Last night we picked up a compact size home gym for our basement. The instruction manual was a bit of a challenge for Drew since parts weren’t numbered but after 5 long hours it’s together.

Drew spent a chunk of today teaching me how to (properly) do the exercises on it. He also helped me figure out my current max weight capacity for each exercise so I know what weights I should be using for each. I’ve also got a three day routine to follow (well, a different routine every second day). Hopefully this means that I won’t hurt myself using it while he’s gone.

We shifted the treadmill a few feet to the right in order to accommodate the new equipment in the room. No worries though, I can still watch tv while I walk.

It was a beautiful day today so Drew & L redid our back stairs to create a slightly bigger landing/top step. This will give me somewhere to drop groceries when I’m trying to open the back door. It also means the dogs won’t push me down a step in their rush to get inside the house. They also closed off the recycling bin cubby and front of the deck. When they were done L remarked on how different the backyard looks since the first time he’d seen it. I think it’ll look amazing when they finish it. Apparently I’ll be getting my gazebo this summer. L wants to built it as soon as they weather clears & Drew returns from his latest training trip.

Tomorrow we get up at 0 dark 30 to drive up to the base. Drew’s off to Valcatraz until Easter. Guess this means I’ll be able to get the house back in order while he’s gone.

And me.

Keeping to a routine on weekends has been a bit of a challenge with Drew home. Still managing the diet/exercise portion but the sleeping & wake-up schedules are definitely out of whack. It’ll be nice to wake up early (for me) on a weekend and not have to worry about waking Drew up as I thump about in the kitchen. I’m not too coordinated (or quiet) until I’ve had breakfast and my first cup of tea.

Long ago, when I was a wee bitty girl, I was a Highland dancer. I danced competitively for about 12 years. Anyone who’s seen Highland dancing can probably understand how the constant bouncing from one foot to the other does a big number on a lot of dancers knees and ankles. I’m no exception.

Just for balance, I have the most problems with my left knee and right ankle. Most of the time it’s just a dull little ache that I’ve learned to ignore. Until the weather starts to change. For a few weeks each year – usually as it warms up in spring and cools down in autumn – I’m in complete agony. My joints seem to swell and ache no matter what I do.

I suspect my seasonal joint pain visit will be a little extra special this year. Not in a good way of course. I wrenched my knee a little when doing lunges a few weeks back. Now I’m suffering through the annoyance of odd knee pain when I’m sitting or climbing stairs (up or down) that goes away when I’m walking.

Really. I know. It sounds odd. The only time my knee and ankle don’t bother me lately is when I’m walking. Wonder why?

I’ve been counting calories, recording my food, and exercising for 6 weeks now. Two weeks ago I joined Curves as my “starter gym” and was weighed and measured. In a few weeks I’ll find out if I’ve lost any more inches.

Weight loss is still very slow – which I know is supposed to be a good thing – so losing inches is a big focus for me at this time. I’d really like to be 2 sizes smaller in pants and a size smaller in shirts before I go on our family vacation this summer. I’ve almost reached the “one pant size” drop and am starting to look a bit silly in my previous pants. Just wish I could say the same thing about my tops!

I joined a CC group weight loss challenge and I think I’m really going to like it. It’s a small group of people from all over the world and we’ll be spending a year getting to know one another, sharing tips and tricks and our wins and bad days, and just generally supporting one another on our journeys. I think it’s going to be a great group because it’s such a large mixture of people with a common goal – to lose between 50-100 lbs in a year through diet and exercise.

I am in love with my new running pants. I know fat women shouldn’t wear spandex but 1) I’m still in awe that I fit into them (they’re not plus sized) and 2) they’re much easier to walk in than bell-bottomed yoga pants! Besides, they give me incentive to keep exercising so that I can get into the next (smaller) size of running pants.

I’m consistently hitting my calorie goals now. No more days under the 1200 mark and 90% of my days are close to the 1500 mark (my goal is a 1400-1600 calorie range). No recent food related digestion issues but I’ve had a few bad days due to stress. Good thing I’ve taken up walking because on my “stress” days that’s what I did – instead of stuffing my face I walked. Go me!

