Solid Saturday

It was a pretty good day. I got to do things I enjoy, but I had to do certain things which does take some of the fun away.

Exercise:

Dennis and I ran a new route this morning- the Central Valley Greenway. We intercepted it at Sperling and ran the 5.28km to Boundary and back. This is an urban trail that only has one section of packed gravel and the rest is paved. I don’t think I would run it alone as it runs behind buildings and through industrial parks. Dennis thinks it probably gets pretty busy on summer nights and we probably passed twenty people during the 10km we did, but still seems secluded to me.

My legs were tight the whole time and my left Achilles was bugging me. At four km I was ready to say, let’s go find a skytrain station and go home, but good running buddy that he is, Dennis kept me going. I had done a workout last night instead of a run, but maybe my legs would be better if I reversed those two?

We did the whole 10.04km and I had a personal best with doing it in 1:05:21, that is down from 1:07.

This evening I did a hallmark workout as I am trying to keep my workouts and my runs equal.

I decided to jog between moves and did: squats, crunches, reverse crunches, front, side and back raises, froggers, burpees, bicep curls, around the world lunges, plié squats, pushups, and dips.

I hope one day that these workouts pay off!

Knitting:

After coffee, I came home and started the toque I am making for the secretary’s daughter. It’s an easy knit as it’s done in seed stitch which is one of my favourite stitches. Right now, I’m just worried that the yarn is going to be too dense to slouch, but I suppose we shall see.

Reading:

I have spent a lot of today reading my Bookclub book. I am almost halfway which is probably the best I can hope for as the book is 579 pages long. I am making this post short so I can get back to it.

Cooking:

I made my second Fresh Prep meal today which was Hoisin meatballs with broccoli and coconut rice. This recipe took me 32 minutes from turning the stove on to taking my first bite. It would have been less if I had remembered to take the ground pork out to de thaw and hadn’t had to take the 2.5 minutes to microwave defrost it in the middle. The recipe was easy to follow and simple to do. With both of these recipes I have felt that I could probably memorize the recipe if I made it a couple of more times. I also got four servings out of this recipe too so I should have plenty to get me through until the next two meals show up on Wednesday. I would like to get to the point where I can get six servings out of each meal as then I could freeze a couple and build my stash back up as my freezer is very empty right now.

Eating:

I have eaten really well today! I had a bag of honey stinger chews on my run as I was trying to give myself energy. I had a serving of my shrimp pad Thai for breakfast, and then taco salad for launch and then the meatballs and rice and broccoli for dinner. I wasn’t planning on the last meal, but realized later in the day that I needed to get that meal cooked up.

Well that is my whole day and I need to go read my book.

Have fun!

AJ

Redeemed

Last night at knit night, I failed. I went with two projects well on the way and came home with both of them frogged. And I hadn’t even taken the project that requires me to concentrate!

Errands:

I was one of those odd ducks who were out at the Costco gas bar at 7:30 this morning. My eyes opened at 6:15 and I just couldn’t get back to sleep:(

Besides this, I got a load of dishes done and some groceries bought , but that’s it.

Exercise:

I had thought it would be mid morning before I would be running, but Dennis was ready earlier so we went out this morning. It looked beautiful, but was quite cold. I should have worn gloves! We went out along Guildford again and right from the start, it felt tough as my legs were tired. We did 7.75km and though I didn’t get a PR for my 5km (though I was trying for one), I did get my fastest kilometer ever- 5:45/km!! I didn’t think I’d ever see a kilometer in the 5s!!!🎊🎉

Shopping:

I stopped for coffee with Dennis and then went to pick up my new Brooks Christmas running shirt that just came in. I haven’t ran in it, but it seems expensive for the type of material it is. It is super cute though so I will just enjoy it and try not to think about how much it cost me!

Baking:

I had bought frozen cookie dough for a school fundraiser for a friend’s nephew and it’s been calling my name so today, I decided that I should try to get it out of my freezer! I do much better when there’s no yummy food in my house! The cookies took two minutes longer than called for and didn’t really spread at all, but they did taste good. I took a dozen to my friend Anna for her boys.

