Agent Ish

Maybe it’s because I spent 20 years of my life going to school (of some sort), and now I have 4 school-aged kids. But it has always seemed to me that my “years” move more naturally from September to September, than from January to January. The autumn always signals, for me, a new beginning, when school starts, clubs start, many things restart after a summer hiatus. And the summer is always a good time for me to wind down, finish up old projects, and reflect and make plans for the fall.

Once again, as I’m relaxing through the first weeks of July, I’m realizing that lots of changes and new starts are awaiting me this fall, things that shuffle around and update my current BYY goals.

So I’ve decided to start a new goal, to make Sept 08 to Sept 09 my best year yet. I’ll see how that goes, and if that timing suits me better. It gives me a few weeks to reflect on my life and prepare for a new start at the end of summer.

New season: time to get back at it.

Well, mostly. Q is in go-cart camp this week, and DH stayed behind at the lake with the other 3 kids. So I have the days to myself from 9:30ish to 3:30ish. Many things I’d like to get done. I was feeling very ambitious as I drove back from dropping off Q, but here it is 12:45, and already I’ve managed to waste a whole morning with puttering around.

Here’s the weeks’ list:

• phone appliance store about fixing fridge done, they are coming Wed aft, between 1-4pm
• RSVP luncheon at nursing home
• clean out currently unplugged, broken fridge
• clean out back up fridge
• cut grass tonight before it rains
• return library books (including Q’s) and look for coding books
• paint Mouse’s bedroom?
• fix Mouse’s close?
• Visit H and take him out for dinner (Wed)?
• take H some laundry quarters
• put out garbage/recycling Wed night
• visit Mom daily
• personal training Tues morning 10
• physiotherapy Tues evening
• look for books on math exercises
• buy graph paper

I bought notebooks for DH and myself, and we started writing in the last couple days of June.

I must say, it is more pleasant to write in the early morning sunshine, while sitting down at the dock and watching the wildlife in the lake. We’ve seen ducks, loons, a striking blue heron, as well as fish, a turtle, and an assortment of bugs (some interesting, some creepy). There’s a bit of a different feeling today, writing on my back porch. More civilized, sitting at a proper table, but I miss the lake.

The entries are going well – the biggest problem is not finding enough to write, but being able to get back to it, in spite of countless little interruptions from the kids.

have 20 wheat-free days, I did eat a lot less wheat overall. It can be easy to fall back on bread products when I need a quick meal. I know I need to continue building a menu of alternative quick meals and snacks, that are satisfying, but healthier and less wheat dependent.

I also stopped drinking milk this month, though I still have some fat-free yogurt and some cheese.

It wasn’t hard. I like seafood, and just need to remember to plan more fish dishes into our week.

I had 9 days out of 15 without meat, and some of the days that I didn’t count, I ate very little meat. Like, I ordered a caesar salad at a restaurant, forgetting that it came with bits of crumbled bacon – so I counted that as meat, although it wasn’t a serving of meat.

Anyway, a fun experiment, and it did help me rise above the habit of planning a meal around a meat dish.

Off to the lake! Everyone enjoy a happy Canada Day on July 1st!

See you all on 7 July!

• visit Mom done, and she was actually in a good mood
• pay J, and tell her take the summer off done. sigh of relief
• make bean brownies for Q’s class in the oven!
• ready receipts for treasurer
• do tons of laundry
• take Q to last violin lesson before summer
• return violin
• pack to go up to the lake
• verify P can check on house while we’re gone

I bought pickerel today and cooked it for dinner, but after two bites I couldn’t eat any more. I thought it was icky (to quote my kids). I don’t know if I had a bad piece, or if pickerel is just an unpleasant tasting fish.

So does it count if I had serious intention to eat fish??

• -appt with personal trainer-
• -deposit cheque for H-
• -deposit other cheques and rolled coins-
• -purchase supplies for Teacher Breakfast and leave in school fridge-
• -purchase TY cards for departing teachers-
• -pink up ice rink sign and put into storage-
• -attend C’s grade 6 graduation-
• -Bubs’ friend visits after school-
• visit Mom
• organize receipts

I’m really looking forward to summer. Lots of fresh fruit and vegetables, time at the lake, good weather and sunshine… it’s the easiest time of the year to start up good eating and exercise habits.

