The Yarn in the Lotus

Filed under: Uncategorized on November 6th, 2008 | Enter your password to view comments

I have progessed into the world of credit cards! I now accept Visa, Mastercard, and Discover. Somehow, I feel more professional. I have that little credit card machine, that all those restaurants have. I got my credit checked for such a venture and they approved me. Wow. Pretty cool.

I also have added a Wednesday yoga class to my schedule. I am now teaching two yoga classes per week: Monday and Wednesday 9am-10:30am. This gives you the opportunity to keep at it and get a greater benefit by attending twice a week. I know Friday would have been a good day as well, but many of us (including me here) go away for the weekends and because I don’t want to cancel class for my diversions, nor do I want an empty class because of your diversions, I did not choose Friday.

Join us on Monday and Wednesday to wring out your body, connect to your soul, and serve your health and wellness!

Filed under: Massage, Work, Yoga on November 6th, 2008 | No Comments »

I am always wanting to buy frozen chicken pot pies at the store, but Ron always discourages me telling me they are too full of junk and crap and are not healthy. Good job on his part, but it frustrates me because I WANT POT PIES! lol. Somehow, I stumbled across a recipe online. I’m sure there are a bunch you can search for, so I won’t be linking any particular one. But I will tell you what I did.

The recipe I found was actually for 10 servings or something. The concept was “cook once a month” and freeze it so you can just pull it out of the freezer and have delicious homemade food in minutes. So here’s what I used:

4 chicken breasts, w/ bone and skin

2 lbs carrots

almost 1 bunch of celery

2 medium onions

1 quart organic chicken stock

seasonings and oil to taste

1 bag frozen peas

1 cup flour

Here’s what I did. Poach the chicken breasts in the chicken stock. Use a large stock pot and boil them for 10 minutes. Then cover and let sit for an additional 20 minutes. While this is happening, chop MOTHERLOADS of vegetables. Chop all the veggies mentioned above into small pieces. Dice them. GET HELP. It’s a lot of veggies. When the chicken is done, take it out and let it cool on a plate. Reserve the chicken stock in a bowl. Now, use the pot you had boiled them in (it is now empty) and sautee your onions with a few tablespoons of olive oil and tons of garlic. Once they are transparent, add the carrots and celery. Continue to sautee until they become tender. (Note: your pot will be pretty full at this point. That’s fine) While they are sauteeing, dice your chicken. Take the flesh off the bone and also remove the skin. Chop it into tiny pieces. When the veggies are crisp-tender, add the chicken. Now, add your cup of flour and stir it in really good. After it is evenly distributed, add the chicken stock back to the pot and stir well. Now add your seasonings. I used lots of basil, poultry seasoning, garlic salt, and I would have used sage but I couldn’t find it. Oh, and pepper. Stir, stir. Simmer until the mixture thickens.

Now, take your ramikins (I bought the cup kind, cause they were bigger) and line them each with 1/2 a pastry shell. I bought the Pillsbury pie crusts for ease. You can certainly make your own, but I was not about to tread into the realm of baking. I broke one crust in half and then kind of stretched it out. It wasn’t perfect and it broke in a few places. It still tasted GREAT, so don’t worry if it doesn’t look right. Now, fill your pie crust with some of the giant mixture you made, and then lay the edges of the crust over top, sealing it if you can. Put all your pot pies on a pan of some sort so they don’t spill over into your over, and bake at 350 for 40 minutes. I totally winged that part. The insides are cooked, so you just need to cook the crust. I checked on it a few times and took it out when it was golden.

Let cool for at least 10 minutes, and even then make sure you blow on your bites. It’s very hot. And delicious!

Now, after you finish eating you will notice you have a large pot of food leftover in your kitchen! Take this and fill up quart size ziplock bags (2 servings worth) and store in your freezer. My recipe says they will last 3-4 months in there. Then when you want pot pies, you just take it out in the afternoon and defrost, line your ramikins with pie shells, pour in your filling, and bake for 40 minutes at 400.

