Junk Mail Reinvented

Hi Everyone,

I am back! Sorry I was on a bit of a hiatus, who ever thought wedding planning would be so much work! Mike and I took on a new project so I thought I would share.

In any given week, we have a minimum of 11 pieces of mail that we don't open. On average, each audit receives 41 pounds of junk mail each year, 44% of which goes straight into the landfill unopened.

That is a whopping 100 million trees. 

So Mike and I set out to stop the trend. First, we contacted our banks, utility providers, etc and moved to a paperless billing system. We set up a separate home email address to house all of the bills in so we weren't mucking up our personal emails and off we went. Epost.ca also offers a paperless billing system in which you can even make payments online as well. We however chose to set up a separate email address because we already have online banking payments set up for all of our utilities payments, it didn't make sense to set up new accounts all over again. 

But that wasn't enough.. we were still getting those coupon books and value packs, life insurance advertisements, etc! So I set out to find a solution.

I found an organization called 41pounds.org. "Saving the earth, 41 pounds at a time." You sign up on their website and list the organizations and companies that are sending you unwanted mail and they contact them on your behalf to remove you from their mailing list. The cost is $35 per household and that covers each person in your household for 5 years. 

We are going to sign up, we are just taking a month's worth of junk mail and gathering it up so we get every organization we no longer want to receive junk mail from off our list. We want to be as thorough as possible. 

Will you be signing up? Let me know what you think. 

Everyone's favourite...

Breakfast for dinner! 

Today felt like the longest day, do you ever feel like that? I think I spent half my day texting Mike because every hour felt like time was slowing. Anyway, so I got through the day, finally... and had very little desire to cook, but I definitely didn't want take out. So, I figured since I feel like the weekend will never come, I wanted my mind to wander to Sunday morning breakfast. 

A few weeks ago, my sister, dad and I went to Cora's for breakfast. Have you been? I will try to sum it up... it is a more healthy version of your home town diner. They serve giant portions of fruit with almost everything on the menu and the decor fits the bill. Everywhere you look they have baskets of fresh fruit and sunbursts. 

Anyway, my menu item of choice was the 10-star skillet. I will admit, it probably isn't their healthiest item on the menu but it just tastes like comfort! 

Remembering off the top of my head, the skillet had potatoes, bacon, ham, sausage, Frankfurters, bologna, green onion, red and green peppers, Cheddar, served with an egg on top. 

With my day needing a little Sunday morning comfort, I set out to make my copy-cat version of the 10-star skillet with whatever I had in the house. Here goes:

Ingredients:

2 eggs

1 white potato

1/2 red pepper, chopped

1 stalk of celery, chopped

1/4 cup of red onion, diced

1 green onion, diced

1 pre-cooked sausage (I used a smokey cheddar sausage), chopped

1 tablespoon of butter or margarine

1/4 cup of shredded cheddar

Directions:

Melt a little less than the full tablespoon of butter into a pan, leaving some extra to fry your egg. Once melted. add the potato, celery, red pepper and red onion with some pepper to taste. Let that cook, you will need the potato to soften up. Just when you think you need to add more butter, toss in the sausage. Continue cooking until the potatoes are tender and add the green onion. Remove from heat and split the mixture into two dishes. Top with shredded cheddar. Next you will need to cook your eggs. You can do it however you like it, over-easy, sunny-side up, poached, etc and top your dish. 

Done!

Do you have any go-to comfort food dishes?

Running Shoes

Hi Everyone,

I hope you had a great weekend, I had a very relaxing weekend which is not usually the case for me, especially during these very busy summer months. Anyway, I got out for a couple runs this weekend and I think I finally got a little budget surprise.

If you recall, I participated in Tough Mudder last weekend. Well this is what my running shoes looked like afterwards:

And since Tough Mudder cleans up the shoes and donates them to those in need, I knew it was time. I did a mud run last year and cleaning my shoes after that was frustrating, I saw this as a great opportunity to take clean up duties off my shoulders.

Only because of all that, I found myself going for a run with a very old pair of running shoes. I usually only use these old runners for dog walks but thought, I paid almost $200 for them less than a year ago, they can't be that bad right?...

Wrong!

I couldn't figure out why after all of my Tough Mudder training going out for a light jog was so difficult. I couldn't keep a pace for more than 2 minutes at a time before my calves were on fire. I am pretty sure a guy walking even passed me at one point!

Well it turns out, that depending on how you land on your feet while running, a running shoe can wear down faster. Not to mention, those shoes saw me through my first half marathon race and the training leading up to it.

So I guess this runner needs to buy a new pair of shoes. Those old sneakers are good for dog walking but definitely not an afternoon jog. Just remember, don't blame yourself for poor running performance (it is easy to do) because sometimes it can be as simple as not having the right shoe.

A lot of companies do professional assessments of your running style to fit you in the right shoe, paying the couple extra dollars for the best shoe for you is important to keep your training on track and it will help the shoe last longer during your training so you don't have to keep going out and buying new shoes.

Have a good week!

One Tough Mudder

When people ask "How was Tough Mudder?", I can honestly say, I am not even sure how to answer it. The easiest way to describe it is....

It was TOUGH and MUDDY

Although I am not sure TOUGH does it justice, INSANE might be a better word

From my last post, you can imagine how my day began. I was so nervous I could not contain myself, Mike and I were up at 6:50am and all we could think about was food. What did we eat the day of our big race? Honestly, there was no exact science to it. The hotel had a complimentary hot breakfast, so french toast and sausage it was! I know, I know.. there is so much research out there on what you need to eat the day of a big sporting event, but honestly it came down to what is going to keep me full for as long as possible and please no more bananas! I find bananas give me gas so I don't usually like to eat that before running 18 miles. 

