Tabby's Send Off

I joined the nearby gym when the kids started preschool. They were 4 and it was time to get rid of more of that baby weight!

So I went. With NO clue what do there, how to use the machines or anything. So I floated around and just randomly did stuff. Unless I got bored, then I stopped and moved on to another machine I didn't really know how to operate. Sometimes I just stuck to the treadmills because those had auto settings and didn't require anything complicated. I didn't know anyone there and everyone else seemed to know what they were doing and had a plan and everything. I just tried to pretend I wasn't a gym moron and kept my head down and hoped no one noticed I was faking it. Bad exercise is better than no exercise right?

I'd try one machine, do a few reps but if anyone was nearby I'd move on before my facade was busted! Eventually I decided to check out one of the group exercise classes in the evenings. Circuit class sounded interesting so I came at the appointed time and walked into the exercise studio. Imagine my utter horror and panic when I stepped into a room with all guys and a guy instructor. The place was full of mirrors with nowhere to run and nowhere to hide. If I turned and ran out, everyone was going to notice. As I frantically considered my options, everyone said hello and welcome etc etc etc. Then I was trapped. I was still trying to figure out how to escape and freaking out as to how hard a class it was going to be if only guys attended, when Tabby walked in. Thank you God for sending me a girl!!! Wait. She's built like the GI Joe of fitness, but I'll take her! I don't remember talking to her that day but I was incredibly glad she was there. I think there might have been another female or two but Tabby's the one that made the biggest impression.

Over time we ended up in more and more classes together and would get on the treadmills together, hop on the rowing machines together to "go fishing". The circuit class instructor called us "Team TK" and would hang out between our 2 treadmills and chat with us sometimes and keep us entertained.

Tabby has a young daughter and a son who's just a bit older than my girls so we always had lots of mom stuff & life stuff to talk about. She brought me her daughter's outgrown clothes and gave me lots of healthy eating tips. I kept her entertained with my goofy commentaries and brought her extra dessert (she does not bake, crazy!!!!!) She also knew that gym like the back of her hand and made sure I worked out properly.

Eventually she got her personal training designation and got certified to teach fitness classes too. I was her first guinea pig when she had to practice. I think I failed all the fitness tests except the stretching one! Letting your friend measure your fat with calipers in front of a male witness/examiner is true love let me tell ya!

Although I missed having her all to myself to joke around with during class, I loved her classes and she could always get more effort out of me than anyone else. She knew me too well to let me get away with any slacking and would call me out immediately! Mine was the first name that anyone new to class would learn. "C'mon Kelly, you're NOT done!" I would get her back with my own comments and she could only shake her head and laugh at my antics.

Then she decided to start up a spin class and asked if I'd come try it out. I couldn't refuse her so I went. I didn't much care for it but there were only 2 of us so I couldn't NOT go or she'd have almost nobody and they might cancel the class on her if attendance was low. So I went. and went and went. It didn't feel very productive, I didn't think I was getting much exercise just sitting on a bike and pedaling. Then one day I walked by a mirror and noticed how red in the face I was. By George, it actually was work! Instant convert. I never missed spin again if I could help it. The class grew and grew to the point that you had to phone in and reserve your bike or there weren't any available by class time.

Then she started teaching Pilates and Yoga. Pilates I loved. Yoga I didn't. Another instructor saw me after my first (and last) Yoga class and asked me "how did you like Yoga?" I admitted I hadn't enjoyed it. She smiled knowingly and said she didn't think all that "staying still and being quiet" would work out well for me. Ha ha! I stuck with the other stuff but let Yoga go on without me, she had lots of people for that one and wasn't in danger of getting dropped.

Last summer she started an outdoor running/circuit class. Ever seen me run? Ever see a cow in a hurry??? about the same, just add spandex. I was THE worst runner in the group. Tabby would run double, going back and forth to keep track of the group ahead and then checking to make sure I hadn't quit and gone home! By the end of the summer I could run all the stretches in between the stations. I saved her from geese attacks and we all bolted back to the building once when we came across bear tracks in the wet mud that HADN'T been there on our way out! So many outdoor adventures and so many funny moments and so much fun.

I loved every class she taught and would go 3 times a day if I got to work out with her. (Why am I not a size 10 already you ask right??? remember that baking thing? yep. I'd go home and undo all her hard work but she loved me anyway!)

Recently the gym was bought and new owners came in and after checking out the changes in the lay of the land, Tabby decided to give notice and explore fitness career options elsewhere. While I'm heartbroken that my gym girlfriend is moving on, I'm rooting for her as she'll be an awesome addition wherever she goes. Plus we can still hike and bike and ski between classes. She can't totally give me up, I have all those good treats she likes!

After a few nights of waking up in the wee hours all sad and weepy, I decided we needed to pay tribute to all her efforts to get the best out of us in each and every class. She had so many key phrases that would motivate us and keep us pushing through even the hardest of her classes. We were a consistent, friendly and fun loving bunch who liked to work hard and have a good time doing it. Other regulars to the gym would use the treadmill during spin class and tune in to the channel that Tabby used for her mike and follow the crazy discussions and comments and she'd catch them laughing along with us at all the funny parts. That's how much fun we had with her.

