Spring Teaser

Most people know that I like living where there are 4 seasons and I really don't mind any of them. Winter and Summer have their schizophrenic tendencies yes but I am content to deal with them. Even Fall and Spring - although less moody than the other two - can have their days as well. What is confusing to me is having more than one season in the same season. For the most part the Winter of 2013-2014 has been cold and snowy. If more winters would get with the program maybe people wouldn't hate this one so much. Today and tomorrow though we have a taste of Spring (high 50s and Sunny) but still a lot of snow on the ground. Silly winter.

However, I decided to take advantage of the Spring Tease to remove some of the ice from our carport/back driveway this morning. It was a spur of the moment decision. I was going to go for a walk. Then it occurred to me that if I removed as much ice from the back as I could then the warm temps and sun could work on evaporating more water instead of wasting all its energy on the ice first.

It took me the better part of 2.5 hours and although tiring this was an extremely satisfying way to spend the morning. First, I broke up the ice that was under the water and the thin layer that had reformed on top. I was able then to use a shovel to drag the chunks to higher ground. The water receded and the solids stayed put so I could chuck them by the shovel full up on top of the snow mound created from Dave's shoveling of the drive. Then I started attacking sheets of ice on the drive.

It's more impressive in person but the photo above gives you some idea of the ice I removed. The best parts where the pieces that came off in big slabs I could pick and hurl up on the snow. And even better was when the big slabs would shatter across the snow. Craaaassssshhhhh. You had to be there but trust me it was very exciting! If there is ever and Olympic ice chucking event ............. I'm so gonna sit back and watch! :)

I got to a point where I figured a break was in order. I turned to see what I had accomplished and here is what I saw ...

If you look closely you can see the reflection of the tree in my shadow. And sharing the photo is what prompted me to write this post. It's the simple things.

Cruise by the Numbers (and other random memories)

Half-hearted apologies for vagueness. You had to be there for most of this to make sense but you will not get any more explanation than what's already here. Sister cruises are kinda like Las Vegas. 

1/31 to 2/8 2014 - the dates for the vacation (cruise was 2/2 to 2/7; 5 nights)
4 - the number of sisters
2 - it's the second cruise we've done together
9 - our seat row on both flights. Significant as birthday girl's birthdate is 9-9-63. We flew SW so seats are not pre-assigned. 
110 - % humidity upon arrival in Orlando. At least it felt that way compared to single digit humidity in Philly 
59 - pennies needed to purchase coffee at Wawa in Kissimmee! Woohoo! 
7 cruise ships arriving and leaving again and 20,000 runners (makes for LOTS of traffic)
48-3; score of the awful Super Bowl we got to watch on gigantic screen on the pool deck. No commercials.
16 - different state license plates between Kissimmee and Miami. Some car games are ingrained.
1000+ cast members only 52 from United States
3- the number of people who wanted my "no whining" shirt as we walked deck 4
3 hours and 20 minutes - time it took to replace the engine during the 10 day dry-dock prior to our cruise. The rest of the time was spent drilling the hole in the hull and welding it back together!! 
5 - number of engines on the ship

Watching Adam Joseph do the weather on GMA.
BS found the black skirt
Blue skies but it's not 20 degrees 
Coppertone
Navigators should really wear their glasses
Walt Disney Suite
Boat stopped; turned around - was it a medical emergency?; a stowaway?; or because that man really wanted his bud light?
Watching the sun shine across the ocean and hearing that back home there was 4-6 inches of snow
Lying about the bathrooms
Captain Thord backs the ship in to the parking space AND he admits he calls it a boat too! :)
One hour extra in Cozumel
Wine tasting - proof that I am not grown up enough to drink. 
Walter
and Glenn, Dwight, Omar, Julia, Tekla, JD (the dj), Vlada, Sascha
and Linda :(
Yoga on the beach is hard; harder even when there is a slope to the beach
Harpoon gun to toss the ropes to the dock - this was way too cool! (I amuse easily)
Butter and cheese boy
Tim, the piano player, did not know "On the way to Cape May"!
Umbrellas in her drinks

"My butt finally stopped itching"
"They always forget the youngest"
"I finally learned how to vacation"
"It's not rain, it's fairy dust"
"Yes I know it's only 7:30 a.m. I'm on vacation and I'm not driving the boat so it's ok to drink spiked coffee"
"The ship moved" - excuse for everything from drawing crooked lines to losing your balance in the hallway. 

