happy happy

the past two weeks have flown by in a bit of a blur of holiday shopping, baking, visits and lots of doing nothing.

The "shopping = walking" fitness program continued sporadically until around the 22nd or so. We weren't planning on doing much shopping for the holidays this year but even when you decide not to spend a tonne of money, it still take several trips out and about to get the non-expensive things that you've decided on. I also spent an entire day wrapping all of the stuff that we were cutting back on. It all looked gorgeous when it was done and I think it was all unwrapped, in a heap on the floor, in less than 10 minutes.

My baking turned out really well this year. I stuck to cookies, which I am very good at and left squares and pies and candy to those who have those skills. My attempts at these are always underwhelming. One of the nice things about my cookies too is, even though there is sugar in them, I use things like unbleached flour, soy milk, and non-hydrogenated margarine. The only pound of butter I purchase all year is used in my shortbread, everything else gets the margarine and I had no complaints. I'm not fooling myself into thinking that cookies which are full of skor bits or white chocolate chunks are actually healthy but at least I know exactly what is in them!

I baked literally hundreds of cookies. This year I had enough for 9 really large plates and one big hamper of cookies (the hamper when to my folks the plates to friends and other family members). We had just enough cookies left over at home that we should run out later today. Last year, I think I was chucking them out after January 1 because we didn't get to see as many folks as we'd planned.

The week after Christmas was sort of weird. My hunny was sick over the holidays. Finally on Friday, he felt well enough to go back to work but he missed Wednesday and Thursday due an allergic reaction he had to some new prescription medication. Since he's been diagnosed as diabetic, he's been taking metformin in addition to some cholesterol lowering meds. He was first diagnosed with high cholesterol in December 2002. When his new doctor discovered the diabetes, she switched him to a new cholesterol medicine and it's been working well. Combined with good changes in his diet and eating habits, he's got his numbers for both well under control. There's a good chance that with some more weight loss, he could dump the meformin. Anyway, because he's diabetic, she's been really watching his blood pressure. His BP is good for a non-diabetic person but she felt that he should try some medication to lower it slightly because he is "borderline high" for a diabetic. The blood pressure meds made him so sick. He was having so much gas pain that he didn't sleep for almost three days. Fortunately, we figured it out on Christmas Day and he stopped taking the meds (he was taking them at bedtime). He got into see his doctor on the 27th and she agreed that he had a bad reaction and will let that go for a while. He was so sick that I thought seriously about taking him to the hospital a couple of times. Thankfully, he's sleeping well again and is feeling better. It was pretty horrible, not only being sick but feeling crappy over the holidays always seems so much worse somehow.

For New Years Eve, I'll be home, he'll be working this evening. This isn't such a big deal for me though. I always feel like Labour Day is New Years. When school starts, it's like the year starts for me. I still have another entire week of vacation left. All I really have planned is some housework, packing away the holiday decorations, cleaning, that sort of thing...and seeing some friends before we all get back to work again.

With the start of 2007, I hope to clean up my routine again. I've been working on it over the holidays. I'm definitely drinking more water (and I can see the difference in my skin). The eating hasn't been great but I've been working hard on not snaking in the evenings because that is something I struggle with. I know I ate way too much spinach dip and too many cookies (not together!) over the past couple of weeks but lucky for me, we're fresh out of spinach dip and the cookies are almost gone so I shouldn't have too much trouble getting my act back together. The exercise part might be a bit trickier but I have some plans for this week too.

So, expect to see me posting here with a little more regularity than I have been. Writing here helps me keep focused on being nice to myself. Here's hoping that 2007 is a happy, healthy year for all of us!!

more walking

so tell me, shopping does count as exercise right?

if it doesn't, it should!!

I spent a good chunk of today shopping. Not just holiday shopping though, some of it was of the household goods and grocery variety. I got a lot done and right now, my feet are killing me so that must have burned some calories!!

All though November, around here anyway, the produce in the stores was overpriced and underwhelming. Things in the produce section were looking up this morning though, I guess it could be because of the holidays. Whatever the reason, it was good to see fruit and veg that you actually want to eat, on sale. I also stocked us up on yogurt, seeds, healthy snack stuff... no chips in the bunch!! I've gotten really bad over the past few months with the chips. They are a huge weakness for me and I've allowed myself to indulge just a few times too many.

