Running

Since curling season is over, I'm running again.  It seems to take a lot of time, but it's only about an hour a day, except one long run every 10 days or so that takes about 2 hours.

I started running with an old roommate before I'd even met P to train for a 1/2 marathon. After I'd completed it, I ran the odd 5k, etc.  I'd run every once in awhile, but not often and didn't stick much with it.  When we moved here I realized that there wasn't a ton to do to keep me busy, I had more free time, and, bonus when you aren't a really motivated runner-it was mostly flat here.  So I found a site online www.mapmyrun.com and I started making courses around 3km.  The other advantage to running here is that km sounds much more impressive than miles since there are more of them! (1.6 km = approx 1 mile).  I trained for no specific race, just to see how far I could go. My longest run was about 10km by last fall and I started curling season.  Although my back and arms had a hard time adjusting to 4 days a week, my legs did not. I attributed it to the running and decided I'd run again in the spring and summer but add arm weights! 

I'd been frustrated and not feeling well about that time and started to change my diet as well. I stopped eating wheat Oct 2014, alcohol November 2014, Dairy in January 2015 and in the last few weeks have started cutting my sugar. I'll occasionally have a drink maybe once a month now and I'm experimenting with non-traditional dairy like goat-milk cheese and yogurt, etc.  I have noticed I have more energy and less cravings without wheat. My skin is happier (I suffer from rosacea which causes redness and huge postules-like pimples only bigger and grosser and more painful) and the dairy has settled my stomach.

Spring came and I started out about 3km again.  Within a month I was up to 5kms a few times a week. I was amazed how quickly I was able to increase my run lengths. I map my run on the website, then write it down on my arm with a pen that I can wash off in the shower afterwards.  I use playlists set up on my Zune to figure out how far I go (no skipping, then I look up what song I finished on and add or subtract to figure out my time).

Right now I'm running just under 50 km a week. I went on a 19km (11mi) run this week and regularly run 7-9pm 4-5 times a week.  After a 3 month weight plateau now that I'm cutting back on sugar, I'm at my lowest weight in 5 years, 2nd lowest in probably 15-20 years.  I can run 10km in an hour.

I hated one mile Fridays in middle school, I have exercise-induced asthma and won't use an inhaler. I had a running first this week-for the first time, I PASSED someone in running clothes who was actually running.  I'm amazed at how much progress I've made.  I love that I only need shoes and an hour to do this.

I was having some knee and blister pain however, so I asked my brother-in-law for advice (he runs further than I do and has been on a similar health kick) he took one look at the bottom of my shoes and said, "um, maybe you need to get shoes that have tread on them"

 

Oops. I'm a hard fit for shoes so I headed to the running store with my flat, double-wide, over pronating feet and got moved to Asics (I've only run in Mizunos)

 

 

My heel is unfortunately normal size, so to get shoes big enough in the toes, I have to get wide Men's shoes. After a week break in, I'm happy with them, even with calluses on my heels and part of my foot.  My times have gotten much better. The first 8k I ran in them before even breaking them in, cut 7 minutes off my old time. I got 4minutes off a 6k.  We're now getting along.

 

I'm sure I could do a 1/2 marathon at this point but have not signed up for anything.  I had a rough time on my 11miler this week-it was about 80 degrees and too hot.  This morning, after taking yesterday off I did almost 10k in an hour with hills in the shade and 70 degrees and felt fantastic. Some runs are better than others, but I'm still happy to get out and look around and listen to music and get in a good run.

 

End of school year happenings

In May the cherries started blossoming...

I found sunhats for the boys

H finally lost his first tooth... then his second tooth.... C lost a tooth.... all in the same week!

P & I were able to attend C's end of school year trip to Niagara Falls-

The kids have a fun fair every year at school. It raises about $5,000.  It's right next door, so it's hard to ignore the bouncy houses which means we head over with $20-$40 to make our contribution to the school.  This year the local reptile place that does birthday parties, etc. came and was a hit...

It was hot, so Snow cones were also a hit... 

 

 

Summer's here!

The weather here has been sensational. I hear we got all of Seattle's typical June rain and they now have our usual hot, hot temps while it's been beautiful 70s-80s here.

The school year ended on a high note.  Carter's teacher said he's been doing much better and said "whatever you've been doing, keep doing it!" So he's still taking kickboxing 2 x a week with his buddy that lives down the street.  The boy's mom has become a friend and we're able to commiserate with being Americans living in Canada and making trips over the border together.  It also works out that our other kids have opposite schedules in the evenings so we can carpool to not only kickboxing, but the fencing camp that the boys are attending mornings this week at the local university.

We also got a phone call from school right before school got out that C is being considered for the gifted program next year.  Based on test scores from the beginning of the year, they'd like to do some further testing next fall.  He'd then be at another school in the next town over (they provide a bus) 1 out of 10 days.  We are on a 10 day schedule for things like gym, library, etc. so one of those days would be the day C goes to the gifted program. I have heard that in Grade 6 it may be full-time but nothing has been told to us beyond the Grade 5 stuff, which is where they start putting kids in the program.

