Archive | July, 2018

The Bread Conspiracy

29 Jul

A while ago in the news there was a story about a grocery chain that messed with the price of bread, and got busted, and so we had all, for years, been paying more for bread than we needed to because this company rigged the system.

bread

Bread, one of my favourite foods. Yum!

Oh the drama we have over here in first world countries. *rolls eyes*

As a way to make it up to the people, and probably because they were forced, you could go sign-up for a free gift card, valued at $25, that would be the company’s way of making it up to you.

I remember thinking it was a false promise, but being the sucker that I am I signed up anyways.

Never got anything, and frankly, kinda forgot about it.

Then I heard about it again, because this time the story was about how time was running out to claim your gift card. Since I apparently don’t learn lessons easily I decided to try again to get a gift card.

By “try” I mean I went to a website and filled in some info. Real taxing work over here! 😉

Again, wasn’t going to hold my breath, and again, I forgot about it. I swear, it’s like I have the attention span of a gnat some days…

So imagine my surprise when yesterday in the mail I got a $25 gift card!

I have to activate it, and it came with the longest page of what I suppose is important information, not like I’ve read it. It is the cardholders agreement and I’m betting somewhere on there it says the card balance starts to decrease after a certain amount of time. Not that I’m un-trusting or anything. 😉

Oh, it also comes with a list of places I can spend the gift card at. There are 21 stores in total but only three of them are near me, well, one of them is near-near me, the others are a bit farther of a drive but do-able if I really wanted to go there. The other stores are locations found across the country.

I suppose the lesson here would be to not be quite so un-trusting, when you hear of a company making good it just might be true. Or I suppose the lesson could be don’t scam people and over charge for bread because you will eventually get caught, shamed, and forced to compensate people by giving them $25 worth of product that you can probably find a way to write off…huh…look at that…seems I’m still a tad cynical that the large corporation learned it’s lesson. Ah well, someone has to be cynical and I wear it so well. 😉

cynical

He was always my favourite. 

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Where’s Your Village?

17 Jul

They say it takes a village to raise a kid, I think, maybe, it takes a village to do a lot of things.

Easy things. Fun things. Hard things. Sucky things.

There is almost nothing that you do completely on your own. Even if you are accomplished at something, say you write novels, or cook, or paint, you didn’t magically pop out of your birth mother knowing how to do those things. Maybe you had a talent for them, maybe you had the drive to want to do them, but you still had teachers, coaches, inspiration, along the way. Those people are your village.

Same thing when it comes to weight loss, or strengthening, or training for a fitness goal. You don’t accomplish these things alone, even though at times you might feel alone in your journey.

Your village is made up of the people that inspired you to start, taught you what you needed to know to work towards your goal, help keep you motivated when you struggle, provide guidance, and practical assistance, and the tools to get you where you want to go.

One part of my village are the chefs at my work, well, one of my works. I am spoiled at that job by the food that is considered a perk of working there. If your shift falls over lunch time you get fed lunch, same deal if you work over dinner time. It isn’t written in stone but the general idea is you eat what is being cooked that day, for that meal, with obvious exceptions to accommodate allergies, ethical food choices, and other restrictions.

Because I try to not be too big a pain in the ass to the chefs at work, but I am food picky, I generally ask for whatever the lean protein is for that day (as long as it isn’t pork, I don’t eat pork), and veggies. Or I ask for a salad with a lean protein on top. I don’t want sauces, gravies, starches, none of that stuff, which I’m pretty sure makes them cry a bit inside.

For the most part my dinners at work are either fish or chicken, with veggies. My lunches are salads with chicken or fish on top. I know it sounds like I eat the same thing all the time but each meal is different because of the creativity, flair, and seasonings, each chef brings to their dish.

I am well and truly spoiled by the chefs at work, and I do my best to never forget it, and never take it for granted.

One of the chefs has gone on vacation, one of my village, and it has tilted my food world a bit, making it hard to feel like I’m keeping on track.

Yes, yes, I know I could have taken my own lunch, but have I not already explained that I am spoiled?

