Still riding!

I’ve squeaked in a couple rides this week, including today. November 18 and riding outside.

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It’s getting harder to find the time and the temps to ride. In normal riding, I work for a while, then ride, then shower and get back to work. Now, it’s way too cold to ride in the morning (26 degrees), so I have to wait until it gets warm enough to ride. Of course, that also depends on how busy work is, but it’s been doable lately.  Then I can’t ride too late or I bump into the sunset. It gets dark way too early!  Anyway, I’ll take whatever riding I can squeeze in right now. The latest we have biked was a Thanksgiving weekend a few years ago.

I am curious to see if I can get a ride in during December or not. Each time I ride now, I wonder if it is the last outdoor ride. It’s so hard to make that final decision to put the bike on the trainer because it will be there until March at the earliest. This year with the delayed spring, we didn’t even get the bikes on the road until April!  Here is my 2015 mileage after today:

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Technically it is 2319.7 since I reset the computer after 10 miles, but a decent total. John ended up with way more miles than I did this year, too.

Little by little we are getting Radiance Manor to our liking. It’s going to take years. We finally got another lamp to replace one with a broken shade. It’s amazing how you can get used to something that looks crappy because you just haven’t gotten around to doing anything about  it. This lamp matches the other one in the living room now. 

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Of course, now that I look at the picture, I see our wool duster I left on the munitions box 😀  I always miss something. I am the person that  needs tidying up when we go out. John is constantly cutting strings off my clothing or cleaning up hair, lint, etc. There are a few reasons I keep him around.

Just got in some new packaging for my product development. I spent time today taking pictures. These are dead sea salts (lavender).

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Gosh I love the Rebel. I am starting to get the hang of lighting. I use white boards to reflect the light to reduce shadows. I do much better taking daylight pictures than trying to set up lighting. That I can’t quite figure out. Anyway, I need to let this product sit a while and see how the jar holds up. It has an essential oil in it. Surprisingly, essential oils are really good solvents. Here’s a tip – don’t ever spill a citrus essential oil on a painted surface or it will strip it. In fact, you should never use them undiluted on your skin, either. Potent stuff.

I’ll be taking part in a 3-day open house Thanksgiving weekend for our local artist colony (for lack of a better word). That will be the official open of the soap biz, so I am working hard getting labels printed and packaging up my stuff. I haven’t done a show in probably 15 years? It’s hard as an introvert, but you do what you have to. 

On an exercise note, Alissa is doing her traditional virtual Thanksgiving 5K – a great way to work off some of that turkey dinner!

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You can join here. As per usual, she has some great prizes for participants!

And how is it that Thanksgiving is next week already??

 

16 thoughts on “Still riding!

  1. Shelley B

    I get what you mean about putting up with broken things…after a while, you just stop seeing them. The new lamp is pretty.

    Hope your soapen house (sorry, couldn’t resist) goes well. I love the color of your sea salt scrub, and that little scoop is so cute!

  2. Fran

    How cool that the soap business is opening next weekend!

    I am looking for a daylight lamp, I found out my discount grocery store sells them now and then so I’m waiting till they are selling it again. I want one for my food photo’s because the light is so bad at dinner time during Winter. But I don’t want to pay too much for it either.

    Hope you will break the record of riding at Thanksgiving and even squeeze one in in December.

    1. Lori Post author

      I know thanksgiving is out for riding because it’s going to be cold and then I have that show for the 3-day holiday weekend. Then we are into December, which amazes me.

      We had a cheap clamp light and I haven’t been able to find it since we moved. I’m wondering if we left it in the basement stairwell at our old house.John seems to think he got it, but I might get another one. You can put a daylight LED bulb in it for lighting.

  3. Helen

    I keep a pretty tidy house but agree that we get so used to things we stop seeing them. I find that I only start re-noticing when we’re about to have company. Then I’m freaking out and Mr. Helen usually reminds me that the people are coming to see US not whatever it is I’m fussing about. He’s right. Still so fun to finally fix something though!

    Good luck with your show. I don’t picture you as an introvert so I can’t even imagine that!!

    1. Lori Post author

      I am actually quite shy. It’s easy to talk on a blog, but I am very introverted in real life until you get to know me. Then I don’t shut up.

  4. debby

    Wow, I can’t believe you are already ready to sell!

    A long time ago, Martha Stewart said something about leaving the vacuum cleaner out as part of the “decorations.” Ever since then, I left my vacuum cleaner out (when I had rugs) and now its my broom. I use them every single day so it really does seem silly to put them away.

    1. Lori Post author

      I’ve been working hard. Soap has to sit for several weeks to cure, so I busted out a bunch last month for this show. Then I sat down and figured out the packaging and other add in products that don’t need the same cure time as soap. It was like falling back into an old habit since I made soap for so many years when I did the business before.

      My “decoration” is the swiffer mop. 😀

  5. Alissa

    I agree with Helen, I only start to notice things when we’re about to have company or, even worse, when the company has already arrived!!

    We’re supposed to get 4-8″ of snow tomorrow night–yuck!!

  6. Biz

    I can’t wrap my head around how fast this month is going – crazy! It was 31 degrees this morning so I opted to sleep in another 30 minutes 😀

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