The Daily EO: August 17th, 2012

I used to send money to my mom and brother through this complicated Royal Bank process that required me to know their banking information.  Fine, as they could trust me.  But what about strangers – they don’t know I’m probably not going to steal their identity.  So, I don’t think that ever took off.

When I sold my furniture to someone, he wanted to send me money and asked if I banked on-line.  No way buddy – you’re not getting my banking info!  But turns out, you can send money to people via e-mail and interac.  Cool.  I didn’t know – it was all completed within 15 minutes, and there was my $80 in my bank account.

August 17th, 2012 Extra-Ordinary:  The vague uneasiness felt when someone 20+ years your senior teaches you about some new fandangled technology thing.  That’s backwards, grandpa!

The Daily EO: August 16th, 2012

A strange set of circumstances intersected today:

1.  Emile has lost 30 pounds.  Many of his clothes are loose.  Many of mine are as well.
2.  I am anxious, stressed and not sleeping.  When I don’t get enough sleep, I get delirious and unpredictable.
3.  We are packing and consolidating.  Therefore when we found two more-than-half full bottles of Grand Marnier, they were combined leaving about 4 ozs left.  Not enough to pack, too much to toss.  It needed consumption.

While we sat downstairs trying to make decisions about what to keep, sell and toss, we passed the bottle back and forth.  It was about 11:30 am.  As I sorted kitchen things, Emile worked in the other corner of the room going through computer, stereo and electronic items.

I successfully finished off a box and moved it to the completed pile.  As I turned around, my eye caught a round white object glinting at me.  My husband was standing there with a great big moon waiting for me to notice.  Flapping his butt cheeks at me for no reason at all.  His shorts could slip off so easily, you see, and why not moon his wife?  I gawked and giggled.   What the hell?

But back at it – we have things to do.  One was to review what is in the garage – catalogue and do the same sort.  I don’t really remember what I said or did, but Emile threatened me with another moon.  Not one to respond rationally all the time, I threatened him back.  And so we mooned each other.

Emile was not to be out done.  “I’m going to moon the next car that comes by”, he says.  What?!

Now remember: No Sleep, Grand Marnier, Stress, easy slip off pants and potential to be outdone by my husband.  We moved to the front of the house, whipped down our pants and hung our butts out in the direction of the street.  And waited.

August 16th, 2012 Extra-Ordinary:  Reports of Nudity in Muskoka are Greatly Exaggerated, I’m sure.   I love this man.

 

The Daily EO: August 15th, 2012

Today we sold our living room.  The couch, the ottomans, the chairs, and yes even the TV and the stereo system.   To the people who are buying the house we are renting.

Goodbye snow blower, ladder, guest bedroom, living room, cabinets.  You were loved, but sometimes love just isn’t enough.

August 15th, 2012 Extra-Ordinary:  Someone is paying me NOT to move my stuff.

 

The Daily EO: August 14th, 2012

Good news, people!  My sports doctor – yes, I have a sports doctor – ahem.  As I was saying: My Sports Doctor says he doesn’t think I have compartmental issues (at least in my legs – I probably have them mentally, but no sports doctor is going to fix that).  As you may recall, I was referred based on shin pain while and from running.  The doctor listened to my symptoms and asked me a whole bunch of questions.  I got nervous and sweaty – I really don’t know why – and tried to answer them to be best of my ability.

I felt foolish – who doesn’t experience pain while running? – if we didn’t, we probably wouldn’t have invented cars.   And it’s wasn’t an obvious traumatic incident with bones sticking out, or crutches required.   And with the Olympics wrapping up, I felt a little silly.  I mean Clara Hughes broke her back and placed 5th in the cycling time trials!  Paula Findley refused surgery on her hip and cried through an entire triathlon!  Tory Nyhaug has his spleen removed to make it to the Olympics!  Oh Poor Little Me.  My shin twinges a little sometimes.  Sally.  Wuss.   No Olympics will I be attending with my lack of grit and fortitude (And I had such a chance at the age of 38).

Apparently, you can’t just go out and start running.  Did you know that?  You can run wrong?  Wha!?  How can I run wrong?  It’s it like eating, sleeping, or any other normal body function that you do?  Well, after reviewing the soles of my shoes and my awkward hallway jogging, it appears that I run too much on the front of my foot.  Which apparently is better than running too much on my heels.  And good news, I am an efficient walker!

