NaNo 2011

Well we're days away from NaNoWriMo 2011 and, as usual, I have not created an outline. I keep saying (to myself) that I'll endeavour to make one for the next NaNo. Well who am I kidding? I think I'm rebelling against all the times I had to produce outlines for high school and university English classes. I hated doing them then and I still do.
I do have an idea for my novel, but for the most part I'll be writing-by-the-seat-of-my-pants as I have done every year. Simon read my an interesting article from a Mac mag about the upcoming NaNo and how to succeed at it. One suggestion was to blog your novel as you went along. It sounds like an intriguing idea and maybe feedback from my "followers" would be a motivator when things look grim. Maybe in the coming days you'll see a link on here to my NaNoBlog.

Will I make my 50k? Will I finish my novel? Will I blog it? Stay tuned.

The Crafting Itch

I seem to suffer from this affliction quite often. I think it's because it's on my I-can't-do-it-so-I-really-want-to-do-it list. The biggest "mistake" i made was subscribing to Burda Style magazine. For those who don't know what it is, it's a fashion magazine full of sewing patterns for the clothes in the issue. Needless to say I have found a zillion things I want to make.

My latest itch is to make an Advent calendar. I have toyed with this idea over a few years. Now I have found the perfect design on Skip to My Lou's site. Here it is:

I need to find some long twigs to arrange in a vase so the birds have branches from which to hang. I'm also 3/4 of the way through my Dr. Who scarf I'm knitting. It's my first knitting project and it's coming along slowly. I only get the evenings to knit (while Simon reads to me). When it's finished I'll post a pic. After that I'm planning on crocheting a hat or knitting a scarf and hat for Miranda out of a royal purple yarn I have on order.

So many projects so little time and I can't choose.

Fitness Log in the Works

Two weeks ago I went to VI Fitness in Victoria with the great idea of signing up with a friend.  We got the tour and the free pass and it sounded good.  I was tempted to join, but after sleeping on it I couldn't justify the 3h (2h of travel and 1h of working out) 3 times a week.  Even though they had child care (at a reasonable price) I would feel guilty losing that much time with him, so I opted not to join. Instead we bought a treadmill.  Part of the free pass was getting a fitness test and a session with a personal trainer.  Well, that was one of the worst days of my life!  I'm very overweight (172 pounds at the weigh-in) and swimming in too much body fat (42%).  I have to lose half my body fat and at least 20 pounds.  I still think something was off because I had recently just bought some clothes at a smaller size.  How could I be heavier and still take a smaller size?!  Anyway on the advice of the personal trainer I'm taking some steps to promote weight/fat loss: ingesting more water (via water, fruit, veg), reducing sugar/salt intake, and doing 45 minutes of hard cardio (reaching my target heart rate) 3 times a week.

I've decided to make public my weekly successes or failures as a way of keeping me honest. I'll log my weekly weight/body fat/water levels. The Activity Log will look pretty scant since I'm just starting to keep track today.

Camp WriMo

Well the folks at NaNoWriMo have decided to run a summer "camp" for keener WriMos out there. I know I usually get the urge to write mid-year and I have had to wait until November. I guess I was not alone and enough people asked about a summer WriMo that they had to put one together. So they did. Camp WriMo opened on July 1st and will run for a July and an August session. Both Simon and I have signed up and have started writing. Though, I have to admit that Summer writing is not as easy as Fall writing.  With the reasonably good weather and various holidays we have been out and about more with family events.  I am already 4599 words behind where I should be to make the 50k by the 31st. Unlike  the November writing I am not as concerned about finishing.  If I do I do, if not then I may have a start for the "real" WriMo later on.

