Things to carry you through...

I finally got off my fat #ss and got out for some exercise today. I went running with a group here at the City who will be completing some version of the Fredericton Marathon this Mother's Day. I'm planning on running the 10 km.

I haven't done anything since last December. I'm a slug and have gained about ten pounds over the winter.

But I bought myself the very cool sushi hat you see above and a new shirt for running and ran 6.2 km today.

I hurt.

I will hurt more later.

I will hurt even more tomorrow.

But I am back on the road to fitness!

Yay.

Life stuff

It's been ages since I posted. I've been really struggling with life things. Much pain from neck & shoulder crap. I am mostly on the mend but still struggling.

Problems in the Boy's life are also of great concern. I am quite worried for him.

And BF has been sick and grumpy for what seems like forever but he is coming out of it too. It's been tough to have this juxtaposition of gloom.

I just want days of sunshine and warmth and to get out on my bike and start running again. I guess I just want my life back.

If anyone sees it, please tuck into into and envelope and send it along.

Diggin' a Hole

Coming out of the hack

Who let the dog out?

Honey was sleeping on the Boy's bed at the Hilton Hotel this weekend. (we were in Saint John for a curling bonspiel) So the Boy figured it was only appropriate that he sleep in her kennel - she wasn't so sure. :)

Boy says the kennel is actually roomier and more comfy than he thought.

How I feel at work some days...

Honey ended up coming to work with me on Friday. She was a little angel - she was so quiet no one really knew she was here.

But I think she thought my work is pretty boring...

My gym membership

My mother gave me $$ for Christmas to renew my gym membership. I looked back over what was a highly successful year in terms of physical fitness. But I really didn't get to the gym often enough to make a $500 membership worthwhile - over $10 a visit fer crissakes!

So I asked and got permission to use the money towards a new digital camera and bought a Kodak Easyshare Z710. It's sweet.

Honey looked less than impressed.

The Boy thinks it is cool. Check out the photo. Taken in the dark in his room - no red eye! He's holding his eyes open because the previous photos were kind of squinty. :)

Valentine's Day :)

Well the weather outside was frightful but my evening was quite delightful.

BF didn't disappoint. A dozen long-stem white roses, a sweet little bear with a pink bow, locks for my Yakima rack & bike mount, a card for me, a card for Honey, gifts(!) for Honey, supper prepared, dishes washed. It was sublime.

We probably should have then gone outside and shovelled all the freaking snow but instead we turned our energies to more romantic pursuits. I went to bed in a fuzzy blur of bliss. BF got to drive home in his hot extended-cab plow truck and go to work.

I am well kept.

Life's embarrassing moments

Oh yeah - I am so cool in my City vehicle...until one of life's embarrassing moments strikes.

This morning around ten to nine I was driving down Queen Street, one of our main downtown thoroughfares when buddy in the next lane starts drifting over. There was a truck in an alley that looked sort of like he was backing into the street so I think buddy decided to come over into my lane. Me in my GM Sierra Cargo Van (at least that's what I think it is)

So I toot the horn, no response. Hit the horn again in an attempt to not be involved in an accident. Horn deploys all right - it sticks on! And it is *really* loud.

Crikey!!

I quickly pulled over, turned off the beast (feeble hope this would kill the horn) and then popped the hood(thus horn is now even louder with hood open). I'm a girl in panic mode - not thinking clearly about what to do.

Called dispatch. They tried the shop - no reply!

Dispatched mentioned something about fuse. I said I didn't know where they are (remember now there is a LOUD chorus of horn impeding my judgement)

But I drew a deep cleansing breath and located the fuse panel and looked at the chart. And then I tried to remove the one for the horn. I couldn't lift it! More mild panic. Eventually I managed to pry the little bastard out of its slot - blessed silence.

Took the now aptly named "Christine" the psycho van over to the shop for repair. They laughed at me - imagine that. :)

Nice start to the week eh?

And ohmigawd - I like broke my nail! I need time off for a workplace injury...

How to irritate your boyfriend...

