Progress: #10. Do something active for 3 months straight

 Sunday, I did some light housework in the morning and some yoga stretches before bed.

Monday, I played outside in the backyard in the morning with my daughter. It was her first time out in the snow. I tried to roll a snowball to make a snowman but I was really bad at it. In the afternoon, I did some more light housework.

Today, my mom watched my daughter, so I went ice skating this morning at Mel Lastman Square. I had the whole rink to myself. It was nice. Afterwards, I walked to a local pharmacy to get my COVID booster (shot #3!). 10681 steps today (which feels like a LOT less work when I'm not pushing a giant stroller).

Then I made some cocoa with vegan marshmallows :)

Original goal list posted here

Progress: #10. Do something active for 3 months straight

 The Toronto MAP passes are available at participating libraries every Saturday, at open. Our closest participating library opened at 9am and I made it there on foot by 11. I was hoping again for Toronto Railway Museum passes, as my daughter loves each and every form of transportation. They were all gone, however. Apparently people were already lining up at 8am (and each museum has only 3 passes available, per week). I snagged the last pass to the Museum of Contemporary Art, though. We'll try again, earlier, next week.

13368 steps today.

Original goal list posted here

Progress: #10. Do something active for 3 months straight

 An "ordeal" does not even begin to describe today. It was a DAY. In good news, I managed to get a flu shot while traipsing around the neighbourhood.

7791 steps so far today.

Original goal list posted here

Progress: #10. Do something active for 3 months straight

 Tuesday, I did a short yoga video for lower back pain -- which I find a slight issue the more my toddler grows and still isn't completely mobile.

Yesterday, we took a short (5000 step-ish) walk around the neighbourhood. I enjoyed finding these two awesomely contrasted house decorations:

Today, we went to the Museum of Illusions (which my daughter loved, despite a couple rough days and a rough night). Then we walked to St. Lawrence Market to have some lunch, as I realized it was not too far away.

Original goal list posted here

Completed #16. Metal stamp jewellery

 I stamped a whole lot of jewelry blanks, several different times, with several different materials - after reading a whole book about it - in an attempt to make a gift for a friend. They all turned out really ugly -- too ugly to even show pictures of the attempts. I also find this hobby really loud and my hands are too weak to stamp anything but pewter well. I just don't enjoy it. It isn't my thing. I tried, though! It is done.

Original goal list posted here

Progress: #10. Do something active for 3 months straight

 Yesterday, I went with my mom and my daughter to visit my sister in Welland. I did some yoga stretches before bed.

Today, I walked to the nearest participating location of the above, to try and secure tickets to the Toronto Railway Museum, but all tickets had already been claimed.

10249 steps today.

Original goal list posted here

Progress: #10. Do something active for 3 months straight

 At her request (pointing at my yoga mat and repeatedly throwing both arms up), I did a bit of a Cosmic Yoga Kids video with my daughter. She wasn't into it for very long. I didn't bother to do anything else because it wasn't a good day, so I didn't feel up to it.

Original goal list posted here

Progress: #10. Do something active for 3 months straight

I went on a short walk around the neighbourhood today with my daughter, running errands. I also stopped to sit in Gibson Park awhile while she napped. It was nice.

6503 steps today.

Original goal list posted here

 

Progress: #10. Do something active for 3 months straight

 It's been a little while since we had a longer walk, so I bundled up my daughter and I and we headed to The Grocery Outlet. It's an interesting walk because it goes from multimillion dollar mansions to boarded windows really quickly, and that's kind of North York in a nutshell. I was hoping to get some ingredients to start working on some Polish and French Canadian/Indigenous dishes for Christmas, so that our daughter can grow up with a fusion of her parents' traditions. The stock there, however, is dependent on overstock elsewhere, so it is never consistent. The only ingredient I managed to snag this time was shredded coconut for macaroons. I also bought some size 3 Seventh Generation diapers for overnights, and three-for-$5 packs of vegan chocolate covered peanut butter cups that both my daughter and I like. I kept two packs and left the third in a cart outside a really well-kept makeshift tent on an overpass I pass frequently. I've never seen the owner, but I hope they aren't allergic to peanut butter.

15005 steps today.

Original goal list posted here

Progress: #10. Do something active for 3 months straight

 Yesterday, I did a yoga video.

Today, I went to the ROM with my daughter. It was a lot less anxiety-inducing as a place that clearly is accustomed to, and welcomes, toddlers more than some places.

Also of note, because it tired *me* out: Today I held my daughter around the waist as she decided to climb all fourteen steps in our house. Seven times. In a row.

Original goal list posted here

Completed: #25. Bake bread

 I used this recipe. It wasn't difficult, but it was (in a periodic, drawn-out sort of way) time-consuming. The loaf is currently cooling down on the counter and I hope it tastes as good as it looks. I made some homemade mixed berry (raspberry, blueberry, blackberry) jam to go with it. (Jam, on the other hand, is so quick and easy, I'm not sure why anyone BUYS it. Bread, however, I can now understand why store bought appeals.) 