Filed under: Home and Garden on October 18th, 2008 | 3 Comments »

Bike Frame

Ron has been bugging and bugging me to let him buy me a bike. A real bike. One that is made for riding on the road and lightweight. I know a bike like that would make me go fast (ZOOM!) and would be fun to ride and fun to have. But I also know that I wouldn’t ride the bike enough for his liking. I only ride indoors during the winter, and even during the summer 2x/week tops. I think it’s a fun way to get exercise, it’s great to ride out on country roads with nice views, and it gives me and Ron something fun to do together. But I am just not into the 60 mile rides like he is and I knew he’d always be unhappy with the fact that I didn’t ride the bike very much.

So every time he asked me if I wanted a bike, it was always a resounding “NO!”

Well, I gave in. lol. He was looking through ebay at bikes and parts (like he does frequently) and he came across this blue frame. The colors were pretty cool. I had always said I wanted a purple or teal bike. But apparently “real” bikes don’t come in gay colors like that. The most girly color I could get, apparently, would be blue or yellow. Well, this blue I liked, and it was a really good deal. Ron wanted to get it for me. I knew that he was well versed in how often I would ride the bike, so I didn’t protest this time.

It’s very fancy (for me!): the frame is made of some special lightweight aluminum, and the fork (black front part where the wheel goes) is made of carbon fiber. Now all it needs are about 20 other parts so that I can ride it! It will probably be about 10 pounds lighter than the mountain bike I was riding and that should help me go significantly faster on the time trial. Unfortunate that I won’t get to really ride it outside until spring/summer. It may take that long to buy all the parts though. Ron is a deal shopper.

Socks

An update on my sock progress. Haven’t been knitting on them too much, but they are definitely starting to look like socks. I’ve been trying them on him regularly to ensure a perfect fit, and they are above average, so far, in that department. My hand is there for scale. The picture is a little dark, so you may want to click it to see it bigger.

Tonight we are going to see a Swami from India give a talk. It’s Swami Adhyatmananda of Sivananda Ashram, Ahemedabad, India. We don’t usually get these kind of events here in Ruidoso, so it should be interesting.

Filed under: Uncategorized on October 14th, 2008 | No Comments »

Well, I’m really into exercise and fitness now. I guess it’s because I’m home a lot more and I have more control over my schedule. I can pretty much exercise whenever I want to. I’m home now because I’m preparing for Massage School to start (end of October, god willing) and I have a lot of lesson plans to develop and other assorted studying/office work type stuff. I still am doing massage, just not quite as much as before. Also, summer has passed (the season of insanity) and left me with more free time (see recent knitting).

I have found a way to be more consistent with my exercise. One of my de-motivators has always been (and I have addressed this before) that 1 hour, or 2 hours of yoga or exercise just looked like too much!! I would merely think about whiling away 2 hours of my life sweating and exerting and being focused and I would sit down in front of the computer and start multi-tasking, and pretty soon the time would be gone and it was time to make dinner. No time to exercise!

Since I have found this 30-Day-Shred, barely a day goes by that I can’t convince myself that the 30 minutes will be worth my time. I admit, there are total rest days I have taken. No doubt about it. But I think I am averaging 6 days per week with some kind of activity. It might be yoga, or 30DS, or biking, or hiking, but it is SOMETHING. Which is so much better than I used to do. I am LAZY. Let’s not mince words about that. Most of the time I would rather waste time on the internet or read books concerning my latest interest, whether it be massage, yoga, or something else marginally related to those, than lift a finger exercising, or cleaning, for that matter.

After discovering this 30 minute miracle, I stumbled upon this article about using short workouts to build consistency. And I can totally relate. It’s true. Sometimes when I start doing the 30DS, then I want to continue and I will follow up with a stint on the bike, or perhaps some yoga. I mean, once you’re already sweaty and worked-up, why not keep going? (By the way, for those looking for a online, fully integrated, fitness, nutrition, wellness, and training tracker/program, look no further: SparkPeople. It’s free and very educational, even if you don’t register.)

Forrest Yoga

Another awesome thing I have found recently is download-able Forrest Yoga classes in audio. This is a godsend for any devoted student of Forrest Yoga who cannot always travel to take her classes in person (you’re reading her blog!) Ana does not put out videos or even audios very often (some of each are available on Ana’s website) so I’m getting kinda tired of the ones I’ve got.

