Please stand on my left

Things that have not cured my sore shoulder:

• Strength training
• Zumba
• Rest
• Heat
• Boxing

It's actually the upper part of my shoulder near my neck. It's muscle pain, and I didn't do anything in particular to cause it.

This is not the first time this has happened - in grade 4, I used to have stiff necks all the time. If I wanted to turn to look at a classmate, I had to turn my entire body.

In retrospect, I probably should have mentioned it to someone. I mostly grew out of it, though.

That's not much of a consolation when it hurts to turn my head.

More babbling about the gym

I finally got back to the gym.

My typical schedule is BodyPump (i.e. strength training) on Mondays and Thursdays. Tuesdays I don't go to the gym. Wednesdays is boxing - or, when I procrastinate enough that I have to box on Saturdays, I either do a spin class or do my own thing on the bikes. Friday I either do Zumba or an abs class - although so far in 2012, this is only theoretical.

My Monday and Thursday classes haven't changed in two years - until now. This session, my Monday class is unchanged, but my Thursday class has moved from an hour to 45 minutes, and they've added a new CRX class afterwards (for another 30 minutes). Many of the people in my pump class stay for CRX. Last week, I stayed as well.

CRX is an ab/core workout. It's only half an hour - if you can use the word "only" in reference to a 30 minute ab class.

The first week, I had trouble following the instructor, so this week I moved up to the front of the class. It was definitely easier to follow - not such much easier to do, but easier to follow.

The surprising thing about this class is that there's no stretches afterwards. I guess that in theory you're supposed to stretch on your own.

(In practice, I forget about it long before I reach the shower.)

I haven't decided whether I'll continue with this one. I'll probably give it at least one more week before deciding.

Zzzzzz

Sparks camp was awesome. The weather was great, there was minimal whining, and we managed to eat 6 meals in 24 hours.

We do mother/daughter camps - that way I don't have to worry about who has brushed their teeth or who left their sock in the middle of the room, and there are lots of adults around to clean vegetables and wipe down tables.

There's this song we've done twice this year. It's called "An Old Austrian", and it's about a man sitting on a mountain yodeling. Yesterday, we were sitting around during quiet time, and some of the girls started singing it.

This was impressive - I didn't think they knew the whole thing - and funny, because ... they think it's "An Old Ostrich". You know, about a giant flightless bird sitting on a mountain yodeling. As they do.

I really need to write out the words for them sometime.

We had three campfires during the weekend (because all 5 & 6 year olds should know how to start a fire in the snow), they built inukshuks out of pieces of the top level of snow/freezing rain that covered the entire campsite, and we went snowshoeing.

We had a space theme, and we made space goo, alien cupcakes, star marble magnets, and space ships. We looked at the stars and found Orion, Cassiopeia, and the Big Dipper.

It was an action-packed weekend. And now I have 2 days to get ready for Tuesday's meeting.

Does anyone remember the unseasonably warm December we had? The one where everyone was wondering whether we'd have a white Christmas?

I miss that.

I mean, I'm glad we have snow now, but we've hit the part of the winter where it's cold. I'm taking the Sparks to camp next weekend, and our camp planning contained a lot of "... and if it's too cold, we'll just do that inside". We'll still spend time outside, but it'll be active time - no sitting around the campfire.

The snow has also made it clear that I should have done more trimming of the bushes and trees around the house. The snow makes the branches bow down and block the sidewalk. On Friday, I took the clippers outside and lopped some of them off.

That's right, I'm gardening in winter.

I hardly recognize myself.

Back to the gym

The week before Christmas, I planned to go to the gym on Monday. My flight was on Wednesday, so I knew I'd miss my classes at the end of the week, but Monday was totally doable.

Except ... I was starting to get a cold, and I had a lot of stuff to get done before I left, and it was the week before Christmas. I didn't go.

The next week, of course, I was out of town. No gym visits that week.

When I got back, I totally intended to start back at the gym right away.

But ... the first day back was the New Year's Day stat. No point in going then, the schedule'd be all messed up.

The next day, January exhaustion set in. I didn't have the energy to go.

Wednesday I was still really tired. I didn't go.

I had physio Thursday morning and my ankle was hurting. Clearly I needed to rest it.

Friday ... well, I could have gone Friday, but I'd already missed the whole week ....

Saturday was the first boxing class of the session.

I went back to the gym today.

Haven't seen the weird guy in tights yet

I believe I've mentioned before how dissatisfied I was with Solo Mobile. This fall I did my research and decided to go with Koodo.

The last weekend in October, I went to the Koodo kiosk in Bayshore and picked out a phone. I chose the $15/month plan, plus the $10 add-on for voicemail, caller ID, and unlimited texts. The total bill (with tax) is in the $28 range - which is $3/month less than I was paying with Solo, where I did not have voicemail, caller ID, or unlimited texts. Also, there are no long distance charges within Canada - this isn't a big deal for me as I don't make a lot of long distance calls on my cell phone, but it's a nice extra. The Koodo rep transferred my phone number and moved my contacts from my old phone to my new one.

The phone cost $100, which is on my Koodo tab. With Koodo, you aren't locked in to a contact, so they have the tab concept. Every month, 10% of your bill (in my case, $2.50) comes off your tab. If you want to change providers, you have to pay the rest of the tab. Also, if you recommend Koodo to someone and they switch, you both get $25 off your tab, so, um, let me know if you're thinking about switching.

It was a totally painless switch (except when I locked my phone and couldn't figure out how to unlock it), and so far there have been no surprises. My bill is what I expect, the phone works everywhere I need it to, and I'm a happy customer.

(As a note, if you travel to the U.S. a lot, their rates are really high. I don't, so it's not an issue for me.)

Solo did the prorated bill thing in November as expected, but then sent me an e-mail in December saying that since I cancelled my service as of November 28, they'd be charging a pro-rated fee in December. Sigh.

Resolving

So how did I do on my 2011 resolutions? Unlike 2010, I didn't do a 6-month recap, so it turns out I'd forgotten about some of these. Oddly enough, the one I didn't do is one I remembered, I just ... didn't do it.

1. Go to at least 3 social events at which I know fewer than 10% of the people.

This one I remembered, but I thought it was 2 events. I went to a career fair, the funeral for a neighbour's father (which wasn't strictly social, but was still anxiety-inducing), and BOLO. (OK, technically the career fair wasn't social either. Oh well, I'm still calling this a pass.)

2. Go on two bike rides. (Seriously, I haven't even taken my bike outside in three years.)

Um. Well, we all know I went on one bike ride, but that's it. It turns out I don't like purposeless bike riding. Maybe I should ride to work.

3. Patch the hole in the bathroom wall (from the plumbing debacle this fall).

It took longer than it should have, but this one is done.

4. Go through my closet (again) and actually donate the clothes I cull.

Done, mostly, although I could stand to do it again.

5. Make it to level 5 in boxing.

Done.

6. Do a first aid course. I need to just bite the bullet and give up a weekend to do this.

I totally forgot about this one, but I did it anyway.


Now for 2012:

1. Be employed for at least 10 months of the year (ideally 12, of course, but my contract is up January 30, so that may not be possible).
2. Come up with a workable, challenging exercise schedule.
3. Reconsider home phone service, reduce the monthly cost.
4. Increase my emergency fund by $8000 (which will be easier if I pull off #1).
5. Organize/clean the sewing/Sparks room. Man, that room is a disaster.