Everything's Walking Distance if You Have the Time

Up until about 10 weeks ago, I though I was in pretty good shape. I went to the gym three times a week, walked on the treadmill, used the stationary bike, lifted some weights. The usual. I wasn't so delusional that I thought I was actually athletic, but I thought I did okay. Then mr. flyskim and I decided to train for the 2010 Portland Oyster Urban Adventure Race, and I had a very rude awakening regarding my actual level of fitness. (I know these aren't Rocky Mountain oysters, but did you really want a picture of buffalo testicles?)

For those of you who are unfamiliar, the Oyster Racing Series is a string of urban adventure races held in different cities across the United States. Think The Amazing Race but in a single city on a single day. What makes this race different from other adventure races is the level of athleticism required. For example, running is mandatory, and the full course is suggested for triathletes or people who run 10k races.

I don't run. Or at least I didn't 10 weeks ago. I still don't really run, more like walking with 2 minutes of running thrown in here and there. A friend who is an experienced runner is putting together my training plan, and I am still shocked at how hard it is to run at 5 MPH for 2 minutes at a time. I don't know how people do this, but my coach assures me that if I just keep at it, the periods of running will get longer and longer until I'm running actual distances. Hopefully, my butt will get smaller, too. (About one size. Not looking for miracles, just want to wear my skinny jeans again.)

My point? mr. flyskim and I went for a walk last Friday afternoon on fairly flat ground. Mostly sidewalk; about four and a half miles. I'm in better shape right now than I've ever been due to my race training. And our four-mile walk? Still kicked my ass (insert indignant tone of disbelief here).

At least we got outside the house because we haven't been able to do much outdoors because of the oven that was Portland this last week. And since we're not going anywhere on vacation this year, I took the camera along so that I could tourist it up a little in my hometown.

Did you know that the median strip on NE Ainsworth is an arboretum? I didn't, and I needed a book to tell me about it. Heck, I needed a book to tell me that there was a median strip at all.

And I don't think I've seen a slide like this since I was seven. I remember thinking that this kind of slide was so huge and just went round and round forever, and you would be going so fast that you would just shoot off the end. But one of the dads hanging out with his family went down the slide as we walked by, and he got stuck about halfway down. Am I just remembering it wrong?
There was something very Charlie Brown Christmas about this little sticky plant. In fact, it reminds me of something we did to our lilac tree a couple of weeks ago, and my fear that we killed it by cutting it to the ground in the middle of July instead of waiting until the fall. But it's sprouting now, so it's okay.
By this point in the walk,I was hot, hungry and tired, so pictures fell by the wayside. We had lunch at La Bonita on NE Alberta, and I've never been so happy to see a taco in my life. The fact that it was delicious was just a bonus.

Oh, and here's my blister. I didn't even know I had one until we got back to our car.

It's supposed to cool back down to regular temperatures in the next week, so here's hoping for some good progress on the project back log.

According to the Kinsey Report . . .

Every average man you know will tell you paint and stain dry much more quickly when the thermometer goes way up. At least, I know that paint does and suspect the same of wood stain (at least the one we've been using because it's dried fairly quickly in normal temperatures and our wood is porous). So this recent heat wave really threw a damper into my plans to have my way with our dining room window this last weekend. I was going to complete painting and staining of the trim, and given the non-existent state of my motivation for this project over the past several months, I was excited and energized because I was expecting to make great strides with a little extra time off work.

Here at chez flyskim, we've been restoring the many-times painted woodwork in our 1908 bungalow. We started in the dining room in January and have completed the built-in (above in its in-progress state), the large doorway into the office (the glorious "before" shot on top and the "after" is the bottom) . . .

. . . and the French doors (below), which are currently waiting for glass.

My original plan was take two days off and use my long weekend to paint and stain the window frame and the doorway into the kitchen. If I was feeling ambitious, I was also going to start on the crown moulding. Well, that didn't happen.

On Thursday, I got the primer on the window, but that needed eight hours to dry, so I didn't get to start painting until late that afternoon. Then I realized that my mad cutting in skillz (Please note the sarcasm. No one my age should ever use the phrase "mad skillz" without it.) were neither as mad nor as skillful as I remembered, and I taped off the windows and to-be-stained wood pretty quickly after my first mistake. But I ran out of tape, so I could only do a single coat of paint on two sections of the window. For reference, above is a picture of our window when we had just moved into the house: all white and bland and stripped of character.

And here's what it looks like with all of the windows down and most of the moulding taken off. Please also enjoy in this shot the beauteous Pip in the right-hand window taking in some fresh evening air.

I ran to the store for more tape Friday morning and completed my second coat of paint on all sections of the window between 10 a.m. and 11:30 a.m. The painted part of the frame is the trim that would be on the outside of the house if not for the storm windows. When we put our original windows back in, the stained wood will be on the inside of the house and the painted wood on the outside. The color is called Night Shade, and it's dark brown with just a hint of purple. It will look fantastic when we finally get around to painting our house pale green. But since we had the windows down for repair and staining, I figured why not go ahead and paint. There will never be a better time. It was in the mid-80s on Friday which is when I noticed that the two coats of paint put on the third section of window that morning dried awfully fast. Knowing that our house holds onto heat and that it was only going to get hotter over the weekend, I decided not to risk the staining. There's nothing worse than gloppy, uneven stain, and I'm not skilled enough at it to try staining under less than ideal conditions. It's supposed to drop to the low 80s sometime in the next 10 days, and I'll give it another try then.