#2: Learn How to Draw Donald Duck

The goal - 27 instances of Learning Something New From - OR - Trying Something New With - Someone Else. 

I just returned from the Sister Cruise to celebrate sister #3's 50th birthday. We had a wonderful time and the details that are appropriate to share I'll share in another post. While on the cruise, though, I accomplished thing #2. Here is how that happened.

On days at sea there are a variety of activities on the ship to keep everyone busy and happy. They range from wine, beer and spirit tasting, to seminars, classes and bingo to name a few. A couple of half hour sessions were devoted to learning how to draw various Disney animated characters. There was one for Mickey, Mike Wozkowski (you know Billy Crystal from Monsters, Inc.) and Donald Duck. The timing of the Donald Duck class fit in with other things we wanted to do. I said that if someone would join me it could count as one of my 27 things in the category of "trying something new with someone else". So off we went.

You begin with a blank piece of paper and a pencil
with out an eraser

Justine, our Disney cast member leader was specific of the 'no eraser' rule. This is about having fun was the jist of her message. Everyone's Donald will look different and none of them will be perfect, she informed us with a huge smile on her all of 12-year old face! :)

Next, she had us draw a circle. For the circle she gave us table numbers. The class took place in Animators Palette one of the three rotational restaurants on the  cruise. The base of the table number was a circle.

Next, she instructed us to draw to straight lines. One bisecting the circle form top to bottom more or less evenly and one bisecting it at about 3/4 of the way down from the top of the circle. For this we had not guide as we did the circle so most of the folks in the class had less than straight lines. We collectively blamed it on "The ship moved." :)

Justine then took us through drawing a series of lines and curves to produce Donald Duck. It was fascinating to see him take shape as we went one line at a time.

Here is my Donald almost finished. 

Justine and her finished Donald. 

Christine, Katie and I and the finished products. 

My final Donald with the shading added. 

This was a lot of fun. I'm not sure I could reproduce it without Justine's guidance but I think I'll try sometime just for fun.

So 2 done, 25 to go. Don't forget to message me with your ideas!

Managing Stressful Days

My body and my mind have been all over the place these first few weeks of 2014. A combination of holiday, using up vacation days, an unexpected day off for snow and the proximity of the weekend in all that gave me a 6 day holiday before getting back to work in 2014.

I knew that January was going to be busy busy busy at work. If you know me, you know I love my job. That doesn't mean that some days/weeks/months aren't stressful though. And despite my best intentions I am not always good at doing the right thing when life gets stressful. If ever there was a demonstration of the benefits of good nutrition, hydration and exercise in managing stress - these early days of 2014 are it.

To start, I knew I would be making presentations in 9 of the first 11 work days (I had a Saturday to work in there). I find it much more difficult to stay hydrated when I'm teaching then when I'm exercising. Exercise generally has determinable intervals - time or distance - at which I can remember to drink. The presentations not so much. I remembered this going in to work January 6th and tried my best to keep a water bottle within reach at all times. I could have done worse in staying hydrated but I could have done better too.

Getting enough to eat was another story. We were all so so busy most of us in the office never got to lunch the first three days of this past week. In hindsight, I should have spent a little more time the night before preparing or bringing something appropriate to eat on the move that wouldn't interfere with what I had to do. After the first day I knew the next two were going to be the same. It wasn't a surprise after that. I have no excuse except being dense and stupid for going from breakfast at 6 am to dinner around 5-5:30 pm. with nothing but water. I packed a normal lunch but never got to it.  I came home exhausted and drained both mentally and physically. I ate something but the benefit of that was slow to be realized (if at all) so instead of going out to run or walk or do any form of exercise after work I slept, watched TV or surfed the Internet. I did manage to get out on Monday (thanks Maggi) and should have paid more attention to how much better I felt that evening!

The upside is that I did a decent (not perfect) job of staying away from the junk food hole that comes from this sort of stress. Unfortunately the cumulative effect of lack of regular nutrition and exercise played havoc with my sleep patterns too. I'm in one of those herky jerky spells where I can't seem to stay asleep through the night despite feeling so tired.

