Power was off in the middle of the night - storm was right overhead and lightening apparently took out several telephone poles in town. I let the dog sleep in my room, for the first time ever, as much for my comfort as his. I hope he doesn’t think that’s the new arrangement.
Just had a BIG bowl of organic oatmeal and now I feel like a huge lumpy weight has settled in my gut. Ugh. Take that off the list.
Pouring rain. Like a monsoon. I have even filled several jugs cause I am wondering if the power will go off. Realising how ill-prepared I would be for a real emergency. I have candles, flashlights, batteries, canned food - just scattered throughout the house. No nice, neat, emergency stash. And no supply of bottled water. I am avoiding the plastic water bottles (because of the impact on the environment), and the hard clear plastic drinking bottles (because of the nasty chemicals), but I may need to bend and put together a bin of emergency supplies. It is inevitable, and I know that anyone who has lived through those awful floods recently, or a forest fire alert, or those tragic tornadoes ( blessings on each of you) would say how important it is to be prepared.
In the meantime, I am postponing the nightly walk because I don’t want to get wet. Dog was in high tension mode when the heart of the storm blew over earlier. No barking, but he was torn between wanting to hide and not wanting to be more than 6 inches away from me. Now he is sleeping it off.
Sooner or later I will have to suck itup and get out there. At the first break in the downpour, I promise.
Monday morning, back on track, I hope. I spent the weekend working in the yard and around the house, trying to get some of the little jobs done. I had a long, long list and made it through maybe 30% of it. I am working up to some bigger landscaping jobs, especially in the front yard. I am on a busy street, and it seems like everyone I know, knows where my house is, plus the two homes kitty-corner to me have very well-groomed yards. One woman decorates for every holiday in the calendar…Xmas, Valentines, Easter, Canada Day, Labour Day, Thanksgiving….it’s intimidating. I did find out where to get a load of topsoil - I think I need a pile of it, and some gravel…oh, I hope I actually get it done this year I will feel so much better if my home had some curb appeal. Just to make it more pleasant to come home to.
Dog got a bit shortchanged. Instead of a weekend hike on the park trails I took him to the local high school track. If we go later in the evening, it is deserted enough that I can let him off the lead - he runs in circles, I walk in circles…I can get some sustained speed without having to stop while he sniffs every seconds pebble, and he can burn off some energy. I just have to keep an eye out for the need to stop-n-scoop. (Worst thing about owning a dog.) Every time I am there I fantasize about running but haven’t yet got myself to that point.
Did manage to strain my lower back, which is slowing me down a bit this morning. Hopefully it will wear off as I move around.
All I can say is that has NOT been a lo-cal weekend. High energy though, lots of movement. Hope it all balances out.
I have to average 103 minutes of exercise each day to hit my goal. Can I do it? Maybe. My evening walks are hitting that range; as long as I don’t skimp even one night between now and then I might make it. The long weekend will be a challenge as I will be at the camp, and all I seem to do there is eat, cook, and sleep. (lol…wrong order!)
Loverboy is here and he is exhausted. Me too. We both work long hours, and then there is some pressure to have a ‘good’ weekend together. Well, this weekend the first order of business is to sleep. Now.
Just have a few minutes before I have to head back to work for a meeting. And it is such a beautiful night, I would love to shove the dog in the car and head out to the beach instead. Dangnabit - someone would notice if I wasn’t there, I am sure.
Had a very strange dream last night - that I was shredding the clothes in my closet - feeding them through my little home paper shredder….?? Maybe the universe is telling me I need to go shopping…lol. I haven’t bought new clothes in a long time, because I have hundreds and hundreds of dollars worth of clothes (most with tags still attached) that don’t fit because of the weight gain since I moved to this town. I gave a ton away, but kept some too. I am damned if I am going to pay more money for clothes when I already have a FANTASTIC wardrobe for someone 17 lbs smaller. grrr.
 {Later} Got home about 9:30, spent some time on the phone checking in with the parents. By the time I got out for the walk it was past 11, so I took the poor animal to the running track behind the high school - the plan was he would race around off the lead and I would build up some serious walking speed. Worked for about 25 minutes; then the neighbour showed up with his dog and we stood around watching the two of them play. Then I came home, and now I am not tired at all. Dog was out like a light. OK, half the plan worked.
