MY LAZY WEEK

OK, so I did end up finishing the previous post (just in case you didn't see it, you can go now and check it out!) In real time it's my end of the week so I'm in a bit more of a reflective mood than usual. Let's review my lazy week!

MONDAY: My legs were still sore and I'm quite surprised by it. Usually I get delayed onset of muscle soreness (the DOMS) after going to the gym. Everybody gets this and it takes 2 days to see it at its worst, but I experience it on the same day as the exercise just because I'm used to getting exercise all the time. It's been 2 days since my mammoth walk around Toronto and am surprised that the soreness is still about - although I haven't been as fit and active in the gym as I have been at home - but I'm getting more exercise here. Very odd, but I feel like a commoner!

Today my Mum sent me an email with a recipe for choc chip muffins that I love, so I decided to make them for everyone here. I had all the ingredients set up and was ready. Firstly I had to beat the butter and sugar. I did, but for some reason it didn't mix well (the butter wasn't soft enough so when it blended in with the sugar, there were lots of lumps - so now we know the reason!) and I didn't do if for enough time, so when I put the other ingredients in, they didn't mix properly. There were lumps of butter and I knew it was going to be a disastrous mix, even though I tried to mix it up and blend the butter in some more. So after including all of those ingredients, I ditched it, threw it in the recycling and started all over again with soft butter and it worked. I baked them and they came out fine - a little drier than what I am used to, but the people here all had some. But whenever I make stuff, I don't like the taste of it. It could taste exactly the same as when my Mum makes them, but the idea that it was me making them and not her makes the taste different. Weird, I know.

It was cold outside so we decided to do what Canadians do best: have ice cream! Yes, it can be a cold Wintery day, but Canadians like nothing more than rugging up nice and warm, going to the local ice-creamery and downing a nice cold one! Dawn had a field day when she discovered for the first time that I was the first non Canadian that she knows who would go out for ice-cream in the cold back in Japan. We used to go out to the 24 hour convenience store at 3am to get ice-cream. And we'd go to the 99 Yen shop, where it cost 103 yen and for some reason, we had a tin full of 1 cent coins - around $5 worth. I think someone passed it onto us and we were sick of seeing it in the apartment, so we decided to spend it on ice-cream. So she and I went to the 99 Yen shop, got our ice creams, at the register we gave them the tin and waited til they counted all those one cent coins (and watching as the other staff were trying not to piss themselves laughing - although it was Dawn and I doing the most laughing) , went back home and had our little ice creams. Good times! And as I was re-telling that story, I think I may have blogged about it before. But that was back in MySpace. This is Blogger, so it doesn't count - as far as you know, this is the first time you've read it! Deal?!

Here we got just a little cone with a huge helping of soft serve ice-cream. I thought it wouldn't have been enough, seeing as I love my ice-cream, and I hadn't had anything to eat for breakfast or lunch aside from one of the muffins I made. But I'm so glad I stuck with the small coz it was extremely filling. Although I twigged onto the fact that the small was enough when I saw Dawn's dad get that small size. He loves his ice cream just as much as me and eats more of it, but when I saw him get the small I wisely decided to do the same. We had a late dinner because we were so stuffed from the 4pm ice-cream fix that we all indulged in.

I also booked my flight to Wisconsin. A few days ago I found a really good deal but was holding off in case the travel agent got me a better deal As a result, I lost the good deals and had to settle for second best. But then second best was about to disappear, but thankfully I went through another search engine and found it again with a different company. So it was a good find - and I get to fly into Madison instead of having to catch a bus in Chicago. So I'll be flying from Toronto to Chicago, then Chicago to Madison. When I return it'll be via Milwaukee. YAY! All in all, a great start to my lazy week!

TUESDAY: And a good continuation of Andy's Lazy Week, coz I did nothing here. NADA! Didn't go out anywhere, as my lower back was also a bit troublesome from the weekend, but I knew it would be fine once I got some rest. Today it was Dawn's mum's turn to overtake the kitchen. She made more gingerbread and my favourite: molasses buns! I first tried those in Japan when Dawn's mum sent some over to the apartment as part of Dawn's care package. I ate them and fell in love with molasses! She also did an experiment with the gingerbread. We wanted to make gingerbread in the shape of a bowl to give as a gift to a friend of a friend, then fill the bowl up with her favourite candies - mainly jelly beans. But we didn't know if the bowl was going to work, so we experimented on a mould and took it from there. When it came out of the oven it was perfect, but when we decided to take it out of the mould, it was still hot and it cracked. So lesson learnt: leave it overnight to cool down, then remove it. But at least we had scrap gingerbread to keep us munching on stuff! It was a very nice lazy day, but by the end of the night I was exhausted and had a headache and just wanted to sleep, although I couldn't because Dawn, Judy and I were going to head off to Toronto all day and we needed to leave early.

