Tuesday, July 20, 2010

Despite my best efforts the universe seems to be conspiring to make me realize that I am an adult. It had been creeping up on me in a stealthy kind of way; first there was the wedding and then the home ownership. Those clues should have tipped me off. Then there was the financial advisers, the lawyer, the will and the debt. All very subtle hints that I was entering the world of grown-ups. I dug my heals in grasping on to the vestiges of my carefree adolescence (HA! Like I had one of those) by pawning all the adult stuff on Gil. Really he is three whole years older then me, all the grown up stuff is his and I am merely along for the ride.But today that illusion was shattered. Today my boss gave me a monumentally adult task to perform and I was terrified. But you know what? It was alright, in fact it was even kind of fun. It felt good to be trusted with a grown-up job. I even think that I handled myself with a certain amount of grace and self-assuredness. Maybe 35.5 is an okay time to start to feel like joining the adult community... at least from 9-5.

Sunday, July 18, 2010

Down and Out on the Boondocks...

Yesterday was HOT and HUMID. It was so hot that I didn't want to eat at dinner time and I most certainly did not want to cook. Around 7:30 my body finally decided it was time for some food and I suggested to Gil that we head down to Fisherman's Cove for fish and chips by the water where it would be cooler. Fisherman's Cove is located in Eastern Passage and it is a picturesque still active fishing village. In recent year it has been converted to also be a popular tourist destination with lots of shops, restaurants and best of all a spectacular view. Because it is perched right on the edge of the Atlantic Ocean it also usually a few degrees cooler then the city.
After a little hunting we found parking, not that easy on a sunny Saturday evening, and made our way to Boondocks. It has everything a good Nova Scotia tourist trap could want...

....light houses, lobster traps, a giant sign eating shark.

We were seated quickly in the large dinning room, there were a good number of people but it was by no means full to capacity. There were some nice looking seats out on the patio facing the ocean but as I have mentioned I am not really one for eating outdoors. inside the decor was... okay it was tacky, over the top tacky but in a way that doesn't surprise you about a place that has a giant sign eating shark bursting out of its roof. I can look past tacky if it is done right. Give me a break here I am trying to find good things to say ....
As I said we were seated quickly by a young woman who clearly had too much on the go. She rushed by us at lightning speed, never made eye contact, never told us her name. I appreciate the place was busy and I understand that food service is a stressful job ( I am not being sarcastic, I could not do food service I would have a total mental breakdown) but please for the love of Pete look me in the eye when you are speaking to me.... maybe that way you will remember my drink order.

However our food did come quickly...
Two HUGE pieces of fish, a plate full of fries, coleslaw, tartar sauce and ketchup. It looked glorious, artery clogging but glorious. I was literally salivating.  Sadly however this is one of those times where the meal just didn't live up. (Like how KFC NEVER tastes as good as it smells)
First off the portion size was just too huge. I couldn't eat all that to save my life. I didn't even finish one of those colossal pieces of fish. It might have been a good dish to split if someone else had wanted fish and chips but in the end I think I just like being able to choose how many pieces come with my meal. The fish it's self was largely tasteless, it was white fish so most of the taste came from the batter and the grease both of which there was plenty of. Myself I am big fan of tartar sauce. It is a pretty easy recipe, even I can make a half decent tartar which is why I was so disappointed that my meal came with two tiny pre-packaged Kraft tartar cubes. I mean no disrespect to Kraft but come on.... You gave me half a tonne of fish here and two tiny little cubes of prefab sauce is not going to cut it.
Next up were the chips. A rare indulgence these days so I am little more picky then usual. What can I say, they were fries. They were bland and greasy because the fish leaked on to them. The didn't do it for me. Same with the coleslaw, a bit flavorless and boring. At the end of my meal I was full but in a icky greasy feeling way and not really satisfied.


Gil wasn't too hungry and he had a bit of a headache so he opted for a smaller meal in the form of seafood chowder. Because I love my life more then I love you I didn't try the big bowl of death although as always I forced my poor husband to point out to me which fish is which and try and describe the taste to me. Nothing on earth can convince me that scallops don't taste like marshmallow. Anyway I am no position to review this but I can tell you that when I asked my delightful, intelligent husband what he thought of it his replay was " It's Yiiicchhh" followed by the yucky face. When asked to please be more specific he explained, after he was finished rolling his eyes at me, that the soup/broth portion of the chowder was largely flavorless and seemed to consist mostly of white wine which he is not a fan of. His opinion was that the chef should learn to use some spices or herbs.
The bill came to about $35 which is by no means a wallet buster however neither of us loved our meal and the service was as lack luster as well. At the end of the day it filled an empty belly but I won't be running back to try again any time soon.
Also strike it off your list if you are looking for a meal later in the evening as they close at 8pm. No really I am not kidding, 8pm on a sunny July Saturday... that is just weird.

