FINISHED!

Well, it took me a year, but I finally finished the Harry Potter scarves. My nephews were quite patient, waiting silently - only asking once or twice. But this xmas, they got their scarves. Each scarf has 19 stripes. Each stripe has 22 rows. and each row has 70 stitches. All knit on size 5 needles. and then there are 11 tassels on each end. And their initials sewn in so that each boy knows which scarf belongs to which boy.

I miss you San Francisco!

I had a great time in San Francisco last week. It was sunny. I wore a sweater and no jacket. I wore high heels.

And the shopping. Sigh. The Shopping.

You know, when it comes to retail, sometimes being Canadian is like being a younger sibling locked out of your big siblings birthday party. You have your face pressed against the window and inside you see lots of grown up things going on. Cake. Ice cream. Shiny wrapping paper. and none of it is for you.
Shopping in the US is like being invited into that party and smashing yourself nose first into the cake and mashing it all into your face and loving it! I saw Macy's! Saks Fifth Ave! Nordstroms! Bloomingdales! Victoria's Secret! Juicy Couture! Betsey Johnson! Bath and Body Works! DSW! [and now I've exceeded my maximum number of exclamation points for this blog].

Of course I was there for training so the days were spent in an office building behind a computer. But at night, Kristen [my partner in Crime] and I shopped! and Shopped. And shopped.
on our last day there, we went to Alcatraz and then the Aquarium of the Bay - which were both awesome. We had crepes for breakfast and soup and a sandwich for lunch. It was a fabulous trip!

A Conversation with Portia

Me: Portia! I can't believe you ate a bag of M&M's and 30 icy squares!
Portia: Whatev's. You left it on the counter.
Me: Don't you learn? You were sick as a... well... dog!
Portia: I see no correlation between eating my weight in chocolate at noon and barfing chunks at 3 am. Two totally separate events.
Me: That's another thing. You threw up in your brother's bed!
Portia: Whatev's. It's not like he was in it at the time.
Me: So not the point, missy.
Portia: Is this going to take long? I have to go out. I ate an entire loaf of bread this afternoon.
Me: Gasp! Sputter! What?
Portia: It was in the Portia zone. I assumed you wanted me to have it.
Me: Bad dog! Very bad dog!
Portia [looking around]: are you talking to me?

This one time, at band camp.......
My sister teaches Grade 2. She has likened her job to crowd control at a large, public event. Although her job and my job rarely have anything in common, after last month's [painfully long, drawn out, not relevant, I-think-I'm-bleeding-from-the-ears-] meeting, I have decided to take a few notes from my sister and hopefully apply them to the next meeting. Before anyone speaks up, they should try to go through the following checklist, which my sister uses for her 8 year olds:

1. Does what you have to say have to do with what we are talking about? If yes, go to the next question. If no, put your hand down and put your listening face back on.

2. Is it a tattle? If no, go to the next question. If yes, I do not listen to tattles.

3. Is a question or a comment? Remember! Questions are: Who, What, Why, When, Where and How? and I know the difference between a question and a comment. So no fooling! If it's a question, proceed to the next item on the list. If not, I'm sure it's very interesting but if we all shared a personal story, we wouldn't get anything done!

4. Has someone else already asked it? Has it already been answered? Several times? Were you paying attention? Had your listening face on? Are you sure?


I think if we follow the above 4 questions, we can cut next meeting time down from 1.5 hrs to 15 minutes. True Story.

The Naked Man in the Room

I really don't understand most art. If I look at something and I think it's pretty, then I like it. If I look at something and I think it's ugly, then I don't. Honestly, I think all Monet paintings look like they got rained on. And don't even get me started on sculptures made from trash.

A few months ago, Chantal offered me a free ticket to One Yellow Rabbit's anniversary at the Jubilee. I figured, hey, why not?

Five minutes after the show started, I was watching a naked man wearing only a pair of red rubber gloves dunk his head into a bucket of water and then yell I AM THE WHALER!!

My eyes darted right and left as I tried to figure this out by surveying the reactions of the people around me: was this supposed to be serious? funny? avant garde?

Everyone started joining in, yelling with him I AM THE WHALER.

I really wasn't sure what to do. I kind of wished I brought my knitting.

Last night, I was pinch hitting for Chantal's band as a back up singer at an artsy person's birthday and suddenly, there he was! NAKED WHALER Guy. I'm sure he has a name. in fact, I'm pretty sure he's well respected and revered in the art community, as he is one of the founding members of One Yellow Rabbit. but to me, he will always be Naked Whaler Guy.

