The Sock Madness has left me or maybe something else took over. It may involve a crochet hook and cute stuffed animals. I am blaming the evil cake crazed dreams I had Monday night. I was so tired yesterday from lack of sleep due to cakey dreams. I have no explanation for the dreams, but maybe a little explanation for my lack of sock progress. Not a huge fan of the pattern, though I did see one sock today that is changing my mind and may have me switching yarns to something more solid.

My throat is dry and scratchy and I have been coughing a bit. I really do not want to be sick again.

Oh and for those of you checking up on my running, my knee has been sore for the last two weeks so I am giving it a few days rest but plan to run again tomorrow and maybe Friday to make up for it. Oh, and I skipped the rest of Week 1 because I just wasn't feeling it. Week two was still not too hard, but I don't want to break too many rules in case that is what's causing the weird dreams. I made my last cake on the day of my last "run", so they could be related. I told Josh to take the rest of the cake to work today so I don't have to look at it.

His coworkers seem to like it much better than we do. They get more products of my baking than my own coworkers because buses are not conducive to transporting baked goods, especially layer cakes. I should bring in some blondies or something less fragile to make up for it. I have been meaning to develop my own blondie recipe.

Those Sock Madness 2 organizers tricked us! Last week they said the pattern would be posted today, April 1st. I was totally fine with that since my only free night is Tuesday so I could get a good start. Well, they sent out the pattern yesterday. Early April Fool's Day joke. I work all day then teach tae kwon do until 8pm, which means no knitting if I want to eat dinner before 10pm on Mondays. I am so going out this round.

I am pulling out some mystery yarn for this pair. It was given to me by Liz and she had no idea what it was or if she did, I have since forgotten what she said. Send fast knitting vibes my way!

Round 1 done! Did I make it?

Zombies are done as of about 3 minutes ago!

ETA: I did make it! Yay me.

Small changes

I have been trying to make small changes that not only save money but are lest wasteful and less horrible for the environment. So far I have become a little fanatical about what gets recycled at our place, replaced our laundry detergent with some homemade phosphate-free detergent, replaced the kitchen cleaner with some homemade (and cheap!) cleaner, take public transportation to and from work, bring reusable bags to the grocery store and mall(when I remember) and now I am working on replacing paper towels with microfiber towels and other reusable towels after reading this article. Not only will it save money but it's less wasteful.

When Josh and I get our house we are going to try to make it as energy efficient as we can afford. Since Josh works at Lowe's (is there an apostrophe in Lowe's? I should know this), he is fairly informed about appliances and can get good deals sometimes. I am also going to look into fume-free paints. Can you tell I am a little excited about owning a home? We have been spending way more time talking about buying a house than planning a wedding.

I really wanted to finish the Zombies yesterday, well actually Monday, but realized quickly that was not going to happen. I have a couple more rows before the gusset is done, which will be a relief. I can get rid of the dpns I am using to hold the extra stitches!

Any ideas what I should have for dinner tonight? We kind of indulged during our long weekend so I am thinking something healthy, but I have some fingerling potatoes I really want to slice, roast and cover in parmesan. Mmmm.... I made beef stew and soda bread this weekend as well as pancakes and oatmeal scones, so we have had our share of hearty food. Salads would probably be a good choice. I guess the parmesan covered potatoes can wait.

Josh and I took both today and yesterday off so we could enjoy a long weekend together. It has been so nice. We haven't done a lot, but I feel we have been productive anyway. Well, sorta...We didn't get the laundry done.

On Saturday Josh and his dad fixed my car! I spent about $100 on parts and a meal. I still need to send a card with some cookies. My brake pads were worn down to almost nothing and the right rotor was really rough. I helped a little. I removed the lug nuts from the left front wheel. Josh failed to tell me the impact wrench was as heavy as it was so when he handed it to me I almost dropped it. It isn't really that heavy, I just wasn't expecting how heavy it was.

I also finally started the Zombie socks for SM2. I am knitting the socks two-at-a-time. I started using magic-loop but have switched to two circs to make the gusset a bit easier.

Today we talked to a mortgage lender and got pre-approved for a loan. It looks like the price range we were aiming for was what they are willing to loan us so we are good to go! Yay house!