Do you even lift?

Hello readers,

So, in accordance with my new year resolutions, I've been ATTEMPTING to inspire and motivate myself to go work out. I'm not going to lie, after the last gym session there was an absence of two days before I got up and went outdoors again. Bad! I need to build up the habit of going so it is no longer a chore.

Anyway, I'll fill you in on some of the wierd and wonderful things that I encounter at the gym. Perhaps it will give you a little sympathy and understanding as to why I drag my feet.

Today I went to the gym (party poppers explode). This is celebration in itself, it had been two days since I'd gone aaaaaand I may have eaten some sneaky chocolate last night (It was a ferrero rocher, how could I say no!?). I had incentive to go to the gym today because someone purchased one of my ebay items, thus the trip to the post office next the to gym was inevitable.

The ritual begins with putting on my very very dashing gym outfit. Back when I was working and earning a buck or two I splurged on two matching colourful outfits. Best decision I ever made. So I alternate between ditsy hot pink singlet with matching black and pink trim shorts and baby blue. Go cliches! My favourite thing about gyming overall, is that I get to wear my shorts that say 'Adidas' across my butt. When I first saw them in the store I could bearly resist my delight in finding pants that practically say, "Adi-dat ass". Not quite, but if you squint a little.

So why do you whinge about the gym then? You have nice gear and it's local? Quit your whinin' . Well, I'm a sook. When I walk to the gym I am often confronted. I'm okay with trucks honking and seedy men leering down at me from their seats. That's the norm. But I'm not okay with being screamed at! Once when passing one of the classy couples of my local suburb (sarcasm), the man turned and screamed for no apparent reason at me. Not going to lie, I jumped a mile high and went home to change my pants. I'm just not cut out for the sponteneity of this neighbourhood apparently.
Eventually after surviving these challenges, I approach the entrance to the gym. It's one of those fancy swipe card set ups because my gym is open 24/7. Sounds great only there's one problem, it's not idiot proof. It's happened twice now that after I've carefully acklowedged that the door is indeed a pull, not a push, that I've swiped my card and gone to make my big entrance only to be face-pancaked by the unbudging door. The embarassing thing is, I'll do it twice in a row with someone waiting to get in behind me. The little green light flashes taunting me, "I'm open, why don't you try to come in?" but it just doesn't play the game. APPARENTLY, you have to let the little green light finish flashing and give the door a second or two to unlock BEFORE you attempt to enter. Whatever.

At last I'm finally in the gym! Take a deep breath for the challenge awaiting me. Or not, because the air stinks of sweat being recycled through the air conditioning. Delicious! One thing I noticed when I first went to the gym was this strange ettiqutte rule. For whatever reason, only men used the upstairs weights area and all women used the generic cardio machines. This seemed odd, didn't they want to get sexy guns too? There's only so long I can run on a treadmill looking at the sign in front of me reading, "Sweat is good. But not when it isn't yours. Clean up after using the machines". So once I made the fatal mistake of venturing up to this secret level.

I've come to call this THE WALK. For some reason unknown to me, as you walk through the weights area every person will blatantly eyeball you causing intense uncomfortableness. I experienced this once during peak hour and now know better. Only enter weights area when theres barely anyone in the gym. Not only is it too packed to use a machine or to have room to do dumbells. It's just not worth the awkies.

Luckily today at midday, the gym was pretty dead so I went on up to use some machines. My favourite machine is a leg press where you sit upright and push a metal plate with your feet to lift the weights. It claims it will tighten and tone the backs of my thighs. Oh yeah boy! There's only one problem, it is THE MOST AWKWARD MACHINE INVENTED. I sit there crunched up with my knees under my armpits and my legs un-ladylikely wide apart and proceed to reverse thrust. To make matters worse, the gym decided to place a workout machine directly across from this one, so that when someone else is working out they have to avoid making eye contact with my thrusting awkward stance. There must be a universal rule against making eye contact while lifting weights because everyone at my gym walks around with their heads down.

After busting my ass I walk back downstairs to finish off with a warm down jog and line up next to some other girl who'se been working out for the same time I have. Or has she? Somehow everyone else in my gym don't sweat, smell or look a hair out of place. Come on! I sweat more than the fat guy working out!? What is this, a joke? So while I walk out of the gym with a delightful hitler fringe plastered to my forehead and delicious back sweat, everyone else looks like they've barely lifted a finger. Cruel world.

Frankly, my favourite part of going to the gym is the walk home. Your arms feel like lead and your legs like spagghetti and you wobble your way down the street listening to Eminem feeling like a champion. That is unless the local drunk decides to yell at you while you walk past. Third world problems.

Does this happen to anyone else or is it just me? Sometimes I think the world is playing a big joke on me like that movie The Truman Show. Urgh.

