In praise of younger brothers

see, cutest child ever

My little brother is 6 years younger than me, my god he's not even 40 yet, how is that fair!!. He was the cutest child in the history of the world and I loved him SO much. Growing up we went through the usual brother sister struggles and in our teen years and into our 20's we didn't get along so well. Then at some point, I don't even remember what year it was or how old I was or where I was living, he asked if I would help him out, he asked to move in with me. Now for him to ask that, he had to be in dire straights and I knew that and at the end of the day, no matter what happened in our past he is my brother and I love him. So he came to stay for a while.

cutest E V A R

In that time we got to know each other outside of the labels put on us by our family and ourselves. We got to know each other as friends and gained respect for each other in ways we never thought possible. I finally understood why he did some of the things he did, well not all but a lot, and I think it was the same for him. I also discovered he was a very cool dude. He's an amazing musician and can really sing. I can play piano (when I practice) but I only sing when I want to torture people (or his girlfriend feeds me A LOT of booze and makes me play American Idol with her). He is funny as hell and probably one of the best 4 cooks I know. The others are my mom, my sister and my stepmother, now wouldn't that would be an interesting head to head competition.

cool in the 90's

We were beyond silly. We'd sing each other Finnish sauna songs that we learned as kids,laughed at old stories from our youth and we started playing Go Fish in French. "Escque tu have any trois mon frere?" I know, not funny to you but we were crying from laughing mostly because neither of us know how to speak French. I reminded him constantly not to piss me off cause sleeping on the balcony would be very cold.  That's right I don’t have a balcony!! Growing up in the same house meant we were exposed to the same music, we both have extremely varied taste in music, we love it all. We both love beer and red wine. I was actually very sad when he left. 

Over the years we have remained close, well I think we are still close even though I don't see that much of him, certainly not as often as I'd like. We've had our ups and downs but no matter what I'll always be there for him, we can always play Go Fish in French little bro. 

In the last little while he has jumped on the working out bandwagon and is kicking some major ass. I can't convince him to do a tri with me (yet) or a half marathon (maybe?) but he is looking like one bad ass muthatrucker. (see I'm trying to be polite). 

20 minutes ago, yikes

He is also very protective of me..

very

I wouldn't mess with him..

or me..

That's all I got..

So I was..

grateful for all the supportive comments from my crank.kee post yesterday.  I'm so lucky to have so many amazing people in my life that are supportive and make me laugh and kick my ass (coughMattycough) and also those that will bring me wine at the drop of a hat.. I'd say they are my favourite but that's not true, I'd love all of you even more if you'd bring me wine too.  haha! just kidding.  I'm not sure if there is anything more important than having good people around you.

hyperventilating when I registered for the Mississauga half marathon on May 15.  What's his name, that's Missssissssawwwga.  You should also wink after you say it and point your 'gun fingers'.

hyperventilating more when I registered for the Scotiabank Waterfront half marathon on Oct 16. What's his name, that's wwwaaaaattttee... oh nevermind

getting a brown paper bag while reading the confirmation emails I got from both.  I realize there was a lot of hyperventilating going on but these are my first ones (half marathons that is) and I hate running and not only do I hate running but I suck at it so there is good reason for the hyper and the ventilating yes?

excited about some things happening at the office but I can't go into detail here.  I have my fingers and my toes crossed.

interested to see if this 'preset' publish works.  I'm typing this on Tuesday.  (it didn't)

looking forward to bike certification this weekend and to see Max and Dana AND to have some yummy food and wine.

hoping I don't injure myself or anyone else during #bikeschool.  (haha, see what I did there) 

relieved to see my chiro and have my back adjusted, the chairs at work are killing me.

surprised to find out from him that I should still be elevating and icing my ankle, I did not know this.

nervous to buy the 'wobble board' he recommended which is supposed to strengthen my ankles but we all know me.  Who's betting hospital visit?

loving my new magicJack.  I really hope it's compatible with MAC.  It would kind of suck when I get my MAC computer if it didn't work and I didn't have a phone anymore, a phone I pre-paid for 5 years of service.  It was a sale, you know I can't say no to a sale.  If you want the number, shoot me a note.

swiped this from Mandy's blog, sue me

requesting that you vote for Bailey.
Vote for him everyday. He's a handsome feller and I bet he's pretty cosy and warm on these cold days and he sits all nice for a treat.  So go on, do it for me, go vote for him (everyday until he wins please)  

annoyed at blogger for screwing up my page up there although it could just be me.

That's all I got...

crank.kee

Mia always cheers me up

Oh wow, I've had enough of this.  One step forward and two steps back, literally.  The ankle was getting better since I aggravated it last Wednesday.  I did short walk/jog (15 minutes mostly walking) on the weekend to gauge how it was and while it was (and is) still sore it didn't 'hurt'.  Yesterday I got home from work and it felt sorer than usual but I got on the trainer, thought I'd try 15 minutes.  I didn't even get into my bike gear (gasp no helmet!!!) and after about 2 minutes I noticed it looked awfully swollen.. off the trainer, sit on the couch, both feet up on the table to compare and sure enough, balloon.. ok not a big balloon but WTF?  I have twisted my ankle many times before and it's never taken more than  few days of resting it for it to be back to normal. What gives?

