A New Job

Tomorrow is my first day at my new job. I am transferring to a hospital that is just down the road from our house. I am so excited. I have been really unhappy at my last job for awhile now, even to the point that I was starting to wonder if nursing was where I should be. I am hoping that this change is what I need.

I will be working in the recovery room with patients that have just come out of surgery. This is a great job for me because I will be using my critical care skills and I will be back in the operating room environment, which is where I started my medical career. I really do think that nursing is where I am supposed to be, but just not working on the floor. It really isn't the place where I can use the skills that are my strengths. Thank God that there are nurses out there who enjoy the floor because it can be a tough and thankless job.

I will still be working prn since right now my priority is taking care of my girls. I will be working about 6-8 hour a week. Not much, but enough to get out of the house, make a few dollars and keep up my nursing skills. I will have to take a 24 hour weekend call shift once a month, but we don't usually have to much going on during the weekend since the girls are still young.

I am nervous about all of this change, but sometimes you have to take a risk in life and be willing to embrace change in order to find happiness. For the first 6-8 weeks I will be working part time until I get oriented. This is going to be tough, especially on Jai, but it has to be done so we will make it happen.

I am also going back to school this fall! I have always said that I was going to go back, but I was really just saying what I thought other people wanted to hear. It is so easy to just get caught up in life, but deep down I have felt that something is lacking. Sometimes I am even embarrassed that I don't have my bachelor's degree. So after years of talking about it, but deep down not really meaning it, I decided that it was time to to "shut up or put up" so I started looking for an online nursing program and surprise surprise...Boise State now has an online RN to BSN program. I took this as a sign and applied and now I am a student again!!! I start this fall and will only be taking one class until I see how it is all going to go, but hopefully as I get back into student mode I will be able to take a few more each semester. I have 6 nursing classes and 3 or 4 core classes to take and at the rate I am going it could be 2, 3 or even four years before I am finished, but better late than never!

Raspberry Lemonade Sweater

I know, strange name, but I was drinking raspberry lemonade as I was working on this sweater and they were the exact same color!!

I made this for a friend of mine who is having a baby girl next week. I found the pattern on ravelry for free, which is always a plus. The only problem is that the pattern is for a sweater, bonnet and booties and was very old fashioned so I did a few changes. It called for fingering weight yarn, but there are not a lot of fun color choices at my LYS so I used a sport DK instead. This did make the sweater much bigger than I had hoped, but as hot as it is here right now there is no need for it to be newborn size. I was hoping for 6-12 months, but considering that I tried it on Diya, who is 22 months old, and it fit makes me think that it will be awhile before the baby gets to wear it.
The body ended up being kind of short so I decided to make it a short sleeved sweater and it can either be a spring/fall sweater or she can wear it in the winter with a long sleeved shirt underneath. I hadn't crocheted anything in awhile so it was nice to have a nice quick project and to refresh my crocheting skills. That is one of the things I like about crochet, it is super fast, plus it is also a easy on the pocket book. All I had to pay for for this sweater was one skein of yarn and a $1.99 crochet hook. I love knitting but as I have stated before in previous posts, getting all the needles for a project can add up fast.

I love this yarn so much that I think I am going to get some more of it to make matching knitted sweaters for Isha and Diya for this winter. I am thinking about knitting them both at the same time so that they are finished at the same time so that the girls can wear them this winter, but that does mean doubling up on the needles.

Isha's Lavender Sweater

A friend of mine was looking for a knitting project so she made a sweater for Diya. I loved it so much that I decided to make a matching one for Isha and here it is.

It was fun to try out cables. One thing I have learned about knitting is that most of the stuff that looks really hard is actually pretty easy. This knitted up very quickly and was fun to do. I made it a little big which is a good thing since it is already getting warm here. Now Isha can wear this in the fall and into the winter with a long sleeved shirt underneath.

Here is the back with cute little matching lavender lady bug buttons. I have already found another cute sweater that I want to make for the girls. My only problem is I need more knitting needles. I borrowed all the ones for this sweater from my friend, otherwise it would have cost me over 30 dollars just for needles and the cables. Let me know if you have any good ideas of where I can get some needles cheaply and if I buy set, what is the best sizes to buy so that I can get the most use out of them.

