Category: My Day

  • Breathing (Day 2)

    Yesterday (Monday) my first deep breath of the day was while I was sitting at the counter at my parents’ house, eating a seed & nut bar. Needing to eat because I was going to drive home and needed the energy, only able to eat a seed & nut bar because I wasn’t really hungry yet. Or hungry but didn’t feel like eating? It wasn’t a very big deep breath and my chest felt tight. I was out of breath from packing up the car: not something I should be out of breath for. It was after I took my inhaler. I proceeded with the day ok, and did a dance class later with just a little huffiness. But. Hm.

    I haven’t taken a deep breath today.

    I’m at the precious time of the year when I have brought home a box of tomatoes from Dad’s harvest, but I have tomatoes ripening here as well. Overlap.

  • Breathing (Day 1)

    I’m in Duncan for the weeeeeekend. “Weeeeeeekend” because I arrived on Thursday and will leave tomorrow (Monday). Here there is the Duncan Farmers Market and “Hand of Man” museum (yesterday). And fresh tomatoes, beans, zucchinis, cabbage and etc. I picked two buckets of beans yesterday for my own personal use (“YES TAKE THEM ALL” says Dad.) Also I had to hose down my car while I was here because it was covered in ash. I used the scrubber brush while I was at it to remove all the moss. AND I watched the Canada/New Zealand women’s rugby game, which was gorgeous.

    My first deep breath of the day today was just a few minutes ago while I’m sitting on my bed reading. I’m sitting up against pillows, “lounging” so it’s easy to get a nice breath in. It’s not as big of a breath as I am usually capable of, but I’m going back and forth between being better and still recovering from being sick. Safely out of the acute sickness stage, for sure, which is good, but not entirely back to normal, either. We wait. And the doctor said wait, too, when I checked in.

  • August 5 2025

    I came here today because I’ve been meaning to start a new series of posts where I document the circumstances of the first deep breath I take each day. I’ve only remembered to do it today, which is a day when I did not take any deep breaths. I’m feeling huffy today for reasons unknown. (“Huffy” def. in Lindsie speak, is when my lungs are tight; I’m breathing but it’s not as free as it might be; I should probably find my salbutamol inhaler to ease it.)

    OK not totally unknown. My lungs protest sometimes when I’ve had too much sugar/choco/alcohol. Which is why I try to watch my consumption of these things during the dance season. It’s barely the hint of a sacrifice on my part. I asked myself years ago whether I wanted to eat junk or breath during dance and I made my decision. (To breath.) But an advantage is no sugar/choco/alcohol = healthy.

    I think I used to get huffy, also, when I was under a constant state of stress and anxiety? Certain former paid positions come to mind where I had to answer the phone all day. But that’s not today.

    I don’t feel like eating much today either, but that’s likely to to over-indulging all weekend long. There were a couple times at least where I thought to myself after a meal that that was tooooooo much food.

    Choco-chip zucchini loaf! I made one yesterday and then ate too much. It’s tasty. I have a good chunk of it left but I’ll eat it in smaller portions. Or have a larger portion but that will be a meal.

  • Foooood

    I have a lot of food right now, just by the nature of having brought a lot home with me.

    Today I had three meals ready to go (I work from home today, so I prepare things): oatmeal with blueberries and yogurt for breakfast, chicken dinner, and salmon pasta. The last two could be for either lunch or dinner. So I had the salmon pasta for breakfast because I really wanted it then, and chicken dinner for lupper (late lunch). I’ve just eaten the oatmeal for dinner I guess.

    The salmon pasta was with fettuccini with butter, parsley and fried zucchini. I didn’t finish it. There’s still two slabs of zucchinis, some crumbs of salmon and 6 noodles in the bowl in the fridge.

    Chicken dinner is left over from Mum making it on Sunday night. I have portions with the plan of adding gravy when I warm it up. But since I was at home I made a sandwich with the chicken (open-faced), and fried the potatoes. Then some green beans, and I had some wee tomatoes from my tree to use so I made tomato/cucumber salad as well, with basil and lemon/olive oil dressing.

    Oatmeal is oatmeal, just I put maple syrup on it, too, along with the blueberries and yogurt. I remember there being a slurrrrrping noise and then it was all gone. There is a matching one of these to take with me to work tomorrow, with blackberries instead. Such yum. Much health.

  • Burritos

    There are frozen burritos at Save-On. There haven’t been frozen burritos (at least the ones I want) in the stores for at long time. There was a production shortage? Maybe? Someone said that, so I sortof stopped looking, but there were some there on Saturday morning when I was at the Save-On Foods at [redacted – my burritos].

    I haven’t had a frozen burrito for three years almost to the day. You might be wondering: How can I remember something so mundane? Well first off, Hi, I’m Lindsie, nice to meet you. But second off. There are extenuating circumstances surrounding the event.

