A Long Lost Soul...

Yep, that is me. I have gone through some bad times and had a hard time picking my self out of it this time but eventually came through. Wanted to get back on here but didn't know how to start.

I have decided that I would go through the year by month and just sum things up. Some of it has things to do with weightloss, some run/walking, work, and of course life thrown in the mix. I really have had some accomplishments I should add and I also have some really fun things to look forward to in the future as long as things don't get worse. lol :0)

Welcome...

...to my daily blog

As this blog is about my attempts in running, weight loss, animals, and daily life events of rants and raves.

Feel free to explore the site through the menu above.

Cheers! :0)

Less Than 22 Days...

And I am going to be walking a half marathon with my hubby and friend! I am not heading out for any PR's but just for the fun of it. Things have been going well on the moving around bit, but just can't sit down... lol. My friend and I walked last year and I am going to head out again with her and my hubby said he would like to join us! May I just add that he hasn't trained as of yet... I did politely ask if he was SURE about doing it... ;0) He said, "yep."

So, yeah, have not been around much as we have been pretty busy. Myself, I have been getting up at 5:30 am with the dogs out for either a brisk walk, or a run/walk every day except Saturdays where I bike with the two dogs. I am still doing my yoga and LOTS of stretching. I am trying to get to the pool for some laps but just haven't made it yet.

Heartrate Training is going wonderful and I am re-learning about putting on the breaks and not going full out wearing myself down. No new injuries to report so things must be going right. :0) My times are getting better so cardio wise I am happy. Not even close to where I was but heh, I am in no rush and not out to win anything.

Work wise I am back to full days at work as of this week and managing as expected. We still haven't completely finished the old house or even finished unpacking this house but... we have a NEW internet provider as of Tuesday!!! Yeah! No more problems. :0) I can write emails, blogs, play mahjong... with no more interruptions and lost information - spending WAY too much time recomposing everything.

Other than that things have been really looking up besides the odd situation like me leaving my lights on my vehicle and getting stuck in the snow storm till someone could boost me, or my little 3 lb puppy getting sick on me for a week... by the way, he is doing much better now and this morning he had his very first haircut.

It is so great to hear from all of you and I do read up on a lot of you here and there, I just have had little bits of time here and there to get on here.

So, there is what I have been up to in a nut shell, more to come, but enough for now. :0) I need my beauty sleep for a 17 km walk bright and early tomorrow...

LIfe... in General of Course

So yes, been busy kept on thinking today I will update and... well, nothing. That reason of life really just gets in there. :0)

How has everyone been? I am eager to read about all the race reports and such that have happened. I am slowly getting a new routine down here but obviously it needs a bit of tweaking... I mean I used to blog in the mornings, tried the evenings for a bit but found that the mornings work best. But now... with my new routine I am trying to work out, things are not going as smoothly as I had hoped. I will keep trudging on though. lol

Thanks for all the well wishes on everything. My Nanny is at home now, has not really recovered hugely but she is managing to walk around a bit but tires very easily.

House, doing well minus all the little glitches that a person does not notice when you first move in to a new house. I am starting a list and it is slowly growing... The lovely blizzard weather we have just had here, my fence gate decided it was going to do a 'Dorothy and Toto' and went for a small tour. lol It is now safely (but not so prettily) tied down to the fence. I did what I could in the midst of the high winded snow attacking me. lol

I am loving my new furniture but my Husky has decided that the couch is hers to sleep on and she is being quite persistent about the whole thing. Good thing I am being persistent about her NOT being on there. lol It just has been the last couple of days here that she really wants to be up here. The ONLY good thing about leather is that her hair just wipes off. lol

Chewy, my puppy is doing very well and I am impressed. Litter trained already. I am not saying he will not use the outside eventually, but he really does not like the outside at all. So for now, I am saving my sanity and floors and considering how hard Yorkies are to potty train, I think we are doing well. Puppy socialization was on hold for two weeks due to some cases of kennel cough but back at it next week, and we start our puppy kindergarten class in a week. So tonnes of fun with the little man. He is now 2.5 lbs and full of energy - but HATES the leash.