Until next time!

 

Christmas Festivities

Merry greetings dear reader,

I meant to blog a little more frequently since the last post but, oops, I was caught up in christmas fever. Let's catch you up on my merry merry christmas festivities!



Sooner than anyone had expected, christmas time crept up on us. How had a whole year passed already?! Well, it didn't matter because christmas happenned to be my FAVOURITE time of the year. The food - white christmas, rum balls, rocky road, turkey oh stop me now. The music - classic christmas jingles and trendy pop remixs. Most importantly, the great time spent catching up with family friends. I attented numerous christmas parties to the point where I wasn't sure which one was ACTUALLY christmas. Santa is pretty busy lately.

Speaking of santa, I had a month to find the best presents to spoil my family and partner. Let the challenge begin!

I'd like to say shopping for presents was hard, but it just wasn't. Each morning I would sit down with my laptop and search Ebay for neat little gifts. You see, I have this problem. I have great difficulty buying anything for myself but when it comes to spoiling others? . . . well.

I couldn't resist. You know how they say not to press the big red button? I did! Multiple times. It just never ended, glass tea pot, square egg rings, milkshake cups, cufflinks, rainbow whiteboard pens. Everything! I bought it all.

The absolute best part of shopping online was the waiting. Everyday you'd watch the mailbox and leap up when you heard the doorbell go. Parcel after parcel arrived until the point where I could genuinely not remember what was going to be inside. I think the postman hated me by the end of christmas, I kept him very very busy.  

Finally my favourite day of the year arrived. CHRISTMAS DAY. It was even better this year because I attended my partner's christmas celebrations too. DOUBLE PRESENTS DOUBLE FOOD DOUBLE RAINBOW ALL THE WAY. It was this glowing haze of joy where I had to alternate between eating cake and opening presents. Ultimate spoilage. Sadly, christmas wound up and ended all to soon for my liking. Oh well, my bank account needs to rest for a year before another spending spree.

Interestingly enough, one aspect of christmas remained with me. All that spoiling and indulging didn't dissapear the next day with santa. I. GOT. FATTER. Come new years eve when I'm squeezing into a little black dress, I looked into the mirror and thought to myself, "Is that me, or a wild buffalo ready for hunting season". Somebody should put me down! I aquirred tuckshop lady arms and a lady pooch belly. Dark Dark days were upon me.

Determined not to let it get me down for that night, I drunk the most of a bottle of rum and celebrated what had been a hard but great year. As the fireworks alarmed the change of a year, I struck an epic pose and toasted my new determination. At that very moment, three new year resolutions formed in my brain.

It's simple and rather mainstream. However, upholding these resolutions will make me a better and happier person. No more alcohol will directly help resolution # 2. The only exclusion being the wild party I will throw when I am accepted into veternarian science. I know goals are meant to be quantified and precise to be more succesful, but losing weight for me isn't about numbers. I just want to look in the mirror and be happy to see toned guns, flat tummy and long pins again. The last resolution is self explanatory, and I'm proud of how happy I was last year. If this year can be any better, then it sounds good to me.



You will be impressed to know that I have already made progress on my resolution goals. I go to the gym for a killer cardio workout every second day and do muscle toning excersizes on the inbetween days when my legs feel like jelly. Support me and spur me on readers!

I hope your holidays and festivities were great and you use new years eve to re-invent a better you. Don't forget, new years eve is just a day like any other, there's no excuse not to do what you dream of, today. Or maybe tomorrow if you already have plans today.

Thanks for seeing it through to 2013 with me readers.

I SURVIVED!

Hello!

It's hard to believe it, but I am still alive. Yes, I neglected my blog for a VERY long time, but I promise you it was all worth it. Read on to understand why!



If you're a regular reader here, you most likely have heard my pityful attempts to transfer into my dream course. Over and over you heard me blab about how I was going to make it this time, and my repeated failures. Well over the last semester I have taken an entirely differrent approach.

I'm not sure it classified as living. I existed in a dark dark cave of learning. All there was to my life was study study and more study. I rarely ventured out of this cave into the real world. Nope, no time for that. I felt my brain expand and swell with so so so many memorised facts. The only comfort was knowing that these sacrifices would have to be worth something great in the end . . . hopefully.

All of a sudden time flashed by. It was already final exam time. I had achieved excellent grades throughout the semester, I would not ruin all my efforts at the very end. If possible, life got even more hectic. I quizzed myself with flash cards on an entire semester's worth of information, and could recite it all. Humans rarely interacted with me in this hostile volatile state. I worried that I was over-studying, and what if my brain turned to spagghetti and meatballs in the exam. What if I forgot eveything!?

There was only one way to find out.

