Monday Again?

How did that happen? My nephew said the other day that his summer had gone so quickly. I told him to just wait, it gets faster!

There was absolutely no exercise today, just lots of foam rolling to try and get my hip to loosen up. I’m hoping one more night on the heating pad will do it. I did mean to take an Epsom salts bath, but didn’t quite manage to get there.

House:

My job today was floors and I went at them bright and early. I got my kitchen, hallway and living room washed, the bathroom, bedroom and deck swept and the carpet vacuumed in under an hour. I was super happy with myself🤣

Reading:

I am now on the third book in the Blossom Street series by Debbie Macomber. So far I think I liked the first one best.

Knitting:

I have to admit that I have spent most of the day knitting. I have bound off the front of my sweater and am only six rows away from doing so on the back. I may just have a new sweater for the weekend.

Mail:

The final book I ordered came today. It is Living Freely Gluten Free by Jennifer Bigler. I think I will try one of the recipes out for Wednesday when I am seeing some friends.

Shopping:

With going back to school, I am really trying to get organized at home. Today I went to the mall to spend my David’s Tea gift card, but they are closed. I guess I’ll be buying very little online to get the gift card to cover the shipping as well.

I also looked for the containers we want for math manipulatives this year, but no luck with those either.

My luck improved when I stopped in the village. I had a gift card to the Tea and Paper Nook and found a very beautiful and expensive candle to buy. I have admired the smell of these candles before, but refused to pay the price. Well today they were on sale so my gift card covered the cost. It seemed like the perfect gift and I will enjoy smelling it:)

Well there’s my non exciting day for you.

Have fun!

AJ

Stretching My Skills with Sally and an Asian Slaw

My weekends are not super exciting, but I kind of like life like that!

Exercise:

My hip has been really bugging me since Friday so I have spent lots of time rolling and stretching this weekend. Saturday I fit in an upper body weights workout and on Sunday I had a run with Sarah and Dennis and got in 8.26km. I’m not really sure how to fix this hip if the stretching, rolling and more rest than usual, doesn’t, so let’s hope it does!

Knitting:

I have been plugging away on my Weekender sweater and have gotten to the shoulder shaping. I’m leaving that for tomorrow when I’m fresh though. I have come to accept that the boxy style probably isn’t the best for me and so this will be a comfy, cosy, home sweater most likely. I love the colour enough to enjoy it.

Reading:

I decided that at night I would read real books so that I wouldn’t be looking at a screen and it would also get me through the pile of books that have accumulated in my house. Well, I started The Shop on Blossom Street by Debbie Macomber on Friday night and then spent lots of Saturday finishing it. I found the second book in the trilogy on the library app and so have spent a lot of Sunday reading it.🤣. If you like a sweet book about women’s relationships this would be a good trilogy for you.

Baking:

Last year I had done some of the Sally’s Baking Challenges and this year, Abbey and Kathy and I decided to all do them. I’m sorry I was supposed to post about this yesterday.

This month the challenge was breakfast pastries which to Sally, means danishes. I made mine up on Thursday when I had an unexpected day at home.

For this recipe I only had to use gluten free flour and Earth Balance vegan butter to make it safe for me. When I made up the dough it looked dreadful as it was more batter than dough. However, after its first time out in the fridge, it behaved quite well. The danishes were pretty easy to make, however, my yeast was old so they didn’t rise much, which allowed the filling to escape and went everywhere.

I tried one lemon and one raspberry and gave all the rest away. The feedback was that the raspberry was better than the lemon and that they were quite heavy and rich.

I may try them again with new yeast and see how it goes.

Cooking:

Yesterday I made up my chore schedule so I can get back to having a clean and tidy house. I have been spectacularly bad at this all summer. Well, sunday is grocery shopping and meal prep. I had decided while at my parents that I wanted to work my way through this salad site I had found. I am actually following through and made the first salad today.

It is an Asian Summer Slaw from Love and Lemons. I picked up the ingredients this morning at the grocery store and it cost about $20 for the ingredients I needed. I have to admit I cheated and got a bag of coleslaw mix as I didn’t want to have cabbage hanging around all week. The recipe went together quite quickly and was super yummy! I think I will make this again, actually I’ll have to as I now have a large container of miso paste.

I added chicken on top of mine and cut up the peaches into the salad so it could just be ready to eat all week.