    Trigger Warning: COVID.

    When I got COVID in early July 2022 I had two frozen burritos in my freezer. They were probably Reisers brand, as that is the brand I prefer over The Other Brand, and the beef and bean flavour (e.g. the flavour that doesn’t contain cheese). (Note that I think I’ve seen “vegan” burritos in this three years since I said I haven’t had frozen burritos, but I don’t feel those count.) At the time I would have purchased a bulk bag of them: 12 to a bag, though maybe it was a box? Twelve individually packaged ones to a box. I’ve experienced both, though now I think, it was The Other Brand that had the bag.

    Either way.

    I remember I had two left because I had COVID, and I had taken an inventory of food in my house after taking the test to make sure I could survive not leaving the house for a week or five days I was supposed to quarantine for. Or, as it turned out, the two weeks before I could physically move enough to leave my apartment. Whatever.

    I probably remember i had two burritos because I was calculating when to eat them, or whether to eat them. Two days into knowing I had COVID I stopped wasting energy on making myself regular bowl-sized portions of food because I couldn’t eat them, and I didn’t want to eat any of the leftovers. I remember making a big dish of rice pudding and eating it in custard cup-sized portions that I couldn’t finish.

    I don’t remember eating the first of my last two burritos, but lots of protein and easy to prepare: I would have been glad to have it.

    The worst of my days with COVID was the Tuesday of the second week. This came probalby after a weekend of maybe thinking I was starting to feel better ( you know, COVID). But on that Tuesday, I felt bad: as in, not comfortable in any position, and most of the day spent curled up in bad (where I had been spending a lot of time before that in various reclining-sitting positions on my bed or on the couch).

    There was a point in the afternoon where I realized that I hadn’t eaten all day, and the thought was that food is necessary to live even if I don’t want it. But what was there to eat that I could even stomach when I didn’t want to eat? Luckily, there was that one last frozen burrito.

    I remember waiting for it to warm up in the microwave. I sat on the armrest of the couch, uncomfortable and having a hard time being upright, thinking to myself, This Isn’t Good.

    I ate the last burrito lying down on my side? Feeding it into my mouth sideways? Halfway through and that was enough. I moved the plate away from my face, picturing waking up with it smashed into my cheek or something. (Hehe)

    I maybe slept then, or watched/listened to the TV shows I would have had streaming – Coronation St for when I was going to sleep for sure. I don’t remember what I watched when was awake. Maybe nothing; it was a bad day and concentrating on a plot might have been too much. I would have had my curtains open to let in the light, which is nice, maybe even the window open for fresh air – Yes, in July. Yes. My laptop would have been open beside me on the bed. Close to my face: if I wasn’t wearing my glasses so I could eventually sleep I can’t see far enough if I have to adjust the volume or change to the next episode.

    I did sleep at some point, and when I woke I finished the bit of burrito, glad I didn’t have to get up to make something else; still not hungry but needing to eat. Also: imagery of baby chicks who eat at their lil trough, then sleep right there, ready to eat again when they wake up again. (Hehe.)

    Later, when I was better and looking to get them again, the Great Burrito Shortage must have been happening. Probably – like lots of things in 2022. I wondered if that maybe was a good thing – if maybe eating them again might be triggering, or if I might have lost a taste from eating them while I was sick, as happens. However, I’m pretty happy to have found them again, and not too much more expensive than they were before(burrito miracle). I bought two.

    P.S. I laughed mabye waaaay too much when I was relating this whole story to Mum this evening during our phone call. She was just quiet in a “uh that’s not really funny?” sort of way. To be fair, I found it all very hilarious at the time, so.

    P.P.S. On the day after this bad day I started getting hungry again for very specific foods. I had a list ready when Susan asked at three and she delivered after work: oranges, ketchup chips, and yogurt. I went though the whole bag of chips very quick and I was a little concerned– but then I remembered how I hadn’t eaten anything for about a week at that point so if ketchup chips was all I wanted, it was ketchup chips I was going to have.

  • July 2, 2025.

    “Meeting Art, June 25 2025” – pencil on printer paper – private collection

  • Lazy day at sea!

    We’ve adapted to our at-sea routine again. Breakfast and a swim/hot tub to start, then yesterday we did some activities; today there’s nothing we want to do. We’re lying in our room after getting changed out of our swimsuits and going to decide the degree of lazy we will be today.

    The activities yesterday were a talk about agriculture in Hawaii, followed by a Q&A session with the piano players from the piano bar. We’re big fans now, so that was interesting.

    Being in the open sea means the boat is rocking, and which also means the water in the pool is swaying back and forth violently making big waves to swim through. Very fun.

