Easter Weekend, 2014!

If ever there was a classic example of ups and downs, this weekend was it!

Thursday morning I had my review at work where they raved about my efficiency, productivity and initiative and then gave me a 10% raise.  So I work somewhere with no stress, no commute, no dress code and I make more than I did at my previous job!  I’ll take that!

Thursday evening I was fortunate to get off work an hour early and went home to prepare the Easter Turkey.  Ray’s son picked me up a couple hours later and we met Ray and his mom at the restaurant for dinner.  Costco and then Thrifty’s and home to cook the turkey!  At that point the weekend was pretty much right on track.  Friday morning I slept in a little, made a nice breakfast (apple crisp, anyone?) and then decided to take Gracie on a long walk while Ray and his son worked on building a boat rack for their fishing trip coming up.  I wouldn’t normally drive somewhere to go for a walk since we have such nice walking right out of our front door….but I thought it would be nice to be truly “gone” for a couple of hours.  I drove us to Burnaby Lake and was anticipating doing about 7-8km.  At the head of the trail we parked near, there was a sign that the whole loop was 10.3km (6.5 miles) which was a bit further than I had planned….but we weren’t in a hurry so I thought, why not.  Burnaby Lake Loop is the most boring, anti-scenic, flat, dull, poorly marked walk I think I’ve ever been on…especially for over TEN KILOMETERS.  With no music, nothing to look at and no one to talk to, it seemed like the walk took us forever (1:49), it wouldn’t frigging end!  Plus, the back half of the loop backs onto Highway One so you end up hearing a lot of traffic noise for a good part of it.

Looks like you would be able to at least see the water….but you would be wrong!

This is as exciting as it got!

 

With around 4.5km left to go (and no shortcuts, it’s all or nothing), Gracie started to slow down a bit.  We stopped so she could get a drink and wade around in a creek and then pushed on.  I didn’t think anything of it except for the fact that she was probably as bored as I was.  When we finally got back to the car, I turned off MapMyRun and got Gracie a drink of water…..during which time my phone slid off the roof of my car and smashed onto the gravel.  The back of it is shattered, thankfully the front is unharmed, this phone needs to survive until October when the iPhone 6 is released!

Anyway, walk done, phone smashed, home for beer in driveway.  I knew Gracie was tired from our trek but I didn’t realize just how exhausted.  She crawled up onto my lap and fell asleep in my arms, snoring away.  And….that’s where she stayed for most of the rest of Friday.  By Friday evening she was so stiff and sore that she could barely walk, couldn’t do the stairs and was crying in her sleep.  I know that she has some stiffness issues from her previous life but this was to the extreme.  We doped her up with some doggie pain meds that we had left over from previous dogs/issues and put her to bed.  She cried a bit during the night but fortunately by Saturday morning she was mostly recovered….but she spent the entire day sleeping.  What I didn’t know when I took her on an 11km walk was that Ray had already taken her for 4km before I got up…..so she had a total of 15km under her belt.  Too far, poor baby.

Saturday morning we were up early and welcomed our new downstairs fridge!  I am so in love with it!  It’s an all-fridge and it’s HUGE!

Saturday afternoon my sister came over and we all went out to my mom’s for a family dinner.  Although we all live within 2 hours of each other (some closer, some further), we don’t get together very often as a group.  Given that my Grampa has been uwell lately, we thought it was high time to get some family pictures taken.

I have many more pictures posted over on Half a Pear if you’re interested.  There are a lot of nearly-duplicates so that the family can pick the ones they want…but there are some cute ones in there too.

Sunday Ray let me sleep in extra and then we did a walk with Gracie and then our regular mall routine.  It was starting to cloud over in the afternoon so we decided to lay low and watch a movie (Legally Blonde…so dumb but perfect Sunday movie!).  During our movie we got a phone call that I had won an Easter basket at a store a couple of towns over so after dinner we went to go and pick it up!  Unfortunately you win some and you lose some because 20 minutes after I picked up the basket I’d won, we had a blowout 5 blocks from home.

