Day off being a Mom

Judy called yesterday and asked if Kaylee was available. We told her she had camp in the morning but was welcome to pick her up from camp for the rest of the day.

So suddenly, I dropped Kaylee off at 8:30 this morning and was left with a WHOLE DAY to myself. I was overwhelmed with time.

What did I do?

I came home and worked briefly on the jumps I'm making and finished drilling holes and sanded down the edges.

Then I went inside and took a nap. It was glorious. I'm still sick with a cold so while this seems like a lazy way to go, it honestly was one of the few things I can do to get better thanks to the pregnancy. OTC meds are not allowed in 1st and 3rd trimesters (like Nyquil) so I've been managing with tea, vitamin c cough drops, steam and sleep. I woke up right around noon, noted no one had called my phone in a panic regarding Kaylee's pick up and went to go make lunch.

After lunch, during which I watched some Netflix, I headed downstairs and troubleshot the printer, getting it back onto the wireless, at which point the two print jobs that were queued to it started printing. While that worked, slowly, I went to my craft corner and started organizing more.

My sewing machine is now set up and ready for stuff to be made! I've got a couple things in the docket that I've been wanting to make and now that I have a good workspace for that, I can move on it!

I also practiced my viola. I ended up getting a short gig to play at a backyard wedding. I'm getting $30 for 45 minutes of my time. I did end up buying $20 worth of sheet music but if I continue to do small stuff it'll be negligible now that I have the physical music. The gig is Friday evening. I'm planning to go and do my best.

The pregnancy is going well. I've really only had some crazy exhaustion, minor nausea, no throwing up, which is about par for the course and similar to my last pregnancy with Kaylee. Talking about all that is really its own entry, so I'll stop there for now.

Sewing Project list ahoy!
1. Training underwear for Kaylee! We're night training now, and while she hasn't had an accident, these underwear have a little bit of extra absorbtion in the crotch. They seem simple and are a pattern written by a friend, so I promised to try it out.
2. Peg Legs pattern. These are a legging pattern that I got for free through a FB group (legitimately free, btw, I paid for other patterns that I mention later) I want to try and modify them to make my own riding pants. I'm not sure I found the right fabric at Joann's though. I did order sample fabrics from Seattle Fabrics because they specifically carry equestrian breech and riding tight fabric.
3. The ears for my crocheted covers. I want to use a netting for better air flow and want to experiment. Again, I have the fabric already, I just needed my machine set up!

Sanilac Petroglyphs and Port Crescent State Park

Not in chronological order or anything, but whatevs.  The day before my Mom came into town, Eric and I decided that we were Going Out. I found a state park that had a short hiking trail and some petroglyphs and then we were culminating by driving to the tip of the thumb of Michigan to another state park to go to the beach with Kaylee. It wasn't going to be a particularly hot day, but Kaylee loves digging in the sand so I figured it would work out either way.

Kaylee was a Threenager to the fullest that day, it was awful, but we persevered and did have some fun.

Lots of pictures to follow!

Mackinac Island Day Trip 8/14

While my Mom was in town last week, Eric expressed a desire for us to take a day and go explore, leaving Kaylee with Nana. I was excited because I miss Washington for the beautiful scenery we had so close to us that we could explore. All I had seen of Michigan, really, was the drive from the Detroit airport to Algonac, which included run down Detroit. I was beginning to explore more of the state but the really good stuff isn't close, it takes a decent drive to get to. Eric definitely wanted to show me Mackinac, so that was the plan.

We left super early Friday morning to start the drive north. Google estimated about 3.5 hours drive time to get to the ferry in Mackinac City. Mackinac Island itself is a state park. The whole island. Additionally, motorized vehicles are prohibited.  You can get around on foot, by bike or by horse! My kind of island!

17 months....

It's been 17 months since we decided we wanted to expand our family by 1.  17. I've been diagnosed with PCOS. Put on metformin and generally have found that sex can be an awful chore when you're crazy about having it at the right time.

Awesome sunset last night!

Goals Update

In addition to trying to conceive I've also been focused on losing weight. It's obviously a good idea in general and can help with fertility. About three months ago I started tracking my calories on MyFitnessPal. I set my goal at 2 lb/week loss and stated that I was sedentary. It gave me a daily goal of 1500 calories.

Since then, I've nearly lost 20 lb! I added in bike riding, horse riding (of course), Daily Burn cardio, and now that we're moved in, Couch to 5K (C25K). I'm on week 2 of C25k. I'm not specifically limiting myself on food, except for portions, so I'm able to treat myself once in a while so long as my calories allow for it.

Previously, I had set rewards for myself for every 20lb of weight loss. I'm revisiting that here since I'm at an award point!

