Stormy Fridays

We have been having an extremely mild winter which is just the way I like it. We had one big snow storm in November, then nothing until last Friday when we had a storm. Then on Tuesday it warmed up to 8 degrees and all the snow was gone by Wednesday. Today we had another storm - started with snow, then ice pellets and freezing rain, and it's supposed to warm up enough to rain after that. Honestly, I don't think we could ask for a better winter.

Last Friday

I did work at home today; I didn't like the idea of having to drive home in freezing rain. I had planned to go to Zumba this evening, but I didn't want it badly enough to go out in the weather. I'm sure it wouldn't stop a lot of people, but I freely admit to being a wimp about winter driving.

I had kind of a bad day. I've been feeling a lot of negativity about work lately, and today was even worse. I won't go into that, it's not why I'm here. I'm here because by the end of the work day I really just wanted to sit in front of the TV and eat guacamole. But I talked myself into a treadmill walk. I was sitting by my desk, putting my sneakers on, feeling cranky and trying decide between TV or tunes. At which point I decided it was time for a change of strategy.

I had this new Ellen Barrett DVD sitting there. Ellen Barrett workouts always make me feel good. They require some concentration, even more so when it's a brand new workout. So off came the sneakers, and into the player went the DVD. The workout flew by. There was one shoulder stretch at the end that hurt in a way that tells me I should be doing it every day. And I feel better. Thank you Ellen.

On the subject of new workouts, I've tried two others so far this month.

My Jackie Warner collection is nowhere near as big as my Ellen Barrett collection yet, but I have four DVDs now and I like them all. This is the newest; I've only had a chance to try the upper body workout so far.

It went something like this:

Hey! I like Jackie's hair cut, it's really cute...Hmmm, she says 3 - 8 lb dumbbells so I'll go with 6 lbs...This is kind of fun, but I don't feel like it's doing anything...Wow, they get through those reps really fast...Oh! Ow! Where are my 3 lb weights?

And then, thankfully it was over.

It went really fast. It was doable, but challenging. Each segment is two exercises that you alternate between, doing a pyramid; so alternate between pushups and bicep curls (pushups were from the knees, then you come up to kneeling for the bicep curls), starting with 1 rep each, then adding a rep and repeating until you get up to 10. I found it really challenging to change positions and keep up with the pace on the DVD; I don't know whether to blame that on it being the first time with the workout, my bad shoulder, or my being a wimp. In any case, I did survive the experience and was sore in new spots the next day which makes me happy because I know I've hit some muscles I don't normally work.

Now I just have to survive the lower body workout.

And finally: Zumba Circuit! I didn't make it to the regular Zumba class on Monday or Tuesday. I've been avoiding the Circuit class because I was afraid I wouldn't be able to do it with my bad shoulder.  I ended up having a lot of fun!

I tend to worry about new classes, I think I will be lost, I won't keep up, etc. The thing is, I've been doing this fitness thing for quite a while and since I like variety I've tried quite a few activities; maybe not so many live classes, but a lot of DVDs and a lot of different workout plans. That doesn't mean I can walk into a class and get everything right the first time, but it's usually nowhere near as bad as I think.

Zumba Circuit was fun. We did one song to warm up, then everybody ran to stations. There was a max of 3 people per station, and I ended up going around with 2 ladies who were also new, which was nice; sort of a 'we're in this together' vibe. Most of the stations were not anything new, except 2 that used TRX - that was kind of exciting as I've never had a chance to try TRX before. That was also the only thing that bothered my shoulder, so I guess I won't be signing up for TRX classes any time soon.

I enjoyed the class, I worked hard, I walked out feeling good. Note to self: get over this fear of new things! And fun workouts make you feel better!

Now. Did someone mention guacamole?