I will warn you that if you don’t like cilantro- this is not the recipe for you. However, I loved that it used a large amount of the cilantro bunch I bought and all of the basil! It drives me crazy when I have bits of these leftover!

Home:

I have been quite productive for a change. I got plants bought and put into the containers on my deck. Now I should have some nice fall colour:)

I got a schedule of chores made up and posted on the fridge. I have chosen one job to do each week so that hopefully my house will stay clean.

I got my shredder set up so that I can deal with the mail immediately. I also got through all the paper on my counter and dealt with it. Wow I have so much more counter space!

I finally got my medical claim done. Now I just have to wait and see if they send me money.

Well that’s it for me. Oh and I’m trying a new type of title to see if I can find things in my blog better.

Have fun!

AJ

Friyay!

Even on holidays, I like Fridays!

Exercise:

I met Dennis for his favourite trail run. It is not my favourite, but I figure I’d better do this one for him sometimes. I always seem to be slow on this trail run. It is an out and back along a river to a waterfall. I know that I will be slow on the way out because it is all slightly uphill, but the trail is also technical so I never really feel like I get into a groove with my running. It did give me 7.56km more towards my goal which is important since we are approaching the end of the month!

I unfortunately didn’t plan well and didn’t get any other exercise in today because I had a massage. After paying for a massage I try to enjoy the benefits for at least a day!

Socializing:

After a lovely nap, I met up with a friend and her husband. I had texted her in the morning to let her know I had her shirt and some baking for her kids. Her and her husband came down and we had a great visit in the park across the street. I wish I got to do this type of thing more often!

Knitting:

I have been busy knitting away on my Weekender and I actually finally undid the previous start as I committed to this newer, slightly smaller sized one.

I hope this works well as I went to put away my Seraphina sweater today and I’m so disappointed that it is just so big on me! I hate doing all this work to end up with something that doesn’t fit well:(

Reading:

I always try to hold off until I’ve finished a book before talking about it, but this one I can’t resist. I am listening to Better Than Before by Gretchen Rubin and am absolutely loving it. It is all about making and keeping habits. It has definitely made me think about myself and what I want my life to be about. The bonus today is that it got me to do a little tidying around the house too.

Well, I think that’s everything about my day.

Have fun!

AJ

Just a Nice Day

It was just a lovely day all around.

Reading:

I stayed in bed this morning to finish my book. The Light Over London by Julia Kelly.

If you like historical fiction and double timelines you’ll like this book. I would actually recommend it to most people as it was a great read! It captured my attention quickly and kept it. It is also quite short at 290 pages. Both the 1940s storyline and the present day storyline were interesting and well- developed. I also liked that it was based on the gunner girls in the Second World War.

Baking:

I did some baking today, but you’ll have to come back on Saturday to hear about it.

Family:

I took my nephew for lunch today. We went to White Spot which is no longer in the reasonably priced category! $50 for lunch for two and there was no alcohol involved! I had a teriyaki bowl with no rice, but extra veggies.

Gus had a double double burger that was there one minute and gone the next. I told him he must have grown again as I felt even smaller beside him.

We of course went for ice cream for dessert.

Exercise:

After dropping Gus off and having a nap, I met up with Sarah for a run at the river. It was hot and we were slow, but it’s another 4km done. I do so enjoy having company on runs!

I also did the NourishMoveLove 15 minute Power Yoga routine. I started doing some simple weights before this, but then thought that since I don’t know what’s called for tomorrow, I should just do the yoga. It felt good and I think my knee actually came closer to my elbow, even after just these few sessions.

Shopping:

I had ordered two books and one showed up the other day. I live chatted and thought I had arranged to have the other book shipped again, but then today I got an email telling me that they were shipping me the book I already had! I spent some time on the phone getting this sorted out and hopefully my second book will show up soon so I can show them off.

Well I’m going to do a bit of Scrabble and then head to bed with a book to finish up this nice day:)

Have fun!

AJ

I Can’t Believe It!

I must be right out to lunch that I forgot to write the last two nights!

Exercise:

Yesterday I went with Dennis back out to the dykes for 7.26km. I had said I wanted to do as many dyke runs as possible before school starts as i won’t be able to once I’m working. It was a perfect day for a run- cool at the start, quiet and beautiful!

I also got the NourishMoveLove 30 Minute Power Barre workout done. It hurt while I was doing it, so I’m taking that as a good sign. I signed up for her email and so am just following the weekly schedule she sends.

