2012 take 2

One of my 2012 wish list items is fitness and healthy eating, and this is for three reasons:

1. To feel a sense of accomplishment like I used to when I rode and competed and achieved something

2. To get back into the clothes I wore nearly 10 years ago when I got married, yes I still have some and I still love them.

3. To not feel so unhealthy and guilty about over indulging (aka pigging out) and "forgetting" to exersize.

So, as I like instant gratification I started before 2012 has begun and have so far managed to start running. I can now run (with the dog admittedly) further than I have been able to run in my life. I know what it feels like now to push through that "oh I cant do it" barrier and feel the actual thrill.  And I can sense its becoming addictive. To make it even better I dont hurt in my bones, in my knees or my pelvis like I have before. I am chalking this up to good preparation, I have been walking pretty much daily since we got here. I can walk miles now and still want to go further. Its not hard here, I love the outside so much. Oh and I invested in good footwear for the first time in my life.

I have considered not eating past 6pm. Now this should be achievable given that I am home most days before 5.30 and hungry at that time and it means I eat with the girls which is what I want to do.
I say I have only considered it because so far for three nights I have failed, spectacularly. This is my mums fault (of course) as she sent over stacks of sweet biscuits and goodies and they call my name all friggin evening. Hopefully tomorrow I will manage a night of stopping eating at 6pm and it will manage to go from there. Hmmmm, tomorrow night is NY eve, I dont think its feasible! Maybe this one will start next year.

Oh, and I want to grow my hair longer again, below is me two years ago with the gorgeous Tessa, and I rather fancy that look back, I hope I dont look too much older than then (real fear kicks in!)

And heres one of me and Lily in July this year:

And just for the beauty of it,here is the lake at the cottage in Sheet Harbour, this is a stunning shot by Mrs Roo and reminds me of last summer:

2012

A post on Rainy Saturdays blogspot about 2012 got me thinking about writing my own version, I was most inspired by what she wants for 2012 so here goes:

What the last few years have been about:
2009 - Finished my exams and achieved a massive dream of becoming a Chartered Management Accountant. A very good friend sadly passed away and we spent alot of the year picking ourselves up from that one.
2010 - Got a new job. Decided finally to emigrate to Canada, started the serious paperwork, freaked out abit, came on a recce, sold our house with nothing to go to.
2011 - March - emigrated to Nova Scotia, got a new house, new job, first ever dog and new life
2012 - ????????

Who knows what will happen, I certainly dont take anyones health for granted anymore. I feel that I need to learn more about taxation (yawn from all, but its getting to be interesting - never thought I would write that little gem).
We need to check out this fabulous new place more, its so beautiful. Our 10th wedding anniversary is in 2012, got some major plans for that one. Oh and my children are growing up WAY too fast.

So, for this year, increase of healthy meals, no more eating after 6pm (new plan of attack), more running as I am just discovering that I actually CAN run. Being a tourist in our own province, TAXATION! (yay)
Big plans for wedding anniversary, oh and I just decided that we should try to drive to Nantucket this year and spend a week there, its on my list. Must start the research going on that one.....

our first Canadian Christmas

Nova Scotia was very good to us this Christmas in many ways:
1. We had a white Christmas! It started to snow on the 23rd and was all white and fluffy on Christmas day. I had a gorgeous walk with Dukie after breakfast and present opening and the snow was so sparkly as it was so sunny and the sky was blue. It was also so warm that I talked Lily into coming out away from her new presents and playing. I gave up with Chloe - the new DSi was way too important to leave.

2. Paul cooked a wonderful truly scrumptious feast and we ate with new good friends - turkey, beef, fresh cranberry sauce, three types of stuffing, brocolli, carrots, turnip, roast and mashed potatoes, roast sweet potatoe, roast parsnips and corn. I still cant believe all that came out of our kitchen. We made up two tables and feasted with some Beringer! This was followed by Rubys homemade lemon meringue pie and rice pudding !
 Mmmmmmmmmmmmm

3. We caught up with some lovely friends and family in the UK and Turkey - hurrah for skype.

4. Girls had tonnes of presents - Breyer horses, Nintendo DSi for Chloe and her old one for Lily (she doesnt mind castoffs - long may that last), zoobles, colouring books, model animals. I was one lucky lady with a beautiful Lia Sophis necklace and the new Kathy Reichs novel - yay!! We did of course get ourselves this rather marvellous new laptop for Christmas anyway.

5. We didnt watch ANY TV and I mean none at all. The day didnt need it, we just ate and talked and talked and talked with two great walks with the dog. Loved it!

