Back and Forth

Today was an interesting day!

Exercise:

I started the day with a walk with A and Moiya the puppy. It was a lovely walk:)

That’s unfortunately the only exercise I’ve had.

Medical:

I called first thing this morning to get an appt with my doctor. I was able to get one for this afternoon so I went back home for that. Unfortunately, I forgot my keys on the boat:(.

It turned out the doctor sent me for x rays but thinks I have pulled the ligament that runs the entire length of the ulna bone in my arm. I’m happy to hear it’s probably not broken (I’ll get confirmation tomorrow), but unfortunately the recovery time is double what it would be for a break:(. At least I don’t have to do much more than don’t do anything stupid!

My house was super hot so I decided to come back to the boat for another night.

Small World:

My dad had given a fellow boater a ride to the dock this morning and this evening he picked him up again. My dad is a social butterfly and so brought him back for a drink. It turns out his best friend was babysat by my mom and his brother was my dad’s friend.

I’ve just learned that you never say a word to anyone as it will turn out they’re someone you know!

I’m off to enjoy my book.

Have fun!

AJ

Away

It was so hot I had to escape!

Exercise:

I went for my usual Sunday morning run, but still couldn’t run:(. It was a good walk and my legs are definitely feeling better.

I also joined up with L for a workout. I was on the bike again and boy is that a workout! I had a small sweat Lake under me by the end:)

I had to modify the weights a bit but managed to get swing squats, jump lunges, 180 jumps, row and press, and frogger jumps done. I was a sweaty mess by the end but it felt good to workout!

I got an easy 3km walk done with my parent’s friend A and her fur-grand baby.

When it hurt my arm to run, my running buddy who is a retired ER nurse had a look at it. Unfortunately she thinks I may have a crack so she wrapped it and I’ll try to get an x Ray tomorrow:(

I’m really hoping it’s just badly bruised!!!

Family:

My parents have been anchored in downtown Vancouver for about a week and because today was supposed to be the hottest day, I ran away to their boat. I figured the coolest place to be would be the water!

It’s been lovely! Here’s a few pictures to show you:)

Well I’m off to bed!

Have fun!

AJ

Unimportant Finishes

A quiet day, but I did get some stuff done, though nothing important.

Blogging:

I obviously need to figure out which titles I have used before. Does anyone have a good system for keeping track?

Exercise:

My walk today went much more smoothly. I tried running and that still hurt, so I was smart for a change and just walked. Hopefully tomorrow I’ll be able to get back to running. Squad Runner drove me nuts again as it didn’t give me any points so yet again I have had to email the support team. It’s enough to put me off running for this team!!!

I was going a little nuts with wanting to work out, but figured I probably shouldn’t as I’m supposed to work out with L tomorrow. I don’t want to hurt myself before then! I came up with a good compromise though and did an ab workout.

10 crunches

20 double foot drops

30 toe touches

40 bicycles

50 I don’t remember:(

60 butterfly crunches

70 heel touches

80 reverse crunches

90 static crunch with scissor feet

100 twisted mountain climbers

I should probably be doing this workout a lot more often!!!

Knitting:

I spent much of today knitting and finishing off my headband. I really didn’t want to face another day of those charts and also I wanted it to count for the Charms class in HPKCHC on Ravelry.

My mom had the good idea that I should have photocopied the pattern and colour coded it. I was actually eleven rows from the end when I finally remembered what one of the symbols meant🤦🏼‍♀️😫

It worked out fine though I’m not completely happy that the edging is not even on both sides so the headband doesn’t look symmetrical. Since it’s just for me running in the winter, I won’t take it apart, but if I make another I would be sure to make the edging equal! I would also use a heavier weight of yarn if I make it again, but it did do what I wanted (used up the end of the ball of yarn).

This pattern was from my 60 Quick Knits using Cascade yarn. Since I used my book, it means I don’t have to feel guilty buying knitting books because I obviously use them🤣

Reading:

I have thankfully finished another book today, Chasing Christmas Eve by Jill Shalvis. I was starting to get worried that I had lost my reading mojo.

It took me a bit to get into this book but that may be due to the fact I had read the rest of the series a while ago.

Once again, I really liked the supporting cast of friends. Shalvis does a great job of incorporating a variety of characters and making them realistic and believable. She does such a good job that I disliked Elle for most of this book!

I also liked how the main characters changed realistically. Colbie learns to not do everything for others and Spence learns balance. It isn’t instantaneous which just makes these lessons more believable.

