My Life's Ingredients

After getting annoyed by a cold the whole week I've finally succumbed to it ... sinusitis, sore throat and that annoyed scratchy cough (which I think is due to the sore & irritated throat, but of course the doc won't do anything as it's not affecting my lungs and therefore my asthma). Managed to go to the Halloween Horror Hop (Ceroc) yesterday ok, but flagged after midnight and should have known today is just not my day. Still managed to go and see "Burke & Hare" with Nikki, Anna, Dave & Doug, but now ... Halloween is cancelled for me, no candies at our house this year. Feeling a bit off as I ALWAYS had Halloween on the 31st since we moved to our house ... either at home with pumpkin carving & candies for kids, or going to Orlando.  :( Ah well... I leave you with this instead ... thanks to Nikki for reminding me of it on FB! :) (we'd seen this actually last year live at the Edinburgh Fringe) And we decided I'll be carving pumpkins fo...

Glad they have a live stream for that!!! ;) FAB so far ... just think I may have to go to the Halloween Hop after 8pm ... not be there for 8pm. :D http://www.comedycentral.com/dcrallylive/

Couple of changes in life for the last couple of months, and given that the Blog header was already there since about 2006/2007 I thought I'll give it a little revamp. Can't say yet when, but you'll see a new header eventually. ;)

Had the info in the Google Reader about a free listing weekend this week for UK residents and have been picking out several stamps I'm not using anymore and will probably cull more. Currently am listing at £0.99 both used and new. Have a look here , maybe there's something you're interested in? Also figured that your first 100 listings per month (?) as private seller (if starting price is less than £1) are free ... so no need to rush right now, think I'll be posting lots more stuff over the next weeks. :)

All was ok … bit busy at work, bit annoyed about buses/traffic in Edinburgh and me taking 1.5 hours to get to/from work. Left home after dinner to get to Ceroc – a new venue for me, and promptly went to the wrong St Stephen’s – who’d known there are two St. Stephen’s Churches close together in Edinburgh!!! :o Arrived at the one at Comely bank, the women walking past me were carrying familiar little green folders and one told me “There’s hardly any queue!” – A queue? For Ceroc? Surely not????  But I was told it’s busy on Tuesdays ….  But when I arrived at the door for the Church Hall I saw a sign for Weight Watchers … errr… yeah… not really where I wanted to go today.  So figured it had to be the other St Stephens, fortunately not too far away. Managed to park the car after a bit of circling around, had a missed call from DH and when I got to the door a message to call him asap. Called him and he told me my mum phoned … he just understood the word “gestorben” (died...

What a day! ;) Didn't have to be at Stirling for the 2nd Day of Camp until 2:30pm, so had time to go to the Ceroc Scottish Champs 2010 for the Lucky Dip and Nikki & Dave's Intermediate Competition before dashing off. I just love watching them dance, they are so in sync it's great!!! At 1:55pm I left the venue to take photos at the Stirling Clansmen training camp (really have to look into options for shooting late at night - most pics after 6:30pm are blurry-ish! :( ), drove back home at 8:20pm to get some food, get changed and then head back out to the Scottish Champs Party where I danced my socks off until 12:30am. ;) Thanks to Dave, Steven, Nikki, Esther, Shirley and ... errm... yup, don't think I know his name  (oooops!!) for the dances!! :D Now considering going to the Halloween Horrors Hop , given it's on 30th October 2010 and NOT on Halloween. ;) And MIGHT even compete in next year's Champs? Who knows ... ;)

… Was a bit worried that the whole situation with the Wolves would have soured my passion for the sport, but being with the Stirling Clansmen yesterday at training camp Day 1 has taken those worries away. It is really good to feel appreciated, the guys have been asking me how the summer was, how I am etc, the coaches are great as usual … Yes, it might be that it’s because it’s only season 2 for me with the Clan, there might be still the “bribery factor” of cake & photos (but then – the Wolves got that as well!), but we’ll see… ;) Anyway – I had a great time with them, and am pretty sure I’ll enjoy the rest of the weekend taking photos for them as well. Let’s hope the weather plays along though – driving to Stirling yesterday felt like driving through a veeeeery long car wash (M9)!!!