Back to Reality

Husband and I have had a lovely two week vacation, relaxing at home; sadly it's almost over. Back to work tomorrow! I'm glad we had the chance to goof off at home together for two weeks, as it's sounding like Husband will be heading back to Japan soon.  Anyone have any suggestions on what to see in Japan in late January - early February? We're looking at the possibility of my flying over to meet up with Husband when he finishes up this stint in Japan. Nothing definite yet, and it's probably not the best time of year to visit, but it seems like a good opportunity.

For the first part of vacation, I divided my time between some extra chores around the house that I'd been meaning to catch up on, and sitting around on my butt. Husband & I both came down with a bad cold that lasted through Christmas Eve to Boxing Day, and somehow after that I barely managed to do anything productive at all. Oh well, vacations are meant to be enjoyed.

December Workouts

06: Jackie Warner Power Circuit Upper Body + Treadmill walk/jog[35 mins]
07: Jackie Warner Power Circuit Lower Body + Treadmill walk[35 mins]
13: Jackie Warner Xtreme Circuit Training[30 mins]
14: Treadmill Walk[45 mins]
16: Ellen Barrret Pick Your Level Pilates[30 mins]
11: Jackie Warner Xtreme Circuit Training[30 mins]
13: Zumba @ Baila Fitness
14: Jackie Warner Power Circuit Upper & Lower Body[30 mins]
31: Jackie Warner Xtreme Circuit Training


Dec 31st was Husband & my 10th wedding anniversary. My anniversary gift from Husband is a new lens for my camera which was very exciting. I took a bunch of pictures to play with it. I would have posted some cute ones of the Fabulous Felines, but after I downloaded the photos, and deleted them from the card, I discovered that they are not in the folder where they were supposed to have been imported. I have no idea where they went and I suppose I've lost them. Sigh.

We are having absolutely fantastic weather so far. We did have snow that arrived just before Christmas, then melted right after Christmas. There have been a few cold days, but mostly it was pretty warm. When I checked the weather earlier today it was 8 degrees celcius (for those who don't speak celcius, google says that  it is 36 degrees Farenheit right now, and the weather page says 2 degrees celcius). For January in that Maritimes, that's downright balmy. I will enjoy it while it lasts because I'm sure it won't last that much longer.

Happy January everyone!

November Summary

During the month of November I:

- Lived the single life, as  Husband's stay in Japan was extended to 5 weeks
- Stacked 2 cord of firewood in the garage all by myself
- Hacked open a coconut all by myself (and ate it all by myself - I love coconut)
- Went to a live Zumba class - twice!
- Was mainly vegetarian, occaisionally pescatarian (had fish 4 times)
- Experimented with cutting out wheat  and dairy

The weather went from no snow, to 30 cm of snow in one day, and back to no snow within a week.

The workout list for the month:

Nov 02: Jackie Warner Xtreme Circuit DVD[30 minutes]
Nov 03: Walk[25 mins]
Nov 04: Walk[20 mins]
Nov 05: Yard Work
Nov 06: Stacking Wood
Nov 08: NROL Phase 2 Workout A
Nov 10: Gentle Hatha Yoga #1
Nov 11: NROL Phase 2 Workout B + Cardio Intervals
Nov 12: Stacking Wood
Nov 13: Stacking Wood
Nov 14: Treadmill walk/jog[25 mins]
Nov 16: Treadmill walk[45 mins]
Nov 17: NROL Phase 2 Workout A
Nov 21: Zumba @ Baila Fitness
Nov 22: Ellen Barrett Power Fusion DVD[45 mins]
Nov 23: Ellen Barrett Skinny Sculpt DVD[45 mins]
Nov 24: Ellen Barrett Barefoot Cardio DVD[45 mins]
Nov 28: Zumba @ Baila Fitness
Nov 30: Ellen Barrett  Power Fusion DVD[45 mins]


Being mainly vegetarian agreed with me. The conclusion on cutting out wheat and dairy is that it does indeed make a difference. I'm not sure what the optimum balance is at this point, and I suspect it  will be harder to stick to/play around with this once Husband comes home, but I hope I can be mindful; I hope I can pay attention to what I'm eating and how I'm feeling.

