Let's call it a draw

There are three evergreen trees in my yard - one on each end of the lot by the street, and one in the backyard. They all could use trimming, but one in particular needed work.

The problem tree is right beside my neighbour's driveway. When I moved in, there were Christmas lights woven around the tree.

There's no outdoor plug end on that end of the house. I have no idea who put the lights on the tree or how they turned them on. (Did I mention I moved in in June?)

Anyway, the lower four feet of that tree were dead on my neighbour's side. One of my other neighbours had volunteered to trim the lower four feet of the tree last summer, but it didn't happen, so today I went out with my awesome hand trimmer from Lee Valley.

I trimmed for a while, then, Wanda was kind enough to join me. She trimmed while I worked on bundling the cut branches.

We worked until I ran out of string. There's still some work to do, but it looks a million times better already.


My arms and legs are covered in scratches and a rash (guess I am allergic to that tree after all), but I'm glad I got it started.

Like other projects I've procrastinated on for years, it look about an hour.

Camping

As I mentioned, I went camping last weekend. There were 10 of us in total - 6 adults, 4 kids.

There were a few mishaps (a downpour on Friday night, a child who woke up with the sun at 5:30), but everyone had a good time.

On Friday night, I noticed a trail to the Lusk caves, 3.5 km away. Saturday morning, some of us decided to go for a hike. We didn't plan to make it all the way to the cave and figured we'd turn around whenever we got tired.



Now, when I picture a hiking trail, I think of a path that goes up and down, one that curves and meanders through the woods.

That was not this path.



This path went up, then curved, then went up, then flattened out for a few feet, then went up ... it was basically 45 minutes of walking up a hill. (We didn't make it to the caves, we just turned around after 45 minutes.)

Do you know what comes after 45 minutes of walking up a hill? That's right, 45 minutes of walking down the hill.



Now, I'm in pretty good shape, but by the time I got to the bottom of the hill, my legs shook when I tried to stand still.


I joked that my legs would be so sore by Sunday that I wouldn't be able to help pack up, but that wasn't the case. I was fine while we packed up.


Getting out of the car when I got home was another story. My calf muscles were stiff. So stiff, in fact, that every step hurt.

I didn't walk much on Sunday.

Monday was a bit better, but my legs were still sore. By the time I got to boxing on Tuesday, I was fine.

Tonight, I tried a spinning class for the first time.

It was an excellent workout, but I'm going to be sore tomorrow.

I guess I never learn.

Blog out loud

When I looked at my schedule for this week, there were a lot of things that
needed to happen. I'm camping tonight, so which meant I had to pull all of the
camping equipment out of storage and go through it to make sure there were, for
example, enough plates. I had to pack my personal gear. I had to take the car
in for an oil change so that they could figure out why the brakes sometimes
sound like metal scarping on concrete.

Of course, there was the usual life stuff as well. I had to clean the house.
Since I'm gone for the weekend, I had to buy groceries - there's no way I'll
want to do it when I get back on Sunday. I had to fight the jungle of weeks in
the yard. While I was out there, I noticed the tomatoes needed staking (which
somehow makes them sound like vampires, which they are not).


And, of course, Thursday night was BOLO - Blog Out Loud Ottawa. I wanted to go,
but I wasn't sure it would work amidst everything else that had to happen.

Spoiler alert: I went.

It was a good time. Like last year, I had to duck out early (due to the
aforementioned packing). Also like last year, I wasn't reading, just sitting
around and listening, but somehow I was more relaxed - in part because I
recognized more people. I also recognized more people's name tags.


(No one's delusional enough to think I'm going to link to last year's post,
right?)

I met people I've only know through the internet. I chatted with people I'd
never heard of before. I listened to people who brave enough to read - they did
a great job. I wish I had been able to stay until the end.


Maybe next year.

