Too hot to blog

Is it fall yet?

I'm sitting in my living room with the lights off. I should really turn up (or is it down) the air conditioner to cool off the house a bit more, but I'm too lazy to get off my chair. After going to the park this morning (and it was H-O-T) and finishing lunch, I'm ready for a siesta. But I'm covered in sunscreen and sand so I really should take a quick shower and sweep up the sand we trekked into the house.

I think the heat is doing something to my brain. I fell off the park bench this morning because I thought there was more seat than there actually was. I've got a bit of a headache and I can't come up with anything remotely witty to blog about. Luckily my brain is allowing me to string together some half decent logical sentences together.

I realize it is summer, but I'm not a fan of heat waves. I'm not too sure what we'll be doing this afternoon. It may be just too hot to play outside. So keep cool, dear readers. Do whatever you have to do to keep cool, even if that means heading to the mall. Tomorrow is going to be hot, too. *Sigh* Come February I'll be dreaming about this weather, but now I'm cursing it.

Canada Day toddler style

Sometimes you just can't relive good times, despite how good that first experience was.

Today, we packed up the Step 2 wagon with food, water, toys, sunscreen, a blanket and other miscellaneous items and headed to a local park for Canada Day celebrations. Last year we had a great time. But the difference from last year to this year is that we had a 11 month old baby last Canada Day. Now our baby with a walking, talking almost two-year-old who has a whole mind of her own.

Last year, we spent the afternoon watching live entertainment on a large hill, soaking up the sun. Darling daughter spent most of her time in the stroller. This year we tried to do the same, but sans stroller. She is very anti-stroller these days as she spends most of her time in the wagon.

I must say that darling daughter was so sweet and so good during our outing. She was dancing to the songs being sung during the sound check. She was waving her Canada flag. She was laughing, She was smiling. But she is a toddler and as such she is a very curious being. Staying on the picnic blanket and enjoying the sun wasn't her idea of fun. She wanted to dance, she wanted to walk and, more importantly, she wanted to explore.

Dear husband took her exploring twice. On one of their adventures they ran in a nearby field so she could blow off steam. When they returned from their second adventure, dear husband looked tired. Darling daughter on the other hand was raring to go, ready for another exploration trip. That's when we decided to head home. The idea that both me and dear husband had of reliving last year's fun, but relaxing experience had come to an end. We realize next year that there is no way we will spending most of our time on a picnic blanket, enjoying live music and sun. We'll be hitting up the midway or the splash pad, instead. I know one day we will get to enjoy Canada Day on a picnic blanket, but it will likely be years from now. And that's fine by me. Today was a good reminder that you got to roll what your toddler wants to do.

Photo Wednesday

This week's photo is of darling daughter pretending that our new green bin is a shopping cart. "Shopping cart, shopping cart," is what I heard come out of her sweet little mouth as she was trying to push it around the house when we got it on Monday afternoon. The "shopping cart" is now at the curb, waiting to provide a deposit to the organics truck.

Weeks late, but it has arrived

There it was, glittering in the June sunlight, sitting quietly outside my front door, waiting for a warm welcome to its new home.

Finally, my green bin.

In the last week, I was losing hope that I was getting a green bin from the City of Ottawa. The letter from the city that stated I could order a green bin seemed like almost like a dream. And the email that arrived in my inbox stating I would be receiving a green bin in four weeks almost seemed like a farce. It was a farce. I should have known that you have to double any time allotment the city gives provides you.

But there it was, in all its green bin glory. A 47-litre green bin, waiting to be filled with organic waste.

Looking around the neighbourhood, I saw other green bins. I’m glad to know that I’m not alone in embracing the program, but I’m a bit disappointed that my immediate neighbours haven’t jumped on board. Really, if your tax dollars are paying for this program, you might as well use it.
I immediately grabbed my camera to document the moment. Yes, I may sound over dramatic, but I’ve been waiting for this moment for nearly three years now. I remember during my childless years when I was working for a community newspaper in the city where I wrote a column, praising the green bin program. I didn’t get a good response, as one reader thought it was ridiculous that people couldn’t use compost bins instead of the city rolling out an organics program. (Sorry dear reader, but not everyone can use a compost bin).

Unfortunately for the green bin, I had nothing for its inaugural deposit of organic waste. By late yesterday afternoon, all that was in the small organics bin is a plum pit, an old slice of pizza and a banana peel. Fortunately for the green bin, we eat a lot of fruits and veggies, including watermelon which creates a lot of organic waste.

