emails from my sister

Today I was at work and just frustrated, annoyed, and overwhelmed. I have been experiencing some issues and needed a sounding board. My sister was willing to listen to me and try to support me....

I am still frustrated and I still feel hopeless...but it is really good to know you have the support of your family. It made my day seem better anyway:- )

Good meetings

I had a meeting last night and feel like we accomplished alot!! That is always good especially when you are the person in charge.

The only problem is...I totally forgot to update my blog last night. Oh well...c'est la vie, oui?

Showers!!!

There is NOTHING like coming home from camp and taking a shower!!! I have not showered in 2 days and I was outside all weekend camping. (I know I smell!!!)

I LOVE the feeling of going home and showering!!! Wiping away all of that dirt and grime!

I feel so clean now.

We are so fortunate that we can go home and get clean quickly. In our society we have a tendency to say things like...100 years ago they did not have the convenience of showers, they only took a bath once a week.....etc. However, in our country right now, there are people who do not have the privilege of showering regularly. I am so glad I have the opportunity to shower as often as I want!!

Camping in the fall

This weekend I went camping. We slept in tents and spent the majority of the weekend outside.

This summer has been cold. This fall has been cold as well but we occasionally get the odd warm day. This weekend was warm. I think I may have gotten a sunburn (oops----always apply sunscreen). It was one of those days that start out cold and you do not even realize it is hot out until you get a sunburn.

I was mostly concerned about sleeping in tents. (I just did not want to be too cold.) I was not cold at all!!! It was awesome!!! First of all I had the appropriate sleeping bag (that goes down to freezing...aka 0 degrees Celcius or 32 Fahrenheit), as well I had a couple of extra blankets AND I slept with a sweater on and socks and a toque. It was definitely worth the camping experience!!

I am so ready to go camping again next year!!

technological people

I am not the most technological savvy person!!!! (My family can attest to that.)

So it is always good when you have: a) a sister who is technologically savvy, and b) a sister who is willing to help you out!

Today my sister came over to help me out with a few things.......

Unexpected raises

Every year, as long as I am doing a good job, I get a raise. This usually occurs in January. However, I got a raise today!!

The company I work for is restructuring our job rate system. AKA - how much money we make. Long story short.....I got a raise. Now it was not that much of a raise but it was a raise nonetheless. You cannot go wrong with a raise, right? The best thing is that I have the opportunity to make more money this way then I did in our old system. You gotta love that!!!

Happy People!

I know a few chronic complainers. I hope I am not one of them!! Do you ever wonder what people see you as? I consider myself to be an optimistic/realist person but others may see me as a pessimist or (shock!) a chronic complainer!

Life is way too short to spend it complaining about everything!! It's too hot, it's too cold, it's too windy, there is no wind, etc....

I like to take it one day at a time....and find something great about the day (even though sometimes it may seem hard). Happy people definitely help!!! Sometimes I may even need to get my daily dose of happy people from the T.V. but what would life be like without Ellen? (lol)

To happy people!!! (come on....smile:- )

Feeling sore

I love the feeling you get when you have a really good workout and are sore for the next few days!

Sunday I worked out (we did stairs) and now I am FEELING IT!!!

Tonight I worked out again. I wonder how sore I will feel tomorrow. Hopefully I can walk...lol (maybe?). It was pretty bad at work. I would sit down for a little while and get up and MAN would I ever feel stiff!!! I felt like an old lady!!!

But boy!! Is it an awesome feeling!!!

Freeze tag

What better way to burn off supper (okay it was a really good supper! Cedar Planked Salmon again)!!

My niece (who is four) wanted to go play outside after supper so my sister and I went out there with her. Somehow we ended up playing Freeze tag. She won a couple of times!!! She was able to tag both my sister and I at the same time so that we could not untag each other!! It was CRAZY!!
(LOL)
I cannot believe how much energy a four year old has though!!! YIKES!!

Snuggling with my niece

Today I got to snuggle with my niece. I love hanging out with my niece. She is so much fun!!!

She has had a cold the last few days and does not have too much energy so she was quite content to just sit there and let me snuggle with her for a while. Pretty soon she will be too be to snuggle (aka she will not want to snuggle).

Food

Did you know the average person makes a decision regarding food 119 times a day? How lucky are we!!!

