Vacation: The Way Life Should Be

Somehow it became July when I wasn't looking! I used to try and at least post at the turn of the month, because I like doing a little summary. Lately I have been missing them - I think [with my end of vacation relaxed perspective] that I have been overwhelmed a lot of the time lately. Can't say that makes me look forward to going back to work (not that I am ever in a rush for vacation to be over).

This time, my excuse is that I was busy being on vacation. We've had a week and a half, and it's been glorious! We were in Nova Scotia visiting the families for the first part. My baby sister was home for a visit  - Yay! Then we came home to relax, and try to get some things done around the house. We've had perfect weather, up until today's hurricane-like rain and wind. Of course, today would be the day that we had an appointment to take the felines in for their annual check up and shots, but we all survived (though the cats were not too happy about the whole thing and gave us the cold shoulder for a while once we got home).

Along with vacation relaxation, there has been vacation eating and drinking...lots of fun, but that has to stop on Monday; I'm okay with that.

Feeling like it is time to get serious for a while. I've been goofing off a lot lately. So as of Monday:
~ Starting a new workout plan
~ Going to focus on clean eating

Husband is in agreement with the clean eating thing, though we will see how things go; his ideas of healthy eating tends to be a bit different from mine. But it's a work in progress, right? Sometimes we do well, sometimes we don't, but we are working on improving.

See, how relaxed and positive I sound? So ready to jump in and make the effort? That would be the relaxed and rested end of vacation state of mind...I wish I could figure out how to keep that forever!

Anyway...here's to getting back on track, and in a week or two when I'm moaning about keeping up with it all, remind me of the fact that I am wanting to do this and seeing it as a good thing!

Vacation Photos

We went to Peggy's Cove!

And Lunenburg! On the same day! I was tired.

Enjoyed the bird watching at my in-laws.

Caught up with aunts, uncles and cousins at a family barbeque (yes that is me in the green shirt, making it obvious that I need to get back to the healthy living thing and drop a few pounds).

Watched my sister chase chickens that had escaped from their coop.

 

Went for a walk in the woods with my brother and sister.

Brought home peppers and rose bushes to plant - thanks Dad & Mom!

Cranky JavaChick Needs a Vacation

Last week was really, really bad. Not that anything really terrible or disastrous happened, I just mean I had a bad week - hard/stressful/exhausted? I think PMS was part of it and just made everything else so much worse. Normally I crawl in bed, turn out the light, and fall asleep, but last week that wasn't happening. Our cat fence has not been fixed (because we are waiting for a new one to be installed) so we can't let the cats have access to the cat door at night, or any time we are not at home. This means the cats start poking at me around 4 am, wanting me to get up and let them out.

I was sooo tired and frustrated, I nearly had a melt down on the way to work one morning over the cat fence. Husband wants to have a chain link fence installed, and then add the cat proofing kit. More expensive, but theoretically should stand up better to our crazy winters. I said I just want it ASAP. So a guy from the fencing company came over to give an estimate - sometime in early May I think - and when Husband asked how soon we could have the work done, they said they were just waiting for the ground to dry up, and they were hoping to be able to get started in a couple of weeks.

So when they came back with the official estimate, Husband said yes, and then they said "Oh, there are other people ahead of you in the queue, so it will be 4-6 weeks." I was not happy to hear that, but it just hit me hard last week when I realized it was not going to be done before our vacation rolls around and we head for Nova Scotia...Meaning the cats will be confined to the house the whole time, and they are going to pee on everything.

So yeah, I just about lost it one morning and Husaband was looking at me like I was an alien or something, and telling me to calm down, because there is nothing we can do about it.

It is more often the case that Husband gets in a temper about something and I am the one being all annoyingly calm and reasonable. I did not enjoy the experience from the other side. I knew it was pointless to be so upset, but I couldn't help it.

On top of that, there were stressful work things going on. I was directing a lot of negative thoughts at myself regarding my weight.

It was just an all around bad week.

This week has been better. We took a couple of vacation days last Friday and Monday. We had some rainy weather that the cats didn't want to go out in so I got ot sleep through the night. That made a huge difference.

I spent a couple of hours wandering around greenhouses and garden centres which was extremely relaxing and peaceful. I came to the conclusion that I have not been having enough time to myself lately, to just do my own thing. Not that I couldn't have, I just haven't been making it a priority. 

I am still frustrated about the cat fence, and feeling awful at the thought of the cats being stuck in the house while we are away. I can't say that the negative voices have gone away either, but they are a little quieter at the moment.

I hear/read so much about how we should learn to love ourselves/our bodies as they are...I really don't know how to do that? Even after 15 years, I can reconcile this me with the skinny version that used to exist. I don't know how to let go of that.

There is no real point to this post other than giving me a place to complain. Life is hard sometimes. There are lots of good things, and I know I am fortunate in so many ways, but sometimes the hard stuff seems to drown out all the good bits.

Good bit: I have vacation coming up very soon! I will get to visit with my baby sister! And the rest of my family too, but I haven't seen my sister in a couple of years so I am looking forward to it. Only thing that would make it better is if both sisters could be there. (We will leave out the fact that I am irritated with Husband bcs he told his parents we would stay with them without asking me first - we've stayed with Husband's parents the last couple of trips, and I would have preferred to be at home with my sis this time - kinda seems like everything is getting on my nerves these days, ya know?).

How about some things that make me feel good? 

As always, if you want to see more photos, you can always hop on over  to the garden blog.