Or ensure you will never be invited to another Superbowl party. :)

Our good friends J & A came over last night with Vincey to eat, drink & be merry while watching the Superbowl. We had a ball - great food, great company. I howled with laughter and laughed until tears streamed down my face. The boy was with us too and he was hilarious playing that plastic hockey horn. I really enjoyed myself.

A & I discovered how to make BF want to eject us from the game. You see the quarterback for the team we were cheering for is Payton Manning. And he has P.Manning on the back of his jersey.





Well A & I both agreed that it was too much like Preston Manning and so we started to call him Preston.







BF was not amused.




Well we thought it was funny! :)

Woodchuck Day

Hey - tell me why isn't is woodchuck day anyway?

From "This Day in History on history.com"

February 2: General Interest

1887 : First Groundhog Day

On this day in 1887, Groundhog Day, featuring a rodent meteorologist,is celebrated for the first time at Gobbler's Knob in Punxsutawney,Pennsylvania. According to tradition, if a groundhog comes out of its hole on this day and sees its shadow, there will be six more weeks of winter weather; no shadow means an early spring.

Groundhog Day has its roots in the ancient Christian tradition ofCandlemas Day, when clergy would bless and distribute candles needed for winter. The candles represented how long and cold the winter would be. Germans expanded on this concept by selecting an animal--thehedgehog--as a means of predicting weather.

Once they came to America,German settlers in Pennsylvania continued the tradition, although theyswitched from hedgehogs to groundhogs, which were plentiful in theKeystone State.

Groundhogs, also called woodchucks and whose scientific name isMarmota monax, typically weigh 12 to 15 pounds and live six to eightyears. They eat vegetables and fruits, whistle when they're frightened or looking for a mate and can climb trees (!!) and swim.

They go into hibernation in the late fall; during this time, their body temperatures drop significantly, their heartbeats slow from 80 to five beats per minute and they can lose 30 percent of their body fat. InFebruary, male groundhogs emerge from their burrows to look for a mate(not to predict the weather) before going underground again. They come out of hibernation for good in March.

In 1887, a newspaper editor belonging to a group of groundhog hunters from Punxsutawney called the Punxsutawney Groundhog Club declared thatPhil, the Punxsutawney groundhog, was America's only true weather-forecasting groundhog. The line of groundhogs known as Phil might be America's most famous groundhogs, but other towns across North America now have their own weather-predicting rodents, fromBirmingham Bill to Staten Island Chuck to Shubenacadie Sam in Canada.

In 1993, the movie Groundhog Day starring Bill Murray popularized the usage of "groundhog day" to mean something that is repeated over and over. Today, tens of thousands of people converge on Gobbler's Knob inPunxsutawney each February 2 to witness Phil's prediction. ThePunxsutawney Groundhog Club hosts a three-day celebration featuring entertainment and activities.

too busy but not enough of the right sorts of things

You know how that is? You find your schedule full and you don't seem to have any time to do anything but somehow you aren't doing the sorts of things you want to be doing. It's sort of tough for me as an "every other week single parent". But some of the boy's activities carry over week to week regardless. And my ex although pretty decent as exes go, isn't always as supportive of certain things as he might be (he probably says the same about me though...)

So our crazy schedule runs something like this:

Monday - Cubs (I'm a Leader)
Tuesday - Scouts (Boy) and sometimes I have to go to a meeting as a parent
Wednesday - Boy has curling after school. The evening is free.
Thursday - choir Boy after school, me from 7:30 to 9:30
Friday - recovery
Saturday - scurry about getting stuff done
Sunday - church AM, Curling PM

Now this week I've added a UNB/STU game Wednesday evening with BF which is wonderful. Tonight I have a meeting at the church for Boy's Canada Jamboree this summer for Scouts. Thursday I'm going to supper with my dear friend who is struggling with being unemployed. Friday through the weekend is the Simms Home Hardware 17 & Under Curling bonspiel for the boy but I also have Cub Camp. I can't be in both places so I will miss his bonspiel and unfortunately he also misses Scout camp.