Movie:

My friend Anna has had a very busy fall as her husband prepared for his PhD thesis defense so when she called me up to see if I would go to a movie with her, I didn’t mind seeing Little Women again so that she could get out of the house. This was the first time she’s been out without her boys since September. I think she deserved a break:). I enjoyed the movie just as much the second time:)

Eating:

What have I had today? I’ve had a rice cake with peanut butter and cheese on one half and peanut butter and jam on the other, a cup of tea after my run, a seafood cannelloni out of the freezer for lunch, cookies and ice cream. I had a gift card to my favourite ice cream store and I saw they had a ton of new vegan flavors so I stopped in tonight on my way home from the movie. I tried many and they were all amazing, but I had the Raspberry Pistachio Nut and loved every bite. The people are so kind there, the lady pulled a chair up in front of the heater for me to sit and eat in:)

Knitting:

I have spent much of today working on my Date Night sweater and thankfully I’m to the point where I just continue in pattern until it’s as long as I want it. I have found that I have to concentrate for the lace rows, but can listen to podcasts for the plain rows. I’m hopeful I can get a good portion of the body done tomorrow!

Well I’m tired, have fun!

AJ

Happy Friday Eve:)

I’m so glad today was Thursday and tomorrow is Friday! I so don’t like having Monday professional days because by Friday, you’ve forgotten you had a day without students!

Teaching:

Today felt very mixed up. We started writer’s workshop this morning and it went quite well, though we had planned way too much. We got through a video about polar bears which was a really good documentary called Growing Up Polar. It was about an orphaned polar bear taken in by the Toronto zoo. We also made our polar bear habitats this afternoon. It was so neat to see how different they are and one child actually commented on that! We also had the chance to play outside today as it wasn’t raining for a bit:). On top of this all planning and prep for next week was completed:)

Exercise:

I came home and went directly out for a run. I can’t believe how much my Achilles bothers me until it warms up. It takes about a kilometer before it stops talking:(. I got 3.65km done which was good enough for a Thursday night, especially as I think I might end up running twice tomorrow.

Since my runs and workouts were finally equal, I also got to watch a hallmark movie and do a workout tonight. I ended up doing a minute of jogging between these exercises: bridges, crunches, burpees, squats, dips, mountain climbers, reverse lunges, curtsy lunges, plié squats, pushups, reverse crunches, froggers and bicycle crunches. It was nice to get back to this routine!

Movie:

Tonight I watched Nostalgic Christmas which was fine. I didn’t like the ending when the girl decided to take over her father’s shop at the drop of a hat. Wouldn’t they require more thought??? I know, I need to suspend reality!

Knitting:

I am attempting my date night sweater again. It seems like I have to start every knitting project five times😖. I hate to imagine how much I’d accomplish if I could start just once!

Eating:

I need to get back on track as the scale made me cry this morning. It’s such a slippery slope to where I used to be! Today I’ve had: rice cake with Pb, cheese and jam, yogurt with granola, apple and peanut butter, blood orange, cucumber and cheese, cookies. It’s still not great, but better than it has been lately.

Well I’m going to bed early as I’m getting up early for a workout with Lyndsay.

Have fun!

AJ

Grateful Sunday

It was a really good day and so nice to be home I’m familiar ground again. I didn’t realize how tense I was just driving when I had no idea where I was going and was in an unfamiliar car.

Grateful: For the opportunity and resources to be able to have a family Christmas vacation and all that family time.

Grateful: for a comfortable home that makes me happy and safe.

Exercise:

I finally got back to normal! I met up with my regular running buddies Brenda, Sarah and Dennis. James couldn’t join us as he dell off his roof and hurt himself. I can’t wait to hear this story!

We did a run of the river and it was great that Sarah came along so I had someone to run with and yet Dennis got a good run in:). It wasn’t super busy and it didn’t rain so definitely a win win!

The river on a Fall day.

I did meet my goal today so there will be a running review up tomorrow, but I was disappointed that RunKeeper doesn’t celebrate meeting a goal at all- the goal just disappears:(

Grateful: For all my awesome running buddies.

Grateful: For the animals in my life that provide me with lots of cuddles. Kula was a smuggler today:)

Friendship/ Eating:

I ran home and cleaned up and then met up with a couple of friends for brunch. It was Allison’s last day in town so I was happy to get one more meetup. We went to Wendel’s in Fort Langley. This place is always super busy! I got there early and had a few minutes to peruse the bookstore part of the establishment. Lots of cool knitting books, but all too expensive:(

I had three choices for brunch and went with the avocado Benny which as my mom says was just avocado and eggs on gf toast along with some tomatoes. It was still super yummy though!