It seems so simple - to appreciate food - but I realize I am one of the more priveleged people in the world. I do not have to go hungry. There are times my body thinks I am hungry (sometimes to the point where I get weak) but usually I can find food within a few minutes (maybe a few hours). Friday (?) I slept in until 7:30 (which makes it hard to get to work by 8) and I did not have time for breakfast. However, I was able to get breakfast at work!!! How lucky am I?

There are hungry people all over the world (even in our own backyards)......

talking with my sisters

Last night my sister arrived from Ottawa (coincidence???). It was nice to see her. The four of us (my other sister is still in Ottawa) sat around and talked for a while after supper. It was nice to just sit and talk (and look at pictures). We (obviously) do not get to spend too much time together so it is nice to talk when we do get together.

Corner Gas

Small town humour....need I say more?

Tonight I just happened to catch Corner Gas on T.V. (for those of you out of the loop...Corner Gas is a Canadian sitcom set in a small town in Saskatchewan). I do not make a point of watching it but I do enjoy watching it when I happen to catch it on T.V. It is in it's final year of production (in fact they taped the last episode last Friday - I am a wealth of knowledge I know).

Anyway, as I was watching it, I realized how much I was going to miss the humour and it made me appreciate it that much more....

jumping

Tonight I followed my niece down the stairs. She jumped, so I jumped. It was fun. I do not remember the last time I hopped down the stairs one stair at a time.

Awesome!!

Breaks

What is work without any breaks? I love to take my break at work.

A few years ago I breaked (and lunched) with this one group of people....over time things happened and I eventually found myself breaking with another group of people. Although I miss breaking with my first group, I also enjoy breaking with my new group. I find the time away from my desk is just wonderful!! Especially today....I was having major problems with my computer and so my break came at just the right time!! It was awesome!!!

The commute

I live in a small city.....I think there is less than $200,000 people(?). One of the things I like about my city is that the commute to and from work is short. I leave my house and within a 1/2 hour I am at my desk. It is awesome!!

Tonight was great too as I had a meeting at 7:00pm. This gave me time to go home, cook, eat and leave (okay I did not do my dishes). I was actually at the meeting early too!! I love this place I live in....

working out

About 1 year and 3 months ago I was working out with a co-worker on a regular basis 3 to 4 times a week. Then it stopped. (For a variety of reasons.) But tonight, we worked out again for the first time in over a year!!! It felt awesome!!! Hopefully we will be able to keep it up. The good thing is that we have made plans to get together 2-3 times a week indefinitely.....AWESOME!!!

my bed

Weird....maybe......but man, there is nothing as great as a good bed!! Most times I have the best sleep. Whenever I sleep somewhere else, I do not have as good a sleep. My bed rocks!!

(I am weird, okay?)

Busy days!!!

Today I babysat my niece because it was my day off.

I am finally able to sit down and relax!!! Not only was a busy looking after my niece but I ran a bunch of errands and phoned at least 10 people. It was a very busy day!!!!

But every once in a while it is nice to have days like this....because....

It allows you to appreciate the importance of slowing down, relaxing, and having some 'me' time.

What would life be like without it?

sleepovers with my niece

Who doesn't like a sleepover? (LOL) Tonight I am sleeping over at my niece's house as I have the day off tomorrow and I need to babysit my niece. (Technically I believe my niece is going to sleep downstairs and I am going to sleep upstairs but whatever...)

It is a lot of fun to play with my niece. What other 4 year old says:

'Mommy, let's play reporter, okay?'
'Okay.'
'Okay, I'm the reporter. First question: Ummmmm......If there is a God, why is there so much death and disease in the world?'

Whoa!! She is how old again? lol

Friends

They still make me laugh!!! Even the old ones!!!

When Friends went off the air in 2004, I stopped watching it. What is the point? I thought. All the episodes are reruns. This summer though I have become reacquainted with my Friends, and after a long day it is nice to relax by watching an episode or two.

Tonight I watched 2 episodes of Friends.....and YES they made me laugh....

long chats

Today I had a nice long chat with someone I barely know. It was really interesting! She told me all about her life (well...not quite)and I feel like I know her a lot better now.