I’m used to feeling like I am on my get fit journey on my own, even though I know I have a support system out there. There are few people in my village that directly affect the food I am eating on a given day. Those work meals are meals I don’t have to think about, they will magically appear, they will always fit in to my meal plan, they require no effort on my part. I am so grateful for that because I find dealing with food exhausting a lot of the time. The planning, the buying, the cooking, ugh, I hate it.

So to have one of my village gone, and being immediately affected by that loss, made me realize that the comment I have made to the chefs often is in fact true:

I would not be where I am in my journey without their help. They make it easier for me to succeed.

They, in their willingness to accommodate my food requests, make part of my journey easier, more do-able, they make my being able to stick to my plan a thing I can actually do.

I don’t think it is often we notice the people that make up our village, they are just there, their actions taken a bit for granted. Not because we aren’t grateful but because we are all a bit spoiled. And you know, I think thats ok. It’s human nature.

I don’t know if I am a part of anyone’s village, I hope I am, and I hope whatever it is that I do that helps someone I keep doing it, so I keep inadvertently helping them.

Just like I hope I keep being grateful for the people that make up my village. Without them this journey would be so much harder, perhaps impossible.

work food

Some of my work meals. Didn’t believe me when I said I was spoiled did ya? 😉

 

 

 

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Weird Timing

15 Jul

I tend to do things at weird times, well, weird times to other people, it seems like a perfectly rational, normal time to me…in the moment anyways…

Sometimes there are unexpected consequences to my choices, last night was a prime example…

I randomly decided to clean the bathroom, starting around midnight. This on its own isn’t a weird choice (at least to me!) except I had to be up at 5:30am to go to work so I wasn’t really making choices my future self would appreciate.

After the bathroom was cleaned I decided to clean the litter box. They aren’t in the same room so you wouldn’t automatically smoosh the two chores together but by that point I figured I already felt kinda gross and was going to need a shower, and garbage day is Monday so might as well get the litter box cleaned out and the grossness put in to the main garbage can.

Logic! Just at an inconvenient time lol

logic

Spock would understand the logic!

Me being the cheap person that I am I buy the garbage bags that I use for the litter box from the dollar store.

My cheapness also occasionally has unexpected consequences, sigh.

I get the dirty litter in to the garbage bag. I move it to the side so it is out of my way while I go to clean the now empty box and yup, you guessed it, a trail of dirty litter, and poop, followed the path of the bag because the bottom had split.

Well, split is an exaggeration, but there was a hole!

Damage control was swift and efficient, and there was a lot of cursing during it. Cursing at my insistence in buying cheap garbage bags and then not double bagging them. Cursing at it being so late at night I couldn’t pull out the vacuum. Cursing that I started this whole process so late at night.

Just cursing.

So now my “quick chore” turned in to finishing the litter box, sweeping, then washing the floor, then using some extra anti-bacterial cleaning stuff on the directly affected area because hello, there was cat poop on the floor! Ick.

Then a shower, cat cuddles, and bed.

The plus side to all this is I don’t have to take care of the litter box when I get home from work today, which is nice. The down side is I will be so tired from sleep deprivation I probably won’t care. *rolls eyes*

Ah well, least the cat is happy, and really, isn’t that the point?

cat

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Forgot My Plan

7 Jul

Don’t forget your plan when you go to the gym, or in my case, to make a plan. sigh.

Usually when I go to the gym I have a plan of what I want to accomplish. It isn’t some set in stone can’t be adjusted in the moment kind of thing, but it at least covers how long I want to be doing cardio for and what muscle groups I plan to focus on when lifting weights. Within the muscle groups I know what moves I will do, but even those can be changed once I am at the gym.

The changes are usually because of not being able to access the equipment I need / want. So, say I wanted to run for 30 minutes but all the treadmills are in use, then I’ll go to the elliptical. Or say I want to do Wood Choppers using the pulley system but the proper attachment is nowhere to be found, then I’ll do them using a free weight or medicine ball, or maybe I won’t do them at all, maybe I’ll do Russian Twists instead.