This last week I have had off of work due to Easter holidays and this wonderful list of things to do and finally get done, like finish the other house cleaning and to get this house unpacked completely. Do you think I got anything done? Nope. Well I can't really say nothing done... I had appointments that I had to attend like vet, mechanic, chiro... those got done. ;0)

Mind you I did get something else done... getting outside and moving more! My pain is doing well, still having some bad flair ups but for the most part I am doing well. I am not going to head out and do any races tomorrow or anything but I am getting out there and working at getting back in the groove. :0)

I have really been trying to listen to my body to be more aware of my limitations and for the last week and a half I have been going back to heart rate training. So if you see a snail out there with two dogs pulling along ahead, that would be me. I haven't done some heart rate training in a while and forgot how humbling it can make you at the start (although the improvements are wonderful) and for someone whose cardio, strength, and endurance are not up to what they were, wow. Do to still in the mend, I am not doing any speed work and just keeping the heart rate between the 60-75% zone alternating days of a 70 and 75% max so I don't have two days in a row over 70%. So any grief my body is feeling or if I am pushing myself too much, that annoying little chirp goes off. (I say it is annoying but really I like the feed back :0) ) For all the people out there that are in to fitness gadgets, I am using my ol' faithful, Garmin 301 HRM for this purpose. This way I get all my info in at once. If you notice on the right side where I am to be tracking my mileage and such, I just keep forgetting right now to enter info and might just get rid of it as mileage is not what my focus is right now. We'll see. ;0)

As for races and such this year, I am kind of seeing how things go. My friend would like me to walk the half at the end of May and I am sure I could do it, but would it be wise? THAT I do not know. I have walked over 10km here last weekend... I would like to run it though and I know THAT would be out of the question at this point. lol If I do it, I want to dress up for it though. Last year when I walked with her for support (it was her first time walking instead of running due to can't run anymore), I kept saying I should have dressed up. I had my iphone blaring music the whole time (on its speakers not my ears) as loud as I could get it, and we sang pretty much most of the way... I also danced from start to finish the whole way. It was soooooo much fun and I really needed a goofy outfit and bells or something because I think I cheered on almost everyone other participant on the course we came across, which was a lot considering we were holding up the back end. lol So much fun! I had no voice, a very sore throat, and bruised hands from clapping - wearing rings does not help in the fact that they make the bruising worse... Any ideas on what I could wear if I did it? :0)

My work friends would like me to walk or run with them in the Local Bridge City Boogie 5 km in June. Again, walking it would be, if anything, at this point. I am out running but not ready.

In the fall I would like to do a running event of some kind... we will see how it goes.

So there you go, a bit of a book again but heh, I had lots to say. ;0)

Now to see if the wind has died down enough for the furries and I to head out for a small jaunt... yesterday was a right off with the weather and I am not too sure about today. I see the sun but, we still have travel advisories out. We shall see.

A Blistery Day

Well good morning everyone! :0) I don't know about all of you but we had some wicked wind around here. It was so loud and at one point there was no gust just straight rumble... I got a bit worried and checked the weather station for anything serious. The result was that this wind was going to take away our lovely weather that we have been so graciously given the past little bit. So this morning we now have snow... again. My hubby laughs at me when I talked about wondering what March will bring since it came in like a lamb.

So some mixture of good and not so good news in my little end of cyberspace.

My pain is doing quite better and is much more manageable now. Yeah! I have been consistently getting my runs in 3/wk and good walks in the other days. Sunday morning was a repeat of last weeks accomplishment. I have had no increase in pain from it at all. I am still only half time at work with light duties but will see what happens on Friday here when I go back for my check up.

Internet? I think we have it solved? lol Didn't I say that last time... hmmm... I had finally had it when a couple of days ago I was composing a VERY important letter to Human Resources at my work. I went to send and *poof*. Gone. So nothing like rushing trying to recompose the email before going to work. NOT happy. So we are trying another router.