4 hours later, we were finally on route to Andover, New York. When we got there, I couldn't jump out of the car faster and it was back in the bathroom. Next step was to walk a mile to the registration tables, I guess they wanted to get us loosened up before the big event. 

Once there, we were instructed to write our bib number on our foreheads and arms. It didn't take long to figure out why... it is an alternative way to I.D. your body! Okay I am kidding. Official photographers are all over the course and the photos get sorted by bib number. If they can't see your bib (perhaps when it is covered in mud) there is the chance one of your other numbers are visible. 

Once that was done, our team was all set to head to the start line. I mean start wall.... before you can even get to the start line, you need to get over a 6-7 foot wall. That was definitely our wake up call! Just when you finally calm yourself down enough to say, "I am ready for this," they throw a wall into the mix. 

It all began at 11:40 am... finishing a gruelling 4 hours later... here is a little taste of what we went through to get to the finish line.

And all that ended with this... the only thing that got us through those last 4 miles was picturing...

An ice cold beer and the one and only orange head band!

I am happy to say I am a tough mudder after completing each one of the obstacles.. including the absolutely terrifying Electric Eel and Electroshock Therapy! Some things you read out there say 'it isn't as bad as they make it sound.' I can now say from experience... they are absolutely wrong! It was everything they say and it is and more. I thought, oh the running won't be an issue at all, besides I have run a half marathon and that is 3KMs longer... what I didn't take into consideration was the terrain and elevations. 

That all being said, the team work involved to get to the end and just how much fun everyone is having (deep down inside under the tired muscles and growls of pain) is contagious. 

You drink that ice cold beer and all of a sudden.. it's over. Just like that! I built it up so much and when it was done it was like this amazing feeling. Today however, that amazing feeling becomes achy muscles and pain, EVERYWHERE! Getting out of bed this morning was an accomplishment in itself. It is almost time for me to sign off and get in a bath of Epsom salts in the hopes for a little relief. 

I don't want this blog to be discouraging, because honestly if I could turn back the time I would still do the race, no doubt about it. I might rethink the moments I decided "Ya, lets run through these live electric wires, no problem", but all in all it was a once in a lifetime experience with a fantastic group of people. This mudder has one more in her for next year to join a few other friends who have been inspired to start their training! 

If you want to know more, leave me a comment and I will be sure to share some more muddy stories! 

Today is the Day!

Hi Everyone,

Today is the day, it is finally time for Tough Mudder. I remember just 90 days ago thinking, “that’s  a great idea, let’s go run 18km while doing a dozen army style obstacles.” I am glad I got excited about it early because right now, I could easily talk myself out of it! BUT, we are here now so there is no turning back.

With my stomach being so nervous the last couple of days, I did a little research. Folks, let’s put those rumours to rest… nervous pooping is really a thing! Well the more scientific term is Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS), but nervous pooping sounds so much better. It happens all the time, when your nerves and stress levels are ramped up in preparation for a big race, an exam, an important meeting at work, and everything in between.

Can you guess, I am definitely experiencing all of the symptoms of ‘nervous pooping.’ Next time you are experiencing symptoms, here are some tips on how to calm your bowels:

·         Take some slow deep breaths

·         Listen to soothing music and stretch

·         Avoid foods that contain high amounts of natural sugars that usually promote bowel movement

·         And most importantly, stay distracted.

Writing my blog was my way to stay distracted, turns out all I had on my mind was nervous pooping!! Wish us luck, I will be back with some photos tomorrow.

These hot days of summer...

Hi Everyone!

I first want to send out my apologies for my little blog hiatus I have been on the last few weeks. This is turning out to be one crazy busy year, complete with a new job and event after event to plan for our wedding in November.

121 days to go...

I hope everyone is keeping cool in these last few heat wave days, but I wanted to share some tips with you to keep cool while staying green this summer:

1. Whether you have an air conditioner or not, try and keep your blinds and curtains closed during those peak sun hours of the day. As the sun shines in through the windows it is making your air conditioners and fans work double time to keep your house cool. This will help with energy consumption in these vital times when the power grid is working extra hard risking wide spread outages. 

2. Try and stay indoors wherever possible, but if you have to go outside keep hydrated. Water is your best friend on heat waves like this. A new study has found that if you keep your palms cool it will help your body from over heating meanwhile delaying fatigue and improving performance during strenuous activities. What I always try and do is have a nice cold ice filled water bottle with me, that way I am carrying in my palms to keep my body cool and I have cold water at my fingertips to stay hydrated. 

3. For those of you that don't like to drink a lot of water, how about a refreshing alternative to keep you cool. With my training well under way for Tough Mudder in a couple weeks, I am trying to keep those unnecessary sugars out of my diet without losing flavour. This is so easily done by just flavouring water and no I don't mean using a powdered drink mix. Try reading the ingredients list on one of those and see if you recognize anything. 

I was thinking the more natural way. So here is the recipe for our latest creation:

Ingredients:

1-2 tablespoons of fresh basil chopped

1/4 cup of lemon juice or juice of one lemon

6-10 slices of cucumber

1/4 cup of blueberries or raspberries

Directions: 

Combine all ingredients in a one litre container with cold water. If you need some sugar to sweeten it, add agave nectar. 

Stay cool this summer! 

Today's Green Tip

Smoking - It's bad for your health. You see images like this one all the time, but have you ever stopped to think about some of the environmental effects of smoking?

Over 600 million trees are used each year as fuel to dry tobacco. Also, tobacco plants use more nutrients than many other crops so they degrade the soil for future crop use.