Shake Shimmy and Roll

The desk shook, the moniter was hopping around the desk...it wasn't just me. Everyone around me was asking if others had felt it too...a small earthquake hit today and after much confusion and debate the higher ups finally decided that an evacuation was in order. What a nice break in the other wise mundane day!!

Happy Birthday

My sweet boy!!! I can't believe that you are 4 today. This time 4 years ago you were only a couple of hours old and already the light of my life. You changed things for me in a way that nothing else ever could. I felt love like no other and of course still do!! You are becoming such a big boy with an incredible imagination and a smile so sweet i want to eat it up!!
Each day you prove to us how special and unique you are. You are the protector of your baby sister like no other, you are so helpful and always want to give me a hand around the house! Everybody loves you and cherishes you! Always remember that!

things that baffle me

1. seeing random shoes on the street.... how can someone lose a shoe and not realize it?? do they walk home with only one shoe and then discover they've lost one on the way





2. size zero....if someone is a zero does that mean they are not really there???



3. standing plop right in the middle of the escalator. Isn't it common knowledge that the left side is for standing and the right side is for walking??? if you are standing in the middle than those trying to walk up or down are blocked(and aggravated!!!)



4. not holding a door open for a person walking close behind you. Don't you realize that if you just let the door close it is slamming in that person's face?!?! (although I think this one might be cultural- we true Canadians might be more polite and thus maybe expect more from others)



5. the fact that I actually think about things!!! what a waste of time!

Leggings are not pants

so please girls...wear a longer top or put on proper pants!!! I have been noticing a trend these days where girls/women are wearing thin, undergarment revealing leggings in leu of actual pants. Now don't get me wrong, I love a nice pair of leggings, paired with a cute skirt/dress or long shirt dress but they are just not appropriate as a replacement of pants!
I myselfhave been searching for a great pair of leggings for myself and I think I have finally found them! H&M has a bunch of different ones and some are super thin while others are a good quality...just need to make sure I pick up the right ones (tried them on but didn't have time to buy them) Rest assured I will not be wearing them as a replacement to my fave jeans/pants but will have a dress on to cover my butt!

almost there...

I have been working on this weight loss thing for almost 6 months now. I joined WW on Jan 1 2010 and have been doing fairly well. I have definitely been seeing result on the weight loss front and can now wear most of my size 8 clothes and a few of the size 6 pants. BUT I just can't seem to get to final goal weight. I am less than 2 pounds away and have been struggling to get there for a few weeks now. I set this goal thinking it was 5 pounds more than what I really wanted to obtain for myself and now i just can't seem to get there!!! I guess I was definitely keeping it real!
I know that if i upped my exercise I would be at my goal (and I'd probably have a lot more energy as a bonus) but I am finding it so difficult to get exercise in when there are so many other things that need to be done around the house! - how can we add more hours to the day??

I am gonna whine now...i want to be at goal and on maintenance by now...boohoo....

what to do...

when you make a HUGE pot of soup from a recipe you've never tried before and it turns out tasting completely blech- nobody wants to eat it- even you gag when you put in your mouth.
I made a giant pot of minestrone soup that was supposed to be yummy and so good for you! It is definitely good for losing weight- I can't stand it. The flavour is just too strong and I really don't know how to fix it. I absolutely hate throwing away food- in fact I normally refuse to toss anything that is still edible away ( I just see it as tossing $$ in the garbage) but this pot of soup may go that way depending on if I can do anything to save it!
Any ideas on how to save my soup ???

wii woo and other ohhs!

I finally used the Wii fit. It can be described in one way so far. Frustrating! I am 55 in Wii age and find that totally disgusting.-sure i'm not the queen of fit, nor am I an exercise fanatic but 55 that is just gross! I can't decide if I can use that as encouragement to get in better shape or use it to say FORGET IT!!
I'll try it again tonight to see how it goes!

On another completely unrelated note- my little guy is starting JK in the fall and tonight we have the orientation. So very exciting! I can' t believe he will be 4 in a few weeks time and starting Junior Kindergarten in the fall!! Where or where does the time go??? OOOH boy!!