Somehow I doubt that was the impression he was going for.

Brand New Fave
Seriously. I had no idea. The other day, I had some time to kill so I went into Marks Work Wearhouse just to take a peak. And now, i'm addicted! I got four shirts for under 90 bux. I got TWO pairs of pj pants for under 25. I got a skirt, in a SIZE TEN.

I thought they only sold jeans and work boots. I really did. But they had turtlenecks, scoop neck tees, long sleeve tees, skirts, pants. Did I mention the pants all have booty shapers built in and tummy control? and everything is save for the dryer? True story. and it's all REASONALBY priced.

I'm not going to shop anywhere else. I'm really not.

Ready to Kick some A$$ again!
I took Friday off of bootcamp. In light of my whole Hitting a Wall mental state, I just didn't wanna go. In an act of true friendship, Donna mathematically calculated what percentage of total bootcamps I was missing if I cut out on Friday. Sniff. I was so proud of her! She knows I can't turn my back on a mathematical argument! [FYI, I've only missed 4% of bootcamps = 2 classes].

So instead, I came home, walked the puppies, went to the home depot, picked up some paint for my nook, stopped off at the Bucks for some coffee beans and had an early night. I woke up yesterday morning and started painting my nook. I didn't think about going for a run. I didn't think about doing an exercise video. The treadmil never crossed my mind. I thought about painting and how much I liked the new color. And then I went to wall Mart. And then I painted some more. And then I had a 4 hour nap. And then I had a really lazy, long shower. And then I met Jenn M at Nectar, where I deliriously enjoyed a lemon tart with raspberries on top with a black currant tea.

This morning, after feeding the puppies, I went back to bed and slept in till noon. I did some more painting, and picked up some groceries. I cleaned my bathroom. I made up the guest room. I had another indulgent, drawn out hot shower. I put nice smelling cream on my feet. and now I'm chillin out [yes I said it, I'm chillin out!] waiting for True Blood to start at 9pm.

And i feel ready to go back to Bootcamp tomorrow and kick some A$$!

Hitting the Wall

Yup. I've hit the wall. Maybe not THE wall, but A wall. Definitely some kind of wall-ish object. I'm tired before I even get to bootcamp, and when I get there, I'm even more so. I push myself, but my heart just isn't in it. At least not these past couple of weeks. and when you're heart's not in it, it's tough to get up those stairs/hills/park benches. Last Friday was the first time I really felt it. We were doing hills. We go up, we go down. The idea is you "rest" while you are running downhill. but you are still running. and on my fourth time up the hill, Michelle, my trainer, was chasing me, telling me to keep going, go harder, faster, more! and suddenly, I just stopped.

Thunk.

Plain old stopped. She said I could catch my breath and as I stood there gasping I said, "What I really want is to cry. I'm TIRED."

She nodded sympathetically. Said maybe that's what I needed. But I still had to run up that hill. And I did. three more times.

Yesterday, it was full body workout. Up and over the park benches, tricep dips, pushups, run, sprint, jump, burpees. And all I could think was, "Stop. Just stop." But I kept going.
Today, was stairs. and as I run, I'm getting out of breath faster and it takes longer to get it back. Four times up and down the stairs, then twice running out to the ridge and back. And then up and down again. I go up, I go down.

Three months of bootcamp has caught up to my psyche. I never thought of myself as an athlete. I started feeling like an athlete, but now I'm having second thoughts. Intellectually, I know I'm in a lot better shape. Prolly more so than I have ever been. Yet the scale has not budged. And that weighs on me. No pun intended.

I tell myself, that if I can just push through 4 more bootcamps, I get a whole week off until the next session. Four more bootcamps. Four more hours. It doesn't sound so bad when you say it like that, but when you're on the third of four sets of stairs, and you're gasping for air, or sucking wind as we call it..... sigh.

4 more!

We Did It!
Jenge and I promised ourselves a few years ago that we would run the CIBC run for the Cure. But every year when it came around, we were still walking. Last year, I didn't even go, I was too dissapointed in myself for not being able to run it.

But this year was the year! Going to bootcamp 3 times a week since June put us in good cardiovascular shape. Jenge was even sick today, all stuffed up, sinus-y and headache-y and she still ran the whole thing!

We met up with fellow Bootcampers Natalie, Rhonda and Trina, and we all ran the entire 5km. We had great weather for it, cool, but sunny.