It’s days like today that underscore tha fact that I do not feel guilty at all for not going in to work until 9;30 or 10. Even so, I still end up working 10-12 hours. For my own interest, I should track my time over a two or three week period and see what my working day averages out to. Good thing I really like my job!
I am making vegetarian curry and as soon as it finishes bubbling away I will head out for a long walk. The dog has positioned himself so that if I stand up he can beat me to the door…lol. Every so often he eyes me to make sure I know he is there.
It is such a nice night I am looking forward to it…I think the two-hill long route tonight…:) with new music.
My schedule has just been crazy the last few weeks, and it is only going to get worse - I am heading into a major 2 or 3 year project, and have also agreed to taking on some big volunteer jobs. Loverboy is thinking that I will be at his cabin every weekend over the summer. Probably 80%, yes, but even on those I will have to bring my laptop and try to stay on top of things. There is no phone service there, so no internet. My staff are still talking about the email barrage I sent from Vegas on my last vacation…so no email is a good thing.
Ok, out the door, just want to point out this has been one more ‘under 1700′ day (much to my surprise).
{Later} well, no exercise video but 110 minute walk, two hill route….plus I found a stairway up the hill through a park…I can see myself going up and down that a couple of times a night. Downside is my ankle is burning…I think I need to see a chiropodist and get some orthotics. Now bed.
I hereby PROMISE to do one exercise video tonight. Any one. Doesn’t matter, even yoga will count. If I do not, then I have to join an exercise class that I have to pay for. Really, I need to get into some full body toning.
Look at me, I am already starting to deal my way out of this….(well, maybe if I clean up the car port that might count….lol)
Feeling pretty good about things in general. I got home about 6 tonight, which is early for me, made a veggie stir fry with spaghetti squash, and am now getting ready to take the dog for a walk. Tomorrow I have to drive a volunteer to an event and pick up someone at the airport, so I better vacuum out the car too. Dog hair everywhere after this weekend’s trip.
Younger son left today for his summer job. Won’t see him until August. He says he left his apt clean and I’ll just pop down there to check. I really enjoyed having him around, even though I hardly ever saw him. Just knowing he was in the building was comforting, in several different ways. Knowing where he was, that he was close, that he was safe, that he was there if I needed him too…all of that. Without getting involved in each others day-to-day lives.ÂÂ
Had a paycheque problem to sort out at work, which was causing me stress and I am now glad that it’s resolved. Due to a miscalculation, I was overpaid a significant amount and now have to pay it back. Absolutely, but I was concerned about maintaining my cash flow, so we had to work out a few things. All done to everyone’s satisfaction, I hope. Lesson: read those damm pay slips and keep track of things. I was too trusting of the system.
I know that I am very lucky. My life is working out very well, right now. I want to enjoy it while it lasts. Also, I have a difficult time staying blue for very long. I am like an Indian rubber barbie - I can be knocked over and flattened but sooner or later I pop back up into shape. Ok, without the inhuman measurements (I wish!!)….lol.
Dog is laid out across the doorway so any movement that might imply a walk is imminent can be responded to immediately. I will have to figure out how to work a mid-day walk for him into my day. I was very dependent on younger son to do that.
K, time to get back on the exercise horse.
Monday morning and back to the real world. Had a very nice two days at the cabin. The weather was perfect, I got a lot of rest, a lot of loving, and now I feel like I am back from vacation. This cabin is on a smallish inland lake that was created by a power company dam years ago. The water levels fluctuate every year, but this year the water is very low, so low in fact that Loverboy doesn’t think he will be able to put the waterline for the cabin in. It is over 200′ from his dock to the water. It’s all brand new sand beach. That would mean running a pipe all that distance plus probably another 25-30′ to get out in the deep water. (The dock issue is a whole other problem, since we get there by boat.)
I am going to have to take more control over the menu on these weekends, because when he shops we end up eating very fatty foods, and too much of it. I am only up a pound but I am sure it is a gelatinous, fatty pound. Ugh. We did get the canoe in the water and paddled around the shoreline a bit…I’ll make sure we do more of that this year.
Ok, back to the weekly grind - lots of stuff happening this week. Time sure flies when you are having fun.
