In here life is beautiful… The girls are beautiful…

I had such a busy day, I’ve completely sewn the top of the new baby quilt I started-get this-yesterday. No, I won’t post a picture of it yet, it’s a surprise gift for a friend who’s pregnant and if she can wait, so can the rest of the universe.

In lieu, here’s a picture of my sampler quilt, almost finished. I’ve done some of the quilting (and you can see my 8 million safety pins keeping all the layers together) and will finish that part on Tuesday at the workroom-my sewing machine can’t handle that kind of work. I’ve run pretty hot and cold on this project, but seeing it together in one giant lump makes me pretty happy and proud. And desirous of a new sewing machine, for real.

As for the three blocks that I haven’t posted yet, top left is called drunkard’s path, top middle is an appliqued block and bottom left is a pinwheel or somesuch. The dark pink between all the blocks is the top edge of an old sheet, the pink floral is the same sheet, the white with light pink and dark orange is ikea fabric. You can see the batting pinned in the middle, that’s the cream around the edge, and just a peek at the back, another old percale sheet. It’s soft and heavy and I can’t wait to snug up under this while watching a movie.

All I have left to do on it, after the quilting, is the edge. Woo!

I’ve been working on being extra healthy this winter and so far, so good. No colds or flues to mention-yet. Part of that regime was inspired by Karyn, the owner of the workroom where I am taking my quilting class. One evening she was making herself dinner, and it smelled so good I knew I had to replicate it at home. And it IS so good.

Yes. I put my lunch on the dirty floor to take a picture. Here’s what is in my bowl:

1 can chicken broth + 1 can water

2 tsps grated ginger

1/2 tsp chili and garlic sauce

1 bundle soba noodles

1/2 a zucchini very thinly sliced

2 baby bok choi, stems and leaves separated

And I boil the broth with the ginger and chili sauce, toss in the noodles to cook for 4 minutes, adding the zucchini and bok choi stems after 2 minutes and the leaves at the very end. If I’d had cilantro, I would have thrown a lot of that in. Ditto sliced mushrooms. And I drizzle a tiny bit of sesame oil after I dump it into a bowl.

Oh. Yes, it’s delicious.

At the gym I’ve been working very hard. A year ago I felt enormously accomplished when I could finish 20 minutes on the stationary bike without dying. Now that’s my warm up, then I do a bunch of weight lifting (not heavy but repetitive and fast), like pull downs and crunches and stuff, there’s 6 different things I do, then I either jump on the elliptical for 5 minutes (but I could do more, we only have an hour total at the gym) and today I RAN for 5 whole minutes! And I felt fine! It’s great, feeling the change in my body, even just since the new year. I haven’t lost any weight, darn it, but I am getting stronger and my stamina is amazing, even to me. I’ve never been able to run for any length of time, even in junior high I was just a sprinter (just? I was pretty darn good at sprinting).  And I do this workout three times a week.

After March break I will be joining Ari’s gymnastic gym and doing the adult’s gymnastics class on Wednesday nights. If anyone who reads this and lives in Toronto wants to join too, PLEASE DO. It will be fun and silly and wonderful.

Last night, on my way home from quilting class (which, just to be clear, I LOVE!), I was on the bus, headphones deep in my ears blaring Howard Stern when 2 LDS guys got on. I think, if I remember correctly, their names were Elder Brainwashed and Elder Superdoy. Anyway. One leaned towards me and said something that I couldn’t hear because Howard was in the middle of moderating an arguement between Bababooey and that filthy clown guy.  So I pulled a headphone out of one ear and asked him to repeat himself.

“Is that a bag?” he says, gesturing to my-get this-bag.

So I asked him to repeat himeself again and I guess I’d heard him right the first time.

“Is that a bag?”

How does one even answer the world’s stupidest question? It was very difficult to keep the sarcasm at a minimum.

“Yes” says I, slowly. “It IS a bag. I mean, my bag…it’s a bag.” Then I smiled kindly. That kind of dumb you don’t want to anger. Then I put my headphone back in my ear and turned away to discourage more silliness.

Fast forward 24 hours.

After work this evening I was on the subway, minding my own business, knitting and listening to Howard again. A man sits beside me-ok, not beside, but I was facing forward, he was facing sideways, so our knees were pretty much touching-and he’s eating out of a giant bag of movie popcorn. Watching me knit. Then he dropped a popcorn onto his coat without noticing and it tumbled down between us, maybe landing on my boot. No big deal. Then he speaks:

“I bet my popcorn bothers you!” in a playful way but as he says it, a piece flies OUT OF HIS MOUTH, landing on my purse.

It didn’t bother me at all until that exact moment. Thanks.

I went to the Royal Winter Fair last Friday with my boss and my dad. It was the first time they’ve met and they got along really well. As always, my favourite part (since they didn’t have any poultry worth looking at) are the giant veggies. This beast is a 32lb beet. Imagine how much borscht that would make!

It’s scrawny compared to last year’s winner. No free toilet paper this year, but I did get 10lbs of free potatoes AND a wooden spoon. Good stuff.

