Rain, rain, go away.

Blech!

It’s been raining for days. Raining, of course, is an understatement. Sloppy. Messy. Wet.

And flooding my basement.

Which makes me miserable while Drew is gone. Thank the gawds I have awesome neighbours. The source of the leak(s) has been found and Les will be fixing it as soon as it drys up. In the meantime, I’ve got mopping to do.

I love my old home. Weeks like this, where it’s rained a month’s worth in of precipitation in less than 72 hours, remind me of some of the downsides of owning an older home. My solace, of course, is that owners of newly built homes across the city are facing similar problems tonight.

Misery does love company.

EAVB_EDTOATTYOI

SCHOOL – One class down. Four more to go. Feels like it’s never going to end some days.

KNITTING – I’m learning to knit Jayne hats to donate to a charity event.

KNEE – Doc says she’s pleased with my progress. Have a long haul of muscle development ahead of me. Running is coming along slowly. Still not doing much more than 5 minutes total running at this point. Really need to work on my endurance while not stressing my knee.

LIFESTYLE – As of this morning I’m officially pleasantly plump. It’s taken a long time but I finally lost enough fat to drop from the obese classification to overweight. still have a long way to go before I’m in a normal range. I’m hoping to meet that goal by Christmas.

First big challenge will be ensuring I don’t go overboard eating treats on our cruise in June. Keeping my fingers & toes crossed that the changes I’ve been making to my lifestyle have been transformed into habit.

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.

Registration opened for the CNIE conference today and I got a look at the price points. I can’t believe the cost. I’m really hoping that it will be possible to register as a student (300$ instead of $600) but have a strong suspicion it won’t be allowed. Their registration info specifically mentions full-time enrolment and I’m a part-time student. I simply can’t afford to cease working and attend school full-time.

It appears that CNIE is more restrictive than ISSOTL was when it comes to student conference attendance. Such a shame.

I’m still hoping to find some way to attend. Mum wants me to come home for a visit and my mentor, Dr. D will allow me to participate in the presentation of our paper at the conference if I can manage to get there.

Large incentive indeed!