Ottawa: A Proper Good-Bye

I have left Ottawa. A home to me for about 10 years is now a thing of the past. This move (although not to any place in particular) has been a thought in my head for years. Now it is real. As I’m sitting in my new Aurora apartment it still doesn’t feel quite like home yet. I am lucky to be living close (underneath to be specific) to family. It does make things a lot easier, especially since I don’t know the area and I live so far from the school.

On my first full day in Aurora, a nice suburban neighbourhood part of the Greater Toronto Area, I was crossing the road while walking King. Stepping up on the curb I heard something that actually made me jump a little. Someone, from their car, screamed out, “I want your dog!” Living in a shady neighbourhood in Ottawa, Vanier, I have seen a lot. I’ve witnessed arrests, someone exposing himself, overheard fights with girlfriends and boyfriends because their boyfriends and girlfriends had kicked them out or locked them out. I’ve seen discarded condoms, I’ve seen people yelling at their kids, I’ve seen people mistreating their dogs and I’ve passed by Crazy Nancy many a times ranting about the police and some girl. Never in my three years there has anyone ever screamed at me! Frankly, I am appalled! :)

Speaking of discarded condoms …

Come on guys! I thought I left Vanier!!

Things I will miss about Ottawa:

I will miss Vanier. You know I thought I wouldn’t but there is a lot about the area that I lived in that I will miss. Walking King through Vanier there was a lot more choice on where I could go. I will miss being about to take King to Richelieu Park, which was basically a forest – a small forest but a forest all the same. I will also miss running by the water in through New Edinburgh and Rockcliffe.

I will miss aspects of the last apartment. I loved the size of it because even though there were three of us living there (at some point there was four) we each had our own little space but there was common space to hang out with each other in. The apartment was so big that in the end I had my own gym.

I will miss the people: Kat for her much entertaining paranoia and Adam for his random facts that sprung from some normal conversation, or from some odd conversation, and also his movie commentary – usually when he’s not even watching the movie. I will also miss being able to play Catan with them three times a week and our dishes system (because now I have to do them all by myself). I’ll miss Victoria for her quirky sense of humour and off colour comments, Becky for hanging out with and her cooking, Paula and Karl for their fun European sense of humour, and of course, I will my Mom, who was and is always there for me. I expect though, that I will see her often enough!

I will miss Bob and Emma at the Lucky Dollar. They were a lot of fun and I wish them luck in their soon to come retirement.

I will miss a lot of people at Rogers and I’ll miss all the discounts and concerts and Sens tickets that came with working there. It was pretty awesome.

I will miss the Bytowne and the Mayfair because they played some pretty good movies. It’s a shame I didn’t get much of a chance to go to the Mayfair after it re-opened under the management of “the Drunken Master” but I did at least get to see a few movies.

I will miss the Byward Market. It was such a neat atmosphere to hang out to go for breakfast or to look at all the vendors, in some sunny late morning or an early afternoon. I especially loved it after we discovered the Tea Store. I will miss the Beaver Tails. Even though I did not get them very often, they were still a nice treat once in a while. I loved being able to walk there and buy fresh local vegetable and fruits. I like to support local whenever I can.

I will miss the many festivals that Ottawa hosted: Bluesfest, Tulip Festival, Lumiere Festival and Winterlude (and there are so many more of course).

Lastly, I will miss WBK. These were the boxing classes that were a major influence on why I’m going into Fitness and Health. I almost feel like leaving them for this program is like a child leaving the parent that taught them the secrets of the family business, only to start a business of his own. Only I think I can see this case in a slightly more positive light.

Things I will not miss about Ottawa:

I will not miss my apartment in the end because the flies got really bad and the whole place was badly out of shape. Of course some of it was kind of our fault but we didn’t really like our landlord so at some point (combined with the fact that we knew we were all leaving) we stopped caring about the place. I will also not miss the very heat sensitive shower or the furnace of the living room!

I will not miss OC Transpo. Fifty one days of strike and service went back to normal (which wasn’t really that good to begin with, I think I speak for many when I say that I have had enough of them!

I will not miss walking King through slummy Vanier, trying to discourage him from eating discarded chicken bones or cigarette butts.

