Busy Again

It was another busy day, but in a different way.

Exercise:

My sister in law managed to take me along as a buddy to her training clinic this morning. I couldn’t believe it when they talked for an hour!! The nutritionist was interesting and definitely highlighted that I haven’t been eating enough fruits and veggies, but an hour of talking was just too much!

We ended up running over to a local park that had a 400m path around it. We had to do 200m slow and 200m push ten times. I had never done it this way where you don’t have a walk break in between. I ended up staying with a woman who was upset that she was at the back. I was just out for a run so was happy enough to keep her company. We ended up doing 5.7km.

I also walked down to the local grocery store for a few odds and ends my brother’s family needed.

Blogging:

I spent a lot of today taking advantage of my brother’s WiFi and catching up on reading blogs.

Eating:

My niece had bought dairy free daiya cheese so she could make taco salad for me. I didn’t have the heart to tell her that I avoid daiya cheese. The salad though, was wonderful! My sister in law had also made a pavlova that we had as dessert with our lunch. It was very nice!

Travel:

I started the trip home much later than I had planned to, and it seemed a very long trip!

Baking:

I am meeting up with some friends tomorrow for ProD and though both of them said to not bother bringing anything, I just can’t do that! This evening I have made carrot cake muffins and savory vegetable scones. I’ll have to tell you tomorrow how they are though.

I think I’m off to bed as I’d like to get a run in tomorrow morning before work.

Have fun!

AJ

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Wow Busy!

I can’t believe how much my family does in a day!

Exercise:

My sister in law and I ran down to my nephew’s soccer game. It’s great to get out, but it always reminds me of how slow I really am. We also ran back and stopped at the top for squats, dips, pushups and calf raises. It was more exercise than I expected to get!

Reading:

I finished my current book through small reading times throughout the day! The Alice Network by Kate Quinn was amazing!!! This story takes place in two different time periods -1915 and 1947 and follows Eve, Charlie and Finn on their adventure. They are looking for people who made a big impact on their life.

I don’t love scary books, but this book, even with a few graphic moments just had me addicted! I couldn’t stop reading actually finished the 500 page novel in less than a week!

You should pick this book up!!

Socializing:

We went over and had drinks with one couple while the children were scootering.

We then came home as my brother had another couple coming for dinner. I ate way too much of the amazing meal my sister in law made!

The kids were so cute as they were marching around the house dressed up as different people. It was great to see kids engaged in creative play rather than screens!

I was happy when the couple went home about 9:30 as I was exhausted! This seemed like a much busier day than I’m used to!

Yipppeee Weekend!

It wasn’t a bad day, but definitely was busy!

Teaching:

I left early for work as I had a parent meeting this morning. It does drive me nuts when parents don’t inform me of big things! There is a big difference between how I deal with a little boy who is willfully not doing his work and how I deal with a little boy who is going through major issues at home. I couldn’t believe mom thought that a parental major illness wouldn’t affect her child?!?!😫

Friday journals went way better! I came up with the idea to turn them into a top ten list! I found a David Letterman video that was okay for children and then we went to it! I actually had reluctant writers asking if they could work on it during quiet time???🎊🎉

We handled gym, played math games and had buddies and outside playtime. All in all, a pretty good day!

The TOC next door very kindly gave me a ride down the hill when I realized I had to take my computer and two big books home with me!

Family:

I quickly ate a bagel and avocado (no judgment please on this being my second avocado of the day 🤪) and headed out the door for the ferry.

I just made the ferry by the skin of my teeth which is good as the next two after this were also already full! I amazingly had quite a quiet ferry ride- mist remember where I sat so I can try to get this again!

My poor brother though had to deal with the traffic involved in picking me up. Maybe for that reason alone I should stick to driving on!

The evening with my family has been awesome! Lots of snuggles and giggles:)

I’m off to bed now as morning will come quickly!

Have fun!

AJ

Not As Planned

At the start of the week, my days looked crazy busy, but it has been turning out less so.

Teaching:

Today went well and I realized it may be because I had a disruptive boy move during the break. It’s amazing the influence one child can have on a class!

We started our Reading Power program with making connections. We delved further into place value and we played dodgeball in gym. Lol when I write it down, it seems so little. Of course, that’s without the five reading tests I did today and reading with four other kids.

Exercise:

After work it was the first day back to boot camp. I think L took it easy on us today. We had to do: squat jumps/ slider hamstring curls, reverse lunge with shoulder press, 1/2 get ups, plank/speed skaters, bench reverse lunge with a hop, bear crawl/ jumping jacks, banded lat pull downs/ banded hip raises with a weight, pulsing squat/bird dog.

I haven’t decided if I’m going to use the planks and squats I did in that workout to count for today’s or whether I will do more.

Family:

I went over to visit my nephew today and he seems like himself. I was glad to be able to spend some time with him and give him some hugs! Banks also got lots of belly scratches and hugs!

Reading:

I finally finished Strike Out by Cheryl Douglas. It was only five days, but it felt like I was reading this book forever! I just found it really unrealistic so can’t bring myself to recommend it.