Saturday, July 17, 2010

Are you Epicurious?

This morning for brunch Gil and I consulted "the list" and decided we would head back over the bridge to north end Halifax and see what's going on at Epicurious Morsels. 
We found this cute little bistro tucked into the very middle of the Hydrostone Market. The Hydrostone is a very popular mini shopping district sporting many eateries and cute boutiques, it touts its self as "Halifax's European Shopping Experience".  Parking was slightly difficult to find however it was a lovely morning so we parked a few streets away and walked through the Hydrostone neighborhood which is a part of Halifax I particularly enjoy. If you want to know more about Historic Hydrostone... click here



 I liked the cute little patio seating and was pleased to see the waitresses frequently went out to refill water glasses and make sure the outdoor customers were happy, but I have a thing against eating out on the side walk so we went inside which turned out to be a great idea because inside was a cool and calm oasis from the summer heat.


We were greeted right away by a waitress who was sweet but not TOO enthusiastic, too enthusiastic is almost as annoying as total apathy to your presence... anyway she was neither, she was great.


The decor was lovely, clean and very much what I imagine when I think about Parisian cafes. 
The menu was nice and simple. There were only six selections for brunch. I like that sometimes because I have a hard time choosing when there are 56 things to pick from. Four of the six items had no meat, one had ham and one had salmon. I thought it was refreshing that nowhere was there a breakfast fry up of eggs, bacon and home fries. Nice as those things are I was craving change.


While we waited for our breakfast we were served our coffee. I don't usually gush over coffee, especially since I don't drink as much these days but I must gush now. What you see here is the best cup of coffee I have had in months, nay... YEARS!
I can't tell you what was so perfect about it except that it was just the right strength, there wasn't a hint of bitter, if was very flavorful and the perfect temperature. Now I am not one of those "coffee people" I can't really tell you the difference between dark roast and mild. I can drink Tim's or Starbucks, I have even had instant once or twice in a pinch, but I am here now telling you...I had a relationship with this cup of coffee. Yes, it was good! 
We also got bread while we were waiting. BREAKFAST BREAD! How decadent. I have been trying to not eat bread when it is served before meals but Gil insisted I try it (okay okay, my arm was very easily twisted) and I was not disappointed. Warm, chewy, crusty baguette with a smidgen of butter. I have never been served bread with my brunch before, not unless it was toast, so found it a bit odd but it was so yummy and truth be told it made me feel a bit Continental ( she says with her pinky finger stuck out). 


Then came the main event!
This is the California Croissant, it is served with a poached egg, avocado, tomato & Mornay sauce. Mornay sauce  is a Béchamel sauce with shredded or grated cheese added. Usually, it consists of half Gruyère and half Parmesan cheese. It was lighter then a hollandaise sauce and the flavour was very mild but extremely pleasing. I have to tell you right off the bat that any breakfast that includes avocado is a winner in my books but this was even more delightful then I imagined. It was the perfect size with the one poached egg. Kudos to the cook for making a soft poached egg that was actually soft. I find that hard to come by in many breakfast spots. I found my meal filling but not stuffing...
And speaking of stuffing....
Gil had the stuffed french toast. I am pretty sure he licked the plate but not before gifting me with a taste of this french toast filled with a mixture of strawberries, banana and cream cheese. Thank you for sharing Gilly, that is true love. It would have been too rich for me to eat the whole thing but as a nibble it was superb! 
The service was great, she didn't hover but dropped by to make sure we had enough of everything and offer refills on the coffee. Everything was quick but we felt no rush to leave, there were a few other patrons but it certainly wasn't packed. The bill came to $26 which is pretty much mid range. Over all I give Epicurious Morsels two satisfied thumbs up and can't wait to go back some evening to try some of the delights I glimpsed on the dinner menu.






Anatomy of a day all to my self...

As I mentioned once or ten times my boss bullied me in to taking a few days off; and by bully I mean highly suggested that if I didn't take some time off I was going to burn out. I was a little hesitant because I really wanted to save ALL my vacations days for Mexico but she was right I really need this time. I deliberately did not make any plans for today but I made sure I had my camera on hand so I could document how a day all to myself unfolds. And because I KNOW how much my life interests you I thought I would share.
Well my day started at 6am... 'cause let's face it my dogs don't know I am on vacation. But then I crawled back into bed and fell directly back to sleep where I stayed until 10am!! Honest to god I have no IDEA when the last time is that that I slept in that late. It left so amazing I just uncurled and stretched and laid there in the middle of the big ol' bed. I woke up feeling like I was actually rested! RESTED!! I mean how cool is that? I usually wake up panicked and cranky and worried about finding clean underwear. This morning I was thinking .... "ahhh!"

------ This is what pure satisfaction looks like. 

