Weekly Mileage #222 and the Kayaking Trip

I didn't forget my frankincense Sunday night (I'm still not sure how I managed to forget it Saturday night- it's a firmly ingrained part of my bedtime routine and I didn't skip any of the other steps). This wasn't the first time I've forgotten something that I shouldn't have, and it is always distressing. I know I have trouble remembering things and I've worked hard to find coping mechanisms to make sure I don't forget things- I use a planner, I have reminders on my phone, I have Sunshine or Jeremy remind me of some things, etc. 

When I forget things despite my precautions it's extra frustrating, as well as just a little scary. I don't want to forget things and I'm worried it will get worse as I get older. I will say though, writing weekly posts here for the last 13 years has helped (I started May 2008, so I recently passed the 13 year mark). I'm able to look back at things I did or said or that the kids or Jeremy did or said. I may not remember them at any given moment, but when I read what I wrote about them, I'm able to recall those instances. It gives me hope that the memories aren't actually gone, they're just buried in the foggy recesses of my brain.

In any case, I slept well and slept in a bit to make up for Saturday night. It made for a slow start to the day, but I felt a lot better than I did on Sunday.

I tried to get some work done, then I went to the lake for kayaking practice with Sunshine and the Scouts.

Tuesday was a rainy morning, so we did music lessons at home, online. Afterwards I did the grocery shopping. In karate class we did legwork, which was squats that left us all with jello legs.

jello cheesecake for Jeremy's cake, German chocolate for mine

Wednesday I woke up a bit wiped out from karate the night before, which is frustrating. It could also be from still trying to catch up on sleep and not eating right. Regardless of the cause, I skipped the morning walk and rested (much to Max's disgust).

little photo bomber 😊

After I took Sunshine to the orthodontist, I made and frosted my birthday cake, then did a little sewing on buckets. Jeremy made his jello cheesecake.

Thursday I dragged myself out of bed and took Max for a walk, then went to wallyworld to get a few things for this weekend's kayak trip. After my accountability call I hemmed up my karate pants finally, then did some laundry and some paperwork catchup for Scouts and finally some more bucket sewing. 

I've been feeling a bit burnt out and stressed out after all the work I've put into my business the last year and all the work I still need to do this summer and my response was to procrastinate and do other things. Not the best or healthiest of responses, but that's what I do.

All this week is leg week in karate, so more squats.

Jeremy and I have our birthdays this week, and the car wished each of us a happy birthday. Like I said last week, it's a lot more high tech than our other cars.

Friday I went for a trail run with Max, packed for the kayaking trip, and worked on more buckets.

In the evening we drove to our campsite on the river.

Saturday we kayaked most of the day. We were driven upriver 14 or 15 miles, then spent the day kayaking back to our campsite.

I ended up in the middle, keeping an eye on the speedier Scouts ahead of me and hanging out with the mid-speed Scouts in the middle. The other Scout leader was in the back with the slower paddlers (one girl barely paddled at all and was content to just float along).

One of the Scouts overshot the small island we stopped at for lunch (not the one pictured above, which was in a slow section), got caught in a current and pulled down stream a bit. I had to wade in, cross the current, grab the kayak, and pull it upstream and across the current again. Moving against the current drained me more than I wanted, which was frustrating.

It was a long day of paddling. The last couple miles the Scouts (and me) were ready to be done.

cool rock I found that split cleanly in half horizontally

We sent all the scouts to their tents at 9:30 because the adults were tired (the Scouts were too, even if they didn't admit it).

a cool rock

river glass, similar to sea glass

Sunday I half expected to wake up exhausted, but while I was tired, I was able to get up and moving with fewer problems than I've had on other days. I credit all the electrolytes and water I drank all day (no dehydration for me) and the fact that I was wearing long pants (quick dry), a long sleeve rash guard, and a big floppy hat- no sunburn for me.

After breakfast we hopped in the river to kayak another 8 miles or so down river to the outfitters. We had two more adults this time. One ended up near me, but behind me most of the time, the other was at the rear. While I wasn't as sore as I thought I'd be, my arms were tired. Sunshine and I both were fishing gloves, which were definitely a good call: they saved our hands from blisters.

I wore the same long clothes I wore on Saturday, though I switched kayaks with Sunshine so she was in the sit-in kayak and I was in the sit-on-top kayak. I ended up with about a 1"x5" strip of sunburned skin on each ankle, where my pants didn't quite meet my water shoes (they were under the shelter of the sit-in kayak on Saturday, so no sunburn then).

raccoon tracks

this was supposed to be a drop of a couple feet, but was barely a blip. disappointing.

When we returned home that afternoon, the boys wanted me to take a picture with them and Max.