I had two exams and one large essay. I entered the exam and went into a world of my own. Into a bubble trance, I blocked the other students out and unloaded everything I had learnt. My arms were whirlwinds trying to write all the information down in the short time. I think I super saiyaned and if I was a Pokemon, I may have evolved. Everything was double, triple checked and finally it was time to finish. I walked out of the exam room into the sunshine.

Immediately all the stored information in my brain was released. Poof! I forgot everything in a flash and noticed the world around me. I was happy, manic perhaps. People around me gave me strange looks. I was experiencing real life again and it was great!

However, this carefree joy only lasted so long.

It was the moment. I had waited up all night until midnight to get my GPA grade release. Had I really aced those exams? Was I going to just miss out on my dream, yet again? The entire house slept, including my new found boyfriend beside me (oops, forgot about him during exam time!). I couldn't wake anyone up, but this was the MOST important moment of my last two years. My phone buzzed.

A message from UQ Grades. I almost didn't want to open it and make it reality. I think I was going to be sick!

I'm not sure if they were happy or sad tears at first, but everything lit up and my stomach dropped. I achieved the highest possible grade for all my subjects, 7's. I wish I could say I was proud of myself at that moment, but to be brutally honest, it still doesn't feel like this is my life. This is the goal I've been working for ever since high school, and now . . . I've finally done it? Life feels awfully empty and strange when that one sole goal that always seemed so distant is finally achieved. What on earth do I do now!?

Wait. More waiting. January 17th I will yet again be waiting up all night to recieve the message that will accept me into veterinarian science. It's going to be another nervous wait, but for once, it shouldn't be fruitless.

Thank you faithful readers for waiting with great patience. Give yourselves a little pat on the back because I drew happyness from knowing you are out there! Look, you helped me achieve this too. I guess I owe you guys some more blogs to read over the university holidays then.

Happy Happy Christmase everybody!

It's Finally Done!

Hello,

I first got you all excited about my plant adventures about a month ago and now I can finally say, It's done! My 3m x 1.8m x 0.8m plantar box is complete, full of dirt and plants. Now we just sit back and literally, watch the grass grow. While we wait for it to grow, I'll give you a recap of the building process from where I left you last time.

So we'd built the frame, screwed corrugated iron panels on the sides and were ready to rumble. Basically Matt and I were too chicken to get the dirt delivered until yesterday morning. Before that we'd been doing some tame digging and laying pavers but now the hard work would begin.

So we ordered dirt. Lots of it, 4 cubic metres worth of it. At first I thought it was great!

"Dirt! Let's take a photo" The delivery driver laughed at me.

"Woohoo dirt pile!" Let's climb it. 

It's taller than me!

But after the tenth bucketful of dirt it dawned on me. I had just paid  $250 to have my worst nightmare delivered. Matthew filled 20L paint buckets with dirt in less than ten seconds and my job was to attempt to dump the dirt in the box 6m away. 

Don't do it! If you ever get an urge to build a plantar box, just pay someone else to do it. It's not only backbreaking, it's a soul crushing 4hours of continuous bucket lifting. Whoever said I don't work out? I just did hundreds of 20kg reps. 

Matthew and I worked on the dirt pile for a few hours and put a 1/3 dent in it until we stopped for a break. I pulled the wool over my little brother's eyes and enlisted him to help. Poor Robert thought it would be like yesterdays work: chopping tree roots with an axe and digging trenches for pavers. Oh no - this is heavy lifting time. 

But we did it. Between the three of us, Matt calculated something like 3000 shovels and 4 hours later, BAM the dirt was gone. 

See? Gone. 

So now we had a box full of dirt ready for planting. With a spirit raising theme song from myself, "Don't stop, never give up . . . .something something reach the top!", we persevered and planted the entire garden.

Isn't it majestic? 

Breathtaking - Carrots, Snow Peas, Capsicum, Parsley, Corn, Spring Onion, Lettuce, Zucchini, Squash, Cherry Tomatoes, Passionfruit, Chilli, Mega Tomatoes and four species of Strawberries. Oh the mighty garden! 

Oh when I said it was done, it pretty much is. Still needs stakes and mesh to keep plants standing straight and safe from hungry bush turkeys, but otherwise this garden is complete. Do you like it!? It even waters itself every day because of this neat little timer device.

Still working on finishing my plant stakes but I am very very pleased with how damn cute they look.

My favourite is spring onion. The miniature greenhouses I got from Bunnings for a bargain $10 each have actually worked. I planted some marigolds and broccoli seeds about two days ago and broccoli is already germinating! Fantastic.

Grow little guys!

Leave a comment pleeease. It would make me very happy.

Come on - reward me for all that hard blogging and digging.

Gemma

Twiddling Thumbs

Hello!

