seven things on a sunday – the too little time, too many things edition
1 – nothing throws you off kilter like sitting down with your coffee and browsing facebook on a Saturday morning and seeing a post that a friend of yours has been missing for a week. My heart and stomach dropped so fast, I think they went through the floor to the basement. I spent that weekend glued to my phone and laptop. I scoured google for more information, updates, ANYTHING that I could find that would tell me what was going on. Something that would say this was all a mistake. But it wasn’t. By the Monday it was announced that my friend’s body was found. One week after that, I found myself at the funeral home, surrounded by people I still consider family even though I no longer work with them. All of us in a state of shock that we were even there. August was a write-off for me. Almost a month later, I am still trying to find the words to write a blog post about this. It is insanely difficult to write about something you don’t understand. 2 – I get overwhelmed by possibilities. I want to do ALL OF THE THINGS at the same time. I get so overwhelmed, I shut down and do NONE OF THE THINGS. But then I am so restless, and agitated inside my body that I can’t sleep, or focus, or sit still. I want to read (sooooo many books!), I want to craft (sooooo many crafts!), I want to…
seven things on a sunday
1 – I will never get tired of staring at the night sky. A dream goal is to move to a way more rural area (not, like, totally rural, but away from any big cities) and have a skylight in my bedroom. There’s something about staring at the stars, when there are no other lights around, that takes my breath away. I love the sky. So much. (But I love it from the ground, I am way too terrified up in a plane to appreciate the sky while IN the sky. Not for me. Nope.) 2 – I hate wearing shoes. Unless I’m wearing a specific pair of slippers in the house, I would much rather not wear shoes (or socks). I can’t stand having my feet imprisoned! Which is an odd thing for someone who can’t stand feet. (They gross me out. Yucko!) I don’t know why it’s bothering me so much this summer, but I spend way too much time trying to figure out what shoes to wear when I have to go out. Not because of look, but because of how they feel on my feet. I would much rather walk around barefoot if I can. Especially in the back yard, and garden, much to the chagrin of my body, because I’m allergic to the grass and then end up with a rash, or hives on my legs. But it’s worth it to feel grounded. Well, maybe not right before bed. *itch*scratch*itch*GAH! 3 – I have been…
seven things on a sunday
1 – Woah. I haven’t done a Seven Things on a Sunday since DECEMBER 2014! What? That’s crazy. I was sure I’d done one this year. I’m a horrible blogger. Yeesh. 2 – I like nail polish in theory, but not in practice. I love the idea of it. I see all these pretty colours in bottles and I buy them, and I love seeing colour on other people’s nails, but then I like it for about 30 seconds after I put it on. After that, it just bothers me. I don’t know why. And I can’t stand nail polish remover, so I never use it and just let the polish I might be wearing, flake off. Making me look like I’ve lead a harsh life on the streets or something. 3 – I am happy to report that this fall I am not falling to pieces as I have for the last two years. I am a little nervous about getting through the winter and, mostly, March, but I’ve been feeling pretty strong lately in the mental department and I am so thankful for this. I will have ups and downs going forward, and I accept that. I’m just happy to be feeling a lot more like myself than I had been. I’m also aware of how I have changed since the traumatic incident in 2013. Some good. Some bad. But I’m able to work with it now. So, yay! 4 – I used to have a pretty…
seven things on a sunday – in which i don’t actually write about my dogs
1. I have realized that I am not fan of travelling. I hate flying – scared of it, and I hate being confined to one tiny seat for long periods of time. I don’t like the bus – I get motion sick, and again, stuck in one seat for long periods of time. The train isn’t too bad because you can sort of get up and move around, and I don’t get motion sick. But any trip over about 3 hours, and I start to get antsy and claustrophobic. Same goes for car trips – motion sickness if I try to read anything, or look at anything in the car. But at least it’s our own space, and we can stop and get out of the car whenever we want to. We just did a pretty epic one, and by the end I was ready to never see the inside of my car ever again. Even before we left, I was dreading the trip HOME. Thankfully the worst of my aches and pains and anxiety didn’t hit until the last leg of the trip and for that one we had about 4 hours to go. So travelling, coupled with having to sleep in beds that aren’t my own, and take showers in showers that aren’t my own, and having to live out of a suitcase… not my thing. The longest flight I have taken (that I can recall, so I am not including the flight to Alberta when I was…