… I would love to just see the good things from the 9 years, and “retire gracefully” – but I think last year just was a chore, no thank yous, hardly any help offered (apart from the usual suspects) and personality clashes. But hey – that moment might still come … in a couple of weeks/months … who knows.

Ok … I’ve cooled down a bit, culled some “friends” on Facebook, but still cannot get how some people THINK! Or NOT THINK, for that matter. Sunday started off fairly busy, due to the Antiques Fair being on the same day we didn’t have the concourse or the shop at Meadowbank, so had to improvise (which we managed ok with 2 areas sectioned off inside the stands for merchandise and for the tuck shop. We just started to have our gameday crew meeting, when our HC shouted for me to do the card check (Player names and numbers to be called out for the oppositional Manager or general dogsbody like me). Yes, Cal told me Don wanted it at 1:30pm, but of course it couldn’t wait. So I dashed down, hadn’t even prepared anything so had to get myself through, calling out names and writing jersey numbers down at the same time, getting help from Gordy (ex Claymores fan and the GM of the opposition, the Shropshire Revolution).  Then card check on their side, afterwards marking up 2 more sets of our ...

I'm still here, still seething from stupid people's behavior on Sunday but am too busy with work and gym/dancing/Clansmen that I don't think I'll be able to post a full update until the weekend or Monday (weekend is Clansmen training camp and Ceroc Scottish Champs). It's still riling me, so don't worry, my emotions about that won't calm down so easily. You'll get all the "goss" soon enough.

... and I'm most days at the gym or dancing in the evenings, so really don't get onto the "big" PC that much... Lazy, I know. ;) Hope to be able to update the blog a bit soon though. Just hang in there pls. :) Have also signed up for yet another class from Shimelle , it's her " Learn Something New Every Day " from Wednesday throughout September. I did sign up to her "Love your Pictures, Love your Pages" class but only close to the end so will catch up with that once the Wolves season is over .... ;) And considering I'll step down in my capacity as Club Secretary and general dog's body for the club by the end of the season (will only take photos IF and WHEN I WANT!) I should have more time ... Will concentrate fully on my University Team, the Stirling Clansmen from September/October on ... it's only photography for them (and baking ... how did that happen??? ;) ) and it's a league that's running over autumn/winter which...

I know … been bad with keeping the blog up, but lots of things were going on (injuries etc), here’s me hoping that I will be a more regular blogger over the next couple of months. ;) But just wanted to give a quick “heads up” (after posting on Facebook and the Wolves Twitter …. Edinburgh Wolves are SCOTTISH DIVISION 2 CHAMPS!!! :) Wolves HQ (i.e. Doug and me) have not been down to Shropshire with the team for the game as Doug has an implementation weekend and has to be on call. But I’ve been getting updated by Cal and was able to update our tweets as well. Well done, Wolves – I am proud of you. Now on to get things sorted for the playoff home game … phew!

… and I’m actually doing our OWN washing instead of the team kit! :) That’s a bit of a novelty really, and I like it. Have been doing 3 washes but weather looks as if it’s going to rain anytime soon, so the washing is hanging up in the living room. At least I managed to mow the lawn – somehow the grass grew up to 1 foot plus during the last 2 weeks … next time I’ll just take a scythe to the grass if it’s that long, probably easier that way!! :o If the weather is still holding then I’ll tackle the thistles in the front garden and re-plant my dwarf roses. Was actually planning to do some crafting, but the good weather (read “non-rain”) means I HAVE to do something in the garden – who knows when I’ll get next the time/weather to do it. Oh … and my small plants in the garden seem to do their business this year!! Just think I have to transfer the pepper, cucumber and courgette plants into a proper veggie patch (which is half done). In other news – Wolves are now 6-2, and...

Haven’t been back to Germany during summer in quite a while – we usually go in April for my mum’s birthday (which was this year changed to now because of that stupid volcano) and then again for a longer weekend in December for exchange of presents, and to go and visit Christmas Markets. We had fabulous weather, every day around 30 degrees and mostly sunshine! Fab! Not sure if it’s because I’m getting older now, but somehow a week is not long enough for the trip to Germany anymore. I’ve not been able to meet up with friends this time at around, and we’re usually fairly ad-hoc with our plans to visit my family as well. And then there’s the shopping … it’s nearly like a trip to Florida!!! ;) And of course I’m always trying to get a trip to the sauna in as well… I would LOVE to go for longer than just 1 week – I would LOVE to travel around Germany, would LOVE to go with Doug to the Northsea or the “Ostsee”, would LOVE to go south towards Munich, east to visit my family in the Lausitz...