Whereupon I shambled down stairs to start my day. The dogs seemed very surprise at my appearance, I suppose they presumed they had the place to themselves  for what ever canine mischief they had planned for the day.

The first order of business was food. Sleeping in works up a mighty hunger. What I am about to show you might be shocking to you. I suggest you ask any small children to leave the room because it might cause nightmares for years to come.
There is a reason why I don't blog about cooking in our house...I am no kind of cook....


-----
Burnt toaster
waffles!
-------
Second time around. 
Yup this is why we eat out for breakfast just about every weekend. My other options we dry, cold cereal, moldy toast or oatmeal. Boiling oatmeal  in 26 ° heat didn't seem like a sane option.  The waffles, for what it is worth, are whole wheat and are only 2 points for two. The margarine on the other hand... excessive.
Anyway now you know my dirty little secret, I can't even toast waffles with out burning them and breakfast basically doesn't exist in our house. Don't judge me! :)

Of course no morning is truly a morning without a cup of tea. This morning I got to sit at the table, my table, start a new book, drink a cup of tea that was STILL hot out of my favorite mug. It was perfect. That is the only way to start a day. If I had my druthers this is how every day would start (minus the frozen waffles). In the summer I would like to sit out on the deck with a book, the paper, my laptop, whatever... and a cup of tea and just sit there. I actually like doing this really early when it is still a bit cool and damp. Summers gone by when I would go down to the cottage for part of the summer I would get up before everyone else, make a cup of tea and sit out on the dock while the sun came up. It was so calming and beautiful. A wonderful thing at a time when I really needed some calming influence in my life.

But I digress... 
The next step in my day was getting clean. Having no plans is no excuse for being skeezy.


         -------------------Look at that fresh face!






It is important to keep a beauty regime, here is a sneak peak of mine...


-------------

This is me before! Can you believe I am putting this picture on the internet? Aren't I brave or crazy?
Look at that hair!!








                   ------------------

This is me after my beauty regiment. WOH! What an amazing difference. Okay, I know what you are thinking, all I did is put my hair in a pony tail, but you are wrong!! I also but on lip balm! So there!




Up next.... entertainment. This is easy to find in my house crank up the iTunes and play with the dogs.


Lulu and ColMcNutt who is her new best friend. They go every where together.
                   
                                                       My boy!


Shortly after I was done playing with the beasts my internet connection died which I took as some kind of sign that I should leave the house and seek adventure in the wider world. 
So I set out with all the essentials, a rain coat, after all it is July in Nova Scotia, at some point in the day I am likely going to require rain gear, a book,my wallet, a liter of water and my camera. 

 I love walking in my neighbourhood because there are so many beautiful gardens and no one, so far, seems to mind if I stop and take pictures of the flowers. I must have  stopped in front of a dozen homes today and I was seen by many people and for the most part people just looked amused. Here a smattering of pictures from my walk downtown today....                                                                                                    
                                                                                                                              
See Mr. Bee doing his thing? I watched him for some time. It was really cool!


Totally cool hedge made of raspberry bushes. Talk about creative!
I was tempted to nibble but did not.


Eventually I ended up in downtown Dartmouth and realized I was really hungry so I called my hubby to see if he want to meet me for lunch, which of course he did and went to one our favorite pubs to find us a table. 
  This is why it is always good to travel with a book. But I didn't get very far before handsome showed up.
Okay so he won't smile pretty for my camera anymore but you can see how cute he is anyway.

After lunch (which I shall review at another time) he went back to work and I continued to adventure. I made my way to the library and wandered for a while. There are always interesting characters but I felt it would be rude to snap pictures of them. I sometimes forget how much I love the public library. I mean it is like one HUGE book store and they will let you take just about any book for free! How cool is that?! Nice idea folks.
After the library I started the long wander home. Lots more gardens and an aborted attempt to hit the Dartmouth Heritage Museum. (I lacked the $2 for admission and they don't take debit if you are wondering.

Here are a few more pictures of my wander home...
Post walk, I am red, sweaty and gross. 
At this point I decided that it was time for a cold shower and nap. It was the perfect way to spend the rest of my alone time! I had an awesome day. When Gil got home Friday went back to normal, dinner and then off to J&A's to geek out for the evening. All told it was a perfect day and I am glad I spent it wandering on my own, I was great company! And now I bid you good night. I need to get my beauty rest so I can start the madness all over again tomorrow.

Thursday, July 15, 2010

I am sitting here on my deck, laptop, camera, Starbucks, pre-dusk and all I can think is, this is true contentment. Oh sure I am sweaty and probably a little smelly; true I am being eaten alive by mosquitoes (I swear I even have a bite on the bottom of my foot!) But the air, it smells just like summer should. There are kids running maniacally up and down the road. I can hear the sound of a pipe and drum band drifting up the hill from somewhere. The sun is a low orange ball in the sky. There are birds singing, Really it is as picturesque as you can imagine. Evenings like this when all is right with the world it is so easy to count my blessings. I really do have it all... and what I don't have I can live without no matter how hard it seems sometimes. It is so easy to over look the little wonderful things each day holds, especially when I am tired or stressed or melting from the humidity. I sometimes feel like I come across as negative and I don't like that aspect of myself.... but tonight I am happy. I am just going to roll with it. Peace out homies!