seven things on a sunday – thankful edition
Over the past few months I have been tagged in various FB memes for a number of things. I was tagged by a few people for the Thankful one, whatever it’s called. The last few months haven’t been the best and I have been avoiding much of the online world. I check in once in a while, and offer brief status updates, but really I haven’t been all that engaged in participating in social anything. So I thought it might be a nice idea to combine remembering to BLOG with listing things I am thankful for. What better time to do this than over Canadian Thanksgiving weekend. Right? Right! 1. I am thankful for my family. I had tossed about whether or not to even add this to my list because it seems so unoriginal and obvious, but then I thought, wait, I really AM thankful for my family. My parents, my sister, my in-laws… they have always been there for me. They help me when I am in need of help. They love me and take care of me. They make me laugh, pick me up when I am down, and are just wonderful, supportive people in my life. My parents raised two girls to be polite, respectful, loving, and to treat others well. We grew up in a house of love, sure there were some major blow-outs while growing up (girls are MOOOOODY, yo!) but my parents loved each other (much to the embarrassment of my sister and…
seven things on a sunday – summer time
1. I used to think Summer didn’t mean much unless you were able to spend your days in the country, near the water. Summer time in the city was never appealing to me and I always moped around waiting for autumn and winter. But the last few years, thanks to the help of Jinx’s Garden and the way my body and mind have changed due to exercise, I’m appreciating the summer months way more. The more muscle I build, the less over-heated I am when it’s warm out. In fact, some days I can wear a light sweater because I’m chilly. I haven’t experienced this since I was a teen. I feel grounded and calm when I walk through the garden barefoot. I am spending way more time outdoors this year than ever before. Reading, walking, running, whatever. I still long to be able to do all of this near water, but at least I am learning to enjoy the season no matter where I am. 2. I have just finished the first week of my two-week vacation from work. There’s an odd sort of guilt associated with vacation time that I can’t seem to shake. I have done almost nothing productive this past week. I have sat outside, inside, and read. I read nine books in the last 7 days. I keep feeling like I should be doing SOMETHING with my time off other than sit around and read, but right now, that’s all I want to do. Why…
seven things on a sunday – simple things
1. I could sit and stare out at water forever. I especially love staring out over water at sunset. If there are ducks or geese in the water, it makes me even happier. There’s something calming about water and something fresh in the air by water. I wish I had a nice spot to gaze out at water here at home. The photo above was taken at a place near my parents’ new home. 2. Windows open in the summer, with a cool breeze in the air, and the sounds of birds chirping. Bliss. 3. Getting a toilet paper holder for my wedding anniversary. Don’t laugh. It’s all I wanted so we went out and got one. Easy peasy anniversary. You can only imagine how crazy we’ll get for our 10th anniversary. Watch out. 4. The smell of clean sheets fresh off the line in the summer sunshine. 5. Wandering barefoot through Jinx’s Garden to check on the veggies. We have many flowers on the coocumber vines, and I have already eaten three red, juicy tomatoes in the last week. The cherry tomatoes are slowly starting to ripen and the kale has been an added bonus to my sandwiches this week. The weeds have grown all over the darned place inbetween each garden plant, but otherwise things seem to be coming along pretty well. 6. Spending time with my husband. Yeah, I know; sap, sap, SAP. It’s true though. I especially love just driving around together and doing something simple…
seven things on a sunday – adventures in june