Cooking:

I saw a video on Facebook for maki g your own vegan cheese and started to make it, only to come to the part where you need agar. Of course I don’t have any so it’s been put into the fridge. If I don’t find agar I may just make pasta to go with it!

Well I don’t quite know what I’m going to do with myself now, but maybe some knitting.

Have fun!

AJ

Quite the Day

It was a good start, but it’s amazing how quickly everything can change!

Teaching:

My students have definitely been yawning a lot lately. We wrote about our New Years Resolutions this morning after watching a reading of the book, Squirrel’s New Year’s Resolution. Thank goodness for YouTube as my school doesn’t have this book and there aren’t a lot of books about resolutions for kids.

We also tackled a bit more of place value and we brainstormed what they already knew about penguins. Quite a successful day for us!

Family:

After chatting with colleagues, I clicked on Instagram. My colleagues say I went white immediately.

PSA- before you put anything on social media, make sure your family knows.

My nephew posted that he had a seizure last night and was in hospital. I don’t think I’ve ever felt that horrible before! He is the closest I will ever come to having my own child and boy did that hurt! He’s had an MRI this evening and has come home with his parents.

I thought it was bad when he was little and I worried about him choking, now I’m going to be worried he’ll have another seizure:(. He’s going to be under constant surveillance when he’s with me! My mom is threatening a Michelin man suit🤣

If you have a dog- give him or her a cuddle tonight!

This is the hero of the day as he jumped on my brother and barked at him until he got up last night as he knew something was wrong with my nephew. Animals are amazing!

Exercise:

I decided to go for a run while waiting on the MRI as I don’t wait well. I definitely had a lot of emotion to power my run and managed 5.7km. It was pouring rain and my gloves were dripping, but I didn’t even notice!

I also got 200 squats and a 1:20 plank done.

Knitting:

I tried to distract myself with knitting and finished a cowl in this horrible acrylic yarn I had in my stash. Thankfully you can’t see the mistakes I made as I just couldn’t settle tonight.

Well I’m going to go try some yoga to calm down. Im not sure I will until I get to hug my nephew!

Have fun!

AJ

Getting Back To It

It’s been another quiet day, but that’s probably a good thing before the chaos starts again on Monday.

Exercise:

I met up with Sarah for a run this morning. We got a little lost, as usual, but it was fun!

This evening I managed to get out for a walk as well. It wasn’t running so I figured I had better get it while it was good:)

I also did squats and a plank for the second day. Need to start building up the muscle again. I swear they all atrophied while I was laying on the couch last week🤣

Family:

Well we finally settled on a place to rent for Christmas next year. It only took two days. It was a tough decision because there was one that was an amazing deal but required the kids to sleep on air mattresses if there was the gorgeous one with enough beds but double the price. We’re going to go with the amazing deal as we can do a lot of events for all that money. It’s tough to do group things as there are just so many different personalities in my family. It will be interesting to see if we survive our first family holiday together.😳

Baking:

I grabbed a few groceries after my run and made a batch of Bisquick biscuits to use up the bisquick I had in the cupboard. They looked good, but were super crumbly. I think it was just the nature of Bisquick, or at least that’s my story and I’m sticking to it.

Movies:

I watched A Shoe Addict’s Christmas with Candace Cameron Bure this afternoon and loved it. It is such a cute movie! It follows the basic outline of A Christmas Carol but its shoes that move her through time. Most of the shoes were gorgeous so of course it gets my vote for being a good movie!

Knitting;

I also finished up the cowl I had started earlier. It used up three skeins of yarn and was a super easy knit while turning out pretty. It used Morena yarn and the free pattern off Ravelry called Cowl for Coba. This is a “no think” pattern that shows off yarn very nicely.

I am happy with how it turned out.

I have also spent some time weaving in ends on my temperature scarf. I feel like I may be old and gray before I get them all finished.

Well I’m going back to watch another Hallmark movie:)

Have fun!

AJ

I Feel Better

The day got better as it went on:)

I definitely had a difficult time getting out of bed this morning, but I finally did to run out to Costco to grab some gas. I probably should have gone when the store was open, but oh well.

Eating:

My eating today was definitely not normal, but it definitely was yummy!

This morning I tried out the new Green Mustache cafe that opened across from my place. I was really excited to try this place as everything is gluten free and dairy free. I tried the Banana and Buckwheat waffles with caramel cashew cream and chia jam with figs and walnuts. It was so delicious!!!!!!

Thankfully I didn’t eat again until I had dinner with a friend this evening. We were out shopping and stopped at the Village Taphouse for dinner. I had the Classic Handpressed burger on a gluten free bun. It was super messy, but also super yummy!!

It’s been a great eating day!

House:

I was having a tough time settling this morning and couldn’t decide why. I finally figured out I needed to deal with the parking issue. I called and explained the situation and the manager was super great and reversed the fine and everything!! I suddenly felt much better:)

Exercise:

I definitely needed to get out running today!! I feel like I have lost all muscle in the past week! I got a short run in and then did a plank and some squats this evening.