Weekly Mileage 

Monday-                                            2.0 hours outside

Thursday-   1.50 miles hiked            0.5 hours outside

Friday-       1.78 miles hiked             5.5 hours outside

Saturday-  14.0 miles kayaked         15.0 hours outside

Sunday-     8.0 miles kayaked           8.0 hours outside

       total- 3.28 miles             31.0 hours

2021 totals

141.5 outside hours

183.49 miles

Sunday Funny

Max got a sword chew toy in a recent BarkBox, and it's hilarious when she holds it by the hilt.

She's ready to take on the world to protect us!

Ok, maybe not 🤣

Weekly Mileage #221 and We Got a New Car

Monday I finished catching up on posts. It took longer than I'd hoped, but if I put it off till next Sunday, it wouldn't get done, since I'm sure I've got too many meetings (I do most Sundays, this past Sunday was a fluke).

Then I put together the kayak rack that's been sitting in the kitchen since last summer and attached it to the roof rack of the CRV before loading both kayaks on the racks in preparation for our kayaking activity at Scouts that evening.

The CRV was really struggling on the way to and from the lake. I've been noticing this when we all load in to go to karate (I have to turn the AC off when we go up hills or it just bogs down). It's feeling its age. We're a couple thousand miles from 200k and we've had it for 15.5 years (we bought it when I was pregnant with Sunshine). We've known for awhile that we need to get a new car, but I was hoping to put it off for awhile longer. However, the thought of driving it out to Ohio and back, and the knowledge that I cannot break down going or coming because the scheduling is too tight, was making me super nervous. So, after the kids were in bed Jeremy and I looked at some cars online, went to USAA, applied for and were approved for an auto loan (with a really great interest rate, I might add). Now we have to find and test drive the car we want. As is our way, we have a specific vehicle in mind, and there's not a lot of them out there. 

I was super tired all day and didn't feel great. Maybe I ate too much sugar Sunday night? 

Tuesday I was still tired, but I felt better than I did on Monday. We went to music lessons and I took the boys on a short hike while Sunshine did her lesson.

I tried to do some clothes shopping on the way home, but the boys weren't doing as they were told (running off, touching everything, etc), so we didn't stay too long. Sunshine will just have to order her clothes online. Thank goodness for the internet.

We had a meeting with the head karate instructor before class and we committed to achieving our black belts. It'll take about 3 years, and all things considered, the price is pretty good. Though when it comes time to buy our sparring gear and practice weapons, those will be a fairly significant investment for five people and will be our Christmas presents this year (which should be about the time we need them, I think).

Ocean was here

We had planned on selling the house and moving two years from now, so committing to reaching our black belts will keep us here an extra year. While I am mentally ready to leave now, financially it will be better to wait an extra year. More time to save up for land and a construction loan, more time to fully establish my business as a full-time income earner, more time to finish the work on the house that needs to be done before we sell it. And it gives us more wiggle room in the adoption process. It will also hopefully allow more time for the real estate market to calm down and the lumber industry to stabilize. I'm really hoping a lot of people will realize they don't like living in the boonies after all after escaping the cities during the pandemic and sell out and move back to the city, just in time for us to get a good deal on land out in said boonies.

Wednesday Jeremy took the day off work and he and I drove to Richmond to look at the car we were thinking of buying. While the timing was good for us to get a loan (interest rates are low and we recently raised our credit scores by quite a bit), the timing for buying a car isn't the greatest. There's a chip shortage that has led to a shortage of new vehicles, which translates to a shortage on used cars as well. We knew we wanted a Subaru, since they do really well in the snow (even though it'll be three more years till we're around snow) and are supposed to be very reliable (like Hondas and Toyotas, but a little cheaper). We knew we needed a vehicle with third row seating, and the Ascent is the only Subaru that has third row seating. We considered a Honda Pilot or Toyota Highlander, but they're more expensive. Unfortunately, the Ascent is only in its third production year, so there's not a lot available either new or used.

We settled on the 7 passenger Ascent Limited (the Touring would have worked, but we didn't want to pay an extra $5k for a few fancy bells and whistles we don't need). The Limited has leather seats (a must, in our book) and the 7 passenger version has 2nd row captain seats, which makes it easier to get to the back seat (the 8 passenger version has a bench seat that makes it a little more difficult). and we needed black or brown leather upholstery to hide some of the dirt that will invariably find its way into the car. We found a few with ivory leather upholstery, which is a definite no-go.

So with those limits, there weren't a lot of options available. The lowest priced one was in Richmond, so that's where we went to test drive it. It drove great, so we went ahead and bought it then and there, which surprised the salesman. He was expecting us to talk about it and come back later, but we already knew that as long as it drove well we'd get it.

There's a lot of electronics to get used to, especially after the low tech CRV (the Camry is a bit higher tech, but nowhere near as high tech as the Ascent). We need to get a hitch installed and let it finish off-gassing (I got a headache during the test drive because of the chemical fumes, which no one else noticed, of course).

