20 weeks fitness challenge

I have been working out at CityFitness regularly since Nov 20th, and am now in a 20 week fitness challenge with Snap Fitness. I am competing in strength and lower body fitness. My North Island trainer was Kyle Chapman in Palmerston North, and he referred me to an acquaintance of his, Mark Hurdle, for when I moved to the South Island. Here I am with Mark at CityFitness Moorehouse gym.

We are in week 12 of 20 of the challenge, and I can definitely lift a lot of heavy weights now. I have lost 14 kg (31 lbs) so far, and I keep shrinking in pants sizes. Now I can shop in most stores, which is neat! Wish me luck as I continue to diet and exercise. I started taking kickboxing classes and jogging too. That is a big change for me towards a fitness lifestyle. Here is an action shot of the squats we are working on at the gym- trying to hit 500 squats as a goal!

Noah's Ark: Christchurch edition

Everyone braced for Thursday's super storm. A blizzard! Only it warmed up, and instead became a windy rainy downpour! The streets are flooded, the winds are howling, but alas, no snow. It did delay school this morning until 10:30, but that is due to flooded roads. Wacky weather brought madness to the grocery stores. All bread and milk was snatched up on Wed night like there would be no tomorrow. I had to go to three stores before finding bread, but did snag some milk at the corner Dairy ( minimarts). So glad to have my gumboots on a wet wild weather Friday like today. However, the city has already thought ahead, and some locals built an ark on a hill in the gardens of Sumner in 2004. Flood ready!

Gumboots for a rainy day!

This weekend, it rained nonstop.

By Monday morning, my street was flooded and so was my sidewalk and lawn. Luckily, I got Zack some teenage mutant ninja turtle gumboots yesterday at the Warehouse, and some navy ones for Ben. I soaked my sneakers getting into my car today to drop off kids. Time to get these Kiwiana gumboots for $20 for myself.

Now I am flood prepared. Mr. Purrsalot, our cat, has decided today is an indoor day, as he didn't want to wade in the water outside. :) Funny cat! Later, Zack tried on my kiwi boots for himself. Cute!

Gondola in the Clouds

To end our family weekend, we went to Ferrymeade Park and then the sightseeing gondola this afternoon. The clouds just barely covered the peaks of the mountains, so we figured that it would be a great view. It was a great view, until the clouds started to roll in. By the time we had reached the top of the ride, we were inside a thick cloud. We went on the Time Tunnel ride about Canterbury, which was cool and abut cheesy, like the rides at Disneyland sometimes are. Then we walked outside at the lookout and hung out near the building covered in mist, and Ben and Zack carefully dodged numerous piles of sheep droppings on the grassy terrain around the lookout center. The clouds were so thick, you could barely see 20 feet in front of you, so there wasn't much to look out at. The ride back down the gondola was cool, and only in The last few moments could you see the bottom of the mountain and the neighboring houses. Here are some pics of the adventure.

Sunrises, sunsets, and rainbows

This month has revealed some spectacular skies during the day. Here are a few of my IPhone pics, most of which are morning shots around 7 am. This last pic is a sunset, taken at 6 pm or so. Pretty amazing scenes, right?

Attack of the Ginger Ninja

Mr. Purrsalot has enjoyed having a cat door here in Christchurch. He has been an indoor/ outdoor cat and spends large parts of his day perched on the fence as our lookout watch cat. However, the neighborhood has a bully cat, the evil Ginger Ninja. He strikes fear into the other cats and can attack them even in their own backyards. The Ginger Ninja has also bitten and infected the wound of our neighbor Mel's cat last month, which cost them a few hundred dollars to fix. A horrible cat fight erupted last week between Mr. Purrsalot and an unknown cat pawing and clawing him through our cat door flap at 12:30 am. I just saw a paw clawing at Mr. Purrsalot and rushed over to kick the door flap to scare off the mean cat. Then, I came home from work on Tues and found kitten was quite sore and grouchy when you pet his back. He winced and yelped in pain. Mr Purrsalot just sat by the heater and slept, which is very weird behavior. The next day, it was not improving. I called the local vets and St Albans centre had a 5:30 pm appt, so the kids and I went with our sick kitten to the vet. Turns out there was a fang mark puncture in Kitten's back that had become infected. He had to stay overnight at the vet and have abscess surgery. Today, kitten will have his drain removed at the vet. Poor guy looks so haggard with his wound and his shaved fur. If I see ginger ninja cat, he will likely feel the wrath of my kick. Meanie head!

A premature Farewell

This week was week 2 of teaching at the Steiner school in St Martins. At the end of the week, the staff even had a goodbye send off choc apple cake for my farewell. The science teacher in his late sixties was on the mend from stint surgery and bronchitis and was definitely coming back Tues after the 3 day weekend for "Queen's Birthday". Only this Sat morning I got a text from the reliever coordinator that the teacher has been commanded by his doctor to take 1 more week off of work. Could I return for week 3 of nuclear particle physics, organic chem, inorganic chem, and physical science lecture on forces. Hmmm...sure! So now, I have 4 more days of working mum mode. My gym routine has been put on hold for now, and Zack has been missing his Fri swim classes with our neighbor's kid Benjamin. However, earning $$ is good if you live in expensive NZ. You really need two working parents to make ends meet. Off I go for more teaching adventures. Most of the students will be surprised to see me, and some will even be glad that I am back, with my American sarcasm and loud booming voice. Who else makes the kids listen to the Sun song by They Might Be Giants on the speakers?