Chewy, my puppy Yorkie, is doing quite well and keeping me busy on the home front. Right now I am having fun writing this and trying to teach him that the plug in for my computer is not a chew toy... who was it that said be careful what you name him? lol I still have not managed to get a half decent picture of him as he is always on the move.

Work at the new school is wonderful and I am quite enjoying working there. The house I couldn't be more happier about and it really has changed all of us for the better here. My son with all this moving of home and school he could have really gone down hill but no, he matured and is doing the best he ever has.

I have managed to catch up on some of your blogs, sorry no comments yet as I really wanted to read as much as I could. I thank all for your wonderful comments and cheers.

Now for some not so great news, (the drama never really ends around here...) my Nanny (grandma) is in the hospital. She had a heart attack and is still not out of the woods yet. So this morning at work I am going to be carrying my cell with me.

So as I end my little tidbit for today, I am back to thinking happy thoughts and listening to the sounds of little pitter patters across my floors and watching my little Chewy steal all of the cat toys... You just have to find some good when things are bad. Have a good day everyone.

The Days Are a Runnin'

And me too! :0) Not far or super fast yet or anything, The main thing is that I am back! Yah! I haven't been pushing it too much too soon or anything and I have been really reading my body on where I am at. Not quite back at a learn to run stage... but not too far from it. lol Cardio wise I really need to get that back on track here - and weight wise... this whole back thing really did not help me in that area... but then again I chose what to put in my mouth and how much of it. hehehe I am not worried because now that things are getting back on track again here, everything will fall back in to place.

So, I had mentioned before about the internet... well I am certainly frustrated!!! I never know when I am going to get it or not. I was really hoping that it would be sorted out by now but again, I must look at the positives? Not on the computer too much! lol

Some news: This week is my first week of Chiro only once a week. My back is doing better but still have no clue what is up, WCB is still in the air with it and my luck I will be all better before anything is done. Still not finished unpacking at the new house and old house is still not finished either. This weekend we have a blitz planned with a few people to get at least the other house worked on. I am really liking the school I was transferred to - not really as busy or as physical as my last one but that was the whole reason I was transferred so that I could heal. My son was transferred to a school out here in the new house area (not too sure if I had mentioned that one) and he was upset at first, but LOVES his new school. I am getting a puppy!

Ok, so I snuck that one in there and it is not like I have super uber tonnes of time here but we had to put our small dog Denver down last fall and we have all been going nutz and missing the little guy. Now we are not trying to replace Denver, but really like how a small dog just fit in to our family dynamics, like a missing puzzle piece finally found. I pick up Chewy (Chewbacca), our new little man, tomorrow. He is a Yorkie and just turning 12 wks old. I am loving this breeder so far and has been so kind and knowledgeable. I checked around a few others and ended up with them and not too mention they are not too far a drive for me. So expect some pics here at some point, internet pending... ;0)

Back to news: I received my black leather couch and bed!!!! Eeeeeek! lol THAT was an exciting day I tell ya and one of the best sleeps in a long time. Ok, last fall I dyed my hair red... well this weekend I wanted it back to normal... what was I thinking!!! After numerous attempts in trying to 'fix' the hair color and stop it from going orange, I now have dark hair which is almost a deep dark rich chocolate brown. At least I am happier with the color. I think the students at my new school are going to think I am crazy or something because I have arrived with a new color each day this week - note to self.... go to a proper hairdresser next time.

I would like to thank everyone for hanging in there/here during my time of transition to a new house. Things will get back on track here again and I know I have soooooo much reading to catch up on but I am going to enjoy every bit of it. We are still waiting for someone to check things out here.

Take care and be safe out there on those roads and paths! (and no falling off the couch if you are injured) lol

Whirlwind of Events

Yes, I seemed to have been MIA again but it was all for good reason. No time and no internet.