I find talking to people to be so interesting. It is amazing sometimes how similar yet different you are to people. I think that if we work hard enough we will be able to find something we have in common with almost everybody. It is a lot easier to get along when you can find some common ground!

walking with my sister

My sister is in town for a few days. She is leaving tomorrow morning (while I am at work). We have not had too much of a chance to hang out while she was here but tonight we went for a walk together. Somehow we ended up at Dairy Queen. (Which probably defeats the purpose of the walk?) It was nice to spend some time with her before she leaves to go back home....

unexpected meetings

I guess there are small things that happen that you just take for granted and you do not think there is anything special about them....but I guess you cannot take anything in life for granted. This is one of those small things.

This morning I decided to go for a walk. I left my house at about 8:30 and had only gone a block when I ran into someone I knew. Someone I work with. She was out walking her dog and so we decided to go for a walk together. It was nice. It gave us a chance to talk a bit.

good hair days?

(Okay, I know I have a lot to be thankful for...but I also have 365 days to be thankful for them. So every once in a while it is okay to be thankful for the small things.)

I think in some ways I am a 'girly girl' and in other ways I am not! Normally I just brush my hair and go...and by the evening it looks bad. Tonight my hair still looks good and all I did was brush it first thing this morning. In fact, all day every time I looked in the mirror I thought my hair looked good.

I know this seems so silly when there are so many things to be thankful for but you cannot pass up a good hair day...lol.

chick flicks???

Tonight I watched Definitely, Maybe. At first I was not sure I wanted to...it did not look that interesting or exciting but....I watched it!

It was better than I thought it would be. (Note that I did not cry...lol) I left the movie with a feel good feeling. They got together at the end and all of a sudden....the world seemed right...lol.

Every once in a while, you just need a movie like that!

my life

One week ago today there was a horrific accident here in the city. Five teenagers were in a car accident, they hit a tree and knocked the motor out of their car. Three of them died...

It is always so sad when you hear of such horrible accidents. Earlier this summer five little girls died in another car accident. It makes me wonder 'why? why do things like this happen?'. It also reminds me to appreciate my own life. I have been privileged to live as long as I have. I do not want to take any day for granted. I try to celebrate each birthday I have and not dread it. I am still young. My goal in life is to just live......

my dad

Today is my dad's birthday. He turned 73.

My dad has gone through heart problems, cancer, etc. and he is still living. (He usually ends up in the hospital 2 or 3 times a year though.) I am so lucky that my dad is still alive. He grew up with 8 brothers and 4 sisters...only 3 brothers and 1 sister is still alive. 6 of his brothers fought in the 2nd World War (1 World War II veteran is still alive). My dad still has many stories and experiences to share with us about growing up and it is awesome that we get to share them with him.

When I was younger my dad used to tell us 'stocking stories' and sing us songs before we went to bed. The 'stocking stories' were stories from his childhood. (On a side note my niece will sometimes want me to tell her stories of my childhood before she goes to bed but they always end up sounding incredibly stupid and silly.) His stories were always so interesting (maybe because he had so many siblings). He would tell us stories like the time his brother started grade 1 and my dad was only 4 but he marched to the school, stuck a cigarette butt into his mouth (to make him appear older), and told the grade 1 teacher that (his brother) had to come out to play...or the time his brother got mad at him so my dad climbed a tree and his brother grabbed an axe and chopped it down...or the times my dad and his siblings would drop marbles onto guests' heads from the upstairs register. (It sounded like his mother had her hands full anyway.) Without my dad, who would tell these stories?

I am very lucky to have my dad!!

homemade dill pickles

When I was younger my mom as well as my grandma used to make dill pickles every year (unless they did not have a good cucumber crop). But ever since my grandpa died 11 years ago, my mom has not had the opportunity to ensure we have dill pickles every year. Today I had the opportunity to eat dill pickles that my mom made a week ago. They were not has dilled as they normally are but they were still really good. She only made 1 jar and it is gone now....

It was a sad day for me...(lol)

As I sat there eating the pickles it occurred to me that I may not have this opportunity much longer...who knows what the future brings but maybe my mom will decide that it is too much effort (and since that would require me learning how to dill pickles....I may not get them as often). Actually I do have family members who also dill pickles but it is just not the same...

(Okay, I admit...all homemade pickles are good (at least the ones made in my family anyway).)

Labour Day

There are so many things we tend to take for granted in life. Most people just expect to have the first Monday in Sept off as Labour Day. Today is a good day to remind ourselves of the significance of this day. IF it were not for the labour movement we would not have the same rights as we do today.

Today is a good day to appreciate how privileged I am in my job.