They do cost about $18 each, but these downloads are anywhere from 2 hours to 3 hours long (averaging at 2.5 hours), so I think they are worth it. Also, they are her RECENT classes. Anyone who has worked with Ana recently knows that her teaching has changed since she put out that 10 hour CD pack (which is great) on her website. These new downloads reflect the changes in her teaching — New things like the hand and forearm stretches she does at the beginning. Also, they are a little more raw, which I happen to like. You can hear her giving corrections for individual students, and hear other people in the room. As a student and teacher of Forrest Yoga, this helps me feel connected to the community. I’ve only downloaded one so far, but I plan on downloading more, as time and finances allow. Unfortunately, I am not so good at integrating a 2.5 hour yoga session into my schedule, as you read above.

Namaste!

Filed under: 30-day Shred, Biking, Fitness, Home and Garden on October 12th, 2008 | No Comments »

Just finished a pair of socks. I’m still perfecting the method and art of knitting socks, and I’m getting better. These are definitely acceptable. They fit pretty well. A bit loose, but not so loose that they’ll bunch up under my feet. They’re soft. And the holes that usually show up at the ankles are very small. Here’s a sort of fashion shot (i.e. not very detailed)

I used Cherry Tree Hill Supersock in Indian Summer. I knit two socks at once on one circular needle, the method from Silver’s Sock Class. My sock “bible” is “Sensational Knitted Socks” by Charlene Schurch. While it doesn’t have absolutely everything about socks in it, it’s a really great reference with charts for foot sizes and how that corresponds to shoe sizes. So if you know your mom’s shoe size, you can look at the chart and see how long, and what the circumference of her foot probably is. A very useful chart. Plus it has several ways to do the toe (box, and short row) and heel (short row, and flap). You can mix and match depending on what your pattern calls for, or what your preference is. I like the toe and cast on from Silver’s Sock Class, I do toe up, and then the short row heel from the book mentioned.

Be warned, if you want to do the Silver’s Sock Class method with fingering weight yarn, you’re going to have to modify the pattern for your gauge. That is why I find the SKS book so useful, because it has gauge charts showing how many stitches to use when you have a certain gauge and a certain foot size (which is just basic math, but I always mess it up. The chart is NICE).

Right now socks are my preferred project. I don’t have much time for knitting, but with socks I can carry them around everywhere because they are so small, and they’re so simple and basic that I can pick up and leave off anywhere and I won’t get lost. Except for the heel. I need at least one relatively undisturbed hour to get through each heel. But all the rest is easy. Plus, socks are not SO cool that I feel compelled to put off my “real work” so I can knit. Very good project for me at this point in my life.

Therefore, my next project is socks for Ron! Here is the yarn:

This yarn is really wonderful. It is Blue Moon Fiber Arts Socks that Rock Mediumweight in the colourway Grawk.  This one hank will knit up at least one pair of socks for Ron. I may even be able to knit a pair of ankle socks out of the leftovers. For myself I could probably get two pairs out of the hank. A pretty good value for fancy sock yarn. I bought it a long time ago, intending it just for this purpose and now I’m finally at that point. When I wound up the yarn today it felt divine. Probably the nicest yarn I will have knit socks with yet. It’s 100% Superwash Merino, which is probably why it is so darn soft: no nylon (which sock yarn frequently has, for strength). Actually, that’s not true. The Cherry Tree Hill above is also 100% superwash merino. I don’t know! Some yarn is just softer than others. I definitely want to get some more of this Socks that Rock.

Filed under: Knitting, Reviews, Yarn on September 28th, 2008 | 2 Comments »

I have been doing the 30-day-shred for 8 days now. But I have had interruptions. After about 6 or 7 days my body said “I NEED YOGA!” so I took a rest on the shred and I did two days of sweaty yoga, 1 hour each. It felt really good. I also took a day off to do over an hour long bike ride one day. All in all, I have worked out in some way every day. It feels really good!

