Meet Blenda!

From the moment I witnessed a product demonstration from the mighty vita mix blender I have lusted after a blender that grind the seeds of the fruit in my morning smoothie and grind whatever in my kitchen arsenal needs grinding! My husband wonderful man that he is has put an end to my lust for the perfect kitchen blender....

May I introduce....

Blenda!

My new Blendtec blender.

The blendtec can grind grain, make bread, cook soup and make a fantastic smoothy! All with one blade and one jar. The vita mix requires a separate blade and jar to do any grinding. For entertainment purposes only check out this blendtec link so that you too can answer the age old question of "will it blend?"

See all the pretty vegetables and fruit that Blenda is waiting to turn into healthy goodness... She ground it all up - Several leaves of Kale, one leaf of rainbow chard, 2 carrots, 1 banana, chunks of fresh pineapple and 1/2 cup of blackberries with a little fish oil and water mixed in...


She grinds it all up into a healthy delicious smoothie. What a great way to start the day with a good healthy dose of half of daily quota for fruits and vegetables.

35th Annual Quilt Show

This weekend was the 35th Annual Sisters Outdoor Quilt Show in Sisters, Oregon. Each year the town's buildings are covered in quilts. This quilt show is open to anyone who wants to display or sell one of their quilts. Imagine hundreds of quilts that need to be hung on every building in your this small town with only a few hours before people will descend on the town. This is what the people of Sisters Oregon do each year, with the help of their local fire department and volunteers. Then at the end of the day all quilts are taken down and those that have sold are organized so that their new owners can claim their treasures in the morning before departing for home.

My husband and I attended the show for the first time this year. It must be said that my husband loves me dearly and has the patience of Job. Not once did he complain that I took long looking at one quilt or another, or that I spent too much time deciding what to buy.

My husband about half way through the show.

The stitch n post covered with quilts

An upclose shot of the quilt below.

My husband is still smiling after the show.

Some Dramatic Pictures

Normally I keep my weightloss blog and this blog separate...but I want to share some pictures that my husband took of me. At the end of July I started a weightloss program recommended to me by my doctor. To date I have lost almost 59lbs.

Here is the Before picture taken on July 8, 2009

Here is 'in progress picture" 59 pounds later, taken March 28, 2010.

Sewing Day Today...

So between Christmas and my birthday my husband has fully outfitted my sewing room. Hopefully by the end of April I will have my quilting frame and machine set up with a at least one quilt ready for quilting.

Today I spend the afternoon making super cute sun dress for summer and a new pair of pajama pants. I have material to make two more sun dresses and one more pair of pajama pants. I've been putting my new serger sewing machine machine to good work. My goal is to be finished with the other two dresses tomorrow.

This week I've been building the habits of going to an early morning bikram yoga class. I'm in the process of adjusting my sleep cycles to accommodate getting up at 5:15am to be at class by 6:ooam. Even though getting up early is taking a little bit of time to adjust I feel so much better after each class.

Its almost time to plant the garden...

Spring 2010

My husband and I have a new garden area. We designed new garden boxes to be placed around edges of our cozy patio in Queen Anne.

The wood for the cold frame boxes has been cut. The old window frames you see leaning up agains the fence will be the lids for the coldframe boxes. I hope to be able to grow fresh salad greens year round. We got the windows from Seattle's RE store in Ballard out of the free area.

Wood for the other garden boxes all cut and ready for assembly.

The two garden boxes and the tomato box. Three out of six boxes complete.

The first of my three cold frame boxes complete! Well done Sweetie:)

Just thought I would pass along a funny in case anyone needed a good laugh....

SPIRITUAL THOUGHT FOR THE DAY……..
Sometimes when you are angry with someone,

It helps to sit down, take a moment to cool off,

And think about the problem.

Spring is Coming to the Northwest....

For the past couple of morning, I have been greeted with the music of spring as I stepped outside my door. By this I mean the birds are up with the sun and chirping all over the neighborhod.

I finally finished all of my Christmas projects for 2009 and I'm starting to brainstorm about what to make in the course of 2010. Currently I'm working on another DR. Who scarf for my husband. I've deemed this an "at work project" ie something work on during the downtime of my job. Handknit socks are my other knitting obession right now. I'm in the process of trying to clear out my stash of sock knitting yarn so I can justify buying more.

Paul and I getting ready to start our next garden. We went to the home and garden show a couple of weeks ago. We saw a lot of different displays. During the first week of March Paul is going to build me some new garden boxes. Three of them will be cold fram boxes, so I'm looking forward to being able to grow veggies year round in these three boxes. The other boxes will be traditional squarefoot garden boxes deep enough to grown onions, carrots and garlic. One of the cool things we found at the garden show was an alternative to vermiculite and peatmoss, since neither are as renewable as one might think...Coco coir - a by product of coconut husks. I'll give it a try in my garden this year and see how it works.

My second round of my weightloss program is going really well. So far this round I've lost 33 lbs for total 54 lbs since last August.