Tabatas aren't as much fun as I remember

Lower body day today.  I did 3 times through of:  12 sumo squats, 12 forward lunges, 12 side lunges with arm reaches, 12 one legged bulgarian deadlifts and 12 back ballet leg extensions, with  25 dumbbell ab rows and the 20 each of the butt raise/hold/pulse part of Josie's booty blast video in between  the 3 reps. No probalo - I'm getting stronger...but before that? Before that I was a good little human and did the tabata bike sprints I'd promised myself I would do.
I set my digital timer so I wouldn't have to think and I could just follow the beeps. After a 5 minute warm up on my spin bike I upped the weight a bit and sprinted all out for 20 seconds and then rested/pedaled slowly for 10 seconds a total of 8 times. Then I cooled down on the bike for 4 minutes. And wow...20 seconds is a freaking long time...but I did it. Even though my sprints got a bit gloomier as it went on (the bike has a 40Lb flywheel...phew!) I did not give up and I did my best for all of it. Boom. I needed my inhaler at the end and I had to rest a few minutes before I did my leg work but I am proud of myself.
And now? Now after a walk to work in the sunshine with my Earl Grey and a bit of breakfast in me I feel fantastic. So I will do it on thursday again. Because that's how we roll here at Casa Geo :)

Aaaaaand on a totally different note...a few days ago I learned that 2 of my all time favourite musicians (for very different reasons) have overlap in the world. Johnny Cash recorded a Beck song a waaaaaaay back almost 20 years ago. I don't know how I missed that, but this makes me very happy.


Have a great day! Find something that makes you smile and hug it. Go on.

Ah. Weekends...

Did I work on my paper this weekend? Did I paint anything?
Nope.
Do I care?
Nope :)

I had a nice relaxing weekend. J and I even ditched out of a friend's house party/birthday party where a bunch of our friends would be at just so we could hang out together...sometimes I just want to hang out with J...it's odd - I used to rant that we didn't have a lot of friends or get out much and now that the opportunities present themselves more and more and we've built up a nice little circle of friends I find sometimes the hermit in both of us still kicks in and we still hang out, just us. Like old times. I mean, that's why I married J...there's noone else I'd rather hang out with. :)
The weather was so nice yesterday - it got up to 15 C here. The ice jam on the river is gone, along with a lot of the snow. We walked for hours without a jacket and spent a mellow day together...ending it with tasty beer, nachos and a cheesy movie. Loved it all.

The ice is gone! :)

And yes I still have to finish my paper and have painting to do, but I'll get to it this week. Honest.

As of today we are taking a month to both be healthy - better eating and daily exercise of some kind. One cheat meal a week and no booze except for on the weekend. This morning I did my upper body workout, same as last week with some ball passes for my abs and then had a brisk walk to work so I am on track for the day. Tomorrow I will add some tabata sprints on the bike to my leg stuff. I'm trying to build up a base to start my C to 5K in a week or so. Can't wait...I've been watching so many people jogging while I've been out for walks in this gorgeous weather and I need to try and get out there again too. I know it won't be the fun running I remember...it'll be the beginning gaspy struggly runs that build to the fun runs, but I am ready to get started.

Breaking the ice

I had a good workout this morning. Lower body day today.  I did 3 times through of: 12 regular squats, 12 sumo squats, 12 forward lunges, 12 side lunges with arm reaches, 12 one legged bulgarian deadlifts and 12 back ballet leg extensions, with 25 bicycle crunches, 25 dumbell ab rows and the 15 each of the butt raise/hold/pulse part of Josie's booty blast video in between  the 3 reps.
Then it was a nice walk to work. The river ice has started breaking up and a huge chunk has floated down to the bridge by my house and smashed and crunched up. It is amazing such a huge piece of ice can move so quickly. It was there yesterday stuck to the shore across most of the river way down stream. Today it's all piled up and starting to break up and flow down the river. I imagine by the end of the weekend it'll be gone.


This weekend I have schemes to finish a scientific paper I've been working on and get some priming done on a big shelf my Dad built us for our living room so I can get it painted and in place. My Dad is coming back into town a few times in april and if I can get it ready he'll assemble it for us (it's a big wall unit in 6 pieces....I have a lot to paint!). It'll be so nice to have a shelf made by him and have storage in the living room. I can't wait. Just can't decide on a color yet...suppose we'll have to pick soon :) It's supposed to be a nice weekend so I hope to get out for some walks in the sun with J.