20lb lost:  Go crazy purple with my hair

40 lb lost: BtB tattoo of a paper airplane (previously this was a new piercing but I'm not as thrilled as I once was )

60 lb lost: This was previously new geek shirts, but I might change it

80 lb lost:   Cross country safety vest

100lb lost: TALL BOOTS!!!!

120 lb lost: A SUPER expensive pair of show breeches, like pikeurs, or something, I dunno

140 lb lost: TBD.  I'm not sure I could get here. This would put me at 140 lb lost and I would be half the person I was, quite literally. Maybe plastic surgery to remove loose skin?


Obviously a lot of my goals are horse oriented, and not without reason. It's nearly impossible to be a fat girl in an english show world. In fact, there is no way I could even compete in cross country right now because they require competitors to wear safety vests not only to compete but also to school. This is different from when I was growing up when it was just suggested. I've got to slim down to be safe and be healthier for my horse.


So yeah, expect purple hair pictures in a bit. I still need to find a place to do it, but I'm definitely doing it.

24 facts Meme!

If you would like to participate, comment and I'll give you a random number of facts that you then share! Dom gave me 24 :)

1. I wanted to be a scientist since middle school and was ready to specialize right then and there
2. My high school biology teacher nearly turned me off science forever if not for a special after school program I took in biomedical engineering which led to...
3. I attended the inaugral year of a 1/2 day magnet school that focused on math and science, GHAMAS (Greater Hartford Academy of Math and Science) but I was the second graduating class
4. I've performed ovariectomies on rats (at GHAMAS) 
5. I once stunk up the entire magnet school, both the math and science AND performing arts side in a reproductive biology project that went totally wrong when all our sea urchins died.
6. I took a snake over to the performing arts side specifically to scare all the arts majors
7. I hated Connecticut, where I grew up, and traveled the furthest out of my entire graduating class to go to college in Florida
8. I met Eric because I had just broken up with a boygirlfriend and was required to bring a date to my fledgling local sorority formal so we could meet the minimum head count for our banquet hall. He was the third person I asked.
9. I would trade manpower for help with my undergraduate research project with a crazy grad student named Matt.
10. Matt and I once canoed up a creek from the Indian River Lagoon, caught a baby alligator, kept it in a tackle box and then portaged the canoe from where it met campus a mile away to the fish biology building. I still made it to class on time, albeit covered in grime and muck.
11. I was on the crew team in college for one semester and dropped out due to the time commitment
12. I'm a certified SCUBA diver.
13. I spent 6 weeks in Australia and 3 days in New Zealand in the summer of 2005
14. I was a competitive viola player in high school in that I competed for spots on regional, statewide and New England youth orchestras and regularly was a part of them.
15. I can also passably play the violin, less passably the piano
16. I love to sing and went out of my way in high school to take both orchestra and chorus while also attending the magnet school
17. I have seen Phantom of the Opera off broadway 6 times
18. I worked at Sears to raise money to go to Australia.
19. On a whim I asked for a job when I toured the Space Life Sciences Lab at Kennedy Space Center while considering grad school options. Wayne said yes and I worked part time as a lab tech at KSC SLSL my last semester of college and then full time once summer started.
20. I hated living in Gainesville.
21. I loved the last place Eric and I lived in Florida, Port St. John, a 2 bedroom 1st floor condo right on the lagoon. I could wake up and see dolphins or an alligator swim by and we never needed to go anywhere for rocket and shuttle launches.
22. I prepped pieces of an experiment that flew on the International Space Station as part of a project with the European Space Agency.
23. NASA paid for me to go to Spain and attend a summer school in Astrobiology. I learned more spanish in the 2 weeks I was there than the semester I took in middle school.
24. After grad school I worked for a local zoo on a conservation project where I got to go to scrubland and identify Scrub Jays. I also cared for breeding population of beach mice and was watched by giraffes every time I clocked in.

I'm so frustrated

This is conceiving stuff, so pass it on by if you don't want to listen to me feel sorry for myself. 

Pictures from Today

I can't find my point and shoot, which is annoying, but I do still have my SLR for pictures and I got some nice ones of all the critters today.

These are aquatic worms that live in the stream running through our property. They are red and wiggle in the water. I spent about 10 minutes laying on the bridge watching them and a snail. 

I was bringing dinner to the critters. Kaylee helped.

See? Helping. 

Saffron in front and Arwen behind.

Sweet Arwen's face

Saffron

Gwyn

One of the apple trees has a robin's nest in it. I finally have good photos of the gorgeous eggs.

Yaaaay Internet!

A hiatus from posting occurred as we transitioned from my mother in law's house to our new place. And then had to wait for internet to arrive, which it did, today. HUZZAH!

So suffice it to say I have a lot to catch up on with writing but I can't WAIT to share everything that's going on. I feel like I'm in a good place right now.


Here's some teaser photos!