The Christmas theme isn’t so grand that you can’t enjoy this book at other times of the year thankfully.

I would recommend the book for anyone who is looking for a strong series or who enjoys reading about the artistic type.

Crafting:

Well I’m going to start my next rug square and watch a movie.

Have fun!

AJ

Quality Time

I like when my mom has an appointment and has to come into town! Nothing exciting, but still lovely:)

Exercise:

So thinking I’d be able to run this morning was crazy!! It took about 2km of walking before I could do so without horrible pain! Oh well, I got the 40 minute mission done and got some points for my team. I really can’t wait to be able to go back to running though!!!

I made the mistake of putting my regular pace into a pace converter and boy am I slow compared to all these runners I follow on here and instagram!☹️

Shopping:

I picked my mom up and after she had examined me (I really don’t look bad) we headed out shopping. My shopping goes slightly quicker these days as I mostly have to limit myself to the kids department. Who knew I would spend my childhood shopping in women’s and my adulthood shopping in kids?!?! It actually makes me smile every time I think about it!

I found a few things. The winter jacket is desperately needed as I shrunk out of all of my jackets last year. The sports gear will of course get used lots! The First Nations dress…well does it count as covering the First Nations content of the curriculum if I wear that dress???🤣🤪. I’m just kidding, but I’m pretty sure it will come in handy at work!

Eating:

After an appointment which was twenty minutes late, and took all of five minutes, we finally had a late lunch. I gave my mom a list of options and she chose our regular. I love it, but I never end up taking her anywhere new.

It worked out though as in addition to sharing yummy fish and chips, my brother was able to stop by after work and visit with us too. It was nice to see him, but I think we may have shocked the waitress a bit. The owner knows us both, but nobody who didn’t know would guess my brother and I are related!🤣

Product:

I have to say that I have been obsessed with Polysporin this week. I’ve been consistently putting it on all of my cuts and scrapes and I’m happy to say that most are almost healed! I would definitely recommend having some of this in your house at all times, if you’re anything like me! Now if only they could create a product that works on bruising!

Reading:

I feel like I haven’t been reading much lately, but it’s just because I started reading a book, found out it wasn’t the first in the series and put it down again. Of course, the book I ended up reading,It Started With a Kiss by Ella Quinn is actually the 4th in its series :(🤦🏼‍♀️

It was a lovely book and very true to the regency time period.

I liked how strong and outspoken the main female character was.

The Worthington family is lovely and crazy and makes every scene come alive. I can only hope the series will continue right to Mary!

The lead male drove me crazy with his need to “protect” his betrothed, but that is probably true to the time period.

The slight twist at the end was fun.

Shopping:

I did a bit more shopping this evening, but it was at Costco so not as much fun. My mom had told me her and dad love the shrimp plate at Costco and since I needed gas I decided to go in and get it. Well my $15 shrimp plate cost me $58! 🤣🤣. Can never get out of Costco without extras! At least I was limited by how much I could hold!

Knitting:

I’m just about to start work on my headband as I am trying to have it done before the end of the month! Abbey requested a picture of the charts for my headband.

Here’s the first chart that I am actually complete.

Here is the second one that I am halfway through.

And here is the third one I have to look forward to!

Well I better get to it or I will never get to that third chart!

Have fun!

AJ

One Year

Well you all have experienced one year of my life now! It’s not always exciting, but it’s been neat keeping track of everything:). Today definitely hasn’t been as exciting as an anniversary should be, but we can blame that on my sore body!

Exercise:

The Squad Runner mission was worth 200 points today so I hobbled around the inlet trail this morning, just so I could get it. I don’t think I’ll be doing much exercise for a couple of days, but I feel like walking may help me from stiffening up!

A friend I met on my walk and the pretty view:)

I swear that was the only exercise I did today!

Crafting:

After a very long mid-morning nap, I worked on my rug square and finished it up:) Three squares to go! I still don’t think I’ll have them done by August 3rd, but hopefully for sure by September 4th!

Beauty:

The friend I see for my mania, pedis, etc wanted to practice a new service she is offering and asked if I would be a guinea pig. So this afternoon I got an eyelash lift. It’s like having your eyelashes permed. It didn’t hurt or irritate, though I’m not sure it is something I would actually pay for.