June 1st...

a new start, a new month, a new goal. I have been doing really well on my weight loss journey and have only gained .8 pounds in any given week. I almost always lose and have only 1.8 pounds left to my goal weight. My new goal is to exercise more. I really have no excuse except for exhaustion, little time and lack of motivation...I am taking a great Zumba class and really enjoy it but unfortunately I had to miss the class last week and will miss it again this week. The instructor is off next week so that will be 3 weeks in a row without zumba :( boohoo!
I was given Wii Fit for my birthday and have yet to use it. I really want to figure it out. I did finally take it out of the box and then couldn't get the thing to turn on. FUG!!
Since it is the beginning of a new month and we are going to a wedding in 20 days I should have lots of motivation to get my butt in gear.
Maybe, just maybe I'll be able to wear the dress I wore to a friends' wedding in 1998. I looked at it in my closet and think it is still stylish enough to wear-just been a little scared to try it on! Wish me luck on that

to run or not...

that is they question. I used to run- well i ran for one summer and completed a 10 k back then. It was really awesome and I was really proud of myself. The problem is I haven't run since. I tried to run with my husband a few years ago but he complained I was going too slow for him and he wasn't getting a proper workout so that ended before it really began.
Then there was the issue with my shoes. For years I thought I had some condition that would be revealed under the supervision of a specialist. I was scared to mention it to my doctor, I just grit my teeth and endured....the numbness of my toes. Yes my toes were going numb every time I put on my running shoes. I had no idea what the problem was, i even bought shoes a 1/2 size bigger trying to alleviate the problem. Then one day it hit me- I was doing up the darn shoes too tight. I pulled the laces to tight that I was almost cutting circulation from my feet! How DUMB!!!
So now I don't pull the laces as tight, which is great but they are constantly undoing mid-exercise session- damn if you do, damn if you don't!!!

I have been following a blog written by a woman who started running a short time ago and has now completed her first 1/2 marathon. It is amazing to read about her transformations both physically and psychologically. She has lost oodles of weight and has started a long term addiction (to hear her describe it anyway)
I'm not sure I could have as much dedication as she does but maybe I can get a little motivation and inspiration from Alice at mommy Blog.
Maybe tonight I'll just kick myself in the arse and get my shoes on and GO!! as NIKE says, JUST DO IT!!!!

a walk down memory lane

Just recently I started thinking back to the days I spent as an Engrish teacher in Korea. I never loved the teaching much but the food left a permanent mark on my heart. I just adore delicious Kimchi and almost all the chigae's (soups/stews). I can't walk past a Korean BBQ restaurant without my mouth watering!
But for some strange reason the thing I have been missing most about the food are those crazy, unhealthy, super duper delish fried egg sandwiches. It was like heaven to scarf down one or two of these after a night of drinking soju kettles at Polly's. I wonder if I could stomach one of those nowadays?!?!
One day when i'm feeling like really cheating on my WW plan I'm going to attempt to make one of those bready, eggy,buttery delicacies!
Another thing I have been craving recently is that "fish on a stick" i can't remember what it is called. but boy was it gooood!!! i thing it is odeng or udan or something along those lines. It is also mixed in with Tuk Boki occassionally and that is also something I could definitely have one day soon-- spicy yummy rice cake goodness!
Years ago someone bought me a korean cookbook and i have never once used it. Maybe i'll dig it out and try my hand at some of those foods I loved so much!

what's old is new again

As i've mentioned before, i have been holding on to a BIG huge box of old, much smaller clothing in the hopes that one day I'd fit into them again. Well that day has finally come (well for some of it-some is still too small and will likely never fit again)
I pulled out a few pairs (okay 10 pairs) of pants that I really wanted to wear again AND today I am!! I bought these black casuals pants in the summer of 2003 (that is the same summer I met my Hubby!!) and have not worn them since around 2004- they are fairly newish in that respect! and unlike my old jeans which i now really dislike, these pants are awesome!!! I am not usually into hanging onto old clothes but for some reason I just couldn't donate these pants (and the 9 other pairs) so now I have a whole new wardrobe for summer :)
The one thing that doesn't fit and I would really really love to wear again is the LBD I wore to our engagement party- i can put it on and I can even zip it up but it is really way tighter than it is supposed to be as I'm sure that my weight distribution really changed after 6 years and 2 babies!! (and getting closer to 40 than 30 probably has something to do with it too!!)
Even though I gained at my last weigh in (.6 pounds) I can still fit into my "new" pants and am happy with that!!!

summer is coming

well at least it is coming in theory anyway. As it stands right now the weather is too cold and damp to even conceive of summer being here soon. BUT we are still making plans! I booked 2 seperate weeks off and we have been trying to decide on what to do for our first week. The first choice was rent a cottage for a few days with another family. We did this last year and had fun for the most part- the only problem was the cottage we rented was so old and dirty we actually decided to leave after 2 nights instead of staying the planned 3! We looked into renting one at this same cottage resort again but since all the old cottages were torn down and replaced with nice new luxery ones they are all booked up. Our second choice for the week is going to Great Wolf Lodge. I think that would be great fun. Not so sure it is appropriate for my will be 2 year old but the other kids would love it i'm sure! Seems that we will run into lots of people there as 1/2 of the "hood" goes there on any given weekend! We'll have to decide pretty soon!
My second week off is later in the summer and just to be nice, i'm going to give hubby a break from me and the kids by taking a road trip with Dani and her 2 kiddos to visit Chrissy. The 3 of us used to live together back in our 20's and it will be an interesting reunion. Now that we have hubby's and kids of our own I'm pretty sure the focus of our visit won't be sitting around with Smirnoff Ice but rather chocolate milks in sippy cups! I'm pretty excited for the visit but am having a really hard time wrapping my head around the fact that we are going to be in a minivan with 4 yes FOUR kids under the age of 5. The thought actually gives me a headache but hopefully they will all entertain themselves and having more kids than normal will be a blessing! Thank goodness Dani has a built in DVD player in her car!