Did I mention Boy also has school choir and Senior Band? (7:30 AM practices Wednesday!)

Sunday is the Superbowl and I am hoping that BF will come over for supper (or better yet to *make* supper) and we can watch together. I'm cheering for the Colts. I have no real reason why other than it seemed like just about every NFL game I watched this past season they were in for some reason. I like their coach.

Looks like next weekend though there will be a spinning ladies spa overnighter in Mactaquac. I can sure live with that.

Calgon take me away.

A curious thing

A strange thing happened today. I realized I missed my dad.

Now my father passed away 14 years ago. We had a strained relationship that was greatly improved by the approximately 870 km that separated us. We could survive a long-weekend together, maybe. Christmas holidays were brutal. Summers - excruciating.

Daddy was an alcoholic. Clinically depressed. Legally blind. Had angina and related blood/heart stuff. Fibromyalgia. He ruined *every* Christmas except his last.

He was a grumpy old bastard but he had his moments. He was really smart. Taught geology at McGill. His job resulted in my being born in Rouyn-Noranda in Abitibi in Northern Quebec and spending the first ten years of my life summering up there.

He wasn't so good at turning off the professorial tap. He could sit at the table, drinking warm beer and chain smoking, and lecture you on whatever until the cows came home. He held grudges. Forever. He blamed everything bad on someone - we all learned to try to ensure nothing would stick to us. I'm a bit of a flincher as a result - I hate to be seen as "responsible" for something negative and can be overly defensive as a result.

So why did I miss him?

Because he was wise and gave good guidance most of the time. Because he was my daddy and my son will never know him.

Because a wonderful elderly man came in for some advice today and I was sorry that my dad will never have the opportunity to sit across a table from me while I explain what it is I do.

Hi Daddy - I felt your presence today & I wanted to acknowledge it.

Ahhhh the warmth of worm spit...

Last fall I participated in the Tour de Grand Lake, a 138 km road bike ride for breast cancer support. It was a tough ride but loads of fun. And fun prizes for everyone.

One of my prizes was a pair of pale purple silk long underwear that I have been wearing for a couple of weeks now what with winter finally arriving. They are awesome!!

And the Boy informed me with great glee last night that silk is in fact worm spit. And we then tried to convince BF that my longjohns were obviously made with purple worm spit as a result of the worms being fed grape kool-aid that made the silk threads purple. BF was having none of it unfortunately. It was pretty funny though.

I'd love to get a spare pair.

Let it Snow...

Wowsers - a predicted storm with snow then rain then snow. Should be messy later.

Boy is off to curl in a funspiel in St. Stephen tomorrow. I'll be sitting home alone with the dog while BF shovels & plows. He got my pipes defrosted thankfully.

Not much else going on. January blahs still threaten to take hold. Blech.

oh fer crissakes

My flipping pipes are frozen. Thankfully not the main pipe leading into the house but the cold water supply pipe to the bathroom sink, the toilet and the kitchen. I have hot water everywhere and cold water to the tub.

Bloody hell.

Hopefully the defrost will be a quick fix and then I can simply put some heat tape where needed and insulate the area under my stupid mini home a little better.

I so did not need that this week.

And my head is still aching from Sunday's fall. The next time I faint I'm going to try to not "break my crown". The first time I fainted two years ago I split my lip open and had to have it glued back together but that didn't hurt for days after.

Sigh.

And now I'm just waiting for the final shoe to drop since "jamais deux sans trois"...

Bloody h*ll

Okay so I know this isn't as bad as some of our more Northern regions of Canada but it's Freaking cold today. -33 C windchills are just wrong. Why wasn't I born somewhere more southerly?

In other news, I went to the doctor and there is nothing wrong with me. Yeah I've put on a few pounds since last fall but my BP was good and my heart sounds fine. Isolated incident I guess.

So since there is nothing wrong with me there's no hope for "fixing" me.

Carry on.

No I'm not...

I repeat NOT...pregnant.

