I would wave, but..

Lately I've been enjoying the Zumba class offered at my gym.  When I started going there, I had no idea what Zumba was.  I didn't know that it was so widespread.  If you look up Zumba on YouTube, you'll find video after video of people having fun.  And the classes are all packed.  I'd say these Zumba people have got it figured out and must be making a small fortune.  After all, who doesn't like dancing??  Dancing is fun and easy exercise.  Weight building is not...

My two main goals that I want to achieve from working out are these:  Energy and Muscles.  I've written about my major lack of energy before, so no need to expound on it again.  As for muscles, I had a vague idea that I needed more of them, but I had no idea how much.

I'm a weakling.  I've pretty much always have been a weakling, I'm just more of one lately.  The gym was offering a free fitness assessment with an instructor, so I took advantage of it.  After all the questions about my health history and personal fitness goals, the instructor took me to this machine that measures fat, muscle, and bone content using electrical impulses.  I was impressed.  Then I was surprised.  I'm good in the fat department.  No need to lose or gain.  But my muscles.  My puny muscles are indeed very puny.  I must gain 11.4 lbs of muscle in order to be in the "normal" range.  I thought, no problem.  Easy task.  Then she told me roughly how long it would take to build those 11.4 lbs of muscle.  Approximately 10-12 months.  But how?? I wasn't understanding the severity of my past slacking.

I was relating my discoveries to a friend the other day over lunch.  When I told him the amount of muscle I had to build up, he burst into laughter.  He was incredulous.  "Sarah!" he shouted, in the middle of a crowded Tim Hortons, "If you asked for almost 12 lbs of beef, you'd fill up this tabletop!!"  And then proceeded to laugh even louder.  But it hit home.  11.4 lbs is A LOT OF MEAT.  How did I ever let it get this far??  I'm the biggest health slacker ever!  How do I even lift my arms to type??  I have no idea.  I'm probably a medical marvel.

So now I'm determined to make muscles.  It will be hard, but it will be worth it. 

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Jjim Jjil Bang

I'm cold.  I have a chill that I just can't get rid of.  If I was in Korea, I would just go to a jjim jjil bang, or public bathhouse. 

I would have a nice, hot, sit-down shower.  

I would then grab an iced mocha drink, a square pillow, and a towel.  

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I would then crawl into my own little, warm cave and have a good sleep. 

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Mmm..  sleep..

The quest for the pink slipper

There are times when I would love to return to a certain point in my childhood and relive it (with the ability to return to the present, of course).

I was thinking today about how I have the inherent ability to kill all plants even with research and much effort to give them everything they need.  The only plant that I've been unable to kill is a tall palm that my mother gave me.  I think this is due to the fact that it can regenerate itself no matter what the damage.  In fact, you can cut it off and the stump will regrow.  If you take the top that you cut off and stick it in soil, that will grow a new tree too.  Like I said, impossible to kill.

My grandmother has an amazing green thumb.  She can grow anything from seed, bulb, clipping, or seemingly nothing.  And she was able to do this in Newfoundland, which has a growing season of about 2 months..  the rest of the year consists of imminent snow, snow, and melting snow. 
I have envied her for as long as I can remember.  When I was awaiting the birth of my sister, my family stayed with my grandparents.  It was a long, cold winter in my mind and I remember watching Nan water and care for her many plants.  I wanted to grow one of my own from scratch, not realizing the time frame involved.  The two of us then planted an apple seed that I eagerly checked on everyday.  I was disappointed day after day until finally I noticed a tiny twig in the center of the pot.  This twig was about one centimeter tall.  I remember being so excited.  Looking back, I believe that the twig was put there on purpose.  What better way to appease an impatient 4 year old, eh?