So thus started the OMG I'm crank.kee phase of the day, this lasted into the evening and continues this morning.  It's less swollen today but it hurts.. ARGH!  Last night in an effort to cheer myself up I went to the websites for both the Mississauga half and the Scotia bank half (I love the name of that one, the 'waterfront' marathon), I thought if I signed up I'd feel better.

but I didn't register.
I chickened out.

What if my ankle never gets better? 
Just give it up now...
13.1 miles, 21km, is FAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRR
The Mississauga half is 95 days away, you don't have enough time..
blah blah blah blah wah wah wah

I brought my credit cards to work today and hope that I'll be in a frame of mind to just sign up, I mean WHO CARES if I'm slow, I could walk the bloody thing and finishing would still be an accomplishment and I'm sure I wouldn't end up walking it all anyway but my whine is getting the better of me.

So there you have it.. I hate feeling like this, I'm tired of the crank.kee.  I'm tired of my ankle hurting.  I'm tired of everything frustrating the hell out of me this week and I do mean EVERYTHING.  I'm tired of hearing myself complain so I'll STOP.

On the upside, I have fresh hot Tim Hortons coffee right here, I took my vitamins today, you all will make me laugh today etc..

Nothing lasts forever, not even feeling whiny and crank.kee.

That's all I got...

This blog has no title, just words and a tune

What the hell does defenestrate mean??  EMZ wrote it in her last post.  I gave up and googled it.  For those of us, or just me if that's the case, that didn't know, it means to throw (a person or thing) out of a window.  I can be helpful right.  I know a few people I'd like to defenestrate at the moment.

I have sat in a chair and NOT moved for enough days in a row that my ankle is FINALLY feeling better and I'm so SICK of sitting in a chair (on a couch) and not moving that I actually WANT to work out and sweat, ALOT.  So tomorrow, walk/run and Monday I'm signed up for spin class, I need some Mike ass kicking action my friends.  

 Today I met some amazing ladies for lunch.  We haven't got together in a long time and it was good to see their faces and hear them laugh.   We met for Dim Sum cause the ladies love them some Dim Sum. Sadly I'm not a good Dim Sum date because I don't like seafood or anything that I might consider to be 'odd' but I am happy to report that despite the odds, I did not starve and even had some yummy stuff. With it being Chinese New Year the place was packed and around noon they had a couple of dragons come around and an adorable older gentleman wishing every one a Happy New Year.   

One of the girls that was there, Candace, is quite the cook, I mean QUITE the cook!  She has a blog and posts here occasionally and I gave her loads of lip service about that today at lunch.  She posted a picture of her yorkshire puddings on facebook, see the pic above.  I swiped that off her facebook and can't figure out why it's teeny tiny but trust me, those yorkies are MUCH bigger than they appear here.  This sparked a facebook photo comment debate on who makes the best ones and of course I threw my hat in there cause I make some pretty good ones if I do say so myself. 

Not much else going on around the casa, I did get some nice "Canada" gear at Zellers today, was hoping for a better sale price on the hoodie but I have been looking at it for months now, it was time to make the buy.

I'm a bit grumpy, I've been immobile for two weeks and haven't had a drop of alcohol in almost 4 weeks.  UGH

Oh I did make a few race decisions and have my credit card at the ready for registration.  I'm definitely doing the Mississauga half in late May and I'm going to do the Scotia half (in Toronto) in late Sept, early Oct.  I think it will be great to compare times, I'm hoping to see some gains in my speed as the season progresses.   

 That's all I got...

so I was.. wishing you a happy snow day!!!

starting to shovel

Wondering where the rest of the snow is. Not that I'm complaining, but it's not nearly as bad as they predicted.  They said SNOWMAGEDDON this is Canada, I was expecting so much more.



Waiting patiently(?) for my ankle to get better… no excuses this weekend, pool time it is! Swim + water run.

Wondering if you ever pretend your keyboard is a piano and type to the music? Me neither..

Considering vacation plans for the summer. I want to descend on some family in America, consider yourselves warned!

Looking for a corresponding sprint tri, it would be fun to go visit family AND race.. Well fun for me, not them so maybe not.

Impressed to find out that my iPad calendar automatically syncs with my google calendar. How did it know who I am?  Is that scary?

neighbour stuck

Annoyed with autocorrect on my iPhone, so I turned it off. Now I'm annoyed at all the typos I make.

Thinking that the days are getting longer, I love this trend.

Hoping for another loss on the scale this week.

Listening to Joshua Radin and Amos Lee this week.



Enjoying some tea, it's called "Read my lips", the advert said it's better than sex. I can confim this is NOT true, it is NOT better than sex.

Excited that my bike maintenance course is coming up in 2 weeks. Soon I'll be certified!!!

Checking to see if I qualify for an upgrade to my phone yet, this iPhone is nearly dead.

Happy for a quick visit with my old boss yesterday, he makes me laugh. Next time there will be drinks involved.

Looking forward to Feb 12 because that is the day Salad King re-opens. Salad King is my all time favourite Thai restaurant. Cashew chicken with 5 chilies or the Panang curry with 7 chilies? decisions decisions.  I may eat there everyday for a month just to catch up.

That's all I got...