August 22, 2011

Improvised cross-training

Yesterday, I had 60 minutes of cross-training on the schedule, so I decided to ride my bike. I got about 15 minutes into the ride when the chain kept making a clanking/grinding noise, like it was trying to shift gears or something. I went home and checked it out--not that I know anything about bikes--and when I turned the pedals, the chain was skipping back and fourth between two gears. I have no idea why. So I'll have to take it to the bike shop today.

Since I couldn't ride the bike, and I had only done 20 minutes of cross-training, I decided to do incline walking on the dreadmill. I didn't do anything too hard--gradually increased the speed and the incline for 40 minutes. Today I have my "long" run, which is only 5 miles right now.


Some of you mentioned that I always seem to find good deals at garage sales. It's true--and I learned from my mom how to find them! She's a very serious garage saler ;)  To find the best deals, you should always go on the FIRST day of the sale, as early as possible. If the sale starts Friday, and you go on Saturday, you probably won't find much. If the sale starts Saturday at 9 AM, get there at 8 AM while they're setting up, and you'll get first pick.

Also, if something isn't marked with a price, don't ask, "How much is this?" Instead, ask, "This isn't marked with a price. Will you take $1 for it?" or whatever price you want to offer. I almost ALWAYS bargain the prices, too. If something is marked $5, I'll say, "Will you take $3 for this?" Most of the time, people just want to get rid of stuff and they say yes. Sometimes, they say no. It never hurts to ask!

I like to check out whoever is running the sale, too. I love when I see a teenage daughter, because I know I'll score some awesome clothes. Teenage girls insist on wearing name brands, and of course they never wear anything twice ;)  It definitely helps that I've lost weight too. As a size 24W, I never found clothes at garage sales. Now, I find waaay too many!


I decided to go through my craft stuff yesterday and get rid of the majority of it. I had a TON of yarn... check this out:
Those 5 containers took up ALL the space underneath my bed. So I went through it all yesterday, kept the "good" stuff, and bagged up the rest to get rid of. I kept just one container, and the rest of the yarn was stuffed into three garbage bags. It's kind of freeing to get rid of that much stuff! I also went through my box of fabric and cut up my boys' sports t-shirts (soccer, t-ball) to make a quilt for each of them. Eli came in just as I was finishing the cutting of the shirts, and he FLIPPED THE FUCK OUT. Screamed and threw a huge tantrum, because he loved his shirts, and all that. I'm apparently the meanest mom in the world because I cut his shirts to make him a quilt.  Hopefully he forgets about it today!


My cats have been cracking me up lately...
Paolo showing off his flexibility

Estelle thinks I can't see her when she sits there

Phoebe loves rolling around in the grass

Chandler always sleeps with his paw over his eyes


What are some funny habits your pets have?  Estelle is the funniest cat EVER. She sounds like an elephant in a china shop when she runs around the house, because she's so clumsy. She loves to play fetch--usually in the middle of the night. She'll bring me a toy (with a bell in it, of course, so it wakes me up) and then annoys me until I throw it for her. She retrieves it and does it over and over about 10-15 times until she's satisfied. She also likes to hide in places where she thinks we can't see her. I've been collecting pictures of her doing this to make a "Where's Estelle?" photo book, kind of like Where's Waldo?  :)


17 comments:

  1. Cute Pics.....lol....I don't have any pets but I do have a 6yr old son that pulled the same crap with me when I tried to clean out his toy chest.....I mean he threw such a tantrum I couldn't believe it. These toys he hasn't seen or played with in forever......

    That's what I get for trying to do shit like that when he was home....I should have known better....lol

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  2. i dont think they normally start garage sales around here on a friday. my friend alison is very much into going super early (like before 7am), when i agree to go with her im like pick me up at 9. haha.
    my cats all sleep with their arms over their eyes-im always like OHH NO the sun is too bright!!! kreachie thinks everything is a toy. i started giving him the tab part of the milk containers (we get gallons of milk so the safety seal is really what it is). this morning he was running around like a mad kitten with it in his mouth. he also loves straws and to beat up on pepper-but pepper enjoys it too-they are BFFs.
    and pepper likes to hide behind the blinds and all you see are two very green eyes looking at you.

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  3. Pixie sleeps like Chandler with her paws over her eyes. She also scars herself sneezing. She will sneeze and then hiss. It's so funny!

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  4. We have a little tan chihuahua named Piggy Anne. She's actaully pretty awesome,she's 7 and she's not annoying like a lot of "her kind". Anyway, sometimes my hubby and I have "piggy" wars were we compete to see who can get her to come to who the most. It's comedy seeing her run back and forth all excited then she hits a crazy dog stride and starts doing circle 8's around the living room on warp speed! SO funny!

    Also, I haven't gotten a chance to comment all weekend but I wanted to tell you that I have vitiligo too! It started when my daughter (who is 9 now) was a few months old, just a few spots on my hands, elbows, under my eyes. Now 90% of my body is without pigment! It's not bad now, I just look really fair, not albino but when the spots were pretty much half and half I looked like a marble cake and I was stared at ALL the time. Kids would ask me what happeded, I even had adults (strangers) asking me what happened or "was I caught in a fire or something". Weird! I'm caucasion but I did have pretty dark skin so it was pretty obvious. I'm glad most of my pigment is gone because I look pretty "normal" again. When did you start getting it?

    OH.....and I do peel carrots, if you don't they kind of look like fingers or something. Also, I LOVE Eminem! I have always had a crush on him! Have a great week! : )

    -Jen (jennygump21)

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  5. Hi Katie, big AWWWW for all your cats. Paolo looks like a diver in the Olympics. My Neva flips on her back to get our attention and just lies there with all 5 legs in the air, it's hilarious. We call it her "floating otter" pose. Have a great week.