Sunday, July 11, 2010

My first restaurant review!

Gil and I are card carrying members of the Breakfast Club. Ok so there are no cards and we are the only two members but we LOVE breakfast and on the weekends we really enjoying going out `doing brunch`. The thing is we have found ourselves going to the same spots over and over and having the same things over and over and we got bored. So we started a list. The Breakfast Club List! It has been growing and changing and things are broken down into categories. It is a great list and today we decided to put it to use. We were *going* to hit the Coastal Cafe but the plan changed due to rain and laziness (sorry again Sara!) and we ended up down the road at Mary's Place Cafe. 

I had been to Mary's a couple of times in my youth but let me tell you it was a completely different animal. According to my husband, who knows a lot of stuff about stuff, the universe is governed by some pretty basic and fundamental rules, like gravity, the second law of thermodynamics and the rule of three. The rule of three states that in the food service industry you get good, fast and cheap but you can ONLY have two of them. Good and cheap, fast and cheap, good and fast.... you see where I am going? Well Mary's, according to my very smart husband, breaks the universe. Because they honestly had all three!! We sat right away. The placed was busy but not packed, a nice diverse crowd which I always find a good sign. The menus were already on the table which I love because it meant when the lovely waitress came over we already knew what we wanted. The owner of Mary's is Syrian so there is a lot of Middle Eastern flare to the menu, which again I just love. But there were LOADS of healthy options for example turkey bacon and whole wheat flat bread. As well there were tonnes of vegetarian/vegan choices, not that I am but I  still inclined to go veg more often for health reasons. My eye was immediately drawn to the Middle Eastern  breakfast and WOO was I pleased with my choice! 



What you see is baked eggplant and tomato on a whole wheat flat bread with an egg topper. OH MY GOD! The eggplant and tomato was pretty spicy and I definitely had some heart burn afterward but it was worth it. Every mouthful was pure bliss. The eggs were done perfectly; runny yolks but no runny whites. The home fries were hot and crispy. 











Just another shot to show you the perfection of the eggs. I am a little funny about my eggs. Some might even say I am fussy but I likes what I likes.










Gil opted for the "Healthy Choice" breakfast which featured the turkey bacon, whole wheat toast and rather then home fries a kind of potato pancake. It looked a little boring but once I tried a bite I was sold. It was likely they best thing we had, and that is saying something.


It seemed to be made from mashed potato and hosted a variety of other veg but what was truly great about it was the light curry flavor. I am telling you breakfast might never be the same again!


The service was super friendly and REALLY fast, we were in and out in half an hour. Even better was the price. Two full breakfasts and two cups of coffee for $15. We left full and happy and will most certainly be making the trek over the bridge to go back again. I recommend you do too!

Thursday, July 08, 2010

I am hot and melty tonight so I thought that instead writing ad nauseum I would regale you with some of my more recent photos. As you may know I LOVE taking pictures, I might not be the greatest photographer but I have a lot of fun doing it.


These are the first strawberries of summer. And for me the sign that summer is really and truly upon us. I love strawberries.I could live on them so this year I have started buying a few pints every time we hit the grocery store and then freezing them. I know I could buy those frozen ones at the grocery store any time but somehow these ones just seem better. But you know me I am weird like that.




This is a little sweetie who is working overtime in my irises trying eat all the dang aphids, and ma'am there are a LOT of aphids to eat. Darn little critters are having a field day and I could find was this one little lady bug at the all you can eat aphid buffet. Is it true you can tell how old a lady bug is by the number of spots they sport on their... shell? I know that isn't the right word but if I go to wikipedia right now I will get lost in all its wonder and I may not make it back to finish regaling you. We'll just leave it as a question for another day shall we?

I have lots of beautiful flowers in my garden but there is something about the simple beauty of a daisy that really resonates with me. It is the flower of childhood; of wild bouquets; it is the flower I always doodle. 
It is sweetness and innocence. 
And we don't even have to plant them god just grows them all over the place for us!

Speaking of sweet flowers looks at these precious Pinks (Dianthus) aren't they so cute? I love them, I am glad they grow in such perfusion in my front garden. 
They make me so happy, they look like they should have little fairy's running beneath them.


