The art and benefits of clotheslines!

Saw this post today and wanted to share it with you all...

{taken from Mille Fiori post}

Mille Fiori Spa: The art and benefits of clotheslines!: HANG DRYING Laundry Facts Average Annual Household Savings of more than $100/year.

{source}

We only have a washer/dryer in one at the flat we're renting and I think I've only used the dryer function once.. because I needed space on the clothes horse (what do you guys call em?? laundry rack?? those things that fold up and extend up that you hang washing on??) and the socks I was pulling off didn't feel totally dry, so I threw them in the dryer for about 15mins... damp socks are not pleasant!

Other than that I never use the dryer.. and I actually haven't had a dryer in the last two flats I've lived in... they don't seem to be huge in flats here.. probably because they rack up a massive power bill!

My mum's always air dried laundry apart from sometimes putting towels in the dryer for 5 mins to soften them up.. and sometimes in Winter she'd put my clothes in the drier in the morning so they would be warm for me to put on when I got dressed.. (this happened very rarely... but it's sooooo nice!!!) She doesn't even have a tumble dryer at her house anymore...

The only time I used driers a lot was when I lived in staff housing in Whistler, as there wasn't really anywhere to hang laundry... and in my flats in Victoria... because... well... using the dryer just seems to be "the way"... and basement flats aren't the most conducive places to try and air dry laundry! As well when I lived at the hostel in Edinburgh.. as again... not exactly a lot of room to hang laundry when you share a room with 5 other people!!

Anywhos... I strongly advocate air drying laundry! I also dislike "Bounce sheets"... pop into a homeware store and pick up some dryer balls! They pay for themselves and does not create rubbish each time you put a load of drying on... if you can't give up the habit!! I just think the dryer is a destroyer of clothes! I completely agree that they last twice as long if you air dry!

I also agree that clotheslines can definitely be arty! And for someone with slightly voyeuristic tendencies like me.. (I can't help looking into people's ground floor windows when I walk past.. can you??!!) it's always interesting to see other people's laundry... don't you think??

Are you totally dependent on your dryer?? Do you have a clothesline?? Do you use a "clothes horse"?? Do you find that the dryer eats your clothes?? Or would you loathe to see people's laundry in the open??

I thought lunges were THE most evil exercise.. until...

the personal trainer made me do these cruel squat jumps.... you start standing, holding a medicine ball at your belly... then you drop into a squat lowering the medicine ball towards the ground, and all in one movement you have to stand up, lift the ball above your head and jump!! Then you drop back into the squat and start all over again.... GAHHHHHHH!! The first couple that I did.. I almost toppled over because I wasn't using my core to keep my back straight...  if you want a full body exercise, give this one a go!

He also made me hold myself up in the pull up/chin up position for 20seconds then 10 seconds... it's like the arm equivalent of "sitting on the wall" (another EVIL exercise btw!)... and reverse sit ups... which I couldn't do properly because I have a keg where I should have a six-pack! *sigh* so out of shape!!

I still haven't got around to measuring myself to keep track of my progress... I am slack like that... I think mostly because I just don't really care... as much as it would be nice to have tangible results... it just doesn't bother me all that much... on the flip side of that.. maybe if I don't take measurements... I can slack and it doesn't matter!

Anyways, I am happy to report I went to the gym on Monday and ran through the exercises the PT gave me last Monday... after giving my shoulder a week off... and I survived my PT session yesterday! I feel like the PT worked me harder yesterday.. (tho maybe I was already sore and tired from working out on Monday)... and almost like the guy I had last Monday wasn't even a proper PT...  I also liked that my PT yesterday is named Nacho... MUAAHAHAHAHA... I really had to try hard not to laugh at that one...

I will endeavour to take some measurements to keep track of my progress.. but I am still deciding whether I want to put them up on this blog or not...

Fill in the blank Friday...

Man, how am I so late to the party when I don't even have work to occupy my time!?!

1.   The best thing I did all week was     nothing! I have left the house twice this week.. once to go see the PT and the other time to go to the post office.. to post my broken headphones back yesterday, they emailed to say a replacement has been ordered to be shipped within 24hrs.. so I'm pretty stoked about that! (how lame am I?!)  .

2.    Hilarious conversations on fb with my friends scattered across the world      make me super happy.

3.  Pets are   like children... great when you can give them back!   .

4.    Travel   is the best thing about my life.

5.  With the cooler weather I am looking forward to    hot apple cider or it's more convenient cousin Turkish Apple Tea! And mulled wine!! .