Holding Pattern

I don't really have much to say this week...Just chugging along as the weather slowly improves, and the snow disappears day by day.

The cats have started waking me up at 5 am, wanting to go out. This is what happens every spring...and it tends to get earlier and earlier as we get closer to summer...This usually ends once it gets warm enough for us to leave the window with the cat door open all night, but that won't happen this year until we get the fence fixed/replaced. I foresee an interesting spring.

Actually poked my head into the garden on Saturday. It was so sunny and warm out! The yard is pretty swampy though, and it will be a while before it dries up enough for me to do anything out there.

Still, the weather is warm and we've been getting some sun. Finally. I think it might be spring!

Slow Spring

Last week I was so, so tired. Not sure why. I told Husband I felt jet-lagged and it was totally not fair because I didn't go anywhere. By last weekend I was feeling more normal though, which was a relief.

Friday, which is my usual work from home day every week, was a beautiful, warm, sunny day. We haven't seen many birds around over the winter, but Friday morning when I got up I saw cardinals out the back windows, and the feeders out front were busy with sparrows, juncos and even a woodpecker.

I thought they might disappear again, since Saturday was not a very nice day - snow and rain most of the day - but the birds seem to be sticking around. I'm hoping they know something we don't, and that it is a sign that spring is finally here.

The down side to that, we are in for more rain this week and there is still quite a bit of snow left to melt, so some people are probably going to end up with flooded basements which is never fun.

We had a bit of excitement Friday morning when a bird flew up from the basement and into the kitchen, followed closely by Frank. Frank caught the bird before we could get to it, but Husband grabbed Frank who reluctantly dropped the bird. The poor little chickadee landed on it's back, but it was still moving a bit, so I carefully picked it up, and when I released it on the patio it flew off, so hopefully it was unharmed.

Mostly short workouts this month, but fairly consistent so I am content.


March Workouts

01: YDL Sun Salutations Flow #1
02: Treadmill Walk[30 mins] + MC#2
03: YDL Sun Salutations Flow #1
04: Treadmill Walk[25 mins] + MC#3
06: Treadmill Walk[25 mins] + MC#1
08: YDL Sun Salutations Flow #1
09: Treadmill Walk[47 mins]
10: YDL Sun Salutations #1 + MC#2
11: Treadmill Walk[25 mins] + MC#3
16: Treadmill Walk[45 mins]
17: YDL Moon Salutations Flow #1
18: Treadmill Walk[25 mins]
19: YDL Sun Salutations Flow #1
23: Treadmill Walk[45 mins]
24: YDL Sun Salutations Flow #1
25: Treadmill Walk[25 mins]
27: Treadmill Walk[25 mins]
29: YDL Sun Salutations Flow #1

Mini Circuit #1
Inchworm
Squat + shoulder press w/dumbbells

Mini Circuit #2
Pilates tricep pushup
Deadlift + wide row w/dumbbells

Mini Circuit #3
V Pushup
Walking lunge + bicep curl w/dumbbells

March 2014 Workouts

01: YDL Sun Salutations Flow #1
02: Treadmill Walk[30 mins] + MC#2
03: YDL Sun Salutations Flow #1
04: Treadmill Walk[25 mins] + MC#3
06: Treadmill Walk[25 mins] + MC#1
08: YDL Sun Salutations Flow #1
09: Treadmill Walk[47 mins]
10: YDL Sun Salutations #1 + MC#2
11: Treadmill Walk[25 mins] + MC#3
16: Treadmill Walk[45 mins]
17: YDL Moon Salutations Flow #1
18: Treadmill Walk[25 mins]
19: YDL Sun Salutations Flow #1
23: Treadmill Walk[45 mins]
24: YDL Sun Salutations Flow #1
25: Treadmill Walk[25 mins]
27: Treadmill Walk[25 mins]
29: YDL Sun Salutations Flow #1

Mini Circuit #1
Inchworm
Squat + shoulder press w/dumbbells

Mini Circuit #2
Pilates tricep pushup
Deadlift + wide row w/dumbbells

Mini Circuit #3
V Pushup
Walking lunge + bicep curl w/dumbbells

Not Funny

I don't know how well you can see, that, but that red banner across the top of the forecast says BLIZZARD WARNING IN EFFECT.

If I had been on my own, I would not have gone anywhere today, but since Husband is here, and is going to the office every day, we went in to work this morning.

This is the view from my desk at 1:45, just before we left to head home. Normally we have a view of the harbour...

At 6:00, from our living room window...

It's March. Almost the end of March, in point of fact.

We are not amused.

Is It Spring Yet?

I got hit with the tired again this week. I had kind of a stressful work day on Tuesday, and didn't sleep well, so I was exhausted on Wednesday.

Then I slept like the dead on Wednesday night. Normally I way up at least once during the night, courtesy of a Fabulous Feline or two. Apparently Frank did try to wake me up, employing his usual method of sitting on the pillow and tapping me on the head with his paw and I slept through it all. Husband said he had to check and make sure I was still breathing.

Pre-Enactment

Fabulous Felines, June 20 2003

Despite the sound sleep I was still really tired on Wednesday. Maybe it's left over effects from the DST switch. Or maybe it's the weather; we had another storm last week - lots of snow and ice and rain - and I have so had enough of this.

Week before last we received a package  in the mail, which came with lots of packing paper. We put it down on the floor for the cats. They sleep in it. We pick it all up to clean the floor, and then we put it back down. We have happy cats.