I will not miss everything having to be bilingual.

I will not miss Adam crushing my every thoughts and beliefs. Although I’m sure he’d be quite capable from doing the same from far away. Damn you Adam!

I will not miss Crazy Nancy, who lives up the street, always shouting out crazy thing, and because this is Ottawa, Nancy’s crazy rantings are available in both English and French.

--

No matter the things I will miss or not miss, I am very much looking forward to this new chapter in my life. There will be some bad, but mostly it will be good. Perhaps someday I will return again to Ottawa to live (I will definitely to visit) and start a new chapter with my new career but until that day may or may not come, Toronto, here I am, whether you’ll like me or not!

Last Night I Had the Strangest Dream

For a long time now there has been one question that keeps popping up in my mind, ‘What is wrong with me?’

One reason in particular of why I had been questioning this as of late is why am I so lazy? Why am I not being productive? Why can’t I get off my ass and do what I need to do?

I’m moving in a month or so, so I really need to start packing and downsizing. I started doing that many months ago but then the lazy bug hit me and I stopped, leaving my room in a state of disarray for way too long. Finally yesterday, and I don’t know where this came from, I was very productive. I woke up and started working on my room. I also went for a run. I even went to sit down and watch some (handy dandy) TV on DVD and paused half way through so I could take a shower (I never do that). I even did some reading. It was a good day for getting stuff done.

Okay so about my dream. First off, it was gross. Did not enjoy it. I dreamt that I was cleaning out my refrigerator because it was full of disgusting old rotted food. There were bugs, it wasn’t pleasant, I won’t get into full detail.

Anyway, I decided to look it up because rotten food was such a strong element in my dream. Here’s what Dream Moods said:

Rotten
”To dream that something is rotten, suggests that you are wasting away your potential. You have failed to make use of the opportunities that have come your way.”

Food
”To see food in your dream, represents physical and emotional nourishment and energies. The different types of food can symbolize a wide range of things.”

The fact that I was cleaning out this rotten food may mean that I’m no longer choosing to lose the opportunities that I’ve been given, or I’ve subconsciously decided to to stop wasting my potential. It could mean that the physical and emotional nourishment and energy that I was taking granted before, I am no longer going to just throw away on watching TV on DVDs!

Or it could have been a delayed reaction dream from when our refrigerator died on us a few weeks ago and we had to throw out a whole bunch of food.

Still, I’m hoping it’s a sign.

Heather the Writer?

Ha!

Kinda funny. Because I’m writing a blog. Get it? Get it?!

So, took a writing course with my mother for the past few weeks. We didn’t really like it, yet we haven’t missed a class. I suppose in the end it wasn’t as bad as we thought in the beginning, we just didn’t feel like it was too extremely helpful but I figured, I’ve paid my money for it, I’m going to get all it’s worth – even if it’s not worth much.

Our teacher, he’s very, well: We should try this. Do you want to do that? Does anyone want to read? How about this?

No! Just tell us to suck it up and do it! I feel like he’s never taught, not just this course, but any course before and yet he’s mentioned a number of times things he’s done with previous classes.

Regardless, this class hasn’t been totally useless. Mom and I have a blast making fun of things. Mom feels bad because she knows what it’s like to be up at the front of a class. We make it fun anyway (not necessarily of the class) with writing notes to each other and certain gesture or faces. It’s like being back in high school again, only with your mother, but it’s okay because your mother is much cooler than she was when you were in high school.

Mostly I write notes to her. One day when the teacher went on and on about something he always refers to and I wrote to her, “I hate his stupid parrot with the wooden leg. Shut up teacher-face!” (Something you may not know about me, I make a lot of something-face remarks. Like jerk-face, or fluffy-face, or whatever-face.) There was one time she looked at me and pointed to her eye, then pointed with two fingers to both her eyes, then pointed at me. I just nodded in understanding. I then wrote to her, “I poke my eyes out for you.” She loved that!

The other reason why this class hasn’t been totally useless would be because I’ve actually been writing. Imagine that?! (Didn’t expect that one did you?) It didn’t start off as much but then teacher-face actually said a thing or two that gave me some ideas to expand on my original idea. I don’t know if it’s going to turn into a long short story or a novel or even finished at all but I feel kind of good writing about it now. I guess I’ll keep you posted.

