Sunday, April 28, 2013

Chasing the ever-elusive goal of balance

Once again I have not written in some time. And this time it is not because of a teething baby (thankfully!) Although, maybe this is worse because I am the cause of my own lack of free time. Sometimes, all of a sudden, I have a thousand great ideas come to me - and then I decide to do them all. Which obviously does not leave much time for anything.

Take my house for example, dishes have not been done in so long that we no longer have any utensils. At first it was just no spoons, which we just used forks instead - it makes eating cereal in the morning more of a game with the kids. But then we had no spoons either. No problem, we just drank our soup out of mugs. And then had to use the same mugs for milk, because, well there were no other cups left either. I may have to do the mountains of dishes tonight if we are to consume anything at all tomorrow.

After the mountains of dishes, I must face the piles of laundry. We are at the point where no one has any clean underwear tomorrow - that is the last straw and means laundry must be done. It is actually amazing how long we have lasted. Alan wouldn't dare ask about any dress shirts for work, he just quietly moved into his summer wardrobe - and look at today's weather, it is perfect timing! Ewan wondered why he no longer had any pyjama's but then quite enjoyed wearing summer t-shirts and shorts instead - he said he would dream about the beach. On Saturday, I even had to resort to wearing my ugly lulu lemon pants to work - the ones that should have been tossed because they have been worn almost weekly for 7 years, but I just cannot bring myself to toss lulu lemon pants - and thank goodness, because yesterday I had no other options. So, laundry is next on my to-do list.

Now, you might ask where Alan is during all of this - don't worry he has been kept busy with the never-ending spring yard maintenance checklist. With the added pressure that he is travelling for a week and only gets back the day before Ewan's birthday party - which, hopefully will be held outside (there is no way I can let anyone in with the condition of my house right now!) so everything outside is a priority.

What I have I been doing?



Well, one of my grand ideas was to start all of my garden veggies from seed. I thought it would be a great learning experience for Ewan and we would get a longer growing season. I definitely forgot how much time and space this project takes. I have now turned my bathroom into a greenhouse.


My second plan was to make a lot of Isla's summer clothes as well as a beautiful picnic blanket that I found on pinterest - I must never go back on pinterest! I then made the mistake of going to Fabricland and going on a shopping spree. So all of these wonderful projects are sprawled out over my basement.






I also asked on Facebook for some ideas for Ewan's loot bags for his dinosaur themed party. I was given some really great ideas. But then I found the most amazing idea of all! If I can pull it off, which may require me not to sleep for the next 10 days, it will be the perfect addition to the party! It is top secret right now, I will post pictures later if it all works out.

Lastly, I decided to start running and train for some races. I ran my first 5km today and although it was tougher than I thought it would be, what an incredible feeling to cross the finish line! Even better was having my family there to cheer me on as I came around the last bend. Ewan was so proud of me! I plan to continue my training with 3 runs a week, including the one at A Gym Tale on Tuesday's at 1:15 - which was also wonderful to run with so many amazing women this week.

To add to all of these projects, I have to update my First Aid and CPR training. Although very important, the thought of spending the next 3 nights from 6-10pm doing this course is really not appealing at all.

So, after all of this wraps up, I will blog again - in about 2 weeks or so! I hope everyone is enjoying the beautiful weather, that is hopefully here to stay.

Ewan and Isla loving the backyard play time!

Wednesday, April 3, 2013

Making time to care for yourself - join us for a run!

I had mentioned several weeks ago in a post that I had begun working out as part of a new year's resolution with the hope of beginning to run again. Since that time I have in fact continued my training twice a week with the TRX (did I mention that I really love using this to work out with - it makes for such a smooth, fast, full body workout that you can take anywhere!) as well as running again.

I had forgotten how much I really enjoyed running and the energy it leaves me with for the rest of the day. My goal is to work up to a 10km and so I have signed up for several races to keep me motivated over the next 6 months. I am presently registered for the Manotick 5km run in a few weeks, the Spartan race in June, and a 10km run in the Fall - there are actually races almost every weekend - it kind of gets addictive! As you can see once again, I have trouble doing anything in moderation and I tend go to the extremes with new interests -  I actually almost signed myself up for a triathlon! But balance - I am trying to keep a sense of balance without letting any one thing take over all of my time.

With my new found motivation to run I have also been chatting with Katie from Fit Mom in Barrhaven and we are throwing around the idea of a free 5km group run on Tuesday afternoons beginning at 1:15pm - yes, I said FREE. You will also have the option to drop off your child (3 years and up) at A Gym Tale while you go for your run - if there are younger children you are more than welcome to use a jogging stroller and bring them along - there is nothing better than living an active lifestyle in front of your children. The Drop Off Play will be $8 per child and they will have the opportunity to be active themselves on the Castle and Pirate ship while you go for your run.

The tentative start date would be Tuesday, April 23rd, 2013. The run would begin at 1:15 and the Drop Off program would open at 1pm if you are in need of care during the run. We are proposing a 5km route and experienced runners or new runners are more than welcome to join us. Katie is a wealth of running and fitness knowledge and will work specifically with the new runners -  no one will be left to run on their own. My hope is that being around other runners will inspire and motivate more parents to continue leading an active lifestyle or to encourage people to try running as a new form of exercise and to show their children how they are leading active lifestyles themselves. I am also really looking forward to getting out and meeting some new running friends!

If you think this may be of interest to you or someone you know please comment or send me an email - this is a free community event that Katie and I are looking to host so we are trying to get a sense if the interest and timing is right before we finalize the plans.