6.  Something that's on my "wish list" right now is     Toms Wrap Boots... in olive green... or red...  .

7.  This weekend I am going to    check out some buildings around Edinburgh that aren't usually open to the public as part of Doors Open Days and also go animal hunting in Jungle City!  .

Happy Weekend!!!!

As always, head over to Lauren's to link up!

Conversations with Mother #3

Today's conversations with mother included such delightful topics as... bowel movements.. and the importance of having a bowel movement at least once a day..., AGAIN... not eating anything from China..., the pertinence of working up a sweat to stay healthy... as that's how your body rids itself of toxins... which she has noticed on her daily walks... that some of the more "elderly" smell strongly of medication... than others... therefore, those who smell less like medication = more healthy! I thought it was a bit of leap, but she probably has a point...

She also advised taking a brillo pad to kiwifruit to rid it of its fluff then eating some of the skin.. tho not ALL of it.. because, you have to cut the tips off anyways... but she tries to eat at least 1/3 of the kiwifruit skin.. and it is good at aiding bowel movement if you're having trouble in that department...

Though the absolute gem of today's conversation concerns those days when the weather is bad that she doesn't get to go on her daily walk... and it went a bit like this...

Mum: Singing is also a good way to work up a sweat...
Me: Sing..ing??
Mum: Yea, I've been singing!! (She has an extra pep in her voice when she says this...) (I should probably also mention at this time that she had a karaoke machine installed and wired into the surround sound... no joke..! We are at times... properly stereo-typically Asian...)
Me: How does one sweat from singing??? (I assume she hasn't also hired a choreographer to help plan some elaborate stage show... tho at times... you never really can tell when it comes to my mother...)
Mum: Well, I sing for up to two hours at a time! (There's that pep again!)
Me: TWO HOURS!?!?!
Mum: Yes, I can work up a good sweat...
Me: *laughter*
Mum: Because you have to sing LOUD.. otherwise you just don't get that "feel"... (she says "feel" in English.. I'm not really sure why... but it makes the whole thing seem so much more hilarious.. [to clarify: we usually converse in a mix of Mandarin and Taiwanese with bits of English thrown in, mostly at my end when I can't think of the word in Chinese])
Me: *more laughter*
Mum: Oh but I only sing in the afternoons! (More pep)
Me: Only the afternoons??
Mum: Yes, I'm not someone with no class! 
Me: riiiiiiight...
Mum: I'm considerate of the neighbours you know...
Me: Uhhh huh...
Mum: I try not to sing on the weekends when I know some of the neighbours might be home.. and I don't sing in the mornings in case people are trying to sleep... or around lunchtime.. in case people are sleeping after lunch... (it used to be common that offices shut down for an hour at lunchtime so the employees could have a little sleep/nap after lunch) So I only sing in the afternoons...
Me: okaaaaay?
Mum: Because during the week, most people are at work, so I can sing as loud as I want!
Me: *laugh* (is there any other response!?!?!)
Mum: Anyway, I asked the doorman if he was ok with it and he said yes and that he enjoyed it!!
Me: Umm... would he tell you even if he didn't like it??? 
Mum: Well... yes I had thought of that, so I asked if he had any complaints from any of the neighbours and he said no! (She seems genuinely excited about this!)
Me: Well, I guess you're ok then!
Mum: Well, it's not like I can sing and run outside at the same time to see how loud I am!!
Me: Well, no....
Mum: But you need a bit of volume... to get the "feel".... (feel, in English again...)
Me: Uh huh..
Mum: I tried to sing quietly.. it just wasn't right... it just wasn't as fun! (I've been in the house with mum singing... she certainly gives it gusto!)
Me: *sliding towards hysterics*
Mum: You need to be holding that microphone, or you don't get the "mood", you know...!!?? (again, mood.. in English... WHA??)
Me: *almost uncontrollable laughter*
Mum: And while you've got the microphone, you just need to turn the volume up a bit.. you know? So you get the "feel"!!! 
Me: *actually in hysterics now*
Mum: But you know??? Don't you ever go to karaoke there??
Me: Umm... no... there's not really karaoke here... (there is.. but not like she's thinking in the way it is in Asia)
Mum: *snort* How boring! (Yes, she actually snorted... like a tv, geek snort! Like.. a rolling of the eye kinda snort... Like having no karaoke = less quality of life!)
Me: *silence* (I really had no response to this...)
Mum: Anyways... sometimes when I'm learning a new song... I'll sing the same song over and over again... coz sometimes you can't always hit the notes, so you need to practice!
Me: HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA (I feel for the poor doorman!!)
Mum: They should be paying me for the free entertainment!
Me: Maybe you can put a hat outside the front door...
Mum: Like a donation box!

