Costumes

Four out of 5 Hieberts dressed up for Halloween. The 5th member kindly took our photos, even though he wasn't really into the whole thing.


The grad dress, revamped into some sort of goth inspired ensemble. Although I'm delighted I can still wear it, it says something about my age that it's become a "dress-up" dress, not "dressy".

Both girls chose characters from favourite books
(Tonks from Harry Potter and Holly Short from Artemis Fowl)

The dreaded pirate underbite.

Nymphadora Tonks casting a mischievous looking spell...

Holly Short, first female officer of the L.E.P. Recon Unit. You'd have to read the book to understand but maybe it's enough to know that Ivy chose to dress as a character that's a laser-toting, groundbreaking, spunky feminist elf.

Fall Habits

When I did the Challenge over summer I was really excited about the changes I made in my diet. I feel better when I eat well and got very quick results. Lately though I've been getting lazier and I feel it. I'm trying to figure out why, since it's obviously good for me! I've concluded that a fair bit of it has to do with the changing season for a few reasons.

- I'm drinking less water. When the weather cools down, I drink more coffee and less water. That's not a good combo for me and I'm more often tempted by sweet snacks when I'm sitting down with my coffee.

- I'm busier and eating LESS. That leaves me feeling hungry/thirsty pretty often when I'm on the run between kids classes (or my classes). I don't tend to reach for the best snacks under these circumstances. I'm not either spending the same amount of planning time on meals and it shows.

- When the weather cools down and it gets darker out I crave more carbs. They're still good quality food but my balance shifts away from fresh fruit and veggies and tips towards whole grain breads, rice & potatoes. I don't think that's a bad thing overall but something I need to be aware of throughout the day to keep things even. Once in a while I still go back to log a few days on Vitabot. It gives me a clear sense of where I've been missing nutrition and of course, I eat better on days I know I'm logging!

Now that I've spent the time thinking about it, it's much easier to go back and remember those fantasic habits I started months ago but have somehow let slide. I want to encourage everyone that feels like they're not "on" with their eating to let yesterday go and start fresh now!

September Madness

Between starting this blog and getting back to this blog, I haven't taken much time for this space.

We're sorting out our back-to-routine fall activities - Ella wants to take voice lessons and a gymnastics/hip hop combo class, Ivy is going to return to violin/Fiddlekidz and possibly take a dance class too.

On top of that I've started the boot camp. We're having fun and working HARD, I love seeing the effort everyone is willing to put into getting fit(ter)! The space has been great so far and the kids have been doing well with the format - phew. I love grabbing a coffee (black of course) and hitting the park with friends afterwards. We'll have to do something about healthier snacks though!

And hockey started last night. This is the least sore I've ever been after the first skate of the year and I attribute it to the boot camp plyometrics. Then again, tomorrow morning might feel different!

Boot Camp

I think I'm finally organized...I'm ready to start running the Tyson Method BootCamp4Moms! After getting such great results I chose to take the training and am now excited to teach!

The clases are a fun way to get in shape, spend time with other women and let the kids play, all at the same time. It's often hard to cram fitness into the spaces of time before kids get up or other stolen moments during the day. I love this class because you bring them with you - no need for a babysitter or working out at awkward times. It sometimes takes the kids (and moms) a few sessions to get used to it but for the most part moms end up with a workout and the kids end up with friends. All women are welcome, just know that this is a child-friendly atmosphere! I'm hoping the Tuesday time slot means that moms & kids who are interested can take advantage of both the boot camp and Tumble Time just 2 blocks away.

Here are the details:

Days: Tuesday/Friday
Time: 9-10am
Location: IOOF Hall (Rebekah Lodge)
9536 Main Street, Summerland
Start date: Tuesday, September 14, 2010
Cost: $99/month


The cost for the first half month of September is $49, payment is on the first of the month after that. You don't need to decide more than one month at a time...however we do have an incentive to sign up for the 90 Day Challenge! By committing to 3 months you give yourself a good start on healthy, lasting, habits. You also get access to all e-bootcamps (live, skype style) and the library of class videos online. It's perfect for someone that wants an extra workout a week or can't always make that time slot. There is a promo on the nutrition program as well, I had great success with that and can highly recommend it from personal experience.