Happy Birthday Mr. Hargreaves

Today would have been the 76th birthday of the Mr. Men/Little Miss creator Roger Hargreaves.  Simon messaged me this morning to check out google.ca. In honour of his birthday they had a variety of banners featuring his characters.
I am a big fan of the Mr. Men series and I had most of the books as a child. Simon had a few as a child and we gave his to Miranda as well as adding some as gifts over the years.  She has really taken to them over the last year, especially the Little Miss ones.  In the last week she has even drawn a few pages of them.  I think it's funny how some cartoon characters remain popular decade after decade.  The two that come to mind are Mr. Men and Peanuts.  I grew up on those and now our kids are too!

No Sale

Well our house officially comes off the market on the 10th when the sign will be removed. Twice we have tried to sell and twice we haven't succeeded. Kind of makes you wonder if we, or the house, is jinxed. :) I know it's because the market is going soft and it's flooded with houses and we weren't ultra-motivated, but it's still disheartening especially with all the traffic. So now onto improvements.

A Posting on a Sunny Day

Today is one of our few sunny days thus far this year.  The weather has been a bit of an oddball, including the snow we had not too long back.  Honestly, snow in Spring in Victoria?!  One can only hope for a hot summer this year to make up for it.

All the world, or so it seems, is abuzz about the wedding of Wills and Kate.  I have to be honest in that I'm pretty indifferent to it.  Granted if mum were still alive she would've been all over it including staying up to watch it on TV and buying the commemorative mug (all of which I have inherited and are sitting in my china cabinet, which I also inherited).  I liked Kate's choice of dress.  It was simple and elegant and looked really good on her.

In other news, our house still hasn't sold and I don't think it will before May 9th when our contract with the realtor is up.  So instead of lamenting, which is pointless now that we've reconsidered** our situation, we're making plans to improve our abode.  On the list (so far):

• a coat rack at the front door
• fixing the kitchen squeaks and putting down new laminate
• a loft bed for Miranda
• a hanging ceiling in the basement
• some built in bookshelves wherever they'll fit
• a built in medicine cabinet for our bathroom
• a BBQ pit out back ??

I'm looking into putting Ian into a preschool this September, not for the educational aspect of it but for the social.  Our local rec centre has a preschool called Doodlebugs.  It offers 2 or 3 days a week.  I'm leaning toward the M, W, F 9-11.30 session.  It costs $197.75/month but it's not a co-op so I could teach Miranda while he's at school.  Any thoughts out there?

I've decided to abandon my bilingual postings.  I know, I hate to be a quitter, but I just don't have the time I thought I would to do it.  Maybe in the future when I get into the swing of using my personal development time** effectively I'll try again.  :)

**You're probably wondering what all these asterisks are about.  Below is a summary of our  reconsiderations.  As some may know, the motivating factors for moving were:

• closer to dojo, less commuting
• closer to downtown/colleges/uni for me to get back to work
• closer to colleges/uni for the kids when the time comes
• not stuck in a town with only 1 road out

The biggest solution we had was to get a second car.  We bought a 2006 VW Golf last month.  Now no-one feels stranded in Sooke on Karate or Bujutsu nights. :)  Plus the class times have been rearranged and it looks like the 5 days will be reduced to 3 days.  As for me getting back into the work force whether I went now or in 10 years I would have to start from the ground up.  Any tutoring I would do on weekends wouldn't make a difference to the resume.  So instead of working for 4 hours a week Simon suggested I put that time into personal improvement activities (such as guitar, crocheting, German, whatever).  At some point I'll get back into the workforce.  We will have to move in the future (in about a dozen years) when our kids go to UVic or Camosun.  The commute from here to there daily would be a killer.  Simon joked when the time comes we'll move to Prince George again and they'll go to UNBC.

Stuff

I know what a boring title.  It's easier than listing everything.    :)

So my recent life in point form:

• Our house is not selling.  We have a squeaky kitchen floor and people are irrational.
• I turned 39 at the end of February.
• There might be a second family car on the horizon.
• I think I broke my toe at martial arts class.  I'm not sure how I broke it.
• I'm trying to knit a scarf.
• Spring is here.

Wow!  Was that as spell binding to read as it was to write?  :D  Sorry, I apologize.  I'll try to make my life more thrilling.

