All journeys begin … well, at 7:11 AM on November 18, 2005, I took one small step. And then another, and another … until in total I had climbed 4 flights of stairs. I decided I have so many exercise opportunities around me, I just have to utilize them. So, rather than trying to do something huge and monumental, I took one little step. At lunch I walked down to the first floor and then when I was finished eating my lunch and reading my book, I went to elevator and pressed the button. As my finger left the button I remembered that I wasn’t going to take elevators at work anymore, if I could. I turned away from the bright, yellow light and proceeded to walk up the stairs. It wasn’t as nice walking up the closed in ones as it was doing the open ones this morning, but I liked the feeling of getting everything moving again. So, I took a few more steps at lunch. It was all good.
So, KVS’ boyfriend is over tonight and spending the night (he’s from out of town). I know you’re asking yourself, “How stupid is she?” He’s spending the night – but she’s sleeping in my room and he’s sleeping in her room. We’ll see how this goes, but I can pretty much say this isn’t going to happen very often. I came home to a locked door tonight, which won’t be happening again either, rest assured.
DBR has taken his punishment well and gotten over the fact that he f’d up. (I forgot to mention the phone call from the teacher at the school regarding D and K and their lack of effort in one class.) Anyway, they both got into a bit of caca but it’s over now and at least D is taking his punishment well. KVS is still trying to avoid hers because she’s been at work and such. But it will come. There are many walls to wash and things to do. D’s going to be cleaning my car for me in lieu of both punishment and a new hat.
I had begun the above blog on November 19th. I never got back to it and so am adding this next part that is from today. Onward and upward.
***
Good Influences…
You know, there are a lot of good influences around you – many of which we don’t even recognize as good influences because they seem bad. The co-worker with the bad work ethic teaches us what we shouldn’t do. The kid who wants to quit his job without any notice and leave the company in a bad situation and gets a bad reference learns the consequences of his actions. The parents who continue to purchase food that allows their children to not only maintain an unhealthy weight, but also add onto that weight face those consequences as well. I guess some of what I write is from personal experience, but others are from what I’ve seen. I know that when I take $20 to H&W I typically walk out with about 5 or 6 bags of veggies. The kids of course devour them, but I could have fed them something high in fat and low in nutrition that would have cost me a lot more and wouldn’t have paid off with an incredible Gr.11 season for DBR and the MVP award for BDJ!!! (Congratulations sweetie – we’re so proud of you!!) I guess the next step is the bantam all-star game which I’m sure BDJ will try out for. DBR thinks it is in January or March or something – we’ll have to do a wee bit of searching. BDJ’s team also got most sportsmanlike or something like that and our Head Coach received Coach of the Year!! Absolutely wonderful.
I like to think I’ve become a good football mom; encouraging others to scream for their kids – even if we’re doing crappy. “If you go home and your throat isn’t sore – you’re a bad parent!” They are having so much fun and learning a work ethic that will stick with them for the rest of their lives – and our baby was leading his team so well and did such a good job! I guess I’m just a wee bit proud. Guess where he learned that? From our eldest and the team HE was so involved with. Next year will be the boys’ first and last year to play together, unless they both do junior (which I could honestly see happening) and it’s going to be an amazing year! We’ve got absolutely incredible parents and amazing coaches and I do believe we’ve gotten rid of the negative riff raff – although there are a couple players (I won’t name names) who really need to clean up their attitudes a bit. [Just as a bit of an aside - I am not going to tolerate the things I have learned that happened last year. Some of our players should be absolutely ashamed of themselves, their attitudes, their actions, and their words. The things I have heard in passing are not only embarrassing in how juvenile they are but others seriously border on harassment and assault. For the ones who continue to have big mouths, spewing off negativity to their teammates rather than taking responsibility for their actions, why don't you just stay home this fall. I would rather have 17 or 18 boys who are committed to themselves and each other than even one person with such a negative disposition as I have heard some had last year. This is truly shameful and you should hang your heads down! I feel even worse because Darrin and I have embraced many of you and welcomed you into our homes or helped when you needed rides - and this is the way you show that we've influenced you? Well, you know what? You weren't paying attention! Because the boys who have been have learned that there is a work ethic in absolutely everything you do. There is always a way to better yourself and the team, but the absolute worst thing to do is having negativity and allowing yourself to be dragged down by