Our young dog used to give me the oddest looks, as if to ask, "What are you trying to tell me when you move your body like *that*?" He does sometimes come check out the yoga mat before I kick him off and get started. But he's pretty used to it now. I would either put him in his crate or send him outside if he drove me crazy. He probably knows that, lol.

Wintermom, have you had your thyroid levels checked?

As your kids get older, it's natural that they may not get to see your parents as often. That doesn't mean you can't! Swing in a quick visit with whoever is available. My recent visits with my folks have been to do things like medical appointments and move. That is the visit.

If I had to guess I would suspect Newfoundland of fitting into your final category. 😂

I think you can manually program your phone's time, too? So perhaps that's the deal. And yes, here in Canada Newfoundland is -3.5 hours to GMT. Would have to do with lines of longitude, no?

From the whole 15 minutes I spent with him, lol, and surfing other titles on YouTube I would say he is more of Yoga crossed with CrossFit? Not that I know much about that... just thinking I perhaps am not that ambitious, lol.

Apparently there are 15 min. yoga videos and then there are 15 min. yoga videos. I've been enjoying some short sessions on YouTube after work. (I found the one by Adriene too talky, but love the pair of after work yoga videos put out by Rachel Scott.) I thought I would give The Ultimate Yogi a quick try today. I may not be able to lift my arms tomorrow. That is all.

Small house here, kids have not quite left home so no spare bedrooms, no basement. I do the scientific 7-minute workout by Gretchen Reynolds (pic), 15-20 minute yoga videos on YouTube, and did a very very very gradual couch to 5k this year.

I vote pitch it. Acidic juice + tin can (even though I know they are now lined) creeps me out.

If organizers put together a contest and put the prize *in writing*, then to substitute after the fact because it was convenient is indeed fraud. My first choice would be a letter to the organization, leaving social media as a weapon of last resort, but volunteering doesn't exempt you from legalities or give you permission to be less than as professional as possible. Once it is in print, any miscommunication will need to be dealt with up front as a correction, or left until next year.

That's frustrating! Mind-boggling that it would be big enough for a Costco but not for a clothing donation location of some sort. My only other suggestion is to see if the town with your shopping destination has a local facebook group; you could try asking on there for donation/recycling locations.

Not sure how the population/shopping dynamic is exactly where you are. I drive into the nearest big city (about an hour away) once a month. That's when my big bags of clothes get put in the vehicle and dropped off first thing if possible, so I then have room for my other shopping to come home. And many, many years ago, that's how we recycled too. We do have local recycling now.

Don't like the Smartwool socks I've been able to get here. Even when I buy men's large, the tops are so tight they uncomfortably restrict circulation. My ankles and calves are not *that* thick!

Icebreaker merino wool socks might have a colour that would work for you: https://www.icebreaker.com/en-ca/mens-socks/lifestyle-fine-gauge-crew/104186.html?dwvar_104186_color=426 https://www.icebreaker.com/en-ca/mens-socks/lifestyle-ultralight-crew/101285.html?dwvar_101285_color=424

Glad you figured out the hangry part of things. IMO it is a legitimate life choice for adults to do a bare minimum of housework on busy days, and then do a mini-marathon on a day off, motivated by a nice reward like visiting a friend. I don't see it as allowing a child to "get away with something". This is why I do not listen to podcasts by people who make me feel this way. ETA: I feel the dirty dishes left abandoned pain. It does seem to be a stage they can grow out of. Okay, I missed the pictures, so maybe I'm missing some context here. Glad to hear things seem to be getting sorted out.

That is a really good idea, lol. So I should maybe add Zumba back into my winter exercise rotation!

Our library system has that title, thanks. This morning I discovered a notebook with quotes in my handwriting from The Gap of Time (Winterson). Now that I've googled it, I do remember reading it, but had no memory of the book, the quotes or why they were there whatsoever. I need to discover what lifestyle changes I need to start or stop! Yikes!!

Ankle boots with flat or low heels look nice.

My sister took up running a few years ago, and has now done both half-marathons and her first half-ironman. She is completely intimidated about trail running and running hills. It is so strange to me because the thought of running asphalt is completely unappealing to me. My aging joints and I appreciate it that the ground has some give! I would imagine the treadmill having some shock absorption, too.

Just popping by to say I ran my first 5K yesterday! About three months ago I found a very modified Couch to 5K plan, and modified it further still. 😝 When I discovered one of our local outdoors clubs was hosting it's first trail run half marathon, with 10K and 5K options, it seemed fortuitous. When I registered, my 19yo son offered to join me and do the 21 km half marathon, so I had a buddy to attend my first event. (He ran track a few times in high school, dirt bike races and rides his mountain bike in the hills behind the house. His training in the three weeks beforehand involved running 9km twice and running 21km once just to be sure he could do it in under the allotted 3 hours. Since he could, he felt good to go. Must be nice.) Unfortunately the 3x week for 9 weeks plan I was on was going very slowly, and I had only completed 18 of 27 sessions by race day. (Aging parents, helping dd get her first car, work, yada yada.) So that meant the longest I had run was 3 km, and my last 2km session was a run 8 min, walk 1 min, run 5 min, walk 1 min, run 8 min. But what the heck, I just moved on to the next couple of training sessions for race day (combination of run 8 min, walk 1 min, and run 10 min, walk 1 min) and completed the 5km in 52 minutes, way ahead of my usual pace. Competition helps! I was middle of the pack, 5th of 19 women, 10th of 29 racers and super happy with my first event!! So thanks for letting me share. Oh yes, and to brag on my son, he placed 4th of 23 racers, 3rd in mens. After the race some local guys invited him to another event out of town in November so he's probably hooked now. It was a really fun day, spending time together and with our local community!

Those would be typical, maybe on the more modest side here. I take it volleyball is out then. 😝

Both my sons were younger than that when they built knives with their dad. One was a large Sax knife. I wouldn't say NO for the reasons your DH is saying, but I do trust a parent's instinct, and would maybe want to have further conversation to see if there are any other concerns.

I think people do a lot of things by themselves in their vehicles they might not do while transporting other people's kids. YMMV.

In those situations, I have done most of what you're doing. Also gone for walks, bought a 6?-session swim pass close by, balanced the chequebook, written Christmas cards, brought big items to a nearby laundromat...

I could *so* see this happening in my world. Events like this one is why my siblings and I now keep in touch ourselves (we have a facebook chat group), not just with our parents.