The classes incorporate a variety of disciplines which keeps your body guessing. This is more than just a straight up fitness class - we integrate personal training principles like spending time going over your needs & goals. I ask everybody to do a fit test, a "before" picture, and take their measuements at the beginning, it is so worth it. We are emotional creatures and on any given day, can feel like super heroes or lazy lumps. Those concrete numbers and pictures can really help us keep our perspective on how far we've come or let us know if something isn't working the way we'd hoped.

If you want to get a flavour of what classes are like and what women are saying about them, check out this video. We won't have this much gear and might not get outdoors much until spring but it's where we're headed! All you need to bring is a mat or towel for floor work and some days we'll use light weights (3-5lbs).

The Tyson Method blog has success stories posted as well as updates from other trainers and sessions that are running in Canada and LA.

I realize that a lot of moms work and this time slot isn't convenient for you - if there is enough interest I will look into running an earlier morning on the same days, probably 6:30-7:30. I'd need a minimum of 6 people so let me know if that's a better match for you.

Update: Marketing guru over here forgot to put in the part where I ask you to contact me if you're interested. So just in case you don't have this info...

Phone: 250.494.8929
Email: tanhiebert@gmail.com

more rash talk...

...because that's all that's going on for me these days really. Today I feel like I made some progress (in the right direction) and have some hope of re-joining the world in a normal way by Monday. I hope. This crazy skin thing has been so up and down though that I'm not counting on anything.

Through some fancy short cuts (ie showing up in his office and bursting into tears), I managed to get in to see a dermatologist on Friday. He confirmed that the poison ivy was spreading under my skin in some way, I didn't quite grasp the concept, I was so exhausted. That explains why all the psychotic washing of bedding, clothes and anything I touched wasn't helping. I reluctantly agreed to start taking oral steroids in order to keep my mind. I reacted really badly at first but seem to have it mostly sorted out now. I don't like being on them or dealing with the side effects but heck, I can sleep and wear clothes. Always a trade off. I'm going to keep looking into alternative options and know I'll be needing to build my body back up after all this. I so rarely need medication of any kind that I feel humbled.

I felt good enough today to do most of a tae bo workout and it was very pleasing to release so much frustration with punches and kicks.

atopic junk

It's been a long week here at the Hiebert ranch. I acquired some sort of "atopic dermatitis", which is fancy lingo for "itchy rash that morphed into hives and is driving me mental". According to two different doctors it's either definitely NOT poison ivy or certainly IS. Could be an allergic reaction to bug bites or something in the lake water (ie swimmers itch). Nobody has a clue and I've been miserable. The worst of it is slowly healing I think but new spots keep appearing. Ivy has a few patches now too and we hope it doesn't spread like mine. My family has been very tolerant, I hope to be less whiny again someday soon.

Despite feeling physically very low there were lots of good things about the week. We hosted an informal meteor viewing night on the lawn and had a great time. Good company and a clear, warm evening. The Perseids were kind and we saw more "shooting stars" than usual. I don't think the kids had had that experience before. Even Ezra stayed up until 11 snuggling on the futon-on-the-lawn and was delighted.

I had a few hours to myself late this afternoon while Jeremy took the kids to the beach. I relished the quiet time and puttered in the garden and cooked a mean pasta sauce (tomatoes, zucchini, basil and oregano all freshly picked). I followed it up with a glass of wine while I sat outside in the golden light and gazed out over the lake.

I've had to put exercise on hold most of the week and found it hard. Sometimes I'm happy for an excuse to take a day or two off but I sure don't feel that way now. I did a half workout today so that's progress. It's a bit limiting to have to find clothes that don't rub on the waistline and to do only exercises that don't require lying down, bending at the waist or impact of any kind. That kind of left me with mostly naked push-ups but the neighbours didn't call the cops so we're okay.

Big thank you's to Jeremy & the kids for extending me all kinds of grace this week, to my parents & siblings for checking in with me every few days and to Gerald & Dianne for the unexpected gifts and a visit to cheer me up!

moderation

Sorry folks, I'm turning on comment moderation, at least for a while. Tired of the foreign spam that keeps turning up.