Week 19: I wear yoga pants now. Yoga pants are cool.

The past five weeks have been exhausting for me. The two weeks Frank was missing took a lot out of me. We jumped from that right into packing up the kitchen and getting ready to have the floors done in our kitchen and entry way. For a week we didn't have a kitchen or living room, we had to board the cats; I felt a bit claustrophobic in my house, like everything was crowding in on me.

My parents had been planning to come for the Victoria Day weekend. When I spoke to my Mom the weekend after the floor was done, she said they could post pone. I said: "Oh no, it will be fine." What can I say? I was looking forward to having my family visit. But it meant we had to get the house all put back together, get the spare room cleaned up for my parents, get the basement cleaned up for my brother. It was a very busy, tiring week, on top of the four previous exhausting weeks.

We did have a good weekend and everything is done - we had no opportunity to let things drag on, so I suppose it was the way to go. I'm ready for a slower pace for a while though.

Over these past, crazy weeks, I have decided that yoga pants are perfectly fine casual attire. Before, I would wear them around the house, but if I was going  out anywhere - even to run to the grocery store - I would put on real clothes. Suddenly, I was tired, and I just didn't care, and I like my yoga pants. I'm not saying this is a good thing. I'm just saying this is how it is. Yoga pants are awesome and I would live in them if I could.

Over these past, crazy weeks, I have also been less interested in food. When Frank was missing, I had no appetite. I would eat, because it was time to eat, but I  didn't really care. Then we were just so busy, and trying to use up what was in the fridge and I just wanted it to be something easy that wouldn't make a mess to clean up. Then we had no kitchen. Normally I look forward to eating out; I enjoy sitting down, ordering what I want, not having to worry about cleaning up. There are lots of restaurants around that we enjoy. You'd think it would have been fun. Except I was tired and I just didn't care. I'm sure this will change and I will rediscover my joy in food, it's just interesting to me to note how I react in different situations.

There has also been next to no exercise. Or, I suppose I should say formal workouts. I certainly haven't been doing much sitting around, and I would go to bed exhausted and pass out every night. Which makes me not worry too much about the lack of formal exercise.

I do think that I could use some de-stressing type exercise over the next little while though. Some flexibility work, I think. I've been a little stressed.

This is the end of my 4 day weekend (vacation day Friday, holiday today). Back to work tomorrow, starting in a new role (which is basically just adding some extra responsibilities to my usual workload) and it's a little outside my comfort zone. Fortunately, I have been so busy, I really haven't had time to worry about it.

Favorite photos of the week...

Spectacular rainbow on Thursday evening.

 



My Dad and brother added signs to my garden shed! Makes me smile every time I go out in the yard.

 



 

Cherry blossoms in bloom. They smell as pretty as they look.

Forsythia

 



 

Zappa wears an earring now. Earrings are cool.

 

 

Week 18: Back to normal

This is what normal looks like:

They never really got to the point of loving the boarding experience. They were boarded at the vet's office, where they have room set up for cats. They were the only two cats there at the time, so they had the  room to themselves. Their was a nice big window and a cat tree. Really not bad accomodations, but my cats were not impressed. We visited every day on the way home from work and it went something like this:

Day 1: Cowering in their carriers, mostly ignoring the fact we were there.
Day 2: Both cats curled up together in same cat carrier; Frank came out to see us, but mostly paced like a...well, like a caged animal. We coaxed Zappa out a couple of times, but he wouldn't stay out.
Day 3: Both cats came out for pets, paced around the room, staked out the door; not stupid, my cats.
Day 4: Repeat of Day 3.

I was actually by myself on Day 4, which was Thursday. When I got home, things were quite close to being finished up. The upstairs was done, except for some baseboards and things like that. There was a  little tile work left to do on the lower landing (grout), and baseboards, but very close to done. The guys moved our furniture & appliances back to the kitchen and were probably out of the house by 5:30. Husband and I started tidying some things away, and then Husband said we probably could bring the cats home. I looked at the clock and it was 5:45; the vet closes at 6, we had plans to meet friends for dinner at 6:30. I said I supposed we might as well wait, because the vet would want to be closing up.

Then a few minutes later I was calling the vet to ask if we could come for the cats. They are 5 minutes away from our house and I just wanted them home. The vet very kindly agreed and we drove right over.

We brought the cats home, I rushed to get their food and water dishes set up while they paced around checking everything out. Then we had to rush off to meet our friends. By the time we came home, the cats seemed to have decided that everything was satisfactory. They did wake me up a bunch of times during the night - mostly Frank, it's what he  does - and in the morning I woke up surrounded by sleeping cats. All back to normal.

