A Wrap Up to the Week

I like my Canadian Drama class. I have to admit, that we mostly just talk and I wish we were in a smaller room because of the format of the course, but we always seem to have interesting discussions. I think we could have studied 2-3 more scripts in the time, but we have gotten to cover quite a few and that has been good. Next week we talk about Arts Funding in Canada and I am excited about that. Today (and this week in general) we talked about Michael Healey and his play Courageous (and a little about The Drawer Boy). I recommend Courageous to anyone. It's at the Citadel until Sunday. I am glad to have read The Drawer Boy. I had heard it was good and man-oh-man was it ever. I have put it on my list of shows I would like to direct some day.

I now have acquired the rights for 3 of the 4 shows in the season next year that require them. Not bad for one week. I am waiting on the 4th, which is unfortunately the first show of the season. I don't anticipate any problems as they sounded positive on the phone, but it was the only one that was not an automated system, so I think the 'people part' of the rights equation is slowing things down. If I don't hear by Monday I will be calling. It would be nice to be ahead of things and my estimated deadline was Friday next week (most places say 7-14 days for a response).

I worked out last night. It reminded me that I shouldn't let myself stop working out because it is so much more painful to restart. Here's hoping I maintain the momentum.

Bus Blues...

So today the driver would not let Oliver on the bus. Not on the list, she said. Alright - perhaps there was an error. Mark took Ollie to school. I got on the phone. I spent 1/2 hour to 45 minutes on hold with Briggs and then phoned the School Board and left a message. I then called the school itself. It seems we were not alone. There were 4 of us who registered late, but were told that the child was on the route - no problem - BUT Briggs apparently could not accommodate the kids at this time... not until the 17th of September. Okay, fine, they have a route issue... WHY NOT INFORM THE SCHOOL?, THE PARENTS?, THE SCHOOL BOARD? Why just have the bus driver be kind of rude and say 'no'? We were lucky. Mark took Oliver to school and just didn't get the early start to the day that he planned. Lucky it wasn't Tuesday.

So, after all the calls we got a short term solution. The school pays for a cab for the 4 of us until they are allowed on the bus. We only need the cab on Tuesdays so we will drive the other days. Thankfully one of the other mothers will let me drop Ollie off at their house on Tuesdays so I can get to class on time. All that work arranging for a last minute screw up... Bites my butt!

Anyhow, Gibson started Big Boy Pre-School today and he loved it. He ate all his snack and did the songs and dances and played well. Yay! I went to the Circuit work-out and had to stop halfway through because I felt like I was going to faint and/or throw-up. Guess it's not a great idea to workout like that the day after giving blood. I am still a little woozy, but better for having had lunch.

Success!

Well, I managed to count 5 out of 7 days last week and the success was on the scale today as I was down 2 pounds. I didn't manage to count yesterday so it might have been better if I didn't have pasta for supper (ha ha ha). This does not surprise me. I knew what the problem was. I just was having a difficult time actually counting. I was feeling mentally exhausted by the idea of doing it. So I put away the weekly counting books and started each day with a blank piece of paper and just recorded. The two days I didn't count I was running around and in the wrong place for meal times so everything went by the wayside, but that's okay. A single piece of paper to record doesn't stress me like a week long commitment. Stupid, I know, but at least I counted for 5 days this week and I am down.

I expect to be in pain tomorrow. I went to Manuela's class at the Y and she worked us like dogs! What is with all the running? Ai yi yi! Oh, well, that's why I go. I want to get to the point where I can actually do a bench dip or more than 1 'real' push-up in a row. How's that for a fitness goal?

Feeling Strong!

This week was great. It was Spring Break and I had both kids enrolled in YMCA day camps. Gib can only go half days because of his age, but that was 3 hours a day which is more than I ever get so I took advantage of it. I managed to work out every day this week (Sun-Sat) and I mean good work outs. I did the drop in classes at the YMCA on Mon, Tues, and Wed. I ran on the treadmill on Sun, Thurs, Fri and Sat. I also did a stretch class at the YMCA on Thursday just to see what it was. It was not as rigorous as I would have liked, but I got a good stretch and it was good for my muscles. I also enjoyed a pedicure on Monday and I got the worst manicure in my life! Great hand and arm massage but terrible, terrible, terrible manicure. Oh well.

Baby was fun on Tuesday night. We were discoing out and we sounded great. I am disappointed that I can see the writing on the wall for the show and the ensemble is going to be heard and not seen, but I am in and the people in the ensemble are fun so we shall have a good time.