And just to illustrate the current unhappiness in our household over the 100+ temperatures, here is a shot of our little man coping with the heat the best he can. The floor of our house has become dangerous territory over the past couple of days. You never know when you'll encounter a random kitty belly. Okay, running through the sprinkler now.

Exactly when did I move to Roswell?

-or-

The UnFinished Object Post

I'm great at starting things. In fact, there's nothing that I like better than planning a new project. It's the finishing that leaves something to be desired. So in order to keep myself on the straight and narrow road to productivity, I'm going to complete all of my current unfinished projects. Here's the whole, messy lot of them.

Butterick 5319

So far, this is the best dress I've ever made. I don't usually wear pink, but this fabric just spoke to me. I've done a lot of things with this pattern that I've never done before. The dress is fully lined (never lined a garment before), and I put in my first invisible zipper. Looks kind of pretty from the outside, don't you think? Well, aside from the blue sewing marker. Now for the ugly.

I need to slipstitch the lining to the zipper and the bodice lining to the skirt. It also needs hemming. However, I forgot to check the length of the pattern, so it's a little short, even unfinished. I have a beautiful piece of lace to tack to the lining to see if it (a) fixes the length problem and (b) looks good. If both (a) and (b) don't work out, I may have to learn to live with exposing my knees to the world. I may be looking for opinions later.

The Dollar and a Half Cardigan

This needs a little more work. All the pieces are finished, but it needs blocking. Those two lumps at the top are the sleeves. And then there's the putting it together. The last complete sweater I made was over 20 years ago, and I just pieced it together like you would a shirt, so I'm going to try to be a lot neater. Then I have to pick up the stitches for the button band. And get buttons. And sew them on. But it's nearly finished, I swear.

Juliet

This has been nearly finished since last year. Blocking, weaving in the ends and buttons are the only things left. I'm not convinced it suits me, but I'm going to finish it before I make a final judgment.

Trapeze Jacket

This is farther along than the picture shows. I've completed the body and am about halfway through the collar. Problem is, I was frustrated with sucking at short rows and stopped working on it, and now I can't remember where I am in the pattern. So, I'll have to rip out the collar and redo it, knit the sleeves and do all of the finishing work. This will probably be the last thing on this list that I finish.

Tangled Yoke Cardigan

I've completed the body up until where the sleeves are to be joined, and I've started the first sleeve. They're knit in the round, and I couldn't get that this was just the same as a sock, so I had to restart the sleeve three times before it finally took. I have to keep plugging away at this, or it will meet the same fate at the Trapeze Jacket.

Socks for mr. flyskim

Nothing to see here. Basic 2x2 rib, top down. He has really big feet, so I hope I have enough yarn.

And that's just the knitting and sewing. We have a couple of house projects going on, but that's for another post. Wish me luck. This will keep me busy for the rest of the summer (or longer). Then I can start planning all of the new projects . . . Oh, who am I kidding? They're already planned, but I can't start anything else before I at least whittle down the list. Anything more and I'll need a 12-step program, and I don't think there's a Crafter's Anonymous out there.

Obligatory First Post

And not just a little self-conscious about it, let me tell you. What's that part from Pride & Prejudice (mini-series, not the book)? Something about being reluctant to say anything unless I expect to amaze the whole room? Maybe it would help if I had some sort of purpose or direction, but I don't. Not really.

Actually, when I'm being really honest, the reason I'm starting a blog is because everyone else already has one. I was going to say that this was totally unlike me, but that's wrong. It's so like me. In fact, one way to guarantee that I won't do something is to tell me that all the cool kids are doing it. Don't get the wrong idea. If there's one thing I'm not, it's a rebel. But it's safe not to put yourself out there, and it takes shockingly little to turn me back into an insecure, chubby 13-year-old. My usual MO is to try and go unnoticed.

Last year, I started looking for things that would take me outside of my very comfortable zone. I applied for a new position in the company I work for that I really wanted even though I was happy in my job. And I got it, and it was the best career move ever. So then I raced on a dragon boat team at the Portland Rose Festival. That's me on the left with my paddle down and grinning at the camera. Didn't love it, but I committed and stuck with it. And now I can say I've swallowed Willamette river water and lived to tell about it, even if I never step foot in a boat again for the rest of my life. I took some professional classes. I started knitting and sewing again. And I started reading all of these great, creative blogs, and I wanted to do that, too.

Now, I've never been able to keep up a journal with any consistency. The longest I've managed is, I think, three weeks, and then it's usually because I'm trying to work through some emotional trauma: an argument with my mother; problems at work; the deaths of several fictional characters to whom I was overly attached after seven books and more than 10 years. (By the way, J.K. Rowling? Still dead to me.)

So, hi. I'm flyskim. I'm 43, but sometimes I think I'm still 12. I'm married, two cats, no kids. And I always have some sort of project going. Now if I could only start finishing them. . .