As always, the run for the cure is a great event. It's so heartwarming to see all the survivors in their pink shirts, and all the family and friends of people touched by cancer out to support their loved ones. People who live in the neighboorhood come out on their steps to watch us run by, some even decorate their lawn. And there are tons of volunteers handing out water or cheering you on during the race, and handing out apples and bagels at the end.

We didn't bring the puppies as we really wanted to focus on running, but because of all the bootcamps I've done, I still had enough energy when I came home to take the puppies for a 4k walk AND go out and get groceries!

A Sign!

After Dad passed away, one of Jenge's friends got us a Hope for Humanity bush. I planted it smack dab in the middle of my garden in the back yard. It had beautiful, bright red roses. The next year, I was worried it wouldn't come back, but it did. It got so big that I thought it might take over my whole garden. But this year.... well, I nervously watched it all spring. Nothing. I went out and started clipping branches. Dead. Dead and dry. No hope. But unlike the other rose bushes that didn't make it, I didn't have the heart to pull it out. I yanked the other rose bush, but I couldn't bring myself to pull out the Dad Plant. Everytime I would go out and weed my garden, I would trim a few more branches and hope that one of them wouldn't be dry and dead. but there was nothing.....

And then a few weeks ago, I saw it. Growing out from underneath the dead branches was green! I tried not to be hopeful. Surely, after all spring, all summer of nothing, it wasn't going to start up again in late August for crying out loud. It was probably just weeds. So I watched it. Secretly from the window. Out of the corner of my eye when I went to the garden. I didn't even touch the new green.

Finally I took a close look. It was back! All the dead branches were still dead, but this was brand new growth, from the roots, I guess. I actually touched the leaves. And I told Jenge, "The Dad plant is back!"

And she said, "Hey! Remember what the psychic told me?" I said, No, cuz frankly, I didn't. She saw the psychic almost two years ago - right after Dad died. Jenge continued....

"The psychic told me there was gonna be a plant or flower that represents your dad and you'll think it will have died, but in the fall, it will bloom again, and that will be a message from your dad that he's okay."

True story.

Who will save you?

Here's the situation.... Something freakishly paranormal happens to you. Who do you chose to investigate and solve the case?

• Mulder and Scully - Work well together, are licensed to carry guns, Want to find the truth. Plus they generally get the job done unless it involves Cigarette Smoking Man in which case you are screwed.
• Sam and Dean Winchester - Oh so pretty to look at, but they are not so much in it for the "truth/curing the ails of the world" as they are in it for the "My dad used to do this/my girlfriend was killed by the paranormal so I have huge emotional baggage and must continue this line of work" motive. But as I said, oh so pretty to look at.
  
• Peter Bishop, Walter Bishop and Olivia what's her name from Fringe - hmm. Too new to tell if I want them on the job. I mean, they are getting the job done, but Peter is also carrying a whack of personal baggage and so may not be that into helping me.
• The Scooby Doo gang - Generally get the job done while looking good. Plus added bonus of Scooby Snacks. and it's fun to say "Jinkies!" like Velma. Daphne could give you hair and clothing tips. You could just ask Fred if he's gay.
  
• Torchwood - Well, they get the job done, and Jack's pretty cute, but you'd have to watch Tosh pine over Owen. And Jack would be okay with killing you if that's what it took to stop the paranomal event from happening and save all of Cardiff.
  

IMHO, I'm going for Mulder and Scully.

Message from the President

I know I don't post very often. As president of Secret Doggie Council, it is hard to find the time to post, but I do try. I'm posting today for a very special reason. I know many of you get very excited when you see me out on my jog, either with my Mummy Jennifer, or my surrogate, Mummy Margarita. While I've always tried to make myself an available president, I must ask that you respect my walkies and don't address me at this time. You see...

I LOVE MY RUNS. I GO CRAZY FOR THEM. I CAN'T HELP MYSELF. AND I DON'T WANT TO BE INTERRUPTED BY OTHER DOGS OR GOD FORBID CHILDREN WHO WANT TO TOUCH ME AND THEN EXCLAIM "HE SO SOFT!"

Please. Restrain yourself. Yes, I am that soft. Yes, my billy-goat's-gruff is like buttah. Yes, my ears are that perky and tender. But I am BUSY. I CANNOT STOP TO CHAT.

I look forward to seeing you all at the next Secret Doggie Council Meeting.

The President.

Cuz it makes me laugh....

Another list
It's week 6 of my second round of bootcamp. Last Friday, I ran for 35 minutes without stopping. Today I ran to the stairs, went up and down them twice, and still was able to run back to the beginning.