So….our little mishap is going to cost me around $400 to get fixed….plus since the dealership is the only place that will do those exact tires, I’m sure I’ll also have to do a full service since I’m running behind.  Stupid pothole, going to cost me a fortune!

And finally, to finish the weekend, I had absolutely gruesome nightmares last night….really quite gory and I don’t appreciate that…so I’m not overly well rested or well settled today.  I’m drinking oodles of Orange Blossom Rooibos tea and taking it easy today….it’s very quiet at work since most people are also off today.  I find it funny that for as many ups and downs as there were this weekend, I’m not particularly stressed about any of it.  I surmise that this ability to handle whatever life throws is a result of not having chronic work stress eating away at me day after day.  I would never have wished what happened with our previous jobs…..but I am at the stage where I am mostly pleased with how things have turned out.

Have a great Monday!

Update:  I just made some calls regarding the blow out yesterday…..my city is willing to reimburse me for the cost of the replacement tire.  Since I reported the pothole and the damage, I can make a claim against the city and they will cover the charges.  As far as the actual replacement, the dealership will let me drop my blowout off tonight after work, they’ll mount the new tire onto the rim and balance it and then tomorrow after work I pop by and they mount it onto the car.  No wait, no hassle!  And….it’s a LOT cheaper than I predicted!

Advertisement

Winter 2013

Good Morning!  It’s our first snow fall here today…nothing much to speak of really, we’ll see what happens as the day goes by!

This weekend my sister came over for some Christmas fun, we (sort of) decorated my banister, we looked at old pictures, listened to Christmas music and had some Christmas cheer (by the mug full). We also ventured outside and decided to take some pictures.  Enjoy!  (There’s also a picture of me riding on Snoopy’s motorcycle but I couldn’t find it)

 

I love this picture and I love that Gracie is standing there looking at us!

Check out Gracie talking to us about how cold it is outside and how ridiculous that she has to stand out there while we fool around!

My sweet puppy!

She’d climb me and sit on my head like a hat if I let her.

My Twin Sister!

Squeeeeze

When we were little (like 3 years old), we used to put our hands on each other’s heads for nearly every nice picture my mom tried to take….I’m sure it drove her nuts.

It’s our 6 year anniversary this month!

Kissy Faces

Haha, the look on Gracie’s face is hilarious. “I do NOT want to be a part of this…I’m scared!”

Must hug mom Right Now!

11 more days and we will be 35!

A Full Weekend

It’s Monday morning and I feel like I’ve been off work for a week, not just the two day weekend.  That’s a nice feeling though, not complaining!  It was much nicer out this weekend than was predicted and we took full advantage! 

Friday night to celebrate the exam being over and passed, we went out for a nice dinner with Ray’s daughter and her husband.  I had an Ahi tuna sandwich but wrapped in lettuce instead of bread, slathered in red pepper relish and guacamole, it was amazing!  Being toast from the week and month previous, I went to bed with Grace almost as soon as we got home from dinner and slept until 9 the next morning. 

Saturday morning I left the comfort of the bed and had a bath in the main bathroom while Ray was showering in the en suite.  And when I got out of the bath, this is what I found:

She’d kicked all the blankets onto the floor and made herself at home Right. On. My. Pillow.  Frigging spoiled dog!  No shame, either!

Saturday we ran a tonne of errands including jewelry repair, knife sharpening (they sharpened my knife for free…..after I paid $145 for a new chef’s chopping knife to go with the slicing one I already had!), tea purchasing and dirt buying. 

