So I'm Doing The Blog Tour

 I have been a little MIA lately and when Nancy from Sincerely and Sarcastically emailed me to see if I would want to participate in this Blog Tour, I decided that it would probably be a good idea to get back out there. Out there in blogland that is. So here I am... answering questions and linking up with some other bloggers. 

What are you currently working on?

 I am currently working on a whole lot of nothing. Well, I have one blog post sitting in my drafts that I have been meaning to finish but haven't found a moment to myself. I'm doing the whole after work, online schooling right now and it's eating up any free time that I have.  

How does my work differ from others of its type/genre?

 I'm supposed to write something really creative, something that will lure readers to my blog, but to be honest... well that's just it; I'm honest. I don't take selfies of myself when I'm looking my best.(Or ever..) IF I'm snapping a selfie of myself, it's first thing in the morning for my workout posts.  Believe me, there's nothing pretty about it! So when I write, it's all real and I don't filter too much. An example? Sure... I wrote about Alina's poop faces last week and I'm pretty sure one day she'll be so horrified over it. You're welcome teenager Alina...

THE selfie that just made me a total liar liar pants on fire..

Why do I write what I do?

  I literally write what I want. I write about my husband Rob and all of the craaazy ass shit he does. I can't help but write about my daughter who is now 19 months old. I don't want to be pegged as a mommy blogger because I don't feel like one. I'm a mom and I think I'm okay at it. But I'm definitely not mastering DIY crafts and pinning a redecorated house on Pinterest. 

It is completely normal and somewhat encouraged to wear a basket on your head in our house...

 How does my writing process work?

There really is not much to my writing process.  I think of an idea, I write it in my notes on my Iphone and then when I find the time, I pick from my list and that's pretty much how it is done. Exciting, I know. 

Now now.. get your own damn material bloggers...

 I read  used to read a lot of blogs. There are the bloggers that write almost everyday and I will read their posts if the title catches my attention and it interests me. There are some bloggers that I like more than their blogs. I read their posts because I like who they are and I want to support them. Then there are the bloggers that write when they can. The bloggers that aren't always on my bloglovin feed but when they are, I'm already clicking on their post. 

 Sarah from The Baloney Bin is one of those bloggers for me. She's married to Brent, a man with claws... and a serious obsession with the fact that he was once crowned Prom King. ;) She's surrounded by her three puppies and full of hilarious material for her blog. No joke, Sara has me laughing out loud every time I read her posts. Little tip though; if you don't know who Laura Ingalls Wilder is, than Sarah doesn't want to know you. No, scratch that. She might want to know you, but you might not get her Little House On The Prairie t.v. show reviews. I do, and I love every single one of them.

 Amanda from Rhyme and Ribbons is one of my all time favourite bloggers too. She is an actress making her way, in the UK. She has been living there for years with her english boyfriend, Sam. The two of them live in London and are seriously doing it right. They are always learning about the history of where they live and Amanda is always blogging about her experiences. She also bakes and cooks the hell out of food! I have recipes linked on my home screen of my Iphone. THAT is how often I cook her recipes. I don't know how many times I've made her seriously delicious mongolian beef.  

  If you can, visit both of these bloggers because I don't think you'll be disappointed. 

Who are your favourite bloggers?

Excuse Me, You Have My Name

 If there's one thing that bloggers like to do (at least I think)- it's answering questions. I have an interesting question to ask...

 What famous person shares your name and you're totally okay, maybe even proud of it? For me, Haley isn't a suuuuper popular name so it's kind of fun for me to find anybody famous with the same name.  In a post about how I got my name I mentioned that Hayley Mills is one reason why I am known today as Haley. But I'm not super proud that I was named after her.

 One kick ass chick that has an insanely great voice, in a pretty fun band shares my name and I am totally okay with it...!

 Hayley Williams from the band Paramore. She is one cool chick. She is funky and a little crazy and totally her own self. I admire that she seems to know exactly who she is. I guess it's bold of me to assume that. A lot of people hide behind their images. But I watched some interviews of her and she seems to be the center of attention in her band and she is totally okay with it. She is also somewhat modest for how talented and beautiful she is.

Via

 If there is one thing I want Alina to have it is confidence. Rob made a good point the other day. He said he would rather that Alina was overly confident rather than not confident at all. That was hard for me to decide on, but I agree. I really don't like people that are overly confident but being a complete door mat is not an option for Alina either. This Hayley seems pretty damn confident too. She blasts her lyrics with so much fervor, it's contagious. I listen to her songs and I'm tapping my foot to the beat and singing along with just as much energy and verve. (Wellllll, maybe not as much, but the point's been made.)

Via

  So yeah, I'm completely okay with sharing my name with Hayley. Technically it was my name first because she's a little bit younger than me. But she's doing our name proud, so it's cool.

Who do YOU share a name with and you're completely okay with it..??

OR- who shares your name and you hate it because they're just shaming it all over the place?