We then wandered the Main Street and through the grocery store where I picked up a few gf/df treats.

Grateful: for friends who are easy to be with no matter how long it’s been:)

Grateful: to live in a place where there are options for me when I go out:)

Shopping:

I grabbed my mom and hot Costco for gas and food. My dad has given me the idea of buying steak at Costco and just freezing it for my regular Sunday lunch as this way I would be able to afford better steak. I ended up with steak, shrimp, yogurt and cucumbers. It’s going to be interesting meals, but I never know if I should bother shopping when I’m on holidays as it always seems like I’m out a lot. We shall see, but hopefully I didn’t waste my money.

We carried on to the clothing store where I immediately found the red winter wool jacket I had wanted. It must have been my day for red as i also found a red and white striped shirt and a red sweater. Now I just have to get rid of a few things from my wardrobe to make room for this new stuff! One of my goals on this week off is to get all my closets tidied and everything entered into my app.

Grateful: to have my mom for company as I was running errands. It makes the tedious time go so much quicker.

Grateful: to have made peace with my body so that I can feel comfortable wearing bright colours. I know I’m not perfect at this, but I’m a whole lot better than I used to be!

Reading/ Listening:

I listened to another episode of the Not Your Mom’s aromanxw book club podcast and found another book I want to read. I’ve decided that I’m still going to read lots of romance next year, but I will try for one non fiction book a month.

Grateful: for this podcast that keeps me entertained while I knit tedious sections.

Grateful: for the variety and number of books I have available to me!

Movies:

I rewatched Write Vefore Christmas as I hadn’t managed to do a workout to this movie the first time i watched it. I really enjoyed this book and it reminded me of Love Actually with its multiple story lines.

I ended up doing a 17:30 workout with a minute of jogging between moves. I did: 30 reverse lunges, 37 crunches, 37 reverse crunches, 5 pushups, 20 jacks, 5 burpees, 25 curtsy lunges, 10 high knees, 25 squats, 15 plié squats.

I know it’s not a ton, but I figure it has to be better than nothing! I’m thinking that I’d like to come up with a similar workout for non Christmas hallmark movies that I could do throughout the next year. If anyone has ideas of elements that are in lots of Hallmark movies, please let me know:)

Grateful: for hallmark that produces feel good movies

Grateful: for the clever person that came up with the hallmark workout so I can combine two of my favourite things and not feel guilty about sitting watching a movie.

Eating:

Not fabulous, but not as horrible as lately. I think I will still give myself a couple of days before I get on the scale.

I had: half a tortilla with peanut butter, the avocado and egg on toast, shrimp plate,1/3 of ginger cookie, 1/3 of chocolate chip cookie ( neither were very good) and 1/2 of peanut butter bar ( delicious)!

Well I’m off to start a new book.

Have fun!

AJ

Another Year Done

Well my birthday is almost over and as usual it’s been pretty quiet. I wonder at which age birthdays start becoming just another day. I think it might be attached to having to work on your birthday.

Teaching:

I got a lot of birthday wishes today as my students were very excited about it! My EA organized them to sing to me at the end of recess and at the end of the day I came back to a perfectly silent class- that may have been the best gift.

We had a presentation about water conservation this morning that was very engaging for the children and then we wrote about it after recess.

We also finished our Christmas bauble decorations this afternoon. I’ll have to remember to take a picture tomorrow.

All in all, a pretty normal day.

Reading:

After Bookclub with the kids and some more report card stuff, I spent the early evening reading Flat Share by Beth O’Leary. It’s a cute read so far.

I really need to think about what my adult Bookclub suggestions will be for next year. If anyone has read some good books or heard of some, I’d love to hear about them!

Exercise:

I met up with the group for the run tonight and there were eleven of us!! It was nice to run with such a big group again! It was nothing fast, but I did do my 39:39 for my birthday:)

Eating:

My run was fueled on junk today and I could tell!

I started the day with my Starbucks free chai latte on my way to work. I then found a macaron in my pocket so had that and a small banana for recess. My turkey and kale salad for lunch and then chips at Bookclub for dinner. I figured I had better stop there!

Well I’m off to bed as I have an early workout tomorrow. Oh I will be starting the 12 Days of Blogmas that Abbey is hosting tomorrow.

Have fun!