Today is Boxing Day and we finished off the festivities with a meet up with other friends and a great bubble and squeak. Tomorrow back to work for me - not really looking forward to it!

the holidays have arrived

This morning it started snowing at 7am and it fell steadily all day, outside there is a foot of snow everywhere and its so pretty, so silent and pretty and just pretty - have I said that enough?
We finished work at 1pm and I have had a great afternoon just chilling in my home looking at the scenery out of the windows and the way the light falls in the house.
Now its 7.16pm and I am going to pull on boots and coat (my new winter coat) and get out there in the dark and the silence, the full moon and that snow. Tomorrow is Christmas Eve and the excitment in the house is overwhelming

Monday catchup

Had THE most fabulous weekend. Paul was working so apart from trying to keep the noise down for him he was pretty much not involved in the weekend at all (which is always a shame but hopefully this is not forever)

On Saturday I took the girls to the Quality Inn for swimming. The changing room was very nice, a whole room to ourselves with a shower in it, the tile around the pool was very nice and new and contemporary but the pool was very old, some of the filter covers were missing (that FREAKED me out, I read the Daily Mail, I know all about children that drown in pools when something gets sucked into the pool filter) and it was a pool that had a freaky optical illusion thing going. It looked like I was walking uphill but the depth remained the same. The shallow end was too deep for the girls really. The hot tub was nice and hot but it was old and tired looking and a bit stained. Oh and the shower was cold and there was nowhere to dry our hair, not even a hand dryer we could crouch under. It was not good, still girls seemed to enjoy it. We are going to check out the Canada Games Centre next. I think I am going to have to accept that I am not going to find anywhere within a 20 min drive – sigh

On Sunday we went to another Expats house and met up with a bunch of expats for an early Christmas dinner get together. We all cooked something – my offering was mashed potato and fresh cranberry sauce. I cooked up and mashed a whole bag of potatoes which made my arms ache and I cooked my first every cranberry sauce which was amazing and so easy.

There was lots of good food at the meal and it was great to catchup with so many lovely people. The girls played with other children and I just, well, chatted – a lot!

We got home at 6pm and had a quiet evening. I took Dukie for a long walk where he pulled relentlessly, was rather like holding onto a strong horse and got me thinking about how much I miss that world. The world of having a horse in my life. I wonder if I will ever have it again.

The temperature has dropped a lot, it was -9 last night and at 11pm when I took Duke out for a pee, snow was lightly drifting down. Today it wont struggle over zero and on my drive to work I went past ice forming quietly and relentlessly on the lakes, that was a little weird to look at.

Today I am at work, given that its Monday and Paul is home, hes apparently cooking curry for dins. I know Chloe is home with Dukie and having a quiet day. I am looking forward to picking Lily up from daycare and joining them this evening, it cant come soon enough

Bag of Bones

Some kind dear person sent me Bag of Bones to watch. Now given that this has been on the TV I dont feel too bad about watching a download, esp as I didnt actually download it.
So now, I have to summon the courage, find a pillow to hide behind, get some viewing time without small children in broad daylight preferably just before lunch so I have LOTS of time to get over it before darkness falls, have a responsible adult watch it with me, or at least be around and last but not least have to ensure Paul is not on nightshift for mega ages.
Once this is all in place, I shall open the popcorn and find a spot on the sofa to watch and try to figure out all the spots its filmed in, oh and of course ogle the wonderful Pierce!

how to change?

I was thinking today (well all the time actually) about losing some weight and trying to regain the figure I had when Paul and I first met. Those were the days when I would finish work and go and ride my horse and practise all evening for a dressage test. The kind of days when I would throw off my jacket and we would both build up some sweat and it would all go well and I would end up red faced and full of the joy of achievement.

Now, 7 years on I no longer have a horse or a chance of one, and certainly not the chance of the time to spend like that.

Of course half the issue is working full time at a desk on my backside so I get no exersize (except for my fingers) and not enough money to pay for the lifestyle I want and no chance of any light at the end of the tunnel.

I cant just go and ride or exersize from work as the girls don’t see me all day and I need to spend time with them. Its so hard to find any me time when you are a working parent.

I keep telling myself that when they are older and don’t need me so much I can do these things again but by then I most likely be the size of a house and even less able to afford it. I need to change something here, this isn’t working for me.

An indoor pool!

I have just had the best telephone call with the Quality Inn located at Halifax Airport. They allow the public to use their pool! Yay! For a small fee of course but we have all been feeling the absence of a nice indoor pool in our lives. Chloe and Lily often ask to go swimming and say how much they miss Nuffield Health and I personally am feeling a bereavement about Nuffield Health. We used to go every weekend.