It’s all about getting in the workout I want while making minor changes based on equipment availability and comfort level around the people that I am sharing the gym with.

By comfort level I mean some days the free weight section is crowded with jacked up guys who are doing super sets and moving from one exercise to another and they are taking up a lot of room with their little stations that they created. Or a bunch of guys are working out together and they kinda take over the space so some of them are working out while the others are hanging on equipment next to the guy who is working out while they all chat. I get it, they want to be social, but it sure can be annoying for the rest of us sometimes. *rolls eyes*

This was not meant to be a rant! Oops!

What I was trying to get to is that I always have a flexible plan when I go work out, ensuring I come away from my work out feeling like I have accomplished something and got in a solid session.

Until the other night.

I knew I was going to do my cardio, but hadn’t committed to which machine I wanted to use for it, in fact I kind of didn’t care what I did for my cardio. I ended up using the elliptical for 30 minutes, which is fine, but I could have done better.

Then I took a look at the free weight section and didn’t want to deal with navigating all the guys that were there so I went to a different room, it is a bit smaller but is a good space for free weight work. There were some guys in there but usually I’ll go in even if it is partially occupied cause, well, I can. But since I didn’t have a plan for which muscle groups I wanted to work on, and no real motivation to be there, I didn’t go in the room, instead I went to the stretching area, had a cool down, and went home.

I have never had such a short workout. And I can’t believe I let myself leave without getting some weight work done.

It was like, once there, with all the equipment, I was overwhelmed and didn’t know what I wanted to do, or what I should do, and I couldn’t make a decision, so I left.

Maybe it was because it was at the end of a long day and I was tired and my brain just couldn’t make any more decisions. Maybe for whatever reason I had less motivation that day and I used that lack of motivation as a reason to leave after doing only cardio. Maybe I am just a lazy person at heart and I wanted to go home and be cozy in my pajamas while watching Netflix. 😛

Whatever the reason, it wasn’t a great workout, and I think a big part of that is my going in to that gym without a plan.

The plan doesn’t have to be some big great detailed thing. Some days it is as simple as:

  • 30 mins cardio
  • weight work for arms, shoulders, and back
  • some core work
  • stretch

That’s it! That is all it takes to make a plan! Who knew something so simple could be the difference between getting a good work out in and only getting 30 minutes of cardio in? Not me, that’s for sure!

Lesson learned, plan, even just a bit, and my workout will be way better.

 

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151

2 Jul

Canada’s 151st birthday is over. Soon all the flags will be put away, red and white leftover desserts will be eaten, and spontaneous outpourings of Canadian pride will once again be reigned in.

It was a chill Canada Day for me this year, I worked my normal 7a-3p Sunday shift, went for a hike after work with a friend, then I chilled at home. I suppose I could have found something else to do in the evening buuuuut I’m up early Monday morning and I kinda didn’t feel like staying out late to watch the fireworks…lame? Maybe. But the cat and I have spent a cuddly evening together so I kinda don’t care. 😛

I was googling, looking for random interesting facts about Canada to put in this post and oh wow are there a lot of random facts about Canada’s weather. Not exactly the most interesting stuff out there. The other things I’m pretty sure I mentioned in years past lol What can I say, we are a young country, there’s only so much history to pull from. shrug.

A mind-blowing realization I had today, not sure if I can write it so it makes sense but I’ll try.

I work with seniors. Some of them are over 100 years old, most are in their 80s and 90s. So a bit up there age wise. Canada turned 151 years old this year. There is a strong possibility that some of the seniors I interact with on a regular basis had relatives, direct they actually knew them when they were alive relatives, that lived in Canada, or moved to Canada, before Canada was Canada.

Mind. Blown.

I mean, I work with people who are more than half the age of my country. The young seniors I work with who are in their 80s are more than half the age of Canada, and the math just gets more startling the older a person gets.

Does that make sense? Am I sounding like a crazy person? Yeah, I’m probably sounding crazy, but oh well, just think of it as one of my many quirks lol

And on that note let me leave you with a picture of my Prime Minister holding pandas, cause ya know, cuteness!

Trudeau and pandas

gif

 

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