All this front foot running is causing my gastrocnemius muscle (the one on the inside of my lower leg) to try to contract and expand at the same time. Hence micro tearing, pain after extended use and couple days recovery.

I’m like a sprinter – not enough like an endurance athlete.  Unless I want to reduce my daily workout to 10 seconds a day – and I do really, but that would defeat the purpose of exercise – I need to fix my running.

Now, I have to find myself a running coach to watch and assist me with running mechanics.

August 14th, 2012 Extra-Ordinary:   Focusing on putting my foot down more in the centre.  This is seriously jeopardizing my ability to chew gum and walk at the same time.

The Daily EO: August 13th, 2012

I have my Yahoo! mail app on my android phone set to da-ding every time I get a new e-mail (not including spam).  I have 3 e-mail accounts and I have even set-up a different sound for one of my accounts.   That one sounds something like a cartoon bug being squashed.

Nonetheless, when my e-mail da-dings or squashes, I can hear it anywhere.  Even if the ringer is on low – I hear.

I’m known to sign up for e-mails when I am promised something for free, leaving my inbox littered with stupid excuses for companies to contact me.  It’s kinda like those valid reasons you dream up calling a boy you liked “Hey, you forgot your history book at my house after that group study thing.  I’ll like totally bring it tomorrow – but I just didn’t want you to worry.”  Cause he was so worried about his Social Studies text.

Anyways, all these da-dings with no satisfaction upon reading the e-mail is driving me crazy, so I started unsubscribing to stuff.  No more Canadian Tire, no more Right at Home, goodbye Mocha Sofa, no thanks Shape, finished with you Chatelaine, no more!

And would you know it?  I don’t get useless da-dings very much any more.

August 13, 2012 Extra-Ordinary:  I am not sure reducing my unsatisfying da-dings makes me feel any better.  I think I liked the 5 seconds of hope of something good landing in my in-box better.

The Daily EO: August 12th, 2012

I was reading a book today and one character said to another character “You follow the rules of William Morris.”  Not knowing who William Morris was nor what his rules were, I read on, hoping the author would educate me.  And she did.  “You have nothing in your house that you don’t know to be useful nor think to be beautiful.”  William Morris was a designer, writer and artist.  Hmmm, useful and beautiful.

This is particularly relevent to me as Emile and I review our things for another move in a couple of weeks.

Only the useful and beautiful to me.  Can I really say the same of my things?  It’s emotional reviewing your possessions deciding what to keep, sell or donate.   There is the consideration of how you got it – was it a gift?  Or how much you paid for it and how long ago you bought it.  I mean if you purchased it recently and now not finding it “useful” or “beautiful”, it is like admitting you made a mistake and should not have purchased it in the first place.  Who wants to admit a mistake?  If the purchase was recent and the item has much life left, it is worse.  But if it used it, its okay.

I don’t want to let go of things, and I think you’d be surprised at how much we do not have.  Emile and I would not be able to throw a successful garage sale.  We don’t have kids and we tend to quickly remove unneccessary items from our home.  But what happens when you have to cut deeper than useful and beautiful?  What happens if you can only take the doubly useful and very beautiful, regardless of how or when it came to you?

Don’t try to do it all in one day, or you’ll find yourself holding on to things you don’t like, aren’t beautiful, aren’t useful, but you think someone you might have cared about a long time ago gave it to you.

August 12th, 2012 Extra-Ordinary:   When you haven’t looked at your stuff in almost a year, it’s much easier to imagine yourself living without it.

The Daily EO: August 11th, 2012

I dragged myself off the couch today and went for a run.  I pulled so hard even Emile joined me – I waved him on ahead while I stretched.  It was overcast and humid.  It was miserable.  Tired, Hungry, Distracted, and Stressed.  There was nothing left in the tank.

I promised myself that I would keep going until I saw Emile coming back.  I ran, I hiked, I walked, I crawled.  And still I didn’t see him.

August 11th, 2012 Extra-Ordinary:  Emile’s goal to catch-up from a runless week with a 10k did not fit into my plans.  I ended up with 7.6 myself.  Curse him.

