Wardrobe Wednesday--StitchFix

It was a fun way to spend part of my comp day on Monday (after a weekend speaking at an area women's conference) to get my May StitchFix! I've moved up my delivery date to the first of the month so I know how to budget the rest of the month. That being said, I'll probably skip June since I feel like I'm very well set for my June work trip. I like that about StitchFix--you can control when you get stuff. 

This month, I'd renewed my request for that poncho I'd like to have for the flight on my vacation, plus the several flights I'll be taking in June and next fall. I also asked for a "cute" raincoat that would be easily stuffable into a backpack on vacation to have available just-in-case, another pair of pants like the gray ones they sent me last time, but in a different color, and possibly a kimono for dressing up a tshirt and jeans. Plus, for the last couple of Fixes, I've reminded my stylist how much I loved the Kut from the Kloth jeans I got in January but have now grown out of (shrunk out of? Anyway, they don't fit anymore).

My stylist sent me something in every category, so definite points for paying attention! That being said, I will be sending back a couple of things this time around. But the wins are BIG wins!

First of all, note the rain covering the StitchFix box in the first picture. It happened to be pouring when my box came, and I was just about to leave the house to run a couple of errands when the USPS guy showed up. Priorities: I decided to check out what was in the box before doing my errands. Sure enough, right on top...a raincoat!

LOVE IT! It's not lined, so it'll only be good for warmer weather, but I'm okay with that as I have warmer jackets for the rest of the year. It's going to be very easily stuffable, so fantastic for hauling around with me on vacay. I also like that it has a drawstring, although the way I've got it drawn here and my stance makes me look a little pudgy. Dang. However, that drawstring means I've got a lot of wear in this even as I continue to lose weight. It's got a hood and a stand-up collar so I won't get rain dripping down inside. I put this puppy on immediately and ran my errands in it--it was great! The pattern is showing up here a little different than it is up close--it's not solid gray lines but, rather, thin lines bunched together. I like how it looks more solid from a distance, though. Verdict: KEEP. (The jeans are Chico's Girlfriend ankle jeans--Chicos are becoming my new favorite jean! I only buy them on sale, but they're really, really, comfortable. I have two pairs now.)

By the way, yes, I got a tripod holder for my iPhone and a bluetooth shutter do-jobber so I can actually show you what these clothes look like on a person rather than just laying on the floor. And yes, Sammy inevitably photo-bombs me. Doofus.

The kimono wasn't quite so much of a win.

I tried styling it with a V-neck sleeveless top (from a consignment store) to show the cold-shoulder effect. I just don't like the cold-shoulder style on me, especially when it comes to something like this. Part of why I'd want it is to have something to cover my shoulders in chilly restaurants. All in all, I just didn't like the drape or colors of this kimono so, although kudos to my stylist for listening, this particular one doesn't work for me. (I'd never mentioned to my stylist my aversion to the cold-shoulder style so that's on me.) Verdict: RETURN.

The pants are a definite win, though. These are the same style (Liverpool brand) as the gray ones she sent me last time, and equally as comfortable. I've worn the gray ones a lot and they don't sag or bag even after several wears between laundering, which is perfect for taking on vacation. One of those two pairs of pants will likely be my travel-day pants--they'll be great for the plane. Verdict: KEEP. And yes, I forgot to put my shoes back on before taking this picture and yes, Sammy just had to be in it with me again. 

And the poncho search continues. 

The color on this is a little too dark for me, although I know that means it would hold up to travel well. I could have dealt with the color, though, if it weren't for the sleeves. Yes, those black sleeves are attached to the poncho. Oddly, however, there's a slight gap underneath between where the sleeve is sewn into the arm and where the sides of the poncho are buttoned together, so you still get air coming in under there. It's strangely designed.

The buttons down the side (which you can just barely see in this photo--right above my wrist on my hip) are a nice detail but they just make the whole thing look kind of bulky. I don't find this flattering, and the sleeves would drive me insane. Verdict: RETURN. (I have since ordered a couple of ponchos from Chicos online, as I have a store near me for easy return if I don't like one or either of them.)

Finally...drum roll please...

Kut from the Kloth Boyfriend Jeans!

On the left, cuffed like most people wear this style of jean. On the right, uncuffed, which is probably the way I'll always wear them. If I did cuff them, I'd keep them ankle length. Get too far up my calf and I start looking a bit stubby. 

I debated these for a little bit because I don't normally think of myself as a "distressed jean" kind of girl. But these are "subtly distressed" (just crying quietly in a corner to themselves) and I love the wash and the fit, so why not? My daughter had stopped by to mooch lunch and gave them the thumbs up. Verdict: KEEP. (The shirt is from Clothes Mentor consignment, don't know what brand. I was stylin' some boho chic that day.) 

That makes this box a 60% win, as I'm keeping three out of five items. So, yay! Several times over the last couple of weeks, my husband and I have been somewhere together and I've suddenly noticed, "Hey, this is a StitchFix outfit!" I get a lot of wear out of what I get from them. I do, however, have to work on my modeling skills...

Interested in StitchFix? Here's my referral link--thank you! They also have a plus-size subscription service and a men's subscription service, and they include jewelry, shoes, and bags in the women's. (I think they also include ties, belts, and shoes in men's.) Remember, you don't have to do it every month, and you indicate your price-level when you do your style profile. 

Tea Tuesday

It's "tea and crumpets" time! Lori baked some crumpets. She didn't share them with me. We're going to have to have a talk about that. In any case, I thought about what tea might work best with crumpets, and I even sent a quick tweet to one of my English twitter friends. She said "any breakfast tea would be pretty typical." And so...this week I'm reviewing what has become my favorite breakfast tea.

We're back to Plum Deluxe!

Breakfast in Bed black tea. Photo courtesy plumdeluxe.com. 

Okay, so I've already reviewed this one. But it's absolutely lovely so I couldn't resist pairing it (in my head) with Lori's crumpets. 

Plum Deluxe's Breakfast in Bed Black tea is one of the most smooth and rich black teas I've had the pleasure of drinking. I steep my black teas for five minutes and sometimes that can bring out a bit of bitterness. No worries here!

It has blackberry and hazelnut layers, as well as just a little vanilla (that helps smooth it out, I think). Those gorgeous blue cornflowers are just visual joy. I drink it straight but it would be fantastic with a splash of cream. And with Lori's crumpets? Heaven.

I guess I need to stop blogging about this tea. I'm getting redundant, but it really is a fantastic breakfast tea.

Book Review

For my book review this week, I'm going a little historical. It has nothing to do with breakfast or black tea or crumpets. However, it was a really good book! I just finished reading Destiny of the Republic: A Tale of Madness, Medicine and the Murder of a President, by Candice Millard (link in image at left). This is a nonfiction book that tells of the assassination of President James Garfield. I bought it because it had been very well reviewed, and because I know absolutely nothing about Garfield, other than the fact that he'd been assassinated. After reading this book, I found myself actually grieving Garfield's loss. He seemed like a really wonderful man. The book is eminently readable--I finished it in under a week, reading mostly at bedtime, and it was one I looked forward to getting back to each evening. Millard does an excellent job weaving the various threads of the story together; it was clearly extremely well researched and includes many quotations directly from letters and first-person accounts, but it still reads more like a novel (without those moments that make you question how much you can trust the narrative, however, that I've run into occasionally with other nonfiction books). The book succeeds at raising the question: Who actually murdered President James Garfield? And you'll have to read the book to know what I mean by that--it may not be what you think! 

Snackies

And now it's time for you to check out those crumpets that Lori is baking up--they sound wonderful!

Random Thursday

I just have a couple of updates and don't feel like doing my usual bullet-point thoughts, so this one's a little more straightforward.

First, have I written before about how much I absolutely love Clothes Mentor? 

I have a speaking engagement this weekend which means three straight days of looking professional. Months ago, looking ahead to this event, I had planned to wear the white dress pants I got when I did the Christopher and Banks fashion show. However, this weekend, I'm just not quite feeling white pants. It still feels a little early in the season for that, especially since it's only supposed to be about 60 over the weekend. 

So, just for kicks n' giggles, I stopped in Clothes Mentor while running errands this week to see if I could find a pair of palazzo pants or something that would feel spring-like but not be summer-like, if that makes sense. Instead, I found this great dress. For $14! I love that store!