I’d like to end this entry with a very short exert of my longshortstoryfinshednovelpossiblynovella that I would like to for the moment call, The Loves and Losses of Seth Rayner.

Happy reading!

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He couldn’t understand how it could have gone so far.

He stood there, his long dark hair, greasy as usual, twisted with the buckles that lay on the shoulders of his long black coat. While his hair matched the bags under his eyes, it was a great contrast to the colour of his skin. He stood tall, even in his fear. He had always excelled at hiding his emotions and finally it was serving him well. His clenched fists were sprouting red through the pale but the darkness of the room hid them, like gloves made of shadows.

He had always been such a good kid. He could just imagine his parents saying that – at his funeral perhaps – they would stare down at his cold pale (although no more than usual) body, perhaps even a tear. “You used to be such a good kid.”

How could it have gotten so far? This is what Seth was contemplating. How could he have come from being such a good kid to a confused and angry “wannabe” Goth now staring down the barrel of a gun.

Seth loved baseball as a boy; his first love. His second love, if you want to call it that, was Billy Webster. Billy was “the cool kid.” That fact was certain but it was Billy himself that had to convince Seth of this and he succeeded in the most subtle way.

Seth was walking home after playing a game with his friends. With his glove on his bat and his bat resting on his shoulder, his only thoughts were of what was his mother making for dinner. He was approaching the corner where Billy was sitting under the shade of a dishevelled tree.

“Hey kid,” Billy said. They were the same age, and Seth knew this, but he delivered it with such confidence that Seth had unconsciously second guessed his own level of maturity. Seth stopped and looked over at Billy.

“You were just playing ball?” Billy asked.

Seth nodded. “Cool,” Billy said. He then turned away and half chuckled to himself. Seth walked on, his head full of childish wonder. If it was cool, then what was so funny?

The man turned the gun from Seth to the brown lab that was sitting a few feet away. Titus; the only thing Seth cared about since his days playing baseball. He found Titus on night when he was cutting through a neighbourhood where cocaine dusted the streets - the Black Rock Borough - to get to his own - the Mary Jane District. He was just a puppy then, sitting on the curb and whining. Seth figured that someone let him out and either forgot about him, or lost him. Either way, given the neighbourhood he was in, Seth didn’t feel bad about taking him. He figured, maybe he couldn’t give Titus a better life then his previous owners, but he could try. And the dog might as well be with someone that would love him. He could love a puppy.

Now Titus, only two years old so Seth figured, had grown into a large and loyal dog, strong and well behaved, and had no idea what a gun was. Seth nearly gasped with the man pointed the gun to Titus. The man had guessed Seth’s weakness, and guessed right.

Breathe, just breathe, Seth told himself. Hold strong.

“It’s just a dog, man,” Seth finally said. This was a mistake. As he said it, his voice cracked ever so slightly. Barely detectable, any normal person would not have heard it. But the man was clearly not a normal person. The voice crack changed everything.

When the man pulled the trigger, every bit of air left Seth’s lungs. The dog whimpered, the man laughed, the kid screamed.

It wasn’t until a few days later – just when Seth finally got his first encounter out of his mind – that Billy talked to him again. This time it was outside the corner store two blocks from Seth’s street. Billy was standing outside the store as Seth approached.

“Hey kid.” It was that word again. Kid.

Billy continued, “Hey, you got an extra dollar?”

Seth shook his head. “My mom wants her change back.” Billy half chucked. This was all too familiar for Seth. “Besides,” he continued, “dinner’s almost ready and I have to get juice.”

Billy took a moment then went ahead. “You’re chatty today,” Billy said with a crafty smile. “Hey kid. I got an idea. You give me a dollar and I’ll help you out with the juice.”

Seth hesitated, unsure. “What do you mean?” he asked.

“The guy in there doesn’t pay attention. I haven’t done it before but I could try. My brother’s done it. I’ve seen him. I know I can try. I don’t mind.” Billy’s shrewdness was now turning to childlike enthusiasm.