Some might think that because I fainted I might be pregnant.

I'm not. Confirmed as my beloved period arrived on time (every time) today.

I take a pretty little pill to ensure I don't get pregnant and to prevent me from monthly agony and strong desires to rip the head off anyone XY who might be handy. I knew I wasn't pregnant.

Thank you Ortho-McNeil Pharmaceutical.

The mother of all shiners

Wowsers. I guess I sort of threw off my mantle of gloom this weekend and exchanged it for a helmet of pain.

Friday night was lovely. BF & I went to Asia Beef Noodle for bathtubs of soup (really big bowls) and then we went back to my place and watched Talladega Nights (I wanted some silliness).

Saturday was a lazy sort of day although my friend A & I took Honey and her BF Vincey to the woodlot for a nice romp. It was a lovely day until we turned the last corner and had a nasty wind in our faces the whole rest of the way to the car. I got home, made a Prime Rib roast and accoutrements for supper with BF. Then back to A's place where I was meeting her & her BF to go to UNB's hockey game. She had gotten stranded in Pizza notso-Delight waiting in pizza hell so was late but her BF poured me a glass of red wine while we waited. We had another glass while they ate. And by then the girls had decided we would much rather stay at her place and gossip and sip red wine. So her BF left. I called my BF, told him what we had done and asked if he would drive me home later. He agreed.

We split the first bottle less one glass that her BF had. We then had one glass each from the second bottle. I know I didn't have a whole bottle's worth over 6 hours so although I was chatty and silly I wasn't wasted. BF drove me home around 12:30.

At 6:00 AM Sunday morning I rose to have a pee. I felt a little sickish but put that on the red wine and corn chips I ate, both of which can give me indigestion. When I rose from the throne I felt quite dizzy so I sat again. When I tried once more to rise, I felt very dizzy so I sat on the floor this time; I think I even lay down for a moment to collect myself. When I then told myself all I really wanted was to go back to my warm bed, I remember standing up but that's it. The next thing I remember was hearing BF asking if I was okay and then being helped back to bed. He had been woken by a rather large thump (me) and thought it was Honey knocking something over but when he reached over to my side of the bed he realized I was gone and went to check. Found me on bathroom floor.

I could feel a sore spot on my forehead above my right eye and figured I was going to have a shiner. Oh boy was I ever right. I spent all day yesterday sleeping on the couch (I'm sure I had a concussion) and this morning I woke up with garish purple eyeshadow on that eye. My head still really hurts. And I have no idea why I fainted.

So it's off to the doctor Wednesday (unless I can get in this afternoon) to see what's happening with this crazy body of mine.

Thankfully life is never dull.

Another positive step forward

I'm gradually throwing off these pesky mid-winter blues, one step at a time. Last night was a bit hectic and almost threw me off. We (Me, BF, boy and boy's friend) went to the UNB-UdeM hockey game. Too rushed for a decent supper after boy's curling but it was a fabulous game, really exciting. Unfortunately UNB lost 11 seconds into overtime but it was good hockey.

Today I had one of those "Oh yeah this is why women need girlfriends" lunches. I met my friend S after a way-too-long hiatus. We used to be really lucky because she was my French instructor so we got to see each other weekly without needing to "find" time. She's a wonderful person, a good friend and we have way fun together.

We had lunch at the Crowne Plaza. Their salad buffet was really tasty - quite a pleasure. So good in fact that I didn't feel a need to supplement with the hot buffet. I feel mildly sanctimonious for being so good and only eating healthy food. I'm paying a certain price however for eating too many red onion bits.

We girls need girlfriends, maybe even more than we "need" boyfriends. Girlfriends provide love and warmth and the good ones provide unconditional support through whatever life throws at you. It's so nice to share stories from in the trenches with people who don't judge you or take stuff the wrong way.

And the cool thing about girlfriends is that you can always add another one and the existing ones don't get all jealous. They are like pearls in your own strand of life - valuable and precious and intended to be held warm and close to your heart.

Thanks S for reminding me what true friendship is about. :)