It fits perfectly, and its great for work. Although it's made to look like a wrap dress, it isn't really. The neckline is sewn, not just wrapped, so it doesn't get awkward gaps and it's not too low. The bottom is sewn too, so it stays closed when I move. It actually has a wide belt that goes with it (I forgot to put it on the dress before taking the picture) that makes the whole cut of the dress very flattering. Because it's short sleeved, it'll be good for warm weather, but I realized when I got home that my purple duster cardigan works fantastic with it for 60 degree weekends and any convention center I might ever wear it in, because they're always refrigerator-cold. I've got a couple of other cardigans I could wear with it to change things up, and I could go a little more casual with it with a denim jacket for a date night. And I have three different pairs of shoes that will work perfectly with it, depending on whether I'm dressing it up or down, and whether I want to go heels or flats. Plus, with those colors, I can wear it into the fall with dark tights and boots. I'm so excited! For $14!!!!

The other randomness for this week is about my bullet journal (aka bujo). I'm really loving everything my bullet journal does for me that going purely digital doesn't, but I'm still a bit of a hybrid. I have some things digital, other things in my bujo, and often I copy from digital into my bujo because physically writing something down does actually give me a better chance of actually getting it done. However, I can blast tasks out into the distant future much more easily digitally. In any case, what I still wanted to fix was being able to see my whole year together, rather than working one month at a time as using a bujo forces me to do (and seeing a whole year digitally is impossible). I use Leuchtturm notebooks for my bujo and happened to see that they have a yearly planner as well. So I bought the Monthly Planner with Notebook.

It's a little hard to see in these pictures because Leuctthurm uses a gray rather than a black font. The upper left shows that they include a yearly date guide for several years--2016-2018, maybe even further. (I don't have it in front of me at the moment.) The upper right is the two-page monthly spread. Lower left are the note pages in the back. There's a spot for writing the date at the top, so I plan to use these for master projects/tasks lists for each month--stuff I know ahead of time I'm going to want to get done that month. The lower right is the one I have to figure out how to use--it's a "Project Plan" spread. It's separated by month. Each month has five or six rows, divided into columns by day. Looks like I would write the project name on the row header and then check off which days it would be addressed. That would have limited usefulness for me but I may figure out a way I could repurpose it. 

I've started filling out the monthly calendar with all the stuff I already have scheduled--trips, doctor's appointments, staff meetings, etc. Each calendar day on the two-page spread has a little box for you to index the page number from the notes pages that's relevant to that page. Since I plan on using the note pages more for a general monthly brain-dump, I'm not sure how often I'd use that indexing system, but it might come in handy.

My plan is to do something like this right at the beginning of the year. (Since I just got it now, I'm considering the start of this year to be May.) Then, when I sit down to do a new month in my regular bujo, I'll reference what I've got in this one to start, and go from there. The regular bujo would be the one I keep up-to-date--I don't want to keep going back to this one all the time. It's pure reference, but it's the best way I can think of to see everything for the year all in one place.

So far, the only drawback I've run into with this new monthly planner is the fact that it's from Europe so the calendar weeks start on Monday rather than Sunday. I've caught myself getting off by a day a couple of times as I was filling things in. I just have to pay really close attention!

By the way...I'm presenting a webinar for work on time management in June. Within 24 hours of sending out the first email promo, we already had a bunch of registrants. Apparently I'm not the only one working on my organizational skills out there!

Tea Tuesday--Blackberries!

It's Tea Tuesday again! This week, I'm only bringing you one tea, because that's all I had that went with Lori's theme. (We choose themes based on what Lori's baking these days--though that usually gives me a pretty wide selection since she bakes a lot!) 

Lori emailed me to let me know she'd baked some blackberry lime scones that sound just amazing. I need to move into her house--at least, every weekend when she bakes. In any case, I have this very tasty tea in my cupboard so it was an easy match!

The Republic of Tea Blackberry Sage tea is a black tea, so it's got caffeine. I don't drink this one as often for that reason. As I've mentioned before, I generally do most of my tea-drinking in the afternoon and evening so I stick with herbals. Once in awhile, though, especially on weekends, I have slightly longer mornings and can fit some black tea in after I'm done with my coffee allotment for the day.

Despite this tea being described on the package as a "fruity black tea," we all probably know my mantra by now. "Not sweet!" This is not an overpowering fruit at all, nor is it sweetened. I drink it black, and it's got just enough fruit flavor to make it interesting. Though it does have sage in it, it's also not overpowering--just a nice herbal note at the finish. 

I always give props for creative, entertaining marketing ploys. It tickles me that the side of the canister says, "With a single sip the cloud of busy mind is made to pass and the light of life breaks through to show us what we have kept concealed from ourselves all along." 

So drink this tea, and reveal yourself unto yourself. 

Book Review

Blackberries? Why, Peter Rabbit, of course! Peter's love of blackberries get him into a whole peck of trouble. (No spoilers!) If you've never had the joy of reading Beatrix Potter's Peter Rabbit series, well, just, wow. You have to. And you need to find the version with the original illustrations because they're beautiful. 

I read Peter Rabbit over and over again when I was little, and while I was finding links for this post, I discovered a fantastic narrated version on Audible so I listened to it all over again. Even at 50-ahem, there's something very comforting about having Peter Rabbit read to me. There was another audiobook on Audible narrated by a different person but after listening to samples of both, the one I've linked to is the one I chose. (Voices and pacing are everything in an audiobook.) There's also a free audio version at this link. 

However, no fair only listening to the narrated version without having the illustrations to look at as well. I think you have to brew yourself some blackberry tea--with or without sage--and curl up in an armchair with Peter Rabbit this weekend. Food for the soul, in so many ways.

Snackies

Be sure to check out Lori's very tasty-looking Blackberry Lime Scones here!

Fight the Funk Friday

I will not let my big toe win. 

I'm back to running, though I had to take myself backwards about two weeks in my training. My first day back at the gym last weekend was not pretty and I was pretty discouraged by the end of it. At 20 minutes on the treadmill (far shorter running intervals than I'd scheduled myself to do) my toes were really bothering me so I switched to the elliptical and did another 10 minutes just to get myself up to 30 total. It was all a real struggle and my brain just wasn't up to the fight. There was definitely some whining on Instagram/Twitter, so thanks to all my #twilter buds who gave me words of encouragement!

I realized a couple of days later that I'd been too aggressive on what intervals I chose for my first day back and really needed to work my way back up again. I set myself up a revised training plan for the next couple of weeks that seems much more reasonable. I also remembered that was the first time I'd actually run with my new sneakers. They definitely feel different in the toes so there's some adjustment time--by the next time I ran I was in much better form.

I also realized that I'd been through a lot of feels over the last few weeks, what with Sammy, some school stress, being sick twice, and finding out about my foot issues. I was mentally and emotionally de-energized, so I wasn't really approaching my physical health with a good mindset. 

I gave myself a week to regroup. I found a pair of shoes that fit my inserts and foot at the same time, so I made sure I wore those most days around the house to give my toe some rest-time. I had two more running sessions, on Monday and Wednesday, but backed it down so I was doing intervals from a couple of weeks ago, slowly working my way back up again. I also spent a lot of time thinking about my foot while I was running, keeping track of where I was hitting down and making sure I wasn't over-compensating for anything. I was much more comfortable, completed the sessions, and my foot didn't bother me at all. 

I also took a week off from tracking my eating. I didn't eat any differently, and I'd already planned all my meals for every day out, so it wasn't terribly high risk. That being said, I did gain a little weight this week but it could have easily been the fact that I was working my way through a batch of that wonderful split pea soup, made with a huge smoked hamhock from a local Amish grocery store, plus extra chopped ham I throw in for good measure. Lots n' lots of sodium. I've felt a little water-retention stuff going on, so, although I'll definitely own some of that weight gain as being less exercise and not tracking, I'm also not beating myself up about it.

More importantly, I'm back into all my good habits now. I think my head is back in the right place. I had a great strength-training session yesterday--I deadlifted 115 pounds, woo! And did kettle bell swings with 35 pounds, which is 10 more lbs than last time!--so I'm feeling strong, I'm reminded of my progress, and I know this will happen. 

So, listen up, Toe, that'll be just about enough of that nonsense.

