... funny things are everywhere

the end is near...

Summer is all too quickly drawing to an end. The days are noticeably shorter, and the temperatures are dropping overnight, leaving me to walk the dog in darker, cooler conditions in the mornings. Sigh.

The boys have been in Nova Scotia with my family for almost a week now. They've been having a good time with their cousin, aunt and grandparents, but now it's time to come home. :)

At first, it was kind of fun being kid-free, not having to cook meals within a reasonable timeframe... it was nice to be able to run errands together and not have to worry about kids getting bored (Mike was good at not complaining about my trying on 10 pairs of shoes and only buying one pair... even though I have way too many pairs of shoes at home already...).

Last night, Mike and I hit the gym at 7:00... I tested out my new spin playlist (and he, his new cycling shoes for a song or two)... and then he ran on a treadmill while I practiced my cueing by yelling at imaginary participants in the empty studio.

#crazylady

So now, it's time to spend our last few kid-free hours together and maybe start scheming as to how we're going to get out next stretch of grownups-only time together.

#ilovemykids

#really

When you're eleven...

... and you're a dreamer more than a doer, you drive your control-freakish mother kind of crazy.

But I'm slowly learning to accept who you are and find a balance between pushing and guiding. I want you to do great things because I know you can... but I need to come to terms with the fact that YOU have to choose those things with YOUR heart.

Creative James vs Athletic James: I think I know which one would win.

But it doesn't have to be one or the other, right?

<3

iPhone fun

Having fun with my new photo editing app... it was a fun week to document.

- doggy playing fetch
- Jamesie turning 11
- meeting Steph's baby, Jackson
- Thomas learning to solve a 3x3
- playing at Robert Hopkins

I'm going to try printing these and putting them in a scrapbook page. :)

Spring... no, wait... summer!

First outdoor lesson of the year for James' group. Loved watching them! Such a talented bunch...

Still waiting for James to step up and work hard. Not sure if he's ever going to want it but, at this age, it's gotta come from him.

Oh well. It's time for me to get back on the court. Outdoor tennis is soooo much better. It's the way it was intended to be played. :)

almost a teenager

So my eldest is almost 13... seems like not that long ago that Mike and I were attending prenatal classes at the Civic Hospital. And now, we are wrapping our heads around high school course selection forms in a year's time, driving lessons in three years' time and girls... well, probably right now.

Eek!

I love that Thomas is so into sports. And the fact that I drive him to and from the club gives me lots of chances to spend one on one time with him. I think these two things are of huge significance to his growing up.

His participation in sports at a highly competitive level (if he could in stop goofing around in the group lessons!) gives him a good sense of self-esteem (goal setting, hard work) but also places on him a responsibility to take care of his body (what he eats and drinks, how much he sleeps...). I arranged a private lesson for him with the new squash pro yesterday, and it went spectacularly well. Who knows, right?!

And he has just started to feel more comfortable talking to me about things that would've sent him running in the other direction only two or three months ago. Girls... the great mystery of the universe. :)

So I've helped him find a stylist who knows how to cut his hair. I'll probably need to cut back on eating out or drinking Starbucks so I can afford his awesome hair style but I think it is so worth it... that's the age at which my mom and dad let me start going to a real stylist and doing pretty well whatever I wanted. (Can we say curly, big-hair perms?!)

Here's what happened yesterday... I told him I think the girls will like it.

so many things

... to be grateful for:

• spring in the air...
After last week's late season snow storm, I'm happy for warmer weather and the prospect of being a tennis mom at an outdoor tennis tournament this weekend.

• good friends at work...
My buddy, Randy, has been a close friend since my first day as a reviewer in the department. It's been awesome to have a mentor in my current group... and also to have someone who has my back. He's the number one reason I haven't had a complete meltdown when things get crazy.

• close knit extended family...
Through good times and tougher times, we look out for one another. Thinking of someone very special today and hoping for good news.

• best Broad friends...
I'm really looking forward to hanging with my BFFs in July. Saskatoon, here I come!

• field trip mama...
Tuesday's trip to the Science and Tech Museum probably put me near the 20 mark in the "field trips survived" category. There should be a medal if bravery for that, right? I have to admit I loved having a chance to see James with his new friends... like watching a wild animal in its natural habitat. :)

sick of being sick

So I've been sick with a low grade something or another for more than two weeks now. No matter what I do (sleep, eat well, drink fluids, rest, exercise, eat less, teach spin, don't teach spin...), I cannot seem to shake this stupid thing. Viral infection, you suck!