The older two have already received their teacher assignments, though we hear V's teacher is moving schools, so not sure where she will end up, but she'll be in Sr. Kindergarten, H will be in Grade 2 and C will be in Grade 5.  I think the boys both ended up with teachers that may be a little more traditional than their teachers this year who kind of bent with their quirky behavior, so we'll see how it goes.

Back in May we headed out to the local carnival and rode some rides. I think we've decided it's too expensive for what you get and we'd rather wait a few weeks for the fun fair at school where the prices are better and the money goes to the school.  Esp after H noted to the carnival operator, "Excuse me, but for 3 tickets I'd expect a much longer ride."  Always honest with how he's feeling, that one...

P and I worked on some stuff around the yard during the last few weeks of school...

A gnome home in our front garden under the tree...

 

 

 

The trees I mentioned in the last post that we moved- This bush used to be in front of the door...

 

Now it's in the back corner of our lot (that dark spot in the back corner where the fences meet)

 

 

This tree was here, where our "imaginary hot tub" is (we hope to put one in-when we put the driveway in we'll add a concrete pad)

 

 

 

Now it's here, outside C's room. It looked a little rough, but it has not died, it has new growth and P has taken it under his wing and waters it and prunes it almost daily.... 

 

 we even were able to take off the ropes holding it up straight.

The little plants that are meant to be stepped on that I planted in between the flagstone need to be stepped on more, they are overgrowing.... 

My side flower garden has needed less addition this year and I've almost got them arranged so the big plants are in the back and the little ones are closer to the path...

The roof I added on to our gazebo is working well to keep bikes and such covered, yet out of the way of the BBQ and eating area.

 

We're trying to grow pumpkins again this year as well as some other vines that appeared in the food section of my garden that I don't remember planting...

 

We  finally got to pick cherries this year!  Our first year we were just a week too late, last year the birds got them first. This year we've discovered the 4 trees come on one at a time...

 

More from the garden:

 

Playing with this year's bubble maker...

 

Goings on...

Stuff really has been happening around here, but we've been too busy enjoying the nicer weather to record it!
C had been having some issues at school-anxiety, acting out, not behaving appropriately with classmates, etc.  He's been having lunch with a friend in another class and taking kickboxing with his friend.  Things are looking up for him. He's happier and even got an award today for showing Courage, the school's character trait of the month.

V last week hit her head after a fall going into school on the cement, then later that day she fell off the monkey bars on her back.  Today P had to pick her up due to falling off a play structure ladder and hitting her chin on a rung which hit her teeth into her tongue (there was a lot of blood according to her teacher).

H&V had 2 days of a stomach bug and H ended up coming home after his first morning back at school-still being lethargic, or as his friend here described him-looking like a toasted marshmallow.

We had over a family that moved here from Vancouver-the family of H's friend and I've been relaxing after tax season with some runs over the border with a friend who's son C has lunch with as well as being able to rejoin the knitting group at the library where I work on a cross-stitch project. P and I are again focusing on the house-we just hired someone to redo our driveway this summer.  To make room for it, we had P's brother in law over to move two small trees to better locations on the property. We're hoping they survive the transplant.  I've been putting mulch on the garden to which I've only added a few tomato plants and a dwarf lilac tree this year.

The kids are gearing up for end of year trips and I've volunteered P and I to chaperone, so hopefully my next post will have more pictures!

V's painting

Proof she was raised by boys... this is V explaining her  most recent kindergarten masterpiece...

Job

So my current excuse for not posting more often is that I've fallen into a job.  I found a chartered accountant in town who needs an assistant full-time March & April and then if it's working out between us, she may possibly ask me to stay part-time the rest of the year.  It's not the best paying job I've ever had, however, I've never done Canadian taxes and she was hoping to hire someone with experience, but the person she'd originally hired dropped dead (not making this up) the day before he was set to start.  So she was desperate and I sounded convincing that I'd be able to do the job.

There are a lot of perks- we listen to rock music all day.  The job is a 5 minute drive from my house. This means I can get the kids off to school at 8:45 and be at work by 9am.  There's no required overtime. I work 9-5, only 4:30 on Fridays and no Saturdays.  Most of the returns are fairly easy-small businesses that are report by the owner or seniors with pensions and government payments.  Almost everyone I work on is getting a refund, which means they are happy to see me.

So far it's ok, we have a day or two where numbers don't seem to be working, we have a cranky client or I've made a big mistake that annoys both myself and my boss, but for the most part these last few weeks of a very cold winter are passing by quickly.

H, so unpredictable....

H is his own free spirit.  My last post was about "the cutting incident" as it's now referred to.  But really he is a sweet soul on the inside.  Each month his teacher gives them a writing or drawing assignment to be shared on their special day of the month.  H wrote a long paragraph a few weeks ago but had to erase it because the spelling was atrocious, he used no spacing and his penmanship leaves a lot to be desired.  So we erased it all and set it aside for a week or two.  Today, I mentioned to him at our weekly family dinner that he needed to work on it.  My sister in law who is a Kindergarten teacher asked him what he was going to answer so he was able to do it quickly with little fuss when we got home....

 

The question posed is, "What would you do if you found a pot of gold?"

"I would give it to poor people."  His aunt said, "That's so nice of you to share! What would you do with your part of it?"  He answered, "oh, no, I'd give all of it to poor people, my family has enough money, we don't need it."