“I should go.” Seth wasn’t sure what Billy was getting at but he knew he didn’t like it. He stepped into the store. Two minutes later, when he stepped out again with juice and his mother’s change Billy was gone.

After what seemed like eternity, Seth looked to where Titus would be lying dead. He was confused to see there was no dog at all. The man was still laughing. Seth heard a noise and looked behind him. Titus whimpered in the corner, unharmed. That was when the tears started.

The man looked down on Seth. He wore a devious smile. A trace of Billy Webster.

“Let’s go,” he said. It was the beginning of the end.

---

To be continued . . .

Today’s Run Was Not a Good One

One: I didn’t want to do it.

Really didn’t. Not just that but I also didn’t want to cross train at all either. Not the weight training that I’ve been failing to do for the past few days. Not the evenings kickboxing class. The problem with that is, I felt the same way yesterday, and so yesterday I did nothing. I couldn’t do that for two days in a row.

Two: I couldn’t finish my run.

I’m trying to train for a 10k in October. Long way off right? Hardly. I can run 5k well enough I suppose but I can’t seem to go any further. I printed out a customized plan from RunnersWorld.com but it had me running 10k in the first week. Slowly, but still 10k. I cannot do that just yet! So I made my own, smaller goals. Today I was going to run 6k. I probably only ran 3k.

Three: I did not have an accurate record.

With a GPS running tracker on my Blackberry, it makes having distance goals so much easier. Except when I use it wrong. I always seem to forget that the GPS is on the back of the phone. I always put my phone in my SPI belt with the back facing me, which resulted in a record of me running 25k in 22 minutes. If only I could.

Four: My headphones were acting up.

Maybe I went a bit overboard with the anger towards my headphones. The right ear was fine. The left, not so much. As I was walking, I tried moving it in such ways that it might start working again but I only got clips of audio then nothing. I was getting so frustrated that I snapped it off completely (of course it was when George Michael is telling me that I gotta have faith). To add on to that, my MP3 player is already sensitive from the time I dropped it and a piece came off the battery flap. So if it’s moved in a certain way, the thing shuts off. When I snapped my ear piece it shut off. When I went to turn it back on to see if the other piece would still work, it didn’t turn on again. I checked at home, it was just the battery, but at the time I wasn’t sure. (Once when I was about 12 years old, I got so mad that I snapped the blade of a steak knife. It was kind of a flimsy steak knife, and it took me a lot of effort, and I don’t know why I had brought a steak knife to my room in the first place – was NOT suicidal – but sometimes my anger leads to broken things. I don’t do it a lot.)

So there I was: feeling lazy but still disappointed at only a half run with being angry at myself for putting my phone in the SPI belt the wrong way and a broken MP3 player and broken earphones, which were at my own hands. I had to walk home in this anger thinking, why the hell am I so angry??

I wouldn’t recommend it.

It's Peanut Butter Jelly Time

Stop me if you’ve heard this one: It’s 9:30pm and you’re sitting in your living room watching TV. It’s a good distraction from your daily issues but in the back of you’re mind you’re still thinking, “How am I going to pay for that? What did he mean when he said this? How am I going to finish that pile at work waiting to greet me at work tomorrow?” You get up because you feel like eating something to help you get through this emotional bump. But instead of reaching for the bag of cookies you knew you shouldn’t have bought, you reach for your jar of peanut butter and a spoon.

It happens more often than you would think. When I went in for an appointment with my nutritional counsellor last week, I was embarrassed to say that I’ve had these strong urges to eat peanut butter at night. Okay I'll admit it here and now. I’ve had my nights where all I want to do is sit and eat spoonfuls of peanut butter right from the jar. I could have EASILY eaten a whole cup one night if it weren't for the fact that I had very little left in the jar from all my other nights of peanut butter cravings. All I could think of when I take a spoonful is, "What the hell is wrong with me?!?"

(PLEASE NOTE: I only eat natural peanut butter. If you crave peanut butter and eat the kind that has added sugar, then you probably crave the sugar only or in addition to everything else I will mention.)

When I spoke about these craving with my nutritional counsellor, she told me that these cravings are probably due to a lack of B complex vitamins.

What? You mean it actually means something?

