The post Pray for War appeared first on Shadowed Beauty.

This idea has taken hold of me this week as I try to remotivate myself in the workout area and in other general aspects of life (like being social). If you want something done, you can’t expect someone else to do it for you to make it happen. You have to run after it, pin it down, make it happen. Despite trying to hack up a lung every other item from recovering from last weeks upper respiratory infection, I have worked out almost every single day this week. Today is still to be seen, but something will occur or happen, what will occur, I’m not sure yet. I went a head and joined coworkers for a lunch time routine that has been effective in working.

We’ve been doing Jillian Michael’s 90-day program. The workouts are good, they target compound body movements and are only 30 minutes long (way short for a workout since I’m use to pushing it for 45 to 60 minutes, but better than nothing). There are a couple of things that irritate me about Jillian. STOP BLUBBERING. I think she talks to hear herself speak. And I realize, especially for the beginner workouts, that it is how she’s giving beginners a chance to catch their breath between exercises, but gwad damn, tell us to go already so we can be done! Also, if she calls the guy with the nicely chiselled abs Precious again, I might puke. Compared to Shawn T., she’s never out of breath and doesn’t look like she’s sweating! So, Insanity is refreshing because those helping to film the workouts, actually struggle with the workouts and Shawn is constantly doing the work to the point of being out of breath and dripping in sweat. (This is probably why I like the insanity workouts for the refreshing difference between typical workout videos).

Its been nice though to get together with people and sweat it out together. That’s the one plus side to doing this. I plan on continuing and will be starting to double up since I’m going to restart my running program next week. Nothing heavy, I just want to make sure I get a full hour of working out even if it’s split up. To do this, I’m going to start keeping track of pollen forecasts (its still been medium to high). On high days, I’ll probably do an insanity workout, but on medium or lower, shoes will be hitting the asphalt with me in them. I seriously miss my running.

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Lots of things going on, I suppose. We’ve got some more movement on our future at least. Its looking like a six month timeline approximately. Joe goes to a military board tomorrow and then things should progress steadily forward from there. I’m not sure of where we’ll be off to next yet, but when I know, I’ll probably be writing with joy (or painful anticipation) of what’s to come.

Last weekend, which I think is what kicked off my head cold started with allergies, we did Touch A Truck where kids got to climb into a bunch of different types of trucks. Joe volunteered his blazer as part of an off road group he’s recently joined. We hadn’t even parked and gotten the vehicle set up before kids were crawling all over it. Several were disappointed that the horn didn’t work (he has it disabled). But what I found the most amusing was the constant, ‘look ma! it’s a monster truck!’. Joe’s truck is big, but I wouldn’t classify it as a monster truck. But I guess if you’re no taller than 3-foot, it would seem like a monster truck. Perception, right?

Testing out jetpack plugin’s gallery mosaic capabilities. I think I’m in love. I also bought a new camera. Found an open box deal that I couldn’t pass up. I’ve been wanting a Sony Alpha for a very long time. It works wonderfully in low light conditions which has been a bane for me with my olympus model. I haven’t decided what I will do with my other camera. I want to actually keep it, but Joe thinks I should sell it. We’ll see.

The rest of the week, well we know how that went down. I ended up out of work from Tuesday on and have slept more hours than a person probably should. Currently resisting the urge to take a nap because I need to get back on a regularly programmed schedule. I was hoping I would be able to go run tomorrow, but I think I’m going to walk in the morning to get back into the habit and won’t push it to hard. I know Star would prefer to walk rather than run. So, I’ll be taking the one day at a time approach.

The post Alive and Kicking appeared first on Shadowed Beauty.

Story of my life.

I’m feeling better. Just all congested and in some discomfort from the congestion. Joe is gone for the night for work, so I can snore as loud as I want, here shortly, when I crash and go to sleep.

The post Blossom appeared first on Shadowed Beauty.

I had to reset my database for this website. There were features that were acting off for whatever reason (like I couldn’t simply embed a youtube video without a plugin and for some reason things were loading super slow). I have all the old posts and will be adding them back into here slowly. So if you see the maintenance page splash up, don’t be surprised.

Joe teased me about that earlier this week too. But things seem to be working better. If you notice anything off, let me know.

The post So Sick appeared first on Shadowed Beauty.

I’m really digging this song. And for kicks, here’s a Lindsey Stirling cover, which I also like.

The post Imagine Dragons appeared first on Shadowed Beauty.

Her previous incarnations follow:

I like her update. I was aiming to give her a more feminine look and softer curves or at least around the face. I have a few more pieces to do with her, so stay tuned for more.

The post Starowl Redux appeared first on Shadowed Beauty.

Good question. And every time this question comes up during this blog week, I say the usual things and those particular things? Never actually get accomplished! So I’m debating if setting goals this time around is a brilliant or smart idea for me. Sure I have things I want to attempt, plenty of things, actually, to attempt. Like Broomstick Lace.

Isn’t it gorgeous? I feel both intimidated by it and drawn to it at the same time. What else am I trying to push myself to do? Actually release amigurumi patterns. I have several worked up, but am too scared to put them up afraid that I missed that one thing (the perfectionistic engineer in me is nervous). Oh and to actually expand out to nice fancy type fibers to use in my designs. I get skittish when I see high prices on things, but having picked up some gorgeous blue patterned sock yarn (this one the hari hari color), I don’t know if I will ever go back to the super cheap yarn. I know, it may not seem a lot to some of you, but for me blowing more than $4 on a skein or a hank of yarn is an amazing thing. S

o, yes, I’ve already shoved myself out of my comfort zone… and now I really want to just leap the cliff and do all kinds of crazy things. But we’ll have to wait until next year to see if this actually happens

The post Looking Forward appeared first on Shadowed Beauty.

My ergonomic hooks.

I’ve written about this before on other entries throughout the life of this blog about my repetitive wrist injury (that’s never been specifically diagnosed as carpal tunnel or as tendinitis). I honestly thought, after I had gotten my injury, that I was going to have to give up crafting altogether, especially crochet. Finding hooks that actually help with my condition is like a breath of fresh air. It forces me to hold the hook different and to keep a looser hand on the yarn I hold on too. I will still crochet with other hooks if I don’t have a specific size, but I prefer these. I’m also a lot slower and have to take more breaks if I use other hooks.

Its one of those conditions I’ve learned to deal with, so anything that helps relieve the stress and keep me doing a craft I love, then yay!

So to end this, thought I would share this link to common stretches and exercises I do with my hands/wrists to keep them limber.

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Multicolored variations seem to be the yarns I favored this year. And they seem to be of pink and purple hues, so I must be going through a girly phase. Will that change? It could. My mood is unpredictable, like the weather. As far as what’s actually in my stash, I have a variety of colors. Unless it’s an item for myself, I really don’t go to any particular color because its project dependent. I keep a ton of standard colors because of my love for amigurumi. Some of my projects since the last Knitting and Crochet Week:

Okay, so pinks and blues now that I review my projects. But, I seriously have a variety of colors in the stash:

Of course, my color preferences is probably a good reflection of my personal wardrobe.

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