Internet: Ok. I don't know what it is but getting internet here has been a major problem. I managed to get on here and there and as soon as I started something, POOF, internet gone again...Something is not configured right or it is the wiring. I believe we have to bring someone in now, not sure as hubby figures he has it now. ;0)

Time: well, around here it was OLYMPICS! Hockey, curling, and basically just every event. Oh! give a peek to the Daily Mile on the side... I managed to get out for a total of 5.3 km!!!! Mostly running... well jogging anyways. I took the time when I left the house with one dog, switched dogs after the run, and checked the time after my cool down. I think it worked out to something like 56 min? Kinda hard when I don't see it from this page. lol Felt great and I did no timing at all, like no set intervals or anything. I just wanted to get out there and do as I feel. Pain wise went well, only until I went to work the next day.

Speaking of work, whirlwind there. I have been transferred out of my school to another one that is less physical. :0( I found out Friday, and yesterday was my last day, today I am at the new one. Still only mornings but we will see how it goes.

Well gotta run, and I really am trying to catch up here.... lol

Busy But Productive Day

So I did not manage to get back on here last night so haven't managed to catch up with everyone yet. Hopefully tonight...

Yesterday ended up being a whirlwind of events of trying to get things done and next thing I knew it was late at night. As last week's Thursday and Friday were inservice days, yesterday was the first day actually back working with the students. It did not go so well and I had really hoped things would be better. :0( I think I may have to look in to working at another school. For those that do not know, I am an educational assistant working in a special school of about 36 students ranging from ages 3-22. All of the students are very challenged and most are in wheelchairs. Even though we use things like lifts and such, it is a very physically demanding job.

So, yeah about yesterday's work... not good and I almost came home in tears. After I came home I took my husky for a tour among the path by the house. I did not calculate time or distance as this was just a stress reliever jaunt of sorts.

Now, time has gotten away on me yet again here so off I go to try another day of work and this time I am scheduling time to catch up. :0)

Have Internet!

So yes I am back on (finally...). It seemed like forever not being able to update what was happening. lol

We are now moved in, not quite unpacked yet, and still have to clean, fix, and get all the outside stuff from the old house yet. It will come.

In breaking news... I have returned back to work last Thursdays half time for now and on light duties and chiro is now only twice a week instead of three! Every day is starting to get better but we still do not have a real diagnosis and waiting for this other specialist to see me. We have pin pointed the one main area and that is it. The only thing I am focusing on is the good and it is only getting better. :0)

I have some permission to do a bit more exercise wise so I will truly be taking advantage of that! lol There is a path that is just at the end of my street that I believe I will get to know well. ;0)

Well, a bit of a quick post this morning and will update more tonight. This morning is our first mother son trip back to the main city for school and work and we are a bit behind schedule... lol

Hope all is well!

Quick Update

Everything with the new house is coming along fine and we went to check out our new flooring last night... it is soooooo gorgeous! Movers are now coming Tuesday instead of this weekend which is ok since we need more time to pack BUT phone and such is all going to be transferred tomorrow (Friday) so I may not have internet till next week when we are out in our new house. So if you don't see me around blog land for a couple of days here, you now know why.

Improvements are continuing with my injury and all the 'specialists' thus far say to go back on my old work injury claim as they think it is from that. So we will see, but I am doing better except for this stupid cold I managed to catch from somewhere... ugh. No worries though. :0)

I haven't had much time to much workout wise and now with this cold I think I should step back a bit and only do what is really needed. ;0) So lots of fluids will be my plan with a bit of extra relaxation to top it off and I should be rid of this cold in no time.

Thanks again everyone for all the great comments and well wishes! I haven't had too much time to catch up on reading but I will! And for the IT band thing, I know pretty weird but yet strangely funny.

Have a great weekend everyone!

Just a Quick Post...

... to say that things are coming along with the whole moving thing and the flooring is being done as I write. :0) Hopefully next week by this time I will be living at the new house, pending of course if my lovely husband calls to set up some movers... lol My sister, son, and hubby painted all weekend and I was sent off to do errands since I can't do much.