WW1 has officially passed from commemoration into history, in Canada.

John “Jack” Babcock, Canada’s last known First World War veteran, has died at the age of 109. Rest in peace, John Babcock, and the 600,000 other Canadian men and women who served in the First World War.

At the going down of the sun, we will remember them.

More info: CBC News – Canada – Canada’s last WW I veteran dies

*some text shamelessly stolen from my friend Mare‘s FB status.

I have a funky eyeball. There’s no better way to explain it without getting into complicated ophthalmological terms that I barely understand. However, what it boils down to is that I’m pretty blind without my glasses, suffer spells of optical induced vertigo and can’t “see” 3D.

So of course last night I went to Avatar in 3D with the hubs and a friend.

I don’t know what I was expecting. In past trips to 3D movies, only small-ish elements were done in 3D so I could watch 90% of movies while missing out on very little. Drew really wanted to see the movie in 3D at the IMAX and we’d been asked to go with a friend.

That certainly wasn’t the case in Avatar. With the 3D glasses on, everything was one giant blur. My eyes never managed to focus on anything. Not too much of a surprise there. I took the 3D glasses off at about the 15 minute mark. My regular glasses followed minutes later. Seeing nothing but fuzz was giving me a headache.

So, there I was. Sitting in a seat a few rows before the IMAX screen completely unable to view the visual spectacle that is Avatar. I could have made due with that if it had had an engaging story that caught my attention. But it didn’t. The story is unoriginal and extremely dull in large stretches. Thus, I spent the next 2+ hours fidgeting in my seat. Watching all those around me sit enthralled. Listening to the Ooh-ing and Aah-ing while I counted ceiling tiles. Sleep eluded me because the theatre sound was too loud.

It was a miserable way to spend an evening. I didn’t want to leave the theatre because I’d have to disturb other’s view and everyone around me seemed amazed. Granted, when we left none of the talk about the movie was about the storyline. I think it’s well and truly acknowledged that the storyline sucks donkey’s balls is awful.

The entire visit to the IMAX left a bad taste in my mouth. I bought our tickets online. The system only provided an option to choose number of tickets. I thought they were quite expensive compared to what I’d normally pay for a movie ticket – $16.95 – but figured IMAX is probably a more expensive experience overall. Boy was I wrong. When the tickets were placed on screen to print, I discovered the ticket price was only $11.75 and change and the remaining $5.20 was for a pop and popcorn. Let me repeat the really annoying part here:

I was FORCED to buy snacks from the venue. NO option to decline. NO option to get a refund on your ticket once purchased and NO advance notice that the ticket price listed included non-optional snacks.

Even more unbelievable is that the food vouchers were date stamped so we couldn’t give them to friends who might be going to the movies on a different day unless they could attend within 10 days.

Drew hates popcorn and I’m dieting so I didn’t want it. Even if I wasn’t dieting, I certainly wouldn’t have eaten 2 bags of the stuff. The venue refused to allow Drew to exchange the popcorn vouchers for a bag of candy instead. We were handed two bags of unwanted popcorn and left to rot. While we ended up giving it to our friend T at the end of the night (she’s bring it to work today) the whole forced snacking really left a bad taste in my mouth both before and after the movie.

What I’ve learned is that I’ll never buy tickets online to this venue again. In fact, it’s damn unlikely I’ll ever spend a cent of my money at the Scotiabank Theatre in the West Edmonton Mall again.  I would have happily sucked up not enjoying the movie. That happens all the time. People’s tastes are different. No big deal. But the forced purchase of snacks, that just roils my stomach and gets my ire up.

Yeah, I’ve already submitted a written complaint about the online ticket purchase process. Not much else I can do other than boycott the theatre. And warn poor gimpy people like me; if you’re visually impaired you may be bored out of your ever lovin’ gourd if you bother to watch Avatar.

Like I was.

UPPERDATE: It’s been a week and the theatre company hasn’t bothered to even acknowledge my complaint. Fabulous business practices you have going there…