Anyhoo...Must dash. Lots to do! Later taters. Have a great weekend!

Discount rice?

Workout Log: Today was upper body day. Like tuesday only instead of mountain climbers I did 12 four point punches (punching above and across  on top and down to the opposite toe alternating both arms) with 5Lb, 25 ball passes and 12 pushups between reps of the arm and back weight exercises with my 8Lb weight I did tuesday. Then I walked to work.

I'm really loving my morning walks. Having an hour to myself first thing in the morning with my mug of tea is a really nice way to start the day. As long as I have my earmuffs and gloves I'm warm enough once I get moving. Time alone to think and relax is a wonderful thing...helps begin the day off right.

Total random off topic: I was forwarded an article by a friend about cooking rice differently to lower it's calorie content. Apparently if you add coconut oil to the water prior to cooking the rice and then refrigerate the cooked rice overnight before you eat it there is a 10-15% reduction in calories because some of the starches switch to indigestible forms. The researchers projected that other more starchy varieties could have up to a 40% calorie reduction. Interesting thought about how to reduce calories in rice...I know for me I find day old rice to be hard and not as good (I usually put it in something or make fried rice with it then). I'd rather eat less of the soft delicious stuff :) What do you think? Would you make the switch? And does the coconut oil you add to the water to have the reduction end up adding back the calories you'd remove?

Yoga maybe?

I've decided Wed will be core day. So, for something new this morning I dug out the yoga DVD that I got back before I was sick that is supposed to focus on Core strength and gave it a go. I didn't leave myself quite enough time so I missed the very end of it, but I really enjoyed it. It was variations on abwork and sun salutations and I felt great after. Definitely going to work this into the regular routines. As I get more familiar with what I'm doing I will enjoy it even more....I'm still looking at the screen a lot to make sure I'm doing the right thing. I'm also stiffer and less flexible than I was so this can only be a good thing for me.
Then I walked to work and that was that.
Piece of cake :)

quick log

Quick log for today. Got lots to do. Today was upper body day. I did the following 3 times through (with my 8Lb dumbells): 12 bicep curls, 12 tricep extensions, 12 shoulder presses, 12 bent rows, 12 side arm raises, 12 front arm raises
In between the 3 sets I did: 25 bicycle crunches, 25 ab rows with a dummbell and 10 pushups (on the knee).

Then I walked to work. Done diddly done.
Later taters.

I've got happy feet

All this wet weather has taught me that my old trusty yellow rain boots are leaky…so I have been on the hunt for a new pair. They need good grip, dancability and eye blinding brightness to replace the old pair.   And, after a bit of searching I have a new pair of awesome rain boots on order. Doc Martens! Yellow! Smiley faces! On Sale! Free Shipping! Exclamation marks!!!


my spring broke

I'm sitting here listening to Gotye wondering where my spring went :)
We had lots of snow over the weekend. The weather has levelled off to a reasonable -5 and now that the blowing snow is done it's not so bad, but after over a week of meltiness, it's a bit sad to pop back into winter. It's officially spring now (not that you'd know it) but around here March is a random weather unit...Spring doesn't come to stay until April some time. I'm just itching for the melt to be done so I can get outside more. It does wonders for my mind to be able to walk outside....it should be nice enough for me to walk home today at least, so that'll do for today.
I had a good workout this morning. First I did Josie's booty blast short video from last week as well as her core workout video for this week. The I did 3 times through of 12 sumo squats, 12 forward lunges, 12 side lunges with arm reaches, 12 one legged bulgarian deadlifts and 12 back ballet leg extensions, with 40 mountain climbers and 20 ball passes in between the 3 reps. Tying this in with a walk home should be a solid workout for the day.
Must dash. Lots to do! Later taters.

cat scare

Last night we had a bit of a scare. We noticed Widjette eating something on the floor after supper and by the time we caught her we couldn't see what it was but right beside her there was a pill on the floor. After some panic to try and identify the pill and a call to the vet it turns out it was (thank god) a benadryl which is ok for cats. Had it been advil it would have meant a decision on whether we should make an emergency after hours trip to the vet to get her stomach pumped and have her on IV monitoring on the off chance she'd eaten an advil- advil is very toxic in almost any amount for cats (A human dose is usually lethal). We are usually very careful with advil around the animals so I am quite curious how the meds got there - I took benadryl during the worst of my taxotere side effects to help them a bit so maybe in a post chemo daze I missed one. Since we weren't sure whether she'd eaten any of it it was nice to not have to make that decision. We decided to leave it and just keep an eye on her and check the floor for any other "surprises"...
J has grown very attached to Widjette now that he's working from home (and yes I love the little furball too) - he took losing Gavin very hard and losing another cat over something like this would have been heartbreaking. Thankfully this morning she was jumping around as usual with a healthy appetite with no signs of any toxicity or problems so I am reasonably sure all is well in kittenland. So yeah...after that rollercoaster we just went to bed early and called it a day.