My body is still sore, but in a much more gentle and kind way. I am getting better at some of the weight lifting parts of the shred. I used to be unable to hold the 3lb dumbells when doing “Side lunges with anterior raises.” In this you are holding your arms straight and lifting them in front of you up to eye level, while you do a lunge to the side. I would just have my hands empty and that would be enough weight. But now I can hold them. It is a really cool feeling to be progressing and getting stronger. I can see why people get hardcore into weight lifting now. I don’t think I’ll ever get hardcore. I don’t want to be ripped. I mean, I wouldn’t mind having some more arm definition and leg strength, but I don’t want to look too muscly.

Today Ron is riding the 100 mile Ruidoso Century. Actually, they call it the Tour de Ruidoso! lol. Him and his friend Klaus are riding it together and trying to set a record for the course. So they are going to be totally wiped out. He does long rides, but pretty much never 100 miles at a time. Probably the longest rides he does are 60 or 70 miles.

Here’s Ron and Klaus at the Moriarty time trial last month. The weather was awful: cold and rainy. It was a 40K (@25 mile) ride. This was taken after:

Filed under: 30-day Shred, Biking, Health on September 27th, 2008 | No Comments »

Okay, I’m not sure how it happened but I am now doing this 30 minute aerobic/weights video every single day.

I found mention of it on a blog somewhere and somehow it caught my attention. I guess I’m attracted to those “30 day shred!” or “40 day Kundalini Meditation” (which I never completed, by the way. I just didn’t like the movements enough to keep doing it) kind of things. I’m attracted to making a goal like that: I will do such and such every day for 30 days.  I’m not really trying to lose weight. I do like to find new ways to exercise in the house during the winter time. So I tried it out and it seems like a good way to get a nice like workout in only 30 minutes.

It also gets great reviews on Amazon, which is another reason I decided to give it a shot. Normally I only like yoga videos and I still feel kinda funny even doing the video. Like I’m selling out or something. Doing this somewhat cheesy workout video. But whatever. She’s actually kinda militant. Almost every fitness instructor annoys the hell out of me, but she’s got enough of an edge to her that she doesn’t make me want to barf.

So this is how the video goes. There’s a warm up. Then it’s called “Circuit training” or Intervals. You do 3 minutes strength training (I use 3lb weights) 2 minutes cardio, and 1 minute abs. And she makes you do several different exercises for each little segment, so you are never doing the same thing twice (hardly) and you are quickly moving from one thing to the next with no rest in between.  Then the cool down. For me it’s over before I know it and I’m sweating pretty good.

The DVD comes with three levels - three separate 30 minute workouts. I have only done level 1 so far. I am hoping to move to level 2 at day 10, and level 3 at day 20. But I have read online that levels 2 and 3 are super hard, so we’ll see.

Because it’s so quick, I barely have to gather any motivation at all to do it. So it seems like a great way to get some exercise in. I plan on doing other things as well, like my yoga and bike riding. And I also want to get one of her cardio videos so I can try that during the winter.

How did my body respond to this kind of training? Well, the strength training about killed my calves. Or maybe it was the jump rope (which you do without a jump rope), but on the second day I could literally barely walk. I don’t think I’ve ever been that sore anywhere on my body for any reason. When I first got out of bed, I actually limped. That lasted about 2 days. Crazy. But I just kept doing it. My legs actually don’t hurt while I’m doing the exercises, it’s only after. Today was my fifth day in a row doing it and my legs are a bit sore, but much much better.

I guess the idea is that if you do her diet plan in her book, Making the Cut or Winning by Losing, while doing this video for 30 days, they say you can lose up to 20 lbs! What I like about her is that she focuses on how your attitude, state of mind, and emotions are really the key to being a healthy weight, and that they have everything to do with what you eat and how much you eat, and how much you let yourself exercise.

So for mainstream exercise diet stuff, I recommend her. Of course, I haven’t read her books and I’ve only done this one video.

Here you can download her Sunday morning talk show, which focuses on diet, health, and exercise.