We're keeping the CRV for now, and will use it for hauling trash to the dump, hauling kayaks to the lake, and for Sunshine to drive around town. We've had it long enough (and it's not worth much at this point) that we don't mind if she has some mishaps in it when she's learning to drive. She can get her permit in November. 😳

When we move, we'll sell or donate the Camry and CRV (depending on their condition and value), but for now keeping the CRV as a beater car will allow us to keep the Ascent looking nicer, longer. Loading and unloading kayaks on the Ascent would quickly scratch the finish.

Thursday I went for a trail run with Max and River, then went to the chiropractor and had my accountability call.

After that, I sewed buckets before heading to our youth activity, where the YM and YW built rockets that will be launched at a future date.

Friday I sewed buckets before we went to karate.

Saturday was a lazy morning before we went to a board breaking seminar at the martial arts studio. Everyone who attended (right down to the littlest kiddos) broke two boards: once with a hand, once with a sidekick (using a foot). We practiced on rebreakable boards before breaking pine boards. It was lots of fun and great for seeing that we can do it, long before we need to (it's part of the blackbelt test).

Somehow I forgot to take my frankincense before bed Saturday night. I popped awake around 3am and couldn't get back to sleep. Less than 3 hours of sleep is not a good thing for me. I ended up spending a good portion of the day in bed, just feeling bleh and tired. I can't even remember the last time I forgot to take my frankincense, and while it's been a very unpleasant reminder that my routine is effective, sometimes it's good to be reminded that I'm taking all these supplements for a reason, and each one has its purpose.

It was also yet another reminder that narcolepsy does have an effect on my life and there are things I can and can't do. Another reminder: our ward is planning a youth temple trip to the Philadelphia temple in August (first one in more than a year and a half- maybe two years? maybe longer?). I can go to help, but I can't drive a carful of teenagers because it's further than two and a half hours away and it's really not safe for me to drive further than that. 

Jeremy went to church by himself (none of the kids were ready since Mommy didn't get them ready) and had to answer questions about where I was (not sick, just had a bad night, etc). Some in our ward know about my narcolepsy, but there's only a couple who know what that truly means to my functionality. I'm good at faking it and looking like I'm healthy, so just saying that I didn't sleep well or had a bad night doesn't necessarily seem like a reason to stay home. In the past I think I'd have just powered through it and gone anyway. But for whatever reason, that didn't happen on Sunday, and it wasn't a bad thing. Acceptance of limitations doesn't come easy to me. The realization that our future hobby farm will always be small because of those limitations is frustrating though.

Adding insult to injury: my period started. At least I was able to lay on the heating pad in bed while resting. It was a tired week, which I didn't think was related to my period because I thought it started too early, but maybe it was just my pre-period tired. I need to start tracking that a little closer.

My Leatherwork 101 course ended at the end of May, but I haven't had a chance to write about the experience yet. Overall, it went well. Making the videos was more intense and time consuming than I'd anticipated, so I spent the entire 8 weeks trying to keep a step ahead of my lesson schedule. But while it was a lot of work this time around, in future sessions things will be much calmer and more hands off, since most of the hard work is now done. I will need to do some editing and re-recording before the fall session because I'll be making a couple changes, but it will be nothing like this spring session.

Weekly Mileage 

Monday-                                            3.0 hours outside

Tuesday-     .56 miles hiked               1.0 hours outside

Thursday-   2.11 miles hiked             0.5 hours outside

       total- 2.67 miles             4.5 hours

2021 totals

110.5 outside hours

180.21 miles

Sunday Funny

 

Why is there a large cake crumb balanced on the door knob? Who knows. 

Most likely it was put there by the semi-feral child. The workings of his mind are as mysterious as the grubbiness of his hands, which he is not afraid to spread on all available surfaces.

Weekly Mileage #220 and Rock Climbing

strips of waxed canvas waiting to be cut into smaller pieces for pockets and buckets

Monday I finished cutting all the lighter weight waxed canvas I have and ended up with 118 sets of pockets. I also cut all the heavier weight waxed canvas I have and ended up with 96 buckets.

the two humped piles are canvas for pockets (two sizes) and the smaller size pocket canvas is sitting on top of the canvas for buckets

Between the pockets and the buckets I've decimated my waxed canvas stash. I only have some very stiff heavy waxed canvas (98% of my stash was light waxed) and the scraps from cutting the pockets and buckets (not a lot, all things considered, but enough to make some small zip bags). I was aiming for at least 100 sets of pockets and 100 buckets to take to convention, but I also need some to stock on my site and Etsy shop. More canvas is on order, but I have plenty to do in the meantime. Next up: cutting the leather strips for the pockets and the leather strips and circles for the buckets. 