Knock Knock.. You There?

 Where have I been!?

 My life is flashing before my very eyes. Seriously, I can't believe how fast the work days are going by. My mornings whiz by and before I know it, I'm at work wishing I had eaten that banana when I had the chance. Every day after work, I get home, give Alina supper while I'm making our dinner, bath the girl, put away leftovers, fill the dishwasher and eat. Then, it seems once all of that is taken care of, it's eight and time for Alina to go to bed and for me to begin my two hours of schooling. By ten I am never quite finished and it is always after ten before I actually settle down with Rob to watch a show. Once I feel like a human, I head for bed and sigh with stress and worry that I have to do it all over again in the morning. (Oh yeah, I forgot to mention that I'm getting up early everyday to study a little bit and every other day to run on the treadmill.)

 I'm totally burning out but this is how it is right now. Besides, at least I'm not doing this entirely by myself. How do single mothers do it?! I mean, really.

 Instead of a fun, original post, I have only pictures to show off what we've been up to lately. This is all I have time to offer. Once I finish posting this, I have to catch up on my journal.. I'm a few days behind and then it's a movie or a show.. Although I should probably go to bed because when I was reading over this week's material for one of my courses I could have sworn I just blinked but in actuality I just started to fall asleep sitting up.

 When I'm not spending time with the family or at work, this will be my view:

 And if it wasn't bad enough.. my new blog design made its debut and I didn't even realize. So I just wrote an entire post and failed to mention the elephant in the room... My blog has had a make over and I'm pretty happy with it. I'll post more about the details on that soon!! (Just add it to my list of things I have to do!!!)

MHB- Week 35- Posting To Stay Motivated

Another week and I'm sticking with it. I know this must be extremely repetitive but I think posting these once a week really helps with my motivation. I think if I didn't have this post, I wouldn't care as much about getting up early and running. The idea at 5:30 in the morning is never appealing but because I have this blog, I get up and do what I said I'd do.

MONDAY-

Day 1- Jogging on the treadmill for 20 minutes. Hey look! It's me- doing my post workout selfie. Did I do it right? Bad hair- check. Sweat is visible- check. Confused/Exhausted look on my face- check. Well, there it is folks- my work here is done.

 WEDNESDAY-

  Day 2- more treadmill fun. Alright, so again we have bad hair, sweaty and exhausted. Man, I'm getting so good at these MHB workout selfies. Alina apparently takes a pretty decent selfie these days as well.

FRIDAY-

 Day 3- treadmill bliss! For some reason I think it's clever to take a picture of me before I start running because I look so tired and hopeful that something will come up that will justify my going back to bed and ignoring all of my responsibilities for the day. For the record- that's never happened. Alright, today's selfie includes better hair, I must admit. I don't look as sweaty and I have an unnecessary boob shot. You're welcome.

  Happy Friday! School's good, my baby daughter is a total ham, but also good. Rob had an incident on Monday where he took an auger drill and tore right into one of his fingers. He had a very rough time on Monday, but since then he's been stitched up sans nail and pumped full of antibiotics. Interesting beginning to the week, but now that it's Friday, I am one happy camper. Surprise, surprise..

Poop Will Always Be Funny

 So I might just be wicked immature, or perhaps everyone is like this and I'm just brave enough to admit it.. Poops and farts are funny. They're funny because everyone does them and everyone has a few poop or fart stories up their sleeves.

 Have you ever noticed when the subject of poop comes up.. (And I write when because it always eventually comes up with me. Perhaps if is a better word for the rest of the poopulation. See what I did there....? Funny!) Anyways, when the subject of poop comes up, people start giggling and sharing their own hilarious stories and everyone is having a good ol' time. At least that's what happens every time it comes up around here. At work the other day our 'boss' suggested we should keep track of how often we clean the bathroom. I suggested we create a log book to record all of our bathroom cleaning duties. My coworker and I burst into fits of laughter and he just rolled his eyes and called us children. BUT-not without a grin on his face. Poop is funny.

 Anyways- to the point! Alina poops, just like we all do. But one advantage I have, (and don't have, depending on how you look at it...) she poops in her own pants. Meaning- I get to see her do it. It's not like she's exactly subtle about it. Me, being kind of a strange person to begin with, has to take pictures of her making her legendary Alina Poop faces. They're just too funny...

The first sign of 'something' going on...

  So she's eating her lunch, minding her own business. Then there's a rumble in her tumble...

She tries to ignore it, but ... it just can not be ignored.

 She continues to nibble on her cracker, but her face shows that there's some distress going on. Her eyes get all red around the rims and she starts to tear up.

At this point, she has stopped eating. She can't keep direct eye contact, she needs to just concentrate and push.

 Since it's pretty apparent that this is happening, she decides that she should just get right to it. Eating time on hold, pooping time in full swing.

Success!