This weekend will be quiet for us. I have some work I need to do (I do freelance transcription in my "spare" time) tomorrow. I really want to get it done tomorrow and have Sunday off with my hunny (he's working tomorrow too) because my deadline is Monday. Other than that, we should have a nice relaxing weekend. I'm definitely not going anywhere near the stores again until next week if I can avoid it!!

actual walking

Today started out feeling a bit like a work day. A long time ago, before I had scheduled my holidays, I had signed up for a workshop for today. I'm working on a professional development certificate through work and I'm only 4 sessions away from completion so I didn't want to miss it. The session itself was good, I sat with some women I knew so I got to have a visit with them as well.

I had a couple of errands to do on campus so I was wandering around a fair bit before and after the session. Fortunately, the sun was shining and, while it was breezy, the breeze wasn't cold at all. It felt really good to be outside walking. I haven't done a whole lot of that lately. When I'm out walking, I can really feel how out of shape I am though. I can't walk quickly at all and too many flights of stairs can really knock me a bit (like more than 2 flights - the 3rd one is a struggle). Still though, a long walk in the fresh air felt good. I need to get outside (if it ever stops raining - we've had a lot of rain here just recently) and walk around the neighbourhood while I'm off from work.

As far as the cold thing goes, I'm feeling much better. I took it very easy for most of Tuesday and yesterday, the only thing I really accomplished was putting up the christmas tree and doing a small amount of housework. I'm just happy that whatever it was, has almost gone and it's just a little cough right now. There's a tonne of weird bugs floating around right now, I sure don't need to catch one of those!

ugh

my throat, she's sore.

I'm coughing and feel achey.

I think I need to go see my bed again...fun times huh?

specs

Today was an expensive day. It doesn't pay to leave the house, let me tell you!

I ordered new glasses this afternoon. The ones I have now, which I love, are about 4 years old and the prescription has changed slightly. I really only notice the difference when I'm watching tv or driving at night (the illuminated signs are a little fuzzy for me now). While I was spending $400 on glasses, my hunny was spending a similar amount on prescriptions. Thank goodness we will get most of that back from the insurance company huh?! Unfortunately, we won't be able to claim for the $600 we're going to have to spend on tires this week but something is better than nothing, right?

My first weekend of vacation was quiet. As promised, I did get out and get groceries on Saturday. Yesterday, I had a bit of a lazy day, doing laundry, watching tv. I had intended to get my christmas tree up but that never happened. Tonight, I feel like I may be getting a touch of a cold. I'm a little stuffed up but hopefully, it's one of those things that will be knocked out by a good night's sleep. It is sort of funny how I've started to feel a little crummy just as I'm actually getting decent amounts of sleep and am eating better. Maybe my body is in a little bit shock!

holidays!

I'm officially on holidays!!

As of about 4 p.m. today, I am on vacation until Monday, January 8.

The nicest part of this is that I have no plans whatsoever. Well, not entirely no plans, I need to get my baking done and have some holiday type gifts to buy and wrap...and then there are all of those cards that I need to get out but other than that, I'm home for four weeks.

My hunny is working so I'll be keeping the home fires burning. I joke that I can be a housewife in the 50's for a month but I doubt very much that I'll be taking any amphetamines or wearing a pointy bra anytime soon.

One of the things I really want to do while I'm off from work is to get into a more healthy routine. We've recently gone back to our bad habit of either eating out too often or eating "convenience" foods at home. Tomorrow, I'm going to go buy actual groceries. We'll be able to cook good meals, I'll have stuff to use for baking. It'll be good for us, more healthy, economical, smart. I'm really looking forward to getting some rest and just generally having time to look after myself properly for the first time in a good long time.

another Friday

I have today off work. That's two Fridays in a row, neat huh? Two long-weekends. I'm lucky!

It feels weird to me though, that I'm not working head down, full steam ahead on multiple projects with looming deadlines. All year, I've had to juggle things at a frantic pace. It's hard work keeping all of those balls in the air. Unfortunately, all of that juggling doesn't burn any calories!

So today, my day off, I'm working on some hand-made gifts for my colleagues. Today's portion involves some baking activities. Next week is my last week in the office before my extended holiday break so I don't have a lot of time to get them together. Because I have all of that time off booked, I've not been too worried about getting stuff together for the holidays but it's creeping up on me now so I should get it started at least.