Blog June Post 19, 20 and 21 - Triple Post or I'm Just Slack

Well only 9 days to go and I've already missed 2 days in a row.

Friday saw me come home from work tired after a busy week.  Yesterday I headed out to a friend's place for afternoon/evening drinks after a full on day of clothes and grocery shopping.  Today it is cold and I've done a half baked job of cleaning the house.

A bit of a rip off post from me today as I really haven't got anything much to write.  So instead I post this photo (note there are a few ladies missing from this photo) and say I love all of these women as they are such a diverse bunch who have brought so much to my life in different ways!!  Fitness, confidence, advice, fun and support!!  I love you girls!

Day 3 - Blog 12 Days of Christmas - Lazy

There is a mantra for today but I'm too lazy to go into the other room to retrieve the magazine which has the mantras in it.  So today my mantra is: Lazy!

Ok so it's not really a mantra but a word to describe how I felt today.

This morning was not lazy.  I started with a 12km run and then did the grocery shopping.  I visited EB Games and picked up 3 second hand games for the xbox and then caught up with facebook updates while watching Miss A throw herself across the lounge room playing Kinetic Sports Season 2.  You see the Kinetic on the xbox uses a camera to pick up on your movements so you become the player in the game.  Or something along those lines.

I then went for my afternoon walk, cooked a lazy dinner of sausages, eggs and toast, and am now being lazy about this post while Miss A watches Grumpy Cat's Worst Christmas Ever.

Tomorrow, because it is supposed to be raining again, I plan on another lazy day.  I have a few books on the table here that I should be reading but have been having difficulty finding my reading mojo - much prefer magazines at the moment.  But I do have the Parkrun: much more than just a run in the park, book to read and I started it the other day while watching Miss A and her friends swim in the lagoon and it's quite interesting.  Just have to be in the mood.

So I'm now going to finish this post and continue being lazy on the couch and continue lurking on facebook and perhaps continue reading the Parkrun book - maybe if I can be bothered!!

Yours in laziness!!

On the ninth day of Christmas. ..

I started the day at 5.30am with an 18km run - great start to Run Down Under continues. Miss A had a playdate at Nambucca Heads so I dropped her off and headed to Woolies to do the shopping.

Once home I mowed the lawn and went for a short afternoon walk. It was very hot.

A fairly uneventful day and now I'm watching the tennis.

What did the ninth day bring you?

On the fourth day of Christmas....

I ran 14.66km; did the grocery shopping (I know, I know, I should be doing it online); went for a swim at the beach; and watched trashy TV (yep a trend is developing).

As part of my training for the half marathon I am doing in March 2014 at the Port Macquarie Running Festival, I am to do hill repeats.  For non-runners, this means you run (with effort) up a hill, walk back down, turn around and run back up the hill, walk back down and so on until you fall over in a heap - well no I believe my training program does suggest doing this a certain number of times.

Through discussions with those that have trained before, the best hill to do this on in my area is the hill road leading to the Urunga Cemetery.  Now those that you are my FB friends will note my post yesterday about my concerns of running this road on my own.  I mentioned my fear of stray spirits/ghosts.  Well, you will be happy to note that I ran this hill today and as soon as the headstones were in my line of sight, I quickly turned around and ran back down the hill.  I had planned on doing the hill again but was just not quite ready.  I noted that even the cicadas stop making noise the closer you get to the headstones - what's with that?!?!

Grocery shopping - the love/hate relationship I have with thee!  A number of people have suggested to me that I convert to online shopping.  Now I really need to see things on a shelf - not sure why but online shopping has not grabbed me.  I need to see all the different brands/prices/specials lined up together in order to make a good purchase decision.  So no online grocery shopping at this stage.  Instead I braved the congested Pacific Hwy and hit the energy zapping shops.  However, all was not lost as the checkout lady made my day by just happening to be free so I didn't even have to wait!!  This never happens!!

Beach - how I love thee!!  After lunch - well really it was around 3pm, we headed down to the beach for a swim.  The beach we go to is just 5 minutes drive from home.  We splashed around for a bit and then Miss A wanted to climb the dunes, which then turned into running up the dunes and down the dunes.  Much to my husbands disgust, I mentioned that this is a good form of training for running.  He muttered something under his breath about training and shook his head.

Trashy TV - yes you are trashy but I watch you anyway!  We (ok my husband who can not say no) recently signed up for pay TV - this time with Foxtel.  Last time it was with Austar.  They are all the same to me.  I was a bit peeved as it is not a luxury we can afford but he managed to get a good deal.  We made some changes to our package yesterday and opted out of the movies and opted in for the documentaries and adventure.  Now it's all Man vs Food and Dirty Jobs Down Under.  Not to mention the Location, Location, Location Australia marathon I watched the other day.  My husband is a night owl so he loves it.  Especially shows like Ghost Hunters and Ghost Adventurers - hence my fear of the Urunga Cemetery!

Tomorrow we are in for hot, hot, hot weather and apparently a day of interesting (there is a word the weather guy uses but it escapes me for now) weather.  Apparently, North and South winds will meet and cause instability which may lead to storms - here's hoping!

What did you do on the fourth day of Christmas?

Blog December Post 22 - Where are the presents?

Today's Destiny Card is Gentleness and I have to say I was showed extreme gentleness when I went grocery shopping this morning amongst the last minute Christmas rush.  I came out the other side unscathed so I'm relieved.

