Cath’s Neighborhood

awhile ago, i ranted about the weird lady that was very persistent in getting my attention even while i was plugged into my tunes and clearly ignoring her.

that wasn't the last time she's tried to get my attention. there's been several occassions where she'll find a cardio machine next to mine and start talking. i can't hear her, but i can see her lips move from my peripheral view. most times, she doesn't talk. but she keeps on turning to look at me, waiting for an in... you know, that moment where i'll turn slightly towards her direction so she can get my attention.

good god. i feel like i have my very own 'eddie' at the gym - you know, that jack russell that keeps on staring at fraser.

and what the hell is up with all this jack russell symbolism in my life? is this some universal way of mocking me???

anyway... today, she caught me in the women's locker room just as i was getting ready to go to my thursday bodypump class. she's so weird. she just comes up and starts talking to me as if we were already in the middle of a conversation.

so the gist of it is - she's noticed that i lost weight and wants to know how i did it.

i size her up and decide to tell her that most of my recent success has been from bodypump. judging by what little i know of her, i had a gutt feeling that she would follow me into this class. and judging by anything i was able to piece together, the class would scare her away.

and so, like a good little stalker, she came to class.

when she got there, she started to say that she has done this class now that she thinks about it. and that it had caused her injuries.

and no, i don't understand why she continued to step up for the class without at least talking to the instuctor first about her past injuries with the class. but she went ahead anyway.

i'll admit, i checked to see her form throughout the class and as i suspected, she did not come close to the correct form in ANY of the exercises that we did. i know the instructor, without wanting to shine the spotlight on her, was trying her very best to speak to the entire class on the proper form in hopes that she would listen. but she did not. and not only was her form off, it was probably the most WAY off form i've ever seen done - in bodypump or anywhere else. she was doing things with that bar that i have never seen before. and anytime she squated or lunged, her knee went WAY past her toes.

all i could think was, "and THAT's why she kept on injuring herself."

as usual, i had to leave before the abs and stretch in order for me to have time to shower, change and go back to work. i didn't stick around but i had a feeling she was looking for me afterwards.

we shall see if she returns next week or not.

WEIRD!

i've been busy.

and it's been fun stuff but the one thing i'm missing is having down time. i mean, the christmas tree and all the other decorations are up, but i haven't had the time to be able to enjoy it. i would love a full weekend where we have ample opportunity to sit in our living room, listening to christmas tunes and do some craft together. or read. or play board games.

this sunday might give us that opportunity, as will christmas eve. but that is all.

and i'll take that over nothing.

i was just talking to my girlfriend about christmas eve and christmas day. and how it's managed with extended family, as well as our immediate family.

we both agreed that we need at portion of time to be with just the husband and our kids - to set aside at least christmas eve and/or christmas morning for us to build our own annual traditions.

it's not always easy though - family politics can come into play. for example - if you come from two large familes (or worse, if your side and his side are like oil and water), how do you decide on how to split it up AND reserve that special time for just your nuclear family?

my in-laws do not live in the same city as us but if they did, both sides are small enough to have christmas dinner together. and i would have no problem having them over late in the morning to open presents with chaeli. but i would still want christmas eve pretty much to ourselves. a drop by from a friend is no big deal, so long as we get to stay where we are. at home.

so i want to hear from those out there - how do you do it? what's your idea christmas?

note: to all those replying, it seems as though people think that i'm having family politics over the holidays and i just want to clarify, that i'm not. but i notice it's common amongst a lot of people i know. :)

this past saturday, we had our annual 'deep fried turkey and kid's secret santa exchange' party at steve and cor's house.

what a good party - i just felt like a huge release being there with good friends. laughing and talking and best of all - the kids are so good at playing on their own now. they spent most of the time in the basement with each other. ah bliss!

an important lesson learned within five minutes of arriving - even though i think people never read my facebook status updates, they SO read them.

