Demise of the sweater. Hunger.

I finished the sweater-thing.

And my face of awesomeness and joy quickly faded as I realized that it did not fit me, and absolutely would not fit Jon.

The sleeves were too long.  It was too tight.  It was shedding like crazy.  I must have known all along that it wasn't going to work, but I was just too stubborn to admit it and so I made myself finish it.  Jon was really nice about the whole thing.  He told me stories about how he had to take apart art pieces, and nothing is forever.  I threw it down on the living room floor and stared at it for a while before stashing it in the basement for the night.

Yesterday, I unraveled the whole thing.

It took me nearly an hour just to pull all of that yarn out.

It is done.  My mistake was not paying attention to common sense, and gauge.  Now I am knitting Jon a pair of convertible mittens.  They are quite nice.  Jon made a couple of maple wood buttons for them.  The good news is that I now have enough of this yarn to make a bajillion pairs of mittens!

In other news, it snowed.  AGAIN.  I love snow.  I do not love how it keeps pushing back Jon's work season.  And keeps our funds extremely low.  Here is another Day of Food, reflecting our situation (Jon needed extra because he is working).

Breakfast:

Bacon- 1 pack of bacon can last all week for protein needs!

Jon also had French toast

Lunch:

Jon had leftover chicken soup

I had a free sample organic protein drink mix

Dinner:

Leftover chicken soup, stretched out with beans

Homemade bread

I'm soaking some chick peas to make hummus tomorrow, too.  Some days, you're just hungry.  Is it really better to eat a little food well, or eat more junk food?

Things will get better.  It is hard when translating payments come 45-60 days after invoice and it just keeps snowing.

My tomato seeds started to germinate.  Spring is coming.

Back to work...

I had a wonderful weekend!  Saturday, I had my second shower.  I got quite a few dish towels, and lots of lovely things.  I'm even getting 7 volumes of family recipes that were just collected for me!  I'm going to have to do a lot of running...Speaking of food, I'm trying to eat healthier.  After going out to eat twice this weekend, I was pointed to the fact that I pretty much eat what I want, which is usually something fried or salty.  I love salt, but too much.  Its unhealthy.  I ordered buffalo wings for the first time ever (I usually just make them) and had the beer that Jon didn't want, and the next day I had a blt and onion rings for lunch.  I also had chips in the car on the way...Yes, I was keeping chips in my car.  That was mostly because I have so much time to kill between jobs and eating chips keeps me very busy and is sort of a breakfast.  I'm not really a sweets person, so I've already got that down.  I just need to cut out as much salt and fat as I can.

For my first shower, I got a Ninja blender/food processor, so I broke that out yesterday and made a strawberry and banana smoothie.  It was the best smoothie I ever had:
6 frozen strawberries
1 banana
4 oz orange juice
two spoonfuls raspberry sorbet
Even Jon drank it!

I've been experimenting with my morning shake recipe, and that is what it has turned into:
1 serving soy protein
1 cap of vanilla sugar free flavoring
2 squirts of amber agave nectar
1/2 cup hazelnut milk
6 frozen strawberries
1 banana
1 tbsp yerba mate steeped in 1/2 cup warm water
1/8 tsp xanthan gum

Its actually really good now!  I need to work on figuring out how to blend the protein in without having chunks of it stick around, but I think that I just need to spend more time blending it with the liquids before adding fruit.

I planted two raised beds yesterday with greens, beets, carrots, peas, beans, onions, and scallions.  It was very cold this morning, but I'm hoping that its warm enough to get things moving.  My father, back home, has already planted some corn!  I can't wait to start getting these fresh veggies!

Last night, I stood by with the hose as Jon tried to cast his ring.  It didn't work (the spruing wasn't right), but it was an amazing show.  Pictures to follow!  Jon was in an iron guild, so he's used to pouring molten metal, but I thought that he was going to explode something!  He's going to try to machine it later.  I need to keep reminding him to work on it, or we won't have a ring for the wedding for him...

Update: Pictures from the casting.  Also, Jon , after another attempt which broke, successfully machined a ring!  Its beautiful!

Day 1 of morning protein and yerba mate shake instead of coffee

This morning's recipe:
1/2 cup frozen strawberries
5 ice cubes
1 serving vanilla soy protein powder
cap full of vanilla sugar free flavoring
2 squirts of agave nectar
1/2 cup strong hot yerba mate tea, made from 2 tbsp loose tea leaves

I made the mistake of putting the strawberries in first with the powder right on top, so when I poured everything out at the end, all of the protein was stuck at the bottom.  I moved it with a spoon and ended up re-blending it, and it was alright.  It didn't taste that great, had chunks of protein, and seemed watery.  I stopped at the grocery store between jobs today and got some xantham gum and hazelnut milk.  The hazelnut milk should give it a less watery taste, especially if I can reduce the amount of water needed to brew the mate.  The xantham gum will emulsify and thicken the shake.  I think I will leave out the ice, too.  The frozen strawberries already make it cold.  I'll keep experimenting until I figure out something.

Somehow, this shake did get me through my first job with a sufficient amount of caffeine, but when I got out, I was starving!  I never get hungry before noon now.  I might actually have to start packing a breakfast if I can't figure out how to make this shake more filling.

I haven't been able to work on spinning since Sunday.  Every night I've been exhausted.  I'm still adjusting to getting up at 6am.  I'm working until anywhere from 6 to 8 today, and then after the half hour commute back, it will be time to shower and sleep.  Maybe I'll fit in a little tomorrow after work.  Friday, I'm going hiking with Jon's cousin after the first job because I don't have the second job that day.

At least the weather is nice!