Our favorite summer meal... the Cold Plate! Gil and I are both nutty because with a cold plate anything goes, there is no way to make it wrong. This cold plate is heavy on the meat and cheese (trust me the scale will not thank me later) but you can also throw in breads, more veggies, any kind of salads you can quickly throw together. And you have to have to pickles!! The point is that you don't have to turn on any appliance except the fan, perfect for those hot, humid summer days when even the thought of turning to BBQ on is too much. In July and August we probably cold plate once a week. I must say Gil learned the art of the cold plate from his Dad who is also a master and I am very grateful to have been let in on this divine "dish". 

I thought I would finish off with this one, not because it is a great picture but because it will leave you with a smile on your face. Lulu and the worlds biggest water dish. Isn't there anything we won't do for these mutts? Probably not. :)

Wednesday, July 07, 2010

Hot stuff!

My usual rule, or my lately rule anyway is no distractions while blogging. I set a timer, close Facebook (I am sorry dear friend and sit someplace comfortable and then start going off at the mouth, or the fingers as the case may be. Anyway tonight I am making an exception... I have some classical music playing and I in bed with Lulu because this is where the fan is and we both want to be naked in front of the fan, which of course is easier for Lulu as she seldom wears clothes. On that note, please not to try and thing about the fact that I am naked in front of the fan but it is July in Nova Scotia by god it is hot and humid. most definitely no blankets on the bed tonight. Of course having a warm 60 lbs greyhound plastered to my side is not helping at all. But she had no accidents in the house today so I am giving her a little extra treat here in front of the fan with me.
I had a very weird thing happen tonight that I am going to share with you. I have a friend who is studying to be a councilor and he needed someone to a practice session with so I volunteered, because I want to be a good friend and because I like this guy a lot and we don't see each other very much. So when I got there and we started he asked me if there was something I would like to talk about and I opened my mouth and all this STUFF just came tumbling out. I told him all about my "Now I lay me down to sleep" problem and how crazy I feel for being so afraid of something so universal and then we talked about how I don't drive because I am afraid of having an accident and all these FEELINGS just kept pouring out. It was so weird. For a little while he wasn't my biddy he really was a councilor. I hope he doesn't think I am some nut job. Really I feel like I came across as really crazy but the fact remains I have a big death problem and I need to get some help and this is the first time I really talked to anyone other then Gil about it. I think I should really get myself a real shrink. Also as a side note I think that this friend of mine is going to be really great at his job someday when he finishes school. I mean he just looked at me and I started talking!
I am s tired tonight. Maybe it was all the emotions doing the tango around my head tonight, maybe it is the heat, maybe I am still in migraine recovery mode from yesterday or maybe it is that I ate naughty food for dinner or some combo of all the above but I feel like it should be Friday and I should not have to get up for work tomorrow. I can't WAIT for my two extra days off.  I am so glad I decided to take them. I don't even care if it rains the whole time. I plan on doing big fat nothing with those two days. I might read or scrapbook or watch some West Wing (I <3 Josh!) but I am not PLANNING anything. I might go all photo crazy or I might go on some big walks or I might sleep all dang day! Who knows?! I won't be talking on the phone I can tell you that! I won't be answering a million inane questions or crunching numbers. I won't be worrying about finding work clothes in the morning or packing lunch or worrying about where my keys and glasses are. NO SIR! I will of course still have to take the dogs out in the morning but then I am free to crawl back into bed or have my tea on the deck. LOL it sounds a lot more like I am off for a month then 4 days but at this point honestly one is as good as the other. I know in the end it will have gone by too damn fast because that is what happens, maybe I will even wish I did more with my time but I still refuse to "make a plan". Too much of my life is a plan. I need to learn to fly by the seat of my pants! A plan can be a very good thing but there is no reason that NOT having a plan can't be good too... in the right situation... like this one. My inner planner is screaming at me right now but I have decided she needs to shut up, just for a little while. My inner planner is VERY strong willed and very used to getting her own way, some might say she is a control freak. But she has learned from experience that in most cases a plan makes thing flow easier, I can't really blame her for that. But she really needs to understand that plans tend to change. Good things can still happen when the plan changes but shit happens, life happens. If you can't learn to go with the flow you likely miss out on a lot of fun things. We don't want to miss out on fun things. We want to be right at the heart of fun things. Fun things 'R us! So that is why I am not planning anything for my staycation. I am going to let the fun find and carry me. I am going to go with the flow. "and I am going to have fun dammit!" See there is that control freak again.
Whatever happens I will be sure to keep you in the loop. Now I am going to get ready for bed because I have a cramp in my hand from typing and even with the fan only high is is still hotter then heck in here and it is making me restless. My kingdom for an air conditioner. I don't really care at this very moment about the consequences to the environment (but I suppose that is why it is in such a mess isn't it?!) I want to not be hot and sticky and icky. I suppose I could go sleep in the basement, it is cool down there, but it is the basement and it freaks me out after dark so I guess that is not really an option. Anyway, what I mean to say is good night and keep cool.