Ich weiß, was ein langweiliger Titel. Es ist einfacher als Inserat alles. :)
Also meine bisherigen Lebens in Form Punkt:

• Unser Haus ist nicht zu verkaufen. Wir haben eine quietschende Küchenboden und die Menschen sind irrational.
• Ich drehte mich um 39 am Ende des Monats Februar.
• Es könnte eine zweite Familie Auto am Horizont.
• Ich glaube, ich brach meine Zehe an Kampfkunst-Klasse. Ich bin mir nicht sicher, wie ich sie brach.
• Ich bin einen Schal zu stricken versucht.
• Der Frühling ist da.

Wow! War das als Zauber binden zu lesen, wie es zu schreiben war? : D  Sorry, ich entschuldige mich. Ich werde versuchen, mein Leben spannender.

Fashionista

(This is my first bilingual post.)

Well, ok, not quite but for me it is.  I went out and bought a few items to help revamp my current wardrobe.  I had a surprisingly good and successful time despite having 2 kids in tow.  What's more the clothes were a size smaller than I expected!  I had to check to make sure the world wasn't coming to an end.  :)  I managed to get 2 pairs of pants, a blazer, a shirt, 2 skirts, 2 scarves, a purse, a wrap, a tunic, and a pair of boots all for about $270.  Every store is having huge sales.  It's a sign of the times.

(Dies ist meine erste zweisprachige Blog-Posting.)

Na ja, ok, nicht wirklich, aber für mich ist es.  Ich kaufte ein paar Dinge zu verbessern meiner aktuellen Garderobe.  Ich hatte eine überraschend gute und erfolgreiche Zeit trotz 2 Kinder mit mir. Und die Kleider waren eine Nummer kleiner als ich erwartet hatte!  Ich hatte zu prüfen, war die Welt nicht zu Ende. :) Ich kaufte 2 Hosen, ein Blazer, ein Hemd, 2 Röcke, 2 Schals, eine Geldbörse, ein Wrap, eine Tunika und ein Paar Stiefel alle für ungefähr $ 270. Jedes Geschäft hat enormen Umsatz. Es ist ein Zeichen der Zeit.

A New Look, A New Approach

I think for the new year, even though it's already 24 days old, I'm going to go with a new look...at least in my blog to start.  I need to to shake up my routine.  I need to shake up my wardrobe.  Like most women I'm unhappy with my bod. Somehow I intend to do something about that.  I need to be a bit more high maintenance than I usually am.  I intend to work on my image (translation: lose weight and look less dumpy and frumpy) this coming year so I'll be the hottest 40 year old come next February.  I need to plan now because it'll take me that long to accomplish it.  :)


I don't know if anyone knows it, but I'm a bit of a Germanophile.  I think I might have mentioned it on here before.  I've never visited Germany, but the language and culture have intrigued me for years (actually since about 1986-87).  I found an interesting blog <http://accessorypirate.blogspot.com/> by accident.  I was Googling for a braided headband pattern and her site popped up.  She is in Munich, but I think she is originally from the UK.  She writes a bilingual blog: English and German.  I think I may try that as well for practice in my upcoming entries.  Maybe my friend in Hamburg will be gracious enough to correct my grammar and vocabulary (continually).

Falling Waaaay Behind

Well, I really needed to put up this post.  I haven't made one since before NaNoWriMo.  How appalling is that?!  I don't have an excuse.  It simply got pushed aside and forgotten.  I really intended to keep things current on here, but you know the road to hell...

What's new?  We're selling up and moving into Victoria.  Well, we're trying to sell but the market is pretty soft and we live in Sooke.  Not to mention that because our floors squeak people are hesitant to make an offer.  There's nothing wrong with our house and this problem is fixable (albeit with a lot of mess) but people are easily spooked and don't want to throw away their cash on a dud.  It would be nice if we had an offer subject to getting this fixed or reducing the price by the amount to fix it.  I think we'll be here for a bit.