Ray decided that Sunday morning he should get me up earlier so that we would have more day to work with….in theory I agreed with that, but the actual practice of it sucked so he bribed me with breakfast out.  Works every time!  After breakfast we headed home under sunny skies and Ray went and washed the back deck while I spent three hours weeding my front garden.  Three hours….a third of the garden done.  I called it quits and we took our dog and walked 3km up to McDonald’s for smoothies.  I realize that while McD calls them Real Fruit Smoothies, they are probably more crap than fruit….but it’s a nice treat!  Hoofed it back home to find Ray’s daughter had stopped by with her puppy and wanted to go for a walk.  Since Ray’s son was already there the four of us headed out into the park and ended up walking another 4km.  Our dog was pooped by the end of the day….as was I!  3 hours of gardening plus 7km of walking, done for the day!

Ray with our dog, our grand-dog, his daughter and son.

This week is supposed to be gorgeous and our plan is to insure my motorcycle, go for a couple evening refresher rides on Tuesday & Wednesday so that on Thursday and Friday when the weather is extra gorgeous, I can ride my bike to work!  Ideally I would like to ride my motorcycle to work at least two days a week through this season, weather permitting.  It’s cheaper on fuel and much more fun than my car!  The only sucky part is having to pack with me a change of clothes for work as well as bundling up for the morning and then finding somewhere to put all those layers for the warm ride home.  Sometimes it feels like more of a pain in the ass than it’s worth!

Anyway, since I try to balance healthy with reality, I need to put the focus back on the “healthy aspect” this month.  It’s not that long until summer when everything gets derailed in favour of sitting on the patio with a cold beverage.  Studying and the stress that came with that is gone now so from now until June my focus is going to be on my fitness and overall health (good sleep, vitamins, hydration).  Ray is going to be gone for a week out of the month and there’s a long weekend coming up and I have some huge plans for that week/weekend, yardwork related.  I’ll have the pickup truck, no one to cook for and no one to tell me they don’t like my yard renovation ideas so I’m going to go gangbusters!  Can’t wait!  Were there a certain family member who reads this blog who wanted to come out on May 18^th and get some good, natural exercise digging, raking, pulling, pruning and shoveling,  in exchange for some sort of lunch or dinner, that would be great!  Hint-hint-hint  😉

That’s it for me today, it’s a Monday, I’d rather be home digging in the dirt than sitting at a desk indoors……..so I’ll dig when I get home, dinner is made and in the fridge marinating, just has to be pan fried!

Short Recap of a Long Weekend

I have 15 minutes to chug some coffee while writing this post and then get in the shower and start my day (off).  So I thought I’d do more pictures, less talking.  We’ll see how that works!  If you follow me on Twitter you may have already seen these pictures.  If you don’t follow me on Twitter, why not go click the button?

Friday morning I got up and took Grace for a gorgeous warm 6 kilometer walk and then came home and got ready for my big appointment of the day.  At 11am, I got this!

I’d say it didn’t hurt, but I’d be lying, obviously.  However…..it really didn’t hurt that much.  Since my only comparison was the one that I have down my right side (starts up on my ribs, ends on my hip), this one was a frigging breeze!  Just the shading in the last 20 minutes or so was very bothersome, but it’s all worth it, I love it!  In good intention, he put a nice big piece of Second Skin on it and it’s meant to be left on a new tattoo for 12-24 hours.  I took it off after 20 hours and ended up with a big rash where it had stuck to the surrounding skin.  I’ll know for next time though!

Friday night my dad and Janet were supposed to arrive but unfortunately they encountered a closure on the highway.  55 kilometers took them 2 hours and then they were turned around and had to go a long detour.  They chose to stop for the night and we didn’t see them until the next morning.  In keeping with our plan though, Ray and I went to the John B for dinner.  I had a Roasted Ahi & Grapefruit Salad with Thai Basil Clams & Mussells.  It was The Best Restaurant Salad I have ever had….and I have had quite a lot.  The tart-fresh of the salad with the grapefruit pieces and champagne dressing balanced the very salty earthy mussels and clams.  Really impressed!

