images of the weekend

So there was no official workout this weekend. While I had considered it on Friday, after the amount of yard work I did I felt I had burned the extra calories!

Here is the weekend in an image snapshot:

Grand Chief Membertou's 400th anniversary events on the Halifax Commons

There were playdates:

birthday parties at the pool:

and yard work (I rearranged this entire bed):

I trimed most of the hedges:

and stacked wood:

Phew! I'm wiped...I think I need a vacation from my weekend - thankfully this is a three day week for me coming up!!

Later!

Tired, tired, tired

Not sure why, it was a good day - booty bootcamp at noon. Shanan and I went about 15 mins early and did our own workout with the bells and the skipping ropes. So, all said I got a good 45 mins in. Also, I neglected to add that last night after I blogged, I took the girls (my pups) for a 3km run!! Soooo, maybe that's why I'm tired and my hamstrings are wicked tight!!

Tonight I was super mom, took my kids, my dogs, another local kid to the park before supper. After supper we cleaned up, did some homework, read books, etc....I even took 20 mins to tend the veggie garden!

Eating today was excellent! As I type I'm sipping on my low cal hot chocolate which I'm hoping will kill the snack cravings I'm presently having. Fortunately I'm tired enough that I'll soon be in bed and will sleep through the cravings!

The kids are hitting the hay and I think I'm not far behind them.....

Nite

Breathing easier

Another successful visit to Angie, my osteo/massage therapist today. I was having pains in my shoulder and mid back when I was breathing deeply - while it did hurt it was really a bother! Now, it's gone in one side and much less in the other side. I'm told it has to do with my lungs not moving around as they should (when I breath) and the fascia which surrounds it all. The end effect is that my back isn't hurting and I can breath deeply without hurting. One more visit and I'm hoping well have all this stuff worked out and me moving fluidly again.

I missed half of my kettlebell workout (I had to take son to the Doc's to have a sprained thumb confirmed!), so wonderful Laurissa (who now has a blog too) let me take 1/2 of the kettlebell class, and then stick around for the Power 1/2 Hour workout - have I mentioned how much I love this lady?? ; ) All in all I think it was a 45 minute workout. I can't remember the specifics, but I was sweaty and happy at the end of it!

I grabbed a quick shower, and dried off with my workout pants (I hate it when I forget to pack the essentials!) and off to see Angie.

The other fun thing I did today was put up an arbour (from Lee Valley....mmmm, Lee Valley, I seriously LOVE that store)! When we moved into our house 2 years ago I found an old honeysuckle vine near the side of the house - but it was in bad shape (infested with Aphids and the wood was too old) and didn't have anything to climb on. Since then I've been babying it and trying to revive it...here's some pics of it!

The first bloom is healthy and the second one isn't...its still a work in progress. After that I just waked around the garden and took pics of the flowers - which I will leave you with!

Nite

Columbine

Cranesbill bloom

the last of the Primrose blooms

first of  Daylilies

last of the lungwort (puminaria ssp.)

chives about to bloom

the last, spent tulip

& we have forget-me-nots everywhere.

Super Saturday!

Well, after yesterdays double workout I opted to have a 'workout free weekend'! Now, that doesn't mean I'm not working the old body, it just means I'm not having an 'official' workout. Instead I took the kids to the spring frolic - and had a blast.

We walked down, I spent more money that I should on tickets ... and released the kids! LOL! There was face painting, candy eating, prize winning, and game playing - here's a few pics:

After lunch we had play date, yard work (gardening is damn hard on my back!), laundry on the line, and a few quick errands. We had a great supper (chicken, broccoli, green beans) and then grabbed the dogs and an extra kid and hit the park. The dogs had a great run - and I Fur-bin-ated them! (this is something I hate to do at home as it makes such a big mess in the yard).

All is quiet now as I sit here with a rum and diet coke (rum from the Dominican). I must say I'm feeling like I worked out today. Is it possible that yard work is harder on me that a 60 minute workout with Craig? The difference is that Craig is harder on me at the time and I recuperate much faster.

I'm off to veg in front of the TV and snuggle my hubby.....

Nite!

PS I forgot to mention that some of the 'die-hard Core' ladies and I are planning another special little something for Laurissa and Craig - stayed tuned for more details! : )

Long weekend catch up

Lets try this with images and a few captions.

Friday night we had neighbours over for drinks after supper - the kids played (mostly in the dress up clothes)and the adults drank!