Monday, July 05, 2010

Here I go again...

I sincerely had the most messed up dreams last night! I blame my friends for being so creative in my presence, nonetheless it meant a restless night with poor sleep and that meant a long tired day today. Work was busy but sporadic, like it would be CRAZY for 15 minutes then nothing for an hour. I can't work that way. Can't my customers make a nice schedule to call and annoy me? Oh well at least the phones are ringing which means the money is coming in. I can't ask for much more then that. We did have something scary happen at work. A shipment of stock was coming off the truck and the cheap pallet snapped in half and dumped roughly 2000 lbs of stock from about 6' on to the floor where only moments before our shipper James had been standing. It was so close and so scary it totally messed up the rest of everyone's day. We were all thinking the same thing... "what if?" and "Thank God". It must of been even scarier for my boss because not only is James a valuable employee but he is also her oldest son.
Back to nicer subject matter but sticking with the subject of weight. Gil and I were in the grocery store this evening on the way home from work and we were in the produce section so he took me over to the potatoes and put 25 lbs of potatoes in my arms. I couldn't believe how heavy it was. How could I have lost that much weight? Where was I keeping it all? Where did it go? And most of all if I lost THAT much how come I don't really look any different? Is there a certain point when all fat just looks the same?  I mean please do not get me wrong, I am SOOOO happy to have shed those pounds but I am curious to know when I can expect to look in the mirror and see some difference. I hope it is soon. I need something to push me to my next level. I need some motivation and some positive feed back from the mirror so I can find the will to keep going. I did get out for a big walk tonight. I need to do that at LEAST 3 days a week but really it should be more. I don't mind once I get going but it is the getting up off my ass and getting out the door that is hard. Just like going to the gym. Plus I have to add a greater variety of activity to me routine. But I really hate working out. Really I do. I was doing the Jillian Michael's 30 day shred DVD and I hated every second of it. I yelled at the TV I hated it so much. It was just too hard for me to do. I am not that kind of exerciser and I don't really want to be. I am sure there are other ways for me to move my body and be healthy other then doing crunches and push-ups. I swear to you, I can't do a push-up. You might as well ask me to grow a penis. I just need to find more things I actually LIKE to do because getting healthy should not feel like punishment. It shouldn't feel like torture. I actually really like walking. I like looking at all the houses and gardens. I like walking in the park and seeing the nature and walking by the water and seeing the boats and rocks and waves. I never can't find something to engage my eye or imagination when I am walking, even when I am just walking around the building at work... which I should start doing again. The problem with walking is that it really is weather dependent. I don't mind walking in mildly inclement weather but certainly not in full out rain. And I have yet to master winter walking. I guess I will get that more with the dogs this winter. I am not adverse to mall walking but I don't like to do it alone and I don't really think that is something Gil would do with me. I used to LOVE walking with Aimee but she seems really not into it at the moment. Lulu is a good walking partner but at least Aimee talks back to me and she doesn't stop to sniff every third step. :)
I did like bowling, that was fun and good exercise. And I think I would like some other light sports. Hopefully in the fall dodge ball will be back up and going so both Gil and I will have that.  I know that there is stuff to do out there, it is just a matter of finding it and finding the TIME for it. Having the dogs is certainly not as time consuming as children but I do have to come home in the evening and make sure they are fed and pooped and walked at least once and a while. If I am going to have dogs I at least want to being putting my best effort into it. The dogs can't be like one of those hobbies I pick up then forget about after a few weeks/months/minutes.
I think this is a good time to say good night! Sweet dreams and wish me luck with mine.

Sunday, July 04, 2010

Sunday thoguhts.