I'm not going to focus this post on Gentleness but on something I read this morning.  It was on a blog post with a picture of a Christmas tree with nothing under it.  The comment mentioned the "virtual Christmas" with the author saying that their children had asked for digital music, ebooks, digital games etc so there was nothing to put under the tree.  Is this something that will be more familiar in the near future?

Growing up, our Christmas presents were put under the Christmas tree as soon as the tree was up.  And my brother and sister and I used to try to tear little corners off so that it wasn't noticable to our parents, but was enough to see what we were getting.  I don't think we were good at surprises, yet I don't think we ever managed to rip enough off to see what it was.

My husband grew up with a different tradition due to his German/Scottish parents.  They would open their gifts at Midnight on Christmas Eve.

Before child, we participated in this with his neices when we were invited to Christmas eve dinner.  I used to struggle to stay awake and I have no idea how the kids managed.

Once our child was old enough - think she was 5 years old - we tried it.  We let her go to sleep Christmas eve and then work her at midnight.  I remember that she was half asleep and displaying little excitement and we were all zombies (very tired) the next day.  Needless to say we have dropped that tradition and we put the presents out after she's gone to bed Christmas eve and she opens them Christmas morning.

At this stage the gifts are not "virtual."  Although, mine may be as I want books and I didn't want to go shopping for them so think I may be purchasing them online on Christmas day!!

However, it may well be that in coming years we find that our daughter will want things that are "virtual" and there will be nothing to put under the tree, except maybe for a gift card or two for online credit.

I apologise for the lateness of this post but we are expecting a guest today - a friend of my husband's whom he hasn't seen since before we met - so I've never met him.  They've been friends for ever and reconnected a few years back via phone calls.  I'm not sure how I feel with a someone who is a stranger to me staying with us but I suppose I'll just go with the flow.

And we are praying for no rain or storms this evening as the Urunga Carols are on and we will be heading down at 5pm and staying on till the fireworks at 9pm and then the traditional drive around town looking at the Christmas lights. 

While today we are melting away in the humidity, I can't help but feel that the Christmas weather of my childhood has returned - now all I have to do is convince my husband to allow me to watch the Boxing Day test match and all will be good!!

Blog June Post 24 - Hey Hey it was Saturday

Ok so it's really cold this morning.  When we woke up at 8am it was 4.4'C.  But I promise I won't talk about the cold other than to say I hate it!!

While today is Sunday, I am going to talk about our usual Saturday routine.

Saturday is chore day for me.  I like that I don't have to go to work but I hate that I have to do silly things like washing, shopping, cleaning when I'd rather do nothing.

So the day starts around 7-7.30am when I get up - and everyone else remains in bed.  I put the first load of washing on and then sit down to eat breakfast and do the usualy computer routine - check emails, facebook, twitter, google reader and then since it's June, write my blog post.

Then I hang first load of wash and get second load on.  If it's a good day I only have two loads to do.  Yesterday I had to do three because hubby got up late and I had to wash our sheets.

By 10am we are out the door to do shopping - usually small one and me - hubby doesn't like shopping.  Yesterday he and our neighbour had to go to Bunnings so they dropped us off at the shopping centre and did Bunnings while I did groceries.

Small one was supposed to have a friend sleep over but her mum called and said she had the flu so small one was upset.  Bribery occured with me promising to get a small toy to compensate for no one to play with that night.  We found a Pet Shop toy and all was good.

I hate grocery shopping.  It seems everyone is there and small one often runs around like a lunatic and gets in everyone's way.  I must say that I sometimes encourage the running but last time we did that, running from Kmart to Woolworths, small one had a stack and hurt herself - so no more running in the shopping centre.

Anyway, by the time I find everything on the list - I swear they just move things around to trick us all, everyone was at the checkout.  This always happens.  Without fail it seems the whole shop gets to the checkout at the same time.

We finally got out and bought small one a cheese and bacon roll and waited for hubby to come back.

Back home, time to unpack the shopping - sigh!!  Then have a quick bite of lunch.  Then off to small one's swimming lessons.  We go to a private pool that is heated and mostly covered by a shed.  The lessons go all year round.

Back home again and one of small one's friends from school shows up at the front door with overnight gear ready.  Her nana is there and asks if she can stay over - ummm, no.  You don't just turn up at someones house expecting them to take your granddaughter overnight without some pre arrangement.  However, this is very typical of this family.  They just show up unannounced and expect us to let their granddaughter stay and play.

I said that small one had been sick so she can play for a while and then maybe come back tomorrow morning - after 10am - and I'll take them down the park.

I hate being made to feel bad about something that is not my fault.  I can't believe that people will just do that.

So small one played with friend, I went for my afternoon walk.  On my walk I go for just over an hour.  It involves running up and down 30 steps 15 times, walking around the golf course, along the foreshores, out and back along the boardwalk, past the soccer fields and back home.  I then had a shower and settled down to finish Burning Lies by Helene Young.  Relax time!!

After watching some tv, we all went to bed.  Unfortunately, small one has been sick so she was complaining about a sore ear all night.  Not much sleep and then up earlyish for Sunday - sigh!!

So now I've had breakfast and am doing my computer routine.  I'll take the girls down to the park later and read the paper while they play - more on my thoughts on newspapers going electronic tomorrow.

Hope you had a great Saturday and may your Sunday be relaxing as well.