But of course I should have known that. So I looked it up further. Blog entries upon message boards upon online articles!! I would have never guessed that it was that common. Most people say that it’s because the body is craving protein and there are a lot of people who don’t get enough protein so for the most part that’s probably true for them. For me however, I do believe I get enough protein during the day or enough that my body wouldn’t be craving it at night.

I looked to my favourite nutritional website, World’s Healthiest Foods. The following information on peanuts comes from this site:
Peanuts include (in order of richness) manganese, tryptophan, niacin (vitamin B3), folate (vitamin B9), copper and protein. I want to give a brief description of what each of these do.

Manganese: Helps body utilize other key nutrients, maintains normal blood sugar levels, maintains nerve health and protects cells from free-radical damage. High blood sugar can result from not enough manganese.

Tryptophan: Regulates appetite and sleep, elevates mood. Overeating and carbohydrate cravings can result from not enough tryptophan.

Niacin-B3: Lowers cholesterol levels, stabilizes blood sugar, helps body process fats. Digestive problems can result from not enough niacin.

Folate-B9: Helps prevent anemia and homocysteine build up, allows nerves to function properly, supports cell production. Depression can result from not enough folate.

Copper: Helps body utilize iron (oxygen distribution), reduces damage from free radicals, keeps thyroid gland functioning properly. Elevated LDL cholesterol can result from not enough copper.

Protein: keeps immune system functioning properly, maintains healthy skin, hair and nails, helps body produce enzymes (important for everything that goes on in our bodies, especially digestion). Fatigue and weakness can result from not enough protein.

So turns out most of these as a combination is a good way of preventing stress and helping to sleep, especially the tryptophan. (I find funny that I overeat the peanut butter, which has a component that helps preventing overeating!) Niacin helps too in a sense of digestion since if you’re not digesting well, you’re not going to sleep well.

I am happy to say that these intense cravings have subsided for the past few weeks. I have been sleeping better, although I do sometimes tend to go to bed too late (my own fault) and still have to get up early. I stress out at times, mostly when I’m at work but I do find it easier to relax at home. My nutritional counsellor suggested that I take Vitamin B Complex supplements but I don’t think I will unless it starts back up again.

HOLY CRAP I WENT BUNGEE JUMPING!!

When I was in my outdoor phys-ed class in high school, I couldn't go tobogganing. I CHICKENED OUT FOR TOBOGGANING!! Yesterday I went bungee jumping! When I got to the crane, they harnessed me up, told me they were going to count me down and I was to just jump and don't hesitate. Strangely that's what I did!! And as I stepped off the platform, all I could think was, "Why the hell am I doing this?" Still, it was totally worth it! I was a little worried because they also told me to keep my chin tucked in but as I was flying through the air, all sense of logic was lost on me so I didn't so much do that as I did the opposite and watched as my hands plunged into the water (I was also worried it would be more than that) so my neck was a bit sore and stiff all evening but I put some heat on it before bed and thankfully I was able to move my neck when I got up this morning. I also ran my best time for 5k ever this morning.
I CAN DO ANYTHING!!!

My Running Journeys (Please sponsor me!)

This past weekend in Ottawa we had a huge event – the MDS Nordion Ottawa Race Weekend. It happens every year in May and people from around the world come to participate in many of the races. We have a marathon, half marathon, 10k, 5k and a 2k Family Fun Run. This year an Ethiopian won the 10k and a Kenyan won the marathon. And I participated in the 5k run!


Let me give you a bit of my personal running history. I have been running off and on for about two years. Mostly off. My interest in running started with my co-worker, Paula, who constantly talked about running and other fitness things when I started working at Rogers TV almost three years ago. She talked about it enough for me to think, “Hey! This sounds rather rewarding. Perhaps I should try it!” Okay maybe not in those exact words. So I ran. And I stopped. And I ran the 2008 Ottawa Race Weekend 5k. And I stopped. As winter started last year and I ran my last 5k of the year in the Somersault Series Fall Colours last October I made a decision. I’m going to stop running. Forever. Yep, no more stop start stop start stop start for me. I was going to stop the flaking out before it started. Again.