Timeline of a Bike Ride

4:45 I know, instead of going to the gym, I'll go for a bike ride
5:00 Sitting on the couch checking twitter
5:10 Clean dust of bike helmet
5:11 Locate appropriate footwear (well, sports sandals, not really appropriate footwear)
5:12 Wrangle bike from the basement to the backyard
5:14 Pump up front tire
5:15 Fill water bottle; place on bike
5:15 Put on bike helmet; notice it is far too tight
5:16 Deduce helmet problem is caused by ponytail; change to low ponytail
5:17 Notice front tire is flat. Crap.
5:17 Take off bike helmet, grab keys
5:25 Purchase new tire tube
5:26 Stupid traffic
5:38 Take of front tire; pull out old tube
5:38 Read size of old tire tube; note it is 2 inches bigger than the newly-purchased tire
5:43 Back at Canadian Tire
5:45 Correct size tire located; waiting in line at customer service
5:55 Tire successfully exchanged
5:58 Traffic successfully avoided
6:05 Tube replaced
6:05 Notice part of mechanism that attaches the tire to the bike is missing in the lawn
6:06 Found! Attach tire to bike
6:07 Put on bike helmet
6:07 Get on bike
6:12 Adjust seat
6:15 Hmm, the seat is slipping
6:15 Ignore moving seat
6:23 Why is everything uphill?
6:40 Home at last
6:41 How does this bike fit into the shed again?
6:42 Hey, I didn't have any water! *inadvertantly pulls the entire lid off and spills it*

Colette's Exercise Tips

1. Figure out what activities you like.
If you don't know, try lots of things. Personally, I've tried step aerobics, low impact aerobics, water aerobics, archery, boxing, strength training, cycling, cross-country skiing, downhill skiing, Irish dancing, belly dancing, ballroom dancing, yoga, zumba, gliding ... there are probably more. Sometime this summer, I'm going to try spinning (*cough*).

2. Figure out why you like them.
I like boxing and strength training because they make me feel strong. Everything else I do is to support those activities, because that's what motivates me. Maybe your thing is yoga because you like feeling flexible. Maybe you like biking, because you like the wind in your face. Figure out why you like what you like and you'll know what motivates you.

3. Figure out when (and how) you like to do them.
Are you a person who is fine with exercise first thing in the morning before you're fully awake? Do you like doing 10 minutes here and there? Are you the kind of person who needs to exercise on the way home from work? Do you need a class because, like me, it's too easy to make excuses to stop or work less hard if you're on your own? Do you like the freedom of being able to start and stop on your own schedule?

4. Put it together and come up with a plan.
Maybe you're going to swim at lunch 3 days a week. Maybe you are going to get up 1/2 an hour early and spend 20 minutes on the elliptical. Decide what you're going to do and commit to it - maybe to someone else, but mostly to yourself.

5. Follow your plan.
If your plan is to swim 3 days a week, pack your swimming stuff the night before so that you're ready. Change your alarm clock so that you get up 1/2 an hour earlier. You've committed to exercise, and it's as important as any of the other day to day things you have to do, so treat it accordingly.

6. Stuff happens.
Yes, exercise is as important as the other day to day things, but sometimes it's not the most important thing. People get sick. Cars break down. Sometimes there are urgent things that derail the plan. That's OK - start again the next day.

7. The Yoga Corollary
If stuff always happens at the same time, you need to rethink the plan. Either you didn't pick the right time, or you didn't pick the right activity. Personally, I dropped yoga after I noticed that days I had yoga were always the days I had to work late. Work wasn't the problem - the problem was that I was doing yoga because I thought I should, not because I liked it.

I took today off.

I can't remember the last time I took a day off for no particular reason - no guests, no travel plans, just a day spent at home. Sure, I've been unemployed, but that's not the same thing.

It was a beautiful, sunny day. Since it's Monday (BodyPump day), I looked for classes earlier than my usual 5:30 class. (Let's face it, if I had waited, there was no way I would have made it.) I'd expected there to be a 9:30 class, but they appear to have moved to 10:30.

Before the class, I loaded up the car with various clothes & household objects to give away. I dropped off the old computer at BestBuy for recycling, then went to the gym.

After the gym, I dragged Wanda along to drop off the rest of the stuff, then we went for lunch.

Lunch was good, but I may never eat again. It's five hours later and I'm still full.

This afternoon was a mixture of lying outside reading a book, taking a nap, and playing wii. It was lovely.

I even got motivated to do some gardening this evening, which resulted in the discovery that I'm allergic to more than one type of evergreen in my yard. Somehow, my hands reacted even though I was wearing gardening gloves the whole time. Luckily, thoroughly washing my hands and arms with soap and water stops the reaction.

Still, it was a really nice day ... even if I have to go back to work tomorrow.

The ides of June?

Boxing was great this week. It was week 8 - last week of the session -and we did a ridiculous class of 8 stations followed by 8 punch outs. I was hitting hard, and I left feeling fantastic.

Before I went to sleep, I turned off my laptop. I don't do that every day - usually it's once or twice a week - but it seemed like time.

Little did I know that things would take a turn for the worse on Thursday.

I woke up and went to read my e-mail, and ... my laptop was installing update 15 of 19. That's right, it hadn't finished turning itself off.