The first pick up of my green bin is Wednesday. I’ll be excited when I see the garbage truck roll by my curb this week.

Why I run

Since running a 10k race more than two weeks ago, I've slacked off on running distances longer than 3k. And I've really slacked off on hill running. I haven't ran hills in nearly five weeks. But as I pointed out to dear husband this weekend, I'm still running. For the most part, I try to update my sticky note running journal. Every time I run, I write the date, distance and time on a sticky note and post it on my kitchen cabinet. It keeps me motivated. There are nearly 80 sticky notes on this one cabinet.

I thought today, to keep me motivated, I'd write the reasons why I run. So in no particular order, here is why I run.

Why I run

I run because I can release stress and frustration in a positive, healthy way.

I run because it helps me keep my sanity.

I run because sometimes it is the only "me" time I get during the day.

I run because it is fun.

I run because of the endorphin high.

I run because it helps me mediate and clear my mind.

I run because I can prove to myself that I can run.

I run because it gives me confidence and strength.

I run because the greatest feeling in the world is crossing the finish line.

I run because it keeps me in shape.

I run because it challenges my mind.

I run because it is very cool experience to run in a crowd of 7,500 people.

I run because it makes me sweat.

I run because it helps me to build stamina and endurance.

I run because not only does it motivate me, it motivates others.

I run because I breathe better afterwards.

I run because I can. And if I can do it, anyone can.

Going to the movies in the middle of the day

The following tasks are on my things-to-do list: buy knitting needles, drop off items to Goodwill, do laundry, cut up veggies, see a movie.

I haven't seen a movie since New Moon came out in theatres last November. The other day, dear husband was talking about his busy Friday, which included going to an Italian restaurant for lunch. The day before, he had a pork pulled sandwich at a chicken and ribs fest happening on Sparks Street this week.

Where is my Italian lunch? Where is my pork pulled sandwich? Where is my lunch hour? (Actually, what is a lunch hour? I can't remember what a lunch hour is. But I'm sure it doesn't consist of my child begging for food or brazenly stealing food from my plate, minutes after she's finished eating.)

Today is a daycare day. They've been happening rather occasionally over the last couple of months. Sometimes they happen once a week. Sometimes twice a month. The last daycare day I spent a good two hours washing down walls. Not exactly fun. I could have washed more walls. I could have started the shredding of a pile of personal papers that have accumulated in my recycling bin. I could have done laundry. But instead I got my purse, grabbed a sweater out of the closet and went to the movies. It was a nice distraction. I saw Killers. (Who knew there was so many assassins in suburbia?) I ate a bag of popcorn and laughed.

I've never been to the movies alone, but if think about it, seeing a movie is one of those activities you can easily do by your lonesome. Plus, it is cheap! I only spent $6. Obviously, not everyone can sneak out of the house or office to go and see a flick in the middle of the day. But if you have the time and the means, I highly recommend it. Two hours by yourself, with no demands being made of your time, that is priceless at a fairly reasonable ticket price.

All shook up (not really)

Yesterday, everyone seemed to be riled up about the 5.0 earthquake that hit the West Quebec area. The downtown building that dear husband works in was evacuated. Reporters covering an NDP news conference scurried out of the room. A man I met on a street hours later told me he immediately left the building he was in when the ground started to shake. Everyone seemed to be talking about the earthquake.

At the time of the quake, I was reading my blog roll, reading recent posts. Moments before sitting down to my laptop, an electrical inspector popped by to inspect the electrical system. At first, I didn't know what was going on. I thought it was a big truck driving by because there was a loud rumbling and the house started to make strange noises. Either that or the electrical inspector was doing something really weird to my air conditioner. I don't remember any shaking, just noise. I figured it was an earthquake as when I looked out the back yard, I could see my back neighbour's picture window shaking. Nothing fell or got broken.

Once it was over, I peered outside. There were some people looking confused as me, wondering what the heck went on. After double checking that darling daughter was still asleep (and she was) I went back to reading blog posts.

The following makes me sound like a bad wife, but it never dawned on me to call dear husband to see if he was okay. This is likely due to the fact I didn't realize how big the quake was. Apparently the cellphone system jammed as people tried to contact loved ones. He called later, saying his building had been evacuated and he was waiting to go back inside.

It is weird that so many others felt the quake. I didn't. I just heard noise. So that's our quake experience. Not anything earth shattering. I'm just thankful no one was hurt or seriously injured.