With Drew’s departure last Wednesday evening (yes, I survived the first week), my lack of any real strength training in 6 months since my club membership ran out, and the generosity of parents and grandparents on holidays and birthdays I rejoined Raintree Athletic Club last week.

There have been so many advantages to being back there:

• Strength training equipment of all varieties - medicine balls, resistance tubes, free weights, Star Trac machines and on and on.
• Pool! While I don’t often have terrible flares that would otherwise keep me from exercising, I do like to mix it up and get in the pool every now and then for some resistant cardio, but if I’m really achey it is especially nice. The steam room and sauna can be nice on occasion too, especially with allergy sinuses.
• Yoga classes - which not only help my body, but my brain as well. While I can do the yoga at home, for me classes are more meditative because I’m not having to concern myself with timing my positions (in Yin you hold the positions for 3-5 minutes so you really do have to time things unlike with a flow). I even took advantage of a couple workshops this past week - tennis ball massage and breathing into backbends.
• The free session with a nutritionist upon signing up. I didn’t learn anything new, but it was pointed out to me that I had slipped back into my habit of under eating. Since the bronchitis I just never really got hungry. But upping my food slowly over the week I noticed yesterday that I did get hungry. Still with a longer time span than ideal, but it is progress. A small sign that my metabolism is ramping back up
• The free session with the personal trainer. My session with Tracy this time around was amazing. She was my preferred water aerobics instructor last time around so she had a feel for my fitness level to a certain degree and we already had a rapport. But most importantly, she called me the night before to confirm the appointment and find out what I was looking for in my session so she could prepare ahead of time. Since I already knew how to run the basic equipment - treadmills, ellipticals, stationary bikes and the Star Tracs I asked to learn more about proper form on the rowing machine and for some non-Star Trac strengthening. She delivered! My arms and core are declaring it a rest day today.
• Even if I don’t really interact with anyone while working out the staff always says hello and goodbye with a smile and I’m surrounded by people. Sometimes that is all I need to chase away the loneliness.
• If you had asked me before I rejoined if people would remember me upon my return I would have told you that the instructors from the three classes I took most frequently would likely but no one else. But my previous personal trainer did as did a handful of people from the yoga classes that I hadn’t been to since my stint in working full-time outside of the home, so over a year ago. And while progress this past year has been so slow I almost don’t notice it, several of these people were astounded, which is always a nice boost for the self confidence.

I have had an issue with rejoining though — taking my time and wading in! I just want to jump in and try every class that is different since the last time and do this and do that. It has been difficult to keep myself reigned in. As it is, I think I’m teetering on the edge of over training again between my low caloric intake, having been not exercising beyond walking in over 6 weeks and the yard & garden work on top of the workouts. So today, I am really going to listen to and trust my body and have a rest day. I just have to keep telling myself that the classes will still be there next week and next month. None of the ones I’m most interested in are flagged as low participation so I should be good.

Are you a member of a club or YMCA? What are you favorite classes or pieces of equipment?

If you don’t have a membership, how do you strength train at home? Do you have some equipment? The only thing I really did was run when my club membership ran out. Occasionally I’d throw in some traditional crunches, pushups and planks but I was bad about doing it regularly. For equipment, all I had was a 2 pound and a 5 pound dumbbell from a stint of PT for my shoulder - yes, only one each :-/

I did hold back some of my large clothes. There were a few things where I just really loved the item or the print and didn’t want to part with them. Before DH left I did some alterations on a few things. First up was a black and white linen sheath that was one of the first pieces of clothing I bought when I moved here to Fort Collins Memorial Day Weekend of 1999. When I bought the dress I was at my then smallest size as an adult. I remember being so excited to be buying an XL piece of clothing and not something plus-sized.

