It was a bit of a lazy morning (and how appropriate that the "word on the street" today on Sesame Street was "lazy") and by the time I finally summonsed enough energy and ambition to get out of my pj’s and wash my bedhead, B was long past ready to "do something!". So I shooed him outside. Checking on him midway through drying my hair, I saw this.

When I sent him out he had asked for his dump trucks from the shed, which I got out for him. All his sand and yard toys have been put away for the winter but I guess his shovel was still out, probably under the porch steps. He took it upon himself to clean up the leaves a bit and was dragging them into a pile and putting them into his dump trucks. I did go out and help him later. I got down the rake from the shed rafters and did the whole yard, stirred up the compost, pulled the dill and kale out of the garden (only chives, a couple onions, and brussels sprouts left now), and that’s about it. I dumped the leaves into the composter, picked the dill seeds off the dried heads, put the kale in a large tub to be sorted, rinsed, dried, chopped, and frozen tomorrow. We’ve had a couple good heavy frosts so far and while the kale, dill, and sprouts have remained untouched (or unaffected), I’ll need to pick over the brussels sprouts in the next couple of days.

It was a mostly good day. The outside work made up for the lack of anything accomplished previous to it and now I’m sitting here looking at my Christmas gift list thinking that if I’d just get off my ass, I could whip up a pillowcase for three of the children on my list. I cranked one out for B on Monday morning in the midst of re-packing for the second week of my course and it was so simple to make. His is made in this print and I’m thinking I may do my nephew’s the same unless I can find a really cute train print.

I’m away from home for two weeks on a work-related course so won’t be updating until I get back. Not that I’m a daily blogger. I’ll be battling holiday traffic (Canadian Thanksgiving) to head home this weekend but will be leaving on Monday afternoon to come back down. Thank God for my beautiful tomtom GPS, which I got on sale at Future Shop just before I left this past weekend. I love you, Tommy!

The course isn’t too bad but I’d rather be at home. We did get awesome rooms though, practically like hotel rooms. We had all heard how awful the "pods" were, several rooms off a common living area and involving the sharing of a bathroom containing two sinks, two showers, and two toilets. There’s no sharing where we are and actually, I lucked out and got the handicapped room so I have more space than anyone else in my class. Not too shabby but I am looking forward to sleeping in my own bed when I get in on Friday night.

My mom has had machines/guys at her house for a few days now digging up her driveway to extend it and put down paving stones. B has been enthralled.

On Sunday afternoon I have to leave to drive 500-ish kilometers to go on a work-mandated course. The course is two weeks; since next weekend is Thanksgiving up here I will come home (3-day weekend). A 2000km trip by the time I’m back home to stay. I’m not necessarily looking forward to any of it - the course, the drives, driving in Southern Ontario… I’ll take the 407 once I get to it but even still. I’m fine with the traffic itself (though I could never live in Toronto and have to deal with it every day) but I don’t enjoy trying to navigate unfamiliar streets/highways in the dark. I’ll leave here around 2 o’clock and hopefully get in around 7′ish, when it should still be a bit light out. Everyone is telling me to "just think of it as a break, time away," etc but I don’t see it that way. I’ll be leaving B with my mom for two whole weeks and I’m not looking forward to hearing the exhaustion in her voice every night that I call. I’m not wanting to think of what B will be thinking and feeling either. A few days is fine but two weeks is a long time. He did longer than that at the cottage this summer twice but he was there with other kids. And I won’t see S for three weeks more or less. He works nights next weekend and I’ll see him briefly before he goes in but other than that it won’t be until the 27th or so; I’m on holidays for a week starting when I get back and it turns out that’s his annual hunting trip. At this point, I just want the two weeks to be over, even if it does mean that it’d now be the middle of October and that much closer to "Oh my God! I’m SO not ready for Christmas!!"

In other news in the long-neglected Body Beautiful category, my goal for October is to lose 10lbs. Yesterday I drank a bunch of water (still not quite 8 glasses but definitely up from the next-to-nothing that I usually drink), ate a decent small breakfast, and completed a 45-minute cardio DVD. I can feel the muscles in my back today from all the cross punching. There is going to be a gym and pool right on campus where I’m going but I’m expecting it to be filled with gung-ho recruits. I’m going to take my shoes and comfy pants and aim to go for a walk every evening. The school is in the country so barring profound boredom from walking the same straight-to-the-horizon dirt concession road, I’ll be plugging in my iPod and hitting the road. Which somehow reminds me that I want to measure myself before I go (because I won’t do it there) so at the end of October I can hopefully see a difference. Starting weight 125lbs (OMG!) up from my usual 105 to 110 (normally 107) of about a year and a bit ago. One hundred and twenty-five pounds do not sit nicely on my 5′3" small frame.