The only two down sides to the week were that I had to deal with the boys at night, because Mark was away, so I got yucky sleeps and the fact that I had not been losing weight. Oh well, I feel very strong and my jeans feel good, so I will just hope the pounds will come off eventually if I keep the momentum up.

Another Week...

I had a relatively busy week. I have done some work on Crimes of the Heart. I met with my Assistant Director and more audition requests have trickled in. I hope I don't have too many "drop ins" because most of the early slots have 5 people in them already and it screws with your time to accommodate an extra person. That's not fair to those who did it the right way.

Challenges for Oliver in school again. All three incidents have been with the same boy. From the descriptions of the events I think the other kid verbally instigates the fight and then because Oliver has trouble managing his anger he hits when he can't solve it with words. Oliver is quite honest in his re-telling and he doesn't come out looking like an angel so I have a little bit of faith in this. The problem is, because Oliver hits first he gets the more severe punishment. It doesn't seem like anything is being done with the other kid and I can't really ask because I should just worry about my own child. I have expressed concern that it always seems to be the same kid. If another incident happens and its the same kid I will push for a stronger intervention. With Oliver being at least half a head taller than most of the kids in his class I worry someone is going to get hurt. Also, because he perceives the other kid is lying in the re-telling of events he is starting to think that if you don't want to get in trouble you just lie.

Back to the gym this week for Drop-In Classes at the YMCA. I can feel my obliques. I am hoping to get there 3 days this week. Gib still fusses at babysitting but I know he is doing it to see if he can make me stay - not because he is really upset. Something weird at the Friday session. The instructor gave out "prizes" to 2 people who she felt really gave it their all. I didn't like this. Partly because I was going as hard as I could but my fitness level is not the same as many of the others in the group and partly because I was in the same "section" as one of the winners and she stopped doing the circuit at the '5 seconds left' count every single time. I went to 1 so I know. It is hard enough for me to go when I know I have to make adjustments due to my fitness level and I feel like a loser for that, but then to add a competitive thing on top of that it just makes me go back to grade 10 gym class all over again. Hmmm. Maybe I'd fell differently if I'd won.

Fitness is frustrating...

So, this Fall I committed to working out. Oliver is in school full days and it is much easier to leave one child in babysitting plus Gibson is usually pretty easy going about those things. As well, with Oliver in full days I didn't have to worry about being home for the bus and all that. No excuses. So I have been booking Gibson in for babysitting 3X a week and I go to a drop in class at the YMCA. I also try to use the Treadmill at home on my "days off". I feel stronger, however, I am gaining weight! I don't think I am eating more. I have also started a "don't eat after 8:15 p.m." rule which has cut out a lot of extra calories. I have to believe it is muscle because it is annoying! The other annoying thing is that Gibson has started being really fussy about going to babysitting. I know he is doing it to see what he can control, but my "easy" kid is starting to get challenging and I don't need that! Arghhhh!

Back on the Treadmill...

So to speak. I re-committed to working out. I know, I know. I do that a lot, but I think of every week as a new week and since September is traditionally a time for 'starting anew' for me I booked Gibson in to the YMCA babysitting and went to the Cardio Kick Start class this morning. I have also booked him in for Friday, Monday and Wednesday so I am committed. I find I have to do that - book in ahead of time - or I don't go. It is harder to not go when you know you will be charged for the babysitting if you don't cancel soon enough. I am watching my ankle because of the recent sprain. It's a little achy and I avoided the stairs, just in case, but it held up okay. I will see how it feels tomorrow morning. I have a feeling I will feel my butt tomorrow because of all the squats we did.

A Work in Progress...

Okay, in the latest Oprah magazine they said that Bloggin can help you lose weight. I think that refers to specifically bloggin about the whole weight loss journey. I have blogged about it in the past when I was feeling crappy about it, but I should also blog when I feel good, right? Well, I feel good today. According to my scale I am down 13 lbs from January 1st. I started the WW a little later so I am hoping to get a 10 lb star tomorrow. I was down 8.6 lbs last week (Yay!!). I also broke a bad streak of inactivity and actually got ont he treadmill last night. It felt good. I walked/ran 3.6 miles and even watched X-Weighted at the same time so I felt it was a good mix. I know that I have to watch my eating when I am stressed and when I am bored. I also have to be careful at "events centred around eating", particularly when it is stand around eating finger foods --> I tend to be almost unconscious about how much I eat. Terrible, terrible. There was a guy on X-Weighted who was coaching the "main participant", he had lost 170 lbs (from a starting point of about 400 lbs). He said it is about 70% "what you eat" so you can't rely on working out more to totally compensate for poor eating. I know from experience he is right. I only really lose when I am careful with the food. If I don't watch the food and I workout I often just eat more. So I must be vigilant!