Economics lesson through coffee

Starbucks has moved me to the left on the demand curve for lattes.  I have always been able to justify the $3 plus price for the latte as a treat a couple of times a week.  Of late, I had switched to a better coffee place, Aroma, near the office which also happens to be cheaper and they give you a little chocolate with your order.  Add to that the purchase of a home espresso machine which has curtailed weekend purchases and I haven't been to Starbucks for a while.  The other day, I was on my way to a meeting, a little early and desirous of a coffee fix.  So I stopped in at one of the numerous convenient Starbucks locations in the concourse.  And paid $3.50 for a tall latte.  For some reason, $3.50 has pushed it into the category of too expensive in my mind.  Not that it will likely impact Starbucks much.  Just saying.

To Shannon who likes the iPod cover - give it a try - it is really very easy.  I'm only good with sewing straight lines so can vouch for its simplicity!

New iPod Cover

About a year ago, my beloved, ancient iPod was stolen.  While I was upset about the iPod, I was more upset by the really nice case I had it in.  I bought it in Peru so, in addition to really liking it, it was a daily reminder of a fantastic trip.  Since my job at the time was over-the-top stressful, this daily reminder was a small comfort to me.

I got over losing the iPod quickly enough because I got to replace it with groovy new technology but just stuck the iPod in the felt sleeve the old one came in and kept meaning to make a new cover.  But should I knit something, sew something, did I want a zipper or a button.  Then bouncing around the internet, I stumbled on this cover with its handy little tutorial.  It took no time to make and I have a cheerful little iPod cover again.  An added bonus, while not really making a dent, it used up some scrap fabric.  Next project, the earbud cover.

I think I tempted fate ...

... with the talk in my last post that eating so many oranges on my healthy diet would mean no colds for me.  Hah!  I currently have the worst cold I have had in years, and maybe ever.  Included in the lovely things barraging me is pink eye.  Never had pink eye before.  No idea where I got it from but I am a compulsive eye scratcher so I'm not surprised that, once exposed, I transmitted it to my eyes.

Fortunately, my job can be done from home quite easily so, while I have taken sick days, I was able to work from home quite a bit.  Which, when you look in the mirror and see red, watery demon-like eyes staring back at you is probably a good thing.  I had visions of people running away from me in the hallway.

The good news out of all of this, on a 2 hour conference call today, I was able to finish my January project, the Ona sweater by Perl Grey in Fleece Artist Organic Wool.  I wasn't sure it was going to fit but it does.  A nice cozy, comfortable, bum around sweater which is exactly what I wanted it to be.  My only issue was that the die-lots of the yarn were quite different.  The second skein was more grey than blue/grey.  I decided as I was knitting it that I didn't care.  Hours of stocking stitch to get to the point of the second ball had pretty much caused me mind-numbing boredom so I couldn't face a rip out just so I could carry two strands at once.  And I decided that where the colour change happened, it almost looks like I did it on purpose.

So far, New Year's resolutions have been on track.  Mostly followed the Bon Appetit Food Lover's Cleanse (the spirit of it at least since there was way too much cooking to be 100% exact) and lost at least 4 pounds in the process.  And I have generally been behaving myself since.  Although, I have to admit that the cold has resulted in digging a few cookies out of the freezer once or twice.  Of course, now that my husband will know they are there, I might have fewer available very soon.

I completed 2 major projects this month.  One a quilt from a previous post (that has been keeping me cozy while sick) and this sweater.  Bring on the February projects!  Good thing there is an extra day.

Missing the wine but probably won't get a cold

As written in my New Year's Resolution post last week, I am following along with the Bon Appetit Food Lovers Cleanse for 2 weeks.  It appealed to me because I wanted to eat healthier after a Christmas season of too much everything.  I thought something that told me what to eat and provided recipes would distract me from thoughts of cookies.  And the menu includes a piece of chocolate for dessert most nights and 4 drinks per week - can't go wrong with that.  Finally, since it is Bon Appetit, I thought the recipes would be pretty good and so far it has delivered.

Although I haven't been able to follow it to the letter - curling 2 nights this week meant 15 minutes for dinner so improvisation was necessary - I find it quite good.  There is lots of citrus and a ton of veggies to use up my allotment from my organic food delivery service.  Knowing that I could have wine by the weekend has given me something to look forward to.

My only challenge is breakfast.  I always eat the same thing for breakfast and I like it that way.  So moving off that has been my biggest challenge.   I can eat most things 95% of the time but I am a bit picky at breakfast.  Add to that a dislike of yogurt and needing to be in the mood for eggs, I'm struggling.  I think for the most part I'll stick to the hot cereal (which I'm calling gruel) since loading it up with blueberries and some walnuts makes it okay.

The good news that keeps me going - I've lost 4 pounds.  Not a bad way to start the New Year and I have reminded myself that I really do like salad.  I just tend to fall into the trap of grabbing something else because I'm too lazy to throw all of the pieces together.

It is easy ...

... to make a resolution to finish one project a month when one is almost finished.  We'll see how it goes for the rest of the year.

This was one of the quilt tops I have had completed for several months.  I quilted it about a month ago but just finished the binding yesterday.

It is a Buggy Barn pattern that was pretty interesting to make.  You pile up the fabrics for the blocks, put a template over top and cut where the template lines are.  Then move the fabrics around in each pile, sew them together and it looks like a complicated construction when really it is quite easy.

The second photo is of the back of the quilt, using up some scraps and other fabric I had in my stash.

I love the way the whole quilt turned out but I did run into a problem I haven't before - my back wasn't completely wrinkle-free when I pinned the layers together so there are a couple of places with wrinkles in the back.  I'm usually quite fanatical about ensuring the layers are flat so am disappointed with that but love it anyway and will probably be the only one who notices.  Or cares.

New Years Resolutions

I generally make them, am good following them in January and then can't remember what they were after that.  So here they are for this year:

1.  Finish one major project per month - sweater, quilt, other to be determined at the time
2.  Follow the Bon Appetit 2 week Food Lover's Cleanse and continue eating healthy with the main goal of losing those 8 pounds I found somewhere in the last 3 months.
3.  Stay within recently formulated 2012 budget

That's it.  Should be manageable enough.  We'll see how it goes.

Happy New Year!