Winter is tough, and every year, I complain about it. On that note, I am not going to go on a long-winded diatribe and tell you how much damn snow we have gotten this year. I won't bore you with what you already know, and if you aren't up here suffering along with me, like they always say a picture is worth a thosand words:
"Yuck!" It is my humble opinion, that this is by far one of the nasties winters I have seen since 2002, and this morning I woke up contemplating how I was going to survive until April.
“Oh wait, that’s right, I knit.”
“And, I spin.”
“And I have 6 fleeces under my bed.”
“Whew.”
“And I own a wii, Fresh Direct delivers to my neighborhood, a new yoga studio opened up near my house, and I am on a first name basis with the UPS guy.”
So at least if “Life isn’t good, at least it doesn’t suck” and being that I live with a news junkie, I am reminded every day my life could be a lot worse. I don’t leave in Middle East, and I don’t live in the Midwest, and given my personality traits, escaping both fates is probably very good thing. The idea of shoveling two feet of snow in a burka seems like a fate far worse than surviving. “Shoveling snow in Burka versus tramping through piles of snow, and my much used Anne Klein coat. Hmm, what should I do?"
“Wow, I just remembered that there are suppose to be a high concentration of Muslims in the Minneapolis.. Winters there must be really tough!”
Okay, as usual I digress. This blog post was suppose to be about some of the useful things I have discovered recently that have made surviving the winter a lot easier.
I have written at length about spinning, knitting, carding, and dyeing. I have also written about the virtues of coffee, but here is a short list of some of the other things that are rocking my world right now:
1. My i-phone. I was a blackberry girl for many years, and I could and should do a blog entry on why the i-phone is by far superior to the blackberry. The short version, is “Dear i-phone, what don’t you do?” I use my i-phone for everything and besides the obvious, my favorite things to use it for are timing my meditation, and as a detailed tracker for my patterns. I splurged on the vogue knitting ap, and it’s a great way to track my patterns and remember where I am in each pattern.
2. My Wii. I have been using my wii for about a year and a half, and I still love it. I would love to live in a shi-shi neighborhood, and go to a shi-shi gym, but alas I don’t. I live in one of those God-forsaken parts of Brooklyn where there is easy parking and cheaper rent. There are gym people, and there are non-gym people. I am a gym person. I like walking on a treadmill, lifting weights, and sitting in the sauna. I can make a day out of a trip to the gym, and frankly, I get enough of the outside, when I am outside for work so I am fine with air conditioned and heated work outs.
When I first bought my wii, I was of the mind set that even if all I was doing on my wii was sitting on top of my balance board there would be more movement involved than with my previous exercises routing, which consisted of sitting on the couch and knitting. As it turns out, although my work out needs have changed over the last year, my wii has changed with it. I went through the "Fat/ Lazy Girl work out" (wii fit) to the more aerobic “burn that fat, girl” work out (Just Dance, Wii Active, and My Fitness Coach) to my recent phase, which is the long, lean girl work out, which I am happy to report is yoga, yoga, and more yoga. I have always loved yoga, and recently, I bought the New U Mind and Body. I am not sure how great it would be for learning yoga, but as a supplement to classes it does the trick.
3. Suryasta Yoga: OMG, a true miracle, a yoga studio has opened up near my house and it’s foundation is in Jivamutki yoga. When I first moved to New York, I studied at Jivamukti. The studio took off, and has become a technique unto itself, with studios and teachers popping up all over the place including Hollywood. In the 90’s there were lots of celebrity sightings at the class, and although I found taking yoga with Willem Dafoe great for my pigeon pose, I really can't deal with busy places on my days off. Once my little studio became super trendy, it became hard to just roll out of bed and go to class. When I moved to Williamsburg, one of the teachers from Jivamutkti opened “Go Yoga” and I found a my second yoga home. I studied there for about five years, but when I moved to Park Slope and then down to Macon, I stopped taking classes.
The great thing about yoga is that you can and should have your own practice, and thankfully even when I was very overweight I still incorporated a lot of yoga into my life. When I got to goal weight in October, I realized that I wanted less cardio and free weights,and more flexibility and more of a spiritual connection to my body. I had already decided that I need to start taking class again, and when my friend Sara told me there was a good yoga studio near my house, I was certain it was a sign from HP, God, Krishna, or Joe Pesci. The first time I went to class at studio, I almost cried, it felt like coming home. I have done skinny yoga, but I was abusing my body with chemicals. I have done fat yoga, but I was abusing my body with food. It may have taken me twenty short years to get to here, but all I can say is “Sober, skinny yoga rocks!”
4. Fresh Direct. If you live in New York, you already know about Fresh Direct, and if you don’t you probably don’t need to know. The short version is Fresh Direct started delivering to my house about 3 months ago. Happy, happy, joy, joy.
5. Netti pot: I always thought a netti pot was kind of gross, but over the holidays I got a 'killer ' cold and spent about 3 weeks wishing my nose would fall off and not tasting anything. I could of almost lived with it, but I kept worrying that having a sinus infection might just lead to another bout of vertigo. In the end, snorting water seemed like a small price to pay for clear sinus passages. My UPS guy brought me a very pretty netti pot from Amazon, but prior to the delivery I picked up a cheap one from Rite Aide. Both work, but if you are planning to snort a lot of water, I recommend the porclain model.
6. Swimmers: also delivered by the UPS guy. Swimmers so far have saved my dog Beanie’s life. Poor Beanie, she’s an old girl (15 & 1/2!) and she just can’t get through the day/ night without peeing in the house. Having an old dog is a lot like having a puppy, you swear a lot, and you pray a lot, sometimes at the same time. “Dear God, please help me, I really want to kill this f—king dog!” Doggie diapers are expensive and you can’t find them around here. I surfed the web and found this article. Swimmers are a little more expensive than regular diapers, but they are worth the extra cost, because they stay on without a safety pen and they don’t shed everywhere. It turns out all diapers work on dogs, with a little finagling, but the swimmers are the best. I cut a cross in the pack and pull her tail out, I use a wee wee pad (courtesy of Mr. Pom) to changer her on. It’s not perfect and we are still dealing with accidents and lots of laundry, but for today Beanie’s life has been spared.
7. Nook: All my knitting patterns are stored on my i-phone, but the nook is by far easier to read patterns on than the i-phone. “Oh, you can also put books on your nook. Go figure.”
Okay, I know you have been reading this and thinking when is she going to get to the knitting? And why the hell hasn’t she told us more about that really cute hoodie she was modeling at the beginning of this entry?” You can find out all about it by reading my notes on my project page on ravelry.
“Is a knitted pink hoodie as useful as a yoga class, fresh direct, a nettie pot, an iphone or swimmers?” Honestly, probably not, but being fashionbably cute is always useful, and knitting in spring colors in the middle of a snowstorm is a lot cheaper than therapy, so ……..
“Heck ya! A moebius, pink hoodie that has been knitted with a lovely blend of kid mohair, BFL and merino that was carded, naturally dyed and spun by yours truly. It doesn't get any better than that!"
Shannon!! Hi! Bill and I have moved even more Mid-Westerny, to Missouri. Bought a house in February, and I have totally made myself at home. (We moved because Bill got a job here, with bennies. Also, just a better life in general.)
At my blog is the tale.
You are looking great!
I am no longer making Fuzzarelly Fibers. Took a fall in the barn, and got rid of all the bunnies. Now, I have a new one as a pet.
Are you on facebook? Look me up and friend me, if you like.
I think of you often,
Love,
Nancy
Posted by: Nancy McKellar | April 12, 2011 at 08:19 AM