Yup, that’s what I am … our WiFi doesn’t work ON the couch, just on the wee table beside it, which means I cannot lie with my right leg elevated if I want to be online… :o  Not really happy about that, but maybe that keeps me “off the box” and I get more editing done? TONS of photos of Wolves and Clansmen games still to be edited … not to mention our holiday in US and up outside Dundee!! Restless probably because my blinking knee is not swollen… it hurts, but is not swollen… which would more indicate something is wrong with it, right? Still using the cryo cuff which is nice for pain treatment (and usually for swelling as well, but we don’t need that yet).

…  the running on paved paths on Friday was worse than I thought, and standing a lot on Sunday during the game didn’t help. However, I didn’t really feel tooooo bad (but then – I sometimes wonder if having a high pain threshold is a curse as I’m just putting up with it). Yesterday I was jogging to catch the bus and suddenly my knee just buckled. :o Managed to sit through work and then decided to go to A&E (given that I’m only 15 mins away from the hospital) to get the knee checked before our holiday(wouldn’t have gotten an appt with my GP before next week). Waited just 40 mins for initial assessment, then on the trolley bed for another 15 mins for the X'-ray, then another 15 mins (all the while listening to a) a female alcoholic, b) a mentally challenged person and c) a guy who was out for a fight! VERY comforting … really was fearing that soon the “fight guy” is going on a riot! – Very high police attendance in A&E doesn’t really make me more comfortable either!!). N...

Tried to figure out where the small shower room at work disappeared to, as the big ones are for office gym members only and I'm not going to pay for that! Got slightly annoyed but finally found the 2 showers available ... suppose they have to have "free" showers, in case someone cycles to work. ;) Means I can do my regular Wednesday session for the "run" (jog) around Arthur's Seat ... provided it's not chucking down rain!!! As for today - I had a triple session tonight ... first W1D2 which I upped to 8kph speed for the run (still feels like a jog). Managed the work out. During Body Pump I upped the ante to 2.5kg each side for most moves bar the warm up (even for the triceps bar workout!). The single plate weight for triceps I upped to 5kg as well. Still can't do the lounges without help (now used the bar to steady myself and that worked ok-ish), and squats ... yeah, just ignore me with them. Not sure if my lordosis (quite a big invard curvature of...

Yup… I did it … :) Was fun, felt great afterwards, and am looking forward to Wednesday now. :) The podcast definitely helped – I’ve downloaded two, will see if I’m trying the other one on Wednesday. Speed-wise: warm up at 4.5kph, walk at 5.5 kph and jog at 7.6kph. Probably can crank it up to 8kph for the jog. Was running on the treadmill just to check speeds … funnily enough jog is there at 6kph (that’s fast walk for me) and walk at 3kph (geesh… that wasn’t even my cool down speed!). Depending on weather I might actually go for a run in Holyrood Park on Wednesday during lunch break … just so I have a bit of a breather between that and Body Pump & Body Balance. :)

Ok, after lots of umm-ing and haaah-ing I am going to follow in Joanne's steps ... not that I am necessarily planning on doing a 5k run or anything, but with me doing the Body Pump, Body Balance and Ceroc already I quite like the idea of being able to do some workout I can do while on holiday where I don't have necessarily access to a gym. After coming back from the family weekend away my scales shocked me ... I was at 90kg, the highest EVER!!! I still think the scales are broken, but hey... ;)  There you go ... tonight I'll do my first 20 mins ... :)

Yup, that's what I have been googling for today ... ;) DH mentioned this technique years ago, and we seem to look it up at least once a year... I personally have never tried this technique until today. Just part of my day off work ... have done 3 washes and been doing ironing while watching TV downstairs, always having an eye on the weather. And yes, I dashed out twice to safe the washing! Deceiving sunshine ... Ah well... back to the ironing board. :o