 By Friday afternoon, all the work was finished and we have our house back. We're still in the process of getting everything back where it belongs - and doing a little decluttering while we're at it - but the end is in sight.

The floor was basically white before, so it's quite a difference and it took me a couple of days to get used to it, but I think it turned out well.

The floor is actually a couple of inches higher now - note the top of the stove in comparison to the counter; they used to be pretty much level.

There was a height difference where the hardwood met the old floor, but now they are almost level, with the tile being just a tiny bit higher.

The stairs used to have carpet, which basically served as cat scratching material and acted like velcro when it came to cat hair.

We desperately need to paint, and we had talked about having it done at the same time (immediately following in the floors), but the floors happened faster than we expected and it felt like enough upheaval for the moment, so the painting will have to wait for now.

I'm glad we waited, because I ended up not feeling well over the weekend and I'm still not feeling great. I don't know if I'm just worn out - things have been kind of crazy for the past 4 weeks - so I'm trying to pace myself at the moment. I have things I need to get done, but I'm taking my time.

Week 17: No Kitchen

We really have not done a lot of work to this house in the 11 years we've been here. We've partially finished the basement. My sister and I painted the spare bedroom. That's pretty much it. So we are long over due.

Our kitchen floor for example. We noticed this crease developing in the cushion floor. The crease eventually turned into a crack. And we thought we should probably do something about that. So we went to a flooring place and they told us lots about the many different options available and we left feeling confused and overwhelmed.

A year later we had a hole in the cushion floor that we kept tripping over.

So it was time. Fortunately, we found a different flooring place where they offered helpful advice and we decided on ceramic tile. Oh yeah, we decided to do our entry way while we're at it. So this is what things are looking like right now.

The down side is that we couldn't have the cats walking all over the floors as they were being installed, and we had no good way to keep them out of the kitchen and entry way. We really tried to come up with a solution, but in the end we decided we had to board them for the week. We've never done that before, and I can't say I am entirely confident it was a good idea, but we couldn't think what else to do.

So far, that is the hardest part of the whole thing. Five days without our kitchen & living room is doable, but the cat situation is making me kinda miserable.

It's been a pretty busy week - we had a lot to do to get ready and it kept me busy evenings last week and all weekend. So ~ as far as my goal for the month ~ not a lot of time for lazing on the couch eating junk food.

The weather has been lovely, so I did take some breaks to hang out with my Frankie and soak up some sun.

He seems to be doing well and Zappa is used to him being home, which is a relief. Now we just have to make it through this week (I really miss them!), and by the weekend they should be home again. Oh yeah...And we should have a new kitchen floor. :)

Week 16: Returns

Having a really hard time getting a post in this week - things are busy!

Item 1:
In case you missed it: Frank is home! After two weeks, I arrived home from work last Thursday to find him at the front door. I was so happy, I can't even tell you.

Item 2: 
I moved to this city in 1999 to start a new job. I worked at that job, in the same office building, for 7

years, until the office was shut down. This week, on Monday, the company I now work for has moved back into that building. Not only that, I am sitting by the same person I sat beside for the last couple years of my old job. Small world.

Item 3: 
My routine basically fell apart for the two weeks that Frank was missing. I managed to do the things I had to do, but that was about it. I was hoping to return to my normal routine this week, but of course another curve was thrown our way. We are having new flooring put down in our kitchen and entry way. We thought it was going to happen the week of the 13. Turns out they will start on Monday, the 6th. So now we are frantically trying to get everything organized.

Goal for the month:
Routine is pretty much out the window. My aim is to adapt and do the best I can, rather than just hibernating on the couch with a bag of potato chips.


April Workouts:
02: Crunch Cardio Sculpt DVD
03: Jackie Warner One On One Training - LB
04: Jackie Warner One On One Training - UB + 20 mins Zumba
08: Yoga @ 12pm + Zumba @ 6pm
11: Jackie Warner Xtreme Circuit
24: Ellen Barret Yogini Workout DVD

There actually was a fair amount of walking from the 12 - 23, as I tramped around in the woods and neighborhood hoping to find Frank. I didn't track any of it though.

Thursday, April 25 - Frank is home!

Frank fur on the floor at the Vet

Saturday, April 27 - My Raggedy Frank

Zappa is not quite sure this is Frank?

I think it's finally spring!