Yup, true story... maybe next conversation she'll tell me how much money she's made from serenading the neighbours with her karaoke practice!!

We also covered "a HUGE new mall or department store that opened in London"... which I had absolutely no knowledge about... Mum seemed shocked and disappointed as it's been in the news over there... her reasoning what that if there's a new mall or department store then the logical thing would of course for me to go shopping there and check out the monstrosity! I asked Sok for verification of such a place's existence.. and she confirmed they have opened a new Westfield in Stratford... so I shall have to find a weekend to go to London to see this thing and maybe give mum's credit card a work out so I can accurately report back!!

Then there were such exciting topics as my attempts at going to the gym and mum telling me to treat myself to the occasional massage! (Well, don't mind if I do!) Also AS ALWAYS diet and eating more vegetables.. but not too much fruit.. because fruit has lots of sugar and can actually raise your cholesterol! As well as how heavy I am... (I am fat in my mother's eyes... this observation was the first thing she said to me when she saw me after 7 years of NOT seeing me... I said... "Hi mom!", she said "You got fat!", I replied "You got skinny!") She thinks I should weigh myself daily like she does to "keep an eye" on my weight.. I didn't want to tell her I think she's a bit OCD about her weight... last time I tried to tell her she was OCD about cleaning.. the outcome wasn't pretty! Anywhos.... I'm off to check on my rather calorific slow cooked chilli mince dinner! (Noone tell my mum!)

Lost comments on blogger??

Is anyone else having this problem??

I got an email notification about a comment but when I click through to my blog to reply... it's not there... ie. it says I have no comments... as far as I know, even if the person removes the comment, it comes up with a box still that says "this post has been removed by user" or something... but I just get nothing at all... it still says (0) after my comments button...

The other day it would show I had comments but then none of the text actually showed up under people's names and pictures... so I just had a box with a photo but no writing...

Has anyone else had this?? Any suggestions of what I should do??

[edit: 4.57pm] Nevermind... I somehow stumbled onto my "spam comments" page whilst having a look around the "new blogger interface" and found the lost comment... So, if this ever happens to you, check your spam comments page!! XD

Tho still not sure why they wouldn't load properly a few days ago... *sigh*

Gymmin' It

So while I was away on holiday I spotted an itison deal for a month's gym membership with 3 personal trainer sessions and decided to buy it... a little motivation to get back into some physical activity after 2 months of vacay style eatin n drinkin n smokin n just being fairly sedentary...

I knew I didn't have a job to come back to, so also thought the gym would be good to get me outta the house..

Well, I had my first session with the PT (one of my friends said, PT = physical torturer! - he wasn't far wrong!) on Monday and I seriously almost died... We did 10 mins on a bike to warm up, then went through some free weight exercises... 3 sets of 12 reps of 5 different exercises including LUNGES... seriously whoever thought up that exercise should have died a slow and painful death... they are E.V.I.L.!.!.!

We did some ab work as well with a swiss ball coz I told him my back isn't the best.. we were supposed to do 3 sets of 10 reps, but something was tweaking in my upper back/shoulders so he let me off with 2 sets of each...

I somehow managed to get my jelly legs back own the spiral staircase, then promptly went to the bathroom and threw up... I have only ever thrown up one time previous due to physical exertion and that was after a championship rowing race back in high school...

I had a quick shower and thought I might sit in the jacuzzi or steam room to try and loosen up my back, but after not even 3 minutes in the sauna I was feeling a bit green around the gills again... I decided that my gym session should probably come to a close at this point!

What is surprising is just how out of shape I am! I mean I know I've been pretty lazy for the past two years since I got to the UK, but I used to walk a lot (mainly out of necessity and cheapness) and living in a hostel that was on the 4th floor of an old building, then living either up or down a floor within the hostel meant I used to do a lot of stair climbing! But I used to walk at least 30-45mins home after work each day even after moving out of the hostel, none of my flats have been on the ground floor and ALL of them have been walk ups...

I attribute the pukeyness to the fact that I didn't get much sleep the night before (oh hello insomnia, my old friend...) and also/therefore waking up feeling not the greatest anyways... so I don't really know if it was good or bad that I forced myself to go even tho I wasn't feeling that well... probably good, coz I think had I not gone.. I would have just kept putting it off...