I have scoped out some nice pathways that go around town but I am thinking it may only end up as a 5 ish km loop with a bit of an out and back. I think once I get my mileage up again here, hopefully soon, that I may have to invest in a safety vest to run on the side of the high way or back roads. Just the thought of getting out there is exciting... new places to run! :0)

Pain wise things are actually looking up the last two days where as the pain has not been as strong and not as much! Maybe there may be a dim light starting at the end of the tunnel... ;0)

By the way, my son is doing a bit better and has returned to school today. He still is worried but we are doing much better.

Oh! The IT band thing? I did have to laugh because to them I was almost speaking another language or something. I seriously would have thought they SHOULD know what that is. Mind you if sports injuries is not their specialty and they are just a family practitioner, maybe they just briefly cover it? I don't know... I am just making assumptions here and think maybe I should be looking at finding a new doctor that is both a family practitioner with experience in sports medicine... or maybe I am just asking for too much. lol Just go with the flow I think and it should all work out. :0)

Cheers!

The Good and The Bad

Workouts? What workouts... lol Been to busy to even TRY to squeeze one in. Remember yesterday I had plans to fit SOMETHING in? Yeah, well it did not happen. I left my house around 9:30 a.m. and did not get back until 5:30 p.m. and was wiped, both physically and mentally. I think for the next bit here I will not force any plans for workouts of any kind and just be happy to get in what I can. Being realistic should be gearing my current goals at the moment and when we are a bit more settled with this moving stuff, I can re-evaluate where I am and continue on. As I manage to get the odd walk, swim, or whatever in I will be accountable and post it. :0) I am taking it easy and not lifting anything or pushing myself to the point that it will interfere with my healing.

Good thing is that the flooring is now bought and is in the new place waiting to be installed next week. My poor son had quite the workout unloading 2 skids of the stuff! We did cheat a bit though and unloaded it in to the heated garage right off the truck so he did not have to travel far. :0) Since I have a small truck we had to make two trips out there. (btw - the flooring guy had the name wrong with the Bamboo flooring, it is engineered oak hardwood which is susposed to be quite durable also - was kind of looking forward to just saying I have Bamboo... lol )

The doctors visit was both up and down. No answer BUT have decided to try to apply for workman's compensation based on a claim I made nine years ago (injured same area of back that hurts now) and see if they feel it is related in any way. I thought it may have been the knee that started it all but I am lost at this point now. Who knows, maybe they can shed some light or eliminate them so we can move on to the next possible cause. The problem with me is that some of the injuries that I have had in the past have been quite severe so how do you determine what the possible cause of this could be? It really is the million dollar question.

I do have to laugh though. You see I am so used to using lingo like IT band, SI joint, and such and I just had the ortho AND my family doctor ask me what IT band stands for... ok... this just really made me giggle. lol

So today my sister is coming over bearing timmies :0) and going to help with a couple loads of just some odd light stuff around the house. My son is home again today (will explain in a bit here) so he will be able to help also. You see I was looking around my old house here and I do not see where I could even put a packed box at this point it is so cluttered with stuff. So I felt maybe we could start clearing some stuff out to make some room for the stuff being packed in boxes.

My son? Well for those that do not know, my son has Asperger's, ADHD, Tourette's, and Asthma. Quite the combination I know... lol We are just having a really bad spell lately about this whole 2012 stuff going on. He likes to watch the history channel and they have covered a few things about this subject. One of them being about the Mayans. Now my son see's things black and white and not much grey areas so trying to explain this to him is really hard. He says the Mayans have always been right in their predictions so something bad IS going to happen 2012. He is a bit paranoid at the moment and quite fragile. I am trying my best to keep him calm but it is pretty hard when he tells me that when ever he lets his mind go bland (as he puts it) this stuff always pops in his mind and then he gets worked up about it. So I have been trying to keep him occupied with me (he also is showing signs of a chest cold so have to keep that in check before full blown asthma attack) and I am enjoying the time with him - he really is a great help. :0) I usually would try to take him to his doc but he just retired suddenly and now we have to find a new one.