Well I’ve never been good at keeping self promises. And I suppose this is one of few situations that it’s a good thing. As soon as the snow started to melt and I watched more runners get out and I felt an itch. An itch turned into buying brand new running shoes – proper running shoes. Proper running shoes turned into running up to 15 minutes at one time. Fifteen minutes at one time turned into 30. And that is how I decided to participate, for the second year in a row, in the MDS Nordion Ottawa Race Weekend 5k Race. Generally I’ve been running without stopping (something I’ve never done before the winter) somewhere between 34:00 to 36:00 for 5k to maybe just a little over 5k but in this year’s race my chip time was 32:34 (Official Time: 34:04)!!!! That’s amazing for me!! And hearing other runner’s stories is just so inspiring! One co-worker of mine used to be an inactive teenager. He’s turned that around and ran his 26th marathon!!! TWENTY-SIX!!! That’s just crazy!!!

I have already decided that I would like to up my distance run but this story has inspired me to do it sooner rather than, “yeah someday I’ll do it.” I’ve signed up for a 10k this fall in Toronto! Guess I better get training. I’ll definitely let you know how things go.

I just want to say too, that next month, June 21st I’ll be running my 6th 5k: the Walk Roll and Run for Rogers House. A little info:
The Direct Energy Walk, Roll & Run for Roger's House will benefit the many children, youth and their families of Roger's House. The event is a morning for families, friends, neighbours, classmates, organizations and teams to walk, roll & run 2 km or 5km routes in an effort to raise money for Roger's House, the charity of choice of the Sens Foundation. Roger's House provides a comprehensive pediatric respite and palliative care program with elements of outreach, residential hospice, pain and symptom management, grief & bereavement counseling and research. In its first year of operation Roger's House had more than 550 admissions. Please support me with your pledges so together we'll be supporting the children and families of Roger's House.

I hope you will consider sponsoring me for it. I hope to raise $250. Here’s where you can donate.

Thanks for your support!!

Oh, now I've forgotten.

Have you ever gone on the computer to do one thing and did ten things that is not the one thing you wanted to do then turn off computer with that one thing still not being done?

While at work yesterday I knew I wanted to look up something so I went to Google and sat there for a few minutes looking into space because I couldn’t remember what I wanted to look up. I thought, ‘Why am I doing this? Is there a certain food that will help boost my memory?’
So I decided to look up memory boosting foods. I found a few interesting pages. Although one page listed that a few “Brain Blockers,” such as eating the combination of proteins and starches will have a negative effect on brain functions because it takes more energy to digest them, which means that less blood is going to the brain. I thought this was interesting because with all my researching, other people have said you should eat protein with your starches because it not only lowers your blood sugar level, you digest it slower making the food stay in you longer, so you don’t get hungry as quickly. It just goes to show that there are so many schools of thought on nutrition.
Then, Oooh! Memory games! I can test to see how good my memory is! I started playing a few memory games. Not bad so far, inputting my answers. Oh yeah, I had to input segment times on our Master Control playlist (for work purposes).
There I am looking for a scrap piece of paper, from a whole pile of papers on my desk, to write down the times when I realized that I had been cutting up some good labels. Earlier I took some DVD label sheets that had already been used. I wanted to cut out the side labels that we were never going to use so I could bring them home. I realized that some of the ones I had been cutting up were good ones. Oops. Well nothing I can do about those now.
I had a whole bunch of useless labels on my desk that were just taking up a lot of room. I wanted to get rid of them. Can you recycle labels? I would have gone back to Google to find out the answer except that I realized that I was pretty hungry so I went to get some food. When I got back to my computer to go back to Google search, Dogs in Outfits? Do I really want to go to that page? (Yeah, I do.) Looking at the dogs in funny outfits, a co-worker walks by and says hello. Ok right. Back to work. I still had to input those game times, now I have to find the email. Oh there’s my Google search page. So finally I got the segment times then did my search for memory boosting foods. Feels good to get that done! Among many listed were blueberries, apples, spinach, onions and broccoli. Strange because I do eat all of those.

What was I looking up originally? Oh, now I’ve forgotten.