Looking forward on both occassions to building wonderful memories!!

Update

It has been a while since my last post. Life just seems to get in the way of my blogging sometimes!
The past few weeks have been hectic and chaotic, filled with too much drama for one person/family to handle. We had some family drama/uproar which took a toll on both hubby and me, then some sad news about the death of a friend which has been on my mind since. Luckily the uproar has settled as everyone has realized what is important in life and we need to focus on that rather than silly things.
In spite of all the drama I have managed to stay on track regarding my health plan and weight loss journey. I am really super close to my goal which i finally set at 140 pounds. This weight will not make me "skinny" but a healthy, not obese woman. I cannot imagine being able to maintain a weight of less than 140 pounds. I had wanted to reach my wedding day weight of 135 but have to stay realistic so 140 it is!! Amazing that at 37 years old 5 pounds can make such a huge difference! I have the eating well plan down pat but the regular exercise is still a bit of a struggle. I have been going to zumba once a week which is awesome and I take the stairs up to my 5th floor office at least 3 times per day BUT I need to workout more often and more vigourously still. Once i get a routine for working out in I think I'll get to my goal more easily and also maintain this weight as well.
As a joke or something I decided to try on the capri jeans I've been saving since my honeymoon. They fit. But after being my absolute favourite for YEARS (i bought them in 2001 and wore them last on my honeymoon in 2004) I now HATE them. They are ugly. The colour is all wrong, the cut outdated and now I can safely put them in the bag of clothes i'm going to be donating shortly to Goodwill! I wonder if this is going to happen to all the jeans/clothes i've been saving for the past 5 years!

what ever happened to common curtesy?

Have thank you cards gone the way of the horse and buggy? Have they become obsolete or saved only for the old fashioned?
I was thinking about all the functions and parties I've been to over the past year or two. Some of them were big fancy affairs, where big fancy gifts were expected and of course given. Some of them we received thank you cards promptly- much appriciated! Some of them we received nada! One particular event we went to and I forgot the gift so the day after the wedding the bride (my friend) came by to get it from me personally! I have yet to get a thank you card for this gift- that was almost a year ago. I also never received a thank you for the bridal shower gift i gave (and I hope she received, because I ended up leaving before she got to my gift as my little one had had enough and needed to go)That was OVER a year ago! I actually emailed my friend and asked her if she had my new address as we moved between the time of the events and the expected time frame for sending thank you cards (Normally 3 months IMO-although I had my thank you cards out 2 or 3 days after the wedding-refused to have to think about them while on our honeymoon) She replied that they hadn't sent them out yet- that was more than 6 months ago!!! Call me old fashioned but I am annoyed! I took time out of my schedule to go buy a gift for the shower, shlepped WAY out of my way to attend the shower, gave my hard earned moula for a wedding gift and then I never receive so much as a thank you!
There have been several other occassions lately that make me wonder if thank you is just not the chique way to express gratitude for what was given!!
A couple of baby gifts where thank you cards were not sent- one was a very old friend who sent out an electronic generic thank you to all the guests who attended the event ( that is better than no thank you at all but still very impersonal and again I have no idea that my specific gift was actually received by the intended recipient!!) and another similar situation. IMO a simple, we love the books or clothes or whatever would have been soooo nice!! A third event was a family wedding. We did not give a family gift but we only received our names on a thank you card written to all members of the family including my in-laws and my SIL's family- this was sent out to my in-laws house! Thank you cards were not sent for the shower either-but at that event teh Bride announce she wouldn't be sending thank you cards because she would be too busy between the shower date and the wedding- I guess that is okay then?Just not nice IMO!!

why oh why

do the constructions crews have to do their work during rush hour??? I have been late for work almost every day for the past week or two- why you ask? Well not the obvious my kids won't get ready in the morning, i slept in or I left late...they get ready just fine, I wake up at 5:30 and I always leave on time. It's the flipping construction on city streets that make me late. My normal 30-40 minute drive to work has been extended on some days to 50 or 60 minute+. The obvious solution might be to leave home earlier...a reasonable solution when one does not have kids but this is not an option. Daycare only opens at 7:30 for her and 7 for him - i refuse to drop him off at 7 am as I cannot pick him up before 5:30 and that makes for a very long day for him, which results in a very cranky kid in the evening.
I cannot move closer to the office. I cannot move work closer to home (I have tried-believe me!!!) SO the solution is- late for work every day!!! The joys of living in a huge city with no regard for the livelyhoods of commuters (lucky for me i work in a nice unionized environment where there is no way i could get fired for being late-now if i embellezled loads of $$ that might be a different story!!)