Saturday we all got together in Chilliwack and spent some time helping my Grampa clean out his workshop.  It was very hard on him emotionally, maybe more than he could have predicted.  My dad took a lot of his tools and I think it made my Grampa feel a bit better that someone in our family would have his stuff rather than a discount store or a junk collector.

We left Chilliwack in the afternoon and came back to our house and spent a few hours sitting on the driveway drinking and snacking and chatting.  When it got too dark for out there we moved onto the back deck and lit our little campfire and had dinner and a few more drinks.  I went to bed with a spinning head and woke up with an aching one.  Totally fun though!

My 15 minutes are up now, I leave you with a picture of my dog wearing my dad’s shades (she L O V E D him, absolutely and completely fell in love with him) and my dad, goofing around in a store yesterday.

This weekend was set up long in advance and came wtih some baggage and some presumed stress.  It turned out very well, there was some uncomfortable moments but not where I thought they would be.  I got to have that unique time with my dad that only comes when someone is staying with you.  I also got to see him and Janet together and they seem very happy together.  I got to see and hear her taking very good care of him and that makes me very hapy.  As in my own life, we don’t all have to be best friends with each other but it’s certainly nice to be able to recognize a good partnership and be happy that he has someone.

Today I have a bank appointment, a lunch at 12:30 with an old co-worker and then a wax at 4:30.  Groceries and a walk in there somewhere!  Tomorrow is back to work and I have a coffee date with a friend in the evening.  Ray’s on graveyards (which I hate) so it’ll be quiet here on the home front this week.  We’re camping (infamous potluck, thanks for all the comments, I’ll be sure and update that one when it’s happened) this weekend as well.

A Brown Theme

This week is going to be one of the busy ones for me.  Fortunately Ray is on dayshift so he gets to help!  Instead of worrying right now about what I have to do this week, I’m going to recap the weekend instead!

Saturday was a lovely day and we hung around doing not much of anything until around 3pm when it was time for our Super Date of Fun.  Ray’s been talking about taking me out to a resort town at night (near where we mini golfed) because it’s a gorgeous walk through a seasonal area and the lengths that some people go to in decorating their spot is something worth seeing.  So we piled into the car (we brought our third wheel with us) and started out.  Since where we were going is a couple of hours away we had some rest stops already planned. First, gas, at which point Ray decided he had to have a chocolate bar. I temporarily suspended my “no eating in the car” rule (I’ve had this rule for almost two decades now) so he could munch and drive.  And wouldn’t you know, at the next stop when he got out, there was chocolate smeared into the driver’s seat and all over the ass of his shorts.  GR!  Dinner was salads eaten outside and then on we went.  We chose to take the backroads all the way out and as it was nearing evening, the farmers were spraying their crops with fertilizer.  By fertilizer, I mean shit.  By shit, I mean there are big sprinklers which shoot liquid pig shit into the sky to drift gently back down to earth and fertilize the crops.  Unfortunately one particular sprinkler was too close to the road and there was a slight breeze (deadly gust) and my entire white car (and the dog’s head which was happily hanging out the window) became coated in liquid pig shit.  Gag.  Upon arriving to our destination, Grace apparently had some sort of fit when we got out of the car and managed to throw Ray’s fast-food cup of Coke into my seat, splashing it on every surface including my cream coloured fabric roof.  Needless to say, the Super Date of Fun, involving melted chocolate, Coke-soaked-seat and shit sprinkler, caused approximately three hours of Less Than Super Fun cleaning of the Jetta on Sunday!  (the No Eating In the Car rule is BACK ON!)

Sunday Tara and I ventured into the US to make a quick trip to Trader Joe and Target.  Many thanks to Girl Meets Paleo for your Instagram of the Coconut Cream earlier that day!  Trader Joe is a bit of a bust as far as being completely grain free.  We did get a lot of cheese though so that might have made it worth it.  A stop at Target for all sorts of things that I can’t buy here (or are super expensive) and then we hopped back into the car and jetted towards home.  We jetted along the I-5 until we stopped jetting….and sat in an hour long border lineup.  It was a bit of a long day (especially for Tara who had climbed up the side of a mountain that morning!) and honestly, not really worth it.  Next time, no border crossing on a back-to-school long weekend!