I left it alone and went to work. It was annoying, but I could deal with a computer problem since I was in such a good mood from boxing.

I went to leave work and discovered that it hurt when I separated two of the fingers on my right hand.

As I often do when I discover I've hurt myself, I went to the gym. It didn't make it worse, but it didn't make it better.

I got home, and my laptop had turned itself off. I turned it on, and discovered it would no longer connect to the internet. I fiddled around with it a while and then gave up. (That's right, I went an entire day without Facebook or Twitter.)

When I woke up this morning, I had forgotten all about my hand hurting. I got in the car to drive to work and discovered it hadn't gone away. (Apparently, I like to drive with 2 fingers on top of the steering wheel and two fingers curled underneath.)

I got to work, and it hurt to use the mouse, so I moved it to the left side. I called my doctor - it turns off she was off today.

All day I debated whether to go to Emergency at the hospital or to a walk-in clinic. I decided to go to Emergency. I got to the Queensway-Carleton at 5:15. I checked in with the desk and sat down to wait. After 5 or 10 minutes, the triage nurse called me up and did her thing.

I sat down to wait again.

After another 5 minutes or so, I got called up to registration.

The Queensway-Carleton has a FastTrack program. I don't know the official details, but it seems to be a program for people who need (or might need) x-rays. I ended up in that program and was sent down to that waiting room.

Again, I sat around for 10 minutes or so, then they sent me to get an x-ray.

By now, I'm sure you know the drill - 5 or 10 minutes of waiting, then the three x-rays. After that, it was back to the FastTrack waiting room.

There were several other people making the same journey through the hospital, and we chatted about the experience (all of us agreeing that it's a great program). This time, I think I had to wait 15 minutes. The doctor did a physical exam of my arm, checked my x-rays (which didn't show a fracture), and I was on my way. I was out of the hospital at 7.

When I turned on my cell phone again, I got a text from Wanda telling me she had managed to get on the internet on my laptop.

Yup, still alive

I'm not going to talk about Sparks camp (last weekend, Fairy Tales & Monsters theme, big success, very tiring, forgot stuff at the camp & had to go back to get it).

I'm not going to talk about the bird whose nest is in my cedar bush (and thus who eyes me suspiciously every time I walk to my front door).

I'm not going to talk about boxing (had the option of moving to level 5 but opted to stay in level 4, signed up for the summer session).

Instead, I'm going to tell you about my Air Miles card.

A few weeks ago, I noticed it was missing. I didn't think too much of it - I just figured it fell out of my card-carrying wallet and into my purse.

After a couple of weeks, I actually cleaned out my purse. No luck. I vaguely thought "I should call and get a new one", and then I ... didn't.

Today I dropped something down the side of my comfy living room chair. I reached down to get it, and my first thought was "hey, there's a card down here!" My second thought was "Ew!!!"

I dug around and discovered three cards that had fallen out of my card wallet (including my Rogers card that I haven't used since the year 2000).

When I'd retrieved all the cards, I went and got the vacuum and started vacuuming.

Despite the fact that I vacuumed last night, I saw a few other places that needed vacuuming and went to work and ... somehow I managed to vacuum up a Subway bag.

Naturally, it got stuck in the vacuum hose.

I detached the metal end of the hose and looked through it. It wasn't stuck there.

I detached both ends of the flexible part of the hose. Now, I couldn't just look through this part of the hose because both ends have a hard plastic angled piece.

Not only could I not see through the hose, I also couldn't use a broom to dislodge the bag because the hard plastic pieces were angled just enough to prevent it.

I needed something that was heavy and small. I found a battery and tried that.

It got stuck in the plastic bag.

Great. Obviously, I needed something both heavy and and flexible.

I went down to the furnace room in the basement and found a chain hanging on the wall. It's one of those things that was here when I moved in, and I just never got rid of it. I threaded the chain into the vacuum hose (which made the hose heavy) and ... it got stuck.

Luckily, gravity is my friend. I jiggled the hose until I could feel the chain move down to the bottom. By that point, I could see the bag, so I used a pliers to pull it out.

The chain was stuck, but a little more jiggling made it slither out onto the floor.

And that's how I found my Air Miles card.

The Goldilocks of Cross-Trainers

I mentioned a while ago that I was going to need new cross-trainers for boxing soon.

That day has arrived.

Well, actually, it arrived 5 weeks ago on week 1 of the current boxing session. (Tonight was week 6.)

Before week 2, I went and tried on a bunch of shoes and bought a pair. I wore them for week 2. By the end of the night, my feet were fiery bricks at the end of my legs.