Born To Run

Wow, it has been awhile since I have written about a book on this blog. Actually I haven't written much of anything here lately thanks to two little girls who keep me incredibly busy!!
I had put this on my "to read" list and a few days later at book club we all started talking and this book came up and since we were all runners we decided to read it. I loved this book!!! I really enjoy reading non-fiction so this was perfect for me. The book goes back and forth between "the greatest race the world has never seen" and the science of running. The chapter on how humans evolved into distance runners was really interesting. After reading this book I was even more inspired to keep running. Heck, I was even ready to cut some of the meat out of my diet because of what I read in this book and then "it" happened. I got injured. I guess it was bound to happen, but it was really discouraging. So now I am stuck in a walking cast for the next six weeks. At least I will have more time to read and knit.

Grey Sweater

Another free pattern that I found on ravelry turned in to this cute grey sweater. It was super easy and I enjoyed getting a finished product so quickly.

I am having a hard time getting my pretty turquoise button to stay put. I am going to have to do a better job of sewing it on. Other than that I love this project.

Meet Cupcake

I used my left over yarn from my sweater to make this knitted bear. Since the yarn was called Chocolate Cupcake, I decided to name the bear Cupcake. The knitting part of this project was fun, but putting it together was a whole other story. Getting everything even and sewn on was a real pain, plus I had no idea how to embroider the eyes and nose, but I did my best and she is done. I had bought some more yarn to make another one, but I think I will be taking that back and trading it in for some yarn for another sweater.

Isha is already attached to this little bear so I think her new home will be with Isha. I don't trust Diya with her. I think she would be missing limbs if she got a hold of her.

My First Sweater For Me!

Here is my sweater that I started back in September!! It was so warm this fall that it was hard to be motivated to work on a sweater and then once we got closer to the holidays life got crazy, but I finally finished it. I really liked the way it turned out. Of course it is not perfect, but the things that aren't right about it will get better with each sweater I make (hopefully). It was supposed to be shorter, but I took Meg's advice and added on a few inches to the length, which was a good decision because there is no point in spend time on something if you don't like it when you are done and you won't wear it. I love the yarn that I picked, how can you go wrong when the name of the yarn is Chocolate Cupcake!

I found the pattern on Ravlery for free!! So now I will be trolling Ravelry again to find a new project.

I need to work on a better smile so that I don't get that darn double chin every time I have my picture taken!!!

My First Sweater

I had been wanting to try a more challenging knitting project and when I found out that Jai's cousin and his wife were expecting a baby boy I decided to try a sweater. I found a pattern in the Natural Nursery Knits book that I found at the library. I have to admit that I wish I had picked a different pattern, but this one was easy which was probably a good thing since this was my first sweater attempt. Next time I would like to find a pattern where you sew the sleeves on so there is more of a "professional" look.

I learned tons of new things by making this sweater. Some were basic things like how to M1 (make 1), what working even means, and using a stitch holder. I also learned to listen to my gut. If you feel like something isn't right, it probably isn't!! Trust me, I had to pull out about 20 rows because I just kept working even when I had this feeling that something was wrong. I also learned to not look to closely at the sweater once you are done. There are going to be mistakes and there is nothing you can do, unless you want to start all over, but the mistakes are what make is special and better than some generic sweater that was just bought at the store.

I hope that baby boy Kwatra stays warm in his sweater and I can't wait to give it to his mommy this weekend at the baby shower.

A Broken Heart

Friday evening I got the phone call that I had been dreading. Stitch was unable to walk or even stand up and his eyes were twitching. The vet said that at his age she didn't want to put him through lots of test and that with the signs he was showing he wasn't going to get better. She thought it was probably a brain tumor or a stroke. So my mom called and together we made the hard decision to let him go.

Stitch was my first born and best friend. I was there when he was born and he was with me through all of the ups and downs of my life. I bought my first house for him, he was my therapist when my first marriage ended, he was my nurse and physical therapist after surgery, he was my popcorn eating study buddy when I was in nursing school, he was my side kick when I moved to Virginia and had no friends, he was there when Jai proposed to me and he was there when I brought home my first baby.

