Seems like forever since I’ve posted… and well, it has been a few days (the Week 9 review yesterday being the exception!). So much has happened. And yet so little. I guess that’s why the call it a “break”.
Where to start — guess Christmas! I spent Christmas Eve at Shauna’s place… falling asleep with Will at around 8:00 after an early dinner of sandwiches… Actually, in fairness, I think I actually fell asleep earlier than Will – as he had to push me aside to make enough room in his own bed to crawl in next to me. Oh well, a few hours later I was up again, to wrap a few last gifts at the last minute for opening the next morning.
Amazingly, a few of the gifts I wrapped (a couple pieces of pottery the boys had hand painted at Play With Clay in downtown Guelph) should never have appeared under the tree. I had missed the pickup time on Friday (the 23rd) and the place was officially closed all the way through to the new year. I had sent the owners a quick email on the evening of the 23rd to see whether they were still in town or had gone away — and they had amazingly gotten back to me to offer to come down to the shop to allow me to pick up the pieces on the morning of the 24th! Without that offer, I would have been in deep water explaining to the boys why their gifts for mum and gramma were not available!I can’t say enough good things about Nina and Mario (owners of the shop)! They are the best!
Christmas morning was, as expected — kids excitedly opening gift after gift, revelling in all the toys and things that they ad received from friends, family and Santa. It’s so heartwarming to see their faces, full of joy and excitement as they open gifts. I was also pleasantly surprised to see that my request for “no gifts” was honoured by most. And that, in the place of those gifts, donations were being made to the charity partners I had chosen to support as part of my Ironman training project. Thank you to all those who have supported me in achieving my goals so far!(for more info on my fundraising targets, click here).
I snuck away in the afternoon to get a quick ride in on the trainer. I got home, got things set up and climbed aboard. I had planned maybe a 90 minute ride – but between a flat (under inflated tire riding hard on the trainer) and a call to be at xmas dinner 30 minutes earlier than expected, my ride ended up being only 60 minutes long. Nonetheless it was nice to get a ride in! Especially given the dinner I was going to be having in very short order! And what a dinner it was! Superb turkey and dressing, potatoes, sweet potato… and all sorts of other things!
After dinner we all hung out at my ex-laws, enjoying the company and eventually singing caroles. However, after I found myself falling asleep on the couch, I decided perhaps it was time to head home — which I did to head to bed and enjoy a true turkey induced coma!
Boxing day I was up early – headed off to the Future Shop and the mall for some deals — managed to grab a gorgeous Go Pro camera for Ian for his birthday at ~50% off (he has to share it with me!)… and some “staples” like jeans at the mall for an equally impressive discount! Nothing like Boxing Week sales to get people shopping the day after xmas!
Later that day I hopped in the car and headed into Toronto to meet a friend for a run. What a gorgeous day for it… and wonderful company. The route was superb — albeit I had to rush through the second half of the run in order to find a washroom! That’s kinda a good thing — given that I was having to rush anyhow to keep up!
Hit Ikea on the way home — a picked up my new desk… Working from home will require a proper work surface! Sitting at the counter on my stools would simply not suffice! Too hard on the back! And again, the sales are a superb reason to continue to shop despite the fact that xmas is freshly over! Oh — and there’s nothing better than a nice dinner of Swedish meatballs! especially when it costs less than $5.00!
And… before finally getting home I did manage to connect with another friend for a drink and a movie! The new “Girl with the Dragon Tattoo” movie was amazing! Now I need to read the books — guess its time to fire back up the ebook reader on my PlayBook!… I love paper… but its just so convenient and so good for the environment to buy books in electronic format! Maybe one day they’ll combine the formats — buy the paper book for preservation and you get the access codes for the ebook for free! I once said I would buy TV programs for free if they were sold that way… and now they are. So, maybe I’ll be impressed again by how print media evolves as time passes.
After getting home late — and then having a nice lie in on the 27th, I was off to the gym for a run. Only 45 minutes, but still nice to get the blood pumping around the body. The weather has most definitely turned as well… cold and snowy! I love the snow, so happy to see its finally arrived. But still…. Not being dressed or the weather, having just showered at the gym, we headed as an extended family to a conservation area a little outside Guelph to visit the Native Longhouses… beautiful. And interesting. But cold!
Dinner was pizza… mostly cause it became a topic of conversation while freezing to death in the long house.. so it became an obsession on the drive home in the car! Having not had my favourite pizza for over 2 months (!) I thought maybe one night of pizza wouldn;t be the worst thing in the world… and besides.. don’t they say its what you eat between New Years and Christmas that matters.. not between Christmas and New Years? 
After dinner, the boys and I met the cousins and grandparents, etc for bowling! Yes, Bowling. Fashionable shoes and all! And what a bowling night it was! Thankfully when I woke this morning, I didn’t wake with “squash ass” as expected! Maybe I’m in better shape then I thought? Or maybe bowling has become less active in the last few years! Either way… it was fun… without the lingering effects I was expecting!
And finally to today… Well… this morning was spent doing walking errands around downtown Guelph… the boys and I had a number of different stops to make — the bank, the bookstore, the surgical supplies store (surgical tubing for Ian’s survival kit), the video shop, and the coffee shop. Home again for lunch…. then out again for car-based errands! Dropping a chair off at a friend’s house… stopping by Shauna’s place to use the scanner. And then home again …
All in all, the last few days have been a whole lot of nothing… But enjoyable nothing. And smile inducing nothing. And, most likely, the calm nothing that will precede the storm of going back to work and trying to balance work and life and training in the new year….