the arseholes. If those guys want to go and play somewhere else, then they should just shut their mouths and go. But don’t bad mouthing the team that you’ve been with just because you guys didn’t really have a fair advantage and were unable to win. Okay – that rant is done.] It’s really okay. I think you all played amazingly well and I sure hope my “BIG D BIG D!!!!!” was heard loud and clear because I was screaming that for each and every player. And our baby girl, who took the biggest injury – shattering her big toe when she and a player (an old Sting player – Once a Sting, Always a Sting – you could come back SJ!) on the opposing team collided – actually he hit a table and the corner of the table hit her. She ended up going into shock nicely and I took her to the hospital when she started turning grey. Anyway, I think KVS and M and the other girls did an incredible job of being trainers and yes, I am stressing that for a reason (which I will get to in a bit), and did the best they could given the complete lack of mentoring they received however rather than being led and taught during games they were relegated to the position of water girls and were chastised for not bringing water out quickly enough, rather than being given guidance. When we or another team spends money to send our volunteers to training, should there not come a point when we have a “sharing of knowledge” so that our young ones can learn? Perhaps I’m speaking out of turn, as there are always two sides to every story, so I will leave this at that.
Anyway, getting back to where I was originally going with this and what I was thinking. Our lives are really a setting and reaching or failing of goals. We set our sights on something, whether it be another person, an activity, a lifestyle, an education, a career, a job, whatever, and we either achieve what we were going for and sustain that or we fail and try something new – or just leave things be and move onto a different area. I have made some choices in my past that have led me in a direction very similar to others I know of. When I see the results of those choices, I have to be honest with myself and ask if I really want to risk the consequences my parents faced. My father died of cancer at the age of 25 or 26. It started as testicular cancer and just bloomed from there. My mother died of brain aneurysms (yes, multiple) when she was 41 years 5 months. She was a large lady – I believe she weighed around 260 lbs. She certainly wasn’t fit and instead chose to feed her unhappiness and imagined shortcomings (I think she was a great person) with unhealthy food choices. I’ve made it past the first parent’s age at death and we are rapidly approaching the 2nd parent’s age at death. Do I want to be bending over one day, tying my shoe lace while I struggle with heavy breathing and *pop* something lets loose inside my head and that’s pretty much all she wrote? A couple of months of brain surgeries, which really did nothing more than allow our doctors to learn more and inevitable expiration at the end as the body could not sustain itself without the brain. So, do I want that? Do I want to be around for 1.5 years of my grandchild’s life? Or do I want to be a grandma, the great grandma and have many happy fulfilling years ahead of me? I think we all know the answer.
So, getting back to the very beginning and the title of my blog today. Good influences. I think the stairs are paying off, but I’ve been so hungry that I think I am defeating the purpose every time I put something into my mouth. I know I need to have sustenance, but I still feel like I’m living to eat rather than eating to live. I have friends who are trying exercise and friends who are trying diets and friends who are barely trying and friends who are going to extremes. What have I learned from my past errors? I’ve learned that if I pick up a cigarette again I will start smoking. I just heard about someone who quit smoking for over 8 years and recently started up again. What the hell is up with that? There are so many things that we can start and stop – and once we stop something, why is it that we will return to that behaviour which brought about bad consequences? When I got to my most thin, a size 10 and approximately 150 lbs, I was pretty much eating whatever I wanted but was exercising about 45 minutes 4 days a week. I ended up hurting my elbow and couldn’t do weights for 6-8 weeks and eventually even the elliptical hurt to be on. I am not sure what I was doing wrong, but I had overused a couple of somethings and it got me off track. Once off track, it was much easier to go back to the bad eating habits and no exercise that kept me heavy in the past. There are some people I work with who are good influences – in fact there are a lot of them. They model what one should do with food and exercise, and they have the figures to prove that they care for and love themselves and truly want to care for their bodies and minds through health and nutrition. So, am I just going to continue to write about it or am I going to do something about it? I would like to join the running room, but it is $’s I really don’t have. I think it will be more beneficial to invest in a good pair of running shoes and get my butt out there with the boys! Jogging is supposed to be incredible, provided I don’t overdo it and cause any injuries. We’ll see. I’m not going to hold my breath for that one just yet.