A little over a year ago he went to live with my parents. As the mom of a toddler and another baby on the way I didn't feel like he was getting the attention that he deserved and needed and I knew that my parents could give him all the love he needed plus some. They have his brother and they had the time to go on walks and take camping trips. I know this was the best thing for Stitch, but it still breaks my heart that I didn't have him here and that I wasn't there in those final moments. I wanted to see him one more time and let him know how much I loved him. My parents and their dog spent an hour sitting with him and loving him and my mom told him that I loved him and so his final moments were peaceful and filled with love.

I promised Stitch that someday I would take him to the beach. I always thought we would go to the Oregon Coast, but we never made it so when we moved to Virginia we took him to the Outer Banks of North Carolina. This is a picture of him enjoying the sand and sun on Okracoke Island. It was one of the best trips Jai and I ever took with him.

This is my favorite picture of him. This was taken at Skinny Dipper hot springs in Idaho. That was a great day. Nothing better than a hike up to the hot springs in the snow.

Isha loves Stitch. She asks me about him all the time. I don't know how to explain this to her now so I haven't said anything. I guess when the time comes I will just tell her the truth, that Stitch is in Heaven.

My parents also had Stitch's dad, who died last year. Some day when Gator goes to be with them we will take all of their ashes up in the mountains in Idaho and let the three of them be together always.

I LOVE YOU STITCH

It Only Took Six Years

I know this is pathetic but I started this project over six years ago. I can't even count how many times I have ripped it out and started over. Now that it is finished I have no idea why it took this long to finish it. It is a super easy pattern, all you do is knit across and knit in the front and back on the end to increase by one. I guess after doing Diya's blanket I have found some knitting confidence.

I have no idea what I am going to do with a shawl. What was I thinking when I picked this project? It was so long ago I don't even remember. I guess I will keep it until I am 80 and then it will be "cool" to wear a shawl. I have to wear it some point because I spent a small fortune on the yarn.

Now I can move on to some other projects. I still need to finish a few projects for my craft game I posted on here over a year ago. Sara, Meg and Heather, I promise you will get something from me eventually!!! I am also going to attempt a sweater for Jai's cousins who are having a little boy this fall. Wish me luck!!!

Finally Finished

I finally finished Diya's baby blanket. I was originally going to finish it before she was born, then I moved my goal to by the time we moved her into her room, then it was by the time she was six months old and then there was my final goal of finishing it before she turned a year old.


There is no better feeling in the world than when you can finally start binding off on a long drawn out project!!! This is the biggest knitting job I have ever completed. My only other knitting projects were a felted bag and a few wash clothes.

This pattern was fairly easy but pretty. I have decided that I don't think I will every knit another blanket (I'm sure I will be eating these words someday!) It is very cumbersome trying to knit once the blanket starts getting big and the way the needles curl up drives me insane!!! I had a few problems while making this blanket, but luckily my neighbors mother-in-law watches
her kids twice and she is a knitter so I had someone to go to for help. It seems like I had more problems towards the end. I think that I was so anxious to be finished that I was making stupid mistakes.

Diya seems to like her new blankie. I hope she knows all the love that went into making this for her.

I figured that if I was going to show off my handy work I would throw in a picture of my two best creations ever!!!

I Did It! Two Big Milestones

My first milestone is that I made my goal weight on May 11 2010! I lost an even 30 pounds. But to be honest this has been a work in progress since before I had kids. Before I got pregnant with Isha I lost 22 pounds and then after she was born I lost an additional 20 pounds. Thank you breastfeeding. Unfortunately between that time and after Diya was born I had gained a few pounds back so I needed to lose 30 pounds to get me where I am today. That makes for a total of 58 pounds lost from my highest weight ever.

Some days I am scared about how I am going to keep the weight off. It takes a lot of work, but to be honest it takes a lot of work to be fat and to constantly worry about being fat so I will do what I need to do and keep it off. I just have to realize that I am not cured and that I am always going to have to watch what I eat. Honestly though, no one needs to eat as much ice cream as I did anyways!!!

