23 August 2009

Missing Mr O

This weekend I've really been missing Mr O.  Since we've been married, this is the first full weekend that we have been apart.  Sadly, I'm used to not seeing him during the week as I live in one of our homes and he lives in another due the location of our jobs, but not seeing him on the weekend is another story entirely.  I miss him. 

While he's been working out of state I've been trying to keep busy.  What have I been doing?  Well, after trying to mow my lawn (which was foiled by a lawn mower which won't keep running), and doing some housework (hooray, my kitchen floor is finally clean), I've been knitting, reading, playing on Facebook, and doing a few thing with genealogy.

The majority of my weekend has been spent knitting.  I've been working hard on a strap for my sipalu bag while watching the 3rd season of Veronica Mars on DVD.  I finished the season last night and I've almost got the strap done.  Once I finish that I need to start working on a lining for the bag.  I'm thinking about repurposing an old pair of pants for the lining.  Maybe latter today I'll search the web and see if I can find any tutorials that might help me out with that.

Last night I also finished the book I was reading.  Yes, I had to stay up until 2 AM to finish it, but I didn't think that would be a big deal since I didn't have to get up early today.  The book I finished was Extras by Scott Westerfeld.  This is the 4th book in the Uglies series.  I thought that it was a much better book than the 2nd and 3rd books in the series.  The next book I'm going to read is Needled to Death by Maggie Sefton.  It is the 2nd book in a series of knitting mysteries.

As for Facebook, I've started playing a new game there.  It's called Farkle and it has been quite a time drainer.  It is a 6 dice game that is scored according to what you roll.  1s and 5s seem to be what you want to roll the most, unless you can get a straight or multiples of other dice.  I'm still trying to come up with a good strategy for playing this game.

And finally genealogy.  I pre-ordered the book Getting the Most of RootsMagic 4 today and I'm kind of thinking that it might be smart to wait on updating my file until I have the book in front of me.  So instead of getting into RootsMagic, I've been checking out a new genealogy website called http://www.genealogywise.com/.  I've set up a profile there, but that's about it.  It was described on the The Genealogy Guys podcast as a social networking site similar to Facebook, but for genealogists.

Hmmm, even after knitting, watching DVDs, reading, playing on Facebook, working with my genealogy, and now blogging, I'm still missing Mr O.  I think that I'm going to go make some lunch.  Maybe food can take my mind off him.

20 July 2009

Becoming a Kid Again

Mr. O and I have been talking for the past few weeks about  getting in better shape.  With that in mind, we went to Wal-Mart on Friday night and bought him a brand new bike.  He couldn't wait to try it out, so as soon as we got home we pumped up the tires on my Trek bike and we took a ride in the dark.  It was a little scary since there aren't that many streetlights in our little town, but we kept it short and got home with no problems other than burning quads.

Our next bike ride was on Sunday night and that time we left early enough in the evening that there was still daylight out.  We also had T, one of his daughters, with us.  Well, we hadn't went far when Mr. O and T started riding with no hands...which immediately brought back fond memories from my youth.

My bike back then was pink, with butterflies on the seat, streamers coming out of the handlebars, and a white basket on the handlebars.  I remember the feeling of freedom and accomplishment that I had when I finally got the training wheels taken off.  I loved riding that bike. 

Sometimes I think I get too caught up in the grown-up pressures of life.  Mr. O tells me that I worry too much and he may be right.  It seems that Mrs. O needs to learn how to become a kid again...and maybe, just maybe, I can do that as I continue riding bikes with Mr. O.

01 July 2009

Becoming More Productive

Lately I've been wishing that I had more hours in the day...or better yet, more days in the weekend.  Since my time is split between two homes right now, it seems that there is always something that needs to be done in one home or the other.  Since I'm not going to be getting any extra hours or days anytime soon, I guess that means that Mrs. O should become more productive.

In my quest to make more of each day, I did something that might be considered drastic.  I shut off the television service to one of our homes.  Now its true that I can still watch most of my favorite shows on-line.  And it's also true that I have a huge DVD collection that I can watch if the want arises.  But the bottom line truth is that my evening TV habits were draining more hours from my days than I could afford to lose.  With all of the things that Mrs. O should become, a TV junkie doesn't make the list.

18 June 2009

Becoming a Family Historian

I've always been fascinated by the idea of searching out information about my ancestors.  Notice, I said the idea of finding information.  Sadly, I've not worked on my family history as much as I would have liked over the years.  Well, that needs to stop now.  Mrs. O should become a family historian.

With that goal in mind, I started listening to The Genealogy Guys podcast (http://www.genealogyguys.com/) several months ago, hoping to get some direction on where to begin.  And to be honest, I also was hoping that by listening to the podcast I would be inspired to start working on my own lines with more regularity.

The Guys started their podcast  in September of 2005 and being the logical person that I am I started listening to the podcasts in chronological order.  At present, I'm only up to their July 2007 shows, but I have to say that so far they have been both entertaining and stuffed with useful information.