1. I have been enjoying the spring/summer weather this month. My love of the outdoors and warmer temperatures is a strange, yet pleasant change in my life. Up until the end of June it hasn’t really been all that humid and that makes the warm weather a lot more bearable to me. I have spent more time outdoors this month than I have in any other June in recent memory. Between my outdoor fitness classes, my running, and the gardening with Jinx I have been doing, I’m feeling rather content. The nights are cooler and the days not too hot. (Except, of course, for the last couple of days with ALL of the humidity. Ugh.) I’m trying to make sure I take more effort to appreciate the nice days and things that can be done during them. It’s helpful for dealing with stress, anxiety, and all of the other negative things going on. This might not seem like an adventure, but choosing to be outdoors, instead of hidden away inside as I normally do, is pretty adventurous to me! 2. We’ve got a few home renovations going on, and going slowly, but I think the results will be worth it once they are done. My father-in-law came over to help Shawn put down floating floor in the basement (to cover up the linoleum tiles we found under the gross carpet.) When you find flooring you love AND you discover it’s on mega-sale. Score! He’ll be helping with re-doing the basement stairs,…
seven things on a sunday – inspirational edition
1. Your best might not be someone else’s best. And that’s ok. 2. Life isn’t a race. Everyone is on his or her own journey. We’ll all get where we’re going in our own time. And that’s ok. 3. Stop comparing yourself to others. You don’t have to fit in the same clothes as the person next to you. You don’t have to be exactly like the person next to you — or anyone else. You just have to be yourself. 4. Focus on bettering yourself to be best best YOU that you can be. You don’t need to be better than anyone else. 5. Don’t elevate yourself by cutting others down. Your pedestal will be built on lies. We all have our battles. We all have our demons. You can’t ever know what it’s like to be in someone else’s skin so don’t judge them because you would do things differently, or feel things differently. We are all entitled to our feelings. We are all entitled to our emotions. We are entitled to our accomplishments and failures. If we were all the same, this world would be an awfully boring place. 6. Don’t spend your energy on worrying about what others think about you. There are way more important things in life. And those people who might not like you? They don’t matter. The people who love you, love you for who you are. Love yourself for who you are. Don’t let anyone tell you you are less. 7. Be yourself. No one else can be that for…
seven things on a sunday
1. I love the smell of trees in the spring/summer rain. (My allergies do not agree.) 2. I love the smell of freshly cut grass. (My allergies do not agree.) 3. I love early morning sunshine and the sound of birds chirping coming through my windows. (I don’t enjoy chirping birds as early as 4 a.m. however.) 4. What I thought was bad allergies (because they have been bad this month) turned out to be a cold. A doozy of one. Not a flu, just a cold. I have one week to get rid of it before my Spartan race so it had better go away soon! At least I now know why I was falling asleep before 7pm earlier in the week. 5. We have had gorgeous weather all weekend. Everyone is outside cherishing the sun and not-too-hot temperatures. Winter was LONG. Too long. Generally I try to start planting Jinx’s garden over this weekend (it’s a long one in Canada) but the weather has been so crappy, we haven’t even had leaves on trees until just this past week, so I chose to not try and plant things that might die. Hopefully by the end of the month. Also… 6. I came home from work one day to find that Shawn had decided to de–wallpaper the powder room on the main floor. It had awful pink, checkered, wallpaper that we have hated since we bought the place 7 years ago. Of course we hate removing wallpaper more than…
seven things on a sunday
1. Scents I love most: lemon, lavender, and patchouli. (Not together, of course. Although I do have an amazing lavender & patchouli soap that costs a pretty penny. It makes my whole bathroom smell lovely!) 2. I do not like even numbers. I will always sit in an odd-numbered seat if we have assigned, numbered seats somewhere. I will always pick an odd number for anything that I have to pick a number for. I do not feel at all comfortable with even numbers in my life. Unless it’s the number 8. I tend to like the number eight. For some reason it makes me think of the moon and I love the moon. No idea why, it just does. 3. I used to be only an autumn and winter person. Lately I am finding that I am becoming more of a spring and summer person. I still hate hot and humid days and I consider anything over 17C or 19C too warm, but the last few years I have been enjoying the spring and summer months. Maybe it’s just that I am becoming more of a person who appreciates each season as it happens for what it brings to my life. I do know that I am certainly a sun person over clouds. There have been way too many months in a row of grey, cold skies. I need the sun to regenerate my soul. 4. I am embarrassingly happy over the fact that 1990s fashion seems to be…