• Big subgoal: to lose 10 pounds by September 1st. Track my food consumption daily!
• Vary my grains, eat lots of whole grains.
• Eat lots of fruits and veg every day
• Reduce dairy to just fat-free yogurt and a little low-fat cheese; replace milk with almond milk
• Eat more fish and vegetarian meals, and reduce other meat portions to “a pack of cards” size 2 or 3 times a week.

• Do physiotherapy exercises daily
• See physiotherapist about strength training
• Start a walking program
• Take advantage of swimming, rowing and kayaking while at the lake!
• Work on yoga and pilates at home, hopefully with DH!

• Write morning pages daily through July and August (have already bought a book for this purpose)
• Think about new project DH and I have discussed
• Dig up notes for romance novel; use speech-to-text software to dictate a first draft

• during the times we’re in the city, work on sorting through the rest of Mom’s things, and emptying out that section of the basement.
• try to get the kids’ bedrooms painted this summer.

• work on being a good friend to my husband
• say what I’m thinking instead of brooding about it
• try to have weekly business meeting, to plan meals, divvy up work, set weekly goals, etc.

I had two huge suitcases full of her clothes in the basement. I’ve sorted through them, and 95% of the stuff is going to Goodwill. Either it’s stuff I know she’ll never use again, like bathing suits and formal clothes, or it’s stuff that’s now too big for her, since she used to be a jolly, chubby grandmother figure, and now she’s wasted away to skin and bones.

There were just a few things worth keeping: mostly shirts she can still wear, that will probably be a good replacement for some of the ones she has at the home. She frequently slops on herself while she eats now, so her shirts are soon stained.

I’ve bagged the clothes to dump into the donation bin tomorrow, and then I’ll have to figure out where to donate the suitcases.

Still a lot of stuff to go through – and some of her furniture still needs to be decided about, as it’s taking up space in my house. As cluttering as it has been, however, I’m still glad I hung on to it this long. After Dad first died and Mom got ill, I wanted to keep everything they had, like it could help me hang on to them. Then, I went through a stage of wanting to get rid of it all, like throwing it all away would somehow help me throw away my grief. Now, I think I’ve arrived at a more objective place, where I can think with less emotion about what things are meaningful reminders of my parents, and what can go on to find another home somewhere.

And yet, the days when I wasn’t completely wheat-free, were often very little wheat. Like, one slice of bread all day, or a few crackers with peanut butter.

So, overall, I think I have had drastically reduced wheat consumption, compared to what I was normally eating a few months ago. My non-wheat adventures have also really underlined for me how wheat-centric my diet has been up until now, and I’m going to continue to make an effort to vary my grains.

Could still do it, if I don’t eat any meat the rest of this month…

While I was off having physiotherapy, my previous personal trainer quit. Kind of a pain, in that she took with her a bunch of info about what we’d worked on in previous sessions (stuff that she’d kept assuring me she was going to give me a copy of, and never did).

So I’ve been matched up with a new trainer for the remaining five sessions that I’ve already paid for. It’s a guy this time – Ryan. I meet him tomorrow to go over my goals for the remaining sessions.

In a way, it probably works out okay. I think I’ve arrived at the decision that I’d like to learn free weights rather than do machines. I also now understand that I need to learn more about muscle imbalance, and perhaps work on isolation exercises for some muscle groups. I’m going to work with both this new personal trainer and my physiotherapist to figure out what I need to do.

I hope your day was a wonderful one. All best wishes for another great year ahead!

and 10 more days possible…

Today we’re moving Mom from the “temporary” nursing home she’s been waiting at for 15 months, into a place that’s just 15 minutes away from our house.

• Move Mom
• Try to get back in time to take Bubs and Mouse to their year-end gymnastics show (hope we won’t miss it!)
• Relax. Breathe. Be grateful for DH. Trust that things will unfold in the best possible way.

9 to go