Those shoes went back and I bought another pair. I wore them for week 3. They were OK. I wore them again week 4 and decided they didn't fit quite right. Back they went.

That weekend, I bought 2 pairs of shoes. I wore the first one to the gym ... not quite right. I wore the second one to boxing week 5 and ... they weren't too bad.

I wore them again today, and I think they'll do. It's an incredibly enthusiastic endorsement, I know.

I really should have bought 2 pairs of the style I had last time.

My pharmacy offers a prescription refill service. You call in, enter a code on the prescription, confirm with your birth date, and they'll fill your prescription so that it's waiting for you when you get there.

It's theoretically a great idea - I hate standing around waiting for the prescription to be ready, and this way they can fill them when business is otherwise slow.

There's one major drawback, though. If I go in, the refill is ready in 20 minutes or so. If I call in, it takes one business day. Since they were closed today, the refills I called in this morning will be ready Wednesday morning.

That delay makes a service that should be great pretty much useless (unless you are the kind of person who plans ahead more than I do).

Now, I understand that a prescription called in should take longer than one that someone is waiting for in the store - after all, one of the benefits of this idea is that they can take care of the phone orders when there's no one waiting - but shouldn't they be able to fit these ones in in four hours? How about 8? If I call in a prescription before I leave for work, is picking it up on my way home too much to ask?

I got a pedicure on Friday night. My toes are purple and sparkly. Not that you can see them - it rained all day yesterday and, according to the forecast, it rained all day today.

Of course, according to the world outside my window, it hasn't rained today at all, but the hourly forecast of rain every hour was enough to make me dry my clothes inside and put off planting the garden.

I did get the garden dug, but it perpetually seemed like if I went to the store to buy tomato plants, it would be raining by the time I got home.

In retrospect, that was not true.

On the bright side, yesterday's day of rain did wonders for the dandelions. They are out in full force.

The forecast for this week involves lots more rain. Hopefully, we'll get a little sun somewhere in there. It's time to break out the sandals.

Because I don't have enough electronic devices

I was initially hesitant to move to an e-reader, mostly because I don't really buy books. I do buy some books, but mostly I borrow them from friends, family, or the library.

That was before I realized that you can borrow library books electronically. That's right, you can borrow library books without having to take them back after you've read them.

I don't mind going to get books, but I hate having to return them.

This week, I used some birthday money from my mom to buy myself a Kobo. I've read two books since I got it on Thursday.

Luckily for me, Wanda has had a Kobo since last fall, so she's been able to fill me in on how to use it.

It's a bit of an adjustment - I still turn the page too quickly sometimes, and it takes a while to power on. On the other hand, I never have to worry about losing my page, and traveling will no longer involve me cramming books into an overstuffed suitcase.

My shoe is back!

When I dropped off my shoe, I asked how long it would take to get fixed. The answer was two weeks - it would be sent out the next Thursday and back the following Thursday. (The store that came through for me was The Shoe Company, by the way.)

That ended up being accurate - they called yesterday and said it was ready for pickup.

It's great to have those shoes back, although after wearing a different pair for 2 weeks, they feel loose. I'm sure I'll adjust.

Now if only my runners didn't need replacing ....

How the Girl Guides Won the War

I spent much of this weekend (outside of boxing and the Easter Vigil and making croissants and hosting Easter dinner) reading How the Girl Guides Won the War.

It talks about the Girl Guide movement in the context of World War II, when girls used the skills they'd learned in Guides to raise money for the war effort, provide first aid, and help refugees. It talks about girls who went to an international conference, not knowing whether war would break out before they got back. (I can't imagine what that permission slip looked like.)

I've mentioned before that I'm a leader with Sparks, which is the branch of Girl Guides of Canada for 5 & 6 year olds.

We don't pull people out of bombed houses or guide people through the sewers to avoid the Nazis. In fact, if you asked me what we do at Sparks, I'd probably say something like "games, songs, and crafts".

It's true. That's what we do at Sparks.

We also learn how to put on bandaids. My girls know that if you're building a fire, you start with the small sticks and put the big logs on the outside. If there is a fire, you get outside through whatever door is closest and run to the basketball hoop. In an earthquake, you hide under a solid table.

The Spark promise is "I promise to share and be a friend", so we collect money every week for Girl Guides around the world. It's used when there are earthquakes and floods. It's used to build wells. It brings girls to Canada and sends girls from Canada around the world. We talk about what it's like to live in other places - what is the same, what is different.

