I have been fortunate enough to have “met” a few Canadians that for varies reasons are living in America. Fellow bloggers, seeking one another out, for comfort and reassurance. Most Americans are shocked to hear that Canadians struggle in the United States and feel a tad misunderstood. There are Americans that have traveled or have chosen to educate themselves beyond, “Did you live in an igloo? or Do you know Sue from Vancouver?”, however I found myself correcting those that chose to not think of Canada as a foreign country and stating that not all Canadians know how to speak French.

I still read a lot of Canadian, living in the US blogs (I am not linking because I am not sure they want traffic, if I am wrong please let me know and I will link). Their experiences are so much like mine, not horrific yet life changing. I will never view racism the same again. I cannot understand the class system and how it is acceptable to the majority of people, that groups of people in their country suffer, while other prosper to the extreme. The “us” and “them” mentality threw me for a loop, since I was friendly with everyone, despite their colour, class, socio-economic standing and the like. I allowed my child to play with “coloured kids” GASP!

I am so so grateful to have returned to Canada. Our skies are crystal blue, we take care of the sick, elderly and those that cannot help themselves, we love hockey, drink beer, say hello to everyone, talk to strangers, and we have funny comedians that don’t hesitate to poke a little fun …

Have a great weekend everyone!

Have fun with more Wordless Wednesday.

I had a self imposed internet free long weekend. It was fabulous! It wasn’t really planned, it just sort of happened. Most of our weekend was that way. Fabulous and unplanned.

We headed out to soccer Saturday morning, after much resistance Becca finally joined the group and played. I had packed a lunch, since we were not sure what we wanted to do the rest of the day. It was raining, but not miserable. So on a whim we decided to drive to the Bay of Fundy to check out the Dinosaur museum! It was a great little museum! Then in the rain we checked out some tide pools and the Bay. It was a tad farther than we had initially thought, making the day long and irregular for the kids. However everyone agreed the day was well worth it.

Sunday I finished my Spring cleaning. I reorganized the children’s toys, went through all their clothes, etc etc … It felt so good to finish it. Monday was a bum around day with the family. It was so so nice. J is preparing for a conference soon. It has been very taxing on all of us. This weekend was the perfect rejuvenating, bonding time we all needed.

I have so much to catch up on now How was your weekend?

For the past three weeks or so I have been walk-a-running. Meaning, I am attempting to *gag* run. I started off taking a nightly walk, then building the eumph to turn that brisk walk into a run.

Now traditionally I have been the “Only run when bear is going to eat you” kind of girl. I would glance at those craaaazy fools jogging in all sorts of weather, shake my head then sit back and enjoy my geeky pleasures of computers, gaming … even knitting, not at all close to jogging.

But alas, I am not happy with my current self. Not striving to be a la twiggy, but would like to feel a little less jiggity, more firm, strong. A lot of this lies in the fact that I want to be a positive role model for my daughter. She is going to be bombarded with images of what women *should* look like. I would like to counter that with a real perspective. That with exercise and a decent diet one can be healthy and happy with ones self.

Running just happens to be the most efficient way to achieve this exercise/diet thing. So run I shall. It hurts. However I play little head games with myself, like I am going to run just a little farther before going back to walking. I have mastered a good third of my trail running, the rest I walk like uber fast. hehe The third that I run is on a decline so gravity is helping Still it feels good for the ego that I can even run without collapsing in a heap of mush.

Ethan & I went for our follow up appointment to our so cool doctor. As you may recall there was a little concern that Ethan was not gaining weight. Well I am happily reporting a half a pound increase!!! Not too shabby for a boy that is walk/running everywhere himself!

I too passed with flying colours. My blood pressure is back to normal numbers and all my blood work came back healthy!! I was so relieved. I am working very hard on this healthy being, so to know that it is showing in my health is awesome. My doctor laughed at me describing my walk-a-run attempts and encouraged me to continue. I was expressing my frustration that after three weeks of this human torture I have not weighed in less. He said to keep at it, because even if the scale isn’t moving the health factor is good. I am hoping all this effort begins to show a little, you know for encouragement … positive reinforcement.

So when does this running gig turn into a thing people look forward to? Or do you exercise because you have to, not because you love it? Do you exercise regularly? Why? Why not?

Have fun with more Wordless Wednesday.