Monday Ray and I went for lunch with his daughter and her husband and then rode our bikes alllll over the place.  Having done all our chores earlier in the weekend, Labour Day was free of any sort of labour as far as we were concerned.  Arriving home in the afternoon we decided to lay on the bed and watch a movie.  Hunger Games. Haven’t read the books, had no idea what it was about.  So effed up, seriously!  The movie was really well done, the acting was pretty decent and the story was good…..if you can forget that it’s children killing each other while being completely manipulated by adults. 

This week we’ll be getting our house and yard into spic and span shape (do they still sell Spic N Span?), my dad and his wife are coming to stay with us for the weekend.  It’ll be the first time we have ever had overnight guests.  It’ll be a bit of a stressful weekend, we’ll be up to some less than heart warming chores regarding my aging grandparents.  Add to that the fact that my dad and I are not that close and that no one particularly gets along overly well with his wife and it should be a high tension weekend.  I figure having my house put to rights, the yard well manicured and food prepared and booze stocked up should help everyone feel more relaxed.  Or just me.  That’s alright too!

Fast & Furious

It is blissfully sunny out (finally!) and I am insanely busy at work so have been getting there early to start work…which eats into my blogging time.  😉

An update of things ongoing in point form, shall we?

• Grace is catching on to life with us…in most respects.  It is becoming apparent that she never spent any time outdoors.  She is nervous and insecure about absolutely every little noise, movement, breeze or bug.  It’ll take time but she’s a smart girl, she’ll get used to it.
• We are more careful about keeping her under our control (leash) than we were at first, now that she’s gaining confidence her little firecracker personality is coming out and she has no hesitation about chasing cats in our neighborhood or even chasing a motorcycle down the road at top speed.
• We discovered yesterday during a visit with our adoption co-ordinator that she was not abandoned on the side of the freeway as we first understood.  She and her brother were tossed out of a moving vehicle at freeway speed and the car that was behind her car pulled over and went back for them while the owners just sped off.  I just about puked when I heard that.  And then cried. 
• I rode my motorcycle to work on Friday for the first time!
• Going back a little ways since I haven’t been posting much, our family dinner worked out absolutely beautifully, everyone was on their best behavior and got along well enough that I would not hesitate to do it again (and we may, in September)
• On the exercise front I have walked 40.1 kilometers in the last 7 days.  This is, apparently, enough for me to not only maintain my weight but to help strip off a little more fat in the legs and belly and replace with lean tissue.  Perfect!  Especially since, because the weather is gorgeous, we are certainly drinking more than we do when it’s raining out. 
• There was a cougar reported in our area late last week, freaks me the hell out!
• We went to a dinner party at Ray’s ex wife’s house last night, she was at our house on Saturday with George so they could meet Grace and she is coming to Ray’s mom’s b’day dinner and then to our house for coffee & cake this coming Sunday.  I am definitely struggling at this point, I don’t mind her, she’s a nice person, I love her dog…….but it’s a strain on my good humour and sociability to crank out a happy face when nerves and upset is what I’m feeling inside.  And Ray, per normal, pays absolutely no attention to my discomfort whether I specifically mention it or not.  It’s a problem.

So, that’s what HAS happened, and here’s what’s coming:

• Grace has a vet appt tomorrow.  We thought she had an ouchie foot because of all the walking however it could be because of how she was….um….surrendered.  She needs to get that looked at.
• Tara is coming over for dinner on Wednesday so that we can drink a nice rose in the driveway and so she can meet Grace
• Ray’s mom is turning 75 on Sunday (hence the birthday dinner and get together at our house).  She just took a tumble yesterday and may have broken her wrist…which is not great, she’s not a great exerciser to begin with and has little confidence in walking to begin with and this won’t help.  Plus, she’s going to Israel and Jordan in September so she needs to get up and going.
• Saturday we have a Harley meeting, a chiropractor appt (that Gracie gets to go to…and he offered to take a look at her and see if he can help her at all) and then a memorial service in the afternoon. 

