Knit n Things

Next up were the strawberries. Sigh - I totally screwed those up. Again measuring bit me in the ass - I measured the sugar but not the strawberries - recipe said 8 cups of berries at about a pound and a half. I had 2 pounds I don't need to measure, except there's WAY to much sugar. It's suppose to be a strawberry balsamic jam - but I forgot the balsamic. It's way to loose. Not really a jam - more like a syrup. I tried it over ice cream last night - it's like candied strawberries. It's too sweet to eat. I was suppose to get 6 jars full - I only got 4 just think about how much extra sugar is in there.... yuck. So now I've got 4 jars of strawberry syrup - that I have no clue what to do with.

I must say though - I had fun... can't wait to try it again.

I spent this past weekend camping with my family (there’s nothing quite like camping in the rain with a toddler – but we’ll get to that another day.) If you’ve never been camping a big part of your trip is eating, sometimes it seems as if your whole trip revolves around the food. Well, all weekend long I had to listen to my SIL every single time she put something into her mouth. “I’m so fat” “I shouldn’t be eating this.” “I need to eat this [insert food here] like I need a whole in my head.” For the record my SIL is not fat – she’s a mother of two with a curvy figure who looks fantastic. She beat herself up over everything she ate. It was exhausting.

I went to lunch yesterday with a co-worker & had to listen to her do the same thing. Why do we do this to ourselves? Why do women beat themselves up constantly over their eating habits & their body shape? I have another friend who is a size 6 who just loves to tell me how she needs to loose 10 pounds – cuz her “back fat” is out of control. Seriously?! I’ve got bigger rolls under my chin!

I have my own issues with food (don’t we all). I used to have a very dangerous relationship with food. I was a serious binge eater – and probably would have become a bulimic had I been capable (I can’t make myself – I’ve tried.) Over the last few years I’ve done a lot of soul searching and developed a much healthier relationship with food and my body. I let go of the guilt. I eat what I want when I want & answer to no one for it. I’ve found that without the guilt I eat less. I even eat healthier – by not denying the bad foods I allow myself enjoy to “good” foods more often.

You all have seen pictures of me – I’m a big girl, but I’ve accepted my body and learned to focus on the positives – I have great legs, and cute feet, and an awesome rack. ;) Is my tummy a little pudgier than it should be – probably – does that define me as a person? Absolutely not. When I stopped letting food define me I became a much happier person.

I’m healthy and I’m active and I’d rather be fat than go through the mental torture I used to put myself through. Letting go of the guilt was one of the hardest things I have ever done. It took me years. I still have my moments of guilt/depression triggered eating – old habits are very hard to break. But I’m SO much better than I was. I can count my last binge in months instead of days.

I had a point… what was it…. I forget… oh yes, my SIL. So I spent the weekend with her & her guilt & her issues and it made me feel really shitty about myself (she is much smaller than me & if she’s fat then I’m the size of a house.) I hate that I let her make me feel like that. I hate that women do that to each other all the time without even realizing they’re doing it. Don’t even get me started on clothing stores & Hollywood. It’s ridiculous. I have clothes in my closet that range over 6 different sizes, but we’re not going there. My point is we’re all beautiful regardless of shape or size. And be careful when you criticize yourself – you may be hurting someone else in the process.

Went camping with Gretchen & Paula a few weeks ago... I'm so behind - not having a computer to deal with pictures is such a pain. The number of photos on my memory card is down right frighting!!

I feel like I owe you guys a bunch of stuff.... probably because between my two camera's I've got probably a thousand pictures that need to be downloaded. I'm dreading the sorting - it goes back to Christmas.

My computer is toasted - I've got a friend fixing (we all know how efficient that is) we're going on maybe 3 months with no PC at home. I bought myself an itty bitty laptop cuz I couldn't have NO computer - but it sucks for dealing with pictures so I haven't bothered to download anything. Putting pics on the work computer is probably not such a great idea... but...tough... a girls gotta blog right?

I made mom some socks for Mother's day. I think these are called Rainy Day Lace or something like that. They're from, the now defunct, MagKnits (my tendency to hoard patterns paid off.)
They're a sport weight sock (Debbie Bliss Cashmerino) - which worked out well since I've been so busy knitting time is minimal.

Busy, busy - did I mention that I'm back in school? I can't keep anything straight these days. This semester kicked my ass - I took intro to Philosophy.... why, why, why? Blech - most annoying class ever. I'm way too analytical for all that crap... I did well in the end but it was such an evil class. Learning is supposed to be fun. I've got some fun stuff lined up for the summer - it better not disappoint!

Go watch this... best thing ever!!! Totally made my day!

I got a new toy!!
Now if the weather would hurry up and get warm I could go play with it.
Also... that's my new car in the background - aint it cute!