We start our third round of bootcamp on Monday. Here's what I have learned over the last two sessions:

1. You can go farther than you think you can.
2. You might not want to go farther. Sometimes you just want to stop. But you can shut up and do it anyway.
3. to get better, you always have to push yourself. And that's uncomfortable most of the time.
4. It is worth it to get better. But man, somedays, it's really hard to remember that.
5. The last five minutes is when it counts the most.
6. Some days, it's just gonna suck. But that's okay, because.....
7. Some days, you really feel great about yourself! And the world! and the person next to you! and... okay, you get the idea.
8. Sometimes, ice cream really is worth it.
9. Good running shoes really do make a difference.
10. no one at bootcamp cares what you look like while you are working out.

10 Things I love

In an effort to be [slightly] less negative, I thought I would counter the last post of 10 random things I hated with 10 random things I love. Once again, not a comprehensive list, nor the best of the best. Just a random list
10. A really good stretch after bootcamp. Feels so good!
9. Heinz Ketchup
8. Waking up and realizing I still have tons of time left to sleep. Or that it's saturday!
7. Running my hands under hot water when my fingers are cold.
6. new lipsmackers. Preferably purchased in a party pack of 10.
5. Crave Cupcakes.
4. The smell of fresh laundry
3. being smack dab in the middle of a really good book - I'm invested in the characters and there's still a whole lot of book left for me to enjoy.
2. new socks
1. how I feel after I've filled up on gasoline. I hate actually going to the gas station, but I feel so good about myself when I have a full tank of gas!

10 Things I Hate
Let's be frank. I could make a list of gazillion things that I hate. I'd never be done. There would always be something new annoying me to add to the list. These are by no means the ten things I hate the most. These are just what are currently on my mind. In no particular order:

10. The women in my office building who use a paper towel to open the bathroom door and then toss that paper towel on the floor. Honestly. were you raised in a barn? it's SO RUDE.
9. The Jonas Brothers. WTF? Where did you come from and why are you so popular?
8. Flaky Mascara - Sigh. I've tried so many and I never get the definition and curliness that I want without the flaky. If I get flake free, then it's not as define-y.
7. Unexpected, early season re-runs of my favourite tv shows - you know what happens. You sit down 4 episodes into one of your fave shows and they show you a re-run! and it's OCTOBER. But they do this to save episodes which leads me to my next point...
6. Television season are 22 episodes long. Again, WTF? That's not even HALF THE YEAR. Get to work, you slobs.
5. Personal Bubble Space Invaders - these are the people that invade my personal bubble. Granted, I have a large bubble, but c'mon, there's no need to be that close.
4. when radio stations play the same artits more than twice in a day - I listen to the radio at work for 8 hrs a day. Are you saying you can't find enough differnet people in that time to fill the void?
3. When I make a pot of coffee and then discover there is no cream. Tragic.
2. The back door to my office building - this lock is so picky and tempermental, every morning, I'm CONVINCED they have changed the locks on me.
1. Kid sized shopping carts at the grocery store and the parents that let their kids drive them, - okay, technically that's two things, but they go hand in hand. There is no reason your child has to be 'entertained' at the store. If you have raised them well, they will be good. If you haven't, it's your fault, not theirs, and why am I paying for it?

X-Phile

I was, and am, a HUGE X-File fan, an X-Phile, as we are sometimes known. Just the other day, I saw that I could buy entire seasons for 19.99. Considering that some tv shows are 85 bux a season [Hello Torchwood, you're devilishly good, but alas, also a BBC import] seeing X-Files for 19.99 BLEW MY MIND. I had to carefully do a little research first to decide which seasons were absolute MUSTS and would be the first on my list. I finally settled on seasons 5 and 7, with seasons 4 and 6 the next in line to be purchased [prolly next week. - it may seem weird to space my purchases a week apart but it makes me feel less like I'm hemmorhaging money and more like I'm being responsible and weighing my purchases. So sue me].

I settled down in my bed tonight to watch an epi.

I knew it was a good show, but honestly, I had forgotten just how good the writing could be!

I haven't seen the new movie yet. I used to have a friend who was as much of a fan as me and every Sunday night, we would gather at her place and get hamburgers from out and excitedly hunker down on her floor [she didn't have alot of furniture] and watch new eps, but sadly we lost touch. I've tried to find her on facebook, but no luck. And no one else I know is as into it as I am. So I haven't gotten around to going to the movie yet. I'll either take myself some saturday afternoon, or wait until it comes out on DVD and curl up with some munchies and watch it late at night, in the dark [as it is always best to do with the X-Files].

