There are limited hours in a day that I consider “productive” hours. The quiet hours when no one is demanding anything of me and I can get stuff done. The stuff that has to get done. I’ve been exercising 1 to 1 1/2 hours a day and it’s seriously cutting into my productive time.

And I’m really tired.

Four weeks into heavy exercise and calorie counting. Haven’t lost a thing yet. I was complaining to my sister-in-law today that I haven’t even shrunk back into the jeans that are on the smaller side of my current size. I was wearing them a couple months ago. Not now.

I am still really enjoying the exercise but right now, I want to sleep. I’m so very tired.

The yarn train to Portland was really fun. I don’t get to see my friend Katie nearly enough, and she came.

We walked all over Portland for 6 hours before taking the train back home. I was on a very limited budget as we too are affected by the difficult economy. But the stores were giving discounts, and there’s no sales tax, so it was like 30% off of everything. I bought two skeins of Noro Transitions out of a sale bin and a book I’ve wanted for years.

The organizer of the trip gave everyone two colors of yarn and a booklet of top down hat patterns to knit on the train ride. I didn’t think my colors would look good on my head, but they’d make lovely arm warmers, so I cast on to try out the Mosaic book. There’s an 11 page introduction with instructions, and I wasn’t in a position to read it while socializing in a knitting store. Fortunately, this great woman from the group was sitting nearby and gave me some pointers. (Kauni Sweater on the couch).

I later found out that she’s a teacher from Eugene that’s well known. I think her name is Joan. She saved me. I would have had a huge mess on my hands if it hadn’t been for her help. May she live long and prosper. And I wish I’d got a better picture of her.

We ate dinner at a fabulous italian place with a difficult name that I can’t remember.

Super good panini sandwiches and a creamy vegetable soup. Oh! I want more. We didn’t have time for the extensive selection of gelato, which is too bad because I’ve never had gelato. The waiter (man in the bottom center with glasses) was fantastic. Hilarious, sarcastic, attentive… and he sings. He serenaded our table quite energetically. We left him a phenomenal tip.

I’M SO TIRED!

I ordered a couple dye colors for the silk that I want to put in my purple batts. They’ve been shipped, so I’m going to start soaking my silk tomorrow so it’s ready.

Finally, I typed out a bunch of guitar drivel that I’d imagine most of you don’t care a whit about. But it’s neat for me to see it all spelled out in one place and I’m very, very proud of what I’ve learned.

My guitar teacher gave me 16 new barre chord positions to learn yesterday. In truth, he gave them to me nearly a year ago, but brought them to the forefront this week and told me to get on it. I kind of know 6 of them already. Here’s the list, if you’re interested…

And times them by 2, because I have to learn them in both Root 5 and 6 positions.

Diminished (I know root 6)
Augmented (sort of know root 6)
Augmented 7th
7+9 (sort of know root 5. Root 6 is painful)
Major 6 (know root 6)
Major 6/9
9th (ok, I know both of these)
13th (know root 5)

I already know

Major
Minor
7th
Minor 7
Major 7

Dang. I thought that list would be longer. Well, I know a bunch of open chords and their variations as well. He didn’t give them to me, he made me find them on my own by learning key signatures and finding the appropriate notes to add to the chord- Suspended 4, Suspended 2 (or added 9), Major 7, and 6. I don’t have all those memorized for every chord, but I can find them relatively quickly.

There are a few more he wrote in my book about a year ago that he hasn’t pushed on me yet

7 suspended
7-9
minor #7
minor 6
minor 7-5

And then there are the scales, root 5 and 6. Fortunately, the different roots are relatively similar to each other for scales.

Minor Pentatonic
Blues Scale (really cool)
Major Scale
Major Pentatonic
Dominant Scale
Pure Minor
Harmonic Minor (also really cool)
and the Dorian

Hee hee. I know all those.

So maybe, if you’ve made it this far and are still reading (wow, you’re dedicated), you understand a little bit better why I say he kicks my butt most weeks.

I love him. If you recall, I chose him a year ago because his bio on the internet said he’d been teaching for over 40 years. I figured he had to be good and he totally is.

I hope he never retires.