The View Outside My Window

 Unleash the Kraken!

Um, not a typical day at Jane Addams...

Feline Friday

"Don’t just read the easy stuff. You may be entertained by it, but you will never grow from it."
~  Jim Rohn


What have you read lately that has challenged you--your ideas, beliefs or ways of thinking? 

Feline Friday

 

“I like living. I have sometimes been wildly, despairingly, acutely miserable, racked with sorrow, but through it all I still know quite certainly that just to be alive is a grand thing.
~ Agatha Christie

Feline Friday

“If you want to get the best out of a person you must look for the best that is in him.”

~ Bernard Haldane

Relaxing Over Christmas Vacation

Here are two projects I have accomplished since I've been on break:



Finally finished putting all the decorative bits on this little guy. Only started him last spring or so. I got the pattern to crochet him from edafedd on Etsy.

Now he's all ready for wrapping!


And this grow-it-yourself herb kit that Nancy gave me for my birthday:


Can't wait to see how they do. Hopefully I'll be cooking with herbs in no time.

Oh, yes, there was one more thing I did--I put new rope on Noah's scratchy post so now it's more than just the bare wood again. Exciting stuff happening over here, let me tell you...

1.5

Yeesh, see what happens when I start teaching? I fall off the face of the earth. No, really, I've been posting, just not to this blog (to my classroom one).

Just wanted to let everyone know I'm still alive and kicking.

And here are the beautiful roses I came home to on Wednesday, from Jon on our 1.5:

Noah and the Bike of Sweat and Doom

Listen to my tale (tail?) of getting exercise at home.

My bike had been sitting outside on the balcony for years, unused, unloved, and rapidly deteriorating due to the ocean breeze that made it impossible to keep a cover on it and the dust, dirt, and grime of overlooking an alley. For our one year anniversary of knowing each other, I asked Jon (the bike expert--go talk to him if you have any bike or cycling questions, he's definitely the treasure house of knowledge) if he would fix up my bike and put it on the stationary device so I could ride it indoors.

After taking it to the shop and having numerous parts replaced and/or polished up, I came home one day to find it set up and waiting for me. So inviting...


I was so excited to be able to get a good workout without even having to leave the house. Now, finally, I will get back in shape again! I set my computer to play the perfect soundtrack for my workouts: 30-34 minute podcasts from Beatport Burners. They kick my butt making me keep up with their high-paced rhythms. I alternate between standing, sitting, and sprinting.

However, this is what happens more often than not during the sprinting part





Thus, the oh-so-appropo title of this post: my sweat (or exercise moisture as it's called in the book I'm reading, Pride & Prejudice & Zombies) leads to Noah's doom. He can't help himself, he is puuuuuulllllled towards the bike pedals, especially when I pick up speed. I've even clocked him on the head a couple of times when I couldn't stop fast enough to avoid it. Maybe he enjoys the breeze the circulating pedal creates, maybe he wants to do some riding of his own, I don't know what goes through his little head. But curiosity won't be allowed to kill this cat. I'm thinking of knitting a little bike helmet for him. What do you think, would that help?

Back Homery

Noah, you weren't trying to ride my bike again were you?
Always a dead giveaway, the grease stains around the muzzle, not to mention the guilty look on his face...


The crocheted bowls I am trying to felt, if I ever figure out that process




And, too late for 4th of July, or even the 4th of August for that matter, but I couldn't resist this patriotic salute to Honda, the Japanese car maker that seems to have a corner on my parking "garage". Don't you just love the cute little blue one on the left?