Thinkin' about It Thursday

This week, I'm thinking...

• how tired I am of dealing with computers
• that getting a new work computer is more curse than blessing
• how long it takes to make sure all the software I use is installed
• that I have to re-set all my preferences
• how nothing ever talks to everything else right 

• how long it took me to get the new computer to find my printer
• that, as soon as it did, the printer started jamming
  • and jamming
  • and jamming again

• that I did finally win the battle to get two computers (personal and work) to talk to a single monitor, keyboard, mouse, and printer
• that the process took two trips to Best Buy and some time on Google
  • and, apparently, just waiting for stuff to get over itself and finally start cooperating
    • but it's done
    • and it's nice
    • and I feel all sorts of techy now
• that it takes way too long to offload old work files from my hard drive to our network drive
• how nice it is to have done it, though, so I can delete the old work files from my hard drive
  • so I can set up my cloud backup
  • and it won't take as long
  • because there's not as many files to back up
• how boring this post probably is
  • because who wants to read about computers?

Tea Tuesday--Chocolate Teas

I've tried a lot of chocolate teas in my time and most of them just don't make the cut. First off, I don't need my teas sweetened for me, thank you very much. If I want sweet, I'll add it myself. Second, don't try to give me carob and pass it off as chocolate. My grandmother used to try to do that with "chocolate" chip cookies when I was little. I was on to her then. I'm still on to those tricks. But there are a few chocolate teas I've actually enjoyed.

Mind you, "chocolate" is a little bit of a relative term. These teas don't so much cure your craving for a Lindt Dark Chocolate Truffle (or is that just my thing?) as they do offer a depth of flavor and a nice, "desserty" feel without being sicky sweet and laying all those calories on you. 

I have four chocolate teas for you--two are readily available, at least at Wegmans, if you've got one of those near you. I'm sure other major grocery chains also carry them. The other two would have to be ordered online but hey, we do what we need to do for our tea fix.

The first is Republic of Tea's Red Velvet Chocolate Tea. Republic of Tea comes in round tea bags without strings so you do have to fish it out of your mug when its done steeping. As long as you're prepared for that, it's a very nice tea. It's got a decent chocolate flavor, and there's a hint of vanilla that really does kind of give this the feel of a cupcake without the sweet. It's caffeine-free so it's a nice evening-in-front-of-the-TV-to-keep-myself-from-snacking tea. I was skeptical when I first bought it, but immediately became a fan. Unfortunately, my nearby Wegmans doesn't carry it anymore. Every so often I'll spy it at another Wegmans and will pick up a couple of tins to get me through. When I'm done with the canister I'm currently working on, though, I've resigned myself to having to order it online.

Another great Republic of Tea offering, and my go-to (this one is always in the cupboard at my house), is Peppermint Chocolate.  I adore this tea. I've mentioned that I'm a fan of mint tea, and I love mint chocolate chip ice cream, chocolate mint truffles...you name it. So this seemed like a natural. I've brought it with me on quilt retreats a couple of times and have made a few converts of my quilty friends, too. I especially love that there's no sweetener at all in this--not even natural kinds! It's just that same chocolate feel as the Red Velvet chocolate, with enough mint to make it cool and refreshing but not overpowering. This one is also caffeine-free, so I drink it a lot in the afternoon while I'm working. Fortunately, Wegmans always has this one so I don't have to go on the hunt for it. 

A note here: If you like sweeter teas, you may want to check out Republic of Tea's Peppermint Bark tea. It's a seasonal tea (winter holidays), but it's still on the shelves at my Wegmans, so you may be able to find it around even out-of-season. It's an organic green roobios tea with cocoa extract, peppermint, vanilla, and stevia. I tried it once and liked the flavor but don't like the sweetness of the stevia, so it wasn't a keeper for me. I handed it off to my daughter.

For my Canadian friends, or those from the U.S. or elsewhere who are willing to pay shipping, you can check out Victoria's Teas. I always visit their shop in Niagara on the Lake when my husband and I go up for our anniversary weekend every October. If you visit the brick n' mortar or online shop, check out Chocolate Delight. It has cocoa beans and chocolate flakes, vanilla barley (not sure what that is but it tastes like vanilla), and some bits of yogurt to make it just a titch creamy feeling. You can actually see some of the oils from the chocolate on the top of the tea--which sounds gross, but is actually really yummy. I always get my teas from Victoria's in loose-leaf but they generally also come in bags. It's a black tea, which creates a little bit of a problem for me as I tend to prefer my flavored teas in the afternoon, but I adjust. 

Chocolate Hazelnut tea, photo courtesy plumdeluxe.com. 

Finally, we're back to my new friends over at Plumdeluxe.com. I got several samples a few weeks ago and one of the first ones I tried quickly became one of my favorites. The Chocolate Hazelnut Dessert Tea is outstanding. I will be ordering this in full size as soon as I make room in my tea cupboard (read: as soon as I drink a few more gallons of tea). Oh. My. 

It's rich and nutty, but the touch of sweetness comes from the hazelnut and the natural flavor of the base honeybush tea, nothing else. It's also caffeine-free, so this is another wonderful one to have in the evening while I'm winding down from the day, instead of nibbling on something or diving into a bowl of ice cream. I can see this tea taking pride of place in my cupboard next to my Republic of Tea Peppermint Chocolate. 

Book Review

My book review this week is from a guest blogger! Woot! I sent our #Twilter friend Daisy, of Lazy Daisy Quilts, a request: those of us who know her know that she's a voracious reader. So, I asked her if she'd read anything with a chocolate theme and, if so, would she be willing to give me a brief review for today's post? The answer was yes and yes!

Daisy's review:

Brownies and Broomsticks by Bailey Cates is the first book in The Magical Bakery Mystery series. Bailey Cates is one of the many pen names of Cricket McRae. She uses a different pen name for each cozy crime series. I would recommend this, and her aromatherapy series, which starts with Daisies for Innocence. This author likes to center her mysteries around some sort of shop and in this, Brownies and Broomsticks, we find our main character, Katie, returning to downtown Savannah to help her aunt and uncle run their newly opened bake shop. Katie notices that each recipe her aunt bakes up has a special twist to it. She quickly learns that they are not just baked goods, but spells used to sway the moods and choices of those who consume them. Growing up, Katie never knew she came from a family of good witches. When a difficult and powerful woman about town turns up dead, Uncle Ben is the prime suspect and Katie has to unravel the mystery of what has really happened. The descriptions of sweet treats in this book will wreck your diet, and I'll tell you that for free. Get ready to curl up with some hot cocoa, a chocolate eclair, and this cozy mystery. It's punny, a bit predictable, yet still highly entertaining. There are no earth shattering profound truths about the human existence, just good clean murdery fun.

(Thanks so much for your review, Daisy!)

Recipe Link

I believe my friend Lori has baked up some wonderful chocolatey treats to go with today's chocolate tea theme. Check it out!

Making It Monday--Sundry Edition

I finally got him done.

It's ridiculous when you only have five minutes' worth of work left to do on something but you keep putting off doing it. 

Pshaw.

Whatever. It's done.

What else did I make? I guess I made a proposal. I spent most of my long Easter weekend (I had Friday and today off) working on school stuff. I once again give tremendous thanks to my D.Min. advisor who took time out of her Easter weekend to review my thesis proposal another time or two in the final throes of trying to get it prepared for the review committee. I'm not sure if I actually made their deadline for this month's meeting or not, so it may not actually get reviewed until their May meeting. Still n' all, May is a very busy month for me so I'm just as happy to get it done now. Fingers crossed that, whenever it goes to committee, it passes!

Let me take a moment, though, to list all the things I made this weekend using my Instant Pot! It's time for you to be dropping broad hints about Mother's Day or Father's Day gifts you'd like--or your birthday--or, just plain go shopping yourself. Let me just say it here, if I haven't said it enough times before. I LOVE MY INSTANT POT!

This weekend, I used my IP to:

• Make split pea soup (using my favorite recipe here and great smoked hamhocks from an Amish grocery store)
• Make "baked" potatoes for Easter dinner (30 mins all in)
• Steam green beans for Easter dinner (5 mins all in)

• Make Chocolate Lava cake for Easter dinner dessert (using this really easy and incredibly tasty recipe)
• Make hardboiled eggs for the week (doing them in the IP makes them super easy to peel, regardless of how fresh they are)

• Make my weekly batch of yogurt, and this week's batch is the best one I've made yet. I got the perfect consistency, and I switched to vanilla bean paste, which has a much better flavor than vanilla extract. There's a bunch of instructions for making yogurt in your IP on the internet--it's super, super easy. 