Knit Night:

I met up with Brenda for some knitting time this afternoon. It wasn’t the most productive knitting time as my left arm is super sore, but I got to row 65 on my headband. I’m doing pretty good at this chart work. The only thing I really dislike is having to flip back and forth to see what the symbols mean as they are all way too similar!

Movies:

While I was working on my rug, I watched the movie Very Very Valentine.

I really liked Danica McKellar in this movie. I have to admit it took me a bit to get past Cameron Mathison not being the cop in the Hannah Swenson Murder Mysteries, but he was so sweet in this movie the he won me over! I can’t imagine a man stepping aside just to give his best friend what will make her happy! A very cute, happy movie.

Unexpected

It had its lovely moments, but overall, maybe I should have stayed in bed!

Exercise:

I got out this morning for a run so I could finish off the 7km mission. I only had to do 1.8km to get the mission, but ended up getting through 4.1km:). Then I got home to see that Squad Runner didn’t award me any points for my run, nor recognize that I had completed the mission. This new version of the app might be pretty, but it’s so buggy that it is driving me crazy!!!! I emailed the app contact so hopefully I will get the points. I know it’s good I did the run, but I WANT THE POINTS!!!😖

Baking:

I had plans to meet up with friends for lunch and had said I would bring dessert. My friend loves chocolate so I knew I had to go that route. I decided brownies would be a good idea:) I chose to make The Ultimate Flourless Brownies from the Oh She Glows Everyday Cookbook by Angela Liddon. The recipe, cut in half, can be found Here. These were very easy to make and my friends were amazed when I said they were vegan, gluten free and dairy free. One even said they were the best brownies she ever had. It made a nice presentation with the brownies topped with vanilla ice cream and sundae sauce. I also learned Hershey’s sundae sauces are gluten free and dairy free:). I’m sorry I have no pictures and I left the extras with my friend. This is definitely going to be my new go-to brownie recipe though as it was super easy to make and yet chewy and moist. I was surprised it cooks in a loaf pan, but it turned out great!

Socializing:

It was great to meet up with two friends from work for lunch. My one friend lives quite a ways out and has a lovely piece of country property! We had awesome bruschetta, then spinach salad with strawberries and egg in it and then my brownies. After lunch we hung out in her backyard

And with her other guests:)

Talk about cool, having two horses stick their heads through the hedge for carrot tops!

Exercise:

After lunch L and I headed out with her son for a bike ride. We planned to do the same 20km route I did with my other friend a few weeks ago. I was surprised when her son wanted to turn around at only 3km, but the 6km ride was probably a good thing as I took an unexpected dismount from my bike. No broken bones, but lots of cuts, scrapes and bruising:( I think I’ll just be taking it easy tonight!

I had some blood orange gelato from the Sweet Tooth Creamery to help the pain. I may not be chewing for a bit:(

Movies:

Last night I watched the Hallmark movie, One Winter Weekend and loved it!!! The characters were funny and I liked how they didn’t like each other at first. It definitely didn’t hurt that the lead male was adorable! I think I’ll watch it again tonight to take my mind off my hurt.

Have fun!

AJ

A Down Day

Not down as in depression, just much more quiet and low key with not a lot accomplished.

Exercise:

I got up this morning and got a workout in right away. I’ve been an even slower runner than usual lately and just in case it’s due to lack of muscle rather than the heat, I figure I’d better get back to the regular workouts! This one was short, but since everything included balancing, it was tough! I got through it though😀

Midday I was super silly and went for a walk! I thought the trail would be shady enough, but it really wasn’t! Just 3.5km, but something.

This evening it felt like I was standing in a furnace when I showed up at the river for my run with Dennis. I was slow, but 5km got done. We passed three other groups running and one of them wasn’t friendly! This really stood out to me because most of the time runners are super friendly when you meet them out on the trail! Dennis was a sweetie and looped back to me repeatedly, but the best thing that can be said about that run is that it got done and I found out I can now run in my Lululemon shorts without having them ride up! 🎉🎊 Have to celebrate the little things!

Family:

I took my mom to an appointment today and happily wandered around the area for a while. I found a new bookstore called Western Sky Books.

I looked but didn’t love how the store was set up as it seemed like there were books everywhere and the aisles were really narrow! I found an allergy cookbook, but it was $15! I also looked at the Nora Roberts for my mom but they wanted $7 each!! I like to support local, but I also need my money to go far!