Well, I’ve got to run. We’re getting close to kick off time (well, still a couple hours away) and I think Edmonton is going to kick the butt of the Alouettes! This is the tie-breaker to see who is the best!
Toodles!
So, KVS’ boyfriend is over tonight and spending the night (he’s from out of town). I know you’re asking yourself, “How stupid is she?” He’s spending the night – but she’s sleeping in my room and he’s sleeping in her room. We’ll see how this goes, but I can pretty much say this isn’t going to happen very often. I came home to a locked door tonight, which won’t be happening again either, rest assured.
DBR has taken his punishment well and gotten over the fact that he f’d up. (I forgot to mention the phone call from the teacher at the school regarding D and K and their lack of effort in one class.) Anyway, they both got into a bit of caca but it’s over now and at least D is taking his punishment well. KVS is still trying to avoid hers because she’s been at work and such. But it will come. There are many walls to wash and things to do. D’s going to be cleaning my car for me in lieu of both punishment and a new hat.
I had begun the above blog on November 19th. I never got back to it and so am adding this next part that is from today. Onward and upward.
***
Good Influences…
You know, there are a lot of good influences around you – many of which we don’t even recognize as good influences because they seem bad. The co-worker with the bad work ethic teaches us what we shouldn’t do. The kid who wants to quit his job without any notice and leave the company in a bad situation and gets a bad reference learns the consequences of his actions. The parents who continue to purchase food that allows their children to not only maintain an unhealthy weight, but also add onto that weight face those consequences as well. I guess some of what I write is from personal experience, but others are from what I’ve seen. I know that when I take $20 to H&W I typically walk out with about 5 or 6 bags of veggies. The kids of course devour them, but I could have fed them something high in fat and low in nutrition that would have cost me a lot more and wouldn’t have paid off with an incredible Gr.11 season for DBR and the MVP award for BDJ!!! (Congratulations sweetie – we’re so proud of you!!) I guess the next step is the bantam all-star game which I’m sure BDJ will try out for. DBR thinks it is in January or March or something – we’ll have to do a wee bit of searching. BDJ’s team also got most sportsmanlike or something like that and our Head Coach received Coach of the Year!! Absolutely wonderful.
I like to think I’ve become a good football mom; encouraging others to scream for their kids – even if we’re doing crappy. “If you go home and your throat isn’t sore – you’re a bad parent!” They are having so much fun and learning a work ethic that will stick with them for the rest of their lives – and our baby was leading his team so well and did such a good job! I guess I’m just a wee bit proud. Guess where he learned that? From our eldest and the team HE was so involved with. Next year will be the boys’ first and last year to play together, unless they both do junior (which I could honestly see happening) and it’s going to be an amazing year! We’ve got absolutely incredible parents and amazing coaches and I do believe we’ve gotten rid of the negative riff raff – although there are a couple players (I won’t name names) who really need to clean up their attitudes a bit. [Just as a bit of an aside - I am not going to tolerate the things I have learned that happened last year. Some of our players should be absolutely ashamed of themselves, their attitudes, their actions, and their words. The things I have heard in passing are not only embarrassing in how juvenile they are but others seriously border on harassment and assault. For the ones who continue to have big mouths, spewing off negativity to their teammates rather than taking responsibility for their actions, why don't you just stay home this fall. I would rather have 17 or 18 boys who are committed to themselves and each other than even one person with such a negative disposition as I have heard some had last year. This is truly shameful and you should hang your heads down! I feel even worse because Darrin and I have embraced many of you and welcomed you into our homes or helped when you needed rides - and this is the way you show that we've influenced you? Well, you know what? You weren't paying attention! Because the boys who have been have learned that there is a work ethic in absolutely everything you do. There is always a way to better yourself and the team, but the absolute worst thing to do is having negativity and allowing yourself to be dragged down by the arseholes. If those guys want to go and play somewhere else, then they should just shut their mouths and go. But don’t bad mouthing the team that you’ve been with just because you guys didn’t really have a fair advantage and were unable to win. Okay – that rant is done.] It’s really okay. I think you all played amazingly well and I sure hope my “BIG D BIG D!!!!!” was heard loud and clear because I was screaming that for each and every player. And our baby girl, who took the biggest injury – shattering her big toe when she and a player (an old Sting player – Once a Sting, Always a Sting – you could come back SJ!) on the opposing team collided – actually he hit a table and the corner of the table hit her. She ended up going into shock nicely and I took her to the hospital when she started turning grey. Anyway, I think KVS and M and the other girls did an incredible job of being trainers and yes, I am stressing that for a reason (which I will get to in a bit), and did the best they could given the complete lack of mentoring they received however rather than being led and taught during games they were relegated to the position of water girls and were chastised for not bringing water out quickly enough, rather than being given guidance. When we or another team spends money to send our volunteers to training, should there not come a point when we have a “sharing of knowledge” so that our young ones can learn? Perhaps I’m speaking out of turn, as there are always two sides to every story, so I will leave this at that.