So I got my Martha Stewart on and fired up the inkjet printer to decorate each bike with its own Tabbyism. Then I created this lovely sash and made her wear it. I thought I'd finished it when Honey saw it and said "aren't you going to put any GLITTER on it?!?!??" I quicky raided their craft drawer and corrected the oversight. I also tied a happy face helium balloon to her seat and strung streamers all over her bike. Tabby isn't much into the girly girl stuff so making a pink glittery beauty pageantlike sash was perfect. She shook her head and said "well I'm glad it's a fitness related title at least!" and kept it on the whole class. The other gym patrons walked by and smiled at all our crazy decor. We managed to keep lively and upbeat until the very end during the stretches and then the tears started. Not everyone could make it for class and one of the regulars had just had her baby a few days before and Tabby commented during class that "if only Kari could have made it!" Little did she know I'd messaged Kari and shared the bad news of Tabby's leaving and asked for help remember the Tabbyisms and let her know we were taking Tabby out for a drink after class. Just as we were finishing up, Kari & her husband walked in with the new baby and surprised her. It was perfect!

We wiped tears and pulled ourselves together for a group photo (only for this girl would I be caught dead in a picture in workout gear!)

Love you Tabby and thank you for keeping me in line (as best you could! no one has ever done a better job!) and always listening, encouraging and making the gym a fun place to be!

Appreciation

My gym has a party each year for the members and we always have a lot of fun with the kids. We bowl, we play lazer tag, try out a few games, collect some tickets for prizes, eat pizza and so on. We look forward to this free & fun family event.

The afternoon of the party, they all had to get one chore done and Lovey had to practice her violin to be able to go. The chores were finished in short order (surprise surprise!).

Lovey went in to practice her violin and became enraged when she saw a piece of sheet music on her stand that she felt was out of date and came yelling into the kitchen to tear a strip off me.

MOM! WHY did you PUT THIS music on my STAND??? IT'S so OLD and I haven't USED IT in forever and IT DOESN"T belong THERE!!!!!!!!!! WHY would you PUT IT THERE????

The shock left me stunned and speechless. I laughed in incredulity. Who did she think she was? Where did she get the idea that she could speak to her mother like that? This must be our fault for being so indulgent and accommodating with them all the time. THE END.

I somehow fought the urge to slap her silly and told her a thing or two. I was livid but couldn't decide what the consequences should be. I stormed out into the backyard to calm down and wait for Murray to come home to rant at. I certainly didn't feel like taking her out for a night of fun and games! An appreciation party when she wasn't showing us any at home seemed completely wrong.  I couldn't even remember picking up the sheet of music in the first place, but if I had it was probably because she'd left it on the floor in the first place! She was completely out of line and out of control.

Unfortunately that meant one of us couldn't go to the only Christmas party I get and well, obviously it wasn't going to be me. Murray had to take one for the team and stay home with her. When I told her about it she was very stoic and showed no emotion. She quietly slipped away though and I could hear heavy sobbing from behind her closed door. It actually made me feel bad and a twinge of guilt started to seep in but I stood my ground. This type of thing is getting more common with all 3 of them seeming a little big for their britches lately.

So I went off with the other two and we did have a good time and they seemed to take their sister's punishment as a warning because the expressions of thankfulness were effusive and they seemed to try extra hard to use their manners!


During the party, I used some of my tokens to play air hockey with each of them. They were baffled. That game didn't spit out tickets at the end to cash in for junk at the prize desk. I said I just liked the game and wanted to play. "but. it doesn't give any tickets!" I said I knew that, I just wanted to play because it's fun. "but.... no tickets?!?!?" Once they tried it they really enjoyed though. I don't think they'll "waste" any of their tokens on it though haha!

When we got home and got them to bed, Murray said he'd talked to Lovey about her words and tone and she agreed she shouldn't have reacted the way she did. Maybe it'll sink in!

Gym wedding

Another big night out for Murray and I recently! My friend at the gym was getting married and invited us all to her reception. We booked the sitter and ran for the hills and danced the evening away! It was quite a swanky party with fireworks and a mountain of cupcakes. The downside of hanging out with your diligent and fit gym friends: you don't indulge at the cupcake tower! 3 minis for me and then I'm pretty sure I danced them all off again, so it's not all bad I guess!

One of my sweet & encouraging instructors!

Weekend's here!

What a week! Honey stayed home today and was a lot calmer once all the voiding was done. She had a good night's sleep and had a small appetite today so it looks like the worst is behind her.  Murray crashed early last night and didn't resurface at his usual time this morning so I got Lovey & Sweetie on the bus and when I came back in, Honey was awake.