If you're new to IPs, let me suggest the following accessories:

• If you want to make yogurt, it's worth buying a yogurt strainer. I tried the cheesecloth thing and I tried the coffee filter thing and it was messy and a pain in the.... Well, anyway. Since I make it every week, I decided to go ahead and pony up for actual strainers and I'm thrilled. So much easier! I do a gallon of milk's worth of yogurt every week so I bought two strainers. The amount of yogurt fills both strainers to the brim.
• Get two inserts. Really. This way you can rotate stuff through more quickly. I bought my second insert about two weeks after I started using my IP because I discovered just how much I could get done in a weekend to prep for my week ahead.
• These steamer baskets work really well. (There are a lot of them; I linked to the ones I actually use and can speak with authority about.) I use these when I do potatoes, eggs, vegetables, and so forth.
• I took advice from the Facebook IP group early on and got a second silicone ring because the ring does take on the smells of whatever you're cooking. There was a lot of fear voiced in FB about whether those smells would then have an impact on cooking something else. I have to say, though, that in the six months or so I've been using my IP, I've never used the second ring. In my experience, I've had no problems with tastes transferring; washing the ring seems to be good enough. If you're interested, though, here's a link. They also have color-coded ones for "sweet" and "savory."
• Speaking of that Facebook group, here's the main one I'm part of, and you'll notice a few other #Twilters hanging out there too. There are many other electric pressure cooker and IP-specific groups on Facebook as well. It's a great place to get new ideas and recipes!

(This post contains Amazon affiliate links. Thanks for the support!)

Fight the Funk Friday--Funky Foot Edition

I have today (Friday) off. One of the benefits of working for a religious organization is that Easter weekend is a big deal. I have both Friday and Monday off. I'll be spending a lot of it working on school stuff and getting some errands done, but Easter Sunday itself is open other than church, so I should have time for relaxing this weekend. My daughter went to California with my mother-in-law to visit family for the holiday, so we're not doing any big family gathering. My son has off work so he's going to come over late afternoon and we're going to do steaks on the grill for our Easter dinner. Very low-key and relaxed!

Meanwhile, I started my day off today with a visit to the podiatrist to take an official look at the hallux limitus thing that the freebie podiatrist diagnosed. I'd done some googling about podiatrists in the area, check out Healthgrades and such, and chose one near me without really expecting to get an appointment that fast. But I was able to get in today. Woo! Or, not so woo, depending on how you look at it. Good thing I did my research because apparently I'm going to have a long-term personal relationship with this new podiatrist.

Turns out, I've got issues. My BFF/BQF Kate refers to our slightly-past-middle-age as "The Maintenance Years." Time for some serious maintenance on my feet.

X-rays revealed pretty bad bone spurs on that left big toe, and very little space for cartilage. I looked at the X-ray and thought, "Wow. No wonder I'm in pain!" Sometimes I have to get absolute proof that I have a right to hurt--for some reason, I always have a lurking suspicion that I'm just being a whiner or a hypochondriac. 

The end result is that I'll be taking some more of my day off this afternoon to go to a foot specialist store and buy appropriate inserts; I've got an appointment for a cortisone shot before I go on my vacation to try to at least get me through that as best as possible; and I'll be scheduling surgery for sometime this summer when I've got a couple of weeks together to heal. 

And bonus news: It's also in the other foot, just not as advanced. So I'll get to have all this fun again in a year or so. 

The silver lining? He kept referring to me as "a runner" and "an athlete." Cool. 

I am going to try to keep running. However, now I won't be mentally abusing myself about whining when my foot starts aching. It has every right to hurt!

Not much else to report on the fitness and health front, as I've been down with another chest cold--or side effects to my new prescription inhaler (as yes, one set of side effects that are fairly common mimic having a really bad chest cold; go figure)--for the last week. Running was out of the question, so I had to make a difficult decision this week about the "graduation 5k" for the running program I'm in.

First of all, I already knew that I had a speaking engagement that same weekend, all weekend. It's in town, but I'll be doing a lot of up-front leadership Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, which always takes it out of me. Plus, the timing of trying to do the 5k on Sunday morning and then getting showered and dressed and back to the speaking engagement in time for Sunday morning worship would've been pretty tight--everything would have had to go absolutely perfectly to make it, and we know that rarely happens. I was concerned that I wouldn't do well at the 5k because I was so tired from the speaking, and I wouldn't do well at the speaking because I was so tired from the 5k, and everyone would lose.

Then, when I got sick for a second time this week and lost more training time, I realized it just wasn't in the cards. There's a fine line between "being determined" and "being stupid," and I was perilously close to the stupid end of that spectrum. I'm therefore cancelling my involvement in the April 5k, and I'm not going to do the rest of the training runs with the group because I'm too far behind them now, but I will keep working on training on my own through their program schedule. We get emails every week with our training schedule for the week, so I'm going to be starting back up again where I was when I got sick this second time and go from there. I'll set a date for my own personal 5k to prove to myself I can do it, and I still plan on running the Color Run in May--that's now going to be my first official public 5k.

Pic from a couple of weeks ago on the canal. It's much sunnier today.

I'm feeling better today, though, so I'm hoping to get out for at least a walk on the canal this afternoon, maybe with Sammy. We'll see how both he and I are doing later.

Thinkin' about It Thursday

This week, I'm thinking...

• how annoying it is that I've got a spring class at the same time as I'm supposed to be getting my proposal for my thesis to the approval committee
• that the next meeting of the approval committee is next week
  • and then not again until May
  • and I really don't want to wait until May
• that I'm trying really really hard not to stress about this
• that it doesn't help that I'm down with another chest cold and haven't been able to run off my stress this week
• that even saying "run off my stress" is something I would've never said a year ago
  • so there is that
• how at least I have a fantastic D.Min. advisor
  • who actually responds to emails
  • and responds really promptly
  • even if it's just to let me know she's traveling and can't respond fully yet
  • and her comments are extremely constructive
  • but "constructive" also means "making changes"
  • so I'll probably throw a little party-in-my-head when I just finally get this thing sent to the committee
• that getting it sent to the committee is really just the first step
  • because they can also not approve it
    • and want more changes
    • and I'll be back in the roundabout again
  • but my blood pressure goes up just thinking about that
    • so I won't
• that I went to my quilt guild meeting for the first time in months this week
• how it's been so long that when I went to sign in, I discovered I'd been dropped off the roster
  • and they swear it was by accident
  • and blamed it on someone who wasn't there
  • and I pouted
  • and they told me I really was important to them
  • and I just joked about having been disappeared
  • it was all very funny
  • and I know the woman who accidentally dropped me off the list will feel bad
  • which just gives me the opening to razz her to no end next time I see her
  • because that's just the way we are at my guild

P.S. Sammy has his follow-up appointment with the surgeon this afternoon. He's recovered really well from the surgery--no signs of problems that I can see. He's feeling so good he's become a bit of a poopy-head about staying low-key, so I've let him off a lot of his restrictions already since he was doing so well. However, I did draw one line: I haven't thrown any tennis balls for him yet. I'm hoping the surgeon gives me the go-ahead so Sammy and I can have a celebratory game of fetch when we get home. Thank you, all, for your thoughts and prayers! It's meant more than I can say. 

Wardrobe Wednesday: Stitch Fix

You may recall, in the last StitchFix post I did, that I'd mentioned moving up my delivery date. I'd rather receive my StitchFix early in the month rather than late in the month, as then I can do all my planning and budgeting for the rest of the month around what I do or don't keep out of that box. So, this week I got my April Fix, even though I just got the March Fix a couple of weeks ago.

Again, looking ahead to my vacation (as well as the fact I do a lot of airplane travel for work), I had some specific requests this time. I asked for a poncho of some sort that I could wear in airports that would second as a blanket on the plane. I've used shawls and pashminas for that for years, but it's hard to keep a pashmina wrapped over your shoulders while you're hauling luggage without getting all tangled up in straps. I thought a poncho might work better. I also asked for some neutral colored ponte knit pants or similar--they're great for travel. I requested a good tote with lots of pockets and a zip closure for my travels--I actually already have a couple but I'm always in search of the "best one ever." I also threw in there that funky jewelry was always fun.