Original goal list posted here

Progress: #10. Do something active for 3 months straight

 This morning, my daughter and I bundled up and took a walk around the neighbourhood. We visited three of the little libraries, and I traded one of my completed life hacks books for craft magazines.

I stopped by Shopper's Drug Mart in hopes of a flu shot, but the wait was 1 - 2 hours, so I waitlisted myself online to book at a scheduled time instead. Hopefully soon.

When we arrived back, I pushed her in the backyard swing for awhile and filled our birdfeeder (which has been completely worthwhile a completed goal, by the way.)

8739 steps so far today.

Original goal list posted here

Progress: #10. Do something active for 3 months straight

 Yesterday, my mom, my daughter and I went to two parks in Pickering (and took a small stroll from one to the other).

Today, I had hoped to go for a longer walk, but it was cold and rainy, so we stayed inside and my daughter and I did a 25-minute Cosmic Kids Yoga video.

Original goal list posted here

Progress: #10. Do something active for 3 months straight

 This morning I pushed my daughter in her backyard swing, and then I threw, kicked, and chased a football around because it made her howl with laughter. 

Then we drove to my parents' house, and are staying the night to maybe go out into nature tomorrow.

Original goal list posted here

Progress: #10. Do something active for 3 months straight

 I felt too tired to update yesterday. My daughter and I drove to Aga Khan Museum and Park and toured around.

Original goal list posted here

Completed: #22. Try at least three "life hacks"

 3/3: Shoe hangers to organize kids' toys.

I picked pink to match her room and brown for the living room / play room.

We have a living room couch again! 

Kid-approved!

Original goal list posted here

Progress: #10. Do something active for 3 months straight

Today I drove to High Park with my daughter and we walked around, and had a picnic lunch. It was an absolutely gorgeous unseasonably warm fall day.

 From 2009 - 2012, I lived in Roncesvalles Village and, from 2012 - 2016, I lived in Bloor West Village, so I spent seven years of my life living on different sides of the park. It was very neat to drive my daughter through my old stomping grounds, and take her to a place I often walked through, once picnicked and ice-skated in, and even walked through on my first date with her dad. 

I love and miss High Park. I wish I lived closer. It's Toronto's second (?) largest park - impossible to completely traverse in a day - and probably its most beautiful. 

Original goal list posted here

Completed: #28. Start my own sprouts

 

I'm finally putting to use some sprouting supplies my little sister gave me almost two years ago, and aiming to sprout some mustard seeds and some chickpeas. I used the book pictured (also from Book Outlet) as an easy instructional (and, as a bonus, it also has instructionals for growing mushrooms, which is another goal for another day).

I'll let you know how it works out in 4-6 days and, if it goes well for me, I'll try to sprout some rapini and arugula seeds next. Exciting!

Original goal list posted here

Progress: #10. Do something active for 3 months straight

 This morning I did a 25 minute yoga video with my daughter, who requested it by pointing at my yoga mat and throwing her arms up in the air.

Original goal list posted here

Progress: #22. Try at least three "life hacks"

 I bought these three books online at Book Outlet, at even greater than their usual discounted price, because they were having a sale. I know this same "hack" information would be easy to find online, but I still really prefer the tangibility of books (and pen to paper). 

I read these, and took copious notes!

Hacks already accomplished in the past month:

Hack 1/3: Preventing imminent coughs and sneezes -- As someone who sometimes holds a sleeping baby and often has an unappeasable throat tickle, these are invaluable already: 1. To stop a tickle in your throat, massage your ear lobe. Apparently, it stimulates nerves that trigger a spasm that "scratches" your throat. 2. I'm not sure why this works, but if you're about to sneeze, place your tongue on the roof of your mouth. The urge will disappear.

Hack 2/3: If you burn something difficult while cooking (i.e. sugar), boil white vinegar in the pot for 15 minutes and it will uncrust itself, ready to be easily scrubbed clean. The clean pot will also be shinier than it was before you even burned anything at all!

Progress for #3: I bought some shoe organizers to hang and store my daughter's toys, which are beginning to take over the living room couch.

Original goal list posted here

Progress: #10. Do something active for 3 months straight

 My daughter and I drove 20ish minutes to the beautiful Wilket Park and walked around there and the adjoining E. T. Seton Park. I doubt we'll get another day this beautiful this autumn. (Was this record breaking? I'm not used to t-shirt weather in November). 

We had a little picnic lunch and then drove to the nearby Urban Nature Store. I bought myself a guide to animal footprints, a Christmas gift for a family member, and an Audubon American Goldfinch toy for my daughter (We're collecting birds we've seen in our own backyard -- thus far, she has a Cardinal, American Robin, Downy Woodpecker, Chickadee, Blue Jay, and now this one).

Original goal list posted here

Progress: #10. Do something active for 3 months straight

 It was a gorgeous autumn day. I took a short (6000ish) step walk around the neighbourhood with my daughter. We picked up a homemade shelf someone was giving away that was perfect for my husband's carded vintage action figures + some cute discovery kits about stars and pyramids and memory cards in exchange for a new book to my favourite little library. 

We ended off the walk in the gorgeous York Cemetery before heading back home.

Original goal list posted here