Saturday I went to kettlebells and hubby took the kids to the Bluenose Marathon - they did a 4.2 Km! I'm very proud!

Sunday was yard work - my son has become the lawn mower. I think this is great, it frees me up to do REAL gardening!

I also took the girls for a nice long trip to our park.

Monday was relaxin' - and some more yard work

This bed under the window was pathetic before. Now there are some nice grasses and its nicely mulched!

Daughter and I also planted the containers - she chose many of the plant (I wouldn't usually choose snapdragons, but hey, she liked them!) and we got dirty together. : )

There were other things like a family BBQ on Sat night (Aunt Ruth from Thunderbay, Uncle John from Dartmouth, and sissy Alexa from Ottawa were all here!), and a trip to the Dingle today with the Wallace family. Sadly, I don't have pics of everything.

So, I only worked out Sat, but the whole long weekend was extreemly active - and boy, it had better be to burn off some of the calories I in took in the form of alcohol!

That's allllll folks!
Nite

Pain Management

Its Saturday, and as Monday is a holiday (aka no workout) I thought it appropriate to take in one of Craig's one hour Kettlebell classes - aka Pain Management Sessions (this is what hubby calls his time with Craig!)

Here's what the workout looked like/what I can remember of it:

• tabata - double handed swings/jumping on the plyo box
• snatches - 20 per side
• PAIN
• double handed swings/around the body with a rest (stilling the bell when it gets to your chest, then change direction)
• PAIN - a Quad (10 burpees, 10 mountain climbers, 10 bootstraps, 10 burpees)
• 20 jumps on the plyo box
• MORE PAIN
• superset - of pain...I can't remember what we did, but it was a full 10 mins without rest....
• tabata - double handed swings/snatches
• more snatches (we did 100 in total for the workout)
• and finishing with 100 Bootstraps - in a race.

The first man and woman to finish win a free class! Sadly I didn't win. There was alot of pain, I don't remember that kind of pain during an exercise ... ever! I did, however, finish the 100 burpees. I really didn't think I would.....first 30, feeling the burn. Fighting to 50. Ok from 50 to 60. Don't remember 60 - 80. At 80 Craig is at my shoulder yelling encouraging me to finish "knees, heels...KNEES, HEELS!!!". Funny, that much muscle fatigue and I'm feeling ok now, and hour later - guess he really knows what he's talking about! ; P

I'm tired now, but its a beautiful day out there - I'm gonna clean the house, putter in the garden, walk the dogs, and we have neighbours coming over for drinks after supper tonight (which should be a BBQ)! Nice!

Later

PS Hubby took the kids to the Bluenose Marathon today while I was at class - I wish I'd been there to see it, but he took pics and I heard all about it.....encouraging healthy, active lifestyle for everyone! :)

A Day Late - Hope for Wildlife Society

Sorry folks, I was toooooo tired last night to muster up the energy to post anything! 

We, a group of HRM staff, spent a special day at the Hope for Wildlife Society sanctuary in Chezzetcook. The Hope for Wildlife mandate is to connect people to wildlife in a positive way - through knowledge and understanding - the Hope for Wildlife Society believes that education through rehabilitation is the key to a sustainable future.

They have a wonderful site where they house every type of wildlife Nova Scotia has to offer - I got to get up close and personal with 2 Bald Eagles, a Grey Squirrel, several racoons, a Raven and a Crow, a Corn Snake, an Owl (the type I can't remember), a peacock and peahen, and much, much more!!

The payment for this awesome experience was manual labour! They needed some bodies to do some landscaping around the site. So we weeded, mulched, resurrected a beautiful two-tiered pond and then landscaped around it with plants and beach rock. We also replanted some trees, and hauled some brush.

It was wonderful, we all worked really hard (I came home COVERED in mud :) and had a great time. I was still sore from working out on Wednesday, and added this full day of fresh air and exercise made me too tired to talk last night! Sometimes its great to be that tired, I snuggled and hung out with the kids and I was too tired to take offence to anything they might have done! LOL!

Sorry I didn't take any pictures, but I might be able to post some later from others!

Later!

Week-end Recap

Hubby worked this weekend, so I wasn't able to get a real workout in - instead I was able to steal away 30 minutes at a time and 'workout' around the yard! I'll show you some of my weekend activities.