 Well it took some pushing and effort on her part- but the deed is done. Some might say she fulfilled her duty. She could document her duty in our log book at work- har har har.

In conclusion...

 And that, folks is how one poops in one's pants. Done and done- now, back to lunch. If only it were that simple for the rest of the world. Oh wait, it kind of is. How many people are going along their day, doing what they do at work and oh, well isn't that uncomfortable and unnecessarily persistent. You weigh the pros and cons of ignoring this one. Is it worth it? Will I be in pain if I just carry on with the day? Personally, I almost always go for the "it's worth it" approach. You take your business to the washroom where you do what you do in this particular circumstance. (Use Alina's pictures as reference.) The very next moment you're back to the computer at work, acting as if nothing happened. (When in fact, something very much did happen.) Pooping is funny that way. It's totally gross but completely and utterly normal.

 The next time you feel embarrassed about having to go somewhere less than convenient, image the Queen sitting on her royal throne, fulfilling her royal duties. (Heehee) Everybody poops, just join the giggles and share your story.

MHB- Week 34- New Treadmill!

 I decided that even though I'm going to work from 9-5 and do my school work from 8-10, I don't really have an excuse to not workout. Especially since we bought a treadmill to store in our basement. I miss doing Rushfit but it's such a time commitment that I just don't have right now. So what I've decided to do, is get up at 5:30 on Monday, Wednesday and Friday to run for twenty minute. I listen to the comedy station on my Slacker Radio App and it makes the time fly by. This week, it's been difficult getting up so early because it's still so dark at 5:30. I didn't know if doing this would burn me out but, if anything it's brought my mood up.

MONDAY-

  I know, I know- I look gooooood. My pictures are going to seriously lack in creativity because all I'm doing is running in an empty room on a treadmill for the next little while. So sweaty selfies are all I have to offer. Perhaps next week, I'll just have to write; Yeah, yeah I did my workouts, trust me.

WEDNESDAY-

 Introducing our new treadmill! It cost us $200 and the person was asking for $400. She bought it a few years ago for over $2000 at Canadian Tire. We looked it up online and it had really great reviews. It was a complete bitch to carry to the back of the house (as in I couldn't even lift it. Rob carried it on his back!) and even more insane trying to fit it sideways through the door. We removed the door, removed some pieces from the treadmill (not on purpose) but eventually, after some swearing we got it in. I'm pretty excited about it. It's in great condition, it has a fan built into it, speakers for Iphones and it's better than I expected.

FRIDAY-

 I decided to take a picture of how much I didn't feel like getting up this morning. I thought the after picture would show how happy and energized I was after the workout. Instead I just look like crap in the first picture and more awake but still like crap in the second!

 So it's Friday and I'm a happy camper. All I have left for this week of school work is to go over all of the material I just learned and make notes in my book. I like this method very much. I read the material throughout the week and do the activities and quizzes and then at the end, I go over it one more time and that's when everything really seems to come together. My sister in law is coming this weekend, Rob is away in officer courses all weekend (home at night) and Alina gets to go a birthday party. She hasn't seen this group of friends since her birthday, so I'm excited for her to see all of her old buddies from my maternity leave days.

 I was introduced to Hosier a few weeks ago by Rob. I guess I had heard "Take Me To Church" a zillion times at work but I hadn't really noticed. He had me listen to it in the hot tub and I liked it. But, I have since heard it too many times and it's getting old. Rob had me listen to his other song, "From Eden". What an incredible song! This guy was born in 1990 and he has such a soulful, sexy, captivating and totally different voice. Rob said that this song should be used for a wedding video.

Student In Pajamas

 Okay, so I'm a little late in the game to be 'going back' to school. Last weekend was my ten year high school reunion in my hometown. I missed it. That's okay and totally besides the point... It's my ten year reunion and I'm finally getting an education to further myself in life! Talk about a late beginner!

 So last Monday was my first official day of 'school.' It's funny because I'm taking online courses through Selkirk College and I feel like such a kid all over again. Monday evening I was in a tank top, with a pair of over sized pajama pants on, ready to start my courses. Rob said, "Oh, is that what you're wearing for your first day of school?" Technically it was my first day of school and yes, that was what I was wearing. Online courses are kind of awesome for that. I'm in the comfort of my home, in charge of what I'm learning when and where and for how long. It's kind of awesome. The not so awesome bit is the constant feeling of anxiety. I'm consumed with worry and doubt in myself. I fear that I won't have enough time to learn the material, I worry that I won't retain enough of the information in front of me and then there a zillion other little things to be concerned with. But, that's not the point. The point is that I'm finally bettering myself with an education. I always dreamed of going to school, sharing a dorm room with a roommate, having my college friends and of course, the best part would be having the education and great career afterward.

If I had a student i.d. this would be it. Just saying..