So that’s about it. It’s too beautiful here to spend anytime indoors and I’m too busy at work to do anything but swear and bang my head against the desk.  Three weeks from now we’re going on holidays as well and that is going to be crazy to get ready for, we’re camping just the two of us and our dog and also towing our big boat up there and going to spend at least a week on the water fishing and swimming and hanging out…..at this point I have requested two weeks off and only had one approved so we can’t even determine how long we’ll be gone for….which really blows.

How Not To Start Your Friday

At 3:58am this morning, after having been awake for approximately 45 seconds, I walked into the kitchen and did an endo over the left-open dishwasher door.  Goose-egged both my shins, scraped one of them up, smacked my head and broke all the fingernails on my left hand (no idea how that happened!).  It was so startling that I started to cry.  Lame. 

I never normally go into the kitchen from that side and I really don’t know why I did today but let me tell you, not a great way to wake up!  What is even less great is the following conversation with my honey moments ago:

S:  Did you hear the big commotion in the kitchen at 4am this morning?

R:  No, what happened?

S:  Oh, I did an endo over the dishwasher, bashed my legs, smacked my head and sat on the floor bleeding and crying for 5 minutes.

R:  Hunh.  Did you get the email about that dog I sent you last night?

S:  OK, so we’re done talking about me then….ok, good to know.  (screaming silently)

He’s a good guy, just a little…..well……guy.

Anyway, I did end up going to the gym this morning, throbbing shins and all and did the second workout in the second stage.  It wasn’t as hard as the first one so I don’t think I was pushing myself at maximum weights but I’ll rectify that next week!  So my comeback was launched on Monday and I have stuck to my comeback goals for the week.  All good.

Tomorrow we’re hosting a barbeque for my family.  This is the one that was supposed to be hosted while we were out camping but due to flooding our camping has been cancelled so we decided to do it in our front yard.  Due to rain the front yard has been cancelled so now we’re doing a camping-style get together in our living room.  Not cool.  REALLY not sure how this is going to work out, 9 people all sitting around staring at each other?  I was really excited about the whole thing back when we were doing it at a campsite and then outside.  Now I’m just apprehensive and kind of annoyed about it.

My dad will be there, I haven’t seen him in three years and my grandparents haven’t seen him in over 12 and haven’t approved of him ever.  My mom will be there and she hasn’t seen him in forever either but she’s a drama queen of the first order so that should be entertaining/horrifying to watch. 

On a high note, I made a completely grain free chocolate layer cake to serve for the dessert.  Only…now that it’s done I’ll be going to the store to get a bought-cake.  Why, you ask? Because the grain free layer cake is gorgeous and delicious and expensive and I don’t feel like serving it to people who don’t give a shit about whether they eat grains or not.  So, grain free chocolate layer cake with cranberry orange filling and chocolate ganache frosting for me and store bought tuxedo cake for the fam.  😉  I’ll post a picture of the cake once it’s all done….probably on twitter so if you don’t follow me, click the button there on the left!

I’m a busy bee tonight after work, cutting down a tree in the front room, vacuum and clean the main bathroom and frosting the cake.  Then walking 4km to the pub to meet Ray for dinner.  Doing a little DVD project tonight.  This weekend, hanging out with my sweetheart enjoying what we really hope will be our last two days of non pet ownership, fingers crossed that we have a fur-buddy coming in on Sunday night.

Happy Canada Day!

Crazy-Train, Let Me Off!