    Tonight is dress-up nice night in the dining room so I guess we’ll be prepping for that at some point. But not yet!

    There was an elephant on the bed!
  • Pre-Trip Nonsense

    In what is completely unprecedented behaviour for me, I didn’t finish packing for this trip until the night before I was leaving. That was Thursday night. Did I have a big pile of stuff already set aside? Yes. Had I already acquired all the extra stuff I needed to purchase? Yes. Am I taking my big suitcase so all I needed to do was stuff everything inside? Also yes.

    Packing 1 – Sorting into piles
    Packing 2 – all packed!

    This is not how I usually pack, which is considered and careful and done the weekend before a trip, if not earlier. My excuse for the timing this time is that I didn’t get around to it until Thursday. My excuse for not being as particular with what I’m taking with me is that a) I’m using my big suitcase so I can just take everything; and I’m using that because b) I’m on a cruise so don’t have to carry all my possessions around with me from city city.

    Today is Saturday, so a day has been missed but I’m leaving for Vancouver via Duncan –> Departure Bay with my Mum so I spent Friday getting myself to Duncan, napping, and eating roast beef dinner.

    Back Story

    Mum and I went on a road trip to Campbell River during the first week of July. While there, we found ourselves on an ocean-front patio with sangrias. As we sat, sipping and chatting, and enjoying the light breeze on an otherwise hot evening, a cruise ship was passing. We got to recollecting when we had been on the same route on our way to Alaska almost exactly a year before.

    My original plan for travel this year was going to be a month in Thailand. I booked a tour last Black Friday for this November. However as 2023 progressed, I found myself less and less interested in going. Partly this was to do with the price and duration of the flights to get there – it seemed that direct Canada to Thailand flights weren’t starting up yet (or direct-ish) and those on offer were annoyingly long and way more than I wanted to pay. More than that, though, is that I wasn’t getting excited to plan the trip, never mind pack and go. So I was already thinking about changing my destination.

    While drinking in Campbell River, Mum reminded me that she was ready to do another cruise anytime, and going anywhere. Just let her know and she’ll be packed. I thought that would be nice, as we had just been remembering what a nice time we had going to Alaska. I was like Hay! I need somewhere to go this year since I’m cancelling Thailand: where else can we cruise from Vancouver? Mum suggested going down the coast: Seattle, Sam Francisco, Los Angeles, San Diego. She’s been before, but she’s been to Alaska a few times, too. That sounded good to me: ending up somewhere warm; and I started a mental list of people who have been to Sam Diego to ask what to do there.

    This was all hypothesizing over sangria, of course. But when I got home I started searching for fall cruises. My first search was to look at Vancouver to California cruises. Those looked nice and ran around 7 days.

    My second search was to see where else we might travel that both started and ended in Vancouver. This was the itinerary for our Alaska trip and we liked that. The one of these I liked best runs Vancouver to Vancouver via Hawaii and is 17 days. Seventeen days sounded a lot better than 7 days. That includes 10 days at sea (there and back) and 5 days around Hawaii. I emailed the link to Mum ” How about this or is it too long?” and managed to twist her rubber arm. And that’s what we’re starting off on today.

    Note: the itinerary originally included a day in Lahaina, but now we have two days in Honolulu instead.

    Note 2: the very original itinerary also included a stop Victoria instead of Astoria, but that changed before we even booked. That would have been hilarious.

  • March 22, 2022

    It’s been a while

    I write today as it’s an anniversary of sorts. Most importantly, my birthday. Today I wonder when it is appropriate to start saying “I’m to old for this.” I turn 44 tomorrow so am I eligible? I feel I could give the phrase some comedic justice. However I need to know if I am actually too old for things or if it would just be ironic (due to my not acctually being to old for a thing.)

    One of upstairs neighbours sings and accompanies herself on a keyboard of some sort. I can sort of hear her in a muffled way through the ceiling if I don’t have a TV show or podcast on. She practices in the evenings, and sometimes on the weekends in the afternoon. She prettily sings pretty songs that I can’t quite recognize. I can tell it’s not a recording because sometimes you can just tell that. Notes and things. It’s been going on for many months (or a year?), and I recently paid attention enough to notice that she’s improving. Better notes! Go Upstairs Singer!

    Last week I was so tired. But not in a way that was disruptive? I would get home after work and dance (“my day”) and just be super tired in a way that was more than usual. Last Thursday I got home late with my Subway and got tired of chewing part way through the second half. Other days getting home late I would get upset and frustrated because I was hungry but too tired to think of anything, nevermind make it. (Thus the Subway on Thursday.) I was ready for a holiday, which was good timing because that’s what I’m doing this week. I’m on holiday – not traveling anywhere, just eliminating work from my schedule for a couple of weeks.

