Tuesday, July 27, 2010

Family

My mother, sister, brother in law, and nephew come home today! they have been in Morocco visiting with the in-law's family.

I am glad they are coming home. They have not been gone long, however, I do wish to give my young nephew a huge hug!

Sunday, July 25, 2010

Canadian Mining in Central America

Goldcorp Inc. is a Canadian based mining company - it extracts silver and gold in "developing counties" including Honduras, and Guatemala. In these developing countries, Goldcorp Inc. uses cyanide to separate the metals - Cyanide has been banned for use in these extractions in Canada and the US. Cyanide, lead, mercury, and arsenic are allowed to seep into the ground water causing numerous unexplained illnesses in animals and in human beings living in areas around the mines.

Although Goldcorp Inc. has provided jobs, and funded the building of schools in the communities they are affecting, they should be forced to use "1st world" methods of extracting the metals. They should also clean up and better manage their mines.

Unfortunately the Ontario Teacher's Pension Plan buys shares in Goldcorp Inc.

This means that I am directly a part of the problem. So I plan on writing to the Government of Canada, the government of Guatemala, and to the OTPP letting them know that I do not support their actions and asking that they clean up their act.

Thursday, July 22, 2010

P90X Progress - Starting Week Two

Yesterday was my "day off" in my exercise program: I thought I'd have much time to do some crafting. I was wrong, I went into major cleaning mode - scrubbing, sweeping, mopping, etc. It took up quite a lot of my time! But my house looks clean and tidy and that makes me happy :)

As for the exercise program itself - boy is it a tough one. I have been having trouble with certain moves so I try to change it to accommodate for what I can do. I really find the Legs and Back routine tough. So much that it makes me very nauseous. Not a good feeling :(

As I have mentioned before, I do not like how quickly the program goes from getting your heart rate to it's max and very quickly goes into a very brief cool down. So, I had been adding a 15-20 minute walk on the treadmill. Today, I decided to do a full hour of interval training on it instead. It felt great. I may have to continue to do this!

Monday, July 19, 2010

Farewell

This past Friday my uncle had a family dinner in honour of my cousin/god daughter. She resides in Guatemala (as does most of my extended family) and was in Canada as a visitor for 5 months. During this time she and the family in Canada were able to spend time together and learn more about one another. I am glad I got to know her better and wish her and her mother, my aunt Lucy, the best that life can bring them. May God bless them and allow them to live long and happy lives.


Sadness

The news channels continue to report on the death of children who have drowned this summer. It saddens me to know that these little children, who have their whole lives ahead of them, have died due to drowning. I don't know the background stories to what has happened in each of these cases. However, I beg for all parents and guardians to be sure that a sober and capable adult monitor children while they are in the water.

Wednesday, July 14, 2010

Will I have what it takes? I must give it my best shot!

I have read through all of the P90X Fitness Guide...When I was reading the first few paragraphs, and even the first few pages, I was thinking to myself, "OMG, what have I gotten myself into?" There were many warnings about how if you've not done Power 90 or 10 Minute Work Out (or something similar) than you are not ready for P90X...

However, though for the past couple of years I have been somewhat lazy when it comes to exercise, I have done some light weight training and interval training (cardio) on occasion.

I continued reading, and, I did the fitness test. Now, try as I might, I have never been able to do a chin up. However, most weight-lifting movements can be replicated with exercise tubing. I will be using the tubing to replace the chin up bar. Other than that, and the Heart Rate Maximizer (which requires one to do jumping jacks for 2 minutes and then completely stop so that you can then measure your heart rate immediately, after 2 minutes, etc.) it seems that I am ready for P90X.

I decided that I would not do the Heart Rate Maximizer because I do not like the idea of coming to a full stop after getting your heart rate so high. I always have been educated to include a cool down so that the heart can gradually go back to it's normal rate. I jumped for 1 minute, jogged for 1 minute, marched for 1 minute and then I walked for 1 minute and just left it at that.

I've also read some of the Nutrition Guide. Much of it reminds me of Tosca Reno's views on eating clean:


http://www.eatcleandiet.com/

Unfortunately, I have not been very motivated to exercise - I'd much rather read or craft. However, I think I will actually start with the program tomorrow - wish me luck!

Tuesday, July 13, 2010

It is said, "Silence is golden."

I am not sure how I feel about that. I find that I am very used to having sound in my life at all times and find silence a little disturbing.

"Silence, disturbing?!"

Yes, at least when I am in my house. I don't watch a lot of television, however, I usually have the radio on from the moment I get up to the moment I go to bed! For the past few days I have been trying to turn it off for a while, and every time I do I notice that it isn't really silent in my house. I hear a very soft but very high pitched ringing in my ears. I believe it to be the hum of the electricity from such things as the computer, the television, etc., which is quite disturbing to me...

I opted to enjoy the "silence" of the outdoors instead this morning and had my breakfast and coffee in the backyard. We have a little man-made pond back there. I moved my chair towards it and watched the fish swim while listening to the birds sing. There were other sounds too - a very quite conversation between two men far away enough to not hear what they were actually saying, a car driving by from time to time, some construction work in the distance...I did not find any of these sounds disrupting, nor did I have the horrible high pitch ringing in my ears :)

I have a lot of reading I and research I need to get done today in regards to my goal of learning to live a healthy lifestyle. I enjoyed being outdoors this morning so much that I plan to do as much of that reading in backyard...

Monday, July 12, 2010

The Good, The Bad, The ???

The Good:

I walked to my dentist's office as I had a cleaning appointment. The walk took me a little longer than I thought it would - about an hour. Unfortunately that means that I was walking a bit less briskly than I wanted. However, it was quite warm and humid out which made it hard to walk faster. Mind you on my way there a runner flew right past me. She was straining to breath though, I think if I were to run I would wait for evening and cooler temps.


The Bad:

I had 3 Lindt chocolate truffles. I couldn't help myself. I absolutely love chocolate and had a craving for it. The Lindt chocolates were given to me by a student of mine on the last day of school...

The ????:

Some friends of mine have done the P90X exercise and diet routine and look amazing. So I thought I would give it a try and after my dentist appointment I bussed it to the mall and bought myself the CD set...

I am hoping that I can follow it - it cost quite a bit of cash!

Sunday, July 11, 2010

Eye Opener

The school I work at had a yearbook published this year. As well as the student and class photos, pictures of the members of the various teams and clubs were included. I run a craft club with the grade 3 students and was required to be included in the photo.

When the yearbook was printed and finally given to the students I had a brief look at it and was shocked when I came to see myself in the club photo. I knew that I had gained weight, but insisted on telling myself that I looked fine and that I could "hide it well"...

Not so, in this picture I look, well, chunky. And though I try to eat well, I have not kept up with exercising on a daily basis. And though I tend to eat healthy foods, I find that I give in easily to temptation when it comes to baked goods and sweets.

For months I have been telling myself "I really need to get back to exercising and eating well," yet I always find an excuse for not following through.

With this blog I am going to attempt to finally stop making excuses...

Perhaps through the blog I can be more accountable for my goals, to be healthier, to be fit, and to feel more refreshed and not tired all the time!