What To Do

For this past week, I haven't been sure of what to do with myself. Since October, I have usually played hockey twice a week and gone to watch at least one hockey game a week and now that it is pretty much over, I'm at a loss of what to do. My Tuesday night and Saturday night hockey ended the last week of March and the Penticton Vees (local junior. team) were knocked out of the playoffs at the same time. A couple of months ago I was wishing I had more spare time and now that I do, I'm wishing I didn't. At least I still have one night a week playing hockey until mid-May up in West Kelowna (and there's always the Canucks on tv).

You would think with all this spare time, I would get lots of things done but no, that isn't happening. However, I have read quite a few good books this week!

For those of you who watched the Olympics (and I can imagine that is all of us), and saw the commercial advertising BC with Kim Cattrall in a vineyard, that was filmed right across the road from us. This is the scenery I get to see everyday when I look out my window and with spring and the sunny days and fruit trees starting to blossom, I have certainly been appreciating how beautiful it is where I live.

Tournament Winners!

My team played in a hockey tournament in Princeton on March 13 and 14 and came away the winners. We played 3 games (including the final) and won all 3. I scored a goal in the first game and in the final.

Hard to believe hockey season is winding down. I've been playing twice a week, Tuesday and Saturday nights and there is only a few nights left. Next Saturday night I get to play with (or against) Tim. I've played with him a couple of times but I don't think I have ever been on his team. Starting in April there is a hockey camp for women in West Kelowna on Sunday nights until the middle of May that I'm planning on going to. I went to the camp last year (the first time I ever played hockey!) and found it very valuable. The instructor was great. We would spend half the time working on skill development and the other half scrimmaging (I still have a lot of work to do on my skills.)

However, there has been improvement in this past year. I can now stop, skate backwards, turn around while going forward and then skate backwards, and can almost do backwards crossovers. (I couldn't do any of these a year ago.) I can do backwards crossovers but could never do them in a game situation because I have to concentrate really hard and I just go around in circles!

The 5 km run the weekend before went really well. I was able to run the whole thing but probably should have stuck to the walk/run training I was supposed to be doing for the Sun Run Clinic. I ended up with a very sore knee and have been having problems ever since. And then my calf started bothering me. The doctor said it is just from overuse, that I couldn't do it all and it would be best if I gave up one of the activities for a while. Well, let's see... running or hockey. Didn't have to think hard about that. For now, I'll be taking a break from running and see how it is in a couple of weeks.





The weather here is certainly spring-like. Tim's busy with the orchard and the bees and I did some spring cleaning this past weekend (carpet cleaning). Not the weekend I had planned on having but the carpets do look nice. I think the nice sunny weather has helped the chickens with their egg production. We've been getting between 10-12 eggs a day. In the picture, the hen beside the rooster is one of our heritage breed girls (we have 2) and she lays blue eggs.

Before and After

Most people who just meet me now have no idea I used to weigh over 300 lbs and then there are people who I have known for quite a while who will pass me on the street because they don't recognize me. Some days I don't recognize myself and still think I am that miserable 300+ lady and then I'll catch a glimpse of myself as I'm walking past a store window or mirror and wonder who the heck she is. I don't like looking at old pictures but that is who I was (and vow never to be again) and it is important to remind myself once in a while of how far I have come and how much my life is changed.

I guess I don't have to tell you which is the before picture and which is the after picture! I'm not sure when the "before" picture was taken. Lisa looks to be around 11 or 12 so that is 8-9 years ago. I just know that I sure look (and was) miserable. The "after" picture was taken this past August.

Gone Solar

We now have the classiest looking house on Naramata Road. In our effort to reduce energy consumption (and save money), we have installed a solar hot water system. Don't ask me how it works, I only know that when I turn on the hot water tap, there had better be hot water. Tim on the other hand, can explain it in intricate detail but it is kind of like asking him how his bees are doing. He gets very excited and can go on and on and on (you all know how he is).


We had to have a second hot water tank installed and it is pretty high tech with a digital display and pressure valves. Tim is constantly running downstairs and checking the digital display to see how many kwh we have saved, what the temperature is in the solar collector and in the tank. He also said to let everyone know that the purple pipes carry the glycol to the solar panels (it is the glycol that heats the water) and the white pipes are what feed the regular hot water tank. So, we save money because the regular hot water tank is being fed water that is all ready heated from the solar hot water tank and the regular hot water tank doesn't need to use electricity to heat the water up. Yesterday it was 15 degrees outside and the solar collector was heating up the water to 110 degrees. In the summer, it will heat up the water to over 200 degrees (that's degrees Celcius!) It's a good thing we live in the sunniest place in Canada.

Finally

I have been contemplating the idea of starting a blog for quite some time but kept thinking that who would want to read anything I had to say. Well, I think my Uncle Fred would read it so Uncle Fred, this is for you.

Hard to believe the Olympics ended yesterday. It seemed so long ago that Vancouver won the Olympic bid and here I am, already suffering from POD (post Olympic depression). I would have loved to have gone down to Vancouver during the games but had to settle for watching them on our brand new 40 inch flat screen TV. We renovated the rec room this fall and I figured a big screen TV would look just perfect in there. Of course, we then had to get High Definition but to me, it is definitely worth it. I had a hard time following the puck on the ice with our old TV, even with my glasses on.

I'm sure you will notice a hockey theme throughout this blog. I have finally found something I am passionate about and who would have thought it would be hockey! The US-Canada gold medal game yesterday was fantastic (but I may not have thought so if the outcome had been different.) After the US tied it up with 24 seconds left in the game, I got a little worried but I had faith that Canada would prevail. I am a big fan of Duncan Keith who is from Penticton and played Jr. hockey here for a couple of years. Tim didn't think he would make it to the NHL because he is on the small side but I always thought he would go far and now he is one of the best defense men in the NHL.

Life on the orchard is busy, especially with the warm weather we have been having. Tim is almost finished pruning all the fruit trees and was busy with his bees this past weekend. Now we just have to take all the prunings to the landfill. I don't know why I say "we" have to take all the prunings to the landfill, Tim does 90% of all the work. I give him encouragement and moral support.

Work at the library is going okay. I'm wishing I would have stayed part time but too late now. There are some things about my job I definitely don't like but in all, I enjoy most of it. I just wish I had more spare time. Between training for the 10 km Sun Run in Vancouver in May and playing hockey twice a week, I'm finding it hard to find time to get the housework and the laundry done.

Speaking of hockey, I scored my first goal in a game a couple of weeks ago. I actually scored my first and second goal in that game. My team mates set me up perfectly and it was such a thrill to score. It was even more special because Tim was there to see them. That's me in the picture in the blue (left wing). I like playing left wing because I shoot left and I kind of know what I'm doing. Sometimes I get stuck playing centre or defense and I have no idea what I'm doing out there. I skate around hoping no one passes me the puck!

I have a 5 km run coming up this Sunday and the following weekend I am playing in a hockey tournament in Princeton. If someone had told me a few years ago that I would be running and playing hockey, I would have laughed, because at that time I never thought it would be possible. Now that I am active and healthy, there are so many things that are possible in my life and I have started a list of all the things I want to do. When I get to cross something off that list, I'll let you know.