Well I am brutally exhausted after a long day of doing... I have no idea. I know stuff got done but I can't think of anything really tasking that I did. Certainly nothing that should have left me feeling this drained. I even had a great sleep last night. I am going to go ahead and blame this one on my hormones.
We had another busy and fun day in the yard. Gil is really getting into this whole yard thing this year. It is pretty awesome. We have been pruning and removing and digging and loads of stuff. I mean it still looks like the yard no one loves or takes care of, but we are working on it and getting there one step at a time. It would certainly help if the people we hired to take care of the sewer line problem would come the hell back and finish their job. Which includes laying new sod on the section of lawn they dug up. Gil says I should look at the bright side, we don't have to pay the idiots until they COMPLETE the job but I just want to have it over with.
I didn't go for a walk even once this weekend, I will have to make up big time during the week if I want to see any results on the scales next Saturday. We did take the dogs for a little walk this eve which would have been fine if I had on appropriate footwear and long pants... sadly I had neither. I have the bug bites to prove it. It was funny when we got back to the ball field and the guy left with his dog we let ours off their leashes so they could run, because they hyper all day and clearly needed to blow off some steam, they didn't run at all. They just spent 20 mins. meandering around the ball field peeing on stuff. Silly dogs. But I can't complain that much about them, they let me sleep until 8:20 today and no one had an accident in the house. Yay us. Lulu did make a break for it today but thankfully she just ran into the back yard where she was easily corralled because she just wanted to play.  I can't wait until the backyard if fully fenced and I can just let them out to play whenever they want. That will be so sweet. Rackin' Frackin' basement ruining my plans.
It hardly seems possible that I have to get up and go back to work tomorrow. Where on earth does the weekend go and why can't it be longer? I am so glad that I decided to take two days off this month. I am really looking forward to it now. I know that they will fly by but it will still be some extra time off. It will certainly make is easier waiting the next 222 days until Mexico.
I guess we better start looking at where we are going to board the dogs while we are away. Is it weird that I am worried they will forget me after two weeks or that they won't want to come home with us? Don't worry about hurting my feelings, I know I am weird. It is part of my charm.
I am still stuck mentally on trying to figure out what I did that made me so tired. Some planting. Cleaned the bathroom. Cleaned the litter box. Took some pictures of my husband working hard. We geeked for a little while, that took some brain juice. I hung several loads of laundry on the line which is nice because it means line dried sheets on the bed tonight. I think that is my favorite thing about owning a house. The clothes line and the line dried sheet. I used to get my sister to wash my sheets so I could have line dried sheets but this is much better. And on sunny days I usually put out the bedspread too. I love that smell so much. That is the smell of safety and comfort and home. I also really like the smell of our upstairs in the summer. I think it has to do with the age of the house but on warm days our bedroom smells just exactly like the top floor of my Nanny's house. I loved everything about that house and the smell just takes me right back there. It was such a safe place for me growing up. I knew no matter what my Nanny would never let anything bad happen to me. It is a smell of security and bed time prayers and falling asleep quickly because you were so exhausted from playing outside all day. Those were the very best summers of my life, at least up until I met Gil. My Nanny may have made me eat my crust and she may have brought the wrong kind of Raisin Bran cereal but summer with her was the high light of my year, especially after my mom died. There I learned about poison ivy, BB guns, gullies, REAL thunderstorms, "beaver lice", liver and onions, time zones and how to spit watermelon seeds.
I miss my Nanny and those summers but I know that when I go upstairs tonight and take a big deep breath she will be right there with me.

Saturday, July 03, 2010

A little bit of everything.. including money so beware.

Well first let me admit that yes I skipped out on blogging last night we were out rather late and when we got home all I wanted to do was crawl into bed and stuff my nose in my book. Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, better then I thought it was going to be. Despite the enormous size of the book I did manage to finish it in 2.5 days. I am not sure if I will read the next one in the series or not, I have several others on the list that need finishing first. However I am pleased to say that i read the whole thing so when I get to book club I won't be that person who only ready the first and last chapter. Although in fairness I think everyone else in book club has kids so I cut them some slack. Not everyone gets to sit in the sun all day reading. Fortunately for me Gil was not at all lazy today. He got loads done in the yard PLUS he ran the dish washer. My god he is a good man. I will tell you however that the reason I allowed myself to be so beautifully lazy today is because I was celebrating.  I weighed in this morning to discover that I have officially lost 25 lbs. I am really very excited and I am celebrating by giving myself a day off. A real day off. I did next to nothing. AND I am having chips. I waited two days, I let my craving really settle in and then I said to myself "Yes, you may have this!" Tomorrow morning Lulu and I will go for a big walk to try and mitigate it a little but I refuse to feel guilty for this indulgence. There I said it!
I do wish I wasn't so "live and die by the scale" but I am. 1lb gain last week through me off for days and today I am euphoric. At the end of the day all that should really matter is that I am healthy. That is why I am doing this. I want to be healthy and I want to prolong my life. Because life is good.
I was talking with a very close girlfriend of mine this morning and her life just SUCKS at the moment. It seems to me her life sucks a lit of the time. She just can't seem to get ahead. At the moment her phone is cut off, as is her TV and cable. The power company says they are going to cut off her power on Friday if she doesn't cough up $1,200.00 which of course she has no way to do because she is on welfare. She is a single mom of two kids and every choice she makes seems to be the wrong one. I don't know how she keeps getting in and out of these scrapes but I do sit back and thank god or the universe or plain ol' good fortune for all the blessings in my life. I mean |Gil and I are broke, don't get me wrong, but we are broke in a whole other kind of way. We are.... house poor... as a friend of mine once described it. I mean we don't have a couple thousand spare dollars just floating around other wise we would have a finished floor in the basement but we did eat out today for both breakfast and dinner. We hit Starbucks because I can't contemplate Saturday without Starbucks. We dropped $80 at the garden center, roughly $100 more at the grocery store and rented a tiller for the day from the Home Depot, that was somewhere around $60. And that is a totally average weekend day for us. Our cell phone bill, power bill, phone/internet bill and mortgage are all paid up. I owe the Water Commission $60 but it isn't due until next week so I am going to let it squeak through until my next pay day. We have a brand new car, two well fed and well groomed dogs, two well fed and healthy cats. Every thing we own is nice. I literally have nothing to complain or worry about.    I mean I do complain and I do worry because I am me but I have to remember from time to time how good I really so have it. I know no matter what when I wake up tomorrow and come down to make my tea the power will be on. We have grand plans for a big breakfast at home which is very strange as we usually have breakfast out on both Saturday and Sunday. How crazy is that? And it's not like we are planning a bowl of cereal and some toast. We went and bought ourselves the fixings for a lovely is somewhat large meal. I never have to worry about being hungry, hell I have a fully stocked pantry in the basement that I never have to worry about running low.
I am blessed. I really am and I just want to tell the universe that I know I am blessed and I am incredibly thankful and even though I only have $10 in the bank I know I am incredibly rich.