So, how did my StitchFix stylist do?

BAM! She hit it out of the park again! Woo woo woo woo!

(No pics of me this time as I'm still dealing with that really bad chest cold and I'm not at my most picturesque at the moment.)

Yes, I got a totebag! Woot!

Okay, it's not quite "the best travel totebag ever" but hey, it's cute and very functional so I'll take it! I love the style. It's a canvas exterior, and with the olive color it will definitely take a beating and just keep looking better. I'm not really into the camouflage/army style that's still big these days but this has enough of it for me to look current but still be far more to my taste. It's more "outdoorsy" than "military." 

The straps are sturdy--just look at those metal grommets!--and the shorter ones are wide enough they'll be comfortable over my shoulder. I doubt I'd use the longer strap with this one, but I'll keep it with me in case I wanted to do a cross-body thing. It's a little too narrow to be comfortable on my shoulder if the bag is heavy. (Somewhere I have a pattern to make a padded thingie to wrap around skinny straps--I should dig that out and actually make it some day.)

I've learned to generally try to avoid dark interiors on bags because they make it harder to find things, but I plan on using a lot of zippered pouches to keep my stuff organized on the plane so that shouldn't be too big a deal. I don't tend to dump a ton of stuff in my bags anyway--I like to travel light so I carry as little as I can possibly get away with. 

It has decent pockets--the standard zipper interior pocket on one side with two open pockets on the other. If I had more pockets, I'd use them--but sometimes too many pockets makes you dig a lot because you can't remember which pocket holds what. Again, I'll be using zippered pouches so the pockets will be for quick-access stuff.

What I'm most pleased about is that the whole top zips--fantastic! Too many totebags have flimsy little magnetic closures that pop open the first time you hit turbulence and suddenly your bag is spilling out all over the floor. Ask me how I know. 

All around, very pleased with this bag. My stylist definitely listened to me!

Remember that I'd asked for ponte knit pants? Another bingo!

These are actually more leggings than pants--at this point in my weight loss journey I'd only be wearing these with longer tops, but since 90% of the tops in my closet qualify, that's not an issue. I do think I'll be able to wear them even when I go down another size at some point--the fabric and style will adjust with me for some time to come, which is really helpful. 

These pants are incredibly comfortable, though. The wide waistband doesn't dig and they move and stretch everywhere I go. These may well be my travel-day pants. They'd be so comfortable on the airplane but I'd still look put-together, not like I rolled out of bed to get on the plane. The fabric is really sturdy so they don't feel like they'd get baggy, but I'll only know that after wearing them for a prolonged period of time.

True confessions, though: I did put these on immediately out of the box and wore them the next couple of hours, tags and all! I'd been in "sick day" sweat pants before that, and I have to say these pants were as comfortable to wear! Still, I changed back into my sweats because I'd rather keep these in good shape if I do actually go out in public sometime later this week. I've asked that my stylist send me more like this (not necessarily exactly, but same idea) in other colors in my May Fix, the last one I'll get before vacation. I asked for olive, navy, or black, as those are three colors of non-dress-pants I don't own yet. And yes, I could actually wear these for work, given the right top and shoes. Very versatile!

Unfortunately, my stylist couldn't find a poncho this time (so I've got her still looking for that for May), but she delivered on the jewelry! This is my first jewelry from StitchFix and I love it!

The necklace hangs just slightly lower than my collar bones. I should've put a coin next to it for scale, but each of the floral pieces is about the size of a quarter, maybe a half dollar or so. It's not huge, but it's noticeable. I love it! I have so many things this necklace will go with. It's got just a little bit of subtle sparkle to it, which is perfect. I have to admit, my necklaces tend to be much larger. (I go for "statement pieces," as they're called.) So it's nice having something a little smaller but still funky. This would be great with a tshirt and denim jacket or with a nice dress; again, what's my key word for my wardrobe? "Versatile!"

I also got two more tops, and they're both great.

This first one has sleeves that are slightly longer than 3/4 length, and it hangs just about mid-hip. It's not a high-lo top but the back does cover me enough that I'm comfortable wearing this top with the gray leggings shown earlier. When I first pulled this one out of the box I read the color as a gray-blue but it really is a soft gray. It's the colors in the print that make it read more blue from a distance.

And look--birds!!! I also like that the print has a vaguely Swedish embroidery feel to it, somehow. It's that boho chic vibe that I dig, man. 

The fabric drapes wonderfully and it feels like it should still be cool enough to wear all summer, except on the hottest days. This will be great for vacation. I have a gray pencil skirt I bought at a consignment shop a few weeks ago ($10! Can't beat that!) that I think this would work with if I wanted to dress it up, as well as jeans, the leggings above, my white jeans or white dress pants, or my coral jeans. All sorts of wardrobe combos!

Finally, I can never have enough white/ivory sleeveless tops! And this one has some great detail. (Top picture is front, bottom picture is back.)

It's just a little bit high-lo and hangs long enough that I'd be comfortable wearing it over the gray leggings above. The front has a nice keyhole detail, and the back has a split towards the bottom that gives it nice movement. Overall, it just hangs and flows beautifully. And I love the lace! It's more boho than girlie, which is perfect for me. 

This will also do well for work because the keyhole isn't too low and the shoulders are wide enough to hide bra straps. Plus, I can wear it alone or as part of my usual "uniform" with cardigans as it'll go with several that I own. 

All-in-all, this Fix was a definite win. Yippee!!! 

I want to say thank you to someone who subscribed to StitchFix using my referral link as you helped make this box even more affordable for me. If anyone else is interested in checking StitchFix out, here's my link. Thank you so much!

Tea Tuesday--First Try of Matcha

First of all, thanks to Jaye of artquiltmaker.com for sending me a gift certificate to one of her favorite tea purveyors, Adagio Teas. I've made my purchase and will let you know!

I'd planned on doing chocolate teas this week but when my friend Lori said she was baking matcha scones on Sunday, I decided to switch things up. That means I had to run out and buy some matcha because I've never had it before! 

I'm not sure this is a fair review, then, so be on the lookout for more matcha later. Wegmans has a pretty good tea section but my particular Wegmans only had two matchas, and they seemed like pretty much exactly the same thing. I chose the Rishi Matcha--not for any particular reason, really. 

I know enough from reading up about matcha tea that using a tea bag version probably isn't the "real" matcha experience. Still, since I wasn't sure if I would be a liker or a hater, I didn't want to extend my search to find a powdered version to mix right into my water for the appropriate frothy drink, so I went with the tea bags to start.

Not much flavor, really. I followed the directions on the box exactly: 170 degree water, steep for 2 minutes. My electric kettle has a temperature setting on it so I got exactly 170 degree water, and I timed the steeping.

Now, that all being said: I didn't hate. So I'll be putting matcha on my list for my next online tea order, I think. It seems to mostly come in flavored versions, so perhaps the fact that mine didn't have much flavor on its own is typical, thus tea purveyors using it in a lot of blends.

For those of you unfamiliar with matcha, it's a Japanese green tea with high caffeine content. Because you're supposed to actually mix the tea into your water (rather than steeping it in a bag), you're drinking the entire leaf and therefore getting more nutritional benefit. Matchasource.com says that drinking one cup of matcha tea equals the nutritional benefits of 10 cups of Japanese green tea. In fact, according to that website, matcha tea is basically the cure for whatever ails ya. I always take grandiose claims with a grain of salt and, frankly, I don't drink tea to boost my immune system. I drink it because I like it. And with the amount of tea I've been drinking the last several months and the fact that I've still been sick more than I've been healthy lately, clearly the whole "boost your immune system" claim is arguable. 

Still n' all, tea is better for me than sody-pop and lots of other beverages I could be drinking, so heat me up another cuppa!

Book Recommendation

I can't resist matching Japanese tea with some Japanese-inspired quilting. 

I don't actually own this book, but it's been on my wish list forever. I fell in love with the Japanese taupe quilt trend when it first hit the U.S. years ago--probably the very early 2000s. I find the colors fascinating. In fact, when I was hand-dyeing, my favorite colors to play with are these weird, murky earth-tones. There's something very soothing and natural feeling about them.