There's definitely economy of scale when cutting the canvas. Cutting so much at once went a lot quicker than just doing a couple. I was timing myself to get an idea of how much to pay a statutory employee (a class of independent contractor that does piece work). It went a lot quicker than I thought it would, all things considered. 

We skipped scouts since Sunshine was feeling under the weather from her second shot. She didn't escape the reaction like Jeremy did, but she didn't feel as bad as I did.

the giant moth outside our window that had Maxi up in arms one night. not surprising, since it was the size of a small bird

Tuesday we had music lessons for just the boys since Sunshine still wasn't feeling great. It gave them a little extra time to work on things. Mostly River, since Ocean's attention span isn't the greatest. River has made really good progress the last couple months and is becoming quite the little banjo player.

(the piano is inside, so rather than try to keep the boys quiet during Sunshine's lesson I've been taking them for hikes, which is why I don't have any pictures of Sunshine playing)

I did the grocery shopping after music lessons. Virginia dropped their mask mandate a week or so ago for fully vaccinated individuals and since I'm officially two weeks post-vax and thus considered fully vaccinated, I didn't have to wear a mask. It was a bit weird to see so many unmasked people in the stores after 15 months of masks. I'm not complaining, it was just a bit weird. And I had to keep reminding myself to keep a pleasant expression on my face so I wouldn't look like I was mad.

That evening we had karate class, then I did some more Pinterest keyword searching. I realized I can't really move forward with Pinterest until I re-do my product photography because I need a wide variety of photos to use in making pins. So I need to get some buckets and pockets made and photographed, then do new photographs of some of my other products. Then I can start making pins. It's a process.

this grubby little boy stole my phone and I found a bunch of similar selfies on it later

Wednesday I went on a trail run with Max, then had my accountability call.

Afterwards, I cut leather for buckets and pockets. I ran out of leather after jigsawing my way through 3 sides of leather to make sure as little leather as possible was wasted. I ended up with enough pieces for 73 buckets and 35 sets of pockets. I ordered 2 more sides, which should cover the rest of the leather I need. The round bottoms of the buckets use the most amount of leather, so there's no way to do this with just a small amount of leather.

Thursday morning it was raining, so no run for Max and I. 

After lunch we did our annual evaluation with a homeschool mom we've known since we started homeschooling. We actually skipped it last year since there was no end of year requirements for public or home schoolers, but everything's back to normal in that respect this year. 

An order of leather arrived, mostly leather for the fall session of my course. It's time to start cutting and prepping for that as well. Busy busy busy. I also sat down to look over what leathers I need for the 101 and advanced courses so I can make sure I'm ordering the right ones and using up some of my stash. I have too much leather sitting on my shelves, unused. Ordering online isn't the best way financially to get better acquainted with leather, but it is educational. Some sites are really good at giving all the characteristics of a piece of leather, but some are not as thorough.

In the evening I took my class and Sunshine's class to the local climbing gym for YW. We had 2 leaders and 7 girls, which is a good turnout for us. One of the girls I was especially happy to see there as she tends to be very cautious and shy. I think only one of the girls had ever done any bouldering, and neither I nor the other leader ever had. We all had a lot of fun and it was a good challenge. We stayed for an hour, which was a good amount of time to climb around on the short wall, then try the taller walls, then be done. It was good to get a taste, but not overdo it. 

Unfortunately, I still managed to over do it and felt super tired Friday morning. It's frustrating that I can't physically push myself too hard, even for a short amount of time.

Sunshine: let me crouch down and take the picture so it looks like you're up high 🤣

Friday it was raining again, so no run, which wasn't a bad thing considering how I woke up. I did not feel great. I did manage to cut some leather and start working on a bucket that needed to be shipped off.

I made it through karate class, but felt wiped out afterwards and I went to sleep earlier than I have in some time.

Saturday I was able to sleep in a bit, then I cut three sides of leather into dice tray blanks for the next session of my course. I then worked on some buckets. I had an order that needed to be finished and I have some new colors of canvas, so I need to take new product photos. Doing so will also allow me to finally update my branding on them and my Etsy shop (which still has the old branding since I haven't had time to do new product photography).

Sunday I was fighting a migraine since Saturday evening. Tight shoulder muscles are the culprit, which most likely came from skiving the leather for the buckets. As soon as I can afford it I need to get a mechanical skiver, but at around $2k, it's not in the budget just yet.

Despite the nausea and headache, I finally started catching up on old posts. I've been jotting notes throughout the week for the last few months, but haven't had the time to upload photos and do a final edit. Not sure where I left off? The March 29 post is the first of the catch-up posts.

Weekly Mileage 

Tuesday-                                            1.0 hours outside

Wednesday- 2.12 miles run                .5 hours outside

Thursday-                                         2.0 hours outside

       total- 2.12 miles             3.5 hours

2021 totals

106.0 outside hours

177.54 miles