... funny things are everywhere

life, scrapbooking, laundry & other stuff

July 2nd.

It's summer vacation for three of the four people in my house. Unfortunately, I'm not one of them.

*sigh*

* Ottawa Kids' Marathon, 19th place finish

Amidst the chaos that is my life, I managed to find some appropriate coordinating supplies and arrange them in a way that is pleasing to the eye (well, to my unpracticed, undiscriminating eye)... and I made this scrapbook page.

I'm hoping to make another page soon, if for no other reason that to use up some of the supplies that I dug out of storage before I put them away again.

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Life. It's funny these days.

Most days, I feel like I'm in survival mode. I think it stems from the lack of sleep, which is linked to the stress/anxiety of the situation at work... something that is not likely to change any time soon.

I'm pretty sure that my head would totally explode if I didn't exercise. But I do. And I feel very fortunate to have that as an out. I teach spin. I hit tennis balls. And occasionally, I run or take a yoga class, and I feel like I've bought myself a temporary reprieve from exploding head syndrome.

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One last thing. Just so you know I'm not caught in a cycle of self-pity and helplessness. Which I'm totally not. Because I am, in fact, grateful for all the good stuff in my life.

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Yes, even #7. A large-capacity washer to handle the mountain of dirty laundry that my family seems to generate no matter the season.

*sigh*

Time to fold the clothes and put clean sheets on their beds. 

What a glamourous life I lead...

the good, the bad and the totally random

Well, my good intentions to start blogging again got tied up in my perfectionistic tendencies and "do it once and do it right" attitude... and so the blog post I started never got finished and...

Random blathering it is, then!

-1- Public service job cuts announced in April have hit eleven people in my work unit, including me. Ack! While I have no doubt that I'll have a job at the end of this whole messy affair, I am in limbo for now as I compete for another job (at the same level) and finish my filing in my old job. It sucks not knowing what's next, but I have been hanging in the best I can.

-2- I'm still teaching a tonne of spin classes and still loving it. I really enjoy the challenge of marrying good music (new and old) with challenging drills. I've received a lot of positive feedback from participants... good for my self-confidence and my stress-reduction regime too.

-3- James is playing a little less tennis these days. We actually dropped his lead coach whom he'd been with for two years. A difficult decision, for sure, but it just wasn't working for either one of them. I'm not sure how the summer's going to unfold. I would love to see James fall back in love with the sport, but there's no telling. When the kid is ON his game, he hits a brutally aggressive forehand and is able to chase down the most difficult shots... but that kid isn't always the one who shows up to his lessons, matchplays or even tournaments... *sigh*

-4- Thomas had an awesome track and field season with his school team, placing 8th and 6th in the 800 and the 1500, respectively. He also ran a 1.2 km race (on his own, not with the school) as part of Ottawa Race Weekend, placing 19th out of ~1800 kids. Pretty awesome, eh?!

-5- Bad stuff keeps happening to good people I know. Serious stuff like having a parent die of a stroke or being diagnosed with diabetes (the autoimmune type, not the lifestyle-related Type 2)... or the latest one, having terminal stomach cancer and bracing yourself to leave a 16-year old son behind because you were widowed when his father died of a brain tumour ten years ago. *sigh* The only positive in all of this negative crap is the waves of gratitude that wash over me when I start to feel sorry for myself... I am grateful for my health, my family and all the little things that make me smile.

-6- Things that make me smile: a good cup of coffee, playing tennis, watching tennis, a good dance remix of a top 40 track, chocolate... and babies and puppies, of course. :)

so tired of winter

I know it's been a relatively easy winter by Ottawa standards... and I know it's still only February, but I am soooooooo ready for spring!

Seriously!

5x5 Friday (take 4)

Am I the only one with kids who HATE cleaning up their rooms? I thought not.

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Five favourite comic strips (past and present)
1. Calvin and Hobbes
2. Far Side
3. For Better or For Worse
4. Dilbert
5. Baby Blues

Five songs that take me back to junior high
1. Electric Avenue - Eddie Grant
2. I Wear my Sunglasses at Night - Corey Hart
3. Crying over You - Platinum Blonde
4. Hungry Like the Wolf - Duran Duran
5. Freeze Frame - The J Geils Band

Five reasons I can't wait for summer
1. I can just hop out of bed, put sandals on and walk the dog.
2. I hate wearing all these layers, mittens, etc.
3. It'll probably be summer before I see my mom and dad again.
4. We can hit tennis balls on the public courts after dinner.
5. I want to have lunch on an outdoor patio.

A not so random sample of five people I follow on twitter
1. @si_btbaseline (Sports Illustrated tennis blogger)
2. @FitMomBarrhaven (Katie: personal trainer)
3. @cbcottawa (for all the latest local news)
4. @sweatscience (Runner's World columnist)
5. @CathyZielske (scrapbooker extraordinaire)

Five staples at the grocery store
1. frozen waffles
2. milk (1% in 4L bags)
3. bananas
4. flavoured silken tofu
5. apples

 

strong-willed... or just plain ol' stubborn?