I wandered along and looked at stores that I had heard about, but hadn’t been into. I really should have gone into the butchers to see if I could get shortribs, but didn’t think of it:(. I also found the pancake place Dennis is always talking about- I may have to try it out:)

We stopped at the mall, it it was obviously not my day for shopping as nothing planned out.

Knitting:

I have started my headband and am following the chart quite well:). I probably would have gotten a lot more done if I hadn’t had an unintended two hour nap today!

Movie:

Last bight’s movie was My Favourite Wedding. It was quite cute though I found the main female character annoying. She thought she needed to help everyone. I know that realizing she didn’t was her big growth, but her know it all attitude still annoyed me. The male lead kind of made up for it though with his awesome smile:)

Crafting:

I’m off to do my rug squares right now!

Well I’d better get to it!

Have fun!

AJ

Homecoming

My mom came home for a day🎉🎊

Exercise:

I got up this morning knowing I needed to get my 6km run in right away before it got any hotter! It is nice now that I know a 6.3km route in my neighborhood as I didn’t have to plan or measure it really think, just plod. It wasn’t too bad though I really should have still taken some water with me!

Unfortunately that was my only exercise of the day:(

Knitting:

I have a better picture to show you of my sweater that I finished yesterday:)

I normally don’t like to have multiple projects on the go, but I’m going to do a headband out of the tiny bit of yarn I have left over so that I can delete the skein from my stash:). My mom thinks this headband will be good for me as it requires me to read a chart which I normally avoid like the plague. I just like that it is from one of the knitting books that I own so now I have reason to buy more as I obviously use them🤪🤣

I also started an entrelac purple scarf for my friend K that I hope to have finished by the September long weekend when I will see her again. One of my HPKCHC classes asks me to do something scary and entrelac definitely is scary for me!

My mom also helped me pick out the bag I will knit from my newest knitting book. I got given handles so I obviously need to make a bag🤣

Hopefully some of these things will be done soon!

Family:

I met up with my mom about 2pm today as she came into town for an appointment. It was so great to get a mom hug- nothing beats it!

We stopped at Michaels so I could grab needles, but they didn’t have them and now it turns out I don’t need them! We also had a quick look through Pier 1. I always live just wandering with my mom- nice to have someone to say, “oo look at that” to!

We ended up going from there to visit my nephew. We didn’t think anyone was home so were sitting in the front yard when lo and behold my nephew opened the door. He was happy to see us as it meant he could go swimming. We spent about an hour sitting around their beautiful backyard! Ugh I should have picked up a new swimsuit right away!!!

It was so cute watching this one play with my nephew! Nephew love!!!!

Eating:

We ended up going out for dinner with my nephew and sister in law. I always love spending time with her – I am VERY lucky in the SIL department!! We hit Red Robin and I had a lettuce wrapped burger. It was very yummy, but gone before I remembered to take a picture of it?

Movie:

Last night I watched Love Blossoms. A Hallmark movie about a daughter trying to reinvent the perfume her father created and she uses the help of a botanist to do it. They of course, fall in love. It was entertaining, but definitely not my favorite movie.

I’m not sure where today went! I’m off to watch another movie and get my rug rows done for today.

Have fun!

AJ

AJ-4

Well I got a hard workout in, finished something, created something yummy and didn’t let something else defeat me,… a pretty good day:)

Exercise:

My run this morning turned into a walk, but an extremely fast and hilly one, so that was okay with me:). I also got to meet the dog of my dreams- a Greater Swiss Mountain Dog. It has the colouring of a Burmese Mountain dog but with short hair:)

After my quick tea, I was off to meet L for a workout and boy was it a tough one. Cardio intervals on two different machines- one increasing and one decreasing in distance. In between those intervals there was a list of exercises to work through. I did jump squats, sit ups, lat pull downs, burpees, three different types of crunches, mountain climbers, and plank jacks. I was literally dripping sweat by the end and it felt so good! I’ve missed having a good, hard workout!

This evening I went for a very short walk to deliver some mint to L, but it doesn’t count as exercise, just life:)

Cooking:

I got started on the recipe I wanted to make today as soon as possible as it’s been very hot here. Last weekend R had told me about a turkey roll recipe and as ground turkey was on sale, I decided to try it out. I may have a new favorite recipe and it has been super tough to not eat the whole thing today!!!

It is super simple- I combined my ground turkey with an appropriate amount of poultry spice and then spread it out into a rectangle on top of a piece of Saran Wrap. I then spread cooked and drained spinach on top. I used dairy free mozzarella cheese on top of the spinach, but R uses ricotta. I then used the Saran Wrap to roll up the turkey and put it on a piece of parchment paper on a cookie sheet.