AJ

Woopeeee Wednesday!

I was screaming woopppeee in my head this evening!

Teaching:

It seems like this week has just been full of different! We had music this morning where I ran around like a headless chicken, but didn’t accomplish much:(

We had quiet time where I read with three children and practiced numbers to twenty with another while the rest of the children tried to make snowflakes for the gym decorating.

We had a concert practice and then wrote about painting with the artist yesterday. They all really seemed to enjoy it and here’s the fruits of our labor, or at least some of them.

This afternoon we had silent reading where I managed to read with two other children. We then tackled the huge Christmas baubles we have to also make for gym decorations. We didn’t finish as it was finally sunny so we went outside for the last half hour.

After school I helped put up the snowflakes, read Lyndsay’s report cards and then finished and handed in my report cards. Yippppeeee🎊🎉. I just really needed to make progress on something!

Eating:

I haven’t had too bad a day except for one gift treat that was delivered to me.

I’ve had my pb&j and cheese on rice cake, a small banana, kale salad with ground turkey, a sour key, roast beef slices with cream cheese, mustard and pickle on them. Yum!

Movies:

I watched Christmas Scavenger Hunt tonight. It was a cute movie and I wish they had that type of thing for me- what a great excuse to make snowmen, bake cookies, visit Santa, decorate a tree, etc. The only annoying thing was the father played by Tom Arnold.

Exercise:

I unfortunately didn’t get home in time for my planned run (it’s a good thing I had extra miles saved up for this month!), so it was another Hallmark workout for me. I alternated a minute of cardio with:

40 crunches, 15 pushups, 5 squats, 10 plié squats, 5 pulsing squats, 10 burpees, 15 jumping jacks, 10 curtsy lunges,

And then I added on: 40 reverse crunches, front kicks, side kicks and high knees.

It was only twenty minutes, but hopefully better than sitting on the couch:)

I’m going to curl up in bed and read now:)

Have fun!

AJ

Why Not Do Both??

It was an okay day- one of my “good” kids supposedly had an incident at lunch but didn’t report getting hit in the face because “he didn’t want to stop playing”. I figure it couldn’t have been that bad!

Teaching:

We read a story, had music and started in place value in math. We do place value every day, twice during calendar and yet for some of the children, it didn’t transfer:( I see a lot of practice in my future🙄. It is the most important thing I teach though.

This afternoon we had buddies and made cards for seniors. The children actually did a really good job:)

Reading:

I actually managed to finish the kids book club book today on my break. the Problim Children. I can’t say I would recommend it as it seemed just weird to me, but we shall see what the children thought of it.

Exercise:

I had arranged to workout with l after work as she couldn’t this morning. I appreciated the extra time as I slept horribly last night. This afternoon I really didn’t feel like doing anything, but we did it anyways. It was a tag team workout so while one person did ab exercises on the floor- the other ran while increasing the incline by one percent per minute. Then we both did step ups and squat jumps. For two such simple movements, my legs felt like jello afterwards. We then had a short interval session on the treadmill and ended it up with another session where one person did ab exercises and the other did the treadmill- while playing with the incline. I was definitely dripping sweat and enjoyed the steam room for a minute afterwards.

On the way home though, my friend texted to see if I wanted to go for a run, I figured I might as well. We ended up doing a really nice, easy 3.78km. It was just good to catch up and visit.

Knitting:

I have started the test knit for Zanete Knits of the Mommy- Daughter Hat. It’s going pretty well so far, except my yarn has twice been broken:( That makes me nervous! I do not want to have to buy yarn for this!

Movies:

I got to enjoy another Hallmark movie tonight:) This time I went with Just Add Romance. It was a super cute cooking competition movie. I giggled when the Lake Michigan resort turned out to be the local golf course about a half hour from me. I think that’s partially why I love watching these movies so much is trying to determine where they are filmed as most are done around me:)

Eating:

I’ve had a second great day of eating! I’ve had a rice cake which I did half Pb and cheese and half Pb & jam. It was yummy! Then I had a banana, a tuna snackit, an orange and a salad with tuna and balsamic dressing.

Well I’m off to bed ridiculously early on a Friday night to make up for last night.

Have fun!

AJ

A Start

Well I had to start sometime, but it’s a good thing I had my colleague to keep me going!

Teaching:

We had a productive day, though the kids were disappointed not to get outside play time at the end of the day.