Tho whatever tweaked in my shoulder/upper back definitely isn't happy about it.. I've had to take a lot of pain meds to even be comfortable and I had a lot of trouble moving around Monday evening... it's feeling a bit better now after yesterday tho I am for sure feeling all the muscle aches (even with the pain meds!)... hopefully after another day of chilling out and resting it, I'll be ready to head back to the gym tomorrow.. at least to hit the bike machine, pool and jacuzzi if I don't get in any weights...

The PT didn't weigh me or take any measurements and I'm not in the habit of weighing myself... tho I did get on the scales at the airport in Calgary while I was repacking my luggage so I have a vague idea of how much I weigh... so I am wondering if I want to weigh myself and take some measurements so I can a) keep track of progress and b) be held accountable or if I should just go with whatever and just do it... and hope that those jeans fitting a little looser is a good enough indication that what I'm doing is working!

I've never been very focused on my weight, I've always "measured" myself with my clothing... and things are definitely fitting pretty snug... I just think weight can be so deceiving... the whole "muscle weighs more than fat" thing... and I think it can be so discouraging when you don't see the numbers dropping as much as you think... and as much as I'd like to lose a bit of weight, I'm hoping to make this more about fitness than weight loss... I want to have a fit and healthy body (as healthy as a junk food addict can be!) and just get some definition back...

I played sport for most of my school career, I fell into hockey a bit by accident in primary school and carried on playing into high school, I made fairly short lived debuts in basketball and cricket before taking up road racing and rowing... then after high school I got into waitressing/serving and bartending so spent lots of hours on my feet running around restaurant floors and lugging ice buckets, kegs and recycling bins...

I've been practicing yoga on and off for the past decade since signing up to a mat pilates/yoga course with Sok, way back in the day... our instructors were hilarious... they made it fun and I was hooked! Then I got into snowboarding and wakeboarding... so I've always led a fairly active lifestyle... I think unbeknownst to some people... (there were a few surprised people on fb when I said I was going to the gym! - most of them runners, because anyone who knows me knows how much I D.E.T.E.S.T. running... I would even go so far as to say I loathe it... "Running is for crazy people who hate their knees" is generally my catchphrase for "those" people!)  I have no problems if you choose to run, and I have a lot of friends who DO run... I just think they're nuts! But all my friends know I'm a few sandwiches short of a picnic so we're pretty much even!! It's not that I don't DO fitness... I just don't DO running.... ok??

Annnnywhos.... well done if you're still reading!

I need your opinion... should I weigh myself and take measurements to track my progress?? Or should I "Just Do It"?? Thoughts on a postcard.. or that comment button works a treat too! ; )

A note about Google Reader...

Now for those of you not aware of my love of Google Reader... I wrote an ode to him a while ago...

But while I have been on my Summer Vacay/Blogging Hiatus... I have noticed a small flaw... well I consider it a flaw... some might consider it a blessing...

I was surprised after almost 2 months off, that I only had about (700) unread posts... Then I thought I was doing really well with my catch up reading as the number seemed to quickly dwindle.... but thennnn I realised something.... a blog that previously had (5) next to it... dropped down to (4).. and I hadn't read any entries...

After some investigation, I realised the particular blog had probably over 10 posts I hadn't read... but they were no longer marked as unread and I could also not manually mark then as unread... I can only assume that after a certain amount of time (I think a month), Google Reader automatically kicks it off the list and marks it off as "read".... which could be a small blessing in disguise, as I'm sure if I opened my gReader and saw (1000+) unread, I'd probably just get overwhelmed and shut it down again... but on the other hand... I'm a bit annoyed as I didn't know that was its default, and therefore I don't know if I can turn this option on and off or not??

Also, now I feel like I don't know if I've missed some of your fantastic posts while I've been gone! If yours was a blog I "caught up on" before I realised, I hope I haven't missed out on any major announcements.. I'm now reading all blogs on the "all posts" option rather than the "new posts" option... which is probably a slow and gruesome process.. but I'm back from vacay and jobless, so I will have lots of time to fill in the coming weeks!!

So, I guess... if someone knows how I can change the settings in gReader, I would be interested to find out! What do you use to keep up with the blogs you read?? Any recommendations??

Hope you're having a great weekend!!

We just got back from a 2.30am run to the supermarket because I was craving Cheerios and Cinnamon Toast Crunch (Curiously Cinnamon)... hehehehe...  all I can say is you see some strange people at the supermarket at 2.30am!! There was a very well dressed couple (ie. black tie) and some very scruffy looking boys and another few in trackies... the staff were rather entertaining with one guy singing loudly to Valerie... and just general disarray as they restocked the shelves!  Gotta love midnight supermarket runs!!