 So I'm taking Pharmacology and Management of Drug Distribution Systems this fall semester. Then in January I will be doing Product Prep and Professional Practice. By April I should be finished my courses but then in April there's the Evaluation Exam followed by the Qualifying Exam in September. Then, dun dun dun... the Jurisprudence Exam in November of 2015. All three of those exams are pretty heavy and incredibly stressful. So much so, that I don't want to talk about it anymore...

 I'm finally doing what I always wanted to do. It's not exactly what my 12 year old self imagined; the dorm room, frat parties and big classroom settings. But, it is what my current situation will accommodate, so I can't complain. I still get to see Alina after work for my three hours before she goes to bed. Then I do my school work for two hours. On mornings that I don't run (we got a treadmill- yahoo!) I get up at 6 and read for an hour before I shower for the day. The mornings I run, I wake up at 5:30 and run then read for an hour. All in all; I get about three hours of course work in my day. I'm hoping that this will be enough. The weekends help me out with review and getting anything I need done, done! I go over my course material in both classes and then I physcially write out my notes. So far it's been very helpful.

 So- if I'm absent, the reason is school and that I'm being stretched into too many directions. I have to go by priorities and Alina, Rob, work, sanity and then sadly, blogging comes in close to the bottom of my list!

 Don't worry, with my mind preoccupied Alina has learned a few simple things to help us out around the house. She's pretty smart...

She drives herself to daycare now. She's a quick learner.

A Me Moment

A girl's closet can be her very best friend. I think that means girls like to shop and love their clothes. But to me, my closet has become a sanctuary. No joke. When my in laws were in town, I found myself suddenly in my closet just taking a moment for me. I think once you become a mom, it gets difficult to take time for yourself. Like truly take time. I can sit here while Alina is napping and write a blog post or two. But wouldn't it just be so sublime if we could just say all of Saturday is for me? This would never happen and not because it can't but because we carry this crazy thing called "Mommy Guilt." Oh Mommy Guilt is a real bitch. It's a mom's worst enemy because no one can control it but you. There's no escaping it. It's just there. Lingering in the back of my mind, waiting for that moment of doubt.. The moment to whisper; Reading a book are you? Shouldn't you be folding Alina's laundry that's been sitting in the basket for days? There will always be something more useful to do... it's whether we can overcome that feeling of guilt and do something a little selfish, a little more enjoyable instead.

 My closet is that one place where I can truly escape from it all.  It could be one, brief moment where I just need peace. Inside that closet I find calm. There's a mirror that I can look at myself in with a knowing smirk and shoulder shrug that says; I get you.

 Alina could be following me down the hallway and I'll just disappear for a moment in that little room of quiet. I'll hear her little footsteps smack against the floor in the opposite direction. Sigh. A Me Moment.

 I even considered doing my schooling in the closet. I told Rob that if everything is just too noisy and I need some peace and quite to study, I'll just escape to the closet. I can tell that he thought that that was a bit odd. Is it? I don't think so. Maybe it has to do with the fact that I always had a small space for my bedroom. No, I wasn't a Harry Potter living in the cupboard under the stairs. But I had a little space for a bedroom and I bet I find peace in little rooms because they remind me of times when I was almost completely worry-free as a kid.

 There's no point in analyzing it any further. It's a quirk. I like my walk in closet because it gives me that Me Moment I am always searching for...

(**Side note: I took some pictures of my closet after I wrote this post. Then I liked it so much in here, I decided to edit and post my pictures in the closet. I received a phone call from my husband who is working on something outside. He asked if I wouldn't mind making him a sandwich... Even in the closet I can't escape the demands of being me...!**) 

A Token

 Sometimes when life seems like it's getting away from you. All you need is a little reminder that brings you back. A little token of appreciate from somebody to show you that you are still on the right track in life. It's been awhile since I got one but just yesterday, it was received.

 It was a really sunny, enjoyable Saturday. All week it seemed pretty apparent that summer was very much over and that fall had shuffled in quite easily and quickly. Then Friday came around and the weather decided to give us another taste of summer. Rob had fire truck driving practice at 10:00 so we were rushing around in the morning to get ourselves organized enough to hit up a garage sale or two in the sunny weather. We only ended up going to one but we scored with a great shelf to put up in Alina's room and an air-hockey table to add to our basement of fun. Alina came home for a nap. She had a pretty rough morning. She woke with my cold and ended up falling face first onto the floor from tipping her high chair forward. All I can say is that my girl is very, very tough. If I went crashing down face first into the floor I am pretty sure a toy fire truck would do very little to cheer me up.

We were in the midst of buying new chairs for our new table. Alina had nothing for a few days .. perhaps we should have just left her on the ground. The fall would have been much shorter...

After Alina's nap and Rob's driving lesson we decided to go for a drive and realized that it was still really, really nice out. We went for a walk downtown, browsing in the local shops. We came across one store that had really cute touques and we had to buy one for Alina for this winter. I was holding Alina so she wouldn't go after everything she could possibly touch in the store while Rob was digging in my pockets for change to pay for the touque. After he made his purchase he put some change back in my pocket and grabbed the baby. After awhile I decide to buy a couple of sets of chop sticks. I asked Rob for some cash and he said to check my pockets. I dug around and found this ...