We got through calendar, some practice of pre-reading strategies , music class, an introduction to place value, and some art that you will hopefully see tomorrow when we finish.

Not a bad day as there was no physicality, though my girl trouble is now making weird noises all the time🙄

After school I sat my butt down in a chair and started in my report cards. For the third year in a row we have a new report card and this one is really different as it’s online:(. I really wanted to give up after three, but my co-teacher kept me going and I did get the planned four done✅

Exercise:

It was another dark run, but it got done. I had 4.31km in before I realized it, but I think it was fueled by the rude runners I came across:(. They didn’t make space and forced me off the sidewalk and blinded me with their headlamps😖. No wonder I have to teach courtesy and good manners to my students when adults don’t even have them!

Knitting:

I’m pretty close to having another market bag done. I need to get this one done tonight as I have a toque to start tomorrow!

Movies:

As I knit away, I watched Flip That Romance which was a very cute and timely movie. I definitely liked the girl’s renovation better though!

Eating:

I’ve had another day of stomach problems. At one point this morning I wondered if I’d have to run out on my students. I stuck with crackers, toast, tea and ginger ale today and was fine until I tried an apple after school:(

I thought it was a flu bug, but my mom pointed out that I had started a new iron supplement and I had wondered if it would be safe for me. I will not take it for a few days and see if my stomach improves.

Well that’s it for me- I have icord handles to make.

Have fun!

AJ

Mundane Monday

It was tough to get going today, but thankfully there weren’t too many surprises.

Teaching:

I took stock this morning and realized my tummy was a little off still, but I figured I was healthy enough to get through the day:)

We got through calendar, jobs, a journal entry, counting by 2s, and a Bill Nye video on the seasons. He does a much better job of explaining them than I do!

We also had a day with no physical incidences🎉🎊. I’ll take it and hope it continues!

Eating:

It didn’t go quite according to plan:(

I’ve had oatmeal, a banana, tuna snackit, oatmeal again, crackers and popcorn at the staff meeting.

I figured I’d better stop eating!

Exercise:

After surviving a staff meeting all about our new reporting protocols, I decided I needed a run whether it was dark and rainy or not! I couldn’t believe how many people were still out! I managed to get 4.1km in and that will start me making up for all I missed this weekend:). I will hopefully get another one in tomorrow!

Knitting:

I spent the evening starting my next market bag. It’s out of black yarn as I have some friends that this suits best. We’ll see how much I curse the colour before I finish!

Movies:

Well my hallmark season has begun and I started with the movie Holiday for Heroes. It was super cute and definitely gives that warm, fuzzy feeling, though I figure it is pretty unrealistic. One thing I did like though was the fact the characters were a little older:)

Have fun!

AJ

Good Thing It Was My Plan

I had planned to have a quiet weekend as last weekend was busy and next weekend will be as well, but I got sick on Friday and didn’t feel better until late this afternoon.

Knitting:

I have finished the Triple Jubilee shawl and am quite happy with it. I soaked it, but couldn’t pin it down because my blocking mats weren’t wide enough. I just hope it turns out okay this way too.

I also got another market bag made today. It felt good to get going on my Christmas presents. Only several million to go🤣

I really loved this pattern which is called Let’s Go Shopping and is free on Ravelry. The yarn was Berroco Indigo and I really liked how the natural and white turned out. Sorry for the poor lighting picture.

Reading:

I finished my latest NetGalley book, Wrapped Up in Christmas by Janice Lynn. This was a very sweet book that really made me want to get ready for Christmas. It was a cosy read and I enjoyed its sweetness.

Exercise:

This morning I met up with my regular Sunday run crew, but just walked. I was a little afraid to jostle myself too much. We got soaked, but it was nice to get some fresh air.

Late this afternoon I was feeling better and decided to go for a short, slow run. I did 3.88km and it felt pretty good. I am a little worried that I’m getting behind on my mileage for the month. It’s going to be tough to make it up as I’m heading into report card writing, but I’ll have to find a way! I don’t want to blow my yearly goal!

I also did 25 minutes of easy low impact aerobics this evening.

Eating:

I had brunch with my running crew this morning and had my usual jumpstart sunrises.

I had cucumber with crab for dinner. I am hoping for less eating events this week.

Well I’m going back to rewatching Hallmark movies that I’ve been watching today.

Have fun!

AJ