Thursday, July 01, 2010

Happy Canada Day

Some times in the course of a day I will take hundreds of pictures trying to get one good one. I have no idea what I am doing. I am teaching myself as I go. But tonight I got one that I am really fond of so I thought I would share it with you. 

I thought with the day to myself I would take the time to blog when I wasn't crazy with fatigue. I forgot of course that I am tired all the time but still I am better mental form at 2:30pm then I am at 10 so maybe some of what I write will actually make sense.
We have had a nice day so far. Gilly took the dog out for a very late night pee so I was able to sleep until almost 8am. Even then it was my full bladder that woke me not the dogs. I have been having a string of bad dreams lately and this morning was no different. I dreamed that I was pregnant and I was having a little girl who we were going to call Penny. I dreamed I could feel her bouncing on my bladder, yeah I really needed to pee. Anyway I am determined not to let the dream too far under my skin. It was a dream.
I spent most of the morning on my own sipping tea, reading, writing an email to my Auntie and catching up with on of my BFF's through facebook IM. What did people do in the old days? Remember writing letters. God it would take forever to have a proper conversation. If you needed help with a problem and had to seek advice but letter it was likely moot by the time you go a reply. Even more then I love IM clients I love Skype. With this Wonder of the World I can sit at my kitchen tea and drink tea with my best friend in Australia. No shit! I means sure sometimes the picture goes funny or freezes, heck sometimes you might even have to hang up and reconnect but really you are sitting there having a face to face conversation. Love it!
When Gil got up at 11:15, poor guy didn't even come to bed until 5am, we went to one of our favorite spots and had some lunch then we piled the dogs in the car and handily avoiding all the places that were over crowed with Canada Day celebrations found a lovely quiet stretch of ocean and went for a good long walk. Lulu and I loving the waves, Oliver and Gil avoiding them like the black plague. Now we are home and the dogs are napping, Gil is working from home and I am here with you. I think I am going to spend the rest of the afternoon with my book (The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo) I am having a hard time getting into it but it is the book club book and I am trying to get back into regular attendance. As I said yesterday the beauty of this day is having nothing at all to do.
Holy crap I just looked over and saw Tikka who is on the bed with me being SOOO cute! Since we started treating her arthritis she has become much more animated, I forgot how adorable she could be. She has also started cleaning herself again because it doesn't hurt her so much to twist around. That is a very good thing. My poor fat, arthritic baby. Once upon a time I remember her being a happy cat. Then we got her a sister. I don't think she has ever really recovered from the shock. I think back to those heady days when we were a one cat family and I think... ARE WE CRAZY?? Two cats, two dogs. Half the time I spend breaking up fights the rest of the time I spend cleaning up after them. And unlike children they will never learn to help clean up. But they are all pretty cute so I guess I will keep them.
I have been thinking the past few days about the amount of time I spend on Facebook. What did I do online before this social networking phenomenon? I mean I know I used the internet but HOW? Anyway I have begun to think that I may be spending too much time online, specifically on Facebook so I thinking, at least for the summer, about setting a cap on the amount of time I am wasting in cyberspace. There are so many other good things I could be doing to waste my time. I am thinking an hour a night. Plus I have have already been on a TV/Torrent diet. The ONLY thing I am watching this summer is True Blood. So that is 1 hour a week. So far so good. I want to keep devoting a half hour a night to this blog and maybe another half hour to random internet usage, catching up on other blogs I read, comics, stumble. What do you think? Do you spend too much time online? If you weren't on facebook what might you be doing? Reading? Watching your dogs sleep? Having coffee with friends? Scrapbooking? I think I will make a list of alternatives because I don't want to spend all my new free time cleaning the kitchen. I want to do some fun stuff too... Like napping which is what I think I might do right now. A nap seems like a perfect way for me to show my Canadian Pride. Happy Canada Day everyone!!