My other milestone is that I ran my 5K race!! It was a ton of fun. The weather was perfect and I was able to run the entire race without having to stop and walk. I didn't get the best time, but my goal was just to run the whole race and I did it!!!! It was such a great feeling and I hope that the girls will learn to enjoy being active and not have to ever have 58 extra pounds on their bodies.

I also went shopping this weekend and bought some new clothes for the summer. I went from wearing a size 12 to a size 6!!! Any time I feel stressed about keeping the weight off I should just pull out a pair of my old jeans and that should freak me out enough to get me motivated to be healthy and make good choices about food.

Here I am close to the finish line!!! My next goal is to run a 10K and NO I have no desire to ever run a marathon, but a half marathon... well MAYBE.

Before And After

I was excited to get rid of the baby weight after having Diya last summer. I had gained 35 pounds during my pregnancy and just like when I had Isha all of the weight came off pretty fast, but I was still 30 or so pounds overweight. I was hoping that just like when I breastfed Isha I would lose another 20 pounds over the next six months. Well, that didn't happen!! By the time Diya was 4 months old I was already starting to gain weight and I was feeling miserable. I really needed to do something and after reading a great post on the Domestic Goddess's blog and talking to a friend who teaches at Weight Watchers I decided to join the beginning of this year.

I can't believe I am posting this picture, but boy was it a motivator for me. Check out those hips. All I have to say is thank goodness for the cover up around my waist!!!

So after 16 weeks of Weight Watchers I am down 27 pounds (my goal is to lose 30 pounds) and here I am now:

It feels so good to be able to put my old pants back on and it feels even better not to be constantly worrying about whether or not other people think I am fat. I spent way to much mental energy worrying about what others thought. Most importantly I feel good about setting a good example for my girls.

Along with this desire to lose weight also came a desire to be fit and in shape. I used to think that people who loved to run where crazy. I still think that they might be because I don't know that I will ever "LOVE" to run, but I have realized that it is much easier to do when you aren't 30 pounds overweight. I set a goal to run a 5K race and this week I started my 5th week in a 6 week training program. I registered for my race, which is on May 29, so now I am committed to following through with this.

Even thought I am almost at my goal weight I have realized that I still have some work to do. Having two kids has really changed my body. Nothing is where it used to be!!! I have realized that instead of needing to lose more weight I just need to tone what I've got and accept the fact that gravity has become my enemy!!!

Fast Food Nation

Wow...Have I been a slacker or what!!!! I haven't had much to post here and when I finally read an interesting book I never got around to posting about it so here it finally is.

I read this for book club a few months ago and it was really interesting. I thought it was just going to be about fast food, but it is really about how fast food has changed the American way of life. The issues covered in this book ranged from advertising in public schools to the meat packing industry to violence in the work place. All of this stemming from our addiction to fast food. Thank goodness I don't eat fast food very often (usually just on road trips or when stuck in the airport) because this book left me never wanting a Big Mac again!! It really opened my eyes to how it effects so many lives in a really negative way.

I am glad I read this book because it has me fired up to be more involved in my dear friend Heather's Local Eating challenge. Last year was hard because I was a bit preoccupied with being pregnant, but this year I am ready!!! I am the healthiest, fittest and lowest weight I have been in years and that is a big motivator to make sure I am only putting healthy stuff in this body!!! NO fast food for me!!

Finally

I have wanted to try out this pattern for years and have never gotten around to it until now. Part of the problem is that I was never sure what size of bulb to buy because the pattern calls for a 2 5/8 inch bulb, but none of them are labeled at the store. So I started the pattern and then figured I would just "try it on" at the store to find the right bulb. I finally ended up at Michael's and found some bulbs that had measurements on them and to my surprise my attempt at this pattern was way to big for a 2 5/8 inch bulb. I guess I should have checked my gauge! This was my first attempt at crocheting with such a fine thread and small hook and my work was just to loose, but luckily I did find some bigger bulbs that my pattern fit on.

I was hoping for a nice colored bulb, but these clear glass ones were all I could find in the right size. I added the bow to give the ornament a little color. My goal now is to make a few more and hopefully I can get my crocheting tight enough to put the pattern on the correct size bulb, but all in all I was pretty happy with how the final product came out.

