Talstra Bootcamp

The main thing I love about exercising in my own environment is that I can decide at the drop of a hat to exercise "right now!"... I have do it when motivation strikes, 'cause let me tell you, the feeling passes rather quickly. Today was like that. I really, really didn't feel like exercising (what a shocker!) but all of a sudden I looked at the clock and thought "hey, I have 40 min. before I have to make dinner.... I gotta do it now!". So that's what I did. And the kids joined me, which I absolutely LOVE!!

I wish I had someone taking a video of the kids and I doing jumping jacks, step-ups, relay races down the yard and push-ups on the picnic table ... so fun! And the video would capture the appropriate grunting sounds from Ruby - hers are fake, mine are very real. And it would also capture the goats wanting a part of the action. Who needs a gym... I love my yard.

Sometimes I follow a routine that I have written down, but mostly I just make sure I keep moving and mix up some cardio with strength training. So this is basically what I did (with some running around the yard while I thought of the next exercise)... X 2:

1. Warm up for 5-10 min: Fast walking, jogging, sprints, skipping, chasing kids

2. Push-ups on picnic table
3. Chair dips on picnic table
4. Step-ups on picnic table
5. Sprints & jumping jacks intervals
6. Walking lunges
7. Deadlift and row - 10 lb. weights
8. Squat and press - 10 lb. weights
9. Bridge (I call these butt squishers)
10. Sit-ups

You can do these exercises in the house too... so if it's raining (or snowing!) there's no excuse! The cardio could be modified to jogging on the spot, jumping jacks, climbing stairs... whatever you can do in your space to just get the heart rate up!! Come on... seriously, if a lazy slug like me can do this, so can you! Rah Rah!

All that motivational speaking has exhausted me.

Yeah, so now I'm off to do some baking for Jeremy's wedding... and of course, I'll have to sample some of it to make sure it's worthy. (Maybe I should've chased the kids around the yard for a just a few more laps...)

(P.S. Original artwork by J. Lobb :-)

Grow babies... grow!!

I was hoping that if I stared at my garden long enough, little green sprouty things would magically appear. So I tried that, and it didn't work. Well, there are a few things coming up, like radishes and spinach, and I think the chard is also making an appearance too but it'll be a few more days before I know for sure.

So I've decided, at the urging of my buddy Lisa, to try "square foot gardening" this year, in my existing raised beds as well as a newly created 2X4 bed on the driveway. Right now I am very excited about the prospects of it, but also a bit leery. Not leery about the SFG idea, but leery of my tendency to get excited about something, embrace it full-force and then come to a screeching halt as my motivation for said project completely disappears. And before I know it, I'm sitting on my butt, drinking a coffee and watching the enormous weeds take over my garden as I ignore my plot for another season.


In spite of my lazy nature, Lisa won't let that happen to my garden. Thank goodness for obsessive compulsive friends!

A typical day

Today was a typical day, nothing too exciting just regular stuff going on. We left the house calmly and in an orderly fashion... NOT! Like I said, it was a typical day... barking orders, many pleases to hurry up, where's your backpack, and saying "get in the car" at least 4 times!! Ruby had the biggest rat-nest in her hair because she refuses to let me comb her hair - she freaks out! So I bring out an elastic to pull her hair into a ponytail without a brush... she's running away from me while I'm trying to fix her hair. She ends up with a non-combed rat-nest lob-sided ponytail with some crazy bumps on the top of her head. Awesome.

Then comes her daily demand to bring her backpack to school (even though she doesn't go to school - she's just always hopeful that Madame Nayda will just take her in with the rest of the lineup of Kindergarten kids one day... and I gotta say that some days I have that same wish!). Anyway, so she's got this Dora backpack that's jiffy-marked "C. West" on it (a hand-me-down from her big buddy) and it's loaded up with stuff. I mean, it's heavy!! Hot Wheels cars, books, water bottle, plastic french fries.. you name it, it's in there. And every day I say "leave it in the car Ruby, I don't want to carry it for you." And guess what happens every day? Yup, I'm babysitting Dora.

We say goodbye to Cameron and we head to Thrifty's for some groceries - our big outing that ends with the ceremonial free Thrify's "smile cookie" for good behaviour. She always asks politely for her cookie, and promptly replies "Nope" to the question "do you have any allergies?" and the "Sanks!!" which is rewarded the the response of "Oooohhh, she's so cute and so polite!!". Oh yeah, Miss Manners knows how to get a cookie.

We get home and Ruby encourages me to do my workout in the kitchen. "Mommy, you should really exercise!". I finally realized why she's so encouraging... she knows that if I exercise, I will have to shower, which means she can watch TV while I"m doing that. Smart girl.

I succumbed to the pressure of Cameron having a playdate with a buddy today. Playdates are seriously against my religion but I caved because I was sick and tired of him asking. Now I realize that Keenan has never been to our house, and they've been friends for 2 years. Anyway, there were no injuries, and I wasn't grasping for the bottle by 2 pm so it went well. He's a cute kid so that helped.



One of our 6 week old chicks escaped this afternoon. We were shocked at first and then realized that it wasn't a Houdini act... "someone" left the wire lid off the box when "he" fed them this morning. Rodger spent 3 hours trying to coax the stupid thing out of the bushes and back into the pen... it's still not rescued. Rodger is less than thrilled but it's been great fun for the kids to watch! Entertaining really.

Speaking of entertaining... Ruby was playing with a measuring tape today and wanted to measure me. So she holds it up against me and mutters.. mmmm... ummm... yup! BIG!! Thanks Ruby. Then after dinner Rodger says "okay Ruby, time to pray." She says "I already did, Daddy." He says "Oh?" "Yeah, I prayed in my head." He says "what did you pray about?" and she replies "Nuffin!!"

I'd say it's time for a glass of wine.