In the meantime, I've been feeling foggy-brained, and my productivity at work has hit a new low. (How many times do I have to reread the instructions for submission of papers to that online journal? Or are there no specific instructions for the type of paper we are trying to write?) Seriously, procrastination and ADHD have nothing on this lingering head cold.

.....

I wouldn't normally obsess about being sick, except I'm starting to worry that I'll never feel well again. I wake up at night feeling thirsty (dry throat from being sick? maybe...), and I'm worried that my excessive thirst is a symptom of Type 2 diabetes (well, I have been eating a bit too much in the way of chocolate, cookies and other processed carbs lately)... I am overtired and irrational because it's 3:00 am, so I read some info on the Canadian Diabetes Association website, and I click through to a self-assessment questionnaire on the Public Health Agency of Canada's website. After making up some scary high numbers for my weight and waist measurement (things I have not, in fact, measured lately), I find myself at low risk for being pre-diabetic or diabetic, but I resolve to take better care of myself as a drift back to sleep.

......

There are days when I'm certain I'm going crazy. I wonder what I'd be like if I ever did get really sick. I'm sure my family would be tempted to disown me out of sheer exasperation.

.....

So I've decided to start running again. I'm tired of waiting for my Achilles' tendon to heal. It's almost there, and the pain is manageable during and after my runs, so I'm just going to go with it. The plan is to take it easy, limit the distance and maybe even train for a race. I'm thinking a sub-27-minute 5-km is a challenging yet obtainable goal for me.

So here I go. New shoes. New running season.

under the weather. speaking of which, it's not very nice outside.

So it's winter. Still.

We've had snow and more snow over the past few days. Spring is just around the corner, but winter seems determined to make one last stand.

Over the past few weeks, we've each had a turn at staying home, taking a sick day here and there. Thomas was the latest. Poor kid never gets sick, but this cold has really knocked him down.

Even two weeks after we first got sick, James and I are still not 100%. We are lying low and getting some r&r. Today, we are watching Star Trek: Voyager.

Love PVRing old episodes and watching together.

Love that we've turned him into a Trekkie. :)

5 on Friday

So I'm out of practice with this blogging thing. I feel like I have nothing to write about. Life is pretty routine most days... nothing remarkable happens.

But you know what? The mundane, everyday stuff of today will change by next year, and all the things we do today, all the challenges we face... those will change, and they will be forgotten unless I write them down.

So I will. Here are five random tidbits.

1. Mike and I have good kids. They frustrate the heck out of me when they don't listen or worse... when they wilfully ignore my reminders to (fill in the blank: get ready for school, empty their lunch boxes, turn off the TV and take a shower... you know, regular kid stuff). They are good kids. Just take a deep breath and remember that.

2. Last year, I was a crazy tennis parent. And a tiger mom. And well... just plain crazy. But now, I am less crazy. I've decided that the boys (both of them) need to find their own way. The drive to succeed needs to come from them, not me. So far, it's gotten me two middle of the pack, not great bit not bad kids who seem to enjoy what they're doing. And that's okay. Most days. There are moments when the tiger mom within me wants to do more. Wants them to want more. Is that so bad?

3. Work and home. I'm finding it challenging to keep both balanced and moving forward. Mike has been hampered by a sore back lately, so I'm trying to limit the amount of driving he needs to do. Not always easy with work meetings running late.

4. So yeah, I spend a lot of time at work. 37.5 hours a week. It's actually a pretty nice gig. I enjoy my projects; I have fabulous coworkers (fun, smart, hard-working); and most importantly, I feel my contributions are appreciated.

5. I'm a snackaholic. I eat all the time. Small snacks. Often healthy ones. And I always like to have a drink close at hand too. I try to limit myself to two coffees a day, and then I switch to herbal tea. This I just a small sampling of what I keep in my filing cabinet. ;)

too much excitement

So there was this suspicious package found at the O-train station here in town. A bomb scare. Just one stop from where I work.

Niiiiiice...

So the "bomb" was just some firecracker.

They closed the transitway between Tunney's and the O-train. Buses were sent around that section of the transitway, travelling along several parallel roads. I walked and walked to get to a stop... I walked past lots and lots of buses, but it was hard to tell where I could actually get on a bus.

I kept walking. I walked up to a police blockade where they sent me back and around. I walked for 30 minutes to get to the other side of the "bomb". Eventually, I found a place where I could catch a bus.

The most stressful part... I had to rush to get to the OAC to teach a spin class at 6:15. Yikes!

But I got there. Just in time to teach.

What a day!