So, although I can't speak with any authority as to whether this book is well done, I can highly recommend the concept!

I did make one quilt inspired by Japanese taupes; I started collecting the fabrics when they were first popular, then I used them in a block of the month our guild was doing back in 2008. I finally finished piecing the quilt at a retreat last year. It's still a UFO, though, as I've not quilted it yet. I had a good time trying to balance all the variations on "taupe"--it can lean towards green or purple. And I found the perfect border fabric! 

Have you made a taupe quilt? 

And now for snackies...

Lori has whipped up some matcha lime coconut scones! Don't these just look delicious? Find her recipe (and book review) here!

Making It Monday

Due to being felled by yet another chest cold (or, perhaps, the first one never really went away; or, perhaps, it's the worst and earliest allergy season ever--I have no idea), I've not felt up to doing much. So this is all I have to show for my embroidery this week...

It seems appropriate that I work on this block in my Halloween BOM this week before Easter....

Shoe Saturday: Trunk Club

Tee hee. I need to find entertainment in small ways these days, and apparently alliteration is my jam at the moment.

I've mentioned Trunk Club in a previous post. I've decided to use Trunk Club primarily when I'm looking for a particular category of item, such as this month, when I really need to address the shoe issue.

As you may recall, I've got that two-week 30th anniversary vacation coming up the second half of May. My husband loves to spend most of our vacation on the hoof. I'm serious--it's not unusual for us to be on our feet for 8-10 hours a day, packing on the miles. 

I don't want to wear gym sneakers all day every day. I do have a good pair of walking/hiking shoes, but they look like hiking shoes. Good for trails but not exactly the thing for wandering about European cities. It may seem silly but I want to feel like I look at least something approaching "good" when we're on this vacation: nice outfits, nice shoes. However, I still have to be able to walk comfortably all day every day. That being said, I'm not putting style ahead of comfort. I would like to believe I could have both! So I put my Trunk Club stylist Amber on the case. The shoes I got in my first Trunk Club are still my favorite dress shoes (worn 2 or 3 times now and no complaints), so I know she does shoes well! I gave her a long list of criteria: no heels; max heel support; can go with X colors of bottoms; price range, etc. 

The box preview she sent me the first time had four pairs of "urban sneakers," much like my Sperrys. I love my Sperrys and wouldn't mind having another pair similar in a different color, but I also wanted some other options. I removed one of the options she sent and sent her a message asking about espadrilles or other flats. She replaced the one option I'd removed with two others that fit my request. So, yesterday, I got five pairs of shoes to try on in the comfort of my own home!

Ironic, isn't it, that the day I got a shipment of spring/summer walking shoes, I woke up to this outside?

Ugg pull-on sneakers

Comfy, but not quite my style.

Saychelles pull-on sneakers

Nice detail, but don't like pointy toe and the sole bed is too high; they look clunky.

Tom's open-toe espadrilles

Love the look! Still testing comfort level at the toe end (see blog).

Tom's pull-on espadrilles

Keeping--good "bopping around town" shoe. Nothing exciting but comfy!

Tom's Lenox sneaker

Comfy, good detail, but I don't wear much black so I'll save my money for something else and send these back.

You can use the forward/back controls on the gallery to see the shoes. I've captioned the bottom of each image with the brand and a brief comment. (If you're reading this by email, it'll probably drop all the photos directly into the email. If you're on a blog reader, you may have to go to the website to see the gallery.) 

I'm definitely keeping the blue Toms. They're great for casual wear, will go with a lot of stuff in my closet, and I've heard Toms are really comfortable. I'd asked for Toms specifically because I wanted to try them, so I'm happy. I'm still a little on the fence about the open-toed Toms. I absolutely love the way they look. Great summer shoe. They're also really comfortable in all ways with one caution: they have the potential of rubbing painfully across my toes if I'm wearing them all day. I'm wearing them around the house as much as possible during my 5-day "try-on" before I have to return whatever I'm not keeping, to see if that toe opening softens up at all. If any of you have these shoes by Toms, I'd appreciate hearing your experience!

If you're not familiar with Toms shoes, for every shoe you buy they donate a pair to a child in need. Love that!

I'm heading to a local mall with a lot of really good shoe stores this afternoon to try on some other pairs I've seen online. I'm not agin' buying more than two new pairs for this spring/summer. Remember all those Crocs flats I bought last summer? They didn't stand the test of time. Fortunately, I got all of them on sale because I'm now donating every pair, sadly. I did get a lot of wear out of them through the fall but found they were difficult to wear all day on my feet for work--depending on the shoe, they'd get too hot, too smelly (yuck), give me blisters, or start making odd "bodily noises" when I walked. I bought a bunch of socks that go with flats but they didn't help much. I'm keeping one pair of Crocs sandals I had because they're still really comfortable and I only wear them casually, so they're okay. Meanwhile, I'm back in the market for good spring/summer work shoes.

Fight the Funk Friday

Let's have some good news for a change, shall we? I hit my 30 pound loss mark this week. Woot!

Boy, did I need to run this week. It really does help me deal with stress. Any exercise does, really, but the level of tired I am at the end of one of my training runs is particularly useful.

Last week I was discouraged. I had a rough re-entry into running with my group in the 5K training program. I began to worry that I'd lost too much ground being sick this late in the training to make it up again. I even allowed the thought to cross my mind, "Would it be so terrible not to run the April 5k and train for the Color Run in May instead?"

Of course it wouldn't. That's always an option. There's nothing and no one making me do this April 5k.

Except me.

In the process of trying to recover from being sick and trying to figure out why I was still coughing every time I ran even though I was fine the rest of the time, I finally sent a message to my doctor earlier this week. Is it possible I needed a different inhaler? She agreed and has prescribed me a stronger one. So far, it's made a world of difference. My allergies can tend to mess with my lungs, although I've not had problems for years. I keep an (up-to-date) inhaler in my medicine cabinet in case I feel lung nonsense coming on, but I've not had to use one the last few years. This year, though, with all the running outdoors, it hit me like a ton of bricks. So now I have a strong inhaler to use twice a day and my old prescription inhaler still comes with me on runs just in case.  

I also used a different strategy in my group runs this week. I was doing pretty well on my solo runs but the group runs were killing me. I realized I was consistently going much faster on the group runs--a pace I couldn't maintain. So on Wednesday night, I intentionally started in the back of the group so I wouldn't be as tempted to set too fast a pace for myself. Ultimately, I ended up pretty much in the middle of the pack, which is where I'm comfortable being. In fact, my pace was still a little faster than it was on my solo runs but it was maintainable. One of the Fleet Feet mentors stayed right with me to help me pace myself and was giving me great tips as we went. It was a really solid run. Tomorrow morning we do the route of the 5k and we're at 30 second walk/7 minute run. At that point, it's almost going to feel odd to do those walks. 

So here's the life lesson: The tortoise and the hare is a true story. Many times you really do have to go slower in order to finish.

In other related news: It was time to replace my running sneakers. I had really good ones but they were showing their mileage. My planned timeframe for getting new ones got moved forward a bit, though. When I started the 5k training this January, the toes on my left foot quite often got very painful. It wasn't so bad when I was running, but after I finished I'd often be limping my way back to the car. I figured it was tight ligaments or something and was working on stretching. It wasn't helping.

Asics GT-3000

Fleet Feet offers periodic free medical or running consults, so I took advantage of the  "Medical Monday" this week and had a 15 minute consult with a podiatrist. I described my toe pain and the minute she looked at my foot, she said, "I don't even need an X-ray. You've got hallux limitus." In English, "hallux"=big toe, "limitus" is as it sounds. I have a "limited big toe" on my left side. It doesn't bend as far as it should, so when I run, I'm actually rolling sideways off the rest of my toes with every stride. No wonder they were complaining at the end of the run! She recommended the Asics GT-3000, as they're built for this kind of issue. (No, she wasn't there to sell sneakers--the store I was in didn't even carry that one.) Since I knew my old sneakers were getting close to their time limit, I went ahead and ordered new ones now so I'd have time to get used to them before the actual 5k. I got them yesterday and am just wearing them around the house today, since it's a rest day, to get used to them. I'll use them running for the first time tomorrow. So far, so good. I can definitely feel a difference in the way they're structured and hold my toes compared to the old ones, so we'll see how it goes tomorrow. 