Busy in the Kitchen

I've been remembering the days after I graduated from high school and had no where else to go. At the time I was tired of school and felt I needed a break for a while before going back so I didn't apply anywhere. All I wanted to do is work for a bit and save up some money. Well it took me about nine months to do so, and between interviews and dropping off resumes there wasn't a lot I was doing. I got extremely bored. What do I normally do to fill time when I'm bored? I eat. Except at the time I was on Weight Watchers and could do that so easily either. I did the next best thing. On my mother's dime, I bought a whole bunch of Weight Watchers cookbooks and groceries and did a lot of cooking. I liked experimenting with different recipes and different types of food. It was fun and new to me. Unfortunately that interested diminished as soon as I went crazy and left WW and eventually started school again.

Now things have gone somewhat back to that but this time it's different. I have been really trying the last few months to improve my eating habits (except maybe a day or two, or ten when I maybe went a little overboard on the eating). But I have been trying to eat better, way better than I have even with Weight Watcher: proper portion sizes, maximizing good foods, minimizing bad foods, and of course exercises is all a part of it too. On WW I was just obsessed with how much food I could get with the least amount of points and the only bit of exercise I did (mostly just walking) was done so that I could eat more! (On that note, I don't not recommend Weight Watchers, I just figure it just wasn't for me.)

Now I'm back to cooking again! I love looking for recipes! And although I love love love LOVE my slow cooker, I'm always looking for recipes that I can experiment with when I have the time.

I recommend these websites. Spark People is really good for recipes and articles. I get a new recipe emailed to me everyday and they're very healthy and always look quite tasty! The name of the second really explains itself. Calorie Count a good source for those who are counting their calories.

Spark People

Calorie Count

If you do count calories, remember to make sure you are getting the right amount of protein and fibre in your diet. Don't always go for the no fat/low fat because they might have more sugar to compensate and that's probably much worse, depending on what it is. Remember, fat doesn't make you fat, it just clogs your arteries, unless they're good fats. Make sure you choose the right types of fat and don't eat in excess. Sugar and simple carbs, to put it simply, make you fat. I'm also not big on low carb diets.

Anyway, I also recommend the book, Magic Foods for Better Blood Sugar. I picked it up the other day because I wanted to get a index-type of book with superfoods which list what they're good for, and although this one is somewhat specific to blood sugar, it was still pretty much what I was looking for. It lists a number of foods that lower your blood sugar level, what else they do and how you can use them in cooking. On top of that they have a number of breakfasts, lunch, dinners and desserts that are popular and explain how you can improve it. Additionally, they include lots of yummy recipes. I plan on making the Oatmeal-Peanut Butter Trail Bars tomorrow. Me and a bunch of friends are having a game night for Earth Hour. I'll also be making a Seven Layer Taco Dip.

Settlers of Catan and and yummy food. What could be better?

Three pounds down, 82 to go!

I admit I haven’t really been doing much for my heavy bag. This is mostly because the sand I have is kind of wet and it takes forever for it to dry. So what I’ve started doing is roasting my sand to dry it out. It’s a long process because it takes a little while to dry in the oven then I have to let it cool before putting them in a bag but I’m keeping costs down so I don’t mind. I will have to buy some more sand eventually though.
The picture on the left is the sand in the milk bag before I covered it in gaffer tape and the picture on the right is after. I wanted to put the pictures together because the one on the right on its own closely resembles a heroin brick. I didn’t want people to get the wrong idea! :)
Right so the next step is to make roughly 28 more of these, wrap them with foam and put them in a canvas duffel bag. That’s it!


Also, big news! I'm going back to school!! I'm super excited and I'm moving to Toronto, which is great because I really need a change in scenery. I'll be taking Fitness and Health at Humber College.

Fit and Thrifty!

Keeping fit can be so expensive!!! I love that I have my own space at home for a basic home gym but there are so many exercises I'd love to try at home that I can't do without the right equipment.

New project!!! I'm going to start making my own equipment.

I found a few websites that have instructions on how to make different types of equipment and in theory it will be cheaper (saving money would be my purpose after all).

http://www.rosstraining.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=157
http://www.angelfire.com/ny5/shenandoah/Grunt/Bodyweight.html

My first project will be a heavy bag so that I could do some boxing training at home. Next will be the stand for it but I would also love to make a pull up bar.