Night and frigging day, I’m tellin’ ya!  The difference in how I feel from this time last week just blows my mind.  I’m not sure if it’s just that enough time has passed or that I am stretching twice a day, icing every night and moving more?  Who cares though, it makes me excited that if I can just keep on moving forward at this rate then I’ll come out of this stronger, fitter and more flexible than I was before. 

I missed my massage appointment last night, like a complete idiot, I assumed that I was correct when I thought that it was at 6pm.  Had I looked in my handy dandy date book that has every single fact, experience, time and cost of my whole life in it I would have realized that the appointment was actually at 5:15pm.  Alas, I didn’t and I missed it.  I’m not that sad about it though.  I do feel badly that I wasted their time but I wasn’t super jazzed to go anyway.  Maybe it was subconscious that I “missed” it

Since I was so busy racing around trying to cram everything in before my alleged appointment, I didn’t have dinner until 7pm.  And dinner…..well….it was a bit strange.  I had a Larabar, some leftover fajita beef, a glass of carrot juice, two pieces of salami, a mini Lindt bunny and a blueberry smoothie with chocolate protein powder.  Random bits and pieces but effective…and surprisingly balanced, actually.

Today is Ray’s birthday and I’m meeting him at a restaurant about halfway between work and home and we’re having dinner together, just the two of us. 

It’s been a bit of a crazy-train in my family over the last couple of days and I am more than ready to get off at the next stop.  The emails and phone calls between myself, my sister, my mom and my grandparents number in the dozens and the subject matter is ridiculous and infuriating.  I texted my sister this morning that I am on hiatus until tomorrow morning from emails and ridiculousness.  Unless it’s death or destruction, I don’t want to know about it.  The comments that were hurled my way yesterday were over the top and inconsiderate, not to mention ill thought out and so today I’m taking a break from it.  I need my brain for work and after work is the evening that Ray and I celebrate his birthday and he deserves all of my attention and positive energy. 

In case I’ve whetted your curiosity over what was said, here are a few excerpts:

Exerpt #1

• Gramma:  “I would be embarrassed to tell anyone that I couldn’t afford to do something that they’d asked me to do.”
• Shannon:  “Well I’m not, it’s pretty standard for our generation to be broke and “can you afford to…” is one of the first things we consider.”
• Gramma:  “Fine, then tell me how much money is in your bank account right now.”

Exerpt #2

• Shannon:  “I have trouble having any sympathy for anyone who refuses to help themselves first.  If someone likes being sick then let them but that doesn’t mean they get special consideration in life.”
• Gramma:  “Fine, then I have no sympathy for you.”
• Shannon:  “Why on earth would you feel sorry for me??”
• Gramma:  “Because you’re in pain so that’s your fault and I don’t have sympathy towards you.”
• Shannon:  “I am in pain because I got hit by a car, not my fault.  But I don’t want or need any sympathy nor have I ever asked for it.”
• Gramma:  “You’re in pain because you don’t eat grains and now I don’t feel sorry for you.”

Exerpt #3

• Gramma:  “You don’t eat any grains?”
• Shannon:  “Nope, and I feel fantastic, it can help with a lot of conditions and illnesses.”
• Gramma:  “What, did you read that somewhere?”  (said in a condescending tone)
• Shannon:  “Well, yes.  Research, books and articles.”
• Gramma:  “Just because it works for you doesn’t make it real.  We’re just waiting for what you do to not work and then you’ll put all your weight back on, you’ll see.”

So all in all, not a great and uplifting conversation, but extremely amusing.  However, I don’t want to be “amused” today and so I’m on family email and phone call hiatus today.  J

Tomorrow is gym morning and back to my current nemesis, squats.  Hoping I can put a couple more plates on tomorrow and push through to where I was a bit more.  Have a great day, tomorrow is Friday, thank God!

A Good Long Weekend

First, I am still waiting for restitution from my bank.  It’s now been 4 days. 

 

Second, when I got home last night, Ray told me he might be getting suspended.