I stuck it in the over at 350 for 20 minutes and then removed it and spread a thin layer of apricot jam over the top. Pop it back into the oven for another fifteen minutes and it’s done:)

I just have to make it last long enough to be my lunches this week!

Crafting:

I have started the next rug square, but only just.

Knitting:

Knot-0. AJ-1

I did manage to get the knot undone in my yarn (though there were definitely moments I was tempted to just cut the yarn!) and I also got my sweater finished!🎉🎊. It is so super soft! The pattern is Tin Can Knits- Flax Light. The yarn was Diamond Luxury in colourway Footloose. This was a very different colour for me as I usually do black, grey, blue or a jewel tone, but I love how it knitted up. I didn’t make too many modifications other than to do two extra decreases in the sleeves and of course shorten all lengths so it won’t be a dress on me. The pattern was super easy to follow and I love how there were so many size options. I think I have a new favorite Spring sweater!

I’m sorry that I don’t have a good photo yet, but I’ll try for one tomorrow when it’s dry:)

The only bad thing is that it didn’t completely use up the second skein of yarn, so I’ll have to make a headband or something out of it.

Reading:

I finished the book Christmas in Evergreen by Nancy Naigle today.

This is the book that accompanies Hallmark’s original movie. It tells the story of veterinarian Allie Shaw and doctor Ryan Bellamy and how a magical snow globe brings them together.

This is the perfect read for Christmas as I think it could put anyone in the Christmas spirit. The town of Evergreen seems the perfect Christmas place and is somewhere I would like to spend Christmas. It has tons of Christmas traditions and wonderful people to share them with.

The pace of the book was well done and doesn’t drag or include insta-love which I appreciated.

The characters are interesting and it was neat to get further details of how Allie is feeling than is provided in the movie.

I also loved the ending which is slightly different from the movie and is a lovely treat.

Thank you yo Hallmark and NetGalley for providing me with a free book in exchange for an honest review.

Well that’s all I could fit into today.

Have fun!

AJ

The Fantastic Bake-a-Long: Shortbread

My day was fine but ended in a tangle.

Exercise:

I got up this morning wondering where I wanted to run my 7.5km mission. I decided on a local lake that was more than that, but figured I’d do the whole thing anyways using 4 and 1 intervals. My walking buddy had breakfast plans so I headed out on my own. It wasn’t as busy as I expected, but was wonderfully shady most of the way around. I don’t know how I did it, but I managed to lose 250m of the path🤪?

Oh well, I was slow, but got the 10km done:)

This evening I got out for a walk up the hill I live at the bottom of. I managed a 6.7km loop. Hopefully this exercise and a better eating day will get me back on track. I feel like all I’ve done lately is eat!

Baking:

It’s sure a good thing I read Emma’s blog this morning as I had managed to forget that I needed to bake today! The fantastic bake a long is hosted by Tracy and is one of my favorite days of the month!Kate was the star baker this month and chose shortbread cookies. Shortbread cookies were one of the first recipes that my nan introduced me to baking when I was a child and I have to admit I’ve been avoiding them (much to my dad’s sadness) since I can’t bake with real butter. I just don’t think they will ever live up to my Nan’s. This recipe was different from what I’m used to. First it had more flour in it than I am used to and it had a much lower oven temperature and longer bake time.

The recipe was super simple and can be found Here. The recipe took no time to come together. The changes I made were to use 3/4 cup of Earth Balance Vegan Butter Spread and I used a combination of xantham gum, buckwheat flour, sorghum flour and arrowroot starch for the flour the recipe called for. Otherwise I followed the recipe closely. They did turn out, but they don’t melt on your tongue like my Nan’s did. I think I will try her recipe as I feel like there’s too much flour in this one.

I got two dozen cookies out of the recipe and they are safely in the freezer where I can’t eat them all!

Knitting:

I have spent a lot of today knitting the sleeves of my sweater. I have gotten very close to the end- only have about 1/4″ on each sleeve before I start the ribbing. Unfortunately I have a big tangle of yarn:( This always seems to happen when I’m knitting from both ends:) Where is my mom (the expert knit detangler) when I need her?

Well I’m going to do my rug time while watching a movie, so I’ll talk to you all tomorrow!

Have fun!

AJ