The beauty of sheaths is that they are classic so I decided to finally jump in and alter it to fit better. I used an existing woven shirt dress to guide me on where to put my new seam lines. The shirt dress has some stretch so I was generous in drawing my new seam lines. Though in retrospect a shirt dress is less fitted than a sheath so I really didn’t need to worry about that. I didn’t cut the fabric, instead I tried it on inside out after putting in the new seam lines and decided some areas needed brought in more so I put pins in to rough out the changes. I applied the changes to one side, then used it to match the other side. Again I didn’t cut, I just put the new seams in to the inside of my previous ones in case I needed make more changes. It was good, so I cut, pressed and finished the seam allowances. Overall I took out about 4-6″ in circumference depending on the area.

Here I am wearing it with a light weight cardigan, tights and boots. It was a cool spring day, but the white of the dress made the outfit still feel spring-like. I’ve since worn it with and without the cardigan but with heeled black sandals when the temps have been more summer-like. I’m so glad I hung onto this dress. It was always a favorite. Plus, for just a few yards of thread and less than an hour I have a new dress in my wardrobe!

This new button up tank top was from a short sleeve 1X shirt my mom had bought but never worn before she shrunk out of it. The sleeves were puffed, which isn’t a good look on me, so I cut them off and turned it into a tank. I used the above dress as a pattern for taking this in. This shirt also has some stretch like the shirt dress so I knew it could handle the more fitted silhouette of the top part of the sheath. I had originally planned to use the sleeves to make bias tape to encase the armholes. There was so little fabric in those short sleeves that I ended up with lots of seams in the bias tape so I scrapped that idea. Instead, I used used some 1/4″ double fold white bias tape to face the armholes on the inside.

This one isn’t quite as thrilling as the dress. Boy am I glad I did the dress first so I was enthused about altering/refashion! This one being a 1X resulted in the existing bust darts landing too low for me now (a little less so if I wear my “wow” bra). It is still totally wearable and I have a nice little red cardigan I can layer over it on cool nights or in AC which totally disguises the issue. Here I’m wearing it with my dark skinny jeans (which aren’t so skinny anymore and require a belt), but I could see wearing it with my navy pencil skirt and skinny red belt too.

Have you ever made drastic alterations to your clothing or thrift store finds? I may be a bit more motivated to troll the thrift stores now after these successes! I have a 4X linen big shirt from J. Jill that was always too big but I loved the striped fabric. I want to turn it into a sleeveless tunic of sorts. Because it is a big shirt it was meant to have generous ease so there are no existing bust darts to worry about. But, I don’t want the tunic quite that shapeless so I’m pondering if I could add in bust darts. That would make the front side seams shorter than the back though… :-/ Although maybe I can put in a bit of a split at the side seams and have the back be longer than the front? Anyone know of any good tutorials on making a split side seam on shirts?

I have another dress I want to take in, but the fabric is kind of slippery and it is another favorite from about the same time period as the sheath so I’m procrastinating on that for fear of ruining it. I have two knit skirts I need to hem yet and two - three other handmade skirts I want to try taking in at the side seams. Then I have fabric and supplies for two Laurels I want to dive in and do as well. Though I keep waffling a ton on what size is the right one to cut and procrastinating on making a non-wearable muslin. I also have a couple top ideas (and have the fabric for them), and the fabric and pattern for a fun tank top too. Now if I can figure out how to set up my space so I don’t have to take down my computer set-up to sew and my sewing stuff to work and I’ll be golden! I’m looking forward to having a refresh of my wardrobe for summer!

While living through one natural disaster is never the same as another, I know some things are universal whether you survived a devastating flood that covered more than 3/4 of a town like I did, a hurricane or a tornado like that the hit Moore, OK yesterday:

• It is upsetting to not know how friends and loved ones are faring
• It is stressful not knowing where your next meal is going to come from
• Or where you are going to sleep and when you might get sleep again
• While help may be coming it never seems like quite enough or fast enough or last long enough to find some sort of new normalcy

I am not in a position right now to make the kind of difference I’d like, but every little bit helps. Especially a lot of little bits. I’ve experienced it. And while it won’t be super timely, I know the citizens of Moore will need help for a while. I’d like you to help me help the tornado victims. I’ll be donating 10% of my Ravelry pattern profits through June 20th to the American Red Cross Oklahoma Tornado Relief Fund.

