Funk Cancer and Week 3

This weekend was a lot of fun. A few of our friends who are promoters, once of whom just lost his mum to (fucking) cancer and who's significant other's mum is also fighting it got together with like-minded peoples and fueled our anger into something good -we threw a big cancer fundraiser party saturday night - Funk Cancer. Despite the stupidly cold weather we've been having (seriously -it's absurd - how many weeks can we be at -45 with the windchill?) we had a decent turnout and it was lots of fun.  It was 80s themed with so much love put into it. It was great to work on building a venue up and be creative with so many people who I'm proud to call my friends and see JJ get to do his thing as only he can. They built and painted giant Nintendo NES dance platforms, put a giant blacklight PAC MAN on the wall, built and painted a giant boom-box stage (complete with a cassette to flip over for each new artist!), giant Light Brites saying Funk Cancer (I made those heheh..), Donkey Kong barrels, a giant Etch a Sketch and great music. There was also a whole lot of many different cool things for the silent auction which raised lotsa cash too - still waiting on the final numbers. I bid on (and think I won) a small painting of one of the Ghostbusters heheheh so I got a little cheesy art for a good cause. I worked with JJ before and at the event to help build custom LED light bits for the stage and the light bars above the platforms and JJ laser mapped the stage elements to make the stage come alive. It looked AMAZING. All the proceeds form the silent auction and all profits went to the Canadian Cancer Society.

Main stage with laser mapping hee hee

NES platform test with discoball before doors opened :)

Since poor JJ was randomly and thoroughly sick, I helped him out as much as I could and we were working on it all weekend and were there all day for setup...then I didn't get home and to sleep after tear down until almost sunrise sunday AM but it man -was SO worth it. Poor JJ was sick a s a dog with a bad cold that snuck up on him on thursday so he was finally able to give in to it and just be sick all sunday. I fed him and made him sleep and he basically slept all day, poor guy. I left him with water and advil and fruit smoothies this am and hope another day of sleep will help him feel better. If not I'll take him to the doc today. His arm has been hurting him a lot too (not sure if it's a sprain or strain, but it's been really sore and achey for about 2 weeks now, so he needs to have it looked at). He leaves for Montreal on friday so I want him to rest up and feel better before he goes. Holidays when you're sick are no fun - and who wants to take the plague with you when you go?
So far I seem to have escaped his cold - I think JJ's mad 5 days work in a row with minimal sleep and lots of company in the house wore him out enough to catch something. I've just shifted into chemo level germophobe mode and although my hands are getting dry form over-washing I'm (so far) still OK. I'm just back at regular workouts again so I don't want to stop and be sick again. This long winter has been brutal for germs - when you're trapped indoors with everyone you get their germs too...Having friends stay with us while they apartment hunt made for enforced visiting too and their son who is 5 was an exhausting never ending ball of energy. I am pleased that they will be here soon (and in their OWN place)...as an introvert having someone in your house all the time is exhausting. I'm actually looking forward to JJ being in Montreal for a week prior to me so I can just have down time.

I finally feel like I"m getting strength back .There are faint muscles on my shoulders again and I feel stronger. Started Week 3 of Ripped in 30 and it was a new hard adventure this AM. Duck walks -oh. my. god. They look so simple...oh no. And all the arm stuff with monkey push-ups and tricep side raises. Oy. I modified the jump switch lunges because my knees cannot deal, but other than that I made it through it all...barely. I'm about 5 Lb down so far and feeling stronger so another week of healthy eating and regular workouts will be good for me I think. Just knowing I'm working at it is enough for me - I feel really good this AM.

But - I'm avoiding getting to work so I should just get to it.
Have a lovely and warm week peoples. Hug the ones you love.
And fuck cancer.

Week 2 here we go

Starting week 2 of the Ripped in 30. It seems easier overall this week (may just be in my head though) but way more core work. I think it's just more of stuff I like. I like the 30 seconds format too - I can do anything for 30 seconds. I only have to modify a few things because of my surgeries so I feel like I'm getting a solid workout even with those. As I get stronger I'll work to do that less, but I don't want to injure myself so I'm making sure I'm smart about it. I'm finding the eating more of a challenge really. It's easier on workdays, but when it's a weekend and I'm home by myself? So hard not to just nibble away my days. I've tried to have lots of healthy snacks around and stay hydrated which helps. I find I eat when I'm thirsty sometimes and really what I need is water instead. I'm trying not to obsess over food - I'm debating whether I want to track my meals or not because I know how obsessive I can get about it. I want to be aware of what I'm eating and portions but I don't want to get weird about it.We have company here too for a few days so I have to be open to more options and eat enough, but not too much. Ugh. I envy people who just eat for fuel. It's so much more complicated for me.