 

He dropped a load of these

 

 

on one of these

 

 

It was an accident, a bit of a ‘perfect storm’ of circumstances.  From all reports this morning, it is being chalked up as an accident, no suspension.  Phew!  Fortunately he’s a 38 year employee with an absolutely unblemished record.  That probably helps in the decision on whether or not to suspend him, if he was a dumbass with write ups all over his record it would probably not even be a question.  But he’s a a good guy who was trying to fix something that was unstable and the result was unfortunate.  Also unfortunate is that the guy whose truck it was came to my office door this morning to discuss the incident with our people…..and he was HUUUUUGE.  Easily 6’6 and 300 pounds.  Yikes!  He didn’t seem tooooo mad though.

 

In better news, tomorrow morning I’m going to go and rent one of these

 

2012 Toyota Canry

 

and with my mom and my sister, we’re going here

 

Osoyoos, British Columbia

 

We’re going to stay here

 

Safari Beach Resort

 

for two nights.  It’ll be our little home base while we tour around to a few of these

 

 

In the evening we’re planning on relaxing and drinking some of this

 

 

and I’m planning on eating a lot of this

 

 

Enjoy your weekend, I’m pretty excited about mine!

Fresh Breath

I loved Tara’s comment yesterday regarding medicating myself with wine and then her comment about burnout.  I partially agree (definitely agree with the wine part!) and I can feel the little nag of burnout on the back of my mind.  After she wrote that comment I gave it quite a bit of thought last night about what my problem really is (I am a huge fan of self assessment and awareness)….and I don’t think it’s fully burnout to blame.  I think it’s the fact that I’m working as hard as I can within the amount of available time that I have and I’m not getting the results that I want/expect.  And THAT is what I don’t know how to fix. 

 

She asked me yesterday if maybe I am getting bored with my routine…..and the answer to that was that I’m not, but that I’m really looking forward to February when trail running starts.  And you know why?  Because I figure if I’m training for a half marathon there’s no way I’m not going to lose that last few pounds that are bugging the shit out of me.  Not that I don’t want to do the trail running for the fun of it, I do, and I’m quite excited about it…I love the outdoors, I like weather, I am looking forward to meeting new people with the same interests and also challenging myself against them (privately).  But I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t also looking forward to the potential weight loss/body shaping benefits of more involved training like this!

 

I partly think I might be feeling a little better today also because I followed Tara’s advise about the wine last night and I put my head on my couch-pillow, and layed and flipped back and forth between Food Network and Biggest Loser for a few hours.  The sum total of the amount of work/chores that I did involved making a grilled cheese sandwich and dragging the garbage cans to the curb.  That’s it…and I’m hoping that it revived me a little.  I have spinning tonight and I’m not dreading going, so that’s a good sign, I think?

 

While I was laying about last night, Ray’s ex-brother-in-law called….for no reason that I can figure out except to pry and nose around about what we were doing for Christmas.  Ray says he is just a sentimental sort around the holidays and wanted to get in touch with us.  I can almost make myself believe that since I have met him and he is a bit of a softie.  But I thought it was weird that he called for no particular reason after we haven’t heard from him in months, and then started asking about Christmas and whether or not we were hosting a Christmas dinner at our house.  Maybe he was just making small talk…..maybe.  I’m going to run with that for now.  In other Ex Family news, we received an invitation to Ray’s ex-father-in-law’s 75th birthday get together.  His birthday is a day after mine…and his get together is on my birthday.  And Ray wants to go.  I REALLY don’t like that idea…..I love Gerry…..I knew him before I knew Ray (we used to work together)….and I would love to celebrate his birthday with him……but I don’t want to go and spend time with Ex Family on my birthday and I am NOT okay with Ray leaving me alone on my birthday to go over there….not even for 5 minutes.  I’m a big girl, birthday is just another day……….and if he wanted to go and see his mom or his auntie or his kids, that would be fine.  But NOT the ex family on my birthday.  Absolutely not.  Is that childish?