When I was 11, my family lived in the same "town" as my grandparents.  I use the word "town" generously as there was only a handful of houses, about 30-40 residents, a post office, and a corner store that was always closed when the soap operas were on.  Because of the lack of entertainment and/or friends, I soon learned how to be independently entertained.  I climbed trees, went for long walks in the woods tracking foxes and rabbits, monitored the local frog pond's pollywog progression into mini-toads, dug up a LOT of fool's gold, hand fed Grey Jays, and much more.
One day my grandmother mentioned wanting a certain flower for her garden.  It was a Pink Lady's Slipper Orchid.  She told me a funny anecdote about the time she stuck her finger inside one once and there was a bee inside.  I was fascinated.  And I was determined to get it for her.

You're MINE!

Little did I know that they don't just grow all over the place all willy-nilly.  I searched HIGH & LOW for that ridiculous flower.  I didn't have the internet at my fingertips at the time, nor a public library, so I had no idea where they grow, what time of the year, or anything at all!  After a while I decided that these flowers did not exist in our area, so I switched to transplanting wild multicoloured foxgloves to her garden (yes, they are weeds.  I know this now.  I did not know this at 11)  One day I was traipsing about in the woods quite far from home when I saw a dense wall of foxgloves.  I climbed the hill and fought my way into the middle of the bunch in order to see a pretty white one that I had not gotten for my grandmother yet.  I was staring up at it and thinking of how to get it back so far when I looked down to see how hard it would be to transplant.  Low and behold, there it was in all it's glory.  A Pink Lady's Slipper.  I ran home as fast as I could to grab a pail and spade.  I then dug it up and planted it in the middle of Nan's garden.  I can only imagine that she was a little sad to see this pretty little orchid in it's poor condition after it ran into me.  I'm also pretty sure that it promptly died as a result of my haphazard hacking of it's root system.  Come to think of it, I think all the foxgloves died too..  and they're WEEDS.

Melancholy moods

I had a dream a couple nights ago and it has stuck with me.  Ever have that happen?

I dreamed about a friend that I fell out with a long time ago.  In the dream, I was walking beside a long storage warehouse that had many doors.  The sky was hazy and the wind was blowing dry leaves around my feet.  As I was walking, one of the doors opened and I saw this friend's mother standing in the doorway.  I asked her how he was, and she said he was fine, but regretted the way things went between us.  She said he was in a difficult place right now and wished things could be different.  I then kept walking towards the end of the building where I could see a light spilling out of another open door.  A person stood in front of it.  As I got closer, I realized it was him.  He looked very sad and I told him it was alright and that we all do things that we regret.  I gave him a hug and then woke up.  All day Friday I was in a melancholy mood as a result, wondering who would next show up in my dreamland wanderings.

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I read a couple years ago that the average friendship lasts seven years.  You'll either be in different stages of life by that time, or will have parted ways.
Looking back, I notice that I didn't make very many close friends.  My family moved a lot, so I learned to be content with being alone.  I don't mind eating my lunch and enjoying a good book.  Even during high school when that sort of behaviour was frowned upon.  I ended up being very careful when making friends, so losing some of them has created a little bit of sadness upon reflection.  Some friends have grown apart, whereas others were more abrupt, for reasons known or unknown.  The unknown ones are the ones that tend to be brought up in my dreams, making me think that they are on my mind more than I'll admit.  Sometimes they are the main player, such as in the dream above, or sometimes they are someone in passing, making my head turn to see if it was really them.

These days I work harder at keeping friendships.  I have precious few, and the ones I have are special.  Also, I have to realize that sometimes things are out of my hands, and that life will take mysterious paths.

Here's to hoping for happy dreams tonight.

Sometimes people are funny

I think it's hilarious that someone went through the effort of making a poster like this :)

Sign the petition

Wow, finally a way to fight back.  Sign, friends!  We should not be paying what we already pay.

Turn it off!!

I left the oven on the other day.  All night.  My husband then told me that I could've burned the apartment down, all the while putting on his best impression of my father.