 On the back side of the charm it reads 'love'. He just smiled at me. He saw something kind of cutesy and bought it for me. But to me, it means more. Women! I know, we're ridiculous. A guy buys something cute that he thinks his wife will like and we turn it into a million things. Lucky for him this time, they're all very good things.

 I think every relationship gets mundane. Life gets out of hand and it's hard not to get carried away with the schedules, the planning dinners, the dishes, the laundry, feeding the baby, bathing the baby, studying for school, waking up for work, the list can go on and on. I think the best thing that could have happened to our relationship was our move to this bigger house. Not only did it make our surroundings new, but it introduced so many new activities to our lives. The hot tub. We both agreed that our hot tub has brought us so much closer. We go in and we talk for hours in there. But it seriously is the best medicine for a relationship that needs a little kick start in the exciting department.

 The token Rob gave me symbolizes that our love is still there. He never was a big romantic and I never was very good at public displays of affection. But it is always nice being thought of. So each morning when I go to take my birth control, or go to put my make up on or my perfume I'll see that little symbol of Rob's attention. The symbol of his love for me.

 

Going So Soon?

That's it. I'm depressed! Okay maybe I'm being a touch dramatic but I am definitely sad that summer is ending. The days are getting shorter, there's a coolness to the air. I feel like I'm in denial but all of the signs are there. Fall is around the corner. Don't get me wrong, I love fall as much as the next guy. But I just can't stomach the coloured leaves, warms sweater worn with leggings and fun boots and pumpkins and worst of all; Halloween. Gasp! I love all of those things but it's too soon. Summer hasn't even left yet and we're already onto the 'next' season. Give summer a chance to properly go before we start lugging out the warm hats and scarves. Before we start searching 'fall styles' in Pinterest. Enjoy what little of summer that we have and live in the now.

 Besides, end of summer and beginning of fall means school for me. Eeeeek! I'm freaking internally and very hopeful that I can pull off this big helping of adulthood. I hope I can balance being mom, full time worker, wife and now student. But I won't know if I can handle it unless I try. It's scary but in the end, it will all have been totally worth it. I've always wanted to go back to school and now I finally am. I'm surprised it's for pharmacy because I was never super good at any of the sciences and I am most definitely a total wreck when it comes to math. But, because this is something I do everyday at work, I think it will be different. I have been reading my Pharmacology textbook and I was genuinely interested in the things I was reading. I even had a chance to talk with a customer about generic drugs and I actually knew what I was talking about!!! As a pharmacy technician you really have to watch what you say because you aren't the trained professional. The pharmacist is. It doesn't matter if you know that someone should be taking a certain antihistamine for their allergies because it is the pharmacist's job to suggest and give advice. But I find my position the most frustrating when I am just simply talking to a customer and I can't even contribute anything intelligent to say because I have no real knowledge of what we are talking about. I have to act like I understand and nod and be polite.

 My in laws are here for another few days and then they're back to Ontario to talk to their granddaughter through Facetime on our cell phones again. This trip has been a really good one for Alina. She has been with her grandparents full time and has been enjoying them so much. I know that they're totally in love and think the world of her. So it really feels good going to work knowing that she's in very, very good hands. I have also been very lucky because my mother in law cooks. I don't have to worry about packing lunches for any of us, besides myself. Rob has been coming home for lunch. It's been wonderful. I'm able to come home from work and I don't have to immediately rush into the kitchen to get supper started. I can simply grab a cold drink, sit down and visit. It's been really nice and I'm going to be rudely awoken by the reality of it all being my responsibility again come September.

 I'm always such a sap when it comes to an ending. It doesn't matter if it's the end of a really good book or the end of a trip. I just can't help but feel a bit sad. I feel sad that my in laws are leaving because the freedom that comes when they're here to share the responsibility of Alina is so appreciated. I feel sad that summer is coming to an end because we still haven't sold our house, the days are going to get darker and gloomier and the house is going to start getting cold. I'm sad because my evenings with Alina are going to be cut short because I have to really focus on school when it starts..

 On the other side of that, I am a t.v. junky and all of our shows are going to start back up in September. I'm the kind of person that likes to sit cozily in a blanket with a good book. In the new house I'll be able to do that with a real crackling fire in our fire place. To kick off the end of the summer and my in law's trip and to celebrate Rob's dad Rodney's birthday we're having a big birthday bash at our house tonight. It will be the first big get together that we're having at our new house. Lots of family and friends are coming to eat, drink and have some fun. So I can't help but look forward to that tonight.