I skipped a chance to meet friends for a trail run today. I didn't set the alarm and figured if I woke up in time I'd go if not.... well I didn't. And THAT pissed me off. I stayed in bed longer than necessary this morning until I realized I wasn't really tired I was bummed and staying in bed was not going to change that. So I got up, ate a healthy breakfast went for an hour long walk and I'm determined to remember the feeling from that. If you are still reading - thank you - unloading in my blog is part of the process for me. Here's to managing the rest of this busy month while also taking better care of myself. On a side note we - my co-workers and I - kicked a** these past two weeks. I'm proud to be part of such that group.

27 Things Update - I haven't done anything new since January 2nd but I did sign up for a bike maintenance class in March and I have offers from friends to teach me making glass beads; archery and new (possibly pre-1600) board games. I'm excited!

#1:Learn to Skate Backwards

The goal - 27 instances of Learning Something New From - OR - Trying Something New With - Someone Else. 

Today Dave and I went to the Blue Cross RiverRink to skate and so he could teach me how to skate backwards. In the days since we decided to do this I've been telling him that it would be in no way his fault if I did not succeed. My forward skating was not all that good to begin. I was very happy that he was game enough to at least try to teach me. 

For those who don't know I married a Canadian. I'm pretty sure Canadians are born with skates on although Dave claims he was not in skates until age 4. And as if being a natural born skater (him, not me) isn't enough Dave is also an ice hockey referee after having spent many many years playing the game (again I kind of thought that was mandatory 'up there') Anyway, you get the idea. If it were not for Dave's patience this could have been a disaster whether I learned how to skate backwards or not. 

As we were preparing to leave the house he asked if I wanted elbow or knee pads. We've been married long enough that I could tell he meant that in a "I don't want you to hurt" way but I had to laugh because on second thought it kinda didn't bode well for his confidence in the success of this effort. 

We decided to go for the first session of the day. It was not sunny - there is a snowstorm coming (yay!) - but skating out doors was way better than indoors. It felt good to be in the fresh air and besides had we been indoors Dave might have felt too much like he was at work. We paid for our session fee and skate rental for me. Our blue cross health plan entitled us to discount so two people and one skate rental was all of $10 for an hour and a half. It cost more to park. 

"Are you really taking pictures
of me from behind?" (silly husband)

First we skated forwards. Dave pointed out that he has never seen me on skates so it's been at least 15 years since I've skated. This was obvious on those first few trips around but once I relaxed and loosened up I was fine. There are some muscles that will be annoyed with me tomorrow morning but by the end of the session I felt very comfortable skating --- forward. I fell only a few times and never did I cause someone else to fall. Bonus points. 

After a few laps around the rink Dave suggested I learn how to stop. He tried to show me several different methods. I asked if being able to stop was required for learning to skate backward. Fortunately it was not because despite Dave's best efforts the wall is still my best friend when it comes to stopping. 

So on to skating backwards. Dave demonstrated multiple times. He watched me and offered corrective suggestions, hints and helps. I had to laugh when the boy in the Phillies hat (about 12 I think) started watching and offered "Just push off and shift with your hips". I inclined my head toward Dave, smiled and said, "That's what he's been trying to tell me". 

Intellectually all the instructions were making sense but the understanding was getting lost somewhere between my head and my feet. When I got a movement right, I got excited. "Wow, that's how it works". But then I'd lose it trying to figure out how I did that. I was obviously over thinking it. I even tried closing my eyes and just feel it. It seemed to me that my right side was more on board with this project than my left side. And if you think about it that means going in a circle. 

Every so often we'd turn around to skate forward again either to get past a clump of people or just because I needed confidence again. It was amazing how (relatively) easy forward skating was after trying so hard to go backward. 

Eventually I did manage backward movement.
It is likely generous to say I went two feet
but it doesn't matter..... 

I.DID.IT! 

So #1 is in the books. 

Thanks to my very own patient Canadian, Dave. 

26 more to go. What do you want to teach me? Or what do you want to try and need a partner to motivate you. If it's something that's new to me it counts for my 27. If not, I'll help you anyway. It will be fun. I'm open to suggestions although - Old People Should Not Bungee Jump.