Dax and Widjette - Dax is slimming down and Widj is almost full size now
This morning I did the same workout as tuesday for my arms. My planks are still rather pathetic...I can't hold an entire 30 seconds yet, but I did it all and got a bit spiffed up for work (I have to give a tour to a bigwig today so I'm trying to be professional yet casual...I think I rocked it with a pair of dark jeans and a blazer). I walked here in the frost with a banana pineapple cottage cheese smoothie (yum)- it's a bit colder today (~ -7C with a bit of a wind) but still a nice walk. J got up and walked with me - I won't be home until late tonight so it's nice to see him for a little bit :).
I'm going to go hang with my big brudder tonight. He's been in emerg with some scary heart issues (tachychardia...boourns) the last few weeks and is finally feeling better so I'm going to go have supper and play board games at his house tonight. I heart my brudder.

Anyhoo...my coffee break is over so I'd best get back to things. Hope you have a wonderful day :)

good morning

How was your St. Patrick's day? Mine was lovely. We made some Guinness stew and biscuits (enjoyed with more Guinness ahem) and I had an early night, while J went out to see a friend's band play.

This morning I got up and made sure I had time for some lower body work before my 50 minute walk along  the river to work. I did Josie's booty blast, as well as 3 times through 10 of suma squats, forward lunges on each leg, side lunges with toe touches and then ballet back leg lifts. Just enough to burn but not enough to squeak :) And today is another good day to come.
How can it not be when you start it out with a walk like this...


Hope you all have a great day :)

and my soul is getting warm...

I am sitting at my desk, munching on pineapple, yogurt and granola and thinking that this life right here is definitely the one that I can't imagine spending any other place or way.
This morning I got up early enough to do an upper body weight workout with my 8Lb dumbbells (3X12 of arm curls, shoulder presses, bent rows, tricep kickbacks, side raises and front raises and 2X of 10 push ups (knee) and 30 second planks). Then, after a gloriously long hot shower I made a cup of earl grey decaf with honey and milk and set out for my walk along the river to work. It's only -5 with no wind - a great morning for a stroll with some tea to keep my hands and heart warm.
As I walked and sipped my tea I watched the sunrise spread over the horizon (they don't call Saskatchewan the land of living skies for no reason :) ). The orange light glinted off the melting snow and the grass underneath and glistened off the icy South Saskatchewan River. Geese returning from the south honked at me and I sipped my tea, grinning as I listened to a Vinyl Cafe CBC podcast. The musical guest Jon and Roy sang a song about how the sun was coming up and his soul was getting warm...and I couldn't have agreed more.
Mornings like this are what I live for. They fill me up from deep inside and remind me just why I went through all that treatment business...the little wonders of every day life right here. Right now.


mmmm....pi

We helped a friend move on saturday. Oh...still a bit stiff.  They're all settled in their house now. We spent sunday walking (the weather was gorgeous- up to +5) to the local art gallery and relaxing at home with wine and music and a movie. Good weekend really. For pi day we had homemade apple strawberry pie to celebrate. Yum.

This week the weather is supposed to be around 0 all week as well so I'm walking to work again this week. If I can get my butt out of bed a bit earlier I want to do weights tues/thurs this week too. it's tough factoring things in along with the extra 30 minutes I have to leave earlier in order to walk, but it's a great way to start the day. I was still a bit creaky this morning...I did some squats and that was all. After the stiffness from all that carrying boxes around I know I need to do some work. I have some chicken noodle veg soup and banana oatmeal muffins for my lunches this week, so I am hoping to stay on track this week and build me some muscles :)

Have a great day everyone!


overnight oats

I'm slowly moving back to my old healthy eating ways and have walked to work all week, and did some weights as well for my upper body this week. Slow and steady. Last night I set up what used to be one of my staple morning breakfasts to see if I loved it as much as I used to...and, yup. Still do :)
Overnight chai oats are a simple and delicious meal with a fair amount of protein and fibre and are very healthy. It keeps me full all morning too with only natural sugars and no dairy. As a bonus it's portable and doesn't need to be refrigerated, so if you go elsewhere to workout and still want a filling healthy breakfast on the go this is perfect. I took the base recipe from the Oh She Glows food blog and have tried a few different versions of it. I love cooked oatmeal to begin with (it was a staple every day eve during chemo whenever I could), so this is a faster way of getting myself a good breakfast that keeps me full and not needing to snack until lunch.