 

The Daily EO: August 10th, 2012

For some reason as soon as I got home from our travels, I stopped running.  I am not sure why.  I just didn’t feel like it.  Perhaps it is the anxiety that I wrote about on August 9th, 2012 or perhaps it is something else.

All during my vacation I ran every 2nd day as a minimum, and I felt pretty good about that.  My diet was pretty good but there were significantly more carbohydrates than I usually eat, more diet root beer and definitely more desserts.   But I didn’t weigh myself for the time I was away.  I didn’t really want to know because I assumed it just creeping up every day.

So I kept running, but reaching for second desserts.  So, with trepidation I stepped on our scale when I got home:

2 pounds?  That’s nothing – it’s like a good pee!

Hmmm.  Running does work.  Running kept me in check.  Tomorrow I will begin running again before I completely fall out of the habit of it.  Then I can keep eating the world’s most delicious grilled cheese sandwiches ever made with 4-year-old Wisconsin cheddar (thanks Emile!)

Complete 180 degree for you here.  I would like to talk about things I don’t “get”.  For example, on Star Trek, I thought the Away Team was actually “A-weigh team” and wondered why they named it such.  Perhaps a naval term.  Or the word “puny”.  I read it and thought it to be pronounced “pun-y” (like rhyming with money), and thought it meant thin and colt like (like wiry) based on the context.  I didn’t know “puny” (pronounced p-u-nee spoken out loud) was the same word.  It was only a couple of years ago I learned this.   I wondered where AC/DC (the band) got their name, I thought it was a strange random group of letters.

August 10th, 2012 Extra-Ordinary:   On vacation, I was asked if I wanted to “sup”.  Huh?  Oh, paddleboarding.  That’s a weird name. . . Hmmm.  Okay, if that’s what it is called by the cool kids.  3 weeks later (today) it came to me out of the blue.   Stand-Up Paddleboarding!  Aha!

 

 

The Daily EO: August 9th, 2012

I go through times that I find it very difficult to write the EO.  Not because I don’t enjoy it, but sometimes it doesn’t flow.  It feels like the fingers are as stiff as the words.  And that has been true for the last couple of days.  You’ve probably noticed I am consistently one day behind.

Anyways, sometimes when I have these blocks, I am just really tired like I was a couple of days ago.  Other times there is another culprit.  And this time it is anxiety.  Why am I anxious?  Well, we have no jobs, limited income and in three weeks, no place to live.  I think that enough to cause some level of concern.  But I can handle that.  But what I cannot handle is the lack of plan to deal with these things.   And I don’t mean that I need to find us jobs and housing tomorrow, I just need a plan of attack to deal with all the above.  It needs to cover likely contingencies, and provide actions for me to feel in control.

I don’t know what city we are moving to, I don’t know what jobs we are going to get and I don’t know the timeframe for these things.  Can I come up with a plan of attack to deal with all of this?  We’ve agreed to sit down to start a plan tomorrow – and I think it is because Emile cannot handle watching me vibrate any more.  I am a delight to live with.

August 9th, 2012 Extra-Ordinary:  I feel better already with only a plan to make a plan.

The Daily EO: August 8th, 2012

After a long drought – being on the road – I finally got a new CSA share this week.  Every Sunday we get an e-mail letting us know this week’s share and I was standing on the West Coast having a great time yet also jealous that I wasn’t home to enjoy the bounty.

  • sweet corn
  • baby New Potatoes
  • yellow tomatoes
  • baby beets with tops
  • baby carrots
  • green onions
  • purple beans
  • zucchinis

In the evening we were invited to a friend’s house who also got the same CSA and we ate barbeque grilled pizza with yellow tomatoes, japanese eggplant with purple beans, butter chicken, basmasti rice and corn on the cob.  Muskoka corn!  I didn’t even know it existed.

I’d also like to say out loud something that I’ve know for a while.  The bags of “baby carrots” you buy in the grocery store, are not truly sweet yummy baby carrots (GASP!)  They are large carrots chopped into pieces and then “sanded” to peel and the round the edges.  I buy them yes, but I just wanted the world to know that I know.  I’m watching you.

August 8th, 2012 Extra-Ordinary:  Impromptu dinner gathering using our CSA basket!