Speaking of Husband coming home...I only have two more nights of sleeping without ear plugs, 2 more days of blasting the 80's station on the car radio. Since it means I get my husband back, I'm okay with that. :)

First Snow Day of the Winter

Wednesday I woke up to radio announcers talking about snow fall warnings and school cancellations. When I looked out the window there wasn’t much to see but I decided better to be safe than sorry; I can work from home when I need to so why take chances?

Around 8:30 am the view looked like this:

By noon, snow was piling up.

By 4 pm I was extremely happy that I was safe at home.

Our driveway didn’t get plowed until almost 7pm. I did drive in to work on Thursday and  a lot of the roads were still pretty messy.

By Friday the weather was starting to warm up again. Yesterday was a beautiful day, nice and warm.

So we’ve now gone from this…

To this…

Which makes me happy. I’m not ready for winter to set in quite yet.

Had a lazy morning at home yesterday, then went out and did some shopping. Today puttered around the house, finally packing away the rest of my summer stuff and digging out the rest of my sweaters.

I had Spicy African Peanut Stew from the Peas and Thank You cook book cooking away all afternoon in the slow cooker.

It was quite tasty and I look forward to the leftovers that will feed me for the next couple of days.

Zumba!

So, week before last, on Wednesday, I took our car in for it's scheduled maintenance, and got the winter tires put on. The next morning on the drive to work, I had to pull off and park because something felt very wrong. I got out and discovered a completely flat tire. Not a fun way to start the day.

As I sat and  waited for Roadside Assistance, I happened to notice a fitness studio has opened up in the little plaza where I was parked - which happens to be not far from my house - and they have Zumba classes. I've enjoyed my Zumba DVDs and have wanted to try a class, so when I finally got to work I looked  up the schedule. I've had it in the back of my mind since then, but things kept coming up. I decided that yesterday was going to be the day.

The weather has really been kind of awesome - it has stayed pretty warm - up until yesterday when the temperature dropped down to 0 degrees Celcius. Can't say I wanted to go back out after I got home from work yesterday, but I did and I ended up having a blast. I was worried that I wouldn't be able to follow the steps or keep up...because I'm a worrier and that's what I do. In reality I managed just fine. I won't be heading out to classes every day, but once or twice a week would be a nice change of scenery from working out in my basement.

Today I did the Ellen Barret Power Fusion DVD. My right shoulder has been bothering me a lot, so I think I will be taking a break from strength training for a bit (I think it's a computer-use issue, but don't want to strain it). Ellen Barret tends to have a lot of reaching & sweeping arm motions in her workouts which I hoped would be good for the sore shoulder. It  felt okay during, immediately after my shoulder was sore, but then felt better, so I think it was a good choice.

 Allowing a little bit of dairy & wheat back in the diet, but trying to keep the amounts small. I seem to be feeling mostly okay. It does seem like the eczema is getting a little worse again though. Keeping an eye on it.

Had brown rice pasta for supper. I actually don't mind it. Good old durum semolina will always be my first pasta love, but to keep the wheat consumption down I can live with the brown rice pasta. I hava a feeling Husband won't mind  it either, which is a plus. Never could get him to eat whole wheat pasta.

Lost internet at some point today. Got home from work, booted up the laptop and couldn't connect. Just as I was about ready to text Husband, he called and we managed to work out that it was a bad power supply on the network switch. Since I am married to an uber-geek, we were able to switch out the power supply with one from another switch (how many times can I say switch in one paragraph?) and get things working again.

And now I am tired. Time to start winding things downfor the night so the cats & I can go to bed.

Mission Accomplished

This…

Has become this…

Two stacks of wood against the back wall of the garage, about as tall as I am (which is admittedly not very). The pile off to the side is the wood left over from last year. Husband oh-so-conveniently had to stay in Japan an extra two weeks, so I did it all myself, most of it this past Sunday.

Yesterday I got home from work and decided to take it easy, since I’d worked so hard on Sunday, and just did a little treadmill session. Today I felt half dead. Possibly I should have skipped the workout yesterday.