Public Service Environment Week

is coming this way soon. I volunteered to stand on the committee organizing this week of events. It is going to be interesting to see what ideas and projects actually go beyond the week to positively impact peoples thoughts and actions in everyday life.
Any ideas on what type of activities and events we can organize to create mass awareness of just HOW important the preservation of our environment is? I personally want to increase awareness of the effects our carbon footprint will have on future generations although some of the suggestions for taking public transit, walking or cycling to work are really not realistic in Toronto. (the transit system sucks, most people work too far to walk or even cycle to work) carpooling might be an option for people who don't have to drop off/pick up kids at daycare super early, just not an option for me at this point in my life.
I try not to use plastic bags- at least at the grocey store i always bring my own, if I take a plastic bag i always reuse it until it's falling apart. I try to bring a litterless lunch- which isn't always an easy task! any littter i do create i recycle when possible.
At work i always turn off my moniter at the end of the day. I recycle all the paper I use (i've tried to go paperless at my desk but found I just couldn't work as effectively so had to drop that idea.)
This whole Environment Week planning will be very interesting and an eye opener I'm sure!

Wii

My loving husband forgo my request for a new Coach purse for my birthday and got me Wii and Wii Fit instead. I was a little surprised at first but happy none-the-less. I haven't really had a lot of opportunity to use it yet but decided to try it out a little last night at 10 pm. Well I did the Wii age test and was brutally surprised to find out i'm 79 in Wii age!! come on! Am i really that unathletic? I guess so. I wasn't the girl who ducked from the volleyball or basketball in highschool gym, or the girl who was ALWAYS picked last for team sports in grade school was I? Well yeah I was. So really this lack of sportability shouldn't be a big surprise!!
I plan on tackleing the Wii Fit some time soon. Just have to take it out of the box first.

gag...

Today is the first day since I started on WW that I have not been able to eat my salad and tuna. For some reason while eating my lunch, the same lunch i have had every day for the last 3 months I started to gag. The salad tasted dry, the spinach tasted bitter,the tuna just plain gross, the only part I could eat was the red pepper and cucumber.
I really hope this doesn't mean I won't be able to eat my salad for lunch from now on! It ensures that I get my 5 vegetables a day and I know it is super duper healthy. If the same thing happens tomorrow than I'll have to rethink what I bring for lunch! Oh No! What to bring for 3 points or less? I try to keep my breakfast to 2 or 3 points,(plus 2 points for my coffee-i tried hard to take it with milk and sweetener but enjoy it much more with milk and sugar) lunch to 3 or 4 points and the rest for dinner and snacks.
Maybe i need to mix it up a little anyway because I actually gained .8 pounds this week. I was very dissappointed with this result-and i've heard that when you start eating the same thing everyday your body can get used to it and stop losing weight. I didn't believe it because i have a friend who has been eating the same thing everyday (including dinner) since December and has lost 32 pounds to date!
I'll have to see what next week brings!

was freud right?

There has got to be something to Freud's Oedipus C0mplex. The boy has recently been very very clingy with me and wants me to do everything with him. He won't take a bath unless i'm the one bathing him, he won't get dressed in the morning unless it's me there with him and now his latest "thing" is he won't go to sleep unless I lay with him for "4 minutes"...which usually turns into 40 minutes (a really bad habit we have to get out of ASAP!!)
We noticed this change in his attitude and behaviour over the course of a few months but when I really took note of this is on a recent trip to Niagara Falls. On the way home we stopped at the outlet mall, I wanted to go into La Vie En Rose for a quick look around. Well the boy wouldn't let me go alone so he tagged along while I looked for "new pajamas". He picked out a very sheer, flowy nighty and told me i must buy it because it would look very pretty. So since it was on sale and was the right size I humoured him and bought it....well dont' you think that very night he asked me to put on the pretty pj's because he wanted to see...he was very excited when i showed him the pretty pj's!! Lucky he is not quite 4 yet and his innocence is so beautiful!!

yeah for me...

i've lost 13 pounds to date. That gives me 3 more till i get to my %10 goal. I am going to really try and make it there in the next 2 weeks. Time to get back into the exercising and tracking more regularly. I have been really slack the last 2 weeks-although i haven't really gorged on goodies since now over eating really gives me tummy issues!!
I think my final goal will be 140 lbs. That is more realistic for me to maintain and I think also most realistic at my age!!