WEDNESDAY: Toronto! We all woke up early to get out of the house by 9:30. Didn't get much sleep and wasn't feeling like my usual happy self, but I knew just the thing that would get me out of it; RETAIL THERAPY! Never underestimate the sheer power of shopping folks! It doesn't have to be something big, just something! And boy did I get it today! Once we got to downtown, we went to a place called Honest Ed's. It is a huge discount warehouse where you can get just about anything: dodgy souveneirs (and I got LOTS!), clothes, food, porcelain statues that belong in the 80's, an enlarged Elvis head, kitchen utensils - you name it, they've got it all cheap. The shop itself takes up a whole block encompassing 3 levels of shopping delight. Thankfully I had recovered from the weekend and my legs were up for a walk. The owner is called Ed (obviously) and he made a fortune not only with the warehouse, but with his love of the theatre and movies. He commissioned a lot of work and was loved by the arts community. You can tell this by all the movie posters in the shop and an endless amount of signed pictures from actors from yesteryear. He made a lot of money and gave a lot of it back to the city of Toronto, so it was a sad day when he died last year.

A lot of the stuff you find is dodgy (for all you Aussies, think Dimmeys, but BIGGER!) but you can get some good quality items if you know where to look - and thankfully I did! I got myself a warm jacket for Winter, a hot belt (it's come in handy, my jeans keep falling off!), dodgy souveneirs for the people in my life who have a nice twisted sense of humour - I got it all! We then went walking back to Union Station via the scenic route and we were continuing our window shopping. I LOVE SHOPPING!!!

This was the first day that it started to snow properly. All the other days the snow has been melting but today, it was piling up and turning into a Winter Wonderland. It was pretty to see. I walked past the shoe museum and decided that I need to go there before I leave. Maybe I'll fit it in one of these days. But I have been calculating that I don't have far to go before I leave Canada. In less than 2 weeks I go to Madison for 10 days, I get back to Canada just for 5 days, then it's no more Winter and I charge straight into an Argentinian Summer. Time is absolutely flying here. Maybe coz I have lots of things I want to do - and I have packed a lot into the last 2 weeks or so. Thank goodness for Lazy Week. Let's move on...

THURSDAY: Had the place to myself for a lot of the day. Dawn had an interview at a place that is an hour away and her folks drove her there, as they also wanted to do something in that area. They asked if I wanted to come along, but seeing as they planned to leave at 5:30am, I gave it a miss! It took them 3 hours to get there instead of 1 because of the amount of accidents on the road. It was the first full night of snow, and all of a sudden people go crazy on the roads. It's like when it rains: people underestimate the effect rain has on the road conditions and keep driving as if the road was dry.

I was also waiting for my package from Australia to come. On my last full day in Australia, I applied for a credit card. Even though I do have one already, this particular one charges no money at all for withdrawals in all overseas ATM's. So I told Mum to look out for it while I'm gone and to send me the card and all the rest of the details when she gets it. She mailed it express international last week and it was due today. And it came at 11:30, so I was wrapt. She also sent me bathers, which I forgot to pack even though most of the time I'll be away it'll be Summer or Spring. I also forgot my iPod. Damn!

2 hours after they got back from the interview, we decided to continue retail therapy at the local shopping centre. Lots of fun! I found some cool winter gear that I liked, but decided not to get it, as I cannot take a lot of gear with me. Must curb my retail therapy! Got back home, had dinner and decided to again continue with retail therapy at the 24 hour Walmart. Their gear is pretty decent, but I was a good girl and left empty handed. Stayed up til 2am with Dawn watching movies, The Biggest Loser, talking shit and laughing shit. It's so great catching up with her - I forgot how much fun she was!

TODAY: Got up at midday. I am worrying of my 'sleep late, wake up later' habits, so I'm breaking them today by going out, wearing myself out at the gym so much that I end up sleeping like a baby. I got the first half set out right. I went to the gym for 2 hours and DOMS is kicking in so much right now, especially in my arms. I warmed up, did weights for nearly an hour, an hour of cardio and then ab work. This isn't including the 45 minute walk it takes each way to get to the gym, so it was really 3 and a half hours. Although the walking is now different, as there is snow and black ice everywhere. I'm used to walking at the same quick speed, but with the aforementioned black ice, it's hard to do. So it's a matter of slowing down at the black iced sections.

I have no idea what's happening on the weekend. We were going to go to Niagara, but it's quite cold. I may go to the gym again, but we'll see. Hope you've had a good week. Feels good that I've caught up!

See ya later :)