I mostly made it through my two weeks of dairy/wheat free eating. Yesterday technically should have been the last day and I gave in and had a muffin for breakfast. And then I had one again today. Plus real cream in my coffee.

I won’t say the dairy/wheat free eating experiment made me feel like a whole new person, but my eczema is a whole lot better. That was obvious about a week and a half in. I have mixed feelings about it. On the one hand it is somewhat of a relief to know there is something I can do – my eczema does get really bad and makes me pretty miserable during the winter – but I’m not sure how I feel about giving up wheat & dairy for good.

I guess the next stage is to figure out whether it’s just one or if it’s both, and whether I  need  to cut them out completely in order to see a difference. I did actually wonder if the muffins yesterday & today could have been what were causing me to feel so zonked today. I was really feeling wiped out, and I just wanted to be able to curl up in bed.

On top of that, the past two days have been overcast and gloomy, which also tends to have a negative  effect on my energy. So many variables.

Also, I am ready for Husband to come home. I have enjoyed the sleeping without ear plugs, doing things on my own schedule, less dishes to wash,  listening to the 80’s station on the car radio. But I kinda miss him and I want him to come home. Sigh. Just under two weeks to go now.

Good thing I have Frank to keep me company.

One Day I Bought a Coconut

I remember a few times growing up when Dad & Mom bought a coconut. Dad would punch holes in it and drain out the coconut milk (or water) and divide it for my sister and I, then break open the coconut. I remember loving the whole thing – the coconut water straight from the coconut and eating the coconut meat itself.

I discovered Zico Coconut Water in the grocery store here recently and the taste is fairly close to what I remember, I suspected the difference had to do with it being bottled rather that straight from the coconut.

Last weekend while I was grocery shopping I picked up a coconut. It was an impulse buy, of course, and I wasn’t entirely sure how I was going to crack the thing open. It sat in a  bowl on the kitchen table for a week. If nothing else, it looked all decorative sitting there with a lemon and  two limes.

Today I decided to give it a go. I whacked away at it a bit, then had the bright idea to use the point of a knife to poke a hole through the end (if you’ve never dealt with a whole coconut before, there are three depressions in one end). Poking the point of a knife in the – i don’t know what you call them so  I’ll stick with – depressions was actually easier, and then I was able to drain out the coconut water. I’d heard it sloshing around in there but there was more than I expected.

I tasted the coconut water, wondering if I should refrigerate it, but then I just ended up drinking it down.

Then, since  I’d been  making a mess in the kitchen with bits of coconut shell flying everywhere, I took the coconut, my knife and a tea towel out to the deck and proceeded to whack away at it until I had exposed an area that I could cut through.

At that point, the coconut shell was cracked and I was able to whack at it with the back of my knife and crack it in  two.

I really like coconut. Which is a good thing because I have a whole one to eat all by myself.

That was the fun part of my day. The rest of the day was spent doing some cleaning and stacking wood in the garage. First I had to move the leftovers of last year’s wood, which was actually the worst part because it stirred up all kinds of dust in the garage which left me sneezing and sniffling. That’s when I took a break and broke open my coconut.

After standing at the counter munching on coconut for a while, I went back out to start on the wood pile (Dear Bag  Lady, the ritual banging of the wood was observed and I thought of you).

The stack of wood along the back wall of the garage grew at a satisfying rate, yet it was hard to see any visible difference in the pile sitting in the drive. I feel like I am going to be stacking wood forever.

Yesterday I put away all my garden planters, ornaments, tomato cages, etc. It was a productive weekend. I also remember to cut some catnip to dry for the cats. Frank approves.

Actually, both cats approve, but Frank is the one who got all flirty with the bowl. They both helped themselves quite happily.

Still dairy and gluten free, 6 days now. Last night I made chocolate from coconut oil and cocoa. I still miss cheese. How long do I have to stick with this, I wonder, to know if it’s making a difference? I can’t say I feel any different so far.