Fill in the blank Friday!

Would you believe me if I said I have missed filling in blanks while I've been gone??

I have also missed catching up with all my lovely friends in blogLand... on my many long long drives around BC and Alberta, I've often wondered what you all have been up to.. I have caught up on a few blogs, but there's still a few I need to catch up on... it's been wonderful seeing how you've all spent your Summer! Especially today when it's grey and rainy outside, it's like being able to hold onto Summer just that little bit longer!!

Anyways, enough babbling.. let's get to it!!

1.   You should always take time to     enjoy your own company sometimes... I think it's so important to have "me" time...  .

2.    Unexpected kindness from strangers      make(s) the world a happier place to be.

3.  I can hardly wait for   Morocco next month!   .

4.    Saturday    is my favorite day of the week.

5.  Something totally dumb and ridiculous that I love is   peopleofwalmart.com and fml.. they aren't sites that I check often... but when I need a little chuckle or just a WTF? moment, they never fail to get the job done! .

6.  If I could, I would   TELEPORT!!     .

7.  I rather like    ordering groceries online and having them delivered! FTW!!   .

Happy Friday!! I will try my best to get some photos up and share some of the fun things I got up to while I was gone... but I also need to un-jetlag myself... We arrived in Scotland at 5.30am local time, I managed to stay awake ALL day... I thought I would be ok to have a little nap around 7 last night.. but nope.. I napped for an hour, but I was up until 3am and I slept until 4pm today (because that's when the man came to deliver my groceries!).. DOH!!  *sigh* I wonder if I would have jetlag if I could teleport places instead?? hmmmmm

Have a great weekend!!

As always, head along to Lauren's if you want to join...

Webify Me...

I'm not sure if this seems trivial or suited after my rather long hiatus away from this blog...

The last few days have been a little bit stressful... involving a fender bender in our hire car and lots of international phone calls to try and sort out insurance... (of course the one time I decide not to pay the extra insurance for a hire car is the one time I get in an accident.... Murphy's Law... damn you!)
Maybe one day I will tell you all about it.... then today we were going to go and investigate Vancouver but we kinda slept in and missed the last TrainBus and it woulda taken us 2.5 hours to take transit to the city and my brain just isn't up to dealing with that right now... my brain currently is just mush if you must know... also the weather was looking like it may just decide to rain and downtown Vancouver is no fun in the rain...

Anywhos... I decided that I would try to get caught up on some blog reading and stumbled across this internet thingee while I was here...

After answering 20 questions... this is apparently what my interwebz looks like...

What do you think?? Have you tried it?? Maybe if they changed the knitting needles into a sewing machine or some bakeware... it would be fairly spot on!?

Summer Funventures!

Hi there!!
Do y'all still remember me??
I can't believe it's been almost 2 weeks since I posted something on this little blog'o'mine!!
My Summer Vacay has been busy busy and since the mister arrived a bit more than a week ago, it has been super duper insane busy!
I haven't even had time to get my photos off my camera! Which I should really do..

We have been having loads of funventures around Vancouver Island... we spent a weekend at Strathcona Park Loge for KV&JH's GORgeous wedding... cabin 11, which we shared with 9 of my beautiful friends had its own little beach and firepit... the view was stunning and the entire weekend was the most amazing time... there's nothing quite like spending your evenings in front of a campfire!

Cabin 11 Crew

We have eaten our way around my fave spots in Victoria and took a day to tour Salt Spring Island where we hit 2 wineries, a few local artists studios and ate lots of yummy samples at the farmer's market!

We are now back on the mainland... after a major EPIC FAIL wherein I sent M to Horseshoe Bay to pick us up but we actually arrived at Twsawwassen.... if you look up the distance on google maps you will understand the epicness of my FAIL.... then he sat in traffic for two hours to come get us to take us to the airport so we could pick up our hire car then for us to follow him home, but he dropped us at the airport, then left... and it wasn't until I saw him driving off that I had the brainwave that.. HEY... he's suppose to wait for us!! FAIL FAIL FAIL!!  ANYwhos... we found them eventually!!

After our adventures picking up the hire car and a night spent in Maple Ridge with M&T  we are now up in Whistler...

Well... the mister has just woken up... so I guess I should be getting on with my day! I hope y'all are having a great summer (or winter for those in the southern hemisphere)!

Hopefully I will be back soon with photos of some of our funventures!!