I went to my first Jay’s game of the season last night-they played Baltimore and lost 7-5. It was still a good game, mostly I am bored by baseball, but it is smattered with excitement and that’s what keeps me awake. That and my satellite radio-I had Howard Stern blabbing in my ear for most of it. The cool part last night was they had a big do for the players of the 92 and 93 seasons when they won the pennant in back to back years. Of course, that meant the game ran long and I didn’t get home til almost 11.30pm…

It was fun.

Me and my boss up in the nose bleeds. Not a terribly flattering picture of either of us, haha!

Have I ever mentioned how much I love the CN Tower at night? Someone was making fun of it the other day (calling it the phallus or something) but I don’t care, when you are standing right below it, it looks awesome, especially all lit up.

We have a little planter, it’s about 4′ by 5′, that is completely in the shade and I’d kind of been avoiding dealing with it, but today is a sunny day and it felt like a day to tackle an ugly project. The hole was full of broken glass, beer bottle caps, w-d-40 cans, plastic water bottles and cigarette butts. And it’s got cement cylinders buried not too deeply…I cleared out the garbage and tidied up our old planters and dug them in too, and made a flower with bricks. Then we went to Rona (yes, open on Victoria Day, but only the gardening centre) and I picked out 3 different hostas, a fern, an astilbe and something else that’s escaped my memory. Ooh, and a gnome.

The long planters will eventually have small plants in them, ground cover type things, I just need to find ones that are shade happy, maybe violets would be nice. The pebbles are just filler for now.

Much improved!

Today, at work, I did a double work out. Let me explain:

Normally I do a 20 minute bike ride-it’s a recumbent type bike-and I average 4.5 miles and burn about 400+ calories. So I did that today, but I was done with 35 minutes left to go on my shift, so I thought, what the hey, do another 20 minutes, so I cranked the difficulty down one notch and pedaled at 130 rpm instead of 145, read a magazine and…the grand total? 8.5 miles and 778 calories burned. Yes, I was very sweaty after. But I was neither tired nor sore. If I can do that 3 times a week I will be skinny before my birthday-May 11. Haha, just kidding.

Then I met Ari at school and we walked home, another 2.2km. Plus I am back onto wii fit. Now I am relaxing with a bottle  glass of wine.

I know I’ve said it before, but I am amazed by how much I enjoy the gym. And gym clothes.

We have a meeting for work every 6 weeks or so, and tonight’s went really well. Probably due to the great agenda that was written:

See the fifth suggestion?

Trust me, a group hug at a work meeting helps bring staff together and makes everyone happy.  And we did all put on happy faces after that, it didn’t need to be on the agenda!

Has it really been almost a week since I last posted?

I have been sick-I started feeling tingly last Wednesday, at work, and we took the day off from the gym and part of me feels like that is the reason I got sick, some form of weird punishment from my body. Thursday I visited babies, as per usual, but I tried not to kiss them and slobber all over them as much as I like to. Friday I woke up and couldn’t breathe and spent about 2 hours on the phone calling everyone I could think of that might be able to cover my shift at work, but no one was up for it and I ended up calling in sick and just wishing T luck. I felt terrible doing it but I’d left food in her fridge so she had stuff for supper that just needed to be reheated.

The truth is that I got sick because I am totally run down. I love my job and I love my boss but there are a lot of politics in the organization that I disagree with and sometimes I butt heads with her mother.  I feel like my job is to watch out for one person-my boss-and even if it goes against the greater good, this is what I do.  Tuesday, a week ago, was a day of colossol frustration and anger, culminating with me crying at T’s foot dr’s waiting area. Like a big baby.

Then I lost my Metropass walking to the subway. And I stood on Yonge Street, outside Indigo, and fought back more tears. So it’s no surprise that I got sick.

Now Little Miss Littlepants is sick and I get to take care of her. She’s like a sad ragdoll, all floppy and pink in the cheeks.

I would post a picture of the little thing I made at the first Stitch and Bitch meeting I attended on Sunday, but I will wait until it arrives in the mail at it’s destination in order not to ruin any surprises.

My boss and I have agreed to go to the gym 3 days a week. She works at a community centre, so we get to go for free during off hours (when the weight room is closed). It’s great and way less embarrassing  than with an audience (although I think some people prefer it that way). Not me.  The first time we went, I did the elliptical machine for half an hour and I thought I was going to die. I actually had to sit down for  5 minutes before I felt like my legs would hold me up.   Then last week I  did  it again, half an hour, and burned only 200 calories. What  a rip, eh?  At least I could walk after that time.

Today, same work out (half hour on the elliptical) and I burned 280 calories! Sweet, eh? Not only that, but I did some free weights after AND 10 minutes on the rowing machine! Ha ha! It was great, I practically skipped home after.

This is me, I have never, EVER worked out in my entire life. Sure, in middle school I did track and gymnastics, I took one gym class in high school (grade 10) and did gymnastics until grade 12, then I used to go dancing twice a week in my early 20’s (the hard livin’ years, booze and dancing, it was fun!) but haven’t…well, let’s say that when I turned 30 (6 years ago, mind you) things started sliding down hill. I didn’t care, and I still don’t care, but it turns out I like going to the gym. Who, in a million years, woulda thunk?

I even bought workout pants. Thanks, Megan!