My dad was very insistent on turning everything off while I was growing up.  He still is, but I don't hear him anymore since I no longer live with him.  He has a mantra that he practically chants on his way out the door:  "Make sure you turn off and unplug everything.  And turn down the heat.  Make sure the doors are locked.  Did you turn off the curling iron??"
We have to unplug everything because appliances will blow up.  Heat is expensive.  We will be home invaded, tied to chairs, tortured, and shot if the doors aren't locked.  As for the curling iron...  that is something we haven't done in maybe 10-15 years, so I don't know why it's on the list.

He does have a point in some cases.  There was a rash of violent home invasions in our general area several years ago.  Also, gas prices are soaring, so why not save on the heating bill?  He and my mother do insist that they've known people who's TV exploded.  I'm not sure if they remember their names or not, but it happened!

His fear of fire has probably been honed by my sister and the few days of torture that she put him through when we first moved into our new house 12 years ago.  My sister was not yet fully trusted with stove top elements or the big oven, so my dad compromised and bought a toaster oven.  Not much damage you can do with those things, right?  The day after he bought it, I was sitting on the couch when my dad started yelling in the kitchen.  Suddenly he ran by holding the toaster oven over his head, flames blazing out of it.  He somehow managed to get the back door open and flung it out onto the snow-covered deck.  We then watched it in silence as it finished burning the remnants of the taco shells my sister had been "browning".  He then ranted and raved a bit, before returning it to the store and telling them it was defective.
Fast-forward to the next day.  My sister must've had another craving for toasty taco shells because she was at it again.  And once again it was flung out into the snow in a dramatic fashion.  One more "defective" toaster oven was returned to the store, and my sister was at once banned from using it without his supervision.

oops

Poor dad.  The stresses involved with having kids.

For the record, I may have left the oven on overnight, but last week my husband left a giant candle burning overnight.  There was little left of it in the morning and somehow it didn't burn through the tabletop.  Which one's worse??

Why was it so good??

Wanna know one of the best and worst parts of travelling to other countries?

Finding something you love.

I was lying here on my couch watching "Outsourced" when I got the munchies.  And the first thing that came to mind was a Korean snack that I ate quite a bit of while I was over there.  I guess you could call them chips.  They were thin, crunchy potato sticks that came in two flavours:  red and green.  I guessed that one was plain and the other a little onion-y.  The onion one was so good that I'd find excuses to eat them.  I think what made me love them so much was not the flavour, but the crunchiness.  They were crunchy enough to be annoying to other people, but not hard enough that they would break your teeth.  MMm.. love.
But guess what?  I have not seen them since leaving.  Nor does my husband remember what they are called.  I have not heard of any currently-in-Korea bloggers talking about them, nor have I seen them on any food websites.  So that's what makes it the worst part of finding something you love.

I also fell in love with this particular scent of Johnson&Johnson's baby powder called "Blossoms".  I have a small bottle that I brought over with me that I only put on on special occasions.  Every time I use it, I get an explosion of memories of my husband's grandmother's house where I was staying.  It is also hard to find online.  BUT, the good news is that my husband's cousin just came here from Korea and he brought me five bottles!  Enough to last for a long time!  I even gave two bottles to my mom and sister.  But now I'm half afraid that if I over-use it, I'll lose the memories associated with it.

aw grandma :)

There was also an excellent restaurant that my roommate and I would frequent late at night.  It's called Country Chicken (촌닭) and it is so good.  Crispy chicken bites and rice cakes in sticky hot sauce.  Served with white rice to take the edge off of the heat.  Delicious!  My husband has made this for me a few times, but there's something about the real deal.  I miss it!

Do you have anything that you would LOVE to have right now but it's unavailable where you are?

Ah, enough reminiscing already.  Time for bed!

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Update:
My amazing Sherlock Holmes husband found that snack.  He has never heard of it nor seen it before.
It's called 눈을 감자 - Let us close our eyes.

Zzz

I am tired today.  I worked almost 8 hours, came home and crashed.  I then had the strangest dream about working for a really old Romanian optometrist who didn't care if we had patients or not.  His wife was his receptionist, and if it was even possible, she was older than him.  She didn't even speak English.