1/2 c oatmeal, 3/4c almond milk, 1 t vanilla, 1/2 a mushed banana, 1.5 T of chia seeds and a shake or two of cinnamon in a container overnight and in the morning you get a yummy healthy pudding textured breakfast. You can swap out the banana for 1/4 c pumpkin and add some pie spice for pumpkin version, or add some cocoa and a dash of ginger and molasses for a gingersnap version...or leave out the banana and add some stewed fruit or other fruit on top with a splodge of maple syrup. Yum.

I know I'm definitely bringing this back into rotation a few mornings a week.
Nom.

false spring

It's been gorgeous here the last few days. Up to 5 C during the day. Maybe even above 10 by the end of the week. Everything is melting everywhere and I've walked to and from work friday, monday and today. It's brilliant... and incentive to move more. Having been so slack lately it's easy to stay that way but the more I've been walking again the better I feel...and I've got that itch again. I'm hoping after a week of this waking ~5 K a day I can start into more fitness again next week. It takes about an hour to walk so I need to get up extra early if I want to do some weights...but I can do that. Tomorrow I have a weights workout planned before my walk to work. And if it freezes up again next week (which I"m sure it will) I will be up in the mornings again. I want to try hitting the gym 2 days a week for either spin class or to use the machines there...we'll see how it goes. What I really want to do is get back to running.
When I walk in the frosty air I still get that "feeling" I get when I run and I have missed it. My  SIL has gotten hooked on running and posted a few pics of her morning jog today. She's training for the local half marathon and it's got me thinking about getting back to my Couch to 5K dreams of the fall. As soon as the ice melts a bit and it's above 0 for good I plan on being out there and getting back to this again. I'm hoping I can start in April and do some base work this month.
Cuz really, snacking and sloth is a lot of fun, but in the end I don't feel like myself as much. And the point is to keep things in check and maintain. With February finally gone I am finally feeling like it maybe will be spring some day. The funk of deep freeze winter is slowly leaving. Time to get back to things. I have a whole summer with no surgery or treatment or anything other than family events and sunshine to look forward to and I can't wait to get to them :)

Ain't No Sunshine



My favourite version of this song has been in my head all morning.

Hope you're all having a great day :)

My cold is fading and the weather is warming.

Wednesday is here.

:)

Colds, Caffeine and Cuteness

Well, I've had a frog in my throat for about a week and it's finally blossomed into a proper head cold. Cuz, you know, I was going to start working out hard core on monday so naturally this will help.
Harumph.
Ah well. I'll ease into it…when I'm not sleeping. If I'm still coughing up a storm I may take a day off work and not give it to everyone else around me there (like a lot of them did to me, ahem).

I am currently trying to revise a scientific paper based on my thesis - the first of a few. I am also keeping an eye on the kitten. She was spayed on wednesday and the's not supposed to play or jump for a week…which is quite well nigh impossible, but I'm trying. She's a little ball of energy and love and it's tricky keeping her calm. We keep her in the spare room if we're out so she doesn't play with Dax and risk opening her stitches and we have her sleep in the bedroom with us at night for the same reasons. Dax is confused as to why the cat trees are tipped over to keep her from climbing up them. I'll be glad when the 7-10 days is up and she can go back to normal again. She has been healing up very well, so I am sure she will be fine. JJ was worried about her…after losing Gavin it was hard not to worry about her, but our vet is fantastic and all is well.

The vet tech misspelled the kitten's name on her file and now I can't help but change the spelling a bit more to make it fit her better. Widget is Widjette from now on when I write it out. Same name, but better spelling…like a a girl ninja widgetty ninjette. Only…cuter….god help me I'm a crazy cat lady aren't I?
Ah well. Nothing to be done about it now.

But, I stayed home from a breakfast/lunch gathering at friends because of the sicklies and this paper and this isn't helping is it? I should go get to it. I even drank a real cup of coffee to harness the powers of caffeine for my day of editing statistics and references. Here goes nothing…

Happy sunday.