When I was a toddler, I was a little dynamo.

I learned to talk when I was very young (speaking in full sentences well before my second birthday), and from the stories my mom and her sisters tell, I talked and talked and talked... and talked back, too. I had a mind of my own, and keeping me in line proved to be very challenging for my mom and dad.

I stayed that way well into my teenage or young adult years, I'm sure...

Now that I'm a parent myself, I can see similar character traits in my kids. As frustrating as it is to deal with willful children, I keep hoping that their self-assuredness and free-spirits will serve them well.

Ask anyone who's seen me in action in a meeting where people are trying to push me around... I may not look mean on the outside, but I'm full of meanness on the inside.

But only when I need to be.

Hee!

the reading addict

We bought a new bookcase for Thomas yesterday (one of those build-it-yourself things), and part of the three boys' family-togetherness activities today (it's Family Day, but I had to work) was to put it together... that must've been quite the project. lol

James inherited the smaller bookcase that used his brother's room, so now he has two bookshelves in his room. Before I left for work, he prepped his collection of books by dumping everything on the floor and sorting through them all. Yes, he's ready almost all of those books... his favourite ones on the order of 15 or 20 times.

My little bookworm...

13 on Thursday

Thirteen random things:

1. Today was Robert Hopkins' Snowy Sweetheart Dance. Loud music, even louder kids, dark gym, free cookies and sugary drinks, sleigh rides... good times. I enjoyed talking to other parents at the school and chatted with some teachers I hadn't seen in a while. Thomas tagged along too... he had more fun this year than any year he was actually a student there!

2. I bought a regular Coke instead of my usual Diet Coke today. I actually really liked it. Not that I drink a lot of pop. Maybe one can a week. But still. Not good to like drinks that have 160 grams of sugar per 355 mL.

3. Favourite breakfast food: thawed out frozen berries with vanilla yogurt topped with granola with almonds. Yum!

4. Layoffs are coming in the public service. Not fun. I'm not worried about my own future... I can't allow myself to be that stressed out. Seriously though, it's gonna be stressful no matter how it plays out.

5. Lemon's first birthday is just around the corner. She's still crazy-playful but getting better at coming back when she's called. And she's awesome at playing fetch.

6. PD day tomorrow. Thomas is at a community centre camp, and James is at an all-day high performance tennis camp.

7. Family Day on Monday. The boys will celebrate without me since I have to work.

8. Coffee. Still addicted. Yep.

9. I wish I had the time and money to go south to a sunny resort with tennis courts and a sandy beach nearby. *sigh*

10. Blogging from my iPhone is hard. It's convenient, but it tests my patience. And my not-very-dexterous thumbs.

11. I haven't hit a tennis ball in almost two weeks. I think I'm going through withdrawal symptoms. It sucks to be this busy. But at least most of it is good stuff...

12. James is taking part in a cooking club at school. I can't wait til my kids are old enough to cook for me. Well, cook more than toast with butter, that is.

13. Thinking up thirteen things was harder than I thought it would be. ;)

staying fit at 40-something...

The human body is an amazing thing.

It struggles along, repeating one movement that feel totally unnatural and very difficult, until one day, after many repetitions of that one single movement, it isn't so difficult any longer. In fact, it almost feels natural, and dare I say, easy.

I never would have believed there would be a day when my body got used to the challenge of riding one of these things. That I could manage riding and talking (or yelling or singing) at the same time.

Our bodies adapt to the challenges we take on.

Awesome! Go us!

But because we adapt, we need to change it up from time to time.

It's not just the boredom factor at play... it's the "this spinning thing isn't so hard any more, so that cheesecake you ate for dessert yesterday... it's not goin' anywhere" factor. Yes indeed, cross-training is the key improving (or even maintaining) one's fitness level.

Spinning: check!
Tennis: check!
Running: (maybe when spring comes and I can run outside)
Aerobics: check!
Interval training: check!

weekend indulgence

James and I started off our busy day with breakfast at McD's. Their hot chocolate is now made with real milk, and the Egg McMuffins aren't as salty as they used to be. Guilt-free fast food... yum! :)

falling behind...

(Notice how he's not the one falling asleep... just her...)

This is me. I am too tired to keep up with my Grey's Anatomy, Private Practice and Glee addictions. Way too tired. And maybe for a while, I found the angst of watching the medical dramas a little too much. Somehow, it just wasn't relaxing to watch people getting sick and dying after a long, stressful day of work and driving kids around. Go figure...

Not to say I'm giving up on my shows. I've added them to my "To Watch Next Summer" list. Once rerun season starts, I'll be good to go.

It's not considered procrastinating if it's just-for-fun stuff, right? ;)