within the first hour, the following facebook statuses by yours truely was discussed:

- that i admitted to staring at zac efron's 6-pack in '17 again'
- that i love red, orange and yellow peppers, but am not fond of green peppers
- that i almost went to see 'new moon' on my own

i think the highlight of the night was the guys chin-up contest. boys will be boys, after all.

afterwards, steve l. said, "i'm very disppointed with myself. hoa! i should hire you to train me back into shape."

to which hoa's reply was, "okay. but you HAVE to listen to me. if i tell you to do a push-up, you can't just say, 'bah! why bother?'"

hoa totally had steve l. pinned on that one because that's EXACTLY the type of thing steve l. would say.

and i think it's these little conversations of parties that seems to stick with me the most. the kind where a smaller group is off to the side, chatting and having a good laugh or two.

after the annual SCAW (sleeping children around the world) charity concert, we finally had a chance to try roger mooking's kultura restaurant. like his other restaurant, nyood (pronounced 'nude'), it's like a tasting menu where you share as a group.

oh yum. definitely a good choice. the only problem was that there were so many yummy items that we over-ordered. at the same time, the plus side is that the next time i go back, i'll have a clearer idea of what i want to focus on.

our crazy, long list (including appetizer, main menu items and dessert):

Edamame - Miso, Black Bean

Scallops with Gow Gee - Braised Beef Cheeks, soy Emulsion, Cripsed Shallots

Mushroom Orecchiette - Mailvoire Pinot Noir Pear Chutney, Aged Cheddar

Peppered Tuna Carpaccio - Daikon, Sesame Oil, Mizuna Cress, Miso Crisp

Naan - Garlic, Black Onion Seed, Harissa Yogurt

Indian Samosas - Shitake Mushroom, Pine Nuts, Truffled Paneer, Tamarind Date Chutney

Miso Black Cod - Yuzu Corn Puree, Pickled Radish Salad, Crystallized Tamarind

Crispy Tofu - Miso Consomme, Shitake, Garlic Chips

Chicken and Gnocchi - Rice Crunch, Spring Peas, Peppered honey

Black Quinoa Cursted Lamb Loin - Roasted Salsify, Gai Lan, Maple Gastrique

Chocolate Delice - Salted Caramel, Sesame Nougat, Twizzler Ice Cream

Flourless Chocolate Cake - Chocolate Pudding, Caramel Parfait, Frozen Lemon Curd

Vanilla Sugar Doughnut Holes - Caramel and Chocolate Dipping Sauce

keep in mind, for a lot of it, we had to order two as there were about 5 adults and chaeli, whom loved the food that she tried but was a bit disappointed that roger mooking himself wasn't there to greet her (he's one of her favouirte 'cookers' as she likes to call it, from foodtv.ca). okay, i admit it. i was disappoint too, even though i knew full well that he wouldn't be there.

my favourite was the black cod, mushroom orecchiette and the tuna carpaccio. the tofu and scallops were also amongst some of my faves.

alright - just one more observation that I have to make from my bodypump class, which i wrote about yesterday... okay, maybe two. because there's this little petite brunette who attends the class and she really is just that. petite. but with very noticeable breasts. and not in the bad way. i'm not saying that she's so out of proportion that she might fall over but seriously - she's stacked and well, it's very hard not to notice.

but other then that, i've noticed that on the occassion, we get some male clientele in the class. and without fail, i honestly do not know what they are trying to prove.

there they are, all arms but with a big pop-belly, loading up the weights and ready to go.

not even after the first exercise, are they able to last.

here is where i smirk. way more then towards the teens that i wrote about yesterday because at least those teens proved to us that they weren't there to try and prove anything and were, actually, not the typical, pain in the ass teens we normally stereotype them for.

but these men! exactly what did they think they were trying to do - impress us?