When I see the current crap that is on tv [yes, I address you, reality tv shows] it makes me sad. Sigh.

I love McDonalds. For as long as I can remember, I've loved McDonalds. I won't accept any trash talk about it.
What people most say is after they eat it, they feel sick. This has never happened to me. Everyone said that once I started eating healthy and swore of the McDonalds, when I went back, I'd notice how crappy I felt. Everyone talked about the movie Super Size Me, and I gotta say, I really didn't give a crap. It's not like I was going to have it three times a day for an entire month anyway.

Well, as it happened, I was off the Mickey D's for SIX WEEKS. Going to bootcamp, I wanted to see results, so I didn't indulge in the golden arches once. Not ONCE. I once mentioned to my bootcamp trainer that I loved McDonalds and that it never made me feel sick, and she said I should have it once and then come to bootcamp the next day and I would notice how crappy I felt and how hard it was to work out.

So there I was on Saturday, six weeks off the Mickey D's. So I went. and I got a big mac and fries with a large coke.

And you know what?

Everyone was WRONG! I felt fine. Better than fine since I'd had my Big Mac Fix. I didn't have a sick tummy, I didn't feel sluggish. Didn't feel all yucky, and the next morning I went for a run with Jenge, Natalie, Rocky and Portia and had one of the best runs of my training.

Fracking liars. All of you! You'll never get me to turn on my Chez Ron!

Outrage!

So, since Jenge is on vaycay [she's a teacher] she offered to get up with Portia if Portia had to go out in the middle of the night. Tuesday night at 11.30, I stumble to jenge's room and open the door, and then unceremoniously announce, "She's crying."

Jenge rolls out of bed and takes Portia downstairs to put her out. At 1 am [I think I might have dozed for a bit, but the details are fuzzy] Jenge comes back into my room with Portia and declares:

"She didn't even have to P-O-T-T-Y [as we spell important words around the dogs]. She just wanted to sit on the patio"

I give a grunt of outrage as jenge puts portia in her kennel. Jenge curses the latch, which she struggles with. Jenge leaves.

And the crying ensues. No amount of correction with the leash is working. Portia has decided that being kenneled in a roomy crate with snuggle blankets that is right next to the aircon is SAVAGE. AND SHE MUST GET OUT. I switch to verbal reprimands. The tone of my voice would make Nazis quiver. Portia is unfazed. By 2 am, I'm SO ANGRY that I know I won't be able to sleep even if she shuts up. So I leave my room, and close the door behind me, leaving portiacakes ALONE [which I know she dislikes]. I surf the net for a few minutes. Update my twitter. After 15 minutes, I hear nothing but silence. I ponder going back into my room. i wonder if she has finally gone to sleep and this will wake her up, thus breaking the cardinal rule "Let sleeping dogs lie."

After hemming and hawing, I decide to crash in the guest room. I set the alarm clock and go to sleep, on a twin bed, with my feet hanging over the end [did I mention I'm 5'10''?]

Next morning, I over sleep, not used to the other alarm clock. My alarm clock will turn off the radio after an hour, so if I wake up and hear silence, I know I've slept in and I'm screwed. but this one keeps on gleefully playing the radio so I kept drifting in and out of sleep thinking, "Oh, radio's still on - plenty of time."

I rip myself out of bed at 7.45 and open the door to my room.

I stare in disbelief at an empty kennel.

Gasp!

My eyes dart to my QUEEN SIZE BED WITH SIX PILLOWS WHERE A MALAMUTE IS STRETCHED OUT IN ALL HER GLORY SLEEPING!

GASP!

She looks up as if to say "Oh, hey."

Little DEVIL had SOMEHOW gotten OUT of her kennel and SPENT THE NIGHT SLEEPING IN MY BED WHILE I WAS TOUGHING IT OUT IN THE GUEST ROOM.

True Story.

[NB, this picture is not from the actual event, as I was too busy frothing at the mouth to grab the camera. Trust me, she looked even more comfortable when I busted her than she does above.]

The M*A*C Makeover

Today, Char, Jessi and I went to the MAC counter where Char and I got our makeup done! [Here's hoping Char will post a pic of her on facebook - because she looks rockin'!]

Here's my "look" - I was aiming for the smokiest, darkest eyes I had ever dared! And I even got false eyelashes!!

I don't even want to wash it off and go to bed! I want to pretend to be a movie star longer!!