After one week of being hardcore food + workouts I already feel better. My muffin top is less and my pants feel a bit better. I've lost ~3 pounds (most of which I bet is water) but it's good to see a bit of progress and feel like I'm doing something useful. It's not really about the scale though and I'm not aiming for such drastic change. I'm only stepping on once a week - I want to feel stronger and be comfy in my clothes again. My abs are more visible again which is nice and my shoulders seem a bit more muscley which I have missed. So far? This program works :). I took an extra day off because it was a long weekend - I did fully plan to workout yesterday, but friends came to visit a day early without much notice so I was not able to fit it in before they came. That's OK though - we've gotten a tonne of snow the last few days and JJ has an injured wrist so I've been doing all the shoveling. Let me tell you - getting a sidewalk clear of 10 inches of snow and chipping off the ice is a solid exercise!

I should be off and get to the lab. Just wanted to touch in to say hi and be accountable to myself. Hope you all have a great week. Stay warm!!

Baby its Cold Outside

We're in the middle of  a hellish cold snap at the moment. It's hit -50C with the windchill a few times and at this very moment it's a balmy -41 C with the wind (-31 without). Needless to say since the mercury has dropped this low I've resorted to the bus in the morning. I hate to do it but it's dangerously cold out right now and I couldn't walk 45 minutes in this safely. It should break by the end of the month (oh please) and then things will get slorshy but much more reasonable. I've got an alpaca scarf which is lovely and soft and warm on my face and I've been keeping warm. I don't have to go anywhere this weekend except to the fabric store and to visit my adopted gramma Stella in the hospital (she took a bad fall, poor thing). I'll happily stay in where it's warm and craft away.

After a frustrating time finding something dressy that fits right to go out at the end of January I've gotten back to more intense morning regular workouts again. Part of that is going to bed on time - boring, but necessary. Proud to say that all week I've gotten up to do week 1 of my 30 day shred dvd and I haven't died yet so the yoga and swimming I've been doing when I can at work lately has definitely helped. This week I'm covering for someone at work so I've only been able to get away for one swim and might make yoga today at lunch (I hope I hope), but I have been good at workouts all 5 mornings this week. Yay me. This morning I almost slept in, but I still got up and I'm glad I did. Happy exercise endorphins really make my day better. It also sets me up to be diligent with my eating as well when I start my day off right. I feel a bit stronger already.

I need to find some healthy soup recipes. At a friend's suggestion I picked up a thermos and have used it to keep hot lovely soup for my lunches lately and it's awesome - even has a little spoon with it. Our lunch room microwaves are gross so this means I can eat my hot soup at my desk. I like it. I'd like to make big batches of soup like I used to over the weekend. Any recipes you like?

Monday is a holiday here - I totally forgot, but that's nice to have a break. JJ works all weekend, so at least I'll have monday off with him. I was supposed to go with him to a gig in another city saturday night, but a friend of his who is a lot more tech savvy is free to go as his legit helper so I'll be here instead. I am sad to miss the event, but I could use the down time to do some chores and get crafty.

My girlfriends and I are getting ready for the Calgary Comic Expo at the end of April so I have some sewing to do! This year I plan to be Ryuko Matoi from Kill La Kill in Kemui Senketsu (untransformed cuz I have no desire to be mostly nekkid) on one day and all us girls are going as some Ghostbusters on another one.

Ryuko Matoi in Senketsu

Yep. Possibly zombie ghostbusters...we shall see what our salvaged work coveralls look like first. Heheh. I love having friends as nerdy as I am. We all bought the proton packs that light up and make noise after halloween when they were on sale super cheap so even my friend Lisa who never dresses up  will be dressed up at the Con. They are tweedley cool :) I've got my Ryuko wig on order and am heading to the fabric store for some navy fabric to make Senketsu tomorrow afternoon...It should be a pretty simple comfy costume. Any costume where you wear running shoes is OK by me :)

BUT...I should get to the lab. Stay warm.
Later taters.