I've been keeping Matthew and I super busy these university holidays already. The weekend just gone we planned, purchased and 3/4 built a plantar box for my growing vegetable hobby. Want to see how we managed such a feat? Perhaps make your own? Awesome - read on:

How to build a plantar box yourself.

Step 1: Buy it. Our plantar box is built with a wooden frame and corrugated iron exterior so we didn't need much wood. Alternatively if you're building one entirely of wood . . . good luck. Pick something strong because the outward pressure of the dirt is surprisingly high.

We bought eight lengths of 9cm x 3cm x 3.6m treated pine for the inner frame and two 15cm x 2.5cm x 4.8m heavy sleeper timber. Note: while handsome men buy your construction pieces, sneak off to the nursery and buy more plants. Yess!

Step 2: Saw it. I helped measure and mark out the required lengths of each plank. After we naughtily cut the timber in the gutter ( he he ) I marked each plank with the respective length or with an X if it was an off cut. Told you I helped!

Step Three: Screw it. Make sure to buy plenty of wood screws, we used nearly 100 60mm long screws and about 50 medium/short screws. Give the box plenty of support by screwing through beams and use the off cuts of timber as chock braces. 

This part was rather important so Matthew did all the hard work making sure the plantar box was square and equal at each corner. I helped chase the rain away.

Step Four:  Trim it. Not physical trimming but decorative. We centered the heavy wood grain sleeper timber over the frame to create an attractive ledge. Useful for holding my watering can and gardening tools! 

Told you I helped! I used a drill for the first time and was in charge of screwing down the ledge boards. Apparently I did excellently. Yes! Our plantar box doesn't have corrugated iron panels on it yet, but it won't be long. The final trimmings include stapling black plastic sheeting on the inside to retain water and soil, giving the wooden ledge a sand over and stain and staking some mesh for the vine plants to grow on. No-one likes splinters. 

Unfortunately the weather is very damp and miserable currently so I can't sand the wood yet. To fill in the time I've been busy working on the small touches, like making my own vegetable markers. 

They're white plastic markers in a pack of 10 for only $2. So I'm snazzying them up with a lick of paint and cute little pictures of what plant is near them. Keep watching for pictures of the finished product, will be a day or two. 

So now you know what I've been up to for the past few days. Busy busy building and learning new skills. Leave a comment on your thoughts. Until next time,

x x Take care x x 

Asta-la-vista Baby!

I'm finished! I completed Semester 1 of University Year 2. Huzzah, now I have to wait until July 4th for my marks to be released! You'll all hold your breath with me right? 

Alas, I can't sit around waiting for my marks forever, so I have begun my holiday missions! These include everything from cleaning my room, making a blog video to painting a picture. I want to be busy, but not too busy. Going to enjoy some down time which I've earnt. 

The latest breaking news in the saga of my life is BUSHTURKEY ATTACK. I came home on a high from my last exam, looked out the backdoor to check on my baby plants when I saw the unthinkable. Massacred lettuce babies. 

"I'm so sorry little guys! I swear, I'll find who did this and get revenge!!!"

While mourning for the loss of my leafy lettuce, I passed my gaze over my sweet strawberries to get a double whammy. 

"I didn't prune those buds off did I . . . Oh no, Matthew's going to freak"

The invader pruned back not only the lettuce, but knocked off a few of the growing strawberries. Fortunately  it filled up on those plants and left the rest intact, however I'm not leaving them vulnerable this time. 

I enlisted professional help.

Using some smooth talking I got Tia the ferocious guard dog's paw print on a contract of personal security. 

Protect with honour! Charge small fluffy dog. 

So now I've got Tia on my side, the rest of my plants should fare well. Cheeky bush turkey walks down our driveway and jumps over the fence into our yard. How rude! Don't they think to knock first?!

Here is an update on the condition of my plants!

Those flowers will eventually turn into tomatoes!

Multiple species of strawberry plants: some with buds, flowers and vines!

Also some corn, because . . . why not!

Aside from my edible plants, there are some other interesting edible things in my backyard too.

We planted a mango tree sapling about two years ago in the hopes that it bears Bowen mango fruit. 

We want the Bowen mangoes because our other two mango trees only grow stringy mangoes and tree houses. What's up with that?

Now this next plant may not be edible, but it's still really cool.

It's called Old Man's Beard and it's this strange air plant that doesn't root into the earth. Just hangs around on things and grows.

I grew a beard too! Hooray, I'm santa. 

Well, sorry but I mous-tache as I'm taking Tia to the vet. Maybe I could ask about some steroid injections for her new security job . .  .

Yes I'm crazy but you already know that because you're reading my blog. Shh, keep the secret safe.

Bye!

Gemma xx