One man's trash, that's another man's come up

So over a year ago I promised my friends we would have a garage sale.  As summer has already started its descent into fall I figured I better get on it before all the hard-core garage salers had packed it in for the season.  I organized all my junk, posted the sale on some local sites and put up some signs around the neighbourhood.  Fifteen minutes before the sale was even supposed to start people were already circling the block and pacing in the driveway. 

We priced everything and laid it out neatly on tables encompassing the driveway and garage.  Little did I know that meant people would still make us offers on our recently acquired set of Rogue weightstes, a wakeboard that we had bought in a silent auction a few months back that was still in the plastic and even my poor dog, Keefer.  Guess what, if it doesn't have a price sticker on it or isn't on the garage sale tables IT IS NOT FOR SALE!

My lovely friends Jenna and Courtney faced the crowds of frugal deal-finders with me.  Our spastic
dogs howled at all of the potential customers giving them a great first impression of our well laid out product.  I would like to mention that if you do plan on attending someone's garage sale please do not assume that they accept debit or credit.  You're probably laughing at that statement but there was at least two individuals that wanted to purchase items with their plastic.  I didn't realize it needed to be said but CASH ONLY PLEASE.

I also noticed that some people like to barter just for the sake of bartering.  If you're selling something dirt cheap and have already offered them your lowest price, please do not insistently keep repeating your low-ball offer.  It does not make me want to sell it to you any cheaper, in fact it makes me want you to vacate the property.

Another thing I didn't know was that if you are selling any clothing in your sale that strangers would want to go into your house to try it on.  I guess I would have cleaned my house a bit better if I knew there was going to be a parade of people using it as a changeroom. 

That was my first ever garage sale and I guess I could say it was a success - I sold some stuff, got rid of some junk and made a few extra dineros.. but I can probably say that I won't be having another one for a VERY long time.

Straight up to Butte, Montana singin' Lord I was born a ramblin' (wo)man

It's been two whole weeks since I managed a post.  Last week I was hit hard with the stomach flu and could barely lift my head let alone think of something witty to write about our trip to the Saskatoon Exhibition (I was going to use a line from Dr. Hook's Freakin' at the Freakers Ball to describe the crowd that congregates there).  Instead you get to hear about some of my musings from our recent trip to the 2013 Big Sky CrossFit Tour.

On Thursday night six CrossFitters started our journey to Montana with a layover in Eastend, SK, home to Scotty the T-Rex if you didn't know.  After some shut eye we got up bright and early to continue our travels. 8 hours later (with a stop at Deb's Diner in some town that looked like it could have been part of the Texas Chainsaw Massacre) we arrived at the beautiful Big Sky Resort.  We didn't really have any idea what to expect but what unfolded in the next two days blew our minds.

We had bought tickets online to the event for $75 after watching videos of Rich Froning master the backflip in all of 10 minutes.  We figured that was a reasonable price to pay to go hang out with our favorite CrossFit Games athletes but little did we know that Dave Castro had put a pile more planning into the weekend than we could have ever have dreamed of.  Food, booze, entertainment, a giant swag bag and a Rogue set up on the mountain that made us drool were available for our unlimited access.

The Games athletes that were invited were competing for $10,000.  We watched Elizabeth Akinwale snatch mad weight, Michelle Kinney smash on the Pig, Gretchen Kittelberger power clean over 200#, Garret Fisher almost break his foot in a snatch gone bad, snapped pics with Dan Bailey, went stand-up paddle boarding with Allesandra Pichelli, texted with Scott Panchik, were cheered on face-to-face through a WOD (workout of the day) by Stacey Tovar, did some rowing with Matt Chan and were serenaded by Miranda Oldroyd's freestyle beats.  Not to mention hung around the likes of Dave Castro, Adrian Bozman, Rory McKernan, Beau Burgener and Greg Glassman.