Anyway, getting back to where I was originally going with this and what I was thinking. Our lives are really a setting and reaching or failing of goals. We set our sights on something, whether it be another person, an activity, a lifestyle, an education, a career, a job, whatever, and we either achieve what we were going for and sustain that or we fail and try something new – or just leave things be and move onto a different area. I have made some choices in my past that have led me in a direction very similar to others I know of. When I see the results of those choices, I have to be honest with myself and ask if I really want to risk the consequences my parents faced. My father died of cancer at the age of 25 or 26. It started as testicular cancer and just bloomed from there. My mother died of brain aneurysms (yes, multiple) when she was 41 years 5 months. She was a large lady – I believe she weighed around 260 lbs. She certainly wasn’t fit and instead chose to feed her unhappiness and imagined shortcomings (I think she was a great person) with unhealthy food choices. I’ve made it past the first parent’s age at death and we are rapidly approaching the 2nd parent’s age at death. Do I want to be bending over one day, tying my shoe lace while I struggle with heavy breathing and *pop* something lets loose inside my head and that’s pretty much all she wrote? A couple of months of brain surgeries, which really did nothing more than allow our doctors to learn more and inevitable expiration at the end as the body could not sustain itself without the brain. So, do I want that? Do I want to be around for 1.5 years of my grandchild’s life? Or do I want to be a grandma, the great grandma and have many happy fulfilling years ahead of me? I think we all know the answer.
So, getting back to the very beginning and the title of my blog today. Good influences. I think the stairs are paying off, but I’ve been so hungry that I think I am defeating the purpose every time I put something into my mouth. I know I need to have sustenance, but I still feel like I’m living to eat rather than eating to live. I have friends who are trying exercise and friends who are trying diets and friends who are barely trying and friends who are going to extremes. What have I learned from my past errors? I’ve learned that if I pick up a cigarette again I will start smoking. I just heard about someone who quit smoking for over 8 years and recently started up again. What the hell is up with that? There are so many things that we can start and stop – and once we stop something, why is it that we will return to that behaviour which brought about bad consequences? When I got to my most thin, a size 10 and approximately 150 lbs, I was pretty much eating whatever I wanted but was exercising about 45 minutes 4 days a week. I ended up hurting my elbow and couldn’t do weights for 6-8 weeks and eventually even the elliptical hurt to be on. I am not sure what I was doing wrong, but I had overused a couple of somethings and it got me off track. Once off track, it was much easier to go back to the bad eating habits and no exercise that kept me heavy in the past. There are some people I work with who are good influences – in fact there are a lot of them. They model what one should do with food and exercise, and they have the figures to prove that they care for and love themselves and truly want to care for their bodies and minds through health and nutrition. So, am I just going to continue to write about it or am I going to do something about it? I would like to join the running room, but it is $’s I really don’t have. I think it will be more beneficial to invest in a good pair of running shoes and get my butt out there with the boys! Jogging is supposed to be incredible, provided I don’t overdo it and cause any injuries. We’ll see. I’m not going to hold my breath for that one just yet.
Well, I’ve got to run. We’re getting close to kick off time (well, still a couple hours away) and I think Edmonton is going to kick the butt of the Alouettes! This is the tie-breaker to see who is the best!
Toodles!
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