Filed under: 30-day Shred, Health, Reviews on September 20th, 2008 | No Comments »

Supplies:

• 1 lb. Extra Firm Tofu
• Garlic Salt
• Braggs
• Ginger Powder
• Turmeric
• Cumin
• Spinach (frozen)
• 1/2 Yellow squash (or other vegetable of choice)
• Fresh Shitake Mushrooms
• 1 medium onion
• Tons of Nutritional Yeast (get at healthfood store, not like brewer’s yeast)

Chop the onion and sautee it in olive oil, or other oil of choice. Add generous splash of garlic salt. Add even more generous pouring of ginger powder (1 TBSP. at least). Sautee Sautee. Add your chopped squash, chopped mushrooms, and a handful of frozen spinach. Sautee some more.

You can see my method here is to add some and taste it. A delicious way to make a meal.

Now you can add your tofu. Just take the whole brick and crumble it up with your hands into the pot (you should be using a fairly large pot or pan, by the way). Add in your turmeric. Just add enough for color. Maybe about 2 tsp. Stir it up. Add cumin. I like to add “hella cumin” but you may enjoy less. 1-2 tsp. Add the nutritional yeast. Be generous here. At least 1/4 cup, perhaps more. As your dish starts to dry out from sauteeing you can add braggs to moisten and salt and flavor it. Have your bottle of braggs handy for this.

I sautee the whole thing, once all ingredients are added, for about 5 minutes, stirring occassionally. Result:

Put into a large container for storage in the fridge. Enjoy every morning with bagel, toast, or rice.

Seriously. I think this should last me at least a week. If it lasts longer than that I probably won’t want to eat it anymore! I want to eat protein with my breakfast, but I don’t want to eat a dairy product every day. I can’t eat cottage cheese or yogurt because they clog me up and give me phlegm, though I love them for their taste. And I doubt it would be healthy to eat eggs everyday, though I probably could do it. This seems like a good compromise. But isn’t soy also killing us for some reason? I suppose everything would, in excess. If I alternate this with eggs, and also with no protein, I should be okay, no?

You could add fresh garlic to this to make it really delicious. Because I do massage and I don’t want to gross anyone out with my garlic breath, I just opted for a small bit of the garlic salt. (Small compared to what I would normally use).

In other news:

• My visit with Lauren was awesome!
• My visit with my Mom was awesome!
• My Anatomy Trains Seminar was awesome!
• I have more lipgloss than I could ever use. (so far, Flirt is my favorite)
• Talk of politics is not allowed in my massage room. Should I post that annoucement somewhere visible?

I know politics are an important topic, and I support people discussing it and becoming informed through research. However, talking to me about it on my massage table is perhaps not the best use of your time? A massage is for relaxing. And talking about politics does not help anyone relax, as far as I have been able to gauge. Please consider barring politics or other possibly enraging subjects from your mind while you are engaged in receiving relaxation services for which you have paid. Thank you.

And by the way, the Tofu Scramble Recipe is 100% vegan, Pacasha. In case you were wondering. Though I doubt Ngaio would like it for breakfast! 

Filed under: Home and Garden, Massage on September 11th, 2008 | 3 Comments »

As seen in it’s natural habitat.

I am minutes away from falling into bed after a frantic day of packing, massaging, and riding my damn bike! For the first time I rode 25 miles today. All at one time. It took me 2 hours and I went 12.7 mph. I was WIPED OUT when I was done and everything hurt. But not the parts you would expect, like my legs. My neck hurt, my arms and hands hurt, and my pubic bone hurt, along with my knees, and my lower back a little. I am not used to this! But it was a great accomplishment and I hope to do some more rides like that when I get back. Ron went with me and rode much slower than he usually does to stay near me.

I hope I haven’t forgotten anything I needed to pack for my trip. I’m bringing my bathing suit, tons of white clothes (?), some triphala to put in caps, and several books. Oh, I hope to knit some socks on the plane so I brought some yarn. One skein of Cherry Tree Hill in “Indian Summer” colorway, and one skein of jaquard Trekking XXL in case I happen to finish the other pair. I’m being optimistic, and also well prepared. I think I will only need the second skein if I get layed over and we shall all cross our fingers and pray that I don’t.

Tomorrow morning at 6am, me, my vibe, and 6 cds take off for a 3 hour ride to the airport.

Filed under: Adventures, Biking, Knitting, Travel on August 14th, 2008 | 1 Comment »