I’ve you’ve been procrastinating on buying Nourishing Knits now would be a great time! I also have a lot of really great patterns for summer knitting, some as economic as $3 - Towel Trio, Stellar Facecloth, Cirrus Shrug, Ganache Shawl, Kate Shawl and of course tons of sock patterns.

On a personal note, I’m slowly finding my new normal while DH is gone and things are improving now that I have some part time work, my hands are out in the garden, and I’m back to the gym thanks to Christmas and birthday money from my parents and grandparents. Thank you to those who took the time to send me e-mail or Rav mail. I really appreciate it and will get back to you soon. I’ll update you all on what I’ve been up to over the coming days and weeks I’m sure.

My only human contact, DH, leaves in less than 2 weeks and will be gone for almost 3 months. He still doesn’t have housing lined up so that is even more stress.

I don’t have the energy to put on a happy, positive voice right now. So I really can’t say when I’ll be back with any regularity. I may pop in with some book reviews as I’ve been reading when I can find escape in a book. Likely occasional dog photos will pop up on Instagram as they are my lifeline right now.

This photo has nothing to do with 10 on Tuesday. Nor is even recent. I’m just reminding myself what is around the corner and why be tolerant of cold, gray days besides fire suppression.

Well, I’ve never been terribly big on the whole April Fool’s thing and before 8am yesterday I was pretty much done with looking at the Internet given all the false things appearing all over social media. I stand pretty much zero chance at listing ten things.

There were a lot of surprises in our household growing up. Most, if not all, the brain children of my mother. Many of then centered around birthdays, thus very positive and fun experiences and not really pranks.

The title of biggest prank in our household is shared by my sister and my mom. Hands down! It wasn’t an April Fool’s prank though. The sad part was that it shouldn’t have been as epic as it was.

It was my first term at UND in Grand Forks, ND, 4 hours away from home. I was always very attached to my family and having a rough time being away. I came home every other weekend for my sanity (and free laundry, I won’t lie). On one of those trips my mom and my sister kept ribbing me about my North Dakota accent. I couldn’t figure out what they were talking about. I didn’t find that most of the people at UND spoke any different than we did in west central Minnesota. A few of the people from really small towns on either side of the Canadian border may have had slight accents in comparison to the norm, but they didn’t strike me as particularly different than any of the really small towns in Minnesota either. It also seemed to me like I had been there an awful short amount of time to have picked up an accent.

Over the course of the weekend both mom and Amber would occasionally snicker and make a comment about my accent. I remember getting really flustered and frustrated a few times when I’d ask for examples and they would just release peels of laughter in response. In retrospect I suppose that should have tipped me off. Eventually the weekend came to an end and I headed back to school. They never bugged me about it again really, but it still popped to mind every once in a while.

Fast forward another 5 years or so and I was getting ready to move out to Colorado and made a stop at home. I finally asked them about this elusive North Dakota accent. I’m not certain if I was hoping to identify the offending parts of speech so I would avoid them when I arrived in Fort Collins or what. Regardless, when I asked them about it I was once again met with laughter. This time, the kind of laughter that causes tears to stream down your face. I was lost and couldn’t figure out what was so darn funny that they couldn’t talk. Eventually between gasps for air one of the two finally got out that they thought they had told me it was a joke before I headed back to school that very first weekend. They were dying of laughter because here I had been under the impression for more than 5 years that I had picked up a North Dakota accent! The joke ended up being 100 times funnier than they ever would have guessed!

If you are stopping by just for Ten on Tuesday, I do want to mention the announcement I made yesterday - to help me celebrate my birthday month you can save 15% on all my my knitting patterns sold on Ravelry in my store using the code HAPPY37. Plus, all purchases through midnight Mountain time on April 30th will be entered into a random drawing for a refund of the winning purchase.