 So in honour of the summer coming to a close, I raise my future glass of alcoholic beverage (the one most of us will be drinking out of at some point this weekend) and I say here's to another great summer under our belts.. to those gorgeous, sunny days that lead us all to the beach, to the pool or to the lake. To bbq's, warm evenings, camping and boating. Here's to you summer, you've been good to us once again. See you next year!

ALS - Ice Bucket Challenge

 The ALS Ice Bucket Challenge started in July raising 5.7 million dollars in two weeks. Now, only a few weeks later, the public has raised 70.2 million dollars!! I know that social media gets a bad rap and for good reasons. But when as many people donate and get involved like they have been for the Ice Bucket Challenge, social media is an inspiring and innovative tool!

 I was nominated by my cousin Alex to participate. In doing so, I had to make a video, nominating three other people, drench myself in a bucket of ice water and most importantly, I had to donate money to Lou Gehrig's Disease aka ALS.

 I wish I could write more, but it is very late in the night and there are not enough hours in a day to do all the things I would like to do! If you feel like donating to ALS please do so HERE! (Canadians) and HERE! (Other)

IceBucketChallenge from HJunks on Vimeo.


 

MHB- Week 33 -Company In Town

  I'm adjusting to the new house really well and I'm really loving all of the extra space to work out in. The beach being so close is a huge bonus and I'm really happy that once a week I get a chance to watch the sunrise.

MONDAY-

 Day 1- Strength and Endurance. I finally had the Bluray up and running properly so I successfully worked out Monday morning. I'm doing three rounds instead of all five because of time and the weights I use are heavier so I don't want to wreck a wrist or overdo anything. I'm sure I'll be up to my five rounds next week. I took a photo of my new working out area in the basement. I like being in the basement because it's carpeted and I can do noisy workouts without bothering sleeping people.

WEDNESDAY-

 Day 2- a jog to the beach. I mean really.. who could resist this beach? I get a bit side tracked every time that I go for this jog because the ocean is just so beautiful. I ended up detouring down to the beach and stopping to snap a few breathtaking photos of the sunrise..! The only bummer about my beach jog is that the hard part is all on the way home. It's aaaaall up hill!

FRIDAY-

Day 3- Abdominal Strength and Core Conditioning. I left my phone upstairs while I did my workout. But it was the same old- warm up, three rounds and done. Alina's been having a blast with her grandparents. She went to the harbour for ice cream on Wednesday and on Thursday she went boating all day. She even had a boat nap...!

 I'm so happy it's Friday, as usual. I'm excited to get a chance to sleep in a bit in my own bed. I hope the sun is shining as bright tomorrow morning as it is today!

Ant Eater

 My baby is a genius ...... that eats ants.

"More ants..."

 The first line of a blog post is sort of like the first paragraph of a book; it's important! I also understand that people don't generally like to read blogs about other people's children. I totally get it. Other people's children are just that; other. people's. children. Nobody cares that your toddler can almost sit responsibly with a 'real' book and not eat the pages. Nobody cares that she dances to techno music and is a terrible, terrible dancer. It's only interesting to me because she's my kid.

 Now that all of the baby hating, children loathing a-holes are gone, I can share some little stories of Alina with the ones that care just a titch.

 My baby has certainly morphed into a curious, constantly changing toddler. It's crazy! She doesn't say a ton of words on her own. We prompt her to say words and if she's up for it, she'll give it a try. Her vocabulary consists of dad, baba, ta ta, kitty, Jody, key, shoes, hi, bu-bye, mom and num num and some words that sound sort of like "all done." She can say other words but she doesn't without the usual prompting. Jody is the lady that watches her on a regular basis now and she taught her sign language from an early age. The one sign that she continually uses is 'more' because my child is a little pig.

 Rob's folks are in town for the next couple of weeks and they adore little Alina to the moon and back and then back to the moon and then back again. No joke, she is the sparkle in their eyes. It's really nice to see. Jody is on a little vacation so Rob's parents are watching her while we're at work. Nonna, Alina's grandma was off somewhere and Alina and her Papa were together upstairs. Well Papa sensed a little stinky odour coming from his one and only grand child and he started calling for his wife. Papa isn't a big fan of cleaning poopy diapers. Alina disappeared for a minute and returned with two clean diapers that she handed to him. Then she led him into her bedroom, to her change table. When I hear about her doing things like that I am continually amazed at how smart she is! I don't mean, just her. I mean kids that age in general. They are so receptive and they know a lot more than we think they do. Just because she can't say the words does not mean she can't understand them. She knows who we all are. She knows what toys are what. My one cheat is that I do let her watch Sesame Street and often. So she knows the characters because she sees them on the t.v. But I didn't realize she knew them individually and by their names. She has three Sesame Street characters; Abby, Ernie and Elmo. Well, the other morning she came out with Abby. I told her that she forgot the other guys and she hurried into her play room and proudly presented Ernie and Elmo to me. I was impressed.