The truth:  I do work for an optometrist.  But he's not old.  And I worked all day with a very chatty coworker from Romania.  Funny how your day spills over into your dreams.

Speaking of which, my hubby has developed a bad habit due to me.  I had a horrible sleep last night due to two factors.  The first being the two cups of coffee at 10pm.  Bad move on my part.  But the next....  I had a feeling it would eventually happen.  I have a problem with sleep-talking.  I used to sleep-walk a lot, so I figure sleep-talking is a lot safer and less embarrassing.  My husband has told me that I wake him up quite often with some tidbit of useless/incoherant knowledge that he just NEEDS to know at 4am.  How he is getting good marks at school is a miracle.
BUT, last night he was full-out sleep-talking.  Not once.  Not twice.  But many times.  Is sleep-talking 100% contagious over a long period of time?  I'm gonna say yes.

So much for him being a sound sleeper!  Oops!

Friday is here!

I'm tired today.  I've just worked my normal 5 days in a row and now I have to work tomorrow too.  Add that to the fact that I'm not used to exercise and I have a feeling that I just might sleep very well tonight. 

I got off work early and headed to the gym to sign up for a year.  I figure if I'm paying hard-earned money for this thing, I might just be motivated to go.  I then had time to kill before the Latin dance/cardio class so I decided to get on a bike and watch Judy Judy on the overhead TV.  I barely made it to 10 minutes..  on easy "flat terrain".  But at least it wasn't downhill or anything!  That would be embarrassing!  ;)

The dance class was the best class I've done so far.  As one older lady told me at the beginning, it doesn't matter if you get all the moves right, so long as you add in a lot of enthusiasm and energy.  So I gave it my best and almost passed out at the end.  Phew!

Then I cancelled out all my efforts by having wings and wedges for dinner with friends, with a nice, cold glass of Coke.  MMmm..  It was all worth it :)

We went skating tonight, as well, for a friend's birthday.  I use "we" loosely here, as I did no such thing.  I'm not crazy about winter sports, anymore.  I sat on the sidelines and played the role of "Hockey Mom":  tying people's skates, giving them coffee when they skated over, taking pictures.  In the process I drank my coffee and then my husband's..  so I might not sleep well tonight, after all..

It's Friday!  yay!

Exercise, anyone?

So I finally went to the gym.  (*cue hallelujah chorus*)

I had to fill out some paperwork when I got there and there was a question that asked if I was ever in an exercise program.  I put no.  The girl at the desk read over my paper and said "You've never exercised???  Like, EVER?!?"  Yep, sadly that sums up my life.

I signed up for a yoga/tai chi/pilates class.  I've barely done yoga, only pretended to do Tai Chi as a kid when I saw old Asian women doing it in the park, and I don't really think I exactly know what Pilates are. (something about a blue ball filled with water?? no?)

The class was fun.  I learned that I have very bad balance, horrible posture, and no strength in my limbs whatsoever.  Let's face it.  I'm a weakling.
I went to another class today after work.  This one was cardio with hand weights.  Again, I did horribly.  This time I learned that I have no coordination and I can't remember one set to save my life. 

It's gotta go up from here..  if it goes down, then we've got a problem..  :-)

Sleigh bells ring

I'm not one for winter outdoor activities.  As I've mentioned before, I get cold extremely easily and find it impossible to warm up.  Despite that, almost my entire church assembly went up north a ways for a sleigh-ride and cookout.  We couldn't have asked for a better day.  The sun was splitting the trees, the snow was sparkling, and the farmer was jolly (this may have had something to do with his "hidden" flask). 
I really enjoyed myself, even though we had gotten lost about 2 minutes away from the farm and kept going back and forth on the back roads.

I've stolen these photos, but they're too good to not share :)

 I love horses :)

My husband petting his first mule/donkey

 

photos by bonjourstacy