Knitting:

I started the Weekender for the third time yesterday. I kept trying to convince myself that it was okay, but I really didn’t like the fabric that was being produced. I have now gone to a 3.75mm needle and that’s my final offer!

Socializing:

I met up with my friend Anna and her boys for some blackberry picking and it was the highlight of my day, even though we were too late for the good blackberries.

I also didn’t manage to come home with any berries, but that’s okay.

Well I need to get some baking done before I get Gus and it gets hot.

Have fun!

AJ

SAL Update

Stitching:

This year I am determined to make progress on the project that sat on the shelf in my spare room for eleven years. It at least sits on my coffee table now. This is where I was at three weeks ago:

Here is where I am now:

I am frustrated with myself as I am finding that I had made a bunch of mistakes around the basket. I am trying to resolve the issues now so they don’t carry across the entire design.

I had planned to be done to the end of the first page of the pattern all the way down, but unfortunately I only made it about halfway. At least I am pretty sure you can see the progress this time. It was really neat to get to do a different colour with the blues in there.

I am looking forward to being able to get the whole thing to that column so that I start the next page at a “clean” row.

Be sure to check out everyone else’s progress as there are some amazing projects!

Jenny

Avis

Claire

Gun

Carole

Sue

Constanze

Christina

Kathy

Margaret

Cindy

Heidi

Jackie

Sunny

Hayley

Megan

Deborah

Mary Margaret

Renée

Carmela

Sharon

Daisy

Anne

Cathie

Laura

Sherrie

From Full to Empty in Moments of Waking

I was expecting to have a very busy day, but within moments of waking up, 2/3 of my plans were cancelled. Thankfully I managed to be productive anyways and have ended the day with a nice treat.

Exercise:

The one plan that wasn’t cancelled was my run. I did an 8km run with Dennis out on the Dyke. It wasn’t my best run and it wasn’t my worst. I think I just went out too fast. It was nice to have the jump in mileage though!

I also got another NourishMoveLove workout done this evening. Can you tell I am enjoying these workouts. This one was a twenty five minute booty, cardio and core band workout. I do like how she does the whole workout with you and that the workouts seem to go very fast. It is a little tough to watch a woman who just had a baby, beat your butt though!🤣

House:

I seemed to have a lot of energy today and got my dishes done, all of my laundry done, and my living room tidied up.

Knitting:

I let myself do an hour of knitting on my new Weekender project this morning. However, I didn’t know her entire hour would be spent casting on. I had never done the tubular cast on before so didn’t know it took six rows! I guess it’s good to learn something new.

This evening I have gone back to the project and am just at the boring rib stage.

Stitching:

I want enough progress that it can be seen on Sunday, so I spent an hour stitching this afternoon while the sun was out. I don’t know if I’ll quite make my goal, but I should be close.

Sewing:

I had bought material for four tank tops yesterday and I don’t want to be the person who has the material hanging around for years, so today I got busy and made a second tank top. I managed to make many mistakes on this one too, but also managed to fix them, so I’m taking it as a win.

I wore the tank for my workout this afternoon and it was super comfy so there will definitely be three more. I did buy enough material for two in each fabric, but I think I will look for a different pattern for the second in each.

Cooking:

It was also on my list to make up my second Fresh Prep meal today and I actually managed to do so. Tonight it was Lemongrass Chicken with Nuoc Cham and Romaine Salad.

It was supposed to be a barbecue recipe, but I just did my chicken on the stove. I also learned that Nuoc Cham refers to an Asian style dressing. The meal was quite yummy, though I don’t feel like it was worth the cost with it being mainly salad.!

Friendship:

This evening I got a text from my running buddy asking if I was busy I was immediately concerned and thinking she needed a ride to emergency as I have had this text in the past and I knew she had been experiencing abdominal pain for about a week.

It turned out she had just come from emergency and was waiting for a prescription to be filled and wanted me to meet her for coffee. A way better circumstance!

It was a lovely treat to get to finish my day having tea with a friend and talking knitting!

Well, I’m going back to knitting as I try to decide if I should run tomorrow or not?

Have fun!

AJ

Ruined In One Day

Well my mom gets me to relax and I undid it one day back home.

Exercise:

I took my butt out the door for my usual 5km mill run. It was nice to know exactly where I was going and that there wouldn’t be any huge hills!

