A banner day

Yesterday was quite the day here. All sorts of new stuff came in! I finally got my main computer back a little more than a week ago, all fresh and ready to go. They did have to remove absolutely everything, and reboot it all from scratch. Thank goodness I saved all of my files. So to really make it run better, I also bought a new RAM card, and a new wireless router. Installed the new router yesterday and, yay, the laptop now gets a nice strong, consistent signal out to the guesthouse. Considering we still have a couple of weeks to go on the kitchen remodel, and my older son seems to really like being out there, it was time to upgrade the router to accommodate that need.

But the really big stuff that happened yesterday was the installation of our new kitchen window and the sliding glass door!!! No more plywood boards at night! Take a look --



As you can see in the window, there is a passthrough so I can now hand things out to those outside directly from the kitchen.

It has been raining here for the past few days, and in fact, is raining hard right now as I type this. I haven't had much opportunity to work out at all for a week between the kitchen stuff, studying for my final exam (which was on Monday), playing catch-up with all the things I needed to do, and getting ready for Christmas. On top of all of that, I've been working on the upcoming racewalking clinic that I'm hosting at the end of January. So far, participant interest has been pretty high and registrations are coming in. I expect that after New Year's and then again after the Rock n' Roll marathon, there will be a bit of a surge in registrations as in previous years. It will be lots of fun to have all those participants at my home, and I'll certainly enjoy entertaining in my new kitchen!

OK, off to get the kids ready for school and me, ready to workout. Rain or no rain, I'm walkin'!

Couple of updates on the house

Here are some pics of some of the new and nifty stuff happening with the remodel.


This is the Solatube in the pantry. It will also have a light in the tube for nighttime use, however, in this picture, that is pure sunlight alone that you see. These are a bit pricey but are great for enclosed rooms like our pantry, and they are really nice looking!


This is the new closet opening, now near the front door rather than around the corner in the hallway. Finally, a normally functioning coat closet that you can actually get into!

Brushing the dust off

Hello everyone! It's been a while and I still haven't gotten the main computer back, but I've managed to steal a few hours on the laptop. Things have been busy here at the Kneedle house!

After spending fruitless hours attempting to clean up the computer, we've had to resign to the fact that it was rather hopeless. So, I managed to save all of my important files from it, and it's been sent to the cleaners to be cleared of everything. And yes, I do mean everything, including the operating system. I was, thankfully, wise enough to save all of the disks that came with it back when I bought it, which included a complete re-boot disk that I've never had to open. So long as that goes well, I should have a running computer of my own again within a week. If things don't go well, I'll be buying a whole new computer. Either way I should be back to blogging regularly within another 2 weeks or so. Yay!

On other notes, we've also been extraordinarily busy now that, at long last, the kitchen remodel has begun! They started this past Monday, and it will be a month or so by the time it's all done. Please take a look-see at my Flickr page for the dramatic pictures. It really is something to behold -- especially the large hole in my wall leading to the backyard! We have been relegated to preparing and eating our meals in the (dust-free) guesthouse. I'm not complaining at all, I can't imagine trying to live completely in the house while all of this is going on. So my daily routine, aside from school work and trying to get in decent workouts, include covering up everything that I can with sheets and tarps to keep the dust accumulation to a minimum. And then dusting off the dust every day so we can function in the few rooms of the house that aren't completely mangled.

Other than that, workouts and knitting still consume a large part of my day. I've managed to keep a regular, albeit still very light, workout schedule. Time to ramp things up and beef up the weekly mileage, and add in some speed workouts.

Knitting wise, I recently worked up a linen stitch scarflet for my mom for Christmas,with matching fingerless mitts in mmmmmmmmalabrigo. This yarn is sooo yummy! I've also picked back up some Retro Rib socks I started in July. I'm almost to the heel flap on sock #2!! Yay, and not a minute too soon as these are destined to be my brother's Christmas present. I've yet to start the legwarmers for my nephew, perhaps this weekend if I finish off those socks.

Well that's it for now. Hope you enjoy some pics until I can blog again in a week or so!

The crash

My main computer has become infected with a virus and I've been relegated to the son's laptop, when I can wrench it out of his hands! Not really, but I will have little time to blog until we get a new 'puter up and running that doesn't need to be shared by everyone in the house.

Have a Happy Thanksgiving everyone (in the US)! I'll be back as soon as I can.

Veteran's Day

Happy Veteran's Day! Enjoy the day off if you have it, and let's not forget to thank our veterans! Thank you!

It's been a whirlwind week for me. First the elections last Tuesday, and then trying to continue in the groove that is life.

I managed to get a couple of decent workouts last week, one of which I already posted about at the track at the University. I also made it out one morning for a quick but good run one morning. This run, in fairly cold temps (around 49) worked out my lungs a bit. By the time I was finished, I was wheezing pretty heavily and coughing a lot. BUT, that completely went away within a few hours, which is great news. I'll try to work in another workout like that later this week. I suspect results will be the same for a while, but I'm looking for improvements over time. Went out for an easy 3 miles yesterday at the track again. It was a bright, sunny, but windy, kinda cold morning, even at 9am. And still, no one else using the track the whole time I was there. Weird.

I have another exam on Friday, so I'll be busy prepping for that for most of this week. I've thankfully been able to knit a bit more regularly again, as I continue to plug along on my MIL's socks. I'm on the foot portion of sock #1, and since it's all stockinette in the round, it's going very quickly. My Bunko Bucket Bag was a hit at bunko, it even got stolen from the original giftee, which is such a compliment to me!

Today, my kiddos are home from school for Veteran's Day, but it's not really a true vacation day since we all have lots to do. We will however, attempt to catch the city's parade.

Have a great week everyone!

Onward!

I Voted

for 'That One', that won! Congratulations to President-Elect Obama, and to Senator McCain for, by far, the most exciting election in my lifetime.

A couple of workouts

I'm loving this extra free time! I was able to get a bunch of stuff done this weekend that I'd been putting off for a while (mostly cleaning, nothing exciting unfortunately), and still had time to study and knit!

But first, to get to the title of my post. I went out last Thursday again for a double header workout. First, I ran 2 miles before getting the kiddos off to school, then after they were gone, went out again for 3 miles racewalking, this time no backpack! I didn't workout over the weekend, but, this morning I did go to the track at ASU that I mentioned in my previous post. It was (and has been for the past several days) a bit warmer than it should be for this time of year, but I plodded out 3 miles in the morning sunshine. The track is made of some material I have not seen before. It doesn't look new so I don't think it's some latest and greatest material. It reminded me of Berber carpeting! Blobs of rubber rather than a uniform looking surface. It was smooth and worked fine for my workout, I'm just rather curious as to what it was! Surprisingly, I had the track all to myself for most of my workout. There were a couple of ASU track girls there doing 100m sprints when I arrived, but they departed right after I got there. Then there was no one. I thought this really odd since ASU is one of the biggest (if not the biggest in terms of student population) universities in the country. How could there be no one else out of a student body of like 70k that would be working out?? Maybe they all take the scenic route along the lake? Probably.
Anyway, again, my times were not great, averaging right around 12mpm. I think I'll start adding in speed work next week as my legs aren't fazed by these 3 or 5 milers. It's time to test out the lungs again, something I haven't done since before getting ill last January. I'm still very susceptible to having lung problems due to the Valley Fever, so I plan on taking on speed work cautiously. I'll let you know how it goes.

On a final note, don't forget to VOTE tomorrow!!!!

Onward!