 About a month ago, Jody was in bed with her husband and they were looking for their t.v. remote. It was nowhere to be found and then Jody thought; Alina! So the following day she asked Alina if she knew where the t.v. remotes were. Alina perked up from her playing and waddled to the play room and under a pile of purses she pulled out all the remotes she had stashed away. I mean first that is pretty funny. But then I am impressed that she understood and remembered where she put them the day before.

 I guess this post is all about me bragging about how great my kid is. How obnoxious. But to balance it all out; she did eat an ant the other night. We were all visiting on the back deck and she discovered an ant for the first time. So she was chasing it around the deck and finally she bent down, picked it up and popped it in her mouth. Mmmm - ants. My kid is a genius, but she does eat ants.

MHB- Week 32- I'm Back Baby!

 So I did do two days of working out two weeks ago. I even took pictures, but I didn't post about it. I meant to and life happened. So Week 31 still needs to be posted and I'll just date it to be published on the Friday I missed. Good story, I know.

 I'm back at the working out from a mini holiday I took. We moved and I couldn't move my ass out of bed all last week. I had the intentions of working out but I must have set my mind to not get up earlier once because I sure didn't. As if to deter me this week from doing my workouts, I lost my good set of workout clothes. They just disappeared. My sports bra, my workout pants and top all gone. Instead of using that as an excuse (a pretty legit excuse by the way!) I improvised with some shorts and my not so sports bra and tank with the holes in it. Oh well.

 MONDAY-

Day 1-  Fight Conditioning. It was my first workout in the new house. I started out in the basement but the damn Bluray player wouldn't turn on (yes it was plugged in) so I couldn't play Rushfit. So I had to hurry up and do my stuff upstairs which was challenging because it's a bit echo-y upstairs with the vaulted ceilings and the two stinkers still in bed. I cut the workout to three rounds because there was some ground work I didn't want to do on the hardwood floors and because I was running out of time and to be quite honest; I was tired! The tummy photos are to show that taking a little bit of time off AND eating like a total pig shows.

WEDNESDAY-

 Day 2- I did a jog to the beach on Wednesday in my new neighbourhood! It was pretty quick so next time I'll time it a bit better. I was surprised how quickly it took me to run to the beach. I'd say it took about five minutes. The jog up was pretty intense but oh so good for my legs and my butt!

THURSDAY-

 Day 3- I decided Thursday evening to do my workout because I took Friday morning off. Rob, Alina and I are picking up his parents from the airport for their first ever visit at our new home. We're all pretty excited about it. We ended the night in the hot tub having a couple of drinks so I knew I wouldn't feel up to getting up early in the morning to sweat. My workout was about twenty minutes long. I couldn't get the bluray player working again and Rob wasn't home so I improvised with doing a bunch of things I remembered doing from my RushFit videos. Then I cleaned not one, not two but THREE bathrooms simultaneously. Talk about the ultimate workout.

 It's Friday folks and I'm not going into work until noon. My mother in law is coming to cook her delicious meals for us and life couldn't feel any better! Happy Friday to everyone!

"That's A Good Meatball" - Robbie Hart

 I got this meatball recipe from my mother in law, Andrea. BUT- the crazy lady doesn't remember giving it to me. I couldn't believe that she didn't remember. I know it was her because I absolutely loooooooved the meatballs and ended up tweaking the recipe ever so slightly to make it my own. So, I suppose I'll have to take the credit for how good they are- starting now!

  The bonus is that we all love us some meatballs. I could seriously pop them in my mouth and eat them like popcorn. When I make a big batch of them, I usually make Curry Meatballs as a dinner that night or the following. Obviously they're good with spaghetti as well. The curry I make is pretty sad and not as good on its own but once you add the meatballs to the dinner, it's perfection.

 What you'll need:

- ~ 1 lb of extra lean ground beef
- 1/2 cup bread crumbs
- 1 egg
- 1 package of Lipton's Onion Soup Mix
- 1 can of condensed milk (the original recipe calls for 1/2 cup but I like it when all of the meatballs are sweet.)
- 1/2 cup of finely chopped onion

Mix all of those ingredients together.

Voila! You have yourself a bunch of meat mixture that needs to be rolled into small balls. I heat up two frying pans with some olive oil and fry them up in batches. It takes a bit of time and of course, the sugar in the condensed milk will burn if you have the temperature up too high. I promise you won't be disappointed with these meatballs..!!

 Is there any kind of food that you would happily take as payment?!

 My list would go on and on and on; 

Ribs, Caesar Salad, Wings, King Crab doused in garlic butter, coconut prawns, dry garlic ribs from Gus', bruschetta, spinach dip, Rudi's clam chowder, chinese food, camembert cheese, corn dogs, white cheddar popcorn, theater popcorn, jalapeno and cheddar Old Dutch chips,Nibs, Sour Patch Kids, chewy Gobstoppers...etc, etc, etc! 

So many things!!!

We Moved!!!