At camp in June, we'll talk about fire safety as we cook our lunch over the campfire. We'll make pizza dough from scratch for supper. We'll go on treasure hunts and hikes and talk about what to do if you're lost in the woods. They'll ask what will happen if we see a bear.

We won't see a bear.

It's not about saving people from life and death situations. It's about keeping your eyes open and being prepared.

That hasn't changed.

Yup, still talking about shoes

Friday I wore heels to work.

It's not like I had a lot of choice - after all, my go-to shoes were broken. I guess I could have worn sneakers or crocks, but I went with heels.

It turns out I've hurt myself far too many times to wear heels all day. (Saturday I wore crocs.)

Friday night I went back to the store where I'd bought the shoes and said, "I bought these in the fall. I realize that's outside of your return period, but these are clearly defective and I'm hoping there's something you can do."

If they'd said there was nothing they could do, I would have gone home and approached the manufacturer. I didn't need to - they took the shoe and sent it away to have the soul re-glued.

Now, it's not back yet, so it could still be a problem, but I'm cautiously optimistic.

(And I bought another pair of shoes on Saturday.)

My feet are revolting

A few years ago, I bought a pack of 6 pairs of gym socks. I don't remember how many years ago it was, but it has to be at least 3 or four. They were short socks that didn't go up much past my ankles.

Last year, those socks started springing holes, so I bought another pack of the same socks.

The new socks made it obvious how ... deformed the original socks were getting. Somehow, the ones that didn't get holes got bigger.

A lot bigger.

Today I put on a pair of them and the heel was high enough that it didn't fit in my shoe. I feel weird throwing out perfectly good socks, but it's getting a little ridiculous.

My runners are two years old (which is almost unheard of, since I usually need new ones every year) and are still OK. I'm sure I will have to replace them soon, but I haven't gotten there yet.

On the other hand, last fall I bought a pair of black shoes. I loved them. They quickly became my default pair of shoes.

Of course, then it was winter, so I didn't wear them much. I started wearing them again a few weeks ago.

Today the sole started to come off.

So ... do I take them back to the store or contact the manufacturer? They're obviously used, but I would expect a pair of shoes to last longer than 6 months.

Thoughts?

I've mentioned before that I'm a contractor in my current job. I was originally there for six months, then two, then two, then two again.

I've been watching the Ottawa job postings - not terribly regularly, but I have been keeping my eyes open.

More accurately, I let Peter's New Jobs e-mails pile up in my inbox for a couple of weeks, then read them all at once and open tabs for the relevant jobs.

That's where the system falls apart. After about a week, I give up and close the browser, usually without actually applying for the jobs.

It's so hard to look for a job when you have a job.

Anyway, last month my contract was extended until September. I immediately made a resolution - not to even think about applying for a job unless it looked like a perfect fit.

I then proceeded to ignore the e-mails for 2.5 weeks. (Some things never change.)

Tonight I went through them and found one job that looks worth applying for. It's open in my browser as we speak.

No, I haven't applied for it. Some things never change.

Another conversation with my niece

B: ROAR!!!
Me: Ah!
B: I know you're not really scared. I read your blog.

Why yes, I have pretty much given up on titles

So the whole veggie experiment is over.

It took a long time, but I eventually started remembering that I was trying to eat more vegetables.

The big winner was salad - it turns out I like salad more than I like cleaning vegetables. The key ingredient is tomatoes.

(This is not a shock - 75% of my diet is tomatoes in August.)

The other big discovery - fried onions (found in the crouton section of your grocery store). Very tasty. (Not healthy, but tasty.)

We're four days into April and I'm still pretty consistent with the veggies, so that's good. Plus, I still have fried onions. Can't let those go to waste.

Yesterday at boxing we were doing two head-body-head combinations. The first one was fake the jab, right to the body, hook to the head. The second one was fake the right, hook to the body, uppercut.

My coach is a former olympic boxer, and he asked if anyone had see The Fighter. Now, he's been talking about that movie since it came out, but I hadn't seen it yet. Anyway, in the movie, they use head-body-head a lot, and he started talking about how he used to do that when he fought, and "if you break the ribs, you can hit them however you want".

You know how someone lights up when talking about something they really love?

Anyway, today I went to see The Fighter. It's about a boxer named Micky Ward, and it's based on a true story.

If you're intending to see the movie and you don't want to know anything that happens, now would be a good time to stop reading.

At one point, one of Micky's opponents is being asked who he would like to fight. His answer is Gatti, and I was proud that I had heard of Gatti before. His poster is in the gym - you know, the Gatti vs. Ward poster ... oh.

Apparently, I'd heard of Micky Ward before, too.