This one is going to one of the mom's in my Richmond Mommies group. We are having a mom's night out and an ornament exchange. I hope the new owner loves this ornament as much as I do.

W.I.P. Diya's Blanket

Actually it is Diya's Blanket 2.0. The first attempt was so full of mistakes that I pulled it all out and started a new pattern. This ones is much easier and is turning out beautifully!! I love the color and I can't wait to finish it.

I was working on it the other night while watching the Virginia Gubernatorial debate and some how I managed to miss some stitches somewhere and I had to pull out a whole row. I was so mad because I messed up my blanket due to the fact that I was paying more attention to the two idiots on the TV and not to my knitting. The worst part is after an hour of watching the debate all I know about the candidates is that they both have a plan for everything. No specifics were given, just that they have a plan. Well DUHHH, I figured that. Anyways...while undoing my knitting I managed to do something weird to a few of the stitches and I had no idea how to fix it. Luckily I have a friend whose mom is a knitter so I went over to her house and she showed me how to fix it. Yeah!! So now I am back on track and making progress on Diya's blanket.

Dress Up

Jai's parents were here and Jai's mom dressed me up in her Sari.

Fun to dress up in but not practical for the SAHM!!

A Little Knitting

I have finally been motivated to start Diya's blanket!! I was so motivated that I broke my rule of knitting in complete silence and now I have a mistake that I don't know how to fix!! (That's what I get for getting overly confident in my knitting skills.) There were to many distractions and somehow I miscounted something and when I went to fix it I managed to add an extra stitch. All I need to do is undo a few stitches and then I could fix the problem, but that is the only problem with knitting for me: when I make a mistake I get stuck!! I decided to put it down for now and once the house is quiet tonight I might try to fix it. Wish me luck.

Local Tidbits

I have to admit that so far this season I have not cooked a single local meal, but there has been a little bit of local eating going on at the Oberoi house.

One of our local restaurants, The Capital Ale House offers a daily local meal so whenever we eat there I usually order it.

Some friends of ours went and picked peaches and brought me back a dozen. I have been enjoying fresh peaches on my cereal every morning and on ice cream at night!!!

Earlier this summer we all went to the Chesterfield Berry farm and picked our own strawberries! Not only did they taste good, but it was a really fun way to spend time together as a family.

Our neighbor has brought over two grocery bags full of veggies from his garden. So far I have made fresh salsa, had cherry tomatoes on my salads, and big red slices of tomato on my tuna fish sandwiches. Yummy. I have tons of banana peppers and I found a recipe for banana peppers stuffed with chorizo so that is on the menu for next week. We also have eggplants waiting to be made into eggplant Parmesan and bell peppers ready to be stuffed. Hopefully I have the energy next week to cook all these meals.

That has been part of my problem this summer, a total lack of energy and motivation. I have had all these good intentions of going to the farmer's market, but I keep forgetting to go. Being pregnant and chasing after a toddler has kept me pretty busy. I wanted to grow a garden of my own this year, but I was too busy growing a new little person instead!!

I have noticed that the grocery stores are catching onto the local eating phenomenon. Ukrops, a locally owned grocery store, has tons of local produce and their commercials even show the farms and farmers who grew it. Wal-Mart has even started to carry a few local options.

Back In Business!!!

Last year a large portion of my local food for the food challenge came from a little vegetable stand just down the street and it was so convenient, but unfortunately he sold his lot and an American Family Fitness is going in. Since it is so conveniently close I am hoping to join once it opens, so I guess it is not a total bust, but I was so sad to see my veggie man go!!!

BUT...

Guess what I saw today as I drove by. HE'S BACK!!!!!!!! He is in a lot next door to his old one and I was so excited the I was Yoo Hooing in the car as we drove by. I can't believe it. I am so excited!!! Now I have my source of yummy local fruits and veggies for the go local challenge.

So far I have not done any local cooking because being 7 months pregnant has left me tired and lazy. I have just not been motivated to drive all the way down to the farmer's market on Saturday morning, but now that I can just drive a few miles I plan on getting involved. I am so happy because I was feeling really left out of all the fun!! Stay tuned for some local Virginia cooking!!!!!