There is a massive lack of decent indoor pools with nice changing rooms in NS. I was horrified at the public pool in Truro as it was the pits. I mean I am a changing room snob, I know it and I make no apologies for it. Nuffield Health has a lovely indoor pool with spa like changing facilities and it made a happy weekend trip for me and the girls. So anyway, I am going to load up the swimming bag for Saturday morning and get the girls in the car and we are going to check it out. I can hardly wait!

Christmas can come now

Apart from one present that I still need to buy. Anyhow, I have been taking some pictures of our tree and garlands and some terrible outside shots that dont show it as it is AT ALL, and here they are:

chilled out Sunday

Yesterday I had breakfast by myself. It was amazingly fabulous to eat my most favourite Blueberry pancakes with maple syrup – made with wholewheat flour, as I like them.

This was achieved by Lily feeling ill – poor thing has been spectacularly sick the night before all down the stairs. I had to of course deal with her alone as Paul had nipped to the neighbours to try out moose steaks and didn’t show up again for hours.

Anyway, she was in bed watching Tinkerbell, Chloe was asleep and so was Paul – due to his late nights trying moose and beer!

So it was just me and the dog. After our 7am trot round the neighbourhood in my Pyjamas, coat, boots, hat and gloves. That may I add is a great way to start the day as the light is very different.

I decided to sod it, I would look after myself and cooked it up and then had them with coffee pot coffee – Folgers of course – with my soya milk and International Delight French Vanilla, and fresh orange juice.

I then perused FB and my favourite blogs in absolute silence – except for the logs crackling on the fire and the far off sound of Disney.

We then had a pretty good day, Lily slept lots – shes a pretty good child when shes sick and Chloe played and I baked mince pies and we listened to music and then I went to Walmart without kids with Ruby which was as Ruby put it, frickin AWESOME and then we had a peaceful Tim Hortons complete with Maple Cinammon French Toast bagel. It was so odd to be without children that we felt that we needed to wipe someones nose, anyone would do!

Last night I tried to watch Bag of Bones which was filmed down the road in the summer and has Pierce in it only to discover that we don’t have that flaming channel available. I am going to look into downloading it, if possible and I can do it legally.

the hunt for a Christmas tree

Yesterday afternoon we took to the roads in the big steel sleigh called our Uplander and went in search of our Christmas tree. There were no trucks to drive under or rednecks or in fact snow on the ground but in true Griswold style we went to a Christmas tree farm and walked across its acres to find our tree.

We engaged in singing “Rudolph the red nosed reindeer” led by the girls and drove far enough down a dirt road that Chloe asked if we were lost. There were thousands of Christmas trees all around us.

We found our tree in a shaft of light – all 7.5 foot gorgeousness of it – and Paul took a saw and cut it down.

We then paid a whole $33 for it (bargain!) and drove it home.

Whilst it was resting in its shiny snow stand (from Rona) we indulged in a cup of tea and mince pie (as made by Paul) and a quick peruse of the new issue of Canadian House and Home.

Whilst the girls decorated their pink tree at the top of the stairs from scratch – lights and all without any supervision we put the tree lights on. Once they were on it was a free for all with other decorations. I did the top half of the tree and the girls did the bottom.

The end result was a tree that was staggeringly beautiful, with twinkling ($50 yard sale for 1000 lights) lights on it and decorations from all over the world and our memories.

There were decorations that have been made by the girls, bought in Key West, Toronto, Peggys Cove, came as presents, St Augustine and Niagara Falls. There were decorations from my very first tree as an adult in my own home, many years ago. It’s a mishmash of colours and full of love and is quite frankly the best tree that we have ever had.

vets bills

Just had a call from our neighbour where our dog hangs when we are at work, with his dogs and our dog has chewed up and half eaten a beer can! His dog is booked in for an xray as its not clear whos eaten this as both dogs were involved but his dog doesnt ever chew beer cans. Apparently the beer can is in pieces but there isnt enough to reconstruct the damn thing.
So, our dog is now booked in for xrays too - at a mere $58 for the exam and $115 for the xrays. And I am hoping but doubtful that is where it will end, if theres bloody shards of metal in his stomach then those costs are so going to escalate!
I cant friggin believe it, he only had $280 spent on him last week for his little vasectomy! I am going to take shares out in this vets soon, I should get a good return on my investment!
Paul is incensed with rage at work, I had the job of breaking this news to him.
And the moral of the story is - dont have beer in cans, buy bottles!