Nice Weekend

This past weekend was so nice. On Saturday, we spent time doing some work out front(Kevin trimmed dead/crowding branches off the maple tree and I weeded the rock garden), then we all went for a walk to the garden centres at Loblaws and Home Depot to see if they had any interesting plants that we might like for in the yard or to plant in the rock garden, and we may remove the rock and just plant spreading plants of different varieties.

On Sunday, Kevin counted collection at church, after lunch I did my first run of Week 2 in C25K and it went great, then after that we all went for a walk along the pathway and down to the little creek to find rocks for the kids to paint to look like bugs. After that, while Kevin was at a town hall meeting at the church, I went crazy pruning the forsythia in the backyard. Now it's not massively huge, and we can see the ferns growing around it, some of which I'm considering transplanting out front because of the shade from the tree. We had dinner with Pat, Peggy, Matt and Jess, which was a really nice way to end the weekend.

Run 2, Week 1

This one just about did me in, but I managed it. My shins are hurting a bit, and my outer thigh muscles were super sore until this afternoon. It's not discouraging me, though, I'm going to keep up with it. I may progress at a slightly slower pace, like maybe do one week for two weeks instead of moving on to the next week right away, all depends on how I'm feeling.

I have my follow-up appointment with Dr Trant on Monday, and hopefully I'll have read at least those 2 chapters of that book that she recommends people read first.

I did it!!!

I ran it! I did the first C25K run this afternoon and it felt good, despite the snow flurries and the cold wind! It was hardest around the 6th and 7th run repeats, but the 8th went so smoothly. Doing the warm-up walk from our house down to the path and towards Maitland works perfectly. I get to almost the end of the second cool-down walk before turning around, then I make use of the spur path out to Field St., and only have to turn around for a bit to get the last repeat in so I don't have to cross Iris St. I managed to figure out the podcast transfer late on Saturday, and have all 9 of them on my phone now in preparation for the following weeks. My shoes are comfortable, and I don't have any pain at all, I'm just tired. It feels so great to get out of the house for even just a half hour without any kids along. I think I may have to pick up some way to carry water with me in a hands-free manner because that made it a little hard to keep my hands/arms relaxed while running.

Starting Fresh

I've got everything I need, with the exception of the podcast, to make my start at the Couch to 5K running program. I'm hoping that I can get the computer to phone transfer sorted out before sometime during the day tomorrow, and then I can get myself started tomorrow. I'm hoping that by doing this, not only will I get in better shape(I'm not able to keep myself interested in just strength training anymore), but it will also help my mental state to get away from the house and the kids for a half hour or so 3 times a week. I just hope that the weather co-operates tomorrow for me, and that I can actually get away, regardless of whether it's Mother's Day or not.

Anybody's Guess

We discovered yesterday that the woolly bear caterpillar we found in the garden shed has made it's cocoon! Now we wait and see when the Isabella Tiger Moth will emerge.

First Garden Expansion Done

The kids and I started the removal of the "grass" on Monday, planting an area about 4 feet by 2 feet with 2 hostas, a bleeding heart, a fern, and some lily of the valley, all of which are transplants from other areas of our garden. I thought a rock border would look nice to delineate where the edge of the plot was, so I enlisted the kids to help pick and place the stones that we would use from our rock garden beside the driveway.

Spring Clean Up

I'm getting started on the spring clean up that needs to be done out in the front yard/garden. This morning I spent time raking all the sticks and such off the front lawn, cutting the old dead feather grass down, trimming up the hydrangea(which, unfortunately, I didn't pay enough attention when I was doing it, and I cut some of the new growth off, maybe even most of it). Next up will be clearing the tiny bit of grass left in one area of the front lawn between the maple tree and the walkway, putting some black earth that we have in the back yard in to help the soil, split up and replant some hostas that need splitting. It doesn't look too bad in this picture, but in person, it's mostly just hard packed, dry as bone, dirt. I'm hoping to turn it into something really pretty that we can be proud of. I've also got some lupin seeds soaking and will get them started inside tomorrow. I'm hoping that on Wednesday, I  can take a look at the garden centre at Loblaws and find a nice flowering shrub of some sort that would look nice out there. I'd also like to try to find something to make a seating area of sorts out there so that we can enjoy the shade that area gets in the afternoons/evenings during the summer.