MONSTER update!

Well it seems as though I’ve become a stalled blogger – I’ve seen it happen to others, but I swore it wouldn’t happen to me this time.

Alas, time, nor energy, is never enough to warrant coming home from a day of typing and clicking and scrolling and surfing and emailing to sit down at an overly-sensitive and grumpy laptop, only to be forced to wait while it “thinks” about what I’ve commanded it to do. For five.full.minutes. Agh. (Anyone selling a Mac? I kid. Sort of.)

However, at the end of such a long week – a long month, actually – I’ve decided it’s time. I really miss fleshing out my thoughts and feeling like I can sort things through. Also, being as efficient as I try to be, it’s a good way to keep you lovely folks up to date. And gives me an excuse to peruse the cyber-lives of other fine blog-folk.

Because I’m no longer on Facebook, I don’t have the capabilities to post embarrassing or fun photos in my “photo album” for all of Facebookdom to see. However, I have begun uploading more recent/significant photos onto Picasa web albums and if you like, you can view my public gallery at any time. If you scroll to the bottom of Dora’s album, you’ll notice my darling Dora has a new haircut – very sporty, indeed! (Wayne was NOT impressed with the bows – but I secretly love them).

I’ll attempt to become less verbose (!) in these posts, and perhaps more topical, rather than playing catch-up (have I said this before?).

To pick up where I left off, Wayne is joining the Armed Forces (sorry for the suspense this whole month!). He has his medical to do next Wednesday and then should be good to go to Boot Camp in August. He’ll be gone for a long, long time – almost a year. I know there will be chances to spend weekends together, we just don’t know when/how/where. He will be an Artillery Officer right off the bat (meaning a manager of 30 or so men, once his training is finished). View his job description here. You’ll notice that my Wayne will also get a degree, subsidized, out of this program, a great step for him.

Yes, it will be terribly difficult and lonely and trying. But we went into it with much prayer and consideration for our relationship. We received counsel from both our parents and some wise mentors we know through church. We also have spoken extensively with two close friends who belong (one formerly) to the Armed Forces, who both had nothing but good and encouraging things to say. In fact, Wayne’s cousin, whose father was also in the Army, just left for Boot Camp himself one month ago to be in the Navy. I guess it’s in the blood.

Obviously, this application process and planning for our time apart has taken a lot of time and energy from us, accounting for why it’s been a long month, on top of job stress. For those who don’t know, Wayne was enlisted in the Army when we met, but he pulled out his application just before they sent him to training. He felt it was the wrong time and had some decent job prospects here. I always knew, though, that I’d be a military spouse someday…though I didn’t realize it would come so soon. If you have any advice or resources or contacts on being a military spouse in Canada, please let me know!

In other news, I’m quite happy to report that my mother’s influence for the last 26 years has finally rubbed off: I am seeing a naturopath. It’s awesome to have more insight into my body and it deficiencies and sensitivities. Unfortunately, that means I have been taken off all dairy products (except butter) and egg whites for the next three months – no ice cream ALL SUMMER! Ack! So when it comes to baking, I’m officially vegan. I’ve learned how to substitute things, but it sure hinders my Starbucks and sweets intake!

In terms of vegan baking, does anyone know how to bake goodies that DON’T include tofu? I’ve eaten it my whole life and actually enjoy it; but recent reports of its cons (vs. its pros) really makes me wants to steer clear of it, especially in large quantities. I’ve turned to goat’s milk and goat’s yogurt and rice milk – will those substitute in a muffin recipe or cookie recipe? Even my naturopath, who most people would think of as a hippy vegan-type (though mine is not), advised AGAINST eating soy products while trying to conceive, and especially while pregnant. Oi!

On top of all this, I have started a wicked, but rigorous, workout program called P90X. It’s a 90-day program that gives you only one day off per week and, if I was extremely disciplined, I would be following the strict diet guidelines that go along with it (they do have some yummy recipes). But with these recent changes in diet from the naturopath, I am simply writing down everything I eat (so annoying!) and was even counting calories, sugar, protein and fibre intake for a while (among other things). That got too time-consuming, what with the hour-and-a-half of workouts every day after work. It’s tough, trying to get in shape, eat properly, keep a clean house and an exercised dog – and I’ll have to do it all myself when Wayne’s gone! But it’s fun and I’m seeing results already, just 3 weeks into it. It’s really boosted my mood. When I met Wayne, he’d only been doing it for 30 days and he was RIPPED (though, all he ate was chicken breast and veggies, NO sugar and did extra runs etc. on top of the workouts). The great part about the program (no, I’m not getting paid to write this!) is that you do a different workout every day: Yoga X one day, Kenpo X (quasi-kickboxing) another day, Plyometrics (side jumping) another day and weight training the various muscle groups, plus Ab Ripper X, on the other three days. So it’s not boring or repetitive. And each session enhances your ability to do the others – the first week I did the Arms and Shoulders session, I could only do two sets of four tricep chair dips with my knees bent. Yesterday, the third time doing the session, I did two sets of 20 with my knees straight! You write it all down on worksheets as you go and you can track your results. It’s just great.

Another piece of news – Wayne and I are taking an Alaskan cruise together in July, our first vacation since our honeymoon! We’re so excited to have time away together and relax and do NOTHING. This will be out big trip before he sets off for New Brunswick to Basic Training.

I think this is all my lunch hour here at work can fit! (You’re probably glad…if you’ve even read this far). I will try to update more frequently, and with less daily stuff, more thought-provoking issues. Like baking. And cleaning. And pet care. And summer activities. And ice cream, which I can’t eat. And…