The past few episodes have talked about http://www.findagrave.com/.  The Guys made it sound so intriguing that earlier today, curiosity got the better of me and I took a quick peek at the website.  It was fantastic!  By the end of the day I had signed up as a member, added a page for my brother (they call it a memorial), and uploaded a picture of his tombstone.  There is even a service included with the site that allows you to request pictures of graves.  I just got through telling Mr. O that I've signed us up to take 6 pictures of graves in the cemetery near our home this weekend.  He was thrilled.

11 June 2009

Becoming Fit

My relationship with exercise has been on-again, off-again for years.  During the good times, I exercise regularly and can't wait for my next workout.  At one point, I got up in the wee hours of the morning, traveled to a Gold's Gym that was 45 minutes away, got in a morning workout, showered, changed, and was at work by 8 AM...and I did this 4 or 5 times a week for well over a year.  Yep, those were the good old days!  Unfortunately, it's been awhile since I was on such good terms with exercise.

It seems that for the last year or so, I've really struggled to get back into the exercise groove.  You know how it works, you get busy one night so you put off your exercise for the evening, and then before you know it, an week has flown by without a workout.  That week turns to a month, and then a year.  Well, that has to change.  I'm declaring here and now that Mrs. O needs to become fit. 

With that thought in mind, I went downstairs tonight and got in 30 minutes of cardio on my elliptical.  I then did a few crunches, and some bicep curls with my hand weights.  By the time I was done I was almost dead...I kid you not, the first few workouts after a break of more than a month is always the worst.

10 June 2009

Becoming a Knitter

I think that Mrs. O should be a person who knits.  Now, she might never be an Elizabeth Zimmerman, but she should at least know the basics.  And who knows, with time and practice she could become a pretty great knitter.

My knitting journey began one summer long ago when I joined a 4-H knitting group with some of my friends.  Our leader, Mrs. W, was the mother of one of those friends.  Since Mrs. W lived across the street from me I spent a good deal of my childhood at her house as I played with her daughters.  She was always knitting, sewing, or taking care of her house plants.

That summer, everyone in our 4-H group learned how to knit by making a pin cushion to enter into the county fair.  My pin cushion was so poorly done that Mrs. W told me I had to make another one.  So while I worked on a second pin cushion the rest of the group learned how to knit something else…I think it was a scarf.  Ironically, my second attempt at a pin cushion won first place at the fair that year.  That second pin cushion was my last knitting project for roughly 25 years.

Last October my mom and I spent a week at my Aunt M and Uncle B’s house in Arizona.  My mom is a crocheter (she doesn’t knit because it’s too slow for her).  My aunt M on the other hand does both.  During that visit my aunt re-taught me the basics of knitting.  I say re-taught, because I had long since forgot the skills I learned as a child from Mrs. W.  After working on a short sample made with some scrap yarn, I picked up my needles and started my first project since that second pin cushion I had entered in the county fair so many years earlier.

Now most new knitters probably start off with a scarf for their first project (I’ve still never made one of those).  Instead of a scarf, I choose to make a dishcloth, which was a natural choice since I had taken cotton yarn with me to crochet with.  The pattern I choose was the typical knitted dishcloth that you see everywhere.  On Ravelry it is known as Grandmother’s Favorite by Traditional Design.  And speaking of Ravelry, if you are either a crocheter or a knitter and you haven’t joined Ravelry yet, you should head over there pronto and sign-up.

09 June 2009

Becoming Mrs. O

Getting married for the first time as a 37-year old woman was not quite what I expected when I was dreaming about boys as a teenager. Back then I thought that I would go away to college, meet someone fantastic who would sweep me off my feet, marry me, and then work with me to start building a family of our own. I kind of took it for granted that Cupid would be more than anxious to set me on the road to married bliss before I reached 25. Well, I guess Cupid was overworked in the area where I went to college because he sure didn't have time for me then.

 
Once I hit the ripe old age of 30, I was certain that anytime two people got married a miracle had occurred. And I'm not talking about just a small miracle, I'm talking a MAJOR miracle, something more than what Cupid could handle on his own. This was something big that would require the help of Zeus and maybe even Hera as well. I mean seriously, anytime two people find each other, fall in love with each other, and are both ready to settle down and commit to each other at the same time, well that has higher power written all over it.

 
By the time another five years had passed I was certain that I wasn't going to get any help from Cupid, Zeus, Hera, or any other mythical god. I was almost sure that the marriage bus had passed my stop while I was tying my shoe or doing something else that was equally non-significant. I had almost given up hope...and that's when I met Mr. O, my future husband.

 
Now the purpose of this blog is not to relive my dating years...or rather lack-of-dating years to be more precise. The idea for this blog came to me a few weeks ago, right before I married Mr. O.  One day I was thinking about the changes that I would be making in my life as I moved from being Ms. T, a single woman who was getting a little long in the tooth, to Mrs. O, a 37-year old newlywed.  Now of course, one of the first changes that would come would be to take Mr. O’s name.  And truthfully, it was a little intimidating to realize that my actions would reflect upon my husband’s reputation.  And that got me thinking about what kind of person I wanted Mrs. O to be.  What would her hobbies be, what kind of activities would she enjoy with her husband, and how would she spend her time were just a few of the many questions that started swimming through my brain.  It was then that I decided to blog my journey of becoming Mrs.O.