By the way, they only came in pink. Good thing that's one of my fave colors. 

Quick Sammy update: He's recovering enough from his surgery now that he's starting to chafe at the restrictions. We have to keep his movement limited for another week. Yikes. Sweet boy--he's trying to be good but he recently realized he can head-butt the chair barricades I have set up to keep him in the family room. I can't leave him there without being right with him, so when I go upstairs to my office I have to close him in the mudroom to keep him confined; he's not allowed to do stairs yet and there's no way he'd stay downstairs with me upstairs unless there's a door between us. One more week, Sammy! Then you can sleep in my office all day again, buddy.

Sammy Update #4

We got the biopsy results last night. His tumor is malignant. We're probably looking at something like three months, unless we choose to do chemo--in which case we might get five to six months but there are complications for that option as well and the nearest place to have it done is a three hour round-trip.

We haven't made a decision yet. For now, we're focusing on getting him recovered from his surgery and back to his normal old goofy self. We have a follow-up appointment with his surgeon next week Thursday in which we'll discuss more fully what possible next steps might be. 

Meanwhile, he is recovering well from his surgery. He's feeling good enough now that he's not keen on his restrictions, but he's still such a good boy. He could easily bulldoze his way past the chairs I've got set up keeping him limited to the family room but he doesn't. He lets me put his cone on with no argument whenever I'm not going to be right at his side to keep an eye on him. He's being okay about being on the leash to do what he needs to do outside even though he sees his tennis balls spotted about the backyard, beckoning him.

He does, however, whine pathetically if I leave the room for any length of time, which is creating some issues with my work life. I have a small laptop I can use for some things but it's difficult to do what I really need to be getting done this week without access to my full computer and large monitor in my office, so Sam and I will need to come to a compromise of some sort. He's also not keen on the heat pack I need to put on his wound four or five times a day. I put one together by stuffing one of my hand-dyed bamboo socks (the only one I have big enough) with rice, knotting the end of it, and microwaving it. I'm careful about the temperature, so I think for him it's mostly the feel of anything up against the incision. The way his wound is situated, I prop it on the floor against the incision while he's laying on his side, but I have to sit on the floor right next to him and hold him down (mostly by petting him but it's a "firm" pet) for 20 minutes to keep him from wiggling away from it. I'd like to say it's a bonding time but we're both tolerating it, at best. We'd both rather be playing with tennis balls, for sure. 

I won't be doing any more full updates like this, but you'll likely still be seeing him pop up on my feed on occasion. I'm anxious to get him well enough that I can take him for walks on the canal on my rest days from my 5k training. I miss having my buddy with me when I'm running the canal, but he wouldn't be up for the pace I'm currently at. But he needs to be able to greet his canal path fan base again.

Tea Tuesday

How's that for a header, eh? 

So y'all can thank Ronni for suggesting this be a regular feature. We'll see how often I actually do it, but the more I thought about it, I thought it could be kinda fun. And my bff/bqf Lori has a food blog and often does recipes for scones and other such tea-related goodies, so we're going to team up! I'll be linking to recipes from her blog, and she made the great idea to also recommend a book--so tea, snackies, and reading. How wonderful!

For this week's post, I've got some more Plum Deluxe goodies for you. If I haven't already convinced you to give them a try, well, we'll see what happens now. And no, really, I'm not on their payroll!

As I mentioned previously, after getting the free samples I went ahead and ordered myself some tea--two flavors, then "Blender's Choice," in which they choose one for me. Additionally, as a thanks for my review on the last tea post, Andy tossed a single-serving sample into my order. 

Self-Care Blend; photo courtesy plumdeluxe.com. 

Andy's gift was the Self-Care Blend (Elderberry/Apricot). Since I opened the package of teas immediately upon getting home from my first session with my personal trainer in three weeks (since I'd been sick) and I was...umm...a bit worn out... and since I had homework and a conference call on the agenda for the night, I decided a little Self-Care was in order.

I brewed myself a cuppa and sat curled up in my living room armchair with my laptop to get my schoolwork done. The first sip? Oh my. The perfect amount of fruitiness--which, in my case, is "not hot-Koolaid, please." The website describes the key to this tea as the balance between the tartness of elderberry and the sweetness of apricot, and they sure did get that balance just right. If you've tried fruity teas before and didn't like them due to the hot-Koolaid effect I mentioned in my earlier post, this one should be bang-on what you'll like. 

I only got one cup-full in the sample, but this is for sure going on my list of to-buys after I work my way through what I already have. 

Portland Rose City Chai; photo courtesy plumdeluxe.com. 

Next up is the Portland Rose City Chai. 

I'm a big fan of Starbucks' Chai Tea Lattes--for a long time, that's been my afternoon decaf choice, as opposed to my morning Peppermint Mocha (high test) choice. However, when I'd tried a plain chai tea in a tea bag from the grocery store (don't recall which brand), I absolutely hated it. So I've assumed the only way I liked chai was with a ton of milk and sugar in it Starbucks-Style. Now that I'm being more careful about eating habits, chai tea lattes don't happen in my world much anymore.

Then my daughter was gifted a chai tea from a local tea place for her birthday, and I took a sip of hers. Delicious. I realized then and there that I didn't dislike all chai tea straight up, just that one I'd had before. So I decided to give Plum Deluxe's chai a shot and boy, am I glad I did. I really enjoy this one. I will say, however, that it's the only tea so far to which I actually add a little fat-free half-and-half: The balance of the chai with the milk is very nice. This chai isn't as hit-your-tongue peppery as Starbucks is, but the flavor of the spices comes through really smoothly. The balance of the spices with the other flavors just make a nice rich, layered flavor. Very tasty.

Breakfast in Bed Black Tea; photo courtesy plumdeluxe.com. 

This next one was the "Blender's Choice"--in other words, I let them just send me whatever they felt like. Let's start by saying the Breakfast in Bed Black Tea is just plain pretty. I almost hated to douse it with hot water, I loved seeing those blue cornflowers so much. Gorgeous. And the smell? Beautiful. The first two parts of taste are sight and smell and this one already has those all wrapped up. 

But the actual taste doesn't disappoint after that set-up, either. It's rich and smooth. The hazelnut makes it deep without being overly nutty and sweet. I'm a fan of that little bit of fruitiness from the blackberries (very low-key and not at all sweet), and there's just a touch of vanilla. 

Fair warning, though--it doesn't pair well with clementines. Although that probably doesn't come up all that often for most people. (As they say, "ask me how I know.) I'm sure it would be quite tasty with pastries, though. But I won't be testing that any time soon. 

House Blend Black Tea; photo courtesy plumdeluxe.com.  

The last tea I got this time was another breakfast tea with the not-as-creative name House Blend. The description of this one is that it's in the style of English and Irish Breakfast teas, and I'm a fan of both of those, so I figured I'd give it a shot. As breakfast teas go, this one is absolutely fine. However, I have to say, the Breakfast in Bed black tea may have spoiled me a bit. I would probably have fallen in love with the House Blend had it been my first, so to speak. Still, it's a good breakfast tea--strong but not bitter, smooth, would be good with a splash of cream, and particularly good with a hot biscuit slathered in jam and clotted cream. 

Not that hot biscuits, jam, or clotted cream play a big part in my life at this point, either. But a girl can dream. And drool.  

That's it for the tea reviews this week--next week I'm going "grocery store" with a couple of my favorites that I pick up at Wegmans.  

On to snackies! 

My friend Lori got inspired by my reference to Chai tea this week and is offering up this recipe: http://lipsmackinggoodness.blogspot.com/2017/04/its-tea-time-with-pumpkin-chai-scones.html. She does fantastic scones--this is a new recipe so I haven't had the chance to try making them yet but they sound delicious! 

And for some fine reading while you're sipping and nibbling?

Why, Marie Bostwick's latest book, of course! I'm in the middle of reading The Promise Girls, her brand-spanking new release (image on left is a link). I won't review the book fully as, obviously, I'm not done reading it yet and I don't want to make any guesses as to where it's going. I can say, however, that Marie's writing style never disappoints. She's got a real gift for characters. I'm enjoying seeing where the story is taking me and getting to know each of the "cast" better with every chapter. There's a bit of a mystery involved (not a who-dunnit but a what's-going-on-here type of mystery), and other little tidbits here and there that keep things moving unpredictably at times, so every time I have to put it down I look forward to the next time I get to pick it up again.