Flower pot (metal bin really) that needed a face lift, started like this:

and turned into this (flowers to come payweek next week):

Also, I made the veggie garden look like this (I removed the huge weeds, mixed in compost, fertilizer and lime, and shaped the beds - also planted lettuce, carrots, spinach and beets):

here's another pic of my helper Abby : )

Also weeded and mulched the strawberries and cared for the transplants in the greenhouse:

And finally I worked back around to the front of the house to work on edging and mulching the shrubs:

and weeded my front perennial bed (everything looks small cause the bed is only in its second full year):

Phew, just writing this makes my back sore! And, on top of that I did upteen loads of laundry, vacummed, took dogs to parks, kids to parks, playdates, gymnastics, and fed everyone! I think I deserve a drink - mmmmm, how about a nice Rickards Red?? :)

So, while I didn't workout, I was very active. My back is sore, but no more or less sore than it was this week. I still got 5 workouts in for the week, and I'm set for another 5 this week. I also have MASSAGE on Tuesday am - I'm not sure where to have to work to make the most of the one hour. I suspect she will tell me she wants to see me again next week to continue - left ham/glute, SI joint, right shoulder/neck, complete stiff back.....aaaghhh, Tuesday am can't come soon enought.

They say people are like the dog breed they chose. I have Border Collies therefore this makes me a Border Collie and I suppose that's right. Echo once ran for her ball so long she puked, looked at it, picked up her ball was ready to run some more! I suppose I'm like this, I can't sit down unless I'm completely wrecked. Nothing halfway! 

Ok, that beer is calling my name. I promise to blog more regularily.....promise!

Nite: ) 

Mother's Day gardening

My smart family knows me well - I was treated to breakfast in bed, and then wisked off to Kent to buy my mother's day gift  - Gardening supplies! I got gloves, grass seed, 2 bags of lime, 5 sods, several small starter plants for the veggie garden and bark mulch.

I spend the better part of the afternoon edging beds, planting and watering sods (from old shrubs that I removed last year) and bark mulching the beds that I edged! Wow, things are really starting to look all nice and tidy - but there is still so much to do!! No official workout,  but again what a great workout! : )

My back is tired, I've already layed on the hot bag and now I'm using rum as a medicinal! LOL!

Mother's day supper was AMAZING:

BBQ'd beer can chicken!

Homemade home fries!

Veggies on the Barbie! MMMM!

It was a fab Mother's Day, a tad cold for the gardening but one works through it! LOL! I can't believe it's Sunday nite already...booohhhoooo!! Back to work tomorrow.

Now I'm off to curl up in bed with a good book, and a good man! : )

Nite!

Saturday gardening

I didn't workout today, technically. Hubby went off to Kettlebell class, but as we didn't have a babysitter I opted to stay home with the kiddies....and garden!

I have to say I've been worried that my gardening drive hadn't really kicked in, but after today I'm in the grove. I had been dismantling a flower bed in the far corner of the property that was redundant and things weren't really growing there. It was one that we inherited with the property. So, frugal gal that I am I reused the concrete retaining blocks (to a bed I wanted to keep):

Above are the before and afters. A few weeks ago I dragged these blocks across the backyard and re-set them here. I think it looks much better, and its safer.

Here's where the blocks came from (again before and after):

I'm hoping to seed the area where the bed was, and I relocated the compost bin out of sight behind the large maple. I took all the soil and composts (mixed it well) and top dressed the really bad area in the front lawn.

A few years before we bought this house the sewer lateral (from the street to the house) was replaced - a good thing as it saved us substantial money not having to do it. Unfortunately when they do this they use the crappiest sod EVER. Therefore, this area is ALL weeds and the grass never does well - you can CLEARLY see where the work was. So, topdressing means that this good soil will start to feed the grass, make it heathier, and hopefully out-compete the weeds. I believe I moved 5 wheelbarrow loads and spread it. 

So, while I didn't have an official 'workout' I did spend 4 hours in the yard moving soil, picking weeds (and dog poop!), mowing the front yard, and cleaning leaves and garbage out of the hedges.

Here is the next project (I started many projects last year and sadly didn't finish them) that I want to finish, and may even start tomorrow (weather dependant!):

 

Again, when we bought the house (on a busy street, but also on a quiet side street) I cut a hole in the hedge to get the kids to stay off the busy street. The hedge hole was such a sucess that the heavy traffic began making a mud problem. So, I pilfered stones (from a nearby re-development project) and started placing the stones. Worked pretty well, except that now that a winter has passed I see I have a grade problem (path is lower than the ground so water sits on it, and drainage problem - there is no drainage!  So, I need to pull the stones up, dig a trench, lay gravel, re-set the stones and change the grade! Phew! Another great non-workout porject!

