Category: general life updates

more running thoughts

so, that probably was a stupid thing to do but i was bored and the weather was nice and cool and i haven’t ran in a while so when i set out to do an 8 mile/10k it ended up being 21km.

thoughts and notes to self: (1)
1. 10km is pretty easy if i allow myself some breaks for water/walking. no mental exertion. (2)
2. 10-12 flew by very quickly.
3. around 12-16km i get on a high where i’m really loving the push. is this runner’s high? must look up. still feels tedious but i’m enjoying it.
4. 16-18km was tough but not impossible.
5. 19-21 i thought i was going to die. well… not REALLY. but it was very, very challenging to not just hop on the streetcar (that was already in bathurst/king area, so definitely an option). i just wanted to see if i CAN finish – 2km makes no difference that close. and now i know that i CAN! so, yay.

plan for next 12 weeks: not going to do anything THIS crazy again, but definitely continue to build up stamina in 8km chunks of running. hope to do a shorter run (4-6km) around wednesday, and 8km next weekend.

(1) apparently my site needs more footnotes.
(2) since when do i talk about sports? WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED?

more organizing

i really can’t remember when the dream has started. i always wanted to be one of THOSE people with many sized transparent bins in their cupboards, each one dedicated to something. stacked, neatly. nothing expired. everything within reach.

i never thought about what THOSE people actually store out of reach.

we have 3 cabinets, 3 drawers, and 7 half drawers, to store all that a kitchen can. today, after 2 trips to a container/organizer store, we are now proud owners of a pantry/cabinet that looks, and feels like perfection. in the process of organizing to my great amusement i learned that:
– i had 4 (!!!!!!) open packets of abrorio rice (risotto stuff)
– less then 1 serving of normal rice
– way too much tagliatelle (2 containers worth!)
– 2 jars of yeast (probably should toss some at this point)
etc etc etc

the 4 packs of risotto i find hilarious. its one of my ultra favourite dishes to make – bacon/mushroom risotto is just super easy and amaaaaaaaaaazingly delicious. completely unhealthy, of course. i guess each time i felt like it i got a pack.

this organizing kick has a pleasant side effect that i feel more at peace and organized overall. there’s something very satisfying that when i think about the “dark corners” of the condo — where clutter accumulates, and where i know there are piles Of Things Unknown — there are at least half as many due to my recent efforts.

and when i get the wire racks to clean and organize dishes, i will be one of THOSE people, if only for a little while.

cleaning

every wednesday we have a lovely lady, steph, come by to clean the condo. she’s flexible in terms of what to do (ironing! changing sheets!), she’s thorough on the things she does (like cleaning and washing), and she leaves me lovely notes every time.

we got her because otherwise i did most of the cleaning, and it lead to a lot of arguments – i wanted tim to help more, he didn’t have the energy, then i was tiring myself out as well. 3 hours a week is NOTHING, but somehow for the two of us everything else takes more priority than cleaning.

so why the HELL do i run around like a tornado every wednesday trying to clean up? the whole point of us getting her is that i don’t stress. thus, i’m sitting here blogging as opposed to unloading the dishwasher. if i didn’t get to it last night, then that’s it.

CLEAN ALL THINGS!

a crazy urge to purge stuff has seized me today, and i spent a very enjoyable 5 hours going through dust, dryer sheets, old nuts, bolts, construction left overs, papers, more papers, other papers, cds, packaging, plastic bags, dry wall pieces, nails, other bolts, light switches, outlet plates (x6), and clothes and did:

2 closets cleaned out
1 laundry room cleaned out
1 laundry room organized with new nails and less stuff
7 loads of laundry done (not kidding. maybe 8 if you count last night’s start.)
6 things hooked/hung to ease (i still have 1 gruntdal pole left to hang – not sure where is best to have more hookage area)
2.5 massive bags of recycling/trash tossed
1 box of misc stuff to parents
2 living room corners cleaned out
3 piles of things in bedroom cleaned out
1 olya desk cleaned out and re-set up with computer (yay!)

and about half a pinot noir consumed after that to aid in relaxation.

the best thing is? on wednesday my cleaning lady is coming, and she will tidy up the dust/dirt that my clean up revealed. she’ll also probably leave encouraging comments on the state of the closets, which always helps.

dinner tonight

onion lightly fried till transparent in some vegetable oil on medium, then mushrooms (white and portobello) sauteed with water, onion, and white wine and lots of thyme for about 20 minutes until water and white wine evaporated and mushrooms and everything got dark brown. salt & peppered in the middle.

served as a side to

shrimp (from frozen) cooked in a pat of butter, 4 cloves of garlic, and again some white wine for about 4-6 minutes until shrimp was red.

was DELICIOUS. mushrooms don’t look tasty but without realizing it i went for 2nds and 3rds and ate the entire (Very healthy) (especailly by my low low low standards) dish.

what’s cool is:
1 shrimp were costco frozen – EASY
2 mushrooms were on the old side – eg not good looking for a salad – but still good to eat. great use for them
3 i drizzled the garalic/butter/wine sauce from shrimp over mushrooms before “serving”, to myself, that is.

it was awesome.