(BTW, Lori has a book review on her post with the scones as well. It's a two-fer!) 

(Amazon links in this post help support my podcast and blog. Plum Deluxe links only support Plum Deluxe. Thank you!)

Sammy Update #3

Sammy's home! I got to pick him up this morning. I took a half day vacation today because I knew the settling-back-in process might take a bit.  

We're supposed to:

1) confine him to a small area of the house for two weeks to keep him from walking much. Since we have an open floor plan on the first floor, I'm having to get creative with chairs. At some point, he'll realize he can barrel right through them but for now he's still feeling run down enough he hasn't shown any interest in trying, as long as I stay within sight, if not right next to him. 

2) not let him do stairs. My home office is on the second floor and if I go up there he'll likely figure out the whole barricade thing to get up to me. So I'm trying to figure out how to work on the kitchen table without setting me back years ergonomically in terms of my neck and shoulder issues that I've been making headway on. 

3) keep him on a leash and minimize his times outside to just "taking care of business." Again, not much of a problem right now while he's still worn out but we finally have spring outside and pretty soon, that'll kick in for him. "There's tennis balls out there, Mom!" 

4) keep the "Elizabethan Collar" (such a high-brow term for the Cone of Shame!) on him whenever he can't be supervised. This will be more of an issue for Spencer (aka Princess Doggie) and the rest of us than Sam, I suspect. 

He did eventually run Spencer to ground so they could say a proper hello.  

Right now, since I'm sitting right next to the Doofus writing this, I've taken it off him so he could get some water and just relax for awhile. We'll see how this goes.  

He's still not quite back to his old self but at least we have him home with us. He's getting lots of love from everyone except Spencer. Right now, she's keeping her distance a little because of the cone and, I suspect, she doesn't like all the vet smells on him. That'll wear off, I'm sure. Sam isn't poking at her too much--he's too sleepy.

We'll get results on the biopsy of the tumor sometime later this week. Fingers crossed... 

Sammy Update #2 and Fight the Funk Friday

I got word this afternoon from the surgeon that Sammy came through his surgery fine. His blood count was low before surgery (it was okay last night) so they had to give him a transfusion and once they got in there, it was clear the tumor had started bleeding again. That means its a very good thing we bumped up the surgery from next Tuesday, otherwise this would've been a very different weekend.

Sammy's last experience with the Cone of Shame. He tends to run into walls with it.

There were no obvious signs of malignancy yet--his liver looked good, which was their greatest concern--but we won't know for sure until the biopsy results are in next week. I'm allowing myself to be cautiously optimistic, though. They project that he'll be able to come home Monday, and yes, he'll definitely be wearing the Cone of Shame. He just loves that thing so much. 

Right now, I can breathe a sigh of relief that he's through the surgery and on the road to recovery...whatever that recovery may mean. Thanks again, all, for your well-wishes over the last 24 hours. I've really appreciated them and will be sure to share them all with Sammy once he's home.

I'm fighting the funk as best I can this week. I've had two "potato chip incidents" (one yesterday, one today) with all the stress with Sammy, but I've managed to stop myself before going too much out of control and have switched to tea just to keep my hands and mouth busy. 

I was down 8/10 of a pound this week. With last week's much smaller loss, the two weeks together mean I'm finally just about back to where I was right before I got sick and stopped being active for awhile. By all rights, that downward trend should now continue, potato chip incidents notwithstanding.

I had my first run back with my 5k training group Wednesday night. I've been training on my own to work my way back up from being sick, but the week before last it was bitter cold and/or pouring buckets both times we had our scheduled group runs and I didn't think it was the best idea to do that so soon after being sick. This Wednesday was in the 50s, beautifully sunny, and just a light breeze--perfect running weather. Wednesday was our first night at 2 minute walk/5 minute run intervals (for a total of about 45 minutes). My husband was out of town so I was on my own, but I decided that might make it easier for me to stay in the middle of the pack. However, somehow, I still ended up at the front of the pack as we all sorted ourselves out after doing our warm-up. That meant I really struggled with speed. The front of the pack is where the faster runners like to start out--so the fact I ended up with them meant my pacing was all off. I would keep thinking to myself, "Slow down! Slow down!" but then I'd see the runners in front and hear runners behind me and would naturally start speeding up again--meanwhile feeling like I was running slow, comparatively speaking. I did fine the first two intervals, but by the third one my lungs were filling up and I was starting to struggle.

Running on my own on the canal path, missing my Doofus in the process. Even if he were healthy, he's not in good enough post-winter shape to run with me at the distances I'm going. He'll be my "rest day" walking buddy instead.

Did I mention, by the way, that we're now suddenly starting allergy season? And I've been having to use an inhaler? When I was training on my own, I had one really, really, REALLY bad run where my lungs were aching and I felt like I had leaden legs slogging through mud by the second half of the run. I was beating myself up for being so out of shape until I was coughing all the way home and realized I felt like I did during my worst parts of allergy season when I need an inhaler. I did some reading up and picked up the tip that I should be using my inhaler before I run, not waiting until after. Go figure. I did that the next day and had a much better time of it.

Still, Wednesday night, I hit the inhaler a couple of times before and during running and I still couldn't knock it out. I ended up walking parts of each of the 5 minute run intervals for the rest of the run. I was frustrated with myself until we got back to the store and were doing our stretches--RunKeeper sent me a congratulatory badge for "fastest 5k ever!" No no no no! I'm probably the only one who ever thought getting "fastest" was a bad thing. I knew that meant my pace was off. I got home and looked at my stats on RunKeeper--sure enough, I was running at a pace that was a minute or two faster than my normal on-my-own runs. I'm not at the point where I need to be worrying about speed right now--I need to find a pace comfortable for me to be able to run the whole thing without killing myself. Which means slower. A lot slower than I was apparently running Wednesday.

Thursday was a rest day, and today may end up being one as I have some school stuff I need to knock out today and potentially a family thing tonight. Tomorrow morning we're back with the running group (and DH is with me this time), and we're actually going to be running the course of the 5k we're doing at the end of April. My strategy this time is to start out at the back of the pack. I'm going to let a whole lot of people start, and then find my niche in the crowd and do my best to stay there, even if it feels like I'm running slower than I'd naturally be inclined to run. Maybe that way I'll get through all those intervals without wanting to curl up on the side of the road and cry.

I refuse to give up. 

Sammy Update #1

It's Thursday night and I ate too many potato chips when I got home from the animal hospital. Still fighting a little of that self-indulgent stress eating thing.

We've left Sammy at the hospital overnight and he'll be having surgery in the morning.  

The ultrasound didn't show any additional tumors, which is good although still inconclusive as any malignancy may just not be big enough yet to show up on an ultrasound. However, it did indicate that his splenic tumor has already bled twice. A third time would most likely be fatal (and, I imagine, given the progression, would happen within a couple of weeks). So we had some decisions to make.

Option 1: Have surgery and have them remove the spleen and biopsy the tumor to find out if its benign or malignant. If it's benign, great. We've solved the problem. If it's malignant, there's nothing to be done and he'd probably have about two months (four on the outside).

Option 2: Don't have surgery, assuming it's more likely malignant, and just bide our time until it either bleeds out again or metastasizes.  

We had them do a chest X-ray just to see if there was any obvious malignancy that wasn't covered by the ultrasound. Nope--everything was clear. His blood work is all great. So, we've opted for the surgery and we're praying the good news continues and he falls into the roughly 30% of cases in which its benign.  

He'll likely have surgery in the morning, and they'll keep him there for a few days of recovery, so we probably won't see him again until Monday. They made sure a few times that they informed us of the risks of anesthesiology and I just kept thinking, "At this point, this whole thing is a risk and that one is the least of my worries."  

We won't know the results of the biopsy for several days, so it's unlikely the surgery itself will give us a whole lot more information. I'll post another update tomorrow after we hear from the surgeon and I have any more to share.  

Thank you to all the #twilters on Twitter and Instagram who are sending the Doofus your good wishes--it means a lot!