A rare Saturday off

Since starting practicum last April, the majority of my Saturdays have been spent working at the store. Practicum takes up 12 hours a week which definitely reduces my availability to work more hours so I let the owners know they could book me for Saturdays on a regular basis. And they have.

But this month, I actually get two Saturdays off! An unexpected blessing which Rob and I took advantage of by going out to breakfast to our usual place, the Kitchen Table Cafe.

Health
No progress here to report. I didn't get up to exercise, but I did pop on to the scale. I was weighing in at 203.6 pounds on Monday which isn't unexpected as I have tended to go between 200 and 203 for the last few years. Remembering small goals is easier to focus on, I'm going to aim to lose 5% of my current weight as a goal. That means losing 10 pounds. As a reward, I'm going to treat myself to a manicure. I like having my nails painted, but I usually do it myself and it chips and looks ugly within days. Why not let a professional do it and enjoy it longer? The last time I had a manicure almost 5 years ago for my brother's wedding.

Knitting
I spent New Year's Day knitting on headbands for one of my nieces using the Whitney pattern. I was going to crochet a flower for them as well, but my crochet skills are seriously lacking. Instead, I went to JoAnn's and found a crocheted flower and a fun button to make into a pin she can add to any of the headbands.

I did attempt the crocheted flower one more time at Knit Night and was much more successful with the help of a friend. Once she explained the pattern, it was much easier to do. I didn't do the 3rd row called out in the pattern as it would have made the flower HUGE. I think I'll do a few more in different colors for her to change out her look.

Rob's Corps of Discovery hat will be cast on this weekend. I'd hoped to do it at Knit Night but the crocheted flower took up the time :)

Reading
I haven't yet grabbed a book from my shelf. I'm reading my library books and I need to read my book club book. I've finished The Peach Keeper by Sarah Addison Allen and The Funeral Dress by Susan Gregg Gilmore.

This month's book club selection is The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie by Alan Bradley. It was already checked out at the library, Barnes & Noble was too expensive and I didn't know when I'd be in to Portland to get to Powell's. But Amazon Kindle had it for $1.99 and that was just right.

Spiritual
I have made a point of getting up and getting my Bible study done before I do anything else in the morning. Mind you, it's a fairly quick study to get done (the week's lessons are broken into 5 days with four questions per day) which makes it easy to maintain at the moment. I've already completed the first week and am almost done with the second week. We start this upcoming Monday, so I am hoping to continue to be ahead of the game each week.

This weekend will be taken up with household maintenance chores: replace a light switch, put away the Christmas ornaments (and also thin the herd of decor we don't use), picking out flooring for the bathroom repair work we are having done in February and some NFL football now that we're in playoffs.

Now off to conquer!