I'll leave you with a few other shots of the yard that I took this afternoon.

Nitey nite!

Friday

Today flew by....I even stayed late at work, and its a SUNNY day out there!! I didn't quite get done what I wanted as there were many interuptions, but a few were coaching a coworker on how to manage his work/stress and the others were some unhappy coworkers (so unhappy they are filing separate grievances with our local union). When things are that bad, you just need someone to listen...so I did!

Got a wicked workout in at lunchtime. There were just two of us, so we made our way through our time trial and then did an extra 15 minutes of ab work! Phew! The time trial was based in skipping, and looked like this (3 rounds):

• skipping (40)
• wall squats - single legged (25 lifts per leg)
• skipping (40)
• walk outs  - into a plank, single push up, then half way walking back a v-push up (5/leg)
• skipping (40)
• ?? can't remember this one.....
• skipping (40)
• single leg toe touch, squeezing glutes to raise up, plyo jump (20/leg)
• skipping (40)
• leg lifts (20/leg) - leg down, leg up, lift torso off ground with a toe touch

I can't remember the ab exercises we did, but my abs certainly are telling me that THEY remember them! LOL!  Now, I'm just chilling with the kiddies, trying to sort out activities and with any luck start working in the yard - need to attack the hedge, continue to pick weeds, and mow the front lawn. Watch me go! 

Nite

Kettlebells & a required rest

Yesterday...aahhhh, yesterday. It was a great day! I woke up with some real stiffness/soreness in my back - when I breathed deeply it hurt (more like when you have pnemonia and you've pulled muscles due to coughing). I was determined NOT to miss the 1 hour Kettlebells class, so I took some Advil, soaked in the tub and had hubby massage my back!

I felt well enought to participate (YEAH!) and did manage to get through it! I did modify my weights (I had to go down to a 25lb from the 30 lb for a few exercises) but felt pretty good. Craig had checked in with me at one point and I told him where the pain was, he handed me a foam roller and told me to lean back on it and take a few deep breaths - BINGO! I heard a crack and most of the tension released. It was still sore, but not like what it was.

The class itself is, without doubt, the hardest workout/physical activity that I've done in years (maybe ever). Its cardio, but its also pushing weights. Its endless continuous with short, little rest periods between long sets. Its sweaty and chalky. I always want to bail 1/2 way through, that voice in my head says 'your done, you can't do any more' - but somehow Craig seems to know when to give the pep talk - make the most of your time; this is an oportunity that you can choose to make the most of! And, it works! That voice in my head listens, and back-peddles: 'You can! Come on, just a little more!' :)
Afterwards, and on Craig's orders I iced and heated it for a good part of the morning and it was feeling much better by lunch. Today that area is much less sore, but I've added some new tender areas from the Kettlebell class! LOL! I think I'm going to work a massage into this week, and I might bump my chrio apt earlier (maybe a rib is out of place again?).

Anyway, we hung with the kids, cleaned the house, etc for the rest of the afternoon in preperation for a dinner party (well, good family friends and their kids were coming, and Oma - my kids grandmother - arrived too!) that night. What a good time! Thanks to the Wallace for coming, we always have such fun when we are together. I may have eaten too much, and had more to drink that I should have - but maybe the kettlebell class balanced the extra calories : P

Today, I wore up (stiff and sore), grabbed my coffee and headed to the computer (as I usually do on the weekends). As I was waiting for it to load up I was blankly staring out the window, and here's what I saw:

and

Did I ever mention my other obsession - gardening (& generally growing things)? What you see above are orchids. What a beautiful sight. I think I've been so busy lately that I didn't even notice they were in full bloom! What is it they say, take the time to smell the flower? In this case its take the time to set the flowers!

I've always loved orchids, but our first house was so small and dark that I couldn't really grow any indoor plants. Our new house is light, airy, larger AND loves orchids! These are the two that I have now, they are covered in blooms and so happy you can almost hear them humming as they grow :) I suspect over the years this room (our sunroom) will be covered with these beautiful plants!!

And on that note, I have a surprise activity today (hopefully) that includes plant life. I won't tell you more, I'll take pictures so you an see - hopefully tomorrow.

Have a great Sunday!

Later!