This week I began working out again. My goal (I am starting small) is to work out 4 days a week for a minimum of 30 minutes. Also to walk Cam to and from school everyday (except when I have schedule conflicts like Nate’s school days). We may not live far but two trips a day to and from Cam’s school with 3 kids is a work out. I intend to get back into shape and raise my stamina levels but for now my goal is just to get back into the routine of working out on a regular basis and to once again give exercise some priority in my life. So I decided with Cameron returning to school and all of us returning to routine after the Christmas Holidays that now was a good time to begin. I have to say though after only two days of working out and some extra walking added in I. AM. SORE. My body does not agree with the whole working out plan. It is rebelling and screaming at me with pain. My legs, behind and back muscles are all yelling at me. Oddly enough I like it. It means what I am doing is working and will help me to achieve my physical goals. Now I just need to keep going.

It’s something just about everyone learns at some point but for me learning to cook was sort of different. I learned not because it interested me or because it was time so that I would one day be independent. No I learned because I was a smart ass. It also happened over a few occasions. I remember one of the first things I ever cooked was a grilled cheese sandwich (well thats what it was suppose to be). Mom had made dinner, left overs I think, what ever it was I didn’t want it and I was at a mouthy stage (I think 7 or 8 years old)  so I said I wasn’t eating it and mom told me she wasn’t making anything else so I could either make food myself or go hungry. So I decided I would. I started making a grilled cheese, which I burnt and got made and blamed the stove and the frying pan. I started again and thinking I was smart put bread in the toaster and then when it was toasted I put cheese on it and microwaved it and claimed it as “my grilled-less cheese”. It didn’t taste the same but I had done it and that was all I cared about. I had cooked. I do remember mom trying to help by giving me directions but being the independent soul I was I didn’t listen. Come to think of it I still don’t take direction when I cook. Recipes, ha. That sounds like work. I cook by trial and error. If it tastes bad, well, don’t make it again. 🙂

I didn’t go to college in the typical sense I actually went to a special apprenticeship course offered by the college and high school as a way to help transition students. It was called the Ontario Youth Apprenticeship Program(OYAP). I took computer networking and at the end of two years received a college certificate and best of all had no student loans owed. But it wasn’t all easy. Computer Networking like most trades was and I am sure still is a male dominated field. In a class of 20 students I was the only girl. It was quiet awkward. A few of the guys in the class were lacking in self confidence when it came to girls and for the first while were uncomfortable talking to me and others were still just children and would ask ridiculous questions about girls. I know some of them laughed at me for not being a “girly girl” but I never cared. I studied hard and received highest marks at graduation. If I had it to do over again it is not what I would choose to go to school for. It turns out it isn’t a field that I actually have any interest in working in. That being said I am not sure what I would have taken instead. I still haven’t decided what I want to be when I grow up. 🙂

I began my high school career at age 13 which is a year younger then most people because I am a December baby. I just made the Birthday cut of  for school so I was always the youngest and smallest in my class. I never knew any different so it never bothered me. But high school was different. The school was a lot further from home and a lot bigger. I had always been lucky enough in elementary school to live close enough to walk. But my high school was about a 35+ minute walk from home so I took the city bus instead. My first day was very intimidating. I had missed the day that they took the students on a tour of the school so all I had was my class schedule and a map of the school. I walked around the building 3 times before I decided which door I was going to go in. Even with the map I was very lost but I found my locker and my first class. First period was my elective class it was a metal working class. I arrived at the shop class and walked into take my seat when the teacher stopped me. “I think you’re in the wrong place” he said. I was momentarily confused before he continued “the junior high school is up the street”.  What a great start to the day that was. In that one moment I lost all confidence I had in making it through that day. Some how I managed to survive the rest of the day and even made it home with out getting lost. I am so glad those days are behind me.

I have been very tired today and have not had any great inspiration towards a topic so I decide instead to just share other peoples inspirational thoughts on beginnings.

Aly was born with reflux. It isn’t a big deal but as a baby if we laid her flat on her back for more then a minute or two she would throw up and cry. So the only way she would sleep was if she was inclined. To make life easier (for me and her) we would put her to sleep in her bouncy chair with it laid back. Now that she is getting older we have been trying to transition her to her crib. For her beginning to sleep in her bed is like torture. She won’t sleep for more then 20-30 minutes in her bed. I spoke to her pediatrician about it and he said she’s fine, but it is really getting to me. When she wakes up she doesn’t just cry, she screams like something is hurting her. So I decided to start out small. I started by just putting her in her crib for naps so she would get use to it but still get a good nights sleep. Then a few nights ago she started crying during the night and screaming. She has been sleeping through the night since 2 months old but now she isn’t sleeping for more then an hour at a time. She’s six months old so it could be teething but they’re are no other signs of teeth. We also had to move her completely to her bed only starting last night because she has gotten big enough to pull herself up to sitting from the reclined position and even with the belt it no longer seems safe to let her sleep in her chair. I wish I knew what was bothering her and how to fix it.

Ugh…She is so exhausted. I am so exhausted.

New beginnings came be so hard.

P.s. I am sorry if I rambled but I am tired and my mind is distracted.

Obviously I don’t remember my beginning but here’s what I know about it. I was born in Toronto Ontario Canada on December 14, 1979. It was a Friday, I guess I just didn’t want to miss the weekend. I have been told that it was freezing rain that day for the drive to the hospital. After many hours in labor my mom had to have a C-Section. I guess I was warm and didn’t want to come out after all. I was born 6lB. 2oz. I was born jaundice and developed a fever from a birth canal infection because I was stuck for to long. I had to spend a few days in hospital before finally being allowed to go home. Also I was the first born child and the first born grand child on my mothers side, I am not sure what number grand child I was on my dads as he has a large family and they are spread out across the globe.

Well. It’s not much but it’s a beginning. My beginning. Now you know a little more about where I came from.

I am not a very strong reader. In fact I read extremely slowly so that and having kids I don’t read to many books that aren’t written by Dr. Seuss or Robert Munsch. That being said about a year ago I decided to take on the challenge of reading a book. I decided to read Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card. I had purchased it a few years early on a recommendation from Rob and had never gotten the time or interest to actually read it. So one day I sat down to read it wondering how far into it I would actually get before I lost interest or got to busy to get through it. Well I opened the book and began reading. I was always told the intro was written for a reason so it’s meant to be read. So I came to the Introduction and began reading it and it said “….and if you skip this intro and go straight to the story, I not only won’t stand in your way, I’ll even agree with you!”. This stopped me. I thought for a minute. It went against what I had been taught. But this was the author. He wrote it and he was giving me FULL permission to not read it before reading the book. After a minute or two thinking this over I very happily turned ahead 16 pages and began to read the book.

I know to most this may sound foolish. Not only that I am that set in my ways that I am taken a back by not reading the intro to a book, but also by the fact that this is what stands out to me as my favorite beginning to a book. I mean really I know, it isn’t even part of the story. I realize that. What it is to me though is a glimpse into who the author might be. He isn’t completely vein and wrapped up in himself. He didn’t just write an intro to brag about himself and how genius his book is. Instead he wrote to the audience. He shared a piece of himself. He also gave some one who is set into their habits a chance to re-evaluate those habits and tho break out of their mold.

Oh and just in case your wondering I did read the entire book…except for the intro, maybe some day I’ll go back and read it too.