So today my mind goes in to positive thoughts and being very optimistic about the coming weeks ahead. I am going to enjoy my coffee, dream about the new place, and plan some nice walking and hopefully soon to be running again routes in that area. :0)

Busy As A Bee

That is what I have been. No wasted time around here Tuesday/Wednesday and I am so done in at this point. I had plans to go to yoga practice on Tuesday evening, my daily walks, the pool, and the only thing I have been able to do is some slight stretching. This prepping to get everything done for the new house is exhausting me. lol As of yesterday though, the only thing I have left to get is the flooring which is this morning. We have gone from wanting hardwood, then a laminate, and finally we made the final decision last night and Bamboo it is.

I went to chiro yesterday and one bit of good news is that chiro is a bit fed up about all this unknown cause of pain and is going to look deeper in to possible causes like the car accident, injury at work, injury while running, and my job as a possible cause. She kind of figures that someone needs to get on this and if no one else is solving anything, she will. Like the attitude. :0) I head to my family doctor this afternoon to get yet another note to give to work and to see about the referral to the next specialist. :0(

So enough about that. Have to focus on the good stuff around here like the house, number of bedrooms it has (6), bathrooms (3), am I ex-tactic... you bet I am! lol Family and friends are like 'why do you need so many rooms in your house?' I am like 'our bedroom, son's room, animal room, spare bedroom, office, and workout room.' :0) I think it is just the right amount, would like to get spoiled for once, and not to mention it should be way easier to keep things organized.

Today's plans are to grab some help, buy the flooring, and take it to the new house to climatize then it is me time. A walk, stretch, maybe the pool, and then the docs. Depending on the pain level, tonight may be either dance (just minimal arm work or zills), yoga practise (lightly), or just relax and enjoy one of my last fires in my fireplace at my soon to be old house.

Here's to a great day everyone and I will try to catch up the last couple days in reading here.

Cheers! :0)

My New House!

Today I went and picked up the keys to it! :0) This is the oversized garage
My double wide front doors (noticed the missing shutter and found it)
Three tiered deck (the first tier is the small sun room
Arch to bottom tier on the deck
Double shower head and double seat shower in bathroom off master bedroom
Jet tub.. :0) in main bathroom
Living room
Kitchen (huge prep area on this side of the breakfast bar)
Dining room
Another view of kitchen (check out the sky light) and breakfast bar. Kitchen will have all stainless steel appliances.
And the entrance way.... Sorry the pics aren't the greatest but I forgot my camera and just had the camera phone with me, but I needed SOMETHING to show everyone! lol I didn't take pics of the finished basement because I felt maybe it would be a bit much. ;0)

On Wednesday morning, we are meeting a flooring guy to get a quote for putting hardwood everywhere upstairs but the bathrooms, kitchen and dining room. I soooooo can not wait to be moved in!!! I have to wait patiently for a couple of weeks yet. :0(

Health wise, today I have gone to chiro, went to the pool and swam 1000 meters, and then to the new house to get the keys. Pretty sore at the moment as today was a bit much for me so I think I am going to call it a night everyone. Thanks for bearing with me sharing my pics!

Swim: 1000 meters

Lesson Learned

Today I have learned a valuable lesson.

DO NOT put on Lakota ointment on your skin anytime prior to going to a hot yoga class. WOW! I thought my skin was going to burn off because it sure felt like it was on fire. I had put some on this morning and once I started to warm up in yoga this afternoon, well that was it. I was wiggling around trying to get comfortable and even poured water on to my towel so I could try and wipe some of it off a good number of times - didn't work too well and only spread it. When I came home and checked out my skin, it was all really red and warm to the touch. Won't be repeating that mistake again.

So that was the biggest highlight of my day. :0)

(you can all laugh now)

Needless to say, I am done for workouts for the day.

Hot Yoga