 I have been absent for a solid week. That's because we moved to our new house on Thursday!!!! It all happened so fast that I didn't even get a chance to blog a single word about it.

 We still live in the same town, just a little bit closer to the beach. (Bonus!) The house is oh... three times the size as our old house. (Super Bonus!) We have two living rooms, two bathrooms, an ensuite, five bedrooms, a pool/ping pong table, a hot tub, a garden, a fireplace, a fire pit out front, a walk in closet, a giant deck to enjoy the sun on and a gorgeous kitchen!!! (Super, Duper, Ridiculous Bonus!!!) I am absolutely in complete shock that this house belongs to us. We are still in the midst of selling our home but we are hopeful that a buyer will scoop it up soon.

 We've had the keys to the house since Monday, so our evenings were filled with slowly bringing loads of our things over. On Thursday Rob and a friend brought all of our heavy furniture over and by that evening we were pretty well moved in. It's Sunday evening (of a long weekend- ya!!) and I can honestly say that we are totally moved in. We have a few things to do here and there, but overall; we're in! Already, we have spent more time outside in the last four days than we have I feel like all summer. The sun is out on the deck each morning and it just impossible to have coffee anywhere other than out there. Alina has eaten every single meal outside since we moved here. I am so in love with this life we are already leading. I feel like I don't deserve it, it's so great! I keep expecting someone to jump out of a closet to yell- gotcha! Go back to your 800 square foot home and have fun in that teeny, tiny kitchen with NO dishwasher. Although, I have to admit if someone jumped out of a closet I'd be more concerned with the how and whys behind the surprise than the 'gotcha' bit.

 I digress....

 Rob and  I were very reminiscent on Wednesday night. We spent some time in our hammock in the backyard; the very hammock we shared our first kiss in. We looked through the darkness at our house; the windows all aglow and we both had a shared, sad moment, remembering all of the good times. We started our relationship in that house. We haven't been anywhere else, so it was a big deal, a huge step leaving. I have an idea for a tribute post for the old house and when the time comes; I'll post it and give the house the true credit it deserves. The night we had our very last hammock kiss; we discussed some great times together in that home and Rob made a note of a bunch of them to share on Facebook...

The last line reads; "We sure did." 

 But after having been sad about moving on, we have already so many memories here at our new abode! We've definitely played our share of darts and pool in the last few nights. I discovered that Rob is a bit of a darts extraordinaire and I can match him in a game of ping pong. I have skills I didn't even know I possessed! Alina has a bedroom AND a play room that she loves. She seems to love the extra space to run around in. I seriously haven't felt this level of happiness before. I mean, I realize that material things aren't supposed to make you happy, but they certainly freakin' help! I love my new kitchen. The cupboards, the endless drawers, the fridge with the water and ice dispenser, the gas range stove, the space! I can't get over how much space I have to work with. I feel like I need roller blades to get around here!

Alina helping her dad with some electrical duties in her play room, eating fresh blueberries from HER garden Friday morning, Rob filling the hot tub with water, the bulls-eye I managed to get and Alina picking her mama some lavender petals.

  We have so many memories to begin with and I am so looking forward to the many, many more we have to make... If you are hating your home right now, hang tight because your true, real home is going to happen one day. 

Okay, I'll post pictures of my kitchen...

 

My Toddler Is An Addict

 My not-so-much-a-baby girl is an addict. She is so young, yet she can't help how her addiction makes her feel. It causes uncomfortable impulses like walking up to complete strangers and touching their feet. That's right; she's a shoe addict. She can't get enough of them. It doesn't matter if it's an old sandy, dirty daddy sandal or a brand spankin' new pair of Carter's too big to wear sparkling Nonna special. Now that Alina's Nonna has caught wind that Alina is obsessed with footwear, it's becoming a monthly gift.

A pair of Nonna specials! One of her very favourites..

 Alina will bring me my Toms while I'm getting ready to go somewhere because she just knows that her mommy will eventually need some shoes with her outfit. She could be at the peek of a complete and total meltdown and then I flash her her shoes and she will instantly brighten up. The shoes are also a reason for a fit because she isn't too eager to remove them.

  Shoes! from HJunks on Vimeo.

 We bought her those light up shoes when we were in Victoria a couple of weekends ago and it was more of a gift for us just to see her reaction. I'm so glad Rob recorded it so I could share it!

 I wonder if her shoe addiction will carry into adulthood. Will she be like Carrie Bradshaw, and have a closet full of shoes and an empty fridge?! Who knows... What I do know is that it's a really incredible experience being a parent. I get to see Alina's little personality unfold, her interests become clearer and I'm starting to really figure my girl out! Me thinks that this Christmas there will be a few shoe boxes wrapped under the tree...

Resemblance.. ?

Alina rocks the bright pink and blue mary janes in any occasion..

So.. ask your mom! Did your interests show early on in your life?! 

Were you a shoe wearing, purse slinging one year old?