i lose count at all the times they end up dropping their weight right to the ground before we finish a set, creating a huge thud as the instructor, even with the mic, tries to talk over the noise as she brings us all to the finale. at this point, our muscles are starting to shake, sweat is stinging our eyes, and we are doing everything in our power to try and overcome that lactic acid build-up so we can finish the set together - as a team. and basically, just bring it on home.

but that loud thud? that annoying distraction?

it makes me want to just face THAT GUY and say, "did you seriously think that this is about how much you can lift/press? this is about ENDURANCE, baby - not maximum weight. take it outside to the rest of the meat heads if THAT's what you're looking for!"

morons.

so this is probably going to make myself sound pretty horrible... but who doesn't sound horrible once in awhile on the internet? everyone. that's who.

i walked into today's bodypump class about five minutes early, surprised that nearly all the spots were taken. relieved, i did find one spot near the front and yes, while most people do not like being in display for the rest of the room to see, i don't care.

i even have a hole on one of my butt cheek which i have to patch up. but as it's mainly a class of women, whom will see me completely naked after the class in the locker room (and vice versa), does one hole, showing my baby blue panties really make a huge difference?

i don't think so.

as i was saying, i like being up front. not because i like being on display (not caring about who sees my bum with the hole showing that i'm wearing baby blue coloured panties and WANTING to show said bum with the hole that's showing blue panties are two completely different things), but because it helps for me to be close to both the instructor and the mirror. just so i can stay focused and on time. and i don't have some one in front of me that's completely off beat, mucking me up.

i hate that. it's my pet peeve. let that be a warning - if you're going to take a spot in front of me, you had better be awesome.

anyway - the class was packed! and as i didn't look around all that much, i didn't realize that half the class was made up of teen girls until the instructor welcomed the students of some catholic school, where they were participating in the class for the day as part of their gym excursion.

and in the middle of the week, outside of summer vacation, i'm just not use to seeing anyone younger then the age of 23 at my gym - and the 23 year olds are usually either trainers or fitness instructors. the rest of us clientele are usually in our 30's and up. these girls were YOUNG! you know - young enough so that THEY needn't be ashamed for gushing over twilight actors.

now, this is a hard class. and while i've been going to this strength circuit training class from hell since september, i'm still working on increasing the plates of the bar that i use. and the last thing i need are a bunch of teens laughing and pointing at me while snickering to each other, "hee hee - look at that older lady there struggling with half the weight i'm using! and she's got a hole in her pants! YOU CAN TOTALLY SEE HER BLUE UNDERWEAR!"

but something amazing happened. because as we started to do the warm-up, and i couldn't help but to see the reflection of those behind me from the wall mirror, i realized that these teens were actually using 1/3rd to even as low as 1/4tr of the weight that i was using. and they were struggling! like - they were just dying and we only had just done the warm-up!

so it's horrible for me to say, but i enjoyed it immensely as i doubled up my plates for the squats while they were all taking breaks numerous amounts of times, panting and making faces like, "you have GOT to be kidding! she wants us to do what now?" they were having 10 times harder of a time then my first class.

and then i really looked around and saw that some of the regulars are actually older then i am and loading up way more weights.

it gave me inspiration - that with age, we actually can become stronger. and that women today knows what it takes to be kick-ass if they want to be.

okay... so maybe this epiphany was somewhat tainted over the fact that i got to feel better about myself through the struggle and pain of a bunch of teens. but i hope, at the least, that these girls saw a future where they too, can achieve this type of strength and determination.

after all, us old farts know a thing or two about life. :)

i guess you could say that today has so far been all about me.

when your husband is out of town for a good part of the day and your kid is sleeping over at your parents' place, wouldn't you make it all about you? damn right!

after my bodypump class, i did a bit of shopping. mainly - christmas wrapping paper, christmas gift bags and some gift-tissue to go with the bags. but while i was at it, i made a point to stop at the shoe company and winners to finally treat myself to some ankle boots. i'm so happy that i did. the one i got at winners is basic but sleek - fine, black leather, squared-off toes and thick heels (more practical). the one i bought at the shoe company is nice and shiny! and really, just for fun - mainly to wear with jeans:

Shiny_boots

the last thing i did before heading back home was to treat myself to a manicure. it's been way overdue.

i went to one of those drop-in, fast places that only charge $15 for a basic manicure. i've come to the conclusion that the quality isn't any different from some of the more expensive spa's. the extra $10 i have payed for those upscale places have just been that - an upscale place where the ambiance is all very nice and pretty.

the colour? shiny, dark blue, baby. :)

will be sporting them tonight when doug and i head out with friends for some wining and dining.

and i love my boots.

we were sitting in the living room, doug and i, while chaeli was playing pinball on the wii with my aunt.

out of nowhere, we hear chaeli yell out, "ALRIGHT! ROCK 'N ROLL!"

rock. and. roll.

i have no idea where she got that from

***

at the zoo, chaeli went up to the educational table, which are always manned by volunteers.

she stood there for a few seconds and then asked the lady, very loudly i might add, "DID YOU KILL ALL THESE BUTTERFLIES AND BUGS? JUST TO SHOW IT ON THIS TABLE???"

ack!

***

for such little person, she clogs up the toilet the MOST in our household.

our plans changed for the weekend and ended up being a very quiet one at home. which was just as well - we have so many busy weekends up ahead so a little break won't hurt.

i ended up being the first to be awake on a saturday morning. i quickly packed my gym bag and away i went to my bodypump class. and because the women's gym was on top of the 2nd floor of the superstore, i decided to do some grocery shopping afterwards. convenience at it's finest!

the rest of the afternoon was lazy. after lunch, we were all in the living room... chaeli playing her leapster games, doug reading the paper and me... well, i was reading something. but my eyes were so heavy that after awhile, i just leaned into doug and closed them for a bit.

i think that was my favourite part of the day. sitting on that couch with the two people that i love, just taking in the quietness and peace. but... i couldn't take it much longer. i was just that tired. i ended up going up stairs and napping for almost an hour an a half!

being completely lazy, we ordered in swiss chalet and then watched Up.

sunday wasn't as lazy, though. we got up and went to the zoo for a stroll, and then went shopping. i ended up treating myself to DDR3 for the wii and man... i suck! hopefully, with practice, i'll be a dancing queen but until then, lets just say i'm glad that i'm doing this in the privacy of my basement, away from the public eye.

anyway, it was one of those interesting weekends where nothing significant happened. instead, it was filled with a lot of little things. but for whatever reason, it's those little things that sometimes gives me that exhilerated feeling.

• the only problem with having my closet now clean and organized is that i find myself wanting to sit in it. for no particular reason. i want to just go in and plop myself in the middle of the floor. just to marvel at the beauty of how being clean and organized really revitalizes me. of course, there is still that half of a shelf and my cd collection that needs to be done. maybe i'll get some of it down tonight.

• we went to cathy's little M's 5yr birthday party yesterday. it was fun! the kids had such a blast. cath had hired a clown. and when the invitation first mentioned about a clown, i was a bit concerned. i have an irrational fear of clowns. not a phobia, per se. but they have always given me the creeps. i was happy with this clown, though. she was whimsical and cute and really knew how to create good chemistry with the kids. and the children did love her! not only did they get a ballon twisted into something they loved, she put on a great magic show that starred a cute rabit in the end. the kids got to sit on a chair have hold the rabbit on their lap for about 30 seconds each. and then, after lunch, each of them got to have their face painted of their choice. chaeli was so crazy about the clown that she said, before going to bed, that she hopes she will meet the clown again someday.

• i'm hungry. it's a weird kind of hunger. i feel like i can eat a lot today. which isn't good, really. because i know that if i allow myself to go nuts, i'll feel like complete crap at the end of the day. but, i have brought some healthy snacks so hopefully, i can stay good.