An hour later, there was still no sign of Murray so I phoned his office to let them know he might not make it in. One of his coworkers answered the phone and asked me to make sure to keep him home. I explained that he didn't always listen. He has to be totally incapacitated to actually take a sick day. The guy again said he thought I should keep him home so I suggested that if Murray stumbled in there looking all bleary and gross to kick him out!

Sure enough, Murray woke up and thought he should still work because he wasn't THAT sick. I told him I'd already called and they didn't want him there. He decided to compromise. He drove in to the office, set his computer up so he could work on it from his laptop at home and came home to work instead. Whoever taught that boy about dedication may have gone a little overboard! He did break down and have a nap this afternoon. I'm sure he timed it, documented it and sent an email to the boss so his pay could be properly docked. :)))

This week while Sweetie was off we still practiced her adding and subtracting drills with PopMath, a cool app on the iPad that they enjoy. She worked on it every day and got up to level 27 without many mistakes.

Payday for me!!!! Five dollars came in the mailbox so Murray's not the only one working from home around here. I'm earning my keep, one survey at a time!

 and I finally got around to hanging some pictures! I put up our family photo in the living room a few days ago and then tackled this beast yesterday. I do love my Murray's 20x40 canvas but it was a challenge to work with!!! I had to get our precarious antique step ladder from the garage and work out some brutal calculations to get the &^@#$ thing centred & levelled properly over the doorway. Seven holes and 2 sheets of paper later, it looks pretty decent and Murray was pleasantly surprised when he got home. Not sure if it was because I didn't kill myself on the ladder in my spectacularly klutzy way or because he wasn't expecting me to get that task done that day!

(as you can see below, I could do with more time on the Pop Math app myself)

Since Murray was working from home today, I decided to vacate the premises for the first time since Monday afternoon. I went to the gym but didn't feel up to doing any step or Zumba action. I started on the eliptical machine but that was too much standing and my legs didn't like that! I moved on to the spin bike and that went much better! It felt good to be out and get the blood moving!

I spent the rest of the day watching an online photography workshop on Glamour shooting. The presenter is amazing and so inspiring. She shot the women students in the live audience and showed their before and afters today. They were all blown away and so was I . What an amazing ability this photographer has, to make anyone look and feel like a supermodel/covergirl!!! I'd love to try this and think I have a lead on a volunteer!

Fun in the Sun!

We had another nice day and made good use of the pool today! We even found 5 friends to come over and play!

In the morning I went to a class at the gym and then squeezed in 15 minutes on a lovely little thing I like to call "stairway to he!!" I see the really really fit kids using this beast all the time and decided maybe there was something to it. So after 3 years of studiously avoiding the darn thing, I hopped on a couple weeks ago. Knowing I'm not at those other girls' level, I thought I'd start out for 20 minutes at oh, I don't know, let's try level 3. It was tough! and although I was sure my heart was about to explode out of my chest at several points during that session, I made it to the end! Whew! After I got off, a couple of the aforementioned superfit girls asked how long I'd been on for and were surprised that I'd gone for 20 minutes. Then one of them thought to ask "What level did you start on?" I explained that I was just testing it out and wasn't sure I could do it so was only on level 3 that day. A quick look of understanding flashed in their eyes and they tried to change the subject. I wasn't having any of it! I hounded them to find out what level they start on. They tried to evade the question but that just made me more curious. Obviously it was WAY more than level 3 and they didn't want to make me feel bad. My persistence paid off. They do 15 minutes and START on level 10 and jack it up throughout the 15 minutes. Instead of being discouraged, this gave me a target! So for the last couple of weeks I've been increasing my level and every time I do, I'm positive I'm not going to make it. The machine is pretty high up and it's already warm and sticky in there at floor level. Take it up a few steps and the air gets even hotter. Do some high speed stair climbing and voila, I'm barely breathing!!! I totally have to cheat a bit by leaning on the arm rails but I figure that will get better over time right? Anyway, I'm excited to be now up to level 8 for 15 minutes! That's not too far from level 10..... theoretically anyway! How's that for exciting summer vacation plans???

Ok enough about the gym! We went into town to pick up a parcel, my newly repaired lens! How I missed that!!! Once we got home we were starved so I whipped up some french toast and we got ready for the pool. Honey ran next door to round up the troops over there and then her friend from school arrived with her older sister and a little later, Tulip joined us! They all had a blast, jumping and splashing around, making whirlpools and getting out to bounce on the trampoline and hang out in the playhouse. We had some freezies and watermelon to cool off and I finished reading a book while they played. It was a great afternoon!

Apparently it was too much activity for Honey though! She was so tired she had trouble finishing her supper! At 6pm, she asked to go bed and brushed her teeth and tucked herself in! I didn't really think she was going to go to sleep. When I peeked in, she was reading a book so I expected her to run back out at any moment. Fifteen minutes later there still wasn't any sign of her so I went back and she was out! She wasn't feeling well on Sunday after Lovey got sick and had a bit of a fever last night so I guess she's not fully recovered yet. Hopefully a good night's sleep will do the trick.