I would have to say my favorite part of the weekend was after the athletes competed in a stand-up paddleboard WOD down at the lake.  Castro announced he had rented the paddleboards for the day and anyone was welcome to them.  As most of the crowd dispersed back up the mountain we decided to stay and take advantage of the paddleboards, kayaks and paddleboats that everyone else seemed disinterested in.  Our group wanted to try the workout that the athletes had just participated in (21-15-9 overhead oar squats and push ups on their paddleboards, a 400m SUP then 21-15-9 kettlebell swings and burpees on the beach with a 200m swim to finish it off).  Since none of us had ever been on a SUP before, Scott Panchik decided to give us some lessons.  After a quick briefing we were tearing up the water with Allessandra Pichelli.  The crew started the workout and Stacey Tovar decided to get right in there and cheer the boys through some unbroken sets.

After a whirlwind two days in Montana our weekend was over and we were headed back to reality.  Next year we plan on extending the trip.. and hopefully I won't be freshly coming off of the flu. See you next year, Big Sky!

It's a smile, it's a kiss, it's a sip of wine, it's summertime

There is nothing better than Saskatchewan in the summertime.  Weekends consist of beer, babes, boats and bikinis (at least that's what I hashtagged it as on Instagram).  With having such a quiet July I was ready to hit the lake full force and drink in everything it had to offer.  Since we weren't able to head up there until late Sunday night here are the top 10 things that I recommend squishing into a whirlwind trip to the Cochin Ocean.. or any other lake for that matter.

1. Sit by a bonfire.  If you don't have a bonfire to sit by then burn a bunch of newspapers just to get that real smoky smell embedded in your hair and clothing.  It's not the lake unless you leave there smelling like you were rescued from a house fire.

2. Wear your bathing suit your entire stay.  You never know when you may need to hit the beach, get in the boat, join a sprinkler party or rescue a canoe of elderly people from a storm.

3. Have a BBQ.  Now the trick here is to not get any meat splatters on you since you're, of course, wearing your bathing suit while you cook.  Throw an apron on over your suit and you don't even need to change out of your beachwear to cook the morning bacon on the 'cue.

4. Go fishing.  Chug that steaming hot coffee right off the bat in the a.m. and get your butt in the boat.  Who needs to wake up when there's fish to be caught!  No time to grab a cooler, just scoop some beer up into your hands and run down to the dock.

5. Do a water sport of some sort.  Whether it's wakeboarding, surfing, skiing, tubing or body surfing, get that booty behind the boat.  Haven't kneeboarded in 20 years?  That's ok you're at the lake, your deteriorating body can handle anything at the lake.

6. Go to the beach store.  Now I've checked out many-a beach store in my day and what I've noticed about the Big Way at Cochin is... it's liquor selection.  It may not have much for 5¢ candies but that is a place where you can get your drink on.

7. Go for tour to see the sights.  Whether by boat or by car you must slowly and creepily drive passed people you don't know and stare at them with wonderment.  If you feel it necessary to wave or give a head nod then do that too.  You can do this in the campgrounds, by the cabins and even to people in other vehicles and watercrafts.

8. Get a definitive sunburn.  What's the point of going to the lake if you have nothing to show for it?  Screw sunscreen, this is your time to shine!

9. Throw those healthy eating habits out the window.  You're at the lake dammit, as I have stated in a previous blogpost - you don't make friends with salad.

10. Blast music wherever you may be.  In the yard, in the boat, in the cabin, hell if you're walking you should be carrying a portable boombox stocked with enough D batteries to last a week.  If your neighbors can't hear your music wherever you are at the lake then you don't have it turned up loud enough.

We can't get enough of the lake and could spend every weekend there.  Unfortunately we had to squish all of these fun activities in to a 24 hour stay.  I would like to personally thank the Johnson-Bachman family for their hospitality and always offering us a place to lay our weary heads, whether it be the pull-out couch or the air mattress in the furnace room affectionately referred to as the F Shack.