This evening I did another NourishMoveLove workout. I did the upper body dumbbell workout and boy did I feel that! I’m afraid to think about how I will feel tomorrow.

Shopping:

I set out first thing to the fabric store and grabbed material for more tanks. Hopefully I’m not biting off more than I can chew!

Knitting:

I also stopped in and grabbed my next pattern from my running buddy, who very kindly printed it for me. We are doing a bit of a knit along of the Weekender sweater by Andrea Mowry.

I have been doing the gauge swatch tonight and have to go down an entire needle size to get gauge.

My friend was showing me her shelf of homemade sweaters. I called it her happy shelf as it definitely makes one smile! I want a shelf like that!!!

Socializing:

I met up with a couple of friends that I hadn’t seen in about a month. We had lunch and did some window shopping.

My lunch was super yummy! A summer salad with chicken added to it at the Fort Trading Post.

Cooking:

It’s nice to have a cooler day as I had to cook up one of my Freah Prep meals. I decided to make the Five Spice Shitake Glazed Salmon with Jasmine Rice and Shanghai Bok Choy. It said it would take 30 minutes, but actually took 40. It wasn’t tough to make and I got four servings out of it.

I am hoping for some more cool weather tomorrow to make the second dish and hopefully some items for the freezer.

Well, I have an early run so I’m off to bed.

Have fun!

AJ

Back to Semi Reality

While I am not back to the reality of work yet, I am back to the reality of home.

I woke up this morning and made the five hour journey home. The ferry was already full when I arrived so I was very happy to have a reservation. I unfortunately was the person holding up traffic at the end when my car required a jump start to get going. Who know what happened as it’s been fine since then. I continued the pain and torture by stopping to renew my car insurance on the way home. Wow is it ever expensive!

Exercise:

After a lovely nap, I went and met up with Sarah and Dennis for a run around the river. It was so hot and humid, but it was still nice to have company. Another 4.14km towards my running road trip.

I also wore my new tank top and it worked great! I’ll be making myself some more of them as I like tanks that aren’t tight.

I also got another NourishMoveLove workout done- the fifteen minute low impact barre workout. It is somewhat disconcerting to do a workout led by a pregnant woman who appears to be sweating less than yourself. I had better up the exercise!

Shopping:

I stopped in to grab some fruits, veggies and milk and my food delivery came early. I am not super excited about the two meals I got, but will give them a try later this week. It is supposed to rain for the next couple of days, so that will give me some time in the kitchen.

Conundrum:

I arrived home to awesome mail- the yarn I had ordered from the Fibre Co arrived! It is a gorgeous colour and I will be starting that project on Sunday probably.

I also had a package left at my door that is my address, but not my name. I am thinking I should call Purolator tomorrow and see what they will do with it. ????

Watching:

It was the weirdest thing- I actually watched the Democratic convention speeches tonight. I think my father is rubbing off on me. I am so not interested in politics, but I did want to see Obama and Harris speak. That may be the end of my political viewing, but maybe it will give me a conversation topic over the next week.

Well, I’m going to go crawl into bed with my book.

Have fun!

AJ

Finally Something to Share

I finished one project yesterday, but fell asleep, so you get two today.

Exercise:

I did a 5km run this morning. It was actually 4.65km when I got back to the house so I turned around and did one loop to the end of the street and back to get to 5km.

Other than stretching after the run, this is all I did today.

Knitting:

Yesterday I finished my second test knit. This one was for Alicia Plummer for her Wyeth Kids. I made this sweater out of Estelle Worsted in a dark navy blue and I think it will be a very handy sweater come Fall and Winter.

Sewing:

Today I tackled a new project. As a teenager I made some of my own clothes, but I really haven’t done a lot of garment sewing since. A couple of weeks ago I had seen some fabric on sale that I really wanted to make a tank top out of, so I bought it and today, I got to the project.

I used a free pattern online from SewMuchAdo. It came with instructions that were quite good, it would have helped if my printer had done as good a job!

I had the top practically made when I slipped it on and realized it was way too big. I have learned the hard way that I need to hold the pattern up to myself before I start cutting fabric so I can alter it right away.

This top took way longer than it should have, but I now have a tank top pattern that works for me and I’m thinking there will definitely be another one in my future.

Well that’s all for my day. Have fun!

AJ