Christmas traveling

Having all this time off does take a lot of the pressure off of Christmas! I am enjoying Christmas much more this year than usual. Shopping was easy. Although, don't think that the malls are empty while you're all at 9-5 jobs. No way! That's one thing I've noticed the whole time I've been off - an awful lot of people are off during the day! I thought I'd have the stores to myself, be able to make dentist and doctor appointments with ease, drop in for a physio session... Nope. Everything is still packed. Physios and other health professionals have full schedules even during the day. Stores are crowded. Parking lots are zoos. Timmy's has a line up all the time.

Any way, back to Christmas. I had time to do lots of baking. Which also means I had time to do lots of testing of the baking... Uh oh. Not a good thing since I can't do as much running as I would like. Apparently, I've now got exercise induced asthma. I've had mild asthma since I was a kid, but it's been flaring up a bit in the last couple of years. Along with that is this EIA. Not sure where it came from, but I sure wish it'd go away. Any where from 20 to 40 minutes into a run, I start to feel like I'm getting motion sick - makes it a bit tough to run. Definitely not a good thing when I've got a half-marathon in Phoenix in a month and a full marathon in Vancouver in May. This was going to be the year I properly trained for a marathon and ran it pain free. So much for getting any training in... The specialist wants to do a bunch of tests and get me on some drugs that will help, but I can't see him again until after the half-marathon. And who knows when I'll get appointments for the tests knowing the lineups in our health care system. I sure hope the drugs work fast when I eventually get them so that I can jump into marathon training with both feet even though I won't be ready for it.

Ooops, off topic again. I'm writing this in Victoria at my sister Karen's place. Instead of visiting my family over Christmas, I decided to visit them this week. I came over to the Island on Friday and stayed with my brother Greg in Nanoose. We went to visit my aunt and uncle on Thetis Island on Saturday. I don't see them too much. It's hard enough to get over to one island, never mind going to another one once I'm here. (Lazy excuse, I know...) I love going over there - Auntie Joan is a great cook and usually has something for me to take home. I love care packages! I caught the bus to Victoria Saturday evening. I'll be heading up to Courtenay on the train tomorrow. I haven't taken the train since I was a kid. I'm looking forward to it. I checked out the bus as well. The train is $13 more for the same trip!! I really should be taking the bus, but the train just sounds so much nicer. I'm going to splurge. I'll hang out with my sister Janet in Courtenay until Saturday and then it's back to Vancouver. It'll be my first ever Christmas in my own home!! It'll be so nice to not be traveling! Well, almost no traveling. We will be driving up to Squamish on Boxing Day to see Dan's mom and to do some cross-country skiing. Guess I can't hang up the car keys for as long as I'd have liked, but at least I'll be waking up in my own bed on Christmas morning.

One nice thing about traveling right now is that the buses and ferries aren't that busy. The ferry on Friday night was pretty empty! I haven't seen it like that for ages on a Friday night. It was great! Same with the bus ride to Victoria. I'm hoping for more of the same tomorrow on the train. I'm sure it'll be quiet since it's a Tuesday. The bus from Courtenay back to the ferry (on Saturday, 22 Dec) is probably going to be PACKED! Yuck! I'd have left a bit earlier, but a woman I grew up with is singing in Courtenay on Friday night. I've never heard her sing professionally (high school musicals don't count...), so I'm staying for that.

I'll quit babbling on. I think this is getting pretty long, so I'll save some stories for later. I'm getting hungry too, so I think I'll go shower and wander over to Cook St. village to find a nice little coffee shop. Yep, I sure do like this lifestyle...