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  6. I have this one cat who is hilarious. He doesn't care about anything at all. You can literally do anything to him and he is just fine with it. While he is asleep we sometimes mess with him and he never seems to wake up or notice ever. Sometimes he will be asleep and we will raise his arm/paw straight up in the air and let go and he will leave it raised and stay asleep and not move it for like an hour. It's the funniest thing ever. And when he is the least bit excited about anything he hops sideways! Too funny!

    - WANDA

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  7. Animals are so funny with their quirks they have. My one dog seems to think it is her duty and responsibility to assist me in the bathroom every single time I am in there. As soon as she hears the bathroom door open, no matter where she is she runs at full speed to get to the bathroom in time. And she knows the sound of the bathroom door from all the other doors in the house opening. If I close the door or try to shut her out she freaks out acting like the world is going to end, so I end up just letting her in. All she ever does in there is sit and watch me, no matter what I'm doing. It is so strange, but she only does it for me. My whole family now jokes about it.

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  8. Love the cat photos. I love cats and miss my cat Billy dearly. Now we have a schnauzer named Moka - she is a cutie and likes to "talk" which is freeking hilarious. She also love to race me up or down the stairs - apparently this is just a dog game that I didn't know about (thought she was just trying to kill me.)

    BTW, my son has a large white oval spot on his back which the Dr. told me was vitiligo.

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  9. It came! It came! I can not wait to use the Garmin tomorrow! I hope the weather holds out for me!!

    Paolo does look like he's in the pike position- I give him a 8.5 with a 2.0 degree of difficulty. Did he make a splash when entering the water??

    We have a dog, her name is Molly (Molly Kuil, get it?) and she is a Boxer/Great Dane mix. She is gorgeous, and I'm not just saying that because she is my baby. She can be the smartest and the dumbest animal in the span of 5 minutes. If you so much as look at her she believes that is an invitation for her to dig a toy out of her toy box and get you to play with her. The funniest thing ever was when she wore the cone of shame for 2 weeks (a VERY long story for the reason why) and she couldn't get out of her own way. She was constanly rear-ending me and ramming door jambs. I had to take her dishes out of the "Neater Feeder" (awesome invention, BTW) and put them on the floor, where she proceeded to look like a vaccuum cleaner. Gotta love her.

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  10. Your cats are all adorable. My black cat Fiona comes whenever I call her (better than my dogs even!) My dog Cooper comes running whenever I'm brushing my teeth. He always wants a little taste of toothpaste! We had the neighbor's kitten come over today while my fiance was working on the wiring for his trailer. He was an absolute spazz, but he was so cute!

    BTW, what by chance are you doing with your "junk" yarn? I just started teaching myself to crochet, and have been looking for some yarn to practice with. If you're just tossing it, I would love to take it off your hands. I would even be willing to pay you for it!

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  11. Your cats are too funny! I am a new reader, so please forgive me if you have already done a post on this. But I was wondering if maybe you could suggest a few wines or types of wines for newbies. I really want to get into wines because of all the health benefits. My boyfriend drinks wine all the time to lower his blood pressure. He likes spicier wines and I really don't like them. So, I was wondering what your preferences were or if you had any suggestions! Thank you so much!

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  12. I love the pictures of your cats, they are sooo cute! I miss having a kitty of my own, I'm allergic but I think when I have a cat for a while I get a bit used to there crazy pollens or whatever the hell the omit and gets into my throat lol because I start to not get as many attacks. I blogged about you today! <3

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  13. Don't worry too much over Eli. He will get over it soon enough. Oh kids! The other day I was the meanest mom in the world because I bought spiral mac and cheese rather than my son's "favorite" racecar shaped noodle mac and cheese! He threw a tantrum and refused to eat it because I apparently didn't love him enough to buy the racecar ones. Yeah, that was our latest battle. LOL So dramatic!

    Also, I second one of the last comments you received asking about your recommendation for wines. I see you are really big into wine. I have been wanting to get into drinking wine for years. I have only tried about 5 in my life and I did not really care much for them. Dr.OZ always talks so highly about drinking wine and says it's extremely healthy to do so. Any beginner recommendations would be nice. I need to go to a wine festival or something, but I for some reason picture those as a bunch of snobby people all over the place. LOL Could be wrong, never been to one.

    Man, with all the questions you receive on here and I'm sure through e-mails too you should start an ask katie blog post of the week sort of deal where once a week you answer all the weeks questions or you could let us ask you questions. I don't know just a suggestion. LOL

    P.S. Your cats are so cute! I like the one that hides everywhere!

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  14. Love reading your posts every night before I go to bed! I also love seeing pictures of your cats, too. I can't wait to see your photo album of "Where's Estelle". I have 3 cats: Daisy (13), Wiley (11) and our newest family member Shadow (5).

    Random Thoughts:
    1. You definitely need to publish your book!
    2. Does your ice addiction cause problems with your teeth? (I have a Bert's Bees Chapstick addiction).
    3. Do you have brothers or sisters?
    4. Did your shoes size get smaller with your weight loss?

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  15. I saw your yarn stash and we could totally be friends:D

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  16. Hey. uhm. What did you do with all the yarn?! lol.

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    Replies
    1. I'm so ashamed to admit that I actually threw it away! I know I should have donated it or given it away, but I just wanted it out of my house.

      Delete

I used to publish ALL comments (even the mean ones) but I recently chose not to publish those. I always welcome constructive comments/criticism, but there is no need for unnecessary rudeness/hate. But please--I love reading what you have to say! (This comment form is super finicky, so I apologize if you're unable to comment)

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