Family:

My family is trying to book a holiday to Palm Springs next winter. It will be the very first time that we will ever be on a vacation all together so it might be interesting! It will definitely give me impetus to do more weights this year!

Shopping:

I met up with a great friend this afternoon for some shopping. It was a great time! We found some awesome sales-a new rain jacket for my friend and these cute items for me.

I couldn’t believe I got out of J Crew for $11. I’m super excited about the new slippers as they are the style my mom always has, but you don’t normally find them in kids:) These plus an awesome restocking at Bath and Body Works made for a great haul!

Knitting:

I worked on a cowl today that will probably go into the holiday market. I also finished knitting my temperature cowl. Now I just need to tie in the 365 ends😫

Well I’m going to go watch a movie in bed:)

Have fun!

AJ

Happy New Year

This won’t be the post I was expecting to do today, but I’ll save that for tomorrow!

TV:

I have spent a lot of time watching the Great British Baking Show again. I finished season 4 and tried 5, but really missed Mel and Sue and Mary so I’ve gone back to watch the Beginnings show instead. What am I going to do when I finish this???

Knitting:

I have been watching a lot of TV because I finished my sweater today:)🎉🎊

I am super happy with it even though the sleeves did end up being slightly different lengths. I’m really not sure how that happened, but I spend my life with my sleeves rolled up so it won’t bug me:)

I used Caron Simply Soft yarn and am super happy with how soft it is. The entire sweater only used 1.75 skeins!!! I have another 2.25 left for the stash.

The pattern is called Waiting For Spring and is free on Ravelry. The pattern was relatively easy to follow, but I think my thirty plus years of knitting helped. There were some issues at some of the decrease areas. I had to use my knowledge of knitting to get it to work so I wouldn’t recommend the pattern for beginners.

Eating:

Once done the sweater my parents and I had turkey dinner. It was very yummy and nice to feel like I had Christmas dinner with them.

Family:

My mom and I had bought puzzles when she was last home from Costco and we finished one tonight. Maybe we chose way too easy a puzzle🤣

Well I’m hoping tomorrow to do a recap of my year, but it will have to wait for tomorrow:)

Have fun!

AJ

What is this???

It was a quiet holiday day, but I was supposed to be escaping the rain!

Technology:

Last night in bed I was thinking that maybe I had dropped my headphone charger in the truck, but unfortunately it turned out not to be true:( I also haven’t heard back from any of my inquiries☹️

Family:

My mom showed me around all their recent projects. It’s neat to see all the things she has been talking about. Now I just have to talk them into letting me help.

The cutest part of the tour was the black lab who belongs to the owner:)

Exercise:

I didn’t get any exercise today so it’s going to be scary if this continues! I’ll have to talk them into letting me do work if no running occurs or I’ll go home a roly-poly little one.

The cool thing I learned today was that one of the members of my Squad Runner team lives near to where I am! Hopefully I will get the chance to meet her!!!

Knitting:

I have spent a lot of today knitting. I have decided to go ahead using the same needles as I usually have to size sweaters down. It’s a nice knit so far because it’s mostly just knitting and yet it has thirteen interesting stitches every round.

Shows:

I am officially obsessed. I am working my way through season 1 of the Great British Baking Show. This was actually the compromise between my Hallmark movies and my dad’s violent movies. Of course now all I want to do is bake!

It has rained, thunder and lightning all afternoon. I was supposed to be avoiding this by coming to Arizona!

I’m going back to the baking show!

Have fun!

AJ

Boxing Day

Definitely not my typical Boxing Day- no parties and no shopping.

Travel:

The day came early at 4:30am and I was at the airport for 6:10am. I had quite the wait, but spent it catching up on the reader and making my photos smaller in the hopes of freeing up space for more photos.

I did finally arrive in Phoenix this afternoon. All was good until I discovered that I’ve lost my storage case and charging cord for my Aftershockz headphones☹️😫😥😢. I have emailed the airline but I don’t hold out much hope. I also emailed the company in the hopes I can purchase a cord and case. Next step will be try to contact Visa. I really hate when I do this type of thing:(

Family:

I got a very nice hug from my mom and I plan to get many more in the next week. Have to build up my stores to get through another 2.5 months! We managed to get out of the airport without yelling which is quite amazing!

Shopping:

We stopped in at Fry’s in Maricopa on the way home and I was amazed at the selection of Free From products. I tried to be good as I’d like to go home weighing less!

Knitting:

I had sent yarn and needles down with my mom and brought a free Ravelry pattern called “Waiting for Spring”. I got the ribbing done and made do with yarn for a stitch marker, but I may be in trouble as it now calls for changing to a larger circular needle and I only sent one set of circular needles down. Do you think I can just go on in the same size needle?

Netflix:

I have already made myself at home and taken over my dad’s Netflix. I was super excited to see The Great British Baking Show as I’ve read about it on so many blogs. I loved it!! I liked how I could just listen and the fact that they were nice to each other and helped each other out. I will definitely be trying to watch more of this series before I go home!

Now I’m onto a Hallmark Christmas movie- Christmas Inheritence. So far it’s cute!

Well, that’s it for me:)

Have fun!

AJ