    Dreaming of travel, mind you. And planning for travel, eventually. I’m travelling to Vancouver this weekend, which I’m going to count because it’s the biggest trip I’ve taken in 2 years (if you don’t count the fact that I packed a suitcase when I went to Duncan for Christmas). It’s been almost 2 years and one month since I was last in Van. And 2 years and 4 months since I was on a plane going anywhere. Countdown. Or countup? What’s the opposite of countdown where you calculate how long it’s been since you did a thing?

  • May 24

    On this very day twenty-five years ago I had a good day and took care to document it in my journal, which is presented below. It’s from my first year of keeping a dedicated journal. The original is written in a 14-inch-tall ledger type book I acquired from who-knows-where. I have edited mildly to make it fit for human consumption. Context: grade 12. Some individuals have been redacted due to…. privacy concerns.


    May 24 1996.

    I had a good day today. It started with waking up and opening my eyes and… WOW! sunny day coming through my window! Wheeee! I leapt up and got a shower and shaved my legs and dressed beautifully in my yellow shirt and little floral dress and did my hair… Trey wacky [See note 1 below]. And I wore my anklet from [redacted] and my anklet from Leanne and, upon realization that they flopped up and down annoyingly when I ran up the stairs, I tied my yellow ribbon on above them to make them stop. And I had a hotdog for breakie, yum. The bus ride to school was nice. I thought about various things. The only thing that marred that was the Reform rally going on at the corner of Beverly and Lakes. I shuddered in digust. Anyhoo. I got to school and chatted with [redacted] for a bit and walked across the bridge in a prancy sort of way– I leapt from sunbeam to sunbeam, how they were coming through the window– . So we all had our little chat in the morning and then were off to class.


    English was long. We had to stay in an extra twenty minutes so Teacher could read John Grey, Robbie Burns and assign homework. Uhhhg. After we escaped that, me and Stacey met the WHOLE GANG at Phoenix Restaurant for lunch as planned. It was cool. We got there and there was my whole bunch of friends sitting at this huge table. ‘Twas cool. [Redacted], Merja, Sharlene, Leanne, Serina, Heidi, [redacted]. All there. I ordered a veggie burger and [redacted] gave those of us who are grad-ing our presents. I got a yellow bag with a little yellow book of pomes in it and a yellow crayon and a yellow balloon. Leanne got stationery. Merja got a little plaster angel. Stacey got an antiqued picture frame. Lunch was good. We walked sloooowly back to school. Sewing was ok. We had a sub so I just sorta sewed and chatted and wrote Maxine a little note on her binder. At break I went with Janice, who was hungry, to the bakery to get a fritter. I helped–she couldn’t decide which one to get. Anyhoo, after break I wandered over to the library to see if Merja was still there, she’d said she might, but she wasn’t. So I wandered back to class and sewed and dismissed myself 3 minutes early. I hung around with those who were taking the bus until it came. Then me and Merja moseyed over to the community center where Merja disappeared to wait for Leanne to take her downtown and [I waited] for my mum.


    When mum came I went upstairs and voted. I voted. Wheeee! Was thrilling. [See note 2]


    After that I went home and tried to Internet only to have the phone ring and Jordan talk for half an hour. so I waited patiently, only to get a busy signal when the line was finally free. So I cut things for grad presents. [see note 3] Sailor Moon was good. I think it’s the one I had to borrow from Stacey last time because I missed it for some reason, I think. It’s the one where Serina finds out that Reeny in not only from the future, but a princess, protected by the sailor scouts. So we can sorta assume that she is Serina’s daughter. There’s a great battle between the Scouts and the sisters from the Dark Moon with cool music.


    After Sailor Moon I went to sell tickets at Alex Aitken’s fun fair. That was fun. Merja came about half way through and we mini golfed and went though the haunted house and sold tickets and counted money and got tattoos and rolled the big die for licorice and had a jolly good time. And I had a hot dog for supper, yum. I wore my Sailor Moon pin there (one of them) and little girls noticed it. One asked if she could have it so I gave it to her. I have no idea who she is and she was kinda obnoxious. But it was cool.


    I watched X-Files when I got home and ate red licorice. But not too much.


    It’s after twelve now, so my wonderful day is over. But I am awake: the result of too much red licorice, I am afraid.


    Note 1: I had excessively long hair. I’ve edited out an obscure description of braiding it up into loops. And there were some beads, too, which of course make it trey wacky.

    Note 2: My first time voting.

    Note 3: I think this is a reference to the collaged folders I was making for my friends for grad. Mod-podge. Decoupage. You know it. And I just now remembered that I filled those folders with personalized poetry (?) and pages torn out from magazines (?) for each person. Song lyrics maybe?