making up the difference! Despite all the work to do, it is so important to take some time for myself. I do not do so often enough. It is as good as guaranteed that I’ll have improved productivity when I return to work. So I did take some time recently to capture the apple blossoms and process a few of the photos. It was enjoyable and provided a tad bit of movement too - another very important thing I need to make time for. I even pulled out my macro filters which I don’t think I’ve done in nearly year!

So I’ve established that my plate is probably overflowing for the next six weeks. How about you? What will you be up to between now and mid-June?